To Review or Not to Review? That Is the Question....

[dawn_felagund]

Recently, I have been batting around the idea of submitting one of my short stories for archive review at HASA. So why is this a big deal? Just do it, right, Dawn?

The problem is that I have always made such a big loud noise about how I don't agree with processes that claim to judge what is "quality" fiction, something that is made even worse online, where even "blind" submissions are often easily recognized as belonging to a certain author and therefore prone (in my opinion) to greater bias than a review by true strangers.


For example, many of you have stories that I would know as yours the moment I read them or read the titles, even, in certain circumstances. I admit that I would find it hard to separate my feelings for you as a friend or an individual from my judgement of a story. And the opposite is unfortunately also true: I am sure that there are people in the Tolkien fanfic community who would decline one of my stories just because it was written by me. (None of these people, as far as I know, belong to HASA. If they do, they are not active over there.) And it's not hard to know what stories belong to me. Go to my "short story" tag and there's a list right there.

Besides that, I simply don't agree that even a huge pool of reviewers have a right to decide what is or is not quality. Now I've had it brought up to me before: But Dawn, you are an editor for a literary magazine. And you have been a fiction editor before and had the difficulty of actually choosing the "best" stories from a pool of submissions. Yes, but I see this as different. A literary magazine, to me, is nothing but a collection of pieces that the editor(s) find particularly good. It is the editor's opinions, certainly not a declaration of quality at large. Were you to read the same pool of stories as me, you would probably "rate" some differently than I do. And a literary magazine, also, includes a certain kind of fiction. A story from the genre of science fiction might be excellent to readers of science fiction, but I don't think that it would ever appear in The Praire Schooner. Not because it's bad but because they don't publish that kind of fiction.

But archives that require a "review" to get in on the premise of only wanting to accept fiction of "quality" are, in my opinion, assuming that a team of reviewers can make such a judgement. Even the most atrocious blue-haired, purple-irised, unicorn-riding "Mary Sue" would be good fiction to someone. On the other hand, a dense, psychologically-based story dealing with the Elven view of mortality might breeze into most archives...but there would be readers who would hate it. There are doubtlessly readers who hate my stories, who think that I'm long-winded, blathering, and--at times--pompous (they're certainly right on the first two counts...I'm not so sure that I can count as pompous, though), and I know there are people who love my stories. Who's right? Who's to same I write quality fiction...or not?

And so I've always assumed that I would avoid archives that "review" stories for inclusion. But recently, I want to give it a try, for a couple of reasons.

1. I just want to see if it would be accepted. I'm curious. Curiosity may have killed the cat, but satisfaction brought him back.


2. I can't help but feel that I am pompous or prideful to assume that I am making some kind of impact by witholding my work from certain archives. Like the staff of these archives are wringing their hands even as I type this and considering revising their admission guidelines solely because Dawn Felagund doesn't agree with them, and they are somehow incomplete if they don't get stories by Dawn Felagund posted there. Hmph.


3. I want an audience for my work. And HASA is one of the most-read Tolkien archives, so to have my work there would be a good thing. (And eventually other "review" archives as well.)


4. Am I really compromising my principles to submit my work? I do not do reviews, not because I'm lazy or I do not wish to help other authors get into archives but because a) I do not trust myself to be fair in reviewing the work of a friend or someone well known to me and b) I do not believe that I have any right to determine what is quality fiction. But to submit one's work...is that really in violation of my belief that the system is wrong? I also do not agree with using standardized tests for admission into universities, but I have taken both the SAT and GRE, scored well on both, and am proud of my work. It doesn't mean that I am agreeing that standardized tests are appropriate admissions standards. It is simply something that I had to do to achieve a greater goal: getting into the university I wanted to attend. A necessary evil, to borrow the cliche.

So that's where I stand. I'm interested in people's opinions on this.


But if you'd rather give me your opinion anonymously (and just because they're fun and I'm paying for the ability to use them), here's a poll:

[Poll #669291]

Now that it's 3 o'clock and I've done my blathering for the day, I will stop procrastinating and do some writing.

Comments

[sinneahtes.livejournal.com]

Eep, that word "quality" -- I haven't ever gotten back to appreciating it as much as I once did since I saw a bunch of people in some random "badfic" bashing circle saying, "It's not fair that people think we're mean! What's wrong with writing QUALITY reviews?"

...and example of a "QUALITY review" from an example of a member consisted of, "*sigh* I can never understand why people do this [and whatever else the particular author did]! *sigh*" (Just to name one example)

(Though yeah, perhaps it was a little silly of me to let one person or a few people "ruin" something like that for me after all my eyerolling at people who act like Mary Sues are going to bring on the apocalypse. :P)

I dunno... I haven't been around HASA in a long time (a while ago, some days I was in the mood to read stuff there, and others, I felt like a lot of the stories sounded too similar to each other in terms of "feel," which kind of creeped me out even when I agreed a lot of the stories were "good," though I certainly won't swear my perception was accurate), but were I in your position, I admit I'd probably succumb to your reason #1--"I want to see if it could" can be a really strong motivation.

[dawn_felagund]

Eep, that word "quality" -- I haven't ever gotten back to appreciating it as much as I once did since I saw a bunch of people in some random "badfic" bashing circle saying, "It's not fair that people think we're mean! What's wrong with writing QUALITY reviews?"

Eegads. That's some...erm...review!

I'm not averse to archives that want their members to select stories, but it bugs me when a selection by a small group of people is then translated into saying something about the universal quality of that work. So my problem is less with the process than what they call the process.

And I don't think that you're silly for failing to have fun in such a group. Fan fiction is my hobby, which is part of the reason, ironically, that I get myself so worked up over these sorts of issues, when I see people failing to have fun or being hurt while participating in a community. Aren't we all here for the same reason? Because we enjoy writing? So why all the effort taken to make people feel bad about their hard work?

I admit I'd probably succumb to your reason #1--"I want to see if it could" can be a really strong motivation.

Lol! It is a strong motivation! It's like hiking and seeing a big rock and thinking, "Can I climb that??" :^P

[sinneahtes.livejournal.com]

I'm not averse to archives that want their members to select stories, but it bugs me when a selection by a small group of people is then translated into saying something about the universal quality of that work.

Oh yeah, definitely. I often like archives where it's known "These are my/our favorite stories," based on what the members/owners happen to like themselves, because somehow it just gives the archive a more relaxed, pleasant atmosphere while I pick things out and read them. When the idea "quality" gets introduced there, somehow it just seems more... I don't know, stiff?

Fan fiction is my hobby, which is part of the reason, ironically, that I get myself so worked up over these sorts of issues, when I see people failing to have fun or being hurt while participating in a community. Aren't we all here for the same reason? Because we enjoy writing? So why all the effort taken to make people feel bad about their hard work?

I have yet to write fanfiction myself, but I love reading it because... well, yeah, it's FUN--I wanted more of the characters the original book/movie/TV show can't give me, and here's my fix--plus it's a great conversation topic (or a great excuse to strike up a conversation), and it's actually lead me to meeting some great friends. I've had my moments where I'll bitch about common problems that add up and bug me, but that's mainly because I have an unhealthy addiction to whining, ranting, and rambling, not because I want to enforce that there are Rules, RULES I say! (Respect canon or die! Do what I say TOLKIEN would have wanted you to!) to writing fanfiction beyond properly crediting the original creator(s) and not plagiarizing or slandering.

But it does often seem like a lot of people out there, when they're not just trying to be elitists, subconsciously believe that the entire fandom's collection of fanfiction is supposed to cater to their personal tastes, and if you don't write Gil-galad's personality exactly as they imagined him, or you happen to enjoy writing a Mary Sue whether or not you know it might be corny, or for whatever other reason you just don't entertain them, then you've done something Stupid, so they must set you Right.

Kind of sad, really...

[dawn_felagund]

I have yet to write fanfiction myself

*begins scheming toward corruption*

Erm...I mean...really? :^P

But it does often seem like a lot of people out there, when they're not just trying to be elitists, subconsciously believe that the entire fandom's collection of fanfiction is supposed to cater to their personal tastes

juno_magic introduced me to the term "canatic" and so I invented my own variant of it: fanonatic! These are the people who insist that their own interpretation of canon--however bizarre or banal it may be--is next to JRRT's opinions in terms of What Must Be Written. I have yet to encounter a true canatic, but as my stories are often only very loosely associated with canon, this doesn't surprise me. But fanonatics...I've had my share! "Well, I see Maglor as being a very tough and mean character and why don't you write him that way?" or "Well, I believe that Elves sleep with their eyes open and yours sleep with their eyes closed and so you must be Wrong (tm)." I suppose the people who cannot entertain the notion that Tolkien did not intend Maedhros and Fingon to be gay lovers and scathe those of us who do not write them that way fall into that realm too. (Not that I've a problem with slash...and I even wrote a Mae/Fin for a holiday gift! But I don't think it was Tolkien's intent and certainly have no problem with stories where Mae and Fin find other lovers beside each other. :^P) But I like to entertain alternate interpretations of the same text and same characters. Maglor as a strong, proactive warrior, for instance, or in more of a supportive role. Sometimes, my characters even differ wildly depending on the story on which I am working.

And then there's hair color.... *not going there* ;^D

Now what were you saying about an addiction to ranting and rambling. :^))

[juno-magic.livejournal.com]

eyerolling at people who act like Mary Sues are going to bring on the apocalypse

LOL!

I like the way you think!

IMO... if I want the right to write and post what is "good canon fanfic" (not that I do, proud creator of two "girl drops into Middle-earth" stories), then I have to grant others the right to write what they want, too. No matter if that entails violet eyes, silver hair and a unicorn or not.

And no one who is older than 16 can honestly try to tell me that it is not possible to tell from the summary in 80% of the stories if the author is interested in real critical feedback. "Plz review U R so kewl", anyone?

I think HASA has improved. There a lot of new people there, and I have seen wonderful experimental pieces of writing accepted into the public archive during the last year. They even accepted my Tenth Walker Novel!

I think it's important to differentiate between the archive and the people there. Both may change in time. :-)

[sinneahtes.livejournal.com]

IMO... if I want the right to write and post what is "good canon fanfic" (not that I do, proud creator of two "girl drops into Middle-earth" stories), then I have to grant others the right to write what they want, too. No matter if that entails violet eyes, silver hair and a unicorn or not.

Heh, I can see some of the people who disagree talking now: "RAWR! You have to RESPECT CANON! Tolkien this, Tolkien that, forget he's dead and that you're just trying to indulge yourself and some other fans; do what HE would want! Any friends who stay with you now are syncophantic idiots! You and all who support you belong in fandom prison!"

Okay, I'm mostly overdoing that, but that was fun. :P

And no one who is older than 16 can honestly try to tell me that it is not possible to tell from the summary in 80% of the stories if the author is interested in real critical feedback. "Plz review U R so kewl", anyone?

Yeah, seriously. I've only ever written reviews for people who really seemed to want to improve their writing/stories, and not once have I gotten any angry "You're so MEAN!" responses--mostly because it's not THAT hard to tell who's worth spending time critiquing, and who's just going to take what I say badly and get defensive. (And because if something sucks so much and the author doesn't seem to care, I'm not likely to have read past the first few paragraphs to begin with, and won't review something I wouldn't finish.)

I think HASA has improved. There a lot of new people there, and I have seen wonderful experimental pieces of writing accepted into the public archive during the last year.

I keep meaning to peek back there and see what stories are there that I've missed seeing in other places, but when I actually have nothing to read or do, I keep forgetting... :\

[juno-magic.livejournal.com]

Please do come back! I wish I could say you can only look at certain very brilliant stories of my own there, and nowhere else, but alas, my stories are not really brilliant, and I archive at many places...

As the reviews system is member based it can only ever be as good as the reviewers. A lot of it is mean statistics. If you have only ten canatics reviewing regularly, that's the kind of stories you'll end up seeing in the p.a. - if you get a large pool of reviewers, with some lovers of slash, some Mary Sue enthusiasts, some canatics, some people who just like a good story no matter in which guise... then the stories in p.a. will reflect that mixture as well. *sigh*