Gail Simone's Blog, page 1000
June 14, 2012
blackalice:
Me as Mary Marvel Black Alice @ San Diego Comic...
Me as Mary Marvel Black Alice @ San Diego Comic Con!!!
There’s the real Black Alice! She even had the hair perfect!
blackalice:
eyzmaster:
Someone told me it was “Black Alice”...
Someone told me it was “Black Alice” day today.
Might I join in? :P
By all means! ;-)
This is lovely!
That is ADORKABLE.
blackalice:
combonight:
A quick sketch for International Black...
A quick sketch for International Black Alice Day!
A lovely sketch by combonight! I truly love the line work and the expression!
This is adorable. Happy International Black Alice Day!
Fun
Today’s issue of Batgirl has a little cameo by my favorite asskicking female, and tonight I am writing the return of one of my favorite characters.
This is a good day!
Capes & Phaser Banks: Worst Comment In Bad Criticism
“It added nothing to the story.”
ALWAYS cracks me up. :)
I would say that is valid criticism with context. There’s really no context here. “Does this add anything to the story?” seems like it should be a question any writer should be asking themselves? It could be overwriting….
I’ve read Moby Dick a couple times, and I disagree strenuously with the last paragraph of your thoughtful post. I understand that people find the endless whaling detail excrutiating, but to say it ‘adds nothing to the story’ is simply ridiculous. Melville clearly disagreed. If you say, it adds nothing to the MAIN story, I would still argue tooth and nail that that is shooting way wide of the mark.
I think it shows a lack of understanding of tone, context, theme, character, and most importantly for this discussion, subtext. There are a million good reasons to include material that does not directly seem to affect getting protagonist A into conflict B. Instead of saying, ”that does nothing for the main story,” why not ask why that material is included, what the meaning of it is in story terms?
All that’s being shown is a lack of imagination, really.
Melville disagreeing with the poster is not the same as the poster being wrong.
“It adds nothing to the story” is a much more specific statement than “does not directly seem to affect getting protagonist A into conflict B.”
As you say, “[t]here are a million good reasons to include material that does not directly seem to affect getting protagonist A into conflict B.” But I don’t think it’s unfair to point at a particular element of a work and say that it doesn’t carry any of these million reasons.
I say this without knowing any of the context that surrounded the original “It adds nothing to the story” comment - as the other commenters say, we we’re not given that context by your original post.
There really IS no context, it’s just a cringe-making phrase whenever I see it.
I would say that the reader not understanding why a scene is in a story in no way invalidates its import. It’s certainly possible that a writer has added material that actually DOESN’T have a story function…but I would still say that that is going to be the reader’s opinion rather than the author’s intent. And usually, when I see that phrase, it’s a red flag that the critic has no understanding of what a story actually IS.
It’s not sour grapes, I’m not speaking of any review in particular, it’s just something that’s bugged me since I was a kid and read someone use that phrase for a major contextual section in one of the greatest adventure stories of the past several decades, Watership Down. It was their opinion that the bunnies meeting the ‘tamed’ wild rabbits on the way to their eventual home (not the Owsla, the art rabbits), ‘added nothing to the story,’ which is such a boneheaded and clueless thing to say that I have never quite gotten over it. ;)
girlsofgotham:
- Black Alice by Steve Wharton
Holy crap, look...
- Black Alice by Steve Wharton
Holy crap, look at THIS piece!
I LOVE it when an artist brings a strong new POV to a character. This is amazing!
Where To Send Black Alice Day Stuff:
Send your creations to jesterwitch@gmail.com. :-)
She is the mistress of all things Alice!
Capes & Phaser Banks: Worst Comment In Bad Criticism
“It added nothing to the story.”
ALWAYS cracks me up. :)
I would say that is valid criticism with context. There’s really no context here. “Does this add anything to the story?” seems like it should be a question any writer should be asking themselves? It could be overwriting….
I’ve read Moby Dick a couple times, and I disagree strenuously with the last paragraph of your thoughtful post. I understand that people find the endless whaling detail excrutiating, but to say it ‘adds nothing to the story’ is simply ridiculous. Melville clearly disagreed. If you say, it adds nothing to the MAIN story, I would still argue tooth and nail that that is shooting way wide of the mark.
I think it shows a lack of understanding of tone, context, theme, character, and most importantly for this discussion, subtext. There are a million good reasons to include material that does not directly seem to affect getting protagonist A into conflict B. Instead of saying, ”that does nothing for the main story,” why not ask why that material is included, what the meaning of it is in story terms?
All that’s being shown is a lack of imagination, really.
blackalice:
I’m gonna go ahead and kick off International Black...
I’m gonna go ahead and kick off International Black Alice Day w/ this lovely second entry by Big Chris! Happy Black Alice Day, everyone!
Oh, man! It’s International Black Alice Day! Be sure to get your art and cosplay and other BA stuff in, last year this was a BLAST! And thank you to the poster for keeping the Alice flame alive! Also, wow, that is a beautiful head shot!
June 13, 2012
Learned Fool: Worst Comment In Bad Criticism
“It added nothing to the story.”
ALWAYS cracks me up. :)
It’s a legitimate criticism if concentrating on something irrelevant means a lack of focus on something that needs the page time (Or screen time on TV).
Given the extremely limited page time and slow release of…
All of those complaints can be valid. Never have seen the original comment I mentioned be correct, ever.
I doubt “it added nothing to the story” is a comment that, by itself, could ever be correct. Obviously, if something is part of a story, then it’s adding something to the story. I think the problem is that people mean to say that they feel something didn’t add to their enjoyment of the story, or was distracting and unimportant to them, but they don’t explore how. So that’s not really criticism, it’s just using shorthand to discuss how you feel.
What I also hate to see is someone accuse something of being “stupid,” then offer no explanation of what this is supposed to mean. Really, all it indicates is that the critics/fans feel that they’re too smart to enjoy the thing they’re reading/watching/consuming. But if critics are going to decide that their main thesis is that they’re too good for the things they’re supposed to be analyzing, they probably shouldn’t be critics at all…
Yeah, if the critic is that invested in the idea that people should dislike what they dislike, I stop reading.
I like a nice review, I like a bad review, they are both entertaining and even illuminating at times. But there are a couple silly hackneyed catchphrase criticisms that do send me in a spiral up the wall…can’t help it, bad writing is bad writing.
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