Unfortunately you may find (as I have) that the more you write the less satisfied you are with the results. I suspect this only means our abilities have improved with use and we are able to spot problems more easily. But when it all clicks and the words come pouring out of the keyboard... wow.
I wrote a few pieces in the old
Gazette about 'how to' get comments.
To sum:
1) You get what you give. Read a lot, comment a lot, offer praise when it is sincere and (gentle) constructive criticism as appropriate (IE 'I'd like to see more from this character' NOT 'You moron you ignored the only character anyone cares about.') Above all, be a gentleman.
But READ and COMMENT. A 'comment' is the forum's currency; it is the way you pay the author back for hard work and effort. READING without COMMENTING is PLAYING without PAYING. So put a COMMENT coin in the slot when you read the work, yes?
2) Write for Guess-The-Author. READ and COMMENT (see above) in Guess-The-Author. GTA is your friend!
3) Be prepared to earn those comments. You may have to write for months - or in my case most of a year - before you begin to attract any number of readers. Once you post, wait a day or two before posting again. Writing is like fishing - to get comments (fish) you need bait (posts) and patience.
4) Shine. Hit 'em with a wild idea, open the story with a cliffhanger, knock 'em dead. Turn expectations on their head! The opening should
kill! You have a paragraph, maybe an entire update, to capture their attention so they say, "Stop reading? Heck no! I can eat and sleep anytime!" Personally I can't do this but it is what we all should shoot for. You are competing with food, sleep, sex, XBOX, TV and every other recreation. You gotta have sizzle to sell steak!
Involve your readers by asking questions: who likes this character? Which character should I kill off? Who should I DOW next? Etc.
5) Read - lots. Read classics. Read Dante, Hugo, Poe, Twain, Shakespeare, Nabokov, Parker, Blish, Asimov, King, Caesar, Grant, manga, the newspaper... you get the idea. You write what you read and you recycle the plots you know.
6) Talk to us. PM people you trust or authors whose work you like. Invest in a phone call. Accept criticism gladly.
7) Write it. Leave it. Re-read it. Edit it. Leave it. Read it AGAIN and if it is absolutely perfect then you missed at least one typo and got one fact wrong. NEVER post immediately after writing - let it sit for a day or so. You'll be surprised at what you want to change.
8) Read it out loud. Does it flow?
9) ALWAYS respond to people who comment. Respond BY NAME, politely and in as much detail as you can.
These precepts have worked for me, at least a little bit. Try them. If one works, use it - and if not, toss it. Make up your own rules and try them, too.
Above all,
WRITE.