What do you think when you see the rating of a fic? For me 5 stars is excellent, 4 stars is quite good, 3 is average, 2 is below average, and 1 is terrible. What is it that makes a story 4 stars instead of 3? I was just wondering this after I saw some of the various ratings that were given. For example, a story in the For Review section was given a 3.5/5 by one member, but another member gave it a 1/5.

 

5 - A story that is good literature, the quality that you'd find in published books.
4 - A story that you enjoy as much as a book you might find in a shop, but one that is not in technical terms as good as a published story.
3 - A story that is enjoyable to read.
2 - A story that has some good bits, but more bad ones.
1 - A story that is all bad and no good.

 

For the most part, I agree with Taure. Though I might be a bit easier to please. Most people here take off serious points for spelling/grammer, but if the story itself is very good, then I'll just suggest that the writer pay more attention to that stuff/correct it without taking my score down.

 

For me 5 is the epitome of what I'm looking for in a fic. 4 is quite good and a must read. 3 is good, read it but don't expect anything spectacular. 2 is poor, needs a lot of work read if you're a diehard fan of the genre. 1 is terrible, the only way to fix this fic is to erase it and start over, don't read it. 0 is an abortion of a fic, please stop writing and go away.

 

5 Stars - I just experienced The Rapture. The Virgin Mary just descended from heaven and wished upon me her Virginess. Which in turned caused the front of my pants to explode like a fire-hydrant on steroids, and it usually takes the paramedics an hour to scrape me from the ceiling.

4 Stars - I feel like I just ate Weinershnitzel's 3 FOR 3 DOLLARS meal! Chili Cheese fries, Chili Cheese Dog, and Chili Cheese burger. It's so fucking good that I couldn't pass it up. Although sometimes I get indigestion, it's few and far between.

3 Stars - It's kinda like being in that slow 10 Items Or Less aisle in Wal-Mart(Or Wally World). You know you should be going faster, but for some reason it kinda seems to drag without any real idea why.

2 Stars - Ever had that feeling you're gonna shit yourself? Not just shit yourself, but shit yourself in a public place. Your legs are crossed, your ass cheeks are clenched, and you're moving as little as possible for fear of making a mess. It's that shitty.

1 Stars - This is where I like to say you've just entered the realm of 'IRC Xiph Boredom'. The absolute worst, defecating, demoralizing, good for nothing, shit stained, irritating, bowel obsctructing, vomit stifling, spoon shoving asshole, no gag reflexed, fangirl masturbating, nausea induced down syndroming, pubic hair burning, horse ass smelling, Val Kilmer filming piece of shit that just makes you want to rape a duck and call it FOUL BALL. In other words, if you read it, you contemplated suicide only to see if Hell has something easier on the eyes.

 

Jesus H. Christ, Thal. Next story I come across that merits a 1, I'm putting that shit as a review! With your permision, of course....

 

Feel free whenever you feel like it K! Not my fault if it's the truth, and I just happened to find some of the words to explain how we all feel.

 

I would quote Thalarian, who expressed my opinion impeccably, but I feel like writing something, so I will;


5 - A great story, enjoyable to read and immaculate language and spelling (opposite to mine, that is). As good as published literature.

4 - A good story, minor errors in spelling and almost no grammatical errors.

3 - Enjoyable, but nothing I would kill for. Some plot holes, a cliché or two and some spelling errors.

2 - Plot holes, spelling errors, average grammar. In need of a GOOD beta reader or an complete rewrite.

1 - Dunno what the hell THAT is, but I ain't touching it with a 12 foot stick.

 

Thal you win this thread... I can't come up with a better description of a 1 star fic than that (at the moment).

 

5 - Masterpiece; there are around 10 of these lying around. Like naia's or joe6991's works. i.e. The first part of A Second Chance of Life.

4.5 - A good story. Like Jbern's or Shezza88's or nonjon's.

4 - Either:
a. A nice read. As I like to say, short and sweet (even when it's 200,000 words long). Like that story about Harry going to Marcello School or that one where Harry and this OC were these knight things.
b. A great story in a genre I dislike (e.g. In Blood Only)

3 - Either:
a. A good fic in a genre that I don't generally read.
b. An average fic in a genre I like (e.g. that fic currently being posted where Harry went back in time to Hogwarts and came back as a 3rd year).

2 - Either:
a. An average fic in a genre I don't read.
b. A bad fic in a genre I like.

1 - See Thalarian's post.

 

Hmmm, I'm beginning to see some discrepancies in the various ways we rate these things

5 - Masterpiece, Near Unattainable work that only the author of a fic would probably give himself. I've run into maybe Five fics total that I would even give a second thought to granting a 5.

4.5 - Exceptional story that fell just barely short of perfection. I have found maybe 20 of these

4 - Pretty damn good, a couple of things I think the author could have done better, and perhaps a few minor plotholes, but on the whole worth reading

3.5 - Average story, fairly predictable plot, but an occasional twist that keeps you reading even though you know there are better stories out there

3 - Average story, just something to pass the time until I find something better to do.

2 - A story that starts out strong and Dies. the type of story where you find yourself being lenient on your review because you know your never going to read the updates.

1 - You get half a chapter in and can't stomach going any furthor. you generally don't even leave the author a review because you don't want to admit you've read any part of the story.

 

I give Thal points just for verbing the word "down syndroming."

As for ratings, I put the most value in how much I enjoy it. Secondly, I'll give credit for a fic I can tell is well done, but simply not for me. Those usually get threes. Most of the truly awful stuff everyone else has ripped and doesn't need my vote of two or one to bring it down any further.

Things like spelling, grammar, and that sort of effort only ever factors in when I'm vacillating between two scores.

 

Personally, I always try to put the story in perspective. To do that, I select the best story I can think of (ATM it's Jack's AU or one of jbern's stories) and say "it's 5 stars". Then I find the worst story ever posted (usually "My Immortal") and say "it's 1 star".

Then I look at the story which I just read and try to see where it fits compared to these two extremes. My personal taste tilts it a bit up or down, but I try not to go over 1 star threshold.

Thus, here's what that generally means in reality:

- 5 stars: Best of the best. 5-10 stories at any given moment. If there are not enough candidates for this rank, then lover the criteria - after all, everything is relative.

- 4 stars: Entirely enjoyable reads, that aren't exactly groundbreaking, and/or have some major problems keeping them down.

- 3 stars: Average stories. Down-the-mill Dark or Independent Harry; Choppy writing style; Canon-like plot and characterization. Washed up ideas done well. In the end, stories that you can read without flinching too much and maybe even get some enjoyment out of them, but that won't exactly stay etched up your brain once you're done with them.

- 2 stars: Bad stories of DLP-friendly genres, such as unreadable cookie-cutter Indy!Harry stories. Also, average stories of anti-DLP genres, such as canon-friendly romances, solidly written slash, heavy angst, bitch!Harry, etc... People can read this and like it; but rarely people at DLP.

- 1 star: Worst of the worst. Unfortunately, roughly 1/5 of FFN at any given moment. It's stuff like ridiculously fangirlish slash, Marry Sues, trolls, extreme OOC-ness coupled with fangirlism, etc... Total crap readable only to the author and his/hers closer (and more loyal) family.

BTW, that's why I get so pissed off by 1's and 0'z being given to clearly average stories that the reviewer personally didn't like; There's a long way between some average down-the-mill BWL-Sibling AU and, for instance, "My Immortal".

 

Honestly...I don't look at the rating and think "Oh, three stars, it won't be phenomenal at all."

I rate stories a little more leniently than I should, but when I look at the ratings of other people, I don't really pay attention to them. I first look at the title, then I go in and read the summary. If both look good (I ignore the posts below the first one), then I try the fic out.

Its odd, but I don't really rate fics the same way others do. For instance, that Harry/Tonks fic in the Trash Bin got a 5/5 out of me because I consider it to be more than just a hunk of words. That story introduced me to Harry/Tonks, which is my favorite ship now, and I honestly think that despite what others call 'fluffy, bullshit romance', its still the best Harry/Tonks that I've ever read.

When I rate fics:

5 - Excellent story, the plot is engaging and well thought out, the originality is apparent immediately, the style of writing is phenomenal and the author has an excellent command over the language.

4 - Pretty good, has some room for improvement, but shows what's basically a more muted version of the qualities a 5 star fic has.

3 - A decent fic, enough room for improvement that I still consider it worth spending time on.

2 - The same as a 3-star fic, only where a 3-star fic has room for improvement, the 2-star one looks like it won't improve.

1 - This is a fic that is frankly bad. I have no interest in continuing to read it, as I've become sure of the fact that further reading will only lead to further disappointments, as well as a large bruise on my forehead where I hit myself in the head for wasting my time again.

The discrepancy between 1 and 2 is basically huge...a 2-star fic might not improve, in my eyes, but that doesn't mean that it isn't entertaining. For instance, a fic might be ridiculously cliche'd and written by a dyslexic person, but it might be entertaining all the same. So, as long as Harry kicks ass, but the quality of writing, the originality and innovation do not become better...its a 2-star fic.

Yesh...I'm weird

 

I rather enjoy your weirdness, Yarrrgh. I think I might be the same way, though reading a story written by a dyslexic author grates on my nerves a bit more.

I do enjoy giving writers second chances--explaining to them that what they are doing is initially good, but that this thing or that thing needs to change or the story will suffer.

And sometimes it works. Now if only I could follow my own (and your) advice?