Constructive Criticism

[Cainanite (imported)]

Some criticisms I have both seen, and been subjected to fall into the, "You should do such and such." category.

These are by far the least useful to me. I am the one writing the story, I get to decide what happens next. Often I am writing with a specific goal in mind, and if I do what the reader suggests, I undermine the story I have planned. You might not like what I have planned. You might like to see the story go a different way. If that is the case, then please feel free to write your own story. I am not your dancing monkey. If you can write better than I do, then please feel free to prove it.

It is exceedingly rare that I get a suggestion for my story that is better than what I already have planned. Paolo has been the only author that has made better suggestions to me than I myself had plotted out.

There are exceptions of course. I have written stories that I have asked for.suggestions from readers. Those stories are unfinished, or I only have a vague idea of how they should go. Sadly no one has actually offered suggestions when I do request them.

Unsolicited suggestions are the least helpful criticism I get. And yes, when I get those I do tend to feel insulted.

Please, if I don't ask for ideas and you feel the need to tell me how my story should go, then I welcome you to write something of your own.

I'm sure we would all love to read it.

[gandalf (imported)]

When I make comments, I am generally only complimentary on the story. Being a former teacher, I look for the "flow" of the story. The stories I tend to like are well written, have a good "flow" to the story (doesn't jump around and be hard to follow).

There are very few authors on here that I would critique in the way a story was written. Usually, if I don't care for the type of story, my ranking usually reflects HOW it was written, not the content and I don't make a comment...usually. By that, if I rate it three stars, I feel that the author did a very good job of writing the story, it just turned out to be a story that did not strike my tastes subject wise. But the author did a very good job of presenting the information he/she was providing.

[Chris1115 (imported)]

Hopefully the feedback I posted today on "The Bully" wasn't out of line. I actually enjoyed the story and gave it 5 stars, but I find that many authors frequently make that mistake and I was hoping to educate courteously. Hopefully it was taken as constructive criticism and not flaming. =)

Summary: measuring a penis, diameter is width 'across' and circumference is girth 'around'. Girth can be determined by taking the diameter and multiplying it by 3.1415 (roughly). Hopefully authors see this and avoid the confusion in the future and it does some good at least! :]

[Paolo]

I'm going to revive an 8 year old thread!

hehe

I got a comment the other day that said, "This is the worst story ever!"

And the crazy thing is, I rather enjoyed the fact that someone took the time to read it, and that my work pissed them off!

HA!

[Losethem (imported)]

I'm going to revive an 8 year old thread!

hehe

I got a comment the other day that said, "This is the worst story ever!"

And the crazy thing is, I rather enjoyed the fact that someone took the time to read it, and that my work pissed them off!

HA!

OMG! How dare you take it upon yourself to write anything. It's the worst possible thing any of us could do.

Dear nitwit who complained,

Don't like what you have on offer here, get off your lazy ass and write something yourself.

[cutnbulls2ox (imported)]

Beauty is always in the eye of the beholder. Many times the comments reflect what s in the reader s head and not what is in the story. No way any story can possibly please everyone. Especially since readers often have exactly opposite views on what they like or don t like. You can never please them all.

Thanks to all authors for freely giving us their stories and ideas to enjoy and share.

[Paolo]

I'm probably going to upset some people even further then, as I'm about halfway through the rough draft/outline phase of what's sure to be a 200k+ word epic novel.

Just finished a South Park novel (posted elsewhere, and not EA themed but for 1 chapter) that was 40 chapters long. Had to buy a new keyboard after that one. Old habits die hard; having learned to type on an old manual typewriter, I tend to beat space bars to death.