a trip to the Bad Fic Land

[emmuzka]

Man, I am *so over* reading bad!fics.

Okay. After some time, I went to check if the stories in pregnantboybandslash were as excruciatingly bad as I remembered. Yes, they were. Irked by this, after reading This masterpiece of literature (you have to log in to read it), I decided to give her a little ("") feedback.

Which went like this:


> This is my very first story, and I'm very self-conscience about it,
> but I decided to post on here.

Self-conscious, darling.

> Please be very nice about your reviews.

Sorry, but I don't think I can. If you think that I'm mean, think it
this way: At least I reviewed it.


> The short, blonde hair guy, known as `Justin', stretched his legs,
> as he lined up to his mark.

So this guy, who is called "Justin" but who could be named something
different entirely, is short, blond and hairy? Or, Justin was a guy
with a short, blond hair?

> Meanwhile, a tall, long brown haired guy known as `Josh', was
> sitting on the bleachers throwing spits wads and laughing at some
> guy with glasses he classed a `nerd' on the bottom bleachers. As
> the nerd ran away to escape him, Josh heard clapping and cheering.
> He stood up and looked, seeing the crowd cheered someone. The team
> was slapping some blonde guy on the back as he was trying to catch
> his breath. He had his hands on his knees and was panting, trying
to
> draw breath into his lungs again.

That's a lot of someones, you know?


> Justin walked back into the locker room and pulls off his shirt,
> throwing it into his locker. "Damn, that was great. I can't believe
> I won against Adam Woods this time," said Justin to himself.

He talks to himself? What is he, dumb?

> Justin's jaw hung open

a cliche.

>Besides, he could still picture in his mind how Josh's eyes
> were almost swallowing him whole.

And that is a mental image that makes me go EW...

> Justin felt Josh's eyes boring in his back. `I've heard of you Josh
> bad ass extraordinaire Carter. Prides yourself on getting any girl
> OR guy you set your mind to it. Better to stay away' thought Justin
> as he kept on walking.
>

Okay, the story is promising, but better watch those point of wiew
changes, and do yourself a favor and a get a beta reader, okay? Keep
on writing, girl, but do try to produce something that really hooks
us up.


I was really mean, was I? But at that point, I was totally frustrated and that fic wasn't even a good Bad!fic, it just plainly sucked. I knew that I would receive feedback for my provocation, and it went like this:



Okay I think you were a little harsh on her story, I have not read it because I tend not to read Nsync stories (not a big fan of them) but I did read the review and I have some issues with it. This is a good story for your first try, you don't want to see any of mine. Keep up the work and write what you want to write.

One of the problems I had with this review is that you said nothing nice about her story, everyone has something nice about their story, second where you said that she wrote a cliche, so what? Cliches are used in a lot of stories and they are there for a reason, that reason being that it doesn't take huge description to describe something. And someone's jaw hanging out does happen in real life so there should be no problem with that. Also people do talk to themselves, I even wrote a movie with a guy who talked to himself and if her characters want to do that she can. And she has the right to use anyway to discover her style of writing, if you don't like it then don't read it.

As someone who teachers creative writer I just had to put my two cents in as I said that I have not read it because I don't read Nsync stories. I just found it a little harsh and not structure right for feedback. It couldn't have been all that bad if you read it all. Don't give up, keep on going, you will find your style, don't take this to heart too much, just read between the lines for suggestions to improve.

Vanessa



And

I read the story and I've got to say that for a first time writer, it took
alot of guts to write anything and share in this fandom. Simply because
there are so many nasty people who get off tearing someone down. If you
thought her story was so bad they why did you bother to read past the first
paragraph? Yeah, so she made some mistakes, big deal. Every writer makes
mistakes. That's why they ask for fb. But I have to say that when you are
pointing out things like her use things like her use of self conscience
instead of self concious, make sure you're writing is just as infallible.
Your feedback wasn't any better, in my opinion, that what you seemed to have
a problem with about her story. You made sure to point out a misused word
but then you say something like "If you think that I'm mean, think it this
way: At least I reviewed it." You might want to learn to write your thoughts
down and beta them yourself because you wording should have been "If you
think I'm mean, think ABOUT it this way...." And who cares if you reviewed
it since you couldn't point out anything you did like about the story. When
people ask for feedback for their stories, they are asking for CONSTRUCTIVE
critism, not simply critism because someone felt like acting all high and
mighty about mistakes. You say at least you reviewed it, but who are you to
say that only you reviewed it. Alot of the list members send their feedback
emails privately.
Instead of trying to tear her down with the negative things you posted to
the list, the better thing to have done would be to have replied privately
as so many people do. And explained to her how she could improve what you
saw as the problems instead of simply pointing them out. Maybe instead of
telling her to get a beta, you could've offered to beta for her. She did say
this was her first story so maybe she's new enough to the whole fanfiction
scene to not have known about having someone beta her stuff before she sent
it.
I really have to comment on the whole comment about something being cliche.
So what if it did SOUND cliche? Everything we see, hear, or read is full of
cliches nowadays. And there really wasn't anything cliche about his mouth
hanging open because that is something that happens all the time when people
are shocked or surprised or in awe of something. And talking to himself in
the way it was done is this story does not imply that Justin is dumb. Show
me one person who has never talked outloud about something, even though they
weren't talking to anyone else and I'll show you someone who is lying.
If people are going to review stories, they should learn the meaning of
CONSTRUCTIVE CRITISM. That means that you are pointing out things that need
improvement and offering ways to make those improvements.
Now if you have any problems with what I hae to say, feel free to email me
back. But do the whole list a favor and keep it private because I'm done
with it on the list.

Chris

I almost replied with "Ok, it was cruel from me to send it public, but there were honestly nothing to praise about in that story", never mind the threat of kicking me out of the group, because, who cares, but in the end decided to do nothing.

Was I too awful? Or is it my own fault if I, at 28, read something that was written by someone who is probably 14?

Comments

[cimness.livejournal.com]

but you did say something nice. you told her the story was promising. that seems like an extremely nice thing to say, especially since what i saw of her story was not really promising, more like ominous.

and i almost can't believe the braindead quality of their arguments in flavor of cliche. christ on a tricycle! lists are ALWAYS full of preachy morons.

[cimness.livejournal.com]

uh, FAVOR of cliche. oops.

[emmuzka.livejournal.com]

I was as nice as I could! Argh! That freaking story had nothing specific to be nice about, so I said it was promising! What would they liked? "The school jock setting was new and refreshing"? "Thank you for the typos"?

[cimness.livejournal.com]

plus their argument for being nice was all wtf. i mean, if you HAVE something nice to say, by all means say it. and i can maybe buy that you should include a bit of encouragement with every bit of constructive criticism, but you DID that. are they trying to say that you should think of as many nice things to say as possible whether they're true or not? it certainly sounded like they were. and THEN what's the point of constructive criticism? no matter how honestly and meticulously you point out typos and nonsensical sentences the author's going to come away with the mistaken impression that some things were good about her story that actually sucked. if nobody said anything, she might have read and written a bit more and gotten better (not likely but...). but if she's given false praise how likely is she to try to mature? she's just going to produce more of the same dreck, convinced that she's on the right track.

AURGH. i hate the whole "if you can't say something nice" school of feedback.

[morningfine]

her story was not really promising, more like ominous

That just might be my new favorite phrase.

[morningfine]

I should maybe keep my two cents to myself, since, well, not my fandom, nor is this anything new. People are and will be people. But I'm bored, so.

For pete's sakes, you were pretty civil about it, not mean. I've got meaner reviews myself. In all honesty, your criticism wasn't constructive, but then some writers don't like suggestions, they want to come up with the corrections themselves and just want the problems pointed out to them. And some can't take any criticism. Dear fic author, it would help to specify what kind of feedback you want, if you're serious about wanting anything beyond 'keep writing, I wuv your story omg lol'. And I'm really worried if the person who wrote the first critique actually teaches creative writing, because man... her blurb was ill-constructed and all over the place.

As for clichés and our everyday experience being filtered through them, well, duh. But there's a huge difference between using them skillfully in writing, and just dropping them because you're not skilled enough to describe things from a fresh vantage point.

And, I'd really like to see someone's mouth literally hang open in real life. I do it on purpose at times, but it's a crude exaggeration; as if I was saying 'lookit how mind-bogglingly astonished I am, my mouth is hanging open like woah!'

Also, I've now demonstrated my inability to write a coherent comment, but hey. I didn't claim to be making one, so my ass is saved ^__~.

[emmuzka.livejournal.com]

'lookit how mind-bogglingly astonished I am, my mouth is hanging open like woah!'

OMG! YOU ARE SO TALENTED!!!!!111! KEEP WRITING MORE more I love you!OMG! You are a COMMENT G*D!!11!!1

[cimness.livejournal.com]

some of her criticism was constructive, actually, in that she pointed out mechanical things that would have been easily fixed if the twit'd just gotten a beta. but she was probably wasting her time by making any of it constructive. what are the odds the girl understood?

[xoverau.livejournal.com]

Oh, blah. Don't let yourself get talked out of giving feedback. If a frail wilting flower posts something on the internet, she's risking responses of all kinds. She needs to suck it up.

Also, someone criticizing your word omission in feedback needs to relax, too. There's a difference between, say, typo-ing in a letter to your grandmother and in a story you're publishing in a public forum. Unless there's a rule on the comm that forbids honest feedback, I don't see where you were mean. It's not like you said "you're a moron! you suck! you should slash your wrists at once!"

[xoverau.livejournal.com]

Of course, if you had said that, you would've saved the world from some mind-bogglingly shitty fiction. Maybe keep it in mind for next time.

[emmuzka.livejournal.com]

I was more thinking in the lines of "How old are you? Eight?" , "your story is so lame that I can't even make fun of it." and " You can't give with a shovel if you were fed with a spoon."

[nopseud]

I think the first two things you said could be construed as unnecessary -- especially the 'darling' and the 'if you think I'm being mean'. (Also the 'is he dumb' question about Justin seemed a little harsh, but that's only because I talk to myself aloud all the time, so, hey! Less of the 'dumb', please!)

The rest was fine, and I have *no* idea what the hell the badly-spelled ranty person thinks constructive 'critism' is if it isn't pointing out places you thought there were problems in the story.

Did you ever hear from the author, or was it just other people jumping in to defend her?

(While we're in con crit mode, *damn*, your colour scheme makes it hard to read what I'm typing in this box. Grey on grey is hard on the eyes. Now I remember why I usually read with base comment colours switched on.)

[emmuzka.livejournal.com]

You are right about the "darling". Yes, I feel kinda high and mighty just being older than the kids in the group.

No, I never got any response from the original author, which is a pity. I would have liked to receive the backlash much more from her than some random people.

And now that you mentioned it, my bg colors don't really encourage to comment, do they? Have to change that...