Fanfiction reviewing: "Vous sux0rs! My friends will beat you up! No one understands my pain!"

[timepiececlock]

So, once upon a time, I read a story.. It was alright. Nothing to write home about, but not terrible either. I was content to enjoy the bits of it I could.

After the fourth chapter I quit, because, well, it turned kinda sucky.

However, it wasn't TERRIBLE, and there was promise in the first chapters, so I decided to be nice and leave a review telling the author why I was no longer reading it. The review function is a tool for criticism, after all. If she was interested in improvement she'd want to know why she lost a reader, if she wasn't she wouldn't care. I even ended it with a "good luck" wish of well-being, which is actually pretty nice for me. I don't often wish people luck with fanfiction I didn't enjoy.

That was back on the 12th. You know, like 5 days ago. Funnily enough, when I got a hilarious PM email about my review this afternoon, I hunted around for the unnamed fic and when I found out which one she was talking about, actually thought I'd reviewed the story a month ago.

What can I say? I'm on Student Time. That's like Pacific Standard Time, but with more burritos.

So anyway, I got a hilarious email. I haven't gotten one this rich in about...4 years. Let me share it with you:

penname: FireWater Alchemist Angel
profile: http://www.fanfiction.net/u/972608/

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sorry but you are a jerk you should have not put that rev. on my best friends fanfic reson#1. every one can see it on the air #2. she was in a bad mood all day and when she is in a bad mood i am in a bad mood and you dont want to know what happens when i am in a bad mood!#3. if you dont like it dont rev. #4. IF you lost intress then dont read. #5. It was very rude you could do constructive critisizem and oh ya about the japanese do you know how many other fanfics for avatar do that and i have the dvd and it is in english and japanese also about that IT IS ANIME CREATED BY JAPANESE PEOPLE ALMOST EVERY ANIME THAT EXISTS IS IN JAPANESE TOO! Okay sorry bout this but it was rude! kk just please dont rev. if you dont like and also i like some of your stories but sorry you need to update more!
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I mean, the funny, it's everywhere! Where oh where do I begin? The spelling, no, that's too easy. We'll put that down to emotional trauma she suffering from having her friend get a negative review for said friend's story. Completely understandable! I've eaten whole cars while under similar trauma.

Oh, I know! The cute little way in which she thinks Avatar:TLA is a Japanese production because it's in under the "anime" category of The Pit. Do I have the heart to tell her that it's entirely possible the Pit's maintainers just made a logistics error and are too lazy to fix it?

Or the way her typefont shines so brightly as she says " you dont want to know what happens when i am in a bad mood!" It's so shiny and black... ::stares::

I could be Noble Indignant Writer To Be and tackle her assertion of "if you dont like it dont rev" for its failure to understand the basic concept of the review button and the Noble Quest To Better Our Writing That We All Embark On Together As Fellow Fanfiction Writers.

I could even be the Amused Otaku and laugh at the fact that she thinks having a bilingual audio track means the DVD is from Japan.


But no... in the end, it's the littlest thing that amused me the most: the fact that when it comes to my review, " every one can see it on the air."

OMG I'M ON TELEVISION! SERIOUSLY GUYS, I'M ON THE AIR! LOOK! ::waves to air:: HI MOM!


...And then she ends it by asking me to update my own stories more often. The funny, it doesn't stop.

Comments

[catystorm.livejournal.com]

Oh god it wins. IT WINS. XDDD *rofls*

[sub-divided.livejournal.com]

Ahahaha! This reminds me of the (one) time chirachira was on fandom_wank. TO ALL GOOD FRIENDS OF WRITERS: trying to defend someone who does not need you help only makes both of you look bad, please not to do it.

Now I'm curious: do the Avatar DVDs have a Japanese vocal track? I really would not have expected them to.

[corvidae9.livejournal.com]

OMG I'M ON TELEVISION! SERIOUSLY GUYS, I'M ON THE AIR! LOOK! ::waves to air:: HI MOM!

I have no idea what's up with your fandom but this killed me with the funny. :))))))

[evilredmenace.livejournal.com]

I have had similar experiences with leaving feedback. It seems as if any implication for improvement is considered a violent, flaming attack on the individual. Apparently, "constructive" criticism equals "positive/exceptional" commentary. I've had authors email me their indignant outrage, as well as post obnoxious anonymous comments on my livejournal. I seem to go back and forth between laughing maniacally or wanting to beat my head against the monitor. Perhaps both. At the same time. :)

[brigidforest.livejournal.com]

right. hmm.

[easytodistract.livejournal.com]

(gives Rashaka a Momo plushie)

My opinion is that well... there will always be a chance for conflict between readers who want to be honest and writers who... (tries to put this very tactfully) take their writing personally.

In my opinion, both of you are right in the way you both reacted. Both of you are honest. You didn't like how the story was going, and she didn't like your review. So, I honestly can't take any sides.

However. However! I'm the type of writer who would jump with joy to find a reader who would speak his/her mind. Yes, you can call me weird. XD Feedback like the one you wrote would probably make most writers uncomfortable, but if I receive that kind of honest well-explained "I'm sorry, but I really can't read your story anymore because..." - I'd be asking that reviewer to be please be my editor/beta-reader or a test reader.

If I were the friend of that writer, I'd be doing my best to comfort and ease bruised writing ego (because it can be hard); however, I'd also be sneakily sending off an email to the reviewer to please be my beta/test reader but only in secret because my friend might kill me if he/she finds out.

Also, I will get even with you. I just *really* need to finish this fic (just let me please get Katara and Zuko together) first before I go reading en-masse Rashaka's ficcies. Unfortunately, I'm the sort of writer who gets easily distracted by other people's ficcies. I have to be in seclusion; otherwise, I'll never finish it. Just 2 more chapters, and I will be free of the ball and chain that is Avatar fic writing.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

In my opinion, both of you are right in the way you both reacted.

Actually, I think you're basing that on misunderstanding my post. The email did not come from the writer. I haven't heard anything from the writer, not a peep. The writer herself is perfectly welcome to respond to a critical review; that's why I leave signed reviews instead of anonymous ones.

The girl who wrote me the email should not have written me at all. It's not *her* story and I never solicited any contact with her, so it's completely out of line for her to email me and reprimand me with no provocation. She is a third party, which makes my review not her business. Fortunately she's so embarassing that I can't take offense at her rudeness or her unfounded presumptiousness in contacting me.

I'm the type of writer who would jump with joy to find a reader who would speak his/her mind.

I go both ways; one the one hand I love it when people point out grammatical errors, continuity flaws, awkward sentences, or other surface mistakes. On the other hand, serious criticism about characterization or writing style makes me cry and want to hide. Which is why I don't typically use a beta reader-- for me fanfiction is for relieving stress, not aquiring it.

I just *really* need to finish this fic (just let me please get Katara and Zuko together) first before I go reading en-masse Rashaka's ficcies.

Finish your fics! Get those cats together (but not too soon! rushed fics make Rashaka cry.)

Don't worry, there's not much "masse" to my fics. They're almost uniformly tiny. There's several of them, but they're short.

[easytodistract.livejournal.com]

Oh. Oh. I know it was the writer's friend who emailed you. Note - the writer's friend said that the writer was in a bad mood. Well... you know the saying - misery loves company. I would guess your review really hit a nerve.

Now, I'm *not* trying to explain their side to you. Frankly, if I were the writer and I got upset over your review - I'd go to the gym, take out my frustrations on a punching bag, take a shower, eat some chocolate and then ask myself why your review really bothered me so. It's the reviews that make feel bad that I pay extra attention to, because they're the ones which give me a clue as to where I went wrong.

Hell, I'd welcome bad reviews. At least you would know when you lost a reader. The far majority of readers don't even bother with leaving a review when they lost interest or get turned off by a story.

For me, reviews (good or bad) better than no reviews.

By the way, seriously - I will get even with you. I could be relaxing right now, working on original stories without thinking 'Oh God. Why am I writing fanfiction for a Nickelodeon show?' But no... because of Rashaka, I can't even sleep properly. Zuko snogging Katara dreams is not restful for this writer at all.

crap.

[chantalthespy.livejournal.com]

hahaha this is why i don't even read fanfiction anymore.

[spikewriter]

Oh, lord that is too funny. you dont want to know what happens when i am in a bad mood! Bwah!

Gotta love the "friends" who rush into the fray.

[ciardhapagan.livejournal.com]

That was a hard to follow e-mail, not just the grammar but it wandered around hither and yon. If that's how the fanfic of the friend was, I can see why you got tired of it.