Whenever I review fanfics, I try my best to be constructive. I try to point out the flaws and give suggestions on how to improve, while also pointing out what they did right and to tell them to keep on doing it that way, or even improve it, if possible.

My problem that I am noticing is not that I am too positive and never tell the writer what he did wrong like so many other people do, but that I may be a little too harsh. I sometimes feel that I don't actually point out anything good, even though I do try to at least show that I am interested in the story when making a mostly negative review. I seem to ignore or miss whatever the writer did good half the time, but so far no one has really complained about the way I review. In fact, many people are actually rather happy with my reviews, though they do reply to them if they need to correct a mistake I might have made about their story. Perhaps they're okay with them because the majority of BZP authors don't get a lot of reviews, especially detailed constructive ones such as the kind that I usually write. Still, I feel dissatisfied with my reviews anyway.

I suppose it is easier to point out the flaws in someone else's work than to point out the good parts. Sometimes this is justified when you are reviewing a story that is so bad it's horrible with nothing good in it at all, but I have rarely ran into those kinds of stories here on BZP (except for maybe the Comedies forum, but they may have gotten better since I left it). I generally find and review stories that I think have potential to be great, but still need a little help in developing the characters, plot, and setting and other important story elements. Even so, I sometimes almost forget to point out a few positive things in someone's fanfic.

So I suppose my question is, am I too harsh when I review or do I hit the balance between positive and negative with accuracy? I don't want to be too positive that I ignore the bad parts of the story that really need fixing, yet I don't want to be too negative and focus solely on the flaws without even so much as thinking of what could be good about the story, which could destroy the author's self-confidence (which is something that I never aim to do). I just need to find a good balance, but I am not sure if I hit it or not most of the time.

-TNTOS-