It's been fascinating reading all of the responses! Thank you... and keep them coming!
Good to know I'm not the only one who thinks like this. Of course, I'd bet that Wendy's worst stories are much better than my best ones.
(not trying to underestimate the rest of you FoLCs, but she gave me something
as soon as I mention a story which particularly makes me cringe, someone protests, "But I like that one!"
to prove my point with
)
Many of you made the point about being able to see a writer evolve by reading their stories. Well, if I can judge using myself as an example (since I'm not that experienced a reader to base my judgement upon others) I'd say that it's true and that I definitely agree with you.
There comes the question, though:
Does a reader really want to see that? Is s/he interested in reading some random writer's work from the beginning till the end, just to see how they evolved? Or would they rather just have a selection of
good stories to choose from? And... how does reading one of the worst works of some writer affect a reader's attitude towards that writer?
Speaking for myself, I give all writers a second chance. If I don't like one of some writer's stories, I have no problem trying another. Besides, sometimes writers I know and enjoy happen to write stories I don't like that much. But I don't know if my kind of attitude is the rule, or I just have low standards, or I'm just more tolerant than most people. In any event, I find it understandable that someone could read some writer's story, not like it, and then decide to ignore that writer completely from there on. It's not like they'd run out of other choices, with all those stories in the Archive.
So, what do you think? We're all on the same boat here, so I'd like to see your opinions.
Just think, Anna, to make you feel better, I was the same age as you when I first started writing, but English was my native language
. Think of how much better you are than I was!
Thanks, Laura! It does make me feel better
See ya,
AnnaBtG.
