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

[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::