Bad Reviews/ Interpretation

[ShamelessPatheticMook]

I know everyone is entitled to their own opinions and that by posting my novel I invited criticism, but I can't help feeling like they are wrong. Like they missed the point of the story.

It is amazing people can read the same story and come out with completely different experiences. The fact that this is possible is one of the many cool things about humans. It is a fact that fills me with great happiness and saddens me at the same time because of one very simple reason.

Not matter how great the storyteller,
No one can fully understand the purpose of a tale.

I have read so many novels and am always left wondering if I even understood it to its entirety. I don't know if fully understanding a novel will allow me to derive something greater from it, or if that even matters. Because at the end of the day, a novel's job is to entertain. It doesn't matter whether or not you utterly understand it.

Right?
(I might have sidetracked a bit, sorry lol)

 

[Generic.Archdemon]

Yes

 

[Deleted member 54065]

I know everyone is entitled to their own opinions and that by posting my novel I invited criticism, but I can't help feeling like they are wrong. Like they missed the point of the story.

Yes, we all feel the same whenever we receive criticism.

It is amazing people can read the same story and come out with completely different experiences. The fact that this is possible is one of the many cool things about humans. It is a fact that fills me with great happiness and saddens me at the same time because of one very simple reason.

Yep, because people have different beliefs, values and cultural backgrounds.

Not matter how great the storyteller,
No one can fully understand the purpose of a tale.

I have read so many novels and am always left wondering if I even understood it to its entirety. I don't know if fully understanding a novel will allow me to derive something greater from it, or if that even matters. Because at the end of the day, a novel's job is to entertain. It doesn't matter whether or not you utterly understand it.

Right?
(I might have sidetracked a bit, sorry lol)

Now, here's the thing. Critics have different motivations on why they do their thing. Some have genuine concern on the author they follow. Others think they are superior, and criticizing others is their way of satisfying their insecurity. A few are utterly exhausted on what they read, and is airing their frustrations because the story didn't go the way they want it, and there are those who just want to troll because deep inside, they think they are cool.

At the end of the day, it is up to the author to listen to such feedback. Like most, I do not want to receive bad revs. However, we can't stop others from feeling like an airport official and announcing that they don't like you and your story and wish that you're not born.

So, I always make it a point to plan my story ahead, so I can filter the feedbacks and throw the useless ones (those that don't help in my plans). For those I keep, I weigh and implement it in my story if needed.

 

[Corty]

One criticism, be it good or bad, is not valid until more follows. If I start receiving negative criticisms that start painting the picture that there is something wrong with the book, I would start paying them attention. But until they are just sporadic occurrences here and there, I chalk it up to simply someone disliking the story or the way I write, which is fine. I wouldn't change it up as, looking at the positive criticisms, I am convinced I am doing something right.

I advise anyone to do the same.

 

[RepresentingEnvy]

One criticism, be it good or bad, is not valid until more follows. If I start receiving negative criticisms that start painting the picture that there is something wrong with the book, I would start paying them attention. But until they are just sporadic occurrences here and there, I chalk it up to simply someone disliking the story or the way I write, which is fine. I wouldn't change it up as, looking at the positive criticisms, I am convinced I am doing something right.

I advise anyone to do the same.

Yes. You can consider what the negative criticism said, and see if there is any basis as well. They might see an angle you didn't.

You don't have to change the way you write because of it, but it's good to consider.

 

[TotallyHuman]

A lot of writers don't even know they put a bit more than they expect. A person is a mirror of the world they live in, what is considered good and evil, what is rewarded and punished, what values are present, what challenges and what trials are present and how people and nature act. All of it is a mirror through which both the author and the reader show. And it isn't too important what the author wanted to tell. What is important is what the author ended up telling.

 

[Lysander_Works]

The crux of this situation is that the critics who make reviews that don't have much validity still affect the "score" of a novel on its platform, and when it comes to something as personal as a book by an author, it's always going to be harder to take. At the same time, I feel that this is exactly what makes a book rating something that shouldn't be considered much in determining if someone should or shouldn't read it. Product ratings (like stuff you see in online stores) tend to be more trustworthy, because a product literally has that one job a company/seller states for it. For a book, the intended reaction is complex, and sometimes meant to incite deeper feeling from a reader, so it doesn't exclusivity rely on how well it does the job, but also how the rater feels, be it a fair response or not.

It's like a sad truth we can't do much about. If you feel a rating or review is unfair (if is has any comment attached), reply to it explaining why, so that anyone who sees it can know. Dealing with helpful and constructive criticism on the other hand, I won't get into, because it should already be obvious how this can help us improve.

 

[TheEldritchGod]

I know everyone is entitled to their own opinions and that by posting my novel I invited criticism, but I can't help feeling like they are wrong. Like they missed the point of the story.

Okay. I'm gonna talk to you like you are serious about being a writer, okay? If you are just doing this for fun, then ignore everything I say. DO NOT CLICK ON THE SPOILER BELOW FOR ANY REASON OTHER THAN YOU ARE A SERIOUS WRITER AND YOU WANT TO BE GOOD AT THIS. AND BY GOOD I MEAN YOU WANT TO BE GOOOOOOOOD. NOT "I want to improve my craft" BUT YOU WANT TO BE ABLE TO LOOK SOMEONE IN THE EYE AND SAY WITH CONFIDENCE, "I am a damn good author."

Because I can do that. I can look anyone in the eye and say, "I'm a damn good author." and mean it.

If you are doing this for FUN. again...

DO NOT CLICK.

Spoiler: YOU WILL NOT FIND ANY JOY HERE.

You are a goddamn IDIOT.

FIRST. GODDAMN RULE, KID: It doesn't matter what you say, but what your audience HEARS!

You need to get out of this fan fiction, 'I'm just having fun, TEE HEE!" Teeny-Bopper, I draw Hearts on top of all my i's Fuckin' MINDSET.

Look, I once saw this beautiful design. It was all out of glass and looked UGLY AS HELL. I did not goddamn get it. Nobody got it. Do you know why? Because the artist designed it to have LIGHT shown through it and the GODDAMN MUSEUM put it in the MIDDLE of the exhibition hall.

I never forgot that when I figured it out. I asked for a frickin flashlight from the staff and dad showed it through the glass and it became a lighthouse where the beam of light shifted depending on the angle. It was supposed to change as the sun moved through the sky, but because it was layered in three dimensions it looked like ASS. Only the light made it look good.

THIS IS BEING AN AUTHOR IN A NUTSHELL.

It was old, made over a century ago. So nobody understood the context. It was in the wrong environment. Everyone looked at it wrong.

But in the end, it was the ARTIST'S FAULT.

If your audience doesn't understand you, YOU SUCK. YOU FAILED. YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO GET THROUGH TO PEOPLE. THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO UNDERSTAND YOUR WORK, WITHOUT YOU EXPLAINING IT.

No matter how great the storyteller,
No one can fully understand the purpose of a tale.

THIS.

This is why you suck.

Because you are WRONG. If you are a great storyteller, your audience will understand your story.

I write every story with one goal: You will read my story and think of one thing, then when you get to the end, you will thing a second thing that is better than what you thought was happening. Then people read the story a SECOND TIME and it is even BETTER for having known the ending.

A story should get BETTER every time it is read. It should have passages that you go back to read to feel good, to smile, to find wisdom, to find strength, to grant courage, or succor, or just... FEEL.

HKN. Chapter 20. I reread that chapter when I am having a bad day and I AM THE ONE WHO WROTE IT. I have chapters that have brought readers to tears from how sad they are, and for how UPLIFTING they are.

if you read such a chapter and you don't cry, IS IT YOUR FAULT?

No. It is MY fault for failing as a storyteller.

Nobody hits it out of the part 100% of the time. Not every story is for everyone. HKN is not a story for the people who enjoy IWS or FTS, and not even close to my audience for Hotrod Lantern. But if you are the target audience for HKN, it is a real page turner. If it is the sort of story you like, you will find it a gripping tale, I promise you that.

You are not writing for EVERYONE, so if only some people get it, that's the audience you reached. if you didn't want to reach that audience, you failed. If your target audience doesn't understand, you failed.

I didn't write HKN for money. I'm done with that shit. I made a 100k last year and I have a job where I get to sit around and type for hours because I'm just sitting here waiting for something bad to happen. If nothing bad happens, it's a slow night.

So I write what I write knowing that for those who enjoy a certain type of tale, where your MC is broken, but picks himself up and keeps moving forward, to fall, and fail, and try again, then fall, then pick up again, only getting stronger, holding onto his values when he has every reason not to. When he learns he was wrong and accepts it, he becomes a better person for it. To be a false hero then grows beyond that to become a REAL HERO. A flawed man, but a MAN, nonetheless. If you like that sort of story, a story that takes 300k words to get to the end of the first book in a trilogy, then you will LOVE HKN. A story with secret hidden messages, layered intricate plots, mysteries, chaste romance with set backs, risk, and reward.

And so, needless to say, it's got about 12 readers.

I care about what my target audience thinks. I care about those people who can recognize you need to shine a light through the sculpture to understand the art.

And then I wrote Flip The Script and it was so much more popular because it was set in a world where all the women are horny and it's easy to get laid. THEN I only had one sex scene at the end of book one, and most of the book is about setting and slice of life and how growing up is a bitch.

Way more popular.

I Was Summoned is plot with porn, but light on the descriptions of the porn, because I find porn boring. I give you enough to fap. I'm sure you can figure it out on your own.

And each and every one of my books has complaints.

Complaints from people who are not my target audience.

I have read so many novels and am always left wondering if I even understood it to its entirety. I don't know if fully understanding a novel will allow me to derive something greater from it, or if that even matters. Because at the end of the day, a novel's job is to entertain. It doesn't matter whether or not you utterly understand it.

No.

A novel's job is to COMMUNICATE. You are communicating. If the target does not understand you, YOU FAILED.

It doesn't matter if YOU understand it, but you aren't a reader, are you? YOU ARE AN AUTHOR! ACT LIKE ONE!!!

Right?

UGH... NO.

here...

WATCH THIS. RIGHT NOW. EVERY SECOND OF IT.
And after you watch it, you KNOW what I want you to reply to my post with.

 

[SailusGebel]

No.

 

[Sagacious_Punk]

Criticism, like all things in life, is a skill that can be developed and refined. In the case of fictional writing, criticism is a tool for discussion which aims to improve and elevate a given work of art, via various means and methods.

The vast majority of people never do that. What they do is offer their personal opinion, with more or less supportive arguments.

Criticism isn't that. Or at least, it's not only that. Offering opinion is merely the base from which the rest must follow. And like all skills, this is something that takes time and effort and a lot of work. And because being a critic isn't a very marketable skill, and can't be easily applied in everyday life, it's understandable why so few pursue it.

Here's an article which is very useful in this regard:

https://ashedeng.ca/2020/06/12/critique-considerations/

This is merely scratching the tip of the iceberg. But it's a good launchpoint. Even if this is the only resource one decides to study, it'll still make them a much better critique partner than the average internet person.

Also, a final hard truth: if you want to avoid criticism, whether unfounded or not, never publish anything. That's the only way.

Regards,
Sagacious

 

[BlackKnightX]

People read for different reasons, but the most popular one is to have fun and escape. Just look at the bestselling novels of all time and you'll see what I mean.

That, however, doesn't mean other reasons are invalid. Some read to appreciate the prose; they don't care about the story much as long as the prose is good. Some read to get something out of it, a message or lesson. Some read to stack up numbers so they can brag about it. Some read to understand the sensation. Some read to delve deep into the human mind. Some read for meditation.

I, like many people, read for fun and escape and even for comfort. Reading engages your imagination that draws from your memory, thus making reading a highly personal experience. Just the thought of storytelling alone gives you that comfort—that on a mother's lap or beside a campfire vibe.

And people who read just for fun will have different tastes and preferences. My idea of fun is excitement, laughter, freedom, and a good tear. Some people love getting scared, so they read horror. Some like the giddy feeling of being in love, so they read romance. Some like to feel powerful, so they read power fantasy, etc.

Every reason is valid. As a storyteller, your job is to find your people and please the hell out of them.

 

[KrakenRiderEmma]

It was old, made over a century ago. So nobody understood the context. It was in the wrong environment. Everyone looked at it wrong.

But in the end, it was the ARTIST'S FAULT.

I know you’re trying to make a point here about how it’s the author’s responsibility to communicate, which is right — especially because you usually can’t control what anyone else does, so you have to take that responsibility seriously.

However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t others who have their own responsibility, even if they’re beyond your control. A museum, for instance, has highly paid curators whose whole job is precisely to get this kind of thing right and not make that mistake—certainly not for something that’s only 100-200 years old. Most museums have artwork much older than that — if it’s a thousand years old or more, the job gets more difficult. But a hundred years old is nothing for curation, where the job is to know and research how a piece of art was presented, what kind of documentation it came with, etc.

Authors can control expectations of how audiences interact with their work too — that’s a huge part of what titles, covers, and blurbs do. So the communication around a work (for instance the position of a sculpture, the plaque nearby) is often just as important.

——

Anyway… about the main point of this thread. I tend to think that any amount of written or verbal feedback is valuable, even if it’s wrong in your eyes. Maybe especially if it’s wrong. That’s just more information for you about what happens when the things you’ve created go out into the world and start to bump into other human brains.

Of course, every brain is different — so encountering those minds and seeing what happens is literally the only way to “light up” that dark room of consciousness and understand the true shape of what you have made, since you can’t understand that in your own, from your limited and semi-conscious perspective as the creator. So even seeing what happens when someone “doesn’t get it” is valuable and interesting. How could they have understood it better, or known what to expect? Or if it’s not worth changing anything to communicate with someone who truly doesn’t get it, then what does that tell you about what your story is NOT? The negative space that defines its shape. No story can be everything, after all.

If you’re annoyed by a review that completely misses what you understand to be the point… then imagine the even worse scenario, which happens all the time here on SH, which is a 1-star review with no explanation whatsoever. Now that’s a lack of value… there’s no information at all. Does that person just hate some tag on your story? Dislike a different story you wrote? Who knows.

 

[melchi]

I know everyone is entitled to their own opinions and that by posting my novel I invited criticism, but I can't help feeling like they are wrong. Like they missed the point of the story.

Key phrase here "They are wrong"

The moment things become about a person and not the thing in question the whole exchange becomes meaningless.

Critic says: I don't like this.
Author replies: You are wrong.

See the problem? It invalidates the person instead of addressing the things they didn't like. It isn't a meaningful exchange. People are different, they will have distinct likes and dislikes. Yeah, there are not any examples of reviews given but calling people wrong for expressing how they think of a fiction can't go anywhere good.

 

[SailusGebel]

Key phrase here "They are wrong"

The moment things become about a person and not the thing in question the whole exchange becomes meaningless.

Critic says: I don't like this.
Author replies: You are wrong.

See the problem? It invalidates the person instead of addressing the things they didn't like. It isn't a meaningful exchange. People are different, they will have distinct likes and dislikes. Yeah, there are not any examples of reviews given but calling people wrong for expressing how they think of a fiction can't go anywhere good.

spectacularly based melchi

 

[RepresentingEnvy]

Key phrase here "They are wrong"

The moment things become about a person and not the thing in question the whole exchange becomes meaningless.

Critic says: I don't like this.
Author replies: You are wrong.

See the problem? It invalidates the person instead of addressing the things they didn't like. It isn't a meaningful exchange. People are different, they will have distinct likes and dislikes. Yeah, there are not any examples of reviews given but calling people wrong for expressing how they think of a fiction can't go anywhere good.

True. It requires critical thinking skills to examine criticism. Though op isn't completely wrong.

Everyone can come with a different meaning to a novel, or at least a part of a novel. That's why readers are always asking questions, even if most readers get it.

However, I think it is more like a general understanding, deeper understanding, and not understanding. Rarely is the novel so open-ended that you can come up with a ton of meanings to an ending, for example. It's either the reader gets it, understands a deeper context (something most readers missed), or doesn't understand it.

This is the case for most novels I think.

 

[wresch]

How helpful are reviews? I find general reviews - overall statements about a book - aren't much help at all. The reviewer doesn't care for your genre or your subject. Fine. Not everyone will. But I might still have a good story to tell - just not to you. What helps me is specific statements about a scene or setting or character. Those reviews give me something to work on. Is my character's motivation not clear? Okay, I can fix that. Do I have a plot hole? Fine. I was planning a revision anyway. Now I know where to do more work.

Just a point about eNovels here. I wonder how many published authors wish they had a chance to update a scene or change a character. But once it's on paper, you have to live with it. EBooks? I think I have revised and republished every book of mine. Reviews help me as I do that. And, in truth, after I have been away from a book for months (or years) I have new ideas. Change is good. None of my books may be great literature, but each keeps getting better (or less bad). ;-)

 

[John_Owl]

Okay. I'm gonna talk to you like you are serious about being a writer, okay? If you are just doing this for fun, then ignore everything I say. DO NOT CLICK ON THE SPOILER BELOW FOR ANY REASON OTHER THAN YOU ARE A SERIOUS WRITER AND YOU WANT TO BE GOOD AT THIS. AND BY GOOD I MEAN YOU WANT TO BE GOOOOOOOOD. NOT "I want to improve my craft" BUT YOU WANT TO BE ABLE TO LOOK SOMEONE IN THE EYE AND SAY WITH CONFIDENCE, "I am a damn good author."

Because I can do that. I can look anyone in the eye and say, "I'm a damn good author." and mean it.

If you are doing this for FUN. again...

DO NOT CLICK.

Spoiler: YOU WILL NOT FIND ANY JOY HERE.

You are a goddamn IDIOT.

FIRST. GODDAMN RULE, KID: It doesn't matter what you say, but what your audience HEARS!

You need to get out of this fan fiction, 'I'm just having fun, TEE HEE!" Teeny-Bopper, I draw Hearts on top of all my i's Fuckin' MINDSET.

Look, I once saw this beautiful design. It was all out of glass and looked UGLY AS HELL. I did not goddamn get it. Nobody got it. Do you know why? Because the artist designed it to have LIGHT shown through it and the GODDAMN MUSEUM put it in the MIDDLE of the exhibition hall.

I never forgot that when I figured it out. I asked for a frickin flashlight from the staff and dad showed it through the glass and it became a lighthouse where the beam of light shifted depending on the angle. It was supposed to change as the sun moved through the sky, but because it was layered in three dimensions it looked like ASS. Only the light made it look good.

THIS IS BEING AN AUTHOR IN A NUTSHELL.

It was old, made over a century ago. So nobody understood the context. It was in the wrong environment. Everyone looked at it wrong.

But in the end, it was the ARTIST'S FAULT.

If your audience doesn't understand you, YOU SUCK. YOU FAILED. YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO GET THROUGH TO PEOPLE. THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO UNDERSTAND YOUR WORK, WITHOUT YOU EXPLAINING IT.

THIS.

This is why you suck.

Because you are WRONG. If you are a great storyteller, your audience will understand your story.

I write every story with one goal: You will read my story and think of one thing, then when you get to the end, you will thing a second thing that is better than what you thought was happening. Then people read the story a SECOND TIME and it is even BETTER for having known the ending.

A story should get BETTER every time it is read. It should have passages that you go back to read to feel good, to smile, to find wisdom, to find strength, to grant courage, or succor, or just... FEEL.

HKN. Chapter 20. I reread that chapter when I am having a bad day and I AM THE ONE WHO WROTE IT. I have chapters that have brought readers to tears from how sad they are, and for how UPLIFTING they are.

if you read such a chapter and you don't cry, IS IT YOUR FAULT?

No. It is MY fault for failing as a storyteller.

Nobody hits it out of the part 100% of the time. Not every story is for everyone. HKN is not a story for the people who enjoy IWS or FTS, and not even close to my audience for Hotrod Lantern. But if you are the target audience for HKN, it is a real page turner. If it is the sort of story you like, you will find it a gripping tale, I promise you that.

You are not writing for EVERYONE, so if only some people get it, that's the audience you reached. if you didn't want to reach that audience, you failed. If your target audience doesn't understand, you failed.

I didn't write HKN for money. I'm done with that shit. I made a 100k last year and I have a job where I get to sit around and type for hours because I'm just sitting here waiting for something bad to happen. If nothing bad happens, it's a slow night.

So I write what I write knowing that for those who enjoy a certain type of tale, where your MC is broken, but picks himself up and keeps moving forward, to fall, and fail, and try again, then fall, then pick up again, only getting stronger, holding onto his values when he has every reason not to. When he learns he was wrong and accepts it, he becomes a better person for it. To be a false hero then grows beyond that to become a REAL HERO. A flawed man, but a MAN, nonetheless. If you like that sort of story, a story that takes 300k words to get to the end of the first book in a trilogy, then you will LOVE HKN. A story with secret hidden messages, layered intricate plots, mysteries, chaste romance with set backs, risk, and reward.

And so, needless to say, it's got about 12 readers.

I care about what my target audience thinks. I care about those people who can recognize you need to shine a light through the sculpture to understand the art.

And then I wrote Flip The Script and it was so much more popular because it was set in a world where all the women are horny and it's easy to get laid. THEN I only had one sex scene at the end of book one, and most of the book is about setting and slice of life and how growing up is a bitch.

Way more popular.

I Was Summoned is plot with porn, but light on the descriptions of the porn, because I find porn boring. I give you enough to fap. I'm sure you can figure it out on your own.

And each and every one of my books has complaints.

Complaints from people who are not my target audience.

No.

A novel's job is to COMMUNICATE. You are communicating. If the target does not understand you, YOU FAILED.

It doesn't matter if YOU understand it, but you aren't a reader, are you? YOU ARE AN AUTHOR! ACT LIKE ONE!!!

UGH... NO.

here...

WATCH THIS. RIGHT NOW. EVERY SECOND OF IT.
And after you watch it, you KNOW what I want you to reply to my post with.

I agree with most of what you said, save for one part. a writer doesn't suck as writing if a reader doesn't 'get it', or doesn't feel what they're supposed to feel, or whatever. the writer would suck at writing if a reader with a similar background didn't feel similar reading the same passage.

as was said here:

A lot of writers don't even know they put a bit more than they expect. A person is a mirror of the world they live in, what is considered good and evil, what is rewarded and punished, what values are present, what challenges and what trials are present and how people and nature act. All of it is a mirror through which both the author and the reader show. And it isn't too important what the author wanted to tell. What is important is what the author ended up telling.

You, as a reader, are a mirror of what you read. Your works as a writer are a mirror of yourself. what this means is that your works are based, however loosely, on your own experiences. that mirror is then reflecting whatever the reader experienced in their life.

let me put it simply, as I'm tired... If you experience something particular, you can include that in your writing. then a reader with different experiences will view it through THEIR lens, not yours.

As i've included xenophobia in my current running webnovel, lets go with racism as an example. I'm a half native that's experienced hate from multiple angles. so when I write racism, it's through that lens. but then a reader who's only experienced it from a different angle will read it through a different lens.

in this way, your analogy to the light piece was accurate. did you see the same light show the artist did? no, because the exact color hue of the light, the angle, the heat of the light, even minute changes like the exact composition of the wavelengths included in the light (a subtly different blue wavelength, or slightly less red) that doesn't make any noticeable difference can make the whole piece FEEL different. because that's how physics works. ANY minute change that isn't calculable without special instruments can change the entire atmosphere.

back to the analogy now. the artist is the writer, words are our colored glass, and the light used to make it shine is the lens we view it through. unless you recreated the EXACT moment the artist made the piece using the same room, the same temperature, the same light source, even so minor as ensuring the exact same barometric pressure, you won't see exactly the same piece as he did. now that's not to say that it's not still beautiful, but the only possible way a reader will know EXACTLY what you meant is if they've lived the EXACT same life as you have. they'd have to BE you.

I've cried at multiple scenes some of my audience shrugged at. they've cried at scenes that I intended to be humorous. is that a failing on either part? no. because perhaps a reader's mother had a similar sense of humor, and she died recently, and THAT'S why they cried. it's not a failing on my part. you can't please everyone. as such,a writer should simply strive to be the best author they can be, and let the audience find what they may in it. you holding their hand and explaining "This is what you should be feeling here" feels... disingenuous and honestly, a little patronizing. at least to me.

That said, If your readers like how you write, then by all means. there is no one absolutely correct way to write because it's as much an art form as the light piece you saw.

 

[melchi]

spectacularly based melchi

Bleh, looking back I said the same thing @TheEldritchGod was saying though not as loud.

 

[TheEldritchGod]

However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t others who have their own responsibility, even if they’re beyond your control. A museum, for instance, has highly paid curators whose whole job is precisely to get this kind of thing right and not make that mistake—certainly not for something that’s only 100-200 years old. Most museums have artwork much older than that — if it’s a thousand years old or more, the job gets more difficult. But a hundred years old is nothing for curation, where the job is to know and research how a piece of art was presented, what kind of documentation it came with, etc.

You didn't watch the video, did you?

There is no perfect story, only perfect stories.
There is no success or failure, only DEGREES of success and failure.

The fact you are making excuses means you will not be a good writer. A GOOD writer knows it is his fault if the audience doesn't understand EVERY TIME. A good writer creates solutions, he does not look for EXCUSES.

You make excuses.

Until you learn to accept that Your Success and Your Failure goes hand in hand with Blame and Accolades, you will never be a GOOD writer. You see blame where you should see responsibility. If I am responsible, even if I have no control over the outcome, it is still MY FAULT. I am responsible. Just because my failure was beyond my control does not mean I did not fail.

UNTIL you get OVER this need of yours to care about BLAME and move onto being responsible for your actions, regardless of the amount of control you have, you will never be able to truly become your best self. You will ALWAYS be held back by the limitations imposed upon you.

To reach greatness, one must be willing to risk greatly. If you are forever obsessed with Who Is To Blame, then you will never be able to get past that to what truly matters.

Is what I say "fair"?
Is what I say "just"?

No. It sucks. You might "feel bad". Well, I said at the beginning, if you want to be a GOOD writer, click on the spoiler. You clicked, but you did not like what you read. I don't care. What I speak is the truth. Everyone who internalizes that Success or Failure starts and begins with themselves and nothing else matters, ALWAY goes further and reach higher because they don't waste their time with trivial matters, like pointless excuses. Achieving greatness means getting rid of useless ideas.

"WHO IS TO BLAME?" is MEANINGLESS.

Who will fix it?
How will it be fixed?
What can you do to prevent failure in the future?

THESE are the questions to ask.

You cannot control anything beyond yourself. The world around you cannot be controlled, only influenced. To focus on something you cannot control is a waste of time. Instead, realize the only thing you can control is your own mind and focus on THAT, because anything else is a waste of time.

Control your mind to influence the world and accept that even if you do your best, you can do everything right and still lose.
When you lose, learn from your mistakes and do better, or give up. Everything else is wasted energy.

 

[Erios909]

From experience:
A lot of people who leave 'feedback' are just in a bad mental state and want to lash out and hurt you. Since you can't really do anything to defend yourself, we webserial authors are an easy target. Engaging them just allows them to create a flame war and turn on their troll game, and they always win, and you'll always feel dirty afterword. If its in public, there will be neutral or innocent readers who avoid drama and the story because of it even.

That's why so many people will remind you that posting means you have to grow a thick skin. I generally ignore all feedback now, ban/delete negative comments, and smile and nod when there are positive ones. (Good feedback can be bad just as too much bad. Just remember you always need to work on improving your writing and skills. Nothing is ever perfect.)

Mental health can really be affected by all this and its important to keep a mindful watch on it while you work.