How to Write a Good Fanfic

3. Critique - How Not to Respond to a Review

This particular writer was lucky their response was just seen by myself. I've seen other writers make their replies public. Some writers managed to gain support from people who agreed with their point of view, but they also had other people losing respect for them because they choose to react in such an immature manner.

Throwing a tantrum is not though the only way to show a lack of respect towards your readers. Another way to show a lack of respect is to speak down to your reader. This particular reader spoke down to me by telling me that I "know nothing". Never belittle your reader's intelligence – don't do it even if you think they are belittling your own intelligence. You are just stooping to their level if they really are belittling you.

Another way to patronize a reader – or even a writers for that matter – is to use nicknames like "hun", "honey", or "sweetie". Look up all three of these words and you'll find that they're terms of endearment. You do NOT use terms of endearment for people you do NOT know. Calling anybody you know "hun", "honey", or "sweetie" is like attaching the honorific -chan to everyone name in Japanese. You just DON'T do it.

I am fully aware here that some people will disagree with what I just said – I've had a few people tell me that they supposedly refer to everybody as "hun", "honey", or "sweetie". There is a high chance they don't actually refer to everybody in such a manner like the claim, but instead just use the word in the exact same manner as -chan is used in Japan – in other words I doubt they would call an adult male any of these words unless said person was their sweetheart.

What if they are telling the truth? The fact they're telling the truth doesn't change the fact they're being rude to other people. That would be like saying someone speaking Japanese shouldn't be considered rude for attaching -chan to the names of everybody. You don't have any business acting familiar with a person you don't know. Even ruder still is when you say something like, "hun, I don't know you".

By posting to the net you asked people to comment on your work.The comments you will receive will not just be positive, but also negative ones as well. As such saying something along the lines of "nobody asked you" is the same as saying "don't respond unless you say what I want to hear". A few people may be wondering why I didn't say it is the same thing as saying "don't respond unless you have something nice to say."

The phrase "if you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything" actually doesn't mean "if you don't have anything to say that doesn't hurt a persons feelings, don't say anything at all". What it actually means is "if you don't have anything polite to say, don't say anything at all." Polite of course doesn't mean not doing anything that will hurt a persons feelings just like bullying doesn't mean not hurting a persons feelings. In real life you don't always get what you want.

I also like what Lucy Gillam has to say on the matter in her essay "An Apology For Criticism." She says, "imagine, if you will, telling a fanfic writer that henceforth, she must only write short dramas. Or telling a slash writer that she could no longer write slash, but must only write gen. The mere suggestion of putting those kinds of limits on the creative endeavor would be greeted with cries of horror. And yet no one thinks twice of putting extreme limits on the creative endeavors of the critic."

Be sure to actually read the review someone took the time to read you.The writer who replied to my critique didn't take the time to read what I had to say, but then again they decided from the very start that they wouldn't listen to what I had to say because I said something negative about their story. They completely missed the two most important points I made, and then over looked the more minor ones.