Story Comments - Do They Matter?

[Mastered_again]

I suppose I should be more than satisfied with the ratings my stories have gathered, but the first only had three comments, including one anonymous idiot. And the second has none.
That said, I'd like to know what readers think of the stories and what I can do to improve my writing. Should I request them at the beginning or end of the story as an "author's note?"
Or should I stop obsessing?

 

[ElectricBlue]

I suppose I should be more than satisfied with the ratings my stories have gathered, but the first only had three comments, including one anonymous idiot. And the second has none.
That said, I'd like to know what readers think of the stories and what I can do to improve my writing. Should I request them at the beginning or end of the story as an "author's note?"
Or should I stop obsessing?

Comments are rare - my metric is one per thousand views (versus one Vote per hundred Views, which is still very light on).

If you're specifically seeking intelligent feedback, start a thread in the Feedback Forum. You might get a bit more of a response (although that forum is quieter than it used to be).

 

[windar]

In the grand scheme of things of course they don't matter. Family and friends matter. Randy Newman said "It's Money that Matters" and there's a case to be made for that.

I haven't read your stories, so I don't have any suggestions as to how to improve the writing, but I'm not sure "better" writing will lead to more comments. In fact, really bad writing might generate more comments. If comments are your number one priority, then, quite honestly, you should look for a site where they are more prominent. This site is not the best for them for a number of reasons, particularly that they can take hours to appear and there is rarely any exchange with the commenters as they don't re-appear after leaving their two cents.

 

[Mastered_again]

Comments are rare - my metric is one per thousand views (versus one Vote per hundred Views, which is still very light on).

If you're specifically seeking intelligent feedback, start a thread in the Feedback Forum. You might get a bit more of a response (although that forum is quieter than it used to be).

Thanks. I've asked for feedback in both Authors Hangout and Feedback Forum, but not many takers. However, I am posting to others' requests as that seems equitable and the right way to go about it.

 

[Mastered_again]

In the grand scheme of things of course they don't matter. Family and friends matter. Randy Newman said "It's Money that Matters" and there's a case to be made for that.

I haven't read your stories, so I don't have any suggestions as to how to improve the writing, but I'm not sure "better" writing will lead to more comments. In fact, really bad writing might generate more comments. If comments are your number one priority, then, quite honestly, you should look for a site where they are more prominent. This site is not the best for them for a number of reasons, particularly that they can take hours to appear and there is rarely any exchange with the commenters as they don't re-appear after leaving their two cents.

Thank you Windar. It's not that I'm expecting a bajillion comments, but a few would be nice. I like Lit and I'm not prepared to decamp just yet.

I've also posted requests for feedback in the forum and for the most part, it's been crickets.

My point is that I'm looking for critiques or suggestions on how to be a better writer.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I would just be happy with the 4 red H's. Little comments probably means that you're doing it right.

But if you really want a lot of comments, write a Loving Wives tale where the husband encourages the wife to have other men. Or that she just plain cheats on him with her thinking he doesn't know but he secretly gets off on it. Or any other variation of those.

I get a lot of comments from morons who say the hate that type of story, yet always seem to read them and leave a nasty comment. I even warn them upfront that's the kind of story it is. Or they just leave a 1-bomb.

 

[Mastered_again]

I would just be happy with the 4 red H's. Little comments probably means that you're doing it right.

But if you really want a lot of comments, write a Loving Wives tale where the husband encourages the wife to have other men. Or that she just plain cheats on him with her thinking he doesn't know but he secretly gets off on it. Or any other variation of those.

I get a lot of comments from morons who say the hate that type of story, yet always seem to read them and leave a nasty comment. I even warn them upfront that's the kind of story it is. Or they just leave a 1-bomb.

Oh well, I'll stick to what I do. I'm a monogamous kinky romance kind of gal

 

[Lovecraft_Lore]

That said, I'd like to know what readers think of the stories and what I can do to improve my writing

I am old school in that if I rate a story a 5 then I put what I like. If I rate it something else I might also leave a comment. I leave anywhere from one to ten comments per week. Most readers never comment. It is maybe one comment per 1,500 or so views. Most of them are either that they hate my spelling or that they wanted a wank story and wrote something else. Or it will be some tone deaf comment, like someone reading the diary of Anna Frank then asking why she didn't have a wacky roommate.

If you want feedback, I have found that the best source are stories by SamuelX. His stories are an odd eclectic mix of blaxploitation, plot holes assuming he attempts to develop a plot at all, Mary Sue wish-fulfillment, and pointless details. It sounds like I am being mean but I am not, his stories should be required reading for anyone who wants to write a story on Lit. He has thousands of stories and his writing style generates a large amount of feedback.


Some of the comments are unproductive; for example:
https://www.literotica.com/s/a-lebanese-vampire-in-haiti/comments
https://www.literotica.com/s/a-black-woman-rejects-feminism?comments_after=740761

But if you look thru more of them you can get a good understanding of what people want and don't want from a Lit story.

Questions to ask:
Who is the intended audience?
What is the plot?
Do the characters and story makes sense?
Where could the author make improvements?

 

[lovecraft68]

Part of the low number of comments are the categories you're writing in. E&V is a low traffic category so comment and vote totals aren't what you'd see in more popular categories
Non consent has a bigger readership than E/V, but doesn't see a lot of comments either and in the case of NC I think its a kink people rather not publicly admit they read, even though no one is using their real name here. That's not provable of course, little here is, but its always been my feeling

 

[lovecraft68]

I am old school in that if I rate a story a 5 then I put what I like. If I rate it something else I might also leave a comment. I leave anywhere from one to ten comments per week. Most readers never comment. It is maybe one comment per 1,500 or so views. Most of them are either that they hate my spelling or that they wanted a wank story and wrote something else. Or it will be some tone deaf comment, like someone reading the diary of Anna Frank then asking why she didn't have a wacky roommate.

If you want feedback, I have found that the best source are stories by SamuelX. His stories are an odd eclectic mix of blaxploitation, plot holes assuming he attempts to develop a plot at all, Mary Sue wish-fulfillment, and pointless details. It sounds like I am being mean but I am not, his stories should be required reading for anyone who wants to write a story on Lit. He has thousands of stories and his writing style generates a large amount of feedback.


Some of the comments are unproductive; for example:
https://www.literotica.com/s/a-lebanese-vampire-in-haiti/comments
https://www.literotica.com/s/a-black-woman-rejects-feminism?comments_after=740761

But if you look thru more of them you can get a good understanding of what people want and don't want from a Lit story.

Questions to ask:
Who is the intended audience?
What is the plot?
Do the characters and story makes sense?
Where could the author make improvements?

But his stories generate a lot of feedback because they're poorly written and deliberately baits the readers with a variety of racist and sexist tropes.
He's like Loving wives, you'll get the attention, but do you want that attention?
What Samual X is to me though is the best example of giving zero fucks about what anyone thinks and just writing to have a good old time for yourself.
I mean this guy has thousands of stories and I swear the average score is low 3's and not one H. But he keeps on plugging along, and he's never come here whining or bitching about scores of anything else. Man just does his thing his way, and I respect that

 

[lovecraft68]

But his stories generate a lot of feedback because they're poorly written and deliberately baits the readers with a variety of racist and sexist tropes.
He's like Loving wives, you'll get the attention, but do you want that attention?
What Samual X is to me though is the best example of giving zero fucks about what anyone thinks and just writing to have a good old time for yourself.
I mean this guy has thousands of stories and I swear the average score is low 3's and not one H. He also elicits a ton of nasty comments for the reasons already mentioned. But he keeps on plugging along, and he's never come here whining or bitching about scores, comments, or anything else. Man just does his thing his way, and I respect that

 

[Mastered_again]

Thanks lovecraft, but I'm not looking to change my style or the nature of the tales I like to tell. I write what I feel appropriate to the story, not to win any popularity contests. Just looking for input to improve within those parameters

 

[ElectricBlue]

Thanks. I've asked for feedback in both Authors Hangout and Feedback Forum, but not many takers. However, I am posting to others' requests as that seems equitable and the right way to go about it.

My philosophy is this, with regards to Lit and its low levels of direct feedback - write really well or really badly, and you'll know, your readers will tell you. Other than those two extremes, it's mostly crickets, and some categories are better than others.

Note: I don't go near LW, so those comment counts are not a factor for me.

I will also never turn anon comments off - some of those are the best.

 

[KeithD]

Should I request them at the beginning or end of the story as an "author's note?"
Or should I stop obsessing?

That would be fine and yes.

Readers are under no obligation to comment and most don't. This is a reading site, not a critique site--unless you ask for the critique. You can do so as you note and you can also ask for comments on a specific story on the Feedback board. You still won't get many.

 

[windar]

But if you look thru more of them you can get a good understanding of what people want and don't want from a Lit story.

All of this begs the question, why write a "Lit story"? Write the story you want to write and put it on many sites. Lit can be one of them if you wish, but it's far from the best, certainly as it pertains to getting comments. Enjoy the comments you get and ignore the ones you don't get...

 

[Mastered_again]

All of this begs the question, why write a "Lit story"? Write the story you want to write and put it on many sites. Lit can be one of them if you wish, but it's far from the best, certainly as it pertains to getting comments. Enjoy the comments you get and ignore the ones you don't get...

I'll never write anything except what I want, never to please a particular audience

 

[SamScribble]

Story comments - do they matter? No. Not unless you know and respect the commenter.

 

[NightPorter]

Comments from other authors > Comments from registered users > Anonymous comments

Comments I care about in that order

I personally have pretty thick skin, so the negative comments really don't bother me. The worst have always been Anonymous comments but I've also gotten some good constructive criticism through anonymous comments as well. I refuse to turn them off or delete comments I don't like out of principle. By far, I've always gotten the really constructive comments through email.

 

[SimonDoom]

It depends. I value a comment less by who sent it than by its content. I've received good comments from anonymous readers, and bad ones. Same thing with authors and registered users. I generally ignore negative comments unless they say something insightful. It's always nice to get a good comment.

The comment:story view ratio is miniscule, and I've gotten used to that, but it would be nice to get more.

 

[HeyAll]

There's a direct corrolation between asking for votes/comments and getting more votes/comments. It helps to leave a small note at the end asking for this.

 

[JuanSeiszFitzHall]

Please bear in mind that, for many people, reading what's here is literally a guilty pleasure. There may not be enough layers of anonymity for them to express themselves, about that pleasure, with words. Clicking a vote may be as far as they can go.

 

[Djmac1031]

Comments are great because hey, we all want that feedback.

But I learned pretty fast this site isn't Twitter or Facebook. No such thing as instant gratification here.

Still, I enjoy the ones I get. But I've stopped fretting over the lack of them.

 

[windar]

Comments are great because hey, we all want that feedback.

But I learned pretty fast this site isn't Twitter or Facebook. No such thing as instant gratification here.

Still, I enjoy the ones I get. But I've stopped fretting over the lack of them.

Please bear in mind that, for many people, reading what's here is literally a guilty pleasure. There may not be enough layers of anonymity for them to express themselves, about that pleasure, with words. Clicking a vote may be as far as they can go.

Yes, there may be an element of guilt, but it's largely the site architecture that inhibits commenting and reader-author interaction. My co-author and I are currently running a long story on our regular site, where the stories run as threads on a message board. After 5 chapters we have 125 comments. OK, 5 of those are the story itself and a few more are author's notes (it's a historical erotic romance set in Gilded Age New York and we did a lot of research which we are sharing with the readers). But well over100 are comments. There will be at least 500 before we're done and very likely more.

Why is that? Because you post a comment and it goes up instantly. Someone responds within a few minutes-possibly one of the authors, but often someone else. The comments aren't all, "Wow, this is the greatest work since Shakespeare kicked the bucket" (too bad). Some are artwork or limericks based on scenes in the story. Some are jokes. Some are comments about the historical period. One comment feeds off another. It's a ton of fun.

Contrast that with here. The story goes up days after the author submitted it. The comment takes hours to post. The author may or may not be around to see it for days and they rarely respond. So, honestly, my feeling even if I were moved to comment is, "Why bother?"

So, while the inconsistent application of obscure rules is a big reason why I don't want to post any more here, the lack of real back and forth is another one. Even though our current story is on the mild side and would doubtless have no problems being posted here it's not worth the bother, especially since I put the link in the "Literotica Authors and Their Books" thread so all of you can read it and enjoy.

 

[KeithD]

Think too much weight is being given the delaying of posting comments on stories, although I agree that inhibits commenting. The delay in posting here is relatively new. There wasn't much commenting happening before that was imposed and when comments were posting instantaneously.

 

[ColorfulFun]

I've gotten some really vicious anonymous comments on my most recent story, personal attack type comments. I delete them, but wow, people (or maybe it's just one person repeatedly commenting) are deranged. I wish I could reject anonymous comments altogether.