Open Thread: Oracle Hotline
Jul. 27th, 2018 08:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mithen posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
superhero_muses--Do you read your book reviews? How do you deal with bad or good ones?
I find this question fascinating because it's meant for pro authors and, to me, really illustrates one of they differences between that and fanfic, because "reviews" (comments) are basically the only "pay" fanfic writers get! Of course I read each one and treasure the good ones. I also agonize way more than I should over bad ones, to be honest. But good-bad reviews can be really useful--I mean, thoughtful ones that actually raise issues, not "I don't like A/B and you should write A/C" or my favorite negative comment I've ever gotten, "When are A and B ever going to kiss??" (they'd already kissed twice in the series). Sometimes it can be hard to tell the difference between feedback that will make your writing better and feedback that just wants to make you feel bad, I think...
I find this question fascinating because it's meant for pro authors and, to me, really illustrates one of they differences between that and fanfic, because "reviews" (comments) are basically the only "pay" fanfic writers get! Of course I read each one and treasure the good ones. I also agonize way more than I should over bad ones, to be honest. But good-bad reviews can be really useful--I mean, thoughtful ones that actually raise issues, not "I don't like A/B and you should write A/C" or my favorite negative comment I've ever gotten, "When are A and B ever going to kiss??" (they'd already kissed twice in the series). Sometimes it can be hard to tell the difference between feedback that will make your writing better and feedback that just wants to make you feel bad, I think...
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Date: 2018-07-27 03:03 am (UTC)I have yet to figure out how to handle that but then I've gotten very few reviews so far anyway.
Reader reviews on my published stuff is something I totally avoid. It's not for me so I don't read them. Reader reviews on my fanfic still make me happy unless its the sort of thing you mentioned. My least favorite was one that went on about how 'sinful' and 'evil' the reader felt for reading Clark/Lex in Smallville. >.>
Mind you, it wasn't even on of the really steamy stories I've written. I believe I deleted that one. If its a really offensive fanfic review, I do delete them. If it's just in poor taste they get "Thank you!" and that's about it. The lovely comments get gushing right back at them.
Hope your writing is going well! I'm at the dramatic confrontation (part 1) where the assassin sent against the heroine's new girlfriend is about to be taken down. Part 2 will be where the girlfriend's stalker is summarily captured and arrested and then I can finally have the 'date' and kissing and yay!
Anyway, have a great week!
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Date: 2019-08-27 02:05 am (UTC)Argggggghhhh, that's terrible! I do feel like if I were a professional author, I'd try to avoid reading reactions to my work as much as possible, but... it would be hard.
My least favorite was one that went on about how 'sinful' and 'evil' the reader felt for reading Clark/Lex in Smallville. >.>
Yuck, those are the worst. Into the deletion file with you, commenter!
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Date: 2018-07-27 02:49 pm (UTC)My rules of giving reviews is only comment if I have something positive to say! :)
Writing is slow but steady. I might post a new humorous story this weekend if I have the time. :)
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Date: 2019-08-27 05:49 am (UTC)I like the general thing of responding with "Thank you!" or "glad you enjoyed it!" if they say anything at all positive among the feedback and just ignoring the rest. :) No particular reason to focus on the other stuff!
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Date: 2018-07-28 09:38 pm (UTC)Yeah, that. XP I don't publish fictional pro things, but I've profited from critical reviews on other work. Critical, not necessarily all bad though.
I do have a friend who is pro author and she lets me read her reviews and I do the sifting and seeing that some reviews especially in places like goodreads are really emotional and not especially meant to be helpful to the author, I think that's a good idea if you're someone who may be crushed by random negativity.
Sometimes it can be hard to tell the difference between feedback that will make your writing better and feedback that just wants to make you feel bad, I think...
Thin line in reviews sometimes. A reader who isn't a writer ma not always be aware of the difference either, so it's good to keep that in mind.
My experiences in recent Marvel fandom have been leaning towards the "meant to feel you bad side" recently when it comes to the negative comments. They don't even leave much to ponder there. They can go like "FEEL BAD FOR LIKING..."
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Date: 2019-08-27 05:55 am (UTC)I always like the idea of a professional author having someone who helps sort through the piles of stuff and figure out what's worth looking at!
My experiences in recent Marvel fandom have been leaning towards the "meant to feel you bad side" recently when it comes to the negative comments. They don't even leave much to ponder there. They can go like "FEEL BAD FOR LIKING..."
UGH, this culture shift is just so horrible, honestly. I've been so lucky to avoid most of it in my little problematic corner, but I can feel it nibbling at the edges even there...
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Date: 2018-07-31 07:52 pm (UTC)The comment itself was very well written and maybe the reader was conflicted, because YES noncon and rape is bad in real life but! This is fiction, and I don't read fiction for a 100% real, true to the really real world experience. Comments that attack the subject matter, and not my writing perse, bother me more than an attack on my writing, and the fact that it as a well thought-out comment and not just "wow ur gross go kys" has me more flustered. I really hate comments that attack the subject matter! I know my writing can always be worked on and improved, but attacking the very things I love to write? It can mess me up for days. (Or years. :'D)
So yeah. This is a big problem for me, because these are the exact kind of comments that can shut me down from writing what I like to write. I used to have my wife read comments for me before I read them, so I could prepare for the bad ones, and I had finally gotten over that enough to read my own comments, then this happened. XD
Ah well~ I'll get over it again, eventually. As for my best-worst comment, I was once told it was "so fucking wrong" to have Alucard from Hellsing as the top instead of the "uke", and I "ruined the whole couple for them", ah~ I rarely delete comments that aren't spam. If people want to be a dick to me, that's fine, I don't need to hide their asshattery from the world for them.
And hey! Writing has been going pretty good. I'm making progress on things and keeping up with mod duties for the DCU Bang. I'm even a day or two away from finishing another fic! Three in one month?! Who am I~
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Date: 2019-08-05 05:28 am (UTC)UGH. I hope you got past this, because it would really rattle me! Fannish culture is... not in a good place in general right now, I feel like.
So, uh, I just finished two fics for Nonconathon 2018, which I really enjoyed writing, and someone chided me for writing noncon.
The fact that it was written for NONCONATHON might have been a SLIGHT TIPOFF, reader! Good grief.