Constructive criticism can go a long way in building skills as writers of course and is greatly appreciated, but on the flipside, heartwarming compliments can mean the world too.
For me, I showed some work to one of my friends that I was pretty nervous about revealing in general and she loved it. She’s normally the blunt critic, harder to please type one goes to for absolute honesty so I knew she was being serious and not just saying what would appease me. She said that she was initially worried she’d have to tell me it was unappealing when I asked her to read it, but she was impressed instead. I definitely felt warm and fuzzy about that one for a while, and now I’m even more motivated to wrap up that chapter.
What about you? What have you received from reviews or otherwise that made you think “wow, my words reached someone,” reinforced your will in forging ahead or simply put a big smile on your face for the day? Who did they come from? Why did this (these) comment(s) stick out to you in particular? I’m super interested in all things positive feedback. Like Pokémon, I gotta read it all!
I get all gooey inside whenever anyone tells me that my writing makes them laugh.
Humor has always been my personal defense against the dark/unhealthy situations and mindsets, so whenever someone goes “oh, this resonated and made me chuckle”, I kinda feel like I’m giving them a bit of shelter under my barricade. Maybe that’s silly, but reading positive comments on the humorous tone of my current game has definitely pushed me to be more productive and write a larger, more inclusive shield.
. . . I hope that makes sense. It’s tricky (and embarrassing) to put into words.
Over the years I’ve written a lot of little stories for school and some simply to share with friends with a sort of quiet paranoia that it’s terrible and that I should delete everything I’ve ever written.
It’s from the most miniscule of praise or positivity that I’ve kept making notes though, for some reason or another I get near hysterically happy when someone says anything remotely positive about something I’ve made.
Though if you ask me what’s the best type of commentary that I’ve ever gotton it’s when a person outright tells me where I’ve made something they dislike or find uninteresting.
All that to say I appreciate my language teachers, who where brutally honest when they found me reading and writing in class and gave me tips, mostly related to the current topic, before telling me I had detention for not listening in class.
It’s not silly at all! It’s warm and sweet of you, in my opinion. Don’t worry, I get what you mean I think.
That’s how I wound up deleting many of my original short stories. Boy, did I regret that! Since learned all writing is writing that can be learned from. I hope you have too!
Bless the teachers, really. Some of my favorite advice, criticism and feedback in general has been those teachers who went the distance like they were Disney’s Hercules.
I’ve seen some really amazing, heartfelt reviews on the various marketplaces, and even had some people reach out to me personally with stories about how the story impacted them which I will never forget. But at least among recent ones, there was someone on Google Play a few days ago who said that TPS inspired them to start writing their own ChoiceScript story, and that was both awesome and kinda humbling. Hannah, if you’re on here and see this, thanks so much and I can’t wait for you to get a similar review once your own story is published!
Other than the many general compliments, more than a few have mentioned that when they read my stories they were in a dark place and not feeling good about their life. Then after they read, they felt much better and it generally snapped them out of their depression, cheering them up.
Had some people that after reading, they were inspired to try to write. One girl said I inspired her to pursue her acting career. Others had general tales of the stories being inspirational to them.
And of course I’ve had a few congratulating me on having diversity in my stories. Someone else mentioned one of my stories helping their autistic child. Just things like that.
I myself don’t always understand how exactly my stories helped someone (Even when it’s explained!) but in any case, I just chalk it all up to that I’m obviously doing something right and just keep on.
It’s true! (Just so you all are aware, I’m the aforementioned autistic child.). My mother was very, very thankful for your intervention in my life (and other things) and so am I. I’ve actually been inspired to start writing too. Hope I can follow in your footsteps eventually.
My favourite compliment was a review from a vampire story I wrote before I discovered CoG. Where the reviewer said “Its as good as twilight only with more bite” although after reading twilight I started being unsure if that was actually a compliment my previous knowledge of the books was it was popular and that’s it.
I am incapable of remembering good comments, Nor that I had many but still good comments erase from my mind. However, bad ones remain lingering in my mind continuously.
That’s what it’s all about, audience wise. Making even just one person’s day would make my whole year, practically. And I haven’t gotten through the entirety of TPS yet, but it definitely starts with a bang! You deserve every bit of that review if my preliminary feelings on your game are anything to go by.
Stories are so inextricably and inexplicably connected to our hearts that we could ponder the question all our lives and never find an answer, I suspect. Doing something right indeed! As someone who has found and healed much of myself in creating and consuming art, it’s beautiful whenever others also discover that spark or when their writing is that spark for someone else. I love that!
I’m so glad you were inspired to write through @EndMaster! We all need more writers. And it’s people like you whose support means everything. I hope someone is that for you when you put your work out there.
I’m not a Twilight fan myself, but different strokes for different folks. And the series was indeed exorbitantly popular. That might have been even more so a compliment than any of us can imagine coming from the right person. I suspect it was given the context.
I felt that. Negativity does have a way of stubbornly clinging to the mind, unfortunately. It’s a brave act to write and to have your stories read by others because of that vulnerability though. And you go forward anyways always working to improve. So surely that is something that can also be noted, hopefully in an encouraging way.
Boss mode activated. That must have felt awesome!
Having read your wip, can confirm! Your dialogue was chock full of personality. That said, you do not have to feel any pressure because of that. You’re doing just fine. Every writer has certain weaker areas in all their stories; it’s nothing at all to be concerned about nor is it likely to be that noticeable. You are quite talented!
I think the most memorable compliment I’ve gotten so far was when someone complimented my dialogue. They said it “felt natural, like real people talk” and that it showed each character’s personality very well. I was super happy about that, because it was something I hadn’t even really noticed while writing!
The only downside is that, sometimes, while writing dialogue, I’ll remember that compliment and think “oh no, now I have to write great dialogue at all times because someone said my dialogue was great, and I can’t disappoint them”. Though I’m guessing that’s just my anxiety speaking lmao
Negativity does have a way of stubbornly clinging to the mind, unfortunately. It’s a brave act to write and to have your stories read by others because of that vulnerability though. And you go forward anyways always working to improve. So surely that is something that can also be noted, hopefully in an encouraging way.