I am pretty sure I know which story and author this thread is referring to, as I had followed the story and loved the author’s work since her first story. She has an incredible ability to portray her characters with deep feelings and sensitivity that make them real and endearing to me. And because of this ability, I have always pictured the author a person possessing great sensitivity, which was why when some of the negative comments directed at her when she pulled her story (under the advice of a prospective publisher) I could imagine that they must be quite hurtful to her. Although readers often intend to show their support for a story or author by asking for more and sooner, and writers usually understand readers only want more because their stories are treasured and loved, the well-meaning ‘demand’ could actually bring more unnecessary stress to the writers than anything else. From the author’s replies to her readers and the way she portrayed her characters, I saw a lot of sincerity and honesty in her, and I believe she honestly appreciated her readers’ enthusiasm, though she had a habit of promising a posting date and not meeting it, I never doubted for a second her good intention. As much as we love the fictional world we create, we all have our true life, RL, to live. So many things in RL are utterly out of our control, I actually felt sorry for her when she couldn’t make her promise rather than getting frustrated by her. I don’t think any writer is set out to disappoint even a single reader, but I think most writers hold extremely high expectation of themselves and love for their creations, it is the writers themselves, IMHO, that they must please first, not the readers, and therefore, no matter how impatient, how enthusiastic the readers are to read their stories, they have to get past their own eyes and hearts before releasing it to the masses.
And my other conjecture… it is pure conjecture, so please take it with a grain of salt… my thought is that a community like this is built on trust and respect, we feel safe in a community when we believe we are accepted and appreciated, but once hurt is introduced into the relationship, or when we don’t feel accepted or understood, our trust is violated, and we become more detached from it… I understand that trust and respect go both ways, there’s a delicate (as well as difficult) balance to keep, I don’t think anyone could achieve that perfect balance, but sometimes all it takes is a small leap of faith and a little graciousness and a lot of respect to put ourselves in the other’s shoes and find a way to show our support in a slightly different (perhaps more productive) way to build an even stronger and sustaining community where both writers and readers (and even lurkers :D) feel safe to express themselves and benefit from one another...
And my other conjecture… it is pure conjecture, so please take it with a grain of salt… my thought is that a community like this is built on trust and respect, we feel safe in a community when we believe we are accepted and appreciated, but once hurt is introduced into the relationship, or when we don’t feel accepted or understood, our trust is violated, and we become more detached from it… I understand that trust and respect go both ways, there’s a delicate (as well as difficult) balance to keep, I don’t think anyone could achieve that perfect balance, but sometimes all it takes is a small leap of faith and a little graciousness and a lot of respect to put ourselves in the other’s shoes and find a way to show our support in a slightly different (perhaps more productive) way to build an even stronger and sustaining community where both writers and readers (and even lurkers :D) feel safe to express themselves and benefit from one another...