The Reviews you'd like

[Palantean Writer]

Hi guys,

I'm just wondering. We writers know it's hard to get reviews here, especially detailed ones that are clearly personalised to the exact stories we've posted up (ie., more specific than just, 'plz rite moar'.

I'm just wondering: if you could get the reviews you crave, what sorts would you want:

Glowing praise and encouragement?
Constructive criticism?
A mix of both?
Short and sweet reviews?
Long reviews? (and what does 'long' mean to you?)
Lots of reviews from one-time reviewers?
A series of reviews from the same reviewer who keeps coming back?
Do you like having a breakdown of your spelling and grammatical errors in reviews, or does it annoy you when that happens?

What else do you look for in reviews?

Just wonderin'!

[JayDee]

Constructive Criticism is probably best for me, pointing out things like missing words and incorrectly chosen words (the stuff that spell checkers don't pick up and I haven't noticed on my own check through), although "I came over your story" and "X part was hot because Y" is always nice when it is porn, and slightly confusing when it isn't.

But I'll take pretty much anything.

[BronxWench]

I like constructive criticism, although I'll never turn down glowing praise. I might blush a little, but I do like it. What.s really, REALLY useful is knowing what worked for readers, and what didn't. My editor was all bothered by one review on Goodreads, where the reader felt I could have done more character development in my debut novella. And you know what? That reader had a valid point. I don't see that as a negative, because it tells me what I need to do better. The reader did go on to say that they were looking forward to the second book. Let's hope I did better, but if not, that's still valid from that reader's perspective, and I'm not crushed to be told that.

I don't worry so much about long or short, or if it's one returning reviewer or many reviewers. When I write online, either is fine. When I publish, I get one shot at a review, so it's not an issue.

[pippychick]

I've got to admit, I like praise and admiration (who doesn't?), and I like concrit just as much really, once I've had time to think about it.

But...

The reviews I adore are those that are a clear emotional response to what I've written. They're not always "good" reviews, since I have been known to write some rather horrific things. My favourite ever was quite long and the reviewer was sorry they had read the story, because they couldn't get it out of their mind, but they did acknowledge they'd been warned, and decided to ignore it, and then were subsequently afflicted by the horror and the atmosphere. *nods* I like those kind. It meant I did the job right for that person, regardless whether they "enjoyed" it or not.

Likewise, when I've written things I consider to be comedies, and someone says they laughed. They're good, too.

I suppose what I'm saying is that for me, the aim of all writing is to make the reader feel things, and if I get some indication I did that accurately, I'm really happy.

[SirGeneralSir]

anything thats helpful, as you said something more than the standard "please make more" even if its something that you may not actually want to hear, its how its said thats really important.

"Yes i was reading your story and i think that it is 100% rubbish, the plot .... the characters ...... but i did like ......"

its not a flame but its clear the person didnt like the story.

its better to have people tell you what and how you messed something up so you can fix it than people kissing your ass or telling you nothing.

[ChrissyQuinn]

I like active reviews that help me improve the story. Knowing that people like it is great, super encouraging and all of that. But I really adore active input

[CloverReef]

My favourite reviews are the ones full of analysis. Where they ask questions or ponder events that occurred, or when they question motives or make guesses at what will happen after a cliffhanger. I love it when they say why they love or hate characters and who they think the chars should hook up with. Those are the reviews I go back to years later for a little motivation when I'm lacking. Of course, I love the concrit, the blatant praise, and the quick li'l, "plz rite more"s too.

Edited February 24, 2015 by CloverReef

[SesshomaruFreak]

Of course, glowing praise is awesome lol But some well-meaning concrit is useful and I’d never turn it down.

My fave is when a reader notices and mentions a particular part I’m proud of coming up with.

Other than that, I pretty much agree with all the other posts here

 

[Desiderius Price]

One strong review would be a reader crying if you kill a character because you’ve done a good job at characterising them, getting the audience to become attached to them.

[CloverReef]

1 hour ago, Desiderius Price said:

One strong review would be a reader crying if you kill a character because you’ve done a good job at characterising them, getting the audience to become attached to them.

Absolutely! Making readers cry, rage, and shit themselves is like the holy grail of writing. 

[SesshomaruFreak]

I get super-attached to stories, I cry and rage at my laptop/phone like a crazy person; I convinced one author to let me borrow her evil OC so I can kill him in my story

I’ve also made readers cry, laugh, rage, etc.
Maybe the most ‘wow’ review I’ve ever gotten was for a lemon scene. ‘My underwear is done for.’  It was a very wtf moment for me. I read it like 10 times like, did that just happen?

[CloverReef]

LOL that’s awesome that you were so attached to the story that you wanted to kill the evil character

[SesshomaruFreak]

Goodness yes LMAO I can get ridiculously attached to stories.

Luckily, I was already friends with the author. She uses this OC bad guy in quite a few of her stories, and omg I really do wanna kill him  I just so happened to have a vague bad guy in one of mine and asked if I could use her OC with the intent of him being bad guy that hurt good guy-A years ago, and was supposed to have died then. But he turns out alive and good guy-A’s boyfriend, good guy-B is gonna destroy him.   YAY!

LOL sorry for the word vomit here, I just get really excited about my stories

[Desiderius Price]

Try my stories!  Working on a super-awesome one where the repairman answers a service call in his underwear ….      [/plug]

Getting drawn in, attached to a story is good, be sure to leave a review!  That’s a pat on the author’s back, a payday for them, to help make the effort to bring a story to life, to post it, to make all that effort a bit more worthwhile.  If I were getting hundreds of reviews, I might be more picky about their quality, but right now, unless it’s pure hatred/flame, I cheer any review that comes into my inbox, useful or not.  Because, when you’re stuck, a “this is awesome” can help motivate your muse to get back on the wagon.

[SesshomaruFreak]

Very true! I’ll check you out soon *makes note to check out Mr. Price’s work* I’m currently waist-deep in updating my yaoi fics, but I love to read