What type of reviewer are you?

Actually, my reviewing style has very little to do with the story and a lot to do with my mood or RL issues.

That being said

A minimalist - I'm grouchy or about to have to deal with work - arggghhh

A quoter - my best reviewing style. That way, I can highlight what I liked as well as make comments on it. I'm in a happy reading mood.

The oracle - I do love to speculate but often the author might not like that kind of thing so I usually do this type of review if I know the author well or ask them first. Usually when I do this, I'm excited about something, either in the story or real life.

The lurker - life sucks rocks and I just don't have the energy to say one darn thing, good or bad or even an emoticon. Sorry, guys but I do lurk, sometimes a lot. Bad me!

 

I think I'm in between a minimalist and a quoter. Although, every once in a while, I will try and speculate what is going to happen with a story. I have to admit that I do still lurk some, but I am getting better at leaving reviews. I know that I appreciate them, so I try to return the favor. Sometimes RL gets too busy and I'll read something and think that I'll come back and post and of course, I forget!

 

I tend to be a Lurker (), and when I do review, I think I'm a Minimalist/Quoter with a bit of Over-the-top-Cheery thrown in.

 

I'd say that anymore I'm mostly a minimalist, if I even post at all. I HATE being a lurker, but DRL has it's own plans for me, so when I get a chance to reply I make it short and sweet.

Although I do sometimes like to be a bit of #3 depending on how much I enjoyed the story.

 

I think a lot of review type might function on a case by case basis. Personally, if I know the author better or am friends with him/her, my reviews tend to be a bit longer and joke-based. I can pick up on things and use that history of friendship in the reply. If I don't know someone as well, it's certainly not going to stop me from commenting or from leaving a longer, more in-depth review if there were some things in the story that really caught my eye or resonated with me, but it's not going to be the same usually. That being said, most of the time I am flat-out a horrible, horrible lurker. I'm kind of all over the spectrum in that regard.

 

I tend to be a mix of one, two, and four, depending on how much time I have and how much a story caught my attention. If it's a quick review, that's usually since I am short on time or I just want to let someone know I am still reading their story and not just lurking. If I know the author and their works, my comments are usually longer, and if a story was especially brilliant or powerful, my reviews are long. It depends.

 

I am a over the top cheerful reviewer!!!! Oh yes....emoticons are my favorite! I guess I just love to love, I suppose. If I truly hate something, I'd much rather not leave a review than say something negative...if I see anything glaring, I PM. But I just love to be cheerful!!! Shocker, I know...but still, life has enough moments....why compound them?

But yes...I LOVE to be happy! I suppose, though, that I like to leave the kind of review I like to read on my own fics. However, I can be a bit of a oracle/social person...its just too much fun!!!

Huggles!
Irish

ps-Madman= great idea! This was bunches of fun to read through. Lazy = So funny, yet so shamefully true!

 

Interesting topic madman

Hmmm, as for what type I am, it depends on 1. Who I'm reviewing and 2. What kind of fic it is

If it is someone I know very well/am familiar with their writings I'll go for usually an 'Excited' or even 'Discussion'-like approach. I figure if I already have a handle on what their work is like I can see what parts are truly brilliant for their typical writing regime, and also people I know better would be less put-off/freaked out by an overly estatic review.

Also, if it is a longer-length fic, I usually turn into a lurker/quoter and sometimes the saddening 'Good post' response On longer fics (I'm talking 15, 20 + posts), I think that the author should realize that I'm already taking lots of time to read, and every time they don't need the amazing and complementary post of the century Genre also affects it too-- for mushy/romance stories I'm definitely an 'Excited' reviewer For angst/action I typically go for 'quoter'.

 

I'm usually the Long-Winded Dork. Like Luton, I've done literally dozens of reviews that were longer than the chapter or entire vignette I'm replying to. But there is a method to my madness.

As a writer, I also tend to write huge replies to reviews I've received. I like to get people involved in my stories as much as possible, since this is a community. It's more fun if my thread is more like a gathering point for readers, and it's fun to get everybody interacting. It's also extremely useful to me, because it tends to get readers to add a little bit to their reviews and tell me what specifically they like. I love it when people theorize on what will happen next, or try to solve mysteries.

Before I came here, I never liked to post works in progress. How could somebody enjoy something that wasn't finished?! But I came to realize what an awesome tool it is. One of the best parts about TFN is that I can get feedback from other accomplished writers (and smart readers) at every single step of the way. It's amazing. I finely tune my chapters based on advice, or comments, or just general feedback. As a writer, there's no other chance like it to build a story from the ground up. It's fans and editors rolled into one here.

It's part of the writing process for me, the back-and-forth. So I like the longer detailed reviews.

And because of that, I tend to give them, because I can't very well expect others to do it for me if I can't return the favor. It's helped me so much that I figure other writers would probably appreciate it if I could be a little specific on what worked for me.

Or maybe I'm just babbling and no one has the heart to tell me to can it

See, even my reply to this simple question was long winded.

 

I am mainly a quoter ( ), and depending on my mood all of the remaining three can be thrown into my reviews. Heh, I probably have scared people with my at times overly hyper cheeriness... I swear, I am anything but in person, which is really quite odd...

 

I like Exeter's post. But I'll refrain from quoting it and putting some smilies afterwards.

One of the great advantages of posting our stories on the boards a post at a time is that you are continually interacting with the reader base. You can see what works, what doesn't, and improve your writing. The quoters can show you what passages stood out. The oracles can get you reflecting on how to better the plot. Etcetera etcetera. "Long-winded dorks", as Exeter so colorfully put it , can be an excellent resource in that regard.

That reader-writer interactivity is actually what gave me the inspiration to finally figure out what to do with the climax of my current WIP. I'm not letting the audience dictate the story, because it's not a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure, but a few comments gave the gears of my mind the push they needed to start turning. And from there, they gained momentum and pretty soon I was coming up with ideas that may only distantly relate to the replies that started the process, but are nonetheless ideas that I wouldn't have come up with without those readers.

Personally, I try to follow the fanfic Golden Rule: Reply unto others as you'd have them reply unto you. That said, my style is highly vulnerable to wild variation depending on the length of the post I'm replying to, the time I have to reply, what I had for lunch that day... On given days, I've been the Minimalist, the Philosopher, the Oracle, the Long-Winded Dork, and the Quoter, but I try to mix it up.

 

Speculation posts can very occasionally be a blessing. In a recent (recent? Does months ago count as recent?) post a reviewer asked if a certain character I'd written elsewhere was going to be in that story. At the time, no - that wasn't going to happen. But when I thought about it, something clicked inside and I suddenly found it to be the best possible place to introduce that character to the series. I'd never have thought of it if it hadn't been suggested.

That was Ale, actually - the prince of pertuating OCs.

 

I'm a mixed bag of reviews. If it's a story with great moments I love to quote, if it's a story involving characters and situations I'm also familiar with writing I love to orcle and if it's a friend, or even my padawan, I like to be a minmalist and lots of smileys!

 

Interesting topic, madman007.

As a reviewer, my reviews tend to be longer when I like it better (and depending on post length - how much can you say about a drabble?). When I like something immensely, I force myself to pick at least three points that caught my attention, because I'd like to have that myself. I occasionally quote a lot, and I philosophize, and I speculate - I'm pretty much anything. I don't lurk, though - I think that every story that entertained me, regardless of how much, deserves at least a one-liner.

As an author, the best kind of reply for me is the kind of reply you won't get over here: the kind of review that honestly points out my mistakes in the 'fic, and the things the reader didn't like. I'm all in for the criticism thing (though I try not to offer it, as most writers don't seem to appreciate it), but so far I've only had one such review, by PM (madman, thanks! That was wonderful! ). Don't misunderstand me, I'm not asking to be flamed (although, if the flamer has a point and explains it, it might still be worthwhile), but I want to improve myself - and criticism is the easiest way, for me.

Second best are the quoter, philosopher and speculator. I love speculation about my 'fics. (In a sense, a story is richer when it's only half-way, because the opportunities are still infinite. I like to see what someone else would have done with it. )
The philosopher makes me think about my 'fic, which is very helpful. I like the quoter, especially the extensive one, because it's the closest thing to criticism you can get: by subtracting the quotes from the story, you can see what they didn't like, and make an educated guess as to what needs to be improved.

Well, that's about it.

Yours, Alkibiades

 

Hear, hear. I don't frequently get a lot of speculation, but someone once picked up a pairing vibe between two characters who, quite frankly, I've never seen put together in all of the KOTOR fandom... but the more I think about it, the more I like it. I don't know if it'll come out in the confines of this particular story, but that doesn't mean it won't ever happen.

I'm less of a Lurker than I used to be, but still substantially enough that I feel that it still needs to change. I feel bad about that, since I know if I had any lurkers, I'd adore it even if they left an emoticon. I must definitely work on it some more.

 

I'm a combo of 1 and 2, with some 3 thrown in. It usually depends on how much I like the story, how much time I have, and if there are any lines that stick out to me to quote.

I used to do the socialize thing a lot with a group of friends (we all did the interaction thing on each others stories) but most/all of them are gone and I've pretty well fallen out of the habit.

 

I don't think I could pinpoint a particular type for my reviews, as it depends on the story I'm responding to and how much time I have. I generally try to put a bit of thought into the review as a thank you to the author, as people seem to do the same thing when they reply to my stories, whichever type of review they leave. And I always appreciate it. Even a one-word reply takes time. Even reading without replying takes time, in fact - can't forget the lurkers.

 

I"m a mixture of the quoter and the philosopher. I like to show the author what, specifically, I liked, and also make some comments on the quote and the fic as a whole.

 

Great thread!

I'm a minimalist.

Awesome!

 

It all depends on how much time I have and how deeply I was drawn into the story. Some stories are really good but I can't place the exact genius of it, or doing so would take too long.

Sometimes the Minimalist.

If it's a friend of mine- The Socializer as well.

But I was an English major who had to psychoanalyze too many stories not to see deeper meanings and have to report on them. Philosopher. Sometimes, although I'm not a diva--I give advice, and this from having to edit and review a lot of stories for school.

 

Usually, I'm a quoter/philosopher/speculator. Sometimes, though, I'm a minimalist. The latter's usually because I have a lot of PMs to catch up on (I occasionally disappear from here for a couple months at a time), or if I don't have the time to make a longer response.

The reason I like quoting is that I can comment on individual sentences/phrases/paragraphs/etc. that really struck me, humorous or serious. Same with philosophizing and speculation. I'm a writer- I like knowing what people like and why. I assume other writers are the same. Thoughtful comments will are the same, because it makes me think about the story or plot in a way I may not have, and may very well make the story better.

The one type of review that I would love to give (and get!) is constructive criticism. I feel it helps people become better writers. If you don't know that you're doing something "wrong" then you won't know to change. But since the board rules prohibit it except when requested, I don't think it's given that often. (Which I feel is a real pity, because there's a lot you can learn from it.)

 

i'm usually a either a quoter or an over the top cheerful reviewer, though if I am in a hurry I can be a minimalist. If I can't pick out any one small section to quote because the whole story is so good (usually one of VaderLVR64's, stories) then I won't quote, and it'll be a mix of minimal and overthetop cheery.

 

I'm most definitely a mix between a Quoter and a Philosopher. I love to leave detailed and encouraging feedback whenever I have the online time to do so.

 

I'm a mix of everything, although for the past year I've been (unfortunately) leaning towards The Minimalist mixed with The Quoter. And, although I really hate it when I do it, I lurk. A lot. The kind of reply I give depends on what's happening on that specific day. Usually I have time to read a chapter or vignette or whatever and then get a few words out before I have to run off to dinner or music practice or homework or whatnot. The less time I have on my hands, the less I say. I try to come back and edit my post, but I usually forget.

And occasionally that Over-the-Top Cheerful Review gets the best of me.

 

I'd like to think I'm somewhere between a minimalist and an orical. One of thethings I like to do when reading a book or watching a movie or TV show is attempt to predict the ending. Usually I can get pretty close. I'll know a story is exceptionally good if I can't figure out the conclusion by the middle of the second act.