Comentarista82

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

I comment on stories that interest me, and I always leave constructive criticism, as balanced as I can. I suspend disbelief so long as a story doesn't ignore things like real-life science, accepted principles nor ignores verisimilitude.

(I've written over 500 pages in real life elsewhere [from 1987-1996, TWO YEARS before the site owners created Lit] and professionally edited and translated in multiple languages--plus my livelihood depends on evaluations, so I deal with some of the toughest around--and with some authors here trying to sell their works, conscientious feedback should be appreciated, because it helps an author improve for free.)

Thankfully, there's now a Comments Guideline policy you can find right under a comment box at the end of a story: it allows you to comment on the STORY, but NOT vilify other commenters. Read it and inform yourself!

Authors:

1-- biggest gripe I read are stories rarely get comments; others lament not getting actionable ones. The site owners tell commenters to not only comment on each story they would like to, but also to leave constructive criticism to help. Why gripe about commenters following policy?
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2) This is a vanity publishing site, where the site owners earn money off the author's stories and other things.. If you think you're doing great by getting 5s and having commenters/fellow authors only saying "great job"...if they haven't talked about the grammar, spot-checked facts, noticed transitions, addressed character development analytically.. then when you try to sell your work on some other platform... don't be surprised when it tanks because you didn't want honest and valid feedback. Talk about needing to reread "The Emperor's New Clothes!"
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3) I've noticed some state/insinuate they should get a 5 just because they submitted something. Really? Standard evals via rubrics account for at least 5 things, in varying degrees: grammar--this is at least 20 points, or worth 1 star here if it's really bad; your premise; do you have the required length; do you possess sufficient details and development for your story and/or characters; transitions, and sometimes including your conclusion. These are all normal things that readers can notice. Don't gripe when they do, because you wrote it and unless someone stole your computer and rewrote part of your tale poorly, hold yourself accountable.
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It's so odd how I read too many state that grammar and punctuation are NOT important; MLA, APA, and Chicago style guides disagree with that! Using language in terms of grammar and spelling is sometimes far more important than even the story. A smoother story that reads and flows well is always going to help you, so it's in everyone's best interest to strive for eliminating poor grammar and punctuation as something that creates hard stops. Even the site owners allow users to report stories for bad grammar and poor punctuation...as if no one knew that.