Part 2 of this week-end's rousing posts.

If you feel the desire to become a reviewing reader after reading the last
post (which is an excellent and welcome turn of events), but that you think
that you don't know how to write it and that writers will not like what you
write to them, read what follows. It will demystify what the word 'feedback'
really means for the people who crave it in return of their writing and
sharing activities.

Basically, feedback is a free mean to tell the writers what you liked, loved,
and didn't like in their works. It doesn't have to be a novel, or as well
written as the stories that you enjoy. It simply has to 'be' and to be sent to
the writer.

Therefore, feedback can be a one-liner of three words, and it is still a
review.

Of course, the longer the feedback (more than one line), the more useful it is
to the writers because most of them are not only looking for praise. Instead,
they are eager to hear your comments especially because only you can tell them
what you liked and didn't like in their stories, what you really enjoyed and
what you think needs improvement, didn't match or had you frowning.

Once again, though, such feedback don't have to be extremely long. Just two or
three paragraphs (two lines each) will do the trick, not to mention make the
day of the writer.

Your comments can be about either:
- the ideas expressed in the chapter or the fic
- your emotions while you were reading it
- the quality of the characterizations (in character or out-of-character
(OOC))
- the quality of the writing (flawless, awesome, great, need some work,
need a beta for the grammar, the verb tenses, the punctuation, etc.)
- the realism of the events vs the movies and the official material out
there

As for pointing out elements that need improvement, one pleasant way to do for
both you and the writer is to use the rule of the hamburger ;P

Postive
Improvement possible
Positive

For example: I loved your intriguing ideas and characterizations, but your
sentence structure made it a little bit difficult for me to enjoy them
thoroughly (mostly in regards to the wrong usage of punctuation). However,
this story definitely has potential and I hope you'll keep writing it ;P I'm
curious to know what will happen next ;P



As for fics that you enjoyed, remember that you can express a range of
emotions through adjectives (nice, good, very good, great, terrific, awesome,
addictive, superb, flawless, etc.) and verbs (I liked, I loved, I adored,
etc.). The same thing is through about the things you liked less (uncertain,
confused, disappointed, etc.) (disagree, dislike, etc.) while remaining in
constructive territory.

Other words that can be used to express other types of emotions are:

Hooked
Charmed
Worried
Shocked
Cute
Romantic
Afraid
Terrified
Sweet
Nice
Wow
Bravo!
Applaud
Impressive
Impressed
Creative
Well-developed
Gorgeous
Beautiful
Awwww
Neat
Lovely
(Etc.)


On the other hand, words and attitudes to avoid are:

Direct attacks on the writer as a person
You suck
You shouldn't have written this
Waste of my time
That was not SW
The worst I've ever read (or one of the worse)
Etc.

Those are flames because they don't help the writer to improve his/her
weaknesses; they are only expressed to vent about the lack of fun that the
reader experienced… and that is not how constructive criticism is handled
because first and foremost, no one ever twists your arm to read a fic, and
second, the writer is a human and feeling person just as you and I and should
be respected as such (thus showed a certain level of courtesy and good
manners).


Finally, it is perfectly understandable that preferences will not always be
met by this or that story, but sometimes (like in a group), it is better to
say so at least once instead of never replying because that way, the writer
will know that the lack of feedback is at least not due to his/her writing
talents or the quality of his/her story. Preferences vary, and that's a fact.


So, with that being said, on with the reviews; there are plenty of stories in
the group (and the web) to comment on, and remember that reading and reviewing
an average-length post at the group takes a total of half-an-hour, or less… So
time is not 'that' much of an issue unless you're trying to catch up with
multi-poster stories… but then, if you remain silent, those stories might
never get completed per lack of encouragements in the first place… so just
think about that before remaining a lurker, huh?


Now, let's all have fun reading and reviewing fics :)
Love
The Mod team XXX