Final Thoughts

[tygati]

First, an apology. I don't normally let things get to me... heck, I don't normally notice that there are lurkers, much less mind them. So I am sorry I let one incident upset me so much. :( You all are wonderful and I love you all dearly for sticking with me and enjoying my stories, as silly and pointless as they are. ^^;

Secondly, my thoughts on comments, from both a writer and a reader's point of view.

There is no such thing as a useless comment. I get a kick out of 'incoherent' comments, because they mean I did something right to reduce my readers to mindless squeeing. One of my favorite short comments is one Nikery left, that went something along the lines of: "GUH! Wait, I can write more... no, no I really can't. GUH." ^____^ Still makes me smile.

Just because someone already said what you were going to say does not make your opinion any less important. If more than one person liked a particular thing about a story, it lets me know that I'm on the right track there and a similar situation would probably be equally well-liked in future stories. :)

Have a favorite line or scene? Quote it! It gives me lots of warm fuzzies when a reader particularly likes a scene that I'm fond of. Plus, it lets me squee with you. ^___^ I'm very dorky that way.

Really, even a totally pointless, inane comment lets me know that the time I spent writing it was worth it to someone. And it's great encouragement. More on this later.

As for you lurkers... *waves madly* I don't bite! Really! And trust me when I say that whatever stupid comment you think you'd make, I've done worse, and will do worse. Being an idiot seems to be part of my life. ^__^ So really, nothing you say will ever be dumber than what I have or will do. I walk into doors (open and closed) and fall over from a standing position. >.>; Yeah. ^^; Remember nikerymksherea's Nikkai? She based him off of me. *sheepish grin*

Also, Lurkers = new opinions. After a while a writer learns what her 'regular' readers like and sometimes tailors things to suit. New opinions mean an opportunity for a writer to grow and challenge herself with more diverse stories. All opinions are valuable. They may not always be acted upon, but they're still valuable information.

Confidence. We have none. Zero. This comic I was linked to summarizes pretty well. We are our own worst enemies. The first hour or three from when a story is first posted until the first comment arrives are always the worst, because you sit there biting your nails going "It sucks, it sucks, it sucks, they're going to hate it, I should never have posted it..." There's this terrible insecurity involved with putting your heart on paper, so you fret horribly over whether people think that this thing you love dearly is crap or not.

People are very fragile, and we of the creative persuasion always seem to think the worst of ourselves. Though a person may not comment on a wonderful story because they think they have nothing worth saying, to an author, the thought process goes something like this: Nobody commented = nobody read it (OR) nobody liked it = ZOMG I SUCK I WILL NEVER WRITE AGAIN!!! *SOB*

No, really. We're rather pathetic that way. And amazingly insecure. I'd post snippits of conversation between myself and maderr in which we're trying to convince each other we don't suck, but she'd probably kill me. ^^; Suffice to say it happens with every single story we write. In M's case, every single chapter. >.>;

Finally, my thoughts as a Reader. Always, always, when I read something I try to leave a comment. Not just because it's polite, but because of a certain way of thinking I have that's always served me rather well in the past. It goes like this:

Comment Thought Process: Author writes pretty story. I read pretty story. Want more pretty story. Gush and squee and profuse undying love to Author. Author will write more story! Yay! Victory! ^^;

And nine times out of ten, it works. I don't really care if I make an idiot out of myself in the process. If it nets me more story, all's good. ;)

*hugs and cookies to you all*

Comments

[tygati.livejournal.com]

J'etudie le francais pour deux ans, but I have forgotten almost all of it. ^.^;; Oops. I sometimes get confused and mix up my French and Japanese, and then no one can understand me. ^.^;;

I think I understand what you mean by forming your own sense of a word. I still struggle with stylistic issues, because I tend to ramble too much when I write and not concentrate on the feel of the scene. Too many facts, maybe? Hmm...

I'm glad you like my stories so much. ^__^ Yes, you can friend me. I like new amis! *grin*

[koneikaa66.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the quick answer once again and thanks for the positive answer for the "friend".
It seems I wasn't really clear in my answer cause I don't think you ramble too much (it can make the style funnier(?) or slighter (?) and that could be good sometimes) or that there's too many facts (I think, depending of the kind of story you want to write it's a good thing to give the reader enough facts (not too much that's bad, it's true, but not enough is also bad).
I think you write good story with good characters and good plot, they're not perfect (you're human, right?) but they're pretty good from a general point of view. To make some good criticism I need to re-read them with this perspective but I must say I don't like to make a criticism of the stories I read cause it's the feeling I've got when I read that's important for me and after all your stories I've got good feelings (for some more than for others, but always good!).
One of the reasons I stay a lurker for one year and a half is when I like a story I won't "dissect" it or talk about it (I just say "read it, it's good and I think you'll like it" to my friends), I'll just put it in my "coups de coeur" on AOL to read it again later (the more times I read a story, the more it is that I find it good) and read others stories from the same author. And, when I really like the author (that's your case!), I look around the stories and others authors this person like and go to read about it (I find you on Nikerym 'Ksherea LJ and I find broken_moons on yours) and I read their LJ not only their stories (that's also your case!).
Now it's my turn to ramble, I'll stop there and I promise to find one way to explain myself better on the difference between "storyteller" and writer : it's not a difference of quality, but more of the path taken by the story with words and sentences, the use of it (really hard to explain, I'm not so good to express my thoughts).
Okay now I'm leaving for the serious stuff ;) : I've got a lot of stories to read and so little time! (one life is not enough, I hope after my death I'll be a ghost able to turn pages and read on the net!)

[tygati.livejournal.com]

<3 Thanks for the thoughts, and the reassurance. I'm always finding things in my own writing that I dislike, so it's good to know that the reader (you) doesn't see anything particularly bad enough to make note of. (And telling others "Read this, it's good!" is good too! Yay!)

I think broken_moons and Nikerymksherea both found me through Maderr. Maderr is very influential. :)

Hope you enjoyed today's stories. Should be more tomorrow, but for now it is bedtime here. ^_^ Hope you have a good day (night?) full of yummy boys. ;)