So You're Writing a Novel Forum reviews/critiques

brenda	Re: reviews/critiques 14 Years Ago Originally posted by Special Agent Fafa Originally posted by brenda Originally posted by Paul B. Spence Here are the things I look for when I review. I usually hope (forlornly) that I receive some of the same. Grammar, spelling, and punctuation - I'm sure we all hate this part (except maybe Weaver) but it is a necessary part of creating a professional manuscript. If the mistakes get in the way of communicating the message, it isn't ready to share. Since Weaver shreds mine before I post, I doubt anyone will find much here. Please don't give me incorrect grammar fixes. I hate it when someone tells me something that is patently wrong. Please remember that you don't ALWAYS have to find fault - I've seen people review a work and say they didn't see anything wrong with it, but since they are 'supposed' to find errors they then rip something they actually liked. Why in the name of any of the gods would you do that? If you don't have anything negative to say, talk about what worked well for you in the story. Be specific - point out exact lines/phrases that worked or didn't for you. Say why. And please do not correct someone's facts without double-checking them yourself - All too often I get a review that tells me I got a particular bit of science is wrong, but doesn't give any reason as to why the reviewer thinks that. I do a LOT of research. I assume all serious writers do. I don't mind people saying they think something might be wrong 'are you sure?' but don't just hit them out of left field without proof. That said, don't hesitant to share a bit of wisdom or knowledge when reviewing. Do the characters sound like real people? And I don't mean that they have to sound like modern americans, because they do not. Do they sound like living, breathing people for the setting they find themselves in. (Or dead people if that's your thing) Did the manuscript get eaten by a Thesaurus? (Terrible creatures those) Does the writing contain words that don't quite work right? I see people using words picked by the thesaurus without checking to see if the word really does mean what they think it means. <= insert Inigo Montoya joke here. see! thats what i want to ! weaver, special agent fafa what paul just said it is what i want when my writing gets reviewed ! Geez, I can't read your mind. sorry i am not that good at explaining myself ...0.0
Paul B. Spence	Re: reviews/critiques 14 Years Ago If the quoting thing continues, this thread will implode, collapse into a singularity and take the internet and the planet with it. Or it might open a space-time rift as it descends into the Mandelbrot set and summons forth a Great Old One from beyond... or maybe just cookies. You never know, but can we take that risk?
Lou Briggs	Re: reviews/critiques 14 Years Ago Originally posted by Paul B. Spence If the quoting thing continues, this thread will implode, collapse into a singularity and take the internet and the planet with it. Or it might open a space-time rift as it descends into the Mandelbrot set and summons forth a Great Old One from beyond... or maybe just cookies. You never know, but can we take that risk? Yeah, I know what you're talking abo-- Oh crap!
compositionc	Re: reviews/critiques 14 Years Ago I believe we can take that risk. WE MUST EXPAND THE HUMAN REACH! That doesn't really fit...
Weaver	Re: reviews/critiques 14 Years Ago Originally posted by Special Agent Fafa I believe we can take that risk. WE MUST EXPAND THE HUMAN REACH! That doesn't really fit... Species bias, much? "Human reach," indeed! What about the rest of us? weird grin (Strangely, my clone claims to be human. What's up with that?)
compositionc	Re: reviews/critiques 14 Years Ago Originally posted by Weaver Originally posted by Special Agent Fafa I believe we can take that risk. WE MUST EXPAND THE HUMAN REACH! That doesn't really fit... Species bias, much? "Human reach," indeed! What about the rest of us? weird grin (Strangely, my clone claims to be human. What's up with that?) HUMANS FTW GAMMIT Aliens...I'm not comfortable speaking about them... And how can your clone be human if you aren't? Is it like a species change?
Weaver	Re: reviews/critiques 14 Years Ago "HUMANS FTW GAMMIT Aliens...I'm not comfortable speaking about them... And how can your clone be human if you aren't? Is it like a species change?" LOL - "species change" (Wasn't this thread meant to be about reviews? Oh, well - at least we're talking to each other, unlike in most groups here.)
Lou Briggs	Re: reviews/critiques 14 Years Ago That's one thing I dislike about this site - unless you're in an active group, it seems dead.
compositionc	Re: reviews/critiques 14 Years Ago Yay for mindless chatter! :D
Weaver	Re: reviews/critiques 14 Years Ago Originally posted by Lou Briggs That's one thing I dislike about this site - unless you're in an active group, it seems dead. There are groups here that haven't seen activity in 2 YEARS or more. And in many cases, it is because the moderator abandoned the group - sometimes to go start yet another one... which also goes dead after a couple of months. sigh Did you know that I was still listed as Featured Writer in groups that I left 4 months earlier? Yeah, those moderators are really on the ball, aren't they? shakes head It's not entirely the moderators' fault, though. Most people just don't bother to do anything. They join a group, maybe add something to the library (or spam it with every single chapter of their book of poetry listed separately), and then neither review other members' writing nor post on the forum. 'Cause, y'know, they're so busy with playing WoW for six hours every day after they get home from work that they don't have any free time to check in to see what's happening on WritersCafe. (You know what the English language really needs? A punctuation mark specifically to indicate sarcasm.) Today's obscure movie quote: "It's a rock monster - it doesn't have a motivation!"

Lou Briggs	Re: reviews/critiques 14 Years Ago (You know what the English language really needs? A punctuation mark specifically to indicate sarcasm.) I completely agree!! =D It's just so strange. I found this site through stumbleupon (which is God in internet form, I believe), and before this, I had a profile on inkpop.com, which is very active, but filled with young, catty teenagers. It's very Neopets circa 2002, and it helps no one. I don't know if it's because most people on this website are older or what, but it's just so dead. The first time I looked at the forums, the latest post was still two days old. However, unlike other websites I've been a part of, there is only a notification if someone contacts you directly. I really wish it told me someone posted on a forum or joined the group, because I want to know who is new. As the mod, I try to be active. Instead of mindlessly browsing the web when I'm bored, I'll read some pieces. And I feel like having a smaller pool of novels to choose from, with authors who will appreciate my review. And another random quote from the same movie: "We have to get out of here before one of those things kill Guy!"
compositionc	Re: reviews/critiques 14 Years Ago This is probably the most active group I'm in. We have the most discussions, yo, even if they are mindless chatter-ness. And I have no idea what movie that is. So, I'll post a random quote from the X Files. "We're...exhuming your potato."
Weaver	Re: reviews/critiques 14 Years Ago Originally posted by Lou Briggs (You know what the English language really needs? A punctuation mark specifically to indicate sarcasm.) I completely agree!! =D It's just so strange. I found this site through stumbleupon (which is God in internet form, I believe), and before this, I had a profile on inkpop.com, which is very active, but filled with young, catty teenagers. It's very Neopets circa 2002, and it helps no one. I don't know if it's because most people on this website are older or what, but it's just so dead. The first time I looked at the forums, the latest post was still two days old. However, unlike other websites I've been a part of, there is only a notification if someone contacts you directly. I really wish it told me someone posted on a forum or joined the group, because I want to know who is new. As the mod, I try to be active. Instead of mindlessly browsing the web when I'm bored, I'll read some pieces. And I feel like having a smaller pool of novels to choose from, with authors who will appreciate my review. And another random quote from the same movie: "We have to get out of here before one of those things kill Guy!" "It's very Neopets circa 2002, and it helps no one." How... frightening. Most writing sites I've seen fall into one of two categories: They're either some variant of "Facebook for Writers!", or they're so enamored of their own Literary Merit of True Literature that they're very unwelcoming to mere genre writers (except for writers of romance and chick lit - those are fine). Age has nothing to do with it. There were a lot of adults on Urbis, too, and it was VERY active. There would be more discussion on the general forums there in a day than this place sees in a week - a busy week, even, when the kids are out of school for the summer and posting their poems like crazed wombats. (Not that I have any proof that crazed wombats are more likely to write poetry than sane ones, mind you.) You should get notices whenever someone joins your group. Maybe you need to go into your settings and specifically choose to get them. (Don't know for sure, since I am not moderator of any group.) "... before one of those things kills Guy!" rofl
Weaver	Re: reviews/critiques 14 Years Ago Originally posted by Special Agent Fafa This is probably the most active group I'm in. We have the most discussions, yo, even if they are mindless chatter-ness. And I have no idea what movie that is. So, I'll post a random quote from the X Files. "We're...exhuming your potato." The movie we're quoting is Galaxy Quest, a VERY good parody of various sci-fi movies, with a strong dose of parodying sci-fi fandom itself thrown in, but in a friendly way: "Let's face it - we are pretty weird" rather than "Sci-fi fans are stupid!" Love the X-Files quote. "exhuming your potato"... shakes head
Lou Briggs	Re: reviews/critiques 14 Years Ago I'm sure crazed wombats could write better than some of the "poets" I know. Hell, calm wombats would probably do a decent job. I've encountered a lot of the fanfiction.com kids. The "I' 14 and I wrote a Harry Potter Fan fiction, and it got 16 comments, so I'm an amazing writing. And English is my FAVE class. Let's all talk like our characters! My name is Rayven Ashe Blacknyte, and I'm gorgeous and ALL the guys wanna go out with me, but //I// love the dark, romantic, secretive bad boy who eats lunch alone and has an eyebrow piercing. BTW, Maximum Ride rules! I love Fang he's so hotttt!! Okay bye!" twitch Unfortunately, that's where I got my start, and I've been striving to get away from it ever since. Stupid internet. And now, I'm DYING to watch Galaxy Quest, but we only have it on VHS, and we don't have a VCR anymore =( Stupid technology.
Weaver	Re: reviews/critiques 14 Years Ago Originally posted by Lou Briggs I'm sure crazed wombats could write better than some of the "poets" I know. Hell, calm wombats would probably do a decent job. I've encountered a lot of the fanfiction.com kids. The "I' 14 and I wrote a Harry Potter Fan fiction, and it got 16 comments, so I'm an amazing writing. And English is my FAVE class. Let's all talk like our characters! My name is Rayven Ashe Blacknyte, and I'm gorgeous and ALL the guys wanna go out with me, but //I// love the dark, romantic, secretive bad boy who eats lunch alone and has an eyebrow piercing. BTW, Maximum Ride rules! I love Fang he's so hotttt!! Okay bye!" twitch Unfortunately, that's where I got my start, and I've been striving to get away from it ever since. Stupid internet. And now, I'm DYING to watch Galaxy Quest, but we only have it on VHS, and we don't have a VCR anymore =( Stupid technology. It'll be okay. You never have to go back there... And yes, actual wombats could probably write better poetry than a lot of what we see online. Y'see, wombats are cheery creatures, for the most part, and don't write poems about how their boyfriends (I mistyped that as "boyfiends" at first - subconscious complaint against Vampire Luv Stories?) dumped them and their wombat parents don't understand and now they're going to write poems full of cuss words to prove to the world that They Don't Frakking Care What U Think!!!!!! Which is, of course, exactly why they've posted their poems in the first place - because they don't care what you think. Makes perfect sense, doesn't it? I need coffee.
Weaver	Re: reviews/critiques 14 Years Ago And alas, Hulu doesn't have Galaxy Quest. I looked. Thought that you could at least watch it online...
compositionc	Re: reviews/critiques 14 Years Ago Well, I will look it up on Netflix, and two, hahaha, all my poetry derives from a TV show I watch. I like them though. They're seriously unserious. I once petted a wombat when I went to the down under.
Lou Briggs	Re: reviews/critiques 14 Years Ago Wombats poop cubes. I just thought that was interesting =D And yes, Galaxy Quest is hilarious - definitely worth watching. For whatever reason, I get most of my ideas while driving, or doing dishes.
compositionc	Re: reviews/critiques 14 Years Ago Originally posted by Lou Briggs Wombats poop cubes. I just thought that was interesting =D And yes, Galaxy Quest is hilarious - definitely worth watching. For whatever reason, I get most of my ideas while driving, or doing dishes. I...can't drive. And, we have a dish washer. NOW I SHALL TRY THIS MODERN METHOD.