All shall love me II: Electric Boogaloo

[rj_anderson]

Further to my recent post on the subject, the original lawful_fic review of The Potions Master's Apprentice has been taken down. The author is reworking the review and plans to post a revised version on Wednesday.

I don't expect she will change her mind about disliking the fic, nor do I even think she should; but it looks as though she did think my complaint had some validity, and plans to make her criticisms more reasoned and careful on the second go-round. Which is good, and all I really ask for.

(Well, that and maybe one really witty piece of snark that I can giggle over, like the bit in the MarySues review about Maud's sense of self-righteousness having its own gravitational pull. That was funny.)

It is no doubt revelatory of my character, however, that when I found the author had taken down the review I felt obscurely guilty for complaining about it.

Comments

[lawful-fic.livejournal.com]

When I read the ending, the first thing that came to my mind was that "This can't be the ending," and it wasn't. Therefore, I assumed that you intended to write a sequel, which you did.

Which is reasonable enough, but my concern was that you seemed to be criticizing the fic on the basis that it was written with sequels in mind, when in fact it wasn't. Nonetheless, it's a very minor point. I mentioned it more as an FYI than anything.

Ah, I see. Sorry! When you've been around 12 year-old anime/manga authors for five years, you begin to pick up that most of them leave their stories wide open so they can write sequels. I suppose they get some sort of thrill over their power on whether to continue the story or not. I personally find it annoying when the author leaves the message "Review or I won't continue!" That makes me want to NOT leave a review and just X out of the story. But you did no such thing, obviously. It wasn't so much of a criticism as much as me telling the reader that the ending is left wide open for a sequel... or a cliffhanger, or something >.< The more I try to explain, the more it sounds like I was trying to be rude. To tell the truth, the symbolic ending of the piece was one of my favorite parts.

I hope my quibbles (this one included) didn't sound snarky or belittling, as they weren't meant to.

No, not you. Your comments were very professional. I was referring to more of the harsh criticisms I received on my review that were left as comments in your journal.

I do apologize for the excessive replies left on your LJ because of the review. I can't help but feel it's partially my fault that you've been blogged down in your journal.

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

I do apologize for the excessive replies left on your LJ because of the review. I can't help but feel it's partially my fault that you've been blogged down in your journal.

Apologize? I live for comments! I'm loving this thread for all the conversation it's generated. This is why I'm on LJ in the first place, to get people talking about subjects that interest me. Tangents, pontifications, lively debates... the more the merrier, says I.

So relax. Sit down. Have a piece of cake. Tea?

[lawful-fic.livejournal.com]

Oh yes please! I do love chocolate biscuits.

I do love comments as well. They make me happy. Comments tell me that I am at least doing my job. FOr good or for bad.