Once More, On "Setting Things Right" · 5:47pm Aug 27th, 2015
It is an unfortunate, but necessary, turn of events that I must announce here, but as of right now I will no longer be responding to any further comments on “Setting Things Right.”
At first, I hoped that the comments section was a great way to keep in touch with my fanbase. That hope has unfortunately vanished over time. Every single chapter I posted on this story in the past year has forced me to defend something, from nit-picking things to assaults on the overall plot from people without an understanding of where I want to take it, demanding changes I cannot deliver on without sacrificing my integrity as a writer.
I’m sorry, but the constant criticism of my style and representation of characters has just gotten to be too much. It has made it so that every single chapter I post results in me having to defend either my character or a decision I have made. Every. Single. Time. It is honestly at the point where I fear for myself in posting a new chapter, wondering what new, nit-picking thing a “fan” is going to latch onto and complain about in the comments section. It has reached the point where I’ve wished Fimfiction had a feature for disabling the comments section, which Youtube and Deviantart both possess. I simply can’t deal with them anymore.
If you have any questions or concerns in the future, please feel free to PM me where I can address them in a private and controlled manner. Otherwise, I will only interact with the comments section here to monitor for trolling or abuse of either myself or of other users, which I still have a Zero-Tolerance policy against. So no, this is not meant to be an invitation for a free-for-all in the comments, I just hope for future commenters to understand why I might not be responding to them. If you have compliments for my story, I thank you dearly and hope you continue to enjoy yourself. If you have criticisms and suggestions, I ask that you PM me where I might respond to it in a less public setting. Just know I am not trying to raise myself above my reader base, it’s just that having to defend myself with every update is literally removing all the joy I once had in writing this story.
Thank you all for reading, but I just can't deal with it anymore. I feel physically sick every time I am about to post a chapter, and I don't want to feel like this about the one hobby I have that lets me let off some steam.
Quick edit: GUYS, I'm okay, really and truly. I just realized I was putting more time and energy into responding to the commentors than I was into the story, I need some of that thought and energy, alright? That's all! I swear, this isn't a cry for attention, this is just so future commentors won't feel like I'm snubbing them when I suddenly stop responding!
Sorry to hear bro...sorry to hear
Sorry to hear about all that. I've read your work and you're good so I don't understand how any honest person could find fault with your work.
3351218 It's not without faults, no one is perfect. But I'm being asked to make changes in the way I want to write it, and I just can't do it.
3351209
I think your doing great, screw those other guys.
3351235
3351218
3351209 Guys, guys, I appreciate the support, but really I don't need it! I am fine! I just want to write in peace and post away. I appreciate it, but this has really been a long time coming, honestly.
3351224
I heard that with my bad ear! Yeah, I've been through a bit of that, myself, and I've pretty much ignored it unless such advice and suggestions came from someone who was clearly a much better writer than I.
No one should ever have to sacrifice their integrity for the sake of a few words.
I will admit to a slight tinge of envy at the absolutely amazing upvote count that you have on the story in question. Still, my tiny twinge of envy is greatly overpowered by the sense of sheer joy I feel for you seeing those numbers. Almost twelve hundred upvotes! That's phenomenal!
Also, your follower count is not inconsiderable. 250+ followers in but a short year's time? WOO! That's awesome!
That being the case I would strongly suggest that you focus on the positive, the upvote counts and your hundreds of devoted followers.
All I can conclude is that there are some who may be jealous of your rapid rise in the community. Haters gonna hate. Let them. You don't need to give that even a second thought. Just focus on what's important and what matters. Your fans. After all, they're taking time out of their days time they'll never get back, to devote it to reading what you write because they obviously love it!
What about positive comments?
3351272 Lol dude, seriously, I'm okay! Thank you, but I don't need an ego-stroking! I just realized responding to some of these comments was taking more energy than I had, was all!
3351280
Yeah, no kidding. That's why I stopped responding to negative, insulting comments. Ignored, they quickly move on.
Now I feel bad, look sorry for the comment, it was something that annoyed me but that was only my opinion, and everyone is entitled to there opinion and everybody has the right to disregard that opinion.
Keep up with the good work.
3351293 I'm fine, really, it just reached the point where i was devoting more time, thought, and energy to defending myself in the comments section than I was on the story, and I realized that was pretty messed-up.
People will say that you are doing a good job, people will say that you sucks, this happens, the important thing is that you are making people think! If they dont like, if they have something to say even when they like, you are making they think about your story, and thats good. Try not to be bothered too much about this, remember that if you could please both greeks and troyans, you probably is wasting your talent writing, instead of ruling the world
I admit that I have my issues with certain things*, but mostly I'm still pretty interested to see where the story goes. I can't tell how relevant my criticisms actually are until I see more of the story, so for the time being at least I'll leave you be. I have a lot I could potentially say about the things other people were complaining about and how the story did or didn't change but honestly I doubt you're in the mood for it right now and I suspect a lot of what I'm thinking will look really nitpicky so I'm going to wait a bit and see if I still think it's worth a PM.
I do feel like a lot of people could stand to give you the benefit of the doubt. I remember you getting a lot of shit for how Shining Armor was behaving on the ship (or rather, the fact that he got away with it) before the hints that some shenanigans were at play came up a chapter or two later. That's why I prefer to wait a chapter or two to see if the author is going to explain things before I bring it up. I think the reason fanfiction (and comic books) are so prone to that problem is that after we read the shocking twist of the story, we usually have to wait for the next part to come out. If we were reading a novel we could just move on to the next chapter and see that the author does have an explanation for seemingly illogical events.
*that probably sounds more negative than I intended, I just didn't want to mention what I would be criticizing because if I did there's a very real possibility I would have gotten lost in a big rambling tangent about it. If I'm not vague I'll start trying to explain why I think X should be improved and making suggestions and then I'll end up hitting post on a 1500 word comment that was meant to be mildly supportive. That's not even a joke, I've done that before.
3351309 Dude, at the 1500 word mark, make it a PM. That stuff has gotta be pretty personal.
3351300
It's spelled "Trojans" you philistine.
Also some early commenters here need to realize that comments are grey, not black and white. There are not simply just Good "I love this story please write more" and Bad "This story sucks stop writing" types of comments.
3351334 You just made me write up a new rule.
Okay, so no name-calling, UNLESS it's intellectual and/or of Shakespearean English. So "stupid fag cunt" is out, but "swag-bellied cur" is definitely in.
3351353
You forgot "Bilious Kankersore"
3351359 Bootless, rough-hewn jolt-head!
Thy vile canker-blossom'd countenance curdles milk and sours beer.
3351376 How dare thee, churlish crook-pated harpy!
Dost thou bite thy thumb at me, sir?
ale-soused apple john!
3351314
In my defence I was really sleep-deprived and the author had been thrilled at the constructive criticism that I and another person had already offered (the 1500 word one was a detailed explanation of why I felt my initial criticism was correct, using scenes from the story to back my argument). In retrospect it might have been better to PM it but unless someone explicitly says they want commentary like that taken to PM I figure it's fair game.
Also important is that most of the length came from highlighting sections of the story and explaining why they basically proved my point, and I was mainly coming back to one singular point that had ruined then whole thing for me. When I'm short on sleep I become obsessive, and when faced with someone that seems to enjoy constructive criticism I tend to go all out. I should probably mention that I do point out things that I liked and try to be polite when pointing out the flaws.
And, as you can see, I use a lot of words in general.
3351405 Nothing wrong with that, I should know
I hope mine were in the negative area. This is the only CB story that interests me. While I may have done some things different I rather see the story come out.
3351528 No worries, trust me. This is just me realizing I was spending more time and effort on the comments section than on the story, and realizing that was stupid.
3351688 whew
I definitely agree.
It's all well and good to respond to your commentators but if it's eating up time that you could be devoting to writing a new chapter or whatever, then it's time to reconsider.
You may find asking people to PM you will get old when you release a new chapter and more then one person pretty much asks the same thing or want's you to clarify the same point more then once.
This is why, people.
This is why we can't have nice things!
So this is what led you to tell me that feedback is overrated?
3637212 Pretty much. Honestly, it turns into people telling you how you should write stuff up and trying to hijack the story. Rather counterproductive.
3637636 ditto.