Speaking in more general terms, the type of review that makes my day are the ones where the reader takes the time to go into all kinds of detail telling me what worked for them and why, and even what didn't work for them and why (so long as they're polite about it... I don't usually make changes based on their review, but I always enjoy polite discussion and concrit like that will more than likely make the next story that much better). I appreciate all reviews, even the one-liners, the favoriting and the kudos, but those long ones will have me smiling for days. Canafinwe springs to mind as someone who leaves awesomely exhaustive reviews... it's almost like getting beta feedback, really.
And AM ... the dark side of the same coin. *cue ominous music* I used to get very upset at rude reviews, when I was first starting out, but I confess to having grown a tougher skin these days. I pretty much ignore them, or I respond with admittedly cool politeness, something like "Not all stories will please all readers, but thank you for reading" or some such thing. I assume they left their rude review in the hopes of riling me up and getting into a wank war with them, and so I don't give them the satisfaction. That said, reviews that are critical but polite, I handle differently, usually with defending my position but still leaving the story as is. Most of the time there's really no pleasing those types of reviewers, because they want me to revise the story so it suits them and won't stop arguing their point until I do. Since I don't offer up stories with the idea that it's open field day so offer up concrit, those types of "differences of creative opinion" don't really accomplish anything. There've been a few times where I did make corrections, so long as it didn't substantially alter a scene, but other times I've simply thanked the reviewer and closed the conversation with "we'll just have to agree to disagree on this."
HOWEVER--there's always room for howevers in my world, which is much more self-affirming than admitting I might be wishy-washy and inconsistent--if I decide to do a complete revision of a story, which I actually am considering doing for "At Hope's Edge" someday before I post it at ff.net, then I might very well incorporate the little niggling things reviewers have pointed out. But I don't usually take the time to change things beyond typos or format glitches in already posted stories because by the time I've posted a story, my mind has already moved on to the next one and I don't like switching tracks if I can help it.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2014-08-22 10:16 pm (UTC)Speaking in more general terms, the type of review that makes my day are the ones where the reader takes the time to go into all kinds of detail telling me what worked for them and why, and even what didn't work for them and why (so long as they're polite about it... I don't usually make changes based on their review, but I always enjoy polite discussion and concrit like that will more than likely make the next story that much better). I appreciate all reviews, even the one-liners, the favoriting and the kudos, but those long ones will have me smiling for days. Canafinwe springs to mind as someone who leaves awesomely exhaustive reviews... it's almost like getting beta feedback, really.
And AM ... the dark side of the same coin. *cue ominous music* I used to get very upset at rude reviews, when I was first starting out, but I confess to having grown a tougher skin these days. I pretty much ignore them, or I respond with admittedly cool politeness, something like "Not all stories will please all readers, but thank you for reading" or some such thing. I assume they left their rude review in the hopes of riling me up and getting into a wank war with them, and so I don't give them the satisfaction. That said, reviews that are critical but polite, I handle differently, usually with defending my position but still leaving the story as is. Most of the time there's really no pleasing those types of reviewers, because they want me to revise the story so it suits them and won't stop arguing their point until I do. Since I don't offer up stories with the idea that it's open field day so offer up concrit, those types of "differences of creative opinion" don't really accomplish anything. There've been a few times where I did make corrections, so long as it didn't substantially alter a scene, but other times I've simply thanked the reviewer and closed the conversation with "we'll just have to agree to disagree on this."
HOWEVER--there's always room for howevers in my world, which is much more self-affirming than admitting I might be wishy-washy and inconsistent--if I decide to do a complete revision of a story, which I actually am considering doing for "At Hope's Edge" someday before I post it at ff.net, then I might very well incorporate the little niggling things reviewers have pointed out. But I don't usually take the time to change things beyond typos or format glitches in already posted stories because by the time I've posted a story, my mind has already moved on to the next one and I don't like switching tracks if I can help it.