Reviews for Reviews: How To Give Them and How To Receive Them
october lies chapter 1 . 12/23/2008
It seems like you know fairly well how to effectively review - yet the one I received from you shows no sign of it.
Lorendiac chapter 1 . 10/31/2008
I really like some of what you say here, but I'm going to concentrate on some points which caught me by surprise.

I'm not convinced that you need to read Chapters 1, 2, and 3 before you have any business reviewing Chapter 1. After all, "first reactions" to Chapter 1 from a new reader may be very useful in helping the author gauge what his chances are of getting other readers hooked enough that they will, in fact, press onward to Chapters 2 and 3. It doesn't matter how brilliant the surprise ending is in Chapter 3 if most readers lost interest long BEFORE they could ever get that far, does it? And if they are losing interest and walking away without finishing it, then I think the author needs to know why!

On another point where I don't agree with you: I don't always reply to my reviews. If the review just says: "Kewl! Keep writing! Thanx!" - and that's about as much as some reviewers ever bother to say, here on FictionPress and also over on FanFiction - then I don't really feel a personalized reply is required. (If I did send one, it would probably amount to begging the reviewer to please give me a REAL review next time around, so I could finally learn which aspects of the story he liked best!)

If I get a BETTER review, one that actually makes some effort to tell me what I'm doing right or wrong and what questions are still weighing on the reader's mind after finishing my latest chapter, then I try to do a better job of responding, though - but not all reviews are created equal, and thus not all reviews get equal treatment from me.

I don't really understand the reasoning behind your point about only replying to reviews in a private reply. Why do it that way all the time? You don't explain your reasons for recommending that as the way to go, and sometimes the reviewer may have raised a point which other readers are bound to be wondering about too, so why not let them all know the answer to that question at once, in a comment at the bottom of your next chapter, for instance?

I agree with you in principle that having a reviewer say firmly "This is what you got wrong" - whether in terms of grammar and spelling, or because of a big plot hole, or lack of historical research about the time and place of the story's setting, or whatever - is NOT the same thing as "flaming," and I know why you felt the need to spell that out, because I've certainly seen people react to reasonably polite reviews in ways which suggest they are clueless about the difference between "constructive criticism" and "vicious flaming." They seem to think the only "good" review is a review which simply tells them how great they already are! (But if they're already that great, why haven't they sold any stories for real money yet?)

Robert A. Heinlein, the great SF author, once gave some extensive criticism to two younger writers, Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven, when they showed him the rough draft of a novel they were writing together. They actually ended up AGREEING with many of his suggestions about where there was room for improvement in one thing or another. (They also disagreed with some of his points, but they didn't just ignore his criticism.) After they rewrote the manuscript, they showed the next draft to Heinlein so he could see what they had done with his feedback, and he was flabbergasted! He said that for thirty years people had been begging him to proofread their stories and offer advice, and sometimes he actually did take the time to try to help, but this was the FIRST time that anyone had seriously taken his advice on how to improve their creative writing! (My best guess is that apparently most of those people had just WANTED him to pat them on the head and say, "You're brilliant; this is practically perfect the way you wrote it on the first try; someday this manuscript will become a bestseller and make you a million dollars!")
no.peace.los.angeles chapter 1 . 10/28/2008
Haha, nice way to get some reviews, huh? ;) Just kidding. You definitely make a lot of valid points in this, and sometimes it is hard to tell people to accept criticism, because I'd say a good portion of the people on this website are beginning writers or do it as a hobby and aren't necessarily serious about it. That's not to say that there aren't people who have been doing it for years (like me - I've known I wanted to be a writer since I was about in 5th grade, and I'm 25 now) and are serious, of course. But yes, it is something people need to learn if they ever want to be a serious writer, because constructive criticism (constructive being the operative word) is SO important; you'll never improve if you ignore other people's advice. And sometimes, the advice they're giving isn't the best advice and you can ignore it, or you were going for a certain feel to the piece, whatever, but for the most part, if people are offering concrit, take a look at THEIR writing and I think you can judge from that if you should listen to them or not. I know I'm older than a lot of the population of this website and I do try to leave constructive and helpful reviews, but I'm not going to go overboard - if there's one thing people hate, it's pretentiousness. So I try to be respectful above all else, because we're all here for the same reason. There. My two cents. Keep writing! :)
moongazer7 chapter 1 . 10/28/2008
I agree partially, but again, my style is different. It’s not personal, it’s more individual.

Banning should be done to uncooperative people only.
Ochipepe chapter 1 . 10/28/2008
Mostly agreed.

Reviewing takes time, and it's a gift. Taking reviews is a skill that is not always easy to master.