Tag: comradewodka

comradewodka replied to your post “comradewodka replied to your post:
okay it’s a…”

and incidentally, what do you think about ‘mystery’ stories that do give you most if not all of the clues you need to piece it together yourself, but also may rely on later twists/reveals to make sure you’re ‘pleasantly misled’ or don’t get it all right all at once? sort of a la phoenix wright and so on

I MISSED THIS sorry

Well personally, I don’t give a shit if I figure out the story in advance. I’ve read a lot, I’ve written a lot, and I’m very, very, hard to surprise. Sitting here, I can’t remember the last time that I was actually caught off guard (though I remember at least one time where I predicted the last 30min of a movie so accurately that my stepdad just turned off the tv in disgust).

If a twist is really done well it’ll usually make me scream, delightedly. But this means that the actual clues to the twist were there, I just missed them.

Authors who put in twists just to have them (especially if they’re not actually supported by the story) really irritate me. I had a friend like that who really idolized King and wanted to put twists in all his stories. I tried to break him of the habit only because he was more focused on the twist than on a believable narrative to get there, which I think is ALSO a problem with a lot of authors who write those kinds of stories.

They’re more interested in one-upping their readers than anything else, which doesn’t sit right with me.

So, basically, it depends on the skill of the writer!

ah, yeah. i agree, though i think it’s possible to write a detective novel that -doesn’t- withhold information or just jerk off the protag the whole time. its just that uh, our current storytelling community sure loves to lean in that direction. |D;

would you consider a novel that is about a detective but handles things more competently to no longer be ‘detective fiction’ but rather cross back into ‘mystery’ then?

yeahhhhhh well that’s why we write our own stories isn’t it XD

And sure I would! I dislike detective fiction as a whole but I don’t dismiss it outright, and I know there is some overlap between them. (like what mystery novel doesn’t ultimately focus on its hero?) this is specifically about Hard Line Detective Fiction that I really hate.

If it leaned more the one way than the other I would try it, but I may or may not like it in the end.

please explain to me the difference, not because im arguing but because i genuinely want to hear your personal rationale on why one is superior

Well, mystery fiction is about the mystery and detective fiction is about the detective which seems innocent enough but what you end up with is:

Mystery Fiction: a fun, suspenseful ride with at least somewhat engaging characters, where the reader is generally encouraged to guess at the ending based on knowing context clues that the detective may or may not have (most crime shows, but not all are like this) and I really enjoy it! I like getting into the mystery, watching the detective struggle and everything come together and seeing if I’m right at the end

Detective Fiction: a monument to how Great and Special the detective is (a la Sherlock Holmes and other variations like House). It’s not about us being able to figure it out. It’s about showing how much better the detective is than us or other people in their world. We might not even get the clues until the detective reveals them at the end, so it’s not about the mystery or even an enjoyable ride to the end as all you can do is get dragged along and wait for that AHA moment where the author deigns to tell you what’s Actually Going On

Bad. BORING. Also the characters are usually assholes.

I’ve just never found that kind of story-telling enjoyable because I actually like interacting with media I consume.

incredible. how do you even find this stuff

@tornaloadir sent it to me because she loves enabling my bad habits

dont mind me im over here still amused that i can now point at a dumb person and go ‘pee pee pee pee

XD

well I will mind you when you have fun things to say ahaha

yeah i mean Steven U is basically the exact opposite of Problematique and it still attracted terrible fans due to the hype/performative progressivity pedestal phenomenon (PPPP)

right and (god I hate the word problematic it’s the Worst) but like, every show has issues. every show has things that can, and probably should be discussed.

but the discussions should be relatively civil for things like that, not this black and white, hyper-rabid nonsense

Depends how stuff tracks… maybe it counts them coming back for multiple chapters or they accidentally close tabs a lot… or maybe they’re a compulsive re reader like I am lol

It might be for multiple chapters but I think it tracks them separately (but also I noticed most when it was only one chapter, before I put any more up).

I guess some people do read like that then! Just odd to have it in the same day lol