Your Writing Isn't Too Subtle

For N:Era: Call of the Wolves, Cyras hasn't mooned anybody yet. She hasn't done that thing where she licks somebody or bites them playfully, or sits too close to them. 

I don't know if anybody has noticed this yet. 

The obvious reason is she's undergoing depression and while I haven't had her say anything out loud, I've left many minor hints throughout the story she's not feeling well. However, lately I've been feeling like my art is too subtle. 

There's plenty of other moments where I go through this, where I'm not sure if anybody notices all, or even any, of the layers of my stories. For example, I posted one called "Little Owlis' Utopia". And here's an excerpt. 

"I wish I knew some of that magic," Owlis says, though she only speaks up because Knowledge looks serious during these meetings. "I already know, Fire, Lightning, and Earth. Ryvoh knows Water, maybe I'll learn from her."  

"Please Owlis, I'm focusing on this for now, alright Sweetie?" The sternness of [Knowledge's] expression is hidden with a light smile, however Owlis knows that lacks genuineness.

So beneath the surface, we can tell she's not really in need of focus. What is actually being said in this scene is: "Oh, you look like you're not having fun and are too morose about something. There is an awkward silence. Here, let me speak so I can alleviate your stress." 

 "Please stop talking to me, and I'm going to pretend I'm happy when I'm actually emotionally distant and/or upset."

And if you read more of the story, you'd know that even deeper, the story is about how Knowledge's previous main student Ramseas tried too hard to learn four elements and nearly destroyed the academy and the library that Knowledge is repairing with psychic magic right now. Owlis is proposing to learn Water, and that would mean Owlis knows all four magics Ramseas knows. So in other words, Knowledge is cutting her off because Owlis is starting to make her think of Ramseas. 

But, generally speaking, I'm not sure how many people ever caught onto that.

I shouldn't care. And neither should you. 

Look, subtlety is something that people miss. Whenever someone calls a story or plotline "generic", half the time what they're really saying deep down is that they couldn't be assed to engage with the text or movie in question to analyze key traits. 

There's one review by this weird dude on Youtube known as Schaffrilla's Productions wherein he claims that Elsa is a boring character without any traits. Even if you hate "Frozen" with a burning passion (irony leaves a tingly feeling on my tongue), you know that's not the case.

But wow if you can't go without seeing lamebrain takes. Harry Potter is too much of a main character to have personality traits, besides the fact that he resents authority figures, primarily because of abuse, except Albus Dumbledore, or the fact he's usually pessimistic. Hot-tempered, impulsive, heroic even to the point of defending his bullies. And after Goblet of Fire, he goes through bouts of depression. 

("But most of his traits are just generic traits that anybody would have, especially any hero character!") 

To be honest, I think what a lot of people are really saying is they wish every character outright amused them like a court fool, and was juggling pins. Something more important than personality is a character's, well, character. Their convictions and beliefs. 

Regardless of how you feel, Harry had a logical characterization marked with legendary characteristics. 

Something that I think everybody should be forced to do, under penalty of being sent to the mines, is read something from Ernest Hemingway. If you want subtle, that's definitely your man. Even to the way his prose will shift in "The Snows of Kilimanjaro". Make them read John Steinbeck's "The Pearl" and how he talks about how in parables there must be black and white, good and evil, when the story proper isn't black and white, or good and evil. 

Essentially, look, people aren't going to do a critical analysis of your writing and are going to judge based on characteristics like "slow pacing" and "generic characters". 

Eat them. 

Your job, your focus, is to present a story. Some audience members won't "get" what you're selling. I've seen people do re-draws of fine art pieces, and make them "technically better", all while forgetting the soul and motion of the original piece and not understanding a dayum thing about symbology. And if that's the case, well that's a whole world they don't get and you do. 

Your writing isn't too subtle.