~~ wank.

[reenka]

I have a very strange confession to make. I just need to get it off my chest so I never have to writhe in silent nameless discomfort ever again. Yeah, right.

Squeeing, 100%-positive and yet not really -descriptive- rave recs/reviews of fics make me cringe. No, I lie. I hate them. I REALLY HATE THEM A LOT. RAAAAGE. (Ok, no.)
    EDIT - to clarify: by "review" I don't mean feedback, I mean it in the "movie review" sense.

Not only that, they make me violently dislike both the reviewer and the fic, even if I -adore- the fic in question. I have to really bite my lip and repeat to myself "I love this fic, I -love- this fic, remember I -love- this fic!" so that I don't just write an anti-rec right back detailing all the flaws I can possibly think of (there are always some! Jeez!). I realize this is easily seen as hypocritical, considering how excited I get over fics. Still, I could -swear- I've never given what I'd consider pat compliments: Oh, this is great, genius, wonderful, beautiful, amazing. I've never called anyone "extremely talented" or even talented. I've never raved about how worthy someone/something is of their popularity or thought any fic -should- be popular as a sign of its greatness. Of course, I'm sort of elitist and snobbish like that :>

I've never guarranteed anyone would have to like a fic. That just -really- pisses me off. How could anyone assume -any- piece of writing is soooo great, -everyone- has to love it? My god, what arrogance! Not only that, it just feels like advertising to me. I hate advertising, in case that isn't clear. I hate it with all the passion of a thousand burning hells. Nothing rubs me the wrong way like a rave review that could easily apply to -any- fic out of hundreds. Saying only nondescript, gushy things about a truly good, visceral piece of writing just... deadens it.

I actually can't stand reading most positive reviews, though I'm almost always highly entertained by negative ones (they're usually funny, at least). The words one uses in response should contain some tiny spark of inspiration, something that is reminiscent of the fic, otherwise the review is pointless because it doesn't actually -say- anything and all I get is "propaganda-propaganda-propaganda-propaganda". And as should be painfully obvious, I reallyreallyreallyreallyreally despise propaganda quite, quite a lot.

So I'm in this weird place where I'm semi-known for recs and reviews and yet I have very little respect for the practice of reccing & reviewing itself as is commonly practiced. In fact, 98% of all blurbs & mini-reviews and such annoy the living daylights out of me, especially if they're of fics I adore. First of all, if you act as if a fic is -perfect-, it takes away from its actual humanity, from its real worth. It's like, you're not using your brain, so why should I believe a word you say in response, and does that mean -I'm- not using my brain in loving it, too?

If I had time, I'd post a mini-list of all my favorite fics and say only critical things of them to show how much I love them. If one doesn't -think- or express one's feelings in any sort of creative manner, one is just a parrot, someone who likes the shiny thing without really being capable of seeing its true beauty. I think to an extent, the readers help define the fic-- that is to say, if brainless zombies like a fic, you wonder how good can it possibly be. On the other hand, if eloquent, thoughtful people like the fic, one feels the worth of the fic itself is thus elevated.

Because of this, I realized I have a creed-- a set of ethics as a reviewer:

    - Never use hyperbole-- say how it affects you in the most direct yet descriptive way possible; pretend you're talking to a skeptic if it helps. Said skeptic will laugh every time you use more than one adjective per sentence.
    - Never project your own response onto others-- confine yourself to detailing your own thoughts, leave others to form their own opinions; separate your kinks from those of others and keep it in mind when describing the merits of a fic.
    - Never push a fic onto others as if it's a drug-- separate your own excitement and your actual full response to the work.
    - Objectivity isn't just for dinner anymore: try it, it works! Don't do the writer or the work the disservice of pretending they've attained perfection: there is no need to be negative, but please refrain from overindulging in the "bestseller syndrome", where mass hysteria passes for literary worth. Treat the writer as "a writer", and the work as "a work", as best you can.

*wankwankwankwank*

Comments

[bookshop.livejournal.com]

I totally understand what you're saying and in part I agree with your pov. Let me just say in my defense that it took hours to make that fic post. Some of those fics I had been keeping in my to-rec list since MAY; i had to track some of them down because they were 404's; some of them i had to read and go 'what the fuck was i thinking?' plus all the CODING. it was MISERY-INDUCING. by the time i was through you're lucky you got any description at ALL out of me.

Also, I tend to feel that if I love a fic--and I just love All Bets Are Off, and I don't think the writing is half bad--then I shouldn't really have to explain *why* I love it. At the same token there are often things that I want to rec with strong reservations, but I don't feel comfortable saying what I *don't* like about a fic in public. I really really don't. This is in part, as I think I've said before, because I get paid money to write negative reviews about things, and I can be incredibly scathing when I want to be, at least in terms of describing what I don't like about something. I don't necessarily want to indulge negative critiques when I'm reccing things because, well, it's really hard knowing that my opinions carry weight and that I can hurt feelings even when I'm trying to be sincerely helpful.

Really, I'm still just wary because of an *extremely* negative experience betaing for somebody who I really respected as a person but whose writing I had (and still have) serious issues with, many moons ago. Ever since then I just have not wanted to go into details saying what I like and don't like. There's one author among my friends list who I've been trying to get up the courage to send an email to in order to give what I think is some much-needed critique for MONTHS and I just can't bring myself to do it. I always come back to the whole 'why upset them when you could just suck it up and enjoy the parts of their writing you *do* like?' Of course the downside of that is that I am enjoying their writing less and less these days.

I do sincerely apologize for all the discomfort you suffered through, S. I rec fics primarily for the general H/D audience and then I'll throw in fics along with them that everyone will like and not explain what the difference is or what my thought process is. So I know that's a problem.

But goddammit! all that CODE! No promises, okay? NO BLOODY PROMISES!

on a completely tangentially-related note, ihopeyoulikemyficformaya.

idea!

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

you could always rec things under different headings:

like, "for general h/d audience" and "fics for a rainy afternoon" and "guilty pleasures" and "talent to follow" and "omg, this is the SHIZNIT!!1 >:O" etc :D
or just give 'em (honest) star-ratings ;) ahahahah. ahahah, so lame~:)

also, i'm totally guilting about now having read your fic yet, even though i'm all, "DUDE, HAVE TO DO BETA BEFORE READING FIC" and here i am commenting/posting instead :/

*smacks self*

Re: idea!

[bookshop.livejournal.com]

Well, and also, how hypocritical am I for sitting here going "WAHIDONTWANNALEAVECRITICALREVIEWSDONTMAKEMEDOITWAAAAH" while also going, 'hurrah, reena is online, soon she will read my fic and leave me a long glorious beautiful review that will make me insanely happy like always, hurray!!!!"

:D

i suppose that i could and shall try these headings of which you speak in the future. i shall NOT be doing 'star' ratings. i detest stars. also, if you're going to give a fic less than 3 stars you might as well not rec it at all, hahaha. :D *is not helping*

Re: idea!

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

*meebles*
erk. i meant to say "not" instead of "now", but... er... sigh, it's already past 1am, so i probably don't have enough concentration for the beta. *smacks self again*
so like.. there are several fics i meant to read (well, you & thess & layha & rhoddlet as far as i remember) ...but then, i'll just read yours now instead, though shhhhh don't tell :D :D

Re: idea!

[bookshop.livejournal.com]

no no no read thess' first it is brilliant and short!!!!

Re: idea!

[layha.livejournal.com]

I'll pretend I didn't see that, and only give you the following helpful, cryptic advice: skip the first 3 and/or 4 chapters. They reek like shit from a mule that's been ruminating on asparagus for three days. I kid you not. Cringeworthy.

*smirks goodnaturedly*

<3333

Re: idea!

[layha.livejournal.com]

when, of course, you find the time.

heheeheheeeee

Re: idea!

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

for a sec i thought you meant `transfigurations', eheheh. which would've been reather funny :D :D

but no, i meant your ficlet~:)
damn, i don't check my friends page in 3-4 days and look what happens ^^;

*giggles*

Re: idea!

[layha.livejournal.com]

oh that?
rahahah... oh, it's lame.

I was under the (distintly erroneous) impression that you meant The Readiness is All.

Your rants make me happy, did I mention that? Maybe it's warped, but it's true.

Re: idea!

[lieblich.livejournal.com]

GOD NO. WE LOVE THE READINESS IS ALL.

*hugs it to chest*
*hugs layha to chest too* :D

Also, Reena, Resonant is good about constrictive crit. I think she's a good writer, and a gracious one. And I definitely think you should make up your own mind about Transfiguration, though I have definite leanings as to what your opinion of it will be.

Re: idea!

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

my snark likes your snark back, in all their mutually warped-yet-happy-making glory :D :D

*beams*
dude. you made that vid with the groovin'!draco. naturally, we're on the same frequency ;))

Re: idea!

[spare-change.livejournal.com]

Don't do stars ... just do categories like how Reena suggested. That's how I did it, way back in the day, and it seemed to work. Just so that your readers have some idea of what they're in for ... otherwise, there really isn't any point in doing recs at all.

And I do think that there is a place for concrit in the fandom. And for saying, "Hey, folks, this fic is worth checking out, although I think elements X and Y are weak." I do this all the time, and although lots of people may bitch about me, I don't think that this, specifically, is why they do. ;)

As for why people hate squee recs so much ... here's one reason why, from a few days back: http://www.livejournal.com/users/gmth/66301.html

Re: idea!

[bookshop.livejournal.com]

*laughs and laughs at the reference to That One Fic We Both Hate*

Hahahaha. Irony of ironies. Ever since I basically flamed the fic "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" to a crisp the other day after somebody on my friends list praised it to the skies, I have been wanting to do one of those "so, don't you really wish you could say what you *really* think about so many of the fics that get all the love?" posts. I would have, in fact, polled everybody about it today had I not gotten distracted with writing other things. It *is* incredibly cathartic to just be able to vent about the authors and fics we all can't stand--and yes, it is SO INCREDIBLY FRUSTRATING to see everybody reccing fics that I can't stand.

Maybe I will make a post about this on lieblich or something tomorrow, and fully vent my spleen. :)) *rubs hands and plots*

Re: idea!

[spare-change.livejournal.com]

Yes, Aja, VENTING BEHIND LOCKED POSTS WORKED SO WELL LAST TIME!

;)

Go ahead and vent, but given how [deleted] snarked at me when I tried to talk about Transfigurations in lieblich, I'll have to pass. :/

Re: idea!

[bookshop.livejournal.com]

*snorts up the very pink beverage she has been drinking, with interesting results*

Hahahahahahaha.

I can guarantee you, with 100% certainty, that [deleted] has better things to do than snark at you at the moment. If she even notices the post she'll be too busy/distracted/preoccupied to snark. :D Pleeeeease join me in snarking? Since [deleted #2] will not be participating I will have to snark alone and that will not be any fun. You and Reena and I can all vent together. Pleeeeeease? *bats eyes*

Re: idea!

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

*cries, unvented & alone*

unvented's not even a word, is it :>

also, i'm getting this feeling like i shouldn't read `transfigurations', though i probably will just to make up my own mind. though. *snorts* i think resonant actually is really good about con-crit, though i could be wrong :-?

Re: idea!

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

isn't there something almost -more- awful about hating the reccing of a fic you -love- because of how it's being presented? ><
maybe that's just me. *laughs*

although it happens to me all the time. brilliant authors deserve brilliant reviews. on the other hand, if someone's stupid enough to like a stupid fic, that just means people are stupid squared, which is nothing new~:)
that's why it's always puzzled me why people -hate- popular badfic moreso because it's popular than because it's badfic. i mean, i hate `perfect imperfection' completely on its own merits. my hate is pure and unsillied :D

it must be different when this natural love-or-hate relationship gets all mixed up with paranoia (like, if i say -this- They Will Come After Me). I mean, it's not a -crime- to have some things just... not work for you, is it. of course, when the masses of fans ally themselves one way or the other, it ceases to be about fic at -all- and starts being about hype. which just sucks sweaty donkey balls, to quote my happy d&d-playing friend.

also, i'm all jealous of your other lj now~:)

Re: idea!

[lieblich.livejournal.com]

that's why it's always puzzled me why people -hate- popular badfic moreso because it's popular

well, i can honestly say that i HATE Just This because, were it merely a bad fic, I could mock it and enjoy the mockery; but because it is a popular fic, because it's a beloved fic, even, it has basically to me becomes a mockery of all the really magnificent fics out there that *deserve* to be well-loved. (I could say the same thing about R. but I am too chicken even to spell the name out here lest I be lynched.)

of course, when the masses of fans ally themselves one way or the other, it ceases to be about fic at -all- and starts being about hype.

my beef with empty chairs at empty tables is that it's decently well-written, but it's such an utter horrible TRAVESTY of a fic, that belies everything canon is about, that when you have fans flocking to it eager for more, it makes you feel like, good god, how can these people possibly be real fans? it makes you want to not write anything else ever again because if these are the kind of people reading your writing then they can't possibly have any understanding of things like "in-character" and "canonical", can they? sigh. and that, to me, has nothing to do with the hype and everything to do with the kinds of expectations we as writers have of the kinds of audiences we want to read our fics.

which is why, when i rec fics, i rec fics to a certain kind of audience. i guess i long ago gave up hoping that the more aesthetically picky crowd would ever go for my stuff. What you people see in it is beyond me. :D

Re: idea!

[kerri]

Hmm. You *could* do that - just get everyone to post anonymously, and turn off the IP logging. The thing would be to find a place to do it. :P

Re: idea!

[lieblich.livejournal.com]

haha, someone really really should.

of course everyone would then naturally say they can't stand love under will and i would be crushed. :D :D :D :D

Re: idea!

[bookshop.livejournal.com]

i shall NOT be doing 'star' ratings. i detest stars.

AHAHAHAHA. *FACEPALM*

[spare-change.livejournal.com]

Dude, I totally love that Empty Chairs fic!

I'm sorry.

I mean, there are definitely some problems with it (esp. the dialogue in the flashback scenes), but I'm enjoying it. And I've had more than one idea for a Dumbledore-exploits-Draco-and-Harry-finds-out-about-it fic of my own, so this premise works for me. I think that Draco is more gullible than we realize, in some ways.

And there are a couple of gorgeous moments with the language (like at the beginning, when Draco is unconscious and injured at Harry's, and keeps turning from human into falcon without realizing it). Yeah.

Anyway, I just got to the end of the trial and am plunging ahead. Maybe the problem is that I never saw Harry and Draco as equals? I always think that Harry will have the upper hand and it's only Harry's sense of fair play that gives Draco any chance at all. And still, Harry isn't perfect (i.e. fucking the second they get back to Harry's apartment. Hell yeah!)

EMPTYCHAIRSEMPTYCHAIRSEMPTYCHAIRS!!!!!!

[spare-change.livejournal.com]

OH MY GOD AND NOW DRACO IS A WHORE??????

d00d, I fucking love this fic.

Re: EMPTYCHAIRSEMPTYCHAIRSEMPTYCHAIRS!!!!!!

[bookshop.livejournal.com]

I HAVE NO WORDS. HAHAHAHA.

You realise now that every time we discuss ANYTHING now we're going to wind up at an Underwater Light/Empty Chairs impasse.

Re: EMPTYCHAIRSEMPTYCHAIRSEMPTYCHAIRS!!!!!!

[spare-change.livejournal.com]

HAHAHAHAHA I KNOW!

<33333