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

[koneikaa66.livejournal.com]

I must confess I'm a lurker too, but I'm slowly (ok really slowly) trying to be one nomore. I found out your stories after looking on Nikerym 'Ksherea's site and even thank her on one of my first comments on the net for making me curious about your stories. Different people got different reasons for not reviewing (I've got a few, some "good", some "bad"...) and I won't say more about it.
This comment is also because I wanted to leave one for quite some time but never really go and do it (I think so, it's nearly 2:40 am here and I've read this post 20-30 minutes ago and I take a lot of time to find words, make them in sentences (English is not my maternal language), so perhaps this comment is my 2nd one, but I really don't think so).
Anyway, I'll get to the point now and just say that I love your stories and characters and like I told once to Nikerym 'Ksherea you're one of my "fav' of fav'" but I won't say for you "writer" but more "storyteller" it's the word that came to my mind when I wanted to write writer, I'll try to explain another day if you're interested.
You make me write the bigger comment I've ever made, I hope AOL won't disconnect me like for one comment I've take nearly half an hour to make to Nikerym 'Ksherea (never re-made it, shut off my computer).
Hope I made sense, if not I'm sorry... Hope not to much vocabulary/grammar errors...
Goodnight and love to your characters, stories, imagination,... everything that want it, I'll give some.Now it's 2:57 I'm going to sleep...

[tygati.livejournal.com]

*hug* Thank you for taking the time to comment. I am always amazed by the people who read and write in other languages. I have studied French and Japanese, and I am still very bad at both of them. :)

I am most curious about your distinction between 'writer' and 'storyteller'. ^_^ Perhaps some day you'll tell me, hopefully when your AOL is behaving. From what I have experienced, AOL likes to misbehave often. ;)

Hope you slept very well! =^.^=

[koneikaa66.livejournal.com]

Ok... just take a shower...a little more conscious than ten minutes ago for my first try at an answer... but not a lot better (bad sleep).
Anyway, thanks for the quick answer and the "sleep well" (hope it will be for the next one!)
I'm French and studying English and Japanese and French too (I think you never stop even when you stop the formal study in School, University...) but I'm in the working world for a few years...need to pay the books...
Answer for the first part of the answer : check!
Second part (that one will be hard, but I'll try...): you know several languages so it might help you to understand : after several years studying, using another language, you don't look at it like as school "correlation" [try for this word] word/sense when you think of a word you think more of the idea behind it, the idea YOU feel behind it, the concept more than some kind of "rigid" sense. That's what happened when I choose "storyteller" more than writer to describe the aspect of you that I truly enjoy. [Hope you understand my meaning]
So I use this word for the meaning I give to it, the perception I've got of/from it. For me, there's a difference of style: sometimes your style's nearer a "writer" styler but, usually... oh...I really don't know how to explain: it's a difference of styles, of description, of position you make the reader assume, the way you conduct the story is slightly different too...I'll re-read your stories and will try to explain more clearly with examples if you want...
One last point: it's not because some of your stories are tales (even if it might be part of it but, for me anyway, some tales (in general) have been written with a "storyteller style", and some others no).
I'll stop here the "massacre" and hope you slightly understood this post (first part was easy at least...-_-; )

[koneikaa66.livejournal.com]

Ok...the posts after me make me think about it, I'm a new user and I took one ID mostly to review stories I like without being a lurker (like I said earlier I try to not be a lurker anymore and go past my shy nature too)...
My point is can I friend you? I really like your stories and read nearly your whole journal (one night of tests, along the way: never did so much!): when I really enjoy the story and what of the person and mind I can make out of them, I try to know more, sometimes it make you view the story, not really from a different perspective, but it's interesting (really bad at explaining my thoughts: but I try!).

[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. ;)