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The Guide to Graceful Feedback

So, you've just read a piece of fanfiction and want to give the author some feedback. Wonderful! Have some tips on how to do so with grace and poise. Please note that this guide focuses on how a reader might respond to an author she is not personal friends with. Friends often have greater leeway; just don't presume too far on that.

1. Do NOT write just to say you didn't like the story. This is the least graceful thing you could possibly do. Remember that you always read at your own risk. If you take it upon yourself, uninvited, to personally dictate a given author's non-commercial creative expression in the name of "good writing" or "artistic integrity" you will make yourself look like an pretentious fool. This is neither graceful nor especially ethical behavior. It is perfectly graceful to write a negative review of a story you do not think was good, but that should be directed to other readers, not shoved up the author's nose. Graceful feedback is never a review--even if it's a positive one.

2. If you feel called on to give constructive criticism, make sure the author welcomes it first. If she does not say that she welcomes it, stuff a sock in it. Take your artistic opinion to sympathetic friends, not an author who isn't interested.

3. If the author does welcome constructive criticism, make sure your criticism is, in fact, constructive. If, for example, you want to say that someone is acting out of character, make sure you point to the places in the source text that make you think Character X would not behave in Manner Y. Your opinion is not sufficient authority on which to suggest that an author alter her own interpretation. Remember that any decent story supports more than one interpretation, and the fact that the author may have chosen to emphasize a different one than you is not automatically a flaw that needs to be repaired. Own your own opinions, too, rather than assuming that you are the guardian of the One True Meaning. The key to constructive criticism is respect. If you don't respect the author enough to give her interpretation the benefit of the doubt, why are you critiquing, or even reading in the first place? The graceful phrase is "I thought it was strange for Character X to be so aggressive, given his responses in Volume K", not "Character X wouldn't do that". The latter invites the response, "Well, I think he would, so bugger off."

3a. Assuming that you, the casual reader, are the greater authority on anything, including basic grammar, is not graceful. It is also going to be very embarrassing when you are proven wrong, which you will be sooner or later. Don't set yourself up for the fall. If you say something like "You need to clean up your sentence structure", you invite the reply "I'm writing in stream-of-conscious style, didn't you get that? What are you, a cultural moron?" The graceful way to put it is "The narrator's thoughts were so broken up that I had a hard time following them; was that the effect you wanted?", allowing the author to say either "Yes, wonderful!" or "Not that much, maybe I should tone it down."

Along similar lines, when you feel some characterization is not supported, make very sure the story is not part of a series or arc. If you drop in on the fourth story, and then say that Character Y is out of character when, in fact, the author has written three previous stories expressly to make it plausible that Character Y should behave like that, you will have egg spattered very ungracefully over your face. In addition, you will have mightily insulted the hard work the author put in to reach that point, and even a graceful author will be justified in telling you to hold your tongue until you know what you're talking about. If you have read the first three stories and still think the characterization is off, mention this before following Guideline Three. You might say, for example, "I've read all four stories in this arc, and I felt that you were ignoring Points A and B from the source; it made Character Z feel a bit off, to me." Be sure that Points A and B are from the same continuity the author is basing the story on. If they are from the TV version, when the author is working from the print version, you will be back to the ungracefully egged face.

3b. The only time it is graceful to critique more harshly and bluntly is when you have been specifically invited to do so. If, for example, the author asked you to be a beta reader and take the gloves off, then you can break out your red pencil and gouge the story to your heart's content.

4. Do not give feedback that implies you have any rights or stake in the writing process. The author does not owe the reader a single, solitary thing, aside from a courteous reply to a courteous response. Giving feedback does not entitle you to make demands. Telling an author "I don't like that, don't write that" makes you sound like a spoiled brat. Saying "I won't read that" invites the response "Who asked you to?"

4a. Some commenters request or, worse, demand that the author alter some part of her writing, from genre to the way she labels or doesn't label her stories, "so that I can keep reading them". Astonishingly, these readers actually believe that such a demand is complimentary, that the author should be flattered that the reader likes her work well enough to want the unpalatable parts changed rather than simply going and reading something else. This is not complimentary, it is annoying, and most authors will dearly wish that reader would take her pompous self-importance elsewhere. Assuming that the reader is so valuable to the author that the author should change her artistic choices to suit every jot and tittle of the reader's taste is insensitive, self-centered and rude. None of these are graceful things.

4b. One variation that often results from carelessness, rather than offensive assumption of entitlement, generally goes "I don't like stories like this, but this was good". What the commenter usually means is that she rarely finds the genre or situation in question written in a manner that she enjoys reading, and was impressed to find it enjoyable in this story. When phrased in this particularly graceless manner, however, it often reads as either condescension or damning with faint praise. It sounds as though you still don't like the story, but found some other element of the writing good. Graceful feedback does not require any mention of the fact that you usually don't find stories with Premise Y enjoyable. If, however, the story is so exceptional that you feel you simply must communicate the fact to the author, try reversing the clauses. "I really liked this story, and I don't often find stories with Circumstance X written so that I enjoy them" is reasonably graceful, and will be less likely to provoke the response "If you don't like it, then why did you read it, you little snot?"

5. Don't be afraid to squee. It may not be the most dignified form of feedback, but is almost certain to give the author a warmer, fuzzier feeling than any disquisition on her high literary style.

6. Don't be afraid to be brief and to the point. "I really liked that" is a perfectly graceful response, no matter how many times the author has read it.

7. If you wish to give substantial feedback, one good way to do it is to say how the story made you feel. "The ending made me smile", for example, or "That was so realistic it actually scared me" would be useful to an author. It allows her to track the effect of her writing.

Note: Even if the effect mentioned is not what an author had in mind, the graceful author should keep in mind that the reader has done her a service by letting her know about the slippage in a graceful manner. You may, politely, ask to know more about why the reader reacted that way, and may, perhaps, ask the reader if she feels Point B, which had been intended to counteract the reaction in question, should be strengthened. The graceful author should not imply the the reader is careless, clueless or brainless. The graceful author should reserve that for readers who abrogate some part of Guideline Three.

Last modified: 10/11/06
First Posted:  8/09/04

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