Dealing with Criticism: Authors and Reviewers · 1:52am Dec 24th, 2014
In this blog post I'll be going over my experiences after two years with giving and receiving criticism, and what to do and not to do on both ends of the spectrum. Right after the break.
A lot of this should be common sense, but time and time again the users of this site prove that it isn't. So, from me to you, my beautiful followers, I give you the gift of knowledge this Christmas. How not to end having everyone looking at you like this when people start voicing their opinions:
and you end up being all:
How to Deal with Criticism as an Author:
1. Recognizing the difference
First thing's first, you need to know how to recognize the difference between helpful criticism, and someone who is just trying to insult you. If you've gained some sort of following (especially as a clop writer) users who comment just to try to insult you are just a sad fact of life around here, but I see way too many authors who try to disregard actual criticism because it somehow offended them.
Here is the major difference: Someone who is just out to bring you down is going to put very little effort into their comment, and it's going to consist of nothing but pretty much insults, and it's going to look something like this:
Holy: 
See how they said absolutely nothing about what was actually in the story? There was no specific complaint, just "your story is bad".
On the other hand, people who actually want to help you are going to point out specific problems in your story that they took the time to read through and remember for you. These comments are typically going to be a lot longer, and are going to outline legitimate problem areas that are holding your prose back. These comments look more like this:
Holy: 
See how this person told me exactly what they thought was wrong and how they would fix it? This is probably the best kind of negative criticism you can get.
I outline the difference between the two because a lot of people tend to try to hide behind the shield of "it's just criticism" when it really isn't. There are obviously in-betweens for both of these, and after a few hundred comments you will definitely be able to tell who is there to help you and who just wants to hurt you. Even some shorter comments that might seem like insults can be helpful. Just because someone called you a few names doesn't mean a specific point he made about the story could be invalidated. Even if it is mean, there may be a reason you made them feel that way, and if they bothered to leave that reason it might just be worth looking into. So don't ever completely disregard a comment just because it hurt your feelings. Try to look beyond that.
2. Do not retaliate with anger
How you deal with either of these comments is pretty simple. First of all NEVER DELETE COMMENTS. Time and time again, all this typically results in is an absolute shitstorm. It doesn't matter how badly you want to keep your comments section clear of "trolls", people are not going to respond well. It will only ever make you look bad in the end.
Never ever ever respond with an angry, sarcastic, or otherwise hurtful or mean comment to these users. It doesn't matter if they went into drastic detail about how bad of a person you are; never reciprocate their bad behavior by giving them attention. This is true tenfold for actual reviews. Someone who wrote a full-fledged review for you is only trying to help. They put in a lot of time for you to try to help you get better as an author. Being a dick to them is just a big slap in the face for them trying to be kind enough to go into that much detail for your sake. They put a lot of effort into these reviews sometimes, and you should be nothing but thankful.
I know how hard it can be sometimes when someone is being a dick to you to not give them a snide comeback, but just abstain. I can guarantee it will work out better in the end. Arguments will be avoided and everyone will have a much better time in your comments section. Simply ignore any hate directed your way. It might be hard at first but you will definitely thank me in the end. For repeat offenders that really get under your skin, there's a block button for a reason.
3. Always be polite and appreciative
What goes around comes around: smile edition
When you do respond to negative criticism, always be polite to your reviewer. I can't tell you how many times my reviews have been met by anger, sadness, comment removals, and just generally upsetting the author when there wasn't a trace of an insult in the entire thing. Please realize that not everyone is out to get you. Like I said, writing a review takes a lot of effort to do right, and to make sure you've outlined all possible problems and fixes. Having all that effort wasted because the author doesn't take it into consideration in the slightest is just rude, and generally bad for your public image. It's always a good idea to give an honest "thank you for the feedback" to someone who put that kind of work in for you. If you do respond kindly to someone who gave you a review, they'll be that much more inclined to give you another one.
4. Leave your ego at the door
Author pls no
I will admit, I am sort of guilty of not following this step sometimes. Getting a really harsh review is a humbling experience, and you should never brush it off as someone just trying to bring you down. I'll revert back to the previous step and say you should always give anyone who bothered to write a lengthy review for you an honest thank you.
I'll be the first to admit that I'm horrible at not consistently responding to my comments, just know that I truly appreciate every single one I get.
But more on this step: never think someone is just "missing out on your genius". Nothing enrages me more as a reviewer than seeing people shrug off honest feedback with the mindset that those people are just not seeing the magic behind their work. There's one particularly popular author that is horrible about this that I'm sure most of you know about. Don't be that guy. Accept criticism with dignity and humility without fail. Realizing your faults and improving on them will make you a much better author, and will benefit you far better in the long run rather than trying to discredit criticism because you had this unrealistically high view of your work. You're never as good as you think you are.
And here's a tl;dr in big bold letters for those of you who want the spark notes:
Not everyone is trying to insult you. Know the difference.
Don't disregard criticism because it hurt your feelings. You'll never get better like that.
NEVER DELETE COMMENTS.
Never be a dick to your commentators. Some of them worked hard to try to help you.
Always reply to a review politely thanking them.
Don't get a big head about your stories. They aren't above criticism. You're never as good as you think you are.
I think that about wraps up the author side of things. Don't think you're getting out of this that easily though, reviewers; just because you go in with the pretense of helping doesn't mean you get a free pass to say whatever you want however you want.
How to Give Criticism Properly:
Average fimfic reviewer: 3/10 stop writing
1. Keep it constructive
Rainbow demonstrates improper comment technique
I don't care how bad the story is, don't be a dick. This one should be obvious, yet I still constantly see reviews where the reviewer does nothing but rail on the author the entire time, focusing more on the finesse of delivering an insult than actually helping. I know it's fun to write, I know it's fun to read, but at the end of the day you've discouraged the author more than you've helped them.
For those of you who've actually seen my reviews, you'll notice there isn't a single insult in the entire thing. I will never outright say a story is shit, because I believe anything can have potential. Saying straight up that a story is just low quality is not helpful. If you truly want to help, refrain from just saying it's shit. Tell them exactly why you thought it was lacking in detail every step of the way without throwing insults at the author. I know how much some of you love to do this, but if you really want to help, keep it to a minimum or cut it out entirely.
Show, don't tell. As with every other aspect of writing, show the author what was bad, don't just tell him that his story was shit.
2. Say what was wrong, and how to fix it
As a rule in my reviews, I always try to suggest a method of fixing a problem. Being a horrible teacher means not giving your students room to improve. Marking something wrong and simply leaving nothing but an x is not helpful in the slightest. Putting a note of what to do about it next time is. I can't tell you how frustrating it is to look over a review, understand what I did wrong, but having absolutely no idea in the slightest about how to fix it. Be ready to elaborate if something isn't clear enough. If you're criticizing someone on something, you should know how to do it better yourself, or at least have some sort of suggestion for them. At the very least point them to a resource that does it better. Even if you can't pinpoint exactly how to fix it, giving them a chance to try to better understand the subject is better than nothing. This could be another story, a writing guide, etc.
3. Accept what you can't change
I know the idea may be preposterous to some of you, but some authors just don't want help. I've met a lot of people who look at reviews and just shrug it off to never think about it again. All they want is something positive to keep motivating them. They don't want to get better, they just want to do it for fun and for the positive feedback they get from it. Some of you might sneer at the idea, but get over it; if never improving and writing at that level makes them happy, leave them to it. Writing review after review for them to try to make them see the error of their ways is only a waste of time on your part.
There are also authors that are beyond helping, and I hate to admit this. I always try to help an author in need, but sometimes you just have to throw in the towel and realize that you just aren't getting through. Sometimes these people are "that guy" who think their work is a master piece and hate the very idea of you not liking it, so brush you off, and sometimes these people just don't take what you say into consideration. You can write a hundred reviews detailing the exact same problems and some people will never catch on, yet still seem polite and thankful. These are the hardest to let go on, because it seems like you're always helping, yet they never actually make any improvement. You just have to realize you're wasting your time, and move on to others more willing to accept what you might have to say.
4. Don't just be negative
You call this writing?! Are you five?!
I'll be the first to admit that I'm a hard guy to impress when it comes to writing sometimes. In some stories I'll have a hard time finding something nice to say about it, and sometimes there won't be anything at all. You still need to at least try to say what strengths an author has over their weaknesses. It's true that some writers need to work a lot more on their weaknesses rather than try to constantly play to their strengths, but when you're nothing but negative to an author, it can be discouraging to them.
Just try to tell them some aspect of it that you liked and that they should keep doing. Don't lie to them though. If there's truly nothing you liked about a story, don't make something up just for the sake of the author's feelings. I know it may seem harsh, but if a story is truly that bad, and you really want to help, giving them false feedback about their story is going to hurt a lot more than it helps.
At the end of every review, I also try to be as encouraging as possible. The review could have ripped the story to shreds, but tells the author to keep trying and keep writing if they really enjoy it in the end. Doing nothing but discouraging someone helps nothing; all you're doing is killing potential.
5. Know your stuff
This one should be obvious, but I'm going to say it anyway. Know what you're doing before you go in and tell someone they're doing it wrong. If you don't know the basics of spelling and grammar and you go in and try to help someone just as lost as you, nothing good is going to come out of it. They say two heads are better than one, but if neither of you know what you're doing not much is going to get accomplished.
Sure, you can definitely criticize something for being poor quality without fully understanding it solely on your level of enjoyment, but you aren't going to be able to help someone to the fullest extent if you can't tell them how to fix it.
For example, I see tons of people throw around points like OOC, or being rushed, or being just all around poor writing without actually knowing what they're talking about. Not to say these criticisms have no basis whatsoever, but I hardly ever see many people say how to fix it or where it happens, just a general "you fucked this up" with nothing else.
So do some research, brush up on your writing rules, and read a few guides before you break out your reviewing pen. That could be the difference between actually helping and leading the author on a wild goose chase.
Here's your tl;dr in big bold letters for all my critics out there:
Don't be a dick. Keep all of your criticism constructive and helpful.
Show the author what was wrong, don't just tell him it was bad.
Always give them a way to fix it if at all possible.
Some authors just don't want your help. Accept it.
Be encouraging. Even if the story is terrible.
Have an idea of what you're talking about. Don't bring up a point without a basis.
Don't be a dick. Yes, I put this twice.
And that wraps up the entire thing, folks. If you guys have any questions, I'll be happy to try to answer them to the best of my ability. I can't claim to be the foremost authority on reviewers and reviewees, but I thought I could at least try to prevent a few incidents in my follower pool.
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Hope you guys learned something! Consider this my lackluster attempt at a Christmas present for you. For those of you who made it to the end, I'll let you in that my next story should be up sometime at the beginning of next month, so keep an eye out for that. Rainbow Rocks review should hopefully be up very soon as well. I hope all you guys have some happy holidays!
Till next time.
This review a shit
That's a good way to deal with it.
2673899
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2673928 That's almost how I looked when I typed that out.
Very sound and resonable advice.
Very rare on the internet.
2673950
I try to do what I can.
2673962 I'll do my best to follow your teachings;
Thank you very much for writing such a detailed piece of advice for both giving and receiving feedback. Your examples were humorous but well tailored to the audience. If others follow your summary advice, their comments and criticism will be much better than simply sprinkling some sugar on a crap sandwich (such emotive imagery, I know...)
Hey, I get it - the first time someone left me an infuriating, unsupported comment, I tinkered around with editing when I shouldn't have. So, again, wonderful advice for writers new and experienced. Thanks!
2673962 Lol yeah.
Well I usually just smite em' but this seems to be a more effective way. My Dad always tell me to kill em' with kindness not lighting, brimstone or floods which is funny considering he always does that. But anyways thanks for the advice kind sir/ma'am.
I would love to have you review my story, but it's HiE romance. Besides, you're probably too busy with other stuff to help a nobody like me.