Reacting to Hate Comments

[ArcadiaBlade]

To be honest it is common to encounter hate comments from time to time. Mine are just mostly grammatic errors which can be fixed. To those who say that my characters are stupid and sometimes being called out morons, i just simply replied.

"I basically copied their personalities from real people. I mostly do logical things and if they act stupid, why not ask the real people themselves to be smart?"

While i am bad at making personalities, i am not basing their genius based on fantasy like illogical mindset. I always tackle their smarts in a psychological way. So, if you as people why your character's dense, please inform them of real people as there are actually dense people on RL. Just they don't understand what they meant. Only the readers do.

When writing fantasy things, it wouldn't be weird if they would act according to the author's ramblings since there is a mystical phenomenon readers wouldn't understand.

I.E The dense characters sometimes don't understand most meaning, it might had sounded wrong from them like a person likes them but he understood that person likes the food or other things and didn't get it.

I just don't believe people are that smart enough to understand most things and its mostly illogical.

 

[Deleted member 29316]

To be honest it is common to encounter hate comments from time to time. Mine are just mostly grammatic errors which can be fixed. To those who say that my characters are stupid and sometimes being called out morons, i just simply replied.

"I basically copied their personalities from real people. I mostly do logical things and if they act stupid, why not ask the real people themselves to be smart?"

While i am bad at making personalities, i am not basing their genius based on fantasy like illogical mindset. I always tackle their smarts in a psychological way. So, if you as people why your character's dense, please inform them of real people as there are actually dense people on RL. Just they don't understand what they meant. Only the readers do.

When writing fantasy things, it wouldn't be weird if they would act according to the author's ramblings since there is a mystical phenomenon readers wouldn't understand.

I.E The dense characters sometimes don't understand most meaning, it might had sounded wrong from them like a person likes them but he understood that person likes the food or other things and didn't get it.

I just don't believe people are that smart enough to understand most things and its mostly illogical.

In my case, it's more like certain readers have a definition for 'dense MC', and applies it to all the MCs they encounter. Just like how the word 'simp' is being applied to some people who are taught to be respectful towards women.

That's why, as long as I know the direction of my story and the growth of my characters, hate comments are just another perspective. I couldn't argue with them, but I can provide my own take.

And yeah, basing characters on real life people is a great way to make a character 'human'...meaning, they are capable of illogical things too.

 

[Ral]

'I know where they are coming from means' that I know where their hate comes from. It doesn't necessarily have to appear in my first post, because it was only raised by you.

It has to raise because it is important.

Plus, the way you talk is like your perspective is the only thing that is valid.

As if you didn't talk like that too?

Though, after saying that, you do change your approach. Well, I can't make myself look unreasonable.

That's why I shared my views in contrast of your own. And yep, I'm telling you that you're not 100% correct, and neither do I. There are gray areas in our perspectives.

If you have started with this then there shouldn't be an issue. In the first place, I didn't really say that my point was 100 percent correct and it was made in the context that if such a thing was done to me. My point was such explanations rarely works.

If you do enjoy explaining to them, then, go. After all, what I said was merely a suggestion as what the poster was asking. You don't have to follow it or agree with it.

Is merely sharing your view on things telling them that they are wrong?

Uh . . . Yeah? Especially if you have opposing views.

That's a pretty narrow take on things. Couldn't we have a gray area?

Well, it just the way things are. If you have opposing views, then it is clear that you think the other view is wrong. Or else you have cognitive dissonance.

If want the gray, then it should approach as that instead of taking an opposing view, which makes things black and white.

And yes, it's nice to talk with you again!

You as well!

To be honest it is common to encounter hate comments from time to time. Mine are just mostly grammatic errors which can be fixed. To those who say that my characters are stupid and sometimes being called out morons, i just simply replied.

"I basically copied their personalities from real people. I mostly do logical things and if they act stupid, why not ask the real people themselves to be smart?"

While i am bad at making personalities, i am not basing their genius based on fantasy like illogical mindset. I always tackle their smarts in a psychological way. So, if you as people why your character's dense, please inform them of real people as there are actually dense people on RL. Just they don't understand what they meant. Only the readers do.

When writing fantasy things, it wouldn't be weird if they would act according to the author's ramblings since there is a mystical phenomenon readers wouldn't understand.

I.E The dense characters sometimes don't understand most meaning, it might had sounded wrong from them like a person likes them but he understood that person likes the food or other things and didn't get it.

I just don't believe people are that smart enough to understand most things and its mostly illogical.

Uh . . .

I understand where you are going from, but real life character rarely makes good fictional characters. It is like how real life dialogue is horrible if written on paper. We are not really reading fiction for it to be just like the real thing.

Not to mention, did you ask the person for permission to put him in your fiction? You can be sued you know.

 

[Deleted member 29316]

It has to raise because it is important.


As if you didn't talk like that too?

Though, after saying that, you do change your approach. Well, I can't make myself look unreasonable.

If you have started with this then there shouldn't be an issue. In the first place, I didn't really say that my point was 100 percent correct and it was made in the context that if such a thing was done to me. My point was such explanations rarely works.

If you do enjoy explaining to them, then, go. After all, what I said was merely a suggestion as what the poster was asking. You don't have to follow it or agree with it.

Uh . . . Yeah? Especially if you have opposing views.


Well, it just the way things are. If you have opposing views, then it is clear that you think the other view is wrong. Or else you have cognitive dissonance.

If want the gray, then it should approach as that instead of taking an opposing view, which makes things black and white.

You as well!

I don't know with you, but others think that my words are not absolute, not completely valid. That's why I added 'I'. It's means my own experience.

So, there we go! We agree on one thing. Well, just to make it clear, those are just my experiences. I don't say they are 100% applicable to everything, but at least it happened (so it might be applicable to some.)

Now let me explain my take on sharing views. How about adding some more information? Is it considered wrong automatically? Like, "You're right, but here's some more things to add to your argument." It's not cognitive dissonance, it's being applied to courts of law.

Now as for your last statement, I think we're having a misunderstanding due to the use of words. I'd be the first to apologize. What I mean by sharing my perspective is not only limited to opposing the views of others; it also includes agreeing on one thing, or adding more information to what has already been said.

 

[Aleth08]

Well, from my experience, if a reader has decided he hates your novel, there's no changing that. Just recently, I had a long discussion with a reader about me adding guns in my fantasy world. It was a side element and a very minor one. But he, in his rage, read it wrong and thought the gun was a spell gun that can shoot spells[it was a only a normal one which just uses concept of spells to shoot normal bullet projectiles]. And so, even after that long discussion, in the end of which he admitted it was his fault for reading wrong and I also had problems in my writing cuz it was early chs so I was also at fault, he still quit leaving a msg a couple of chs later. To that, I was disappointed, but still, I simple left a nice goodbye reply.

I would like to say that you'll get used to those negative comments, but I'll be lying then. You might become slightly numb, but it'll always affect you. I once had an super entitled reader raging in the comments section. He thought it was ok to curse at my story or the characters, or at me, etc., cuz in his eyes, I had somehow set that tone in the novel. And when I asked him to stop [I kinda snapped, and told him to stop acting like an animal in heat], and that I gain nothing from him reading and he didnt have to read if he didnt want to, he went nuts trying to explain how he's increasing my reader count that leads me to earn money since I have my patreon link posted. So, his conclusion was that he has the right to say whatever he wants.
Nevertheless, regardless of his tone, what he was saying wasnt wrong, so I filtered his words in my mind, and kept his criticism. You'll have to learn to do the same if you want to continue.

Also, some advice I can give regarding this is, ignore those comments that say Mc is stupid, or he's dumb, etc, for the most part. I've come to learn that this specific detail happens to be very subjective. For eg. my Mc is a pure mage, yet I received comments raging he's stupid cuz he wasnt increasing his strength stat, or that he doesnt use any melee weapon, or that he doesnt work on his physique, etc. Another similar type you'll get is raging comments based on genre. Just a few days ago someone complained my Mc was 'amoral asshole', when its written such in genre, tags, and even in a note in description.

So all in all, dont expect rational behavior from all the readers. They're not critics, they're just reading your story cuz they were interested, so if something doesnt go according to their expectations, they'll rage. The advice I can give for these kinds of comments is that let it cool down. Get back to that comment later, after you've become calm and can see that comment from a unbiased pov.

 

[Ral]

I don't know with you, but others think that my words are not absolute, not completely valid. That's why I added 'I'. It's means my own experience.

So, there we go! We agree on one thing. Well, just to make it clear, those are just my experiences. I don't say they are 100% applicable to everything, but at least it happened (so it might be applicable to some.)

This is why started with "As a reader, i think it is ...," to indicate that what follows is all my opinion and what I will do in this situation and present it as a suggestion.

Now let me explain my take on sharing views. How about adding some more information? Is it considered wrong automatically? Like, "You're right, but here's some more things to add to your argument." It's not cognitive dissonance, it's being applied to courts of law.

Huh? I don't really get this.

And how is something being applied to courts of law not possible cognitive dissonance. The courts is full of cognitive dissonance.

Now as for your last statement, I think we're having a misunderstanding due to the use of words. I'd be the first to apologize. What I mean by sharing my perspective is not only limited to opposing the views of others; it also includes agreeing on one thing, or adding more information to what has already been said.

I do also need to apologize, so, apologies.

So, here is my perspective. I just don't want to explain to the haters these kind of things, they rarely change their thoughts or feelings of that stuff. As my given example, explaining to a child that their veggies is healthy for them doesn't make them want to eat their veggies. If they hate dense MC, then it is up to them. It is not my task to dictate their taste and preference. And, unlike veggies, it does them no harm to dislike such things.

I just feel that doing such thing is a waste of time.

 

[Deleted member 29316]

I just feel that doing such thing is a waste of time.

Haha! I absolutely get this, especially to those who would just comment and don't bother to read previous comments.

Huh? I don't really get this.

Well, I think I'm using the wrong word, but I'm sharing my point of view that sometimes agree to the POV of the hater. Like, "Yes, I do think he's dense as well. Here are the other instances of it..."

Something along those lines? Sorry, I'm not a native English speaker.

In any case, thanks for the time! Really appreciate the arguments presented. Have a good day!

 

[IDreamNovels]

Well, I am just a newbiew author so I don't have to deal with things like this (yet). But I think I would just ignore comments like these. I could write a few more words of my novel instead of wasting time replying.

 

[Maple-Leaf]

@Maple-Leaf I checked out your story and wth you're good at writing. It's flowing nicely and easy to read, I actually like your writing style. I don't think you will get any hate bruh

*cries*
Thanks

 

[BenJepheneT]

Reacting to hate comments

Imagine having a reader base/exposure big enough to recieve hate comments.

Can't possibly relate

 

[ForestDweller]

Well, from my experience, if a reader has decided he hates your novel, there's no changing that. Just recently, I had a long discussion with a reader about me adding guns in my fantasy world. It was a side element and a very minor one. But he, in his rage, read it wrong and thought the gun was a spell gun that can shoot spells[it was a only a normal one which just uses concept of spells to shoot normal bullet projectiles]. And so, even after that long discussion, in the end of which he admitted it was his fault for reading wrong and I also had problems in my writing cuz it was early chs so I was also at fault, he still quit leaving a msg a couple of chs later. To that, I was disappointed, but still, I simple left a nice goodbye reply.

I would like to say that you'll get used to those negative comments, but I'll be lying then. You might become slightly numb, but it'll always affect you. I once had an super entitled reader raging in the comments section. He thought it was ok to curse at my story or the characters, or at me, etc., cuz in his eyes, I had somehow set that tone in the novel. And when I asked him to stop [I kinda snapped, and told him to stop acting like an animal in heat], and that I gain nothing from him reading and he didnt have to read if he didnt want to, he went nuts trying to explain how he's increasing my reader count that leads me to earn money since I have my patreon link posted. So, his conclusion was that he has the right to say whatever he wants.
Nevertheless, regardless of his tone, what he was saying wasnt wrong, so I filtered his words in my mind, and kept his criticism. You'll have to learn to do the same if you want to continue.

Also, some advice I can give regarding this is, ignore those comments that say Mc is stupid, or he's dumb, etc, for the most part. I've come to learn that this specific detail happens to be very subjective. For eg. my Mc is a pure mage, yet I received comments raging he's stupid cuz he wasnt increasing his strength stat, or that he doesnt use any melee weapon, or that he doesnt work on his physique, etc. Another similar type you'll get is raging comments based on genre. Just a few days ago someone complained my Mc was 'amoral asshole', when its written such in genre, tags, and even in a note in description.

So all in all, dont expect rational behavior from all the readers. They're not critics, they're just reading your story cuz they were interested, so if something doesnt go according to their expectations, they'll rage. The advice I can give for these kinds of comments is that let it cool down. Get back to that comment later, after you've become calm and can see that comment from a unbiased pov.

Funny. My readers criticize my MC for doing the opposite, going for a hybrid build over a pure mage one.

 

[Assurbanipal_II]

Cant relate. So far I didn't get many hate comments. The people who did so stopped eventually. Interestingly, they never replied when I wrote them. They were suddenly very silent then.

 

[vanta_luxe]

Question them. They hate being made to think or explain themselves.
There's some master class manipulators out there, so the easiest way to catch them up in their bullshit is to force them to answer questions.

They will either shut their mouthes, or catch themselves up -- win win.

 

[MagicalDucky]

I have had a few hate comments in my time, but thankfully most of my commenters have had positive things to say. That being said, there have been plenty of people who have criticized my story, usually with varying degrees of civility. For the more civil ones or the ones with actual constructive criticism, I usually just take a step back to think over my story and whether I can actually take their criticism into account and implement it into my story somehow. If I can't, I just apologize and thank them for reading that far at least. But for the ones that are just straight-up insults, I just ignore them or if I do reply, I just tell them something along the lines of "I understand my story isn't for everyone." The people that post those types of hate comments really don't deserve your worry, so honestly, I'd say just let them go if you get any. You learn to live with it eventually.

 

[OvidLemma]

The comments that I receive are largely (overwhelmingly) positive and usually without a whole lot of meat to them (e.g. "great chapter!" or "what a cliffhanger!"). Occasionally, I have a person reacting extremely negatively, usually because some of my stories have a lot of sex and violence in them. For instance, in my recent vampire novel, Transfusion, I have some very gory scenes.

After one particularly gory scene (a vampire's heart gets ripped out), I had a reader state that a scene was too gory (honestly, I thought it was maybe the 3rd goriest in the novel) and tell me I should add a gore/violence warning on the chapter. I told that reader that I understood that the scene was very violent, but that I would not be adding a CW since it's a vampire story that *already* has gore, sex, and explicit language global warning tags for the overall story.

After a scene in which a villain vampire coerces the MC (another vampire) into sex, I had another reader say they hated that scene and request a CW. I complied here, adding a warning at the beginning of the chapter informing readers that there was such a scene. Several days later, I had a different reader message me, informing me that I needed to change the CW wording from 'coercive sex' to 'rape', to which I replied that I had purposefully written the scene to be ambiguous and that readers can make up their own minds. After all, if you believe all coercive sex to be rape (not an unreasonable position), then the two warnings are exactly the same, and if you don't believe this, then it might be an important distinction.

Basically, whenever I get feedback where a reader indicates an extreme negative reaction, I take their concern and emotional experience seriously, but I do not automatically comply with accompanying requests. I consider them like I consider all constructive criticism and I try not to invalidate their feelings, but whether I respond by doing nothing, by altering or clarifying the narrative, or by doing something in-between is entirely at my discretion as the author.

 

[Moonpearl]

The art to accepting constructive criticism goes like this:

Step 1: Step away from the computer/situation. Get emotional. Cry, swear, scream, kick, curse their ten generations of family and their cow... Have at it.

Step 2: Put it aside for several days or a week or two.

Step 3: Force yourself to admit that there may be some truth in what they're saying, but that those are things you can work on. They're not a death sentence or a reflection of deep, innermost personal failure.

Step 4: Read the criticism again with the honest intention of picking out the truth from it. It's fine if you're still a little snarky when you read it - you cope however you want. Just force yourself to engage despite that and don't direct that snark towards the person.

Step 5: Take the advice you needed from it, throw away the bits that are (honestly, truly - not just all of it because you're having a tantrum) useless. Profit.

In terms of actually responding to people... If you have to do it immediately, a simple "thank you for your words" is enough. You can always come back later and respond with more insight once you've had time to think about it. Nobody's going to spite you.

As for responding to real hate comments? Either don't, or kill them with kindness. They want to pick a fight and it will really grind their gears if you refuse them one.

 

[Sloth-of-Bangkok]

You actually get comment. Lucky guys. I get nothing.

 

[Discount_Blade]

Idk. I normally leave my shit-talking on people's works in the reviews. This of course has led me to leave a few less than polite reviews. But bite me. I have to let out my displeasure somewhere. As for per chapter basis, I normally use those just for questions or the occasional "this is good stuff dude". Other than that, I'm not normally a chapter comment section conversationalist. I've seen some chapters in some works rack up 50+ comments and over half of them being some dispute that may or may not always have had the author involved.

I've seen fans bickering about something or another about the stories lore....now these guys....these are the kind of comments I like. If I could have people so wrapped up in my lore that they are cursing people's cows and shit like Moonpearl said...that's be frigging awesome!!!!

Oh and nice one @Moonpearl !!! Cursing cows XDD

 

[Deleted member 29316]

Just gonna leave this here.

It's a review from my work, courtesy of RoyalRoad.

 

[Discount_Blade]

Just gonna leave this here.

It's a review from my work, courtesy of RoyalRoad. View attachment 4064

I genuinely want to believe this was just him fucking with you because otherwise, it's trolling but in an admittedly funny way. I wouldn't mind getting a review like this just for the lolz. That and I'm snorting here reading his last name as "Wong" while he's complaining about Xianxia's. That's hilarious to me XDDD

Also dude...how the hell did you get that font for the url? That's wicked as hell dude!!!