Hiya guys,
It’s being sometime since I have written anything here and I thought it was about time. I don’t like to rant, or criticize, but there is something that I need to get out of my sytem before it explodes. It has to do with reviewing fanfics. You know that I write fanfics (and for those of you who didnt…surprise!) and there is nothing better to me as a writer like more than listening to what the audience wants to say. Do they like the story, do they hate it, what do they like most of it What do they hate most? We are addicted to listening to the fans, so please be kind and review our work.
What I have noticed lately is that people seem not to know how to review properly and I think I would like to leave my opinion on what good reviewing should be like. Hey, I’m not saying here that I am a perfect writer, because I’m not. First of all this is not my language and when I have to translate my thoughts to writing in a language different than mine, I’m very prone to make humongous mistakes in grammar and compostion. Writing for me is a learning process which means I’m learning little by little every time I write something. That is where your reviews come handy. Don’t only tell us how much you like our work, tell us also where we lack so we can fix it. I know my problem is grammar, so I will study grammar. It is as simple as that. Still…there are some basic rules you should follow when reviewing….the DOs and DONTs of the craft if you want to call it that. Here is my list.
Let’s start with the DOs:
1. Be polite and to the point. There is no reason to use words like F***, A**H*, SH** in a review, and above all do not refer to a fellow writer or reviewer in a demeaning manner. Oh, and when I say to the point use the space to discuss the work in questions and do not degress to long and extensive discourses that get away from the point you want to get through.
2. Every review should be accompanied by a name. It is common sense. Whe want to know that there is a human being behind the words. You dont have to put your REAL NAME, but one name should be the rule….even if you want to use (*) as your name. There is full freedom on how you want to sign a review, but please, always sign them.
3. Whenever you are critizicing a literary work, and you are able to put examples…please do so. It helps us as writers not only to know that we have erred but where. Oh, and if you have advice on how to improve those, please share with us. Many writers, like me, what to expand horizons, but need sometimes direction as to where to go next.
4. When you critizice, please say the bad and the good. You didn’t like the Plot, the Characters, the Setting? That is OK. You are entitled to not like certain aspects of the story, but there must be something that you liked, right? We as authors like to have both sides of the coin. We like to hear where we err, and where we did well. It’s psychological, can’t explain it because I’m not a psychiatrist, but when you critique someone, and then include the strong points of that person or literary workas well in there, the response by the author is more positive towards the review and is willing to take it into account more than if is just a list of negatives things.
Now the DONTs:
1. Do not insult other people in your reviews. Please refer to point 1 of the DOs for explanation
2. OK you need to sign your reviews, does that mean that you need to review with a new name every time? NO. We writers love consistency. We like to see that () is reading and leaving good reviews and that && is not too happy with the plot but he leaves his two cents for me to consider. I think that what I’m trying to say is that is very rude to drop reviews that are demeaning, insulting all the time using different names so they don’t ‘catch you ‘in the act’. In the act of what, I ask? Reviewing is not a crime, is it? Well when you use a review to belittle the author, insult his/her intelligence, mock and ridicule, well that is a crime. When you do that you don’t review, but you FLAME and FLAMING is a very serious crime.
3. Which brings me to the next point….DO NOT FLAME. For those that do not know, FLAMING is not reviewing. It is not constructive criticism. A FLAME is an ill intentioned comment designed with premeditation to attack and individual or a literary work on a personal level and undermine the confidence and the self steem of the author. Now if that is not a crime, I don’t kno what is. You don’t go around leaving your two cents to hurt somebody else’s pride, do you? You just want to help us become better writers by pointing our strong and weak points, and that is what reviews do. So Please stay away from flaming
4. DO NOT use the review space to stalk the authors. OK you like our story too much and can’t wait for the next installment? Understandable, but please, do not use the space provided for reviewing, to prompt the author for the next chapter. We as authors don’t mind the occassional ‘cant wait for the next post’ or ‘please continue writing’ at the end of reviews. What is annoying is the person who solely use the space to demand the author to post soon. We love you guys…and we will post as soon as we can, because we like to post often, but we have to bow to the demands of a temperamental muse and the demands of our daily lives. So please, be patient and understanding.
OK. Now to some examples to help me illustrate what I’m saying. Some of these examples are of my own experience. The real names of the people involved have been changed to not point fingers at anybody.
I received this review early on by Ms G **:
“Go go go go! I love the story, ye’ve got me hooked lass 😉
Only one thing though… I think you need a beta reader, there are quite a lot of grammer errors, it doesn’t effect the story, but some readers are rather picky about that and if you smooth out the grammer you will probable get more readers ;)…”
Ms. G** is hooked on my story (YES! SUCCESS!), but even though she’s hooked she knows it is not perfect and notes that the grammar needs some working. Yes, my grammar sucks, but that doesn’t scare people off. Just need to get a hold of that grammar and things will get better. See? This is the right way to do a review. She is even nice enough to end her review with a winking emoticon. No hard feelings Ms. G**
Here is another one:
SM sent me this…
Oh, this is very interesting. I can’t wait for more. No rush though. I’ll be on the look out for any updates. By the way the song actually goes “Sweet dreams are made of these, …”
Intersting doesn’t mean SM buys it, but is promising (that is the good thing), and the fact she asks for more, is even more promising. Then she finds something wrong… my own version of Annie Lennox “Sweet Dreams” to the protagonist to sing. Oops, she is good enough to let me know the right lyrics. She is nice, polite and shows me where i have erred and the correction. Thanks SM…
H writes this… “Good story, but with many grammatical errors. Please get someone to edit your work. Some of the vocabulary is inappropriate as well, producing comical effect where it’s not supposed to be funny.”
I get the message immediately…the story has promise but the ghost of my faulty grammar still follows me. Still working on being better at this thing H, I promise…
Then K writes this…
High intensity, but I find myself going, “Yuh huh, sure” too often, which sort of breaks up the rhythm. A couple really nice moments, but the emo-ness goes too far for my own personal tastes… I don’t quite buy the rational to explain all the “feelings” as the story progresses. Just my opinion, since I respect freedom of writing, and your story-telling abilities are doing very well;
This one is a nice critic of the problems I was having with the rythm in the chapter he is reviewing. He explains his reasons and states this is his opinion Though he sounds disappointed, there is a word of encouragement at the end…not all is lost. THANKS K….
One last one of the DOs if I may…
SG writes this about a chapter:
The suspense of this story is really nice, and the storyline flows very well. I anxiously await to see how everything will pan out. There are just few small details that should be addressed. Sometimes words which should be in a sentence are missing, or a word is used in the present-tense when it should be past-tense, and at one point, it is written that batman is chained up against a wall, but then joker walks behind him later in the scene.
Overall, well done, please finish.
She says something good (suspense), reminds me that my grammar still sucks (politely and with examples and a problem with a scene. I am thankful of this review, SG…
Now lets see examples of the DONTs.
MJB wrote: “Gosh, how do you do it? Your details are so picturesque it’s not hard to fall in love with this piece of work.”
Then under the full moon, MJB becomes PA and says this…”you take everchance to insert some element of it [sex] and rub it in our face. Please stop that. It makes you look desperate. Every heard of the saying less is more? I say this because this reminds me of the garbage JokerHarley fans enjoy so much.
Then once more, during a solar eclipse, PA then becomes LE and writes this: “It’s such a shame that despite all the praise, hardly anyone has mentioned all the eye sores and errors that make this story a bit time consuming to read… I was going to suggest some rewording and tweaking but…it just wasn’t worth it.Your grammar is lacking…Also, you have told people that they need to watch their mistakes. What is it that they say about pots and kettles?…
…I just think it is such a shame that there are stories out there that are more disciplined in their form and yet stuff like this gets sickening panagyric praise just because it fits their crack needs… It’s okay that people like this, but I wanted to take the time to give you a review that you rightly deserved.
OK…I will take this one in parts. First, what jumps into my face? Why do this person needs to speak as three different people? Either this person has personality issues or he’s trying to hide something. I would gladly have preferred this person would have stuck with one name…any name, but just one. And I forgot to mention, I KNOW the real name, is not like he is getting away with making me think it is different people, you know?
So OK, this person started to like the story as is obvious from MJBs comment, then started disliking it. No biggie. All authors dissapoint fans every once in a while. So I take the criticism, and I’m sorry that it didn’t live to his expectations. At this time I went back and reviewed the direction the story was going, just to make sure I was not going too far on my presentation. I have a particular view of the subject I’m writing that I know this person does not share. But heck, its worth reviewing still, because maybe I’m missing the point. Actually it was reviewing the story what made me change the direction it was going, not because of what he said, but because i found I much interesting one to explore. Thanks, friend.
Then the last review… I didnt paste any highlights because there weren’t any. Apparently there is nothing left in the story worth praising according to him and though it really hurts as a writer to get reviews like this, it is a possibility that he couldnt find anything good for real. But notice the change in the character of the discurse. It becomes bitter as this person changes personalities. It is a shame that people praise this story when its full of mistakes…OK, it is not nicely said , but I can take that . Next… ‘I was going to point out some of the mistakes…but its not worth it...’ OUCH!
Lastly, the last words are like the clue that gives me into the real intention of this review. Just read by yourselves the last three lines. There are other forms out there ‘more disciplined’ and yet ‘this gets sickening panagyric praise just because it fits their crack needs… ‘
Then the crowning sentence…. ‘It’s okay that people like this, but I wanted to take the time to give you a review that you rightly deserved.’
Is this really a review? It sounds more like somebody wrote this out of spite rather than desire to help me become a better writer. It hurt, it slashed at my pride, but it didnt encourage me to become more than what I am. That was probably the aim of this so called review and though it is not a full FLAME…its getting very close. Why the venom? There were ways of saying what he had to say without having to spit on the face of the author. This review was written with the heart, not the brain. A review from the brain sounds intelligent, has a purpose, is neutral. A review from the heart, lacks intelligence, and is just full of passion.
I still get the criticism….My grammar still needs improvement. CHECK! The story might be getting out of hand CHECK!, need to remember that I’m a writer-in-training, so don’t need to get a big head even with all the other positive reviews…CHECK, CHECK! but the real intention of the so called review was not point out the weaknesses of my story to help me improve it, but to hurt the author and its work. And I would like to tell you a little secret…All the name changes and he still didnt use his pen name; the one through which all other writers know him. WHY? Because he doesnt want to be caught by the audience, flaming. He is committing a crime and don’t want to be caught. Only cowards behave in this manner. Oh well. I just juice this pseudo-flame of whatever I could use to be a better writer and besides all the words and fancy vocabulary, could not find anything. As a review this is useless but still worth having there in the reviews section. Not hide it like dirty laundry, just because it doesn’t say what I want to hear.
Boy and have I the winner for you This happened to a fellow author…
BBD wrote this to her: I’m going to just disregard the atrocious, unconvincing characterizations
that make these two seem like completely different characters that have
nothing at all to do with…[B & J, the characters she writes] …But does it have to all be so trite and superifical and simplistic?
Seriously, it’s like watching some bad TV soap…But really, I hope you find that beta soon. You’ve got run on sentences and
poorly phrased lines galore. (And these were the nicest parts)
Nothing positive here. Just angry ranting like the one before this one, though he points to some grammatical issues. This individual was very upset with what my author friend was doing with the characters. He has a right to not like what she is doing but does he have a right to say it this way? Again, this is someone who is speaking from the heart not the brain and after reading the whole statement, I doubt there was a brain to use but I don’t want to judge anybody. Maybe he was just upset, because these are his favorite characters… who knows?
Unfortunately, this individual felt confident enough and signed his little flame and my author friend made the mistake of emailing back. That just made things worse.
My friend wrote:
“You have your views on how Joker should be written and I have mine. I would like to ask you, since you think that Batman/Joker slash can be done [better], what would you reccommend?
..”Finally, I would like to ask, which versions of the J** do you find to be the best in the 70 years he has been written? […] what would you reccomend on improving the character(s)?”
BBD didnt like the tone of the conversation and emailed back.
And on went the ranting….”your work is littered with mispellings, poorly constructed, run-on sentences, nonsensical themes and prose as bland as dry toast…. Just this whiny, whingy romance novel character. It would be so much more interesting if you didn’t castrate his nature. ”
Well, his email is long but I can only post this much before making this R rated….The ranting became more passionate, angrier. and the comments instead of being constructive, became destructive. That is NOT the way to review. This person’s intention was not of making my friend improve on her craft. It was to sweep the floor with her pride and her work. She asked for concrete help, if this person had the magic formula for perfect slash she wanted to hear it, an when inquired about what other literature with the character in question he had read, he refuse to answer. Again, the lack of information confirms that…First, the person does not seem to know what he is talking about, and second, he didnt want to help…. This is a real FLAME, and that is a crime.
That’s it for now. Sorry that it took so long….
Thanks for saying something about this. There’s far too much flaming in fanfic reviewing, and not nearly enough constructive criticism. I’ve gotten criticisms before. I’ve also gotten flames, and while both hurt, there is a VERY different tone and intent behind the two comment types.
That said, JokerLady, I do beta Jokerfic and I am fairly slash-friendly when it comes to J and Bats. Actually, I ship a one-sided version of Joker/Bat (with Joker being the party who’d want it and Bats being the one who definitely does not at worst, or is unreceptive at best), and I’m pretty open to more in-depth slash so long as the characters are being written well. I’ve been writing fanfic for close to 8 years, I’m an unabashed grammar Nazi that can find errors in grammar with pinpoint accuracy, and I’m very familiar with both J and Bats. So if you do need someone to beta your Jokerfic I can help you out; there’s a beta profile on my FFN page. 🙂