- Edited
Workaholics_inc I can really empathize with you. Back when I wrote my very first novel on this site my novel got flooded with flamers who told me that my protagonist is a "beta" and that he wasn't even good enough to be a side character. One of my readers even threatened me! I still remember the pain of waiting for the first comment on my chapter only for it to be some kind of complaint. I really had put a lot of effort into my novel and I started thinking that I really am not good at writing and if I really should stop writing. However, instead of giving up writing as a whole I just stopped writing my novel and decided to polish my writing skill and one day rewrite it. A lot of time has passed since then and I have become a lot better at writing. I also had lots of time to think about the bad comments who were haunting me like a ghost, and I came to the conclusion that...they all were idiots. After thinking about it for a long time, I started noticing that their comments were not fueled by a desire to help me but by their own insecurities and immature beliefs. None of their complaints were helpful or objective in any way and were only there to put me down or to start arguments. All of them complained yet none of them were able to point out the real flaws my novel had. Everyone complained how "unmanly" my protagonist was because he broke out into tears, but none of them were able to tell me that my pacing was WAY too slow or that my summary and cover were incredibly misleading. What I want to say is that you shouldn't be worried about one reader who is being incredibly rude and vague with his criticism and just tell him to piss off. That reader attacked you as a person and if he shows no respect toward you or your writing why should you respect him or that what he writes? Constructive criticism should never be rude to a writer or his work and should try to be as objective as possible. I hope that I was able to help.