Fic Talk > General Discussion

about reviews versus constructive criticism

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mare:
Do you think there is a difference?

I have been enjoying everyone's take on CC (i'm getting too lazy to keep spelling it out lol) on the latest survey I just posted, and I was wondering do you guys feel there is a difference? Like for instance on the AC site, we ask for reviews. For me personally I think there's a big difference between the two.

To me, when I think of CC, it's because I am unsure of a plot point or something and I am looking for guidance or help with it. In that case, I ask for ideas and suggestions. For a review however, I am looking for what people felt about the chapter I just posted. Whether they enjoyed reading it or not. I'm not necessarily asking for assistance on how I can make it better, just on how the reader felt it came across.

Now, I think that if you personally say at the beginning of the chapter or at the end, any ideas or suggestions would be helpful, then that opens you up for the CC. Otherwise I kind of feel like the person leaving the review is taking a 'holier than thou' approach. lol

I hope that doesn't make me sound horribly conceited or anything  lol I know some people don't see a difference between the two, just wondering if i'm alone on that thinking.

Because I know personally, I would never leave a CC review, once again unless it was asked for. I mean i'd be detailed and say what I liked or disliked but as far as telling someone how it can be better, I keep that to myself.

Just my take

any others want to tackle this one?  :P ;D

nicksgal:
I'll tackle this! ;D

I've always felt that Con Crit. is a type of review, but review is a broader spectrum as a whole.

Basically, any comment a reader leaves on a story is a review, even a flame. But I feel reviews are more or less for readers to say what they liked and what they didn't like, or to make requests of some sort.

Con Crit. is where a readersays what they liked and explains, then mentions what didn't work for them and why not. They can also point out if they feel there's something missing or if part of a passage confused them.

When I give Con Crit., it depends on the situation, and how well I know the person. I won't say always *cough* but a lot of times, my friends are more than happy for me to drawl on about how I felt about a particular scene.... Assuming I have a point. If I don't, I'll say it's good. For people I don't know, I'll either tell them to keep up the good work, what I liked particularly well, or if something confused me. And I'll point out spelling/grammar, because it irks me a lot. Otherwise, I'll say nothing and probaly put it down.

There was one time in particualr, I can recount, where I sort of went off on one of my writing buddies. I handled it for a while, but she's a high school senior and wanted to write a story about college.... And said that students bough books for class in the library. So I stepped up and put my opinion of college life in there, and she then decided to change it to a High School fic. But... I know her pretty well, so I think it's different.

RokofAges75:
I agree with Dee's answer.  To me, the term "review" makes me think of movie reviews or book reviews, where positive or negative opinions are allowed and expected.  When you post a story on a site that has a place for reviews and ratings, you're opening yourself up for both.  I don't expect all reviews to be positive, although if someone is going to leave a negative review, I would hope they would at least say SOMETHING positive and leave some constructive criticism, as opposed to just criticism, especially for a work in progress that still can be improved.

So on that note, I do think there's a difference between the two.  Constructive criticism is - or can be - a part of reviewing.

Personally, I'm not into leaving constructive criticism either unless I'm asked, or unless I feel like there's just one thing I can point out that would make a difference in a story that already has a lot of potential.  For example, I left a review once for a story that I really liked, and I told the author how much I liked the story and how I enjoyed her character-writing and whatnot, but then I pointed out that one thing she might want to watch is her tenses, cause she tended to switch tenses a lot.  I didn't think I was out of line in saying that because the rest of my review was very positive, and just making sure she stuck to one tense would have done so much to make her story even better.

I'm open to that kind of constructive criticism on my own stories.  Like I said in one of the other threads, what I don't like is when it's given with that "holier than thou" attitude Mare mentioned, like "I'm better than you, and I know everything about writing, so here's how you should write your story."  Um, no.  Don't go there.  LOL

MellzBellz:
I'm not sure if I say the two are seperate, but they are closely related and you can have one without the other. Reviews usually aren't very long. I try to limit to a sentence or two of what I liked/didn't like in a story. I'm never rude though in a review and basically I'd just point out grammer or like Dee said things that were confusing me.

I feel like cc takes a lot more work. It's definitely more in depth. When I give CC I try to be nit picky, but it also depends on who I'm giving it to. Most of my friends appreciate me pointing out lil details. I'd never though just give CC to someone I didn't know on AC. If you're on a fan fic board like this one or Ethereality (when it was active) I assume that you're there cuz you WANT CC.

LenniluvsBrian:
I'm mostly just a reviewer & not a CC type person. I mean, occassionally, I will start to read a fic & if it's too complicated to read for whatever reason, I'll make a suggestion on how to make it a lil' easier to read - but then I'll usually sate what I liked about the fic or what I'd like to see - yanno, my usual screaming & ranting because a character is being evil to another character-lol.


I'm sure most of you know just HOW into a fic I can get-lol. I mean, it IS your characters I'm yelling at - haha.


Hope I made at least SOME sense.


~Lenni~

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