feels bad, man · 8:14am Jul 20th, 2013
today, a few people took a moment out of their day to leave some comments on Alectrona.
they did not have nice things to say.
(okay this one's actually from a few weeks ago, but he made sure to chime in when everyone else piped up)
in short, the summation of their comments seems to be that the story is terrible, i'm terrible for writing it, and furthermore for claiming i know anything about writing. there's also something thrown in about how i'm a bad person for writing porn... given the tone and the way every single comment seemed to get five or so upvotes immediately after posting, i'm lead to believe this story was linked to the group of 'riffers' who seem to loathe me for even being alive, and have left similar comments on stuff i've written before.
needless to say, i'm a little bummed out.
i've said a bit about Alectrona in the past, including explanation for why it's written the way that it is (1, 2, 3), why i don't write any of my other stories that way, and why i feel the way it was put together is something that has meaning... i'm not sure if any of the people calling me a terrible writer read those explanations. i don't think it would make a difference if they did. i know Alectrona isn't for everyone... but that doesn't mean i'm not a little choked that some people felt it necessary to repeatedly say awful things about me for writing it.
a few of them seemed oddly to adhere to Pieces of a Grey Cloud as being the only worthwhile thing i've written, saying that i 'waste my writing on porn'.
i guess they didn't read either of the two stories i most recently published (A Single Step, As the Days Go) or the collection of poetry i worked on. they probably didn't know about the two SFW stories i've been waiting to hear about from EQD(1, 2), so i can post them. i don't think they'd care about that anyway.
it's not a good feeling to know that there are a group of people who are happier when you are miserable.
i toyed with the idea of coming up with some kind of a rebuttal, but eventually decided against it. i don't believe that anyone who's a reasonable person would, with knowledge of the things i've said about writing, and the other things i've written, see it fit to personally attack me and my worth as a writer for a deliberately complicated story that i wrote once. i also don't think any reasonable person would say that someone who writes porn is bad... but, i might be in the wrong here.
needless to say, i'm kind of burnt out. i've been trying for the last little while to focus on stuff that's important to me, and it's a bit sobering to have a group of people trying to convince me i'm awful and that everything i write is shit. they also seem to like to use the word 'pretentious'. to avoid being argumentative, i'll withhold comment on that (though i might point to the intentionally minimalist fic i wrote recently as a counterexample for the notion that i deliberately use big words to insert meaning).
i don't think i'm a bad writer. i'm pretty sure i'm not. you guys know i've talked about writing porn versus writing sfw stuff i feel is important to me. i know my normal stuff is never going to be as popular as my porn. maybe that is because i'm a bad writer? i'm not sure.
in any case, i think i'm going to take a break from pony words for a bit. probably not long—because, if i'm being honest with myself, i'll only feel worse if i go without writing for longer than a week. i just need some time to revitalize and think about what it is i'm doing with writing fanfiction in the first place. this stuff on top of already feeling pretty down wasn't a great end to the day.
thanks for reading, and see you all when i'm feeling a little better.
And you actually listened to them?
Dude... Don't be dumb. They're just the idiots of the crowd.
The one's who have it in their mind that you got your follows by 'sucking the cock of knighty'.
You're one of the better authors here, you know?
So fuck'em. Move on and don't stop writing. NEVER stop writing.
~Skeeter The Lurker
Wow, some people can be real dicks. I hope you're not taking any of this to heart.
Fun fact: People have bad opinions.
These people obviously organized themselves to come slam your page. Find out what group they're from, complain to a mod, and get it banned.
hm two pieces of advice as a good follower
what a pony would say: just ignore them
what i would say: hmm ignore those fuckers in fact if they say you are a bad person if it is true than what makes them any better insulting your writing hell they make it sound like they are very good readers or whatever but still if they think that how about this send each of them a pm containing the prompt and tell them this: you say i am bad well write it yourself and then we will see. at least something simialr
Welcome to asshats who are probably trolling, this is the internet, where people gain power through your inability to stop them.
Buck 'em.
I think it's a good thing you didn't offer them a rebuttal. It's one thing to have an opinion about something, but attacking an author because of said opinion is pretentious and stupid. Fuck 'em all I say. People are going to bitch, let them and don't let it ruin your day cuz in the end they aren't worth it.
1222104
yeah I agree, they have liked each others comments to make it seem like thats the popular opinion.
Take your time - We'll be waiting with bated breath. You know we will
Those guys a cunts. Nuff said. Don't listen to them, at the end of the day they will crawl back into the hole they climbed out of and question themselves as to why they cant write anything half as good as you can.
...Seriously?
Forget those losers. Darf, you're easily one of the best, if not the best writers here.
And just for the record, your porn isn't just porn, its a fucking feels fest; walk into it expecting one thing, and you get another, more powerful reality.
I'm sorry people have got you down, dude.
I haven't personally read that particular story, but I have read quite a few of your stories, and although I have other authors that I think may have more honed writing skills, that doesn't mean yours are bad. Not being the absolute best doesn't even come close to meaning you're bad. I really like the style that most of your stories are written in. Hell, I like you enough to follow you, and I've been following you for quite a while now. I have a bad sense of time, but I think it's been almost 6 months now, or something like that, and I rarely even come close to being disappointed when reading your stories, and when I do come close it's only because I get the notification that you've posted a story and it doesn't fall within my interest range (although I usually give those a shot too, and end up enjoying the read).
So they may say you're terrible, but you're pretty damn good in my book. You're good enough of a writer that every time I hop on fimfiction to check for notifications, your stories are one of the top reasons I check.
I hope you get feeling better soon.
Opinions are like assholes: everyone has them, and they all stink.
Ignore the trolls, bro. The reason your near and dear projects come up short on the views isn't due to your lack of talent, merely that you have tastes that lay outside the spectrum for most people on this site. Hell, I tried to read Joyce based solely on your love of him, and I couldn't hang. Just not my cup of tea. Does that make it bad? Hell no.
Dude, we love you, porn or not. please know that we do appreciate all the time you put into your work. I meant it when I said I felt honored to be able to edit for you.
lol wut? You're one of the better writers on this site. I'd be hesitant to consider the opinions of people who are intimidated by large words.
They didn't get it. We did. That's why we follow you and they don't. You can't expect everyone on FIMFic to actually APPRECIATE ART! YOU'RE ART, MAN! Like... DUUUDE I read or fics and I'm like... you know... wow... man...
Erm... I liked Alectrona, though this is the first time I even found out how it's supposed to be read.
Okay, it's pretty obviously hit with a "Hey look at this stupid story! HAHAHA!" group. An old story suddenly getting a swarm of angry people flooding the comments? It's not hard to figure out.
And Apex is a complete arsehole. For someone that claims to be a critic, he's pretty quick to belittle and mock people. He wants to give a view on something, he can do it without name calling and insults.
I haven't even read the story, and don't intend to, but he obviously just doesn't like you. Wouldn't pay much attention.
Not only that, but it's like listening to a crowd of people cheering and hearing the one guy screaming 'You're a faggot!', then listening to him, not the rest of the people. He has a problem, he can say it in a civilized manner.
Not using language like -
Never knew this site was filled with so much ass-holes. Makes me re-think my decision to start writing. Truly a sad day when we have people, down right bitching about a well-known clop writer, writing anything but clop; meanwhile, there are far more worse fics out there, written by far worse writers who don't even know what editing is.
If it's well written: Don't complain about the writing style. That's just idiotic.
The interesting thing about this is you have caused a bunch of people spread about the world to collectively band together in some form of group to hate on you, honestly you should feel proud, you a master puppeteer a caused these people to dance, you have reached out and removed their covers showing them for what they truly are, small minded individuals who can't recognize when their input is welcome, who can't be the better person and just leave what they can't understand alone.
But always remember you have power over them, your work for better or worse has challenged someone in a place where the did not expect to be challenged.
If you ignore them and listen to your fans, you win, if you give into their lies and discontent, they win.
You darf are a winner.
Damn, I'd probably quit if I received that kind of back-handed spitefulness. Anyhow, seeing as I haven't read the story in question myself and only have the comments you screen-capped to go off of, I'm neither going to defend you or justify them. I'm just going to remark on the context.
So, apparently they all agree that you wrote this story in ultraviolet, and it must've been some kind of atrocious based on the degree of "fuck you, and those pony sex-fiends you call readers" radiating from the comments. Hey bro, fuck it. You were inspired and you tried something new. You stood up to define yourself as being more than a clop writer, despite the fact that your reputation obviously precedes you and you know what? That is your right as a user on this site, so fuck it.
Who cares that your attempt wasn't met with sunshine, roses and farts? So what if they put a boot in your face and pushed you back into the bog of smut from which you salamander waddled forth from? You wrote what you wanted to write, maybe even got your point across to some, but in the end you were met with honest if harsh criticism. At the end of the day that's all a writer can really ask for. The only reason you received an extra dose of dickery for your trouble is because people love to see giants fall. Guess what you are, sir? A fucking giant who has been stomping on the jimmies these people call a village. Take that, put it in your pocket, save it for later.
If anything this situation is easily comparable to that time when Sasha Grey read to a group of school kids. The school, the parents, and the general public all saw it as some filthy, perverted heathen trying to corrupt the still blue waters of innocence, when they should've seen a person seeking to do something out of the goodness of their heart or for the sake of self-betterment. The same applies to you. People will not look upon your efforts to step out of your barrier kindly, but it's better to take an arrow of spite to the back walking towards what you believe than just sitting complacently in your little corner not daring to try for the light.
In the end, you tried for your light. You stepped up, got smacked down. Takes courage to take the hit, kid. The question here is: will you stay on the ground? Will you crawl back into that little bitch-hovel you called a sanctuary? Will you sit in the same corner, actively doing nothing but the same old thing? Or do you still feel those smoldering embers of "fuck yeah!" in your chest telling you to pick yourself up and try again? Telling you that though you may not succeed, that you will at least try? That you don't have to be what they've labeled you as? That nothing is predetermined or permanent? That fuck haters because "fuck them, that's why?"
Sir, stop feeling sorry for yourself. Take the lashes on your back, learn from the pain, learn to love the pain, get your shit together, then get back on that bronco. Do it because you loved it. Do it because we can't define you. And if you don't at least try, then fuck you.
Loathe,
Your Antagonist
The interesting thing about this is you have caused a bunch of people spread about the world to collectively band together in some form of group to hate on you, honestly you should feel proud, you a master puppeteer a caused these people to dance, you have reached out and removed their covers showing them for what they truly are, small minded individuals who can't recognize when their input is welcome, who can't be the better person and just leave what they can't understand alone.
But always remember you have power over them, your work for better or worse has challenged someone in a place where the did not expect to be challenged.
If you ignore them and listen to your fans, you win, if you give into their lies and discontent, they win.
You darf are a winner.
The interesting thing about this is you have caused a bunch of people spread about the world to collectively band together in some form of group to hate on you, honestly you should feel proud, you a master puppeteer a caused these people to dance, you have reached out and removed their covers showing them for what they truly are, small minded individuals who can't recognize when their input is welcome, who can't be the better person and just leave what they can't understand alone.
But always remember you have power over them, your work for better or worse has challenged someone in a place where the did not expect to be challenged.
If you ignore them and listen to your fans, you win, if you give into their lies and discontent, they win.
You darf are a winner.
The interesting thing about this is you have caused a bunch of people spread about the world to collectively band together in some form of group to hate on you, honestly you should feel proud, you a master puppeteer a caused these people to dance, you have reached out and removed their covers showing them for what they truly are, small minded individuals who can't recognize when their input is welcome, who can't be the better person and just leave what they can't understand alone.
But always remember you have power over them, your work for better or worse has challenged someone in a place where the did not expect to be challenged.
If you ignore them and listen to your fans, you win, if you give into their lies and discontent, they win.
You darf are a winner.
1222099
this.
We love having you here but most of all you are a good writer. So keep writing if you enjoy it and fuck those how think you are wasting your time becomes you aren't. They are wasting yours. Don't forget that writing is a art that people react to from their personal perspective. Don't throw away what you treasure because someone thinks its trash.
Take your time. We'll keep the fire going.
1222154
Nice to see someone agrees with me.
~Skeeter The Lurker
Why do you give a shit about a bunch of assholes on the internet's opinion? Just write, and give no shits!
Atleast you actually CAN write a story, I gave up on that months ago
You're a whole lot better then most of the writers on here anyways!
Hell I don't even come on here to read anymore, I just come by every now and then to see whats going on to the ol' site I used to love so much
(Just a side note: maybe you should just stop trying to show off so much
)
Forget their poisonous words and just write to your hearts content but that, dearest Darf, is just my opinion. But then again; please take this into consideration, this was my opinion. It doesn't truly matter.
If you shouldn't take the advice of the one, such as myself, then you mustn't take the advice and ridicule of the collective opinions of those few damnable people that bombarded your story. Just because they called your work "Bad", doesn't exactly make it so. If I were to get a group of people to agree with me that gravity is non-existent and that we could fly, again, doesn't make it so.
Just keep writing, and keep up the good work. I'll be awaiting your next fic.
Keep it cool, Condemned.
This whole thing reeks of being an organised attack. It may not be hate-fuelled, but there is way too many similarities between the comments for it to not be. Seriously, I've seen TCB authors treated better than you have been, and those stories tend to have so many misanthropic themes it's actually kinda understandable! Not saying that the authors are misanthropic, mind you.
Is that kind of behaviour condoned or allowed, massive hate-raids/rage-raids against authors/stories?
I wish I had one-fifth of your writing talent...
groups of trolls, it happens man
I'll be honest there. Don't see that as something against you but...
You're pathetic.Seriously, that's the only word I have to describe the fact you actually listen to what they say. You write great stuff and clop that actually can be read for something else than the clop (which is rare when it's a one-shot) and here we find you, weeping because a bunch of jealous assholes said are pretentious and you write shit. Now get up and prove them you're better than that.
I repeat myself but don't take anything I said the wrong way, I'm simply not great when it comes to lifting spirits and I'm sorry if it sounds aggressive or anything.
You sir are not a bad writer. Allow me to Ditto Jake the Army Guy 122217
Alectectrona got me to try to read Joyce, and I didn't care for it. That doesn't make either of them bad, just not my cup of tea. Or coffee as it were.
On the other hand, I read A Single Step, and I cannot express in words how powerful that story is. But I am a genre reader, of course I respond to an Asimov like story better than a Joyce homage.
Some readers will only respond well to your porn, others may lavish praise on every work you do, others will lamast every thing written by you because you write porn.
Sad but true. Hopefully along the way you can attract more readers like Jake who will judge your stories on their own merit.
I haven't read this story yet, but I'd like to toss my opinion on the pile, if only to make a point.
There are several types of writers and several types of readers. There are those who, when they see a fic that spouts intelligence out of its nose, instantly have high expectations for it, and there are those who simply enjoy a story for what it is and the work a writer has put into it. Yes it is probably all written from a thesaurus, but at least you took the time and effort to scan through one to find the words you thought you would need for your story. I'm not going to lie or beat around the bush, I started following you because of the talent you possess in writing erotic stories, its not everyones forte and its not as easy as many people make it out to be. What really gets me about your stories is the descriptions, the detail, the EFFORT put into each and every tale to ensure the reader enjoys it, or at the very least that you enjoy writing it and is that not the point of being a writer? To enjoy what you do? To hope that maybe someone out there might enjoy your work as equally as you do and to share your work with those people? Its depressing, I know, when you work so hard on something and receive such negative feedback or even no feedback at all, but that should only be incentive to try harder with the next tale. You can't please everyone, so focus on making yourself happy and let the pieces fall into place. If you'll excuse me, I have some reading to do.
when someone flames me i just tell them to kill themselves
works good man
Darf, As a fan of your works I am saddened to hear of such implications being made, but as one of common sense, I don't think very many of them were truly educated on the matter, and if they were, then they were sadly misinformed opinions. I understand an artists lament as to negative criticism on my works and do believe me when I say that it is indeed hard to hear and read at times. That being said, controversial material(written, drawn, shot media or otherwise) will always stir opposition among readers and fans alike, and as such you need to be prepared for the out comes good or bad. I know that I don't need to remind any of us here that Not all of our material is going to be welcomed with warm arms and smiles, In fact I learn the most from my hated pieces 90% of the time. It's those pieces that show me what brings out the worst in an individual, and however small it may be, at least it was something I caused(please don't take any advice from the former sentence, I'm a Shock artist and I intentionally create disturbing and controversial artwork.) . Granted in this particular situation I believe Lightening Shaker and a few others called it: Trolls, seeing as they seemed to attack you repeatedly. Ignore the trolls and keep posting your stories Darf(If writing truly makes you happy, and I have no reason to believe otherwise, Then you will only feel worse by letting them win)
BTW on the porn thing, No, it's not ethical but certainly does not make you a bad person, I think there are several other traits we as people need to look at first before determining that about one's self or another.
Take it from a depressed artist and fan [HELLKRINDER]
To be fair there is a warning about the stuff they are complaining about in description, and the story screams "I am pretentious asshole, this is not worth reading". (The story really sucks, I tried to read the story just now, but
) You did make yourself seem dumb as hell with that story. Stories like these are the reason I want to bludgeon anyone with higher literary education.
So yea, they are right, but since they were warned beforehoof, they are captain obvious squad, and can only blame themselves. Don't worry about people that can't read descriptions of stories. They just had too high expectations from you.
Contrary to popular opinion, I don't think they were trolls, but just people that like your stuff enough to read anything you write, without looking at the cower/description, and were disappointed in tone shift.
Look at all this support. Hm. Must be nice, huh darf?
Looked over the screencaps, figured I'd just drop by and see what was going on. I do notice a running trend in your stories, though, if you'll allow me the role of small critic.
The points about the thesaurus? I've gone through some of your stories (and enjoyed a couple, yeah, though you... do seem to cater to some stranger fetishes ('Miss Me?' being the most common example, pretty sure you've heard that one a lot.)) and I have noticed a lot of... stranger metaphors. You seem to go out of your way to choose the flashiest description possible, instead of just kinda going with what you think would fit.
You use the thesaurus a lot. Whether this is because of your personal writing style or not, I can't tell, but it can get purple at times. You ever tried just dialing it back a bit and seeing what your story would be like if you were just... reading it off to someone? Novels might use the same language, sure, but those're novels, right? Half a million words and epic storylines crafted by professionals.
I do like seeing the same quality being reached for in fanfics, but yeah. Just dial it back a bit, man.
Well, you have a far larger group of people who like your writing in comparison to those who don't, so I think it's rather flattering, that there exists a number of people who instantly feel insecure at the mere mention of your name.
Apparently you're skilled enough for that, now.
Meh, who gives a rats asa about random haters, bull-shitting themselves thinking their collective banter would actually go very far on the internet against someone popular. The popular will always have the most hate, that's how it's always been and how it will always be. Write what you want to write, and do what you want to do because that's what makes you happy and in this world, being happy is the only thing one should care about even if a few out of the few hundred disliked what you wrote.
1222149
God DAMN I hope you're a psychiatrist or a motivational speaker.
This guy right here, darf. Round two. Fight?
1222166
Sounds about right. I've never seen such spiteful comments on this site, and much less such comments getting upvoted like they're even close to acceptable or valuable.
If I'm not mistaken, I've seen a number of those people trolling the stories of other authors around here. So chances are, it's a group of either pony-haters, or just some idiots who think it makes them cool to try knocking down successful writers down a notch or to, and the only way they are able to do that is by roasting their stories, since they themselves likely can't string enough words together to constitute a story.
Point is, ignore the children acting their shoe sizes. Constructive criticism is fine. But attacking a story for no other reason than it was written by a certain author is childish and asinine.
Yadda yadda yadda, paraphrasing what our antagonist said. In slightly worse english, probably. So fuck them! Fuck somebody, or just fuck yourself! With your hand. And some lotion, if that's your thing. Maybe even buy a fleshlight, I read somewhere you can get one that looks like Sasha Grey's vagina.
Point is, people will always complain. You take water to ten men dying of thirst in the desert and at least one will make a point of not mentioning that you forgot the ice. Another will just scream abuse. So that's 20% jerks, 20% you gotta live with.
You mentioned that you'd feel bad if you wouldn't write for a week. So take that as your raison d'être. That was french. Totally bringing out the big guns here. JUST FOR YOU. Write because it's fun or you don't have anything better to do, or because that AP chick is probably really hot. But don't do it to satisfy a bunch of ungrateful bastards, who will drop you like a hot potato, as soon as they make pony sex VR glasses. Most would, I assume. But some wouldn't! And those are the ones who truly appreciate literature, who are not looking for the easy fix but truly get what you are doing. People who can appreciate the beauty of a sentence, no matter what it actually contains.
durate et vosmet rebus servate secundis
There, wasn't that boner-inducing and inspirational? I THOUGHT SO!
darf, you are without a doubt, one of my favourite authors on this site. don't let what they say burn you out; because in the end, who do you have but yourself? I loved Alectrona and they seemed to be putting it down simply because you were exercising in literary writing and succeeding. that story alone proves your worth as a writer.
but don't story. everyone will get put down; around 200 and something people left the theater at the first showing of 2001: A Space Odyssey. today, it is known as both a masterpiece, and possibly the greatest science fiction film ever. there will always be assholes and people who spread hate. but this is the important thing to remember: that you will always be able to stand above them.
you write incredibly well, and look at all the comments, supporting you. you have us to help, never forget that.
or, as Steve Roggenbuck says:
24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mavnorYOcp1qcpw3fo1_1280.png
this is a message of love, though, because you have to keep going, and I believe in you.
1222210
The guys that made the trainwreck explores bad all grouped up together to form cancer concentrate, IE riffers. Basically they've circlejerked themselves into a state of constant contempt.
And for the record I like darfs stories, especially on the off chance he writes something dark.
Darf i just wanted to say some short and simple, if you enjoyed writing what you did, continue to do so. Because in the end, its you who matters most, not your readers.
You're not the only person who has been attacked on this site. I personally have by a group of guys who were upset because I deleted a review one of their friends left. The story of how it happened is not important, just know that there are others who understand.
1222243 heeeeeey i know those guiz
If it makes you feel better I'll read it and comment on it myself. Push those bad ones off the screen.
EDIT: Is it the fic with the funky letters in its name?
Very simply.
"You rock, woohoo"
You can't please everyone. Try to please everyone, and you end up pleasing no-one.
You are an amazing writer Darf. You create literal works of art that I read and reread every week. Never forget that you have the skill, and don't let your inner fire be doused by a group of people who band together to hate.
There will always be someone who doesn't like your work. There is no way around that. It is your choice to listen to them, or to us. Your followers and fans.
Don't give up just because someone doesn't like your stories.
If you write because you want to, then keep doing it. If you have a passion for writing, keep writing. You have an army at your back, and we will follow you until we cannot follow you anymore.
~InfiniteZero