RE: The Allies of Old; Book Two Renewal: Chapter Sixty One "Shocking Reunion"
Haha, it seems I have a reputation for this. I laugh because I'm actually super easy going. Spam only really started to bother me when some of my friends were getting upset about it. My 'spam busting' was more in support of them to be honest, also because some people really feel that it hurts the value of the site and if that's the case then I want to do my part to minimize it. If you've seen me address it in the past, you'll know that I usually do my best to explain why it's a problem. I'm not quick to flag, in fact I hate flagging and I only do it because I do believe that it's the duty of everyone who loves this site and wants it to succeed to do what they can to keep it awesome. And I don't mean censor, God no, I think everyone should be allowed to write about what they want. If I don't agree with someone's content I generally just ignore it, if I really didn't like something I might mute it but I wouldn't flag. I've only ever flagged actual posts when they were stealing from someone else or trolling someone. And I've only ever muted a troll.
There's actually not a circumstance in which I would consider the comment you just wrote to be spam. Even if it were coming from someone I didn't know at all, because it's about helping others not yourself. I'm happy to help out with any project that encourages people, that's also important for keeping steemit awesome ;)
My problem with link dropping pertains to thoughtless link dropping. Anyone I"m friends with and even friendly with is welcome to put a link in my comments. And if you're reading my series than you basically have a free pass on my blog lol.
Thank you dreemit. I really love to read. It is so hard for people that want to write, and are good at writing, to get noticed. When they do not get noticed, they may think it is because they are not good at writing, when they may be very good and have a great story to tell. I don't want to see one potential writer give up, just because no one saw their work. And contest like these help get seen. And I am really enjoying the Story Of Anna, and Jess, and michael, and the brothers and all the others, your are a fantastic character builder, I love em all, even the asshole ones are somewhat likeable, they feel real.
I also love to read, in fact if you've read or are currently reading any other books on here that you could recommend to me that would be great. I used to have a lot more time to browse, but lately things have been too busy. I would still find the time to squeeze in a good book, but sifting through everything can be hard sometimes. I'm also open to suggestions of short story writers. I noticed that you named therealpaul on one of your lists, excellent choice. Paul was my first friend here, I love his stuff and him :) And ezzy is also a long time friend.
What I can recommend to you is a novella that was already put through by @jedau called A Day in the Clouds That link has the table of contents. It's not necessary to read the silver linings, but I would recommend at least the first couple because it explains the premise. Really well written, super cool story.
Thanks for the compliment! I have to say that believable characters is what I consider most important when I'm reading so it's a huge focus of my own writing. In fact one of my close friends was a huge metric on whether the books were good. She generally does not like anything supernatural or anything that can't happen in reality. She has read both books three times and her reason is that the characters are so believable it allows her somewhat limited imagination to stretch a bit to allow for the possibilities. Actually one of my awesome guy friend's on this site whose personality is somewhat like hers (except that he has a huge imagination) paid me a similar compliment.
They feel absolutely real to me too, sometimes it's as if they're using me to tell their story lol.
Edit: as far as people getting noticed, the best advice I can give to them is to read established bloggers and write thoughtful comments. That's what I did in the beginning. And I didn't stick with just fiction, I checked out everything from art to crypto :) I made a number of amazing friends that way too.
I have everyone I have found to read in my mag. That is why I made the list at the end of all the authors/storytellers, I just click thru them one at a time and see if they have anything new up. For spooky/odd/horror, I love alexbeymans black goo stories, they are creepy at times. @cizzo, he just joined a couple of weeks ago, a lot of nice shorts from him, and for Castles and knights, @josephlwiess his journey story is just starting. I can recommend all of them on my reading list. They all bring something different to the reading table.