I get comments on some of my stories where the reader seems to think everything in them is real life. They are STORIES, people. You know, fiction. Yes, there may be some truth in them but seriously. Are our readers so dumb as to offer legal advice for persons in a fictional story?? Some are.
Do readers not realize that the stories here are mostly fiction?
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lovecraft68
Bad Doggie
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Legal advice? I'm going to guess Loving wives and an infidelity story? That's big there.
But I see that at some point on just about any story, its fantasy, but someone will point out one thing they think is unrealistic-aside from the kink itself-and go on about it.
But I see that at some point on just about any story, its fantasy, but someone will point out one thing they think is unrealistic-aside from the kink itself-and go on about it.
ElectricBlue
Joined 10 Years Ago
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If you write well enough, people can't tell the difference between where reality stops and fiction begins. If you say it's all true, someone will doubt you; and if you write it as fiction, someone will think it's true.
karina_jayde
Really Experienced
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Yeah I have seen some truly bewildering comments (nothing really on my stories, though). Paragraph-long rants about the immorality of fictional characters, bizarre diatribes and manifestos railing against the perceived physical flaws of a fictional character, and so on. Paragraph after paragraph about how a female character shouldn't shave her pubes.
Devinter
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I start every story with a "this is a work of fiction" disclaimer, and some of them might even contain supernatural things or fantasy elements, and people still comment as if the story is completely real at times. Baffles me. However, I suppose as writers the majority of us have vivid imaginations - and perhaps some readers have that too, just in 'peculiar ways' that manifests in some sort of desire to take every written word as reality. 
The true classic. Anonybush have left hundreds of these angry comments.
Their rise to infamy is most amusing.
The true classic. Anonybush have left hundreds of these angry comments.
Their rise to infamy is most amusing.
SimonDoom
Kink Lord
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It's happened to me, and I take it as kind of baffling but also flattering. I figure if I've led them to believe it's real then I've done something right, even if I didn't intend to.
My absolute favorite of this type of remark is the "No decent Mom would do that . . . " type of comment in response to mom-son incest stories. Stuff like "real moms don't shave down there" or "real moms don't do anal." I just love those comments.
My absolute favorite of this type of remark is the "No decent Mom would do that . . . " type of comment in response to mom-son incest stories. Stuff like "real moms don't shave down there" or "real moms don't do anal." I just love those comments.
Duleigh
Just an old dog
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That is a guaranteed fact. I have a character that I gave the title "Justice" Rather than go into a long winded lecture about the unique (and fairly bizarre) nature of the NY Supreme Court I just said that Justice Smith sat on the NY Supreme Court. And of course I got the long winded lecture about the unique and fairly bizarre nature of the NY Supreme court from a reader. Much of what he said was right, but he was fairly hysterical in his correction.
I've had this. One reader once commented on a stepfather/stepdaughter story I wrote narrated by the stepfather that it was too long and why didn't 'I' make a move on my stepdaughter sooner? They obviously didn't notice that I posted another story three weeks earlier about an aunt and nephew narrated by the aunt, or that a few weeks after this I published another story set in England in the mid-1950s narrated by a young man in love with his pretty cousin. 'I' can't be all these people, can I?
Trionyx
Not an LE guru
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I wrote a story once with the foreword stating the story was fictional and all legal and financial recommendations and statements were not to be taken as fact. Anon then ranted about how this story couldn’t have happened because of this law and that financial twist. Hey, Anon, did you not read the disclaimer?
MyBareTorso
Naked For The Ladies
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Are our readers so dumb? Yes, many of them are...many of them are also astute, highly literate, and obviously very intelligent, but many of them, well, are not...
HordHolm
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There's always the possibility that a reader may overthink, and assume that the author is relating a real situation and changing the names to protect the innocent/guilty. I have actually done that with one story (though I changed the location by a whole continent), and interestingly I also got a few of the 'shoulda done this' comments that the real life situation deserved.
AchtungNight
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No one has ever accused me of writing real life stories. The funny thing is a few of mine are based on reality, just heavily modified into an alternate universe.
Lifestyle66
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Over the last few months, I posted fifteen stories, and I've received feedback on all of them.
I've realized that even some of the more thoughtful readers are reading with their own biases and prejudices. They begin reading my story and end by making statements about it which can be shown by lines in MY story disproving their observations.
I wrote the 750-wordstory "Finally Being Herself", where the woman is discussing her failed marriage to a guy she liked, but the guy convinced her to forget about her past swinger lifestyle. In the words which I wrote, she lasted ten years in the marriage, before she finally convinced her husband to try going to a swinger club for one evening. Ten years versus one evening... And she even lasted another two years through his pouting and not getting over it before telling him to leave.
*****
One anonymous commenter said "The victim here was the husband, because she was never open, yet another snake in the grass. I hope he found someone who was honest. She lied by omission, lied about her needs, then lied by saying it was him. She was the problem all along, but that is the usual thing, isn't it? She lied to him, lied to herself, then blamed him for her problems. So human."
*****
In just 750-words, they are still reading and shaping their own version of the story based on their own perceptions and experiences.
I've realized that even some of the more thoughtful readers are reading with their own biases and prejudices. They begin reading my story and end by making statements about it which can be shown by lines in MY story disproving their observations.
I wrote the 750-wordstory "Finally Being Herself", where the woman is discussing her failed marriage to a guy she liked, but the guy convinced her to forget about her past swinger lifestyle. In the words which I wrote, she lasted ten years in the marriage, before she finally convinced her husband to try going to a swinger club for one evening. Ten years versus one evening... And she even lasted another two years through his pouting and not getting over it before telling him to leave.
*****
One anonymous commenter said "The victim here was the husband, because she was never open, yet another snake in the grass. I hope he found someone who was honest. She lied by omission, lied about her needs, then lied by saying it was him. She was the problem all along, but that is the usual thing, isn't it? She lied to him, lied to herself, then blamed him for her problems. So human."
*****
In just 750-words, they are still reading and shaping their own version of the story based on their own perceptions and experiences.
BobbyBrandt
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I believe a lot of the real vs. fiction comments from readers is influenced by the perspective in which the story is told. I have no solid data to back this up, but from what I have experienced, first person POV gets perceived as real life more often than third person POV.
The setting of the story also influences this. The more realistic it becomes to readers, the more they tend to believe the scenes within it.
OverconfidentSarcasm
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Okay, so now that you've all taken a thorough shit on your readership, I'm gonna offer a different perspective.
Maybe, just maybe, your readers are not "dumb" and "delusional". Maybe, they are not giving your fictional characters legal advice, but the author, so your next story can be a little more realistic/make a little more sense. Because, believe it or not, there's a difference between fiction and fantasy.
If your story is set in an alternative universe with its own set of rules, then you can write whatever you want. But if your story depicts people living in our universe, you can't really complain about people pointing out logical errors in your plot line. Yeah, sure, it's easier to shout "It's fiction"... but then you'll always have readers complaining about "lazy writing", where stuff happens that completely ignores logic just to reach whatever ending you had in mind.
Maybe, just maybe, your readers are not "dumb" and "delusional". Maybe, they are not giving your fictional characters legal advice, but the author, so your next story can be a little more realistic/make a little more sense. Because, believe it or not, there's a difference between fiction and fantasy.
If your story is set in an alternative universe with its own set of rules, then you can write whatever you want. But if your story depicts people living in our universe, you can't really complain about people pointing out logical errors in your plot line. Yeah, sure, it's easier to shout "It's fiction"... but then you'll always have readers complaining about "lazy writing", where stuff happens that completely ignores logic just to reach whatever ending you had in mind.
EmilyMiller
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What a compliment! If someone finds your work that believable.
I always find the “readers are so dumb” comments odd. Clearly, based on a small fraction of comments, some are cranially challenged, but complaints about readers can also reflect something missing in your work. I stress can, I’m not suggesting there is anything wrong with your work (I’ve not read it).
Emily
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StillStunned
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I agree. Those comments along the lines of "You should have done this" or "Unlike you, I'd have done that" tell me that my story really engaged the reader - enough for them to suspend their disbelief even after they've finished reading.
Devinter
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I mean - yes - true. However, when it comes to beings like Anonybush, it's not truly about what's realistic and unrealistic in the real world, but rather what is realistic and unrealistic in their vivid (and dare I say, warped) mind. To this individual, using them as the example, it's completely unreasonable that any woman would shave their pubic hair. It's unthinkable. He's commented on several of my stories that "IT WOULD NEVER HAPPEN!"
Similarly, there seems to be a large group of incest readers that find anal sex "unrealistic" even though, from my point of view, engaging in a sexual act that doesn't lead to pregnancy seems MORE realistic when dealing with a topic such as incest, where the consequences of impregnation would be more dire. So it's all about perspective.
OverconfidentSarcasm
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I mean - yes - true. However, when it comes to beings like Anonybush, it's not truly about what's realistic and unrealistic in the real world, but rather what is realistic and unrealistic in their vivid (and dare I say, warped) mind. To this individual, using them as the example, it's completely unreasonable that any woman would shave their pubic hair. It's unthinkable. He's commented on several of my stories that "IT WOULD NEVER HAPPEN!"
Also true!
Though, I tend to separate the commenters pointing out plotholes (like the ones OP seems to complain about) from the commenters who just wanted the story to move in a different direction or didn't like a choice I made while writing.
EmilyMiller
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We all have a tendency to believe that our reality is actual reality. Some of us suppress it better than others.I mean - yes - true. However, when it comes to beings like Anonybush, it's not truly about what's realistic and unrealistic in the real world, but rather what is realistic and unrealistic in their vivid (and dare I say, warped) mind. To this individual, using them as the example, it's completely unreasonable that any woman would shave their pubic hair. It's unthinkable. He's commented on several of my stories that "IT WOULD NEVER HAPPEN!"
Emily
Kumquatqueen
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Free the Weatherfield One!
Devinter
The Dreamweaver
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Well, clearly, you're living in MY reality - so with that being said, I apologize it's so depressing.
I'll try to get that fixed!Similar threads
