Authors, how do you react to negative reviews?

[Alzrius]

I recently received what I consider to be my first real negative review of a fic I wrote. In response to reading "Wanted: Love Hina," someone posted the following:

Way too much violence and way to graphic.? You must be a bit screwed up to think that first scene through.

Personally, I dislike when the Love Hina story (a COMEDY ROMANCE) is changed to graphic violence. If I wanted blood and gore I'd pick Akira or something similar.

Probably some people get off on this sort of thing.? I'm not one of them.? There's enough death in the world on the news without having to imagine more.

Now, I've received dissatisfied comments before ("Puppy Kisses," my Negi/Kotaro Negima fic, got more than one "this is sick" comment), but it's one thing to get reactive, off-the-cuff dislike, and another to receive a calm, polite, measured statement saying they don't think it's a good story.

While the above review isn't frothing at the mouth, it's still insulting - I don't think of myself as being screwed up - and the implication that this is somehow a downer, instead of being entertaining (because graphic violence can be entertaining, especially when a work done in another genre is altered to be that way) is also clearly said in the pejorative.

I'm not going to respond to the above review; there's nothing to be gained and a fair amount to be lost in what'd almost-certainly become an argument, but I'm curious about what other, more accomplished authors think about this sort of thing. How do you react to negative reviews to your fiction? Do you respond? If so, what do you say in response?

 

[SimmyC]

Honestly, I don't really care about negative reviews TOO much. I go by the idea that not everyone will enjoy my stories. Flames I will laugh at. Though I take constructive criticism much more seriously since more times than not, they like the story, but hate a certain aspect of it. And what they are doing is suggesting ways of improving it. ^_^

 

[Fatuous One]

Ignore this guy, seriously.

Granted, it isn't exactly a pointless flame, but I think the guy needs to stop reading fiction altogether if he's connecting it too much to reality. Fiction is fiction, real life is real life. Just because you write about people getting slaughtered by the dozens doesn't mean you would actually do so in real life.

If he actually had a valid criticism to make it would be something different... but basically, he's just saying that he doesn't like it because it's wrong, and people who like it are screwed up.

EDIT: As for how I deal with such reviews uh... Dunno~ Haven't received any, unless you count the death threats I got from "PMT,AK!", which I found amusing.

 

[runestar]

I am not an author, but I have received my fair share of flames on other forums, so all I can say is to simply pay attention to any parts which focus on pointing out the good/bad parts of your story, and simply ignore the rest, which can be construed as irrelevant.

It's one thing to say "Your story is screwed up" and another thing to say "You are screwed up for writing such a story". <_<

 

[SimmyC]

Totally agree to that. I mean, once I get furhter along in Brother's Keeper, what will people think of me then? It isn't that I believe/do in what I'm going to write, I'm going to, well, write it that way since it is important for THAT story. Boy, I wonder what he will think about that story (not really. I couldn't care less if he read it or not. But still...). <_<

 

[EagleCeres]

For starters you did mention that the story is *not for the faint of heart* :evil:
Also in the rating it's probably T or higher, again not to be expected to be all nice and perfect. <_<
If the reader didnt get what he/she expected, then he should have stopped reading when the sh... hit the fan, and gone read something waffy instead so his/her delicate psyche and fiction pallet was not 'damaged'. :sweat:
As before recommended, dont let it get you down, this is your story; the fact that it is going to be dark, violent and maybe gory is because you wish it to be, you will have readers both for and against it, to each their own.
If it's trully a worthwhile review, you will take something constructive from it; if not, then consider it just someone's rant because 'you didnt do what they wanted'; again, this is your story and you should keep it going until youre satisfied with it. :sisi:

 

[Terdwilicker]

I break down and cry from negative reviews, and I typically weigh them far heavier than positive reviews, something like 20:1. I often stop writing and don't speak to other people for weeks or months. Typically, I abandon the board where I'd posted the story.

I'm a sensitive type, since back before there was "emo".

 

[Legacy|iB]

I personally dislike getting negative reviews. Usually they're quite rare, seeing how I get a greater number of good reviews, but the occasional one passes through and I get hurt. Due to the way I've grown up, I don't take insults or negative comments too well. But, negative reviews do have their advantages - after receiving one that is hopefully constructive, I could look back at my writing and make changes if needed.

For example, when I started my Halo fic, Eve of Fate, I received some constructive reviews early into the story that they helped me to spot several problems that I was able to quickly fix, and anything that a review brought up that sounded a bit on the negative side, I worked to fix that. It led me, probably two years into its writing, to do a full rewrite of everything, just to get it all right. Those are the negative, but constructive reviews.

There are those who are negative...just because. There will always be griefers, who often, assuming we post our work on ff.net, use anonymous accounts to post short, five letter reviews that accomplish little or nothing. Example - I had one claiming my story was a ripoff of a previous fic. The person was smart enough to have left their comment using an anonymous, lest they be contacted by me. There's nothing you can do about those guys - shit happens, and you just move on.

Those who review, much like how Cheshire Cat5 did for Wanted: Love Hina...there's not much to do about them. I've looked through his profile - he's more of a humour person and is more willing to stick to that for writing Love Hina. There isn't anything wrong with it, he just has different tastes. Was the review uncalled for? Yes it was, but he has an opinion. Don't worry about it though - he did seem a bit freaked out by the amount of violence in your fic, Alzrius, and you should be proud to have at least that sort of effect on somebody.

The most anybody can do with negative reviews in the end is to laugh them off. A literary review is a review - we're all writers here. We're intellects with the extraordinary ability to write and to discuss writing at a professional level (a distinct contrast from the forums I went to prior to coming here - namely, a collection of either simple idiots, elitist members who exploit their power, or of a group of people who desperately want to return to glory) and we've got to be open to a bit of criticism now and then. While it is awfully tempting to want to kill the person for not respecting your writing and to send them a threatening reply, know that they're human, just like everybody else. Your reaction (often rage directed at the reviewer) to a bad review is the same result that you'd feel for writing one in certain cases. I know, because I've written a negative review once, and I got two death threats from the author.

Needless to say, while I was a bit disturbed as to why he was so offended, I got a good laugh out of that. It got quite funny later on, but I won't go into that. The forces of irony must have been having one hell of a week during that time, I might add. Like all other bad reviews and criticisms, again, learn a bit if the reviewer put some effort into describing what he/she felt was wrong, then if it makes sense, follow up on it and then laugh it off. If it doesn't seem fair, don't fret. Just keep writing.

Oh and by the way, Wanted: Love Hina is quite an interesting concept, Alzrius. It's well written and in some way, delightfully evil. I'm not much in favour of evil violence, since I'm a regular goody two shoes, but hey, the occasional visit to the dark side ain't too bad now and then and I'd really like to see how it develops. Chapter 3 looks like it'll start with quite a bang - literally.

 

[GenocideHeart]

Depends on the negative review. If it is written in correct English, I address the issues in it. If it is "OMG U SUXXX WERSE TEH YOAI" (and I actually got an anon review like this - I deleted it), then I ignore it. Those who complain about my fic in horrifically raped English do not deserve my time.

I'm very thick skinned when it comes to flames, anyway. I go to 4chan, and believe me, anything a FF.Net reviewer can write is like a love tap compared to what 4channers write.

 

[Israfel]

In a story that starts like yours did, the whole point of the first scene is to get those wimpy little pansies who can't take that kind of thing to jump ship, I take that kind of thing as a compliment that Id accomplished what I'd set out to do in this situation. For an example, look at Vash the Unholy and his HP fics, he writes some of the sickest shit out their and you think he doesn't catch shit about it? Of course he does, but he keeps writing his stuff and his fans love him for it because he's writing what no one else is willing to. Regardless I'd say, if someone thought that first scene was sick, good, you had Haruka slaughter a grocery store full of innocent people, it's supposed to be sick and wrong, so in that case, good job, you got across what you should have in that scene. As for him bitching because it's not comedy? Well too bad, not everythings sunshine and daisies in the world and he should either set the filter so only stuff with comedy in it comes up, or just not bitch about it then.

 

[Moshulel]

Personally, I dislike when the Love Hina story (a COMEDY ROMANCE) is changed to graphic violence. If I wanted blood and gore I'd pick Akira or something similar.

Wow, this reminds me of the arguments some Ranma 1/2 canon pairing lovers were using to argument their demands for a story to be Ranma/Akane:

"In the manga it's Ranma/Akane, don't change that it's canon!"

Geez, if you dont understand the pourpose of the fic then why the hell comment on it? :sweat:

 

[cilrais]

Well to be fair I don't like when konoha is changed from a ninja village to some sort of emo yaoi factory high school, sticking to canon can be ok.

 

[hawker_748]

Not much for me to say here.

But I'll try anyway...

If a reviewer points out that I've made a mistake in continuity or logic, I tend to listen, and perhaps address it.

If the person doesn't like what I've done with the story, or the direction I'm going, well, that's their opinion.

But if the person merely makes a flame, or other non-related comment, well, I ignore it. I don't delete them, not my style, but I put it out of my mind.

That being said, "Wanted: Love Hina" isn't a story I particularly like, but it is well written. The guy is complaining about the type of story, not anything in the story in particular.

I'm not a fan of the story, so I just don't read it, I don't slam the author for it...

 

[Perfect Psionic Soldier]

Hey I totally agree with what Legacy|iB wrote. You will inevitably get some bad and or odd reviews. Though I do not personally get many negative reviews, I do have apprehension whenever someone does send me a review since no one wants to ever receive a bad one.

I have however received a odd threat / cease desist letter that more or less stated:

Think before you write!

Yes... that was the message. I was so confused I was unable to really get the gist of the message. Also when I tried to respond to the letter, I got a invalid email response... meaning that someone either spoofed a email or they cancelled their accound shortly after writing to me, which makes me wonder why?!?!

It is a question that I never shall get an answer for, but my main advice is if anyone comes complaining about nothing specific, tell em to chew on it and move on. Just cause they are displeased at what you write in a rather vast pool of ideas and stories, they should just find something else they like and you should ignore such pointless reviews.

So unless they are addressing something specific, as why your stories are screwed, or are pointing out a critical flaw then you have the complete right to ignore what they say.

If they demand cannon type storylines then they should just stick with the original manga's and bugger off.

In the end I say take the good with the bad, and so long as you have more good reviews then bad, youÆre doing ok since no one's work is perfect.

Just keep doing what you like and everything should work out in the end, neh?

 

[Grunt]

Well, negative reviews can be a bit of a downer. Though getting in contact with the poster can help putting things into perspective.
Most reviews can mean one thing for the recipient and another for the writer.

My most negative review till now was something along the lines of

"I would rather gouge my eyes out than continue to read this any further."

Well the story was bad and the grammar was well, I wrote it when I was 14, so, but I totally lost my inspiration and the story was dead for nealry two years, though after contacting the reviewer and talking with him I started to write some new roughdrafts again. He gave me back my inspiration. ^^

Guess what I want to say is not every negative review has to be bad.

 

[Hawk]

> How do you react to negative reviews to your fiction?

It depends. If it's well thought out, articulate and actually has a point, I've written back on occation to get clarifications or to clarify things for the reviewer. Based on this, I might add something to a later chapter. Once or twice, I've even changed something already written, because the reviewer had a really good point and I changed the story because of it. The amounts of those have been rather easily counted over the years, however.

Now and again, I also get something along the lines of a sulpherous tirade, with some statement or other amongst it that makes me realize that I've forgotten something or other, which usually results in some scene added to a later chapter. Haven't responded to one of these yet. If somebody can't state an opinion in a reasonable manner, they don't deserve to hear mine either are my feelings on this matter.

But most often, it's just "OMG, this fic sucks, you suck and I wish you were dead!" or variants thereof, which I react to with a shrug of the shoulders before forgetting all about it. Thick-skinned is an understatement when it comes to me, so stuff like that doesn't really make an impact.

 

[Surarrin]

I honestly enjoy flames, I find them amusing. For the most part, when I get a Bad review concerning typo's and such. ( Which I used to make often ebcause I made a mistake of adding 'ehad' to the dictionary, and I couldn't be bothered fixing it.) I feel slightly annoyed, but not overly so, the good reviews out weigh the bad in my case.