Comentarista82

Fluent Spanish and Portuguese speaker (FSI 5+), Finnish and Indonesian FSI 1+ certified.

I comment civilly, and will leave something constructive so long as the story's not trying to unnecessarily abuse, humiliate or ignore facts; then I deduct accordingly. I suspend disbelief if a story doesn't ignore science nor verisimilitude. Any story short of ~7.5K words scores a 3 if nothing else wrong.

(I've written 500+ pages elsewhere for experts in the literature [from 1987-1996, TWO YEARS before Lit existed], professionally edited and translated in multiple languages--plus my livelihood depends on evaluations, so I deal with some of the toughest--and authors should appreciate quality feedback, since they want to sell their works, plus it helps a writer improve for free.) I never had a single thing rejected for premise, missing conclusions, lack of research/development, grammar--AND in a different language.

There's now a Comments Guideline policy under the comment box: READ how it allows commenting on the STORY, but NOT vilifying commenters.

Authors:

1-- biggest problem: stories get few comments; those are rarely actionable. The site owners tell commenters to not only comment on stories they like, but also to leave feedback. Why gripe when posters follow policy?
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2) This is a vanity publishing site with a very low bar for submissions.. If you think you're doing well getting 5s with people saying "great job"...if they haven't reviewed grammar, checked facts (if you believe what anyone says without proof, that makes you the fool), noticed transitions, examined character development... then when you try to sell your work on some platform, don't be surprised when it tanks because you refused fair feedback. Talk about needing to reread "The Emperor's New Clothes!"
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3) How is a story automatically worth a 5? Standard rubrics weigh at least 5 things: grammar--worth at least 20 points/1 star here if it's bad; your premise; is it long enough; are there sufficient details and development for your story and/or characters; transitions, and sometimes your conclusion. Don't gripe when readers notice, because you wrote it and unless someone stole your computer and poorly reworked that, take responsibility.
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Too many say grammar and punctuation are NOT important; MLA, APA, and Chicago style guides disagree! Grammar and spelling are sometimes more important than the story: one that flows well always helps you, so everyone should eliminate poor grammar and punctuation because they create hard stops. Even the Lit owners allow users to report tales for those items--as if no one knew that!!

"If you can't be corrected without being offended, you will never grow in life." (Fenyman)

I have beta read/edited 16 works for authors, with one surging 0.98 or because of my editing/input. One I co-edited sits at 4.87, although the writer authors well and needed less; however in the former case, I streamlined the story by 1.5K words and the latter, 1.2K (most recent one 1.9K, or 15.1%). In one I just did, I streamlined the story from 82 to 70 pages, from 26K to 20K words (22.2% less) A newly-released item tipped ratings at 4.92. This proves I know editing well within my areas!

Here are some testimonials:

"Hi there, I have incorporated most of your recommendations. It makes the story quite crisp and delivers a punch. I can see how overuse of words can rob you of both the flow and the effect you desire. Thanks a lot for your help."

"I haven't seen such positive feedback."

"Thanks again for your help and careful reading. The final version is shorter, thanks in part to your suggestions for more efficient wording."

"I appreciate your editing suggestions; you have a keen eye for flow and tightening structure."