On feedback

[hils]

I'm curious really. How many of you would feel comfortable leaving contructive criticism/negative feedback on a story you've read.

Personally I know I am guilty of not telling people I haven't enjoyed a story I've read. I'll either find something nice to say about it or not bother saying anything at all. I know this does nothing to help the author but I hate to think that, even if my feedback was wholly contructive, that I might hurt someones feelings.

I'm assuming that most people feel the same as it's rare for me to get anything other than nice, positive comments on my fics and I know they're not that good. Not that I'm complaining. LOL. Positive feedback makes me happy :)

I was just wondering what your take on it was.

Comments

[duskwillow.livejournal.com]

I'll either find something nice to say about it or not bother saying anything at all.
I'm the same way.
I'd never leave negative feedback, especially if the person isn't asking for constructive criticism.

[hils.livejournal.com]

I'd possibly consider it if the only problem was that it needed a beta but that's about it.

[herohunter.livejournal.com]

I'll either find something nice to say about it or not bother saying anything at all.

Me too. Unless I feel REALLY strongly about it, but even then I try to be gentle.

[hils.livejournal.com]

I guess it depends on the person too. If it's someone I'm really close to I might think about it

I dunno. I don't even know why I was thinking about it actually. LOL!

[logovo.livejournal.com]

Wondering in from friendsfriends. As an oldster fan I can tell you that 95% of the fic writers out there really don't want anything but praise. I wish it was not the case, but it is a rare thing when criticism is welcome.

[hils.livejournal.com]

I have to say that I never openly ask for criticism but on the rare occasions I've had some I haven't minded. I want to be the best writer I can be so I want to know where I'm going wrong

That said I would only want it to be constructive

'I hate this' is not the sort of thing I want. LOL!

[salymander.livejournal.com]

Oh god, it's horrible. I don't even usually give feedback on stories I like. I usually only give feedback on stories I ADORED TO DEATH or on stories that FREAKED ME OUT/pissed me off/disturbed me.

I remember one time I read a story about Wolverine & Rogue, and they basically had him rape her. I was mad, because it was SO out of character, and totally against what X-Men stands for. So I left feedback discussing how, the story was realistically written, but still a bad story.

Oppositely, if I favorite a story, to reread over and over, then I leave feedback to tell the person how moved I was. But if I just liked a story, and will never read it again. I don't say anything usually. I think I read 5 of your stories on DeathMarkedLove before I emailed you and we friended each other on LJ :D

[hils.livejournal.com]

Hee! Having re-read all my old fics while I've been posting them on LJ I'm amazed you didn't just run for the hills ;)

[salymander.livejournal.com]

LOL! No I got into your Buffy Season 8, it was fun. But I also really like a couple you host, that weren't yours. "Ice Cream" especially I think is one of the better characterized short buffy fics I've read.

[hils.livejournal.com]

Ah, that makes more sense. LOL! I co-wrote Season 8 with Jacqui

The fics I wrote on my own were terrible

[roxymissrose.livejournal.com]

I'm terrible about taking criticism--I am a big baby so far as that goes.

I don't it do for anyone else--I don't even correct spelling or dropped words or words that don't mean what the writer thinks it does. I'd rather search for what's good in a story, and if I can't find anything, I don't speak.

I never mind someone pointing out boo-boos, not at all, but I tend to get defensive when someone points problems with the story in general. Especially when the criticism is correct. :)

[hils.livejournal.com]

Hehe! Yeah, I know what you mean. LOL!!!

[danceswithgary]

I just did a post about this a couple of days ago, so it's still fresh in my mind. I believe I can handle constructive criticism, but I'd prefer it via email most of the time. Oh, and yes, I will leave constructive criticism sometimes, but again via email, not in the comments.

[danaid-luv.livejournal.com]

Yes, exactly.

[hils.livejournal.com]

I think it was your post that got me thinking about it in the first place :)

[silvercobwebs.livejournal.com]

Personally, I also generally tend to leave positive comments, as I know there are a lot of fragile egos out there. If someone has written something that's wildly OOC, of made a bunch of typos, I may offer gentle constructive crit - especially if it's someone from my Flist who I know can take it.
The funny thing is - I love getting any kind of comment, as long as it's constructive. That's why we have betas and so on, no? - I hope that writers want to improve, and if they only get fawning praise, then they might get stuck in a rut. Just my 5c. : )

[hils.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's how I feel too. I don't mind criticism if it's going to help me be better in the future. I've started getting one of the guys at work to look over my stuff. He's a published writer and also does a lot of proof reading for people. He's really good at not only correcting my stuff but explaining why it's wrong too.

[bev-crusher1971.livejournal.com]

I guess it depends on what about the story disturbs me. If it's just a name spelled wrong or a little glitch I usually don't mind and add it as an afterthought.

If it's someone I know and I notice some mistakes I contact him off-list, telling him what I thought wasn't quite as it should be.

Is it someone I don't know and the story is terrible then I try to remember the name ... to avoid his/her stories in future. I know ... not very creative. And maybe even not very fair but I don't like pulling people apart onlist where everyone can read it.

On the other hand: if I made a mistake in one of my stories I'm always glad when someone points me to it (like a spelling mistake ... english istn't my first language after all so these things kind of happen).

And as you said, hils ... I hate it! is NOT constructive criticism.

[hils.livejournal.com]

I'm always so impressed by people who write fics in english where it isn't their first language!

[tariel22.livejournal.com]

I would never leave negative feedback, not only because I would never want to make someone feel bad, but also because I'm not a writer myself, so I don't feel in any way qualified. If someone who does have writing experience (like yourself) wants to offer up some advice, that's great, but I'd do it privately, so only the author sees it. In general though, I'd refrain unless criticism is being solicited, like if someone is stuck and doesn't know how to fix it.

On the other hand, I would never leave insincere praise for a story either. If I'm going to leave feedback at all, it's going to be truthful. Anything less would be disrespectful, I think.

[hils.livejournal.com]

Truthful, yeah that's a good word. I think that's what feedback should be, definitely

Thanks :)

[ghosts.livejournal.com]

eh. its like in-game (wow): i would rather someone tell me where i was wrong, and offer advice at improvement rather than allowing me to make an ass out of myself.

same's for writing. ;p

[hils.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think so too. If I'm doing something wrong I'd like to know about it. In a nice way though. Not 'you suck!'

[redeem147.livejournal.com]

I either say nothing, or (if it's a friend and I don't want to hurt feelings but I know they want me to say something) I find something I like and mention that. Luckily most of my friends write so well that it doesn't often come up.

I've had negative feedback from people that doesn't make any sense, or would imply they hadn't actually read the story, so I'm assuming some people like leaving it.

[hils.livejournal.com]

Dumbass people who get a kick out of being mean. Grr!

[phoebesmum.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't like it if anyone left negative feedback on my fic - I'm lucky in that the worst anyone's ever said has been "Well, it's not the worst thing I've ever read" - so I won't do it to anyone else. I take the hordes of people who don't comment on my fic as a sign that they hate it and/or it pretty much sucks - if they liked it, they'd comment - so negative criticism is really unnecessary.

[hils.livejournal.com]

Hmm...yeah, I never thought of it like that. No feedback is the same as negative comments

[goth-clark.livejournal.com]

I'd never leave a negative comment. For me this is just a hobby so I prefer to stick to the comment if I like it rule.

ps: I almost used f4e's LJ to comment on this post. :) oops

Although it was rather crushing to read about all those people who don't want to read the journals. I too am a baby when it comes to that kind of fb.

[danceswithgary]

You should actually take the feedback on the journals as a compliment. You've written the characters so well that people take them to heart and feel personally involved. That's a mark of a good writer in my opinion.

[hils.livejournal.com]

Aww! I love the journal *hugs*

And it would have been nice to get a comment from Clark ;)

[amcnh.livejournal.com]

Well for me it really depends on several things for me. Has the writing been really good in points or really bad? Has the story remained mostly in cannon? And finally how much do I care about the story that is being written.

I have left constructive criticism before. But typically I will send a private email to the author and not leave it on an open post. I have done enough beta work to understand how much work goes into writing fan fiction. I salute those who have the time and energy to put into it, even when it completely sucks.

[hils.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's the thing. I really don't want to put someone down when I know they have put a lot of work into something.

[richandme.livejournal.com]

I think I'm the weirdo here.

I don't really give a fig about positive praise or not unless it's quite specific about what worked, and usually that's only possible if it's coupled with quite specific constructive criticism about what didn't work.

I'd prefer constructive criticism on anything I do. I'm trying to better my writing, and the only ways to do that are through mistakes and through imitation. I'll only know if I'm making mistakes if people point them out.

[hils.livejournal.com]

Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm all for constructive crtiticsm. I'm always looking to improve the way that I write. I just like to hear some nice things too. LOL!

[selinamoonfire.livejournal.com]

I never leave negative feedback since I've had some very nasty comments on some of my stories. I will tell someone if they have a typo though. When I do that I make sure that I say something nice about the story.

[hils.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, I've pointed out typos in the past. I don't think that counts :)

[summer-moth.livejournal.com]

First just to clarify, I'm not involved in any fandoms (as you know) & I don't write fanfic, but I do write - or at least try to - so I have an opinion on this! I have another journal that I use for writing & I'm part of a couple of communities for constructive criticism & feedback.

I think every writer should be prepared to take any feedback they are given, positive or negative, as long as it's constructive. If no-one ever tells you what you're doing wrong, you'll never grow as a writer. Personally, I would rather get a really insightful constructive negative comment, than one that just says 'Loved it!', because it shows that the commenter really thought about your work & wanted to help. If you think about it, it means that person cared enough about your story to want to help you improve it, & took time out of their day to do so, which is a pretty big compliment!

That said, I would only leave constructive criticism if the poster specifically asked for it, since they might just be wanting to post it up for posterity, or their own record, or whatever, and I wouldn't want to upset or annoy someone by posting feedback that they didn't want. The writing communities I post in are designed for giving constructive criticism, so anything posted there is fair game (within guidelines for being polite & constructive).

So that's my thoughts. I've never commented on one of your fics (although I have peeked at a couple out of curiosity), because as I said I don't really do fanfic, & I don't watch Smallville anyway!

Wow, long comment! Sorry!

[hils.livejournal.com]

Hee! Thanks for taking the time to comment. I don't mind long ones at all (ooer!)

What you are saying makes a lot of sense. I generally use at least 2 beta readers for me fic so most of my concrit comes before I actually post anything. That being said if someone spotted flaws in something I've written I would kind of like to know about it because I want to get better

[ender24]

i am pretty comfortable leaving feedback, both pos and neg.
but normally, my brain is wired in that way, that i concentrate on the positive things, and the stuff that like, because my default assumption is of course, people are here for fun, and its often more a social norm, that let them say, they want concrit, even if they dont want it.
i mean, it takes a lot for people to admit, hey, i dont want to grow as an artist, i am happy at what i am now! or i think, i am already good enough!
(its not like , everyone wants to be a BNF, or compete with lenore or astolat, right?!??!)

concrit, as in crit with useful advise on how to improve , is really hard to give, and i am not even a native english speaker, so thats also why i never offer to beta.
i can always offer and be ready to pre-read something first, and tell that person, if it works on an emotinal level for me.

but otherwise, i mean, some people who really want concrit, also want that kind like, how does it fits into canon and such?!?!
and since my knowledge of canon is also very limited, its nothing i can offer, too.

if i know that person is ok with less positive feedback in their LJ, i will comment.
Otherwise, i can always email them, if its something that really is sticking out to me.

I mean, you know me, out of 100 fics that i read, 98 gets comments.
the 2 that gets nothing, its either , i must overlooked the sign of CLEX on it, or its been soooooo empty on an emotional level to me, that i have no clue what to tell the writer.

(it does happened, last year, like with 3 or 4 fics that were posted , i think, at ssa, where i simply couldnt think of anything at all to say...)

[kpjmm.livejournal.com]

I usually just don't finish the story and don't respond. However, when there is a story I do like, I try to make sure to leave a comment.

[hils.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah, there have been fics where I have just stopped reading because I don't like it

[drbillbongo.livejournal.com]

Wah, I'm horribly late replying to this.

You might know that I'm all for constructive criticism, and whenever possible, I include it in my comments. Of course, there are fics that I consider hopeless in every way, so I sometimes don't bother to comment at all, but when I think that the fic is good overall but has a few tiny flaws, I do my best to convince the author that those flaws can and should be fixed. Constructive criticism takes lots of time because not only do I have to mention things I liked together with things I didn't like, I also have to wrap it in appropriate words so people don't feel offended.

I've often thought about this topic in the past, wondered if it was just a waste of time, but recent events convinced me that constructive criticism is the right thing to do for me. People started thanking me for my help and told me that ever since they got my constructive comments, they've consciously tried to improve their writing - and it shows, I like their new fics a lot better than their old ones. Often it's really just the tiny, easy-to-fix mistakes that spoil an otherwise awesome story. :)

[hils.livejournal.com]

Yup, if it's stuff that's easy to fix I would definitely rather know