Dear authors who complain about reviews
I don't understand.
If there are bad novels with cliche plot and all, you can just drop it though. Yeah, leave a bad review and it's author's choice whether she/he wants it on her/his book or not since she's writing it. If it's bad, it won't gain readers anyway. If it has readers despite having most cliche plot in the universe, doesn't it mean that there are readers who want to read cliche? Why make a big deal about reviews or author deleting reviews? If it's bad, it will be dropped eventually.
As I always say, first chapter isn't enough to review, specially negative one. I know it's our right as a readers to say what we don't like but throwing away a book just because you hated it's cover and telling others that the book was bad doesn't sound good either
- Edited
Agreed on the not enough to review part. Disagree about the not enough to drop. All gods know I'm guilty in this departement since I'm pretty awful at creating a first chapter that hooks the reader.
Norah_Koch well you have a point there that people will read what they like.
But what if an author is deceiving you with a plot in their synopsis and it is left untouched for 70 chapters?
Would it then still be bad to have some reviews warning you before you dump 200 spirit stones into a story which promises one thing but doing something completely different?
If the synopsis is talking about revenge and action, but the actual story is giving you a teenage love story for 70 chapters. Would you not want to have a warning then?
before_after Usually, first 60 chapters are unlocked/free. That pretty much gives an idea of the story, writing style, plot etc. 60 chapters are minimum 30 k words if each chapter is 500 words. Is 30 k words not enough to give an idea?
About the plot going haywire later? It's up to the author really. I do agree that it's unsatisfying if the story's quality decrease. But usually, a story has highs + lows. In the end, it's up to the author what he/she wants to do with her story. If you don't like, u can drop it anywhere u want.
Lastly, yes, constructive reviews aren't bad. The author must have a strong heart if he/she is posting a story pubically. Must be able to take criticism well. Instead of posting bad reviews that might give a heart attack to the author or make them cry (I know authors who spend days in depression after getting bad reviews or lose motivation to write including), how about thinking what each star means when you are reviewing it? When you are rating, the five stars have categories -- Writing Quality, Stability of Updates, Story Development, Character Design,
World Background.
Tell me... how many of the authors deserve 1 star in each category? If the plot is going haywire then, story development is bad. If character design seems bad, then that category deserves 1 star. When you are reviewing a translated novel, there's a translation category. I don't think that the translator is doing a bad job of translation. When does he/she deserve 1 star in that category?
You might be bitter because the plot didn't go the way you like or ML abused FL vice versa or the grammar is bad or the story development was horrible or the world background sucks. You might be upset coz ML did a stupid mistake and you want to drop the novel instantly. Then you review it in your bad mood and give it 1 or 2 stars. Then blame the author for deleting it.
Constructive or honest reviews are different than rants/spams in reviews. If you are badmouthing an author, remember it's a person with a heart. Authors also need to steel their hearts/minds and accept criticism. Criticism are good to improve/motivation.
Norah_Koch Are you even paying attention to what I said?
There is a synopsis which describes the plot in said novel and 70 chapters in it remains untouched.
The synopsis talks about powers given to the MC and revenge. The actual story of the novel is a teenage love story, at least for the first 70 chapters.
Free chapters were up to chapter 34, unlike what you think, 36 chapters only unlockable with spirit stones = 200+ spirit stones.
When I wrote the plot in the synopsis remains untouched I get an answer from the author about me "shittalking".
Alright the author is a human, but the reviewer isn't?
So my question stays, is it too much for potential readers to ask for a warning that the plot remains untouched?
- Edited
StenDuring I never said not enough to drop, that's your choice if you want to do it. I'm sure Many people dropped books which all of us consider masterpieces. Its all subjective :)
before_after well, in that case, the warning is legit.
Fair enough.
Frankly, everything is relative. You have the right to write a review the author has the right to delete them.
I read a story about a hero who was betrayed by all his friends. He went back in time before the time he was summoned swearing revenge. The revenge part didn't begin before more than 200 chapters since the first hundreds of chapters he was still on earth with his family. That didn't really bother me since I liked what the author was writing. So it's a question of taste and perspective.
For example, in most CN the synopsis says that the mc will become a god. But generally, he won't become one before the very end of the story.
Of course, an author should be ready to accept bad reviews. I received a 2.5-star review once, but it didn't bother me. But 1 star is too much. 1 star means that everything the author did is shit. Just so you know there is stability update in the rating. So imagine a bad writer who still posts at regular times. How could he accept having 1 star since it would mean that even his release rate was given 1 star?
Anyway I understand your frustration, but try to understand the authors
RedLaw Thank goodness! Someone gets my point~
By the way, anyone knows what happens about the readers complaining about writers and even organizing some weird google survey form to allow them to anonymously attack writers they aren't happy with? The thread was titled, "express your hate against writers" or something like that. I was telling them off for cyber-bullying, calling them cowards for attacking behind a mask of anonymity, etc., but it seems that they deleted my post.
I hope there were others who told them off, but seriously, why is it that they can attack and bully writers like that, but I'm not allowed to crticize them for what amounts fo cyber-bullying?
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Lilliny Yeah, but they deleted my posts...I'm not sure how they were able to do that while they got away with cyber-bullying.
Again, I'm reminded of how readers really, really hate the writers. I thought I was the only one suffering from such stuff because I don't see negative reviews on other writers' stories, so I believe that all the other writers were much better than me. Even so, I don't think it's fair to create a whole list that allows you to anonymously attack and "hate" on the writers while publicly humiliating them. That's just bullying, pure and simple. I want to find that thread again and put a stop to it, but I can't if they delete my posts or ban me from commenting on the thread.
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yaoyueyi I was talking about a thread here. Something about someone encouraging readers to write about their hate anonymously on some Google Doc survey or something. It was here on Saturday night (American time), but now it's gone.
TheBlips Hmm, interesting. Do you know what happened to that "Leave hate messages for authors" thread or whatever it was titled?