Reviewer: Middel Signed [Report This]
Date: May 30 2022 2:48 AM Title: Growing Day

*Phew...*

OK, I hope I'm nicer this time in my opinion to everyone, mainly to Greenanon. Really.

Didn't saw the answers to my reviews until now (GiantessWorld didn't sent mails alerting that there were replies) and I think it's good of me to give my face to be slapped, if it's what I need to do. Still, I still guess I'm right and I'll show my reasons to defend my POV, as I'll now answer both Divediveburners and Greenanon. Still, I'm not trying to offend anyone, and if my reviews made me seem like an offender, I'm sorry. I never attacked Greenanon, or his personal values, or his writing ability and talent... I just wrote against Growing Day. I thought it was clear, but... ok, let's begin.

To begin: Divediveburners, your review, despite trying to show some profundity, is tbh contradictory and maybe even a little shallow. First you say that Growing Day is the best story of the collection. Then you say it's your least favorite. Then you say that this story is the most gentle story in the collection. And after you say that it wasn't particularly gentle and even say that it wouldn't be a gentle story. I'm not trying to offend you but you need to ponder it yourself: even a ten-years old can see how contradictory you're being and how valueless your review ends up being because of that. You're trying to protec your friend, it's noble of your part, I give you that. But if you really want to do him a favor, being truthful in your review is the best and only start you should do. Anything out of it doesn't do, sorry.

Also, what you talk about the characters isn't true too. Despite Beth's friends having a good time and relationship with her, she's not a good friend to them and the story showed many times, in many details, how she didn't reciprocated to her friends, despite seemingly nice: she didn't care about their opinion, being selfish and always planning everything on her own, without a care in the world for what her friends felt. She preferred to listen to Trudy, who was a total stranger for her (and an arrogant giantess too) than trust her long-time friends, the same guys she called 'family'. If you think that this is being 'genuine' (at least about her boyfriend), as you wrote, then man, you really need to reconsider your values too. No offenses, seriously.

The main problem of your review: you really seem like you didn't read the story with enough attention. Calling the complaints about the meanness of Growing Day 'baseless'? Man, you really did read the complaints? They dissected the details that made the story far from gentle. They showed how Beth and all the giantesses were just mean to humans and how Beth selfishly, sheerly ruined her friends' life FOREVER AND EVER. And how most giantesses in this story are blatantly doing the same. Again, no offenses: just do your homework and read the complaints again, then read the story and, if you can, show us in honest details why you do think they're 'baseless'. Even Greenanon recognizes the exactitude of the complaints.

Yeah, I may have been too nitpicky, you're right in that, but are the details who give soul to the story and the details of Growing day give it a very mean soul. It's not just about the story being mislabeled. Let me illustrate for you: if you're an astronaut and must go to the Moon, what would you use? A rocket or a bike? No matter how good and perfectly built is the bike, it will NEVER take you to the moon. This is what happened with Growing Day: Greenanon was fantastic in his writing abilities in this story, even I recognized that (and you failed to see it, it seems), but this story was just leaving a noticeable trail of sorrowfulness and anger instead of warm gentleness, what was expected from the collection prompt. Most readers, mainly the gentler ones, must get mentally ready for a mean story and Growing Day was being sold as a gentle story, with no pre-warnings, nothing. So most people were hit disarmed. Thus the strong reaction: what goes around, comes around. Is that too hard to understand? It wasn't one sour lemon, it was one poisoned lemon. Would you drink a lemonade made with a poisoned lemon?

Still, the idea you gave to a nicer ending is really good and would save the story from the bad taste it has. It's a really good idea, I must be honest and give you that too. Very good!

And now, to finish, Greenanon: I recognize I may have been too harsh in my words. It was my reaction, but I'd NEVER attack you because of your person. I'd NEVER attack you because of your writings. I'd NEVER attack you because of your style. My only attack was against Growing Day, against the arrogant giantesses and the selfish, falsely nice, betrayer Beth. It doesn't mean, as I wrote now and before, that you're not a good writer. As they said, your stories are better than 90% of the stories in this site and I agree with them. But Growing Day made me so angry against Beth and the giantesses, and I felt so impotent as I couldn't change the ending of the story, that my only way of dealing with it was expressing how it was far from gentle and detailing why. I just HAD to express it and, considering that the current description of Growing Day still doesn't show how mean it is, I think that someday someone else will complain too, someone who had thought that it is just a slightly mean story, when it shows Beth literally violating her friends in many psychological levels. Someone that may think that she more or less kidnaps them, when she actually kidnaps them in a very qualified and mean way. But whatever, I already said it all before.

Still, I think I need to apologize you for what I wrote before. I'm not saying that I'll disagree with or regret what I wrote before. I can assure you: I will EVER hate Beth, thus I'm again giving a half star, as I'm talking about the story about her. What I'm saying is that, if my opinion offended you in any way, I'm really sorry. This was far from my intentions. About more complaints from my part, I may or may not reply to reviewers who talk about my words (they can send me an e-mail too if they want), but for you, I'm showing you my white flag. I want no war against you. I never wanted.

Author's Response:

I think I've said it before you're entitled to your opinion and I don't begrudge you that, and I've admitted myself that it doesn't fit the collection at all. No offense is taken, nor do I feel personally under attack and I don't want to start flame wars over a relatively minor story in my overall catalog. I've updated the chapter description a final time giving the reader a warning about the contents.

I would like to continue using this collection as a repository for my shorter one offs that don't merit their own posts, I don't know what more there is to say about Growing Day at this point, but I'd love to hear some reviews on the other stories in the collection or I've got other stories you could check out sometime too, I promise there are no other nasty surprises lurking anywhere, happy endings all around.

Reviewer: Divediveburners Signed [Report This]
Date: April 30 2022 2:14 AM Title: Growing Day

Now, to review the best and most gentle story in the collection.

You did a pretty nice job establishing camaraderie and banter between your four characters in the beginning. Jane in particular seemed a handful. The relationship between Mark and Beth is quite genuine.

Your transition to Beth kidnapping her friends was masterfully done. From the beginning, you plant the seed, the tendency, for her to essentially impose her will on her friends if she believes it is best. When Trudy plants the idea in Beth's mind, you sort of know which direction the story is going to go.

I did think the tale would have benefitted if Beth did try to kidnap, but upon reflection, she lets her friends go, getting introspective of how her newfound power brought out the worst in her. It's a very effective story at showcasing this, even moreso than some of the real mean-spirited cruel ones where the character acts domineering out of the blue. Here, you show us Beth's mind at work and her justification, through her action and interaction.

The only problem is that this wouldn't be a gentle story, because of the forceful, rather malicious kidnapping. But in my mind, it's a nitpick, a nitpick that's not worth writing five paragraphs of baseless salty whining and giving a half-star review, just because one chapter wasn't properly labeled. Not because of trashy writing, not because of edgy topics, but because of some logistical errors. Glad that doesn't happen around here.

(Alright fine, this was my least favorite story because it wasn't particularly gentle, just not my cup of tea. But it was well-written, as is your standard, so I have to give it props. So you were in a rush, that's fine, no big deal. One sour lemon doesn't ruin the entire bunch, in fact, it enhances its flavor.)

Author's Response: I don't get too worked up about the angry reviews because they're right, without continuation Growing Day isn't particularly fitting for a gentle story collection. I think it's the only mean story I've ever done, probably because I thought I'd continue it at some point but lost interest, as it is now yeah I should have just tossed it in it's own post or something rather than "spoiling the mood" for this. It also didn't really click with me that people would be reading this as an anthology and would want a somewhat continuous theme, so again that's on me. Overall while length and quality here will vary I think the other stories are pretty firmly in the "gentle" camp.

Reviewer: Middel Signed [Report This]
Date: April 22 2022 2:27 PM Title: Growing Day

And sorry for such low starred reviews Greenanon, I did read some of your other stories and dude, you're great, but with that "Growing day", you just... phew, better not say it. I was resisting the urge to review this story for some days but sorry I couldn't resist anymore.


Author's Response: Well, I'd like to hear your thoughts on some of the other stories in the collection, that said yeah Growing Day should have probably just been tossed in it's own post or collection. Not sure what else to say about it at this point.

Reviewer: Middel Signed [Report This]
Date: April 22 2022 2:23 PM Title: Growing Day

The scientists in this story must totally go back into studying this growth gene, because it not only makes some woman grow but also make they turn sociopath instantly. Trudy was a normal woman and now can't care less about humanity, probably like all the other giantesses. Including Beth, who grew and the first thing she did was kidnap her friend ("more or less kidnaps" DOESN'T FUCK EXIST!) and then look disdainfully at the people around her, calling them "normals" in way that couldn't be more mean. Really, maybe the growth gene has a lot to do with the psychopathic/sociopathic behavior. Discovering how to block it can heal all the psychopaths/sociopaths in the world, beginning with the giantesses.

By the way, considering the way this story describes growth, it's easy to see that, despite being immune to 9mm bullets, giantesses are still very fragile against bigger guns like M1 Abrams or a missile fired by a f16 or something, that can hit and kill them way before the target giantess can be able to harm them. And, considering that the giantesses are pretty pretty rare in this story, most countries in the world have, alone, more than enough of those guns to bring those giantesses to extinction (or they can surrender and start to respect humanity). So the governments not wanting to piss off the giantesses because they are big is a kiddish, nonsensical, and invalid explanation that doesn't fit the creativity you showed in your other stories.

Reviewer: mora_vi Signed [Report This]
Date: April 20 2022 10:01 AM Title: Growing Day

Well, I just had to check this chapter out because of the little commotions at the gentle server. My two cents:

Despite totally disapproving the chapter, I'm not going mad, I'll just avoid this story from now on, as I don't know when a chapter will again trick me into believing that I am reading a gentle material when it's not.

I've read the other reviews before reading the chapter (don't care about spoilers, I'm stronger that that :) and Greenanon, this is not just about that chapter not being the cup of tea of the users, something you just would shrug and expect them to find a better text for them, as you explained in another reply of yours. Putting a chapter like that "Growing Day" into a story which is meant to be a misc gathering of gentle stories is a so basic error that it ends up being childish, no offense. Let me clarify: I'm a mother of twin daughters and I remember playing with them when they were just babies. There's a toy where the infant must shove the correct pieces in the correct holes, I bet you know that toy too. I had to show my babies back then that the square piece goes into the square hole, the triangle piece goes into the triangle hole, and the round piece goes into the round hole.

The same way, it's expected that a write understands the very basics: cruel or mean stories goes into humiliation or cruel categories/stories of the site and gentle stories goes into gentle categories/stories in this site. You just shoved "Growing Day", which is not gentle by any means, in "Misc Gentle Stories". This makes me remember my daughters when they were just babies, trying to shove the square piece in the triangle hole. Again, no offense. But now you understand: it's not just about we readers not finding our cup of tea in your story, it's you that put it in the wrong place and it is still there, misleading readers into it and giving them a very unpleasant reading experience. No matter how good you write, this error is too basic for a writer and misleading is by far the most hated mistake a writer can do, as it deeply blemishes the story experience and your story as a whole. It's expected that you don't commit such basic error but you did and is still committing it every time you refuse to fix your story after someone complains about it. Now you can correct it. Put this chapter in its proper place: anywhere from here.

Author's Response:

I'm just going to go ahead and make one response to all of these. I went ahead and pulled the story with a short explanation and a quick link for anyone who still wants to read it elsewhere. I didn't realize you guys felt so strongly about it, if you want an explanation I guess it's that when I wrote it it was a sort of one-off for a different audience and it stood on it's own, and when I was collecting all of my old stuff I kind of just tossed it in here. Since people are treating this more as an anthology and just reading the stories back to back yeah I can see why the tonal shift for Growing Day would be annoying. Anyways hope you enjoy the rest of my work.

Reviewer: Lupin Signed [Report This]
Date: March 17 2022 6:42 PM Title: Growing Day

I kind of ended up hating Beth at the end ngl. It feels like she was too comfortable with just kidnapping and robbing her friends and bf of any agency. It might just be personal tastes since i typically don't like stories where the giantess keeps people against their consent. Like if I were in mark's shoes I'd just stop talking to her flat out I would feel too betrayed to trust her again. I feel like he got some express form of stockholm syndrome. This kind of seems like a dystopia to me lol. Sorry for rambling this chapter just upset me with how casual and smug she was being when she betrayed her "loved" ones. The rest of the anthology is fantastic though, so it more than makes up for it.

Author's Response:

Growing Day is by far my meanest spirited story and not the kind of thing I usually write. I thought about continuing it and kind of changing the dynamic a bit, but I wanted to pursue other stories and left it as a one shot. I don't really regret writing it, but it is what it is.