Flames and feedback
Dec. 22nd, 2004 01:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sua_layOookay....
Commented an archive somewhere around here and was told I'm a flamer. Thought I'd take a moment to contemplate feedback and flaming and stuff. Don't expect any coherency here, it's almost two am here.
I think that in fanfic and fandoms, the free speech between fans is the most important thing. If someone wants to discuss about a fic or an archive online and I have something to say, I'll never lie just to smooth anyone's feathers. [okay, if I know that the person asking for comments about their stupid fic is a suicidal drug addict, I may just not say anything...]
Anyway, let's see examples here!
1. A LiveJournal comment:
- I did not like that fic you recced. I found it ghastly.
- That archive sucks. I don't like when they say a fic is 200 words instead of the size said in bytes.
- Squee. OMGs that was good. Yay.
Those are opinions. My opinions I state. If someone recs me something or asks about an archive, I will say what I think about the stuff.
Yeah. I find most of the automatic archives annoying due to various things (coding, formatting, the fact that the fics could be better) and most of the non-automatic archives are full of crap as well. Sue me. Or actually, you can't sue me for stating my opinion.
Please, dear archive keeper/author/whoever. Don't jump into conclusions and kick my butt for saying what I believe.
2. A LiveJournal post.
- Hey, read this fic!
- Hey, don't read this fic!
- Does someone wanna read my fic?
Yeah. It hurts when you stumble onto a journal saying your stuff isn't good. Could it be because the journal keeper is a twat? Could it be because your fic is crap? Could it be a small combination of both facts?
I have no idea.
My likes: Long fics with good charactarization, preferably first time slash fics with a happy ending, my OTPs (Snarry, puppies, Frodo/Sam, Legolas/Gimli, Jack/Daniel, Gil/Nick and so on), no porny sex scenes even if the fic is NC-17 (unless it's a PWP), no wake up gay, no smarm or unnecessary crying. Actually finding the fic and not stumbling onto 5 'password protected' areas.
My dislikes: This would depend on the pairing and the series, but I usually hate smarmy weepy characters who abandon all reason for love. Yeah. Those kinds of fics. White text on green background. Short fics posted in parts in LJs or put into archives in parts (yeah, we're still at this...)
I will give my opinions according to my likes, dislikes and the current mood. Still not a flame.
3. Feedback.
- I liked your story 'Happily shagging puppies' and would love to read more about their adventures. Hopefully you'll update your WIP soon.
- I liked your story 'Happily shagging puppies'. Thanks for sharing it with us.
- Your story 'Happily shagging puppies' was a great example of a humor fic done well. Kudos!
- I read your story 'Happily shagging puppies' and liked it very much. The pace of the story was excellent, and I liked your charactarization of Sirius. I would have to say that the fic would have been even better if you'd had the time to find a good beta. As a non native English speaker, I typo a lot and would be lost without my beta. :D Might I also say that sometimes less sex is better (pointing at the seventeen explicit scenes in your fic)? Just my opinion, but thought you wouldn't mind me saying it. :D
Why the hell is everything out of 'OMGs!! This was teh best EVAH!' a flame these days? Has anyone read book reviews in the papers? Sometimes the critics tear someone's book apart. It's still not an attack on the author.
This may be a new concept to people, but listen up. If you publish a fic, in the net, in an open journal, in an archive or even in a zine, it's out there, and anyone reading it can say whatever they like about the fic. It may not be what you want to hear, but sometimes con crit can be a good thing.
Wish they told that to people who love Mary Sues and live at ff. net.
Witnessed a flame war about six months ago, when someone left a not really praising fb on someone's guestbook, and the author totally ridiculed the reader and then her fans went insane and threatened to kick the reader's ass. In my opinion, the whole thing sucked. If you only want praise, say so.
If you have a low self esteem, publish on a pen name and have someone else screen through your fb so you'll only get praises, you Anne Rice you.
The thing is, I hardly ever send feedback these days. There are very few stories that are totally and absolutely brilliant, and if I find that there's something the author should be mindful of, I usually try to at least hint about it, in a gentle way.
4. Getting feedback.
I like it. I don't know any author who doesn't like fb. I like the fb saying the reader liked it, but I also like the ones where the reader says they liked it, but prefered the prequel, or that they didn't really think that someone's character was right.
Keeps me from writing a dozen similar silly fics.
There are plenty of people on my FL who have told me they don't like some of the stuff I've written. Hell, I don't like some of that stuff anymore. That doesn't mean I don't like those people. Actually, I may hold them in a great esteem simply because of their level headedness.
I have an email addy, a LJ and a guestbook on my site. They can all be used for fb. Good, bad, indifferent, constructive. I will appreciate all.
5. Flaming.
Don't do it. It's not nice.
But... What is a flame anyway? 'Your fic was a pile of crap and it should be burned and you should go to hell'. That would be a flame. 'Your fic was a pile of crap'. That would be an opinion. Not a very nice opinion of course, but an opinion anyway.
The thing is, I can say here that I think soap operas are fucking stupid. That's not a flame and if you wanna watch soaps, go ahead. I can criticize a movie or a book. Why can't I say critical things about a fic without being called a flamer?
is annoyed
Feel free to make any comments you like. Or leave not comments at all. Or whatever.
Will now go back to polishing da fic. If I ever actually finish it and post it anywhere, feel free to comment it honestly. Sure, I have spent over two fucking years writing it, and have annoyed half the people I know to death by babbling about Snape and Harry and stuff, but it doesn't mean the fic is perfect. Hell, it doesn't even mean it's good. It just means that I write fic. You can love it or hate it. Whatever you say will not diminsh the fact that it's been an important journey to me.
Yeah. Happy solstice everyone.
Commented an archive somewhere around here and was told I'm a flamer. Thought I'd take a moment to contemplate feedback and flaming and stuff. Don't expect any coherency here, it's almost two am here.
I think that in fanfic and fandoms, the free speech between fans is the most important thing. If someone wants to discuss about a fic or an archive online and I have something to say, I'll never lie just to smooth anyone's feathers. [okay, if I know that the person asking for comments about their stupid fic is a suicidal drug addict, I may just not say anything...]
Anyway, let's see examples here!
1. A LiveJournal comment:
- I did not like that fic you recced. I found it ghastly.
- That archive sucks. I don't like when they say a fic is 200 words instead of the size said in bytes.
- Squee. OMGs that was good. Yay.
Those are opinions. My opinions I state. If someone recs me something or asks about an archive, I will say what I think about the stuff.
Yeah. I find most of the automatic archives annoying due to various things (coding, formatting, the fact that the fics could be better) and most of the non-automatic archives are full of crap as well. Sue me. Or actually, you can't sue me for stating my opinion.
Please, dear archive keeper/author/whoever. Don't jump into conclusions and kick my butt for saying what I believe.
2. A LiveJournal post.
- Hey, read this fic!
- Hey, don't read this fic!
- Does someone wanna read my fic?
Yeah. It hurts when you stumble onto a journal saying your stuff isn't good. Could it be because the journal keeper is a twat? Could it be because your fic is crap? Could it be a small combination of both facts?
I have no idea.
My likes: Long fics with good charactarization, preferably first time slash fics with a happy ending, my OTPs (Snarry, puppies, Frodo/Sam, Legolas/Gimli, Jack/Daniel, Gil/Nick and so on), no porny sex scenes even if the fic is NC-17 (unless it's a PWP), no wake up gay, no smarm or unnecessary crying. Actually finding the fic and not stumbling onto 5 'password protected' areas.
My dislikes: This would depend on the pairing and the series, but I usually hate smarmy weepy characters who abandon all reason for love. Yeah. Those kinds of fics. White text on green background. Short fics posted in parts in LJs or put into archives in parts (yeah, we're still at this...)
I will give my opinions according to my likes, dislikes and the current mood. Still not a flame.
3. Feedback.
- I liked your story 'Happily shagging puppies' and would love to read more about their adventures. Hopefully you'll update your WIP soon.
- I liked your story 'Happily shagging puppies'. Thanks for sharing it with us.
- Your story 'Happily shagging puppies' was a great example of a humor fic done well. Kudos!
- I read your story 'Happily shagging puppies' and liked it very much. The pace of the story was excellent, and I liked your charactarization of Sirius. I would have to say that the fic would have been even better if you'd had the time to find a good beta. As a non native English speaker, I typo a lot and would be lost without my beta. :D Might I also say that sometimes less sex is better (pointing at the seventeen explicit scenes in your fic)? Just my opinion, but thought you wouldn't mind me saying it. :D
Why the hell is everything out of 'OMGs!! This was teh best EVAH!' a flame these days? Has anyone read book reviews in the papers? Sometimes the critics tear someone's book apart. It's still not an attack on the author.
This may be a new concept to people, but listen up. If you publish a fic, in the net, in an open journal, in an archive or even in a zine, it's out there, and anyone reading it can say whatever they like about the fic. It may not be what you want to hear, but sometimes con crit can be a good thing.
Wish they told that to people who love Mary Sues and live at ff. net.
Witnessed a flame war about six months ago, when someone left a not really praising fb on someone's guestbook, and the author totally ridiculed the reader and then her fans went insane and threatened to kick the reader's ass. In my opinion, the whole thing sucked. If you only want praise, say so.
If you have a low self esteem, publish on a pen name and have someone else screen through your fb so you'll only get praises, you Anne Rice you.
The thing is, I hardly ever send feedback these days. There are very few stories that are totally and absolutely brilliant, and if I find that there's something the author should be mindful of, I usually try to at least hint about it, in a gentle way.
4. Getting feedback.
I like it. I don't know any author who doesn't like fb. I like the fb saying the reader liked it, but I also like the ones where the reader says they liked it, but prefered the prequel, or that they didn't really think that someone's character was right.
Keeps me from writing a dozen similar silly fics.
There are plenty of people on my FL who have told me they don't like some of the stuff I've written. Hell, I don't like some of that stuff anymore. That doesn't mean I don't like those people. Actually, I may hold them in a great esteem simply because of their level headedness.
I have an email addy, a LJ and a guestbook on my site. They can all be used for fb. Good, bad, indifferent, constructive. I will appreciate all.
5. Flaming.
Don't do it. It's not nice.
But... What is a flame anyway? 'Your fic was a pile of crap and it should be burned and you should go to hell'. That would be a flame. 'Your fic was a pile of crap'. That would be an opinion. Not a very nice opinion of course, but an opinion anyway.
The thing is, I can say here that I think soap operas are fucking stupid. That's not a flame and if you wanna watch soaps, go ahead. I can criticize a movie or a book. Why can't I say critical things about a fic without being called a flamer?
is annoyed
Feel free to make any comments you like. Or leave not comments at all. Or whatever.
Will now go back to polishing da fic. If I ever actually finish it and post it anywhere, feel free to comment it honestly. Sure, I have spent over two fucking years writing it, and have annoyed half the people I know to death by babbling about Snape and Harry and stuff, but it doesn't mean the fic is perfect. Hell, it doesn't even mean it's good. It just means that I write fic. You can love it or hate it. Whatever you say will not diminsh the fact that it's been an important journey to me.
Yeah. Happy solstice everyone.
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no subject
Date: 2004-12-22 07:15 am (UTC)I think I may have to link this to my journal. There seems to have been some storm is at least two fandoms about fb/flaming/something in the past week or so and luckily, I've missed it! It really pays to be the fandom hermit sometimes.
no subject
Date: 2004-12-22 07:17 am (UTC)Go ahead and link it if you want to.
And gee! I'll be such a great company today, after ranting and raving through the night and getting like 5 hours of sleep or something... Apologies in advance... [goes to bed]