Open Thread: Oracle Hotline

[mithen]

--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...

Comments

[bradygirl_12]

Luckily, few bad ones in my fanfic career, but generally I'll either ignore the ones I consider flames (and delete them) or politely respond to a comment that's less-than-flattering with a "Thank you for pointing that out" or some such. Somebody once commented on a story of mine with a criticism that was easily rectified by just a closer reading, as what they'd commented on was answered within the story.

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. :)

[mithen]

Luckily, few bad ones in my fanfic career, but generally I'll either ignore the ones I consider flames (and delete them) or politely respond to a comment that's less-than-flattering with a "Thank you for pointing that out" or some such.

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!