mypatronusisacupcake aka jesrod82 aka JesWithOneEss (Yeah, us fanfic writers have to have skin like iron, right? lol)
I just had a conversation about this via PM with a reviewer who tends to leave pretty negative reviews. I wish reviewers (especially those who do not write themselves) would realize that it’s not that authors get their “feelings hurt”. I like it when people spend time analyzing characters and I don’t mind criticism. It’s just nice to know what people particularly enjoyed or something they thought was well done. This reviewer used the excuse ’I bet JKR got a lot of crap’. Her argument was that JKR kept writing because she has a passion for it like most fanfic authors. I carefully pointed out that she got paid. Reviews are our only form of payment. We write because we love to, yes. I started Australia and wrote about 100 pages before I thought about posting it up. I’ve been overwhelmed by the reviews, both good and bad. I just don’t understand how people can’t see that they can couch criticism in positive statements too. I don’t mind criticism. I teach high school. I’ve got thick skin. You won’t please everyone. I realize that even if its a criticism, the person obviously cared enough to leave a review. All I was trying to do was offer an explanation for why authors probably got snippy with her all the time, but it fell on deaf ears. Apparently, the fault lies all with us authors, you know the ones who write for fun, for their own pleasure and other people’s enjoyment?
Okay, end rant.
(via tenpointstohufflepuff)
Haha, as a general rule I don’t respond to reviewers like that - the buzzkills who ONLY speak up when they have something negative to say - because I like focusing on comments from readers who are actually ENJOYING what I’m writing. I don’t mind criticisms either (really, I’m a critical reader myself) & I even agree with them sometimes, but I have no tolerance for jerks. We’re doing this for fun, end of story. If you wanna get worked up over a piece of fiction and rant at an author, why not save it for the professionals who are getting PAID? (Oh, yeah, they’re not as easy “targets” because there’s not a review box at the end of every damn chapter of a published novel.)