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Comments and feedback.
I want to ask a question:
Commenters, guests, authors. What are the things that make you WANT to comment on a story? What kinds of things do you need to see, need to be able to talk about, to make commenting worthwhile?
In my time here, comments have ebbed and flowed. We're on an ebb right now, to be sure, and there are reasons for that -- a lot of general convo has moved to the Discord rather than taking place below stories here, and there are more places around the web as a whole for TG folks to find community and media that they like. Despite that, we still have a great community here, one that's always growing and adapting, and we have some of the most fantastic TG fic authors on the web.
Writers: as an author, you should be proud of what you've created regardless of the amount of response it gets. Every read is potentially someone who needed that exact story, and I want ALL of our authors to be proud of that work, the community they've built, and the lives they've improved by being here.
And, commenters? The same goes for each and every one of you.
Nobody should be left feeling that their contributions are inadequate. Every one of us makes this community stronger, and every one of us are giving something back just by being here.
But.
Back to my question.
I know that there are a few things authors CAN do to improve the likelihood of getting more active feedback. Responding back to comments in turn, for one. Engaging with readers via additional blogs and other forms of discussion. Even asking for specific kinds of feedback and information. All of this helps, because it's ways to make the reader(s) feel like they're part of the experience of the story.
Are there any other things that, as readers and commenters, you find particularly good to comment about, or that makes you want to engage with the story more?
Likewise, are there things that make commenting difficult or unattractive to you?
All in all, the point of having a community is that we're all in this together. Nobody is here to provide something directly to anyone else. Nobody owes anyone else anything, whether that's new chapters of favorite stories, new stories about favorite characters or from favorite authors... or feedback on the content that IS created. We all provide the things we do because we want to provide them.
Every person's contributions make BC a better place.
-Melanie E.
Comments
Commenting is hard
While commenting may not take as much time as writing the original story, it still requires thoughtful consideration. Crafting valuable insights that contribute to the discussion is a commendable effort. We appreciate the dedication of our active members who consistently engage in the conversation. It often takes years for a new member to take it on themselves to comment.
Your friend
Crash
I can’t really say
It’s a good question and one I should take time to think about. Some stories lend themselves to comments and others do not. Some are so breathtaking that I am figuratively out of breath: the author has said something so well that what I could say seems insignificant. “A Longer War” or anything else by Cyclist comes to mind.
Also, I read most of Bike before I realized the importance of the kudos button. I’m not going to go back and click it on every page. Ang is about 2500 below where she should be because of my slowness.
Failure to thrive.
When I was writing, I was often hung out to dry
Not so much the story
It's not so much about the story content or style. It has more to do with me at the time I read the story. When it comes to comments, I operate under a handicap. Until about a year ago, I didn't read comments on my own work for about six month after it posted. The reason was a fragile ego and lack of confidence in my ablity as a writer.
Each of my stories was like a child. When I posted it it was like sending my child out in the world by themselves. I couldn't bear to read a negative comment so I didn't even look. This attitude colored my thinking on the worth of comments.
I know some authors can write serials and post on the fly. These authors often read their comments and use the feedback to help them shape the story that follows. This is a foreign idea to me. As an author, the story is mine and the idea that some else might influence it is unthinkable. This attitude also cripples my tendency to comment.
For me it's kudos that tell the story. I've set an arbitrary number of kudos for a successful story; 100 kudos its a success.
Now, all that said, I'm trying to break that mindset. I will, going forward (I started the about 6 months ago) always click the kudos button. I will also read other people's comments. They well sometimes inspire me to comment; particularly if I feel the commenter missed the point.
I'm more likely to feel like commenting if the storyline engaged me, but the author didn't do a very good job of presenting it. That leads to a ticklish situation. Remember I wouldn't read my comments because I didn't want to hear that about my work. Add to that all criticism should be constructive. Between those two ideas, it stifles my comments.
These are personal problems.
However, some stories or episodes just lead to me needing to say something. If the author happens to give his protagonist an situation and reaction that mirrors my life, I'll almost always say so. If a story is presented as a serial and the author leaves me hanging with a particularly succinct manor that might move me to comment on how well crafted it was.
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
Ich bin eine Mann
I don't think that's what we should expect
If you're a writer, sharing your story with fellow writers that you know well and whose opinions you trust, it's quite common to ask a specific question. For example, "I'm not quite sure about the pacing in the scene with Grandfather", or "Do you think I've got too many characters in the Science Club?" Even "Did the joke about the piano work, for you?" or "Is the ending too sugary sweet? I have another in mind..."
That's while the story is still fixable.
When you share a story with a small group of writers in that way (and read their work in return, and enjoy the process) you get real feedback. I know that people here are doing this, via PMs and emails, before stories appear.
To expect something similar at a later stage is a mistake. Readers don't have an implied contract with you and they're not invested in your work at all. Many aren't going to finish what they have a quick look at and some are good enough to apply the maxim, "If you have nothing nice to say, say nothing."
I wonder if Stephen King, Iain Banks, Douglas Adams or Enid Bylton cared about what (dreadful word incoming...) 'fans' told them about their stories? And in what proportion to copies sold? Vanishingly small, I should think. Personally, I don't worry about comments, therefore.
I might worry more about the medium. The fact that 'Summer With Aunt Ashley' (2018) got 22,500 reads (and 31k on Fictionmania) and 250 of those 'thumb' things despite being a parody of tranny fiction in which none of the usual things happen to the main character... it suggests that BigCloset was different, back then.
Sugar and Spiiice – TG Fiction by Bryony Marsh
I Guarantee You it Was
Sephrena
The thing that triggers me to write a comment?
Finishing a story or story chapter.
:)
Emma