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

[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.

Dunno if you're familiar with Andrew Burt's philosophy of the diplomatic critique that is required reading on the Critters workshop and deeply informed the SWG's Site Etiquette, but I've found it so useful in providing concrit in a way that is minimally painless for the author and, therefore, for me as well. I find it works well with writers at all ability levels, from my students up to the professional-caliber fandom writers I'm sometimes privileged to work with (even the shrinking violets ;). Anyway, if you're interested:

The Diplomatic Critiquer
and
Critiquing the Wild Writer: It's Not What You Say, But How You Say It

I don't personally leave concrit publicly, no matter how diplomatic. I prefer anything negative that I have to say be between me and the writer; making it public can feel passive-aggressive or be embarrassing to some people, and I respect that. (Even as I never mind negative comments in public on my own work! :)

I hate to be partisan and read only my friends' works, but I don't have a lot of time to venture as far as I'd like into different areas of fanfic.

I wouldn't even think it would have to be partisan; in a lot of cases, I know my fandom friendships have formed around shared interests, which makes it natural that the works of my friends would gel more with my own interests as a reader. :)

[just_jenni]

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