I was browsing
thequillstation and thinking about feedback. And you know, why lie? I'm
always disappointed by feedback on my stories. It can be broken down into different types of disappointment.
Firstly, it's the disappointment of
not enough feedback. Overall, I often think that I don't get enough feedback period. And then, I look at feedback on some stories versus feedback on others. For example,
Dirty Mind. I mean, I guess it's sexy. And amusing. And snappy/clever. It's NC-17, for a very popular show, and a (at that time) popular pairing. So I understand why it received the amount of reviews it did (16). But I look, for comparison, to one of my very favorite of my fics,
Full Circle, with all of its 6 reviews. I
adore that fic.
Okay, but that brings us to another issue.
Quality of feedback. This is an area where I myself am severely lacking. I can be head over heels in love with a story and not really have anything to say. It helps of course, when you know the writer-it's easier to open up. But so rarely do you get constructive criticism or even meaningful feedback on your stories. That is why I love people like
lenina20, who always gives the best feedback, in my opinion. If only I could get the girl to beta for me! :P In that respect, I look back at the reviews for Dirty Mind and Full Circle. If one can count feedback as currency, and not just
amount but
quality, then I certainly find Full Circle's feedback to have made me richer.
Finally, it is a matter of
who gives feedback. If I write a Sawyer/Kate story and
lenina20 doesn't comment on it, you can bet I'd be disappointed! (Really, I have no right, as I am nowhere near having caught up on her huge corpus of fics) If a writer I really respect gives me glowing feedback, that feels wonderful. On a related note, I get a bit annoyed at my RL friends who don't even make an effort to read my fic. Not many people in real life know I write fanfiction. I don't know, it just doesn't seem like something one needs to share with everyone. Don't you agree? But for those few who do know (Rachel, Keara,
sirena_lupin,
13_sammie_07) I guess I just feel disappointed that they've never felt the need to read and review. Granted, I don't expect nor really want them to jump into the heavy stuff. But writing fic...it's what I do (even though it is rarely) and I'd like some support.
But the real point here is that I am
truly failing to address these three issues of feedback when I read fanfic. Thus, it is quite hypocritical of me to ask these things for my own writing. Thus, I am pledging to make more of an effort to always
leave a review, provide substance to my review (at least a little), and read more of my friends' writing.
Thus, to the writers on my flist. Please point me in the direction of your favorite stories of yours. I will make an effort to read them in the coming days/weeks, and provide feedback. You are all quite talented, and I love you all. And I want to give you what I so want for my own writing. :)
On a related note, this is some interesting meta on feedback as currency, so
read it.