This is one of the most interesting blog entries so far. I'm really looking forward to part II.

I can relate on many things that were mentioned here: disappointment because a critic seemed unfair and I had this moment KC talked about where something said about my story almost made me give up writing at all. I'm glad you overcame this moment KC, it would have been a shame if you'd stopped writing, btw.

Ha yes Sasha I do the storming too, usually along the river with my dogs. Helps all the time. And yes, complaints are better than no reaction, at least that's what my dogs think.

Thanks for the insight.

Oh and I almost forgot about the great moments when someone says something really nice. So good.

As a reader: I should definitely write more reviews.

I agree with Addy as far as this being a great blog.

.  As readers, we all have our preferences.  I've stepped off into different genres that I normally don't read and loved them because the authors is such a great writer and storyteller.  I've tried others and couldn't get past the first chapter.  I didn't leave a bad review, I just left.

As far as my reviews being critical enough to make an author consider throwing in the towel.  I'd never do that, especially for the other readers to see.  If I saw issues that bothered me that much, I'd pm the author, explain why I thought he'd pushed it a little too far, and be done with it.  Whether I'd continue reading, depends on the subject matter at hand.

I admire an author that takes the bad reviews in stride, responds politely, and moves on.  I've read reviews that made me go, "I'd never say that, no matter what."  When a person takes the time to write, putting his best work out there for me to read and enjoy, I'm not apt to pass judgment in my reviews.  I might question something, but that's about it.

Can't wait for the second part of this blog

This article is pretty fascinating to see the different viewpoints. Every author that receives rave reviews has been verbally beaten or stabbed in some fashion, justified or not. It also helps to see that all of us have our ups and downs when it comes to criticism and some take harder blows than others.

I'm still fairly new to this, so I'm sure I will have other comments that are better and worse down the line; it's the nature of the game, so to speak. Thank god GA is a more forgiving place to start out than other sites.

Even so, we continue to do what we do, hopefully a little wiser and maybe a little thicker skinned. (Maybe.)

I've never understood the tendency to toss such acidic words in a review. I doubt there has ever been a story written in the history of the written word that has pleased every reader to look at it. If I dislike something about a chapter and feel the necessity to comment negatively on it, I feel I should at the very least be polite about it. One can criticize a work without being insulting to the author. Those sort of "negative" reviews could be helpful. A review so filled with acid and hatred achieves little but to hurt an author.

There are sites that block the public from reading reviews, and I have been subject to scathing criticism by fellow writers on these sites.  In the early development stage of my writing, I dreaded opening a review.  But those criticisms helped me.  I took the negative with the positive.  On GA, because the reviews and comments are made available to everyone to read,  I would never humiliate a fellow writer by saying things like: Your work sucks.  I will, however, PM the writer and tell him where I think the problem lies and suggest a solution. 

As an editor, that's entirely another issue. I am harsh.  I never say, Please change this, or please delete that or Try to use a different word.   I give an instruction.  Change this.  Delete that.  This does not make sense contextually. Word is wrong, use your dictionary. Please buy a dictionary! Rewrite for clarity and precision  etc,. I don't have time to dwell on benevolent requests. As a reader, however, I'm different. 

even reading that vitriol again makes me want to punch things. I'm glad Addy also storms up and down his house.

If I ever got these kinds of crit face to face then chances are I'd be doing a 15 to 20 stretch at Her Majesty's pleasure

At least online, you can always walk away and think your response over.  Not a luxury we have in the real world. 

I LOVED this blog!!!

I'm fascinated by what authors think. There's only a handful of authors I've communicated with (that I wasn't editing for), so to read about these other authors and what they think about their reviews is wonderful.

I found myself reading Jo Ann's post and nodding my head because I feel the same way about some genres. I find myself veering away from the "norm", and reading about things I never would normally: talking wolves (gasp!), ghosts (double gasp!), just because of the author who is penning the story.

I would never write a nasty review. If I didn't like the chapter due to excessive violence or whatever, I might mention that but not in a mean way. The authors on here are writing yes, for themselves, but also to entertain us and I would never want to hurt anyone's feelings.

If I couldn't get through a chapter because there were so many spelling, grammar, etc. errors, then I would PM the author. I wouldn't put up anything derogatory where everyone could read it.

I have only read two of the stories listed, but I have read other stories from all of the authors except one. But now I gonna scour through Mann's story just for the raunchy, steamy shower scene!   

I had already thought so, but this blog is totally convincing me: Permanent, noneditable, fully visible, signed reviews benefit this site. As a reviewer trying to say something more substantial than "love it" or "hate it", I continually risk foot-in-mouth disease. We reviewers, especially those who don't also write, should feel a bit cowed.  Sleep on a bad review before posting. If the author has moved on and doesn't see it right away, no matter, he'll see it later.  A negative review is best served cold. 

How does one write a critical review in the "LIKE" society we have today? Many of the reviews I read seem to be only praise, even for very unexciting and rather dull stories. If I recall, GA once had an "I DON'T Like it button" that disappeared without comment, as if there should never be a negative word on a story a person was uninspired by. ...

Right now, I have been reading a story I really do not care for, just to check on where I am in liking or not. The story, after 25 chapters, is still less than excellent to me, and the author, one of GA's "Signature" writers, seems to have a limited comprehension of male sexuality, as I, a very sexually active male, understand it. In all of the decades I have been having sex, and talking to others about it, I have never met or heard about another male with such an approach to his own sexuality. This makes the central character less "believable" to me. How do I say this? Many of the reviews, mostly by one reader, are vanilla praise. As for my own praise, the story is well written, the English is stellar, and the flow is fine, but....

You could always visit his discussion forum and there is the option to PM him. So many possibilities to voice your opinion. You might be surprised about his reaction.

How does one write a critical review in the "LIKE" society we have today? Many of the reviews I read seem to be only praise, even for very unexciting and rather dull stories. If I recall, GA once had an "I DON'T Like it button" that disappeared without comment, as if there should never be a negative word on a story a person was uninspired by. I read a lot; we have a 5000+ book library in our home filled with books I have re-read because they were good. There were some where I have read a chapter, and put it on the shelf to donate to my local library; maybe someone else would like it, but not me. I like to think I have a good sense of what works in writing and what does not, but I am terrified to write any comment whatsoever, lest I hurt someone's feelings and get myself severely trashed for doing so. (Yes, this has happened to me!) Right now, I have been reading a story I really do not care for, just to check on where I am in liking or not. The story, after 25 chapters, is still less than excellent to me, and the author, one of GA's "Signature" writers, seems to have a limited comprehension of male sexuality, as I, a very sexually active male, understand it. In all of the decades I have been having sex, and talking to others about it, I have never met or heard about another male with such an approach to his own sexuality. This makes the central character less "believable" to me. How do I say this? Many of the reviews, mostly by one reader, are vanilla praise. As for my own praise, the story is well written, the English is stellar, and the flow is fine, but....

Say what you think but come with a spirit of dialogue.  Authors want to communicate.  They want to discuss their work. But if you come after them in attack mode, the communications shut down.  

I'm a weak and silly and vain.  If you attack me, I'll shut down, I raise up walls and whatever nuggets of heavenly wisdoms will be cast to the swine.  Yeah poor me, stupid me. However, gush over so and so in my story and follow that with a 1000 page evisceration of my story, I'll read it all.  I take it all gladly! Yeah, my fickle self.  Show that you care. Show that you are genuinely interested helping me, and I'll swallow up every one of your criticisms gladly! 

But you might say, it's not your job to handhold authors. Honesty! Truth! In my day we ate nails for breakfast!  Yeah well ... what are you interested in? Dialogue or Venting? Increasing the chances of making said story better or the chances the story remains the same unpalatable dreck? Decide what you want and proceed accordingly.

Of course not all authors can handle criticism even if you serve it with buckets of sugar.  Some will shut down, others will open up. As long as you've done your part to ensure good vibes along the way, what more is there? After all just as authors are obligated to take all criticism with graceful politeness, the reviewer is just as obligated to take all responses to their opinion with graceful politeness. 

One of the prime distinctions, and it is both a positive and a negative, is that the authors on GA are usually people who will read the reviews.

When you get blase about a book you've only read one chapter and then donate to the library, it is highly unlikely that the author of that book knows this occurred.  Now they may see a drop in sales of any sequels, but the interaction isn't there.  That interaction that can occur on GA can also lend to better appreciation of what the author intended when they were writing, or it can lead to a new author feeling attacked or ambushed.  

If the author is going to put something out there, it is fair game for praise or criticism (or both).  But as the interaction is so much more tangible, the connections that can be created more real - it's usually best to think about what you write and what venue you use.  Is it important to let everyone know (by posting a public review) that the author goofed up on a name in the fourth paragraph (lol - a common mistake).  Or could this instead be handled by sending a private message so that the author can correct the mistake.  Is it important to let everyone know that you're stopping your reading of an author's story and will never read anything from that person again?  You can always post something like that as a forum post, but are you doing it to help future readers know what they're getting into or are you doing it as an ego boost to yourself.  Is it a matter that the quality is so poor, or could it be that you just don't like the themes or subject matter and someone else may?

GA is a special place in that it is NOT just a place to read stories/poems/etc.  It is also a community of real people.  While the hope is that all stories posted on GA show a minimal level of quality and interest to the community, the ones that don't - helpfully telling the author why that quality is lacking, in a private conversation, may be a gift anyone can help bring to the author and this site.

Chapter reviews are a mixed bag to be sure and I'm not convinced that authors should worry overmuch about an individual harsh critic to a specific action within a chapter. Mann Ramblings 'harshest' critic is a perfect example of this. Occasionally I too have fallen victim as a reader/reviewer to this sort of thing only to have the action proved effective through further reading. But if you are reviewing as chapters are written this sort of review response is bound to happen occasionally to the reviewer and the author. After all, as far as the reader is aware, the response makes sense to them at the time. As Mann said, you address it in the best and most appropriate way possible and move on.

Some of my reviews are critical, most of those having been directed to completed short stories, expressing their merits and faults but they do not always follow the harsh definition. In every harsh case, the author has acknowledged them if not entirely agreed with them but I was honest in my assessment.

I do think that an author of a short story is in trouble when there are many reviews and the only reader responses are little comments saying, 'I liked this part, wasn't that nice when so and so did, or this was interesting'. If that's all you are getting, your readers are doing you a disservice, they are being polite and your story is a flop or close to it. If on the other hand, it happens for a chapter, it generally means your readers are letting you know they are still involved even if they have nothing constructive to add.

For every short story and story chapter I read, I read all of the reviews for each as they aren't merely feedback and learning tools for the specific author, but for this author as well.

This is a great blog topic and the responses have been most informative. Thanks!