Negative Feedback Trauma Center

[Snurge]

I'm heartened. I've just received the third heavily critical email from the same person, who thinks, because of the content of my stories, I'm an evil sociopath who should be in prison. They were not from any of the sweet people on Lit I will add - but from a lesser story site.

The nice thing is, this person must have read through an entire multi-part story and gone three-parts way through another to come up with the things that was said, and I think that's kind of flattering.

Trolls are not all bad.

 

[hmmnmm]

I'm heartened. I've just received the third heavily critical email from the same person, who thinks, because of the content of my stories, I'm an evil sociopath who should be in prison. They were not from any of the sweet people on Lit I will add - but from a lesser story site.

The nice thing is, this person must have read through an entire multi-part story and gone three-parts way through another to come up with the things that was said, and I think that's kind of flattering.

Trolls are not all bad.

That's one sweet TC testimonial. Thank you for sharing it. And that you were encouraged. Rock on.

 

[ellynei]

T'was nice while it lasted.

After two weeks as number one on the literotica non-erotic top-list (by star average) - a position held by only 16 votes - Majgen Ch. 006 got a one star vote.

To the dude who gave it a one: I know my newbie-work doesn't deserve to be positioned as number 1 (and 2), I know I have a lot to learn still. But seriously, if you were tired of seeing the pure 5.00 of chapter 5 and 6 right next to each other, at the very top. Undeserving, with so few votes. You really coulda just given it a 4 or a 3. That woulda done the trick too!

If you actually read it, and truly thought it to deserve a 1 star, it woulda been really nice with a public comment or anonymous feedback to know what I did so terribly wrong for you.

Well I guess t'was humane of you to leave chapter 005 untouched for now.

---

Thanks for letting me vent trauma center

Three star votes are slowly starting to pop into chapters too, so I guess if I want to know if anyone out there likes future chapters, I will have to add severe begging for public comments as afterword to future chapters. (So far I've been using afterword to beg for constructive criticism, 'cause I do have a lot to learn.) It's just you know, sometimes a pat on the head is really nice, especially at a time where I have learned so many new specifics regarding the craft of writing, that I need to practice those a while before I can absorb more...

Thanks for letting me rave trauma center

Now...

I need a hug!

And need to learn to mantra!

"OooooOooooo I can deal with troll votes, OooooooOooooo I can deal with losing rating, OoooooOoooo I only need a few people to like my writings, OoooooOoooooo a very few people liking it is goooOooooood."

This feedback thing, it really is a question of how greedy we are, isn't it?

Votes comes and goes, public comments are forever

I am so happy for the few public comments which I do have I am so happy that a few do like my writings.

 

[hmmnmm]

Elly, it is my pleasure to be of service to the community in what ways my humble capacities allow. It appears that since I offhandedly erected this Trauma Center, it has grown in such a way as to satisfactorily fill a niche. I hope that you know you are always welcome to come and vent your frustrations, here in the TC that will remain erected in its proper niche for as long as the community finds the niche satisfactorily filled.

A certain thought has been circulating for a few days. I'm certain it is not an original thought - I may have read a similar thought somewhere here, and it was like a small seed that wafted and bedded in my fertile unconsciousness.

For instance: if you're wanting to get a somewhat more accurate reading on how successful or unsuccessful a Lit Submission is, it would probably be advisable for the prose submission to run to at least three Lit pages. That way, if someone takes the time to leave something unfavorable at your doorstep or your mailbox, you can safely guess that (1) either they read through the whole thing, start to finish, in which case you at least held their attention, and even if their overall assessment is not too kind, there's a greater chance of some honesty. (2) they did not read the whole thing from start to finish. They saw something on the first page they didn't like and went right to the last page to let you know about it. Well, they didn't read the whole thing did they? Maybe if you are lucky they will be gracious enough to tell you that they were taken out of the story at a particular place. "I was going along fine, until.... this part." Then you'd have something to think about.

 

[ellynei]

After two weeks as number one on the literotica non-erotic top-list (by star average) - a position held by only 16 votes - Majgen Ch. 006 got a one star vote.

"Literotica swiped the 1 star vote," Ellynei said it out loud, unable to trust the information on the screen.

Chapter 006 is 11,9 k words, can't remember how many lit pages that gives, but the 3,3k words of chapter 005 holds the same rating.

But, in all fairness the first chapter of a series takes most of the beating of not appealing to everyone doesn't it?

 

[The_Fractal_King]

Okay this isn't the result of negative feedback but one I don't quite understand.

A commenter (okay the commenter) on the final chapter of Chaos Theory ended it with this sentiment that I'm having difficulty clarifying:
"Now find me a darkened room to go lie down in I read all three at one sitting, not good fur an auld wife."

 

[ellynei]

first guess:

"Now ill go find a dark room to lie down in, read all 3 chapters in one sitting. In spite of a loud wife."

dunno, maybe its in code?

 

[The_Fractal_King]

first guess:

"Now ill go find a dark room to lie down in, read all 3 chapters in one sitting. In spite of a loud wife."

dunno, maybe its in code?

*starts making a list*

That pretty much makes sense though.

 

[LadynStFreknBed]

first guess:

"Now ill go find a dark room to lie down in, read all 3 chapters in one sitting. In spite of a loud wife."

dunno, maybe its in code?

Or maybe it means:

"I’m worn out from reading anything at all, much less erotica. But, I’m reading erotica, because my old wife needs a shave. "

 

[Owlwhisper]

.....

 

[hmmnmm]

And this for certain should wreak hellfire havoc.

But it's open just in case.

There. Enough community service.

Night.

 

[ellynei]

I feel a little need to visit the trauma center. I really shouldn't, since evil as I am I no longer post chapters of the storyline in question.

But, I can't help it, it still bugs me! It really shouldn't, but it does.

This comment came on my Majgen 019 shortly before I announced my cruel decision to keep the rest of that book-series offline:

Annoying.
10/24/08 By: Anonymous
Wish you'd settle on the spelling of your main character's name. I saw at least three variations. It's distracting. Proofread!
If you don't care enough to present it well, why should we?


I really, really, wanna grab this midget by his collar, jam him up against a wall and say:

Hey shithead! How dare you tell me I don't care enough about Majgen? Her universe has hardly left my head for more than ten minutes at a time since I started writing on this bookseries a year ago. This is a book-series BOOK and SERIES.

OK?

(At this point I'd want to shake him back and forth a bit just to mark that point more clearly)

It is NOT a compilation of short stories, Twathead. It is NOT an independent array of tales. It is one continuous BOOK-SERIES. Which you should bloody well know from foreword and at the beginning of each chapter.

OK?

Now. If you really did see THREE variations on the main characters name, then YES that would be a flaw on my side. I don't know where the third variation is, I ain't seen it. But dude, when you say 'at least three' you are quite clearly stating there shouldn't even be two.

And you know what?

THAT PISSES ME OFF, SHITHEAD!

(I'm guessing the guy wouldn't know why that pisses me off. So I'd take the time to elaborate. Maybe I'd bonk his head against the wall every five words or so, just to make a point...)

It pisses me off because there ARE two spellings because there should BE two spellings. The first spelling is her NAME, Twat. After one year I bloody well know how to spell her name. Majgen. See.

M-A-J-G-E-N.

It's the name of the series, Numbnuts. You ever see me spell a chapter wrong? No?

DID YOU CHECK?

The other spelling is what they call her. Maijien. Is that above your intellectual capacity? She has one name and is called something else, Asshole.

Oh, you didn't know that?

You shoulda bloody well thought about it before you told me I don't care about my story!

Why the fuck would you jump straight to chapter 019 of a bookseries, putting yourself right in the middle of book two, and then post a comment claiming I don't care about my story.

What was that? How I know you didn't read the other chapters?

I know because if you HAD read the other chapters, you would know why they call her Maijien instead of Majgen, Shitlicker.



Ah, I feel much better now.

Normally I don't think getting your point through by means of physical violence is cool, but slapping around an imaginary midget is a practical way to vent frustrations

Thanks again, trauma center.

 

[hmmnmm]

Oh you are quite welcome. The broken bottles and the busted chairs and tables? It's okay, insurance will handle it. No no no no! You can put the broken beer bottleneck down. I'm your friend. No, I'll clean up. You just make yourself at home. Would you like whiskey?

Honored to serve in what capacity I possess. And the honor is humbled at the usage of the services proffered.

Have a great day. Well I must go check on new poems. I am also a poem reviewer you know. So... help yourself to the whiskey, don't mind the mess and I'll check up on you later.

 

[hmmnmm]

Well this is news. Practically as traumatizing as neg-fb... but someone somewhere out there publicly confessed that they did 'cum in their pants'. Definitely worse notes to go to bed to. Even worth a mini-celebration. A private time to offer thanks. And feel it might be possible it may happen again, someday. Maybe 2010. Thanks to whoever you are and keep an eye out because I do have follow-up ideas rolling around. A fine day it's been.

 

[Domwoolf]

Readers and comments.

Readers and comments.
Don’t get me wrong, I love my readers. They are half the reason I write. I also love to receive their comments (yes even the snide depreciating sneers of the anonymous), that a story I have written affects a reader to such a degree that he or she takes their valuable time to write and post a comment means the world to me.

Here it comes. Get ready for it.

But.

They drive me crazy. I have been bitched at because my characters do things that in the real world would have consequences (STD’s, scars, etc). I have been accused of being a horrible husband/father/person, or hating women/women bosses/gays/kids and for all I know puppies and kittens

Some examples:

{“Continue writing for your own pleasure, because reading the comments, you don't seem to give much pleasure to anyone else.”}

This was a story about an encounter in an adult movie house and a group orgy scene. Not many public comments but the most e-mail I have ever gotten on a story, mostly from women saying they had done something like that or that they wished they (and their husbands / boyfriends) had the guts to do it.


{“ To Dom I read your bio and unless that is a work of fiction you do like this sort of thing. As I said each to their own. Personally I would not write about this sort of thing mainly because I don't beleive in doing things like this, even as a fiction based fantasy. On last point the common wisdom about writing is that we all put something of ourselves in the stories we write. I know I do as people who know me can verify. I would say that you Dom put a part of you in your stories.”}

Of course I do. Much of my writing is based on 35+ years in the bdsm community. However while I occasionally inject where appropriate, comments on safe sane and consensual bondage this is the world of fantasy where the actors never get STD’s or pregnant or have to use rubbers or get arrested doing things that simply couldn’t happen outside a TV show or a work of fiction.


{“Get a divorce and seek medical help. Exposing someone to the possibility of STD's should be a criminal act. After all the men have no clue just what type of tramp your wife is. God and her doctor only know what she is carrying. Aside from that this was "really erotic" NOT!!!! “}

This one my REAL world wife responded too:
This is Domwoolf's wife. He keeps telling you that this is a work of FICTION and obviously you are not listening. <snap> <crack> All his work that he is writing is "FICTION", I love this man very much and he would never do anything like that to me for the most part. He loves to tie me up and use the whip on me (mmmmm I love that part), he also uses canes, but he never puts cigs out on me or hang me upside down, no bugs or spiders. Nothing that would harm me or if I don't want it. Always safe, sane & consensual. I only have him, no one else, and the same for him. He keeps me safe and loves me. Rest assured we are truly happy after 25 years of being together. Ladylion23

{“I'm not quite sure what I expected but this wasn't it. I get that Carol is your pet, I get that you want her to do these things. What I don't get is that she loves you for it, apparently. But then I don't really understand BDSM so if you both enjoy this sort of thing then have at it.”}

Again Carol and Rick and Donna and Heather and the rest of my cast of characters exist only in the electronic media of the written word.


3 Comments
{“sick sick sick sick sick sick sick sick sick what kind of person would do that !??????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”}

{“I thought I'd seen the worst in abuse after the donkey show in Havana in l955, and the two dog shows I witnessed in Asia. BUT, you, my sick friend, are the first human to make me sick to my stomach! My only wish would be to have you at my disposal for a couple of months, so as to be able to introduce you to JUST the pain you describe, inflicting. You should be ashamed to call yourself a human being, I know I'm ashamed of you!”}


{“I can tell you are a cruel man. I cannot tell you if I would read another installment of this story or not.”}


Granted that some of my stories get warning labels even on the supposedly hard core sex and sadism sites, I still get amazed at the visceral responses I get.


I suppose I shall have to include a disclaimer on my works from now on.

Disclaimer:
What I write is fiction/fantasy/fairy tales for adults. None of my characters are real, no one was injured during the production of my stories and just like on T.V., they all get up when the scene is over, have a beer, remove the makeup and go home, ready to return in the next chapter, all the boo boos healed.


Finally some comments in the (Some folks just don’t get it department).

{“When you switched from the vampire to the victim, it gave a bit of a mental whiplash, as you didn't bother to tell us you were changing point of reference.”}

Which was the point I was trying and I guess failing to make that vamp and victim share a lot of the same thoughts and world views.


Spelling?
06/24/08 By: Anonymous in USA
It's spelled I-N-T-E-R-L-U-D-E.
Some folks will never get it.
lewd
adjective
1. showing, or intended to excite, lust or sexual desire, esp. in an offensive way; lascivious.

inter•lude
noun
1. a short, humorous play formerly presented between the parts of a miracle play or morality play
a. anything that fills time between two events
b. intervening time or, rarely, space.

Interlewd
A play on words intended to combine both definitions.

Dom Woolf
"sigh"

 

[hmmnmm]

Well I should really be preparing my mind for todays New Poems Reviews, but a few thoughts just tempted me and of course I can never resist them when they wink and sashay as they often do because they know they always win and I fall to my knees in service to them.

Here's what I think tends to happen: a scenario or a way of wording pops into the would-be-writer's head. It appears interesting. Hm, that would be funny, sexy, odd, provoking, etc... so the would-be-writer goes forth and expends his or her energies into making what, in their minds, is something that they'd like to share with others, because certainly if it's interesting to the writer it will be interesting to the reader. And I think when some responses come back that voice virulent disagreement with what we thought was something interesting or different, we just don't understand why they don't see what we see.

But I think a generous percentage of potential readers are not looking or expecting something different. No. It's the opposite. They are looking for the familiar. They prepare their minds to receive The Expected. If they get the Unexpected, well, they will likely react.

The Expected and the Unexpected could be anything. If the characters do not behave in expected ways, if the prose does not flow in expected syntax, maybe even if the writer takes an unexpected departure from what readers who know their work, have come to expect.

I loved the movie Happiness. Many hated it, many walked out, many who I would have thought were the open-minded types and who could appreciate something going boldly over lines of... well, not even minding if any lines exist... surprised me by voicing their utmost disgust at that movie.

Pick a popular television show and I'll probably be among the few who really doesn't care for it. They are many.

Anyway, I love thinking about this stuff and could go on, but I better go and get some breakfast, chop some wood and then settle in for today's New Poems Review.

 

[hmmnmm]

The poems can wait. Got 'em rounded up and marked and scheduled for closer inspection later today.

This came a minute ago:

You have a singer/songwriter/guitarist who's looking for a gig. Appreciates a vast spectrum of other talents but prefers to compose and perform his/her own material. Well, pick out a random batch of say, twenty bars/clubs. Betcha 19 of them, the owners and management and the people who come and keep the places open by buying beers and cocktails, will not want to hear the singer/songwriter sing his/her own material. They want to hear what they know. And they'd appreciate it if the singer/songwriter tried to sound kinda close to the voice of the version they know. Maybe if the singer/songwriter plays along, he/she can throw in one or two originals, which most of the crowd will patiently endure but really feels better when they again hear songs they are familiar with.

I think a similar dynamic is at work here (and I bet the situation here is not at all unique).

Most people who come to read a story do not want to read something the writer really composed, that really came from the writer's mind and imagination, and doesn't read like too much they are familiar with. They want to read cover songs pretty much, and this category the songs should sound kinda like Neil Young, and another category should be John Denver songs; the writer is not expected to sound exactly like them, but they should attempt to at least fake it convincingly.

So the writer/singer/songwriter has to decide what is really important. Learn to play and sing the popular songs and sound kinda like the others or come up with their own songs and sing with their voice and accept the very real risk they will lose the chance of being heard, and even cross off the potential clubs they could play in that pay well, which they could partake in if they just put aside their own voice and learned to copy what's currently popular.

Maybe they even try it out just to see what happens, and learn a few of the popular tunes. Maybe they end up with lots of gigs and lots of listeners. But really, they know they're not being true to themselves. Their own voice is in danger of being lost. Maybe some don't care, maybe others do. Some save themselves at the last second, others earlier, and others not at all. It's everyone's decision they alone can really make, and each day decide again which way to go.

 

[Domwoolf]

i hear what your saying

I agree with your thought, but I have always marched to my own internal drummer(who plays a jazz solo, on speed most of the time, with bagpipes for some unknown and perverted reason) and I'll be damned if I'll change my tune for anon a mouse or anyone else. Those that like the bent of my mind will find and enjoy and to hell with the rest.
Dom Woolf



.[/QUOTE]
[Ithink a similar dynamic is at work here (and I bet the situation here is not at all unique).

Most people who come to read a story do not want to read something the writer really composed, that really came from the writer's mind and imagination, and doesn't read like too much they are familiar with. They want to read cover songs pretty much, and this category the songs should sound kinda like Neil Young, and another category should be John Denver songs; the writer is not expected to sound exactly like them, but they should attempt to at least fake it convincingly.

So the writer/singer/songwriter has to decide what is really important. Learn to play and sing the popular songs and sound kinda like the others or come up with their own songs and sing with their voice and accept the very real risk they will lose the chance of being heard, and even cross off the potential clubs they could play in that pay well, which they could partake in if they just put aside their own voice and learned to copy what's currently popular.

Maybe they even try it out just to see what happens, and learn a few of the popular tunes. Maybe they end up with lots of gigs and lots of listeners. But really, they know they're not being true to themselves. Their own voice is in danger of being lost. Maybe some don't care, maybe others do. Some save themselves at the last second, others earlier, and others not at all. It's everyone's decision they alone can really make, and each day decide again which way to go.[/QUOTE]

 

[hmmnmm]

You're an inspiration, Dom. I'll admit I tend to go back and forth. I call it the windshield wiper syndrome. On one side I can successfully do the 'fuck 'em if they don't like it, cause it's mine' then it slaps over to the other 'man, why didn't anybody like that one?' and hoping to gain a better route of communication from me to Them. Which you know and I know that's really impossible. So then it's back to the other side. Sometimes the wipers whip fast, sometimes not so fast, but I'm gonna whip the inner doubts this year. Gonna do it. And have fun doing it. I'll still reside in obscurity, but if one's the same as the other it might as well be honest.

Happy New Year!

 

[hmmnmm]

Oops... false start... never mind.

 

[hmmnmm]

Sorry about that. Sometimes I feel like I'm the only who struggles with self-doubts. About everything. Will I ever write decent fiction/prose? Just one paragraph? One scene? What am I doing here? Is anyone out there getting anything good from what I try to contribute? Should I be doing something else elsewhere? Am I just the wrong person trying to appeal to the wrong audience? Am I for some reason just not cut out to write erotic prose? Or no prose at all? Those are just a few that return day after day. Is there any hope? Is happiness just not meant for some of us? No matter what we do or how hard we try? So if those of us for whom it is not meant for can accept it and let it go, we can relax because anything that exceeds the lowest points can be considered unexpected moments of joy? And so on...

I mean, what if the ones who have said my work sucks are really the perceptive ones and the ones who said it didn't suck were just being nice? And maybe a would-be writer whose writing really sucks is the real criminal for putting unsuspecting readers at risk for experiencing horrors unparalleled? Not to mention... well, you know. Something to think about...

 

[AverageBear]

I understand the sentiments. However, "sucks" and "doesn't suck" is in the eye of the beholder. If you enjoy the writing, somebody will enjoy the reading. Enjoy the ones who do, take 2 aspirin for the ones who don't, and call me in the morning.

 

[hmmnmm]

Hm, well all those aspirins would get expensive pretty quick so just have to endure the episodes, which can end up costly too. There must be vaccinations? Like do it better? Well that's a given. And of course, I'm always exploring different ideas. Always. But when I've attempted to observe some conventions or consciously adjusted to appeal to perceived expectations, I always felt dirty or wrong or overall uncomfortable, even if it somewhat 'succeeded' which it usually doesn't, probably because the falsity comes across more obvious than I realize, which means the same results would've come back if I'd stuck with doing it the way I like to do it, the way that is comfortably me. So the answer on that is clear enough. And then the world becomes a happier place. As it is becoming again even as I type these words.

Then a few minutes ago I was thinking about the local library, and I'm known as the one who checks out books that haven't been checked out in a loooong time. Most everyone else is going for these newer fancier flashier popular ones, which I just don't find interesting or appealing, at all. Then I wondered about the books themselves; if they ever go through similar cycles as would-be writers who don't appeal to too many people. They watch the books across the aisle whose spines are fat and loud with color, watch hands come and fondle them, take them home. And that one book just sits there on the shelf, months, a year... until one day one soul takes it and loves it and there is a deep deep intimacy between those two. And that one more than compensates for the thousands who flock to the popular. Ain't that romantic?

Well those aspirin are working... off to work on an idea. Another for Lit to add to its shelves, that no one will read, except maybe someone will stumble along someday and find it's just what they're looking for.

What a beautiful day.

 

[hmmnmm]

But if we want to get really romantic, if I wasn't such a hypocritical pussy, the perfect plan, the most real, would be to completely quit internet activity. Just write stories and poems and whatever comes out; but throw it all in boxes. Fill them up and tape them shut and stick 'em in the closet. Set a time limit, like one or two or three years. When that time period is up, then load all the writings into trunks, lock them, and then go bury them in the desert or put them away in a vault. Then, go off to some far away country, someplace at the sea, cliffs, rocks; ditch all identification. Take a hike up to a high cliff and use a pistol that causes a fall into the water, and just disappear. Never know nor care if anybody ever finds the writings or if they burn them or make them available for others. Now isn't that just perfect? Could be a story in that. Not very original of course, but someone could probably do something with it. or... maybe there's a way to do it without doing it. Do it metaphorically. Somehow kill off all awareness of any expectation. That's a tough one. That's the goal though. Then one is free. And then I do believe whatever is written will be true and real. And will stand on its own which would be far more valuable than whether anyone ever knows it exists. Like a rock, in the middle of the desert. It is what it is. And no one can dispute. No one.

Well that feels better.
Sometimes it helps to just write it out.

Back to the... you know where.

 

[Domwoolf]

won't help

A lovely thought but it won't help, no it won't. I write, not because of the readers or the comments (good or bad) but because the voice in my head won't shut the hell up until I put down on paper (or in this case the comp.) the scenes that are constantly playing out in my head. I see them when i'm sleeping or driveing or watching tv or playing poker (WHICH IS REALLY DISTRACTING). The women brought before the cruel master, in chains or ropes, wearing dresses or tee shirts and tight jean shorts ripped just so. I see in my head the play of muscles and flesh as they are suspended before me and cruely tortured or stripped and forced to do the things their mothers warned them against. They are there in my head 24/7/365 and the only way I have found to get them out is remove them to a place of their own, my stories. So I write, sometimes I share but share or not I have to write. It's a monkey on my back and makes me unfit to live with but thats another story.
Dom Woolf

Well that feels better.
Sometimes it helps to just write it out.

Back to the... you know where.