Problems · 9:05pm Mar 9th, 2015
I've come to the conclusion that what is perhaps the most vocal demographic of the fimfiction community is incredibly annoying and unhelpful. Some people will either like or dislike your ideas and say so. This is useful because it tells you something about your story, whether that's positive or negative. Even more useful is when people give an explanation as to why, such as stating their appreciation or dislike with the way a writer handles such elements as grammar, plot devices, characterization, etc. Even if a reviewer hates everything about your story, they can still tell you in a way that is helpful, however roundabout that way may be.
Then there's the other, more vocal demographic. From both my own experiences and observing what others go through, an irritatingly large quantity of FIMfic users don't provide either positive or negative feedback in any way, shape, or form. Instead, they say how they would have written your story or idea, and how their way would be better than yours. It's as if they like the basis of your idea, but wish they'd thought of it first so they could do it their way. Since they didn't think of it first, they think the world actually cares about how much better they think they could handle someone else's idea.
Having your own interpretation of something is fine, but it does no one any good when people merely try to say you should tell a story to their liking and no one else's, not other readers, and certainly not the writer who came up with the story or idea in the first place.
Agreed. Up vote and thumbs up.
Agreed completely. It's one thing to give feedback on telling your story better, but it's quite another to try to say "Your story idea sucks, here's how I would do it better"
In a way they are also venting some frustrations about how they would have written the story, but can't. It is someone else's story and to copy it to that point and then diverge would still be plagiarism. They may also have terrible literary skills and be unable to create their own works to their satisfaction, again leaving them without the story they wanted. I have seen both sides personally. It is why I have started my own shitty story, ignoring what my personal skill level may be (and fears therein), so that I can avoid doing that to others all the while making the story I wanted to read. I know my story is shitty, so if anyone wants to tell me how it might be done better, I can contemplate it, say yay/nay, and move on with life. I actually find it fun sometimes to think about how much a story would change if certain comments were followed in the story instead of how they happened. Sometimes it is good try try and puzzle out why a reader thought their idea was better. While 99% of their idea may be bunk for your story, there may be something there to pull an idea or a few lines of inspiration from.
My apologies, "Devil's Advocate" is a thing I tend to do often.