FF.net strikes again

[ratherastory]

It's kind of funny, at this point.

Anonymous Reviewer™ at ff.net decided that I sold "Thicker Than Water" under false pretenses, because it was too sympathetic to Sam and not sympathetic enough to Dean's POV.

*snort*

I'd really like to know whether said reviewer actually read the summary before reading.

Comments

[elsewhere-kels.livejournal.com]

XDDD

Oh, ff.net. I barely remember you, but when I do it's pretty funny.

The story doesn't have to be sympathetic to Dean - Sam was plenty sympathetic! And he got all the crappy bits without any of the fun bits! (Well not really FUN, but you know what I mean)

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

Her objection was that it was written for the Dean h/c meme. I dunno. I wrote plenty of Dean-whump in there and had Sam take care of him, but apparently that qualifies as making Sam woobie and misunderstood.

*shrug*

I'd be inclined to take it seriously had the commenter not been completely anonymous.

[bellatemple]

Didn't you know? Writing a Dean whump story means it MUST ALL BE ABOUT THE DEAN-LOVE. You're not allowed to love or be sympathetic to Sam in a Dean whump story! THAT'S NOT HOW IT'S DONE!

Now come on, get with it and get it right the way Anonymous Reviewer^TM says is right. That's how fandom works!

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

(*sees your Questionable Content icon and raises you a Futurama icon*)


Oh, NO! I totally failed at the internet! Of course Anonymous Reviewer™ was right. I was foolish ever to consider that showing any sort of sympathy toward Sam would be a good storytelling technique from Dean's POV. After all, Dean would never, ever think anything like that.

Dear self,

Dean!whump: ur doin it wrong.

[embroiderama]

That's so crazy. I *really* don't remember that story being unsympathetic to Dean. WTF?

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

It's not that it was unsympathetic to Dean, as I understand. It was just too sympathetic to Sam. Anonymous Reviewer™ is sick of stories in which Sam is misunderstood by Dean.

...

Yeah.

I'm not sure what story she was reading.

[katwoman76.livejournal.com]

Never expect ff.net-readers to understand what you explain to them so clearly.

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

Some of them are perfectly lovely!

It's the anonymous ones who are batshit, most of the time.

[jesseofthenorth.livejournal.com]

I personally would love to ask Anonymous Reviewer(tm) how the hell you could write that story ANY OTHER way? Hmmm?

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

So would I! Except they're anonymous and thus I can't.

[bellatemple]

Oh that's easy, see. Dean would magically be the bigger man and resist the entirely unexpected craving for demon blood in ways that Sam would never be able to, because Dean is the Older Brother and a Bad Ass and he Wouldn't Give In to things like that, because we clearly never see him give in to temptation or give up on a struggle in canon.

Also, when the demon then FORCES her attentions on Dean-in-Sam, Dean will, while being sick as a dog, manage to handle it better than Sam ever did, just by the power of his great man-pain. And switching the boys back was clearly done far too early, as it means she snuck Sneaky Sam Pain into the fic when that clearly wasn't what the rest of the fic was leading up to.

[de-nugis.livejournal.com]

Silly Ratherastory. Have you not yet learned that in order to love one brother, you must hate the other? Clearly you, Dean, and Sam are the only three people who have not yet gotten the memo.

*bangs head repeatedly against desk, taking notes in case of later desire to write concussion fic*

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

OH!

Well why didn't anyone SAY SO before?

Clearly I have spent the last ten months writing the wrong kind of story.

*perks up*

Did someone say concussion!fic?

[charis-kalos.livejournal.com]

Also missed the 'love one; hate the other' memo. Whoops.

[pinkphoenix1985.livejournal.com]

*sighs* sometimes reviewers expect to read something entire different and then get upset with the author because they're not happy! Yeah, like I'm really going to put up a poll every time I want to write a story just to satisfy everyone *snorts*

I believe I missed the above-mentioned story so I'm going to go read it.

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

Heh.

"WARNING: This story may not be the fic you were expecting. Unwary readers may encounter plot twists and devices they don't enjoy. Proceed at your own risk."

[faithburke.livejournal.com]

It's always the anonymous ones, somehow.

Granted, its your fault for being sympathetic to Sam in a Dean-centered meme. How dare you!

:-)

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

I know! Everyone knows that to properly love Dean one must hate Sam. It's a given. :)

[claudiapriscus.livejournal.com]

apropos of nothing, but after reading all these comments, I now have extreme icon envy. I don't have cool icons! I'm a slacker at searching them out and too lazy to create them!

I shall just console myself with this image of Raylan about to shoot someone.

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

I just shamelessly steal icons from people and/or beg for people to make them for me. :D

[peppervl.livejournal.com]

I agree. I have icon envy as well.

[charis-kalos.livejournal.com]

Interesting. (Note: Haven't reviewed any of your recent stories yet because I'm saving them for a lunch-break sometime; I'm looking forward to reading them.) But basically Anonymous Reviewers ask to be ignored.

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

Personally, I think they're asking to be mocked in my LJ. But then, I'm petty that way. ;)

[maypoles.livejournal.com]

I can't see how it could be seen as anything but sympathetic to both of them.

Idk, there seems to be a growing contingent of fans who think that having a preference for one brother, which I think is totally fine, means that the other brother should get no love at all, ever. I completely don't get this mindset, or what's prompted it, but I wish it would... like, go away.

[de-nugis.livejournal.com]

Despite the fuss of this one anonymous reviewer, I think one of the loveliest things about both hoodie_time and ohsam is that they are communities focused on one brother that are remarkably free of animosity or even indifference to the other. Some of my favorite Sams are in hoodie_time fics and some of my favorite Deans are in ohsam fics. So you guys and mimblexwimble are definitely doing something right.

Or, no, wrong. Horribly wrong. Because you are ignoring the great brother-hating memo from the sky.

[sistabro]

ok so the comments here, totally cracked me up. :D I live in perpetual icon envy, but some of these were made me more envious than usual :)

I also do not understand how someone can loathe one of the brothers, or why preferring one and not loathing the other makes you like, fail at spn fandom etiquette or something. I mean, they are the most important thing in each others lives, their obsession I guess, so to me hating one brother and loving the other means you hate a huge part of the character you do like as well...and I have a feeling that makes absolutely no sense at all, so I should go to bed :p

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

It makes sense!

Well, your comment does. The hating a brother part doesn't make any sense to me either.

[mimblexwimble.livejournal.com]

Reading all these comments was so much fun. I love this sane, beautiful, peaceful corner of the fandom. \o/

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

LOL

Aren't they great? :D