Why writers won't give you constructive criticism

Because they like you, and do not want to make you cry. Oh yes, they will make you cry. If they are as honest as you need them to be, they will, sooner or later, make you cry. That's a lot to ask of someone you hardly e-know.

You can ask my wife. When I'm into a story or novel she is forced to read my first drafts. I have come to know the look all too well, the drooped barely-making-contact eyes. She knows what she is about to tell me will make me cry. What I thought to be my latest and greatest gift to the literary world is actually incomprehensible drek. She knows it, and now I know it. She apologizes and tries to make me feel better. The horrid, "It's not all bad" speech.

Of course, an hour later, I'm over it. She was right. I figure out how to fix it. She reads it and likes it. I know she really likes it because I know she'd tell me if she doesn't. Having an honest reader is the greatest help to a writer, and I wouldn't wish that task on my worst enemy.

So does this mean, when you get no comments to your posted story, that your writing is bad? No, not at all. Even if we like your story, we fear what might come next. If we give you some insightful comment, you might remember us and send us your next piece of writing, and then we might have to make you cry.