Authors, Part Penultimate

[farla]

Name: sullenxgirl
Profile: http://www.fanfiction.net/u/2094152/
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Subject: Hi :)

Hello.
I'm not here to bash you, so don't worry. :)

However, I do want to say just a few things really quick. You must take a lot
of pride in grammar and/or writing, because you seem to show it wherever you
go. And having pride in writing is a good thing. That being said, though, it
isn't okay to be overly proud - so much so that you put others down because of
careless mistakes. Everyone makes them. Even you. Example: "If you want to to
read the note, turn to page 432," on your profile. So, honestly, I think you
should just lighten up a little. :)

The purpose of FanFiction is for fun; and to make the characters from whatever
novel/tv show/movie/musical you fancy into your own. And that's all anyone is
doing. It's not a crime. Yes, it would be nice if people used correct grammar
and punctation; but in the end, does knowing every back route of the English
language make you a professional novelist? No. Does it make friends?
Definitely not. But it does call for a lot of haters. And nobody should be
giving or receiving hate.

People just want to relax by doing their favorite thing: writing. So, why bash
on them? (Even if you don't think they are good!). I just want to know, is
all. Why are you so harsh? It doesn't really help anyone. You could say the
very same things but with a pleasant tone - and yes, tones can be perceived
through the internet. :) Maybe put a smiley face here or a "great job on the
story!" there. It would make you and other people happier.

I know the chances of you actually reading this and actually caring are slim,
but I feel good for saying it and for defending my best friend UnwrittenTale.
Yes, you did write a not-so-nice review to her. But like I said, I'm not here
to say nasty things. I just wanted to give you a little friendly advice and
I'll be on my way. :)

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Story: Butterfly Wings
Chapter: 1. The Second Day

From: Yellow-The Healer ( http://www.fanfiction.net/u/2232085/ )
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Ugh. While I was trying to read this, I had to skip. You can spell, but you
can't write creatively...
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Story: Irony
Chapter: 1. Default Chapter

From: Yellow-The Healer ( http://www.fanfiction.net/u/2232085/ )
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Uh... This is pointless... Try writing something worth reading, for once...
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Kind of a weird jump here. Irony's currently story 28, involving a moderate amount of scrolling to get to.
 
You have received a reply from the author, Dragon's-Maidens, regarding the
review you posted for:

Title: Right in my heart
Chapter: 1
Story URL: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5934313/1/
Author URL: http://www.fanfiction.net/u/790193/
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Thank you for the critique.

I know that my title is wrong, I apologize if it threw you off, I'll fix that
immediately after this reply. I realize that Entei's name is capitalized in my
fic as well but in the games Silver/Gold/Crystal/HeartGold/SoulSilver, (which
I had based this on, hence the author's note), there is only one so it would
seem natural to me to capitalize it since it is just one instead of a whole
species. And yes, I capitalized the word Pokemon, it's just the way I write it
out.

I also apologize if my sentencing made no sense, to be honest, it is in the
mind of Morty so instead of words, it would seem like images. But if it
continues to be a problem, I'll fix it.

Thank you for pointing out that Johto is misspelled, I obviously missed that
in my proofing. I will fix that right away.

Once again, thank you for the critique, it has helped.

--------------------
Name: Misty Ketchum97
Profile: http://www.fanfiction.net/u/2320079/
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Subject: re: Your review to Pokemon Misty's Adventure Chapter 1

A response to your review at http://www.fanfiction.net/r/5933952/

Please DO NOT be rude I am just writing it like the original Pokemon episode
where Ash wakes up late. But the two characters are switched. (Misty and
Ash) Also I'm not to good with grammar yet but I'm working really hard so
PLEASE! I'm not trying to be rude to you I'm just a beginning writer. So
would you go easy on the criticism? I am sorry if my writing is bad in your
opinion and I'll try to make it better. So just wait and I'll fix everything.
Also thank you for pointing out the things that I need to work on but no
thanks for being rude about it. I'm only just barely able to be on this site
anyway. Just above the age limit. So I'm not a older teenager who you are
most likely. Sorry if what I'm writing in this message offends you in any
way. Also I am going to add more to my story and if you'd be kind and help me
work on it it would help me write better and you'd have a better story to
read. So please reply and give me your answer.

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Comments

[negrek.livejournal.com]

Maybe put a smiley face here or a "great job on the
story!" there.

I tried to imagine you leaving a review that used a smiley or "Great job on the story!" in a nonironic way and nearly died laughing.

[farla.livejournal.com]

The best part is even if I did, whoever got the review would treat it as sarcasm. So all I'd do is insult the small handful of people who don't suck.

[negrek.livejournal.com]

Seriously, whenever I see pretty much anybody throw a ":)" in their message I assume they're being condescending or otherwise insincere.

[banzaisebastian.livejournal.com]

Maybe put a smiley face here or a "great job on the
story!" there. It would make you and other people happier.

You know what this comment reminds me of, though, other than the author Alicorn (who likes to abuse smilies because she thinks it softens posts that are otherwise patronizing to everyone who disagrees with her)? The author's note here and the last lines of the subsequent three reviews. Honestly, Farla, because of this thread, I'm in the same boat as Negrek here. Only I think you should definitely do it because I'm sure the authors' responses next time around would be beautiful.

[midnitesaboteur.livejournal.com]

I don't care about Japanese culture, or any culture,at all. I'm just writting in a way that's fun for me to write. And I don't care if people hate it and I never get any reviews at all. I'll still write it the way I want to, even if it sucks and doesn't make any sense I'm writting the way that makes me happy.

Words cannot express. Incoherent rage cannot express.

God... dammit.

[farla.livejournal.com]

On the brighter side, odds of them being a troll are higher than usual.

[farla.livejournal.com]

Why do you guys always go through doing line-by-line corrections on stuff that bad, anyway? They'd pretty much have to rewrite from scratch to fix the storyline problems. And people say I'm masochistic.

And NEVER. I dream of the day when one can say, "Good job! :)" and have it actually mean that. Death to the passive aggressive smilie abusers!

[banzaisebastian.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure about the rest of PC's fic section, but for me, if I write a lengthy review, it's usually because the kid murdered the English language. So, I end up pointing out a lot of different rules because, frankly, our beta system isn't exactly extensive (so just telling them to get a beta really doesn't work out all that well because the kids on PC are the kinds who don't know where to go other than wander around aimlessly on the subforum). Any notes about plot end up being mentioned at the end unless it's particularly WTFish.

As for why we need to go into as much detail as possible, I think it's because it's a smaller community that's geared towards member-to-member interaction. PC's prone to a lot of drama, so if you actually go on there and review the way you do for NaReWriMo, if you're not actually banned for flaming, then you end up calling down the wrath of some wanktastic thirteen-year-old and her groupies. Yes, I know you deal with that on FFNet as well, but because PC's a smaller, more social community, you'll probably end up seeing that same name everywhere you go, if that makes sense. (Or, in another sense, it's really not like FFNet, where the person you review might be just one of hundreds of names you come across a month. If you piss off a member on PC, it's just one of maybe fifteen people who actually hang around the forum. So, you piss that person off, and you probably won't be particularly happy unless everyone else hates the person you're reviewing to begin with.) In other words, it ends up being your best interest to make an effort to sound like you're trying to teach an author something, just to cover your rear with the "I was totally trying to help you here" excuse. Otherwise, you end up having no one to talk to, so you end up with less of a reason to hang around PC. At least with FFNet, you don't actually have to respond to review responses. You just have to go to the next story down the line and deal with someone completely different who has never even heard of the last person you reviewed.

Either way, yes, it's rather funny that they bothered with this author in particular, only it's not so much because it's bad as it is because this isn't the first time she's done something like this anyway. (Strangely, she's not a troll. She really is just an idiot.) It'd be like you consciously writing up the exact same review to the exact same author and then wondering why the author had the exact same response as he did to your last review.

[farla.livejournal.com]

I get why you wouldn't want to make enemies, but not why this means you need to list everything at once. It seems like it's just a recipe for resentment on both sides. You can always come back again to point out the rest of the errors once they've shown they'll fix mistakes, while if they won't fix a couple things there's no point in listing the rest. And specific corrections are pretty useless if the plot advice ends up being that the story needs to be redone.

[banzaisebastian.livejournal.com]

PC's also a different crowd. If you give them a one-liner or short paragraph that tells them that their story leaves a lot to be desired, they'll probably blow you off just as much as they would if you left them a long review. Showing them the first time around the basics of what they can do to improve tends to get more of a positive response because to the kids on PC, it means you're actually paying attention to them and think they have the potential to get better.

As for the part about the plot getting redone, this tends to depend on the reviewer's opinion and the author in question. For this girl, yeah, it was rather pointless because she showed from the get-go (and this isn't even touching her past shenanigans) that she actually wasn't actually putting any effort whatsoever into crafting her story, while the author's note showed that she wasn't exactly open to feedback, either. For a lot of other authors on PC except the handful of egotistical ones that you get now and then, they really do accept longer reviews pretty gratefully and learn from them. On top of that, a lot of them, in my opinion, show the ability to think creatively but just need to either refine their ideas or be taught why their plot doesn't work (the latter because they're not too experienced with the fandom).

In other words, sure, it might be masochistic, but it works for PC because it's a different crowd and because it gets everything out in the open the first time around. Doing the latter means you have to spend less time explaining to them why it sucks because your thoughts are already out there. This gives them less of an opportunity to argue -- or at least more material to ask questions about.