On writing reviews

[ultramega10]

Writing is incredibly difficult and everyone who tries their hand at it has their first thousand stories turn out terrible. I have entire libraries of content which I produced that was absolutely worthless. But every time I wrote something I learned something new.

 

You don't become a great writer by being a prodigy. You  become a great writer by just working at it. And if you work at it hard, and long enough, sooner or later you'll wake up one day and look at some of your older stories are way worse than what you're producing now. The trick is just never giving up. Never being content with your current level of quality and always striving for excellence.

 

 

On the subject, I'd like to discuss how best to give constructive feedback in reviews. My personal preference is to start with the good aspects of the story and then go into the flaws. One should never belittle or insult the person for their missteps, but at the same time one should not downplay them. We only learn by having our issues pointed out to us.

 

What do you think?

Comments

[midnight_witch]

I do think you are right. Whenever I critiqued someone else's writing, I would start out with the good things and then comment on the things that could be better. Being honest is very important, but remaining polite and pleasant in your tone is important too.
People will be more likely to really listen to what you have to say when they feel like you are pointing out the good and the bad. And when they feel like you are not being too personal. But it is different for everyone, some prefer harsher treatment.

And I would like to add that it also helps to end a critique on a hopeful and positive note.

[oblakom]

For what it concerns me, I will always prefer a blunt opinion over a softened one. That's how I learned to write and to criticize my own work.

I started when I was 12 and... Oh, dear. People who told me to delate my fanfictions and to never touch a keyboard again until I learned what's a plot and a character were fucking right. Did it hurt? Right in the pride. But I still thanked the person who let that review.
...And I took down my story and deleted my account. But I can assure you that that very same evening I was writing again, more determined than ever to write something worth of being proud of. The next day I created a new account on that site.
Now that I think about it I wonder if the person who sent me that cruel review knows of much s/he helped me going from "smashing letters on a keyboard" to "writing". Probably not, but I am still grateful.

Personally, whenever I criticize someone I copy-past parts of their text that made me cringe, or, in case of a fanfiction, I point out parts of the canon to sustain my ideas (usually for what it concerns IC/OOC) to better explain. Something I do is asking questions. Why does the character do this? If the solution was that simple how is it that no one found it in hundred of years? How did we get from this event to this event?
If I manage to make the writer understand his/her own mistakes there are lesser chances of this person getting offended - but there are also highter chances of this person ignoring me.

However, as years passed I noticed that I started to try to help people less and less. Nowadays is almost never worth it.

[torylltales]

Writing is an incredible emotional investment, so we do need to try to consider that when people ask for feedback.

Typically I prefer the sandwich method: good thing, bad thing, good thing. It takes some of the sting away from the bad things.

Along with that I try to focus on practical examples and explanation: this particular sentence/idea is bad for this particular reason. And then I try to touch briefly on some achievable ideas or techniques for fixing whatever that specific problem is.


The whole point of constructive criticism is that it provides access to building blocks with which to construct. Merely saying "this bit is bad" is not constructive criticism, it is just criticism. Pointing out specifics and explaining the 'why's (and the 'how's toward improvement/fixing) is constructive.

[epistler]

I hold a similar view to Torylltales - the "compliment sandwich" technique helps to soften the blow, and crticism is only useful if it's framed in terms of how to fix what's wrong, rather than simply pointing out what's wrong. I remember when I was younger people would say things like "this character is whiny" or "too much infodumping", and I'd have this helpless "but how do I fix it?" reaction. So when I write up feedback for someone (on request; I only offer my opinions to an author when asked for them), I include suggestions such as "the early part of the book is very slow. How about you cut X and then have Y happen instead?". It's not that I'm telling them they have to do exactly that, but rather the intent is to get them to think in a constructive way about how to rework it.

[(Anonymous)]

Did everything resolve okay? Is that why some of the comments were removed?

[epistler]

Where was this, anyway?

[vorpaltongue]

It was on Writing Evolution that Bewdtamer created. I never saw any replies to the story chapter in question, so I can't tell precisely what happened.

[epistler]

Ah, right. I haven't visited it myself.

[minionnumber2]

Some on the comments were removed because I mentioned that some parts of the original post came off as rude to me (using more aggressive language, which I kind of regret) and UltraMega agreed. I appreciate his courtesy in trying to correct the issue.

A Message

[wandering_writer]

…Hey.

Dreamwidth gives you the option of restoring your account within 30 days, so I took it up on its offer. I'm sorry for everything I said while frustrated but want to thank you guys for what I saw said before those comments were deleted.

I thought something *majorly* bad was physically happening to me at the time, which caused anxiety. Unfortunately, I happened to be thinking horrible things about it and was dealing with some (unfortunately) regular family drama when a critique for my chapter rolled in. The thought of having to do some major revamping of my work caused more stress. I was literally told I needed like three chapters explaining everything before I could go forward with the plot* and it was publicly said that my work wasn't “good literature” in the initial version of this post.

I felt as if the world was crashing in when that all happened. I had flashbacks to when I was fourteen and had been trying to get a critique on my stuff on an obscure writing forum, only for some nobody to take every single aspect of my original work and viciously rip it apart. So I, unfortunately, lashed out here much as I did six years ago on that forum.

Geez. I feel childish just for admitting that.

I'm actually disappointed in myself for what happened. Yes, I was unhappy with how negative the initial review for the work I posted here was, but I’ve gotten big paragraphs criticizing me for things like plot and characterization while writing fanfic as recently as nearly two years ago and reacted just fine to them**. So I guess my bad reaction happened because this particular critique was directed at something I personally created, rather than my fanfiction.

I'm willing to read (And maybe even talk about) future posts from A_S, but I'm not going to repost my original writing right now. It needs more work***, and I’d rather keep that private until further notice.

Signing out,
Wandering_Writer

* Which I can understand now, but it's still an overwhelming idea.
** Okay, so maybe I was *really* embarrassed when somebody called a scene I've since removed from my fics the “Mario crying sequence”, but still.
*** I really hate the fact that I sometimes repeat myself in my own writing. Maybe I should start keeping a checklist.

Re: A Message

[epistler]

It's okay, man - I'm glad you came back
I've been known to overreact when real life has been doing a number on me too; I don't know if you saw it, but back on the old comm. I at one point blew up at hergrim over nothing, and it was because I'd been recently bereaved and wasn't thinking straight. I apologised and explained after he asked what the hell my problem was. It happens, and I'm sure we can all relate.