Every now and then I re-read some of the comments to my stories as well as the stories to see if I might be able to add anything. What I notice is a pattern to all comments, whether they are for my stories or someone else's, and that is this. Several people pick out a part of the story and only comment on that, others comment on the whole story, and still others like to nit pick about this or that, and it has nothing to do with the story. Also, looking back when I first posted Chrissie on this site in 2002, I find that there are certain people that while they may not have had the love and affection I show in my stories, does not mean it didn't happen for someone else, and they say well that is just so unrealistic. Maybe it was for you, but not for everybody.
Like I don't know where this came from, but in one of my stories I say that 18 is the age of adult back in the 1950's. It certainly was, that is to be a legal adult where you could be on your own without parental consent or guidance. Somebody said it was 21 years old. I think they have legal adult and legal drinking age mixed up. Because you had to be 21 to buy alcohol in a store or drink it in a tavern.
Then there are other comments by this person and others that have nothing to do with the story. So I have this to say.
If you cannot comment on the story as a whole, and say it was entertaining, and maybe a few grammar or spelling mistakes here and there, then please don't bother to comment. Because all you do is stress me and others out. Comment on the story, not what you think is realistic or isn't. These stories are supposed to be for entertainment. If you find a story is in your opinion unrealistic, then consider it a fantasy, or well written fiction, but whatever, please don't say it is unrealistic.
I don't mean to be harsh, but I take my writing seriously and yes I know I have to edit and correct a few spelling and grammar mistakes in most of my stories, but I already know that. All I want to do is write for the entertainment of the TG community. So please comment on the story not what is or isn't realistic, and make sure what you are commenting on is actually in the story.
Love & hugs,
Barbara
Comments
Chill Barbara, you're being far to sensitive for someone...
...that has been here since 2002! Your comment reads like mine did when I first started out writing and posting here way back when.
A lot of those commenting back then have grown and matured in their thinking and attitudes as well. One thing I'm sure you understand is that the new folks arriving here are going to comment like new folks that haven't a clue as to what we go through as writers.
We have to separate the "Newbie Mentality" from those that have been here awhile. Newbies always stick their foot in their mouths until they learn what is what and the unwritten rules of proper online manners. LOL...
I was one of those posters back then that stated how unrealistic your story was because it was 100% positive with no negativity at all. Everything that happened to the young boy turning into a young girl was just so sweet and no adversity ever happened to her.
Hey, I've since learned that there are exceptions to every rule and the fact that this young boy had such a perfect time of it doesn't mean it didn't or couldn't happen.
I love your stories Barbara and always have. They are so sweet and sentimental and always leave me feeling good and with a smile on my face.
I still say you are the Queen of the Sweet and Sentimental writers on this site.
Huggles Barbara and take it easy on the commentators, some of them... "Really know not what they do!"
Angel
"Be Your-Self, So Easy to Say, So Hard to Live!"
"Be Your-Self, So Easy to Say, So Hard to Live!"
About a dozen loyal fans.
I notice that I have about a dozen loyal fans, and the rest just seem to ignore me or dislike me. I like your stories.
I am different than most folks because I freely admit that I write for ME! If someone wants to share my joy fine. If I don't fit in the nitch, What Ever! For me, I am especially happy to see the vote thingie gone. For those who get lots of votes, it makes them happy. For those who don't it just hurts.
Never let them see your tears. Never let them know they hurt you.
Gwen
Taken to task
I've been taken to task before for suggesting it's better not to comment than to leave a criticism, but I still stand by that. I think so many writers are demotivated by it, that criticisms generally do more harm than good. Even the best of us may leave in an occasional spelling misteak! However, I do feel that those who pay absolutely no attention to spelling or grammar are being rude to their readers - it's so easy nowadays for a spellchecker to do 95% of the work to get it right, and it makes such a difference. (No, I wasn't criticising you.)
In terms of it being realistic, make absolutely certain the keywords you use to describe it declare it as fantasy, or whatever. Make certain it does what it says on the tin, otherwise if you do incorrectly describe it, readers have a right to complain when a loving romance turns out to be forced-fem castration.
I also think that if a reader really needs to criticise (English spelling, not US), they should do so by Private Message, not on a public posting. Such criticism can then be seen as helpful, and the author can correct the work, without making a big thing about it.
What I would suggest is that you attend a Writers' Group, where you all criticise each others' work. When you first do it, it's like taking your first leap off the high board into the pool below but it does help you to both improve your work, and learn to better accept criticism from others.
Remember, don't let the bastards get you down!
Lindale - He's Just a Commentator
Lindale - It might be just my opinion, but I would hold your comments out as a role model for others. You're fair and take pains to make your comments the antithesis of personal attacks.
I fully understand the complaint that too many comments are based in whether or not a story is realistic. One of this year's most honored pictures is Inglourious Basterds. That screen play offers glimpses of reality within sometimes absurd fantasy, If it were to be posted here (with Goebbels as a cross-dresser I suppose) it would be ripped for its historical inaccuracies and implausibility.
For example -- at the end of the movie the top echelon of the Nazi regime is watching a movie. Someone intent on killing them simply bars the exits and sets the theatre on fire. I can understand the symbolism, but wouldn't there have been hundreds of elite stormtroopers making sure that didn't happen?
Good literature should allow the reader to melt into the story with suspended disbelief. Good literature doesn't have to be totally faithful to history or the laws of physics. Good literature has to be plausible within the rules established early on in the story between the writer and the reader. Once the parameters are set and the universe is established the writer should make sure they respect those rules.
Angel is right. She and I are part of the few left from the salad days of this site, so we should have developed some wisdom. My problem is I continue to underestimate how much I can hurt people without even knowing it. Erin talks a lot about giving the other person the benefit of the doubt. People within this community are taking huge risks in opening their hearts when they write a story. The readers need to respect what the writers are doing.
Please do comment -- it's important for writers to know what's out there. Some writers are hardcore and love to accept the challenge of criticism, but for every one of them there are a dozen who wilt at the sight of blunt statements.
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
I agree Barbara
Barbara,
I have to agree with your comments. It hurts an author when she gets negative comments that are destructive rather than constructive.
I have always said that if someone doesn’t like my stories, in particular if they don’t believe something I have written, on a factual, or any other level, they should PM me and I will try to have an adult discussion about what is concerning them.
The ‘I don’t believe this’ or ‘this is a load of crap’ brigade’ reminds me of the fact that some of these commenters couldn’t write a story to save their life and just like writing sniping comments because it gives them a misplaced sense of power maybe.
A couple of times I have pulled stories because I was upset at a comment made. To be fair, those people who have done this have had the grace to apologise for their remarks, but it still hurts.
Maybe they don’t realise that we authors put our hearts and souls into our stories and to see them belittled publicly helps no one.
I agree with Angel where she said that we are perhaps being far too sensitive and maybe we should make allowances for newbies. However, there is no excuse for bad manners and I hope that this wonderful place which I consider to be the best of it’s kind on the net, does not become like other sites, where authors remove their material because of negative comments.
Gwen said that she writes for herself and that she is different in this respect. Well I must be different too, as I do write for myself but I also write because I like entertaining people. I couldn’t get up on stage and ‘strut my stuff’ in fact, I’m so shy, I hate speaking up anywhere. So my writing is the only outlet I have for my creative side, long may it last.
Hugs
Sue
~~ This post brought to you by the sponsors of Sue Brown and the letters q, f, j, l and the number 67 ~~
OYE!
Will someone please make up my mind!
Time and time again folks here all but plead with readers to make comments on their stories. Then, there are posts like this that leave readers with the impression that they should comment only if they have something nice, warm and cuddly to say.
I can completely understand Barbara's annoyance by people who make comments in an effort to correct a perceived error that are, themselves wrong. Since I dabble in historical fiction, this happens to me more than I care to remember. When this is the case, I respond as politely as the commenter deserves, directing them to a source I used. By doing so, I hope to encourage, rather than discourage folks from commenting.
As to what I call 'The snipers,' folks who simply make critical comments just to be critical, well, we as writers simply have to put up with that I am afraid. Not everyone is going to be enamored by your baby. Critical comments, when made with all the right intentions are very useful to me, for they help me sharpen my skills, and Lord knows, I do need to sharpen my skills as a writer. I dare say a number of people here could use a few well thought out critique aimed at improving both the story and the author's ability to tell it.
As to pointing out errors, like the above, I always welcome people who tell me I used the word 'ally' when I meant to say 'alley', but I do prefer those to be made in PMs since I am one of those rude people who insult the more discerning readers by not presenting a letter perfect work.
As to the nature of comments, I love to reader the speculation some of the readers post at the end of a chapter as to what they believe, hope, or expect will happen next to a character. It's useful to me to see if what I am trying to steer the reader toward is getting across, particularly in some of the more complex plots I deal with. There have been times when I have had to toss out larger bread crumbs after reading a comment to keep the readers up to spin.
So I ask the other authors, both new and old to please get the message we are sending out to the readers straight. Either we wish people to comment on our works, or we want only those people who are willing to supply us with simpering words of praise.
And readers, please do fire away at me with your comments. Just leave the sniping to the Marine Recon and their good buddies in the sister services.
Well, back to Will and Charlotte.
Nancy Cole
www.nancycole.org
"You may be what you resolve to be."
T.J. Jackson
Please be Frank
(I know that's the last person most people on this site want to be, but read on.)
It's so easy to assume that we are all homogenised: that all writers like this, or all readers hate that. Every one is different, so we are simply not going to get rules that suit everyone.
Some writers seem to revel in criticism which seems to me to border on the masochistic, whilst others are very sensitive. Both are right!
Perhaps we need to develop some standard code that those more robust writers could put at the end of their story, HMP (Hurt Me, Please); CMAB (Call Me A Bitch); TMMWIS (Tell Me My Work Is S****). OK, I'm being facetiousness, but you know what I mean. Perhaps writing something like: "Please be frank with your comments," would function equally well. Those writers who don't put that are indicating they don't want the brickbats.
Oye! (Part Twice)
Writers who wish to receive honest and frank comments are not all masochists who revel in criticism. As I said, when it comes to improving your skills as a writer, it is often the least complementary observations that are the most helpful. Having been rolled by professionals, this is something I can attest to. A steady diet of sweets is not healthy.
This all reminds me of the story of the little bird who was late in flying south. When his wings could no longer deal with the cold, the poor thing fell from the sky and into a barnyard. There the bird thought he was finished. This grim thought seemed to be confirmed when a cow came by and covered the bird with manure.
At first the bird bemoaned his pathetic fate. Only slowly, as the fresh, warm manure began to take the chill out of the bird's wings and revive him did the bird realize just how lucky he was. He was so happy to have been saved in this unusual way that he began to sing with joy.
Unfortunately for the bird, he made so much noise that the barn cat heard him, came up and pulled the bird out of the pile of manure. The rest, as they say, is history.
The moral of this story;
1. Not everyone who dumps on you is your enemy.
2. Not everyone who pulls you from a pile of dung is your friend.
Nancy Cole
www.nancycole.org
"You may be what you resolve to be."
T.J. Jackson
I'm not entirely in agreement with you
Personally, I like to know exactly what my readers think. I might not agree with it, and it might hurt a little, but there are a few things I keep in mind that help with that:
1. No matter what they say short of technical corrections, everything they tell you is opinion.
2. It's the internet, and when people talk or post on the internet they seem to feel free to be as mean as they want, even when it isn't justified.
3. You should never take anything anyone tells you as the gospel truth. Always consider why they think what they do, and decide how to take what they say based on that.
4. It's your work, not theirs. If they get mad over it, well, tough. Unless your goal in writing it was specifically to make that person happy, the only person your writing should satisfy is you.
It really is very easy to ignore bad comments or irrational arguments on the web if you just don't take any of it too personally. Most of the people who post here you've never met, and probably never will, so why let what they say to someone else get you down? To you, they'll never be more than a few lines of code floating through the Ether.
That's my opinion, anyhow :P
So, if you want to listen to what they say, and change your stories to fit how someone else thinks it should have gone, that decision is yours and yours alone, because nothing that anyone says should affect your writing unless you want it to.
Melanie E.
It's all in HOW you say it
Admittedly many here are thin skinned for good reason, life has done them serious harm.
But as a reader I hate to lie to a writer. If I don't like a story I shut up about it or if they are bew here I often welcome them to the site but thats about all, We only get better with practice.
If I enjoy a story but it has probelems for me I ask questions. It simply could be me or perhaps the writer was too vague. Sometimes the readers see things in a story the author missed or did not intend or miss things the author thought were in the story but are not. Such feedback if polite helps me as a writer and others too but I admit it does hurt a litle so say it in a nice way, okay?
Think before you send!
John in Wauwatosa
John in Wauwatosa
I will endevor to honor...
your requests, when I read your stories. (If I forget, please remind me! I will apologize in advance.)
Personally, the comments that just say "nice story" or "keep them coming" or "when's the next", with nothing else, I find the least helpful. (I'm not saying I don't like them, I do, they just don't help me improve!) On the rare instance where I get a comment that causes a reader to describe something from their life that relates - I really (okay, mostly) like those, as they show me I somehow did something right and "connected" at a low level with the reader.
When people comment on one part of a story or another, that shows me that either I did something really well (or more likely boneheadedly) that pulled their attention there. (I'm including both story comments and PMs in this category as most that pointed out my being boneheaded are politely done in PMs. One that stands out in my mind was on on the first few segments of my entry in Karen Page's SPA universe complaining that my British characters sounded AMERICAN. I added a second British editor to help correct that issue and either I managed to do the job successfully or that reader finally gave up on my efforts as a bad job.
So, I'll attempt to restrict my comments on your stories, but I don't know that other authors feel the same way. (If I thought so, I'd be more likely to just stop commenting all together, which may be the better answer.)
Regards,
Annette
Agreed
I am in full agreement with just about everything Annette says. People who do make comments that touch upon something within the story shows me they are interested, (or disgusted depending upon the comment).
As to stop commenting, I believe if everyone does pull back out of fear of saying something that is politically incorrect, (seldom a failing in me, if you haven't already noticed), or concerned the author might pout because the comment was not to her liking, I truly suspect you would see a decline in the number of stories posted here and elsewhere. Comments are the life blood of an author on a site like this. Since the writers don't get paid for their stories here, it's the only way the readers have to pay the piper.
Nancy Cole
"You may be what you resolve to be."
T.J. Jackson
Little change
it's the only way the readers have to pay the piper.
Unfortunately, since the ending of the voting system, this is now true. I suspect that whilst the comments may slightly increase, it certainly won't be by the ten fold increase that votes represented.
Because there are many authors like Barbara, I will continue to be careful about the criticisms I make. If you really want me to be honest with your story, you need to say so at the end of the story.
Sounding American
It often seems that letters to the editor in the British press are half-filled with complaints about people born and raised in England sounding like, or spelling like, Americans. People all around the world watch American films on the telly or in the cinema, they've followed all the episodes of Dallas, and may or may not affect a "Texas" drawl at times (making fun of American accents is great sport -- hell, the Americans do it to themselves, with Texas, the San Fernando Valley, "Down East," and Georgia furnishing particularly amusing targets, although the movie Fargo made fun of people from North Dakota, you betcha!)
As electronic media proliferate, it's becoming ever easier to be "mid-Atlantic" in speech and thought, and this fact is regularly decried by conservatives all over the map, from the clerics who complain about dissolute "Western" (by which they mostly mean American) values, to the French who complain about American slang polluting the purity of the noble French language, to the British, who have taken to spelling words which used to be spelt with "-ize" with "-ise" instead, to boldly assert a "British" spelling which never existed until people started making it up. One of the episodes of the UK television series Morse had him sneering at the "ignorant" use of -ise in a word of Greek origin, the Oxford criterion, which was the key to solving the mystery. All the other characters stared at him in wide-eyed astonishment.
Many scientific journals, even those published in the UK, insist on American spelling conventions in the interest of making it easier to make articles accessible through machine-mediated word by word searches. Some newspapers are doing the same.
Language changes, is changing all the time. Resign yourself, or in that evocative American coinage, get over it.
Cheers,
Liobhan
All your base are belong to us!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVsijmCFs50
-
Cheers,
Liobhan
Language
Not certain what this has got to do with the subject of criticism, but here in the UK, many people feel that both national and regional identities are important, and language, or variations of it, are part of that. So tell a Scot to get over it, and he'll probably get over you with head butt. Tell a Yorkshire person the same and he'll probably do you a GBH. In Cornwall, the previously dead language of Cornish is being reintroduced by street signs written in both English and Cornish.
All through history, these changes have been going on, often a deliberate corruption rather than an accidental one - as the US changed the English dictionary. Go to most of the English ex colonies (including the US!) and you will find English spoken in a way you will hardly recognise. The internet may be providing some harmonisation, but don't believe that mid-Atlantic is the new national standard.
Regional and national variations have always existed and continue to exist because people want to be different. Get used to it!
Once upon a time, I asked a
Once upon a time, I asked a London gal for advice on writing dialog and slang for a British character.
The character became American, with a little rewriting, quite quickly ;-)
I shouldn't tease though. Lord knows for years people not from around here almost needed a Southerner-to-actual-English interpreter just to get directions that didn't involve "Turn right at the cow" (I'm not even making that one up :-P)
~Zoe T.
British Speak
Please don't laugh at me because I shall be shattered? Last May and June, I met a young British woman who was attending an event that I was, and as it turns out, the organization that had promised to attend to housing and transportation for her had filed as insolvent.
So, I put her up for a little over two months and we got on quite well. It was a pivotal time in my life and I vowed that when she left I was not returning to my own depressing life.
During her time with me, I learned that the Brits do wind each other up unmercifully, and she made me cry quite hard several times. It was absolutely dreadful for me. Rather than say she was sorry, she simply told me to grow up, that she was just "winding me up"!
Being of Punjabi descent, but born in England, her opinion of American Politics was really quite harsh. She kept comparing what the west is doing in Afghanistan and Iraq with what the British did in Colonial India. And, according to her, they really made a mess. She dressed very western, but was quick to tell me that when she was at home with her Mom, things must be done properly; that Mom would not permit her to wear western garb.
She did leave an indelible mark on my life because by the time she left, My Okie/Oregon drawl was completely gone and had been replaced with her British Accent. I felt very happy for her to have left me that gift and did not even try to break out of it for some time. When I did, I found it quite difficult to do and after the debacle of last week, have returned to it. I feel quite proud of myself.
Much peace.
Khadihah Gwen
Two People Separate by a Common Language
Having just completed a lengthy collaboration with a pure blooded Saxon who speaks the Queen's English, I can attest to Churchill's lament and the problem with translating the Queen's English into Yankee English. Oye!
Nancy Cole
"You may be what you resolve to be."
T.J. Jackson
I think it's funny
I read some of the comments to my stories and they're so far off base that they make me laugh. If i get a comment that I don't like and it bothers me, its probably because what the person is saying is true. The ones that don't bother me and are critical are ones I laugh about. I use some comments to make my stories better, but I don't let them bother me. Hey the readers have their point of view too. To be perfectly honest, if I hadn't written my stories, I would have hammered my earlier ones worse than the comments I had received. Because of those comments, I believe I've become a better writer, and I think you'll find that those people that make those nasty comments will be the first to read what ever else you post. Commenting on a story is an easy way to take out your aggressions on something that can't talk back. Hey, I'm having a shitty day, and what easier way than to make yourself feel better, your story stinks, or look I'm way more inteligent than you, you used the wrong there, there. Don't let it get under your skin Barbara, you're much too good of an author for that, Arecee
Nitpicking
It’s usually helpful to point out spelling errors and other minor typos, but it’s also important to read the damned story and think about it before saying anything at all. Sometimes, what may look like “errors” are meant to represent regional patterns of speech, or simply the actual writing skills of characters in the story. The movie Inglourious Basterds mentioned above, by Quentin Tarantino, is deliberately mispelt. Despite this horrible “flaw,” it’s been nominated for an Academy Award eight times and has garnered numerous prestigious awards. The title is actually “borrowed” from Quel maledetto treno blindato (1978), released in the USA as The Inglorious Bastards, but hey, who’s keeping track?
Doubtless, the Academy will be shocked, simply shocked, to discover the “error” when someone writes in to point it out. One wonders if Mr Tarantino will ever work in Hollywood again.
Cheers,
Liobhan
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Cheers,
Liobhan
Very good point
If I spend all my time pointing out mistakes I'm afraid my emphasis is on what went wrong when the writer likes to know how the story touched me. What did the writer say that made me feel? What did the writer leave me with to make me a better person even? Did I actually read the story first and think like Liobhan just wrote. I hope I can do that with my comments. Belle
I call them as I see them
I don't often comment but when I do I am not going to be held back by others' 'sensibilities.' I feel if you put it out in the public eye and allow comments then you have to live with what you get. That doesn't mean I'm going to be rude or obnoxious (and I've never had a comment deleted except in response to comments that themselves got deleted).
My feelings may be strong about some subjects but I don't object to their use by authors if they do it well. I don't shy away from reading a story because of its labels not even in cases where the author has disappointed me in some way. I always hold out hope that the next story will be better. Nor do I ask writers to tell their stories to please me or go in a direction that I think they should go. I will comment if a story has deeply moved me, was exceptionally well written or surprised me.
Voting gave me the opportunity to recognize stories I enjoyed but didn't feel merited a comment because I don't leave comments gushing over every story to 'thank the author'. Do that often enough and it begins to sound like the meaningless throwaway comment 'have a nice day.' And I sometimes wonder if the reader actually read the story!
Nor do I give lip service to sentiments like 'I enjoyed the story.' If I enjoyed the story enough to comment I want to tell the author what it was about his or her writing that made it so enjoyable. I've PMed some writers and had long discussions about certain stories in the past and will continue to do so.
I'll continue to comment as I see fit - not as others see fit to tell me I should.
Commentator
Visit my Caption Blog: Dawn's Girly Site
Visit my Amazon Page: D R Jehs
Comments on the art of commenting
I was going to comment on a couple of the comments about the comment on Commenting and lost my own train of thought. :)
I have always felt that criticism should be kind and tolerance doled out generously.
Persephone
Persephone
Non sum qualis eram
What She Said
Ditto!
Nancy Cole
"You may be what you resolve to be."
T.J. Jackson
Bravo !!!!!!
I think. What was I thinking of?
Gwen
Well maybe I am short in the kind department
... but I confess I have lost my cool one time on one of the author's story lines and the entire time I've been here.
And I am not going to repeat that.
I try to respect what the author is trying to say in the piece. If it fits certain categories I do not like then I stay away, eg you will not see me within a light year of femdom, forced etc type stories. I try to fit my comments within the context of story if it is sufficiently in the domain the author claims the story belongs to, and tailor my suspension of disbelief accordingly.
HOWEVER, if the author specifies he/she is trying to shoot for real-life, biographical etc and deviates from the current realities of the time the story was written or the modern day, then I reserve the right to ding them for that.
I also reserve the right to criticize if the story is congruent, self-contradictory or is just poorly organized. If a story is good but has horrible grammar, punctuation, spelling and you have time and skill, considering offering to help out with the proofreading for that story.
Anyway, yes there are sensitive souls out there who could not even handle constructive criticism so a writer needs to beware that they have to be a little thicker-skinned if you are in a sense running for public office. The reader spotlight will be hard on you. Some folks will offer you thoughtful informed criticism and others will not. This is not in your control so you will just have to deal.
Kim
What She Said
Ditto x 2.
Nancy Cole
"You may be what you resolve to be."
T.J. Jackson
According to Oscar Wilde,
'The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.'
Angharad
Angharad
Only a few commented correctly
on what this blog was about. The others were so far out in left field they couldn't see the coming at them. This blog wasn't about criticism in general but rather a specific criticism that most of the TG community is guilty of and that is simply saying that while it was a good story (no specifics), it was rather unreallistic.
That was the criticism I was complaining about, not all the other riff raff that was spewed out here. It really surprises me how many people just do not digest what they read. Oh well, que sera sera.
"With confidence and forbearance, we will have the strength to move forward."
Love & hugs,
Barbara
"If I have to be this girl in me, Then I have the right to be."
"With confidence and forbearance, we will have the strength to move forward."
Love & hugs,
Barbara
"If I have to be this girl in me, Then I have the right to be."
A little harsh
That's being a little harsh, but I understand where you're coming from (in the original post and in this comment). In my defense I was responding to a substring discussion specifically, since I had nothing intelligent to add to the overarching discussion.
Since you've brought it up though, I'll just say that I cringe when someone complains about a story being unrealistic. I guess it's because I come from a high fantasy gaming background where "unrealistic" is pretty standard, but when I read a fictional piece, I don't expect realism: I expect a good story. If I wanted realism, I'd pick up a non-fiction book.
That's just my .02 though. I'm not slamming anyone's writing or reading preferences.
~Zoe T.
That's not what you said
If you cannot comment on the story as a whole, and say it was entertaining, and maybe a few grammar or spelling mistakes here and there, then please don't bother to comment.
These are the words you used (despite the rest of your 'unrealistic' complaint) that engendered most of the comments that followed.
Commentator
Visit my Caption Blog: Dawn's Girly Site
Visit my Amazon Page: D R Jehs
Don't really mind
As for me, I don't really mind the criticisms. In fact, I think the amount of people commenting on my stories gives me a somewhat inaccurate but fairly usable gauge of the level of participation of my readers. To me, praises as well as criticism is just as welcomed after reading my my stories.
Through praises, I can churn out the rest of the story faster. Through helpful criticisms, I can make my stories better. It's all about the balance, really. Of course, I do prefer to get positive comments than negative comments, but both are equally important. All that I ask for, is for the commenter to be polite. That's all that I ask.
A long time ago, I posted some stories in Literotica. It had nothing to do with transgender genre, it was mostly just pure sex, reflecting my way of thinking back then (I'm a scorpio, we always think of sex). But the scathing comments I received there was so terrible that it got me extremely mad and ended up with me pulling out all my stories, cancelling my account, and deleting every single instances of those stories from my hard drive. The kind of comments I often get were: "May God forgive your black soul, child molester," , "Die you racist pig," , "I hope Satan has a very special place for you in hell," , "Please find a shrink," or even "I'm going to rape your sister since you like raping so much."
Makes one wonder why some people went to a sex story site like Literotica when nobody's telling them to go there in the first place. That's another reason why I so hate double standards among GLBT people towards SM people.
Barbara, As A Guy,
Who writes T.G. Fiction, I know where you are coming from. Me, I do my best to post positive comments and try to be a friend to all, here. And any criticism, I usually send a P.M.
May Your Light Forever Shine
May Your Light Forever Shine
Barbara...honey...
There is absolutely nothing wrong with little bits of inconsistancy. In truth, they make the story more credible as being a personal one. I love what you write and can feel you behind every word. Don't worry about those who would STAIN you work with snitty little remarks.
Mea the Magnificent