How to write positive reviews for stories you did not like.

 After being a mediocre reviewer, in length, usefulness, quantity, and quality for years, I ended up focusing on a few traits in my reviews, and they tended to always be the same. Quality of magical systems, world-building, character development, immersion, and the most important to me: proper use of internal logic.

And all of these things were only important to me if I actually gave a shit about the story itself. Which meant I only ever reviewed stories I liked. Both because I’m lazy and forgetful at dropping a review, so I’d have to really like the story to remember doing it, and because I always disliked saying a bad word to an author. I generally stop reading altogether if I dislike a story, so it made no sense to me to ever drop a concrit if I didn’t care about the story in the first place. And considering how likely I am to bash a flamer’s teeth in had I had the chance, I’d never drop a flame either. 

But all of these things became irrelevant when I was forced, for the first time, to write actual in-depth critics about stories, both short and long, due to my paid beta services (shameless plug for my Fiverr!).

I’ve had to learn to provide proper constructive criticism (concrit) looking to improve something I did not enjoy reading, was averse to the plot, the characters weren’t sympathetic at all, or the story itself was extremely badly written, all the while trying to find good things to praise and being as honest as possible but not impolite to make them disregard what I suggested. Because the goal of a proper beta is to always aim to improve the story. Give feedback on what works and what doesn’t, suggest things to do that could improve it, ask for more things that were already good and expand upon them; all of that with the sole goal of making the story better.

So what would be the first thing I’d recommend doing if you plan on giving feedback on something you didn’t enjoy? Because you never know when a friend of yours might ask you to read their book, or if a new author shows up in your forums and servers, and it’s someone you’ve never enjoyed their work, but for some reason, they asked for your opinion... The point being: it’s a helpful skill if you’re into doing reviews.

My first piece of advice is: BE FUCKING POLITE! Always be polite, understand that while you did not enjoy the story, it’s not necessarily because you think it is bad, and that you simply do not enjoy the trope or the genre or even the style of writing of the author, if you dislike too much use of purple prose, or if the dialogues are too long-winded, yet accurate. And the reason I tell you to be polite is simple. People generally do not respond well to critics when it comes from someone who’s attacking them. That’s something stupid to even suggest but as we know, common sense is rare nowadays…

Second advice. Butter them up before telling them what you disliked, and most importantly, why you disliked whatever it was. By buttering them up, they’ll immediately be more open to criticism, which is hilarious, but trust me, it works. When I tell you to explain why you disliked it, I do not mean for you to dissect every facet of the ‘wrong’ aspect, merely give them your first knee-jerk reaction to it. Often times it’s more valuable to an author to know your first impressions than what you assimilate as a whole. It’s in those first times that defines your whole experience with the work, and if they were severe enough reactions to detract you from the story and make you lose interest? That’s where the sausage is made as far as good, positive reviews in stories you did not like.

Third advice, which is similar but different to the second, would be to find something, anything you enjoyed it, and praise them about it, not to kiss-ass levels, but enough to show them that despite you not enjoying their story to the fullest, there were good takeaways from it, that it wasn’t a total garbage fire.

I’ve once had to do write a thorough review for a short, 13k words, story, about a world that I completely disliked, the main character was extremely wish-washy, it mixed elements of horror with children’s book in a convoluted way, it was horribly written, with over 600 typos (I counted), and the plot made absolutely no sense whatsoever and yet was interesting and intriguing enough of a suspense to be a good page-turner, so I latched onto that. I used it to help soften the blow, so to speak, while also providing proper concrit to improve the plot, world, and characters. (I also proofread this one, was impossible to understand otherwise).

If you’re capable of summarizing and remembering (annotations help but not everyone is Pev) those knee-jerk reactions, and writing them out in your reviews, politely and concisely, you’ll find out that authors much prefer those to ‘Great story, nextchapterwhen’ reviews, or similar ones. These are the reviews, short and critical as they may be, that helps out someone who’s starting out, or who’s not comfortable yet with a certain aspect of their writing. But remember. ALWAYS be polite and butter them up. However, do not think for a second that by being ‘nice’, you have free reign to be a dick afterward. No review is always better than a flame, unless it’s stupid enough of a one to be entertaining. 

Be honest, be polite, butter them up, and show interest in their stories.