Hey there,

A few weeks ago I submitted one of my stories to a group that does nothing but reviews on different fanfics. While everyone is entitled to their opinion, at the end of the review the guy said that he failed to understand what the story was talking about and that he was baffled by it. I fail to understand how that could be so because the guy picked the story apart piece by piece and pretty much told me what I should change to fit his personal preference. He even attacked the grammar on it when I worked with an editor and a pre-reader. The grammar was not as bad as he said it was. So that was a big insult to them.

The biggest insult he said at the end of the review was that I had potential in writing. I'm sorry I have more stories on my profile than the guy that did the review and a lot of them are doing well on the ratings. So this guy is going to judge my writing style based on one story? Seriously? I am hesitant to submit any more of my stories to that group or any other group that this guy does reviews in. Not only did the guy give an unreasonable review, but the whole review was also an insult in general.

I wonder how do you deal with people that do stuff like that? I think what happened here is the guy got angry that the story failed to meet his expectations so he gave it a negative and biased review for that very reason.

7487518
The only thing I can think of was once someone came to my page to basically yell at me for writing horror stories and downvote everything I had ever written. I still laugh at that.

7487518
I honestly just ignore those people. I mean, it's not like ONE review will make readers see your story as a bad one when several of them have also read your other stories.

For context, this is probably a review done on the Reviewers Mansion about a story that, somewhat unsurprisingly, has more red than green on its rating and was literally missing punctuation so, uh, take that as you will.

7487528
Yeah, I have a feeling that because of that guy's review. My stories is pretty much going to get nuked now. Don't you just love a**holes?

Here's the review just keep reading and count the number of times he says I believe and opinion and what he thinks I should change it to. The review just keeps getting better and better.

7487540
I read back over the story and there only three references on grammar. I fail to see how the grammar is bad on it.

7487518 I'd kill for such a review.

As a writer, I feel very limited because I can't see into the minds of the readers. Obviously, different readers have different minds, but I'd still like to know what they're thinking when they read my story.

The way you describe the review, the reviewer did just that. You got a glimpse into his thoughts.

I think you're being ungrateful. The person took the time out of his life for your benefit, and you're berating him because he didn't do it exactly how you like it.

7487518
If the guy sounded like the story should change to fit his personal tastes, then he's just a bad, unprofessional reviewer. A good reviewer looks at something based on how the intended audience would perceive it. Don't let it get to you.

7487518
How I deal with it? I don't. I'm not making money off what I love to do, so why give a shit? You have to pick your pieces; some of them just aren't worth picking. As a writer, take that message however you like.

7487518
7487571
Sounds like that’s probably the case.

7487564
Not really I beg to differ because as I said everyone's entitled to their opinion and he picked the story apart piece by piece and while that was fine, at the end of it he said the biggest insult by telling me that I had potential in writing. That's what I'm most upset about. He told me in a PM that basically, that's all he does on this site. I would've been fine with the review had he not insulted my writing style at the end of it. Or insulted the story at the end of it. As I told him, everything was fine with his review until the very end when he decided to throw insults at the story and at me. I looked at another review that he did on another story and he said something similar to that writer and he didn't insult their writing style or the story.

As a matter of fact, another reviewer got on the thread and seemed baffled by his review by saying this: ....Okay

7487571
My thoughts exactly. When other reviewers did my other stories and gave them a low rating they didn't do what this guy did. They actually had a section on what their opinion was on the story. The review would've better if the guy had a section just for that. I would've been fine if the guy said hey this is how your readers are going to see this story and not how he sees the story. I must admit that story probably wasn't really some of my best work.

7487518
I'll put it simply - his review is correct, and you are wrong.

Skimming the story and looking at a few points, his critiques are apt - some sentences are poorly worded and phrases, there's repetition of ideas and phrasing, and the plot development is clunky at times. Like, Twilight didn't notice her cutie mark was glowing until a guard says that, and the narration and the guard use the same phrase. Twilight then thinks about summoning Celestia to take her place immediately before the guard suggests the same. Adjustments like just having the guard point to her flank to call attention to her cutie mark, or Twilight and the guard bringing up Celestia without the bit of Twilight thinking about it, can help reduce this.

He calls to attention this part.

"I don't-" I started to say. I didn't even get to finish my sentence when Rainbow Dash got sucked into the black dot on the friendship map first, then Applejack, then Rarity, then Fluttershy, of course, Pinkie Pie jumped into it as if she were doing a cannonball in a swimming pool. Last but not least, I got sucked into it. I didn't know if Princess Celestia got sucked into it next, I hoped she didn't.

Twilight's straightforward narration here is out of place given the urgency of events. While this would be plausible if she was recounting this story after the fact, her thought about Princess Celestia doesn't flow with that. So Twilight's thoughts are "a great gust of wind came out of nowhere, and we all got sucked in immediately, and of course Pinkie jumped in." This event just happens suddenly and is resolved in the space of one short paragraph with no build-up or tension.

My favorite thing to do on those websites is to create endless arguments with people.

He is correct. You are telling us something rather than showing us, which is always frowned upon. Further, although the perspective has shifted from Twilight to this other character, the style of writing is exactly the same. There's no personality to Daniel in terms of narration, he is describing himself like he is writing a short bio for an online profile. The narration is overall straightforward and flat, even though we are in a first-person perspective - ie, if the narrator is Twilight, she should narrate differently than Daniel does.

They are correct that you shift perspectives way too much. We are only in someone's head for a page before switching, and it can make it difficult to follow the story when the perspective switches pointedly take us out of the story to notify us whose perspective we're viewing now. It's like listening in on a conversation and swiveling your head left and right to look at the speaker every time they talk. It's jarring.

They also make the good point that you completely side-step the Mane Six acclimating to human bodies by conveniently having an anatomy textbook nearby, but Twilight shows the book to them and they're all fine with their transformation immediately. But then they're suddenly transported to Daniel and are back in pony form - aside from this transformation not being explained, it renders the previous scene totally pointless, the Mane Six could have just gotten sucked into the map and popped out of Daniel's computer in the first place. But then in the next chapter they're inexplicably human again. This is simply poor writing. By constructing the story this way with how they get to Daniel and how they change forms, you raise a lot of questions about if MLP exists in the Equestria Girls human world, if Daniel's world is the same as the EqG world, how the map teleported them, why they're transforming, etc.

I have not read the second chapter, but I've seen enough to know that his criticisms of your story are accurate. This is not a matter of "he didn't like my story", this is a matter of your story not being good. It has problems with plot, pacing, character voicing, grammar, and other issues. He did not insult you or insult your pre-readers, he dissected the story's problems in detail, explained why they were problems, and gave specific examples of how to improve.

I see in the thread you immediately snapped at him that you were reporting him to an admin for being a bad reviewer and he should not review anything. You are taking this personally, which is the WRONG way to take criticism. If you believe he is wrong, you could request a second opinion from another reviewer, or reach out to someone else entirely for their thoughts. You need to learn to differentiate between when someone is attacking you and your story, and when someone is giving constructive criticism. This person was giving you constructive criticism, and you chose to ignore it and brush it off as him not liking your story.

The amount of stories someone has published do not in any way validate or invalidate their opinions on writing. For all we know this person is a university English professor, or he could be a twelve-year old with an unusually high vocabulary. Or he could just be a normal person with a normal understanding of writing who just chooses not to write personally. Not all reviewers DO write themselves, and using story count as a marker for the validity of their opinions is wrong. I will also note that this reviewer he took the high ground when you directly and personally insulted him, and was polite and civil in all of his responses. So overall, I am see a reviewer give a story a bad review and offer valid criticisms of it, and the writer angrily lashing out and insulting them and posting about it somewhere else to complain about them.

This behavior does not reflect well on you as a person, and the way you handled criticism does not reflect well on you as an author. If you cannot recognize valid, helpful criticism, your writing will not improve, and if you publicly react to criticism in this manner, your reputation will not improve, either. You got a detailed, in-depth review, and you reacted very, very poorly. Step back, cool your emotions on this, re-evaluate what he said, and look at your story again to see how you can improve upon the problems he pointed out. But if you are unwilling or unable to accept constructive criticism and try to improve, then to be blunt, you should not be writing.

You publish a story, you're putting yourself out there for praise and criticism. You submit a story for review, that goes double. You can put your heart and soul into something and it's guaranteed someone will hate it, that's just how it goes when you put your work up for public consumption.

You can't expect any reader to just overlook things like sloppy grammar, missing punctuation or confusing syntax and then angrily dismiss anyone picking you up on them as "biased", "unprofessional" etc. Again, if you submit a story for review, then expect the reviewer to pick you up on basic mistakes.

To me it looks like all the reviewer's comments were entirely justified, but even if they weren't, you threatening to report them to admin and then posting a thread like this... Well, for my money, attacking someone for giving you a bad review - when you yourself requested the review - makes you come across considerably worse than the person you're yelling at.

7487612
As I said before, everything was fine up until the end of the review. I did manage to work things out with the reviewer via PM so everything's fine now. His opinions of the story were fine. But he did throw insults at my writing style. Yes, I'm working to improve on my writing as I also said, other reviewers did give my stories low ratings but they didn't throw insults at me at the end of it because the story failed to meet their expectations. That's why I have a problem with that review. From where I'm standing telling me how I should change the story to fit his preferences on how he sees the story is not constructive criticism it's an opinion and that's it. He said the words 'I believe' a lot in the review which leads me to think that the story should be changed to fit his viewpoint. Which is an opinion not constructive criticism.

7487623

But he did throw insults at my writing style.

He did not. His summation did not insult you in any way. You chose to take it personally and your behavior WAS to insult him, telling him you are going to report him for an admin and he should not be reviewing because he did not give a review in the manner you wanted.

You are correct, he said "I believe" a lot. Because his review is his opinion. All reviews are the reviewer's opinion. There is no such thing as an unbiased review. Everyone is going to approach every piece of media with pre-conceived notions of what makes that media good or not. Calling attention to the fact his review is "merely" his opinion does not dismiss his review.

You are angry and upset at a single reviewer over a single review that you asked for, asked other people to weigh in on things, and when they take his side you are arguing with them. You now have several accomplished writers, including myself, replying to tell you that his criticisms are valid and you handled it badly. So this is not just his opinion, this is several people's opinions you're refuting now.

I will repeat what I said before: learn to take criticism, or don't write. And especially don't go submitting stories to review groups asking for reviews, and then complain when you don't like what they say.

It's only one person's opinion on the story. Yes, I did snap at the guy at first but if you keep reading down the thread, we did manage to talk things out. The reason why I made this thread about it is that I'm bothered by it. Has I said at the start of this thread. The guy gave me a bad review. I do recognize now, that story wasn't some of my best work. It angered me because I feel it was wrong. The grammar was not sloppy in any way shape or form. As I said, I had an editor on that and he comes from a group that does nothing but editing. A lot of his review was nothing short of an opinion. Even if I did go back and rewrite it to what he believes I should change, it still might not be good. I've handled other criticisms before that were constructive criticisms and not just opinions. There were only two things in the review that was in a way constructive criticisms. I get that I was telling and not showing how Daniel and his friends were causing 'endless upsets' online. That, I can agree with. The dialogue at the start of the story could be changed too. But other than that I don't agree with the rest of the review as being constructive criticism.

7487648

Yes, I did snap at the guy at first but if you keep reading down the thread, we did manage to talk things out.

Was this before or after you started a thread insulting them? Because frankly I don't think you're making a lot of friends here the way you're behaving.

7487518
Thank you to some of my friends who have informed me of this forum post. As the reviewer who did review Sapphire's story, I believe that it is my responsibility to address this matter.

I am undeniably disheartened that my review would be perceived in this way. I am more disappointed that the author did not continue raising his/her concerns to me in a private message or even in the localised forum post, so that we can settle this in an amicable manner.

I have discussed this review with many, if not all of the reviewers before submitting this review to ensure that my points were sound. Indeed, I am prepared to discuss the review in detail should you disagree.

Stinium, from the Reviewers' Mansion

7487648

It's only one person's opinion on the story

Now you have three other people telling you he is correct, and you're arguing with them.

Yes, I did snap at the guy at first but if you keep reading down the thread, we did manage to talk things out

And then you posted this, sooo... yeah. This review happened a week ago, and despite claiming you worked it out with them, obviously you are still upset.

The rest of your comment confirms what I was afraid of with your attitude - you are inside an echo chamber. You are ignoring all the problems he pointed out, marginalizing them as "just his opinion", and attempting to address some of the problems he points out would not improve the story so you are not going to listen to them. You only want to hear praise and cannot accept criticism, you react to it emotionally, you let it get to you, and you are stubbornly arguing with people over these criticisms.

You cannot accept criticism in a mature manner. This isn't my opinion, it is a fact, you have demonstrated repeatedly at this point that you would rather argue with your critics than take their advise. As you publish more, you will get more attention, and you will get comments that criticize your stories in far more inflammatory ways than this review did. Get used to this kind of behavior, and if you cannot accept it, reconsider your decision to publish your work publicly.

7487518
Hi. I joined the group today because I believe I have to reply to this.

I'm not the reviewer you refer to, but I am in the same group, and I am also a reviewer. I'd like to preface this reply with that, in order to be as transparent as possible.

I have read the review over and over. I have also read your comments to the review over and over. In reading both over and over, in examining the tone that the reviewer used and the tone that you used, I have found nothing to suggest that the former is, as you put it, angry with you. Nor that he is a bad reviewer.

Let us examine those two criticisms, since they seem pertinent to your argument. To suggest that a subject is angry is to come to an emotional conclusion about it. Yet that requires a careful consideration about the word choice and connotations of the words. Having read the review extensively, little in it suggests anger. If anything I would suggest that the reviewer is, at best, disappointed in the story. That is his opinion and you are free to disagree with that disappointment--it's your story, I would imagine you ought to--but you have now summarily dismissed his evidence and argument and have instead reverted to an appeal to emotion. In arguing that the reviewer did not use basic logic, you failed to use basic logic.

To say that he is a bad reviewer for being critical of your work is to miss the point of reviewing entirely, which, if I must be honest, insults us reviewers more than we'd care to admit. Your argument that the reviewer is bad simply because you believe he insulted your story is not so much an argument as it's a reaction. You are free to have that reaction, but even so, you discount the fact that the reviewer brings up strong, key evidence to support his review. He quotes, literally, from your story, where, mechanically, syntactically, or narratively, he believes the story falls apart - now, that is, to be sure, a construction of argument, but he has put in the work to provide evidence. He is not arguing from nowhere.

Furthermore, you have linked in this thread to the review in question, providing evidence that you are now trying to stir up drama between two different groups. While I am unfamiliar with the rules of The Decent Writer's Club, I believe common sense dignity would suggest that such linking is to be frowned upon. It would not be right. Moreover, I would not have become involved in this little spat had you not chosen to link the review and the group in this thread, for the mere reason to get people to side with you. Rather than dealing with this privately or at least referring to "bad reviews" in a general sense, you've deliberately maligned the reviewer in question and have tried to paint a picture irrespective of the facts. You have dragged strangers into a drama with little understanding for etiquette. That is not something I can condone nor let pass.

Your argument doesn't hold up under scrutiny. My bias as a reviewer aside, the argument just is flimsy and filled less with constructive rebuttals and more, "He didn't like my story and although he gave reasons for his dislike that went into detail about how and why he felt this way, he's an asshole." You want to approach this from an ad hominen angle, fine, but that simply refutes your entire argument's premise and positions you not as someone who should get advice for dealing with "bad" reviews, but someone who doesn't care about reviews unless they aren't critical of your work.

Once more: if you were so upset, as you clearly are, the responsible thing would have been to deal with this in PMs, in private, or on a personal server. But now you've gone and aired your dirty laundry and simply proven yourself incapable of dealing with criticism. That's less than stellar behavior. That's disrespectful not just to the reviewer, but to me, as a reviewer and as a writer, and to yourself, as a person. It is behavior that does not garner sympathy, but pity. It is behavior that garners not attention, but annoyance.

At the very least I may try and offer, though I have no doubt it will fall upon deaf ears, some manner of advice when dealing with reviews. Certainly, if one person says one thing should be changed or edited or revised, there's room to reject that advice. If they point to multiple things, and if multiple people end up saying the same thing about the same things, and they all suggest that something needs to be changed, edited, or revised - then those things need to be changed, edited, or revised.

7487540
Somehow, I knew before even reading your comment but thanks are in order for you confirming my suspicions.

I did rethink this, the main reason why I posted the thread because I'm angry about it. I disagree with his opinions and I still do. I only linked the review so people could see why I'm so angry about it. I think the negative is going to come from both sides. The one giving the review should also be prepared to get a negative response from their review also. If someone wants to be mad about the review and disagree with it and say why they disagree and why they're angry then yeah that's going to happen. There are both sides to every story. While I understand everyone wants to stick up for the reviewer they should also see my viewpoint from where I'm standing on it. Don't scold me for being angry and saying why I'm angry and want to show people why I'm angry about it because you think my reactions are wrong.

7487682
You don't want reviews, you don't want feedback. What you want is an echo chamber where people agree with you and praise you and you can shut out criticism and negativity as you like. That is why you made this thread, and it is why you have posted this comment in it. You feel the need to marginalize those who disagree with you so you can dismiss them as just opinions, and now you are attempting to equate a negative review of a fanfic (a review you asked for) with you whining about the reviewer, and saying your opinion is just as valid as his and your actions and emotions are just as valid, even when you have been extremely immature in all this and many people have said so.

I highly recommend you don't submit your stories to review groups anymore, if you're going to ignore what they have to say when you don't like it, then you're wasting their time as well as your own. I'd also recommend everyone stop posting here. If this person is unable and unwilling to acknowledge viewpoints contrary to their own, then any further attempt to engage with them is pointless.

I think people aren't seeing me in a good light because of this post which I think is stupid. But okay whatever. I'm deleting this thread because everyone wants to take the reviewer's side on the issue. It's like everyone's saying shame on me for how I react to the guy's negative review. I don't think I'm going to be the only author that's going to react so strongly to a negative review from him in the future. I still feel the review was an insult. I told him that personally myself. And another thing if someone's going to do a review the review itself is in a public forum. So people should know that the review could be received in a positive light or a bad light. No one should scold the author on how the author reacts to that review. Everyone handles criticism differently so I think everyone else that's wanting to scold me for my opinion on the review and say I shouldn't write because I'm angry about it their reactions to this are wrong also.

"Opinion is divided on the subject. All the others say it is, I say it isn't."
- Blackadder II

7487702 And ultimately that is your decision. If you're willing to look a gift horse in the mouth and then burn all the evidence that is up to you. Of course, that doesn't mean people won't remember the smoke.

I can say only one thing.

Stinium is an excellent reviewer, and has reviewed several of my works. I also consider him a valuable friend and editor, and we've had quite a good time together.

When you submit a story for review, you're asking for feedback. Sure, you may get bad feedback, but the reviewer is trying to help you. It's also the reason why I make it a point to read every comment on my stories and respond to feedback, whether good or bad.

Because of constructive feedback, I brought my story's standard up, and many people have appreciated my rewrites and changes, and I owe them to the people who've commented on my story for pacing issues, grammar issues, story plot problems.

Also, your story is not going to get nuked because of the review.

YOUR story was already at a 5-10 ratio in the favor of dislikes before Stinium even reviewed the story, if you want to bitch about getting a bad review and getting nuked because of the review, you should probably consider what was the like-dislike ratio beforehand.

I don't normally get mad, but there's two things I cannot abide by on this website.

One: Being rude to constructive feedback
Two: Being rude to my friends.

If you want to reply to me, sure, but you should apologize for saying that Stinium flamed your story. He was only doing his best, and I can attest to that from his reviews of my stories. He's said one of my story had a weak plot, and I thanked him for telling me. Think about that.

-iAmSiNnEr

There are times, reading a thread, that I'm glad I am not an admin in that group...

--Sweetie Belle

7487602
I was not baffled by it, it was a joke comment I regularly do on friends' review.

Take that as you will,

-iAmSiNnEr

Hey guys I do want to apologize for this thread. Especially to the reviewer that I was angry at. I did finally took a step back and looked at the real reason why I so angry with him. It was closing remarks mostly. I didn't think my story was so bad that couldn't even be rated. He made some good points about how I could fix my story but then at the end of it kind of basically felt like a slap on the face to me. So I am sorry to the guy who did the review because he is a good guy. I'm Sorry

7487653
I made an apology post to you

7487925 It takes a great person to acknowledge one's own mistakes. So kudos to you on that.

Though, I still have a feeling you're coming off a premise that getting triggered is argument enough to justify one's actions.

Personally, I judge actions by themselves, regardless of the feelings behind them. Having emotions is your own problem, so I don't think it's appropriate for you to smear your own feelings in everyone else's faces.

7487518

“Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain – and most fools do.” - Dale Carnegie

7487963 You know a quote is deliciously ironic when it condemns condemnation and criticises criticism.

Sounds cool superficially tho. It works better when you include its second half:

But it takes character and self-control to be understanding and forgiving.

Which, interestingly, is not what is happening in the OP, and was what was happening in the review. At least, until OP bit the hand that fed it.

7487518

Hmm... nah. I'm firmly in camp "You're acting like a baby". I read the entire review. Reviewer was honest, clear, and respectful. His critiques came with examples of what was done and how to improve it. It's not the reviewers job to know who you are or care how many stories you have; actually, It's better that they don't know you or your stories.

All I see here is someone who requested a review, heard some real shit that they weren't ready for, then got defensive over it instead of taking the criticism to heart.

7488504

Going by the most recent comments, SapphireRose87 already figured that out, regrets how they acted, and apologized for it, so there's no reason to basically rub in how they made a mistake at this point.

7488809

I got here when it the thread started and finished my post way later.