How do you react to negative feedback about your stories?

[AG31]

If it's a death threat, and I've gotten a few, I turn them over to Laurel and Law Enforcement.

You're kidding! I assume you're not. I'm going to check out your stories because I like stories with high impact.

I went and looked at your list. I didn't actually read any as they're not to my (very narrow) taste, but it does cause me to wonder which topic might have precipitated such a response. Can you elaboriate?

 

[AG31]

3. Even when I think it's daft, I find it interesting to see how readers respond to my stories. It's fascinating how our stories can affect people, even in ways none of us expect or intend to.

. I appreciate when readers have read carefully enough that they detect something they regard as a narrative or logical flaw in the progression of the story, even though sometimes I disagree.

These two responses really resonated with me.

 

[lovecraft68]

I don't care, I leave everything up there if its really nasty, then let other people see what an A-hole that person is.

 

[countdowntolov3]

The only ones that really bother me are the homophobic hate that sometimes shows up on my bi-male stuff.

It makes me sad to imagine someone who identifies that way finishing my story and then immediately getting reminded of all the stupid bigotry out there.

 

[RejectReality]

I rarely delete anything but spam, and the rare occasion when someone uses my comment section as nothing more than a venue to attack another author/story with little to no mention of mine.

Grammar/Name/Etc. flubs get fixed in the base document. If they're horrendous enough, I might actually submit it as an edit. I tend to just acknowledge it with my own comment, and take my lumps with the erroneous version.

Confusion/Continuity/Etc. gets considered and acknowledged when necessary. Even if I don't agree, I typically say that I'm sorry it pulled them out of the story. If I do agree, there's a higher chance I'll submit an edit to fix it than simple grammar flubs.

Just pure nastiness I chuckle at. More often than not, some other person will come along and dress down the troll, making the exact same points I might have, because they're so obvious to anyone who isn't frothing at the mouth over some personal bugaboo.

 

[lovecraft68]

I rarely delete anything but spam, and the rare occasion when someone uses my comment section as nothing more than a venue to attack another author/story with little to no mention of mine.

This made me recall something from years back where the fan base of another author-and I would eventually find out at their request on their blog-was posting comments in other incest author's stories saying "If you want to read a great incest story check out..."

I got two of those, deleted them, and contacted the author and told him cut the bullshit.... then received a bombing up and down my story file.

We talk about LW a lot as far as having the worst faction of trolls, but there's no worse troll than another author who will leave nasty comments, bomb stories and get their friends to do the same. Fairly certain we have a couple of those here now.

 

[OverconfidentSarcasm]

We talk about LW a lot as far as having the worst faction of trolls, but there's no worse troll than another author who will leave nasty comments, bomb stories and get their friends to do the same. Fairly certain we have a couple of those here now.

Can confirm. I reported a story for underage sex and it got removed. Then the author updated their profile, telling his 6,000+ followers that they can thank me for the removal. Fun times.

 

[orangecurious]

We talk about LW a lot as far as having the worst faction of trolls, but there's no worse troll than another author who will leave nasty comments, bomb stories and get their friends to do the same. Fairly certain we have a couple of those here now.

I did wonder that too. Last year one of my stories was an interloper in the Hall of Fame top 20 list amid a slew of stories from just two or so other authors. Shortly after the rating dropped and I did ponder if some authors had such a fanbase that they would target others. It was the first time I had noticed a series of 1s on a story in such a short space of time.

 

[lovecraft68]

I did wonder that too. Last year one of my stories was an interloper in the Hall of Fame top 20 list amid a slew of stories from just two or so other authors. Shortly after the rating dropped and I did ponder if some authors had such a fanbase that they would target others. It was the first time I had noticed a series of 1s on a story in such a short space of time.

The top lists are bullseyes and often times, its not the author, but their base thinking they're 'helping' them by trashing any story that has the audacity to supplant them. Sucks because many categories don't get a large number of votes so they're not hard to beat down.

But there has been times, authors through social media, blogs, etc have sicced their readers on those stories. I think that if that can be proven that author should be banned, but I doubt the site would do it.

One of the top taboo series of all time "Conflicted" was pulled by the author when after having a #1 all time spot and a few others in the top twenty all chapters were serial bombed and he requested sweeps and they'd go back up, then bombed and he finally got tired of it and left.

BTW that was through the work of the same author base I mentioned in my post. Real nasty crowd their readership is.

 

[Seadog777]

I did wonder that too. Last year one of my stories was an interloper in the Hall of Fame top 20 list amid a slew of stories from just two or so other authors. Shortly after the rating dropped and I did ponder if some authors had such a fanbase that they would target others. It was the first time I had noticed a series of 1s on a story in such a short space of time.

There are a few authors that have fanbases that would give them 5 stars, no matter what the frakk they write.

It could be complete drekk, and it'd receive the "H".

I know there are "readers" who target authors for 1-bombs, no matter what.

I know, because I get the PMs and emails when they do it.

 

[Kasumi_Lee]

It depends how constructive the feedback is, but I usually just take it on the chin. I once uploaded a story in Loving Wives which probably should have gone into IR or Fetish instead. My answer to this thread's question can be found here.

 

[lc69hunter]

I am embarrassed when someone finds an obvious flaw in my story that I didn't catch. However, based upon what I write and comment about, the LW trolls and hater comments, either about me or the story, do not bother me.

What I enjoy is readers saving the story as a favorite, even with a score of 3.

 

[Djmac1031]

Legit catching of errors:

I suppose I understand the intent. But unless I'm submitting an edit on it, I don't really see the point.

I did make a mistake in one story where I mixed up character names during a conversation and a reader called it out in comments. I appreciated that and it allowed me to make a note in the comments clarifying the error.

Identifying points of confusion

No problem with those comments, helps me identify & clarify mistakes.

Declaring that my particular erotic taste is offensive/repulsive/immoral.

I take those for exactly what they're worth: a good laugh.

Criticizing my writing style.

If it's done with the intent to help, it's appreciated.

 

[Paul_Chance]

Legit catching of errors:

I appreciate these types of comments. They drive me to focus more on the editing process, which is an overall improvement.

Identifying points of confusion:

I've never had one of these, but I think I'd approach them the same way I approach the grammar/spelling comments.

Declaring that my particular erotic taste is offensive/repulsive/immoral.

I find these amusing and then just ignore them.

Criticizing my writing style.

It depends on the type of criticism. If they're constructive, then I appreciate them. If they're just complaining, I ignore them.

 

[8letters]

My philosophy is that no story will float everyone's boat. When a story is read over 100K times, there are going to be people that the story hits wrong. Their opinion is valid, but it's just one opinion.

I had an anonymous commenter discover my stories Friday:

read 'positive consent' and immediately tuned out. Yawn.

The first 10 pages were okay (even though this whole "date my friend for summer to build up her self-esteem" broke my suspense of disbelief - I mean who the fuck would invest themselves like this, emotionally, monetarily and team-wise just to make someone else feel good?), it went downhill after that. I hate "sharing" stories. They are bullshit, humans are not wired like that. One man cannot give 2 (or more) women the same amount and quality of attention, someone will always come short.

The amount of manipulation from Kaitlyn is staggering and makes her a deeply unpleasant and unsympathetic character.

It's impossible to like her given how selfish she is. She made her life a bed of roses, having cake and eating it, but that's only because it's other keeping those petals fresh and remaking the bed everyday for her. She has a career she is 100% committed to above her lovers and above her future children. She will never give up her career to raise her kids, she will just foist them off on other people while she traips around the world.

I absolutely DESPISE people like that. Hate thm. Loathe them. Wish something had happened to them so they were incapable of having kids to begin with. THEY DON'T DESERVE TO HAVE A FAMILY.

I respected Brandon at first, but that faded when he agreed to all this bullshit. Either shit or get off the potty, dude! Either be with Joanna or dump her and be with your sister.

Also what broke my disbelief is that Brandon agreed to the whole scheme of dating Joanna tbw. That is such a 90's teen movie level plot, it's got no chance of working or being rational. And then what pissed me off is that he let himself be pushed and manipulated into moving in with Joanna after just days of being in love.

I'm disappointed he didn't blow up at Kaitlyn and ask her what was next, was she gonna push them to get married cause "you're already living together, why not do this too?" and then push for them to have kids cause "you're already married, why not have kids too?". She had completely taken over their lives and used them like pawns at chess for her benefit. Using, abusing and exploiting so she can just surf through life with no responsibilities and all just benefits.

Also, lmao, Kaitlyn waiting to hit geriatric pregnancy age to have her first kid... 15 years in relationship with her brother but she kept putting him off and putting her career first?

She is probably my most hated female protagonist of any stories I've read in my entire life and that's tens of thousands!!!!

Yeah, fuck her thrice.

I got seduced by the number of pages for this story into thinking it's gonna be a great read and will redeem it's weird start somewhere down the line. I was wrong.

The starting author's notes claim that they have improved the story and fixed what was wrong with the original. The author claims they have learned from their mistake and have reworked the story into something readers will like. That is a bald and outright lie. Nothing has been fixed, only rewritten, it's got the very same breaking issues the original had.

The story makes it almost impossible to sympathise for the characters or like them, much less identify with them.

The sisters and mom treat the brother and father as second rate citizens and exclude them completely. The story is full of feminist bs like that "zipless fuck" stupidity. What the hell kind of mother gives a girl a FEMINIST "CLASSIC" to read as soon as she hits puberty? Obvious indoctrination from early on.

Men are treated as slaves and servants for the "enlightened" womenfolk who lounge around all day on their backs and asses and expect to be waited on (they say it blatanty). I would've told them to "f-ck off" and do it themselves, but I guess the MC is too much of a beta simp to do that.

Also, for some reason the MC allows himself to be monetarily exploited too. The bitch that is his mother just tells him straightout "you're paying for everything"... WHAT. THE HELL?! He's a student, working a low-paying part time job, while EVERYONE ELSE HAS FULL TIME JOBS THAT ARE WELL PAID AND !!HE!! HAS TO PAY?!

I gave up midway through page 5 and not even the ending is worth slogging through a boring read while being hit on the head with feminist dogma.

Good on the father for leaving his first family when they went all lesbian.

I wasn't explicit about this, but I thought it obvious that the son paid with the family credit card.

I stopped and couldn't go on when I came to the line "Book "Intercourse" (which claims men use heterosexual sex to oppress women) is great stuff. Feminism made huge positive contribution to society" It's the height of brain-rotting stupidity, especially as we can see every day what a toxic ideology feminism is.

The author continues to push feminist BS in almost every work. I've tried to give her a fair chance, didn't work. I'm done.

The chef's kiss is getting my gender wrong. The narrator in all of those stories is a guy.

After reading the comments, I was left wondering why this reader kept "giving her a fair chance".

The rating on those four stories are currently 4.85, 4.8, 4.81, and 4.76.

 

[StillStunned]

After reading the comments, I was left wondering why this reader kept "giving her a fair chance".

Some people just want to go around finding fault with things. They love it when they find a new source of material to mine for things they hate.

 

[Cali_Love]

Few know how to write constructive criticism. Many know how to write mean and hurtful. That is actually a popular sport these days.

Easy solution, I turn comments off. Don’t need them.

The irony is that so many critics have such a weak grasp of English. Would be comical, if it weren’t so sad.

I never used to leave comments before I posted my own stories. Now, if I like a story, I say so. If I don’t, then I don’t.

 

[Tessinwales]

I usually just say thanks. It is just their opinion after all. Although it is obvious that some have not really read the work .

 

[Ssbbw4u1974]

The one criticism I have gotten the most was that my stories are short.
I like a short story myself, so that's my attention Span.
I've also been told they're good, for as short as they are..

 

[Trionyx]

There is one individual who comments regularly particularly on Romance stories. He (and he has admitted as much) is a racist (dumps on any sort with mixed race relationships) which I find abhorrent. He also lambastes some stories as being predictable yet in others says the stories are predictable but it is OK. I decided a while back that his comments were, on the whole, less than consistent and fair, both with my stories and with the stories of others. My decision has been to delete his comments, both positive and negative. I value his positive comments as little as his negative ones. And guess what. I’m much happier as a result.

 

[nice90sguy]

I just add it to my sub fantasy wank bank

 

[Rob_Royale]

I don't. You can't please everyone. I accepted that a long time ago. Reaction to my work has been overwhelmingly positive so that the one or two negative ones, I just ignore.

 

[MyBareTorso]

The only comment I've ever deleted was from someone here in the AH posting anonymously and mentioning something that happened in the AH. The deletion was because I assumed most readers wouldn't know what was being discussed. All other comments, I leave up...I don't get many, so I need all that I can get!

 

[WrongFrog]

Feedback is food.

I'm constantly growing and learning as a writer. My writing style now is drastically different from my writing style in 2000, which was when I originally joined Lit. I belong to multiple other writing groups, some of which are great resources, but none of which offer the incredibly varied readers as Lit.

If multiple people have the same complaints, comments, and criticism, I have a guideline for what is working or not working. If multiple people are pointing out a flaw (slacked off sections, sudden change in voice or tone, glossed over details) I know where I need rewrites. If multiple people are praising the same aspects of a story, I know what I'm doing well and how to polish other pieces.

Feedback is food. Use it to continue growing in a healthy direction.

 

[THBGato]

My philosophy is that no story will float everyone's boat. When a story is read over 100K times, there are going to be people that the story hits wrong. Their opinion is valid, but it's just one opinion.

I had an anonymous commenter discover my stories Friday:



I wasn't explicit about this, but I thought it obvious that the son paid with the family credit card.


The chef's kiss is getting my gender wrong. The narrator in all of those stories is a guy.

After reading the comments, I was left wondering why this reader kept "giving her a fair chance".

The rating on those four stories are currently 4.85, 4.8, 4.81, and 4.76.

Okay, these comments from this anonymous troll made me want to read your stories. I'm so here for feminism!