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Author Topic: Peer Pressure  (Read 6402 times)

mare

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Peer Pressure
« on: July 12, 2011, 06:46:47 AM »

Do you ever let peer pressure effect your writing? For instance, if you plan on killing someone off in one of your stories and all your readers keep saying "I hope you don't kill him/her off" do you find yourself sticking to your guns and not straying from your original plan or do you cave and do what your readers want you to do?

Also, how does your feedback influence what you write if at all? (Changing a genre to fit with the popularity of what people seem to want to read, or lack of feedback = lack of updates)

How thin or thick skinned are you when it comes to what other people say reguarding your writing or even talking about your genre in general? do you feel like you can handle it or does it make you stray from writing?

Just some topics I thought of while slowly melting away in my bed last night lol

Hope this will spark another interesting conversation like the one that happened in the romance thread. Be honest as well! Nothing irks me more than people who pretend that some things don't bother them when we all know otherwise! lol

Discuss! :)
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Writing is something you do alone. Its a profession for introverts who want to tell you a story but don't want to make eye contact while doing it. ~ John Green

FrickingKaos

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Re: Peer Pressure
« Reply #1 on: July 12, 2011, 08:14:15 AM »

I never do what the readers want me to do, because the readers will never be satisfied with the outcome. People change how they feel many times while reading. As for the feedback thing...it diacourages me a little when a chapter I am excited about gets none....not gonna lie. But lack of feedback has never kept me from updating. I am not gonna sit here and lie....it bothers me some, not as much as it used to, but it does bother me. Not sure I should feel embarrassed by this or not.
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Sakabelle

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Re: Peer Pressure
« Reply #2 on: July 12, 2011, 08:32:14 AM »

I always stick with my plan. It may not be my original plan, but if anyone is going to change the way the story goes, it's the characters not the readers. It has bothered some of my readers, but what can you do? It's my story and there would be no point in writing it if I didn't stay true to myself.

Tracy, I don't think you should feel embarassed by getting discouraged a little by lack of feedback. However I think that if you're not getting feedback the worst thing you can do is stop writing! I think if you continue to write you'll continue to develop your skills and more people will want to read your writing. Which I know you already do because you are always on most recent! :)
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RokofAges75

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Re: Peer Pressure
« Reply #3 on: July 12, 2011, 09:36:25 AM »

Do you ever let peer pressure effect your writing?
No.  I never post a story without knowing how it will end, and I almost always stick to the ending I envisioned at the beginning of the story.  The only exception would be, like Steph said, if the characters change the direction of the story.  If my original ending wouldn't fit, then I'd have to change it, but I would never do so just to please readers.  I write what I want, knowing it will have an audience of people who like the same thing, and while I take feedback seriously and will always consider ideas or suggestions, I have to stay true to my own vision.

Also, how does your feedback influence what you write if at all?
Sometimes I do get ideas from comments readers make to me, or sometimes their reviews help clarify something in a character I wasn't sure of myself, so I think feedback can be influential in that way.  Does it dictate what I write, though?  No.  Like I said, I wouldn't change the direction of a story just to please readers.  Genre-wise, I write what I feel like writing.  I've written enough drama/romances to know those tend to be the most popular of the stories I write.  Luckily, that's my favorite genre combination, so it works out well.  I know I won't get as much feedback for my suspense, action, horror stuff, and that's okay.  That's why I write a variety.

How thin or thick skinned are you when it comes to what other people say reguarding your writing or even talking about your genre in general? do you feel like you can handle it or does it make you stray from writing?
I would love to say I'm so thick-skinned that nothing bothers me, but that's not totally true.  I'm certainly not thin-skinned enough to stop writing or even threaten to stop because not everyone likes my work or my genre.  But things do get to me sometimes.  It's never fun when a story you've put a ton of time and effort into and are really proud of gets ripped to shreds.  I can't say I don't let that bum me out, but I definitely don't let it hold me back or stop me from writing.  I just keep writing what I want, knowing that while it won't have universal popularity, some readers will like it, and that's all that matters.
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Carter-Orange

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Re: Peer Pressure
« Reply #4 on: July 12, 2011, 10:36:26 AM »

Do you ever let peer pressure effect your writing? For instance, if you plan on killing someone off in one of your stories and all your readers keep saying "I hope you don't kill him/her off" do you find yourself sticking to your guns and not straying from your original plan or do you cave and do what your readers want you to do?
No, I write what I want and usually know where my story is going and how it will end.  We can't please everyone!

Also, how does your feedback influence what you write if at all? (Changing a genre to fit with the popularity of what people seem to want to read, or lack of feedback = lack of updates)
I've written in a few genres and have noticed some are more popular than others, but I write what I want to write and not to please others.  Of course I do like it if people like what I've written though.  I've had stories with no feedback at all, but that doesn't stop me posting because like I said, I do it to please myself.  I hate when people threaten the readers that unless they get some feedback they'll stop the updates.  That makes me think they are only writing for popularity.

How thin or thick skinned are you when it comes to what other people say reguarding your writing or even talking about your genre in general? do you feel like you can handle it or does it make you stray from writing?
I can handle constructive criticism, but not when someone rips my story to shreds.  I know I'm not the best writer around, but I enjoy it and to me, that's the main thing.  So I'd say I'm medium skinned, lol.  Everyone has opinions about the various genres, not everyone is going to like the same thing, but I wouldn't just write in a particular genre to please people.  I like variety in both what I read and write.
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RokofAges75

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Re: Peer Pressure
« Reply #5 on: July 12, 2011, 10:54:25 AM »

I hate when people threaten the readers that unless they get some feedback they'll stop the updates.  That makes me think they are only writing for popularity.

That's a huge pet peeve of mine too!  On the other end of the spectrum, I also hate when people act like reviews don't matter at all to them and don't even bother to reply to their reviews.  It's important to write for yourself, first and foremost, but let's be honest - if we were ONLY writing for ourselves, we wouldn't be posting our stuff for others to read.  I'll be the first to admit, I love feedback, and I look forward to getting reviews!  I just don't let a lack of reviews or bad reviews stop me from writing or posting more chapters.
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Carter-Orange

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Re: Peer Pressure
« Reply #6 on: July 12, 2011, 11:02:06 AM »

That's a huge pet peeve of mine too!  On the other end of the spectrum, I also hate when people act like reviews don't matter at all to them and don't even bother to reply to their reviews.  It's important to write for yourself, first and foremost, but let's be honest - if we were ONLY writing for ourselves, we wouldn't be posting our stuff for others to read.  I'll be the first to admit, I love feedback, and I look forward to getting reviews!  I just don't let a lack of reviews or bad reviews stop me from writing or posting more chapters.

That's how I feel.  I don't write just for reviews, but I do love it when I get them and I always respond to them.  I would never leave a bad review for someone, if I didn't like the story I'd just click back out of it, but I have left reviews about poor spelling and layout (luckily there don't seem to be any of those anymore).

Lack of reviews never stops me posting.
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mare

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Re: Peer Pressure
« Reply #7 on: July 12, 2011, 11:10:00 AM »

That's a huge pet peeve of mine too!  On the other end of the spectrum, I also hate when people act like reviews don't matter at all to them and don't even bother to reply to their reviews.  It's important to write for yourself, first and foremost, but let's be honest - if we were ONLY writing for ourselves, we wouldn't be posting our stuff for others to read.  I'll be the first to admit, I love feedback, and I look forward to getting reviews!  I just don't let a lack of reviews or bad reviews stop me from writing or posting more chapters.

The WORST is when you have someone always complaining about lack of reviews but yet they openly admit to not reviewing stories themselves! Those people drive me nutso!! lol
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RokofAges75

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Re: Peer Pressure
« Reply #8 on: July 12, 2011, 11:11:04 AM »

The WORST is when you have someone always complaining about lack of reviews but yet they openly admit to not reviewing stories themselves! Those people drive me nutso!! lol

Oh my god, yes!! LOL
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Rose

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Re: Peer Pressure
« Reply #9 on: July 12, 2011, 11:13:04 AM »

Do you ever let peer pressure effect your writing?

No. I love my readers but I feel what they want isn't what's best for the story most of the time. Now the characters have changed things up in the story before. Where I'm writing something I had originally planned but suddenly it just doesn't suit the character anymore so the direction needs to change. But I'll never change anything based on the readers. You do that and it could kill your story. It's like writing endless series because of popular demand. Just... no lol.


Also, how does your feedback influence what you write if at all? (Changing a genre to fit with the popularity of what people seem to want to read, or lack of feedback = lack of updates)

It doesn't. I've done every genre under the sun almost (except visuals and slash). And some are more popular than others. Like Nick angst is huge, I learned, when I started RMTW lol. But, I love RMTW just as much as I love writing 00Carter which has almost no reviews. (Which gets delayed cause of some of my collab partners, not because of my own inspiration lol). It's nice to get a lot of reviews but it doesn't decide anything for me.


How thin or thick skinned are you when it comes to what other people say reguarding your writing or even talking about your genre in general? do you feel like you can handle it or does it make you stray from writing?

Now I'm pretty thick skinned when it comes to people. At the same time, I saw someone say once that people who write angst, are wishing whatever we do to them in the story, on them in real life. And I'm not gonna lie, it royally pissed me off at the time. I saw it as a huge insult cause I would never wish anything bad on the Boys for real. The whole point is that it's fiction.

I've never really gotten flames or anything on my actual writing, so I'll be honest - I'm not sure how I'd handle it. I'd like to think I'd just toss it aside. I can handle concrit though, which is different. In that case I'd take it to learn from and keep writing. If it's just a distaste thing, I keep writing knowing I can't please everyone.
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Rose

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Re: Peer Pressure
« Reply #10 on: July 12, 2011, 11:14:02 AM »

The WORST is when you have someone always complaining about lack of reviews but yet they openly admit to not reviewing stories themselves! Those people drive me nutso!! lol

OMG YES! That's annoying purely for the hypocrisy alone!
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"Don't annoy the writer. They may put you in a book and kill you." —Anonymous

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Carter-Orange

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Re: Peer Pressure
« Reply #11 on: July 12, 2011, 11:27:31 AM »

The WORST is when you have someone always complaining about lack of reviews but yet they openly admit to not reviewing stories themselves! Those people drive me nutso!! lol

That is annoying! 

I always review the stories I'm following because I want the writer to know how much I'm loving it and because they put all that effort into writing, it would be rude to just read and not acknowledge that I'd liked it.
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RokofAges75

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Re: Peer Pressure
« Reply #12 on: July 12, 2011, 11:33:59 AM »

Agreed!  The only time I don't review is if I'm following the Thumper rule, or if I just read a chapter and know I'm not going to continue the story.  I don't wanna leave one review and then have someone wonder why I stopped.
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Rose

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Re: Peer Pressure
« Reply #13 on: July 12, 2011, 11:35:13 AM »

That is annoying!  

I always review the stories I'm following because I want the writer to know how much I'm loving it and because they put all that effort into writing, it would be rude to just read and not acknowledge that I'd liked it.

Right, and lets face it, we all enjoy feedback or we wouldn't post it lol. Which is fine, and normal. It's when some writers go overboard and whine about lack of feedback...or brag about getting so many that it's over the top.

Agreed!  The only time I don't review is if I'm following the Thumper rule, or if I just read a chapter and know I'm not going to continue the story.  I don't wanna leave one review and then have someone wonder why I stopped.

Same here - which is a good rule. No one gets hurt feelings if I know I'm not gonna bother.
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“I don’t believe in being serious about anything. I think life is too serious to be taken seriously.” —Ray Bradbury

FrickingKaos

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Re: Peer Pressure
« Reply #14 on: July 12, 2011, 01:02:34 PM »

I try to be really good at reviewing and responding to my reviews.
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