jezzaz
On hiatus.
- Joined
- May 11, 2013
- Posts
- 271
Cross posted from another thread because it’s relevant here.
My latest has managed to attract some really nasty snide and spiteful commenting. Loving Wives recently has really started to look like 4 Chan in its commenting.
One thing I’ve really started to notice is that people will comment if you are have god level stories, and then it’s a stream of ‘this is so great!’ Over and over again. Lovely for the ego, but it doesn’t do much to make you a better writer.
Otherwise it’s a litany of complaints about anything and everything, real or imagined. Very little constructive criticism, mostly just complaining that it’s either too short or too long, not enough details, too much detail, and my favorite ‘this character wouldn’t (or shouldn’t) behave like that’. As though characters are real and have their own lives.
There’s this weird need for a specific type of reader to project themselves - or an idealized version of themselves - onto the characters and what they do, and they get majorly bent out of shape if they don’t behave as the reader ‘thinks’ they should.
There’s a tremendous amount of entitlement from readers, that you as an author, because you’ve decided to spend the time and effort to write something, somehow owe the reader exactly what ever they think they want. Because they’ve decided to read it, you somehow owe them a story tailored to their desires.
Lit commenting is a post child for the old adage ‘if something is given freely, it is considered of no value by those receiving, and treated as such.’
In terms of ‘does it influence me?’ No, not really. I’ve added a chapter to one story years ago simply because I realized I hadn’t given a point of view from the betraying wife, but I’ve never gone back and changed anything based on comments.
I have, however, written a sequel to a story because so many commentators asked, and I wish I’d never done that. Sequels are never as good as the original. Always keep them wanting more is good advice, that I should have paid attention to. But no, my ego was flattered and so…
My top amount of comments is just hitting 850 on one story, and honestly, there’s about 8 comments in there which is actually worth anything, nice though it is to get that kind of attention - and in Loving wives, too, which is a notorious hive of scum and villainy.
My latest has managed to attract some really nasty snide and spiteful commenting. Loving Wives recently has really started to look like 4 Chan in its commenting.
One thing I’ve really started to notice is that people will comment if you are have god level stories, and then it’s a stream of ‘this is so great!’ Over and over again. Lovely for the ego, but it doesn’t do much to make you a better writer.
Otherwise it’s a litany of complaints about anything and everything, real or imagined. Very little constructive criticism, mostly just complaining that it’s either too short or too long, not enough details, too much detail, and my favorite ‘this character wouldn’t (or shouldn’t) behave like that’. As though characters are real and have their own lives.
There’s this weird need for a specific type of reader to project themselves - or an idealized version of themselves - onto the characters and what they do, and they get majorly bent out of shape if they don’t behave as the reader ‘thinks’ they should.
There’s a tremendous amount of entitlement from readers, that you as an author, because you’ve decided to spend the time and effort to write something, somehow owe the reader exactly what ever they think they want. Because they’ve decided to read it, you somehow owe them a story tailored to their desires.
Lit commenting is a post child for the old adage ‘if something is given freely, it is considered of no value by those receiving, and treated as such.’
In terms of ‘does it influence me?’ No, not really. I’ve added a chapter to one story years ago simply because I realized I hadn’t given a point of view from the betraying wife, but I’ve never gone back and changed anything based on comments.
I have, however, written a sequel to a story because so many commentators asked, and I wish I’d never done that. Sequels are never as good as the original. Always keep them wanting more is good advice, that I should have paid attention to. But no, my ego was flattered and so…
My top amount of comments is just hitting 850 on one story, and honestly, there’s about 8 comments in there which is actually worth anything, nice though it is to get that kind of attention - and in Loving wives, too, which is a notorious hive of scum and villainy.
