What do you want to hear in the comments?

[Kumquatqueen]

Pretty much anything that proves they read it.

Obviously I like my ego being stroked, but someone being bothered enough to comment is still better than being ignored.

 

[ChuckWolf]

I'm cool with any comments, even the super-negative ones.

I'd prefer longer comments.

 

[ChuckWolf]

Whatever reflects the reader's honest experience with the story.

I always respond to emails sent through the contact an author form as long as they include an email for me to respond to (or a username to send a message here.) I don't respond to comments on my stories because I don't like that it counts towards the story's comment count and I don't like that you can't reply inline on the comments.

I wish that could be fixed.

 

[RetroFan]

I just want to get comments, which are becoming increasingly rare.

 

[SinclairGroupLLP]

If there's a specific thing they want to talk about, I prefer a conversation in DMs, where I can go into more detail. I had one person ask a bunch of Vegas related questions because they were European and weren't familiar with the city, so I appreciated being able to do that in private.

In terms of comments on the stories, I'll take just about anything - from a "wow, hot" to "when's the next chapter" or anything in between, lol. I actually like getting the "when's the next chapter" thing because while that usually spurs me to get my butt moving a little quicker, it's also nice to know that people are waiting to see the rest of the story.

 

[Voyeurkenneth]

Similar to others, I appreciate when a reader points out specific aspects of the story that I find personally interesting--often, not the smut bits.

 

[TheWritingGroup]

I can think of two comments I especially appreciated.

One person commented on my first story here, saying they found it hard to tell which character was speaking. It's a fair cop. In fact, that story was written as an exercise to teach myself that particular writing skill. I hope I'm better now.

Another comment praised how I portrayed a character doing her job. The commenter said I obviously had real world experience in that profession ... which I don't. I'm proud of getting that right just based on a little research and some general knowledge about, you know, being a person.

--Annie

 

[Bramblethorn]

Constructive criticism is welcome, if it's accurate. If somebody takes it upon themselves to "correct" me on something that isn't actually wrong, my response will likely be tetchy.

It's always nice to hear an "I liked this story" but my favourites are the ones that relate to why I wanted to write the story, or stuff that I worked hard on. Indian/Desi readers who found the portrayal of an Indian family in "Anjali's Red Scarf" relatable, Slavic-language readers who saw something familiar in Nadja Kapustina and understood why her wife calls her "cabbage", and people who come away from Red Scarf with a better understanding of autism - those are gold.

 

[StillStunned]

I, of course, want to hear that not only is my story a work of profound beauty and brilliance, but that I myself, having written such a masterpiece, am a generational talent, my awe-inspiring intelligence and creativity rivaled only by my raw sexual magnetism.

Followed by "4*".

 

[MajorRewrite]

I like comments that are short and aren’t wacko.

 

[HordHolm]

I like comments that are short and aren’t wacko.

Not wacko is right up there as a prime consideration.

 

[TheLobster]

The Typo/grammar/sentence structure issue is interesting because you can generally tell if someone's effort is reality or fantasy, most people who seem to write personal experience don't write like Tolstoy.

I sincerely hope that regardless whether the story is based on reality or is pure unrealistic fantasy, no one here tries to actually write like Tolstoy.

 

[Candy_Kane54]

I only expect the comments where they proclaim me a 'God' and that their lives have been totally changed by reading my epic masterpiece.

Any negative comments are obviously due to them not understanding the grandeur of my words and I feel sorry for them, if I even think of them at all ...

 

[AchtungNight]

I love to hear something that the reader particularly enjoyed: a bit of dialogue, a description, a character, a plot point. Any or all of those.

But I'll settle for just knowing that they enjoyed the story.

And I prefer to get comments on the website, not by email, for the simple and selfish reason that every comment that shows up in the "Recent comments" sidebar draws more attention to my story.

This.

I also appreciate when people enjoy certain characters, plot twists, or scenes and take time to point them out.

 

[filthytrancendence]

On one of my first stories, one of the first comments was lambasting me for conflating the homonyms waste and waist. I am still, to this day, utterly paranoid every single time I type either one. So my anxiety still spikes whenever I check them.

Yesterday I got an anonymous comment on my latest story sharing a deeply personal connection to my (already pretty personal for similar reasons) subject matter.

Earlier in the day I got a comment calling me a soyboy cuck dumbass for including content warnings on a porn site. I deleted it with a smile on my face, realizing in that moment that I had the power to delete the dumb shit.

So it really runs the gambit as an author. The personal comment was really meaningful to me, that someone had the guts to get that vulnerable in the comments of a smut story. Because frankly that's the kind of response I'm most hoping to elicit, and it validates that I'm on the right track with the weird swings I'm taking.

I guess what I want ultimately is an honest reaction, ideally without being an asshole. Something technical that's distracting like typing waste when I meant waist is helpful to know. That's a blind spot for word processors and consequently for me (and frankly there's a non-zero chance an editor doesn't even catch that one) unless somebody says it. I do care about fixing my technical errors so as to not distract from my story. It isn't necessary to be a jackass about it, though. And if your honest reaction is an emotional response, I personally love hearing that, too.

 

[Writer61]

Practically anything would be nice.

3,375 comments (some responses from me) on 112k views (about 2.5%) is disappointing until I consider the vote rate (1.3%).

It is nice to get any variation of 'I liked it', which is mostly what I have received.

What I really want are comments to help me improve, and I have not had any like that yet unless you count 'nice but too long'.

 

[Bramblethorn]

And who gets to decide what's accurate?

In the kinds of cases I was referring to, the answer would be "the Macquarie Dictionary". I've had no doubt well-meaning folk attempt to tell me that "loosed" isn't a word, that "deplaned" is an American monstrosity that mustn't be used in Australian or British English, and various other things that are equally incorrect.

You seem to have made some poor assumptions about what kinds of "corrections" I was discussing.

I just came from the story section, read a long piece. The author clearly had a way with words and the tools to craft a readable tale, but out of seven pages, three were spent on dialogue-heavy scenes that added little to nothing to the plot. I thought about commenting about it, but didn’t. They’d probably just dismiss it as inaccurate.

Seems like another assumption there, and also potentially missing the point: storytelling isn't just about conveying a plot in the most efficient manner possible.

There's more that could be said here, but something in your style is reminding me of a certain fellow who has a history of getting banned and then popping up again with a new account soon after, so I'm going to leave it and see whether you continue to remind me of that guy before I decide whether to engage further.

 

[Nynah]

3,375 comments (some responses from me) on 112k views (about 2.5%) is disappointing until I consider the vote rate (1.3%).

I am by no means a math gay but something about these numbers feels a little off. Over 3000 comments across 16 stories would certainly be a feat and also way higher than 2%.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I am by no means a math gay but something about these numbers feels a little off. Over 3000 comments across 16 stories would certainly be a feat and also way higher than 2%.

The 2.5% figure there was comments as a percentage of views.

 

[Writer61]

I am by no means a math gay

That's a new category.

but something about these numbers feels a little off. Over 3000 comments across 16 stories would certainly be a feat and also way higher than 2%.

OK, it's just under 3% when I said 'about 2.5%', which is hardly 'way higher'.

I think you understood the metric.

 

[SmokingFap]

That's a new category.


OK, it's just under 3% when I said 'about 2.5%', which is hardly 'way higher'.

NERRRRRRRRD!!!

 

[Writer61]

NERRRRRRRRD!!!

I'm a recovering accountant. Please don't encourage me.

 

[Nynah]

That's a new category.


OK, it's just under 3% when I said 'about 2.5%', which is hardly 'way higher'.

I think you understood the metric.

Apologies, I think this is where the fact that I'm American is causing my own confusion.

Does "3,375" in your post not mean "three thousand three hundred seventy five"?

 

[Writer61]

Apologies, I think this is where the fact that I'm American is causing my own confusion.

Being American can explain many things, but probably not this one.

Does "3,375" in your post not mean "three thousand three hundred seventy five"?

It does, but I was dividing it by the number of views (which I can see by downloading stats), not the number of stories.

 

[SmokingFap]

Being American can explain many things, but probably not this one.


It does, but I was dividing it by the number of views (which I can see by downloading stats), not the number of stories.

NNNNNEEEERRRRRR--