38 replies to this topic

[believeit6]

Many reviews can really annoy you, right? So what ticks you off? For me, it's:
1) Update Soon!-Uugh, SO MUCH PRESSURE! I'll update, but unless you want a crappy chapter the STOP SAYING THIS!
2) LEMONS LEMONS LEMONS!-I know your desperate, but I'm not that shallow. Maybe, but you'll have to wait.
3) I don't like your OCs, get them out of my face.- I do. I never got a review like this, but if I did I would be angry.

I'm sure there is more. Anyone else?

[No WhereMan]

Many reviews can really annoy you, right? So what ticks you off? For me, it's:
1) Update Soon!-Uugh, SO MUCH PRESSURE! I'll update, but unless you want a crappy chapter the STOP SAYING THIS!
2) LEMONS LEMONS LEMONS!-I know your desperate, but I'm not that shallow. Maybe, but you'll have to wait.
3) I don't like your OCs, get them out of my face.- I do. I never got a review like this, but if I did I would be angry.

I'm sure there is more. Anyone else?

Pretty much no. I'm simply content that people took the time to actually review my story. They don't have to say jack about anything. I've gotten author alerts and favorite story add-on from at least a hundred people that never reviewed one of my story. I've also been added to C2s list from people that haven't reviewed my story. Either way, I enjoy every single review i get big or small.

[peanutbutter126]

I'm satisfied that they bothered to click the review button. It really warms me up read long reviews with comments for improvements and such, but if all they wrote was 'good chapter' or something, I'll just shrug and be contented that I gained something out of my hours of labour. Like NoWhere Man, I have more alerts than I do reviews, but knowing that someone is enjoying my works makes me happy

[YonderBeyonder]

Well, as both No WhereMan and peanutbutter126 said themselves, I also get more alerts than reviews, but they are still just as heart-warming.

I do believe I once just got a review with only a smiley-face, and that irritated me a little, but I'd received a review from that same person a while ago, and they'd been quite open about their feelings for my writing, so, I'm sure they did it with the best of intentions.

I do get the "RAWRUPDATENOW" reviews, though, I usually just update in my own time– but sometimes I get the "Update now or I'll do X to your Y and with a Z" reviews, and I find those a mildly irritating, but, to each his or her own.

Reviews, regardless, make me smile, so, I just like getting them, I guess.

[Onionhead Attacks]

Like all of you above, I've gotten a lot more alerts and favorites than I do reviews. Especially now when I'm actually putting effort in finishing a story since I have a bad habit of starting stories then ditching them... I get very little reviews. But I'm glad nonetheless to know that there are people reading my stories based on the number of alerts and such and I consider myself lucky if I even get a review at all. I mean... gosh... it's so much work to hit "story alert" and then the review button to say "It's a great story! I like 'blah blah blah' but you could do better at 'blah blah blah'." It's strenuous work on the fingers you know? Don't want to pull a muscle through too much typing ya see. :rolleyes:

Right now for my current ongoing story I'm actually surprised at the quality of the reviews! I mean usually when I write something the most I get is a "good story"; "update soon"; and even the occasional long winded but thoroughly thoughtful review. But this time around people are actually writing down even if it is in one sentence, what they liked for my story! And those occasional long winded reviews aren't as occasional anymore. Le Gasp!

It seems like it depends on the fandom that you frequent. I've delved into several fandoms before and I've seen the differences in reviews. Check them out and you'd be surprised how you can go from "wonderfully thoughtful" to your "UPDATE OR I'LL AXE YOU" to your "LEMON!!!" as well as "cool. update soon" reviews.

And ah... it seems like the OC thing is still something that I have yet to master. I can do just fine for my original works but things never work out quite as well when I try inserting one of them in my stories

[No WhereMan]

To be honest I think this is a silly thing to complain about. Especially since:

1.) People don't have to review a story at all. At least they've thought enough about your story to leave feedback. Good, bad or whatever.

2.) Any reviews you deem, "unworthy" most places have an option to remove said review anyway. Granted I don't do this if I get a bad review or not, but that's based on my own principals.

3.) There are a lot more things to debate about in fan fiction in general, besides the quality of the reviews you receive.

Edited by No WhereMan, 14 December 2008 - 07:02 AM.

[believeit6]

I agree with you, just getting a review gives me that tingly and excited feeling. Some are better than others though. I actually like all types, even flames because they make me laugh, and will always encourage reviews no matter what kind. On FF.net though, I noticed it's easier to put on alert with the review display. Check marks and everything Anyway, What I'm saying is I'm not complaining about anything; this topic is more accurately, "What do you like in a review? And what makes their value less?" Because of my enjoyment of reviews I always leave a review, and usually a thoughtful one where I point out tiny grammar errors.

[Youklvr]

I'm content with any review. I hate it when people favorite or alert the story more than review. I know that means they like it obviously, but I want to hear it!! >.< lol.

[Illjwamh]

What ticks me off? Not getting them. People take the time to alert and favorite the thing, but not to type in a simple "Yay!"?

Short reviews don't bother me, and dumb reviews don't bother me. Even if they say they hated it, at least they took the time to say something. I always make sure to respond to each and every review I get, even if it's just saying "Thanks" to a smiley face. It's something I got from my writers' workshop experiences.

[AchikaMiyu]

The only thing I would add to the conversation are the reviews where reviewers write something that make you go WTF? They're kind of along the line of making suggestions as to what you should add to the story, and though some are thoughtful, others are just plain weird.

Example for one review I got for one of my stories:

Rated for too much kinky. --Click here to view--

Hey I have an idea to the next chapter:

Sakura has a idea of having a oil wrestling with Naruto (It's a game where the couple get completely naked and they spill oil in their body, from the hands to the feet and in the genitals, all body get oiled. So the couple begin to rub their bodies in each other, they slip and allways try to hug and play, the oil give them a lot of fun). She get some advices with Anko and go shoping the oil befores going after Naruto and start the game with him, in the end she wins the wrestling and makes him a massage using the oil that se bought.

And a second idea is Sakura tying Naruto in the bed and playing ''games'' with him, even placing her feet on his face and stuff like this. and it ends in sex, where she has to ride him because he's tied. Maybe she can put on him a blindfold.

Well if you like my ideas, please send me a PM. Thanks.

I mean, how do you reply to something like that? It was so silly I couldn't take it seriously.

Though honestly, I don't think there are very many people out there who are skilled at writing reviews that are informative and comprehensive. It's one thing to say "your story is awesome!" or "your story sucks!" But it's another to say exactly why the story is good, bad or what-have-you.

I think the best reviewers are those who are always trying to encourage good writing and a good story, regardless of the skill or the writer or content of the story. It doesn't help a writer who writes bad stories to only say "you suck." if you don't ever tell them why the story is lackluster. On the flip side, it's a disservice to a good writer to only say "you rock" without trying to turn a critical eye to the story if there are any flaws. I know from my own part, I've gone back and reread stories that have had only positive reviews and thought to myself "what on earth did I write and why didn't anyone point out this was blah."

Just my 2 cents

[No WhereMan]

Though honestly, I don't think there are very many people out there who are skilled at writing reviews that are informative and comprehensive. It's one thing to say "your story is awesome!" or "your story sucks!" But it's another to say exactly why the story is good, bad or what-have-you.

I think the best reviewers are those who are always trying to encourage good writing and a good story, regardless of the skill or the writer or content of the story. It doesn't help a writer who writes bad stories to only say "you suck." if you don't ever tell them why the story is lackluster. On the flip side, it's a disservice to a good writer to only say "you rock" without trying to turn a critical eye to the story if there are any flaws. I know from my own part, I've gone back and reread stories that have had only positive reviews and thought to myself "what on earth did I write and why didn't anyone point out this was blah."

Just my 2 cents

I'm going to disagree with you. A lot of times people are not able to describe why your story is good or bad to them. They just record what they're initial reaction to what you've written. What I've found is a lot of authors tend to write the best detailed reviews. Or people that have some talent in writing themselves.

For instance this is a review I received for a story I did.

"I believe you have a real gift, these stories of yours capture the simple beauty of writing, in my 5 years of fan fiction I have never seen another who can come close to matching you in the raw emotion, the realistic themes and magic that is now synonymous with your stories, this story, despite the heat and passion it dealt with Tsunade moving on from Dan, and that was something that I haven't seen before, masterfully done, I applaud you, and beseech you, you are worthy of praise of the highest order.You should know that I almost cried at the end, despite not having experiences that can relate to Tsunade, the raw emotion made me choke, anyways, I'm drabbling, well done."

Skill level does have a part in writing reviews, at least in my own history with writing. If I don't believe you have any level of recognizable skill I'm not going to review your story. I know a lot of people review stories based on pairing alone and not on content. I've found that Naruto fanfiction is a good example of that. I've found dozens of stories with hundreds of reviews, which when I sat down and read the story it was pure crap. No originality. No developed and character rich dialogue and no level of description.

I find that if you want deeper more involved reviews you should go back and make sure those areas are covered. But of course you won't ever get rid of the one sentence reviewers. But hopefully your story will open the eyes of other people as well.

[Onionhead Attacks]

I'm going to disagree with you. A lot of times people are not able to describe why your story is good or bad to them. They just record what they're initial reaction to what you've written. What I've found is a lot of authors tend to write the best detailed reviews. Or people that have some talent in writing themselves.

For instance this is a review I received for a story I did.

"I believe you have a real gift, these stories of yours capture the simple beauty of writing, in my 5 years of fan fiction I have never seen another who can come close to matching you in the raw emotion, the realistic themes and magic that is now synonymous with your stories, this story, despite the heat and passion it dealt with Tsunade moving on from Dan, and that was something that I haven't seen before, masterfully done, I applaud you, and beseech you, you are worthy of praise of the highest order.You should know that I almost cried at the end, despite not having experiences that can relate to Tsunade, the raw emotion made me choke, anyways, I'm drabbling, well done."

Skill level does have a part in writing reviews, at least in my own history with writing. If I don't believe you have any level of recognizable skill I'm not going to review your story. I know a lot of people review stories based on pairing alone and not on content. I've found that Naruto fanfiction is a good example of that. I've found dozens of stories with hundreds of reviews, which when I sat down and read the story it was pure crap. No originality. No developed and character rich dialogue and no level of description.

I find that if you want deeper more involved reviews you should go back and make sure those areas are covered. But of course you won't ever get rid of the one sentence reviewers. But hopefully your story will open the eyes of other people as well.

I agree with No WhereMan because it seems to be true most of the times. Some people are better are writing reviews when they actually had practice with writing. The words come much easier to the person if they've done it often rather than if they hardly ever write anything, school papers, etc. so that they're just sitting there trying their best to phrase and write down what they think and feel. But there are some exceptions. There are people who are really good with phrasing stuff and don't even write at all and then there's also people who are capable of writing well thought out reviews but don't even bother writing down anything more than a one liner---I assume laziness.

Since I actually write (unprofessionally and not all entirely good) during my free time (little as it may be) I find that describing my thoughts of a story I read is quite easier than if I've never written at all. For me, I try to think of a really nice and well thought out way to say "you're story's good because of this and that" without resorting to one liners. Then again most of the time I leave a really short review anyway due to my laziness, though I do briefly mention any flaws that I spot.

Also, I think you need to consider your fandom like I've mentioned before. Some fandoms have people who give really nice reviews while others give only one-liners. The recent fandom that I'm writing for gives no criticism or critique at all. Usually I'd look at the critique and go "yea I should've done this better" or something along the lines. Now all I get is "great story!" "this is awesome!" "so cute!". Yeah, you can see how well or poorly I've done in my story, huh?

But yea, I chalk things up mostly due to laziness. I don't know about other people, but I myself am very lazy (bad habit! ) so it could be that some of the well thought out reviews are lazy too!

[Orenji]

I dont know what any of you are complaining about.

I just started writing and I haven't got any reviews haha!
Given that I suck, but still!

But I'll go for when I review someones story.

I'm sure its really annoying when authors get reviews that just say

"OMG I LUV UR STORY. UPDATE AND ILL GIVE YOU A COOKIE."

I'm sure it feels good that someone thinks that the story is so good they're give up a WHOLE COOKIE, but if it was me I would appreciate more if they told me what they liked, what they didn't like, ect.

And I think I just basically repeated Onionhead Attacks.
XD

[Paradox Jast]

For the most part, I seem to get very in depth and detailed reviews for my story, Whirlpool Country. I find it odd though that many of my reviewers claim that I 'should have a LOT more reviews than I have gotten so far'.

You know why? I never ask for reviews. I appreciate them, of course. Even flames. It means people have at least read and -hopefully- enjoyed what I have written. I have gotten a few flames, and of course I read them. Though part of me wonders why people write a review saying 'Where is the action?' in chapter 3 when there are another 13 chapters to read. Or telling me that my romance writing is very 'amateurish'.

That one just made me laugh. If I was a professional author, I would not be posting on ff.net, and I would be selling books. Besides that, I'm more into storytelling with romance aspects, not just a full-fledged romance story.

[No WhereMan]

For the most part, I seem to get very in depth and detailed reviews for my story, Whirlpool Country. I find it odd though that many of my reviewers claim that I 'should have a LOT more reviews than I have gotten so far'.

You know why? I never ask for reviews. I appreciate them, of course. Even flames. It means people have at least read and -hopefully- enjoyed what I have written. I have gotten a few flames, and of course I read them. Though part of me wonders why people write a review saying 'Where is the action?' in chapter 3 when there are another 13 chapters to read. Or telling me that my romance writing is very 'amateurish'.

That one just made me laugh. If I was a professional author, I would not be posting on ff.net, and I would be selling books. Besides that, I'm more into storytelling with romance aspects, not just a full-fledged romance story.

To be honest if someone tells you that the romance in your story is amateurish, then they're probably a noob to the actual storytelling process. You don't need someone spouting words of love and devotion every paragraph to have a well thought out and balance story.

The story I'm currently writing now, I'm playing the balancing game of major plot, romance, and action. And i'll tell you its quite an interesting trick.

[FullmetalNinja25]

I can take constructive criticism but if someone flat out bashes my work that's when I delete comments/reviews. That's my pet peeve.

[No WhereMan]

I can take constructive criticism but if someone flat out bashes my work that's when I delete comments/reviews. That's my pet peeve.

Hmmm....In the nine years that I've been doing fanfiction/writing I've never deleted a single review from my stories. Good or Bad. I don't believe in censoring my reviewers just because someone says something that I don't like. If they have a valid point, then I'll take it into consideration. If not, I just ignore them. It's that simple really.

[iwant2bnaruto]

I'm not a fanfiction author...for the moment . It does bother me as a reader though when I come across a good quality story and see that the story is not receiving any type of feedback. Since we all know how scarce quality stories can be, I sometimes fear that the author will discontinue the story because he/she feels that no one is enjoying it.

I admit that I was particularly bad in the past with not reviewing anything. Now however, I at least try to leave a note about a particular thing I liked about the chapter. I just want to show a little appreciation for the story and encouragement to the author, so that he or she knows that I'm enjoying their work.

[Hefster]

Reviews are a double edged sword. I like receiving them sure but I'd much rather receive well thought-out 'critiques'. At least those are helpful in improving oneself.

There are stories out there on FF.net that have an insane review count (1000+) and it is painful to read some of them. The stories are vary shallow and sometimes so ridicolous that the characters are portrayed to be stronger than Superman. While on the other hand, there are some amazing stories out there that scrape by a few reviews per update. I guess it just shows once more the stupidity that runs through the internet and that you can never satisfy everyone.

Just a small advice, don't take negative reviews(bashing) or complaints or whining too serious. Laugh at it and ignore it, or try to explain even though that will most likely only get you more headaches.

[Youklvr]

The only thing I would add to the conversation are the reviews where reviewers write something that make you go WTF? They're kind of along the line of making suggestions as to what you should add to the story, and though some are thoughtful, others are just plain weird.

Example for one review I got for one of my stories:

Rated for too much kinky. --Click here to view--

Hey I have an idea to the next chapter:

Sakura has a idea of having a oil wrestling with Naruto (It's a game where the couple get completely naked and they spill oil in their body, from the hands to the feet and in the genitals, all body get oiled. So the couple begin to rub their bodies in each other, they slip and allways try to hug and play, the oil give them a lot of fun). She get some advices with Anko and go shoping the oil befores going after Naruto and start the game with him, in the end she wins the wrestling and makes him a massage using the oil that se bought.

And a second idea is Sakura tying Naruto in the bed and playing ''games'' with him, even placing her feet on his face and stuff like this. and it ends in sex, where she has to ride him because he's tied. Maybe she can put on him a blindfold.

Well if you like my ideas, please send me a PM. Thanks.

I mean, how do you reply to something like that? It was so silly I couldn't take it seriously.

Though honestly, I don't think there are very many people out there who are skilled at writing reviews that are informative and comprehensive. It's one thing to say "your story is awesome!" or "your story sucks!" But it's another to say exactly why the story is good, bad or what-have-you.

I think the best reviewers are those who are always trying to encourage good writing and a good story, regardless of the skill or the writer or content of the story. It doesn't help a writer who writes bad stories to only say "you suck." if you don't ever tell them why the story is lackluster. On the flip side, it's a disservice to a good writer to only say "you rock" without trying to turn a critical eye to the story if there are any flaws. I know from my own part, I've gone back and reread stories that have had only positive reviews and thought to myself "what on earth did I write and why didn't anyone point out this was blah."

Just my 2 cents

I totally agree with you!

An example of a good review: --Click here to view--

Hm.. It's an interesting start and plot (I've been dying to read a Kyuubi!Naruto story for a while now). I liked how sadistic you made Naruto out and how he still seemed to be himself, seeing as he was already trying to make up excuses for his violent actions towards Sakura. You also did a good job with keeping them in character... Er, aside from Naruto's violent-ness thanks to the Kyuubi. XD Though, I couldn't help to think (and I'm not flaming you or anything just trying to give you some helpful advice) that you rushed through certain parts. (Like where was the rest of the team while Sakura was almost maimed? XD) Maybe a little more detail and description with surroundings, people, some of the memories/violent thoughts Naruto was experiencing and more detail on how Sakura was feeling and other thoughts may help? But it really was a good start/intro into things, and I can't wait to see where this goes! Good work! Dun dun duun ebil Naruto. :0