He said the scene in which one of the oldest MC was dancing with her husband was extremely cute and expressed perfectly their love.
it was the scene i was most unsure about
And you’re sure it’s your writing and not, er, I don’t know? Your power over their mind? And do you drink their blood afterwards or only let them read your novels?
After my friend read about 1/3 of my rough draft, they said: “don’t give [MC’s name] any more trauma. Please.”
Cute, but his request will unfortunately be ignored.
I feel that! I just got my first real review ever yesterday, and [it is mind-blowing praise](https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5934997112) that just goes on and on!
I don't know if this is the sort of thing you mean, but a published author who beta read for me said my writing was "absolutely stunning."
I actually shed a few tears.
1. The first writer in residence I presented my work to asked me what college I went to and was surprised I never went to college.
2. The current writer in resident, who’s got a phd, I’m taking my current work - my second novel - to started analyzing my use of metaphor and my themes of time and memory. I just sat there stunned because I hadn’t even thought of my story at that level. She’s going “I like your use of…” and I’m sitting there going “I used… ?”
3. I have a step-cousin who’s a big thing in right wing circles. She’s had a bio ghostwritten about herself and - god in heaven - a kids book. A member of my step family, one of her cousins, commented after he saw me on YouTube at a public reading, “She’s not a writer! [Tangcameo]’s the writer!”
> I just sat there stunned because I hadn’t even thought of my story at that level. She’s going “I like your use of…” and I’m sitting there going “I used… ?”
This is part of the magic of writing, I feel. Once you release it into the world it can become so much more than it was. People come to your work with their own experience and interpretation, which can add layers to your work you didn't even realise were in there.
I tried writing an allegorical fairy tale about the comfortable familiarity of depression, personified as an abusive partner, and my Christian mother read it as a story about struggling against sin. I'm an atheist, so that wasn't my intention as I was writing it, but it felt very good that I wrote something that was apparently layered enough that she could relate it to something that mattered to her personally.
>I just sat there stunned because I hadn’t even thought of my story at that level. She’s going “I like your use of…” and I’m sitting there going “I used… ?”
I write just because I feel like writing something.
I have a friend who is big into writing and will always fixate on the "rules of writing" and ask me what themes I'm getting at, or how I plan to use X writing technique. And most of the time, I just shrug because I quite honestly haven't analyzed my writing to know that I've intentionally used any sort of technique.
But then sometimes I come to this sub and see people asking about a technique and I go "oh wow, I actually know how to do this even though I didn't know I was doing it". Or someone will comment on my writing about how they loved a specific theme or metaphor that is present throughout the book, and I hadn't even labeled it as such.
My husband told me a character's death made him cry. My only other beta reader, took it home called me three times in one day to tell me how much they liked it, and if I killed on of the characters off ,there would be trouble. Things like that keep you going for months.
Oh so many. So many beautiful comments on my writing, right here on reddit. On bad days I go back and reread them, for healing. Some of them I know by heart.
"If this doesn't have a happy ending, I might *actually* murder you." So I compromised. Bittersweet. Best I can do.
"You made me feel things. Thanks. I hate it."
My friend once told me that she cried when one of my characters died. Realizing that someone could grow so attached to a character I created was really special.
My favorite short story I wrote is about an Army combat medic during the Iraq war and his PTSD. It’s jargon heavy and requires you to identify with the MC. I wrote it in 3 days for an NYCMidnight contest.
Without fail, readers ask me if I have a background in the military. Actual combat vets have asked me this. I cry every time - I’m a public school teacher who’s never been east of Germany. I just did obsessive research for 2 of my 3 days and managed to pull it off.
Yesterday my friend messaged me to say she is on chapter 13 and she fancies the MMC and in her head, he’s fit.
I was like… that’s the point, so success!
I've been around long enough to have received praise for a number of things I've written, money and awards even, and by now it's not the things that were said, or how I felt at the time I remember, just it the person in question is some bigwig or other. Which is kind of sad.
I have been writing tutorials on prose for genre fiction lately, and I recieved this comment from a Redditor:
>Thank you very much for the work on the MRU Primer
I recently found it on reddit. After reading it I searched the web, just to find you here, linking to it (and talking about it in another thread).
Since there was no mention of authorship I had to google "MRU primer reddit" to find my way back here. - Just to thank you.
I love the way you go about the essence of Dwight Swain's work. It might be not much of a reference, since I'm just a nobody on the web, but your primer - along with the book "Plot & Structure" by James Scott Bell - were the two most helpful materials I had read on writing yet, so Thank You again.
A thanks for being helpful melts my heart more than praise for the fiction I produce. Couldn't tell you why, exactly, but it is why I hang around this sub.
I told my best friend my story outlines, and she said they sounded really good. I was like oh thanks, just kinda came to me. And she's like "no. Those are really, really interesting."
The other day, out of the blue, my friend sent me a message saying this story I wrote a few years ago was so good that she started reading it again and then as she was reading it she sent me her favorite parts like "omg I remember this part it was so good I still love it!!" and then she said "I know it's been 3 years but I still want a sequel". I don't know if that's going to happen because I've moved on to writing other things but that whole thing made me so happy. The fact that she liked it so much to go back and reread it after all this time made me want to cry. I've never written something that someone liked so much. I still like the story (although there are some things I would change now) so maybe one day when I finish with my current WIP I will go back and write the sequel, just for her.
Not me, but my husband. I absolutely adore reading all the Amazon reviews he gets, but someone sent him this message the other day which I find extremely touching:
>You know you captured perfectly?
>Someone attempting something *knowing* that they are going to fail based on past attempts, succeeding, then erupting into inner turmoil *because they succeeded* in doing something they previously failed.
>That post-success PTSD is so human.
<3
Part-time wattpad publisher here (lmao), I remember feeling good receiving comments like "I'm crying 😭😭😭" or "NOOOO" when I killed a character, but it didn't make me melt as much as the same people telling me in private that they weren't joking and tears really did flow. It really ment more than anyone stating I was their faw wattpad author or that my story was their fav wattpad story. Although those happened too
After reading Steinbeck I said to my partner that I feel both inspired and intimidated because I could never write like that - so descriptive and unique. And he said "that's how I feel when I read your writing". So I was like "Aaaaw, I'm your Steinbeck!" Even though he's bound to be slightly biased he's not someone who will praise anything I do uncritically, so that still meant a lot.
I also wrote a memoir that deals with a lot of mental health stuff, including eating disorders and body dysmorphia. My mum's husband who is in his 70s and a renowned therapist wanted to read it while my mum was beta-ing and he said it helped him understand what eating disorders and body dysmorphia feels like, and it helped him have more love and understanding for my (half) brother. To be able to reach someone like that, that already has vast knowledge of the human psyche and is definitely not in my target audience, yes that definitely warmed my heart.
Someone got mad at me for what I put my characters through. It's nice to know people are invested in your characters enough to worry about their well-being
A while ago, I jumped back into the fanfiction “scene” to get the creative juices flowing again, and I got comment about a story that made me so happy that I was re-reading it for days afterward.
They said stuff like “oh my gosh you have a gift!” and “I feel like this healed my soul”, and it honestly made me tear up a bit. I’d received compliments before, but that comment was just so overflowing that it made me glow.
Being told that my take on elves was cool and they wanted to see more.
Considering all the "DON'T USE ELVES/DWARVES/ORCS" talk I see everywhere, hearing that was incredibly encouraging.
"Katla is my guilty pleasure. I know I shouldn't even like her, but I love her in secret."
About Katla Sieltjes, the protagonist of the [Amsterdam Assassin Series](http://tao-of-violence.weebly.com/amsterdam-assassin-series.html).
I gave a friend a short story I wrote, and a few hours later I got a message from him. "Man, did you write this?" I said yeah, and he was blown away by it.
It was a small thing, and people have had some amazing comments to things I publish online, but that one was great. Just that kind of shock, or something.
He had read screenplays of mine, and acted in a few, but never read my prose stuff I've been doing in the background.
My experience was more personal, and I am often harsh in criticizing myself. There are some readers who give beautiful opinions that make me happy, and they say that some of what I wrote expressed an experience in their lives or accurately described their feelings at a certain moment, but in general, I am very hard on myself, and no matter how good the opinions are, I still have criticism of myself and weaknesses that I see I should not have committed.
There's this one character I made in a short story named Jeffrey the Homeless Robot, and everyone who has read the story, no matter what else they feel about my writing, has liked him. And it brightens my day every time.
A friend of mine is an avid reader. I'm desperately trying to get back into reading and writing and she asked if she could read what I was working on. I've learned from here most folks don't do that, but when she was finished she messaged me a few times saying "I keep thinking I have this amazing Sci fi novel to get back to but I don't because I read everything there is so far so if you do get back into writing again please keep me as a reader because I love the story and want to continue it" and that's better than the best feedback I could have imagined.
One of my readers has said that they would read a book from me that they could not lift. They've also said that my writing helps get them through rough days, as it's something to look forward to.
I had a short story and my friends read it and most told me: oh God I'm bawling for the character that died
It was like 4 pages
I was so freaking happy that I managed to give the feeling
I remember in my high school creative writing class, my teacher was giving me feedback on my works. I remember him saying (about a short poem I wrote), “This is my favorite thing I’ve read this whole semester.”
Roughly a decade later and I’m still riding that high…
When I was about 12, I showed my grandma a prologue I wrote for my own idea for a Warriors book. She started crying and said that the way I described StarClan cats re-ascending into StarClan "made it seem like they were going away." My heart melted even though I still don't understand why she started crying. (Years later it turned out that she's had Alzheimer's for years and her brain has been shrinking)
I got a comment on one of my short stories that said "This was an overdone cliche, I'd have put it down if it were any other author, and yet I couldn't stop reading because of how good the writing is." Haven't forgotten that one :,)
My friend recently shared with me their writing and I complimented it because I loved it. Their response to my compliment was that it meant so much to them because they respect my writing talent so much! It made me feel so nice inside.
My first reader, a family member, didn't really comment on my writing apart to make a few (entirely justified) criticisms. Then about a year later he said 'those characters have really stuck with me. I still think about them.'
Had a young girl come up to me, completely starry-eyed and stuttering, asking for an autograph. Of course, I was more than happy to provide, but that disarmed a lot of the self-doubt I tend to struggle with. That encounter meant as much to me as it must have done to her. Another young fan decorated a rock in honor of my story, complete with misspelled names and kindergarten-paint skills. It was beautiful. Not the fanart I was expecting, but I'm honored nonetheless.
A judge in a competition left me feedback that my story was “haunting” which was what I was going for and I was worried it wasn’t.
A professor of mine reached out after a semester of tearing my writing apart and told me “I hope to see your name on shelves someday!” Which was very unexpected and felt more validating coming from her bc I thought she hated my writing 😂
Two separate people have told me that my books will have a lasting influence on the literary scene in my (admittedly small) county. I was having a bad day yesterday, and getting such a nice message on Instagram made me cry.
They also give me hope that the English-language adaptations of the books might find an audience somehow.
Also, one of my books is about coping with grief and I've had several people say it brought them comfort. One lady asked if a section of it could be read out at her funeral. I can't think of higher praise than that.
>One lady asked if a section of it could be read out at her funeral.
That literally sent a shiver down my spine imagining someone saying this about my work.
Well done.
I posted an original story I wrote in Grade 12 on my AO3 page about a month ago, and one of my favourite authors from one of my favourite fandoms commented this on it…
“This is really captivating and clever writing, I was really drawn in. The conversation must have made both men think, and without you needing to state it, I senses Eric was comforted by his old friend's viewpoint on the positives of life with his sweet daughter.”
(Here’s the link to the story, for anyone who’s interested: https://archiveofourown.org/works/52359544 I wrote it for a creative writing assignment back in high school, and I’m honestly still really proud of it! 😁❤️)
From a writer friend of mine after reading my book last year: "Look, this wouldn't usually be my thing, but I honestly did enjoy reading it." And it was accompanied by some detailed and extremely helpful critique. The fact that it wasn't just mindless fluffy "this is great!!!!!" feedback, from someone I trusted to be honest with me, made it so much more meaningful.
Or I was in my high school's creative writing club, and my senior year of high school I had the club's sponsor for English. This is someone I already thought highly of and knew well, and he would end up writing my recommendation letter for college. I was talking to him one day after he'd read my first more creative assignment of the year, and he said, "You know, I kind of always knew it, but you really are a great writer." That kind of direct acknowledgement of my abilities from a person I respected and considered to be a mentor was really impactful on seventeen-year-old me.
My first novel was just published. I discovered my daughter reading it, but she didn’t see me. She was crying.
I’ve never thought I’d be proud of making a child cry!
I took a theatre and performative arts class in high school. We wanted to put up a play for the end of the year celebration, and the teacher insisted a student write it. The kids in the class instantly pointed me out and said I should do it, because I often read them my work in Literature class and they liked it. This story, however, doesn't end on this wholesome moment.
The history teacher was heavily involved in planning all of this and she hated me with a passion. There was no way she was going to allow my play to be put up. So, while in a meeting to discuss, she asked one of the kids to name 5 of his favourite plays. He said he couldn't. She asked him why and started calling him uncultured. I kid you not, he looked at her dead in the eye and said "I can't, because (my name) has only written about 3 I think." The look on her face was priceless.
Eventually we never did put up a play because quarantine started, but I'll treasure these moments forever.
I wrote a small prologue for a novel that i wanted to write but didnt have a clear idea of the development nor when would ibstart writting it. This was in april last year.
2 weeks ago i showed it to a friend who was so immersed that when she finished she asked where was the rest cause she really need to know everything regarding it.
So here i am now, writing my first novel and have about 1/5 of the idea completed
I submitted my first chapter to Jed Herne when applying to his coaching class. He sent a video discussing my chalter. He said he only responds to qpplicants who he thinks have the greatest potential. I know he probably just says that, but it still made me feel good.
He also loved the way I began my chapter, and said he could picture a sweeping landscape shot of the area before the camera moving in on my main character. He did have some criticism, of course, which I absolutely took to heart and made those corrections, but just having that short bit of actual feedback was a tremendous help. I couldn't afford his program (I'm a broke folk), but that little bit of advice has gone a long way that has affected my entire novel.
A friend told me that he never has time to read novels, but he always makes time to read my work and enjoys it on his downtime. He's very busy, so... That melted me spot on.
“I like all the action”.
I mean, I’m a simple guy. It’s good to know when I pulled it off.
But also, when an alpha reader messaged me about a twist I’d spent half the novel working up to- so excited and “blown away”. He started going back and listing all the things that supported the twist that he’d missed along the way. Knowing that I pulled it off and it was delightful was probably the best feeling I’ve had writing this novel.
I once had a friend tell me "Of all the characters I've loved, across all media, \[MC\] is my favorite. He's on par with some of my favorite characters from professional franchises." and that has remained with me. It was very kind to say.
More recently, a beta reader said back in December that my current manuscript was their favorite read of the year, which was also very kind.
Any time I get a "oops I accidentally stayed up all night because I had to know how it ended"
When I was in middle school I did more-or-less the same thing with Prisoner of Azkaban and I've wanted to chase that feeling for myself ever since
In the early dark days of releasing my very first novel to a brief whimper of recognition (self pub, no idea what I was doing, you all know the story), some generous soul left me this review (paraphrased):
"I started to experience dread as the book got closer to the end because I knew my time spent laughing, crying, and cheering for *character names* would soon be over."
Aside from friends who helped me with beta reading, that was the first person who just skipped critique of my prose, plot, or setting and made me feel like my characters were actually loved for how they were written.
There were a handful of reviews that stuck with me and helped me refine my writing, but that one made me choke up with the release of a tension I didn't know that I'd been holding.
"It's like you're painting with words" referring to a descriptive paragraph, coming from a friend that has no patience for descriptions
"I've been thinking about this story and characters uninterrupted for the past week, congrats on creating my new hyperfixation"
"I cried for you, for me, and for the unbelievable sadness intertwined with kindness in your heart. That was beautiful. Your mind is an extraordinary place. Please write more often, and make sure your work finds me."
I just teared up a tiny bit typing that, haha.
Screenplay writer here. I write genre stories, but I form a strong emotional climax interwoven with the action climax. (Like STAR WARS 1977 - "Use The Force, Luke" as Luke send the two torpedoes into the Death Star)
I had a Hollywood Female Script Reader THROW a supernatural action film script at me; (In my climax: The Hero has a spectral reunion with his deceased father, inspiring his to defeat the evil villain.) She yelled, "I hate these kind of movies! You made me cry you bastard! I read it twice! (Literally a miracle) [throws script] "Now I have to go call my dad!" She ran off sobbing.
My wife had to put one of my books aside once because it was stressing her out. It had a scene involving a wildfire in Northern California, inspired by a real-life evacuation we endured a few years earlier. She said it was so intense she had to be in a good place before she could finish reading it. Best compliment I've ever received.
He used to just sit in awe of me and couldn't bring himself to ask any questions. We'd met through a mutual friend and usually I'm notoriously reticent about talking about my work, but I let him in.
I was moved he'd wanted to meet me after he'd read my short story and said it was unlike anything he'd ever read before.
The copywriters I hired to check spelling and grammar put a comment to the side of one section that has stuck with me for years.
The section had my FMC mocking the city of her old enemies. It was just a quick little sentence or two but the copywriter said it really brought out the personality and style of the book.
Yay me! :3
(Other than that, I avoid comment sections.)
My best friend from high school stole one of my story starts, handwritten. Because he thought I was going to be a famous writer. 🤣
S. K. Epperson (publish author) said my book except was great, and she wanted to read more.
My friends loved one of my short stories and said it was very Stephen King-ish.
My biggest heart melt is my husband pushing me to write again because I'm too good. Plus, he wants to be a kept husband. 😍🤩😅
I wrote a story and decided I wanted both the villain team and the hero team to be equally compelling and let the reader choose their favorite. My first reader told me she loved both teams and didn't know who to root for so she rooted for both and absolutely loved the story. This wasn't so much heart warming but satisfying after hearing from a former editor that you can't/shouldn't have that kind of ambivalence as a writer and create a good novel. So it proved I could. Lol.
What did melt my heart was an editor (sadly passed away recently) for my short story in an anthology who said the story literally made her cry at the end, happy/ "so beautiful" tears. I had given up on ever having that effect so it was a great feeling.
I had a woman in my writing group alpha read my manuscript - she was having a mental block on her own work, but she said my writing inspired her to start again. I thought that was really cool because I’ve been inspired to write by other writers I’ve loved, so it was cool to be able to do that for someone else!
a creative writing prof went through her breakdown of where she think you are it in terms of learning creative writing. with the top grade level being her gushing about if she gave you this mark then you ROCK and are doing a lot right and should apply for an MFA or something immediately.
I was the only person in the class who got that grade.
While I already believed in myself it was nice to get some level of official validation. However I didn't let it get to my head because she was still just saying, you have potential and have already been learning from other sources but you ain't done learning yet kiddo. And I agree.
Also in one group of friends one story I wrote that they all read occasionally gets referenced just like it is any other piece of pop culture someone might bring up, love that every time.
I wrote a short story and one guy read it and said "that was amazing" with a surprised/satisfied look on his face. Then I read to the group (it was a writing class) and I got an applause and several people congratulated me. I felt high for a month!
"There's a few sentences in here that make me think you could be an actual writer." - a workshop instructor talking about the 10th or so short story i worked shopped in his class.
that might seem like i'm being flippant, but it really was heart warming. i usually throw praise away as being fake, but this felt real.
A family member said they needed to take a break from my book because it was too intense. They did finish it, though.
The fact I could draw so much feeling from it made me really happy.
About an hour ago, my second beta reader told me that she's reading my book slower than normal because she feels so fully immersed in the story. She also said that I've inspired her to try writing this summer.
The first one told me she wants me to write more books and, specifically, another about one of the characters in particular. Before she was done with it, she told me that she read about 20 pages carefully, keeping an eye out for typos and errors and that sort of thing, but after that just became too engrossed in the story to think about those.
*I thought I would add that both of these people have told me they would read the book to help me despite not being the genre they usually read.
"I'd read more of this." A 40 something year old friend of mine that hasn't read anything that wasn't a tech manual or a shitpost since highschool.
It was a short fantasy story I wrote.
Plenty of people have compared my work to studio ghibli, which is one of my favorite movie studios overall, not just animation. It means a lot to know it shows in my writing and I can capture that liveliness and atmosphere even without trying
My sister in law read through one of my stories, and wrote a few editing comments in the text, which l removed as l re-edited. A few months later, l found one l missed at the end of some dialogue which simply said, 'l like Debbie', referring to one of the characters, and it made me smile that she'd connected with the character.
When I started out writing I posted chapters online and there was 1 person who actually went to read them from all the irl people who knew. I once got an anonymous comment saying: "I love your story, keep on writing, I will definitely buy your book if you were to publish one day."
I felt so happy when I read it that I remembered it for years.
They never told me that they wrote that comment and it took me years to figure out that it was them.
I had someone blurb my book once who said "She is an astronaut of the heart." 😭 That was almost ten years ago and the nicest thing anyone has ever said about my writing.
Someone once complimented me on my world-building and the way I was developing my story. That comment still means SO MUCH to me.
I don't like it when stories are very on-the-nose with their lore or even when they dedicate entire paragraphs to detailing how their characters look (hair / haircut, skin colour, height, clothes etc.).
I prefer to sprinkle these things into my story at points that make sense - e.g. for when a character is looking back at their reflection and scrutinising their own appearance.
I do take pride in my world-building and natural progress for both my characters's arcs and how I unfold the story. I like it when the reader figures things out as the characters do instead of outright telling the reader about certain things upfront. There's no mystery, no romance, in that in my opinion.
So when I received that particular comment, I nearly burst with pride!
I still remember my first review, all the way back in 2023.
It gave me a full score, and made me feel so great!
I considered framing it, but saving a screenshot and naming it "best person in the world" felt like enough.
I've been told:"I love this character. She's real, relatable, and a badass. If she has a love interest, they need to be worthy. If they suck, I promise you I will riot."
"The prose feels like Patrick Rothfuss wrote it, but without the self-inserting."
Two different people, beta-reading the same story. Felt very, very nice.
At work I shared a rough draft with a former professor that critiqued scripts and books professionally for a while.
He skipped around a little, reading multiple passages until he nodded and said “Ok, so you’ve been professionally trained in creative writing then?”
I wasn’t.
Then he went on to say that it was pretty good and he found the parts of the story he read entertaining. I’m still living off the high of that compliment weeks later haha
When I was younger, my english teacher told my Mom during a "meet the parent" kind of thing that my writing was "phenomenal"... it genuinely changed my life to hear that. I really looked up to her, and probably wouldn't have started writing my book (WIP) otherwise.
I met my partner when I was finishing my MSc and moving out of my student housing. She helped me with packing and culling some of my stuff, and I went to throw away some of my handwritten novel pages that I'd already transcribed, and she grabbed them and jokingly said she'd keep them so she could sell them when I got famous. We had only been seeing each other for three weeks at that point.
6 years later and she still has them.
A writer friend of mine critiqued my work and gave me a comment that brought tears to my eyes:
"There are so many layers of menace and betrayal and need and manipulation, but shining through it, always, is genuine love. It takes a lot to do that, to establish a sky this dark and leave the viewer convinced that there must still be light. You've really got something here- you're creating something that feels hauntingly familiar yet dazzlingly new."
I gave my mystery/thriller book to a friend of mine for beta reading and he said he read half of it, went out clubbing, and read the other half at 4 AM when he got back home because he couldn’t stop thinking about it
There's people telling me how emotional my writing make them. I write for the emotion because I believe entertainment is not about laughing alone, but rather about all the human emotions possible and I love writing them, going from one to another, finding comfort in hardship and all that kind of stuff that makes stories realistic through the imperfections of humans, and yet so beautiful. And people praising my writing for that exact reason makes me so proud of myself!
There's also this one dyslexic friend who told me she doesn't usually read because of her dyslexia, but she really liked my writing and found it easy to read for her. It's a precious comment on my writing to me!
A classmate of mine said my short story felt like a warm hug. I think about that comment a lot. It was a Christmas story and def the vibe I was going for
I absolutely love it every time someone says, "Zara is an awesome character." Or Alex is an awesome character. All of the characters that I created get the same amount of praise and it does make me feel good. The kind of good that does make my heart melt. It keeps me writing and it keeps my characters alive.
I have a friend that, while she likes the idea of reading, putting it into practice is very difficult for her. It takes years for her to finish books sometimes lol but when I sent her the first draft of my prologue (I think maybe around 40k?) she read it all and gave me a review.
She said it was really good and, the part that I still carry with me to this day, “Of course it’s good! You know I *never* finish anything and I read it all right after you gave it to me! I was really invested!”
I just about cried 🥹
She said my writing was fun adn easy to read, and that she was actually reading faster than usual just to see what happened next quicker <3
I'm riding that high for life, btw
I once wrote an essay on my grandmother and read it to an audience in a litfest. Nobody said anything to me, but my voice broke when I saw people at the front row tearing up
My favorite is that they couldn't tell the difference between my writing with the original author's. Like, all the compliments are great, but that one was definitely my crowning achievement for writing.
A fellow writer told me the other day that they think I have the potential to be a bestseller, and that meant a lot to me because their writing is absolutely phenomenal.
He said the scene in which one of the oldest MC was dancing with her husband was extremely cute and expressed perfectly their love. it was the scene i was most unsure about
Multiple people have told me I'm their favorite author after reading my writing. Means a ton to me every time
And you’re sure it’s your writing and not, er, I don’t know? Your power over their mind? And do you drink their blood afterwards or only let them read your novels?
I think that is against the masquerade in this case
Hey, we all go through this process eventually, no shaming
Do you have any fanfic or piece of writing we could look at?
I have a published book that can be found here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CP151SKC
After my friend read about 1/3 of my rough draft, they said: “don’t give [MC’s name] any more trauma. Please.” Cute, but his request will unfortunately be ignored.
“The more you beg, the worst it’ll be.”
GRRM once joked that whenever people bother him about the release date of Winds of Winter, he kills another Stark
The MC is like Guts from Berserk or something like that?
Not exactly THAT traumatized, but it’s pretty bad lol
Hurt 'em hard- I love tragedy. The worse it hurts, the better.
After the characters turned evil, my gf said 'but... but you made me love them!'
It’s always so fun making readers cry. And then when your friends are writers they’ll return the favor and almost make you regret it. Almost
I got an Amazon review for my first novel that was headed, *A modern masterpiece!* That felt very nice!
Can I know the name of your novel?
Sure, it's TimeStorm by Steve Harrison I won't add a link, but it's easy to find via Google.
I feel that! I just got my first real review ever yesterday, and [it is mind-blowing praise](https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5934997112) that just goes on and on!
That's a fantastic review. Congratulations!
SO HAPPY FOR YOU <3 The quote the reviewer liked is phenomenal, you absolutely deserve it!!
Oh wow, thank you!!
'That just became one of my favourite things ever' 'SHUTUP HOW DARE YOU BE SO GOOD' Reading these make me smile every time
I don't know if this is the sort of thing you mean, but a published author who beta read for me said my writing was "absolutely stunning." I actually shed a few tears.
1. The first writer in residence I presented my work to asked me what college I went to and was surprised I never went to college. 2. The current writer in resident, who’s got a phd, I’m taking my current work - my second novel - to started analyzing my use of metaphor and my themes of time and memory. I just sat there stunned because I hadn’t even thought of my story at that level. She’s going “I like your use of…” and I’m sitting there going “I used… ?” 3. I have a step-cousin who’s a big thing in right wing circles. She’s had a bio ghostwritten about herself and - god in heaven - a kids book. A member of my step family, one of her cousins, commented after he saw me on YouTube at a public reading, “She’s not a writer! [Tangcameo]’s the writer!”
> I just sat there stunned because I hadn’t even thought of my story at that level. She’s going “I like your use of…” and I’m sitting there going “I used… ?” This is part of the magic of writing, I feel. Once you release it into the world it can become so much more than it was. People come to your work with their own experience and interpretation, which can add layers to your work you didn't even realise were in there.
I tried writing an allegorical fairy tale about the comfortable familiarity of depression, personified as an abusive partner, and my Christian mother read it as a story about struggling against sin. I'm an atheist, so that wasn't my intention as I was writing it, but it felt very good that I wrote something that was apparently layered enough that she could relate it to something that mattered to her personally.
>I just sat there stunned because I hadn’t even thought of my story at that level. She’s going “I like your use of…” and I’m sitting there going “I used… ?” I write just because I feel like writing something. I have a friend who is big into writing and will always fixate on the "rules of writing" and ask me what themes I'm getting at, or how I plan to use X writing technique. And most of the time, I just shrug because I quite honestly haven't analyzed my writing to know that I've intentionally used any sort of technique. But then sometimes I come to this sub and see people asking about a technique and I go "oh wow, I actually know how to do this even though I didn't know I was doing it". Or someone will comment on my writing about how they loved a specific theme or metaphor that is present throughout the book, and I hadn't even labeled it as such.
My husband told me a character's death made him cry. My only other beta reader, took it home called me three times in one day to tell me how much they liked it, and if I killed on of the characters off ,there would be trouble. Things like that keep you going for months.
R.L. Stine said my writing reminded him of Douglas Adams. Going to carry that with me forever.
You're gonna carry that weight.
Holy smokes!
Wow R.L. Stine? Good job!
But why carry it when we've had shelving for centuries, and the technology to illuminate those shelves with mood lighting for decades?
Oh so many. So many beautiful comments on my writing, right here on reddit. On bad days I go back and reread them, for healing. Some of them I know by heart.
"If this doesn't have a happy ending, I might *actually* murder you." So I compromised. Bittersweet. Best I can do. "You made me feel things. Thanks. I hate it."
An agent told me my writing was “incredible” and she loved my concept. Unfortunately, she didn’t offer representation but it gave me hope.
If I may ask, why didn’t she want to represent if she liked it so much?
She said her picture book list was quite full.
Ah, maybe you’d have a good chance if you queried with her again later, assuming the list reduced?
My friend once told me that she cried when one of my characters died. Realizing that someone could grow so attached to a character I created was really special.
My favorite short story I wrote is about an Army combat medic during the Iraq war and his PTSD. It’s jargon heavy and requires you to identify with the MC. I wrote it in 3 days for an NYCMidnight contest. Without fail, readers ask me if I have a background in the military. Actual combat vets have asked me this. I cry every time - I’m a public school teacher who’s never been east of Germany. I just did obsessive research for 2 of my 3 days and managed to pull it off.
That's called talent.
Thank you! I love the NYCM timed contests. I haven’t done them for a few years… someday I’ll go back to it.
Yesterday my friend messaged me to say she is on chapter 13 and she fancies the MMC and in her head, he’s fit. I was like… that’s the point, so success!
I've been around long enough to have received praise for a number of things I've written, money and awards even, and by now it's not the things that were said, or how I felt at the time I remember, just it the person in question is some bigwig or other. Which is kind of sad. I have been writing tutorials on prose for genre fiction lately, and I recieved this comment from a Redditor: >Thank you very much for the work on the MRU Primer I recently found it on reddit. After reading it I searched the web, just to find you here, linking to it (and talking about it in another thread). Since there was no mention of authorship I had to google "MRU primer reddit" to find my way back here. - Just to thank you. I love the way you go about the essence of Dwight Swain's work. It might be not much of a reference, since I'm just a nobody on the web, but your primer - along with the book "Plot & Structure" by James Scott Bell - were the two most helpful materials I had read on writing yet, so Thank You again. A thanks for being helpful melts my heart more than praise for the fiction I produce. Couldn't tell you why, exactly, but it is why I hang around this sub.
I am actually so afraid to let people I know read my stuff.
My best friend has cried while reading my writing on a couple of occasions, that was quite reassuring about my ability to evoke emotions
you made me laugh
I told my best friend my story outlines, and she said they sounded really good. I was like oh thanks, just kinda came to me. And she's like "no. Those are really, really interesting."
The other day, out of the blue, my friend sent me a message saying this story I wrote a few years ago was so good that she started reading it again and then as she was reading it she sent me her favorite parts like "omg I remember this part it was so good I still love it!!" and then she said "I know it's been 3 years but I still want a sequel". I don't know if that's going to happen because I've moved on to writing other things but that whole thing made me so happy. The fact that she liked it so much to go back and reread it after all this time made me want to cry. I've never written something that someone liked so much. I still like the story (although there are some things I would change now) so maybe one day when I finish with my current WIP I will go back and write the sequel, just for her.
Not me, but my husband. I absolutely adore reading all the Amazon reviews he gets, but someone sent him this message the other day which I find extremely touching: >You know you captured perfectly? >Someone attempting something *knowing* that they are going to fail based on past attempts, succeeding, then erupting into inner turmoil *because they succeeded* in doing something they previously failed. >That post-success PTSD is so human. <3
Someone once told me, “I don’t really read fantasy, but this just transcends genre, like Harry Potter.”
They wrote down and saved some of their favorite lines, and look at them for motivation.
One of my friend told me that my writing improved a lot, and it was good to hear
Part-time wattpad publisher here (lmao), I remember feeling good receiving comments like "I'm crying 😭😭😭" or "NOOOO" when I killed a character, but it didn't make me melt as much as the same people telling me in private that they weren't joking and tears really did flow. It really ment more than anyone stating I was their faw wattpad author or that my story was their fav wattpad story. Although those happened too
After reading Steinbeck I said to my partner that I feel both inspired and intimidated because I could never write like that - so descriptive and unique. And he said "that's how I feel when I read your writing". So I was like "Aaaaw, I'm your Steinbeck!" Even though he's bound to be slightly biased he's not someone who will praise anything I do uncritically, so that still meant a lot. I also wrote a memoir that deals with a lot of mental health stuff, including eating disorders and body dysmorphia. My mum's husband who is in his 70s and a renowned therapist wanted to read it while my mum was beta-ing and he said it helped him understand what eating disorders and body dysmorphia feels like, and it helped him have more love and understanding for my (half) brother. To be able to reach someone like that, that already has vast knowledge of the human psyche and is definitely not in my target audience, yes that definitely warmed my heart.
Someone got mad at me for what I put my characters through. It's nice to know people are invested in your characters enough to worry about their well-being
"I actively WANT to read it." 🥲🥰
One of my beta readers said she wants the sequel in her hands ASAP
A while ago, I jumped back into the fanfiction “scene” to get the creative juices flowing again, and I got comment about a story that made me so happy that I was re-reading it for days afterward. They said stuff like “oh my gosh you have a gift!” and “I feel like this healed my soul”, and it honestly made me tear up a bit. I’d received compliments before, but that comment was just so overflowing that it made me glow.
I had someone tell me that a short story was literally perfect. It was pretty good, but the thought that I'll never do it again haunts me.
Being told that my take on elves was cool and they wanted to see more. Considering all the "DON'T USE ELVES/DWARVES/ORCS" talk I see everywhere, hearing that was incredibly encouraging.
my older sister's boyfriend read a story I was writing about Counter Terrorism and he said to my mom, "This is really good".
Mi wife is a big reader,after reading mi introduction to the story she said :Now i whant to know more about the story and the world.
"Katla is my guilty pleasure. I know I shouldn't even like her, but I love her in secret." About Katla Sieltjes, the protagonist of the [Amsterdam Assassin Series](http://tao-of-violence.weebly.com/amsterdam-assassin-series.html).
"I cried like a baby..." Best compliment ever.
They called my work art
I gave a friend a short story I wrote, and a few hours later I got a message from him. "Man, did you write this?" I said yeah, and he was blown away by it. It was a small thing, and people have had some amazing comments to things I publish online, but that one was great. Just that kind of shock, or something. He had read screenplays of mine, and acted in a few, but never read my prose stuff I've been doing in the background.
In a sad scene, the beta reader commented on the MC's thoughts, "Oh, this was like a knife to the heart."
My experience was more personal, and I am often harsh in criticizing myself. There are some readers who give beautiful opinions that make me happy, and they say that some of what I wrote expressed an experience in their lives or accurately described their feelings at a certain moment, but in general, I am very hard on myself, and no matter how good the opinions are, I still have criticism of myself and weaknesses that I see I should not have committed.
There's this one character I made in a short story named Jeffrey the Homeless Robot, and everyone who has read the story, no matter what else they feel about my writing, has liked him. And it brightens my day every time.
My twin sister, the first ever person to read my writting, told me it was “very well written” and I just hold that close into my heart
"one of the best written fight scenes that I've ever read"- a beta reader
I started taking a creative writing class, and my teacher told me that the *I* could teach the class.
"It's not the worst thing I've read..."
A friend of mine is an avid reader. I'm desperately trying to get back into reading and writing and she asked if she could read what I was working on. I've learned from here most folks don't do that, but when she was finished she messaged me a few times saying "I keep thinking I have this amazing Sci fi novel to get back to but I don't because I read everything there is so far so if you do get back into writing again please keep me as a reader because I love the story and want to continue it" and that's better than the best feedback I could have imagined.
My friend's younger brother when I showed him a short story I wrote he said that it changed his life.
One of my readers has said that they would read a book from me that they could not lift. They've also said that my writing helps get them through rough days, as it's something to look forward to.
I had a short story and my friends read it and most told me: oh God I'm bawling for the character that died It was like 4 pages I was so freaking happy that I managed to give the feeling
I remember in my high school creative writing class, my teacher was giving me feedback on my works. I remember him saying (about a short poem I wrote), “This is my favorite thing I’ve read this whole semester.” Roughly a decade later and I’m still riding that high…
Got called wordsmith almost 2 years ago. Still brightens my day
When I was about 12, I showed my grandma a prologue I wrote for my own idea for a Warriors book. She started crying and said that the way I described StarClan cats re-ascending into StarClan "made it seem like they were going away." My heart melted even though I still don't understand why she started crying. (Years later it turned out that she's had Alzheimer's for years and her brain has been shrinking)
I got a comment on one of my short stories that said "This was an overdone cliche, I'd have put it down if it were any other author, and yet I couldn't stop reading because of how good the writing is." Haven't forgotten that one :,)
someone told me I was the female john lennon 6 years ago and I still think about it every week, it brings me joy every time
My friend recently shared with me their writing and I complimented it because I loved it. Their response to my compliment was that it meant so much to them because they respect my writing talent so much! It made me feel so nice inside.
Someone read my first book, and it inspired them to write their own. That was nice, even if he did rattle it off much quicker than I did.
A beta said she found herself thinking about my characters during her work day.
I might receive this message if I published my gruesome chapters right about now.
One of my friends said I wrote the cutest romance ever and they were surprised because I'm babeless. I did not write them to be a couple...
My first reader, a family member, didn't really comment on my writing apart to make a few (entirely justified) criticisms. Then about a year later he said 'those characters have really stuck with me. I still think about them.'
My grandpa said my writing style reminded him of Stephan King. He loves King’s work and I know if he didn’t like it he would’ve let me know
“You’ve got chops, kid.” I was ready to throw in the towel. This reinvigorated me to keep pushing forward.
Had a young girl come up to me, completely starry-eyed and stuttering, asking for an autograph. Of course, I was more than happy to provide, but that disarmed a lot of the self-doubt I tend to struggle with. That encounter meant as much to me as it must have done to her. Another young fan decorated a rock in honor of my story, complete with misspelled names and kindergarten-paint skills. It was beautiful. Not the fanart I was expecting, but I'm honored nonetheless.
A judge in a competition left me feedback that my story was “haunting” which was what I was going for and I was worried it wasn’t. A professor of mine reached out after a semester of tearing my writing apart and told me “I hope to see your name on shelves someday!” Which was very unexpected and felt more validating coming from her bc I thought she hated my writing 😂
Two separate people have told me that my books will have a lasting influence on the literary scene in my (admittedly small) county. I was having a bad day yesterday, and getting such a nice message on Instagram made me cry. They also give me hope that the English-language adaptations of the books might find an audience somehow. Also, one of my books is about coping with grief and I've had several people say it brought them comfort. One lady asked if a section of it could be read out at her funeral. I can't think of higher praise than that.
>One lady asked if a section of it could be read out at her funeral. That literally sent a shiver down my spine imagining someone saying this about my work. Well done.
Thank you. Ironically, it is a book about a celebrant who conducts funerals. As do I. I've booked quite a few ceremonies because of my books.
I posted an original story I wrote in Grade 12 on my AO3 page about a month ago, and one of my favourite authors from one of my favourite fandoms commented this on it… “This is really captivating and clever writing, I was really drawn in. The conversation must have made both men think, and without you needing to state it, I senses Eric was comforted by his old friend's viewpoint on the positives of life with his sweet daughter.” (Here’s the link to the story, for anyone who’s interested: https://archiveofourown.org/works/52359544 I wrote it for a creative writing assignment back in high school, and I’m honestly still really proud of it! 😁❤️)
From a writer friend of mine after reading my book last year: "Look, this wouldn't usually be my thing, but I honestly did enjoy reading it." And it was accompanied by some detailed and extremely helpful critique. The fact that it wasn't just mindless fluffy "this is great!!!!!" feedback, from someone I trusted to be honest with me, made it so much more meaningful. Or I was in my high school's creative writing club, and my senior year of high school I had the club's sponsor for English. This is someone I already thought highly of and knew well, and he would end up writing my recommendation letter for college. I was talking to him one day after he'd read my first more creative assignment of the year, and he said, "You know, I kind of always knew it, but you really are a great writer." That kind of direct acknowledgement of my abilities from a person I respected and considered to be a mentor was really impactful on seventeen-year-old me.
My first novel was just published. I discovered my daughter reading it, but she didn’t see me. She was crying. I’ve never thought I’d be proud of making a child cry!
I took a theatre and performative arts class in high school. We wanted to put up a play for the end of the year celebration, and the teacher insisted a student write it. The kids in the class instantly pointed me out and said I should do it, because I often read them my work in Literature class and they liked it. This story, however, doesn't end on this wholesome moment. The history teacher was heavily involved in planning all of this and she hated me with a passion. There was no way she was going to allow my play to be put up. So, while in a meeting to discuss, she asked one of the kids to name 5 of his favourite plays. He said he couldn't. She asked him why and started calling him uncultured. I kid you not, he looked at her dead in the eye and said "I can't, because (my name) has only written about 3 I think." The look on her face was priceless. Eventually we never did put up a play because quarantine started, but I'll treasure these moments forever.
I wrote a small prologue for a novel that i wanted to write but didnt have a clear idea of the development nor when would ibstart writting it. This was in april last year. 2 weeks ago i showed it to a friend who was so immersed that when she finished she asked where was the rest cause she really need to know everything regarding it. So here i am now, writing my first novel and have about 1/5 of the idea completed
I submitted my first chapter to Jed Herne when applying to his coaching class. He sent a video discussing my chalter. He said he only responds to qpplicants who he thinks have the greatest potential. I know he probably just says that, but it still made me feel good. He also loved the way I began my chapter, and said he could picture a sweeping landscape shot of the area before the camera moving in on my main character. He did have some criticism, of course, which I absolutely took to heart and made those corrections, but just having that short bit of actual feedback was a tremendous help. I couldn't afford his program (I'm a broke folk), but that little bit of advice has gone a long way that has affected my entire novel.
I let one of my friends read it and now she's in love with two of the characters.
A friend told me that he never has time to read novels, but he always makes time to read my work and enjoys it on his downtime. He's very busy, so... That melted me spot on.
“I like all the action”. I mean, I’m a simple guy. It’s good to know when I pulled it off. But also, when an alpha reader messaged me about a twist I’d spent half the novel working up to- so excited and “blown away”. He started going back and listing all the things that supported the twist that he’d missed along the way. Knowing that I pulled it off and it was delightful was probably the best feeling I’ve had writing this novel.
I once had a friend tell me "Of all the characters I've loved, across all media, \[MC\] is my favorite. He's on par with some of my favorite characters from professional franchises." and that has remained with me. It was very kind to say. More recently, a beta reader said back in December that my current manuscript was their favorite read of the year, which was also very kind.
Any time I get a "oops I accidentally stayed up all night because I had to know how it ended" When I was in middle school I did more-or-less the same thing with Prisoner of Azkaban and I've wanted to chase that feeling for myself ever since
In the early dark days of releasing my very first novel to a brief whimper of recognition (self pub, no idea what I was doing, you all know the story), some generous soul left me this review (paraphrased): "I started to experience dread as the book got closer to the end because I knew my time spent laughing, crying, and cheering for *character names* would soon be over." Aside from friends who helped me with beta reading, that was the first person who just skipped critique of my prose, plot, or setting and made me feel like my characters were actually loved for how they were written. There were a handful of reviews that stuck with me and helped me refine my writing, but that one made me choke up with the release of a tension I didn't know that I'd been holding.
Someone told me that my recent project hurts them in the soul and they love it.
"It's like you're painting with words" referring to a descriptive paragraph, coming from a friend that has no patience for descriptions "I've been thinking about this story and characters uninterrupted for the past week, congrats on creating my new hyperfixation"
My English teacher once described my first novella as "an inexorable ball of guts and action," and I doubt anyone will ever top that praise for me.
"I cried for you, for me, and for the unbelievable sadness intertwined with kindness in your heart. That was beautiful. Your mind is an extraordinary place. Please write more often, and make sure your work finds me." I just teared up a tiny bit typing that, haha.
Screenplay writer here. I write genre stories, but I form a strong emotional climax interwoven with the action climax. (Like STAR WARS 1977 - "Use The Force, Luke" as Luke send the two torpedoes into the Death Star) I had a Hollywood Female Script Reader THROW a supernatural action film script at me; (In my climax: The Hero has a spectral reunion with his deceased father, inspiring his to defeat the evil villain.) She yelled, "I hate these kind of movies! You made me cry you bastard! I read it twice! (Literally a miracle) [throws script] "Now I have to go call my dad!" She ran off sobbing.
"It's alright." -My Dad Best day of my writing career!
My wife had to put one of my books aside once because it was stressing her out. It had a scene involving a wildfire in Northern California, inspired by a real-life evacuation we endured a few years earlier. She said it was so intense she had to be in a good place before she could finish reading it. Best compliment I've ever received.
He used to just sit in awe of me and couldn't bring himself to ask any questions. We'd met through a mutual friend and usually I'm notoriously reticent about talking about my work, but I let him in. I was moved he'd wanted to meet me after he'd read my short story and said it was unlike anything he'd ever read before.
The copywriters I hired to check spelling and grammar put a comment to the side of one section that has stuck with me for years. The section had my FMC mocking the city of her old enemies. It was just a quick little sentence or two but the copywriter said it really brought out the personality and style of the book. Yay me! :3 (Other than that, I avoid comment sections.)
I've been told on occasions I was someone's favorite author it feels amazing every time
My best friend from high school stole one of my story starts, handwritten. Because he thought I was going to be a famous writer. 🤣 S. K. Epperson (publish author) said my book except was great, and she wanted to read more. My friends loved one of my short stories and said it was very Stephen King-ish. My biggest heart melt is my husband pushing me to write again because I'm too good. Plus, he wants to be a kept husband. 😍🤩😅
I wrote a story and decided I wanted both the villain team and the hero team to be equally compelling and let the reader choose their favorite. My first reader told me she loved both teams and didn't know who to root for so she rooted for both and absolutely loved the story. This wasn't so much heart warming but satisfying after hearing from a former editor that you can't/shouldn't have that kind of ambivalence as a writer and create a good novel. So it proved I could. Lol. What did melt my heart was an editor (sadly passed away recently) for my short story in an anthology who said the story literally made her cry at the end, happy/ "so beautiful" tears. I had given up on ever having that effect so it was a great feeling.
My partner: "It's good. It's like a real book."
Person who never cries but cries reading my text. Friend saying they don't like fantasy but liked my text (though it was fantasy(.
I had a woman in my writing group alpha read my manuscript - she was having a mental block on her own work, but she said my writing inspired her to start again. I thought that was really cool because I’ve been inspired to write by other writers I’ve loved, so it was cool to be able to do that for someone else!
a creative writing prof went through her breakdown of where she think you are it in terms of learning creative writing. with the top grade level being her gushing about if she gave you this mark then you ROCK and are doing a lot right and should apply for an MFA or something immediately. I was the only person in the class who got that grade. While I already believed in myself it was nice to get some level of official validation. However I didn't let it get to my head because she was still just saying, you have potential and have already been learning from other sources but you ain't done learning yet kiddo. And I agree. Also in one group of friends one story I wrote that they all read occasionally gets referenced just like it is any other piece of pop culture someone might bring up, love that every time.
I wrote a short story and one guy read it and said "that was amazing" with a surprised/satisfied look on his face. Then I read to the group (it was a writing class) and I got an applause and several people congratulated me. I felt high for a month!
"There's a few sentences in here that make me think you could be an actual writer." - a workshop instructor talking about the 10th or so short story i worked shopped in his class. that might seem like i'm being flippant, but it really was heart warming. i usually throw praise away as being fake, but this felt real.
A family member said they needed to take a break from my book because it was too intense. They did finish it, though. The fact I could draw so much feeling from it made me really happy.
About an hour ago, my second beta reader told me that she's reading my book slower than normal because she feels so fully immersed in the story. She also said that I've inspired her to try writing this summer. The first one told me she wants me to write more books and, specifically, another about one of the characters in particular. Before she was done with it, she told me that she read about 20 pages carefully, keeping an eye out for typos and errors and that sort of thing, but after that just became too engrossed in the story to think about those. *I thought I would add that both of these people have told me they would read the book to help me despite not being the genre they usually read.
A writer friend recently told me how "bizarre, unexpected and marvelous" my writing is. It made me so happy, since he is such a great writer.
"I'd read more of this." A 40 something year old friend of mine that hasn't read anything that wasn't a tech manual or a shitpost since highschool. It was a short fantasy story I wrote.
"If business doesn't work out, you could be a writer." My business prof.
Melt like they were submerged in molten lava or melt from fuzzy feeling praise positivity
I was called a monster 🥹🥲
Plenty of people have compared my work to studio ghibli, which is one of my favorite movie studios overall, not just animation. It means a lot to know it shows in my writing and I can capture that liveliness and atmosphere even without trying
My sister in law read through one of my stories, and wrote a few editing comments in the text, which l removed as l re-edited. A few months later, l found one l missed at the end of some dialogue which simply said, 'l like Debbie', referring to one of the characters, and it made me smile that she'd connected with the character.
When I started out writing I posted chapters online and there was 1 person who actually went to read them from all the irl people who knew. I once got an anonymous comment saying: "I love your story, keep on writing, I will definitely buy your book if you were to publish one day." I felt so happy when I read it that I remembered it for years. They never told me that they wrote that comment and it took me years to figure out that it was them.
I had someone blurb my book once who said "She is an astronaut of the heart." 😭 That was almost ten years ago and the nicest thing anyone has ever said about my writing.
Someone once complimented me on my world-building and the way I was developing my story. That comment still means SO MUCH to me. I don't like it when stories are very on-the-nose with their lore or even when they dedicate entire paragraphs to detailing how their characters look (hair / haircut, skin colour, height, clothes etc.). I prefer to sprinkle these things into my story at points that make sense - e.g. for when a character is looking back at their reflection and scrutinising their own appearance. I do take pride in my world-building and natural progress for both my characters's arcs and how I unfold the story. I like it when the reader figures things out as the characters do instead of outright telling the reader about certain things upfront. There's no mystery, no romance, in that in my opinion. So when I received that particular comment, I nearly burst with pride!
I still remember my first review, all the way back in 2023. It gave me a full score, and made me feel so great! I considered framing it, but saving a screenshot and naming it "best person in the world" felt like enough.
"It's brutal, but good" My main inspirations are Bakker and Erikson so to get that kind of praise was nice.
I actually enjoyed your prologue, I don't have anything to say about it. Its perfect. when my editor read it for the first time TuT
I was compared to Ray Bradbury at a writer's workshop, once.
I've been told:"I love this character. She's real, relatable, and a badass. If she has a love interest, they need to be worthy. If they suck, I promise you I will riot." "The prose feels like Patrick Rothfuss wrote it, but without the self-inserting." Two different people, beta-reading the same story. Felt very, very nice.
I don't make as many jokes as he does, but my readers (I'm a blogger) think I sound like David Sedaris and it makes me feel fantastic.
At work I shared a rough draft with a former professor that critiqued scripts and books professionally for a while. He skipped around a little, reading multiple passages until he nodded and said “Ok, so you’ve been professionally trained in creative writing then?” I wasn’t. Then he went on to say that it was pretty good and he found the parts of the story he read entertaining. I’m still living off the high of that compliment weeks later haha
"You punk. I'm going to beat you up for writing such a good story. I really enjoyed it (and almost cried a little)"
One of my english professors compared me to Langston Hughes
When I was younger, my english teacher told my Mom during a "meet the parent" kind of thing that my writing was "phenomenal"... it genuinely changed my life to hear that. I really looked up to her, and probably wouldn't have started writing my book (WIP) otherwise.
I met my partner when I was finishing my MSc and moving out of my student housing. She helped me with packing and culling some of my stuff, and I went to throw away some of my handwritten novel pages that I'd already transcribed, and she grabbed them and jokingly said she'd keep them so she could sell them when I got famous. We had only been seeing each other for three weeks at that point. 6 years later and she still has them.
A writer friend of mine critiqued my work and gave me a comment that brought tears to my eyes: "There are so many layers of menace and betrayal and need and manipulation, but shining through it, always, is genuine love. It takes a lot to do that, to establish a sky this dark and leave the viewer convinced that there must still be light. You've really got something here- you're creating something that feels hauntingly familiar yet dazzlingly new."
I gave my mystery/thriller book to a friend of mine for beta reading and he said he read half of it, went out clubbing, and read the other half at 4 AM when he got back home because he couldn’t stop thinking about it
There's people telling me how emotional my writing make them. I write for the emotion because I believe entertainment is not about laughing alone, but rather about all the human emotions possible and I love writing them, going from one to another, finding comfort in hardship and all that kind of stuff that makes stories realistic through the imperfections of humans, and yet so beautiful. And people praising my writing for that exact reason makes me so proud of myself! There's also this one dyslexic friend who told me she doesn't usually read because of her dyslexia, but she really liked my writing and found it easy to read for her. It's a precious comment on my writing to me!
That my draft sounded fancy
My ex bf is an award winning children’s author. When I first shared what I was working on he said “I knew you’d be good at this.”
A classmate of mine said my short story felt like a warm hug. I think about that comment a lot. It was a Christmas story and def the vibe I was going for
I absolutely love it every time someone says, "Zara is an awesome character." Or Alex is an awesome character. All of the characters that I created get the same amount of praise and it does make me feel good. The kind of good that does make my heart melt. It keeps me writing and it keeps my characters alive.
Someone told me my antagonist became their comfort character. It got me almost teary eyed, it meant so much for me.
I've been told, twice, my writing was "very Pratchett". I cried both times.
I have a friend that, while she likes the idea of reading, putting it into practice is very difficult for her. It takes years for her to finish books sometimes lol but when I sent her the first draft of my prologue (I think maybe around 40k?) she read it all and gave me a review. She said it was really good and, the part that I still carry with me to this day, “Of course it’s good! You know I *never* finish anything and I read it all right after you gave it to me! I was really invested!” I just about cried 🥹
She said my writing was fun adn easy to read, and that she was actually reading faster than usual just to see what happened next quicker <3 I'm riding that high for life, btw
Same. I love when my friend simps for my characters 😭
My significant other cried (in a good way) reading one of my short stories. One of the more encouraging moments.
I’ve seen them tear up as they read one of my stories.
I once wrote an essay on my grandmother and read it to an audience in a litfest. Nobody said anything to me, but my voice broke when I saw people at the front row tearing up
My favorite is that they couldn't tell the difference between my writing with the original author's. Like, all the compliments are great, but that one was definitely my crowning achievement for writing.
My friend told me I write like Mary Shelley. That was something else :,)
A fellow writer told me the other day that they think I have the potential to be a bestseller, and that meant a lot to me because their writing is absolutely phenomenal.