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Howl at the Moon

Wayne Gray

Entry posted by Wayne Gray

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I'm pissed.

Maybe I shouldn't be. Perhaps I should expect less; I don't know.

I post work on multiple sites.  Well, on a different site I've built a reputation as a sort of HEA, feel-good, everybody wins writer.  I guess I should have known to post my aggressive, erotic story Silverwolf there would throw people (even though I put a warning on the first chapter to explain it was very different from my usual offering).

I am utterly fine getting emails to say that "Hey, this isn't my thing, but I'll wait for Bluegrass Symphony."  I got a few of those, and they were cool.  I replied to thank them and moved on to do my thing.

Then the shit started.  About a dozen people emailed explicitly to try and get me to stop writing Silverwolf because it's "awful."  Nothing constructive.  No actual critique I could use to improve my work.  These were designed, specifically to discourage me from writing Silverwolf and to focus only on Bluegrass Symphony.

You know what?  I'm finishing Silverwolf.  I'm up to chapter ten on Bluegrass Symphony, and that's where it'll stay for a while.

They can choose to read or not, but I'm now convinced it's time to howl at the moon.

P.S. No, I'm not thinly veiling that the readership of GA has been problematic.  Y'all ain't the problem and have been great every step of the way.  I also don't want to give the impression that I don't want constructive feedback.  I DO.  What I'm describing is something else - something unhelpful, and intended to be discouraging.

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Mikiesboy
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💖  that's for you.  i am sorry people have been doing this. You are a great storyteller .. and from someone who tries to never write the same story twice i am glad to see the different types of work from you. 

Give me all of it.. the ugly, beautiful, charming, and mean. HEA.. and not so much. Give me the story and world you are writing.. me and a lot of others will read it.

Hang in there... write what feels right to you.   When you are good and ready.

xo  tim

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chris191070
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So Sorry to hear you getting shitty emails about Silverwolf.

Yes it’s different to your normal fare but it is an excellent piece of writing that deserves to be finished.

I look forward to the conclusion of both Bluegrass Symphony and Silverwolf.

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Wayne Gray
3 minutes ago, Mikiesboy said:

💖  that's for you.  i am sorry people have been doing this. You are a great storyteller .. and from someone who tries to never write the same story twice i am glad to see the different types of work from you. 

Give me all of it.. the ugly, beautiful, charming, and mean. HEA.. and not so much. Give me the story and world you are writing.. me and a lot of others will read it.

Hang in there... write what feels right to you.   When you are good and ready.

xo  tim

Thanks, tim.  I want to write different things.  I've written a lot of HEA, and I will write more.  But, right now I want to stretch and write my slutty werewolf with his swinging boyfriend, as they tear up the northern coast of California in and outside the bedroom.

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Wayne Gray
10 minutes ago, chris191070 said:

So Sorry to hear you getting shitty emails about Silverwolf.

Yes it’s different to your normal fare but it is an excellent piece of writing that deserves to be finished.

I look forward to the conclusion of both Bluegrass Symphony and Silverwolf.

Thanks, Chris.  I'll finish both, no doubt.  But I'm going silent on that other site for a while.

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Brayon
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The angry react, is because this pissed me off for you. I've had a similar experience, but I walked into it. I took a story I was writing to a workshop of other authors. I described the story, they read the published chapters and some of the unpublished stuff, and then proceeded to trash every word of it. I walked out of the workshop, thinking I will never write another word of that story. I haven't yet.

Readers need to understand that what they say to us, can make us want to continue, or to tell someone to go screw themselves.

I feel bad that this happened to you Wayne. Don't get discouraged, and don't mind the haters.

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Wayne Gray
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11 minutes ago, BHopper2 said:

The angry react, is because this pissed me off for you. I've had a similar experience, but I walked into it. I took a story I was writing to a workshop of other authors. I described the story, they read the published chapters and some of the unpublished stuff, and then proceeded to trash every word of it. I walked out of the workshop, thinking I will never write another word of that story. I haven't yet.

Readers need to understand that what they say to us, can make us want to continue, or to tell someone to go screw themselves.

I feel bad that this happened to you Wayne. Don't get discouraged, and don't mind the haters.

Thanks, man.

I'm really fine with feedback that helps me actually improve.  I get that a lot, and I take the good, internalize it, and it makes me better.  It sounds like you didn't get much in the way of actionable feedback, and it puts us in the same place.

Maybe I'm bassackwards, but this situation makes me want to finish Silverwolf even more.

Fuck em.

Ugh, I'm still pissed.  lol  Jeez.

Edited by Wayne Gray
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Jason Rimbaud
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I have never understood why just because you don't like a "thing", some people feel like they need to voice that opinion, loudly at times. There is an author on this site that is well loved and respected that I think has zero talent. This is the closest I've ever come to mentioning it since 2004 when I first found him on Nifty. It wouldn't serve anyone but my own ego if I were to let my true thoughts on this particular writer get out online. It's so self-serving and egotistical to assume that I'm right and they are wrong.

I do know that Stephen King has felt these types of backlash once upon a time when he wanted to write things other than "horror". That is why he published under Richard Bachman (spelling?), no one would accept his other writings. I'm not suggesting you change pen names, but it is a very real reality when an author becomes known as a writer of certain genres and then tries to switch the script so to speak, that readers get put off. As in this case, they found you and liked your feel good story, and now you are writing in a genre they probably never read and they feel betrayed. And if your blog is any indication, they probably feel like they have inside access to you as you are always prompt to respond to anyone commenting on your Blog, which I can only assume you are the same way with story feedback.

You should see some of the comments I use to get when I was writing and posting things regularly. And for the same reason I'll never be known as a writer, I only write for myself and the rest of the world could get bent for all I care. Keep your chin up and do what makes sense to you as a creator, those that don't appreciate this story can move out of the way for those that find this genre their cup of tea. If you have talent, people will find you. The loudest critics online are usually miserable people that believe what they think matters, the only thing that truly matters is you. 

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Wayne Gray
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@Jason Rimbaud, as I said, I'm fine if someone wants to help me be a better writer, and has input which will further that goal.  I can handle mixed messages too - so long as there's something, anything in it which I can take as a lesson.  It's where there's nothing but pure discouragement which sets me off.

You're right, I'm very responsive to communications of all kinds.  I feel I owe readers that.

I probably don't have to imagine what sort of stuff you have had to deal with when you were writing.  I too have received communications specifically designed to drag me down - though never at the rate which prompted this blog post.

It doesn't matter.  I write.  I'm in charge.  They read, or they don't.

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Thorn Wilde

As I've said already, fuck those guys. You're an awesome storyteller. If they don't like the story you're telling, they can stop reading, but e-mailing you and telling you to stop writing is just being a dick. It's not like a person has a finite amount of creativity, you're working on and writing both, and not writing one won't necessarily make you write more of the other. Keep doing your thing! ❤️ 

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Wayne Gray
7 minutes ago, Thorn Wilde said:

As I've said already, fuck those guys. You're an awesome storyteller. If they don't like the story you're telling, they can stop reading, but e-mailing you and telling you to stop writing is just being a dick. It's not like a person has a finite amount of creativity, you're working on and writing both, and not writing one won't necessarily make you write more of the other. Keep doing your thing! ❤️ 

Thanks, Thorn.

I know it shouldn't let it bother me.  I keep coming back to the idea that if I were younger and less invested in doing this writing thing, then crap like this could push me to just stop.  But, I'm stubborn.  I want to write too much, and I will continue to do so.

Your encouragement helps.  Thank you.  🙂

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CassieQ
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I sometimes write things that get pretty dark.  I also write things that are cute and sweet.  But if someone told me what I should be writing, I would probably lose my shit.  And then write more of what they didn't like out of pure spite.  Write what you like.  If they don't like it, screw 'em, they can find something else to read, but no one has the right to tell you what to write...or what not to write.  

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Wayne Gray
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5 minutes ago, CassieQ said:

I sometimes write things that get pretty dark.  I also write things that are cute and sweet.  But if someone told me what I should be writing, I would probably lose my shit.  And then write more of what they didn't like out of pure spite.  Write what you like.  If they don't like it, screw 'em, they can find something else to read, but no one has the right to tell you what to write...or what not to write.  

Thanks.  🙂
And yeah, I'm feeling like some spite writing is in my future.  Luckily, I also enjoy writing Silverwolf.  I can give gays who think every relationship should be monogamous uncomfortable boners when my main characters fuck around AND write something I like at the same time.

Win-win.

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Thorn Wilde
9 hours ago, Wayne Gray said:

Thanks, Thorn.

I know it shouldn't let it bother me.  I keep coming back to the idea that if I were younger and less invested in doing this writing thing, then crap like this could push me to just stop.  But, I'm stubborn.  I want to write too much, and I will continue to do so.

Your encouragement helps.  Thank you.  🙂

This part. I think about that a lot, too, when people are being dicks on the Internet, whether it's bullying that I can overlook but would have seriously wounded younger me, or this kind of criticism which could easily dissuade a less confident writer from ever writing again. Which is awful. Never discourage art, ever. Ugh. 

Edited by Thorn Wilde
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Brayon

Your blog made me go check things. It was a year ago this month, that I went to that Writers' Workshop, and then rage quit my story. I actually looked at it without getting pissed, and in one archive, I found the next chapter I thought I had lost.

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Wayne Gray
19 minutes ago, BHopper2 said:

Your blog made me go check things. It was a year ago this month, that I went to that Writers' Workshop, and then rage quit my story. I actually looked at it without getting pissed, and in one archive, I found the next chapter I thought I had lost.

Sounds like it's a project that merits another look.

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Brayon
12 minutes ago, Wayne Gray said:

Sounds like it's a project that merits another look.

It's on the list now.

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BASILB

😊 I feel you and I understand their feeling kind of.... The first day I read silverwolf, I was enjoying the story and fighting with it in my imagination to be a certain way and it always refused to be. I get pissed,relaxed then I enjoyed it again. The day the emotional reader guy fucked the wolfguy,believe me I was pissed I don't know why, but every time the wolfguy get the upper hand I get happy again. *let me just say the story is a great one,but it twist readers (myself) soft spot.* the feeling is like your sport team is getting fucked and you want them to do the fucking😁. I Loved it BTW. I could picture everything in my mind like watching a movie while reading it.💕💕

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Wayne Gray
1 hour ago, BASILB said:

😊 I feel you and I understand their feeling kind of.... The first day I read silverwolf, I was enjoying the story and fighting with it in my imagination to be a certain way and it always refused to be. I get pissed,relaxed then I enjoyed it again. The day the emotional reader guy fucked the wolfguy,believe me I was pissed I don't know why, but every time the wolfguy get the upper hand I get happy again. *let me just say the story is a great one,but it twist readers (myself) soft spot.* the feeling is like your sport team is getting fucked and you want them to do the fucking😁. I Loved it BTW. I could picture everything in my mind like watching a movie while reading it.💕💕

Heh.  See, to me all of this is great.
The evocation of emotion is what I'm out to do.  That might be "No, dude, no, don't let that twig screw you.  Shit.  You caved you weak bastard.  Fine, he's hot and hung, but still."  Then the next time Jed is having his way in spades with Wolfgang in the kitchen.  😉  How you feel and what you are saying, that's different from what I describe.  All of what you're writing is encouraging.  There's always going to be moments the plot doesn't go the way of the reader's imagination.  That's always fine.

I'm glad you like the story.  There's more coming for it.

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Reader1810
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Quote

About a dozen people emailed explicitly to try and get me to stop writing Silverwolf because it's "awful."  Nothing constructive.  No actual critique I could use to improve my work.

Comments like these are worth less than the dirt we wipe off our shoes, and should never be taken as having an ounce of merit. It’s comments like these that come from people who talk to hear themselves speak. 

Write what inspires you, and feeds your creativity. :) 

 

****

Off topic, but I just realized what these sentences look like taking into account the first few words in each sentence. 

Good thing I’m not a writer.... :P 

 

 

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Wayne Gray

@Reader1810thanks for the nice comments.

I'm largely over it.  Now that I've got a plan, I feel better about things.

Plus I'm full of a delicious brunch.  That always helps.

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MacGreg

It's unfortunate that you have to be subjected to ridicule from readers who obviously admire you as a writer and love your work but are too selfish to appreciate your right to express creativity in the way you choose. Keep doing what inspires you and f*ck those who can't be decent towards you.

Perhaps one positive take-away from this experience is that you've developed a faithful readership, and some of those readers feel so passionate about your stories that they can't help but voice their disdain when something doesn't go their way.

As the adage goes: you can't please everybody all of the time.

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Wayne Gray
6 minutes ago, MacGreg said:

It's unfortunate that you have to be subjected to ridicule from readers who obviously admire you as a writer and love your work but are too selfish to appreciate your right to express creativity in the way you choose. Keep doing what inspires you and f*ck those who can't be decent towards you.

Perhaps one positive take-away from this experience is that you've developed a faithful readership, and some of those readers feel so passionate about your stories that they can't help but voice their disdain when something doesn't go their way.

As the adage goes: you can't please everybody all of the time.

Thanks, Mac.
It's good advice, and I'll take it to heart.  I know I'll write both stories because both inspire me in different ways.
Silverwolf - I get to play with these sexual dynamics that I don't necessarily feel confident with in other scenarios.  There are no labels, just the acts themselves.  The reader can decide who and what they are, and I don't have to.
Bluegrass Symphony - I love that story.  It feels so good to write, hear the dialogue in my mind, and recall all the things about my home that I love.
 
That's an interesting take - that readers are so invested in my work they try and steer my efforts.  That's... weirdly flattering.  Thanks for that perspective.

Onward.  I've got a werewolf to write.

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Fae Briona
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8 minutes ago, Wayne Gray said:

 There are no labels, just the acts themselves. 

Unfortunately, we put too much power in labels -- a general human failing, that causes way too many problems. 🤔

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Wayne Gray
5 minutes ago, Fae Briona said:

Unfortunately, we put too much power in labels -- a general human failing, that causes way too many problems. 🤔

I think you're right.  It's not my place to rock that particular boat, but it is mine to just do my own thing - which, I've no problem doing.

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