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[RokofAges75]

If I was writing hardcore on a story like some of you (Mare) are right now, I'd probably keep updating and hope that people would come into my thread to leave feedback or just review on my site.  But since I'm not, I probably won't update again until reviews are back (assuming we're not talking months here).  I still have a few unposted chapters on a couple of stories, but since I don't know when I will have time to write again, I'm not in any big hurry to post them.

[FrickingKaos]

I will still post my chapters and hope people take time to review on my update thread, comment pn twitter, something. I really do enjoy feedback because it motivates me. Hopefully it will be working agaIn soon.

[emilo]

Oh, how I wish I had a good answer to this question.  On one hand, I'm a big fan of getting reviews.  On the other, it's still nice to see the read count go up.  It would probably be wise of me to get back ahead a few chapters on my current story (and maybe work on some others!) before I post any more updates, so depending on how long this lasts, that's probably what I'm going to do for now.  I had never really thought of using an update thread for reviews, so I may set one of those up now!  My story was the first on the most recent page both when the site went down a couple days ago and when reviews were disabled this morning.  See?  All my fault somehow! lol.  I think (or at least hope!) that maybe I've missed out on a few reviews because of that.

[mare]

I hope you saw my review! I left you a really long one this morning and then when I hit send it didn't go through so I left ANOTHER long one and then about ten minutes later the reviews were disabled. So on my third attempt I'm just going with "Great job!" LOL

[emilo]

I did!  And oddly enough, as I just explained in my new update thread, I was able to respond to it by clicking on the link in my e-mail.  Very weird.  And also, I apologize for any new site snafus that may arise now that I've been causing trouble again.

[mare]

I'm not sure what else could possibly happen but when it does at least we'll know who to blame! LOL

[Sakabelle]

I have been busy this week at work with overtime, and moving at the end of this month so my writing has been put on hold anyway.

I was actually going to post another new chapter of Cruel Angel since I'm pretty far ahead in the posting, but with the way AC's been lately, I've held off. The reason I post is obviously to get comments, I wouldn't post if I didn't care about people reading. I'll definitely keep writing it but I might wait to start posting again until the site is back to being fully functional.

It's just irritating to have only a half functional site. Also I saw in one of the other threads that you can still link to reviews, just not post new reviews. This just proves me to how badly and half-assed eFiction is coded, that disabling reviews doesn't truly disable reviews. *end programmer rant* lol

[Pengi]

The reviews are a HUGE part of the writing process for me. As some of you know, I post as I write and I don't usually storyboard the entire story, like I have the general idea mapped out but a lot of things I leave up to the characters and readers as I go. The reviews a lot of times help direct which direction the story will move in. It also helps me correct inadvertent character flaws. Plus, it's just freaking awesome seeing everyone react like crazy to the cliffhangers.. ...

I know it sounds insane, but I'd seriously be taking a creative hit without the reviews and feedback.

I already post on MyConfession.n et and accept reviews via email and twitter (@writerbrat) to keep the lines open to get as much feedback as possible to each of my stories.

I guess I could make an update thread here on the forum, but the way I go on update binges that would be much harder to keep up with for both me and the readers. It could be tough keeping track of what they're responding to, and harder to keep spoilers from happening on other readers... For example, someone's read up to chapter 10 and wants to post a review, logs in and sees the review of someone who's read through chapter 30 and the huge cliffhanger's resolved by then and they know how everything's gonna turn out! And let's face it, my stories ALWAYS have a TON of spoilers. The threat of spoilers might keep people from posting reviews until they've finished the entire story. And like I said, feedback throughout is very important to my writing style.

I mean I'll make an update thread, but I really liked the way AC's review options work. Having the responses in line with the portion of the story that they are about is a great way to keep them organized and avoid spoilers since readers post and it only goes to other responses to the same chapter, not the motherboard of reviews.

I also don't see how posting reviews on the forum saves space compared to posting it inline. Doesn't it generate the same amount of bytes on the host server?

SAVE THE REVIEWS!!!!

[Purpura Lipstick]

I missed the review outage I think. I would probably go back and forth whether to update without the review functionality.  In the end I would likely update since I get so few reviews in the first place and I would want my readers to have something to read. 

I don't tweet about my updates as often anymore but I still usually do twice a day since Twitter feedsget full.  I also try to post here. 

[Rose]

I honestly had no idea how to answer till I had an update ready for the first time in forever. Then I realized I was so excited to update I didn't care if the review feature was down or not. I wanted to share it and knew that while harder, some would find a way to get some feedback my way. And I found the thread worked just fine for me.

[julilly]

In the end, it was the briefest outage we've had compared to other outages LOL

[RokofAges75]

New question!

I just read this article written by Anna Gunn, the actress who plays Skyler White on Breaking Bad.  http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/24/opinion/i-have-a-character-issue.html?_r=0  In it, she talks about the widespread hatred of her character and similar female characters on other shows.  You can read the article even if you've never seen Breaking Bad; it explains the issue without giving away any major spoilers (other than the overall premise of the show).

Reading it made me think of the polarizing effect female characters tend to have in our fandom.  Have any of you written a female character who was hated by your readers?  (Villainesses don't count, since they're supposed to be hated.)  Do you think that hatred was justified, or were you surprised by it?  Have you ever felt like your readers' reaction towards one of your characters spilled over to affect their feelings about the overall story?  As a reader, have you ever felt that way about someone else's character, and did it affect your feelings toward the whole story?

Just wanted to get us talking again!

[mare]

Yay! New question! I read that article when it was first posted and I loved it. I never thought to tie it into this though, smart thinking, Julie! Although I probably didn't think about it because I really don't write many female characters.

As a writer, I don't think I've ever had anyone hate my female characters because in honesty, I don't really think any of my female characters were the least bit memorable. I know it's sad to admit, but it's true. I suck at writing females, except maybe when they are a little nuts or moms. I think I'm pretty good with moms. I would almost wish someone would hate one of my female characters because maybe that would mean I gave them substance? lol

As a reader there have been many females I know people loved and I have not. Probably because once again, since it's BSB fanfic and not random girl fanfic, I tend to be incredibly picky when it comes to a girl who I'm supposed to care about. If I feel like they are trying to steal the thunder away from my boys or if they are overly weak, whiny, or annoying, I am easily turned off. I bet if some of these characters were to stand on their own and had nothing at all to do with BSB, I'd feel differently. I actually enjoy reading strong female characters independently, in a novel setting.

And honestly, yes in those cases where I did not enjoy the female, it did factor into my overall enjoyment of the story to the point where I would skim all the female's parts which in turn makes you miss out on possible vital information and plot.

I can also say though, that many of the stories where I have not liked the female have been incredibly well written and beautiful overall and I have also let the authors know that as well. Sometimes not so much...

[mare]

Let's take Julie's question and expand it to the actual male characters as well, in particular BSB or 1D or NKOTB or whoever else you guys write about.

Have you ever been surprised by people's reactions to the way you are writing the guys? Has anyone ever told you, your portrayal of them is inaccurate or too disturbing or any other thing that made you say "Woah!" lol   

Have you ever read a story where you find you aren't enjoying the portrayal  of one or all of the boys so much that you have stopped reading? What was it exactly that made you stop? The subject matter, the boy being too out of character, too boring etc?

[Sakabelle]

To answer the first part, people on 1DFF hated Brittany from Forever Like This, and the prequel story (which was purely 1D), I Wish. It was a basic love triangle premise - Brittany was dating Harry and Niall had this creepy obsession with her... and people hated her! It was so funny to me because Brittany, though not perfect, didn't do anything nearly as bad as Niall did in that story, but no one said a bad word about him LOL. That kind of answers the other question as well, but he was king douchebag in that story, going behind Harry's back, kissing and confessing his love to his best friend's girlfriend, and then when she told him no, not leaving her the hell alone.

But people hated Brittany lol

Some readers were not cool with how I portrayed Niall in other ways in that story. They didn't have a problem with him being completely selfish in the Brittany situation, but they did have a problem with me establishing his character as kind of womanizing.

I stopped reading most 1D fic except for a few authors who I know will write quality stuff because of this issue - I can't stand it when the guys are out of character and super one dimensional. There are a few BSB stories that I have read where the guys don't act like themselves - I find this with Nick in particular, but that could also just be because I mostly read Nick-centered fic. But for Nick to stop being womanizing and settle down, I find that I need there to be a reason for that. I can't picture him as anything but the nerdy, vulgar popstar I see him as in real life. For me to enjoy a story and see Nick differently, I need a transformation from that to happen within the story, not just be there right at the beginning. I need to watch him change from his recognizable self and grow from that as a result of what happens to him in the story.

I wasn't thinking of any story in particular in that wall of text lol, just the endless Nick stories I have clicked on in my life, because I shamelessly love Nick romance lol.