How much do you listen to reviews?

[Nightwing]

Haven't been here in ages but I had a review today that sort of got to me. Basically it went like this: "You have a good idea but your style is horrible. Here's how I would write it."

Now I write originals and I write mine pretty much the same way each time. I built up this world over the years (10+ to be exact) and all of a sudden I have someone telling me it's all wrong and I should adopt a style like theirs. 

Have any of you had this happen? How do you deal with it? I just feel like a small child who has been contentedly drawing with crayons only to have an adult snatch it away and "fix" it. The moment the adult fixes the drawing, it ceases to be the work of the original artist (the child).

Edited June 17, 2018 by Nightwing

[Desiderius Price]

Hey, focus on the fact that it is a review, which I know are rare here, and they like the story. 

[Arian-Sinclair]

6 hours ago, Nightwing said:

Haven't been here in ages but I had a review today that sort of got to me. Basically it went like this: "You have a good idea but your style is horrible. Here's how I would write it."

Now I write originals and I write mine pretty much the same way each time. I built up this world over the years (10+ to be exact) and all of a sudden I have someone telling me it's all wrong and I should adopt a style like theirs. 

Have any of you had this happen? How do you deal with it? I just feel like a small child who has been contentedly drawing with crayons only to have an adult snatch it away and "fix" it. The moment the adult fixes the drawing, it ceases to be the work of the original artist (the child).

Seems to me someone needs to take a step back and get off xyr high horse. So what if the person doesn’t like how you write? No two people write exactly the same way, and that snoot needs to understand that. It’s rude to say someone should write a different way like that just to impose xyr own writing style on another. It makes it seem as if the person only likes one way of writing, and if that’s the case, xe doesn’t have to continue reading if something’s not xyr cuppa. Writing style can change how a story goes, essentially changing the story with it despite remaining the same idea. You don’t have to change your style of writing, and xe’s just going to have to suck it up. You do you because no one else can write the same exact way you do with the same end result.

P.S. I sort of took this as a chance to practise with my gender neutral pronouns (the ones I use, xe/xyr/xyrs) since I’ve only just started writing them and want to phase out of the habit I have of using they/them/their/theirs. Plus it gets confusing for me with they/them/their/theirs since they’re mainly used as plural, and that makes it hard to tell sometimes if it’s the plural or singular form of they/them/their/theirs as my mind will process it as plural because that’s what I was always taught in school when I was little. It always takes me a moment for my mind to process they/them/their/theirs as singular since it feels awkward for me. Anyhow, this P.S. is getting kind of long, so I’m just going to end it here.

[Desiderius Price]

43 minutes ago, Arian-Sinclair said:

Seems to me someone needs to take a step back and get off xyr high horse. So what if the person doesn’t like how you write? No two people write exactly the same way, and that snoot needs to understand that. It’s rude to say someone should write a different way like that just to impose xyr own writing style on another. It makes it seem as if the person only likes one way of writing, and if that’s the case, xe doesn’t have to continue reading if something’s not xyr cuppa. Writing style can change how a story goes, essentially changing the story with it despite remaining the same idea. You don’t have to change your style of writing, and xe’s just going to have to suck it up. You do you because no one else can write the same exact way you do with the same end result.

As I try to turn a lemon into lemonade … understanding that most here aren’t professionals, including our reviewers.

Assuming this reviewer isn’t simply trolling, then the other way to take this is that if you can entice more feedback from this person to try to find out what things strike them as odd, or poorly worded, or confusing.  It might be valid to consider, maybe not – though their demand is unreasonable.

Personally, I don’t have an editor/beta, so my own writing has rough spots, so that’s why my second reaction to such a review would be to solicit more feedback to figure things out.  (Of course, my first reaction is one best to be kept away from the keyboard.)

[Arian-Sinclair]

1 hour ago, Desiderius Price said:

As I try to turn a lemon into lemonade … understanding that most here aren’t professionals, including our reviewers.

Assuming this reviewer isn’t simply trolling, then the other way to take this is that if you can entice more feedback from this person to try to find out what things strike them as odd, or poorly worded, or confusing.  It might be valid to consider, maybe not – though their demand is unreasonable.

Personally, I don’t have an editor/beta, so my own writing has rough spots, so that’s why my second reaction to such a review would be to solicit more feedback to figure things out.  (Of course, my first reaction is one best to be kept away from the keyboard.)

And assuming the person is reasonable to begin with. I’ve found there are just some people who refuse to listen to reason who aren’t just trolling. It’s always good to at least make an attempt at reasonable communication. There’s something else I want  to add,  but I can’t make the thought turn into words to write/type it.

[BronxWench]

9 hours ago, Nightwing said:

Haven't been here in ages but I had a review today that sort of got to me. Basically it went like this: "You have a good idea but your style is horrible. Here's how I would write it."

Now I write originals and I write mine pretty much the same way each time. I built up this world over the years (10+ to be exact) and all of a sudden I have someone telling me it's all wrong and I should adopt a style like theirs. 

Have any of you had this happen? How do you deal with it? I just feel like a small child who has been contentedly drawing with crayons only to have an adult snatch it away and "fix" it. The moment the adult fixes the drawing, it ceases to be the work of the original artist (the child).

I do agree that once you start writing to someone else’s style, it’s not your work anymore, really. And it feels awful to be told how to write your own work.

I am going to make a confession here. When I was brand new to publishing my work, as opposed to not so new which is where I am now, I let an editor talk me into major changes to a novel. It was her style, not mine at all, but she assured me it would work, and my book would sell, even if I felt like I no longer quite recognized one of my main characters. She was enthusiastic, and I know she meant well, but… I wasn’t really happy with the changes although the novel went out with them.

Long story short, that publisher went under, and I’m now working with a new publisher to get the books back out there. The first thing I did was strip all those edits from the second novel. Every. Last. One. I’m enormously happier, and I finally am beginning to feel some enthusiasm for continuing the series, since I have my character back. Oh, and I scrapped the contractions in narrative. Not my style at all unless I'm writing first person POV (which I only do when seriously tipsy… :D)

My response to the reviewer would be along the line of thanking them for the review, and suggesting perhaps they try their hand at writing a story in their style, since the world needs more writers. Or something pleasant to start with, anyway. I prefer to try being nice first, but that’s me, and my definition of nice varies depending on the situation.  

[GeorgeGlass]

I got a review kind of like that on one of my stories just yesterday. My feeling is, if someone actually takes the time to tell you in detail what issues they have with the story, that means that they actually felt it was worth their time to do that. If any of it seems like useful feedback, great; if not, then they’re entitled to their opinion, and you’re entitled to disagree with it. 

[Nightwing]

Thanks George. I don't mind criticism but to say the entire way a person writes is wrong, well that isn't constructive.

Here's the opening paragraph for argument's sake (Personally I like when a scene is set in the beginning which is what I try to do): 

It was a foggy morning when a demon with long hair woven into thick braids unfolded his flame-torn wings. His ears twitched when he heard footsteps. He had already caught the scent of the man and he wasn’t worried because it was a familiar scent. He wouldn’t mind an early morning visit from him. Besides, he had made the request in the form of a discreet order.

 

---This is the seventh installment in this line, this world I created. I have had a few (not many) comment that they love this entire series. The review yesterday was the first that said my entire way of writing is a turn-off and I should practice a style similar to theirs. Just so you know, I looked at one of their pieces and I'm not a fan of their style but I didn't leave a review suggesting they adopt a different writing approach.

So I don't have many hits or reviews. At least there are people reading them and I'd like to think there are those who appreciate the time and effort gone into making this land.

Edited June 17, 2018 by Nightwing
Minor format change.

[Desiderius Price]

I do tend to give reviewers the benefit of the doubt, that they intend good, even if they’re expressing it rather poorly.  I can easily be wrong.

6 minutes ago, Nightwing said:

It was a foggy morning when a demon with long hair woven into thick braids unfolded his flame-torn wings. His ears twitched when he heard footsteps. He had already caught the scent of the man and he wasn’t worried because it was a familiar scent. He wouldn’t mind an early morning visit from him. Besides, he had made the request in the form of a discreet order.

Entirely okay.  My style would start it off like “Footsteps; {name}’s ears twitched.”  But, that’s more my style, which I’ve evolved/refined over time, some with input from others.  But a “It’s wrong, lemme rewrite it...”  No, they can write their own, or, once you’re publishing, write a fanfic in their favorite style*

* As an aside, this leads to an interesting question once published.  If author doesn’t remove all of their stories in the said story-universe and somebody else starts to post fanfiction in the archive, does the author’s works remain in originals, or should they move them into the fanfic archive?

[Tcr]

Well, in answer to the question: I listen to them to a certain point.  I've had plenty of trolls lately (Not here, but some others) and a few really good, in depth reviews.  For me, listening to the reviews is a good way to gauge the readership (if you get good, non-troll ones).  Sometimes, it can be good in terms of assisting an idea to its fullest potential or correcting some minor errors.  (Something like the one first posted here, not helpful, in my opinion.)

13 hours ago, Nightwing said:

"You have a good idea but your style is horrible. Here's how I would write it."

As has been said, your style is yours.  You decide how you want to write it.  Taking, for example, George R.R. Martin: I cannot get into his writing...  I cannot for the life of me, but he's doing a little fine (yes, sarcasm, my third language) for himself.  And way to go for him.  To have someone change that to, say, DP's style, or BW, or mine would take away things people do like about it.  And if one person has a problem with your style, then maybe they shouldn't be reading it.

As for reviews, when I leave one, I do a good-concrit-good idea.  But I make sure it's not stupid concrit or nitpicky to begin with.

I hope I'm making sense...

[Nightwing]

You make sense, Tcr and like I said, I don't mind criticism. I had one offer me suggestions on another story and I listened to the suggestions and I was able to see where they were coming from but this most recent review and then have the audacity to add, right below the rewrite in their style: "I hope this helps."

[Desiderius Price]

39 minutes ago, Tcr said:

…To have someone change that to, say, DP's style, ….

Hey, I have style!!! 

28 minutes ago, Nightwing said:

You make sense, Tcr and like I said, I don't mind criticism. I had one offer me suggestions on another story and I listened to the suggestions and I was able to see where they were coming from but this most recent review and then have the audacity to add, right below the rewrite in their style: "I hope this helps."

Well, we are having this debate, so it’s helping in that sense. 

I say @BronxWench had the right suggestion, thank them and move on.

[CloverReef]

Comments like that piss me off. Honestly when someone says that to me, and they have, I spend the next 2 days bitching about it to my friends and taking their review apart. If they're going to come to me in a disrespectful way, I'm under no obligation to reward their dickishness by stroking their egos and letting them feel like they’ve helped me. I try to politely tell them to Fuck off, because even if I’m pissed, I’d prefer not to be a dick too. 

If I get critiques that are respectful and specific, however, I'll usually think about them and, when possible, compare it to other feedback. If two or more people are touching on the same issues, I start to make fixing it a priority. 

Someone nicely told me to change my style when I was like 14. I took all their suggestions and ended up with a way too poetic, long winded mess. The kinda book I can't even read. So I don't listen to that kinda advice anymore. 

Edited June 17, 2018 by CloverReef

[BronxWench]

9 hours ago, Desiderius Price said:

* As an aside, this leads to an interesting question once published.  If author doesn’t remove all of their stories in the said story-universe and somebody else starts to post fanfiction in the archive, does the author’s works remain in originals, or should they move them into the fanfic archive?

That sounds like an application for a position as one of my moderators.

If the author doesn’t remove all of their stories in the said story-universe once published, either they have an extremely lenient publisher, or they’re taking a radical approach to marketing themselves. But since they are the author of the original world, the work remains in Original Fiction. Any fan fiction based on that original work goes to the Books subdomain, in the category for that particular work or series.

Clear as mud?

[Desiderius Price]

3 hours ago, BronxWench said:

That sounds like an application for a position as one of my moderators.

“No!”  Suddenly reminded of the scene from Spaceballs.  “If you don’t give us the combination to the air-shield, we’ll give your daughter back … her old nose!”

3 hours ago, BronxWench said:

If the author doesn’t remove all of their stories in the said story-universe once published, either they have an extremely lenient publisher, or they’re taking a radical approach to marketing themselves. But since they are the author of the original world, the work remains in Original Fiction. Any fan fiction based on that original work goes to the Books subdomain, in the category for that particular work or series.

Clear as mud?

If I publish, it’d likely be self-publish, with a philosophy that I don’t want to remove the stories from public display, at least not permanently.  Not certain on any of that, just idle thoughts.   Though, I’d be curious if any published author has submitted “fanwork” under a different pen name (ie, exploring a different course of action that they had been considering at some point in their work).

[Nightwing]

Thanks all. I have never had a review like that. I generally don’t get many reviews but I know that it’s really hard to get people to review original fiction so I’ve come to accept the stagnation of reviews. That being said, the review I experienced was extreme pomposity and arrogance. Like I said, I looked at the reviewer’s profile (hardly anything there. Only five stories, no background information or anything) and I read a part of one of the stories. Two paragraphs was all I could do. There were grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, etc. and while I am not the best at spelling (I am, but some errors slip by me and it drives me crazy when I find one in a chapter I’ve posted. Yes, I go back and reread mine and from time to time make slight changes) I do not make as many mistakes as that person did.

 

I’m also not trying to garner half a million hits and a huge following. A few more readers would be nice but I don’t put things up with the expectation that I’m going to get a huge flock coming to my name. I mean, there’s so many other people here with varying degrees of skill and if a few people like what I do, that’s fine. I’m not doing it for notoriety.

[Desiderius Price]

A half million tits?    … oh, “hits”, my rx needs updating. 

My current highest is shy of 9k hits, with only two reviews.  Yeah, I understand the dearth of reviews; thus, I’ve taken to recording my hits on a daily basis.  While I write for fun, there’s a little extra “polish” I do because it’s being posted, so it’s nice to know that effort is appreciated. 

Though if I get that half million hits/flock, I’m not sure how I’d react, though I’m willing to find out.