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One of the first stories I posted on this site was "The Tale of the Rebel Chieftain."
The story was an experiment. I wanted to write in the style of the Arabian Nights, sustaining that style all the way through. At the same time, as with every story, I wanted to tell an interesting story that my readers would enjoy. I think I accomplished both ends.
My problem is that I've received very little feedback. It's got just over 2,000 hits, not the lowest number of anything I've posted, but hardly the highest. It also has almost no "kudos" and, after being posted for more than six years, it just got its first review.
Reader of this post, please take a look at this "orphan" story and tell me that it's not as bad as the current response would seem to suggest.
Comments
The kudos are easily
The kudos are easily explained, they're a relatively recent addition to the site. So many older stories won't have them. As to comments, I'm not sure what caused it. It's possible people felt uncomfortable with the story. Some people dislike brainwashing tales. I find them rather horrifying. It's the same as killing a person to me. So it makes it more of a horror than a fantasy.
I don't think anyone could ever say your stuff is bad. You're a talented writer and you craft excellent tales. The Eerie Saloon stuff you write is amongst my favourite TG fiction. But if you cater to a genre that some people feel uncomfortable with, you're less likely to get comments.
I hope you'll continue to write your excellent stories nevertheless! I've been looking forward to more Eerie for a few years now.
Well...
Yes, I agree that the idea of brainwashing / identity death is more in the way of horror than fantasy. However, in this case the identity death was an alternative to physical death, possibly with torture. Not fantasy, not horror, but a very good story.
Right, so what's the difference?
Mentally, you die. The only difference seems to be that your body continues to live on without you. It really doesn't make it any nicer. Death is death and he still dies. It most certainly is a horror. He slowly feels himself slipping away, he loses his power, and can do nothing to stop it. Without his personality intact there's not even a chance at redemption. It's a frightening concept.
Genre and perspective
The difference is in how the event is framed. I too see most identity death stories as horror; this one, though, is more a war story or a thriller (in addition to the Arabian Nights connection, of course). At least for me it's not about 'how I ended up as a bimbo in a harem' but rather how a Machiavellian prince found a novel solution to a nasty political problem. The solution was an innovative way to kill the rebel chief and his guards, but killing them fits with the overall theme of the story.
What Identity Death?
I've written a number of stories that included identity death. I even invented a character who was an identity death assassin. That is, he doesn't actually kill the people he's hired to eliminate, he alters reality so that they were born into a different reality with no memory of who that had been. My story "Last Full Measure" features that character.
But there is NO identity death in "Rebel Chieftain." The transformed Jafar remembers that she used to be a male in revolt against the sultan. She just doesn't care because she is in passionate love with him. After he kisses her, she doesn't act like a confused woman who suddenly finds herself in the arms of a man she finds that she loves. It was her masculinity that drowned in the rush of femininity when he kissed her, not her male identity.
She submits, saying that he has conquered her, and asking him to be merciful in that victory, a victory over the rebel chieftain she still remembers having been. And, in the epilogue, the narration mentions that victory but doesn't explain what actually happened.
Link to Tale of the Rebel Chieftain :)
http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/node/1872
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Ellie Dauber, I read and enjoyed
The Tale of the Rebel Chieftain. Hopefully, this blog will get others to kudo and comment.
May Your Light Forever Shine
old stories and kudos
My story "A Christmas Diary" has over 9700 hits and not one single Kudo, so I wouldn't worry about it. I have noticed a trend on the site though and it is a little strange. After the first week a story is up, you are probably going to get all the kudos and comments that it is ever going to receive. I look at my stories link often and can see that some stories still are being read (usually 2 or 3 hits a day, except for A Dress Punishment that consistently gets 20 hits a day or more), and no one bothers to comment or add kudos to them. I don't know why this happens, I don't know what it is about reading an older story that makes people go, nah, I'm not going to bother saying something or hitting that little button on the bottom.
2000 hits is pretty good. Most of my stories are in that range with a rare few exceptions. Think of it this way, 2000 people took time to take a look at your work, the work of a perfect stranger. Not too shabby. The thing that I find gets people reading my older works is by making newer works. Hopefully I will be posting newer stories on this site. I have in my mind to write on my current novel until December 10th and if I am not done, putting it to the side so I can write a christmas story or 2. It isn't a Big Closet Christmas without some little katie (now K.T. Leone) fluff.
Katie Leone (Katie-Leone.com)
Writing is what you do when you put pen to paper, being an author is what you do when you bring words to life
Some insight I hope...
If I've already posted a comment I will typically avoid leaving another comment on the same story unless my specific goal was to bring the story to the attention of other readers. If it's an older story I will never leave a comment on each part, it just seems pointless to me. Instead, I'll usually leave my commenting for the ending.
Older stories are often difficult to find. When I go searching for stories I haven't read I have to deal with delving through hundreds of stories, and multiple parts of the same stories, that I don't like or have already read. Some stories I've dismissed post so much that an entire page of results will be taken up by that one story. I don't have the time to meticulously search through every single response so I'll often times scrolls fast down the page to skip the repeats. This might by why your readership and comments suffer over time. I do realise there are other options (like the daily solo featured on the front page, but that doesn't offer a description of the story, show tags, or anything else, so unless it's a really catchy title I tend not to click it).
A lot of those larger amounts of hits are probably from people going back to read it later, wanting to re-experience the story. I do that a lot when story postings are not to my taste for a long period of time. I'll seek out the stories I did really enjoy and spend a few days (or even weeks) re-reading them.
I'm not going to lie though, often times the reason I don't leave a comment on really old stories is because I don't think the author will even see it. Some authors offer no interaction with their readers, apart from a few sporadic postings here and there, and because of that I've felt that they're just sort of dumping their story on the site, hoping people will enjoy it, and heading off into the wilderness. If I don't think the author is likely to take the time to read my response then I won't bother writing them one. It takes me a while to leave a comment. Any comment from me over a few sentences probably took me at least 10 minutes to create. I edit, re-edit, look at context, and try and make sure I won't be offensive while offering constructive feedback (positive or negative).
That said, I don't need a direct response from an author. I just need to feel like they're actively reading the comments. Seeing them interact with others in the comment section, or through blogs, tells me that they are paying attention. There are specific people I will leave comments for and then there are people who I won't. If someone has previously stated in a blog precisely what they think is okay or not okay in a comment (regarding feedback, specific things like comparing them and their work to other authors or stories annoys some people) I'll often times just not leave any sort of comment for them. Some people are easily upset over what you write, no matter how polite or positive or constructive, and if I feel they can't handle it I won't risk upsetting them.
comments
I always read comments. Sometimes I go back to them over and over through the years as inspiration. That is one of the reasons I was hesitant to pull my stories from Fiction Mania, because I wanted to keep the comments.
I don't always reply to a comment because I think the thank you is implied and if that's all I'm going to say I feel that is artificially inflating my comment count. I know there are some authors who reply to each and every comment and that drives me crazy, just because I get tired of every other comment being a thank you and a reiteration of what's already been said or that I see a story has five new comments but they were all replies from the author that repeats things that have already been said. I actually quit reading certain authors who have done that because I don't feel like getting annoyed.
If someone asks me a question in a story or makes a point or takes something out of context, I generally reply. I usually check my stories daily, so not a day would go by that I wouldn't know if someone said something nice to me or even something critical (I like criticism if it's done the right way because it helps me grow. I don't like being told that I get off on writing abusive crap though, so there is a balance).
I have stories on here that are years and years old and I still go back to them. It's nice to reminisce
Katie Leone (Katie-Leone.com)
Writing is what you do when you put pen to paper, being an author is what you do when you bring words to life
I was told the other day...
...one of the last comments I got on FM before I followed your lead... "This wasn't very erotic," or some such wording. See... that's what you get when your hearing goes wonky. I thought they said neurotic.
Love, Andrea Lena
Reading Comments on Older Stories
I read and try to respond to comments.
A new comment on an older story may offer a fresh insight because of the time gap since the story was first written.
Besides, if a reader takes the time to comment, it would be rude not to read it just because the reader didn't get to the story until years after I posted it.
I have, in fact, asked the Task Force that opperates FictionMania if they couldn't add a feature that alerts an author when a new review is added to a story that's been posted for more than, say six months.