Commenting ratio

To me really serious feedback works best if I know the person giving feedback very well. I have tried both to give and receiver very detailed feedback and critics resulting in very interesting discussions and corrections to the stories. It was indeed most rewarding. I think it was successful because we knew each other well beforehand. Without mutual confidence, I would be very careful to give detailed and negative comments.

I really enjoy it when people take the time to comment on my stories and so I really try to leave a comment when I have read someone Else's story or poem. I always try to say something positive about each story, after someone has taken the time to write the story they do not need negativity. My own comment ratio is quite good, and will slowly improve as I read more stories because my commenting was poor in the early days of membership.
I found commenting quite difficult to begin with, but as with many things practice makes perfect....OK the comments are not perfect but the ratio of reads to comment is pretty damn good now.
Overall I just like people reading my stories, so if they want to comment that's great but if they would rather not then that is fine as well.

I really need the comments as it's my best way to know what people want to read. Okay, I do write for myself, but a strong part of it is to entertain. The last thing I want is to upload a bunch of stories that makes people drop this page because they find my stories to be much too boring. So comments that helps me to get that extra touch is much appreciated and that is both negative and positive comments. What I don't like is comments like "This was not one of your better ones", because that doesn't help a bit. I need to know what it was that people didn't like, so if one of my stories stinks, please try to pinpoint what it was that ticked you off. And thanks everybody for reading my stuff, it warms my heart.

Commentors are the life blood for me; I can't say how many stories have come to life thanks to someone's remarks. Just recently I've had a few stories that were just going to be one-and-dones until somebody commented "it would be great if..." I think one is going to wind up spinning off five or six additional stories just based on suggestions on what else could happen.

I have exactly the same experience and I'm very grateful that people actually choose to give me the stub instead for writing it themselves, people are so nice around here. Almost all of my stories were meant to be single ones, but I am fed with nice ideas that make me want to develop the plot further. But mj, your production rate is astonishing, I think you pump out four times as much as I do. When do you find time to write? I'd love to write more, but my day job prevents me, keeping me at a steady low level.

I've currently got 37 stories stockpiled, so if I took a sabbatical on writing I could still dump stories on you for a while. It all goes back to last year, when 2 surgeries kept me home for almost 2 months combined (nothing life-threatening, just LONG recuperations). You can only watch so much NetFlix, so I wound up cranking out as many stories as possible while I had the uninterrupted time. I had over 40 stories by the time I was finally back to work full time and I've been holding fairly steady since then.

I think 28 was the lowest I've gotten on the stockpile, but to be honest some of them are probably never going to make it here. Every week after the Latest Submissions are posted I go through and pick 3-4 stories to submit. There are some that I know are over a year old, but every week I look at the list and go "no" when I see them. I just know they aren't that good and with only 30 slots available every week I've got too many others I'd rather submit.

As I've said on other threads, I rarely write stories start-to-finish in a single setting. I usually flesh out something with bullet points of what I want to happen (sometimes on the computer and sometimes on paper) and then go back and flesh out the details. I currently have 8 stories in various levels of completeness on the computer and 3 more basically sketched out. I also have a file where I jot down plot ideas that may or may not ever evolve into a story; I haven't counted in a while but I know it's over 100 so I'm not likely to run out of ideas anytime soon.

But getting back to Glagla's comment, I honestly don't spend that much time per week actually working on the stories; it's mostly 30-45 minute microbursts of typing in the morning and evening, and carry a little notepad with me so I can jot down thoughts as they occur. I'm a bit too addicted to paying the mortgage, etc. to be able to dedicate more time than that to what is essentially a hobby.

And since I've already got a buffer I don't normally feel pressured to get stories completed. The only time that happens is when someone suggests a sequel I hadn't planned on but it makes sense and I want to strike while the idea is fresh. That's what's happening with "Misogyny" right now; it was intended to be a one-and-done but thanks to suggestions I've just finished the 3rd story and it will probably now be 6 altogether. So some other stories I'd planned are now on the back-burner while I try to flesh the rest of this out.

I thought I'd never say this but - you lucky bastard! No, I don't really think the convalescence was your first choice, but at least it provided you with a splendid opportunity to get your thoughts down on paper. I'd kill for a two month writing break right now instead for my day job.

And, with that massive buffer I'll be immensely disappointed if you don't throw at least five of them into the challenge. I mean, some probably fit from the beginning and others might after a few adjustment.

Never say no to a story by the way. Even if you're not content with the story, I'm certain that a vast majority of the audience will be. I mean, my babies haven't landed among my top favorited or most read among my releases, but I'm glad that the ones that did score really made someone's day. You don't have to feel that they are your best stories this far to upload them. From your track record I'm certain that they are splendid as they are.

I have 74 stories stockpiled, but they need some serious proofreading before I dare to upload any of them. Another 86 are half way through, but for various reasons I haven't completed them or have a problem tying them up. On the stub side with only a few hundred words each to lay out the idea, there are 149 on my hard drive. So if I can find time to write, I'll be around for a few more years since I on the average manage to release less than a story a week. So, let's say that you'll have at least four more years of trying to tolerate my company...

I too have many, many stories on the go, but I have a question about your post: do they really only upload 30 stories a week? If so, I'll stop breaking mine into so many parts.

That differs. The current batch has been up for eight days while the previous got but three days of exposure. I think the record is about three weeks before the next upload. It depends on how much people upload to them. Sometimes the rotation is high and sometimes low. It tends to speed up when people upload an entire series at the same time as you do. It's not really a problem, except for the authors who seldom uploads may be unfortunate and get their story in a low exposure period but that is not that much of a problem, so you just break your story in as many parts as you feel fit the plot in the best way.

It was tempting, since nothing directly worked but several could have been tweaked. But the challenge was to write a story fitting those specific parameters so that's what I made myself do.