I've found positive feedback, whether in the form of readers saying how much they enjoyed the story or simply clicking on the kudos button, incredibly motivating. However, in terms of providing guidance upon how to improve a story, it's very difficult to achieve.

Obviously, there are things like (and I don't know your work, so this is definitely not aimed at you) get a spell and grammar checker because your English is lousy which can sometimes be said about stories. Or even, pointing out you need to hook the reader in the first few paragraphs, so writing a life history there will turn readers away. But in terms or saying there should be more of this component or less of that, it's a completely personal choice.

What has influenced my writing is the objective feedback I get from kudos ratings. I wrote a story several years ago which got significantly more kudos points than any of my other stories. Because of that, I wrote another story like it which also scored highly, and thus my SIGHS series was born. These stories have consistently achieved higher ratings than my others.

Until my last non-SIGHS story which has leapt into second place. Time for a rethink, but it shows how invaluable kudos points are in directing the way authors write.

So please, please, please give a kudos point to stories you enjoy, regardless of whether or not you comment. It takes almost no time or effort.