- Joined
- Dec 14, 2008
- Messages
- 4,183
- Reaction score
- 92
As some of you will know, I used to be extremely active here some years ago and have been quite on/off here since then. Recently I've been more active here than I have been in some time. Since I've been back, I've noticed that things have changed somewhat, generally all for the better.
The chief thing I've noticed is that reviews are very different. They are generally much more methodical, detailed, and break down the fic they're reviewing to a much greater degree.
Now, these of course sound exclusively like good things (and they are!) but it made me think - is that all we're looking for when we post stories here and await comments on them? Personally, I think not. To illustrate why not I'm going to use the terms "reviews" and "replies" to mean different things (though there can be overlap).
Review - a (usually detailed) appraisal of the story you're commenting on, with feedback on what worked and what didn't, usually intended from a fairly objective standpoint and generally with a fair amount of detail, often split into sections (e.g. "plot", "structure", etc.), kind of like a book review - very useful for improvement and understanding how your own writing works and how you can improve it
Reply - a (usually less detailed) comment that generally makes specific comment on one or two of the interesting things about the latest chapter, perhaps makes some predictions about what they hope will be explored or what they predict will happen in future chapters, could be as little as "this is awesome, keep it up!", kind of like talking to a friend about a TV show you both watch - very useful for encouragement and feeling like part of a community
What I'm trying to say is that I think both of things have a really important place in any writing communities if they're going to produce successful writers (as I believe WW can and has) or help people improve a little bit or even just give people the opportunity to have some fun and share some stuff they've come up with. I think since I was last seriously active in WW it's become way better at 'reviews' but I see far fewer 'replies' than I used to.
I'd love to hear if you guys agree with the distinction I've drawn up, what you think of each (bear in mind you don't need to think one is better than the other - I certainly don't!), which you think is more common in WW, which you more often give, and anything else on this topic you might be interested in!
The chief thing I've noticed is that reviews are very different. They are generally much more methodical, detailed, and break down the fic they're reviewing to a much greater degree.
Now, these of course sound exclusively like good things (and they are!) but it made me think - is that all we're looking for when we post stories here and await comments on them? Personally, I think not. To illustrate why not I'm going to use the terms "reviews" and "replies" to mean different things (though there can be overlap).
Review - a (usually detailed) appraisal of the story you're commenting on, with feedback on what worked and what didn't, usually intended from a fairly objective standpoint and generally with a fair amount of detail, often split into sections (e.g. "plot", "structure", etc.), kind of like a book review - very useful for improvement and understanding how your own writing works and how you can improve it
Reply - a (usually less detailed) comment that generally makes specific comment on one or two of the interesting things about the latest chapter, perhaps makes some predictions about what they hope will be explored or what they predict will happen in future chapters, could be as little as "this is awesome, keep it up!", kind of like talking to a friend about a TV show you both watch - very useful for encouragement and feeling like part of a community
What I'm trying to say is that I think both of things have a really important place in any writing communities if they're going to produce successful writers (as I believe WW can and has) or help people improve a little bit or even just give people the opportunity to have some fun and share some stuff they've come up with. I think since I was last seriously active in WW it's become way better at 'reviews' but I see far fewer 'replies' than I used to.
I'd love to hear if you guys agree with the distinction I've drawn up, what you think of each (bear in mind you don't need to think one is better than the other - I certainly don't!), which you think is more common in WW, which you more often give, and anything else on this topic you might be interested in!