Chasing Wattpad

So you took a writing class, huh?

This is a conversation between a reader and myself in my comments page of my story "The Body". This the first one of its kind I have ever had here on Wattpad. This reader had been on Wattpad all of a day or two when they commented on my story. They do have 4 or 5 stories up and I looked at one and voted on one chapter because I thought it was pretty good. That is why they probably came over and looked at one of my stories. According to their bio they are currently taking writing courses in a University. 

I have seen this before on Wattpad. Wanna be writers and wanna be editors telling people how to write. There is nothing wrong with that. But I submit to you that there is no one here on Wattpad good enough to tell anyone else how to write. Offer suggestions? Sure. Point out something for the sake of clarity or improvement? Sure. But when you offer a suggestion and the writer says thanks but chooses their own path, well, then it's time to shut up. 

I know many people on here have writing books. The kind that actually tell you how to write. I have looked at some of them and some of them are rather good. Some are crap. But they all offer their opinion. They could all be wrong. There are many ways to express things and not one way in particular is the right way. Sure there are guidelines. But those are just directions for growth. I have read brilliant books that follow none of those guidelines. Every writer must find his voice. If we all wrote the same it would be a very boring world and none of us would grow.

Take a peek at this exchange. I am willing to admit that my responses could have been better. And I broke my own rule about responding to this kind of thing too much. But hey, I have been juicing (fruits and veggies) and was out of my mind. My bad.  But I think this person thought too much of themselves. I can take criticism. I just don't need it shoved down my throat by some writer who thinks they are an expert. Ain't nobody got time for dat!

(reader)

"Paragraph breaks after dialogue is said. Shorten the paragraphs. Writing tip. What readers want are short simple paragraphs that are pleasing to the eye and more character detail."

(me) 

"Yeah I've heard that. I forget that most people read on phone. Though I don't think I'll take that into account when I write. Thanks for reading n commenting."

(reader)

"Well I wasn't on my phone. So if you want to do your style then go ahead, but here is my problem. I don't get much of a clear sense of who these people are or even what they look like. I have no idea what this office looks like. Does it look like the office from the show "The Office?" Is it in a mess? If it was in a mess then I would get a little detail about our detective as a person. Detail is key when telling a story."

(Me)

"Sorry, I chose to not put too much detail in this (though I have written other stories differently). This was a conscious choice. I recognize it is a different style of writing than you prefer, but it isn't incorrect. Thousands of readers seemed to enjoy it and in particular I have hundreds of remarks that they enjoyed the writing style because it didn't give too much detail. They enjoyed that it did not spoon feed every little thing into their brain like TV does. But I do get your point. My next one (another true account of one of my cases) might be a little different. Thanks for your input."

(reader)

"We need to know the surrounding details. What does their living room look like? Are their blue chairs, green carpet, does it even have walls? Just because you say that there is a living doesn't mean I should just imagine the rest of the room. Don't need all the detail, but some would be good."

(me)

"I don't know if this comment is for this story (The Search for Alex Fuentes) or The Body. Either case you are wrong. Thanks for commenting." 

[This comment says that because the comment above  showed up on another one of my stories but he was still responding to this thread]

(reader)

"You just keep proving that you cannot accept criticism from anyone. So go ahead attack me or just say I'm wrong. By the way the reason J.R.R Tolkien is so popular is because the Lord of the Rings books have great detail. He spends literally a page on the color of the door and its surroundings. Its so we know were the characters live and how they live. By telling us about the environment we can understand the character. Detail doesn't have to be a paragraph long, it can be a quick sentence. Simple."

(Me)

"No one is attacking you. Just disagreeing with you. You don't seem to accept it."

(reader)

"Okay this is my last comment. Because what I'm getting from you is that you don't take criticism very well. Just because a thousand people say your story is good doesn't mean anything. Blade Runner for example. When it first came out most people hated and now its a classic film. Citizen Kane also was hated when it was shown. Now its considered number one by many people. (Movies are stories just as a short story or novel is. It just shows the detail.) Now if the detective has a messy room that could mean a umber of things. Is he a slob, is he really busy or does he suffer from depression. Detail also tells a story. That's why books have great detail, because it's supposed to tell more then whats in the background, just as dialogue progress the story and reveals something about the character. So if you don't want my criticism (even though people will point something so you can consider fixing it) then just don't comment back. Simple."

(me)

"Let me make this clear so even you can understand this. I don't mind criticism. I told you thank you. If you have this terrible need for me to agree with you just because you took a writing class or two you are going to have to live with disappointment. I thank you for your comments. I don't have to agree with you. If it hurts your feelings that I don't run and change my story just because you think you know what you are talking about you should probably reconsider leaving comments. There are thousands of writers on Wattpad. They don't need your nonsense.  I took a peek at your stories. They are good. They don't look like they were written by anybody that should be handing down expert advice on anything, but I thought they were good. So thanks for all the critiques. I will take them into consideration like I take all other critiques. But don't come on my page pretending you are an expert on anything. Unless you have some best seller hiding somewhere I don't know about. Again, thanks. Good luck with you writing."

(reader)

"First off when I read your first story you had two comments, one that the reason I mentioned the whole "pleasure for the readers eyes and the office tv show" your response was "I guess people read off their phones and tv just gives out to much spoon detail." The reason I don't accept your argument is because its a bad one. "Your wrong." That's it! You can't even defend yourself. Just to let you in on a little secret. I'm currently attending UNI (University of Northern Iowa) Major in English. Minors in Film strides, History and Creative Writing. Do I know everything? No. But when I see a problem I'll politely say what it is and when people critic me I don't give snarky comebacks. It's pretty clear that you have no idea how to write, understand detail, and most things in writing. You can't even defend your works that well. So I'll do you a favor and stop reading all of your stories and giving suggestion."

(Me)

"Nice resume. Good for you. For the 4th time. I appreciate your comments. I think you are wrong in relation to this story. I disagree with you and you are going to be okay. Your life will go on. And yes please stop posting comments on my page if you have a need to be always right. Go do that on your page. Thanks again for your comments and good luck in your writing."

I feel bad for the kid. He has a need to try and put people down with what he believes is his extensive knowledge of writing. I should have just cut him off after the second comment. You can never convince people like this that there is as possibility that they could be wrong or that their opinion is not that important. They won't accept it.

Your thoughts?