http://forums.webfictionguide.com/ Web Fiction Guide Forums » Tag: review - Recent Topics en Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:26:56 +0000 http://forums.webfictionguide.com/topic/critique-request-away-from-artenia#post-7739 Sat, 04 Feb 2012 22:21:39 +0000 Ryphna St-John 7739@http://forums.webfictionguide.com/ <p>Hi All,</p> <p>So I am very new in the "WebNovel" thing even though it makes years I write offline, I was wondering if anyone could take a look at our website and story to give us their thought (mostly on the story).</p> <p>I write Away From Artenia with my friend Guy, we are both French Canadian so language is a nice challenge but do far it's been more fun then pain. Our Web novel is a Steampunk Mystery, we started writing it only a few months ago and have now 9 parts published for chapter 1. We publish weekly but hope to publish more often in the future.</p> <p><a href="http://artenia.ryphna.com" rel="nofollow">http://artenia.ryphna.com</a></p> <p>All comments are welcome but please keep them constructive.</p> <p>Thank you very much!</p> <p>Ryphna </p> http://forums.webfictionguide.com/topic/critique-request-stuck-station#post-7639 Wed, 21 Dec 2011 18:31:27 +0000 John Crandall 7639@http://forums.webfictionguide.com/ <p>Hey folks!</p> <p>I wanted to ask if any of you would give me your thoughts on my story at <a href="http://www.stuckstation.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.stuckstation.com</a>. </p> <p>If you could send me your comments in an email (cranny777@gmail.com) that'd be great, but if you don't want to email me and want to put criticism in this forum post that's good too. </p> <p>I have thick skin, so don't pull any punches. </p> <p>However, I do ask that any criticism be constructive rather than "This chapter sucks" :-P </p> <p>Thanks in advance. </p> <p>John </p> http://forums.webfictionguide.com/topic/the-points-between-review-question#post-7581 Mon, 05 Dec 2011 14:22:50 +0000 ubersoft 7581@http://forums.webfictionguide.com/ <p>OK, this is awkward and at least 40% of me is saying "leave well enough alone!" but the other 80% of me really needs to know. (The 20% of me that is over 100% in the example above is sighing and wishing I'd paid more attention to mathematics in college.)</p> <p>So <em>The Points Between</em> finally got listed on WFG, and obviously Chris' review is not the one I would have preferred to get. But it was neither malicious nor nasty, so as far as I'm concerned, fair's fair. When you throw your work out there for all to see, you accept the risks that go with that. A lack of enthusiasm is one of those risks.</p> <p>(So of course the next step was to obsessively read and re-read the review while drinking coffee and thinking black thoughts about life and the futility of putting words to page. That's what I did Sunday. Well, that and I played Skyrim. Check! Moving on.)</p> <p>The step after that is to take a fresh look at it and see if I can see what the reviewer sees. Not necessarily to agree, but to at least comprehend. So that's where I am now, and I need a definition from the crowd at large.</p> <p>The review describes much of what's posted so far as a "self-conscious narrative," which means something pretty specific to me -- I've always understood it to be as a kind of meta-story where the narrator is aware that he or she is telling a story and makes the reader aware that it's a story, and then spends time talking about the story *as* a story. That was a very surprising comment since it's not even close to anything I was going for (though some literary critics will claim that's pretty common for authors, as illustrated in <a href="https://www.ubersoft.net/comic/hd/2007/04/deconstructing-chapter-five">Deconstructing Chapter Five</a>). So I spent a few hours trying to see it, then I got tired, and then I figured I could post here in the hopes either Chris or someone else could explain.</p> <p>The other alternative is that "self conscious" is used in the way that you could describe a person as feeling very self-conscious, i.e., awkward and halting and bashful, though that doesn't quite fit with some of the other comments (there's no complaint that reads "author is obviously intimidated by the act of putting words to paper.")</p> <p>Anyway, was hoping for some clarification. I promise not to argue though I may ask more specific questions to try and understand. </p> http://forums.webfictionguide.com/topic/review-request-shadows-light#post-5583 Thu, 15 Jul 2010 21:01:03 +0000 Verydien 5583@http://forums.webfictionguide.com/ <p>I've poked around the forums since I first joined about a month ago. My story Shadow's Light was put onto the shelf about two/three weeks ago, and I thought it was about time to try and get more reviews/readers for it. The reviews I'm asking for don't have to be necessarily "official", but if you just want to e-mail me, sign the site's guestbook, or comment on this topic about what your thoughts are, that would work perfectly fine for me. I would be indebted to you either way. It would really mean so much to me!</p> <p>I do want to make one note however about the story before anyone interested goes charging in, I am all for constructive criticism, so please don't tell me how much you hate it/it sucks etc. If you don't like it, I'm quite alright with that, but please explain to me why, and what there is I could do to make it better, don't just tell me how terrible it is. Also, this story was started back in 2005, which means that there probably are a lot of things that are messed up (grammar, some spelling and small errors in plot). This said, feel free to bring problems to my attention, but try not to be too critical (like with the grammar and spelling). A rewrite is already planned in the works after I'm done with the first walkthrough. Nineteen of twenty-three chapters at this point in time.</p> <p>Here's a brief gist of the story:</p> <p>Descendants of the creator of Evil have been cursed with the fate of the Dark Crystal, while the one who opposes its power, carries the Light Crystal. But together, the precious stones create a power that could annihilate the entire universe. So when the host of the Dark Crystal is thrust into the position to choose to fight along side the Light Crystal or join the new unknown enemy in destroying life, which will she choose?</p> <p>Link to listing: <a href="http://webfictionguide.com/listings/shadows-light/" rel="nofollow">http://webfictionguide.com/listings/shadows-light/</a><br /> Link to site: <a href="http://shadowslight.yolasite.com/" rel="nofollow">http://shadowslight.yolasite.com/</a><br /> Link to Chapter One: <a href="http://shadowslight.yolasite.com/chapter-one.php" rel="nofollow">http://shadowslight.yolasite.com/chapter-one.php</a> </p> http://forums.webfictionguide.com/topic/review-request-grigors-amazing-adventure-part-zero#post-6980 Tue, 19 Jul 2011 13:19:47 +0000 GrigorsAdventure 6980@http://forums.webfictionguide.com/ <p>Hey, </p> <p>I wrote this novel to be compeletely over the top in manliness and completely outrageous to boot. So I was wondering if people could tell me what they think of it? Does anyone want to see the actual story emerge or is that a lost cause? should I try to tighten up the writing style to make it more focused, or does it being a bit crazy work?</p> <p>Thanks loads guys </p> http://forums.webfictionguide.com/topic/site-review-reqest-dead-too-rights#post-5951 Thu, 21 Oct 2010 07:34:44 +0000 Jaeger 5951@http://forums.webfictionguide.com/ <p>Hello there!</p> <p>Now that my first attempt at writing has actually been listed somewhere, I was hoping to get some feedback/suggestions on the site's layout. I'm still tweaking it and open to making changes. Unfortunately I'm using Blogger's free service right now so my options are a little limited. Thus I went for straight functionality with the hope that content would matter more. </p> <p><a href="http://webfictionguide.com/listings/dead-too-rights/" rel="nofollow">http://webfictionguide.com/listings/dead-too-rights/</a></p> <p>Oh! And feedback on the story itself is very welcomed, including what I've done wrong and what parts are most enjoyable. Its my first go at this writing thing but it won't be my last!</p> <p>Thanks so very much,<br /> Jaeger </p> http://forums.webfictionguide.com/topic/the-last-skull-webpage-and-editor-review#post-5868 Thu, 23 Sep 2010 14:36:15 +0000 Robert Rodgers 5868@http://forums.webfictionguide.com/ <p>I've given The Last Skull an organizational face-lift (visibly not different, but the table of contents reads a *lot* more clearly now, and I hope that things are a bit more clear--you have to click twice to get to whatever issue you want to read, but I'm hoping that's offset by the fact that things are now separated and have their own spaces). I've added a cast page (admittedly, with only one <a href="http://the-last-skull.blogspot.com/2010/09/mask-gallery-grin.html">submission</a>--as an aside, my wife, responsible for the art, is available for commissions <a href="http://vonds.livejournal.com">here</a>! We are in Canada, working and desperately scrambling for more cash), an 'extras' page (for the Mulligan short, <a href="http://the-last-skull.blogspot.com/2010/08/12-seconds.html">12 Seconds</a>, as well as anything else that eventually makes its way there), and removed the News page (I don't think anyone was paying attention to it anyway). Any sort of feedback toward the structuring would be helpful--whether or not things were hard to find, ways to make them easier, whether I should reduce the size of the description for each 'book', etc.</p> <p>In addition, I wanted to ask about an editor review--I hope that I'm not crossing a line with that request, but it's largely because I haven't had an image for my website here for over 3 months, so just an editor popping in and going "yeah, so the story is apparently not just a link toward pokemon porn, *SCREENSHOT*" would be immensely appreciated (a more thorough review would *also* be appreciated, but I understand if things are just too busy).</p> <p>Er, and reviews in *general* are also immensely appreciated. Thanks for reading! </p> http://forums.webfictionguide.com/topic/review-update-please#post-5498 Wed, 23 Jun 2010 22:31:39 +0000 allantmichaels 5498@http://forums.webfictionguide.com/ <p>I have just posted the final chapter of my novel, An Empire of Law. It has been a long time coming, and I want to thank those who have joined me and read it.</p> <p>Seeing as it is now finished, I was hoping someone could either write a review of the completed work, or in the case of Gavin or Miladysa could update their older reviews to reflect the new status. Thanks so much!</p> <p>Allan </p> http://forums.webfictionguide.com/topic/review-request-mirrorfall#post-5317 Sun, 16 May 2010 18:18:25 +0000 Grace McDermott 5317@http://forums.webfictionguide.com/ <p>As I mentioned in another thread, I just finished Mirrorfall Book #3 (Mirrorshades), and in the little break before I get back into Book #4 (The Grey Edge - basically a "masochistic love story between a magpie and an angel"), I thought this would be a good time to get a few more reviews, and a few more readers. :D</p> <p>Mirrorfall, for those of you who haven't heard of it is basically an urban fantasy written for geeks - the main character is a code monkey, who gets recruited by what amounts to the supernatural-MiB, there's a department full of gamers who spend all of their off-hours playing WoW, designing games or making alarms that go off when certain webcomics are updated. </p> <p>At the moment, there are three completed books (Mirrorfall, Mirrorheart, Mirrorshades), with the fourth already ten chapters in (as there was a little crossover with the second half of Mirrorshades), a handful of short stories, and a lot more updates to come. </p> <p>Oh, and you'll need the link: <a href="http://requirecookie.com">Mirorfall: The Series</a> </p> http://forums.webfictionguide.com/topic/thanks-for-the-review-fiona#post-5302 Fri, 14 May 2010 07:27:22 +0000 Gavin Williams 5302@http://forums.webfictionguide.com/ <p>I wanted to say thank you to Fiona for her review of Diggory. Your insights, as always, are much appreciated. I think that you particularly hit the nail on the head with your closing sentences:</p> <p>"No matter how confusing, frustrating, and senseless life can get, a person doesn’t have to just sit back and take it. Maybe that’s the message of Diggory Franklin." I think that is indeed Diggory's theme -- as the writer of his story and the creator of his reality, I have put him in an impossible and difficult position. He is aware of his own impending demise. Some people would crumble, and Diggory somehow soldiers on.</p> <p>The thing I like about the story, and Diggory as its protagonist, is that he doesn't mope around long. He finds something proactive to do. I think this is the direct result of a lot of soap operatic elements on television, where characters wallow in small dramas and take little action. "Reality" television also seems to be filled with whiners with high expectations and a sense of entitlement. </p> <p>I also appreciated hearing "Gavin has a varied imagination, and here’s his chance to exercise it freely and see where it takes us." I agree that, being in serial form, the story runs the risk of having too many hanging threads. "No Man an Island" was a complete novel long before I was posting it online, so it had a defined beginning, middle and end (even if they weren't in the usual order :P ). "Diggory" is a true open-ended serial, with cliffhangers and "the story so far" along the way. I try my best to balance making today's chapter interesting, and giving hints of more to come.</p> <p>I approach it like the X-Men comics my father let me read growing up. Chris Claremont wrote the X-Men for twenty years, and he took it from relative obscurity to Marvel's bestselling title. He did that by making this month's issue interesting, and giving you something to come back for next issue. But he also hid small sub-plots in scenes, in characters' speeches and thought bubbles, and in mysterious appearances by shadowy figures, or random encounters. He laid groundwork for future stories constantly, and he'd follow up on them over the course of a year, or five years, or ten, and sometimes twenty. He tied together all the loose ends before he was finished, but it was a decades-long project.</p> <p>I don't intend to leave my threads hanging quite that long, but I do worry about ever slowing down to the point that I reach that "Tales of MU" glacial pace. I've guarded myself against it by collecting each "Book" around one central conflict or plotline. Each "Book" leads us closer to his coming doom, and has its own surprises on the way. By concentrating on making individual chapters interesting, and individual Books complete in their own main conflicts, I'm doing my best to keep the serial interesting and not dragging. So, I'm saying I appreciate that your review is aware of the risks of the serial, and that I'm worried about the same thing -- so hopefully I'll guard against it better in the future.</p> <p>So again, thank you for noticing the things I'm proudest of, and highlighting the things I worry about too. Hopefully with those things in mind I can continue to craft a better and better story. It was a great review -- and I didn't even have to bribe you for it! ;) </p> http://forums.webfictionguide.com/topic/thanks-for-the-review-gavin-williams#post-5161 Tue, 04 May 2010 13:54:45 +0000 Wilf 5161@http://forums.webfictionguide.com/ <p>Hi Gavin</p> <p>Thanks for the review and also for the comment on the site! (Thanks for clearing up the hyperspeed issue - I've definitely always gone for Star Wars over Star Trek and I should really have known better!)</p> <p>I really enjoyed your review and thought it was one of the most useful and interesting comments on my work that I've probably ever read. It was also pretty insightful (depending on how many chapters you've actually read). I'm glad that you 'got' what was going on regarding plot, theme and characters (a paranoia of the 'amateur' writer!)</p> <p>Your review highlights some of the points that I've been worrying about and it confirms that I was right to worry about them. Namely, the length of time I've taken to show any kind of positive side to Scott and also the flashbacks / forwards.</p> <p>I suppose they both come down to the main issue of how to write regularly updating web fiction. If I was doing my normal thing and writing a book, I could go back, re-read, re-write and all that fun stuff. But being only a couple of chapters ahead of what people are reading (at best!) puts the kibosh on that, so you have to try and get it right quicker. (Or write more of it in advance - but do I really sound that organised..?) Also the issue of pacing is very difficult to pin down (hence the Scott characterisation problems which you point out so accurately).</p> <p>Glad you liked my style / technique. Better you like that and don't like my presentation choices than the other way around! Oh, and if the time-shift of the narrative irked you, then you *really* won't enjoy the current storyline running through May..! It takes place over three timeframes - although I had already decided to try and limit the amount of switching per chapter (as per my earlier forum post).</p> <p>I think I'll just have to keep learning as I go and hope that any further reviews I get will be as helpful as yours!</p> <p>Cheers! (btw, I've really been enjoying 'Diggory Franklin' and hope to do a review sometime soon!)</p> <p>W </p> http://forums.webfictionguide.com/topic/review-exchange#post-1318 Mon, 24 Nov 2008 07:09:11 +0000 Ryan Span 1318@http://forums.webfictionguide.com/ <p>I've noticed that there seems to be a bit of a review imbalance on the WFG, where some entries are drowning in reviews but others are struggling to attract any, and thereby aren't getting the attention they deserve.</p> <p>So, I had the idea of setting up a review exchange where people can trade reviews between themselves on a 1 for 1 basis. If you want an exchange, just post here with your willingness to do one, along with your reading standards (RS) on a scale of 1-5 -- where 1 means you'll read anything regardless of problems (either with the story or the website) and 5 means something needs to be seriously impressive before you'll give it a good review.</p> <p>If someone you want is available for review, ask them, and if they accept then your reviewing pact is forged. All reviews posted through the exchange are of course subject to WFG's normal review rules.</p> <p>I'll hereby post myself up first, taking reviews at an RS of 4.5.</p> <p>Regards,<br /> Ryan </p> http://forums.webfictionguide.com/topic/review-request-cloudnigh#post-4596 Fri, 19 Feb 2010 10:36:00 +0000 Spinner 4596@http://forums.webfictionguide.com/ <p>Anyone with a free minute willing to review my web serial, Cloudnigh? It's available on <a href="http://cloudnigh.com" rel="nofollow">http://cloudnigh.com</a>. </p> <p>I'm willing to trade reviews =) </p> http://forums.webfictionguide.com/topic/thanks-to-starwalker-reviewers#post-4588 Thu, 18 Feb 2010 07:45:30 +0000 Kess 4588@http://forums.webfictionguide.com/ <p>I just wanted to give a quick shout-out to those who have taken the time to read and review Starwalker so far; namely, capriox and Loribeth215, Linda Schoales who kindly got the ball rolling. Thank you! There isn't a great deal there yet - it's just getting going in many ways - but I'm glad you seem to like what you've seen! </p> <p>As someone who barely has time to write at the moment, I greatly appreciate someone taking the time to not only read my work, but come back here put up a review as well. Just as soon as I get a break from everything else, I will be trying to do the same for others on here! </p> <p>Thanks again, everyone. :) </p> http://forums.webfictionguide.com/topic/review-request-chaos-fighters-ii-cyberion-strike#post-4426 Sun, 13 Dec 2009 08:04:49 +0000 Murazrai 4426@http://forums.webfictionguide.com/ <p>After near two weeks I finished my NaNoWriMo novel, I decided to get a review for the first time. It is at <a href="http://murazrai-for-nanowrimo.xanga.com" rel="nofollow">http://murazrai-for-nanowrimo.xanga.com</a> and the novel is completed. I also made a refined version which you can request by message me your email. I hope I can get some tips on how to refine my writing skill. </p>