Okay... be forewarned this is a touch rantish...
So, I am a bit confused and irritated by the fact that a lot of readers do not comment or vote on stories and not just mine in general. I know that I don't always comment, because sometimes I don't have anything to say, but I do know that Authors really like getting feedback. 300 Rains has generated some interesting comments about a number of issues that I have really enjoyed reading and that have given me ideas. Comments are like applause and are a great way to open a dialogue with the author.
I also enjoy the PM's that some people have sent, as some people edit things and let me know, which is nice and other people tell me how my story has touched them. That is awesome as well. Just some sort of feedback of most any nature would be lovely to see. That way you can gauge how people are reacting to your story and what is and is not working.
When I posted Splintered Life I got a lot of comments and that was good, as they let me know what people were thinking about and how the story was affecting people. Without that input I would never have come up with the idea behind Silly Old Bear, which I think is my most commented on story. I needed those to drive my ideas to a degree.
So comments are a good and sexy thing. Voting on stories are a good and sexy thing. PM's are rather nice as well.
Thanks for reading.
Love,
Heather
Comments
I'm a bit strange...
I'm a bit strange. Okay, probably a a LOT strange.
But, now that we've gotten THAT out of the way... I feel a comment is the most important feedback we can provide an author (whether it be public - or private (PMs)). I rarely use the "voting" button, to be quite honest... And, I was very stingy with my clicking of the button - back when it was called "voting", too.
As an author (I'm not saying how skilled, but having posted stuff here, I'm going to claim the title.) I find comments critical to tell me whether or how well my attempt at writing has done. Few comments (unless the number of reads is miniscule - which tells me something too...) and I know I'm not getting anything useful across... (At least, that's how I take it...
That said - a comment that says only "thanks" or "I liked it" or such is NICE. It's great for my ego... But, I'd MUCH prefer a comment where the reader took a minute or two to say what they liked (or disliked - that's important to me too!) or why or some such. Speculative comments, comments about how what I wrote related to past experiences, etc. are specially appreciated (by me, anyway). In a story that's complete - it's unlikely that a speculative comment will change something in the story. BUT, it might trigger ideas for ANOTHER story. On a serial, or something not complete (& in rare cases when a story's complete & needs fixed - okay, not so rare!) speculative comments are really helpful. They tell me whether hints I've placed are noticed. They tell me how what I've written is interpreted, etc.
More often than not - I prefer public comments (Please send the typos via PM. Becaues, I'll correct them which leaves others looking and saying HUH... - if they look.) to PMs. Why? The provide interaction between readers. Which helps too.
All that said, I do think that on the stories I'm reading, the number of folks commenting, compared to the number of people reading is a pretty sad comment. It takes a few minutes to comment on something you read. The author's put in hours, days, weeks... into writing the story. If there are editors involved their hours also adds up. It's just common courtesy. (Editors gain from coments on stories they've read, too!
Just my rambling 2 cents worth.
Anne
Absolutely. Comments do more
Absolutely. Comments do more than tell the Author what you thought of the story, they can also be stepping stones to more stories. So the more people comment the more stories writers have.
Heather
We are the change that will save the world.
Heather
We are the change that will save the world.
Agreed
I get fuzzy niceness from a thank you, I get intellectual stimulation from a criticism (rarely other than gentle, here), and get a belly rub from the simple fact that I have been read and appreciated enough to stir someone to write. My ego was really boosted when had one or two com,ments from folk who said my writng had helped suggest a course of action in their own lives.
If I stand at the edge of a clif, and shout, I might get echoses, or I might get someone shouting with me, just so we can combine our echoes and make something new.
You don't know how many people read your story
"the number of folks commenting, compared to the number of people reading is a pretty sad comment"
Don't confuse the number of people who click on your story (and perhaps read only a couple of paragraphs) with readers.
I certainly click on lots of stories and, because they are not to my taste, probably read only 5% of them. I suspect many others on this site are the same. It's equivalent to taking a book off the shelf in the library or bookshop and then promptly putting it back again.
It's a shame authors cannot see how many people read to the end - even better if one could see exactly how far people did read, as that would be a good clue as to what turns people off.
Value the comments and the Kudos, and forget about the hits - they're meaningless.
Yeah... the hits are pretty
Yeah... the hits are pretty meaningless. My story A Poetic Journey, a collection of poems to tell a story, has something like 4+k hits and I know that most of them come from people clicking on it after 300 Rains. So hits don't mean a lot.
I totally value all comments and Kudos and I even read those from people I have otherwise on Ignore, because even those have value. The only issue I have now is that I can't figure out how someone would find out how to check the number of Kudos a particular Story has gotten.
Heather
We are the change that will save the world.
Heather
We are the change that will save the world.
The Kudos Total Tally for a story is located
at the upper right hand side of the page just above an author page or chapter page linking. Better spot to look for is right below the Search Bar at the upper right.
Sephrena
I searched several pages and
I searched several pages and can't find anything like that. This is really frustrating.
Heather
We are the change that will save the world.
Heather
We are the change that will save the world.
I'm in total agreement
in what you've been saying. I've written more chapters and better stories from comments that I've gotten.
That being said I've had my views on a story posted by Angela R. changed by reading the comments on her story with the sleepy lights thingy with still to me too long a title. But most of you know the story it generated lots of talk.
Talk is good.
I will say this, I've been busier in RL and time is an issue in reading the things I want to. It makes me pickier too. That's just life.
I try to see us like writers in a paper sometimes. Papers get very little feedback for their authors but people still buy the paper. I guess what I'm saying is that even if some things get very few comments, they still get reads. I -25% off my numbers for those who click onto my stuff and didn't like it and left. It still leaves me with WOW...that many people read my stuff, that's even more impressive in a series or serial where I assume most of the reads are deliberate so I only -10% off that for those who don't read it. These aren't real numbers just my own rule of thumb.
I love my comments.
But I love my readers too.
Bailey Summers
some of the comments i have recieved
have been instrumental in keeping me writing, and (hopefully) improving my craft. I try not to compare my totals (comments and kudos) with anybody else, but sometimes when I see that another writer has a boatload of kudos and a pageful of comments, I wonder what I am doing wrong....
As a commenter...
There are some author's that have specific criteria for what comments they want. Some want constructive criticism, some want only happy comments that heap on praise, others want to see everything. I've seen enough posts on what authors *want* to see in the comments they receive that I've all but given up commenting on stories.
I've given comments that heap on praise but, where I think it was needed, I've given comments that criticize. It's my intention that any criticizing is constructive. I also try to point out good things in the story as well. But I've also left comments that I thought were appropriate and well thought out only to later see those same authors bashing similar comments in their blogs. They complain about the comments they receive and how something should be said and then I'll see those same author's complaining that they don't receive comments.
Author's take the time to write stories and if you read it you should take the time to write a comment. However, author's should also realise that comments take time to write. Comments aren't always going to be lovey dovey notes either. Since most author's don't seem to distinguish this I avoid writing comments on most stories.
If I refrain from writing comments because of this attitude I wonder if others do as well. Perhaps people don't want to put their opinion out there out of fear of it being shot down. Who knows.
Something that bugs me
Are those who don't comment but instead whine about something they don't like about TG fiction. It's at least a once a month pasttime at FM's Hyperboard, not so much a problem over here at BC.
My reply is simple and blunt- The TG fiction authors are working for free. If you can't bother to thank them at least, you got no right to complain. End of story. Also I also point out how pathetic they're being. They can find the time to write their diatribe on TG fiction stories but not the time to write a thank you.
Didn't I just write a diatribe myself. It's directed at the readers, not the authors. I'm grateful for 98% of my commenters, and regularly but not always write them PMs to thank them. I'll even write back the ones who criticize my stories as long as they do it politely.
"Writing is like walking in a deserted street. Out of the dust in the street you make a mud pie."- John le Carre
Daniel, author of maid, whore, bimbo, and sissy free TG fiction since 2000
What the world needs is more geniuses with humility; there are so few of us left.- Oscar Levant
Okay
Okay
I know comments take time to
I know comments take time to write, which is why I value them. As for what a person comments with, I don't really care. I like all comments, the ones that stroke my ego, the ones that point out what a loser I am and the ones that say I misspelled my name again. The reader is exerting the effort and that makes me happy in and of itself.
Heather
We are the change that will save the world.
Heather
We are the change that will save the world.
Reads, Comments, Kudos, and PM's
RAMI
I can not agree with Heather more. While the number of reads is important, the failure to receive kudos, comments and P.M.s even if they are critical, only serves to tell an author that their story sucks.
My last story received at my last check, 13 kudos, 4 comments (all but one fairly short)
and two P.M.'s
My two prior stories did about the same in comments.
So, I doubt that I will be writing any future stories. I know someone will say that I should right for myself, but that really is not necessary, since I can think out the story or visualize it in my brain without the need to take the time to commpose it, rewrit it and edit it.
Unless a story turns me off, I will try and leave a comment and a kudo.
RAMI
RAMI
Posts like this...
...Make me think of turning off all the feedback. If getting comments, kudos and PMs is not enough, what would be?
This next part is not addressed to Rami, but to everyone who writes and posts here:
You found an audience. Write to that audience. So its small, this is a niche market. In absolute terms, even stories that get 50 comments are small.
But that's not really the point, either. There are lots of professional authors out there who would fall off their shoes if they got a comment on what they wrote. Just one comment. Before the internet, comments depended on mail and for most authors were pretty rare. Even now, many authors do not have a presence of the internet and don't get comments or kudos, except they get a paycheck and can look at their sales figures. That's pretty dry.
Celebrate your audience. Give them a nickname. Answer their comments. Post a blog about what you're doing. Just because this site makes your stuff available doesn't mean that a little marketing won't grow your audience.
Hugs to all.
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
I value the comments and Kudos
OK, I'm not a prolific publisher on this site (just two stories), but I've written solely for my own benefit for most of my life and it's so much more rewarding knowing that others are getting pleasure out of my work.
I thank Erin and everyone else involved for making this possible, and doing a hell of a lot of work to make it happen.
Personally, I think it would probably be better if the Kudos were viewable only by the author, and perhaps people would then stop complaining they don't get as many Kudos as some others. Of course, some authors get lots of them, but then none of us are going to compete with Dan Brown.
If you get only one Kudos for a story, it's infinitely better than writing to a black hole, which is what I did for most of my life.
Thank you, Erin, and please don't turn off the Kudos or comments. They mean a lot to me.
I value all comments, Kudos,
I value all comments, Kudos, PM's, smoke signals, hula dances or anything else I can get as a response to something I have written.
Heather
We are the change that will save the world.
Heather
We are the change that will save the world.
Comment recipe
Jan's magic recipe for more comments, kudos &c.:
(knowing how isn't the same as ability to. Obviously.)
1. Post a lot and often.
2. Comment a lot and often on other's stories and blogs.
3. Have someone (a sockpuppet? no, not that, not here, please.) write something really outrageously controversial as a slightly on point comment to your story.
4. Somehow get people to attach pictures of their cats to your story. (Hey, I did that on a blog and got more hits in 3 days than I have ever gotten for anything before.)
5. Write a very good story.
Jan's magic recipe for writing more, better stories.:
(knowing how isn't the same as ability to. Obviously.)
1. Have enough support (money) left for dreams at the end of the month for several months in a row. (how much is 'enough' varies.)
2. Have enough support (emotion, this time, not financial) at the end of the month for dreams, no matter how needy you have been that month. (how much is 'enough' varies.) (This can be from comments and kudos on older writings or from other internet contacts, but flesh and blood is awfully nice too.) But don't just use these as an ego-boost, they are just contact with the world. Just one person is more than enough, if you have the story in you.
3. Write for yourself. Love your story! LOVE your story.
4. Read! Read some more. No, not that! That other thing that is different from that thing you usually read. (Infinite Jest contains the inspiration for at least a dozen TG stories, and I've not quite found any of them. Have a go. Please.)
5. Know your characters. Really really know them. Even if it's only the old lady that drives slowly and makes the protagonist late for the meeting that results in the weird twist ending.
6. Don't write a story you've read! Even if you make some changes to make it better. That might be what you need to write, which is fine and good, but it won't be a really good story. Steal styles, steal plots, steal structures, steal everything! But don't steal stories. (You can, and many do, but you won't make it good ever.)
7. Don't write outlines (I mean and then call that your story.) Don't write strings of declaratory sentences, one after the other after the other. Mix it up. Dialogue, dialogue. Two person, internal, inter-narrator, whatever. I know, your story is getting too long - hey it happens, it always happens. There are other ways to make it shorter (the best and hardest is to take out that description you really love. (Why, no I don't do that very often. Knowing it's right doesn't mean I can do it.)
8. Stop reading advice and blogs and go write.
8. Read, kudo, and comment on my stories. --- No, no, no, just kidding that won't help you at all.
(These may be in order of importance, or they might not be.)
I love to comment
I look at it as a conversation with the author, especially when my comment gets a comment from the author, or even cooler, a PM that let's me get more involved with a story. I admit, I'm a bit of a fanboy. I love the stories, and occasionally (I need spell check on aisle 1!)get too emotionally involved with a character. Heck, I have been a character (Thank you, Bailey! I hope S&L continues,but after the last episodes reception, it might be too much), and it was such an honor!
I love to get comments on my stories. Kudos are nice, at least I know a reader actually read the story, but comments send me over the moon! I'm hoping when I can release the rest of Unexpected Attractions, I recieve tons of comments. I get my story ideas from reading here on BCTS, among other things, and comments only encourage me to write more!
Wren
You know... I see comments
You know... I see comments as a conversation with the reader so I guess that works out all right.
Heather
We are the change that will save the world.
Heather
We are the change that will save the world.
Yes Wren, Heather
I have 'fans', I suppose; there are some few folk who seem to like what I produce and both comment regularly and send me PMs. I try always to respond,as that idea of a conversation is exactly the one I have. I also have a sense of courtesy, and if someone has made the effort to talk to me,then it is only right to reply.
The other aspect is that I feel a responsibility to my 'fans' (oh, sweet egotism!) to finish my stories. I am writng one at the moment that leftme caught between two stools, the request to 'tell the rest' and the opposite,to end at the right and fittng place.
I have tried to compromise there, because I value the opinions of the peopleinvolved, and have come to view them as friends. I wrote for myself, but now I do it partly for friends. That is a win in my book.