With "support" like this, who needs enemies?

[wiseheart]

A few days ago I was very pleased to have found a new reader for my "Sleeping Dragons" series on FF.Net - and one who was willing to leave a few reviews, too.

Then they left this review to the fifth, so far unfinished story:

Okay... you have clearly devoted hundreds of hours into creating and building this amazing quintet of stories... character development is amazing, I feel like I really know these people... the story lines themselves, the way you've interwoven them all so seamlessly, this all rivals any professionally written episode of Torchwood ever filmed.

Why, after you put in so much brilliant work, would you just thumb your nose at your readers and throw away everything you've done? I don't understand and I am beyond disappointed in you. You do everything you can to get your readers invested in your work and then leave them high and dry. Shame on you.

Yes, this is harsh, but I cannot help how I and I'm sure every one of your readers feels right now.

At first I considered sending them a rather unfriendly answer about their manners and that I'm not obliged to deliver the next update according their timetable, but then I decided that they weren't worth it. I'm still royally pissed, though. Who do these people think they are? My stories take a long time to finish, and then there's such thing as writer's block, lack of inspiration and Real Life. Do they pay me to update regularly or whatnot?

Comments

[adafrog.livejournal.com]

What a jerk.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

My thoughts exactly.

[chocolate-frapp.livejournal.com]

That's obnoxious.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

To say the least! "Oh, woe me, I can't have more, how does the author dare to deny me my next fix!"

[meathiel]

Meh ...
They could just have asked when the next part is available?

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

No, because that would, you know, make sense.

[akane42me.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, that is really mean.

This is not an act of thumbing your nose, throwing away everything you've done, and leaving your readers high and dry.

It's a series! Chapter by chapter installments! There's more to come! You've never pretended otherwise! This new reader does not know this, because they've come upon the series and have binge-read until the final installment. They are inexcusably rude. And stupid. They should be saying "I love this! I can't wait for the next part!"

I'm so sorry this happened. What the hell is wrong with people?

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

It's the typical reaction of a five-year-old who didn't get their regular ration of candy.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

How very rude!

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Isn't it?

[zimtkeks.livejournal.com]

Do they not understand how things work? The sense of entitlement in some people...!

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Which is why I decided not to reply, after all. One should never feed a troll.

[motodraconis.livejournal.com]

What a tosser! Tell them to go and read the Game of Thrones books.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Nah, I don't want them to think they've managed to hurt me.

[motodraconis.livejournal.com]

Games of Thrones book fans have been waiting (and whining) for the author to complete the series for decades. It will never be completed now. It's a famously unfinished (never to be finished) series.

[motodraconis.livejournal.com]

Sorry, my comments keep coming out all wrong! :(

It was breathtakingly rude, you've put in loads of time and effort and inspiration, all for free.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Nah, I just didn't get the meaning because I never got beyond the first GoT book. Quite frankly, I found it boring and unnecessarily brutal.

[spikesgirl58.livejournal.com]

That review - so helpful! Sigh..

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I seem to draw rude idiots. Moths and flame, I'd say, if it didn't sound so very immodest. *g*

[spikesgirl58.livejournal.com]

It's always a risk when you put yourself out there, I suppose. I got burned by enough WiP that I learned to avoid them. Even so, I would never harass the authors. You have no way of knowing what's going on in their lives.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

When I find a WIP I like I usually subscribe to it/put it on my Story Alert list. Then, when the author manages to continue, I get a message from the archive and can go and read it. It's such a neat solution, I can't understand why some people are unable to use it.

[spikesgirl58.livejournal.com]

For the same reason some people can't use LJ cuts. They don't want to be bothered.

[just-jenni.livejournal.com]

Yes, that was my first thought: are they paying you??? I mean, how rude can you get?

At the same time it's kind of like a back-handed compliment because they clearly want to read that next installment and have no patience for waiting!

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

I know. But it is still not acceptable.

[red-day-dawning.livejournal.com]

How rude! So entitled.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

My thoughts exactly.

[wanderingmogwai.livejournal.com]

I agree it is rude but take it as a complement. They enjoyed your work SO much that they were moved to be rude at any lack thereof.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

As I said: with support like this... I find rudeness generally inexcusable. But I am old-fashioned in my ways.

[wanderingmogwai.livejournal.com]

I get it. And it's too bad something that had the potential to be so good went so sour. And really thinking about it after putting myself in your shoes I think you are handling it admirably. I would be all kinds of bent out of shape.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

When I was new to fanfic writing, I got terribly upset, sent them agitated answers and often ended up even more hurt. Now I just ignore them. When the review is anonymous, aka the "critic" isn't signed in, I remove it. When it is signed, well, there is nothing I can do. That's why I like AO3 (= Archive of Our Own). You can remove even signed reviews there.

[wanderingmogwai.livejournal.com]

I don't know how I would handle it. I don't write but I do use a camera. My most "abusive" critiques came from my one and only mentor. And he can be a cruel bastard. It's hard to imagine anyone could hurt me more so if he was trying to give me a thicker skin then I guess it worked.

[amedia.livejournal.com]

Sounds like they were raised by hyenas. *SMH* Sorry you had to encounter that!!!

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it was unpleasant. I seem to attract rude reviewers.

[mirasaui.livejournal.com]

wow, just wow.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's one way to put it. Imagine if they hadn't liked the series!