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Ugh! Got a comment today on a fic which I uploaded to Ao3 two years ago. The fic is actually about 15 years old, since I wrote it for my first fandom and it had been on Stories of Arda before then. But even two years is a gap, when the comment was entirely "You should have done this different," and "it would have been better if you'd done that other thing."
No 'thanks for writing this' or 'I did at least enjoy this part' or even 'I hope you don't mind me saying but if I had been writing this, I would have focused on [whatever] more.' Just 'you did it wrong.'
I was vaguely baffled at how to answer this comment. I mean, my first instinct is that it's very rude to leave a comment that consists in telling me that I should have told my own story in a different way. It wasn't ever meant to be whatever this 15-year-too-late reader thinks it ought to have been.
I admit that I could have wrung a lot more emotion out of it if I'd told it their way. I could totally have ramped it up to the sobbing point. The point is that I didn't want to do that, and therefore I wrote it in a way where I wouldn't have to do that.
IDK it's hard to respond to a comment that is essentially saying "I think this should have been a different story." Because well, you know, fuck off, it isn't.
Ugh, what is a comment like that supposed to achieve? Are they just venting their disappointment that they thought it was going to be one thing and then it wasn't? The comment sounds like it's writing advice but they don't know what I was trying to achieve, and we've never spoken before so I don't know what their assumptions are or indeed where they get off.
I used to be of the opinion that concrit was a good thing, but this is not constructive criticism because 'how to make a story more like what I want' is not the same thing as 'how to make a story good.'
Ugh (again). All this angst over one of my shortest, most throwaway fics. I have (I hope politely) told them that if they don't like it, perhaps they should write their own version themself.
No 'thanks for writing this' or 'I did at least enjoy this part' or even 'I hope you don't mind me saying but if I had been writing this, I would have focused on [whatever] more.' Just 'you did it wrong.'
I was vaguely baffled at how to answer this comment. I mean, my first instinct is that it's very rude to leave a comment that consists in telling me that I should have told my own story in a different way. It wasn't ever meant to be whatever this 15-year-too-late reader thinks it ought to have been.
I admit that I could have wrung a lot more emotion out of it if I'd told it their way. I could totally have ramped it up to the sobbing point. The point is that I didn't want to do that, and therefore I wrote it in a way where I wouldn't have to do that.
IDK it's hard to respond to a comment that is essentially saying "I think this should have been a different story." Because well, you know, fuck off, it isn't.
Ugh, what is a comment like that supposed to achieve? Are they just venting their disappointment that they thought it was going to be one thing and then it wasn't? The comment sounds like it's writing advice but they don't know what I was trying to achieve, and we've never spoken before so I don't know what their assumptions are or indeed where they get off.
I used to be of the opinion that concrit was a good thing, but this is not constructive criticism because 'how to make a story more like what I want' is not the same thing as 'how to make a story good.'
Ugh (again). All this angst over one of my shortest, most throwaway fics. I have (I hope politely) told them that if they don't like it, perhaps they should write their own version themself.
Re: Thoughts
It takes practice.
>> I used to think that I was happy with concrit, but now I think it's more complicated than that. I'm very glad to have suggestions from people who are reading the story as it progresses and clearly know what I'm trying to do, who have suggestions for what I could do to improve a story they are already enjoying. And who are also people whose writing I know and admire, so that I trust their opinion.<<
There's a big difference between constructive criticism and drive-by bitching. Things that matter:
* whether you know the person
* how well they know your work
* porportion of praise to criticism
* whether you're open to editing the piece.
Me, I rarely edit fanfic. Editing is a lot of work, not fun, and I don't get paid for it. I'll edit things I sell, because I want that to be professional quality. My readers will tell me if they spot a typo, and I try to fix those. I once had someone correct the modern Greek I put in a poem to the Classic Attic Greek appropriate to that context. But fanfic, I don't have time for everything, and editing it is rarely worth my effort. That means I'm less interested in constructive criticism there.
Also, I really don't like people coming in my space and telling me what to do. Especially if they're not paying for the privilege.
So yes, it's complicated, and that's okay.
>>I'm much less happy to have it out of the blue, unmixed with any sign that the commenter enjoyed anything at all, and expressed in a way that makes me doubt that they understand what I'm trying to do, or even what I did do. Particularly when they're strangers with whom I have no relationship at all, and who have come in swinging.<<
Yeah. That's a dick move.
As a reviewer, I try very hard to review the item furnished, not what I wish it had been.
... what I wish it had been that it isn't, is what I get to load into my creative engine to do with as I please. After all, they didn't want it, no point letting it go to waste.
>>My personal impression was that the commenter was deriving enjoyment from acting superior - handing down their wisdom to a poor simple writer who clearly needed it. But I could have misinterpreted and it could well be that they were trying to be helpful in a very unhelpful way. <<
Those would be my guesses in order of probability.
>>I think I can live without knowing :)
Sensible.
Re: Thoughts