On Reviewing

[dawn_felagund]

Reviewing (meaning leaving comments on stories) is one of the more anxiety-provoking and frustrating aspects of fandom participation, in my experience. I frequently see newbies lament that their stories aren't receiving comments; authors sometimes stop posting to or leave entirely from sites where they feel that their work isn't receiving adequate

Comments

[shadowbrides]

Hah. This is actually a subject I've wondered about. I used to be a silent reader mostly because I didn't know what to say. Then I decided just not to mind and blunder my way into it anyway, mostly because I wanted to express appreciation, sometimes because I had questions and sometimes because I'd like to talk to the authors. That's basically it. I've not really published a whole lot yet, so I'm not sure how I feel about receiving ( or not receiving) reviews. They're mostly unexpected as of yet, and I certainly wouldn't post on a really large, busy site. I'd rather avoid anonymous flames at this point. When I post something on LJ, it is mostly still in the works, so help is of course very appreciated. I suppose that could be concrit, but I'm not really sure how all this works in the fan community really. Actually, I'm still not entirely sure whether some reviews break some unspoken fanfic reviewing rule, because whether or not an author actually responds to questions in one really, really differs.

[just_ann_now]

I discovered early on that reading and commenting (even briefly) to other peoples' stories got my name out there in the fandom, developing acquaintanceships that led to online friendships that have led to deep, abiding, real-life friendships. Becoming a familiar name, even if it's only accompanied by a comment as brief as, "Great job!" or "I really enjoyed this!" is a great way to get started.

[dawn_felagund]

Yes! The experiences/opinions I didn't want to present alongside the poll for fear of biasing results is that a person who wants to receive reviews should become an active part of the community, and the best way to do that, in my experience, is by supporting and engaging in discussions with other writers by leaving comments on their stories. When I was first starting, I'd frequently get comments on my stories that started with, "You reviewed me a few months ago on ff.net, and I recognized your name here and thought I'd check out your story."

[shadowbrides]

I suppose I'm not that strategic haha. So far, I hadn't considered getting to know people by consciously putting myself out there. If I want to talk, I just PM after some time spent gathering courage. When I review a story I like a lot, I often end up writing these enormous and/or emotional reviews ( or a slightly toned down version of it if I'm really tired) more or less on impulse. As a result, quite a few read like "Ooh I loved this and this and this and this and also this little detail here! And this!" Oh well, I suppose I'll get over the awkward phase once. :)

[mithluin]

Not sure I figured out how to participate in the poll, sorry. (*edit, nevermind

[just_ann_now]

I have an online friend who will faithfully read every story that I post to my livejournal account, regardless of whether or not he's familiar with the fandom. It's very clear that he does this to support and encourage me as a writer and friend, and I'm very appreciative of the encouraging reviews he leaves me.

I have a friend who does that as well. She's not familiar with my primary fandom (Swordspoint) at all, but she reads and comments thoughtfully to every one of my stories. She's even participated in discussions in other people's journals when I've posted links to them in mine. The gift of her time is more precious than rubies.

[dawn_felagund]

It might not, of course, but it's the kind of good karma/ be the friend you'd want others to be type of action.

I think this is excellent advice.

One of my mottos, in fandom and out, is "Be the community you want to see." To give a non-fandom example, in the SCA, people always want to attend classes on how to do various medieval arts and sciences. I have been too new to really have much to offer, but as soon as I did, I taught a class on gilding. If I want to see more classes and more artisans sharing their knowledge, then I need to do my part to teach and share my own knowledge.

One of the things that kinda irritates me as a moderator is when someone will contact me, usually to say that they're not going to post anymore on one of the sites I manage, and they want me to know why. "I expected to get a lot of feedback here," they say, "but I only have x number of reviews." So I go and look up the person's account, and sure enough, they do only have x number of reviews ... but they've written even fewer comments on other people's

[just_ann_now]

It was sometimes a challenge picking out something nice to say, but I felt like it was important that a person's first steps into our community not be answered with only silence.

The Swordspoint community (_riverside is so tiny that we all tend to review every single story or bit of fanart posted there. I'm so exuberantly verbose in commenting on stories I love, that I'm afraid a simple "Well done! I enjoyed this!" which would normally suffice is misinterpreted as "Uh-oh, she really didn't like it...."

[just_jenni]

I tried to approach this unemotionally because I believe that everyone has the freedom of choice to read stories and comment as they like without feeling pressured. Personally, I post fic because I am interested in (1) sharing my views and (2) receiving at least a little feedback so I know if I'm doing OK or not. The appreciation of writing and reading as recreation are such subjective things. I've seen fics that were terribly written grammar-and spelling-wise, yet received more than a few positive comments, either because the story itself was interesting, or because the subject (and author) were popular. Yet I couldn't understand why so many people loved it. However, I put this down to possible age discrepancy. Obviously, there are stories loved by 16-year-olds that would not be necessarily loved by 50-year-olds who are looking for something that does have correct grammar and spelling

[dawn_felagund]

Obviously, there are stories loved by 16-year-olds that would not be necessarily loved by 50-year-olds

Whenever I find myself thinking, "WTF?!?" as far as why young readers love a particular story so much (whether fanfic or original), I remind myself that, as a teenager, I clearly remember thinking that I would be happy in life if I could ever write as well as V.C. Andrews. ;)

I have tried to leave concrit or make it as a beta-reader, and was kicked out of that person's life because she couldn't handle even my gentle questions/suggestions.This makes me sad. I've worked with authors who are hypersensitive (and usually self-aware enough that they warn me ahead of time of that fact) and have been snarked at and (I suspect) briefly loathed for my beta comments, but I've never had one end a friendship with me for providing concrit that they asked for. That's rich

[just_jenni]

Thanks for the info on critiquing. It will be helpful, I'm sure, and very interesting reading. :)

[alasse_mirimiel]

As a reader, there are three main reason I don’t review so much is time, mostly because when I really like a story, I want to say something more than ‘Nice’ or ‘I liked it’. That is tied up with I enjoyed the story so much that I don't feel I can put into words why I liked it so much.… putting into words why I liked the story is difficult, especially when I have to translate it into English

[dawn_felagund]

I've gotten that comment before: "I don't have much to say about it but I loved your story and can't quite put into words why." Personally, I love those reviews too. :) It's wonderful to know that I've reached someone and given them a few minutes or hours of enjoyment, even if they can't find much more to say than, "I really liked this."

I've incidentally learned quite a bit about another pet topic of mine--summaries--in the course of the results and discussion of the poll and post. Also, I've heard the term review criticized because it doesn't serve the function of a review for most people, i.e. helping them to decide whether or not to read a story, but it seems that it actually does, for a good many of those who have responded here.

If I enjoy the works of an author then it’s more likely I’ll read something I wouldn’t normally read.

This is an excellent point, and I suspect it's true for most of us. (I might have to make another poll later to find out! ;)

[alasse_mirimiel]

When I review some short piece, or when there's no time to write a good long review, I just copy some sentence or point out a scene I particularly enjoyed. I don't know how useful that's to authors, but it's a quick way of sharing why I like the story.

[curiouswombat]

I want to say something more than ‘Nice’ or ‘I liked it’. That is tied up with I enjoyed the story so much that I don't feel I can put into words why I liked it so much.… putting into words why I liked the story is difficult, especially when I have to translate it into English.

I have a friend here on LJ, whose first language isn't English, who comments 'Great chapter!' almost every time. I really like to see those - I know she's still reading, and still enjoying the story enough to let me know.

The long reviews that pick out their favourite passages and comment on specific story points are wonderful - but I really do appreciate those 'great chapter!' comments just as much.

[keiliss]

I'm always curious about the number of hits versus the number of reviews. If I divide chapters into read count for something like EQtDoubt on SWG I come up with nearly 300 readers, yet it was reviewed by three people, and I think all three had read it elsewhere. The lack of reviews in itself doesn't put me off the site, I know there aren't many on the SWG, but I'm not sure I understand it.

Something I understand even less is 'Reasons for not leaving a review: I don't have time' Dawn, is it just me? If you have time to read the story, how can you not have time to type: 'Read your fic, really enjoyed it, thank you for sharing'? Just - let the writer know who was reading, instead of a whole lot of anonymous hits. That one has always confused the heck out of me.

[dawn_felagund]

I just went through my own stats on the SWG and did some quick figuring of the ratio between readers and reviews, and I often had 500 or 600 readers for a story with 3 reviews. Then I had a story (part of a challenge for another site, so promoted more widely than the SWG) with 150 readers for 3 reviews, but that was the only one that wasn't comparable to or higher than your number. I realize this is like the most unscientific analysis ever. :^P I was too lazy to even count reviewers, like you did. I might make a graph someday to see if I can find any actual patterns. If I have time. Ha.

Something that occurred to me is the similarities between your EQTtD and my By the Light of Roses. Both are longer stories but not epic-length (102K and 68K, respectively, with 15 and 25 chapters, respectively); both received comments from three different people, had about 300 readers total, and both were posted beyond the SWG. BtLoR was reviewed quite heavily on LJ, so the lower numbers on the SWG didn't surprise me, since there's a lot of overlap

[dreamflower02]

Usually when I say "no time" I mean it quite literally-- I've become engrossed in a fic in spite of the fact that I have somewhere to go or someplace to be-- and suddenly realize, uh-oh, I'm going to be late! Or I get interrupted ("Honey, what time are we going to eat supper?" Oops!)(I always mean to go back and review later, and often do, but sometimes forget.)

This does not happen to me quite so often as it used to, since I tend to put fics on my Nook to take with me when I go somewhere, but still, once in a while...