Something for the Old Scrapbook!

[rusty_armour]

I have now received my first bad review for In the Family Way on Wraithbait. And when I say "bad," I don't mean criticism for a particular scene or aspect of the story because I've received that already. No, I'm talking about a review in which the reader pretty much trashed the whole fic and found very little that she liked about it. I'm now wishing I'd waited until the anger wore off to respond to her review because the situation seems pretty funny now. I mean, I had intended to be diplomatic (in some part of my brain), but writing the following sentence wasn't really an act of maturity on my part:

I could argue the points you brought up, but I think that would probably be a waste of time.

I've really got to learn to develop a thicker skin. I mean, taste is such a subjective thing and people have a right to like or dislike whatever they want. That's kind of the point of a democracy. However, I have a problem with people who make destructive rather than constructive criticism. In this case, I felt as if the reviewer was looking down her nose at me and using this as an opportunity to show off how clever and sophisticated she was -- or thought she was. Her review felt dismissive. Well, your little fic was disappointing and definitely below my standards, but thank you for sharing it anyway. It gave me a few minutes of entertainment when I wasn't cringing over everything else. Well, thanks. I'm so happy that, despite its numerous faults, the novel-length story I spent over three years writing had at least a couple of things you liked about it.

Oh, well. Anyone can write a glowing review in which they praise a story, but it takes much more work to provide a list of everything the writer did wrong. I should appreciate the time and effort that went into this feedback. And, hey, it's the first truly negative review for this story, so it should be cherished. *g*

Comments

[rusty-armour.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to give this reviewer the benefit of the doubt and assume that her intention wasn't to make me feel bad. Well, not entirely, anyway. *g* I do think that she probably likes to nitpick and point out faults to show how clever she is, though, in at least a couple of cases, her arguments just demonstrated that she really hadn't understood what she was reading...Anywaaaaay, while I'm pretty biased on the subject, I think she could have outlined her problems with the story in a less conceited way.