Okay, so you're a member of (or at least sometimes roam in)the HUGE fandom culture on DA. Awesome. Fandom is fun.

But, there's one HUGE problem with fandom right now. At least, many artists think it's a problem. The problem is the lack of helpful comments, AKA critique.

Many artists LOVE critique. They love advise to help them improve. But no matter what they put for comment recommendations, be it the default or advanced critique encouraged, they might as well be putting up advanced critique discouraged, because nobody seems to want to offer a helping hand in the form of an honest comment.

Something I'm gonna make clear, and this may be hard to hear but is the honest truth: Art is NOT a place to be if you constantly wanna be praised. That may be the case on DA more often than nor, but out there in the real world people don't pretend they like everybody's work (Yes, lots of times people LIE because the are too afraid to be honest. Sorry to let those of you who thought you were a perfect artist down. FYI, there's no such thing as a perfect artist.) If you can't handle the fact that you will sometimes get constructive criticism, you'll want to find a different hobby. Sorry, but that's the truth. Almost any writer in the real world will tell you that.

But, if people are happy in the fantasy world, why be honest and give them a real review? Simple, because that fantasy bubble pops easily. I spent about a YEAR writing really bad fan fiction, and nobody was honest with me and told me it was bad. So, guess what happens? I find that I'm on a sue report livejournal. The bubble popped, but guess what? I started writing better. You won't become a better artist (writers included) unless you can first realize you're not perfect. Not even the professionals are perfect. Not a single one of them. That means seeing how the majority of us in fandom are not professionals, but just fanatics who love to draw/write (at least, I HOPE you love to draw/write and aren't here just for the attention. If you are, that's also a reason to go get a different hobby.) trying show others in our fandom our work and possibly make friend with a few of um. So we should understand even more than the professionals how un-perfect we are. Cool? Cool.

So, how do you give a good review? Let me help you there.

Let's say you read a fic and you're thinking "the grammar is good, but Sprx was a bit OOC there, but Nova on the other hand was written well, but the OC isn't very realistic. She could try reading her stuff out loud to her her catch problems with sentence structure."

First, here are some BAD ways to put these thoughts into words.

"THAT WAS SO AWESOME!!!!! UPDATE SOON!" (Or for visual, "DRAW MORE SOON!")

Yes, that's bad. That's one of the main reasons fandom has a high amount of flamers sometimes is because nobody wants to speak up and say that something needs improvement. (Don't get me wrong, I DO NOT agree with flaming, but I can understand why those people are annoyed.) Critique is a GOOD THING folks. Like I said before, people who can't handle that not everybody thinks their work is perfect (NOBODY's work is perfect folks) need to reconsider if they really want to be writing/drawing. Here you may get all the white liars (Or so called white liars. More like a white lie that later turns really black and bites you in the butt), but the moment they go into the REAL world people are gonna be honest with them and they'll start asking why nobody had said anything before. In fact, what you're doing by giving a review like this when you know there's something they could improve on is only a white lie until the realize you lied to the, then they're gonna be really upset. Or worse, they'll believe that they're the most amazing writers and get on a high horse, an when somebody who is actually gonna be honest comes along, they'll yell at them and tell them how much they hate them. Guess what folks: You are never too good for an honest review, so put Mr. Skyscraper back in his stable.

Now, there may be times where you REALLY can't think of anything bad about a fic/drawing to mention in a review. That's fine. If you really are wowed by something, say it. If people all caught every mistake in a fic/drawing from just a quick read of/look at it, there'd be few to no imperfect writers/artists in the world. But sometimes, I see stories are spelled horribly, are super cliche, have horrid Mary Sues, or are really bad for some other reason and I see people saying "OMIGOSH FANTASTIC!" (sames goes for art that breaks site rules by using screenshots or isn't drawn very well) and I start to wonder if they really mean that or if they think they're doing the right thing when really they're making it hard for the artist to improve, not to mention making way for one of the flamers to come in and points out stuff in a much less polite manner. At least try and say WHAT ABOUT the fic you like. Is there a certain part that stood out to you? A character who was extremely well written? A vocabulary that wowed you? Mention this stuff!

"YOU STINK YOU'RE A HORRIBLE WRITER GET OFF THE INTERNET!"

Self explanatory. This doesn't help either, and it just insults the artist. Artists don't deserve getting white lied too, but they do deserve an amount of respect. Now, when somebody is breaking the site rules, then just tell them "you're breaking the site rules." or something/ If somebody is disrespecting DA's TOS, there is no need to give them ANY feedback on their work, but you still should be polite about it and don't go "YOU RULE BREAKER GO AND DIIIE!" "You're not following the rules because your fic contains so and so" will do nicely.

"It was okay, I guess. OR I don't get it OR I don't like this fic/art."

While this is honest, this still doesn't help the artist. Please EXPLAIN what you don't like in a piece. It's like telling somebody they have a piece of lettuce somewhere and expecting them to know automatically it's caught in their teeth. If you happen to be an artist and get a comment like this, hit the reply button and ask them to tell you where they think you can improve.

"Good stuff but I like [insert pairing here] better"

This is the ultimate repeated review. If I had a dollar for every time I heard this thing I'd go out and buy the new Pokemon game with the money I'd have (I REALLY WANT THAT GAME. TT TT). Saying you like a different pairing more IS NOT CRITIQUE. If fine to say that you prefer another pairing, but don't make that ALL you say, and be polite about it too.

"I dunno. [character paired up in fic] may like [character they are paired with]. There was this one time in the show when..."

Like the last one, it's okay to ponder theories/pairings in a fic, BUT DON'T MAKE THAT YOUR WHOLE REVIEW. Not everybody just writes pairings and theories they think will canon anyways. I know I don't. Make sure to actually talk about the art its self too.

"That was good. [OC]: HAHA! THAT WAS SO FUNNY! [Other OC]: NO IT WASN'T! [First OC]: YEAH IT WAS! *Ocs start arguing*"

This isn't about your OCs. This is about the art and what YOU think of it. Artists wanna hear what a REAL PERSON thinks of their art, not a fictional one. If you wanna have characters talk into your review, I' not gonna stop you (although I find in MOST cases it's annoying), but PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU TALK ABOUT THE FIC. Not your OC, but YOU. Get out your entire review before the character comes in. Also, don't have your OC argue with you about something in the fic. It confuses the writer and makes then have to guess which person talking is what you REALLY think of their story. Incidentally, if you happen to b somebody who has your OC criticize something for you because you're too afraid to, that's just as much of a fake-white lie as the "UPDATE SOON AWESOME!!!!" thing, not to mention it's just... look, just don't do it, okay? No. Just no.

So, that's enough bad reviews to give you a rough idea of what isn't helpful in the long run to a writer. You're probably wondering how on Earth you're supposed to write a good review. Very simple.

"The grammar is good, but Sprx was a bit OOC there, but Nova on the other hand was written well, but the OC isn't very realistic. You could try reading her stuff out loud to your catch problems with sentence structure."

Wow, what do you know? That's the exact same thing you were thinking about the art! This review involves you being honest and polite about the art! Who knew you could do that?

And there you go. If you wanna write a helpful review, be honest and thoughtful about it. In fact, that was a small review. Got more to say? The more detail the better.

Now, I really personally think people should try and strive to be perfectly honest, but I understand some people have a REAL big issue with giving criticism. They don't wanna get yelled at, and maybe the writer they're reviewing is very touchy or brand new and the reader doesn't want to say anything bad. Honestly, I'm gonna go with "honesty helps in the long run", but if you REALLY don't wanna say anything bad, at least say what exactly you liked like I mentioned before. Instead of going "WOW THIS IS GREAT!!!" maybe say "I liked how in character so and so was" or "I liked the part when so-and-so" happened. This helps the writer at least know what to write more of, and maybe JUST maybe, it'll even help them realize what the are not so good at as well. I mean, maybe the artist will realize that while people have said that they have good grammar, nobody's said anything positive about their new OC. That may get them thinking "I wonder if m OCs needs some work" then they'll look into it, possibly realize the character does need some work, and POW! You just talk a writer in a way that they need to work on something without worrying about them getting angry at you. Still, if you ask me, let them be angry and be honest. If somebody gets angry about critique, they need to get a thicker skin and come back later.

Just be honest! It's that simple! The writers will be happy to get your reviews in no time.