I agree. It's astonishing that some people remember how to breathe sometimes. >_< And yeah, too often the fics that get rave reviews make me want to pound the fics and the reviewers both with an aluminum baseball bat until my arms get so tired I can't lift them anymore.
At any rate, mediocrity gets the lion's share of praise-- partly because many people are too lazy to try to understand more involved or deeper works, Partly because many people may be too dumb to fully appreciate them, and partly because most people, even the smarter ones, are jealous of others' intellects.
In other words, I think a lot of people praise the mediocre or bad fics simply because they don't have to be jealous of the minds that created them, and because they don't have to bear the burden of having *their* minds challenged or bettered by reading them.
This happens to such an extent in fandom that I've known a few authors who actually worry *when they get* a lot of praise, for fear that it means they're becoming mediocre, or for fear that it means the story they just put out there wasn't as good as their usual level.
*sigh*
I know I'm not right as often as I'd like to think I am, and I know that I'm occasionally far too short and nasty with people when I think they're being stupid... but Jesus. Sometimes you just want to shake the writers and scream, "TRY, FOR GOD'S SAKE!" Or in the case of readers, "HELLO? FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, DISCRIMINATE A LITTLE!"
This is also why good shows get cancelled in a year or two and crappy ones linger for aeons, IMNSHO. --A Fellow Author
Agreed in full
At any rate, mediocrity gets the lion's share of praise-- partly because many people are too lazy to try to understand more involved or deeper works, Partly because many people may be too dumb to fully appreciate them, and partly because most people, even the smarter ones, are jealous of others' intellects.
In other words, I think a lot of people praise the mediocre or bad fics simply because they don't have to be jealous of the minds that created them, and because they don't have to bear the burden of having *their* minds challenged or bettered by reading them.
This happens to such an extent in fandom that I've known a few authors who actually worry *when they get* a lot of praise, for fear that it means they're becoming mediocre, or for fear that it means the story they just put out there wasn't as good as their usual level.
*sigh*
I know I'm not right as often as I'd like to think I am, and I know that I'm occasionally far too short and nasty with people when I think they're being stupid... but Jesus. Sometimes you just want to shake the writers and scream, "TRY, FOR GOD'S SAKE!" Or in the case of readers, "HELLO? FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, DISCRIMINATE A LITTLE!"
This is also why good shows get cancelled in a year or two and crappy ones linger for aeons, IMNSHO.
--A Fellow Author