please remove

[Erozetta]

Thank you. I've done that, now we will see if it has worked.

I wanted to also use this opportunity to add - one of the reasons I encourage people to be honest right from the start is - I tend to give honest feedback. I do not go out of my way to be mean, and I definitely look for positive things to say. BUT a lot of the time I genuinely do not like what someone sends me. Where this happens, I try to analyse why this is, to separate my personal preferences / likes / dislikes, from genuine criticism of the writing itself. Still, the moment I come clean and say, "this needs improving", or even, "did you know there is a better way of doing this?" That's when people can turn nasty. Frankly, I don't appreciate it, because anything that comes out of their mouth / keyboard, after that point, is pure vitriol. And no, that won't stop me writing, but it will leave a bad taste in my mouth and make me reluctant to give my opinion to the next person that comes along.

Just saying...

Your link is not the correct one. The one you used will only take each of us to our own submission page

Use this one instead:

https://www.literotica.com/authors/SashaS_EroticaQueen/works/stories

 

[SashaS_EroticaQueen]

Your link is not the correct one. The one you used will only take each of us to our own submission page

Use this one instead:

https://www.literotica.com/authors/SashaS_EroticaQueen/works/stories

Many thanks!

 

[Erozetta]

Many thanks!

You're welcome, and it's an incredibly common mistake.

 

[SashaS_EroticaQueen]

You're welcome, and it's an incredibly common mistake.

I thought that I might be using the wrong link, but wasn't sure how to check, so I'm really grateful for your help.

 

[8letters]

While it is lovely to get compliments, I am actually seeking to be ripped apart by those not afraid to criticize me, so I can learn from it. Rest assured, I am made to be ripped apart. Ha ha ha... nothing can stop me or steer me from my path, because the drive to create and to write, is bigger than me. I am nothing but a conduit for this beautiful stream of inspiration that keeps welling up inside me. To stop would be to cease existing... whereas, to be criticized is to gain a genuine insight into the reader's mind. When we strip ourselves of our egos, what is left? For me, what is left is - the desire to keep creating and to improve, to the mutual benefit of myself and my readers, producing stories that just blow one's mind.... or at least, the minds of many. Because we all know, you can't please everyone, all the time.

This is something that I've discussed recently with another author. There's no value to the criticism I'd provide to you if you and I don't agree on what makes a good erotic story. I'm not into NonHuman or BDSM stories. I'm not in your target audience. You are going to get more meaningful criticism if you can find a critic who likes the kind of stories you want to write. And it's very challenging to find such a person.

 

[SashaS_EroticaQueen]

This is something that I've discussed recently with another author. There's no value to the criticism I'd provide to you if you and I don't agree on what makes a good erotic story. I'm not into NonHuman or BDSM stories. I'm not in your target audience. You are going to get more meaningful criticism if you can find a critic who likes the kind of stories you want to write. And it's very challenging to find such a person.

I actually did not come onto the forum to look for people to critique my work. Honest! I've made this point a few times already.

Also, thanks for letting me know you're not into my kind of stories...

 

[ElectricBlue]

I actually did not come onto the forum to look for people to critique my work. Honest! I've made this point a few times already.

Your thread title suggests that is what you're looking for, plus the identical post over in the Feedback Forum. Aren't you being a bit inconsistent? Or did I miss something?

 

[Voboy]

While it is lovely to get compliments, I am actually seeking to be ripped apart by those not afraid to criticize me, so I can learn from it.

I actually did not come onto the forum to look for people to critique my work. Honest! I've made this point a few times already.

Umm.

 

[SashaS_EroticaQueen]

Umm.

Yup, I see where the confusion arose. I posted it across at someone's suggestion.
Still, the thread was meant to be a general discussion about criticism versus compliments.
Not a cry for comments in general.
If I wanted to ask for reviews, I would have gone elsewhere and titled the thread appropriately.

As I have explained already, I had someone compliment me, only to turn around and get all narky and critical of silly things, after I gave him a bit of feedback he did not appreciate. So, it really made me wish he had just been honest from the get-go, and told me the slightly critical stuff, along with the compliments. I started thinking about how I could encourage criticism - and that is what inspired me to post this thread. Sure, compliments are great, but compliments are also easy. It is non-confrontational. It makes us friends. It might even inspire others to compliment us back. Whereas I want to focus on improving my writing and the writing of my friends. I also want to focus on the marketing side of things, so my comment might say something like "book titles make a big difference to sales" - and then go on to say that, as a reader, someone's title doesn't inspire me to read the story. That is criticism, yes, but it is in no way personal, nor is it a criticism of someone's writing skills.

Anyway, hope this clears things up..

 

[8letters]

As I have explained already, I had someone compliment me, only to turn around and get all narky and critical of silly things, after I gave him a bit of feedback he did not appreciate. So, it really made me wish he had just been honest from the get-go, and told me the slightly critical stuff, along with the compliments. I started thinking about how I could encourage criticism - and that is what inspired me to post this thread. Sure, compliments are great, but compliments are also easy. It is non-confrontational. It makes us friends. It might even inspire others to compliment us back. Whereas I want to focus on improving my writing and the writing of my friends. I also want to focus on the marketing side of things, so my comment might say something like "book titles make a big difference to sales" - and then go on to say that, as a reader, someone's title doesn't inspire me to read the story. That is criticism, yes, but it is in no way personal, nor is it a criticism of someone's writing skills.

I beg to differ.

Giving useful criticism is incredibly hard, because you and I have to agree on what makes a good erotic story for that criticism to be of value. (I'm using me as a specific, but I'm talking about the general case). If I were to tell you to write three to five page stand-alone stories, and you think a three to five page stand-alone story is way too small of a canvas for your writing, then my criticism is of no value to you and was in fact annoying. Criticism from someone who doesn't agree with you on what makes a good erotic story can easily seem all narky and critical of silly things. I regularly get comments on my stories telling me how I could have written them better, and my response is almost always, "That's not what I wanted to do with this story." Also with criticism, there's the "Who the fuck are you?" aspect. If I were to tell you to not waste your time writing stories for small-audience categories like BDSM and NonHuman, you'd probably think, "Who the fuck are you to tell me what category to write for?"

If you want to get criticism that is useful to you, you need to search out readers in your target audience for it.

OTOH, compliments don't require that shared sense of what makes a good erotic story. Compliments about a specific aspect of your story give you an idea of what you did well. The absence of compliments about other aspects of your story gives you an idea of what you need to improve upon. Compliments inspire me to write more, while criticism typically does the opposite.

 

[SashaS_EroticaQueen]

I beg to differ.

Giving useful criticism is incredibly hard, because you and I have to agree on what makes a good erotic story for that criticism to be of value. (I'm using me as a specific, but I'm talking about the general case). If I were to tell you to write three to five page stand-alone stories, and you think a three to five page stand-alone story is way too small of a canvas for your writing, then my criticism is of no value to you and was in fact annoying. Criticism from someone who doesn't agree with you on what makes a good erotic story can easily seem all narky and critical of silly things. I regularly get comments on my stories telling me how I could have written them better, and my response is almost always, "That's not what I wanted to do with this story." Also with criticism, there's the "Who the fuck are you?" aspect. If I were to tell you to not waste your time writing stories for small-audience categories like BDSM and NonHuman, you'd probably think, "Who the fuck are you to tell me what category to write for?"

If you want to get criticism that is useful to you, you need to search out readers in your target audience for it.

OTOH, compliments don't require that shared sense of what makes a good erotic story. Compliments about a specific aspect of your story give you an idea of what you did well. The absence of compliments about other aspects of your story gives you an idea of what you need to improve upon. Compliments inspire me to write more, while criticism typically does the opposite.

So, you think BDSM is a "small audience" category? Yet, if you do just a modicum of research (as I have done), you will discover that BDSM is quite popular among adults and erotica readers (https://www.sexualdiversity.org/literature/773.php is just one link I could point to, that discusses this). People do surveys on this kind of thing all the time, because it is part of good marketing.

Regarding non-human and specifically, vampires.. that is another category that I've researched and that apparently is immortal, just like the vampires themselves. The information I have gleamed states:
"...every once in a while, you hear someone say that the vampire craze is over for good, but that’s honestly never going to happen. Because the truth is the trope is so much more malleable than many give it credit for."

Another thing I would like to point out is, the importance of finding your niche. Sometimes, aiming for the biggest and most popular genre is actually a detriment to an author, from a marketing perspective. Whereas, becoming known inside a particular niche can work in one's favour.

All I am really hearing, when I read your comments (needlessly repeated, I might add) is - YOU don't enjoy either of those two niche categories. You are absolutely entitled to your opinion, but... it is wrong, in this case. Factually and statistically wrong.

Equally, I understand why you prefer to get compliments. Sure, they're nice, AS LONG AS THEY'RE GENUINE. I think that is what I was really talking about. I'll also say that vitriol is real. And vitriol, as distinct from genuine criticism, should be stamped out (not accusing you of it, don't worry).

 

[SimonDoom]

So, you think BDSM is a "small audience" category? Yet, if you do just a modicum of research (as I have done), you will discover that BDSM is quite popular among adults and erotica readers (https://www.sexualdiversity.org/literature/773.php is just one link I could point to, that discusses this). People do surveys on this kind of thing all the time, because it is part of good marketing.

Regarding non-human and specifically, vampires.. that is another category that I've researched and that apparently is immortal, just like the vampires themselves. The information I have gleamed states:
"...every once in a while, you hear someone say that the vampire craze is over for good, but that’s honestly never going to happen. Because the truth is the trope is so much more malleable than many give it credit for."

Another thing I would like to point out is, the importance of finding your niche. Sometimes, aiming for the biggest and most popular genre is actually a detriment to an author, from a marketing perspective. Whereas, becoming known inside a particular niche can work in one's favour.

All I am really hearing, when I read your comments (needlessly repeated, I might add) is - YOU don't enjoy either of those two niche categories. You are absolutely entitled to your opinion, but... it is wrong, in this case. Factually and statistically wrong.

Equally, I understand why you prefer to get compliments. Sure, they're nice, AS LONG AS THEY'RE GENUINE. I think that is what I was really talking about. I'll also say that vitriol is real. And vitriol, as distinct from genuine criticism, should be stamped out (not accusing you of it, don't worry).

You and 8Letters are both right; it's a matter of perspective.

Objectively speaking, there are many readers and writers of BDSM stories here at Literotica, and anyone who enjoys writing them should be encouraged to do so. Comparatively speaking, BDSM stories have a far smaller readership than incest stories, and those are what 8Letters writes (I write a lot of them too, but I've also written a BDSM story, and it might be my favorite story of mine). So, if you are accustomed to the kinds of numbers that incest stories generate, BDSM story response can seem a bit paltry by comparison. But if you never thought to look at the numbers for incest stories, you'd probably think the BDSM numbers were large.

I agree with 8Letters that it's hard to give, and to receive, good, meaningful criticism. I've tried doing some criticism with the goal of trying to be very open-minded and objective and not letting my biases show through, because I think it's completely worthless to an author to be told, in essence, "I wish you'd written a story that was more to my liking." I don't want to do that. But it's hard to avoid.

I'm generally somewhat receptive to criticism when it's specific--if somebody points out something about the way I wrote something that wasn't quite right, or if I described a character doing something that seemed implausible or out of character. But even then, sometimes I'll mull over the criticism, nod and say, "I see their point," but decide, "I don't want to do it that way."

 

[Voboy]

I've written just ONE BDSM story. I wrote it specifically for someone, as a gift, and she loved it. I liked it too, or I wouldn't have posted it.

It's one of my lowest-scored, lowest-voted stories in my catalog: almost 20k views, just 46 votes. For a couple years, it was my only story that had ZERO comments on it. Frankly, I remain a little bit perplexed by that response; I don't think the story is any worse than any of my other stuff.

It's been up since February 2019. It has a grand total of ONE comment to date. I don't know anything much about that category, but that one data point of mine suggests that the readers there are not terribly engaged, compared to similarly-written stories in other categories.

 

[SashaS_EroticaQueen]

I've written just ONE BDSM story. I wrote it specifically for someone, as a gift, and she loved it. I liked it too, or I wouldn't have posted it.

It's one of my lowest-scored, lowest-voted stories in my catalog: almost 20k views, just 46 votes. For a couple years, it was my only story that had ZERO comments on it. Frankly, I remain a little bit perplexed by that response; I don't think the story is any worse than any of my other stuff.

It's been up since February 2019. It has a grand total of ONE comment to date. I don't know anything much about that category, but that one data point of mine suggests that the readers there are not terribly engaged, compared to similarly-written stories in other categories.

Well, I am personally horrified to learn that stories involving incest are so popular. Personally, incest disgusts me. Like, seriously disgusts me, almost as much as bestiality. The fact that people enjoy it, is just beyond me. I could never in a million years write about incest, not for any money. Urgh.

I get comments on my BDSM stories and I'm very happy with those comments. They are usually complimentary, both of the writing and the content. Occasionally some douchebag decides to read it despite the content warnings, and is shocked. But the fact remains, BDSM is a fully legal, consensual type of erotic engagement that is enjoyed, in some form or other, by millions. I have loads of personal experience in it, because I am a kinkster and I've lived the lifestyle for more than 20 years. I usually try to write my stories for a broader audience, giving different view points and helping people really think about what it means to be submissive or dominant, or a masochist or sadist. But I am not limited in my writing, to this genre. I also write sci-fi erotica and non-human erotica and I've written at least one full-length romance story under my real name. I definitely plan to write more in the romantic genre, because there is a huge craving for it, out there - and because I personally crave it!

Seeing a great story (like "Lost you forever") written by a hugely successful author of contemporary romance (Tong Hua), only to realise she has deliberately not allowed the two characters who are in love, to end up together.... well, it is soul destroying. I am disappointed not only as an author, but also as a woman. I read somewhere that the author was trying to say that romantic love is not the "be all, end all" in our lives. Well, I disagree! Strenuously. So, obviously, I must now go and write a truly epic, fully romantic story that pushes all those buttons and then delivers.

I guess I am telling you all this, so you may understand that I am not relying on any one genre for success. I am not, however, playing the numbers game. If I produce a lot of books, it will not be by sacrificing the quality of my work. It will simply be because I write until the wee hours every night (8+ hours per day, more on weekends) and I make sacrifices to give myself as much time as possible. I haven't watched TV in over a year and have no intention of watching it, possibly ever again. I'm an introvert anyway, and love nothing more than to immerse myself in my writing and disappear into that other world... speaking of which... off I go

 

[AwkwardMD]

In my general experience, whenever I've dealt with writers who say "that's deliberate" or "That's just the way I write," what they really mean is "I'm too lazy / stubborn / prideful to actually do it the right way."

 

[8letters]

So, you think BDSM is a "small audience" category? Yet, if you do just a modicum of research (as I have done), you will discover that BDSM is quite popular among adults and erotica readers (https://www.sexualdiversity.org/literature/773.php is just one link I could point to, that discusses this). People do surveys on this kind of thing all the time, because it is part of good marketing.

Regarding non-human and specifically, vampires.. that is another category that I've researched and that apparently is immortal, just like the vampires themselves. The information I have gleamed states:
"...every once in a while, you hear someone say that the vampire craze is over for good, but that’s honestly never going to happen. Because the truth is the trope is so much more malleable than many give it credit for."

Another thing I would like to point out is, the importance of finding your niche. Sometimes, aiming for the biggest and most popular genre is actually a detriment to an author, from a marketing perspective. Whereas, becoming known inside a particular niche can work in one's favour.

All I am really hearing, when I read your comments (needlessly repeated, I might add) is - YOU don't enjoy either of those two niche categories. You are absolutely entitled to your opinion, but... it is wrong, in this case. Factually and statistically wrong.

LOL! Or to put it simply, "Who the fuck are you to tell me what category to write for?"

I've pulled a tremendous amount of story statistics from Literotica. Here's an analysis I did in 2018 comparing the average story statistics for stand-alone stories for each category:

The "Don't waste your time writing stories for small-audience categories like BDSM and NonHuman" was a hypothetical. My actual advice would be "Write what you want but understand the consequences of your choice." If you enjoy writing BDSM and NonHuman stories, keep at it.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

Taking criticism is a skill. If all you've ever had is positive feedback, it might seem refreshing to be given pointers on where you can improve. In practice, however, most people have a tendency to become defensive. "That's just the way I write" or "That's deliberate", or even "What do you know?"

Criticism feels personal because it *is* personal. Someone is pointing out shortcomings in your creation, something that you feel is (at the very least) good enough to publish.

It takes strength and self-awareness to distil those comments into something useful without dismissing them out of hand. It begins with seeing every criticism as an opportunity for improvement, and then keeping an open mind about changing your process or your style.

It also takes being very aware of the technical skill that writing requires. "That's deliberate" is only a valid defence if your choices enhance the story, for example choosing a particular style to present the narrator's state of mind. If those choices don't work, and someone points it out, you have to be willing to admit your mistake and avoid making it again in the future.

The "That's deliberate" argument always rings hollow to me.
EVERYTHING in your story should be a deliberate choice. The real question is, was it a good choice?

 

[StillStunned]

The "That's deliberate" argument always rings hollow to me.
EVERYTHING in your story should be a deliberate choice. The real question is, was it a good choice?

That's what I meant. You can only say it's deliberate if you understand what you did, what the alternatives where, and how each of the choices would affect the story.

 

[SashaS_EroticaQueen]

LOL! Or to put it simply, "Who the fuck are you to tell me what category to write for?"

I've pulled a tremendous amount of story statistics from Literotica. Here's an analysis I did in 2018 comparing the average story statistics for stand-alone stories for each category:

The "Don't waste your time writing stories for small-audience categories like BDSM and NonHuman" was a hypothetical. My actual advice would be "Write what you want but understand the consequences of your choice." If you enjoy writing BDSM and NonHuman stories, keep at it.

All good, and thanks for the stats. But again, that is merely Literotica, not the entire world / readership that is out there. And let's face it, Literotica is free, so it hardly reflects the buying audience, does it? But I still very much appreciate your comment.

 

[SashaS_EroticaQueen]

That's what I meant. You can only say it's deliberate if you understand what you did, what the alternatives where, and how each of the choices would affect the story.

The moral of the story and comments here: don't dismiss any criticism out of hand, no matter how silly and insignificant it seems. But do try and remember, when it comes to any kind of art (and this includes writing), most opinions are subjective. Multiple people will give you different opinions and that is perfectly OK. Getting defensive and even worse - attacking the person offering criticism - is counter-productive and will only alienate you from your readers (or other authors, if that is who is making the criticism).

In saying that, I still think we should be critical of the criticism.

I like and appreciate honest feedback, including simple statements such as "I hate that name you've used" or "the damsel in distress is such a cliche scenario". Valid, won't necessarily make me change anything, but valid. Not offensive. But some person coming along, purporting to be an expert, and pulling apart a perfectly good piece of writing, because "I'm an editor" (or words to that effect) will not fly well with me. Like, people who keep referring to "rules" someone else taught them (someone not famous), and accusing me of 'information dumping' without fully understanding what that is..... they can go jump.

 

[ElectricBlue]

All good, and thanks for the stats. But again, that is merely Literotica, not the entire world / readership that is out there. And let's face it, Literotica is free, so it hardly reflects the buying audience, does it? But I still very much appreciate your comment.

It reflects the erotica reading audience though, being the biggest written erotica website by a very wide margin.

Curiosity question - have you found any data on the volume of monetized sales these days? You go look at Kindle Unlimited, for example, there's a bunch of free content there, but I wonder what the volume is - let alone what converts to sales.

 

[StillStunned]

I like and appreciate honest feedback, including simple statements such as "I hate that name you've used" or "the damsel in distress is such a cliche scenario". Valid, won't necessarily make me change anything, but valid. Not offensive. But some person coming along, purporting to be an expert, and pulling apart a perfectly good piece of writing, because "I'm an editor" (or words to that effect) will not fly well with me. Like, people who keep referring to "rules" someone else taught them (someone not famous), and accusing me of 'information dumping' without fully understanding what that is..... they can go jump.

The thing is that someone who points out flaws in your writing "because I'm an editor" probably knows at least as much about writing as you do, and more about correcting those flaws.

For instance: yes, I'm an editor. A professional copy editor and proofreader. Besides a Master's degree in English, I've spent 40-70 hours a week for the past 25+ years reading texts, analysing them and making them better. And I'm good at it: I'm self-employed, and I make a more than decent living, working for incredibly strict clients,

What you think is "a perfectly good piece of writing" is perhaps, objectively speaking, not so good. Grammatical rules that people always get wrong, or misused words, or gaps in logic or information - those things are invisible to you, but an unbiased reader will spot them and point them out.

And infodumping? You don't need to be an expert to recognise it. Any reader can say, "This is too much information for me to read before I'm invested in the story or the characters." Some will have a higher tolerance than others. But as a writer you have to be aware that the phenomenon exists, and make allowance for it. Your story is your own, always, but if you wilfully disregard your readers' reactions, don't be surprised if it never becomes their story as well.

 

[SashaS_EroticaQueen]

The thing is that someone who points out flaws in your writing "because I'm an editor" probably knows at least as much about writing as you do, and more about correcting those flaws.

For instance: yes, I'm an editor. A professional copy editor and proofreader. Besides a Master's degree in English, I've spent 40-70 hours a week for the past 25+ years reading texts, analysing them and making them better. And I'm good at it: I'm self-employed, and I make a more than decent living, working for incredibly strict clients,

What you think is "a perfectly good piece of writing" is perhaps, objectively speaking, not so good. Grammatical rules that people always get wrong, or misused words, or gaps in logic or information - those things are invisible to you, but an unbiased reader will spot them and point them out.

And infodumping? You don't need to be an expert to recognise it. Any reader can say, "This is too much information for me to read before I'm invested in the story or the characters." Some will have a higher tolerance than others. But as a writer you have to be aware that the phenomenon exists, and make allowance for it. Your story is your own, always, but if you wilfully disregard your readers' reactions, don't be surprised if it never becomes their story as well.

Totally agree about info dumping and yes, I'm well aware of it (and I avoid it like the plague). That's what made me mad. They saw one sentence - ONE sentence of maybe 7 words - and claimed that it was info dumping. I don't think it was correct to call it info dumping, at all.

English being my second language, I am also a stickler for spelling and grammar. I read every piece of my writing probably a dozen times before posting it anywhere (excluding messages such as this one). I also have a lifetime of experience writing all manner of documents, scientific papers, legal letters, speeches for judges, and the like - as well as editing judgments of the supreme court in one of our states, where I worked for four years. I have no less than 3 University degrees, including science, economics and law, and my specialty has always been research and writing.

Not all editors are good at what they do. Not all are real editors, despite what they claim in cyberspace. Some purport to be this, without proper qualifications. Some have done a single writer's course and now think they are experts.

I've had someone tell me that the word "suddenly" should not be used, because the person they worked for did not like it. The same person gushed about "deep third person POV" and how it was so much superior to "ordinary" third person POV. They had zero interest in commenting on the story, the plot, or the characters - which, to me, are quite important - and they had NO criticism of my grammar or spelling. I decided not to worry too much about them, after I realised this.. after all, if my style were no good, I wouldn't be getting such high ratings here, or have people continually asking me if I could help them write better, and other people complimenting me on my writing...

Let's also not forget that you can pull apart 50 shades, all you like. It is absolute shit, in terms of writing. But I bet she is laughing all the way to the bank...

 

[SashaS_EroticaQueen]

It reflects the erotica reading audience though, being the biggest written erotica website by a very wide margin.

Curiosity question - have you found any data on the volume of monetized sales these days? You go look at Kindle Unlimited, for example, there's a bunch of free content there, but I wonder what the volume is - let alone what converts to sales.

Honestly? No idea.

I don't write to order, or to an audience that I think is the biggest, or something like that.

I'm sure you can be quite calculated in your approach, but I would rather be motivated by my creativity and my inner muse, than anything else. I think people appreciate a great writer and you can't be great if you cut out your heart and sacrifice it on the altar of greed.

 

[SashaS_EroticaQueen]

The thing is that someone who points out flaws in your writing "because I'm an editor" probably knows at least as much about writing as you do, and more about correcting those flaws.

For instance: yes, I'm an editor. A professional copy editor and proofreader. Besides a Master's degree in English, I've spent 40-70 hours a week for the past 25+ years reading texts, analysing them and making them better. And I'm good at it: I'm self-employed, and I make a more than decent living, working for incredibly strict clients,

What you think is "a perfectly good piece of writing" is perhaps, objectively speaking, not so good. Grammatical rules that people always get wrong, or misused words, or gaps in logic or information - those things are invisible to you, but an unbiased reader will spot them and point them out.

And infodumping? You don't need to be an expert to recognise it. Any reader can say, "This is too much information for me to read before I'm invested in the story or the characters." Some will have a higher tolerance than others. But as a writer you have to be aware that the phenomenon exists, and make allowance for it. Your story is your own, always, but if you wilfully disregard your readers' reactions, don't be surprised if it never becomes their story as well.

Not to go on, but.... I strongly encourage you to read my writing before passing judgment on it.
I don't do info dumping (as previously stated) and I think there's some confusion about what it is, out there.
Literally every single one of my stories begins with action, dialogue, and characters.
When someone tries to look clever, yet forgets to comment on key aspects of the writing, such as the dialogue (which I always have in spades), or the characters (who, for me, are real and very well portrayed), or the plot..... well, it makes me question how good they are. Or maybe I am confused about what an editor does?? LOL