My fdk depends entirely on my time constraints, which I can't believe have seized up so badly this spring.( I'm staying on top of everything, but it doesn't leave me with a lot of pure free time these days.)
I generally use feedback for two purposes. If you take the time to write a story, and I read it, I want you to know that I read it and what I liked about it. I've had this conversation with a couple of people, and if you just wrote solely for yourself, you wouldn't bother posting it. (Well, I'm not sure what I'd do with mine. Maybe paste it to my back door or something <g>.) Anyway, I want you to first know that your time and talents are very appreciated. I'm with Lisa in that I simply enjoy reading. This place is so great for a break when I need to unwind!
The second purpose of my feedback is discussion. It really just depends on the author and what particular points of interest their dialogue or descriptions might spark for me, but there have been several stories that have been especially enjoyable because of the feedback discussions they've started. One of CC's stories sticks out in my mind just because several of us spent so much darn time talking about it and the topics it presented. It's a wonder I got anything done those months LOL. And with many longer stories, I notice when people make a point of saying, "Wow, so-n-so's comment really impacted this part of my story when I edited it," and so it's just nice to know that our discussions can sometimes be helpful...you never know what might come out of it!
But basically unless you specifically ask how you can make it better (which I do from time to time!), I'm not going to outright say anything. You wrote it; you should be proud of what you worked hard on, so I'm going to tell you what I like about what I see, not what it could be.
JD
