Reviewers on fanfiction sites
So I need to rant about one thing (I apologize for letting out my angry frustrations, but sorry-not sorry, because I think this needs to be addressed.)
So I’ve been writing on fanfiction.net for many years now and generally I have good experiences on the site. It’s filled with interesting stories, enthusiastic readers and passionate writers. (Or maybe I’ve just been super lucky with the people I meet there).
Now, every now and then, one of my readers will ask me if I could go read and comment on their stories. I pretty much always do so. Now, these writers might be young, or inexperienced, and sometimes their stories need work (especially if they’re new at writing), and there is nothing strange or wrong with that because we all know what it’s like when you are new at something – you need to work on it and practice to evolve and become better! I don’t think that’s only true for writing, either.
So, as a decent human being, I leave a comment where I POLITELY inform them on the things they might want to work on, or be careful of in the future. I also make sure to tell them what I liked about the story or compliment some parts I enjoyed, because I think it’s also important to encourage them. I do all this because I think it’s the best way to motivate them to continue with their story and work to improve their writing skills.
AND THEN I see this douchebag…I see this reviewer that never finished Consideration 101. And there’s aaaaalways one. One that either has nothing constructive or kind to say, so just dribbles nonsense like “Oh, you suck at writing! You totally shouldn’t ever write again! Bla bla bla…” OR a reviewer that numbers all the negative things in the story; a criticism that could be considered constructive, but points it out in the most tactless, mean way possible (I’m guessing because they never interacted with another human being before and nobody taught them how to use manners).
Now, I’m not saying you need to praise the story to the heavens and beyond even if you don’t like it, or say everything is great even if it isn’t. But are you telling me you couldn’t find a better way of commenting than basically saying, “I hate everything you wrote here, and now I will proceed to be a jerk and point it out in the meanest way I can possibly think of.” What do you do for an author by leaving such a comment? I’ll tell you one thing you do; you demotivate that author, to the point that they might really give up their story or give up writing entirely. Even though they could’ve gotten better with practice and improved in time! You didn’t do anyone any favors by leaving that comment there. If you read a story and have such a strong urge to comment on the flaws of it, at least write it in a way that would be helpful to the author, but doesn’t entirely destroy their confidence (You can do it. I know you can do it! I believe in you!).
And I won’t even bring out the ‘Have you ever tried writing anything?’ argument, because it doesn’t even matter! You can be Stephen King, J.R.R.Tolkien and Haruki Murakami all rolled into one – it doesn’t change the fact that you sound like an asshole when you don’t need to sound like an asshole!
So to conclude this one-page rant before it becomes too long…What I’m saying is; Don’t.be.a douche.