Why review?
Dec. 17th, 2006 07:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenayI've been meaning to make this post for a while because every now and again I get asked this question: "Why do I only review things that I'm recommending? Why don't I review stuff and tell people why it shouldn't be read?"
There are a lot of reasons. One of them is that there are people out there who are doing a great job of that already and I don't feel any need to add to it.
Another is that when I'm looking for something to read I'm much more interested in what's good than skipping past a bunch of things telling me to avoid something. I assume that visitors to the archive are looking for the same thing so I'm trying to provide that - a place where they know that anything on the site must have been enjoyed by someone else and they don't have to scour for the good stuff in among the "OMG, this one is so bad don't read it!!!" reviews.
On some level I'm also not comfortable about hosting a site that's tearing fics to pieces or being deliberately cruel. That's not to say that I don't think fics should be discusses and critisised in the same way that profic is - far from it - but it's far too easy for that kind of thing to go way too far. I think it's healthy to discuss fic and I get very annoyed by the fanfic writers who demand that all dicussion of their work must be positive or they'll throw some kind of tantrum. If they don't want to read critisism of their work then don't go into those areas of the internet and stop reading your feedback.
I don't really have specific criteria for reviewing/recommending something. These days I do tend to read fic with an eye to whether I'll review it, but I definitely don't review everything that I read. There are fics that I quite enjoy while I'm reading them, but not enough to rush out and tell everyone else to read them. There are also fics that I really enjoy, consider recommending but eventually decide there are too many flaws for me to be able to recommend. I read one just this week (no, not going to be passing that one on) that had that effect. I also had one in the most recent batch of reviews on the site that I recommended despite its flaws because I there was something about it that made it live on in my head.
There have been a few fics that I've reviewed days or even weeks after I read them, not because they were immediate candidates for reviewing but because the ideas and questions they raised stayed with me for so long. Not perfect fics, but I thought there were people out there who would really get something from them.
Of course, there are a few things that will prevent me from reviewing something. There are some authors,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cesperanza, mmmchelle, riverfox to name but a few, who would have almost everything they'd written reviewed on the site if I didn't control myself. With those authors, I restrict myself to reviewing only the really stand-out pieces. Hopefully readers who find fics through the archive will also go on to explore other works by the authors reviewed because, nine times out of ten, the rest of their stuff is also pretty terrific.
I probably review more than half of what I read these days. There are always fics that are so bad that I can't finish them and feel no need to because I'm not running an archive that would review them. There are always, sadly, fics that have fantastic potential and fall apart in the final sections. There are fics where I never even get past the summary because they sound so, so bad.
Not everyone agrees with everything that I've reviewed and there are things on the site that I recommended four years ago and wouldn't recommend now. I'm not taking those down, though, because I know that I saw something in them at the time that I thought was important.
I'd be interested to know what other people think of fanfic reviews, what their policies are if they review and, if you don't review, what things you actually want to know from a review that would make you want to read the fic.
There are a lot of reasons. One of them is that there are people out there who are doing a great job of that already and I don't feel any need to add to it.
Another is that when I'm looking for something to read I'm much more interested in what's good than skipping past a bunch of things telling me to avoid something. I assume that visitors to the archive are looking for the same thing so I'm trying to provide that - a place where they know that anything on the site must have been enjoyed by someone else and they don't have to scour for the good stuff in among the "OMG, this one is so bad don't read it!!!" reviews.
On some level I'm also not comfortable about hosting a site that's tearing fics to pieces or being deliberately cruel. That's not to say that I don't think fics should be discusses and critisised in the same way that profic is - far from it - but it's far too easy for that kind of thing to go way too far. I think it's healthy to discuss fic and I get very annoyed by the fanfic writers who demand that all dicussion of their work must be positive or they'll throw some kind of tantrum. If they don't want to read critisism of their work then don't go into those areas of the internet and stop reading your feedback.
I don't really have specific criteria for reviewing/recommending something. These days I do tend to read fic with an eye to whether I'll review it, but I definitely don't review everything that I read. There are fics that I quite enjoy while I'm reading them, but not enough to rush out and tell everyone else to read them. There are also fics that I really enjoy, consider recommending but eventually decide there are too many flaws for me to be able to recommend. I read one just this week (no, not going to be passing that one on) that had that effect. I also had one in the most recent batch of reviews on the site that I recommended despite its flaws because I there was something about it that made it live on in my head.
There have been a few fics that I've reviewed days or even weeks after I read them, not because they were immediate candidates for reviewing but because the ideas and questions they raised stayed with me for so long. Not perfect fics, but I thought there were people out there who would really get something from them.
Of course, there are a few things that will prevent me from reviewing something. There are some authors,
cesperanza, mmmchelle, riverfox to name but a few, who would have almost everything they'd written reviewed on the site if I didn't control myself. With those authors, I restrict myself to reviewing only the really stand-out pieces. Hopefully readers who find fics through the archive will also go on to explore other works by the authors reviewed because, nine times out of ten, the rest of their stuff is also pretty terrific.I probably review more than half of what I read these days. There are always fics that are so bad that I can't finish them and feel no need to because I'm not running an archive that would review them. There are always, sadly, fics that have fantastic potential and fall apart in the final sections. There are fics where I never even get past the summary because they sound so, so bad.
Not everyone agrees with everything that I've reviewed and there are things on the site that I recommended four years ago and wouldn't recommend now. I'm not taking those down, though, because I know that I saw something in them at the time that I thought was important.
I'd be interested to know what other people think of fanfic reviews, what their policies are if they review and, if you don't review, what things you actually want to know from a review that would make you want to read the fic.
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no subject
Date: 2006-12-17 11:54 pm (UTC)Well, erm, those are silly questions. *gg* Seriously. I'm asked periodically why I *don't* write reviews for recommended fics. ::shakes head:: Answer: Because I don't read that much and when I think of recommending, I feel like I'm leaving someone else out. So what I do is make a list of links and place those on my fanfic links page, which isn't an all-encompassing list but one of recommended sites.
Alternately, when those people ask me(without tearing me down), I'll point them to your site and say, "Have a look. You'll find something, trust me." ;)
There are some authors, [info]cesperanza, [info]mmmchelle, [info]riverfox to name but a few,
*grins sheepishly* You're a love, thanks. :))) I wish Speranza would write SG-1 fic. *sighs* Didn't keep me from listing her on the links list though. While I'm not crazy about McKay, I do like some of her J/M stories. ;)
As for reviewing good fic and what I'd like to find in a review:
What I'd like to find in a review is completely opposite to what I do myself. I want to know what it is they liked and didn't liked, if anything. I don't want to read some gushing analysis of every paragraph *gg* but an overall summary would be nice, and if there is something that the author has not warned the reader about, then I'd like to read that too. I don't want to be spoiled on the whole thing, but I do want to know what the content is. I want to know specifically why I should go read. Is it plot or dialogue or both? Is the story gripping, does the writing capture your attention and leave you blinking when you realize it's over? Things like that. :)
So why can't I write a review with all that in mind? I always feel like I'm being overly biased since most of the time, when I rec something, it's because they're a person I like(friend or not), and if I'm not reccing others' fics, I feel guilty. Silly, I know, since I don't have a problem with blasting a fic I think is bad... although those fics have to offend me in some way, which is why they end up on the badfic review and not just ignored like the hundreds of other badly written pieces.
I admire the fact that you don't take old recs down. Your reason is something I agree with, where the story had *something* that you liked, so why remove the rec. :)
no subject
Date: 2006-12-19 07:32 pm (UTC)