Your views will be welcome

[Zorro69]

I have written a number of stories, covering different subjects, which have been published on the site. They have received differing ratings but seemed to have been well received. I have always allowed comments on the stories, as I am interested to hear from readers.

However, I did note a trend for people to comment when they had seemed to go out of their way to make harsh statements which I felt were a little over the top. I was not surprised to see when this particular form of feedback was left you could almost certainly predict it would be ‘anonymous’. When the critic did leave a name the person posting the remarks never seemed to have submitted any work to the site.

The last such anonymous ‘rant’ saw me moved to respond saying I would stop writing as this person accused me of ‘wasting bandwidth’ with my submissions. I have ideas for more stories but thought I would seek the views, opinions, criticism or support from people who have written and submitted here. What do you guys think? Email me, reply or leave feedback will be appreciated and I am grateful you have taken time out to read this.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

ZORRO

Everyone gets harpooned. I was reading Mencken last night. He said he was harpooned all the time. And he said something that makes lots of sense: Some of the comments are correct, and imbedded in comments are helpful hints to make your writing better. Lots of critics have shit for brains, and a few have real brains.

 

[walkerlong]

I think you should be encouraged. If someone has been moved by your work then that's a good thing.

 

[jomar]

Everybody gets trolled. Don't sweat it. Keep writing.

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

Look, Dude.
If your story is good enough to draw attention of the trolls and low-life pond scum that lurks in the corners of Lit, you are doing good.

 

[DG Hear]

Hey Dude!

Look! We all get shit comments. It's all part of the game of writing. I'm supposedly a known writer (even though I don't know why) Below is two comments I received on my 'Maggie Mae' story which I thought was a good one. (and so did most of my readers) Even with these comments, the story is still at 4.66.

Disappointed
11/16/07 By: Anonymous in U.S.
This kinda sucked. The writing just isn't there. The characters don't seem human at all and the dialogue is just awful.

I TAKE EXCEPTION>>
11/16/07 By: Anonymous
Everything dgh writes is trash-junque-garbage-I was conned into reading one of his worthless pieces years ago and thought it was God aweful. So, I read another--fool me once, shame on you--fool me twice, shame on me--
Nope, this person is to writing that I am to brain surgery--Hmm, let me get my hammer and saw.

So, let it go. Delete the comments if they bother you that much. You have to learn to please yourself. If you're happy with the results, then so be it.
Hope this helps.
Sincerely
DG Hear

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Hey! I trashed Stephen King this morning.

 

[Katyusha]

The last such anonymous ‘rant’ saw me moved to respond saying I would stop writing as this person accused me of ‘wasting bandwidth’ with my submissions. I have ideas for more stories but thought I would seek the views, opinions, criticism or support from people who have written and submitted here. What do you guys think? Email me, reply or leave feedback will be appreciated and I am grateful you have taken time out to read this.

Please don't let it get to you, especially if you have more story ideas. In the artists' world, there will be admirers and critics, and some of those critics will be unnecessarily harsh. I've read some very harsh reviews of books I thought were excellent. I don't know if you want to be published (as in, earning royalty checks for your work) but if you do you need to be able to take the bad with the good. But since this is an online forum, many "critics" will be nothing more than people who get a thrill from bashing others' work.

And remember, a true critic is someone you can learn from. "Love Discovered" got reviewed in the New Story Reviews thread last year and the reviewer thought it was okay, but not the greatest, and she could only bring herself to give it a three. I thought it was one of my best works and so for it to receive a lukewarm review like that really bothered me. But her review (plus a PM she sent me) gave me some helpful ideas to improve my writing. I appreciate her help.

I have a comment on "A Christmas Wish" that accuses my male character of being gay because he's got issues knowing his feelings. For a comment like that, I think, "What do you know?" It's a very short story so there isn't much in-depth exploration of the characters the way there might be in a novel, and I think the person just wanted to see if they could take me down a notch. With the trolls, it's my opinion that they leave the types of trashy comments they do because they want to see if they can actually take you down.

I read the comment in question, and it's someone who's trying to get the exact reaction you had. What they say doesn't, and shouldn't mean much. There's a big difference between a comment that bashes your story and a comment that offers criticism you could learn from. That particular comment was posted for the sole purpose of pissing you off. If they truly meant to help you out, they'd have PM'ed you and offered to help out.

 

[Zorro69]

Thank you

Thank you for your comments. It has helped and I agree, when it is offered to help, a critical comment is more assistance to a writer than praise. I did get annoyed at giving people a forum to take a cheat shot or more importantly when I had written for someone who had been grateful we have then seen some faceless and nameless soul slag off the writing and the concept. If it has clearly been written for someone these trolls (I like this description by the way) are also picking on real peoples fantasies and turn ons. That is really at the heart of my disenchantment I guess as I fear it undoes any enjoyment they may have derived from the story.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Zorro, is it posted in Loving Wives? Because LW is the Bog of Stench, as far as trolls are concerned!

 

[rgraham666]

Keep on writing and don't let the trolls get to you.

The worst one I got, via anonymous e-mail, was, "I hope the next thing you write is a suicide note."

And I thought I had a problem with mental illness.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Thank you for your comments. It has helped and I agree, when it is offered to help, a critical comment is more assistance to a writer than praise. I did get annoyed at giving people a forum to take a cheat shot or more importantly when I had written for someone who had been grateful we have then seen some faceless and nameless soul slag off the writing and the concept. If it has clearly been written for someone these trolls (I like this description by the way) are also picking on real peoples fantasies and turn ons. That is really at the heart of my disenchantment I guess as I fear it undoes any enjoyment they may have derived from the story.

Ugh.

Did you know that you can delete comments? It doesn't always stick, though...

"troll" is probably one of the first words that was ever turned into internet slang, by the way!