Review blues

[wiseheart]

Sometimes I really get tired of some people on FF.Net. I got a loooong and detialed review from someone who was clearly unhappy with the way I write Ianto and Gwen and even Jack in "Director Jones". Apparently, the same person has loved my Sherlock/Whoniverse crossovers. Never dropped a line about that. But once they fond something they didn't like, I got half a page of complains.

I cannot treat you to the delight of it - or that of my answer - since it hasn't shown up on the review borad yet, I just got it via e-mail, and so it won't show up in my inbox, either. But I sent them an equally long and detailled answer, telling them that:

a) If all they can say is negative, I'd prefer to have it in private, so that I can correct any potential mistakes and not have the negativity forever, even if it's no longer valid;

b) I'd have liked to hear from them as long as they read the parts they apparently enjoyed;

c) When you write in a third language, without a beta, there's only so much that spellcheck and garmmar checker can do for you; and interestingly enough, the people who pick on my grammar never volunteer to beta read for me. I'd like to see them write in Hungarian, which has a completely different grammar structure than most European languages.

Yes, I know one can't expect to get nothing but encouragement on FF.Net (although it would be nice. *g*). But I utterly despise people who only ever review when they have something to complain about.

So there. I'm feeling marginally better now. Even if half a page of negativity will remain on my review board for as long as the story is up. But taking it down would mean to lose the good reviews, too, and that's too high a price for me.

Off to block the cow now, whoever they are.

Comments

[aviv-b.livejournal.com]

And can we add nitpickers to this list? You write a long story and someone comments 'that brand of coffee didn't come in a 16 oz tin until 2008. I usually love your stories, but this took me right out of it since this story is set in 2007.' Uh, thanks I guess.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Oh, God, yes! I get that all the time. Mostly in the Tolkien fandom, but in the others, too. Especially annoying is the fact that most of the time they are talking rubbish, because I do my homework and am rarely wrong where canon is considered - even Tolkien canon, which isn't an easy thing to manage - and then they post their "corrections" in review boards like TFF, where I can't answer, and it remains for everyone to read that I apparently don't know my canon. Grrrrr!

The other thing I "love" is when they tell me that this or that character would never act the way I had them act. How the f*ck do they know? Just b/c untalented screenwriters can't write any good character development, it doesn't mean the rest of us can't, either!