I depends on the story.

Some of them, a feedback of *glurble! meep!* means I did my job.

Others, "I normally hate this (X), but you totally sold me on it and made me like it" is the best response possible.

Oh, and those occasional long, thoughtful, nifty keen LoCs. Those are nice, too.

A heartfelt "gleerble, meep" is always a lovely thing to find in the in-box.

I've had a couple of people actually tell me that "Left Side" helped them start to process what happened to Xander and make them feel less upset. Glad to help, of course, but this journey into psychotherapy is a wee bit disturbing.

A sort of "And at last they were able to lay down their arms and rest" sort of thing?

Yeah. Which doesn't work for a lot of fandoms as well as authors think it does, but I understand the impulse.

There are some who can't bear to receive constructive criticism; there are some who, lacking understanding what the story in question is actually about, will give constructive criticism that's not constructive at all; but I think a happy medium exists somewhere.

Wrod. Oh, wrod. I can tell you stories.... One gal took all her stories down from ff.net because people had the temerity to point out that she a) couldn't spell worth a damn, and b) she had about twenty-three (no lie) unfinished stories, all with more or less the same plot. Even worse, her fans flamed anyone who dared to leave a review that was anything less than worshipful. This gal has (no lie) over 10 lists on yahoogroups that are devoted to her compulsive typing (I refuse to call it writing).

I keep waiting for negative feedback, I kinda wrote the buffy drabble hoping to get some responses from Spuffy fans.

I have one reader who never even watched XF, who I met through the Farscape fandom. When I posted my most recent XF story (not "the last" because I have one more to finish), she read the entire thing, all 200K. And sent me a long feedback letter, which by far surpassed any of the feedback I received on the story from people within the fandom.

It was marvelous. She commented on the characters, the tone, the plot (such as it was), pointed out some minor problems she had with language and flow... SO great. That's the kind of feedback you print out and tape to the wall, because it's from someone who really got the story, and appreciated not only the story but the technical aspects as well.

compulsive typing (I refuse to call it writing).

t looks at piles of typescript from the years. Carefully doesn't think how "compulsive typing" applies to self.

That's a good line.

English Breakfast tea:

And I have yet to be well-and-truly flamed, although I received a couple of mildly disturbed letters from people for the abortion!fics and the child-killing!fic. No flames, though. Sigh.

because it's from someone who really got the story

See, this is what alarms me - yes, I'm a sensitive flower and Too Tender For Fandom - what if I didn't get it and the author thinks I'm stupid and I get a bad grade? (And then I remind myself that I'm being a nitwit.)

I suppose it's tricky in some ways because I'm a reader but neither a writer nor someone who has any kind of an analytic background, so my insecurities kick up when I say anything more than "I really enjoyed this, thanks for writing it."

I got a feedback letter a couple of days ago for a story I wrote last March. Now that was a lovely surprise, even more so because it pointed out what worked about the story and why it worked.

I've never actually been flamed for a fic of mine--yet--although I'm about to serve up a couple of sacred cows as barbeque in one of my fics. Is it wrong for me to admit that I'm actually looking forward to the flames?