A question for reviewers...

So... I have a question.

You read a fic. You leave a constructive and generous review pointing out flaws, giving advice, even grammatical solutions. This user instead of accepting, begins to back track, put up a defensive wall, and give nothing but excuses. They never change anything, instead they just say you are being harsh and being mean. When instead you took your own time to try to leave them advice. This happens with any form of criticism.

We've all seen this.

In your experience as a reviewer, what is the best way to deal with defensive writers? How can we, as writers, learn to accept criticism better? What is a good review in the first place? What do you expect from writers and reviewers both?

Good criticism should be specific and constructive. I'm not going to name names but I've submitted to a lot of literary journals and, as far as I'm concerned, there should be only two types of responses:

(1) We're rejecting your work for specific reasons X, Y and Z.
(2) We're rejecting your work without saying why because we don't have the time.

What really pissed me off with one journal who responded was that they attempted to take a third option by attempting to do a (1) when they clearly weren't willing or able to put the effort in. They should have just given me a (2) but instead what they said was "it could be more subtle and less ostentatious".

Holy fuck, because, as a poet, those aren't two things I'm constantly trying to balance in every single poem I freaking write. What makes it unsubtle? What makes it ostentatious?

(1) is ideal. (2) is less-than-ideal, but still better than that crap. At the point where I'm presenting a final draft of something for consideration, I want specific problems with it. Tell me the premise is wrong, tell me I'm writing from the wrong perspective, tell me I've used the wrong word in this one particular sentence, but don't tell me "it seems a bit off" or "some of your language is bad". Tell me what's off about it! Tell me the language choices that are bad!

If you're dealing with a really sensitive writer who gets defensive about criticism, give them a compliment sandwich. Start with something good, then put your entire piece of criticism in the middle, and then end with something good. If the writer still gets defensive, it's their own damn fault for not listening and keeping their writing horrible.

If they're not interested in taking your advice, all there really is to do is shrug and walk away. Write one response when they get defensive, maybe, explaining that you're trying to help them and responding to any hasty excuses made, but if they're adamant they don't care what you have to say, insisting on arguing it with them anyway is both a waste of your time and pretty pushy and rude.

Phantom said:

So... I have a question.

You read a fic. You leave a constructive and generous review pointing out flaws, giving advice, even grammatical solutions. This user instead of accepting, begins to back track, put up a defensive wall, and give nothing but excuses. They never change anything, instead they just say you are being harsh and being mean. When instead you took your own time to try to leave them advice. This happens with any form of criticism.

We've all seen this.

In your experience as a reviewer, what is the best way to deal with defensive writers? How can we, as writers, learn to accept criticism better? What is a good review in the first place? What do you expect from writers and reviewers both?

Click to expand...

If your review is about you feeling good about yourself, rather than you wanting the author to keep being good or to be better, then you should probably reexamine what you're doing.

The writer doesn't owe you a damn thing. If they react poorly to your review, either apologise if you were being a jerk or walk away. And do look back and consider the possibility you were being a jerk, since while it's quite possible they're reacting badly because their work is an extension of their self, the longer your review is when you're pointing out flaws, the more likely you're going to come off as either nitpicky or showing off.

Don't leave comments asking when the next update is; don't leave comments going BUT WHY DIDN'T YOU PAY ATTENTION TO MY OTHER COMMENT; don't keep replying to people bad at spellcheck or at written grammar conventions about that if they don't want you to.

It's good to point out the good bits as well as the bad when reviewing, and neat things you caught, but I think it matters more that you keep in mind that they're not doing this for you and they don't owe you anything. Even if it's gift fic and it actually is partly for you, they still don't owe you anything. Try not to be an entitled jerk.