Receiving Feedback

[creativeboyinspring]

Hello all!

Like most here, I'm one of the many author's here. Been here for a while but mainly keep to myself. Well, I have a strange question for you.

A couple of days ago, I got feedback via the site. Only it was someone suggesting a story idea for me to write, which isn't unusual. Every so often I get someone requesting I write a story with their kinks, or people, etc. What was unusual about it, is that the "idea" was a full blown book they wrote.

I'm guessing that they are looking more for feedback than for me to write anything. I read part of it, but it is a bit long as well as it isn't my normal area in terms of plot/kinks.

Has anything like this happened to anyone else? I haven't replied to the person yet, mainly because I don't know if I should read it all, or ask them what they, etc. I mean, it could be the sort of situation where they don't know English that well and are seeking someone to clean it up.

Thank you!

 

[oggbashan]

Yes. I get similar requests frequently. Thanks but no thanks. If someone wants a detailed story, you should advise them to write it themselves.

 

[creativeboyinspring]

request

I don't mind writing a story if the kinks are similar to mine. After talking with many, they like the way a certain person writes or a flair they have. So even if they write the story themselves, the won't have the flair of an author they like.

In this case I've never had one ask me to write something but send me a full story .

 

[NotWise]

Hello all!

Like most here, I'm one of the many author's here. Been here for a while but mainly keep to myself. Well, I have a strange question for you.

A couple of days ago, I got feedback via the site. Only it was someone suggesting a story idea for me to write, which isn't unusual. Every so often I get someone requesting I write a story with their kinks, or people, etc. What was unusual about it, is that the "idea" was a full blown book they wrote.

I'm guessing that they are looking more for feedback than for me to write anything. I read part of it, but it is a bit long as well as it isn't my normal area in terms of plot/kinks.

Has anything like this happened to anyone else? I haven't replied to the person yet, mainly because I don't know if I should read it all, or ask them what they, etc. I mean, it could be the sort of situation where they don't know English that well and are seeking someone to clean it up.

Thank you!

That's new to me. I've had feedback requesting stories (which I ignore), but I've never heard from anyone who wanted me to rewrite their book. Even if I liked their book/idea, I wouldn't touch the project with a ten-foot pole.

 

[KeithD]

I take each proposal as they come in the mood I'm in at that moment. I've written a few stories for requestors but because the scenario appealed to me and even then I warn them that I write the aspect of it that I want to and it becomes my story. I don't solicit ideas from other.

 

[windar]

I take each proposal as they come in the mood I'm in at that moment. I've written a few stories for requestors but because the scenario appealed to me and even then I warn them that I write the aspect of it that I want to and it becomes my story. I don't solicit ideas from other.

Same here and they turned out well, though they were not things I would have thought of doing on my own. The people who proposed them were non-native speakers whose English was good enough to read, but not to write, something any of us who speak a second language decently but not perfectly can sympathize with.

I would be less anxious to clean up someone else's work. If the idea is one I like, then I would prefer to do my own story, giving full credit to the person who suggested it.

 

[LAHomedog]

I always say thank you but no thank you.

My instinct is always to be suspicious of things like this -- maybe that's just me -- but my alarm bells go off on IP and copyright infringement and lawsuits. Again, part of that is my training, but my alarm bells go off.

 

[windar]

I always say thank you but no thank you.

My instinct is always to be suspicious of things like this -- maybe that's just me -- but my alarm bells go off on IP and copyright infringement and lawsuits. Again, part of that is my training, but my alarm bells go off.

How would one infringe a coyright if someone comes to you and asks you to write a story about some general idea they had.? You can't copyright an idea. Only the expression is copyrighted. So if someone comes to me and says, "I'm Latvian and I would like you to write a story based on some incident that happened in Latvia in the 19th Century (this actually happened to me and I wrote it because the story intrigued me)" there is no infingement of anything...Nor did I steal if they ASKED me to do it. And I credited them for proposing the idea.

Even if they later claimed theft, what the law says and whether one can actually win damages sufficient to justify a lawsuit are two different things. Yes, Disney and the major studios have teams of lawyers and are vigilant about their IP, but if someone steals a story of mine I don't. What lawyer would take a case when it was published on a free site or even on a pay site where it sold 10 copies?

 

[TarnishedPenny]

It’s hardly uncommon.

If you are interested, go for it. Otherwise, I would suggest a polite refusal, with encouragement to take the solid foundation they have presented and try writing it themself.

 

[ElectricBlue]

It's not uncommon that folk will approach you to write "their story", but I'd have thought it odd that they'd walk in the door with something already written.

Some writers thrive on this kind of writing (on commission, if you like) but the few times I've been approached it's been a non-starter, because either their kink is so far removed from anything of mine that it would be like writing sex with concrete**, or they've got such pre-conceived notions of what they want written, I don't know why they've bothered looking for a writer.

** Feel free to run with it, Simon .

 

[lovecraft68]

Personally I wouldn't spend that much of my time beta reading, or editing, or tweaking anything that long.

I learned a long time ago that when people reach out wanting to know your opinion on something they've written that unless you tell them its the best thing you've ever read, they get pissed off.

I've had multiple instances of people saying they like my writing, want my opinion on their work, let them know if there's anything wrong...and I do it, always starting with the positive, then I'll go into other things and then its "what the fuck do you know?"

So, now unless its someone from the boards that I know I won't look at anything.

As for commissions I've done some, but only where they give a basic idea and are fine with me running with it. The ones that give so much detail I'd feel trapped in a box I turn down...and always wonder with that much info why they just don't give it a shot themselves

 

[LAHomedog]

How would one infringe a coyright if someone comes to you and asks you to write a story about some general idea they had.? You can't copyright an idea. Only the expression is copyrighted. So if someone comes to me and says, "I'm Latvian and I would like you to write a story based on some incident that happened in Latvia in the 19th Century (this actually happened to me and I wrote it because the story intrigued me)" there is no infingement of anything...Nor did I steal if they ASKED me to do it. And I credited them for proposing the idea.

Even if they later claimed theft, what the law says and whether one can actually win damages sufficient to justify a lawsuit are two different things. Yes, Disney and the major studios have teams of lawyers and are vigilant about their IP, but if someone steals a story of mine I don't. What lawyer would take a case when it was published on a free site or even on a pay site where it sold 10 copies?

I think you misread, or I did. The OP said that the idea that was sent was an entire story. Not a story idea. Yes, you cannot copyright an idea, but an entire story is not an idea. And it sets my alarm bells off.

When I was producing and writing shows for the studios and networks, any unsolicited submission had to me photographed as still sealed, I had to have two witnesses with me while they took the picture and then two witnesses as I returned it to the mailroom.

20th Century Fox had over 25 lawsuits filed against it and Jame Cameron claiming that he stole the idea from them. I understand that a post on Lit is not the same as the hundreds of millions of dollar made by Avatar, but my alarm bells always go off. I'm mere reporting how I react. You don't have to react that way. And there is no right or wrong on it. That's just how I react.