I was going to post this in another thread, but I figured that thread was veering dangerously off topic and so not the best place to talk about this. As well as thing, this can be quite a general topic and I might end up talking bullshit, so what the hell, what better place to do this.
Its a difficult path, being a writer, actually being a creative person in general because honestly, artists have their own, different kind of difficulty. Especially in the digital halls of the internet, where the attention span is counted in seconds and anything that takes more than five minutes to read is simply ignored. In a communications medium such as this, you are judged on the first and often only glance of your work.
Which makes it difficult to get good feedback, constructive feedback. A lot of people get the idea that they can throw out a thinly veiled insult as a review and think it a "good comment", little thinking or caring about the fact that the person they've sent the "review" to has feelings. Essentially, a "good comment" never helps, it actually crushes the writer, because it (a) devalues their work and (b) devalues them.
When a writer posts their work, there is a strong likelihood that they will not get any comment or review, but every time they get that comment that says "I liked your story" or "Fantastic work", they are buoyed on and elated that someone has not only enjoyed their work, but also took the time to express that. Just a few little words and they are fuelled to take on the next piece, the next chapter, the next story.
Then you get the people who don't think about what they are saying. Or rather, those who don't care. There is no opportunity to help someone grow in their abilities, or to pass on their thoughts on what they read. It is often a chance to throw an insult and hide behind the shield of the honest review.
I say this from experience. Several years ago, I wrote and posted a 115k word novel, with a 15k collection of short stories connected to the novel. I loved every second of the writing process, I loved crafting the plot and developing the characters. I loved the twists that I hid within the story. Every positive review that came in made me smile and got me stoked to get onto the next chapter.
Then I started getting the shit comments. Because even now, years later, those are the only ones that have stuck with me. There were the begging ones, the ignorant ones and the plain insulting ones. It got to the point where I just abandoned a prequel I had started and just quit the whole thing for half a decade.
Just to give you an idea of the comments, these are some of the tamer ones.
"Hmm...very nice!Though it took you a long time to update,it is still very nice."
"You know making him a sarcastic and mean character is not very good, whatever you wish but try to have him behave better with other can give you a two faced dick."
"Nice are you going to update the other one? Also a bit more humor would be a question though,is it just me or is the search feature not working for you as well?"
"Nice are you going to update the main one?"
They seem innocuous at first, but when they're the only comments you see for weeks at time, it can start to weigh on you. When you write, you don't see your own words, you see those comments. And when you see that often enough, it kills that drive to write. So when people give shitty comments, they are destroying hundreds of potential stories and tales. But more importantly, they are crushing something that a person does for fun, to the point where they can't see the fun anymore.
If people want writers, or any creative person, to improve, there are ways to do so without coming off as a complete prick. Give this page a good read, better than any tips I could give.
Its a difficult path, being a writer, actually being a creative person in general because honestly, artists have their own, different kind of difficulty. Especially in the digital halls of the internet, where the attention span is counted in seconds and anything that takes more than five minutes to read is simply ignored. In a communications medium such as this, you are judged on the first and often only glance of your work.
Which makes it difficult to get good feedback, constructive feedback. A lot of people get the idea that they can throw out a thinly veiled insult as a review and think it a "good comment", little thinking or caring about the fact that the person they've sent the "review" to has feelings. Essentially, a "good comment" never helps, it actually crushes the writer, because it (a) devalues their work and (b) devalues them.
When a writer posts their work, there is a strong likelihood that they will not get any comment or review, but every time they get that comment that says "I liked your story" or "Fantastic work", they are buoyed on and elated that someone has not only enjoyed their work, but also took the time to express that. Just a few little words and they are fuelled to take on the next piece, the next chapter, the next story.
Then you get the people who don't think about what they are saying. Or rather, those who don't care. There is no opportunity to help someone grow in their abilities, or to pass on their thoughts on what they read. It is often a chance to throw an insult and hide behind the shield of the honest review.
I say this from experience. Several years ago, I wrote and posted a 115k word novel, with a 15k collection of short stories connected to the novel. I loved every second of the writing process, I loved crafting the plot and developing the characters. I loved the twists that I hid within the story. Every positive review that came in made me smile and got me stoked to get onto the next chapter.
Then I started getting the shit comments. Because even now, years later, those are the only ones that have stuck with me. There were the begging ones, the ignorant ones and the plain insulting ones. It got to the point where I just abandoned a prequel I had started and just quit the whole thing for half a decade.
Just to give you an idea of the comments, these are some of the tamer ones.
"Hmm...very nice!Though it took you a long time to update,it is still very nice."
"You know making him a sarcastic and mean character is not very good, whatever you wish but try to have him behave better with other can give you a two faced dick."
"Nice are you going to update the other one? Also a bit more humor would be a question though,is it just me or is the search feature not working for you as well?"
"Nice are you going to update the main one?"
They seem innocuous at first, but when they're the only comments you see for weeks at time, it can start to weigh on you. When you write, you don't see your own words, you see those comments. And when you see that often enough, it kills that drive to write. So when people give shitty comments, they are destroying hundreds of potential stories and tales. But more importantly, they are crushing something that a person does for fun, to the point where they can't see the fun anymore.
If people want writers, or any creative person, to improve, there are ways to do so without coming off as a complete prick. Give this page a good read, better than any tips I could give.
