On reviews.

[icarus]

These days I'm not very good about reviewing stories I read. I have a tendency to just stick them on a rec-list and make my contribution that way.

Should One Reply To Reviews?
When I reviewed my first story, the author graciously got back to me about a week later. (I think it was keelywolfe but don't quote me on that.)

I was surprised because I hadn't expected a reply. I figured emailing the author was like sending a letter to the editor: into the Abyss, but at least you expressed your feelings. I wrote detailed reviews in the early days, several paragraphs (sometimes pages) of con-crit - and always sent a direct email as I wasn't about to critique a story publicly.

One author updated her abandoned fic with two or three chapters in response. Reviews really do have an impact.

It was so gratifying to hear from the author that I resolved to reply to every review I received, especially when I learned that not everyone did. It seemed... mannerly. I also found that once someone replied to my review I felt warmly about them and their stories.

Yes, I'm definitely in the camp that feels it's best to reply.

Must One Reply To Reviews?
Here's where I grow a little uncomfortable with the "respond to reviews or else" camp, people who feel not replying is the height of rudeness and deserving of punitive action up to ten years suspension of review privileges with internment in little cages where the author is required to produce fic on bread and water.

The division of labor between writer and reviewer is a tad disproportionate.

Writer:

30 minutes-to-an-hour to plot story
3-5 hours writing rough draft
45 minutes begging for betas
2-3 hours of rewrites on drafts
30 minutes of coding for website
Provide story free of charge, with maybe 10% leaving any sort of feedback

Total: 6.5 - 10 hours of writing time.

Reviewer:

30 minutes to read and enjoy story
5 minutes to reply and review
(Bearing in mind I used to spend upwards of an hour on my con-crit reviews)

Being angry that the writer "didn't do enough" by not replying strikes me as unreasonable.

I'm reminded of myself in high school when my parents drove me an hour and a half to a school event after working full 8-hour days -- and I blew my stack because I couldn't go to my friends' party afterward. Pretty darned selfish, but I took my parents for granted and expected to be catered to.

Now most of us are more mature than I was at 15, and can see the inequity.

Strategies To Get Replies To Reviews
If it is important to you to have people reply to your reviews, then I believe in being pro-active. There are strategies to *poke* the author into replying.

Personal emails.
The truth is, especially with Big Important Authors, the personal touch counts. Take the extra few seconds to look up their email instead of simply clicking reply in an archive. That way they're getting the review from you and not fanfiction.net. There's a reason salespeople introduce themselves. People connect with a name.

Shotgun reviews.
Nothing says "I'm a devoted fan" like five reviews from the same person in a single afternoon. Very few people do this, but repetition works. The downside is that the author will often reply to several reviews in one email, but they will remember your name. (Hi Mathilda!) Yes, there's that name thing again.

Size matters.
Authors eagerly open their reviews and while a one-liner is appreciated, there's nothing like a satisfying paragraph or two. The shortest review I ever received was:

:). (I think I replied with: ;))

Interestingly, if your review is very long and loaded with valuable insights you can expect a delayed response as the author thinks about it. Then you're in danger of being consigned to the Drafts Folder -- (Icarus dodges food and things thrown by writers) -- but it's not that I want to discourage Mega-reviews. Hell no! It's just a hazard.

Depth matters.
A layered response comparing the author's story to Dante's Inferno and Ursula K. LeGuin, puzzling about the socio-political structure implied, will make an author think. It leaves an actual opening for conversation. Compare that to the next review that says, "Hee hee! I liked it. You hit all my kinks." That's a conversation killer. Imagine yourself at a party and someone says that. Wh-what can you say? A pat, "Gosh, I'm glad you liked it." Meanwhile, the person who mentioned LeGuin has left a door open. Whose email gets the faster reply?

Pissing the author off.
If you don't care about quality and just want a reaction, a nasty shot of accurate con-crit (emphasis on the crit) seasoned with just enough positive feedback to not be classified a troll will very often provoke a swift reply. Be sure to spell everything accurately, use punctuation that would make your English teacher smile, and ten-dollar words also help. You might get a response so fast scorch-marks are left on your couch. I don't recommend it, I hate negative reviews, but if you don't care about rewarding and encouraging the author and replies are your only goal, this is your best bet.

And that's the real question, isn't it? Why review?

Is the goal to get a reply, or is it to encourage the author? If it's primarily the latter, why be angry and punitive when you don't get that response?

A Final Word Of Caution
If someone doesn't reply to your review, don't assume you know why. There could have been a death in the family. They could have had a computer crash and had Outlook wiped. Your review might've just gotten buried in their in-box. Or a reply is sitting in their drafts folder and the author is feeling a little silly because it's been there for three months.

You can count on the fact that all reviews are read. And they are appreciated. That's a given.

Comments

[swtalmnd]

Strictly for livejournal, because of course in email you can't tell one way or the other, if I see an author with tons of comments who hasn't bothered to reply to a single one (assuming it's been at least a day or two since the fic was posted), or one who (with older fics) stopped replying to comments after the first few, or worst of all replies only to those comments they feel are worthy of reply, then 99.9% of the time I won't be bothered to comment.

I know, as a writer, that fic takes a lot of work. I also know that replying to comments takes about 1-2 minutes per comment at the very most, with the exception of thinky comments that can take longer but also deserve the extra time, so unless someone is such a BNF that they get 12 pages of comments in the first hour, I don't really have much sympathy for the time ratio above. Plus, if someone's that much of a BNF, my own comment-laziness comes in -- I rarely reply to any post with more than 2 pages of comments, fic or discussion.

A final note, to put things in perspective, though I reply to 99% of my comments and emailed reviews, I probably comment or review 1% of the fic I read, and get comments from 0.01% or less of the people who visit my website. So, pretty much, I'm lazy and yet, still have no sympathy for laziness in others ;)

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

I knew this might provoke some irritated responses. *sigh*

The trouble I have here is that there seems to be an assumption as to the person's motives for not replying. No reply = arrogance. Therefore the angry irritated response.

Maybe that's true. But it's not necessarily true. I suspect that RL plays a large role in how people keep up in replying to comments and reviews.

Even if that's true, is the goal to encourage the author? (It sounds like it is, or else why decide that three pages of comments don't need to become four?) If that's the goal, then what does it matter if you get a reply?

Icarus

[swtalmnd]

I'm sorry, it wasn't meant to be irritated, more just honest.

I don't get angry when people don't reply to my comments -- usually I forget about them about 10 seconds after leaving them, unless it's someone I know, in which case I usually know why they haven't replied, be it a real excuse (RL business, etc) or general lameness ;) I just don't bother to comment to people where I can see from their pattern that they can't be bothered to reply to me.

Also, I will freely admit that the "pages of comments" issue is pure fannish jealousy -- I've never once gone over 2 pages of comments on a story, so I feel childish, petty envy for others who do. Ah, the life of a fan, 32 years old and still annoyed that Peggy Sue got more Valentines in her handmade basket than I did ;)

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

I'm "fire and forget" when it comes to most feedback, and comments. Sometimes there's an author that I really fangirl, in which case I'm hoping for a response. But that's almost never the case.

Once I had a review that sat in my folder for... oh, I won't admit how long... I lost all moral high ground for demanding people reply immediately to my reviews.

Also, I will freely admit that the "pages of comments" issue is pure fannish jealousy --

I feel so silly that I get that kind of jealousy, too. I start rationalizing it, "well, they've got X number of stories they've posted in X places, and they're rec'd by X, so if I did all of that..."

Voila. I convince myself that pages of comments are within reach and it's just a matter of jumping the through the right hoops and some hard work. *firm nod*

Icarus

[millefiori.livejournal.com]

is the goal to encourage the author? .... If that's the goal, then what does it matter if you get a reply?

I know you didn't ask me this, but I want to answer -- for me part of the goal is to encourage the author, but another part is to make a connection with the author, to start a discussion about the story. For me that's what sharing fanfic is all about. Because of this, I tend to feel rebuffed/rejected if an overture is met with silence. I try not to get irritated or angry (because I don't know why they didn't reply), but I can't help feeling that future attempts to connect with that particular writer would be a waste of my time.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

for me part of the goal is to encourage the author, but another part is to make a connection with the author, to start a discussion about the story. For me that's what sharing fanfic is all about. Because of this, I tend to feel rebuffed/rejected if an overture is met with silence.

Ah, in that case a completely reasonable response. And no doubt your review reflects that, opens at least one topic for discussion.

One time someone was replying to comments in their LJ in a way that skipped over the people she didn't know and only answered her friends. That irritated me because it in effect shut people out. I felt quite ignored in that instance.

Icarus

[millefiori.livejournal.com]

And no doubt your review reflects that, opens at least one topic for discussion.

Well, I *hope* so! When I really love a story/writer I find myself trying to walk a line between eager/enthusiastic and stalkerish. My response to anything I like is to want MORE, and I don't want to be rude or demanding or in any way imply that the story as is wasn't pleasing, you know?

One time someone was replying to comments in their LJ in a way that skipped over the people she didn't know and only answered her friends.

That's just rude. I'm a lot like miladyhawke below in that my fannish interaction with a writer strongly colors my enjoyment of his/her stories. It seems both irrational and unfair to let that sway how I feel about someone's writing, but it happens anyway.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Most of my fandom friendships have begun with reviews. I started writing Percy largely because of a discussion I had reviewing cursive's Tawdry Romance Story. It eventually led to playing Percy opposite her Ron in the Dungeons and then I was completely hooked.

Icarus

[dancing-moon.livejournal.com]

Well, especially in lj I often fnid myself give the little "Nice fic" "Oh wow, hot stuff!" reviews. And what should the author say to that...? There's not much really. So I assume that they have read it (unless lj frizzes up again and eats comments or such) smiled and gone on with their day. Hopefully to write more neat stuff which is enough to make me happy

[amireal.livejournal.com]

I have to step in here and say a quick word. I am one of those authors that can get 4 or 5 pages in livejournal alone to my stories. And there are so many reasons why it takes as long as it does to get back to it all.

For one, I occassionaly post just as I'm about to have a busy weekend or go away. In fact, I do that a lot, so often I can only check in for a quick read and respond immediately to quick fixes within the story that I and my beta missed.

For another, on a personal level, after I post a 20,000 word story (which I have to say skews the post's cost/time analysis) I've just spent upwards of 50 hours, not including editing and posting my story. I feel creatively drained, the thought of writing an email, *any* email at that point is enough to make me whimper in fear.

Thirdly, yeah possibly the average is 1 - 2 minutes per. But it's not always the truth, and espeically in livejournal there's this compulsion to at least vary the responses a litte, reply to the actual words the person sent you and generally not sound like a flight attendant on crack. The time adds up and is creatively draining as well and often can be a bit numbing, when in relation to replying to all those one line replies and time consuming when replying to the longer ones that require thought.

So possibly I sound like i'm making excuses. I don't really mean to, what I want to illustrate is that there are a lot of real life reasons that can get in the way. I do try, I actively troll my fic journal in the older stories to make sure they're all covered and I have folders and gmail tags for the unanswered stuff. But sometimes it really is just that hard to do it in what the reviewer might feel is a timely manner.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

I feel creatively drained, the thought of writing an email, *any* email at that point is enough to make me whimper in fear.

Thank you. Exactly. That's a very good point. The numbers mean something. They mean work. They mean time squeezed between RL responsibilities and nights where you're up till 3am, editing a problematic scene. The run right up to when you actually post a story is usually the most time-intensive. You post it, and then *whew* slump in a chair.

I deliberately used the time involved for your typical 4,000 word short story because that seems to be the most common length, and I didn't want to overstate things. But it took me six weeks to write 60,000 words in Harry Potter and then there was the beta process, which, given her availability, took almost three months. There were a lot more reviews for a longer story.

Naturally the longer the story, the more likely it makes a splash if it's good. Those are the ones that rack up the reviews. The ones that took the most out of you.

Also, what happens is a geometric progression of reviews. You don't have an arithmetic progression, a steady one-plus-one increase as people get to know your work and are more likely to review "bigger" stories (in every sense of the word). It's geometric.

People like the "big" story, so at the same time they read your other stories, and review those -- so with individuals you have a sudden doubling of reviews.

(This is great by the way, but when you're already wiped, a little daunting....)

Then, because of the "big" story, it gets rec'd. So people who'd never heard of you show up. That thriples to quintiples the response.

Then there's the sheep effect: once you're rec'd in one place, you're likely to be rec'd in two others (recs tend to work on the buddy system). The rec'ing may stop there. Or, the story might go up to the next level and... what do you think that level is? A total of four places? Oh no, it fans out. The next level is six or seven places, after that, ten, after that... suddenly four or five pages of reviews make sense.

Again, wonderful, but again, overwhelming.

In SGA it seems to get big really fast. A story that in SG-1 would only see 20 reviews in SGA will have three pages. I'm not sure why that is.

Part of it's the organization of SGA, with sga_newsletter and sga_noticeboard.

Part of it is because it's a new show, so there isn't, compared to ten years of Harry Potter stories, a Lot of fiction yet.

Part of it is that SGA is hot.

Part of it is the fact it's drawing on an existing fanbase of SG-1 writers so it didn't have to ramp up, while at the same time it was growing it's own fans.

Part of it is the fact that SGA fans just seem to be pretty good about leaving reviews.

Part of it is that a lot of well-known writers from other fandoms are bringing their entourages with them. I understand there are a lot of the X-Files writers in SGA, certainly I see quite few HP writers.

What was my point again? Oh yeah, lots of reviews. Yeah, lots.

But sometimes it really is just that hard to do it in what the reviewer might feel is a timely manner.

Timely manner? Oh, hee. I didn't even address that because you can pretty count on it taking me a week to reply to reviews.

Icarus

[amireal.livejournal.com]

SGA does have a lot of the high volume writers/reccers/readers. It's got names popping up that I recognize as The Fan To Know, or The Writer To Read from other fandoms I've been in, so I think that does make a difference yes.

And you know I don't actually expect a reply to my own feedback, possibly because I'm aware of just what can go on in RL and also what *can* you say to "OMG I loved that!". Like I said, you beging to feel like a demented flight attendant.

I'm woefully behind on the non LJ stuff as well, it's just I'm either writing, recovering from writing, OMG SO BUSY WITH REAL LIFE I WANT TO WEEP, or replying to feedback.

Only think is more often than not the actual writing and real life tend to take over. Someone once told me that they'd prefer I spent my time and energy on writing fic than replying to their feednback. Because that person understood there was only a finite amount of 'everything' to go around.

I finish a 20,000 word story and I always say to myself "Self, writing break now, before you curl into a feotal ball and whimper for cookies". Alas, self rarely listens and not 3 days later I am already deep into another fic that was Not Supposed to be That Long.

I guess it's not a nice thing to say I prioritize, but I am going to say that between responding to every 3 word feedback and writing more stories, I'm going to pick writing every time.