First, and perhaps most obvious, READ THE STORY THAT YOU ARE GOING TO REVIEW. Many times, these kinds of reviews result because the reviewer has not actually read the story. In order to leave a good review, you must read the story.

Second, and perhaps most importantly, BE SPECIFIC. This is what is considered CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM (concrit). If you liked part of the story, tell the writer WHICH PART, that way, he or she can use their own writing as an example and hopefully write well again! If you didn't like part of the story, tell WHY and cite specific examples so the author can improve. Flames can sometimes be turned into concrit if only they told WHY the story was so bad. Also, if you catch a typo, point out the specific paragraph. If you want to correct grammar, please TELL the author WHERE - that way, if the author wants to revise the story, he or she can find their mistakes easily.

Third, BALANCE YOUR REVIEW. If your review has ONLY concrit, you may turn the writer off, and they might interpret your review as a flame. Balance your concrit with compliments - your review will be appreciated much more.

Fourth, DON'T WRITE IN CHAT SPEAK... PLEASE! Even if what you're saying is quite intelligent PLEASE don't type it in chat speak. Chat speak simply weakens the review - it makes it seem as though there wasn't any thought put into the review.

And fifth, DON'T REVIEW JUST FOR THE SAKE OF REVIEWING. A good review takes time to write - don't submit a half-baked review because you want the author to review you back. While giving reviews to get reviews is completely acceptable, giving "crappy" reviews just to get reviews is NOT. Also, don't drop a review just to thank a person for reviewing your story - that's what review replies are for. If you want to thank a person by returning a review, then LEAVE A GOOD ONE.

If you are giving good reviews and aren't getting any back, don't get discouraged! Try to find that handful of people who give good reviews and try reviewing some of their stories. Your patience will be rewarded. :)

Now get out there and give some good reviews!

-Lefty

*is in reality supposed to work on political science assignment...TWO of them... Cough cough*

Your first point feels a bit "duuh". I mean, have people really reviewed when they have not read? I have never gotten reviews where I feel like that is the case O.o

*suddenly gets paranoid*

Your most important point to me is the concrit. Ah, authors can't live without the concrit! WE BREATHE THE CONCRIT!

So concrit, people :3

No, but seriously. It's a great way to improve and to state your opinions without coming off as mean (ie, "I didn't like your story because of this and that" as opposed to "I didn't like your story. End of conversation.") I grow a whole lot with each chapter/story I post because of concrit and I hope others will too! ^^

A bit of sugar never hurt anyone though har har!

"i like this story. update soon! ps: please review my story."

like... that definitely doesn't come from READING the story. XD especially when the same person who reviewed gives the exact same review on someone else's story... -_-;;

so anyway... i have one or two reviews like that and decided that it would be a good point to make. :)

-Lefty

But aside from that person's formulated reviews, does it really mean a person did not read the story if they just write "i like this story, update soon!" (I took out the last part since this is what *I* mostly see around).

I'd say, if the person leaves the wish to have their own story reviewed: They might've skipped reading. If they do not (and you as an author don't have the promise of returning all reviews given) then they might've read, but don't know what to say more.

It's all about that promise of reviews that decides it, in my opinion ^^

oh well, maybe it's only happened to me... o.o??

-Lefty

Mwahahah! I am full of win, and you full of fail ^^

I got those kinds of reviews a lot of Fanfictionet though, if that helps :3

What if there is nothing good about the poem or story? Do you advocate lying?

basically, try to be nice about it... even if there is nothing particularly good. :)

-Lefty

Seconded.

That's why I try to give as much valuable concrit as I can, as compensation for my lack of empathy ^^; I see it as a fair trade, at least.

...maybe not.

oh well. XD

-Lefty

My harsh concrit, however, while sometimes without mercy, do point out the exact mistakes and why they are wrong, hoping the author can take it from there. Sometimes I even give a direct example of what I mean to manifest my suggestions.

I find that I can be (though, of course, not always am :P) quite helpful in my reviews, should the person recieving them go beyond the offense they might have picked up from my not so kind words :P

I live by the whole "you reap what you sow" kind of mentality, and such harsh concrit is what I find most helpful. Of course, it helps if the person is *right*, har har ^^;

If I say: "Well, hmm, this dialogue is a little stiff and unnatural."

And my real feeling is: "This dialogue sounds like two windup dolls spouting off recorded one-liners, it's so stiff and unnatural."

Then I'm not giving my full honest, opinion. If there's something someone -really- doesn't like about one of my stories or that turns them off in particular, I want to know it. I wouldn't review anyone differently (again, unless I thought the person was really young).

Really, I'd appreciate it more if they message me / leave an email asking for their fics to be reviewed even though they haven't read a single work rather than pretend to be reading my work with the hopes of getting a review in return. ^_^

Flames are the typical comments you're likely to see on youtube with the whole,

'Omg this is crap!111! Laern 2 rite!!11'

Whereas constructive criticism /can/ be harsh but still point out the mistakes and ways to improve. i.e.

"This really is terrible, you've used no punctuations anywhere, you've capitalized every word, and you've mispelled so many words that I cannot even read this. Quit the caps, read a grammar book, and use the spell-check.' {Paraphrase of what I actually said to someone}

Anyway, you get the point. I find that I can be downright mean on some of my reviews, but I'm respectful to each writer and I at least /try/ to help them out. It takes me about half an hour for one review --maybe even an hour, if I'm /that/ peeved. That does not include the reading part either...

But anyways...Good reviews don't /always/ have to be concrit. either. While an author /strives/ on good criticism of their work, I understand how there might be some people who don't have as keen of an eye as the rest of us and are not quite up to the level where they can tear up someone's work completely (takes practice, believe me) And so, from what I've heard, they simply don't leave a review because they don't know what to say other than the whole 'updt soon plz!' --which is clearly not wanted either. But I find that if you like something you should quote it in the review or at least mention the part you liked about it. I really love reviews where the reader would try to guess what would happen next, those are always the most fun to read and really it helps the writer too. I always wonder whether I'm leaving too many hints or if I'm characterizing this person right...and I could always ask someone, "Are there too many hints in this?" But then that only puts attention to what would've been subtle-esque hints and I end up real frustrated. So yeah --reviews like that make my day. The craft of writing is not only about grammatical and spelling errors. It's also about story-making and atmosphere-building, so a review that addresses the plot is just as helpful.

But if I were given such flames or 'constructive but hurtful' reviews, I would consider it provided that there's a corresponding reason and concrete 'pointing out' of what the reader/reviewer particularly think 'sucked' in my work. In fact, I'll be more thankful than discouraged by the remark.

I need to motivate myself to review more...I have bare few credits! But the templates are so useful- I always use them when I'm reviewing stories because you can put your critique in a nice table as you write it.

You find the majority of fictionpress writers are quite talented? Send me to the authors you're reading! Those I've read from this forum are talented, but when I go around reading other authors I often find myself very much disappointed. The scary thing is that some of the ones who don't seem to understand English grammar have a dozen or more rave reviews.

Also, KnittingKneedle, I'd argue that you should especially point out mistakes which you know you make. The fact that you make them as well means that you're sensitive to them and might notice them when other reviewers would not. You're also more likely to be gentle about it in your review.

When I'm reviewing, I generally just read and, as I reach things which I either adore or believe need to be changed, comment upon them. I have the 'submit review' window open during my reading. Then I'll often add a general review of the chapter either first or last in my review. While specifics are helpful, its also good to give an author an over all representation of the story.

I've definitley gotten better/quicker at reviewing...thanks to templates etc.

But I'll never feel truly comfortable leaving a negative review constructive as it is, so a lot of the time, the worst stuff I don't review. They usually don't want concrit anyway.

Being a fan of proper English and seriously disliking chat speak, I agree, but I can't help but wonder if this includes smilies. I leave my reviews in proper English (for the most part) without chat speak, but I find it hard to write any sort of review without adding a little " :3 " somewhere in there, or an " XD ".

: )

Me neither. I'm mean by nature.

But chatspeak is: OMG, lyke, and everything that Webster does not agree with, basically. Naturally, smilies ought to belong to that category, but I think most people don't mind them (including myself). Like D said, they add personality.

But also, the chatspeak part: who will take you seriously if you tell the person that their grammar lacks, when you can't live by what you teach? That's one factor to consider, definitely.

And I try not to be mean in my reviews. If I really, REALLY hated the story, I avoid conflict by not reviewing at all.

I personally think that's a total cop out. I've reviewed poems and stories I've really hated and they've been chock full of constructive criticism aimed at everything I thought didn't work. More often than not I get a lot of thankful replies. You just have to be constructive in your criticism and people handle it pretty well.

i like emotes. i use them all the time. :) they're not chat speak... they convey emotion over the net. XD

seeee? my post is already full of em.

-Lefty

One of them was from someone I hadn't even reviewed (it was a pm) but who had just "seen" some of my reviews and one was from someone on behalf of someone else who, after I replied, conceded that I had a point.

good for you, though! stand your ground. :)

i generally like putting the concrit in a way that won't be offensive. :) which is what i meant by being nice.

during the last RM, there was a story that was so crappy that i reviewed and told them so. they took it down... >_>

-Lefty

Yeah eventually he admitted that maybe it wasn't really any of his business and I'm like ... duh you idiot (in a much more eloquent way).

during the last RM, there was a story that was so crappy that i reviewed and told them so. they took it down... >_>

Awesome. Maybe they'll edit it thoroughly and post it when it's somewhat better. So many people on here shy away from editing. It's weird.

What I don't like is when I spend literally over an hour writing up a good (if I can say so myself) concrit and the person replies and is like, "Dude, this wasn't serious work, you didn't have to get so 'serious' about it."

I just stare blankly on the screen and I want to slap that person. Even if it's not your best work and you know it's not your best work, the least you can do is take the review /seriously/ because it cannot hurt you. I really don't see the point of posting up work that you know is crap. The whole point of fictionpress is so writers can display their /best/ work and get comments from readers and reviewers alike to help /improve/ their writing. That is the whole point. Posting up "empty" pieces just for the sake of it, drives me nuts. Like the writer just wants to see how many reviews they can get.

Another thing...writers should proofread before they put it up on FP. It bugs me to see spelling mistakes when there shouldn't be. I mean, come on, how easy do we have it, with an automatic spell-check? You don't even have to have word, there are spell checkers /everywhere/. Even on /published/ books, I'd fine a mispelled word and I want to circle it in red pen =P

But the point of the matter, if you don't /care/ enough to proofread your own work and run a spell-check, then why should the reviewers care to review your work?

And to get this back on topic:

I find that a reviewer who is "serious" enough to point out all the misspellings and all those errors that the writer /should've/ picked up, has got to be the most patient, most praiseworthy reviewer ever, because the writer certainly doesn't deserve it.

Of course there are some odd cases here and there, but I'm talking in general terms.

The amount of times I've had a red face because I've been pointing out the wrong british spellings when everybody and his mum on this site uses the american spellings- so the rest of my review seems less valid despite the concrit regarding plot that I might add.

PMs sometimes make me laugh, especially when I get the story explained to me like I understood it wrong, because if I didn't get it then surely it's the first clue that something needs to be changed. I mean I'm the audience not the author, and for goodness sake the worst writers in the world are the ones who need to explain things about their work.

actually, i just thought that people would catch on. but i guess not. ^_^;;

-Lefty

I've gotten that as a review reply so many times it just makes me want to beat a **. Seriously if you can't even take the time to read over your stuff before posting it to catch those stupid mistakes don't even bother posting expecting people to act like you're the second coming of Christ or whatever...I read over my stuff so many times before posting it. And when I do post it I read over it twice in the live preview thing because for some reason reading it in there makes me more aware of the mistakes.

Even on /published/ books, I'd fine a mispelled word and I want to circle it in red pen =P

I do that too. Or as I'm reading it I'll see it, pause, stare at it and just be like, "wow, you're an idiot."

Yeah, I've done the same... It's just that I'm so used to the storyline, that it seems blatantly obvious when I look back at it. I suppose it is excusable...

Back to the chatspeak discussion, This is a writing site, so chatspeak, even (or perhaps especially) in reviews shouldn't really be allowed...

I edit the newspaper and I can't count the number of times I've sent a letter to the editor demanding that they stop putting commas in front of coordinating conjunctions.

I'm such a nerd.

I edit the newspaper and I can't count the number of times I've sent a letter to the editor demanding that they stop putting commas in front of coordinating conjunctions.

I'm such a nerd.

Haha, indeed you are :P I bet the newspaper editors just love you.

Anyhow:

Do you guys review differently when you review someone who you know, this is their first story here on FP? And if you do, do you still consider your review truthful and helpful?

and if someone gives me a particularly extensive review, I'd try to give them an equal stardard of review...same if it was just a line.

A person has posted their first story ever here on FP. You read it and wish to comment.

Do you review this piece differently, as opposed to if the author wasn't a newbie?

And if you review differently, do you think your review is just as good as you normally make it?

Not in the slightest...

I'm still a relative newbie (only one story up) and I would hate it if somebody patronised me like that. If their profile shows that they are like, tweleve, then I would consider it.

Nope. While I admit that my first FF.net stories were not that good and I have gained experience since that, your first story really shows your skills, and shouldn't be treated any differently. I agree with KnittingKneedle that it would be annoying and not so helpful to be patronized like that.

but you should hold back a little if they're bad...

If you're too mean, they might get discouraged and never write again... I don't want to live with that kind of guilt...

I'm only mean to people I know can take it. (Which means I'm nice to people I don't really know... Hmm...)

When I think about it, I'm probably at my worst when I read good work. Whenever I find typos or inconsistencies, I feel like it's a personal wound that needs to be patched up. I just want it to be PERFECT, you know? I always try to communicate how much I enjoyed the piece as well, but lately I've discovered that fp has a limit on the length of reviews.... O.o;;

I like getting replies from the author too...one of the reasons I'm hooked on this site is because it's so interactive. I can't talk to the authors who write my favorite books...or at least, I can try, but it would be tough to get a good reply, I'd bet, and it would take a while. It's so much fun to see what goes through their mind.

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