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I'll admit that before I published a story, I didn't understand the need to provide a comment on the stories I read, even though we are constantly reminded to do so.
Now, having started my own story, Becoming Monica, I see why we should drop a note to the author, even if to just say well done, or sorry, I didn't like that story. I find myself logging on a couple of times a day to see if someone has left me a comment when I publish a new chapter. I enjoy the comments when readers try to anticipate upcoming events, and take pleasure when a reader asks a question that I asked myself and have resolved in a future chapter.
Anyway, just thought I'd make the comment that I'll be my forthcoming on my comments when I read another authors work, as I now understand the 'want' for feedback from our readers.
Comments
The addiction
has got you already - but it got you a comment.
Welcome to the loony bin.
Angharad
Angharad
I can relate hun
I still keep looking to see if i get coments and i havent wrote anything since i belive october lol, which is a little funny thinking about it lol.
Its a craving to see a comment of a reader, because it is like getting a letter from a fan, someone that read the work you created, and how the tok the story, interpreted the story, how there emotions were from reading it, and even if they did or not enjoy it :) Not only the coments also give us all the ideas at time in continueing the story's we right, and or even theories, etc that help us understand how our writing speaks to others and what not only cathches there attention but what also makes it addictive for themto read just as there coments are to us and even the craving and continues angles our brain gives us of ideas for our stories.
Sorry if it sounds like i rambled, lol i tend to do that lol
hugs,
Erin Amelia Fletcher
With Love and Light, and Smiles so Bright!
Erin Amelia Fletcher
I can relate now
As Angharad points out...it becomes an obsession...
I also learned that its not a good idea to post two chapters on the same day...
Hits (Browsers); Votes (Buyers); Comments (Fans)
"Its a craving to see a comment of a reader, because it is like getting a letter from a fan, someone that read the work you created..."
A good point, and it brought these analogies to mind.
You could think of hits as being browsers in a book store. They pick your book off the shelf, perhaps just look at the cover, maybe thumb through it, or perhaps even take it over to a chair and read a bit while they drink a cuppa.
Then votes are the ones who take the book to the checkout and actually buy a copy. Rarer and way better than browsers.
Lastly comments are the fan letters. Rarer still and the best of all.
Kris
Kris
{I leave a trail of Kudos as I browse the site. Be careful where you step!}
I've not found an...
antidote to the addiction. Nor, a twelve step program, nor any other mechanism to avoid the desire to keep looking for comments. I tell my self it's not important, but, I still look - and I'm way behind, and my three fans would probably be happier if I spent the time writing, instead of reading and commenting.
Welcome to the club. :-)
Annette
Whew!
Whew, I'm not the only one. I try to check my stories daily for comments, and the like. I'm a little ashamed to admitt that I even look for comments on the first Chapter of Camp Kumoni.
I like the 'Browse, Buy, and Fan' annalogy. I know that I never left comments befoe I began posting. but I TRY to leave either a comment or a PM with an author every time because if helps feed their addiction as well.
Hits are pats on a back but a comment is a hug. I've been lucky enough to share a lot of hugs over the past 2+ years.
Keep the comments alive,
A.A.
In Order To Write
It's said that a good writer must simultaneously be in the minds of all the characters and . . . in the mind of the reader. To accurately read your readers' minds you must have communication with them.
If readers want better stories they must supply that communication. Comments are a good way to communicate with the authors.
It's not just ego gratification. It's about establishing rapport.
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
That's exactly right
I love to see people's comments on my own stories, It helps to steer the story in a positive direction.
From the point of view of the writer, commentary allows them to tap into his/her audiences expectations. The people reading their work are not to be disappointed or let down. A good author answers to his audience like a good politician (a contemporary example escapes me) answers to his constituency.
From the point of view of the audience, it provides an opportunity to participate in the creative process in several ways. The audience is free to ask questions about details that require further explanation or clarification. They can also make helpful suggestions concerning plot direction providing ideas and inspiration.
Comments Help Editors Too…
I haven't posted a story of my own for a few months now—I know it's too long—but I edit for several authors on the site and enjoy the experience. A good editor is not just a proof-reader and a corrector of punctuation and spelling, but should also make suggestions to the author which might improve the story's flow—or even the plot line. Okay, I might be a bit big-headed, but I always get a wee frisson of pleasure when an author accepts one of my suggestions and it gets picked up in a comment. It makes the hard work I put in behind the scenes seem so much more worthwhile. I agree that comments can be extremely addictive.
For Aunt Greta fans, I have Chapter 23 over half written, and I promise it will be finished as soon as my muse returns. Perhaps I should make that my New Year's resolution?
New Year hugs,
Gabi.
Gabi.
Comments for editors
Okay so I like an ego rub too and I can understand how it can work for the editors of pieces.
I haven't posted for ages, yet like all of the above, I keep checking - just in case.
Even 'hits' are gratifying as it lets me know that some of my older stuff is still being read.
Long may it continue :)
I don't just look it, I'm totally hooked on comments, hits and votes
Mirror for the Narcissus.
What for the Narcissus needs a mirror? Correctly, to admire oneself. To say to oneself: "Ah,I such beautiful! More beautifully than I was not present in the whole world!"
Now, I think, it is easy to guess what for to authors reader's comments are necessary. I mean those comments which remain in BC.
My take on comments....
....I've said this elsewhere; I'm an affirmation sponge. Growing up in a house where abuse and neglect were de rigeuer, my sibs and I never knew where we stood. I expect I'm not the only one in this position, especially in this community. So having someone tell me what they found my work amusing or entertaining or compelling builds me up...there's nothing wrong with being edified. After spending nearly 20 years of being torn down and discouraged, I can tell you I appreciate the alternative.
We write for ourselves, it's true, but we also write for the reader. A hit on a story can mean the reader read to the end and was glad or satisfied with the work, or it could merely mean they read a few sentences and gave up or decided they did not like the work. Votes help, since they indicate that someone actually appreciated the story.
But comments are valuable for both reader and author. The author gains an understanding of what the reader enjoyed or even found lacking, but the feedback helps the author hone their craft and gain insight into the reader's mind and even heart. The reader gains the opportunity to have a sense of participation in the work, since our writing is not merely an expression of fiction and its various genre', but also an expression of a community as well.
And keep in mind that the administrators encourage we as readers to leave comments, as that provides the author with solid evidence that they are reaching the readers they want to entertain, strengthen and encourage. So as they used to say, keep those cards and letters coming in. Thanks to all who have read, voted and commented on my writing; it means the world to me
She was born for all the wrong reasons but grew up for all the right ones.
Possa Dio riccamente vi benedica, tutto il mio amore, Andrea
Love, Andrea Lena
Street with two-way traffic?!
With all due respect to you (and it not a figure of speech - I really respect you) I may be permitted will disagree with you. Particularly you quite can to accept criticism adequately. Can be even rigid, marginally acceptable. To you it, of course is not pleasant, but you accept the facts as is.
Absolutely an another matter to speak on behalf of ALL authors. Erin somewhere mentioned as some authors asked her to "shoot down" those or other users. These authors wished from readers only one - praises. Having got instead to the critic they took offence and threatened Erin to withdraw the stories from BC.
Street with traffic lights
As I mentioned in my 'opening rant' that I would even appreciate a 'No, I didn't like this story' comment. If I wanted to know more on why that reader didn't like my story, I could follow up one on one, so that it didn't become public.
If something offends me, I'd prefer to discuss it in private should I feel strongly enough to raise it, otherwise I hope i'm wise and considerate enough to ignore it, accepting that my perspective is different to others.
Street of the closed doors.
Well, I have understood your point of view on current situation.
Just absolutely not clearly what in this context in general needs public expression of the point of view?! Much easier all questions (if they arise) to solve behind the closed doors.
In open access to leave only the module for voting. Then will come "On Earth peace, good will toward men"
Yours faithfully.
I would never presume to speak for anyone other than myself...
...and I apologize for giving that impression. What I was saying is that the process of commenting allows for some give and take. I in no way meant to imply that every author agrees with what I was saying. Having said that, I'm not aware of any author here that is reluctant to receive criticism. What I do know for certain is that several folks have taken offense, not for criticism per se, but for the tone in which it was written. And certainly, most comments, if not almost all, are positive and encouraging. All of the authors I know personally welcome comments, and enjoy the dialog that commentary can and often produces. Again, I'm not speaking for anyone, and I apologize for having left that impression. Thanks
She was born for all the wrong reasons but grew up for all the right ones.
Possa Dio riccamente vi benedica, tutto il mio amore, Andrea
Love, Andrea Lena
Probably I have misunderstood you.
From this your statement "We write for ourselves, it's true, but we also write for the reader." I have drawn an aforecited conclusion (as it has appeared - wrong).
I accept your apologies. In turn I too want will apologise for wrong understanding of your (undoubtedly wise) thought.
"And certainly, most comments, if not almost all, are positive and encouraging".
You speak about comments which are got personally by you or about ALL COMMENTS in general?!
It is however rather a rhetorical question. Any other comments simply silently disappear in an Acheron.
Simply very few people has time to see them. They will share fate of meteors. To flame up and almost instantly to fade away.
Yours faithfully.
Valuable commentary
I look forward to comments that can help me know what did and didn't work in my writing, so that I can work to improve.
No comments or votes
After having read the discussion on the subject, I don't feel like any new ground has been covered. Frankly, I have thought about it a lot. I hear that a facility exists on BCTS to turn off comments and votes, and I think that may be what I do with any stories I publish in the future. It is simply too painful for me to watch the counters. Many sites don't have the capability and I think I would do fine with out them.
On other sites, when it is not easy to contact the author, there have been times when I expended a lot of effort to do so on stories that I thought were special.
Khadijah
Turning it all off
The problem with turning the hit counter off is, you will never know if anyone has read your story. If that's the case, it's no better than throwing leaflets out of an airplane - you have no idea if any of them get read, so would there be any point in writing in the first place?
I write stories because (a) I have a compulsion to, and (b) I want to share my creations with someone else, because I think it would be a waste if they just sat in a folder on my shelf, or stayed inside my head.
Because of that, it makes sense to see how well other people receive them. Even the simple hit counter gives me some kind of feedback. If the counter stays low, I'm doing something wrong and I had better review/rewrite that story, or modify my approach for my next one.
The actual values don't matter. I know I'm never going to get as high a hitcount/vote count/comment count as some here simply because I don't (physically can't) write enough. But the hit/votes/comments I do get indicate that I'm at least doing something the community thinks is worth while.
I think it's a bad idea to obsess over the actual numbers one gets for any particular story. It may simply mean that your usual readers were on holiday/undergoing SRS/cut off from the internet that day. As others have said, it doesn't have a lot of relationship to anything important. Much like our stories, really. However, that's not a reason to stop writing them.
Penny
My views are shifting
I really don't know if I am falling prey to religious extremisim, or if I am simply constipated, but my interest in stories is really shifting. I really only follow certain authors any more, and I may eventually even stop that. Who knows where life will take me.
I gotta admit. even I feel
I gotta admit. even I feel the same way. I'd love nothing more than to hear feedback of my stories, to learn where I can improve, where it's a little uncertain....I don't bite, and it won't make me stop writing. I love it. I just get...disappointed when I see one or two comments from a person. and I love comments. I love the feel of seeing people enjoy my story, but I can't make it any better if no one helps me make it better, ya know? And I understand that of others too.
I used to be broken, I used to be lost. Unsure of what I was, until he found me...
Never be afraid to push yourself to new limits. While you might not see the path, you will be amazed at what you can achieve.