ShoutOut to DukeNukem (and Other Authors)

[DollSpace]

I know this sound kind of silly, but I've *really* enjoyed reading Duke's stories over these years and, as an author myself, I know how important it is to give feedback and let the author know you appreciate his or her work, and offer advise about what part of the story you really liked and which part of the story may use some fixing, but either way, there should be more comments on stories on this board. Even those of you who lurk, if you read a story and like it, just post a simple "I really enjoyed that. Thanks." or "I like that a lot; I can't wait till you write the next chapter". Obviously, writing isn't all about getting feedback and such; if it's your passion, you're going to write no matter what people say (or don't). But if you like a story, please leave a word of thanks, and even if you didn't like it, you can point out which parts you didn't like. Also, there's an obvious divide between people who like built robots and people who like the transformation factor, but if you don't like one of those scenarios, you probably wouldn't read the story, but I think it averages close to even on this board, so for every story, there should be at least *some* (more than two) people who like it and *say* something. I always try to write positive things and thank people for their work on stories I enjoy, *especially* from newer writers to give them the confidence to keep writing and get better and better. But that doesn't mean established authors don't deserve those accolades or constructive criticism or even simple recognition. Anyone who's a writer will probably tell you the same thing that they enjoy seeing people comment on their work, because that means people cared enough to read it, and, even more, cared enough to let you know what they thought, mostly good, I'd say, and it makes the author feel good, too. You're more likely to see work from them in the future if the feedback is there.

Thank you. That is all.
*steps down from her soapbox*

[darkbutflashy]

As a reader, I'd like to give (hard, useful) feedback, but I always think the feedback others give is so positive and I don't want to ruin the author's motivation with remarks about minor turndowns. Plus, I don't like the author disliking me personally because I'm the only one finding a hair in the soup. As an author, I've tried to channel this feedback a little by making it a poll, so people can comment a simple yay/nay/meh quickly and anonymous. But that turned out to be problematic, too, because now I don't know the motivation for that judgement.

For the one story I've written so far, besides the first chapter I have three half-completed chapters (2, 3, 8 ) in the toolshed and some more in my mind. I'd liked hard comments on the first chapter -> none came. That was disappointing, because getting this feedback had ment someone had really dove into the storyboard and tried to get a feeling for it. Feel what I've tried to put into it when I've written it. The only thing I'm really afraid of is someone complaining about my English (or the style at all) being too terrible to enjoy the story. Because that isn't something I can do much about. If someone had commented on this, I had really have to cry for help. Please!

[WilloWisp]

As a reader, I'd like to give (hard, useful) feedback, but I always think the feedback others give is so positive and I don't want to ruin the author's motivation with remarks about minor turndowns. Plus, I don't like the author disliking me personally because I'm the only one finding a hair in the soup. As an author, I've tried to channel this feedback a little by making it a poll, so people can comment a simple yay/nay/meh quickly and anonymous. But that turned out to be problematic, too, because now I don't know the motivation for that judgement.

To be honest, I think the quality of writing here sometimes suffers because the very people who are best equipped to provide useful criticism are typically either worried that that they'll sound mean... or they're too busy writing their own stories to read everyone else's.

In instances where I felt comfortable to do so, I have contacted authors via PM to voice what I perceive to be their strengths, and (in some cases) what they could potentially do to improve their writing. It is entirely possible that they were all happy with my feedback, but I'd be a little surprised if at least one of them didn't take it personally.

Even so, I stand by my words. I never said anything personally insulting, but tried to state my case clearly and objectively. "You do these things well, and if this is your objective as a writer, you are succeeding. If this other thing is your objective, here's where I think you might be missing the mark." I don't set out to insult or ridicule. It takes a lot of guts to try to share your own fiction with others, even if you do so anonymously. Every story is a slice of your mind, a drop of your psychological makeup. The characters, situations, even specific words are made out of the ideas that form your psychological landscape. Inviting people into that landscape is daunting.

[DollSpace]

As a reader, I'd like to give (hard, useful) feedback, but I always think the feedback others give is so positive and I don't want to ruin the author's motivation with remarks about minor turndowns. Plus, I don't like the author disliking me personally because I'm the only one finding a hair in the soup. As an author, I've tried to channel this feedback a little by making it a poll, so people can comment a simple yay/nay/meh quickly and anonymous. But that turned out to be problematic, too, because now I don't know the motivation for that judgement.

For the one story I've written so far, besides the first chapter I have three half-completed chapters (2, 3, 8 ) in the toolshed and some more in my mind. I'd liked hard comments on the first chapter -> none came. That was disappointing, because getting this feedback had ment someone had really dove into the storyboard and tried to get a feeling for it. Feel what I've tried to put into it when I've written it. The only thing I'm really afraid of is someone complaining about my English (or the style at all) being too terrible to enjoy the story. Because that isn't something I can do much about. If someone had commented on this, I had really have to cry for help. Please!

I'll definitely go looking for that story, darkbutflashy, and give it a onceover. Real life interferes a lot with how often I get to the board because I raise money for non-profit organisations and each one has big fundraising events at different times throughout the year. Fun fact: I also do public service announcements (PSAs) for them! I'd love to be a voice-over artist or a voice actress... But enough about me. I'll look for your story, but I'm one of those that like the built androids a lot more than the transformation ones, so if yours is one of the latter, I probably won't be able to give it a decent reply, and for that, I apologise, but I'll do my best. And as for that transformation thing, I've got an idea that sort of blends the two, so we'll see if that one gets written. Oh, and as long as it's phrased politely, never be afeared of giving a writer constructive criticism rather than a compliment, or, better yet, do both. There's usually at least *one* thing I like in each story I read! ^^ So I can comment lots of times that "it's not my cup of tea but it is very finely written".

Thanks for replying!

[DollSpace]

As a reader, I'd like to give (hard, useful) feedback, but I always think the feedback others give is so positive and I don't want to ruin the author's motivation with remarks about minor turndowns. Plus, I don't like the author disliking me personally because I'm the only one finding a hair in the soup. As an author, I've tried to channel this feedback a little by making it a poll, so people can comment a simple yay/nay/meh quickly and anonymous. But that turned out to be problematic, too, because now I don't know the motivation for that judgement.

To be honest, I think the quality of writing here sometimes suffers because the very people who are best equipped to provide useful criticism are typically either worried that that they'll sound mean... or they're too busy writing their own stories to read everyone else's.

In instances where I felt comfortable to do so, I have contacted authors via PM to voice what I perceive to be their strengths, and (in some cases) what they could potentially do to improve their writing. It is entirely possible that they were all happy with my feedback, but I'd be a little surprised if at least one of them didn't take it personally.

Even so, I stand by my words. I never said anything personally insulting, but tried to state my case clearly and objectively. "You do these things well, and if this is your objective as a writer, you are succeeding. If this other thing is your objective, here's where I think you might be missing the mark." I don't set out to insult or ridicule. It takes a lot of guts to try to share your own fiction with others, even if you do so anonymously. Every story is a slice of your mind, a drop of your psychological makeup. The characters, situations, even specific words are made out of the ideas that form your psychological landscape. Inviting people into that landscape is daunting.

That's a very good point. I try to deliver criticism in the best way I know how, and the gentlest, by not just mentioning a work's bad points but the good points (even if there are very few) as well. Plus, I like "built" stories rather than "transformation" stories, so with the TF stories, they sometimes get lost in the shuffle. Contacting authors by PM is a great way to give a more detailed review, or to ask the author questions like "What did you mean by that?" or "Is the story going to end on a cliffhanger or will it be continued?" if you'd like, but due to the posting of stories in general, it's good to give it at least a cursory review as a reply to the story, and get into more detail in a PM with them. I'm sure they'd love to elaborate on their work; I love to talk about mine, like the (hopefully) upcoming story where the lines of TF and built kinda get crossed. But there's nothing so discouraging as coming back to your story you spent weeks on and having one reply. Even if it's constructive criticism (and a little bit about what you did like in the story to soften the hit), it's okay. As long as it's not downright attacking the author for writing such a "bad story", because there's always more than just that. Your way of delivering criticisms ("You do these things well, and if this is your objective as a writer, you are succeeding. If this other thing is your objective, here's where I think you might be missing the mark.") is exactly how it should be. It's good with the bad, because there are bound to be at least a few good things in every story, and encouraging an author (especially a new one to the site) and guiding them to produce better material in the future benefits us all.

Thank you for replying!

[DollSpace]

As a reader, I'd like to give (hard, useful) feedback, but I always think the feedback others give is so positive and I don't want to ruin the author's motivation with remarks about minor turndowns. Plus, I don't like the author disliking me personally because I'm the only one finding a hair in the soup. As an author, I've tried to channel this feedback a little by making it a poll, so people can comment a simple yay/nay/meh quickly and anonymous. But that turned out to be problematic, too, because now I don't know the motivation for that judgement.

For the one story I've written so far, besides the first chapter I have three half-completed chapters (2, 3, 8 ) in the toolshed and some more in my mind. I'd liked hard comments on the first chapter -> none came. That was disappointing, because getting this feedback had ment someone had really dove into the storyboard and tried to get a feeling for it. Feel what I've tried to put into it when I've written it. The only thing I'm really afraid of is someone complaining about my English (or the style at all) being too terrible to enjoy the story. Because that isn't something I can do much about. If someone had commented on this, I had really have to cry for help. Please!

I'll definitely go looking for that story, darkbutflashy, and give it a onceover. Real life interferes a lot with how often I get to the board because I raise money for non-profit organisations and each one has big fundraising events at different times throughout the year. Fun fact: I also do public service announcements (PSAs) for them! I'd love to be a voice-over artist or a voice actress... But enough about me. I'll look for your story, but I'm one of those that like the built androids a lot more than the transformation ones, so if yours is one of the latter, I probably won't be able to give it a decent reply, and for that, I apologise, but I'll do my best. And as for that transformation thing, I've got an idea that sort of blends the two, so we'll see if that one gets written. Oh, and as long as it's phrased politely, never be afeared of giving a writer constructive criticism rather than a compliment, or, better yet, do both. There's usually at least *one* thing I like in each story I read! ^^ So I can comment lots of times that "it's not my cup of tea but it is very finely written".

Thanks for replying!

DBF: I can't find your story here; have you posted it anywhere yet? If so, where? I'd like to read it!

[DollSpace]

I would've expected more writers to rally round this cry, but a lot of you are talented enough that you always automatically get responses (I won't share names; it would make people biased). Still, however, for the beginners, for the new entries, for the people like Mirage, or WilloWisp, or Cecilauthor, or BA/BA2, or LongTimeLurker, or apok, or DukeNukem 2417, or gynoneko, or Baron, or Kishin, or Robotman, or DarkRexx, or Kirby or ButchyBoy..I'm running out of room here! For those I didn't mention, please don't take it to mean I don't like your stories; I just scanned through the first three pages of the Story Board and included people who wrote stories I found memorable. Either way, I still think more writers should rally round this cry and reiterate to everyone that feedback, even if it *is* constructive criticism, is always greatly appreciated. As long as it's not done in a mean why, I would think most writers would extremely appreciate it. Those that don't could simply say something like: "I didn't mean to make something amazingly good, it's just written to get off to" or something. Others, who try to create universes where their characters can play in, or write long, mult-part stories, do a *lot* of work and they should be recognised for it, to tell them how good it probably is, and to leave some suggestions to make it better. I've already been shopping my new story round to several beta readers and they've put the spotlight on several things my story is lacking and I agree with them, and greatly appreciate them leting me know, so I can write a better story, and be a better writer.

Here's hoping more people take up the cause!

[Brytestar]

Thanks for this post even now I am forming more story ideas as I am typing this. Thank goodness for the upcoming three day weekend.

[Cecilauthor]

I could totally use another beta-reader for my fembot anthology. PM me. Seriously.

[DukeNukem 2417]

First of all, thanks for the support. Seriously. If I knew nobody was reading my work, I'd stop writing.

Secondly.....to quote a great man, you ain't seen nothin' yet.

[WilloWisp]

First of all, thanks for the support. Seriously. If I knew nobody was reading my work, I'd stop writing.

Secondly.....to quote a great man, you ain't seen nothin' yet.

Are you quoting me, or Bachman Turner Overdrive?

[DollSpace]

First of all, thanks for the support. Seriously. If I knew nobody was reading my work, I'd stop writing.

Secondly.....to quote a great man, you ain't seen nothin' yet.

Are you quoting me, or Bachman Turner Overdrive?

Guess who!



(sorry...couldn't resist throwing in a good pun about a 60s/70s rock band)

[WilloWisp]

Now you've gone and done it.

"Upon reflection, the tone of Chad Allen's expression was distinctly silver."

[DollSpace]

Now you've gone and done it.

"Upon reflection, the tone of Chad Allen's expression was distinctly silver."

As much as I understand that, my battery is running too low to make an adequate comeback, so you win this round...FOR NOW!