Hello, all. My name is Prosthetic Heart, and I have things to say about life, writing, and publishing works on the internet.

I have other pen names both on FanFiction . net and Fiction Press alike, and it is from my experiences as an somewhat experienced author that the majority of the topics I pursue are... well, made pursuable.

As noteworthy events come my way, I will post rants, essays, and other inconsequential things I doubt anyone but me will end up reading on this story thread. Check back for updates if you like reading, and PM me suggestions or issues you would like to see discussed. The issues I post will likely be inspired by real things that crop up as the days pass by. Please try not to be a reason for a negative post.

And now, without further ado, here are numbers one through three of:

The Perils of Writing on the Internet (& Other Fun Things of Little Consequence)

By Prosthetic Heart

#1. People Who Skip My Thoughtful Notes

You know the drill: you spend ten minutes to an hour concocting an author's note for your readers, something that's witty an engaging and gives the reader a sense that no, they're not reading some story by a faceless chapter-spawning entity, but a real person who cares for the characters they concoct. You think, when finished: "Wow! This explains everything; it's informative and colorful and I worked so hard! They'll love it!", only to receive an insane amount of reviews asking questions WHOSE ANSWER YOU COVERED IN THE NOTE THE REVIEWER OBVIOUSLY SKIPPED.

Seriously people: I know you think that the author's notes are inconsequential, perhaps even boring, but sometimes you should at least TRY to swim through the ranting and raving to get to the good parts. You might learn a thing or two.

#2. Judging By The First Chapter…

Now this really gets my goat. A friend of mine (who shall remain nameless) wrote a truly excellent story in which her main character gets burned extremely badly in a car accident during the first chapter. So this random reviewer--who is obviously not stupid because the review was well worded and had plausible reasoning to back it up--berated her for not doing research about the odds of living through such an ordeal.

Now, you might think "Well, that's a good point," but in the SECOND chapter we find that the character in question cannot move due to the pain, then slips into a restorative coma shortly thereafter. And here's the kicker: the second chapter was already posted by the time the reviewer left their comment, and had they simply READ ON before discounting the story as illogical they would have realized that NO, the character did not get off "Scot free," as they so eloquently put it.

And besides, the author DID do research, finding that only a fraction of those burned in the way she described actually die.

Score one for the author? You might think so, but take a better look at…

#3. ...Never To Be Seen Again

So the reviewer who left the negative review shortly received a PM from the author of the story detailing the research they had done. They also informed them of the existence of a second chapter. The author soon received a reply, apologizing for disdainful review of the story. Now everything's settled, right?

Wrong.

You would expect the gregarious reviewer to review a second time, saying that, "Good, you did do research, sorry I jumped on you", right? So as not to dissuade other readers from discounting the story as illogical or implausible, right?

Right?

Ha! You wish.

They never reviewed again, which is a damn shame. Bad reviews scare off new readers, because, I dunno about you, I make it a point to read a story's reviews before jumping in. Thanks to one review that received no remedial response, what could theoretically be a legion of readers were scared off. The author even received one review that read: "I nearly didn't read this story because I saw that review by name omitted, but I'm glad I went ahead and read it anyway! It's great!"

The moral of this story: if you leave a negatively charged review, then find yourself coming down with a change of heart about its subject, be sure to make that modification of opinion known in a second review. Do unto others. How would you like it if your story was treated so discourteously?