~~ 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

Re: idea! (part one)

[conversant.livejournal.com]

I'm reading through this thread and really should stop and get work done, but I wanted to weigh in here. As I recall, you object (and frankly, I do, too) to both Empty Chairs and Just This because the portrayal of Draco makes him abjectly willing to suffer things from Harry and (in the first case) from wizardom in general that no one should suffer.

If either of these stories succeeded in being (or intended to be) studies of abjection or battered partner syndrome, then there might be a pretext for the things they do to the character, but it is disturbing to be led into such a fic (by interesting scenario or even by simply competent manipulation of the standard H/D exposition) to find that one's sympathy for the characters (and for H/D readers this is also a patterned response, a sort of Pavlovian response, which produces sympathy for both H and D) is being asked to stretch to accept behaviour from Harry that is vicious and behaviour from Draco that makes him complicitous with abusive!Harry.

I do not mean to say that 'dark' treatments of Harry can't/shouldn't exist -- certainly a dehumanized HP is a plausible and *interesting* extrapolation from canon. -- The problem comes when the approving fans and the author him/herself seem to ignore (or be turned on by) the extremely problematic behaviour of the character. In this particular case, the simple 'squee!' review is unhelpful to other readers. (I know you said I'd been among those whose reviews of an early chapter led you into 'Empty Chairs,' and I still cringe about that.)

In this case, the 'squee' review suggests that a huge number of H/D readers must have well-developed abuse kinks in order to allow them to read those fics and find them 'hot' instead of registering any distance from or distress at the plot and characterization. It is difficult to know whether this is the correct inference to draw, however, and your response (and Reena's?) suggests a suspicion that these readers are somehow too stupid to have noticed what the fic is using to make them 'hot,' because if they did, surely they'd have a problem with it. Or perhaps it's that these readers do not, in fact, register the particular plot of a given H/D fic anymore, but are so Pavlovian that they respond to any scenario that sets the two in conflict by becoming automatically aroused. (I may have just completely misrepresented what you meant.)

I'm not comfortable assuming that the H/D community is not filled with readers who get turned on by rape and abuse fic (implied by both scenarios above). I'm also uncomfortable about suggesting that it oughtn't to be if it is.

The politics of such fics bother me a lot, but I know that there is a complex relationship between a person's reading kinks and their real world behaviour, so I'm not willing to climb on a moral soapbox to denounce the reading habits and desires of this group. We all depend on the other side of that argument to justify writing slash at all in countries where doing so would be summarily judged by the 'moral majority.'

I'm also uncomfortable about rants where 'we' condemn other fandom subsets for their obvious stupidity and plebishness. (And yes, I must be sensitive about the fact that I apparently squeed at some point about that story. Why do you ask? Obviously I hate being lumped in with the plebes; that's why I spend so much time cultivating my persona as a pretentious bitch.)

Re: idea! (part one)

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

I suppose I should once again point out that my beef was with recs/reviews, not feedback, which is a whole 'nother kettle of fish, as I see it. I -am- surprised to have inspired this flood of guilt on the part of several people, as if there was this dormant inadequacy there about the way they respond to fics in general, which isn't what I was talking about. Anyone who -means- to communicate about fics to the public should do so at least remotely well-- but the common reader has no compunctions. In this way, I feel reccing/reviewing & feedback only suffer from being confused with each other.

In my description of what a worthwhile review is, I was careful to say nothing about taste or emotional response being in question-- only being careful to say that these things should be separated and labeled, that's -all-. Everyone should feel free to say, "OMG THIS IS GENIUS!!1 >:O" but they should just mention that this is their kink speaking or their need for fluff that day or whatever. Or, conversely, if it's their serious opinion of a fic, they should express it seriously.

The question of discernment doesn't really apply, as I see it. Tastes differ, expectations differ, and that's fine. If you delineate how you came to your opinion, no one can be confused and embarrassment would be avoided. They'd know exactly what they're in for. Saying "it's brilliant" is unhelpful, whereas saying, "it's a witty, sparkling parody that reads as if it was written by weasels on crack-- in a good way" is... you know... more helpful~:)

I think -anyone- who mindlessly chants "goddess-goddess-goddess" is stupid in terms of rating their literary response. Also, anyone who shows -no- emotion is rather dense as well. Calling people stupid is a case-by-point thing with me, anyway-- I'll call anyone stupid that exhibits it, not any particular group, heh. Hell, -I'm- often plebey and I know it. At least I know it, on the other hand.

I find the Pavlovian-response thing to be enlightening. It does seem as if that's what's happening a lot of the time, and while it's okay, everyone has their kinks, what bothers me is when people don't -realize- it, really. I think it's dishonest, really, to ignore the work on some level and just pay attention to the sparkly bits. It shows disrespect to the work. But in feedback, as I said, it's not my problem.

"Empty Chairs" and "Just This" were just bad fics, though readable I suppose. I'm surprised anyone would consider them worth getting upset about, they're so mediocre and not -that- popular, are they? The fandom is full of stupid interpretations of Harry and Draco, man. I do reserve a special place in hell for some fics, and abusive!Harry fics are definitely up there, simply because I love Harry and they don't seem to and that pisses me off, heh.
In general, I would say -most- of the mass-popular H/D fics really really really suck. REALLY. I mean, in every way, almost. I don't mean UL/LUW/MPI/SotF/TLS/VM etcetc-- I mean the run-of-the-mill unknown-author FA and ff.net ones which somehow magically achieve popularity. They all suck simply because the writers aren't very... um... good, all characterization aside.

As far as me having this opinion... I think it's fairly balanced, given that I read those fics and see their merits anyway. Well, such as they are. I don't especially look down on the people who like them (ie, slash fandom as a whole), I just sit there and nod and say "okay, that was rather bad, wasn't it". I mean, compare it. Compare the writing on any one of those things with the merest -drabble- from Ivy or Maya or Cassie-- well? Yeah. They suck~:)

What was my point? er. Yeah, mostly that the -writing's- at fault more than any larger characterization choice, though those can press my buttons pretty well. And it's predictable that lower-level writing will get more public acclaim, too. Like attracts like, man. *is awful; knows it*

Re: idea! (part one)

[bookshop.livejournal.com]

...as if there was this dormant inadequacy there about the way they respond to fics in general, which isn't what I was talking about.

But when you say that the way people respond to fics is off-putting and frustrates you, you're implying that there is an inadequacy there--that the way we talk about fics and pass on recs to each other in the fandom is somehow not what you're looking for.

And I think where you're getting into trouble is by trying to make such a huge distinction between fic reccing and fic feedbacking. often they're hand-in-glove and not really that simple to tear apart.

Re: idea! (part one)

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

yah... i guess i -was- just ranting on about how this general practice of hyperbole annoys me... but it's not a hp-fandom thing, it's a general thing. i suppose it's inadequate but only in regard to actually acting as if this passes for description of a fic, which is where the separation of reccing & reviewing comes in. initially, i wasn't drawing a huge distinction and was actually saying "rec/review" in my post, but then when people just went on about the ways in which they feedback/review, it seemed to be a whole different subject, so i differentiated.

what i meant was, that the people feeling inadequate don't tend to be the people with the problem, but this is just a guess.
i don't even know what "the problem" is, and calling it that seems pretentious. it's still basically just me venting, this whole post, heh. i wasn't trying to be helpful, though at the end i did come up with things -i- would prefer to see. not that anyone should care what would make -me- happier. on the other hand, i do think that mindless squeeing gets annoying, but then, mindless anything gets annoying~:)