"Alderpaw, why are you so lazy?" Owlfrost kicked a stale mouse away from the prey pile. "Larktail told you to get rid of the crow-food yesterday."
"I did," the tabby insisted. "That mouse must have gone bad overnight."
Owlfrost growled, "Yeah, right. Just another excuse, huh?"
"No, I really did do what Larktail asked!" Alderpaw stammered.
The white she-cat lashed her tail and stalked away, not listening to a single word the apprentice had to say.
There are review boxes for a reason. Let's listen to what we have to say!
Communication is key. That is true in relationships, friendships, familiar bonding, the workplace, and in your writing. This includes both communicating your ideas through the flow of the story, and reaching out and communicating directly with your audience.
The wonderful thing about this website is that there is no 'dislike' button. If we don't like a story, we simply choose not to favorite or follow it, review it, or acknowledge it. Thanks to the review box, we can simply state why we like or dislike a story.
This goes to both readers and writers: Great opportunity comes with great responsibility.
Taking criticism is tough. We are all authors here expressing our love for Warriors and our talent for writing. When someone says negative things about our work, the work we put our heart and soul into, it stinks. They might not be trying to make you feel bad. They are probably just giving their honest thoughts. Then again, they could just be trolling you. The factors are endless.
Responding appropriately to critics and compliments will make or break an author. Remember that everyone has bad days, and a member of your audience may be more harsh than usual. Also remind yourself to keep your own emotions in check.
The worst thing anyone can do is get angry and PM the reviewer asking them to shut the fluff up. There is a reason they reviewed in the first place.
It is both the responsibility of the author and the reader to respect the written story and each other's opinions and feelings.
This is an example of what not to do as an author with a stinky review:
The author PMs the reader from the story directly, "Stop reviewing my stories! If you don't like it, don't read it!"
"Hey, it's just what I thought about it, okay?" The reviewer replies.
"You're annoying and such a troll. Say away from my stories."
(Personally, I would have replied to that with "Me? A troll? YOU HAVE NO IDEA.")
Writing a review for a story is going the extra inch to show that you care, positively or negatively. Even a single line of encouraging an update is showing that the reader cared enough to take the few extra moments to use their keyboard. Though it is not much, they could have just skipped away to a different page without leaving a review at all.
Now remember, don't take one critic's review to heart. They are one voice of many. They are not your only opinion. But, when more than a few people begin pointing out flaws, major flaws, or undesirable characteristics of the story, you should read the reviews again and maybe apply them into updates or into a re-write.
It can be hard. Trust me. These are strangers behind a screen are really more like you than you would think.
This doesn't mean that you should blow up your chest and prance around the fandom when a bunch of different readers say how nice your story is. Keep in mind that you should always evolve your style to fit your story and yourself.
If you keep getting the same reviews asking for updates, quickly stating that the newest chapter was great, then something might actually be wrong.
I know what you're thinking: Tree, you been havin' too many trees lately?
Well, no. This is drug-free fanfic. What I mean is that even though you get many good reviews, if they're all generic and similar, then something is not right.
It could mean your story is lack-luster. Sure, it's good. People review it. But, if no one is analyzing it and catching on to your subtle hints, allusions, foreshadowing, and all those great and mysterious literary devices, then your story isn't up to par with the plot or what you truly wanted it to be.
This doesnt mean you should change your writing style. This should encourage you to think about how you write and evolve from there. These sugary reviews won't help you get better as a writer if they all say the same thing and don't grasp the true meaning you put into the story.
These are examples of reviews that should make you think about your style:
Reviewer One says, "Update soon."
Reviewer Two says, "Great chapter, can't wait for the update!"
Reviewer Three says, "Nice!"
These people are a) simply enjoying your story, b) didn't really digest too much of the content before writing their review, c) just leaving a quick review because they are lazy/in a rush, or d) they didn't actually read the story.
Reader Four says, "Broski, this story is just kind of boring. The plot is good, but..."
Reader Five says, "For StarClan's sake, this is totally not fantastic because you write like a spastic!"
Reader Six says, "**** this and **** you and fox-dung, flea-brain, dirt-beetle!"
These people are letting you know that they didn't enjoy your story as much as they could be. Reader Four finds the writing bland. Maybe there isn't enough detail. Reader Five is probably finds the story full of flaws too big to not point out. Reader Six either hates the story (unlikely) or is having a bad day and likes to troll.
Reviewer Seven says, "Hmm... I really like the idea of your story. The plot is original and I want to know what happens in the end. However, your story lacks detail. The dialogue is also too casual and everyday to be a necessary part of the story."
Reviewer Eight says, "Wow, you have perfect grammar and almost no spelling errors. I really like the description you made for that character. Their dialogue is realistic and I think I know what's going to happen in the next chapter!"
Reviewer Nine says, "Your character is empty. They are a total Mary Sue. Sure, you gave them flaws, but they are perfectly imperfect in a very bad way. I also advise the use of a spell-checker since there are a lot of mistakes."
These are the reviewers you want to be reading your story. Reviewer Seven wants to see you succeed and gives tips to improve the story. Reviewer Eight understands your story and likes your style and cleanliness. Though Reviewer Nine does not like the story as much, they are giving you reasons why.
But, please remember that you must listen to the reviews you find to be the most helpful. Personally, 7 8 and 9 are the most helpful critics while the first three are not. It is up to you to choose who to listen to. Now...
Here's a secret tip: Reviews equals views.
The more reviews a story has, no matter who is posting the review, good or bad, the number of views will rise dramatically. The review count shows people browsing through the Warriors archive how much other readers felt compelled enough to write a review.
That there, my dear readers, becomes a loop hole to unviewed stories. Some new authors unintentionally begin responding to reviews by posting their own reviews on their own story. This begins to double the review count. This is good for them at least.
People looking over the story will start to think it must be good since so many reviews had been written for it already. As nice as this is, a reader seeing a review on a story written by the author themselves is unprofessional. This creates an amateur reputation.
This is why stories and troll-fics, like The Indigo Prophecy written by Indigo Claws, can become very popular very quickly. The Indigo Prophecy is a strange story and by no means revolutionary.
However, when a story is first posted, and people throw a few reviews into the mix, it creates a steady snowball to keep the critics afloat. From four reviews the first day, to nearly sixty in the next two weeks, it shows that we as readers and humans will swarm to things in a mob.
The best part about my secret tip, is that the second half of it isn't so secret. The more stories you review in your name, the more views and reviews to your own stories rise. People check the newest critics on their stories and then they see your name. Sometimes we might feel obliged to repay the reviewer by leaving them with a few reviews in return.
This doesn't mean that you should fib about the story. Review boxes are an opportunity to get open and honest! If you don't think it's good, say it.
Personally, I'm sometimes too honest. I get really harsh and bare with people. I found another tip to help us all out. It's a special rule and it goes like this: "When you insult someone, you owe them three compliments."
If it's quite apparent that the grammar's errant, and the author seems incoherent, do not bash them. It is easy to let it all out and rant and rave about terrible grammar and punctuation and every little flaw of the story. It gets you fuming for no reason, and it discourages the aspiring authors beyond the screen.
Using my special rule, we can uplift ourselves and improve the skills of the author. Being honest makes the writer better. Being brutally honest makes both persons upset. Lying and sparing feelings helps no one.
In fact, if you leave a cute review on a story you actually find terrible, you are just encouraging the author to continue to write that way. Lies, even just generic encouragement, make a delusional author. When someone finally does tell them the truth it'll be even tougher.
That's why "three compliments per one insult" makes everyone happy! You point out that the grammar is bad. Then you compliment the character saying they might be your favorite so far. Afterwards, tell them to space out the paragraphs! Then tell them there is potential in the story.
Just throwing in little compliments, even the tiniest of them, between critics and (and insults I suppose) waters down the harsh reality in a healthy way. They are not complete fox-dung. We are not complete fox-dung. Wii defintly r nut perfkt.
Author's Note: Well, this chapter is for both authors and readers. I hope my tip on how to write revews will change the way we crotic each other. I also hope people don't abuse my secret tip and go writing reviews all over their own stories. Also, I hope (lots of hope today) that we can all react appropriately to each other and respect everyone's opinion. I promise that I will eventually get to real Warriors content. Meow.