I respect people giving this kind of heads up. I find that sometimes you have to expectations at and as a reader you have to double check that you're going in with an open mind

But all and all, I would still recommend it as a valuable place to post. The users were really trying to help me even when they weren't the nicest. There's a lot of good advice, but if something doesn't click then it may be you need a more specific lesson, explanation, or way of it being explained

4) Part of the problem using r/pubtips, facebook groups, and even discord servers is... if you aren't writing commercial fiction then you might be facing the wrong audience for your genre. To be blunt r/pubtips kind of sucks for examples of more literary fiction (regardless of subgenre)

I literally had to see Query structure broken down into what percentage of Act 1 it should be, what plots/themes to drop, the word count, and *examples of blurbs/full plots for other manuscripts side-by-side to the query letters for those manuscript in my genre.*

#querytip #writesky 3) If you did the research on queries, you did several query drafts, and you don't understand why ppl say you're doing it wrong, then you haven't found the write (haha) explanation.

It took me looking in a general discussion to find advice written in a way that clicked.

2) If it is the mismatch between how you understand and a forum, then be kind to yourself even if it means deleting the post and walking away.

It was deeply frustrating because they were acting like I was an idiot. As a BIPOC, as someone with learning challenges, and someone who often *can't* articulate what I don't understand... r/pubtips genuinely made me want to take a long walk off a short pier. They thought it was the criticism.

1) If you're not upset at the criticism, are you upset that the criticism and advice don't make sense?

People kept suggesting I hadn't done any research. That was far from the case. The problem was that how I understood what I was reading and the criticism, did not actually show me what was wrong.

Please understand I love critiques despite my reactions. I think a lot of these are valid, but they're also *confusing*.

- Commercial readers and authors, do *not* like strong narrative voice. They like strong POV. (One of the best pieces of advice I got.)
- "You're a really good story-teller, but are not good at showing" then a few paragraphs later, I show too much detail, but not enough smells or tastes?

- "The whole house isn't beneath her feet try "the floorboards creeked beneath her feet" wat?!?
- People have a REALLY hard time understanding narrative voice, narrative sarcasm in the POV, and I'm glad I did not go the Zora Neale wrote of using dialectics more.