Re: Letters -- Christopher Ford, Amateur Paranormalist

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Date Posted: 03:41:06 02/18/02 Mon
Author: ~Steve-o
Subject: Re: Letters
In reply to: TechnoAtheist 's message, "Re: Letters" on 18:06:03 02/17/02 Sun

>K?

Sorry, no habla.

>There are three ways that one can deal with the
>overwhelming silence of your audience.

>1) They agree but don't feel motivated to tell you
>because they're afraid that you might agree, change
>the story, and it would suck (that would be me)

Nah. I wouldn't change Ford storywise for audience feedback. But I would throw in scenes with a character that the audience came to like.

>2) They disagree, but keep coming back for the slow
>motion train wreck you're writing. I believe that you
>and I had discussions about several web comics that
>now fit into that category.

Hmmm... I'm not sure if a comparison to Carson Fire is what I was fishing for. But I'm trying to crank out at least two chapters a week just for that reason.

At least, until the comic book starts. Then you'll have to read the comic to get the final chapter.

>3) They tell you what they feel.

Hopefully. Criticism is a wonderful thing, as long as it's not "YOU SUCK! I WAS LOOKING FOR HOTTIES!!"

And that's really the only time I would take a reader comment to heart, if it were something critical that I could do something about. Unless the complaint is too much dialog; we've already covered the fact that I can't really write and I hide that deficiency with rambling conversations.

But if people like the mystery element then I'll keep doing it, likewise, if they hate the often silly action scenes, then I'll rework them.

>All three are valuable, but ultimately, the story is
>yours. I'd venture to say that this first one is
>something that you're writing for yourself more than
>your audience.

Well, that's precisely why I was wondering how people felt about this one, because it is completely my idea of where the series was heading. Previously, I had taken silly ideas and twisted them into convoluted, confusing stories. This time, I'd gone through all the notes and doo-dads I'd strung out over the past year and decided to tie them all together.

See, each Ford story has three elements: A primary Ford plot, in which Ford is trying to figure out a murder, a back story, in which the characters have something going on, and a supernatural element. I try to make the primary plot a straight up mystery, use the back story to throw the readers off the trail of what's really going on in the primary plot, and then use the supernatural element to explain what the primary plot really is.

This trilogy is actually the culmination of the primary plot, back story, and supernatural element of the entire series so far.

Sure, I could have built it up more and dragged the readers out longer and weaved this story into the rest of the series in a never-ending loop of clues and misdirections, but then David Duchovny would leave and viewers would lose interest and my ratings would flop.

>I'd suggest that the next series you write based on
>audience comments (and make sure that folks are VERY aware
>of that from the get-go)

Yeah, but then we'd have stories about JR getting eaten by fireants and Hetta taking pictures of zombies while trading UH collector cards with Kimmie.

As I said before, I've got all the plot elements for stories up to number 13, so the only thing I would change based on reader feedback is working in more of what readers like and less of what they don't. The actual plots wouldn't change, nor would the characters.

>All told, I enjoy your style of writing. Honestly,
>there are times I have to go back and reread elements
>to remember vital, and often obvious, clues I've
>missed.

I realize that. As I said, I like to keep the story interesting by throwing out red herrings occassionally, but I also realize that's what makes things confusing for readers. I'm trying to get better about rehashing old clues. One of the keys to good mystery writing, apparently, is showing the readers key information that the characters don't know. I try to do that, but I'm not very good at it.

>In fact I'm willing to bet a fair number of folks put
>themselves in that category, waiting until you finish a
>set before delving in. This isn't a slam on your style,
>simply a desire for folks to minimize their own
>impatience.

Understood, and you're probably right. That would also go a long way toward explaining the number of people who've been reading and/or re-reading the first five stories. Now that the series has a history people are starting to get into it.

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