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reenkaI 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*
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*
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no subject
Date: 2003-09-30 07:10 am (UTC)Since I like to actually think about it, there's really just a few WIPs that I have set myself the task of remembering to review regularly. If I happen to discover the fic from the beginning I usually wait a bit to see where it's going before I decide whether I can trust it's something that I really want to devote time to reviewing.
I'm weird with negative feedback. On one hand, I think it's a great thing and I've certainly given it to people outside of the 'net on stories. Usually, though, I prefer to review fics I like and mostly expound on what I like about them, what worked for me, how I saw the fic working. I think that can be constructive criticism in itself because it's breaking down the story and saying, "this is how it seems like this is working, this scene made me think this, which led to this, etc." Or maybe I just like analyzing! Sometimes I probably do include negative feedback, but it's more of a question: "This part made me think X but later I was confused..." or whatever.
If I have a really negative reaction to a story I'll usually want to rant about it to myself. Like...I feel like if I read a fic I don't like because I disagree with the authors interpretation of canon I don't feel like it's necessarily constructive to go into that because that's like story-conferencing: Draco isn't like that, he's like this, so he should do that... I met one of the people on my friends list because I was literally ranting about her fic in another place, not knowing that somebody else on the thread who had loved the fic and recced it and gone to her and said, "We're talking about your fic! Come see!"
Man, I felt so stupid! Not because I denied anything I thought but because I was so ranting in a way I didn't intend for the author to hear for the above reasons. I was arguing with the whole point of the story. Luckily throughout my ranting I had been (imo) respectful of the author herself, who wrote very well, and made it clear this story just got under my skin because it said things I didn't like to hear...but it was still really embarassing! Luckily, too, she was somebody who didn't only want to hear rave reviews and could appreciate a strong reaction of any kind.
So in general I figure lj is a hobby, a place where I choose what I want to contribute and what I like doing is pointing to people I think are doing something special and saying how it effected me and encouraging them in concrete ways. One thing, too, is I know I'm always honest in what I'm saying. If somebody's saying everything is the best fic ever well, you pretty much know they don't really mean that literally!
no subject
Date: 2003-09-30 09:28 am (UTC)I mean... I would never get irritated -that- much that people don't seriously crit stories (mine or others) especially in forums for discussion like say...oh... Armchair (*seethes*). It's to be expected, people don't have time or energy, blahblah. But to take the time to say -something- and to then say pat hyperbolic bullshit pisses me right off, man.
If the person who introduced Cinnamon's fics on Armchair wants to say she didn't mean it, she can go right ahead, but I doubt she will :/
no subject
Date: 2003-09-30 09:46 am (UTC)Sometimes that's okay, especially when somebody writes something that's just wonderful that's, like, in their lj and you figure everybody knows why it's wonderful. Plus you want to make sure you respond otherwise you might forget and not tell them how much you liked it. The hyperbole just makes the whole thing seem *less* good too, because what if you loved chapter 12 and by comparison thought chapter 13 was fine but not as rich or complex--but maybe there's a cliffhanger and you just get, "OMG that was soo great!" the same as for chapter 12. You're not really getting into the wonderfulness of either chapter.
Sometimes it's almost like it's saying, "YOU PUT WORDS ON A PAGE! OMG YOU ROX!!!!!11"
no subject
Date: 2003-09-30 09:52 am (UTC)I -definitely- don't mean review-as-feedback-- if I did, I'd say "comment" or "feedback". Feedback can easily be anything you want it to be, simply because it's one-on-one even if it's on a public forum, and as you said, maybe it shouldn't be.
I didn't say "rec" because to me, a rec is often just a link, and the part where you -say- something about it is the "review".
So I mean, it's even -worse-, because here the writer of said review is acting like "OMG THIS IS AN ACTUAL WRITER, OMG!!" and they're actually directing other people to this fic based on this accessment.
The issue of privacy is not applicable here, since the directing of other people to the fic implies a public forum. Squeeing is only stupid when people are supposed to interpret it as a valid descriptor of something rather than merely a response, I think~:)
heh
Date: 2003-09-30 02:35 pm (UTC)