Tundra
April 16th, 2010, 12:52 PM
Everyone loves to get feedback on their writing, whether it be reviews, critiques or just comments.
Here's some tips on how you can maximise yours. This can be specific to NiH, or can be used anywhere else on the internet.
1. Keep it to a readable length.
People are busy. Your story might be fantastic, but often people do not have two hours to read something- and it takes longer for them to read if they're trying to think of feedback for you. They look at a really long post, and think "eh, I'll read it later" or "I don't have time" or "I'll leave this to someone else". They often don't come back when they have time, because they've forgotten about it, or assume that you've sorted out your problems.
To fix this, post up the first part, and then later, the second (etc) part, either in the same thread, or linked to the previous threads.
2. Review other people.
People are much more likely to review your work if you have reviewed theirs first. You might now be thinking 'well why should I review theirs before they review mine?'
They're thinking the exact same thing. Break the stalemate, and decide to review first. You might not get 5 reviews for 5 reviews, but you are much more likely to.
Make sure you do the reviews in a positive way. Leave both good and bad things about a piece of work. If you always leave very harsh comments, people might not want to leave comments on your work- why should they waste their time on you, when you were 'mean' to them?
Many suggest that for every piece of work you put up, you should review at least 4 other people, particularly those people with few comments so far.
3. Participate in general forum life.
It's just a fact that people are more likely to review the work of active members/people they know. If some random person came in off the street and thrust a manuscript into my hands and said "read it", I am very unlikely to read it. So, post around the rest of the forums. Get to know people. Start threads and answer others.
4. Ask questions or tell us what you want.
People need direction and prompts. They've just read your story. Now what? What did you want to know? Are you concentrating on your description? Are you unsure if the characters make sense? Are you looking for a really harsh critique? Tell us. It helps a lot.
5. Be confident.
I'm fed up with seeing people on other forums and websites (*cough* fanfiction.net, Livejournal *cough*) post up their story or art and say "This isn't very good, lol, but here it is".
Isn't very good? Well I'll not read it then!
6. Do as much proofreading first as possible, and make sure that the paragraphs are spaced out.
NiH and many other forums have issues with formatting. In a word document you can have paragraphing. On NiH and fanfiction.net and fictionpress and Livejournal, paragraphing is hard. So please, leave a line between paragraphs. Being presented with a huge block of text is very off putting. I do not like it when people say "woah, text wall!" and then the original poster says something along the lines of 'Yeah I know, I copied and pasted it from another site/my word document and I don't have time to fix it all up, Sorry!".
Would you send it like that to a publisher? They'd throw it straight back at you. Don't do it on online forums where you want reviews either.
Also: Check your 'tags'. Sometimes I see [font] tags. This happens when you copy and paste from a word document. Things like this make it harder to read. There is a 'preview' button- use it please. :)
Check your spelling to the best of your ability- yes, even if it is a first draft. We are not your teachers. We will not get out our red pens and correct all your mistakes. We will simply assume you don't care enough to try your best, and probably it will be ignored. I'm not saying you need perfect spelling. But this is a writing forum. We do not expect to see 'U R so cool, Mr Darcy' in your writing unless it's some modern parody where Elizabeth is sending a text message. Luckily most people do not accidentally type like that for their stories. But check your spelling anyway!
7. Promote the website
How do you get more reviews on smaller websites? Get more people on the website. More people = more people likely to be interested in your story or have time, and more people more likely to review. Promote NiH. Promote your LJ community or your fanfiction.net profile or your blog or whatever you have. Invite your friends, and invite random people you think will be interested. Actively show people your work. Proactivity can really help you get reviews.
I hope this guide helped you!
Here's some tips on how you can maximise yours. This can be specific to NiH, or can be used anywhere else on the internet.
1. Keep it to a readable length.
People are busy. Your story might be fantastic, but often people do not have two hours to read something- and it takes longer for them to read if they're trying to think of feedback for you. They look at a really long post, and think "eh, I'll read it later" or "I don't have time" or "I'll leave this to someone else". They often don't come back when they have time, because they've forgotten about it, or assume that you've sorted out your problems.
To fix this, post up the first part, and then later, the second (etc) part, either in the same thread, or linked to the previous threads.
2. Review other people.
People are much more likely to review your work if you have reviewed theirs first. You might now be thinking 'well why should I review theirs before they review mine?'
They're thinking the exact same thing. Break the stalemate, and decide to review first. You might not get 5 reviews for 5 reviews, but you are much more likely to.
Make sure you do the reviews in a positive way. Leave both good and bad things about a piece of work. If you always leave very harsh comments, people might not want to leave comments on your work- why should they waste their time on you, when you were 'mean' to them?
Many suggest that for every piece of work you put up, you should review at least 4 other people, particularly those people with few comments so far.
3. Participate in general forum life.
It's just a fact that people are more likely to review the work of active members/people they know. If some random person came in off the street and thrust a manuscript into my hands and said "read it", I am very unlikely to read it. So, post around the rest of the forums. Get to know people. Start threads and answer others.
4. Ask questions or tell us what you want.
People need direction and prompts. They've just read your story. Now what? What did you want to know? Are you concentrating on your description? Are you unsure if the characters make sense? Are you looking for a really harsh critique? Tell us. It helps a lot.
5. Be confident.
I'm fed up with seeing people on other forums and websites (*cough* fanfiction.net, Livejournal *cough*) post up their story or art and say "This isn't very good, lol, but here it is".
Isn't very good? Well I'll not read it then!
6. Do as much proofreading first as possible, and make sure that the paragraphs are spaced out.
NiH and many other forums have issues with formatting. In a word document you can have paragraphing. On NiH and fanfiction.net and fictionpress and Livejournal, paragraphing is hard. So please, leave a line between paragraphs. Being presented with a huge block of text is very off putting. I do not like it when people say "woah, text wall!" and then the original poster says something along the lines of 'Yeah I know, I copied and pasted it from another site/my word document and I don't have time to fix it all up, Sorry!".
Would you send it like that to a publisher? They'd throw it straight back at you. Don't do it on online forums where you want reviews either.
Also: Check your 'tags'. Sometimes I see [font] tags. This happens when you copy and paste from a word document. Things like this make it harder to read. There is a 'preview' button- use it please. :)
Check your spelling to the best of your ability- yes, even if it is a first draft. We are not your teachers. We will not get out our red pens and correct all your mistakes. We will simply assume you don't care enough to try your best, and probably it will be ignored. I'm not saying you need perfect spelling. But this is a writing forum. We do not expect to see 'U R so cool, Mr Darcy' in your writing unless it's some modern parody where Elizabeth is sending a text message. Luckily most people do not accidentally type like that for their stories. But check your spelling anyway!
7. Promote the website
How do you get more reviews on smaller websites? Get more people on the website. More people = more people likely to be interested in your story or have time, and more people more likely to review. Promote NiH. Promote your LJ community or your fanfiction.net profile or your blog or whatever you have. Invite your friends, and invite random people you think will be interested. Actively show people your work. Proactivity can really help you get reviews.
I hope this guide helped you!