Reviews

There is something special about waking up to find reviews of your work sitting in your inbox.  It's one of the things that I find so addicting about posting fiction online - the instant feedback.  I try to reply to as many reviews as I can - even the one liners - although my policy with one word reviews is to respond with one word.


I am ashamed to admit that I do not review as frequently as I ought to during my own scouring of the fiction sites.  I tend to read stories that are already finished, and so reviewing chapter by chapter seems silly.  I suppose that it is the stories that really grab my emotions and make me laugh or cry or rage that I find worthy of review.  I have to refrain from reviewing the less well written works, as I find it very hard not to be sarcastic when giving negative feedback.  Positive feedback is a lot easier!  Reading completed stories mean that there is no point emailing suggestions about the content of the story, so when I review if I feel the need for constructive criticism I confine myself to the topic of the author's general writing style.


The majority of the reviews that I receive contain general praise for the story, and a plea to update soon.  While all reviews are precious to me, the reviews where someone has taken time out of their day to write me a 'letter' in email form are my favourites.  I even wrote an epilogue to a story that I had considered complete in response to one review - the reader did not feel that the story was completely closed, and although it had been three years since I had written it, once I had read it over I agreed with her, and the epilogue was born.


I believe that the internet has given writers an opportunity to place our work, or sections of it, in the public domain for public perusal, and that that is something new and exciting that we should take advantage of, whether we are playing in someone else's sandpit or creating our own worlds.