Reading, writing...and feedback.

[foxmonkey]

A couple of days ago I asked: If you write fic, do you read it as well? Not as strange a question as it sounds, but you'll have to go to the post to see why.

pjordha had an interesting response, and has graciously allowed me to use it for this post. Her comment:

I'll add to that question: If you write fic, do you read it as well...and send feedback after reading it?

So many times I've seen people talking about reading so much fic, and yet so many writers get so *little* feedback, so the math does not add up. If there's so much reading and enjoying going on, where's the feedback?

When I read something I like, I send feedback, even if it's only a "great story!", even if it's not entirely true. If I hate something, then I wouldn't send feedback, but nowadays I wouldn't bother finishing something I hated.

Sometimes I think writers (at least in popslash) are the worst for sending feedback. Either that or they only read the "popular" stuff. Readers-only or writers just starting out are much better at sending feedback in my experience.

Look at it this way: When a writer sees comments like "I read everything in XYZ fandom...save the really bad stuff," and that writer has written fic in XYZ fandom and never gotten any kind of feedback from those commenters, then they must only conclude that their fanfic is "the really bad stuff." Which is probably kind of demoralizing, I think.

The short answer: I'll be the first to admit that I don't send nearly enough feedback, but I'm making an effort now to let authors know that I love and/or like what they've done.

And just to play devil's advocate here, I've known writers who aren't enthusiastic about "great story!" responses. Since I don't know if that means they'd rather have had no feedback at all, I won't elaborate. Just tossing that out there as the flipside of the coin. ;-)

Thoughts?

By the way, pjordha's original comment is screened to encourage responses here. :-)

Comments

[foxmonkey.livejournal.com]

When I comment, I like to say only things I mean, so you can see why it's better if I don't comment to every story.

Same here. I can't send feedback for something that I'm not crazy about.

"I enjoyed the plot, but it's 'was standing', never *ever* 'was stood' and if you won't grasp this I may cry," so I just sail on.

I've seen this, people offering extensive crit in comments, and I'm thinking, yikes! Email seems like the more polite way to offer such comments, but maybe I'm just behind the times. ;-)

Granted, a beta beforehand is the sensible thing to do, so bad on ya for not doing that in the first place, but I can't imagine clicking a comment link thinking it's going to be feedback and finding a laundry list of your mistakes hanging out there. ::shudders::

[quiet000001.livejournal.com]

The only time I feel okay offering critical comments in feedback is when it's something which seems unexpected for the author- misuse of one word when everything else is good, or something that could easily be either a typo or an overexcited spellchecker, that kind of thing. (Or a misspelling of a name which isn't spelled in the standard way- "I loved this. It was a really interesting premise and the flow pulled me right in. (Btw, in the script/credits/on the offical webpage, Michael is spelled Mychael. I don't know if you want to change that, but I thought I'd mention it because canon uses a weird spelling.)")

[foxmonkey.livejournal.com]

The only time I feel okay offering critical comments in feedback is when it's something which seems unexpected for the author- misuse of one word when everything else is good, or something that could easily be either a typo or an overexcited spellchecker, that kind of thing.

I agree. "Feedback" that's mostly a list of missed words, shift changes, etc.? Put it in email. Some would say that if you put something out without checking it first, you deserve to have your head served to you on a platter. I'd rather be polite than righteous. ;-)

[foxmonkey.livejournal.com]

missed words, shift changes, etc.?

Tense shifts. ::headdesk::

[stungunbilly.livejournal.com]

See? I'm being so good, not doing that. I own my grammar issues!
But I do like to comment on something that moves me. Usually I share the sort of thing I'd like to know; how a story made the reader feel, what about it made them think, what they thought I was saying between the lines. In some ways, there's never any right answer about the meaning of a work, but it's cool to find out what you've communicated, ideas or emotions.
I wish I had a magic 8-ball that would tell me if the writer would want to hear my thoughts or not. But I just guess they probably do and type, which. Gah, feels so vulnerable when you really loved something, y'know?

[foxmonkey.livejournal.com]

Gah, feels so vulnerable when you really loved something, y'know?

Yes. I've never, ever been good at critical analysis. I can tell you what did or didn't work for me, what I loved or hated, but please, don't ask me about how the cigar on the fourth page foreshadowed the recurring themes of friggin' WHATEVER that appear in chapters 24-27. Aiiiii!

My professors wanted to kill me. ;-) I'd turn in these perfectly succint, to-the-point paragraphs when I was supposed to write two-three pages of crit because OH MY GOD, kill me now. It's like pulling teeth or fingernails. I can swoon all day and quote the stuff I like, but paragraphs on sentence structure and word choices? I mean, I can do it but there aren't any guarantees that it'll make sense. ;-)

I think that's partly why I used to feel so awkward leaving feedback sometimes, because I'd think that certain individuals *cough*BNFs*cough* were used to headier stuff, and would most likely think my fannish ramblings sound pretty stupid; my lines of squee looked pretty stupid in comparison with more structured comments. It can be intimidating!

Now I'm over it. I write from the heart, write about what I loved, what worked for me, and I'm fine with it. I've become comfortable with my crit envy, and own my issues proudly!

Wow. Rambly. ;-)