Mar 29 2009
What’s a review forum? What do I do with it?
What’s a review forum?
It’s a page where you can post excerpts of a story for people to review. (Most of our authors have done either novels or comic books, but we’ve had a TV script and a play as well).
It’s very similar to an online writer’s workshop like Critters, except that you can post however much you like, as often as you like. On Critters, the average writer waits through a six-week queue and ends up receiving about 10 reviews.
How do I get a review forum?
Leave a comment asking for one. We usually set up the review forum within a few hours of the request.
What sort of things can I include in my review forum?
Whatever you want. Most people post a part of their novel or comic book, get reviews, and then move on to the next part. Other authors are just in the conceptual stage and get reviews about their story’s concept.
I recommend sticking to one story in your review forum. If you’d like to add another review forum for your second story, we can do that. That will make it easier for readers to keep track of each story.
How do I post to my review forum?
Just post your content in a comment.
How can I get a post above the fold? I’d like it to say something more interesting than “Please see the comments below.”
Good thinking! Just leave a comment saying something like “I’d like [X] to be in the first post.” I’ll leave it up to you what you’d like up there, but I have some suggestions here.
How can I encourage people to comment on my review forum?
1. I recommend that you write sequentially rather than jumping back and forth. Start with page one and move forward. That will make it easier for readers to follow your writing.
2. Comment on other review forums. People are markedly more likely to review your stories when you’ve commented on theirs.
3. Try to post regularly.
Are there any content restrictions? Does it have to be about superheroes?
It’s fine if it isn’t about superheroes. However, we do have some restrictions on adult content. (The short version: no R-rated sexual stuff… as long as you don’t go beyond what you can find in a James Bond movie, you should be fine).
I’ve got to start posting more regularly again. I like getting my work reviewed. I’ve started editing my script for the notes. Thanks for the notes, by the way. However, I’m still unsure if I want to edit the story in Celtx; I’m wary that a publisher may not be able to open the file.
What would you suggest? I’m thinking I could use the notes and then edit my Word. But then that defeats the purpose of you typing the whole thing to Celtx.
If you submit it electronically, I’d recommend doing so in Word.
However, Celtx has a few advantages that make it easier to review and write. For example, the Typeset feature breaks the script into description on one side of page and on-page text (dialogue, narration, sound effects, etc) on the other. That makes it easier to evaluate how the text will look in a given panel. It will also help you figure out which panels can be merged.
Can I please have a review forum, B.Mac? I think all the lovely people on this site could really help me out. Is it okay if the novel I want to post bits of isn’t about superheros? I write about them too but this is the one I need the most help with.
Hello, Becca. I’ve set up a review forum for you here. It’s fine if the book is not about superheroes; most of our novels we review here aren’t.
Let me start by saying that this site has been of immense help to me and continually gives me the motivation to continue work on my novel. After months of lurking here without posting (I often think: ‘who am I to critique what someone else has written?’) I feel I am ready to give back to those that have helped me so much. I was wondering if also I might be granted a review forum in which to post the first chapter of my novel?
Thanks, JMiles. I’ve set up a forum for you here. Hopefully you’ll stick around for more than one chapter, though.
Hello, we have a superhero themed live action comedy video series. I know its a little off of what you normally do, but could we have a review forum as well? Thanks
Sure! I’ve set one up here.
Say…could I get a review forum set up? I am thinking of starting a new novel in January, and I would like some feedback. Thanks!
Okay, Castille. I’ve set it up for you here. Do you have a summary of the story you’d like me to put at the top of the forum?
give me until sunday jot down the summary ok?
Sure.
can you put the following at the top of my review forum? This is basically what I came up with:
About the Author: I have been actively writing for only the past year or so. I am interested in Science Fiction mainly, but also superheroes. It is my hope to eventually get published, although I cannot say exactly when. I mainly aim to write novels, but if I have an especially good idea for a short story, I write it down. Right now, I am working on an original series based on my ‘universe’. That is where the majority of my planned novels take place and they are extremely self-referential. (Which is why I will give back-story to anyone who asks)
My experience: Currently I have the first 40,000 words or so of a novel done, but it will probably have to undergo a complete rewrite. I have also done NaNoWriMo last year, and came out of that with a 60,000 word novel within 30 days. I have also written one short story so far. My current project I will attempt to get done before Easter, and it will probably land somewhere within 50,000 words.
My Universe: In my universe, I try to keep the powers on a consistent scale. Generally superheroes were unknown in my fictional world until a former Stuntman named David Reyes decided to go the vigilante route after taking down a steroid abusing FBI agent that had gone insane. I try to keep the powers realistic, but there have been werewolves, skinwalkers, and Wendigos in this universe. The setting I use is slightly into the future, somewhere around the 2040’s.
The plot of my novel: Five of the most unlikely people wind up trapped in an expedition from hell. They are: A self-proclaimed vigilante, and his redhead werewolf sidekick, a has-been movie producer clutching on to the tail of newfound fame, an FBI agent whose motives are never exactly what they seem, and the only autonomous, free and sentient robot blonde to exist this side of Hollywood. Their mission? To make it out of the Manistee National Forest alive after a disastrous plane crash. That is not going to be easy, since not only are they hopelessly lost, they are also being slowly stalked by an ancient legend… One that is not too happy when people get too close to its lair.
The Title is: “As Legends Walk”
I may give detailed information about the individual characters in the comments section below if people want. Feel free to comment, and chapters should come out fairly regularly. (I think I can handle about six to eight chapters per month…properly motivated)
Hi, I’d like a review forum for my new comic: “MetaGeneration: Evolved.” I’d like
“Hey, I’m Aine and I’m writing a sci-fi superhero comic book series.
Issue One:
“Jumpstart Evolution”
Danny and Eli get powers from an explosion that releases mutagenic gass at the mall and become superheroes to help protect the helpless and determine the origins of the gas.
Issue Two:
“The Advent of Cool”
There’s a new hero on the scene but she’s way too skilled for someone who just got her powers last week. Besides, what could she be running from this early in her superhero career?
Issue Three:
“The Revolution will be Televised”
The famous “rockstar*” comes to Edgemont. The only thing worse than her music is the fact she can control people’s minds through her songs. And the concert will be broadcast world wide…
*Actually makes pop music with lots of guitar, but in the end it is still pop.** You can tell because the album reads Scarlett Day, not NameOfBandHere.
**Think Britney Spears music with extra guitar.
Target Audience includes teens and young adults of either gender (being a female comic reader I get greatly annoyed we get left out when writers and illustrators tailor their work to an all male audience (Hence Starfire and Madeleine Pryor’s costumes) yet at the same time I recognize we female comic readers are minority and need to keep the male audience in mind if we want to be successful). People who liked the Teen Titans, early Spider-Man, and X-Men will probably enjoy this.
Spare nothing- I want to know how to attain mass appeal while staying loyal to my premise. If I do something that will turn off prospective readers I want to be because I choose so since I’m stubborn and don’t want to change, not because I’m ingnorant and don’t know it could benefit from being changed.”
to be in the first post.
Okay, Aine. I’ve set it up for you here.
Hey B. Mac, I’d like to set up a review forum, and this is what I’d like in the first post.
“Hi there, I’m Ani, a newbie to posting but a long time reader, and I’d like some opinions.
My newest idea is about a teenage girl named Jessie who has been working to defeat the forces of the supernatural since she was ten years old, when the ghost of her mother returned to help her grandfather train Jessie. She’s seventeen now, and she regularly fights these forces, what she fights varies from week to week, but includes things such as vampires, werewolves, and ghosts – all in the classical sense. However, the biggest thing she fights are the Boogeymen, ghosts of emotions who cause havoc and pain wherever they go in their quest to destroy. Boogeymen can only be seen by those who know exactly what they are and believe in them – such as Jessie and Derek (we’ll get to him), and children, who believe in such monsters under the bed.
Jessie is not focussed on being popular or getting boys, and will not fall apart the first cute boy she comes across. The drama comes mostly from her two worlds intersecting, her friends finding out about her abilities and ‘night job’, and the tension between her grandfather and her over the ‘future of the family power’. Her abilities come from meditation and balance, meaning that she needs to stay focussed and calm or run the risk of getting herself killed in action. Essentially, she’s a ninja. A redheaded, British descended ninja.
The rest of the cast includes Samantha a.k.a. Sam, Jessie’s sports loving, tomboy best friend who has a major crush on Derek. Tristan, the childhood best friend of the girls, who is not actually in love with either of them. He’s into technology and inventing. And then there’s Derek, the stereotypically hottest and most popular guy in school, who, in all actuality, is a huge dork and loves all things supernatural, often tripping over his words in trying to protect his reputation. He’s generally a nice guy though, and hangs out with everyone, particularly Jessie and Co.
There’s not much in the way of plot yet. But I do know that Sam already knows about Jessie’s little hobby, Tristan is suspicious of what they do in their spare time – which actually leads to a subplot where he thinks they are secretly dating and ‘outs’ them to the whole school. He later finds out the truth though and proceeds to try and make new gadgets for Jessie. And Derek ends up in the middle of it all due to his paranoid and supernatural loving ways. Add on the fact that Jessie’s Mom tends to hang around and chat with her, though Jessie and her grandfather are the only ones who can see him, and her grandfather constantly pushing her to become the ultimate fighter and wanting her to take over the family, and I think I have something relatively interesting.
Thoughts?”
Thanks!
Alright, sounds good. I’ve set it up for you here.
Can I get a review forum?