[Vent] For Authors who just need a moment to let it all out

[Hans.Trondheim]

I hate the Royal Road, even after I am no longer posting there.

Glad to find a kindred soul.

 

[Rhaps]

And I am ready to beat people up with them.


I ain't walking 10,000 li to the Heaven Crossing Wide Birth Earth Bridge of the Critics’ Sect.

I remember a fighting game where Moses fought with the stone tablets. Fight of Gods, iirc

 

[Deleted member 166076]

I feel like I get a lot of the same comments on my stories here as I do elsewhere. Just today someone wanted to start in on how difficult a dungeon puzzle would be to complete.

For reference, here are 4 stone altars in a room, each with a wooden sign that has a clue. You have to match one of more than a dozen plants to all four stone altars correctly using the language of flowers, but the adventurers are clueless. So, they'd have to use trial and error to randomly match up the answer. I already had a bunch of people arguing in the RoyalRoad comments about how to accurately calculate the probability and whether it is a fair and reasonable challenge to include on my part.

Now, here, I have only 3 active commentors on my story. One person who posts cookie emojis every time, another who does the same but adds "TFTC", and a third who just wants to ask questions that seem like thinly veiled arguments on why my story makes no sense to them. I did have a fourth who argued about the dungeon sizing being too small for them, but they're gone now. I don't know what the deal is with the cookies on here, but the comments here directly mirror those on RoyalRoad, but I have a higher ratio of "TFTC" and nice comments over there. So, yeah, at this point, all these sites might as well be the same.

Also, I told the guy who wanted to argue about math that I wasn't having that discussion and that the room isn't locked so it can be skipped anyways. Plus, it gets nerfed later on when it gets moved to the second floor. That isn't even to mention it would only take 1 party solving it for the answer to end up spread to everyone else who'd therefore no longer struggle.

 

[Deleted member 166076]

Can I just say I really HATE sites that have the option to review books? I just got a review that made me feel frustrated. They complained the chapters were too short (the blurb literally states the chapters are 1k-2k in length so you know this going in???), that they interludes weren't connected to the story (I literally started with the first one that that's what an interlude is. They show off the story world with little to no connection to the main plot. They're quite common with dungeon stories nowadays too.), and that the adventurers take too long to do puzzles that should be considered child's play.

Can you complete a several hundred meters square area jigsaw puzzle in 15 minutes or something? What about doing parkour where falling into the water means you lose and the platforms are all far apart, it's dark and raining with monsters jumping out of the water to knock you off? Can you capture slippery slimes that get to hide in rabbit holes? No? Well, what if I added context of these puzzles having not existed in the world of the story, as it is clearly stated, and so you have zero knowledge of how to even go about it and you're given minimal instructions? Can you then complete everything in 5 minutes or would it, perhaps, take you a bit?

 

[Sylver]

I have posted chapters every weekday for the past month. It has now been 28 days without a comment. I wonder if my writing is secretly terrible. Or perhaps even worse, forgettably mediocre.

HA! First time? 28 days without a comment? Try 3-4 months! I'm so starved for feedback, were it not for some comments I received 2-3 weeks ago, I would have gladly accepted even troll or hate comments!

And sorry for raising my online voice, it's nothing personal. I uploaded for January and the start of February each weekday and didn't get much of a rise in vuews, favs, readers or comments. It's all rather discouraging, and it doesn't help that asking for help on the matter sometimes gets people scolding st me for wanting more views when it shouldn't be a popularity contest. Sigh.

 

[melchi]

Can I just say I really HATE sites that have the option to review books? I just got a review that made me feel frustrated. They complained the chapters were too short (the blurb literally states the chapters are 1k-2k in length so you know this going in???), that they interludes weren't connected to the story (I literally started with the first one that that's what an interlude is. They show off the story world with little to no connection to the main plot. They're quite common with dungeon stories nowadays too.), and that the adventurers take too long to do puzzles that should be considered child's play.

Can you complete a several hundred meters square area jigsaw puzzle in 15 minutes or something? What about doing parkour where falling into the water means you lose and the platforms are all far apart, it's dark and raining with monsters jumping out of the water to knock you off? Can you capture slippery slimes that get to hide in rabbit holes? No? Well, what if I added context of these puzzles having not existed in the world of the story, as it is clearly stated, and so you have zero knowledge of how to even go about it and you're given minimal instructions? Can you then complete everything in 5 minutes or would it, perhaps, take you a bit?

At some point said commenter has got to ask if he likes dungeon stories. If reading dungeon delving doesn't bring enjoyment why even follow that genre?

 

[Sylver]

I was going to make a separate post to rant, but posting here will likely result in less criticism. I could use some cheer.

I took a week break from writing my story for a number of reasons, one of them is that I feel discouraged to continue. It is not due to negative comments, but rather from stagnation of progress. There are no comments, the views are dropping with each chapter, and no one is excited anymore. They haven't been since around the chapter 30s now, and I'm past 100 chapters.

I don't know, I tried alternate methods. Added a schedule for publishing, tried engaging the audience with little chapter comments, I try and keep my profile posted with updates of when I'll be late in publishing. Even wrote every weekday for 5 weeks straight hoping to catch a rise in views and feedback. My logical head thinks this is all due to bad luck and timing: Summer will be better, that's when people have their free time for engagement. Perhaps they put my story on hold for now, or perhaps they're waiting until more chapters are added.

But it's not looking good. I finished Act 1 rather excited, but realized I'm the only one who was hyped. I got my act together for Act 2, it's a work in progress but I'm rather proud of it. Definitely feel like I've improved a lot compared to Act 1. But no one is around anymore. Two friends of mine, bless their hearts, have kept up to date with each chapter. But they don't understand that it's hard to be excited to play ping pong when you're bouncing the ball against the wall all alone.

I write because it's my hobby, my passion, and I've plenty of stories I want to entertain with. But... maybe my work sucks and I've been in denial for some time now. I'm not sure anymore, it's hard to be excited when no one is there.

So why do I keep writing? Because I want to finish the story, and I'm hoping the view count tells me someone is actively engaged in my story. I just wish they were more vocal about their support. I want people to ask me questions about my story, I want people to show they're invested and want to see more. I want to know that my work is entertaining them, but I understand it's nothing special in the end. There are thousands of thousands of other stories, and many many different writing websites. I've stuck with Scribblehib because I like the format, the website is designed well, and I quite like the forums. I just wish someone showed their interest from time to time, even a simple TYFTC would be much appreciated. Seriously, I'd even accept negative comments if it meant someone took my work seriously enough to dislike it.

TLDR, I wish their was more reader engagement for me. The lack of comments and falling view count has me second guessing my work overall.

 

[Deleted member 166076]

TLDR, I wish their was more reader engagement for me. The lack of comments and falling view count has me second guessing my work overall.

There are a few options you have.

The first is to keep writing the story until you hit the end, regardless of what readers you do or do not have. Traditional publishing tends to involve not getting feedback during the writing process and having to wait until everything is edited, cleaned up, etc. before being stocked in stores. That's if you can even get a company to sponsor your book in the first place. However, even then it's rare to hear from your readers. People might write fan mail to particularly popular authors or interact with them on social media, but it's even more of a silent reading base than this is. If you reframe your mind set to consider it as writing the stories you want to write with plans to edit in the future, letting whatever readers are interested filter in and out without worrying about it, that might be enough to keep going. However, I realize that's harder said than done.

The second is to figure out a way to end the story in as few new chapters as possible. As long as you wrap things up to some extent, you can mark it complete and move on with your life. Maybe more readers will show up to give it a try in the future, people prefer completed stories anyhow. Regardless, it won't be your problem since you can move on to writing a new story that will, hopefully, see the sort of interaction you're wanting.

The third option is to drop the story, mark it as on hiatus, delete it forever, etc. That might make you look uncommitted to finishing what you started for future readers, especially if you don't remove any signs of it. Still, it would allow you to immediately move on to something else, so it is an option.

Finally, you can try cross-posting to other sites while taking some time to clean up what you've already written. This can be combined with either of the first two options as well. Fixing errors, plot holes, etc. will help you keep the new readers you find, which could help in the long-term. A lot of writing can be fixed after the fact, but it's also true that it can be an exhausting and boring time sink.

Regarding your last paragraph, be careful what you wish for. I've dealt with death threats from people who were unhappy I didn't immediately re-write my story to be exactly how they wanted while worshipping the ground they walk on. Also, ScribbleHub isn't exactly the best for interaction in the first place. There just isn't as large of a readership base here as other sites. When you consider only maybe 1% of readers will comment and even fewer leave reviews or otherwise support authors' work, that smaller readership base results in a lot less interaction. It's all well and fine to like this site better than anything else, but that won't change the fact that other sites have a larger audience.

 

[Corty]

TLDR, I wish their was more reader engagement for me. The lack of comments and falling view count has me second guessing my work overall.

There are stories that just didn't connect.

I have three of them. One was even deleted because of how badly it was doing, and I totally dropped it. The other was prematurely finished, and the third is currently active and barely gets a few dozen views. Looking at my other active stories, I see that they are doing abysmally in every aspect. It happens to everyone.

It is up to you to decide if you want to see it through or not. If you have another story idea, you can try balancing the two, scaling down one that is failing, or finishing it early—whatever works.

 

[Thraben]

Omniscience! Let's talk about it.

So you want to write a protagonist with an interesting power that you haven't seen done before? Fantastic! Create! The creative rewards for your success will surely make you a better writer!

Now the only things you need to do are: Pick a stance on whether or not free will exists. Pick a stance on whether or not emotions exist. Pick a stance on whether or not-

I'm not doing ok it was a mistake to try and write this this is much harder than I thought it was going to be when I started on with the concept of 'Superpowers: Let's get philosophical'

I called the fic 'Omniscience and other awful superpowers' and I wasn't wrong

 

[theInmara]

We got our first negative comment today. It didn't really vex us much, because it was typical low hanging fruit of bigotry. But, we wanted to brag about it, and go through the motions of venting somewhere, and this seems like the thread for it.

Like, sir. Our story is tagged as "transgender" and you are whining that there is a trans person expressing their trans nature in it. Hm. OK.

Pretty minor compared to the other stuff we're reading in this thread, but a milestone, no? Or, maybe a quarter-milestone.

 

[Nolff]

Holy moly, this thread is amazing.

I could just make this a dissertation and the lecturers gonna be fine with it, ngl.

 

[Deleted member 41774]

Finally a thread where I can complain about some people who counts the usage of the same word in a chapter and make that seem like a criticism.

 

[Astrolust]

Finally a thread where I can complain about some people who counts the usage of the same word in a chapter and make that seem like a criticism.

People would literally rather complain than enjoy something half the time. I dont get them. If i dont like a story i just stop reading i never get so spiteful to comment about petty shit like that. People are tapped.

 

[Deleted member 41774]

People would literally rather complain than enjoy something half the time. I dont get them. If i dont like a story i just stop reading i never get so spiteful to comment about petty shit like that. People are tapped.

Because "OOOHHH OOHHH I'M SUCH A HARSH CWITIC SO KEWL UWU."

 

[Deleted member 84247]

Got more clown commenters. They come as surely as the tides or changing of seasons. So how do you respond to a giant essay comment about how your story is exactly as your tags showed it to be? The best way is by putting one emoji. I like the sorry sushi for this as well.

 

[Terrate]

Just gonna leave my complain of the real world making me busy and having less time to write. And in effect, when I do get the time, my motivation is mostly gone for that day, and can't write even 50 words or something.

Well, it does have its perks, I managed to change how the story should go instead of the first thing I've thought of before and make it more satisfactory.(for me at least.)

 

[CharlesEBrown]

I have posted chapters every weekday for the past month. It has now been 28 days without a comment. I wonder if my writing is secretly terrible. Or perhaps even worse, forgettably mediocre.

I think that means it is competent but does not stand out. You have not ruffled any feathers, but also not done anything that really impressed someone. Or you just wrote something good but that does not appeal to the audience where you posted it.

I'm more annoyed by people who read one or two chapters then disappear. No comment, no ratings, no review, they just go away. Sometimes you CAN get a feel for a story in that time, but frequently the ball is just getting rolling and you won't really know what is up until around chapter 5 (then again, I kind of try to write chapters like "beats" on a television series - generally a "beat" is the segment between commercial breaks and an Act is made up of two Beats, and a typical show uses three Acts; I know from experience giving up on a show before 6 acts/two episodes can be a serious mistake, unless you just hated everything in the first Act and stopped THERE)...

Somebody told me years ago that I am using the time travel thing in my novel wrong. He said that time travel should be linear and stuff. Well shit, somebody actually corrected me as if he has a theoretical chronophysics degree

If was a public comment, best to reply something like: "Are you sure about that? Because next week you told me something different. Or will tell me something different ... or... what are those Time Travel Verbs anyway? You seem to be, or will be, or maybe once were an expert, right?"

 

[Corty]

I'm more annoyed by people who read one or two chapters then disappear. No comment, no ratings, no review, they just go away.

I'd take that over what I got in the past two weeks back2back.

 

[theInmara]

in another kind of venting, a self vent, we present this cromulent meme:

(readers, this one is not for you)