AFF Anger Spikes: A new mini series featuring quick rants! Today's topic: comments!

Heyhey, kids. 

I decided that since my big- review blogs usually take me a while to finish up I might as well start this mini series which will be more focused on the speedy and quick type of anger. I get mad a lot and I need to express it now and then, and lots of things I can't talk about in the blogs come up continuously. This mini-series is made for fast fury, hoes. 

Today I wanted to go over this weird trend I've been seing lately in the blog section which is about how authors go around expecting people to comment and to stay subscribed and to interact all the ing time with their stories because reasons

No, es, no. 

Let's get this straight - ain't nobody owe you a mothain thing. 

This world doesn't owe you anything. It does not owe you a living, it does not owe you a place to live, it does not owe you success or money or friends or love and it sure as hell doesn't owe you comments on a story. 

This goes back to so much stuff I've been wanting to say and what I'm trying to point out with my WTFIAFFD series, which is that if you want people to comment, you have to write compelling enough prose to elicit such emotion which makes them want to. If your story is and boring, what am I supposed to comment on it? Should I say stuff like "hey your story because it's boring" just to leave a comment? Is that the point of comments? 

What this tells me about authors who crave comments is that they can't tell that what they're writing isn't interesting enough. They're hailing their own work as better than it is, adopting an attitude of "but I updated so many times, why isn't anybody saying anything???". It's self-victimizing, and you should be above that because your writing isn't about how you work hard on your quality, it's about how you just want to get validation from some ers online. 

And for the ing record - why do I have to thank you just because you're updating fast? Who gives a ? I'm glad you can churn out content at a quick pace, but don't expect me to gratefully bow to you and call you author-nim. Gimme a ing break, man. If you're updating fast and nobody says anything, it's probably because nobody enjoys your story and the quality of the chapters you post is intensely low. It's probably because it's not interesting enough to generate any thought from the readers. A little PS. to those who care - you can request beta readers and instate co-authors for a reson, dickheads. 

And another thing! Who the says I am obliged to stay subscribed to your story? Huh? Why the should I do that? Why should I stay subscribed to a story that I once found interesting but then grew out of? That I perhaps only subscribed to because it looked interesting but turned out to be ty? That I ended up never liking anyway? That hasn't been updated? That's been poorly updated? COME ON. WHen you're complaining about the lack of comments, you're complaining about how people don't give you enough attention, which is a very poorly thought out reason for writing things and posting them. 

The end game with writing is that it's an introspective pleasure. We're alone when we do it, and we let ourselves feel incredible things so that we can remember all that stuff forever because now it exists on paper. We do it so that we can let our imagination go wild and so that we can create and make art.

What kind of ing artist creates something and then complains because not enough people are praising it? Where the is your integrity at, motherer? If Claude Monet had made art strictly for the purpose of having people praise him for it, then his art would have been ty for the longest time. He wouldn't have made his style his own, he wouldn't have perfected his impressionism, he would have just made painting after painting in order to get somebody to say something about them. That's not art, that's a product that you want people to buy. You're not doing it because you like it, you're doing it because you want attention for it. 

Art - writing - is slow improvement. There's a reason artists tediously work toward bettering themselves, because it makes their art better

Grow the up, kids. This is a website on the internet. Nobody owes you simply because you post on it. 

Comments

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bohubear
#1
I definitely agree, especially when there's no mystery regarding the characters and everything they are feeling, thinking and doing is explicitly described in the chapters and writing something about it as a reader would be redundant. Often happens with stories that are introspective works into the minds of characters, even if that was not the desired outcome. However, desiring comments and interactions with your readers when you truly put your soul into it and try your hardest to leave some things up for interpretation is undoubtedly valid. There are some works on here, as well as other sites, that do a hell of a good job at enticing the readers and yet receive no well-thought comments, heck, not even a two-sentence comment, and it often stings. Of course, I doubt you wrote this blog with those stories in mind, you're most likely referring to the first example I gave as well as those stories that just...aren't really worth the trouble? Those stories that either written for the kicks of it, and whatnot. Some works are meant for comments, some aren't, despite being written well, such as crack or something lighthearted that doesn't require a whole brain to enjoy.
Jumpdiva
#2
THIS REMINDED ME OF THAT POLL WE TALKED ABOUT. Thank you so much.
haaitje
#3
Amen to that
YX__94
#4
The opposite of this happened to me.
I left a comment on a story. It was something on the lines of "Sorry but I think the story is a little rushed. That character development was really sudden, too quick. In my opinion it was unrealistic." My intention was giving the author an opinion they could use to see things from a different point of view. But they contacted me saying I shouldn't leave negative comments 'cause they are not helpful. I tried to explain why I did it, apologizing in case I had come out as rude since English is not my mother tongue and, well, maybe I had been rude without realizing? I also explained I was trying to give feedbacks because I myself hadn't noticed a particular wrong thing in my writing style until someone pinpointed it. They replied saying I hadn't been helpful, that I could have caused drama (what??), that their beta had almost commented back to me because she was very upset ("you leave positive comments and bring constructive comments to inbox") and that they deleted my comment. I was shook because, what? Since when that is a rule? Ok, I haven't been into fanfiction for a long time but why can't everyone read what I have to say? I just ended it saying I was sorry for upsetting them and I wouldn't comment on their fics anymore if I read them because of that. I'm pretty sure the author blocked me 'cause I can't see anything on their profile or get to that fic anymore.
Now, I ask you, am I on the wrong side and really there's this kind of rule or it's simply that that person doesn't want "negative" comments on their story?

(sorry for bringing this here but it actually hurt me being somehow attacked when I wanted to do something good and I'd like to know whether the mistake was mine)
hamsterboo
#5
See, here's where I slightly disagree. I write because I want to. I update because I want to. I spend many hours writing a chapter, self editing it, and reading it over to make sure it's the best I can do. Despite all of this, I want people who are reading to occasionally comment to tell me what they think about what's happening so far, and if they have any comments about my writing or anything I can do to improve it. I have a beta who tells me what would work best for plot and writing style, but sometimes it's better if that comes from someone who doesn't know the plot. My beta can only do so much when she knows the entire plot since her mind will fill in any holes the chapter may have in terms of plot because no one's perfect, but if a reader tells me there's confusion with something, I can pay attention to that. Sometimes, I just want to know that there's someone out there that's reading my work and writing it. I'm sure most people want to feel appreciated and validated. Isn't that the same concept with authors who go on book tours and those who read reviews to their books (such as goodreads)? They go meet all the fans of their books and speak to them, but also feel that validation that yes, it's their hard work that led to this moment.

Now when it comes to authors who want readers to say thank you or wonder why people are unsubscribing, that's just plain dumb. There's no obligation for that.
Hellody
#6
I used to be that author that would get discouraged when no one would comment until I realized my writing was ty. Lmao this was when I first discovered fanfiction by the way. When I started to write for myself and read more to improve rather than seeking people to feed my ego, the comments came pouring in on their own. I went back to the first few stories I posted and GOD the cringefest I had. I still have them till this day to remind me that comments don't determine how good the story is. Hell, the person commeting could be someone who doesn't even pick up a real book and is probably 12 who shouldn't even be reading M work spazzing on the keyboard and calling fanfiction "masterpieces." This thing with the comment streak is also bizzare to me. I think it damages more than does good. I mean, the karma points do have use, but it feels like now these people are on their knees BEGGING for comments and now people will just comment spam or pointless crap without real insight of what the author is writing about. I can't speak for everyone of course, but that's my two cents on the matter.
I love that your doing this also as a mini thing! Your blogs give me life. <3