on reviews and recommendations.
I've been thinking about why and how I review and recommend stories (although I don't actually think of them as recs, specifically, but rather as, "Here Are Stories I Liked! Maybe You'll Like Them Too?" ... which people probably will tell me is a rec), so: here are my thoughts on them.
To kick things off and to give me a starting-point to think about, THE MOST EXTREME REVIEW I'VE EVER WRITTEN:
I wrote the longest review I'd ever written for any fandom story three years ago. It took me an hour to type up, three comments to post (I was very good at breaking comment limits in those days)
and - hey, wait, I did it for two stories: (both link to NC-17 Constantine slash (... do I read anything else? ... not often) fic, incidentally, so be forewarned) this one and this one. I liked them then: I haven't read them before linking them this time, so I don't know if I'd still like them now.
On Authorial Response to Feedback (And How it Helps the Reviewer)
Reviewing, like writing, is a skill. And reviewers, like writers, get better when they're told what they're doing right (and what they're doing wrong).
A quick word on authorial response to feedback: I don't expect it. (Feedback-on-feedback: curious concept, isn't it?) It would be nice, but I don't expect it. It would be like writing fic and expecting reviews. ... okay, fine, that is probably expected, but I do have this to say: telling your reviewers how you felt about their feedback does actually make them better reviewers. And/or encourage them to leave reviews in the future. It worked for me. If you've known me long enough (or I've left distressingly long comments on your stories for long enough), you'll know I have a fairly specific feedback style. Where I can, I like to tell an author exactly what worked for me, and why, and what I loved best about their stories. And I wouldn't know how this sort of behaviour would be received if not for the authors who actually told me.
Naturally this doesn't work for everyone: some might not like detailed feedback, some might not know how to respond to feedback and therefore choose not to, others might not have time, etc. It's all good. Writing, reviewing and reviewing-reviews (ahahaha) - it's all an intensely personal thing. I don't think there's any One Way to do it, or that people should try to come up with one.
But I must admit that I've always enjoyed it when authors I've reviewed responded, especially if they tell me about what it was like for them to write a particular story, or share their view on characters, or tell me if what I saw in their stories was what they were trying to convey. Authorial responses like this (Spider-man, Harry/Peter fic, rated Adult) and this (my favourite Spanner-Tsuna fic ever, rated G) make me smile and make me determined to be a better reviewer.
Why I Review.
I don't have the time (or the energy, sadly) for the kind of detailed fic-reviewing as witnessed in my Insane Reviews nowadays, but I do my best with what I have. As pretentious as it sounds, sometimes it feels like The Best Way I Can Give Back to Fandom. (DIES) I can't help but think that a review acts as a form of a recommendation, somehow: in it, you're saying, I loved this story, and this is why. In my book, it's an implicit rec. And I've always written reviews for one reason: to tell the author how much I loved their story, and to thank them for writing it and sharing it with the world. Sometimes, you can tell that a writer took a great deal of care and effort in crafting their story, and I always think that if I find a story like that, and I enjoyed it immensely, it would be the least I could do to put that much effort into telling a writer how much I loved it, and why. On my part, I can't imagine any other reasons to leave a review.
"That Was Then, This is Now; or, The Reviewer's Mind Is A Changeable Thing
But reviews and recommendations are curious things. They're like pieces of the past, because they're a way you felt about a certain idea, or a certain turn of phrase, in a certain story, in a certain time. Sometimes the love you have for a story can have little to do with the intrinsic value of the story itself. Sometimes it's a fandom you can't get enough of; sometimes it's a writer whose style you adore at that point in your life; sometimes it's a point of view you wish more people shared.
Stories, and books (because I don't just mean fanfiction), are funny that way: sometimes you go back to a story you loved AS IF YOU WERE TO DIE years ago, and you look at it and think, "What was I thinking? This is trite, generic, and - what did I ever see in it?" This was me and Mercedes Lackey's The Last Herald Mage, incidentally. What was impressive when I was fifteen was significantly less impressive four years on, when I'd read more and been exposed to more and generally had more to compare the work to.
And sometimes you go back to a story and you realise that hidden meanings you never realised were there have now surfaced with time and maturity. Sometimes things you knew, intellectually, back then, become things you understand and that resonate with you now. This was me and George Orwell's Animal Farm. Reading it at eleven, and reading it again at eighteen, with the knowledge taking up history had given me, were vastly different experiences. My emotional-resonance version of this experience was Russell Hoban's A Mouse and His Child. The first time I read the book, I found it intensely dreary. And somehow, three years later, when I picked it up again, I discovered that it'd turned into a beautiful story when I wasn't looking.
And then there are the stories that you come back to years later and realise: This is as wonderful as I remembered it.
On Recommendations
Recommendations are slightly different creatures. In Reborn, at least, I rec a fair bit of fic that I don't review. Sometimes, even though I know this is Improper Reviewer Behaviour and the Proper Behaviour is to Review Regardless of the Number of Reviews a Fic Has Got - I won't review if a story has, say, hundreds of positive reviews. At this point I could just start singing I don't want to be just a face in the crowd, YOU GONNA HEAR MY VOICE WHEN I SHOUT IT OUT LOUD, but my reason would be that what I say is likely to be highly superfluous.
Take an example? synecdochic's Freedom's Just Another Word For Nothing Left To Lose.
I love this story, and I'll never review it: I think everything that has to be said about it has been said already. It is an epic SGA fic that I imagine Most of the World has Heard Of By Now, and I chose to read this story for the most arbitrary of all reasons: I loved the title. And I read and loved this story despite the fact that I knew, and know, nothing about SGA. I think a truly great story transcends fandom and says something true. I think a great story speaks for itself, whoever it was written by, whichever fandom it was in, whenever it was written.
The only thing I've got to prove when I rec a story is how much I loved it. Nothing else. For me, it doesn't need to stand up to anyone else's scrutiny. When I rec a story, I am saying, I loved it. You might, too.
... oh God. This post makes it look like I put a lot more thought into reviewing and rec'ing fic than I actually do.
... in other words I'm going to rec a bunch of you guys AGAIN. I'M SORRY. I WOULD STOP DOING IT IF YOU WOULD STOP WRITING FIC I LIKE.
To kick things off and to give me a starting-point to think about, THE MOST EXTREME REVIEW I'VE EVER WRITTEN:
I wrote the longest review I'd ever written for any fandom story three years ago. It took me an hour to type up, three comments to post (I was very good at breaking comment limits in those days)
and - hey, wait, I did it for two stories: (both link to NC-17 Constantine slash (... do I read anything else? ... not often) fic, incidentally, so be forewarned) this one and this one. I liked them then: I haven't read them before linking them this time, so I don't know if I'd still like them now.
On Authorial Response to Feedback (And How it Helps the Reviewer)
Reviewing, like writing, is a skill. And reviewers, like writers, get better when they're told what they're doing right (and what they're doing wrong).
A quick word on authorial response to feedback: I don't expect it. (Feedback-on-feedback: curious concept, isn't it?) It would be nice, but I don't expect it. It would be like writing fic and expecting reviews. ... okay, fine, that is probably expected, but I do have this to say: telling your reviewers how you felt about their feedback does actually make them better reviewers. And/or encourage them to leave reviews in the future. It worked for me. If you've known me long enough (or I've left distressingly long comments on your stories for long enough), you'll know I have a fairly specific feedback style. Where I can, I like to tell an author exactly what worked for me, and why, and what I loved best about their stories. And I wouldn't know how this sort of behaviour would be received if not for the authors who actually told me.
Naturally this doesn't work for everyone: some might not like detailed feedback, some might not know how to respond to feedback and therefore choose not to, others might not have time, etc. It's all good. Writing, reviewing and reviewing-reviews (ahahaha) - it's all an intensely personal thing. I don't think there's any One Way to do it, or that people should try to come up with one.
But I must admit that I've always enjoyed it when authors I've reviewed responded, especially if they tell me about what it was like for them to write a particular story, or share their view on characters, or tell me if what I saw in their stories was what they were trying to convey. Authorial responses like this (Spider-man, Harry/Peter fic, rated Adult) and this (my favourite Spanner-Tsuna fic ever, rated G) make me smile and make me determined to be a better reviewer.
Why I Review.
I don't have the time (or the energy, sadly) for the kind of detailed fic-reviewing as witnessed in my Insane Reviews nowadays, but I do my best with what I have. As pretentious as it sounds, sometimes it feels like The Best Way I Can Give Back to Fandom. (DIES) I can't help but think that a review acts as a form of a recommendation, somehow: in it, you're saying, I loved this story, and this is why. In my book, it's an implicit rec. And I've always written reviews for one reason: to tell the author how much I loved their story, and to thank them for writing it and sharing it with the world. Sometimes, you can tell that a writer took a great deal of care and effort in crafting their story, and I always think that if I find a story like that, and I enjoyed it immensely, it would be the least I could do to put that much effort into telling a writer how much I loved it, and why. On my part, I can't imagine any other reasons to leave a review.
"That Was Then, This is Now; or, The Reviewer's Mind Is A Changeable Thing
But reviews and recommendations are curious things. They're like pieces of the past, because they're a way you felt about a certain idea, or a certain turn of phrase, in a certain story, in a certain time. Sometimes the love you have for a story can have little to do with the intrinsic value of the story itself. Sometimes it's a fandom you can't get enough of; sometimes it's a writer whose style you adore at that point in your life; sometimes it's a point of view you wish more people shared.
Stories, and books (because I don't just mean fanfiction), are funny that way: sometimes you go back to a story you loved AS IF YOU WERE TO DIE years ago, and you look at it and think, "What was I thinking? This is trite, generic, and - what did I ever see in it?" This was me and Mercedes Lackey's The Last Herald Mage, incidentally. What was impressive when I was fifteen was significantly less impressive four years on, when I'd read more and been exposed to more and generally had more to compare the work to.
And sometimes you go back to a story and you realise that hidden meanings you never realised were there have now surfaced with time and maturity. Sometimes things you knew, intellectually, back then, become things you understand and that resonate with you now. This was me and George Orwell's Animal Farm. Reading it at eleven, and reading it again at eighteen, with the knowledge taking up history had given me, were vastly different experiences. My emotional-resonance version of this experience was Russell Hoban's A Mouse and His Child. The first time I read the book, I found it intensely dreary. And somehow, three years later, when I picked it up again, I discovered that it'd turned into a beautiful story when I wasn't looking.
And then there are the stories that you come back to years later and realise: This is as wonderful as I remembered it.
On Recommendations
Recommendations are slightly different creatures. In Reborn, at least, I rec a fair bit of fic that I don't review. Sometimes, even though I know this is Improper Reviewer Behaviour and the Proper Behaviour is to Review Regardless of the Number of Reviews a Fic Has Got - I won't review if a story has, say, hundreds of positive reviews. At this point I could just start singing I don't want to be just a face in the crowd, YOU GONNA HEAR MY VOICE WHEN I SHOUT IT OUT LOUD, but my reason would be that what I say is likely to be highly superfluous.
Take an example? synecdochic's Freedom's Just Another Word For Nothing Left To Lose.
I love this story, and I'll never review it: I think everything that has to be said about it has been said already. It is an epic SGA fic that I imagine Most of the World has Heard Of By Now, and I chose to read this story for the most arbitrary of all reasons: I loved the title. And I read and loved this story despite the fact that I knew, and know, nothing about SGA. I think a truly great story transcends fandom and says something true. I think a great story speaks for itself, whoever it was written by, whichever fandom it was in, whenever it was written.
The only thing I've got to prove when I rec a story is how much I loved it. Nothing else. For me, it doesn't need to stand up to anyone else's scrutiny. When I rec a story, I am saying, I loved it. You might, too.
... oh God. This post makes it look like I put a lot more thought into reviewing and rec'ing fic than I actually do.
... in other words I'm going to rec a bunch of you guys AGAIN. I'M SORRY. I WOULD STOP DOING IT IF YOU WOULD STOP WRITING FIC I LIKE.