Bad Reviews

[Omega Phallic]

Man did my stories every get raked under the coals.

To my detractors, hmmm, where to start my response.

How about with the spelling. I use the spell check on Word Perfect 9 for my stories, but I'll admit to mixing the odd it's with its and there and their. Anyother possible "misspelling" are either the Canadian spelling, or a side effect of transferring the story from Word Perfect 9 to .txt and/or html files.

As for my stories being unerotic, I've gotten alot of people who seem to like my style, my stories are in demand, and people have said such things as my stories create pictures in their heads, I'm one of their favour writers, my story has sent them into multiple orgasms, etc...

To understand my style you have understand that I'm not trying to paint a realistic portrait, but rather an impressionist or romantic mural, visceral and vivid, using only the most vibrant colours. As you can see I also like metaphors and comparsions.

Will I'm usually willing to take requests from people and I don't mind polite and contructive criticism, I'll not change my style over anyone elses, not Powerone's, not anyones.

I have my own unique voice and I'll not turn into another boring carbon copy of another writer, like others have.

As for being more descriptive, I'm working on that, but don't exaggerate the problem.

[Carmenica Diaz]

It's only another person's opinion and it's up to you whether you choose to listen or ignore.

I must admit I chuckle a little at the responses I receive, not necessarily on this site ( I don't post to many stories here) but there is sometimes a small nugget of wisdom that manages to push through the rubbish.

My pet peeve is Americans telling me my spelling is wrong!

I just point out that you speak an Americanised version of English and I write in the Queen's English.

[fetish101]

.

My pet peeve is Americans telling me my spelling is wrong!

I just point out that you speak an Americanised version of English and I write in the Queen's English.

Right on! We spell english the way it was meant to be spelt.

[AndrewBlack]

Yes, plenty of z instead of s and -re instead of -er in center for example are my pet peeves. Color too pisses me off, and fetus, and scientific terms like hematology. What can you do?

[Alex Bragi]

I don’t quite understand. I looked for your stories, and found only one, but as yet no one has rated it. Perhaps this negative feedback has been emailed to you?

Obviously you’re unhappy and who could blame you. You spent hours and hours creating something special and unique only to have someone come along and shred it to pieces with a vicious review. Believe me, since I’ve started writing I’ve had more than my fair share of that. Some has been very hurtful; some has been very helpful. I guess you just have to take it all, and use what you can.

Spelling - some readers are rather pedantic and even the most minor of mistakes will irk them. Personally, I’m not one of them. If a story is good, it’s not difficult and, indeed it’s certainly worthwhile to skim over the odd mistake. By the way I spell your way, I’m Australian, but for the sake of the majority of readers of this particular site, I generally use 'USA spelling'.

Criticisms - well what can I say? Usually the ones doing the slicing and dicing are the ones who also pride themselves in being fine writers, so what I want to know is – if their so articulate - why can’t they find a more polite and constructive way of expressing their opinions?

Erotica – everyone’s idea of erotica is different. Some people want it all wham bam thank you ma’am right in their hot little faces, while others like to take a gentler pace. You can’t please everyone, so don’t even try.

I don’t know who gave you the bad feedback, but I can tell you I had a quick look at your self-title story just now and it all looks fine to me. It’s not quite my cup of tea, but that’s not to say it’s not a very good read.

You’re right, your style is your own, never try to change it or emulate someone else’s.

Have a better day,

Alex.

[Morrighan]

The thing about writing, as with most art, is that it can't be quantified and it's difficult to qualify. It simply is. I've not read your work, but the most important thing I ever learned in proofreading or critiquing others' work is that the criticism must be constructive. You say what you liked, and then comment on what you didn't (kindly) with a reason why you didn't like it. The choice of subjects is never something you can critique. If you don't like the subject matter, don't read the story.

I'm a writer myself, and I would be as hurt and upset if someone ever flamed one of my stories. I know I have a tendency to overwrite and overdescribe, and I've gotten some useful feedback on that. But "constructive criticism" are the two most important words any reviewer should know.

Morrighan

P.S. Oh, and I've never critiqued someone on spelling when it's obviously British English. To say that either Americans or Brits are "spelling wrong" seems to me to be on par with saying the Chinese alphabet is wrong. It's not wrong, just different.

[pet10]

It's only another person's opinion and it's up to you whether you choose to listen or ignore.

I must admit I chuckle a little at the responses I receive, not necessarily on this site ( I don't post to many stories here) but there is sometimes a small nugget of wisdom that manages to push through the rubbish.

My pet peeve is Americans telling me my spelling is wrong!

I just point out that you speak an Americanised version of English and I write in the Queen's English.

Probably you and Elizabeth II speaks the “Queen's English” alone simple folk uses American English! We learn this (poor and miserable) bad language too…

[alexandra_p27]

Probably you and Elizabeth II speaks the “Queen's English” alone simple folk uses American English! We learn this (poor and miserable) bad language too…

Since I am german and only learned this Oxford-Stuff in School, I would likely do better, not to reply
But I took a short look at "Holy Sex Slavers" which is rated 4.
I think your spelling might be a problem, but that is obviously
a problem you can deal with with the right programs.
The idea of the story seems to be quite interesting, I think.

My critics go to another point:
You write in short paragraphs and because you do, you should find
one major problem at once.
Nearly every paragraph starts with "x does that" "x thinks that" "x said that"
This style makes it very problematic to keep attention to the plot.
It is somehow nerving.
To make it clear: the problem is not the paragraphs themselves but
the relative leck of stylistic elements used.

But: critique in literature is not meant to eliminate literature as it could
be derived from critizism in science.
I think many things have to be only mentioned.
Just try to make the range of stylistic means a bit broader and it will be
much easier and more enjoyful to read the story.

As I said before: I shouldn't criticise you, because my "active" english
is very poor, but I have done some german writing and only wanted to help

[pet10]

Since I am german and only learned this Oxford-Stuff in School, I would likely do better, not to reply
But I took a short look at "Holy Sex Slavers" which is rated 4.
I think your spelling might be a problem, but that is obviously
a problem you can deal with with the right programs.
The idea of the story seems to be quite interesting, I think.

My critics go to another point:
You write in short paragraphs and because you do, you should find
one major problem at once.
Nearly every paragraph starts with "x does that" "x thinks that" "x said that"
This style makes it very problematic to keep attention to the plot.
It is somehow nerving.
To make it clear: the problem is not the paragraphs themselves but
the relative leck of stylistic elements used.

But: critique in literature is not meant to eliminate literature as it could
be derived from critizism in science.
I think many things have to be only mentioned.
Just try to make the range of stylistic means a bit broader and it will be
much easier and more enjoyful to read the story.

As I said before: I shouldn't criticise you, because my "active" english
is very poor, but I have done some german writing and only wanted to help

Hi Alexandra,

It is a misunderstanding, please. I have not the slightest intention of read Carmenica Diaz’s papers. She writes in BDSM Library for the most part only “excerpts” from her recently published E-Novel. I don’t like the excerpts. I have read her once by mistake I didn’t perceive her writing had been an excerpt. So I cannot criticize her "Holy Sex Slavers". I have only “comment” on her “Queen English” it’s beyond me (zu hock)!

She has boasted with her “Queen English” in a thread I have answered only that… I think it is kind of complicated language such as “King-German” (Hochdeutsch!).

Otherwise you are right: “the problem is not the paragraphs themselves but
the relative lack of stylistic elements used” etc…, but she isn’t my author. I like the f/m stories, but her novels are for me very expensive I’m only a student.

[alexandra_p27]

Hi Alexandra,

It is a misunderstanding, please. I

Oh, I am very sorrry about that.

I only took the quote to go on wioth the thread.
It wasn't my idea to talk about “Queen English”
but just to follow up with my own
"Oxford English".
That was just thought to be funny.
But maybe I was mistaken.

[SirW]

Since I am german and only learned this Oxford-Stuff in School, I would likely do better, not to reply
But I took a short look at "Holy Sex Slavers" which is rated 4.


My critics go to another point:
You write in short paragraphs and because you do, you should find
one major problem at once.
Nearly every paragraph starts with "x does that" "x thinks that" "x said that"
This style makes it very problematic to keep attention to the plot.
It is somehow nerving.
To make it clear: the problem is not the paragraphs themselves but
the relative leck of stylistic elements used.

But: critique in literature is not meant to eliminate literature as it could
be derived from critizism in science.
I think many things have to be only mentioned.
Just try to make the range of stylistic means a bit broader and it will be
much easier and more enjoyful to read the story.

As I said before: I shouldn't criticise you, because my "active" english
is very poor, but I have done some german writing and only wanted to help

alexandra_p27, I think you make a lot of very valid points. For someone whose native language is not English you did a very good critique of the story ""Holy Sex Slavers". I too looked through this story and came to some of the same conclusions as you. Many of the "paragraphs" are only one sentence in length. Paragraphs of one or two sentences are not paragraphs. The author needs to try and sustain his main thoughts through the whole paragraph. Also, I think the style is very juvenile. Ok, before everyone jumps on this let me explain. It reads as if he is saying this whole story. The sentences begin "He did", "She said", etc...as alexandra_p27 pointed out. Also, the story seems to move haltingly along. As if the author thought of another idea and then just inserted it here. Also, (and this is my opinion) I think the context is rather boring. The sex scenes are written as a juvenile writer would write about sex. Little intrique, lots of fuck, "ooh" "ahhhh", "thrusting" etc.... If this is the way you enjoy writing, great, but I would not be a reader of this type of literature.

So, what does the writer wish to do. You have two choices: Keep writing the way you do because it makes you feel good (and stop reading reviews). Or, if you want to improve or try new styles, then get some assistance from a professional source.

I think most people here are just trying to offer suggestions to assist you in improving. But honestly, you would need to really work with a prfoessional writer to make sustainable improvements, if you wish to.


Good luck.



SirW

[fantazmaster]

Well at least you got reviews on your stories Omega.I am not complaining as my 1st story"Karmal's Saga" has had close to 9500 readers according to the counter as of this writing
and certainly that has well exceeded my expectations.My dilemma is the lack of reviews or votes,of which there have been none as of this writing.

There again I have received several e-mails from a half dozen readers who have asked me to continue this story.with several providing some excellent ideas for the next chapters.Thankfully,I have not been dressed down publicly or privately by any English majors or teachers out there on either side of the Atlantic regarding split infinitives.sentence fragments or the precise placement of commas,semi-colons and the like in this story.I realize I do not have a journalistic or editorial background and I am afraid if MS Word doesn't catch these fine points,then so be it as my time to write is often limited and quite simply I cannot be spending hours poring over various writer's grammar and style books.My philosophy here is to capture the creative thoughts in writing as they occur and try to convey these in a descriptive manner which causes the reader to perhaps use their imagination
to envision the action and characters within the story.In so doing if I miss a comma or take a liberty with sentence structure,then so what?The reader ,unless he or she is highly critical in their perusal will hopefully not be distracted from the flow of events in the story.

[crickette]

Very well said. I am not a writer (haven't quite gotton up the nerve yet) but I always try to review all the stories I read. If for no other reason than that the writer had the guts to go through with posting it. I also believe that reviewing is not about raking someone over the coals even if their story sucks. I believe most writers are looking for suggestions on how to make their stories better and more appealing to the reader. No one is saying you have to lie and say you like everything you read but you don't have to be an ass about it either. To be quite honest, that type of review says more about the reviewer than it ever could about the writer and believe me it ain't anything good !

Well at least you got reviews on your stories Omega.I am not complaining as my 1st story"Karmal's Saga" has had close to 9500 readers according to the counter as of this writing
and certainly that has well exceeded my expectations.My dilemma is the lack of reviews or votes,of which there have been none as of this writing.

There again I have received several e-mails from a half dozen readers who have asked me to continue this story.with several providing some excellent ideas for the next chapters.Thankfully,I have not been dressed down publicly or privately by any English majors or teachers out there on either side of the Atlantic regarding split infinitives.sentence fragments or the precise placement of commas,semi-colons and the like in this story.I realize I do not have a journalistic or editorial background and I am afraid if MS Word doesn't catch these fine points,then so be it as my time to write is often limited and quite simply I cannot be spending hours poring over various writer's grammar and style books.My philosophy here is to capture the creative thoughts in writing as they occur and try to convey these in a descriptive manner which causes the reader to perhaps use their imagination
to envision the action and characters within the story.In so doing if I miss a comma or take a liberty with sentence structure,then so what?The reader ,unless he or she is highly critical in their perusal will hopefully not be distracted from the flow of events in the story.

[Bunk]

Just a comment here Omega, please don't take it personally, but your stories do have issues that make them hard to read.

It's not an issue of spelling - it looks like you honestly do spell check them. Minor spelling errors don't bother me anyway, as I can't spell worth shit. The problem is that your stories don't appear to have been proof read. The words may be spelled correctly, but they tend to be completely wrong words.

It's obvious in even your posts. You wrote this post earlier in this very thread:

I was in a rush when I wrote the synopsis, I was in a rush and few spell mistakes aren't a big deal.

I never said that Powerone was the one who said my style should be like his, someone else said it should be more like his, others were mentioned for possible imation as well.

It's not that I can't take critism, but I think Alex Bragi had it dead on. I like constructive critism, but senselessly brutalizing my work pisses me off.

As for being publicly critical of my critics, have I no right to defend my honour? I'm not the one who scares reviewers away.

I won't mention who told me this, but I've heard of how a circle of critics would blast people for giving good reviews to stories like didn't like, and the fact the most of my positive feedback has been emailed to me, instead of posted right on the site makes me think that this is true.

Now those are both minor errors, but when there is an error like that in every paragraph, it makes the story hard to read. When I read over the sentence - mistakes like that catch my eye because the meaning behind the sentence doesn't flow properly.

If you misspell a word, my subconsiance (sp?) generally knows what you meant to say and translates. But when you put completely wrong words, or double words up, or put together words that don't make any sense together - it forces the reader to stop and reread. That totally pulls you out of the narative.

I'm not slamming your writing man, I'm just saying that the lack of proofreading has stopped me from absorbing your stories enough to even decide if I like them or not.

Bunk.

[Eden's Girl]

You have a flare for creativity, Omega, but you fall over when it comes to your delivery. Like some others have said, it's important to proof-read your work before you post it. Some of your stories are, granted, very long, and this might well be a bore for you, but as Crimson said: there is no rush.

I don't mean to dispense advice as though my stories are flawless; the one and thus far only story I've submitted to this site in my short time as a writer here had an error or two I'd overlooked, and subsequently kicked myself for. I also got a bad review for using racial slurs, because the reviewer assumed I was therefore racist. Called me a Bush supporter, I believe. It was an inaccurate assumption, but it's something I'm going to have to watch in future. I don't aim to offend anyone when I write, after all.

In essence, what I'm saying is that reviews, good or bad, if listened to and learned from, can help improve your skills as a writer. Don't be disheartened by them. Be grateful.

[T Bone Steak]

I love to have feedback. Even it's bad. But when the criticism isn't constructive, I don't like it one bit. For example: "This appears to have been written by a child." That wasn't helpful. If he/she gave some pointers, I might incorperate it in my stories. On the other hand such criticism made me laugh out loud.

Also, I had criticism about spelling. I use Word to check the spelling and I find it hard to believe word can make such mistakes. It makes me wonder if such criticism is justified.

I started to write my stories as a kind of criticism. (I would never give a writer directly feedback) I don't like the long wordy texts. I rarely found a story which I like. That's why my writing style is more direct. I don't like character devellopment or how they look. (I find it distracting) I like to use as much information as possible about the core of sm or other elements. Although, I've written one story which is atypical. It should be published soon.

Some stories of others are good but all of the sudden there's a 7 inch cock, a simultaneous orgasm with a boy and his mother or a sissy boy wearing his mother's underwear. I would never use a 7 inch cock in my story nor would I enjoy incorperate a natural D cup. You catch my drift, I hope.

[Parker]

In my opinion, writers who are bothered by bad reviews should either refrain from posting to sites which allow for reviews or they should grow a thicker skin. If you invite comments, you should expect to receive at least some which are negative. Besides, while some of those negative responses can be discarded out of hand, others can offer valid and useful criticism. I'd much rather receive a well thought out criticism than a bare "good story'" any day.

[jip]

English is not only English / English or American / English anymore. It is a language that became “International” in numerous fields (Computer, Aviation, International trade, Tourism, Shipping, Science, etc, etc….) There is nothing wrong with this, on the contrary we can only appreciate that there exists a communication language understood by millions of people. You only have to travel in China for example and you will be surprised how difficult communication can be when so few people speak English and only Mandarin!

However it means that on this site that English is not the mother tongue of a lot of writers. Even when using a spell checker not all items and typos are found (take only the possibilities of the different “English” versions you will find in ms Word!)

Further sentence structure in English can be quite different from other languages such as French, German, and Spanish and name it. It is one of the most difficult items to scope with.
Similar is the use of words, which look alike in 2 different languages because their root is the same, but the feeling or sense behind is quite different.

What bothers me is that a small minority of English speaking reviewers behave as “superior people” spelling the lessons to the “barbarians that spoil the language”, while most of them probably do not speak a single word of a foreign language! Most of the writers simply write a story for the story or for the pleasure to do it and write in a kind of “non-perfect” International English. Of course we are aware of this! The comments of some of this minority are quite arrogant and do hurt. You feel they consider you as an “illiterate” while you communicate in several other languages.

My message is that these people should think about this. Perhaps should writers of which their mother tongue is not English make it known in the “Comments” as I have seen one by a writer.

This is my opinion of course!

[H Dean]

So, you are suggesting that quality of writing should not be considered in the review? I, for one, would not wish to remain ignorant of my failures. I want to know where my stories failed and where they succeeded. If my grammatical mistakes made my story unreadable, I would expect my reviewers to tell me so. If my choice of verbiage was awkward, I would want to be told. If my sentences were structured in such a way that it made my story hard to follow, I would want to know.

On the other hand, I suppose that some authors cannot take honest and fair critisism. Perhaps those authors could request their offerings have the review feature turned off. It would certainly help those who bother to offer reviews. It would be a dead on indicator as to who wants honest critisism and who doesn't.

What bothers me is that a small minority of English speaking reviewers behave as “superior people” spelling the lessons to the “barbarians that spoil the language”, while most of them probably do not speak a single word of a foreign language!

Perhaps you are projecting your own feelings of inferiority onto those who bother to review. I doubt that any reviewer feels "superior" to the "barbarians". In fact, I would offer that most are trying to help, including me.

Most of the writers simply write a story for the story or for the pleasure to do it and write in a kind of “non-perfect” International English. Of course we are aware of this!

Most people write in a "non-perfect English". Many times this "non-perfect English" makes a story difficult to read. Part of telling a story is being able to paint a picture. When "non-perfect English" clouds that picture it can ruin a good story. You want that ignored?

The comments of some of this minority are quite arrogant and do hurt. You feel they consider you as an “illiterate” while you communicate in several other languages.

Again, you are projecting your own insecurities. No one called you an illiterate or even hinted at it. Those are your own words. If your feelings get hurt (as they did by Heycarrianne - and her review was spot on) you shouldn't post your story where others might comment.

Negative comments are something that any artist must accept. If you can't accept negative comments then...well, don't be an artist.

[jip]

H.Dean, sorry but your reply proofs the words "superior" and "arrogance".
It has nothing to do with not accepting critics.
Still wondering how much foreign languages you speak and or understand. Easy to talk when you only need 1. Live in Europe and you will see that driving 24 hours, you have hard at least 10 different languages if not more.

[H Dean]

H.Dean, sorry but your reply proofs the words "superior" and "arrogance".
It has nothing to do with not accepting critics.
Still wondering how much foreign languages you speak and or understand. Easy to talk when you only need 1. Live in Europe and you will see that driving 24 hours, you have hard at least 10 different languages if not more.

Which languages I speak makes no differences. I do not offer critisisms to tales that are not in my own native tongue. Further, if I did write in another language I would expect critisism to be based on that language and not my own. So, your question is moot and speaks of your own arrogance for knowing more than one language while assuming I know only one.

Finally, my reply does not "proofs the words "superior" and "arrogance". It only proves that I want the same honest critisism that I offer. Nothing more and nothing less. It also proves that I don't want false praise.

It seems that you would prefer such false praise and to offer it to others. So be it. I'll not offer such. I will review honestly. It's too bad you see honesty as arrogance.

[Ozme52]

Which languages I speak makes no differences. I do not offer critisisms to tales that are not in my own native tongue. Further, if I did write in another language I would expect critisism to be based on that language and not my own.

This would be my take on the language issue. Issues regarding Queen's English v. Colonial English are overblown, there aren't that many words that are spelled differently, and those that are, are recognizable and don't change the meaning of the sentences.

I'm happen to be tired of reading things like...

"The stealy glint of his blew ayes and the pail color of his skin could be scene despite the dark moonless knight."

[H Dean]

"The stealy glint of his blew ayes and the pail color of his skin could be scene despite the dark moonless knight."

Ewe said a mouth full.

[Ayla Silver]

Lol, I agree with ozme52.

My take on the whole thing:

There will always be people who don't like your writing, just as there will always be people who do. Some of them don't convey their intentions in a warm, earthly matter - deal with it. By posting your stories on this site, you've agreed to accept criticisms from others who read your work. If you can't do that, don't post your stories. You can't expect to get good reviews from everyone.

Sure, maybe the critics are a bit too harsh in their arguments. I'm not saying they aren't. But it's what they think. Learn what you will from it and move on. It's that simple.

[Tojo]

Lol, I agree with ozme52.

My take on the whole thing:

There will always be people who don't like your writing, just as there will always be people who do. Some of them don't convey their intentions in a warm, earthly matter - deal with it. By posting your stories on this site, you've agreed to accept criticisms from others who read your work. If you can't do that, don't post your stories. You can't expect to get good reviews from everyone.

Sure, maybe the critics are a bit too harsh in their arguments. I'm not saying they aren't. But it's what they think. Learn what you will from it and move on. It's that simple.

Kind of sums up this whole thread beautifully. Nice one Ayla.

Tojo

[Ozme52]

Thank Ayla...

Sumhow eye gnu ewe wood feel that weigh!!

[Ayla Silver]

Thanks.

[Rabbit1]

Very well said Ayla