I came, I saw, but I sure as hell didn’t conquer anything.

Meh, I guess I’ll give this thing an actual update.

Name: Um… What’s a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell just as sweet… just call me by my pen name.

I'll probably write for Assassin's Creed some more, since I have a few ideas for it.

"Playing with Fire" by scrambled-eggs-at-midnight

The topic of this “essay” is flaming. For those of you who don’t know, flaming is a way of expressing your opinion of something or someone in a very negative way. Emphasis on negative.

When someone flames, he/she usually has the idea of telling the author off. He/she doesn’t like the work and is basically going to throw that in the author’s face.

The common idea is that flames are always, without question, sent by people with horrid grammar who have nothing better to do with their lives than scour the internet for poorly-written stories. Although this is often the case, many flamers actually do have a reason for flaming. Often times, they’re voicing their opinions on something they strongly believe in. (e.g. religion, politics, ethics, etc.) Here is an example of a flame:

“Dear Author,

To put it bluntly, I thought (insert story name here) was horrible. The idea itself was stupid, and your plot line made no sense. I couldn’t stand Character B, and I thought the entire thing was an abomination. Please do us all a favor and get off the internet.

Yours,

Angry Reader.”

As you can see, Angry Reader is not happy at all. He strongly disliked the story, and he wanted to make that known. However, there are several things he could have done to make this review less snappish and more helpful. Please understand, I’m not against flames because I can’t take criticism- far from it, actually. However, I prefer my criticism to be actually helpful in improving my writing, which brings us to my next point: Constructive criticism.

Constructive criticism is also meant to let the author know what he or she is doing wrong, but unlike a flame, it gives reasons why as well as ways to make the writing better. Observe:

“Dear Author,

I’m rather confused by your story. I didn’t like the way you portrayed Character B because I really don’t think that he’s supposed to be that mean:in canon he was shown as a kind and loving father, not a deranged psychopath. Also, I really don’t think your story line made much sense; you were always jumping from even to event, and it was sort of difficult to follow.

However, you had a good main idea going, and I really like your writing style; it’s so free and expressive. I think that you might be able to pull this off better if you just spent a little more time on it. I’d be happy to act as a beta if you’d like.

Yours,

Mr. Critic.”

Do you see the difference between this review and the first one? While Mr. Critic did point out things he disliked about the author’s story, he also gave reasons, as well as ideas and suggestions on making it better. Just as importantly, he made sure to tell the author what hedidlike so that the author knew what she was doing correctly. Remember, this can be just as important as letting her know what went wrong.

If you’re afraid that you won’t be able to write a good review that gives a clear message to the author, try following these simple guidelines:

Pick two things you liked about the story. Tell why you liked them.Then pick two things you disliked about the story. Tell why you disliked them.Also, if you have any, make sure to include suggestions on how to make the story better. Did I mention that you should tell why you think this? (Just in case I didn’t: TELL THEM WHY.)

To re-cap:

Flames don’t help; they just make you seem rude. Throwing your opinions in other people’s faces hurts more than it helps. It is just as important to tell what you like as it is to tell what you hated. Always, always, always tell why.

And of course, always observe the main rule of etiquette:

If you don’t have anything nice to say, keep it to yourself, because no one is perfect, not even you.

And if you don’t remember that,remember this:

“If you play with fire, you’re gonna get burned.”

Goodbye for now, and I’ll see you in my stories. No flames, please! ;)

-Eggy take her advice, assholes.