#folks i sound like a luddite lmaooo i promise i'm not!!!

[wordsinhaled]

You're so incredibly sweet with your answer re: caps.

Honestly I'll tell you what the feeling I get as a reader as I scroll through texts (And I suppose it is, to some degree a feedback for you, as god knows it's really hard to get people reblog text / fic posts on tumblr) when I see someone posting without capitals, my first thought is "It's a shitpost" and while it certainly works for very short funny texts, it's not precisely the atmosphere I would look for in a fiction I'd dedicate time into reading.

I think to myself "It wasn't important enough for them to go over after the fact and edit the capital letters, so it's probably not so good to begin with, as they didn't show care in it." and so I usually would automatically scroll over, without looking. (Now, /this/ is a me thing, but I assume I'm not alone).

As of readability, it does make it harder to read, at least to me. There's no visible "break points" that you can easily see by the height and size difference, and so everything just goes ahead and ahead and ahead, and in long texts, it can become somewhat daunting.

And the most me-issues is, that I would often focus more on wanting to edit the letters than on actually reading hahah, but frankly, this is a personal reading experience.

I just find it (and I honest to god say it out of a good place) a shame, that you might lose readers or reblogs for such a minor reason.

I skipped your post about 3 times, until someone I like reblogged it and I said "Okay if they reblogged it, I have to actually take the minute to try it" And it was good! It was fun! It was well written! So it's like, the opposite from what the lack of this "I care to edit" passes through.

I worry about giving such feedback, as it really is none of my business, and if it's how you enjoy writing, then frankly? You do it any way /you/ want. I just feel like being a writer on tumblr is hard enough, and it's not often someone would actually tell you what turns them off your work without it being "personal" and "nasty".

So again, I hope I did not dim your spirits, and I enjoyed your writings, despite my OCD jumping up and down hahaha

Have a lovely day dear!

This is definitely valid feedback and I'm glad to be having this conversation!

I feel like... I come at lowercase letters from the perspective of the sphere of say, poetry, where I don't think case affects meaning/validity/the gravity with which a work is perceived, as much. For example, I'm a big fan of ee cummings and I guess some MIGHT argue his work is less valid or less literary because of how he uses caps or lack thereof, but... I think it's harder to argue ee cummings is careless or that his work lacks substance, meaning, or emotional value due to stylistic/punctuation choices. He uses these choices very deliberately to evoke and add additional meaning. Granted I don't know that the lowercase adds meaning to my work but it is stylistic to some degree! I just think there is room, in so-called "Legitimate" writing, for intentionally deviating from the norms of things like capitalization and punctuation and things like that, which shouldn't necessarily delegitimize a piece of writing. Anne Carson just for example (because I just spent like a week reading her work for the mythology fic, haha) - an absolutely formidable scholar/classicist/translator, who does away with caps and punctuation all the time, and creates absolutely meaningful work that takes the classics (arguably super highbrow and bedrocks of the literary canon etc. etc.) into the modern era in really haunting and transformative ways that are still really relevant to our time.

I do think The Internet is definitely a different beast, though, and the norm of how text and writing are perceived online is different and online writing has evolved over time because of that into almost its own version of language, especially with meme culture, so that lowercase now = shitposting, which is a valid take for that context.

I will say on the topic of lowercase = lack of care, though, that—personally, even if I don't take the time at the end to go in and capitalize my letters, for me not doing so doesn't speak to lack of care about my writing at all. I care a lot (a lot!!!!! a really ridiculous amount, lmao) about words and when I write I try to communicate my care through diction and (hopefully!) atmosphere. I totally understand how that subconscious idea of lowercase = lack of care might make some people choose to discount my posts or my fics or scroll by them, which is their absolute choice and which I respect! I do sincerely hope that if people choose to read what I write, the love I put in comes across.

In terms of readability - I totally understand how not having the visual difference of caps vs. no caps makes things harder to read. As someone with a pretty horrendous glasses prescription sometimes when I'm looking at my screen, things like contrast and certain colors etc. make things harder to read, so I get that. I try not to make my paragraphs too long, to avoid walls of text, because that makes perfect sense as well. I think on the printed page, it's a little different, because you have the option of things like serifs, and line weight, and things like that to make things a little easier to make out.

Anyway, all this to say - my spirits aren't dimmed, especially because I think you explained this thoughtfully! I appreciate the feedback on what appeals/doesn't appeal to others about my writing! I'm really honored you chose to read my posts after all despite being turned off by the lowercase and I'm really glad that you enjoyed them. <3

Hope you have a great day!