Why You Should Be Nice in Reviews (from a practical perspective)

[r_amythest]

Leaving concrit is something I've been ruminating upon off and on lately, it seems. Recently I've been gathering my thoughts on something that seems to be treated as a matter of etiquette when it sincerely serves a functional purpose in concrit: being Nice (to pieces that don't seem to deserve it), especially since someone I've exchanged words with

Comments

i usually just hit the back button, myself, but.

[hooves]

Why do you tempt me with your LJ postssssss

[myaru]

I've only done [2] twice, as I'm a believer that insincerity will show no matter how nicely you word the review.

Language is, unsurprisingly, central to reviewing and critiquing fiction, just as it is when writing it. Harsh crit can be dismissed as easily as a sugary review, I think, so you have to be really careful in your wording anyway - your example focus on what "could be better" and how, not on what's "wrong" is at the core of writing something a new writer might eventually listen to. The comment might stick with them even if the review itself is blown off. I wasn't very good at accepting critique either, back in the day, but the two thorough (and relatively friendly) critiques I experienced at that stage did stay with me longer than the initial reaction (which was not good, but at least I kept it to myself and thanked my reviewers

[r_amythest]

I think going this route with reviews will probably only be effective from a certain skill level and upward.

Which is why the back button is my favorite method with dealing with pieces that look like they're just not going to be worth it.

The emphasis here is less on "You should review nicely" and more on "Reviewing not-nicely is unlikely to get you anywhere". I certainly lack the motivation to begin composing something for pieces like these in the first place.