Help Digressions: The Art of Commenting

FiBlue: but I assume they were too general.

I appreciate all comments on my stories - beggars can't be choosers

However, when I look at the insightful comments by masters of the art like IslandCarol and The English Master, the inanity of the comments I am able to make is embarrassing.

Writing is one skill, but positive critique is something else, and I am envious of those who can do it well.
Way to go, IC, CS, TEM, CK, Janine et al....you all have my admiration

Gail,

I found your post very thought out. I agree as well that comments should be right on. Although I'm not included (and not sad about it, so don't get me wrong), I also try to see a bit of 'real life' in every story and leave a comment about it. That's the way it should be done, and those you chose do it well. By the way, your comments on some of my stories are no way in the 'stupidity' category. I find them quite useful when writing other stories. Please don't cut yourself short, gail.

Pat

Every individual comment is different and holds great value to all the authors who receive them. No one commenter is greater then another in my opinion. Who knows how the story may have made the reader feel or react to the story, and the readers comment will reflect that feeling or reaction.

More experienced commenter's may make the job look easy and it does get less difficult with time, however that does not mean the experienced commenter can just make comments roll off their sleeves so to speak. Comments can be hard work and that is why each and every comment from anyone is appreciated to the fullest degree possible by the authors on site.

If one comments on a story, please never feel that yours is almost useless or less meaningful then others on the same story. One never knows when their comment may just be the thing the author was looking for in response, a thing that experienced commenter's may have missed.

Our motto includes the saying of "comment more" and the reason for that is because of the encouragement every comment regardless of who it is by is encouraging to all the writers on site. Whether one is new to the site or been around for years, or just beginning to comment or is in the top 100 commenter's, please know that each and every comment has great value.

I greatly appreciate any comments I get on my little stories, even the ones that just say "good story". Sometimes commentators have pointed out problems or ambiguities that I could use to improve my story writing in the future, or that I can use if i should ever revise the story. Even if I think the coment missed the point of the story it can still help me improve. That is why i like his site so much.

The worst sex I ever had was...wonderful.

The same can be said about the comments I receive on my stories. I treasure each and every one of them. Don't talk yourself out of commenting just because another person's comments don't resemble your own.

Or even because they do resemble your own!

That is one advantage of the challenges: You don't see that everything is already said much better by others.

Quite true (AFAIC)...

As a writer, it's enlightening to read a number of effective 'first comments,' which all were uninfluenced by any other commenters' opinions and analyses.

As a commenter, you have that virgin-looking box for comments, even if the story's been posted for two weeks already and there are actually twenty previous ones that are hidden at the time. It's interesting to find out if other commenters came to independent conclusions similar to your own--or perhaps not.

But I wouldn't worry about other commenters having 'better' comments--if yours were truthful (from your perspective) yet tactful (if necessary), IMHO that's what matters... --C.K.

We must be careful not to turn commenting into an art or a science and scare would-be commenters away. I happily admit that my own comments vary in length and depth in ways that are not at all correlated with the quality of the story, but has more to do with my state of mind and the time I have available. I tend to read stories to relax between less charming tasks, and if I am squeezed for time, I often find it difficult to come up with something that even I can consider brilliant, but I still want to tell the author that I enjoyed the story!

That's the spirit!