Do You Find Many Writers To Be "Pretentious"?

Sorry, totally my fault, I really should have understood that not everyone on a creative writing forum that declares themselves to be a master of everything would have a working knowledge of irony and subtext⸮ Guess I should start using percontation marks.

 

I think it's highly likely that there are people who would try to deny the US-born children of illegal immigrants the rights of citizenship, including the right to vote.

Pretty much everything is political. Fiction needs conflict. There aren't many conflicts that aren't applicable to one political issue or another.

 

We agree on that much.

 

I think on forums writers who lack ability and don’t understand what they’re doing wrong often get upset and so view pointers as signs of pretention.

Let’s face it, people are not fond of hearing bad news. It is easier to blame someone else for their faults than to amend our own.

On forums there is a certain level of arrogance, but that just comes with the territory. At the end of the day even a novice dishing our advice can act pretentiously, yet they may say something useful. The most annoying thing is having words put into your mouth by another. This happens all the time online. Rather than asking if you meant X not Y people like to posture and paint you a certain colour.

It’s all fun and games though. Forums are interesting places to view human nature (amplified).

 

The thing about Shakespeare is that he was incredibly popular with ordinary folks at the time his plays were being shown. He was the crowd-pleasing Steven Spielberg of his day. The fact that more than 500 years has passed since he was 'the thing' doesn't make him pretentious. It just means it takes a bit more effort in our time and place, to understand what his words referred to. It was worth it to me. A lot of what he wrote was actually very funny.

 

Also, seeing a Shakespeare play is fundamentally different from reading the words. It's infinitely easier to enjoy the words when you've seen them performed.

I wander off to watch Kenneth Branagh's St. Crispin's Day speech:



And that argument between Beatrice and Benedick:

 

Gohd! I couldn't care less!
Boring? Now that's when I light the torches and get the pitchforks!

 

It's important to sift through pretentious criticism and try to find anything that might be of value to you.

Writers might come across as pretentious. I got way more of that vibe from theat- sorry, I almost vomited - theater kids.

To be honest though I think pretentiousness comes with the territory, no matter what art form. There's pretentious stereotypes for photographers, painters, poets, novelists, journalists, etc. And there's *at least* a grain of truth to them all; probably a whole heap actually.

 

There is an element of 'The Emperor's New Clothes' sometimes, isn't there? And we say, 'Oh, isn't that gorgeous? Doesn't he look fine?' when we actually can't see anything at all? Because we're afraid to be the wee boy who says, but he's not wearing anything at all.

 

I know what you mean. People have to realize that it's okay to say, "Yeah, I don't get it." Or, "Yeah, I don't like it."

Explaining art to someone can sometimes be like explaining a joke to someone.

 

Like in anything you take part in their are pretentious people. There was one woman on another forum I was briefly apart of until I found my home here, and she was very pretentious. She seemed to talk down to everyone as though they were idiots. You'd get new writers asking questions and she'd say things like:
"If you haven't learnt this yet then you should be studying your craft NOT trying to write." - I saw those two as mostly one in the same.
She banged on about her published work at every available opportunity. She also seemed to have a mean streak for youngsters and since I was fourteen I came under fire several times. People either outright disliked her or bow to her in hopes of saving their skin. If she lost a disagreement she would act offended so you'd apologise. However, she would never give the names of her book saying 'their were crazy people on the internet'. (There are crazy people in the world too but you put your books out there, thinks I)
But I did mange to find her books and they hadn't done very well. She'd done well enough to publish traditionally, so they were of a standard but the review that she did have were mostly 1-2 stars. I just decided to take what she said at face value. I used what was helpful and ditched the rest, if she tried to spar with me I would just ignore her.

But sometimes you meet people who are overly humble. They're quite good and deep down they know it, but constantly go on about being bad at writing. Maybe in the hopes someone will say something to boost their ego.

Most writers I find to be lovely. We are an odd species. Lots of creative acts involve collaboration, and some need it otherwise the art would die out.

 

What does that even mean?

 

I'm only guessing - not speaking for Badger - but I thought it meant that it's easy to be arrogant when you're anonymous and behind a screen.

Another thing I've noticed on the internet is that it's easy to mistake somebody for being pretentious / arrogant when they may just be blunt and to-the-point. Or in other words you can read something in a way that sounds quite far off from the writer's intention; sometimes a matter of projection, sometimes a matter of careless wording on behalf of the writer, etc. The internet is notorious for these misunderstandings. It "comes with the territory".

 

Easy? I don't even know what you mean by that. I know I expect/demand the same civility on a forum as I would/do in person. It might be "easy" (whatever that means) to be a bald-faced liar on a forum, but it's no less intolerable. At least for me.

 

I think you are missing the point.
Its easy for a little person to go on the internet boasting the longest legs in the world and look down on others for their own deficiencies. I could go around this forum boasting I was the best writer in the world, but in reality, the only one i've read my writing to is my ferret. and he's deaf.
(disclaimer: i dont do this)

You expect/demand the same civility you give, but it doesnt work like that. you never know who you are talking to behind the screen.

Comes with the territory....

 

Yes, it does. That's the point.

 

bullies aren't going to be nice to you just because you are nice to them.... especially bullies behind a computer screen. there is no incentive to be nice or civil. who are you to them? a username and a google image.

Part of the reason why this is the first chat room/forum space I've ever joined. i typically dont converse with strangers on the internet for the reason I said above. But I like you guys and I've not encounter an "internet bully" on here so far.

I also acknowledge that there are people out there/on here who don't care what I expect or demand or that I am civil. to adapt the words of Tommy Pickles: "A baby's gunna do what a baby's gunna do"

 

Seven, you always have the best quotes.

--

 

I've never made, or even hinted, at those claims. Nor would I ever.

 

What are you going to do? Punch them in the nose? Walk away from your computer and never return?

 

You're so pretentious. Like, literally, oh my Gawd.

 

I don't think that writers are any more pretentious than other people. People can come across as pretentious and condescending across any field. Snobbery abounds.