your mother told you not to beg for a reason.

[crankylex]

Dear Author,

People do not owe you feedback.

There seems to be some confusion surrounding this point lately, so I thought I would throw in my two cents to clarify the issue. You write. Others read. Neither of you owes the other party a damn thing.

Of course you enjoy getting feedback. It is only natural that you enjoy having people praise you and your work. Feedback is like digital Milk-Bones.

Awwww, you wrote that? Good author! Here's a treat.

When my dog sits on command, he gets praised. (Okay, I probably give him a snack too.)

When writers write, they get praised. Snacks are optional here.

This is the way the world works. However, this is not a perfect system by any means. Some days the dog sits and stays and I don't even say, "Who's my good boy!". Some days you post stories and you check your mail frantically only to discover that no one had anything to say about your latest work of art.

This is painful. It happens for several reasons, including the following:

1. People are lazy and read without feedbacking.
   
2. People are confused by the topic/presentation/POV/whatever and have no idea what to say.
   
3. The writing is okay, and the story is okay, but it's nothing spectacular, so people just cruise on by.
   
4. It sucked beyond the telling of it and people have nothing nice to say, so they are keeping silent.
   

When this happens to you, your response should NOT be to whine about it in the liner notes of your next fic while simultaneously pleading for a response to what you've written this time.

When the dog begs, he gets sent into the other room.

When you beg, I hit 'back' or delete the message.

This is the end of this story... and probably will be for quite some time. I got great feedback for this one - 6 people in total bothered to send me emails, thank you very much to those! At least I know that for those 6 I am not clogging up mailboxes. Sorry I did clog up your mailbox with unwanted stuff to all those hundreds out there that apparently did not like it. My next stories if ever will only go to the 2 groups that I got feedback from.*

Please, please don’t forget to review! Seriously, if I don’t get at least 5 reviews for this chapter, I might lose Chapter 9!**

Well, are you guys trying to tell me something? I had to struggle to get 5 reviews! I know it’s summer, but surely some of you are home. Those of you who did review, I appreciate it. I’m really not trying to sound too demanding, I promise, I just want to know if anyone’s actually paying attention to whether or not I post. So I hope you enjoy this latest chapter, and PLEASE review!**

When did it become popular to beg for feedback?

Could there be anything more degrading than this?

I am embarrassed for these people, since they don't seem to have the good sense to be embarassed for themselves. Do they have any respect for themselves at all? Nothing like abasing yourself in a public forum to boost your ego.

Personally, as a reader, I do not respond to writers that beg, plead, or harass for feedback. There is nothing that will guarantee my lack of interest in a story faster than an author trying to blackmail me.

I will not be manipulated.

And before someone cries foul, yes, I have both been there and done that. And yes, I have the tattoo to prove it. Once upon a time, in a fandom far, far away, I was a writer. I wrote fiction that, for whatever reason, garnered a lot of feedback. But that was not *why* I wrote. I wrote because I loved the characters and had the meglomanical desire to make them do what I wanted.

Let us review:

1. You are not a special snowflake.

Just because your mommy likes you doesn't mean that the rest of us do. In fact, if you feel that you are a special snowflake, chances are everyone else already hates you.

2. People are not obligated to like your fiction.

Whether it's the pairing, the writing style or the subject matter, some people will not like your fiction. This is normal. You don't like all the fiction you come across, do you?

This also assumes that you have at least some writing talent. If you don't, chances are people are passing your stuff by because you suck.

3. If you suck, people should not send you positive feedback.

This is not the same as saying people should not not send you *encouraging* feedback. If you read a story that is not great, but you feel that the author, if given some practice and a decent beta, could be good, let them know. Prod them along.

But if you suck, and you know you suck, do us all a favor and stop begging for some pity ego-stroking.

Nobody gives a shit, snowflake.




* This item was taken verbatim from a post to a mailing list. Later the same day, the author cried foul because someone told her if she wanted constant praise, she should enroll in obedience school. I swear, it was NOT me. Someone else did it before I could.

** These were also lifted verbatim, but these gems came from the mother lode, fanfiction.net.

Comments

[indiefic.livejournal.com]

I heart you so much. that was just beautiful.

[crankylex.livejournal.com]

I heart you so much. that was just beautiful.

Thanks, darlin'. :-)

I. Just. Couldn't. Stand. It. Anymore.

What is WRONG with people? Suck it up! Have some pride!

Grrrrr.