Fun with feedback

[tonytony3]

This is a for what it's worth posting.

I've posted 26 stories on Literotica and feedback, both good and bad, has lead to some interesting email relationships. Most of my postings have been to Loving Wives, and those who read those postings, unless their IQ is a bit lower than room temperature, have got to expect there'll be some screwing around going on. Most of my stories have gotten hot ratings, so the expectations of most readers have been met.

Then there are a few like the one I've copied below. Do you think the person who sent this little note about my last story, Circles, might be reading the wrong stories?

Nearly all feedback both good and bad has been signed, this one hasn't been.

Gee, I wonder what score he voted, if he voted?


Oh well.

BTW, I agree with most writers that voting will be about 10% of the total number of times the story file is opened, and you'll get one feedback for ever 10 votes. This has held true with my most popular story, Bolero, with 90K reads, a thousand something votes, and a hundred something feedbacks, as well as some really unpopular posts, with less than 10,000 openings.


Tony

Copied message follows:

This message contains feedback for: tonytony3
About the submission: Circles
This feedback was sent by: Anonymous

Comments:

what a stupid idiot. Another fucking story with the guy getting his rocks off
watching wifey commit adultery.Can't you authors think of anything else to write
about, except this stupid notion that all men want to watch their wives fuck
somebody else. I can't believe it. This guy to cover up his own infideltity,
convinces his wife to also meet his sick perverted notion of getting even. If
she does it, that makes his infidelity OK> This guy is sick, he needs to see a
shrink to straighten him up[. What a sorry excuse of a husband. Two wrongs don't
make a right. What a bastard. Getting his jollies off at the expense of his
wife. And then it isn't enough that he put her in that situation. He wants her
to continue it. What a sorry excuse of an asshole. Now that is my opinion of men
who don't have the courage to do what is right.

 

[Octavian]

ditto

I had a similar feedback on my Loving Wives story but to the respondent's credit there was no attempt to hide behind anonymity.

I replied pointing out that the various genres on Literotica were identified so as to advise potential readers what to expect. Since this particular genre did not appeal, I asked why the respondent kept reading the stories.

I received no answer.

Octavian

 

[LunarSolstice]

I dost think he protests too much!

It would be my basic assumption that your story hit a little close to home to strike such a nerve with this reader. With feedback like this, at least you know that your writing is influencing some people, for better or worse, which is infinately better than an apathetic mouse click on the back button.

 

[tonytony3]

It's an interesting point that the story might have struck close to home. Hell, I'm marrried to a shrink, don't you think I should have thought of projection (or anti-projection) as the driving force?

We writers, especially those who accept feedback, expose ourselves to those sorts of remarks. It's the price we have to pay for getting favorable feedback.

I do appreciate your observations.

Tony

 

[Guest]

Not to psychoanalyze ad nauseum, but

...I'm inclined to believe that the little rant wasn't really about your story at all. Your particular fic may have been the accidental catalyst, but the telling point for me is the language. To wit:

"you authors"

"another fucking story"

"my opinion of men who don't....etc. etc. etc."

A veritable smorgasbord of generalizations. So, the issue as a whole pisses the writer off, and like a traffic cop, s/he has opted to pull you over and write you a ticket simply because you're the 100th person who whizzed by at 85 mph in a 65 mph zone.

Or maybe that didn't make sense...

Salut,
Ravenwood

 

[Sweet_Candi]

While this guy is taking the time to write to you.....telling you how awful your story is....his wife is out fucking the milkman, the mailman, and anyone else she can get her hands on.

 

[tonytony3]

It may be you're right. In any event. after posting a couple of dozen stories, it's likely I've rubbed some people in the wrong enough direction to encourage that kind of response, and 1's in the voting. I don't think my stories have gotten worse the more I've posted, but they may have. Surely the voting results indicate that.

It's also true that I may have exhausted ways of writing about loving wives, and the stories have become boring to read. I can assure the ones I've posted were fun to write. My posting will end when they're more work than fun.


Tony

 

[jack_straw]

Hey Tonytony3:

Your original post from your "fan" sounds almost word-for-word like one I got for a story I did about a cheating wife. I don't recall which one exactly he didn't like, but you are all correct when you say it's the whole genre he doesn't like, and that these Loving Wives stories maybe hit a little too close to home. Which begs the question: if he hates reading about cheating wives, then why does he read them? I mean, you should know coming into that catagory that its mostly about wives who step out.

Ah well, you can't worry about what a few assholes think.

 

[tonytony3]

Well, interesting that he cuts and pastes flames, isn't it? I guess we enjoy writing, he enjoys flaming writers. Had he beeen born long enough ago he'd have been able to do it with real fire, huh?

I'll not let his kind of response stop me from posting, this kinds are far outweighed by the favorable ones.

Tony

 

[gauchecritic]

You keep saying 'he'. To me it looks a little more like a 'she' doing the writing. A 'she' who is unsatisfied with the fact that they are turned on by the story and still seek them out, or that they would like to be the "wifey" in question.

Possibly a 'wifey' who is in, or being urged to be in, this situation.

Then again it could be a 'he' who tried it out and discovered that his wife enjoyed it a lot more than he did.

But then I'm not Freud or even Crane just

Gauche

 

[tonytony3]

My experience with feedbacks of these sorts which have a return email address is that the writers present as male.

If the writer of what I pasted above is a woman, I'd be surprised. I'd guess, as some others have, the writer has had a bad experience.

But why he (or she) reads loving wife stories written by me is a puzzle. Really, the underlying themes have common factors, don't they? Almost always it's a man and woman exploring a widening relationship, almost always the man wants to be a cockold.

The good news for me is, I write this stuff for fun, and although feedback of this sort reduces the fun a bit, it's not a big deal. It is a big puzzle, though. That's why I started the tread.


Tony