Making Negative Comments

Is that not what they all say

Sigh! Heads to the corner again dragging my pants.

Result

As it says on my author page, I want constructive criticism. If there's something that reduced your enjoyment of my story, I want to know what that thing was. Some authors disagree with me, and would rather receive criticism via PM or not at all. I can sympathize with the former, but the latter strikes me as self-defeating; if you don't know where there's room for improvement, you will never improve.

Of course, there's a difference between constructive and destructive criticism. Constructive criticism might read like:

"This was an interesting premise, and I liked the exchange of witticisms leading up to the spanking at the end. The way she changed her mind so quickly seemed out-of-character though; perhaps you could have gotten into her head a little more to let us understand what she was thinking, or lengthened the conversation to give her more time before making the decision. Either way, a fun read."

Constructive criticism should point out what the flaws were specifically, propose a way of working on or avoiding them in the future, and serve the critique along with some praise for the stories more successful elements.

Whereas destructive criticism is more like:

"The way she acted didn't make any sense. This story sucks."

Or:

"Yeah, I think you have some practice ahead of you. Nice try kiddo."

Or my personal favorite:

"I don't like adult M/F stories, but I read your clearly marked and validated adult M/F story anyway just to complain about how it isn't to my taste."

That's one of my favorites too! Go figure...


hmph. Let's just see if I make any more helpful suggestions about saving money.

Even if it is not my taste of story line, I could still find the story good and interesting. My only complaint is excessive punishment which doesn't seem very realistic. But, the only story line that I find disgusting is bulling among people and in many cases, children.

Oh, I find that great BUT ONLY WHEN the bully(ies) get their comeuppance. When someone who abuses their authority gets their comeuppance.

I so agree that although we all have orientation preferences, a well written story deserves a positive congratulatory comment. Sometimes I wonder if readers feel embarrassed to be reading and enjoying another orientation beside the traditional MF, so uncomfortable they cover it with comments like that. They don't realize that nobody cares. Most of the time when someone starts with that phrase, they usually say something positive. Personally, I seldom make negative comments except in excessive punishment or abuse. But disagreeing with the actions of a character is not necessarily a negative comment; lots of time it leads to a conversation among the commentors which I think is quite wonderful. Let's be honest fellow writers. We can't beg for comments and then insist they can only be positive. Some people are negative and critical by nature and these folks are trying to make writers happy by commenting. There are not many negative comments and when they appear the next commentor usually disagrees and moves the conversation back in a positive direction. This is a friendly upbeat positive community; We can all swallow an occasional negative comment. Why? You know why- because we love it here!

I think the important word here is constructive, whether criticism is negative or positive, constructive criticism should always be welcomed and considered.

I agree.