wherein Liz reads the NFE archive and thinks about gift exchange commentary etiquette

[edenfalling]

I have been reading through this year's Narnia Fic Exchange stories with great enjoyment. I am not done yet, even though there are only twenty-five of them. This is because I try to take more time with gift exchange fics, and leave thoughtful comments.

I think I do that partly as a sort of interest payment on my normal utter failure at leaving feedback ("kudos" and "like" options are a godsend, seriously), and partly because I know that I spend the anonymous portion of such fests twitchy and nervous, wondering if people will like my work without my name attached to it. I mean, not that I have all that much name recognition to start with, but I have a little simply by virtue of kicking around various fandoms for twelve years now. There is value in being a known quantity. And I figure that if I feel nervous, at least some other writers probably do too, so I want to say, "Yes, people are reading your work and responding positively!"

This can, of course, get tricky with some stories, depending on the subject matter and the writer's skill level, but there is always something you can pick out and say, "I liked this metaphor," or "I liked how happy everyone seemed," or "You got the melancholy mood across very clearly," or "I had never thought of X that way, but you have convinced me it's an interpretation worth examining," etcetera ad infinitum. And you just shut up and don't mention the parts that are Not Your Ship, Not Your Kink, Not Your Writing Style, or whatever, unless you know the writer is okay with concrit in a public arena... which, given that the stories are usually anonymous at the time, you have no way to be sure of. So be polite. :-)

(I guess this maybe sounds like I advocate fraudulent praise as payment for participation? That's not what I mean, though. My praise can be extremely selective in focus -- I would never deny that -- but if I say I liked an element of a story, I honestly mean that I liked that element.)

Comments

[rthstewart]

Reviewing, lack of reviewing, especially when friends (like people who know your real name) not reviewing, and all the basic angst associated with OH I COULDN'T POSSIBLY KNOW WHAT TO SAY. Meh. it's so little effort by the reviewer to say something and it means so very much to the recipient -- in the balance, I find it skews heavily in favor of leaving a comment or review. I'm totally with you on this and I don't worry about the fraudulent praise thing -- I find everything has some merit, in something, and even if it's not my favorite flavor of delicious cake, reading outside my normal comfort zone is good for me and it's in the spirit of this particular exchange. There's only one that I've read where I though, hmmm. and that was for what I suspect was a less mature writer. And I wouldn't dream of leveling critique there. Reap and sow, I guess. Though I do wish that people were being, generally, more generous in their comments, as in not commenting at all. Some stories aren't getting a lot of love and that's always sad for me.

I'm not sure if I've read your fic yet. I suspect not. I'm working through them. I'll review every one. My praise for the ones I love is certainly more effusive and longer. But just participating and turning in a story on time is worthy of something! That's more than a fair number of people managed.

[edenfalling]

Oh god, I remember the stuff I wrote from about, hmm, twelve to eighteen, and ye gods I would not show most of it to anyone for love nor money. (I am so glad I didn't discover fanfiction until I was twenty, so all my early stuff is original and exists nowhere but on my computer or on printouts in my filing cabinet.) But you have to write badly in order to learn how to write better, and it's a lot easier to improve without people telling you you're terrible and should give up. :-(

I am working my way through from the shortest story to the longest, and I will review ALL OF THEM (except my own work, obviously) in the end. *resolve face* As you say, people put a lot of effort into the exchange -- it's not easy to write stories to somebody else's specifications, after all -- and that deserves recognition. And yeah, I have never yet found a story about which I couldn't find at least one positive thing to say. They cannot all be my perfect cup of tea, but hey, there are other drinks in the world and experimentation is good for the soul. :-)