Grrrr

[serafina20]

Ever been turned off a story/series because the author kept begging for feedback? I'm not talking about a line that says something like, "Feedback is good." "Please send me feedback, I love to hear it." "Comments, criticims, and rave reviews are welcome" or something like that. Hell, I've put in "Feedback" lines in the headers of fic before. There's nothing wrong with that.

But there's this one author out there who, it seems, never posts anything about her fics without reminding people that they should feedback her. It will make her write fast, get the series done, etc. And it bugs me, becuase now I associte both her name and the fic with feed-back whoring. I enjoyed the first fic. It was good. I think I sent feedback. But, since then, I've seen her 'beg' for fic on TWOP and other places, AND have another author request feedback for her. Enough is enough, and I don't think I can enjoy the series anymore. Quite sad.

Totally hated the science method's teacher. To touchy feeling. This semester is going to be hell.

Comments

[rhiannonhero.livejournal.com]

OMG! You have me so curious I just went to skim the TWoP pages for the last five days. I see no gratuitous begging or feedback whoring...you simply must email me and tell me who it is...

Uh, unless it is me. I do admit to being shameless sometimes.

[joyfulgirl41.livejournal.com]

Ever been turned off a story/series because the author kept begging for feedback?

Hmm, you know, it depends. I guess I would say not really, but then, I'm one of those people who always puts a shameless feedback plug in my fics. But I always try and word it creatively, does that count? *g*

I also (when I remember) say "send some love" when I rec fics, because I'm so bad at sending feedback, and I know alot of people who's fics I've really enjoyed who don't get any feedback for them. So if a writer who's doing a series I enjoy says "feedback helps" I'm happy to send it. Especially if it's a series, or in chapters or whatever where I'm like "Oh, I'll send it when the story's complete." But then it can get discouraging if you're writing a series and nobody fb's you and you're like "So, why am I writing this?" if that makes sense?

I mean, if I know the writer is working on the story I'm more than happy to send something saying "How's it coming? I'm really excited to read the next installment." or "You're so evil to leave me hanging like this! Write more! ;D " because I've gotten LoC's like that and they've made me be like "Oooh, someone wants to read this!" and it makes me want to work on it (not that I wouldn't work on it if I didn't get those, but sometimes the motivation helps). But...when I was reading stories over on ffn, the "I won't write anymore of this story until I get x pieces of fb." annoyed the hell out of me, 'cause blackmail much?

Hmm, does that make sense? Now I'm all paranoid. I guess what I'm saying is, it all depends on the context.

Re:

[serafina20.livejournal.com]

Hmm, you know, it depends. I guess I would say not really, but then, I'm one of those people who always puts a shameless feedback plug in my fics. But I always try and word it creatively, does that count? *g*

No. That's fine. It's normal to want people to feedback you. And I think it's fine to give a slight nudge, because sometimes people need one. But I'm talking about someone how emotinally blackmails readers by saying things like, "I need feedback to write." Or, "As (blank) can tell you, I write faster/more when I get feedback." Most writers are fine; it's just that every time I see this person's name, it seems like I'm reading a plea for feedback and I start to think that if she wrote as much as she begged, maybe she'd writer faster. *g*

Mannip and fic

[hederahelix.livejournal.com]

I'm with Serafina on this one. I've seen it happen on different lists in different fandoms, and each time it drives me batty. Anyone who writes fan fic must certainly enjoy getting feedback. Feedback is an ego stroking kind of thing, and really, who doesn't like that? But I do get annoyed by people who *only* write for feedback for two reasons. First, the fic that i most respect is fic in which the author clearly cares about the integrity of the fic itself--authors who are willing to treat even their favorite characters without kid gloves, willing to see the flaws and complexities of characters and write them in all their screwed up glory. Secondly, I do not respond well to people trying to manipulate me, and when an author begs for feedback or holds fic hostage in order to try to wheedle feedback out of me, I get incredibly stubborn. I dig my heels in and refuse to feedback that fic even if I was going to send feedback for it anyway because I do not like being manipulated like that.

I guess it boils down to the fact that I think that feedback is a gift from a reader who liked the fic, not a right that authors should expect when they post.