10369 réponses à ce sujet

[Gilgamesh1138]

SNORT!!!!

[Sarah1281]

mousestalker wrote...

Of course the flip side to that is that if any of us really wanted feedback, all we'd have to do is head over to Harry Potterland and put out a fanfic where Harry and Voldemort wind up as a couple (if that's been done, please don't provide a link). 

Oh, oftentimes you don't even need to resort to slash. I am both pleased and irritated that in four chapters, one HP fic I have is only 11 reviews shy of my epic-length DA one.

[Prisoner24601]

mousestalker wrote...

I see it more as an opportunity to garner criticism. The problem with writing original fiction is how to get people to read it. With fanfic, the audience is built in and the characters are already understood. That means that your writing can be broken down into tasty bite sized morsels for the ravening wolves (a/k/a critics) to dig into and digest.

That's the theory, at least. The reality is I'm getting an awful lot of readers and very little feedback. At least it seems like a lot of readers.

It's really, really hard to get people to leave constructive feedback or even get them to be really honest about what they think of your story.  Especially in this fandom, which seems even less open to concrit than other ones I've been in, and where anything beyond asspats seems to be frowned on.  It's a shame, since I'd really love more on my work.  But then, I'm sort of one of those fandom weirdos who sees fanfiction as this huge expierement and is always looking for a way to improve.  I'm lucky, I guess, in that I have a pair of awesome betas who give me pretty damned good feedback.

I don't tend to leave it myself, unless I'm fairly certain that the author isn't going to throw a snit even if an author asks for it, because there's a good chance that the author doesn't really mean it or that they and I have totally different views of what's constructive.  I've just been burned and have seen too many other people burned by either an angry author, or even more likely that author's angry friends, to leave it anymore.  In most cases, it's really not worth the effort, even though I like helping people out and am willing to take the time to leave it.

Modifié par Prisoner24601, 30 janvier 2011 - 10:23 .

[ZerbanDaGreat1]

I've actually managed to get quite a few reviews on my fic, but I feel I've cheated considering it was endorsed on another, much more popular fic. In any case, I feel like reviews operate on a snowball effect - the more you have, the more you get. After all, if you see a ten-chapter fic with three reviews, you'll probably dismiss it without giving it a look. Probably the most difficult part is hooking a reader in the first place. Not only does the synopsis have to be interesting, the first chapter has to be good enough to leave the reader wanting more.



I failed on the first account with mine; the summary was Basic Self-Insert Setup #42. But I basically worked it to my advantage and essentially dared the reader to read the whole thing and find any usual self-insert cliches.



Then again, I could always spice it up by throwing in some Alistair/Zevran action. After all, who wants to sit through another chapter of F!Cousland/Alistair rubbish? (sarcasm)

[Shadow of Light Dragon]

F!Cousland/Zevran/Alistair worked for me.

@Prisoner: Yeah, people tend to not like criticism in this fandom, and people have been scared away from voicing anything but praise (or gotten the impression their opinions aren't welcome). Not everyone's here to improve their writing, grammar or style, which I consider somewhat unfortunate and disappointing from an artistic perspective. People want awesome-high stats and happy reviews telling them they're awesome no matter *what* they write.

Betas are the way to go for good con-crit, but happily I *have* had some intelligent reviews that pointed out things that didn't sit right or could be improved, and it helps to have stuff picked up if you're the kind of writer who wants to get better at your craft

Hostile, inflammatory criticism I can understand people not liking or leaping on. Neutral or constructive observations? Better than false-praise IMO. The people who prefer silence to anything that isn't a pat on the head should probably preface their stories with such a disclaimer if they are *that* fragile.

[DreGregoire]

hehe you all keep coming back to reviews on a regular basis. I feel like I'm stuck in a time warp that keeps dragging me back to people talking about reviews. I'm not complaining; just making an observation. Heh, I don't review people's stories often unless I have something to say. I don't talk about, oh do you know you spelled such and such wrong in a review or this sentence structure needs work. If I were going to do that it would be private message. I just try to write how a chapter hit me and what about it amused me or awed me or what not. I suppose that would make me a bad reviewer for those who only care for reviews that improve their writing. I'm not trained to be an editor so I feel anything more indepth would be inappropriate on my part.

*hugz*

Modifié par DreGregoire, 30 janvier 2011 - 01:43 .

[Creature 1]

DreGregoire wrote...

hehe you all keep coming back to reviews on a regular basis. I feel like I'm stuck in a time warp that keeps dragging me back to people talking about review.

You speak truly.  Or "FF.net stats are down again".  Usually one of those two. 

[mousestalker]

I think the core problem is that an awful lot of us are relatives of Wade. We just don't have a Herren to keep us level and afloat. At least that's my story and I'm stickin' to it! 

Modifié par mousestalker, 30 janvier 2011 - 02:45 .

[DreGregoire]

mousestalker wrote...

I think the core problem is that an awful lot of us have are relatives of Wade. We just don't have a Herren to keep us level and afloat. At least that's my story and I'm stickin' to it! 

*giggles*

[Prisoner24601]

DreGregoire wrote...

Heh, I don't review people's stories often unless I have something to say. I don't talk about, oh do you know you spelled such and such wrong in a review or this sentence structure needs work. If I were going to do that it would be private message. I just try to write how a chapter hit me and what about it amused me or awed me or what not. I suppose that would make me a bad reviewer for those who only care for reviews that improve their writing. I'm not trained to be an editor so I feel anything more indepth would be inappropriate on my part.

*hugz*

No one is saying those sorts of reviews are bad.  Everyone likes getting those reviews.  What's sort of dissapointing and frustrating for me at least is that in this fandom especially, those are the only sorts of reviews that are socially acceptable.  It would be nice if people felt more comfortable to leave critical feedback if they wanted to.

And really, I don't think someone has to be a trained editor for it to be appropriate for them to leave critical feedback on a story.  I mean, you're a reader and a writer of your own stuff, right?  You know the parts you liked or didn't like.  Sitting down and figuring out why you liked or didn't like something and then sharing that with the writer is not only a great way for the writer to improve, but also for person who is leaving the critique to improve their own stuff as well. 

[DreGregoire]

Prisoner24601 wrote...

DreGregoire wrote...

 I'm not trained to be an editor so I feel anything more indepth would be inappropriate on my part.

*hugz*

And really, I don't think someone has to be a trained editor for it to be appropriate for them to leave critical feedback on a story. 

In my case, I disagree. I am not qualified to leave critical technical feedback despite the fact that I write and edit my own stories. That doesn't make my view invalid or anybody elses view invalid or valid for that matter. It's just my personal take on it. *shrugs*

[Sarah1281]

What kind of 'critical technical feedback' are you talking about?

[jackkel dragon]

mousestalker wrote...

I think the core problem is that an awful lot of us are relatives of Wade. We just don't have a Herren to keep us level and afloat. At least that's my story and I'm stickin' to it! 

Herren! The reader is talking to me!

[Sarah1281]

So I have a question: Is Dragon Age the only fandom you guys write for or do you also do other ones like Mass Effect? Personally, I've done several but that's my short attention span refusing to commit, I think.

[Addai]

I write for Tolkien as well, but it's collaborative so I don't publish.

[jackkel dragon]

As I said a few posts back, I have a Mass Effect story on FF.net. It's arguably my best work, in my mind. (I constantly worry about rushing/skipping/destroying DAO in my current story about Tayte. Of course, the ME story has an original plot...)

[Sandtigress]

ME as well, but they're only shorts (um, that is if you can count an 11k back-story as a "short"). I'm not investing my time in a playthrough sort of thing for ME - the story is much more fleshed out than DAO's anyways. And I'm not considering a post-fic until the games are actually done. It feels more reasonable to do so for DAO since the Warden's story is probably finished.

Will I write for more? Don't know at this time...

[Prisoner24601]

I written for both Mass Effect, Dragon Age, and KoTOR. What can I say? I like Bioware games, lol.

[Raonar]

Jut DAO so far... and i have my hands full already, what with 18K+ word chapters.

[maxernst]

It kind of depends a bit on what you call a fanfic. I have written an "after action report" for Crusader Kings that could qualify, as I wrote it as diary entries of the successive rulers my dynasty. I also wrote a long (~25,000 word) backstory for a PC in an NWN2 persistent world. It could probably have made novel-length but the impetus to continue it diminished when the server closed down.

[mousestalker]

The last fanfic I wrote before DA was a fanfic for City of Heroes several years ago.

[Creature 1]

I wrote a couple short fanfics for LotR, but they were mostly intended to parody Mary Sues and bad fanfic, so I don't know that that counts.

[Addai]

Creature 1 wrote...

I wrote a couple short fanfics for LotR, but they were mostly intended to parody Mary Sues and bad fanfic, so I don't know that that counts.

Aren't you afraid of someone writing a parody of Mary Sue parody writers?  lol

[maradeux]

Sarah1281 wrote...

So I have a question: Is Dragon Age the only fandom you guys write for or do you also do other ones like Mass Effect? Personally, I've done several but that's my short attention span refusing to commit, I think.

I wrote for Might & Magic, for Everquest and Lotro. But it's a completely different thing with DA:O, because I've never written such a long story before and I've never written in English before.

[pumpkinman13]

Like I said I have a massive Bleach fanfic in the works, I started a Potter one, an attempt to really take Potter away from the kids and make it dark and brooding and really horrific. I've got character plans for a WH40K one.



Thanks for all the replies to my comment, glad it generated some feedback, kinda inspired me to start writing ff again. Although not for a while since i have loads of uni work on up until June.