When they read your worst story first and leave a comment

[Imstillfun]

another author just left a comment on one of my stories. it wasn’t a bad comment but I felt bad that’s his first impression of me. I wrote that story to troll the trolls. So it’s not super indicative of my work. And yes, trolling the trolls worked. the story has over 300 comments.

do we all have stories we wish they’d read a different one first?

 

[Euphony]

Is it an impossibility the author understands Lit well enough to see what you were up to?

"Fellow author" is a trait that identifies better reader candidates to engage with/discuss craft but it is by no means a guarantee.

It sounds like you didn't pull any punches in your trolling so I'm assuming it's fairly clear your narrative choices.

If the "fellow author" infers this is your M.O. (even more confusing if you stuck your story in a known troll haven category) without looking at broader work, I don't know it's an opinion you need to concern yourself with.

Every author has a "least favorite child." Early works are the usual candidates but sometimes it's the experimental stuff where an author needed to stretch out his less used writing muscles.

Judging an author by a single is judging a musician's catalog by the single that happened to make the social conscious. Foolish as rare is the best work also the easiest marketed.

 

[Djmac1031]

Hmm. Either "A Karen Gets Her Comeuppance," or my 750 Word story "You Hear The Bullet."

Both were very misunderstood at the time of original publication, especially "Bullet," published in the not at ALL controversial "Living Wives" lmao.

Not that I'm ashamed of or embarrassed by either story. But neither are my "typical" style. Those two were meant to be more farcical, but a lot of people didn't see them that way.

 

[TadOverdon]

Once you let a story out into the world it's simultaneously forever your child and entirely an orphan. Doomed to wander the web without history or family. Most readers probably encounter it, read all or part of it, and never give a thought to who the author is or what we intend. They don't always know or care if we've ever written another story in our lives.

"Of hotwivelover37 the man, little is known."

 

[tenyari]

I have a short story on another website that is blend of a dream I had and a song that I was listening to at the time some 20 years ago. No one has ever understood it and it always gets bad reviews. I didn't even bother to try and put it here.

My 3 new stories are giving me a bit of this problem.

Two of them are doing well but the third is a short 2000 word story (hits exactly that), that likely needed either more context or to be aimed better. It was written for a contest on an ENF website so it's original audience were all 'in on the theme' before they even knew I was writing it. I'm considering putting in an edit to move the story category here from 'nonhuman' over to 'exhibitionist & voyeur' - but not sure that will help. The short format tends to be a negative trigger for many people.

 

[Mr_Neb]

Yeah, once. I wrote a story call Pussy House-1976. As you can tell, the period was in the mid 70s. It was a first person narrative and so it had a writing style and phrasology for someone of that period. The prose was (intentionally) unsophisticated and inelegant. It was also posted in the Humor and Satire category.

Someone named and a self-professed "LitCrit" commented one how the writing style was "sophmoric" and "Ham-handed". I guess the didn't get the joke. Frankly, if (proper pronoun inserted here) felt that way, it is actually a complement given the intent of the story. To add to the irony, that story also has an "E" assigned to it. (How, why, and by whom?? I dunno.)

Sure, smack my writing skills. OK with me. This is not my profession. I won't lose any sleep over it one way or the other but if you do want to critique my writing, another example would probably be a better choice to examine. I'm happy to point out one that I think aren't written as well

 

[NoTalentHack]

another author just left a comment on one of my stories. it wasn’t a bad comment but I felt bad that’s his first impression of me. I wrote that story to troll the trolls. So it’s not super indicative of my work. And yes, trolling the trolls worked. the story has over 300 comments.

do we all have stories we wish they’d read a different one first?

Which story? I wanna read it.

And for me, it's probably "I Know My Wife." It was me playing with the form of a story, rather than trying to make a new idea. It was a bog standard Martian Slut Ray LW story, but I decided to make it kind of dispassionate and also used repetition and some other stuff. I still like it, but it's wildly different from anything else I've done.

 

[KeithD]

I'm more surprised at how often readers will favorite old stories of mine that I rank quite low in my bottom half of efforts.

 

[ycym]

Sometimes there are the 1 bombs "hate this story" and (i guess) the hate comments from the same persons. And sometimes, if one of this post explains why (this normaly does not happen), they pick up things I never wrote.
And funny side fact: the most hated story got the most hearts.

So my advice: ignore the anonymous comments, ignore the voting score. Just look at the hearts, read counts and the people follow you or putting your story on their fav list.

 

[TheRedChamber]

I'll let you in on a little secret, Cap...they're all my worst stories.

 

[YANKEE DAN]

I wrote my first stories at 18, joined the site literally on my birthday sometimes someone still comments on a 20 year old story. I've actually had 2 I asked to be deleted Because I don't want people reading them anymore. I still feel some if my stuff might be a waste of people's times I'll likely have more deleted.

 

[ElectricBlue]

do we all have stories we wish they’d read a different one first?

No.

If you bait trolls, you get what you fished for.

 

[Imstillfun]

Which story? I wanna read it.

And for me, it's probably "I Know My Wife." It was me playing with the form of a story, rather than trying to make a new idea. It was a bog standard Martian Slut Ray LW story, but I decided to make it kind of dispassionate and also used repetition and some other stuff. I still like it, but it's wildly different from anything else I've done.

You only think you’re in control.

 

[NoTalentHack]

You only think you’re in control.

Hahah, yeah, I can see that setting the rabid weasels loose.

 

[Imstillfun]

Hahah, yeah, I can see that setting the rabid weasels loose.

Did you read the comments, they’re the best part.

 

[NoTalentHack]

Did you read the comments, they’re the best part.

Absolutely magnificent. Well trolled.

 

[Imstillfun]

Absolutely magnificent. Well trolled.

Thank you, thank you.

 

[Imstillfun]

Absolutely magnificent. Well trolled.

At one point that story had a score of 4.65. Then, one day, it dropped to 4.35. given the number of votes it had, there had to be a coordinated effort between the BTB 1* bombers to drive it down. I was so proud that I effected them so much.