Mean Feedback (by the faceless)

[fieryjen]

Actually, I do take personal responsibility and criticism easily. It's when a person basically being a asshole, then yeah, I get ready for a fight.

I'll be the first to admit that Sr can be very abrasive at times, but this wasn't one of those times. His criticism was fair and could have been very helpful to you if you'd chosen to take it that way. Dark also offered some valuable pointers, yet instead of thanking him for taking so much time, you brushed them off.

It seems to me that what you were expecting was a series of "How dare that troll post such a comment to your near-perfect story!" or some similar reassurance. If that's so, you should have specified that you were looking for fuzzies, not facts.

You say that you take criticism easily, yet you continue not to do so.

Look, the first time I had a story I was very, very proud of finishing and editing and generally spending a hell of a lot of time on, I posted it to the SDC to get people's advice and opinions. When I read the first few post, I had to take a couple of deep breaths and remind myself that I had, indeed, asked for this. It's natural to feel protective about your writing, all of us do to various degrees. But you need to get over that feeling and read the comments as they were meant to be read - constructive criticism. Otherwise you'll never get better.

I thanked people for their opinions and learned from them, and I can honestly say that it was some of the most valuable advice I've ever gotten for my writing. No, it's not always easy to take. But it's necessary if you want to improve.

Right now, quite honestly, you come off as rather narcissistic and rude. I do hope I'm wrong, so how about you apologize to the two gentlemen and learn from what they have to say? They really do know what they're talking about.

 

[drksideofthemoon]

Actually, I do take personal responsibility and criticism easily. It's when a person basically being a asshole, then yeah, I get ready for a fight.

You have to realize that everyone has an opinion, and not everyone is going to like what you write. They're going to say things that you don't like. It's a simple as that. When you post a story for all to read, you become a big target for people to throw things at. If you don't feel you can take the bad with the good, then give some serious thought to turning your feedback off.

 

[Darkniciad]

As far as I go, no apology necessary. I knew coming in that what I would have to say was going to sting if I chose to answer your request for feedback. I fully understand the reaction to that sting, because I'm sure it bit deep. There's only so much you can soften the blow when there's a lot of work to do.

SR can be abrasive, and we've tangled at times over that, but he knows what he's talking about. As I said in my first post in the thread, you're going to get a lot worse eventually, if you keep writing and posting. The best writers ever to pass this way have found themselves on the receiving end of commentary and critique so nasty and hateful that anything in this thread looks like Dick and Jane by comparison.

If he's grating on your nerves, consider that basic training for the actual trolls to come. It's even better training for the sometimes harsh criticism you're going to pick up in feedback, no matter how much you master in your writing. There's genuine wisdom there, but you have to grit your teeth and not let the tone get to you so much that you can't accept it.

If you're going to write Bi stories ( guessing from your name that it's likely to have a prominant place in your story list *laugh* ), you have even more reason to heed his words. He has far more expertise in writing those and the pitfalls present on Lit for anything that has an M-M element than I ever will. Tighten up some of those grammar nuts and bolts, and SR is probably amongst the best who visits this part of the forum regularly to critique the actual storytelling and characterization of those types of tales if you venture here for an opinion on them.

He's also a professional writer/editor, and I'm just a hack with a small town high scrool edumacation *laugh*

I'll go through the story, if not tonight then over the course of the week, and pick out some common pitfalls I'm noticing, providing a sort of synopsis to work from at ground level. You could tighten things down and put in an edit for the existing story ( which I can also explain the process for ) or just start from scratch on a new tale with those things in mind as you start to write.

Don't give up, that's for certain. You had the castanets to write something and post it in public view, and that's a major hurdle that many people will never clear. You're already well ahead in the race over a lot of people with oodles of words sitting on hard drives that only they will ever see.

 

[fieryjen]

As far as I go, no apology necessary.

Sorry Dark, I didn't mean to speak for you

This just pushed my buttons a bit for some reason.

 

[sr71plt]

Me? Abrasive? Well, goll darn. I'm just a .

 

[Darkniciad]

Sorry Dark, I didn't mean to speak for you

This just pushed my buttons a bit for some reason.

No worries, I forgot about it staring at your ava anyway *laugh*

 

[Darkniciad]

Me? Abrasive? Well, goll darn. I'm just a .

Well, you certainly haven't been declawed

 

[sr71plt]

Well, you certainly haven't been declawed

Of course not. Who would give up their defenses?

 

[Missouribiguy]

After giving it some thought, I should deeply apologized.

Fieryjean was right, I started this thread to make people feel a bit sorry for me. Fuck, here we go again! I just got whole message board mad at me again, mostly cause my stupidity.

I don't even know what to say anymore. Part of my problem is pride. I'm thinking, "how dare they, that is my story, and I worked hard on it."

Of course, I view that comment this way,

"I do need help. I admit it all the time."

I don't mean to be rude and disrespectful. I guess you could say I'm just scared. I try to do this tough guy routine at times, but I am actually frightened. Part of it is, "will they like my story? I hope they like it."

I could careless if some homophobic troll decides to make my life Hell cause of something I wrote regarding my sexuality. I can just ignore it.


Ok, I'm rambling a bit. Look, I was being a rude thoughtless pig trying to stand up for my work, even when I felt it was faulty. I try to keep in mind that you all are trying to help me learn, and stop being a hard head.

Now, I am off to bed, later.

 

[fieryjen]

After giving it some thought, I should deeply apologized.

Fieryjean was right, I started this thread to make people feel a bit sorry for me. Fuck, here we go again! I just got whole message board mad at me again, mostly cause my stupidity.

I don't even know what to say anymore. Part of my problem is pride. I'm thinking, "how dare they, that is my story, and I worked hard on it."

Of course, I view that comment this way,

"I do need help. I admit it all the time."

I don't mean to be rude and disrespectful. I guess you could say I'm just scared. I try to do this tough guy routine at times, but I am actually frightened. Part of it is, "will they like my story? I hope they like it."

I could careless if some homophobic troll decides to make my life Hell cause of something I wrote regarding my sexuality. I can just ignore it.


Ok, I'm rambling a bit. Look, I was being a rude thoughtless pig trying to stand up for my work, even when I felt it was faulty. I try to keep in mind that you all are trying to help me learn, and stop being a hard head.

Now, I am off to bed, later.

Thanks for that. I really appreciate that you took the time to post an apology. A piece of writing is something that is often much more personal than we realize until it is dissected like this. Feeling protective about it is, to some degree, perfectly understandable.

Now we'll be good as soon as you fix that misspelling of my name

 

[Missouribiguy]

Thanks for that. I really appreciate that you took the time to post an apology. A piece of writing is something that is often much more personal than we realize until it is dissected like this. Feeling protective about it is, to some degree, perfectly understandable.

Now we'll be good as soon as you fix that misspelling of my name

Oops, sorry, fieryjen.

 

[litchipking]

nothing

 

[jill999]

Actually, I do take personal responsibility and criticism easily. It's when a person basically being a asshole, then yeah, I get ready for a fight.

Dear Missouribiguy,

It appears to me that you have won the board's lottery. I have rarely seen several experienced members take the time to render such excellent advise to a new author. I'm at a complete lost to understand why you have elected to "fight" with anyone who has been kind enough to help you improve your skills.

My advise to you is simple. Read some of the highest rated and award winning stories posted here. Contrast those stories to your own and decide for yourself what might improve your future offerings.

One more "little" thing darling, You should remove that link to the picture of your private parts.

 

[Roland_Decker]

don't worry about it. I've read your stories and I enjoyed them quite a bit and I'm sure others have too, and thats all that matters. There are assholes in this world, and you have to be able to cancel them out.

 

[Missouribiguy]

Dear Missouribiguy,

It appears to me that you have won the board's lottery. I have rarely seen several experienced members take the time to render such excellent advise to a new author. I'm at a complete lost to understand why you have elected to "fight" with anyone who has been kind enough to help you improve your skills.

My advise to you is simple. Read some of the highest rated and award winning stories posted here. Contrast those stories to your own and decide for yourself what might improve your future offerings.

One more "little" thing darling, You should remove that link to the picture of your private parts.

Um, did you read my apology post above?

I accepted to give in to the advice at least. I'm not a horrible writer. Hell, I've read stories with no plot, made in a ultra huge cluttered mess of a paragraph (yeah, some of my paragraphs are from stellar, but still), and generally lacking any depth or chemistry.

Still, I do admit that the person who made me create this thread is still a troll, but I should thank him for letting me talk to people who are willing to teach me.

And Roland, thanks man.

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

Um, did you read my apology post above?

I accepted to give in to the advice at least. I'm not a horrible writer. Hell, I've read stories with no plot, made in a ultra huge cluttered mess of a paragraph (yeah, some of my paragraphs are from stellar, but still), and generally lacking any depth or chemistry.

Still, I do admit that the person who made me create this thread is still a troll, but I should thank him for letting me talk to people who are willing to teach me.

And Roland, thanks man.

Look. The regulars in this forum have read hundreds of the worst crap ever written, I think. We've also read the absolute best. We don't care how well or how bad you write. All we really care about is if you learn anything.

It you do then our time is well spent.

No matter how good or how bad your story is, someone will jump in and crap all over it. There's nothing you can do about that. That's Lit.

This forum is quit different than the rest of Lit. The Regulars here will tell you the truth as we see it. We are not out to crush you. We are not out to run you off. We are here to help you as we have a lot of people in the past.

Drk, Moon, TK, SR, me and all the other regulars here have written for some time. All of us have a number of stories posted. But most importantly, all of us went through the same gauntlet you are going through with Trolls and Mr. Anonymous. God. I recieved a death threat for a story I wrote once.

Put on your armour and hang in there. If someone pisses on you, we are here.

JJ

 

[str8upck]

I know just how upset you are

I just got a anomynous feedback message from a guy who went under the title Anomynous (oh, how fucking original) which simply read:
English isn't your native tongue, and it shows! (not his/her exact words, but close).

That fucking hurt! My eyes are welling with tears cause I want to punch the computer screen. Yes, I am that mad!

What would you all advice me to do? Just ignored this ass-stain and go on with my life.


I should just do that, but it upset me that bad.

this person sounds to be a cowardly moron, they would probably shit themself if they was face to face, my advice is to get on with your life.
I know from personel experience wih this kind of creep to just ignore them, ok they dont always go away, straight away but if they realise that what they say doesnt mean shit they usually get bored and move on.
sorry to hear that you've had such a horrible experience

Thats one of the biggest problems with the internet, too many hide behind there screens and shit on others parades just for kicks

 

[hmmnmm]

the internet

is an unreal void where fabricated beasts openly copulate with vaporous veneers which is in itself neither good or bad as long as you understand its true nature and the unreliable substance of which it is made and of which this one site is merely one speck that makes up the gargantuan impersonation of reality that is the totality the intangible being the internet is.

 

[sr71plt]

Here we are dumping it all on the commenter again--who may have put the issue badly but may have been dead right in the substance of what he/she said (as was indicated in follow-up, more constructive advice on the story). I take it no one sees the need to see it as a "wake up and clean it up" call? If so, nothing's going to change in what caused that comment to be given in the first place, right?

Yes, the Internet is an absolute hoot.

 

[Missouribiguy]

Here we are dumping it all on the commenter again--who may have put the issue badly but may have been dead right in the substance of what he/she said (as was indicated in follow-up, more constructive advice on the story). I take it no one sees the need to see it as a "wake up and clean it up" call? If so, nothing's going to change in what caused that comment to be given in the first place, right?

Yes, the Internet is an absolute hoot.

He just pissed me off, that's all. I have to take a person's opinon with a grain of salt, you know.

 

[Missouribiguy]

Ok, I have to ask you all this: For those who read my story, did you enjoy it? Or did you let all the various mistakes make you hate it?

Just out of curiousity.