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About Tehuti
I am an amateur writer of novels, serials, and novellas. Most of my work is in the genres of fantasy, mythology, drama, occult, GLBT, and erotica.
As I'm not seeking publication, I offer my work online for free reading. I'm not seeking stylistic critique so much as feedback from people who just like reading what I write. I love hearing what people think of my characters, plots, themes, etc., so if you have any comments or advice on those, feel free to share. I'm not hugely popular and often go many months without hearing from readers so I enjoy all the comments I get!
My interests are Ojibwa mythology, Mackinac Island, Egyptian mythology, Jungian symbolism and dream interpretation, ritual crime, fantasy writing, and various other things you can find in my personal bio, available just to the right. Please click to learn more about me and what I'm looking for in terms of readers and potential friends.
Feel free to hit me up if you're interested in any of these things, and enjoy my writing!
Tar! :) |
 Content Rating Notice: Recommended for Readers 18 Years and Older Only |
Untitled Tentative Blog-Type Thing Entry #693248, added on 04-15-10 @ 11:11 am EDT
Entry Access Restriction: None.
I've seen at least two usernames/handles today commenting on the fact that 3 stars equals "average"; one handle even states that average is "okay!" (their exclamation mark, not mine).
I have no clue what prompted these user handles but I remember the same mindset prevailed years ago (mostly among higher-ups on the site) whenever I or others would rant in the General Discussion forum about receiving three-star ratings with no comments attached to explain why the writing deserved three stars or how it could be improved. "Why so upset? Three stars is average and that's fine!" we would be told. This always irritated me to no end, but back then I couldn't put into words why. Now I can. So here goes.
Three stars is average. Meaning not lousy, yet not exemplary. Just plain middling. ("Middling--ordinary and unexceptional," according to my dictionary.) We're being told, on a writing site whose purpose is supposedly to help us improve our writing, that average is "okay." Is it? "Average" is not what gets published. Average is not what gets praised or gets the attention. For the most part, average isn't even what gets read or enjoyed. It's neither bad nor good. It just is. Average may be "okay," but since when are aspiring writers, most of whom are seeking eventual publication (or, if not that as in my case, attention and devoted readers), encouraged to be "just average"? Since when are we told it's just fine to be "unexceptional"?
I'd like to ask these people if they would ever tell their kids, or any kids, that getting consistent Cs in school is just fine and there's no need to shoot for anything higher? Would that be considered "okay"? Cs might earn you a diploma, but they sure don't earn you much else. Average grades in school do not earn you scholarships or honors. Doing "average" in life and work does not look particularly promising on your resume. So how come it's "okay" for writers to get 3s, and if you complain not that you got the 3 but that the reader didn't even bother telling you how you could improve, hey, stop complaining, a 3 is an average and that's fine? (I'm willing to bet that many of the complaints about average ratings are not about the ratings themselves but about the fact that many of them don't come with any constructive advice. Most of the average and poor ratings I got way back when came without any comments whatsoever. Now almost all of my items are set to require reviews, but still once in a while, including recently, I'll get a 3-star rating along with a review like "Really great story, I loved it!" and that just perplexes the hell out of me. I sure wouldn't tell somebody whose story I found average that it was "really great.")
So, when "average" isn't what gets attention, isn't what gets published, isn't even what gets read and enjoyed, how can one really say it's "okay" seeing as most of us post our writing here specifically to get attention, to get published, and to have our work enjoyed? The logic here, that a three is average and that's just fine ("Fine--outstanding; far better than the average," in my dictionary), fails.
I have an entry in which I update on my health condition over the past several months but it's not done and that's for later. Just felt like getting this niggling issue off my chest while it's fresh, since I gave up attempting this logic in the General Discussion forum ages ago. I find it sad that we writers are being encouraged toward mediocrity. That's why TV is nothing but reality show crap nowadays. Take a look, even "The Learning Channel" (quotes deliberate) is almost nothing but shows about little people and families with huge litters of kids; where's the learning in that? A lot of viewer ratings told TLC that average is just fine, so there you go. No more exceptional programming. No more learning. Just average.
ETA: Correct that, I've seen at least six "average" handles now, all of them moderators. Interesting that the moderators, who had to have been more than average to gain their status, are encouraging the rest of us to be unexemplary. 
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This page last updated 11/11/09. Still under construction so may change at any time.
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