[ghettoelleth]

Just a friendly reminder to all of you readers out there regarding reviews. When an author gets up the stones it takes to post something they've worked on and you read that post, why not tell them, if indeed you did, that you enjoyed it? A review is not simply to offer concrit or to wax lyrical about a person's writing style or give some sort of sage literary assessment of a writers work. A review is like an acknowledgement that the writer is appreciated. It doesn't have to be an all day affair for the reviewer or something that feels forced or too much effort, a simple thank you is more than adequate. I have received a review where the writer simply said, "I love this story", and it meant just as much to me as each and every review I get does. It is affirmation, a hug, assurance that we are appreciated that is worth a million times more than any residual check, (though the talent for writing original fiction is on my list of things I'd like from Santa). It can be so disheartening for a writer to post a story, see that it has gotten 100 hits yet received no reviews. With the advent of the One Star Fairy, reviews have become even more critical for the authors at OSA. We all know we shouldn't go by ratings or hit counts, but its very hard not to when a reader doesn't feel that they make a difference, or have the time or are not appreciated when they hit that review button to simply say, 'thanks'. Every review is valued and every reader should consider leaving one, no matter how brief. Really, truth be told, most authors I know post for this reason more than any other. It just seems that in recent months, the kudos have gotten a bit thin and I just wanted to let all who do review know how much you are appreciated by the authors and those of you who don't, we'd really love to hear from you.

Let's avoid authors becoming so disheartened that they don't want to write anymore. And those of us who are authors, let's make a concerted effort to read and review more.

Just some thoughts.
Happy New Year

[SpaceWeavil]

(Glacing guiltily at my box of choccies and lame historical romance drama on TV - I promise I will get back into the way of reading stuff once my exams are over.)

But on the subject of short reviews - I've heard some people saying they don't appreciate the comments just of 'I loved it' or stuff like that, but I don't really get that. Whatever someone writes, they took time and thought to do it, and so is important.

Little example that happened today - I've had a story on something like five different archives now since before Christmas. It's had no reviews at all, though it's had a fairly steady stream of hits. This week, when it still had nothing, I started to wonder if it was so awful or boring that people just didn't care enough even to say, 'read this, is quite good' or something. It was my first attempt at a new fandom, so obviously it's a more nerve-wracking thing to put online than my LotR or UFO stuff, which I've been writing for a while and am a bit more confident with.

Today, when I got home from my exam, I went to check one of the sites just out of habit, and I had one review on that story (out of over 100 hits). All it said was something like 'Liked the story - good to see something that isn't slash or incest' (it's a Harry Potter fic), nothing in depth or criticising about the writing or anything.

But that review made my day. Before that it felt like there was no point in having it posted anywhere. You can't tell from a hit counter whether someone read it, or clicked, read the first line and went 'eugh', but even a one sentence review lets you know you're on the right track.

Someone said to me once that I didn't need any reassurance as I had a high rated story. But every story is different for me. I don't really have a favourite character to write for (I did a lot of Elrond stuff, and then a lot of Nazgul stuff, but actually there's not really anything that dominant in my story list). I like to try out new things and new settings, maybe new ways of writing things and new ways of structuring stories. I like the fun of playing with language and seeing how it can work. So every story is kind of experimental in a way, and when it's posted and no one comments at all, there's no real way of knowing if the experiment was successful. Again, just as an example, the story here I'm most self-conscious about at the moment is 'All Shall Love Me and Despair', as I'm writing characters I've never written for before, and in fact races I've never tackled. So the couple of comments I got from people about my Hobbits, for instance, or Legolas' reactions - that just makes me smile so much, as then I can kind of breathe out and relax.

OK, shutting up now. I try to review anything I read, and sometimes I do hesitate before leaving a 'really liked it' review. It does feel like you should write more. But I think Ghetto is right. We shouldn't worry so much about how much we say in reviews. The fact that we do review each other, and support both the old hands at this site and all the new folk discovering us for the first time, is one of the things that makes this a community rather than just an archive to upload stuff to.

SW (really shutting up now. Promise)

[Rhapsody]

[Alassante]

I think every review matters. I squee just to see another on the count. LOL I recently felt like something was wrong with my drabbles due to people one starring me. Friends were giving me good reviews but I was worried that they were too nice to tell me - shit that sucked. So I went to a person who I feel gives honest in depth con crit even though she doesn't normally read my elf fics (not being an elf girl herself). I just said - tell me the truth don't hold back. And she did. I was reassured to know that they didn't suck but I was just as grateful to know that what needed improvement.

Some people however freak out if you point out flaws in their work. I reviewed a girl on another site and her reply to my politely phrased concrit was so rude I was appalled. So I usually will base the details my reviews on how well I know the person will react. If its something small like typos or whatever, I will PM them. Sometimes I write long reviews cause I have the time to write a long review. Other times, I am just short on time, therefore the review is very short. I have a bad habit of reading late at night trying to settle my brain so I can go to sleep. (when I write my brain is way too active) so I am afraid any review would be incoherant.

I think part of the problem with reviewers lately is that 1) they aren't authors themselves and therefore may not realize how important reviews are to us, 2) they aren't members of OSA - just drop in for the stories. Many newbies say they've been lurking for a long time and 3) alot of them don't hang out on the forums so they don't read the SSPs and/or see threads like this. But i have found out that on OSA I get a hell of alot more reviews than elsewhere.

Oh and G - I'm haven't read the latest chapter of Circle but I promise a read and review soon! Once we stop chatting of course LOL.

[SpaceWeavil]

I think a few people might have had bad experiences with reactions to reviews. I've had a few. But the way I look on it is I make sure I don't say anything in my review that actually is rude or nasty - if I think there's something that I personally would be embarrassed about if someone pointed it out in my review thread, then I PM. All a judgment call. That way I know in myself that whatever I've written, one line or twenty, I was polite and non-inflammatory, and that way I know that if someone reacts badly, they have the problem. Then I don't bother to review that person again.

But again, that's something that we as authors have to deal with as well- how we handle criticisms.

I think another problem is that people can be a little embarrassed SSPing and asking for reviews. I know I'm very shakey about asking for concrit, not because I'm frightened of what it might contain, but because I'm always frightened they're going to say no and that I'm imposing on their time. I feel the same way about asking for a beta sometimes.

I've also heard the argument (which is usually presented) that you shouldn't care about reviews, which I think makes people a bit embarrassed when they do care. Most often you're told 'write for yourself, not for the reaction'. But the fact is that we all probably write the things for ourselves, but we post them to share and to see if others can get as much pleasure out of the story as we did when we wrote it. I have a couple of WIPs that I love to death, but that I have just stopped posting because no one reads them, or if they do, no one lets me know about it. I don't know if the story is boring and that is why no one reviews, or if it's just plain awful, or if people are too busy, so I hold back from putting it online just in case it is bad. I still love the story, but reaction can play a big part in how you regard the work. It's sometimes really hard to keep faith in something no matter how much you care about it.

[Ottis413]

There's prob a lot of people like me who have slow dial-up and don't like to tie up the phone for long periods, (last night I was getting 9 Kbps, get bumped a lot also) who download a story and read it later. Then when I really like a story I try to remember to go back and write a review, but a lot of times I forget.
After reading the above posts, I decided to start writing the reviews to a 'notepad' note and leave it on my PCs desktop where I can see it next time I go online. (when I can get online)
Just an idea I thought I'de pass on.....

[Alassante]

That is a good and valid reason Ottis!! When I was working I would print out whole stories and read them on break. Bad thing is I would forget to review each chapter but I would review them when I remembered which could be a LONG time later cause sometimes I'm a ditz . So I don't think anyone will hold that against you.

[ghettoelleth]

Did she just call him a ditz????

[Ottis413]

[Alassante]

[Diddler07]

Oh my. Well, if you don't mind my weighing in....

Some reviewers (okay - moi) simply struggle for something to type. That's not because we/I think the material is bad or not worth the time (precious little of that anyway) but because we can't think of anything that does not come across as, well, trite. (And I come from the school where trite = valueless. The comment may be well intentioned but valueless nonetheless.)

As a reviewer, it's easy enough to avoid being mean-spirited. But trying to leave a review that's succinct, meaningful to the author and yet not sickeningly sweet is often difficult. It is for me at least. I've passed on quite a few reviews (you have no idea) - actually typed them out and then erased them and hit "back" on the browser - just because of that. Crazy, no? Yeah, it is. And if I feel this way, I can only imagine how some other reviewers feel. I think we intimidate ourselves out of it.

Obviously, this is our problem and not yours. It's just a hard one to overcome. ::sigh::

[Ottis413]

[Sulriel]

oh dear. ... I'm too late to post a serious reply - the thread's degenerated already <sigh> ...

here I go anyway

I agree it's disheartening not to get comments. On one hand, it's fun to see the hit counter go up, but when it continues to go up without any reviews coming in, you have to wonder if it's *that* bad?!? ... on archives that have chapter counters, there is some reassurance in seeing the readers click-thru the chapters, you can assume they're continuing to read, not just clicking off after the first few lines. I love writing, always have always will, but I post my fanfiction online because I want to share it. I enjoy reading other stories and hope that people will enjoy reading mine. It's more about playing in the sandbox than it is about building castles (for me). The reviews are what let me (and all authors) know that our works are being enjoyed by others.

Ghetto mentioned that the feedback is worth more than the $$ you might get for original fiction, but in fanfic, the feedback *is* the paycheck, and it only costs the review a few minutes of their time.

I've also heard people complain about short reviews and I'll go out on a limb and say I think that's insane. I love any length review.

I think concrit can be a little touchy. I try not to leave any crit, even concrit unless an author asks for it. I'll occasionally send a PM, but while some people are thankful for the pointers, I've also had people blow up at me - and that makes me hesitant to face that again. (in fact, I won't review for them again, but what I mean is that it makes me hesitant to offer concrit to anyone I don't now well) Being that this archive doesn't have a beta section, I tend to assume that people are presenting what they considered polished works and I try to accept them 'as is'. If I read through the story, it's because there are elements I like. I can't always, but I've been trying more lately, to let the author know what those things are. - one thing that I had to work through is that I've done so much beta, it's hard for me to flip off the beta switch and just enjoy the stories for what they are, and the MEFAs helped a lot with that. ... I think writing so many reviews in such a short time kinda shook something loose

I try to always (can't *always*, but I try) to read the SSPd stories and I try to make myself SSP. It's hard to do sometimes. I know when I first started posting (not here) I SSPd and with no result, and that hurts. At least if you don't SSP you can pretend that maybe no one noticed it. But when you shout to the world and beg for readers and don't get any, you have to wonder. ..... and the questions are not nice ones.

Diddler - I've done the same thing. Enjoy a story, but sometimes nothing comes out that doesn't sound silly ... how many times can you say "great story" - and it turns into more work than you might think the story was worth. I know that sometimes I tend to leave shorter reviews for stuff I like a *lot* because I sometimes have a 'wow' kind of reaction. - the only think I can think to recommend is that it's ok to pick one element you enjoyed and say so. You don't have to analyze the story or give a 'complete' review.

[Sulriel]

[Ottis413]

I usally compose in Word Perfect 'cause it has a spell-checker that I like. (and boy do I need it )