“Oh Beryl, you have got to get to know me better! I’ve seen more results of transformation potions than you’d ever believe, and I’m something of a shapeshifter myself!”

…

“Say Beryl, do you want to be a ‘shapeshifter’ like me?” she whispered in my ear. “You might be a pretty girl right now, but I only need one night to turn you into a woman.”

It’s funny looking back now; I can see how it would sort of suggest something like futa shifting haha. The first part was meant to imply that Viela might have seen futas before and to set up for the joke in the second part. I love the line ‘I only need one night to turn you into a woman,’ tying in the shapeshifter thing and foreshadowing their first night together. Being the futa was supposed to be Titania’s ‘thing’ though, no pun intended~. Viela’s shapeshifting was mostly about her pure fox form (and the joke) but I totally get how futa Viela would be exciting, more on that soon 😉

Long story short, I’ve learned a lot about web novels and writing since I started Weird Shift. It’s funny looking all the way back at some of the stuff from Arc 1. There were many parts inspired by comedy anime with the MC intentionally doing some silly things for comedic results. Some people also love that kind of stuff, others not so much, that’s the way it goes sometimes.

The point is, early on there have been some good comments and some pretty harsh ones. Even for the negative comments, almost every time it was clear enough what they meant, and that can create some really useful feedback. I started off just doing my own thing, and now I’ve gotten much better idea of how to write—or how not to, as it sometimes turns out 😅 (like Beryl vs. Ciedrich Arc 1). Comments are pretty great for that, and the context is key. When it’s clear enough what people like or don’t like, authors can use that to improve in the future.

Now take for example, a comment or recent review that says the MC got new spells too fast. Without any examples given to explain, I don't know what that’s supposed to mean or how the story could be improved.

At this point, Weird Shift has over 142 000 words spread across four story arcs. In that time, Beryl has learned 2 abilities (Mirror of Soul, mostly a passive anti-magic ability and Foxy Form, mostly a ‘for fun’ fluff ability), 6 castable spells (Recall, Mana Bolt/Wave/Shield, Light Flare, Fire) and 2 combination effects (Fire + Mana Bolt = Fire Bolt, and Fire + Mana Wave = Fire Wave Beryl Nova). I hadn’t originally planned on including Light Flare, but it does set up for learning a higher level light spell later on, and I don’t see how removing it would make much of a difference. Same with Fire Bolt; it just seemed like a fun, sensible inclusion that also sets the precedent for how Beryl figures out the Fire + expanded-radius Mana Wave combo to make Beryl Nova.

In the sense of how spells are cast in the story's fantasy world, Beryl really only has 6 distinct spells right now. Even if you added the others up to 10 anyway, I still don’t see the context of how that’s too many too fast. If anything, compared to many other novels out there, I’ve sometimes had more concerns that people would feel the MC learned new spells too slowly and not the other way around lol.

I also hope it was clear enough that Fire Bolt isn’t a unique spell that came out of nowhere but a combination of Beryl’s Fire spell with Mana Bolt. Call Viela a bad foxy for teaching Beryl, but fire magic is not something that’s supposed to be easily accessible or usable in this world either, and I’m not sure where that idea came from. Viela mentioned this in Arc 4 Ch. 5:

Beryl’s unique anti-magic gift (Mirror of Soul) is the whole reason she could safely learn to cast fire magic without mastering the ‘standard’ defensive measures. Those details weren’t elaborated on at that point because it would be unnecessary info for Beryl, and by extension also unnecessary to you the reader. And let’s face it: we’d rather be reading about the important stuff, like futa smut. (joking, possibly 😉)

Anyways, it’s the same thing if someone complained about two characters becoming soul mates too quickly; especially without any examples or context, I don’t know what that’s supposed to mean.

Since Arc 1, I’ve had some fun making many chapter titles tongue-in-cheek or jokes that aren’t meant seriously. For example, Arc 2 Ch. 4: Long Live the Queen doesn’t literally feature a queen; the title is the punchline to a joke. It’s the same with titles that refer to Beryl as a Villainess or Alice as a Heroine.

There were a few chapters in Arc 4 titled ‘Soul Mates with a Foxy’ when Beryl did her soul bond with Viela. That was one of those titles that just seemed fun for that part. Beryl and Viela both did the soul bond for their own practical, non-romantic reasons that were explained, and the phrase ‘soul mate’ never came up anywhere in those chapters. In fact, there aren’t any two characters intended to be soul mates in the literal ‘one true pairing for life’ sense, at least so far. I feel like that would kind of undermine the whole party/harem dynamic in a way.

It’s still a bit surprising that the soul mates title would end up problematic like that, oh well. I’ve made other small edits before when it seemed like some were getting the wrong idea, so those titles were changed.

Yes, this is partly about a recent review, but I also wanted to make a point about being specific in general. Like I mentioned earlier, what’s clear for the writer might not mean the same thing for the reader. And I have to say, it does get frustrating sometimes when you don’t know what someone is talking about and they aren’t giving any examples to explain, you know? Then you really can’t tell if they had some misunderstanding, or weren’t paying attention and jumped to conclusions, or just outright made stuff up, or what. It’s something we’ve all probably encountered at some point.

Comments are really great for suggestions and feedback, and they always have the context of the chapter they were posted in. I’ve made lots of edits based on feedback from comments, plus it’s a lot easier to reply asking for clarification which just isn’t possible for reviews, especially if it’s from a user with their profile and PMs disabled lol.

So here’s the thing: when writing a critical review, you’ll have a better review by giving at least one specific example from the novel. A lot of critical reviews on the site are good about giving that detailed context, sometimes even mentioning specific chapters for reference. Hopefully the tone and content of the review also match the star rating lol, but that aside, I really don’t think it’s too much to ask for at least one example when trying to leave criticism. That’s going to make it more useful whether it’s a critical review for other readers or feedback for the author, and some reviews here are directed toward the author. *shrugs*

Of course, this doesn’t apply to most of you, and fortunately this type of thing seems like the exception and not the rule. For other authors who have encountered similar, the way to go might be to just not bother with reviews from people you’ve never seen commenting before, at least if they have profile and PMs off. In fact, that’s probably what I’m going to do going forward, but I did want to make this point at least once.

Last but not least, I want to show big appreciation for all of you who leave fun/lewd/blunt/Weird comments, suggestions, feedback, chapter favorite hearts, or just stop by to read Weird Shift! 🍪 And like I said, even some of the harsher comments can make super useful feedback when the context is clear. A little clarity goes a long way, that’s all~.