Annie said -
I can only say again that non-verbal communication does not a good story make... in fact, under most circumstances, it makes for a stultifyingly boring story with characters that are next to impossible for the reader to relate to.
How can you write in a purely "verbal," communicating medium by being "non-verbal." It just doesn't work.
Wow. I honestly believe that there is some vast gulf of what writers and readers want, and that if you are on the other side of it, you just don't understand the other.
every single sentiment in what Annie says is the exact *opposite* of what I believe about fiction. But I know that all those statements are true for Annie, and I am grateful to read them so clearly and forthrightly expressed.
it has convinced me that people with opposing views will just have to relax about it all, and accept that there will be this whole bunch of stuff they can't ever get on with at all. That applies to both sides. It's as if we are talking a different language: but confusingly a different language with the same words in it :-)
I also think there are more fanfic writers with Annie's view. Sad for me - because it means there is less that I like to read, and fewer people who will like what I write. Of course it isn't sad *really* as it means that there is all this stuff being happily read and written, by people who are on exactly the same wavelength.
Alison