5 ms·

Almost as bad are folks who only read one chapter and leave a review. Would you review a 2 hour film after watching just 10 minutes? It’s been a learning experi

Almost as bad are folks who only read one chapter and leave a review. Would you review a 2 hour film after watching just 10 minutes? It’s been a learning experience for me as an author. The first chapter should not be special, it should be like the rest of the book.

falcolas 3y ago
> Almost as bad are folks who only read one chapter and leave a review. Would you review a 2 hour film after watching just 10 minutes? Just to provide an alternative point of view from a reader, this is fine behavior. So long as you mention this in your review. I’ve DNFed both movies and books in 10% or less. And that’s ok. There’s a ton of excellent books and movies to justify pushing yourself through content you don’t like. As someone put it, we’re not looking for needles in haystacks, we’re looking for needles in mountains of needles. So, it’s not personal, but a review at 10% is still a valid review, if it’s honest about the slice read.
- WoodenChair 3y ago
  Sure, as long as it doesn't assume the other 90% is the same as the first 10%.
  - msla 3y ago
    > Sure, as long as it doesn't assume the other 90% is the same as the first 10%. Is the author writing badly just for fun, then? Is this potboiler going to turn into something thought-provoking after the first chapter of cardboard characters and cliché exposition? That wouldn't be a bad idea, like an updating of "If On A Winter's Night A Traveler" with riffs on modern fiction styles, but I doubt "The <Greek Letter> <Ominous Noun>" ("The Omega Directive" "The Alpha Sanction") is going to turn into into a parody of airline novels after starting out as merely a poor example of same.
    - WoodenChair 3y ago
      We're not talking about "for fun" or "style" as much as content. Does the content get better? Does the film improve as it progresses? If the review is only based on style, then I guess, sure. But as far as content, well how would one know unless they read the rest of it? There are plenty of novels that change quite significantly in character partway through. There are plenty of films with a weird first act before you get into it. If a book is popular and has thousands of people reviewing it, why not let the people with enough context (i.e. those who actually read all of it or at least the majority of it) review it? Is one so smart that their review based on only partial information is necessary and needs to add to the chorus of all of the other reviews? Would you trust the review of a professional movie critic if they said well they didn't like the first 15 minutes so they just quit. Well today because we all have a megaphone through review sites, we are all on the level of professional critics to more of an extent than anyone would be in 1990 so we all have some responsibility to write informed reviews.
adastra22 3y ago
I see absolutely nothing wrong with this. “I hated the writing and couldn’t finish” is a perfectly fine review.
- WoodenChair 3y ago
  Sure, if you hate the writing style and explain that, that's fair. The problem is if you assume what the rest of the content, that you didn't read, is about. Suppose you picked up the novel Jane Eyre not knowing anything about it, and gave up after the first chapter because you thought it was just a book about children and that didn't appeal to you. That's fine, but then don't leave a review assuming the whole book is about children. You didn't read the book, you read a tiny subset, so you're not qualified to review all of its content. But you could certainly say, "I read the first chapter and hated the writing style."
chrismcb 3y ago
If the first chapter it first ten minutes are bad, then yeah, you should review it. Especially if, as you say, the first chapter should be like the rest of the book... And the first chapter is bad, then how do you think the rest of the book is going to be?

falcolas 3y ago

> Almost as bad are folks who only read one chapter and leave a review. Would you review a 2 hour film after watching just 10 minutes? Just to provide an alternative point of view from a reader, this is fine behavior. So long as you mention this in your review. I’ve DNFed both movies and books in 10% or less. And that’s ok. There’s a ton of excellent books and movies to justify pushing yourself through content you don’t like. As someone put it, we’re not looking for needles in haystacks, we’re looking for needles in mountains of needles. So, it’s not personal, but a review at 10% is still a valid review, if it’s honest about the slice read.

WoodenChair 3y ago
Sure, as long as it doesn't assume the other 90% is the same as the first 10%.
- msla 3y ago
  > Sure, as long as it doesn't assume the other 90% is the same as the first 10%. Is the author writing badly just for fun, then? Is this potboiler going to turn into something thought-provoking after the first chapter of cardboard characters and cliché exposition? That wouldn't be a bad idea, like an updating of "If On A Winter's Night A Traveler" with riffs on modern fiction styles, but I doubt "The <Greek Letter> <Ominous Noun>" ("The Omega Directive" "The Alpha Sanction") is going to turn into into a parody of airline novels after starting out as merely a poor example of same.
  - WoodenChair 3y ago
    We're not talking about "for fun" or "style" as much as content. Does the content get better? Does the film improve as it progresses? If the review is only based on style, then I guess, sure. But as far as content, well how would one know unless they read the rest of it? There are plenty of novels that change quite significantly in character partway through. There are plenty of films with a weird first act before you get into it. If a book is popular and has thousands of people reviewing it, why not let the people with enough context (i.e. those who actually read all of it or at least the majority of it) review it? Is one so smart that their review based on only partial information is necessary and needs to add to the chorus of all of the other reviews? Would you trust the review of a professional movie critic if they said well they didn't like the first 15 minutes so they just quit. Well today because we all have a megaphone through review sites, we are all on the level of professional critics to more of an extent than anyone would be in 1990 so we all have some responsibility to write informed reviews.

adastra22 3y ago

I see absolutely nothing wrong with this. “I hated the writing and couldn’t finish” is a perfectly fine review.

WoodenChair 3y ago
Sure, if you hate the writing style and explain that, that's fair. The problem is if you assume what the rest of the content, that you didn't read, is about. Suppose you picked up the novel Jane Eyre not knowing anything about it, and gave up after the first chapter because you thought it was just a book about children and that didn't appeal to you. That's fine, but then don't leave a review assuming the whole book is about children. You didn't read the book, you read a tiny subset, so you're not qualified to review all of its content. But you could certainly say, "I read the first chapter and hated the writing style."

chrismcb 3y ago

If the first chapter it first ten minutes are bad, then yeah, you should review it. Especially if, as you say, the first chapter should be like the rest of the book... And the first chapter is bad, then how do you think the rest of the book is going to be?