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Sometimes I wonder why I bother. I had an idea for a Christmas story but it had to be written and posted yesterday to be effective. It needed a sixteen year old boy soprano, they're unusual. So it needs a contrivance, there's always the cop out of magic, genital damage pre puberty, AIS or intersex - quite rare, or T-blockers. I opted for the latter, administered by a mother who thought she was doing best for her son. I then have calls of child abuse and for another author to redress the balance.
Normally, I welcome comments as a way for readers to participate, I'm beginning to wonder if I might just switch them off next time, or if there will be a next time. I'm aware that in posting, I'm fair game for criticism, which could be worse elsewhere, so should I complain at all in this real world where people do nasty things as normal.
Maybe because I'm still suffering with a viral infection and I feel under par, or it's my first Christmas with only one child or whatever, but this really got to me. The season of peace and love, except by Christians. I'm taking my bat and ball home, I might not be back. Merry Christmas.
Comments
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I read your short story yesterday before most of the comments were made. I've gone back and I can't see that any of them are more acerbic than those that Bike attracts. Please don't treat that as a dig, just an observation. You might be right about the infection and any paracetamol you're taking for it? Anyway, you are appreciated, loved and respected.
Shiraz
I don't know why you bother, either but ...
... I'm bloody glad you do and I know I'm far from alone. If you can be accused of child abuse in a bit of fiction I can't imagine what your accusers think about that great serial writer Charles Dickens. His books are full of it, from Oliver Twist, Dotheboys Hall, Great Expectations etc etc. There seem to be a few readers of TG fiction who extrapolate from fiction to fact in a binary fashion without a thought.
Your seemingly inexhaustible enthusiasm to keep us entertained makes you a giant amongst us. It certainly makes my meagre efforts as very occasional writer and more regular editor seem totally trivial by comparison.
It's a lovely day here in Derbyshire and we went for a gentle stroll locally and I gave myself a break from my usual morning turbo-trainer torture. I hope you soon feel well enough to go for a gentle leg stretch over the holiday and let a little fresh Dorset air help clear your head and ease your grief just a tiny bit.
love
Robi
I echo Robyn's thoughts, but
I echo Robyn's thoughts, but I would add that Charles Dickens had his critics, and I'm sure at times, they hit him as hard as this has done for you. Your resilience is low at the moment, so take a breather, step back and read the hundreds of comments you receive every week. The few negative comments on this story really are a drop in the ocean.
Having said that, I'm far more sensitive than you about negative comments. On this site, in spite of common belief, it is impossible to "turn off" comments. Even if you halt the public display of comments for your stories, as I have done, your readers can still use the PM system to send you their comments. I've been compared with a paedophile for daring "to turn off comments"!
However, I believe using the PM system is a far better system of comment delivery. It means I can have a personal conversation with my commenters, some of which have turned into real friendship.
Sending an author a personal message about their story is very different from writing a public comment. People think more about their words, and even that paedophile comment was written in a non-offensive way. I would encourage any author with an ounce of sensitivity to post their stories without public comments enabled. You do have to pass through two dire system warnings in order to do so, but I think it's well worth it. Perhaps if more authors did so, we'd see less messages like yours, which unfortunately happen all too often on these blogs.
Have a great Boxing Day (just imagine boxing the ears of your critics!) and then come back in your usual incredible form.
Charlotte
What You Write is Bloody Good
Angharad,
What you write is bloody good the detractors want to wake up. What they have read is a work of fiction they should think about this!
I totally agree with Robyns comments have a look around the real world or literature if you really want to see bad parents just because you write something that may be contentious does not mean that you condone it.
Now let me get back to get back to the real world of soap operas - now these are real!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - Who did kill Ena Sharples?? or have I got reality mixed up!
Have a good Festive Season I have finally caught up to you with the dormouse! PHEW it was a marathon
Christina
Sorry, But...
Of course most of Ang's stories are really good.
That has nothing to do with whether or not the characters in them are doing things that some readers deplore.
Yes, this is fiction. So what? It's a story with credible characters that's intended to be taken with a minimum of suspension of disbelief. We're supposed to believe that these people can exist, even if they don't. If they do things we don't like, we can say that we don't like them.
And yes, there are worse parents, real and fictional. Again, what's your point? We're talking about one specific parent here who does something that seems morally objectionable to me and others. Where that parent fits on some sort of scale of depravity (axis of evil?) has nothing at all to do with the issue. Dickens wrote good stories that included evil or misguided characters; some of those were parents or surrogates. So did Angharad, and so have a lot of writers considerably less talented than either of them. The overall quality of a story can't be measured by how badly a character behaves, assuming there's a convincing reason for her behavior. Our overall enjoyment of said story may well hinge on such things, but's that's an entirely different matter.
I hope Angharad will continue to write here. I don't believe anyone who commented would disagree. That doesn't necessarily mean that we're going to like everything that she does to the TG characters in her stories, or that we'll refrain from explaining what we don't like and why, as long as we can do it without resorting to personal insults or accusations.
Eric (who, FWIW, didn't comment on the story because the point had been made)
One Among Many...
I am one among many that are glad you do write. I read your story and found it to be very good. People need to remember that these stories are fiction. No one was harmed in there writing. So they need to get over themselves. If they don't like certain subjects, then they shouldn't read them, I don't. That's one of reasons for the tags. And if I start reading a story and find it to be too upsetting then I stop reading it.
Readers have an obligation to themselves and the community. If they don't like something, don't read it. But just because they have a problem with it doesn't mean they should castigate the author.
You are one of the best authors on this site and I enjoy your stories, even the ones that contain elements that I would never want to happen to me, or someone else. There are sometimes bad events which are necessary to a stories plot and are appropriate to the story. The rape scene in the movie Death Wish, starring Charles Bronson, is one such example. It sets the tone and justifies the husband wanting to go after the scumbags who did it. There are many more as well. Your story sets up the reasons why 'Eve' made the choices he did and explains why he was in that position in the first place. In no way does it condone the actions of the mother and aunt slipping him t-blockers.
Please keep writing, because many more of us really enjoy your works. God bless you and have a Merry Christmas. May Peace and Joy be yours this holiday season.
Hugs,
Erin G of Wis
PS- I am a Christian
your writiing
I love your writing even though I do not comment all the time. Please continue writing.
Hugs,
Jenna From FL
Moderator/Editor
TopShelf BigCloset
It is a long road ahead but I will finally become who I should be.
I have not had a chance to read the story yet,
but it doesn't matter.
Ang, you have made a difference for me. I would miss you terribly if you left the scene. Please, know there are people here who love you and your work.
Most of all,
Merry Christmas
Wendy
Well, call me an optimist but
Well, call me an optimist but but I think you are looking at this wrong your style of writing makes the characters come alive and be real to the reader, enough that they care what happens to them.
So in a way they are compliments to your ability, granted they don't seem like it at the first read of them but if they didn't like your stories they wouldn't read them.
Some people just need to think about the message they typed before they hit the send button (such as how would they feel if somebody sent them a message like that about one of their stories)
I hope you don't quit writing your stories would be sorely missed
people
ya know, the more people I meet, the more I like my dog!
tell the id 10 t error folks they got the brain damage and ignore them.
your work is often heart wrenching and gripping but not everyone has a heart
and say mean disparaging comments simply because they are
not intelligent enough to make actual statements thanks for what
you do. thanks for doing it so well ed
ed
Aug, it is a very good story. You SHOULD write more
I LOVE that your characters are complex, even in a short tale like this latest.
I like your tales because your characters are not cardboard cutouts. Your characters are memorable because they are not black and white but intricate shades of grey as are most real people.
In your recent Christmas tale is clear the mom meant well but didn't consider the potential long term effects of what she and her sister did to keep his voice so youthful and angelic.
The tale does not imply either women meant the boy harm. Just that with time what is being done to him is acquiring its own *momentum* and might not be stoppable.
Even though complaining how he is not maturing like his contemporaries, her child appears to be showing signs that maybe *she* IS a girl at heart.
Your seemingly simple tales are surprisingly complex and make the reader think.
You are to be commended for attempting stories that are not all cotton candy and happy bunnies... not that I don’t like that kind of tale too.
Please get well and write what YOU want. Don't let our comments from the cheap seats upset you.
If my comment to your latest Christmas tale upset you I apologize.
That was never my intent. I DO like that story.
You write stores with characters the reader empathizes with and care about. Not an easy thing to do.
Bravo.
John in Wauwatosa
John in Wauwatosa
Various Mental Disturbances ...
I actually thought the story was quite nice. I could relate to it because I was given some pills in my youth that in retrospect, I think might have been testosterone. I was a very tiny, effeminate child and perhaps they used those pills to jumpstart me? Later medical tests reveal that I was not pure boy.
Add to that the fact that I was given a girl's name at birth and my raised me as a girl ... yes you get the drift.
There are a few here who act like anything but women, who are prone to one sided thinking, to whom everything that happens is an excuse to get dramatic and outraged. And, sometimes I am one of them.
I am sorry that a few just did not get it.
Much peace
Gwen
So, MTS?
Mark Twain syndrome... take a brilliant writer, and nitpick their stories due to an element you don't like or think is inappropriate. Like Mark Twain and the racism angle.
Honestly Angharad, life is too short to worry about people who raise this kind of objection. Label it child abuse if you want, child abuse happens. Write what you want, your fans will take care of the rest.
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If you appreciate my tales, please consider supporting me on Patreon so that I may continue:
https://www.patreon.com/Nagrij
I Was Hammered
... about incest in one of my stories (wait until you read the current one I am posting). Those in charge deleted the rant. Because I write about it doesn't mean I'm an advocate for it. It just happened to be a significant element in a series of my stories. The effects of the act had far reaching consequences, none anticipated, on many people. As the others who commented before I did. It is your prerogative to write about what you want to. You didn't advocate what the mother did. You just talked about the consequences. You certainly did it much more delicately that other authors have done in the past. There was no hate, no getting even. It may not have been right; however, going forward is the only choice.
Portia
Because they care
Hello Ang,
The comments others have made is a reflection on the skill of the writer to engage with the reader. The fact that they care about the character shows how good your writing is.
However negative the comment was, please do not give up what you enjoy, the writing. Remember that your entertaining and thought provoking stories always give pleasure to your readers, even if sometimes they fail to realise this.
Love to All
Anne G.
Gee, Ang,
Look at the other side! Now you can write a pseudo-F2M story when E is in er 20's....
A joke, a joke.
(I haven't read the negative comments.)
Hope you feel better. I've been having a bad mental health month.
Hugs and Bright Blessings,
Renee
Please, Just Shrug It Off
There are a lot of damaged people here, reading stories, myself included. For me, many of these stories were healing, and I'm healthier for reading them. But, I'm still damaged, and some stories hurt, and not in a good way, and some others are just annoying. I don't read those, or at least I don't finish reading those.
Yours, I read. You've become one of my favorite authors and I tune in every day for another episode in your amazing, long-running saga. It amazes me that you manage to write additional, unrelated stories as well. To say I admire you would be an understatement.
Please don't let the people who express their problems with your work get you down. Their problems, whatever they are, are theirs. If no one wrote anything that would trigger or annoy anyone, there'd be nothing here. Please remember all the good you do, all the amusement and yes, healing, that you bring to many, and forgive the few for their problems and the way they express themselves.
Merry Christmas, Angharad, and thank you for everything! May the new year be a happy, healthy and prosperous one for you and yours.
Forced fem
That was the justification for the attacks, I believe. Perhaps the critics could consider the difference between a forced fem story which effectively glories in the idea and one in which it is a plot device with no suggestion of the author's approval of it as a 'good thing'.
I hate the idea of forced fem, but I still wrote a book in which it was the major plot device. That book (Sweat and Tears) contains some of the nastiest events I have ever written, but I rather believe my disapproval of it is evident. From my reading of "Christmas Eve", the actions by his mother were a plot device. Nothing more.
Have a Christmas hug, Ang.
I read it.
And liked it. Although I've read every episode of Bike since you first started writing it I like it when you branch out. I've read many if not most of your non-bike stories and enjoyed them all. I'm sorry you're ill and, having also experienced loss, know that the first few holidays after a loss are horrible to go through. A bad combination. I wish you well whatever your writing future.
Charles Schultz said it best,
through one of his famous cartoon characters, Lucy, from "Peanuts."
If you gotta watch everything you say (write), you'll never get anything said (written). Yes, I paraphrased, but it's true,nevertheless.
Write what YOU wanna write and it someone doesn't like it there's always the old saw about: "If you don't like it, don't read it." your stories always entertain and you tell (write) them very well.
Besides, you know that SOME people would complain if they were being hanged even with a new rope.
Catherine Linda Michel
As a T-woman, I do have a Y chromosome... it's just in cursive, pink script.
Why negative comments have more weight
Well, I don't know why they do, but negative comments, especially when they're emotionally charged,
have a bigger impact than a truckload of positive comments.
I'm glad you do "bother" -- and I hope you know there is an ocean of good feeling and appreciation
for what you write. You're a wonderful influence here, and if you ceased to "bother" I'd certainly miss you.
Kaleigh Way
I hope...
I hope you're over the infection, by now...
But, as to comments, I am glad you allow them. Mostly I guess because I abuse the opportunity... And comment a lot. LOL
There IS another option in finding a male soprano... Though, evenrarer (as I indicated on the story). I happen to know a 40something male counter tenor. David sings quite beautifully in the high soprano range, and has won a Tony award (Broadway) as well as international awards (one signed by that Pavarotti guy) that I've seen hanging on his studio walls. So - there is a way for a functional male to be able to sing that high, too. (I posted a YouTube of one of his songs from the musical Chicago in my comment to your story. It's worth a listen.)
Thanks for writing.
Annette