Encouragement or Nagging

[BabyJilly_S]

I  wonder if I may ask your author-y opinions please and apologies if this has been asked before.

I follow many lots of stories and sometimes there are gaps in publishing of chapters, time passes with no updates and so on.  

The question is do you authors like comments in those threads asking? assuming of course that the person posting the comment is not being a dick acting entitled. Do you feel it is encouragement or nagging? 

I know many of you do this for love not payment so want to gauge whether you would want such comments or not really. For me, when I played in a band someone asking when we were playing next was a buzz but writing on a forum is not so personal so things can get misconstrued...does that make sense?

[WBDaddy]

7 hours ago, BabyJilly_S said:

I know many of you do this for love not payment

It's a bit presumptuous of you to insinuate that these two things are mutually exclusive.

The authors I know that do Patreon and Amazon books and all that do so BECAUSE they love writing, and they want to be able to commit themselves full-time to writing, so they need income, otherwise they have to go get a job and only write when they have the time and energy outside of the job and the rest of their life commitments.  

Now, as to your actual question...

For me, having someone dredge up one of my stories and inquire when it will be continued is both good and bad.  Usually the reason that story hasn't been updated for a while is because I'm stuck, so while it feels good knowing someone out there still cares about the story, it's also a painful reminder of how stuck I am.  

[BabyJilly_S]

34 minutes ago, WBDaddy said:

It's a bit presumptuous of you to insinuate that these two things are mutually exclusive.

The authors I know that do Patreon and Amazon books and all that do so BECAUSE they love writing, and they want to be able to commit themselves full-time to writing, so they need income, otherwise they have to go get a job and only write when they have the time and energy outside of the job and the rest of their life commitments.  

Now, as to your actual question...

For me, having someone dredge up one of my stories and inquire when it will be continued is both good and bad.  Usually the reason that story hasn't been updated for a while is because I'm stuck, so while it feels good knowing someone out there still cares about the story, it's also a painful reminder of how stuck I am.  

This is why I am asking the question really, having read some replies its seems like a minefield and I don't want to make people angry or upset them.

It was not my intention to insinuate that people who get paid don't love what they do, that's obviously not the case. I am no author or wordsmith so perhaps it could have been phrased more succinctly.  I rewrote the post lots of times trying to get it right.......

[ValentinesStuff]

8 hours ago, BabyJilly_S said:

I  wonder if I may ask your author-y opinions please and apologies if this has been asked before.

I follow many lots of stories and sometimes there are gaps in publishing of chapters, time passes with no updates and so on.  

The question is do you authors like comments in those threads asking? assuming of course that the person posting the comment is not being a dick acting entitled. Do you feel it is encouragement or nagging? 

I know many of you do this for love not payment so want to gauge whether you would want such comments or not really. For me, when I played in a band someone asking when we were playing next was a buzz but writing on a forum is not so personal so things can get misconstrued...does that make sense?

It depends. If parts are being released fairly regularly, then one person asking after one is missed is OK, a whole bunch of people asking is annoying. Asking repeatedly is annoying.

 

What's more annoying is plot suggestions that don't fit the context or style of the story. 

[Cute_Kitten]

I don't mind people asking when an on-hold story is going to be updated. It lets me know people are still interested in it. I appreciate feedback too- it lets me know people enjoyed the story, even if it's an older story.  As for off the wall plot/ character suggestions....I just find them amusing. I mostly wing it as I go, it's just how my brain works/ how writing works for me, but I generally have an overall idea of what I want the story to look like. I've seen readers afraid of making guesses/ predictions based off of the current events/ current behaviors of the characters, and some authors will get upset over that. That's one of my favorite parts tbh- I like hearing what other people think. Hell, as a reader I often make predictions/ guesses based off of what's currently going on in a story I'm enjoying. 

As for whether it's nagging or encouraging, that's going to vary from person to person. Opinions are like assholes, everyone has one. ?

My only pet peeve is when a story is clearly finished.  "THE END! TY FOR READING!"  then you get a reply like 'zomg gewd storee eye lyked it mor plz can't weight 4 next update plz!'  ?‍♀️  Like, I'm glad you enjoyed the story, or at least had a fappy good time with it. But what part of "The End" did you miss?  (Note, this is VERY different from a reader going "Good story. I liked it. Any plans for a sequel/ other stories with these characters?)

[BabySofia]

I've had a few unfinished works over the years that I've made sure to come back to. For me I can relate to the writers block issue WBDaddy mentioned. I have one work under a different name/genre that I just can't ever seem to get going on the sequel. Not because I like having it abandoned, but more because I had a significant life event that made it hard to get back into the mind I was in then... Frustrating beyond all belief, and I still come back to it every six months or so! 

I think I try to be a bit more approachable with comments though, so in those cases I mostly try and just let them know it's not dead... I just can't get it right now. An occasional poke gets me going though. Emerald Princess was finished last year because of someones prodding at the right moment when I was considering it.

To me the most annoying of these comments are on stories that haven't been updated in over a year with no update from an author. If a story is that old message the author and check and see if they've even logged into the site. Sadly sometimes we see people pass away without ever finishing things.

[Elbs]

My favorite are comments that engage with the story itself, rather than just asking when it'll be updated. Eg "the fun thing is that he'll have no idea why he's started wetting again" when I ended on a cliffhanger about someone doing something that would make the MC lose bladder control. Something that shows you're paying attention to the story.

[Ohmo]

I post stories here for the comments.  "I like it" comments are good for my ego.  More intricate comments and editorial comments help me write better so I can get more "I like its".

If you want to say something about a story, go ahead and say it.  One does not have to be a dick to point out flaws in a work.  Just don't make it personal - avoid the use of the pronoun "you" which turns any critique of a story into a personal remark about the author.