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farlaSo I'd decided to try posting all the angry review replies, and wouldn't you know it, somehow the collective psyche of the badficcers picked up on it.
Of the handful of replies today, more than half were positive and the rest were polite...ish. Interestingly, a bunch used email, too. And one even went to on to read my stories (and reviewed Hatred. I'm not sure why that seems to be the designated review story. Maybe the delicious relevance of the title?) I sort of wonder if it's just the result of blanketing the category with these reviews...once you see everybody get one, maybe you're not so upset about it?
I may well wake up to frothing rage next morning, of course.
So instead we'll discuss interesting things. For one, Hatred reviews aside, this doesn't seem to be doing much to my story hits. (I think. For some reason, at least two stories keep getting several hundred phantom visitors each per month that don't exist on their own stats page, so how reliable the stats in general are I don't know.) It does significantly boost profile hits, though. The thing is, I'm on enough alerts that the easiest way to get attention is just to, you know, update, so it may be different if I was a new author, but there's really no way of telling unless I start a new account, start posting there, and then try to see if my numbers change when I review. And while I'm normally entirely in favor of being obsessive like that, not when it involves posting an actual, untransferable story in the process. Someone else will need to investigate this. Anyway, the implication that reviewing isn't a good way to get reviews bothers me. But then, it may just be the type of reviews I'm giving and the standard review would work...there's so very many compounding factors.
Anyway.
Silawen wanted to see the Pisces reply, which was long and heavy on the crazy that I so sadly lacked today. So in its full glory:
Farla,
I'm Pisces, and I'm the more forward and patient one of Virgo and I.
Obviously, you took the time and picked at every "flaw" you could in
"Reborn
Lives" before you took even more time to construct your Flame. I admire that;
someone who takes time to do things, but that's really all it is, is a Flame.
Since you obviously took time to construct your Flaming Review, I'll give you
the same curtesy and take my time in my Reply and answer in chronological
order according to what your review said.
When Virgo and I were discussing what we'd like to come of a story, we
decided that we wanted to place as much detail as possible into every scene
and while some scenes don't SEEM to have any rhyme or reason... they do; you
just have to wait to see what it is. We, personally, hate it when Characters,
especially OCs, are thrust at us without any explanation of their
personalities or whatnot; Lenne and Sonya are going to be described to our
limit. As for Lenne and Sonya acting childish; they're fifteen and sixteen, so
OF COURSE they're going to be immature in some matters and I'm sure that a day
at the Beach is reason enough for immaturity, don't you? And just by your
comment in the first paragraph of your "Review", I'm getting the feeling that
you're not a fan of Original Characters or anything that isn't Canonical to a
Series. And, just out of curiousity, I popped over to your Profile and saw all
of your Mary-Sue parodies; even though you don't call them Parodies.
I disagree with your "wasting space" comment, because I've seen
"stories"
that really do waste space; however, I will not name any one.
Okay, really? Our descriptions may be "irritatingly flowery", but they're
actually descriptive so I really don't see any problem with it. As for how
people's "eyes do not contain bits of silver, and if they did, those bits of
silver would not be mobile", people's hair is not naturally pink or blue or
green or what-have-you. Have you watched Pokemon? Because, I've seen
characters in Pokemon that have crimson eyes, or silver eyes, or even purple
eyes and their hair is naturally un-natural colors. So, maybe you should
re-watch a few Pokemon episodes? Besides, heard of Fanfiction?
Alright, I see where you're coming from with the whole "matched Mary-Sues"
bit; but, there's more to them than "overly sensitive" and "violent".
Really,
all it mentioned, is that Lenne tends towards crying when frustrated (and I
actually do know a few girls that this comes from, plus Dawn is this way)
while Sonya is more of a "Misty/May" when she's frustrated. Again, watch the
Anime some more.
If you're going to pick at Grammar or what ever, then take a look at yours.
Don't give "advise" when you don't know what you're talking about. "Words
like
pokemon and growlithe should not be capitalized, as they're not proper nouns.
The same goes for terms like psychic." Relearn your spelling and grammar,
Farla. Pokemon, Growlithe, Totodile, ecetera ARE capitalized, due to them
being NAMES. "Pokemon" is the NAME of a FRANCHISE; "Growlithe",
"Totodile",
ecetera, are NAMES of SPECIES; "Psychic" is the NAME of an ABILITY/ATTACK.
Don't believe me? Go onto Serebii or any other Offical Pokemon Site and see it
for yourself.
Yes, Jason (the Ralts that Helios, the Growlithe, refered to) is considered
"shy" because there's more than one meaning to the word. "Usually
quiet" is
refered to as "shy", "non-confrontational" is refered to as
"shy", and then
there's the people that tend to be quiet around people/things they're not
completely comfortable with; yep, they're refered to as "shy". So, yes, Jason
is considered "shy" whereas Helios is considered "loud/excitable".
Helios is weak to water ATTACKS; he just doesn't have a particularly fond
spot for water in general. Fire Pokemon are weak to Water, yes; but, if you
watched ANY of the Movies then you'd see that it's not deadly to some of them,
as it is to others. An example of this is in the Fifth Movie "Mewtwo Returns";
in one of the scenes, if you actually watch, you see the Ninetales clone
swimming in the water. The reason for Sonya not re-calling her Pokemon is not
that she doesn't have Pokeballs for them; she didn't have them on her at the
time, because, really, why would you take Pokeballs for your Pokemon with you
if you're just down at the Beach of your Hometown? It's just something extra
to carry.
Why would Lenne's mother be furious at her "getting a few drops of water on
the floor"? I don't know about you, but the mothers of some of my friends are
very particular about keeping their houses clean.
As for why Jason didn't Teleport himself, Sonya, and Helios to her home is
because he had not yet learned the Move Teleport; besides, personally, I'd be
worried more about the lightning messing with the Teleport than the actual
Teleport.
Again, watch the Anime. In both the Anime, Manga, and Games, Sandgem Town has
dirt roads, as with all of the other Towns, as opposed to the Cities which
have paved streets. It's similar to Pallet Town in that way, seeing as it's a
Rural Town.
"Matted" when refering to hair can mean either tangled or plastered; check a
dictionary.
Sonya took a shower because of the mud that she got splatted on herself while
running, due to the dirt roads of Sandgem and seeing as she lives on the
outskirts of Town.
"Special Pokemon senses"? Farla, it's said over and over again in the Anime,
Manga and Games that Pokemon, like our animals such as dogs or deer, are
in-tune with Nature. Seeing as how it's mentioned that it hardly ever rains in
Sandgem, exceptions being Spring or Fall, I'd think that the Humans would be
able to tell that something was wrong.
Jason and Helios won't tell Sonya about what they're sensing from the storm
because they don't want to worry her over what might be their imaginations and
until they figure out exactly what's happening.
Instinct, Farla; instinct. Lenne is a naturally caring person with a "worry
about things that others wouldn't worry about" issue; have you heard of
Hippies? Same idea.
They're able to see while running due to the flashes of light that generally
come with storms.
Lenne and Sonya are not "self inserts", nor are they Mary-Sues. The correct
terminology is "Original Characters". Besides, Virgo and I are close friends,
but not best friends; that's hard to do when you live on the opposite sides of
the World, don't you think?
The dream Sonya had is hardly a Prophetic Dream; it could be her over-active
imagination or it could be a remnant from someone's memory that she picked up
on through Jason or it could be something else entirely.
Have you heard of friendship in which friends will "go to the depths of Hell
or the heights of Heaven for one another"? Growlithe are described as loyal
Pokemon; perhaps the most loyal of all.
Yes, a random Totodile, which, like the storm, has a meaning that you have to
more than see the surface of.
Have you ever heard of being too close to lightning, Farla? Even if it
doesn't hit you, if you're close enough the charge it leaves in the air can be
enough to stall your heart.
Again with the grammar lessons; look it up, Farla. Have you ever heard of
Government-funded Clinics?
"...it's a special mary sue version of a pokecenter" (by the way, it should
be spelt "... it's a special Mary-Sue version of a PokeCenter." If you're
going to pick on grammar and spelling, make sure yours checks out first, eh?).
Uh, no. It's a Clinic, which, personally, does have a more soothing feel to it
than a Hospital which is what the Pokemon Centers are.
Okay, right now you sound so ridiculous, I'm LMAO (which, if you don't know,
is tech-speak for "laughing my arse off"). "Why do pokemon that don't
belong
to the two sues seem like dumb animals? We have another pokemon wailing loudly
instead of saying what's wrong..."? Sonya's father isn't able to understand
what Pokemon say and personally, if I'm in pain, I don't care about making
sense, as long as someone gets to me right away. "...and the idea of asking
the totodile doesn't seem raised - not even handwaved with a "it's too young
to talk"." The Totodile is FREAKING UNCONSCIOUS the entire time. Can you talk
to unconscious people? No? I didn't think so, Farla.
Believe me, Farla, there's much more to the plot-line than what's "given
away". Oh, and by the way you're completely off on what next chapter contains;
try aiming for a Home Run when you swing next, okay? Do yourself a favour and
"practice what you preach", Farla; most of your stories sum up the entire
story in the short summary. Mary-Sue Parodies? That's so "run of the mill"
that it's not even funny.
Most of the best stories that are published in stores are "chalk-full" of
Foreshadowing, Farla; have you ever read or heard about "Harry Potter"? The
"Harry Potter" franchise is all about Foreshadowing and it's the most popular
series in the world.
I feel that your review wasn't completely finished, so I invite you to feel
free to submit an Anonymous Review continuing it.
Pisces of Zodiac Chiks Virgo and Pisces
And then a few hours later the other one emailed me to be kind of sane and say they would take some of the advice.
Of the handful of replies today, more than half were positive and the rest were polite...ish. Interestingly, a bunch used email, too. And one even went to on to read my stories (and reviewed Hatred. I'm not sure why that seems to be the designated review story. Maybe the delicious relevance of the title?) I sort of wonder if it's just the result of blanketing the category with these reviews...once you see everybody get one, maybe you're not so upset about it?
I may well wake up to frothing rage next morning, of course.
So instead we'll discuss interesting things. For one, Hatred reviews aside, this doesn't seem to be doing much to my story hits. (I think. For some reason, at least two stories keep getting several hundred phantom visitors each per month that don't exist on their own stats page, so how reliable the stats in general are I don't know.) It does significantly boost profile hits, though. The thing is, I'm on enough alerts that the easiest way to get attention is just to, you know, update, so it may be different if I was a new author, but there's really no way of telling unless I start a new account, start posting there, and then try to see if my numbers change when I review. And while I'm normally entirely in favor of being obsessive like that, not when it involves posting an actual, untransferable story in the process. Someone else will need to investigate this. Anyway, the implication that reviewing isn't a good way to get reviews bothers me. But then, it may just be the type of reviews I'm giving and the standard review would work...there's so very many compounding factors.
Anyway.
Silawen wanted to see the Pisces reply, which was long and heavy on the crazy that I so sadly lacked today. So in its full glory:
Farla,
I'm Pisces, and I'm the more forward and patient one of Virgo and I.
Obviously, you took the time and picked at every "flaw" you could in
"Reborn
Lives" before you took even more time to construct your Flame. I admire that;
someone who takes time to do things, but that's really all it is, is a Flame.
Since you obviously took time to construct your Flaming Review, I'll give you
the same curtesy and take my time in my Reply and answer in chronological
order according to what your review said.
When Virgo and I were discussing what we'd like to come of a story, we
decided that we wanted to place as much detail as possible into every scene
and while some scenes don't SEEM to have any rhyme or reason... they do; you
just have to wait to see what it is. We, personally, hate it when Characters,
especially OCs, are thrust at us without any explanation of their
personalities or whatnot; Lenne and Sonya are going to be described to our
limit. As for Lenne and Sonya acting childish; they're fifteen and sixteen, so
OF COURSE they're going to be immature in some matters and I'm sure that a day
at the Beach is reason enough for immaturity, don't you? And just by your
comment in the first paragraph of your "Review", I'm getting the feeling that
you're not a fan of Original Characters or anything that isn't Canonical to a
Series. And, just out of curiousity, I popped over to your Profile and saw all
of your Mary-Sue parodies; even though you don't call them Parodies.
I disagree with your "wasting space" comment, because I've seen
"stories"
that really do waste space; however, I will not name any one.
Okay, really? Our descriptions may be "irritatingly flowery", but they're
actually descriptive so I really don't see any problem with it. As for how
people's "eyes do not contain bits of silver, and if they did, those bits of
silver would not be mobile", people's hair is not naturally pink or blue or
green or what-have-you. Have you watched Pokemon? Because, I've seen
characters in Pokemon that have crimson eyes, or silver eyes, or even purple
eyes and their hair is naturally un-natural colors. So, maybe you should
re-watch a few Pokemon episodes? Besides, heard of Fanfiction?
Alright, I see where you're coming from with the whole "matched Mary-Sues"
bit; but, there's more to them than "overly sensitive" and "violent".
Really,
all it mentioned, is that Lenne tends towards crying when frustrated (and I
actually do know a few girls that this comes from, plus Dawn is this way)
while Sonya is more of a "Misty/May" when she's frustrated. Again, watch the
Anime some more.
If you're going to pick at Grammar or what ever, then take a look at yours.
Don't give "advise" when you don't know what you're talking about. "Words
like
pokemon and growlithe should not be capitalized, as they're not proper nouns.
The same goes for terms like psychic." Relearn your spelling and grammar,
Farla. Pokemon, Growlithe, Totodile, ecetera ARE capitalized, due to them
being NAMES. "Pokemon" is the NAME of a FRANCHISE; "Growlithe",
"Totodile",
ecetera, are NAMES of SPECIES; "Psychic" is the NAME of an ABILITY/ATTACK.
Don't believe me? Go onto Serebii or any other Offical Pokemon Site and see it
for yourself.
Yes, Jason (the Ralts that Helios, the Growlithe, refered to) is considered
"shy" because there's more than one meaning to the word. "Usually
quiet" is
refered to as "shy", "non-confrontational" is refered to as
"shy", and then
there's the people that tend to be quiet around people/things they're not
completely comfortable with; yep, they're refered to as "shy". So, yes, Jason
is considered "shy" whereas Helios is considered "loud/excitable".
Helios is weak to water ATTACKS; he just doesn't have a particularly fond
spot for water in general. Fire Pokemon are weak to Water, yes; but, if you
watched ANY of the Movies then you'd see that it's not deadly to some of them,
as it is to others. An example of this is in the Fifth Movie "Mewtwo Returns";
in one of the scenes, if you actually watch, you see the Ninetales clone
swimming in the water. The reason for Sonya not re-calling her Pokemon is not
that she doesn't have Pokeballs for them; she didn't have them on her at the
time, because, really, why would you take Pokeballs for your Pokemon with you
if you're just down at the Beach of your Hometown? It's just something extra
to carry.
Why would Lenne's mother be furious at her "getting a few drops of water on
the floor"? I don't know about you, but the mothers of some of my friends are
very particular about keeping their houses clean.
As for why Jason didn't Teleport himself, Sonya, and Helios to her home is
because he had not yet learned the Move Teleport; besides, personally, I'd be
worried more about the lightning messing with the Teleport than the actual
Teleport.
Again, watch the Anime. In both the Anime, Manga, and Games, Sandgem Town has
dirt roads, as with all of the other Towns, as opposed to the Cities which
have paved streets. It's similar to Pallet Town in that way, seeing as it's a
Rural Town.
"Matted" when refering to hair can mean either tangled or plastered; check a
dictionary.
Sonya took a shower because of the mud that she got splatted on herself while
running, due to the dirt roads of Sandgem and seeing as she lives on the
outskirts of Town.
"Special Pokemon senses"? Farla, it's said over and over again in the Anime,
Manga and Games that Pokemon, like our animals such as dogs or deer, are
in-tune with Nature. Seeing as how it's mentioned that it hardly ever rains in
Sandgem, exceptions being Spring or Fall, I'd think that the Humans would be
able to tell that something was wrong.
Jason and Helios won't tell Sonya about what they're sensing from the storm
because they don't want to worry her over what might be their imaginations and
until they figure out exactly what's happening.
Instinct, Farla; instinct. Lenne is a naturally caring person with a "worry
about things that others wouldn't worry about" issue; have you heard of
Hippies? Same idea.
They're able to see while running due to the flashes of light that generally
come with storms.
Lenne and Sonya are not "self inserts", nor are they Mary-Sues. The correct
terminology is "Original Characters". Besides, Virgo and I are close friends,
but not best friends; that's hard to do when you live on the opposite sides of
the World, don't you think?
The dream Sonya had is hardly a Prophetic Dream; it could be her over-active
imagination or it could be a remnant from someone's memory that she picked up
on through Jason or it could be something else entirely.
Have you heard of friendship in which friends will "go to the depths of Hell
or the heights of Heaven for one another"? Growlithe are described as loyal
Pokemon; perhaps the most loyal of all.
Yes, a random Totodile, which, like the storm, has a meaning that you have to
more than see the surface of.
Have you ever heard of being too close to lightning, Farla? Even if it
doesn't hit you, if you're close enough the charge it leaves in the air can be
enough to stall your heart.
Again with the grammar lessons; look it up, Farla. Have you ever heard of
Government-funded Clinics?
"...it's a special mary sue version of a pokecenter" (by the way, it should
be spelt "... it's a special Mary-Sue version of a PokeCenter." If you're
going to pick on grammar and spelling, make sure yours checks out first, eh?).
Uh, no. It's a Clinic, which, personally, does have a more soothing feel to it
than a Hospital which is what the Pokemon Centers are.
Okay, right now you sound so ridiculous, I'm LMAO (which, if you don't know,
is tech-speak for "laughing my arse off"). "Why do pokemon that don't
belong
to the two sues seem like dumb animals? We have another pokemon wailing loudly
instead of saying what's wrong..."? Sonya's father isn't able to understand
what Pokemon say and personally, if I'm in pain, I don't care about making
sense, as long as someone gets to me right away. "...and the idea of asking
the totodile doesn't seem raised - not even handwaved with a "it's too young
to talk"." The Totodile is FREAKING UNCONSCIOUS the entire time. Can you talk
to unconscious people? No? I didn't think so, Farla.
Believe me, Farla, there's much more to the plot-line than what's "given
away". Oh, and by the way you're completely off on what next chapter contains;
try aiming for a Home Run when you swing next, okay? Do yourself a favour and
"practice what you preach", Farla; most of your stories sum up the entire
story in the short summary. Mary-Sue Parodies? That's so "run of the mill"
that it's not even funny.
Most of the best stories that are published in stores are "chalk-full" of
Foreshadowing, Farla; have you ever read or heard about "Harry Potter"? The
"Harry Potter" franchise is all about Foreshadowing and it's the most popular
series in the world.
I feel that your review wasn't completely finished, so I invite you to feel
free to submit an Anonymous Review continuing it.
Pisces of Zodiac Chiks Virgo and Pisces
And then a few hours later the other one emailed me to be kind of sane and say they would take some of the advice.
