Comments on: Review Forums

By: Wings

Wings — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 16:57:41 +0000

Preferably both, if that’s okay. I know a lot of readers aren’t willing to swim through piles of post to find the plot, so I figured that updating the summaries would be a good idea.

- Wings

By: B. Mac

B. Mac — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 05:15:49 +0000

Okay. Got it.

By: B. Mac

B. Mac — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 05:12:18 +0000

Do you mean the description on the forums themselves or the descriptions in the list above? (I’ll proceed assuming you mean the forums, but please let me know).

By: Wings

Wings — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 04:55:13 +0000

B. Mac and/or powerful mods:

Would it be possible to change the descriptions for my forums?

First Forum/HTSTW Forum: How to Save the World is a superhero novel, filled with heroism, self-discovery, friendship, and a little hilarity. It’s about a dysfunctional team of superpowered teenagers and their struggle to defeat a less-than-sane genius principal and an veritable army of their hypnotized classmates while maintaining steady B averages. As if high school wasn’t hard enough. When the fate of the world rests upon the shoulders of an impulsive pessimist with a short temper, her naive best friend who’s fallen hard for a queen bee, a quiet paraplegic searching for his older brother, and the sixth grader who’s probably smarter than all of them…well, we’d better cross our fingers for luck. They’re gonna need it.

Second Forum/Darkstar Rising Forum: A mysterious mercenary working for heroes and villains with a grudge against both, an uptight heroine with a clean-cut worldview, a useless engagement ring, and photokinesis, her leaderless superhero team, and a supervillain mastermind systematically slaughtering heroes. [[Title]] is a destruction of superheroes and the world in which they live, from child sidekicks to flamboyant costumes, blended with a dash of darkness and a good helping of sarcasm. Other works discussed in this forum include Hunter’s Abomination, about a so-called utopia and the men and monsters who call it home; Twisted Fantasy, a blend of video game homage, RPG cliche deconstruction, and a fantastic quest; and Strawberries and the Meaning of Life, a postapocalyptic love story about a hot-tempered boy searching for something he doesn’t understand, a hermit with a taste for riddles and impossible fruit, and a lonely girl from a city which has never touched the ground.

[[Title]] will eventually be swapped for whatever I replace Darkstar Rising with. Thank you in advance.

- Wings

By: NicKenny

NicKenny — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 11:23:06 +0000

B. Mac I think I’ve got my plot working but I’d appreciate if you could set up a review forum for me.

By: B. Mac

B. Mac — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 02:59:49 +0000

“I was just being hopelessly optimistic. ” I hear you. Having some hopeless optimism is pretty much required in this industry.

By: Clapham37

Clapham37 — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 22:43:14 +0000

Oh yeah, I know. I was just being hopelessly optimistic.

By: B. Mac

B. Mac — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 22:32:47 +0000

Okay. I've set it up here. (Bookmarking it for later reference will probably be helpful).
"I can always hope people will be so blown away that they won’t have anything bad to say…. can’t I?" Well, I'm pretty sure that there will be suggestions for improvement (otherwise there wouldn't be much point, right?), but they will be friendly and constructive.

By: Clapham37

Clapham37 — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 22:28:58 +0000

Hello B. Mac, I was wondering if you could set up a review forum for me. I’ve had this story in my head for a couple of years now (peanuts compared to most people) and only recently started writing. Trouble is, I want to make sure I get the first few chapters right before moving on (storytelling-wise that is, as there will always be room for improvement).

So, I decided to come out from lurking in the shadows, and see if anyone on here had any ideas on how to make it better, but I can always hope people will be so blown away that they won’t have anything bad to say…. can’t I?

By: B. Mac

B. Mac — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 07:07:23 +0000

I’ve set it up for you here. Good luck!

The content doesn’t sound problematic. More than a few of our readers are interested in non-superhero fantasy, so that shouldn’t be a problem. (One caveat: I haven’t worked in that field, so take everything I say with a lump of salt).

As for the profanity and drug use, I don’t think that’ll be much of a problem in terms of getting something published for adults. (Not a problem here, either–the only time I can remember saying no to a forum was if it sounded like it’d probably be wank material).

By: Ragged Boy

Ragged Boy — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 17:18:51 +0000

Hello S-ever-ed,

I’m sure B. Mac would be fine with you posting your work on the site. If anything else I suspect we could put a caution sign on your forum. Haha. Although, most of our traffic is fairly mature and if they understand that you’re writing a novel they should be okay with profanity. You’ll have to wait for B. Mac, though. I don’t know how to set up review forums.

If there’s anything else you’d like to work on or get advice with feel free to browse the site for anything that gives you ideas.

By: MonkeyMagic

MonkeyMagic — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 22:04:27 +0000

Superhero Nation has good advice in it. I would also advise learning how to write action or fight scenes (short and concise not overly descriptive). Read it, leave it for awhile, then read it again. Get friends to read it. Make sure it flows and has continuity.

My book is a thai superhero novella. You can read half of it at link below.

Read here

By: S-ever-ed

S-ever-ed — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 00:28:25 +0000

Hi there! I’ve been writing and rewriting for a graphic novel since I was 16 (21 now) and I was hoping to get some critique, as I’m pretty inexperienced with writing. I was also hoping that getting feedback would inspire me to write pretty regularly.

The graphic novel will be a long one… possibly split into two parts. There are elements of several different genres in there. I’d say it’s a mixture of Fantasy, Drama, and Psychological Thriller.

The plot follows three high school students who are placed under a mysterious curse with dangerous consequences. They soon meet a boy who claims to be a witch from a magically disguised part of town, and throughout the story, the four of them work together break the curse, all the while discovering more and more about their town’s bloody history.

Because of the language and sometimes mature themes (drugs, death, crude humor, etc.) the audience would probably be people between 18 and late 20’s. Male and female, I’m assuming.

Because of the ambiguous genre, lack of superheroes, and maturity level of the readers, I wasn’t sure whether this was the right place to ask for critique or not. I don’t know how well-received all of the profanity in my writing will be, lol. So be honest… should I post my writings here? If not, is there another place online where I could get help?

Thanks ahead of time :]
S-ever-ed

By: B. Mac

B. Mac — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 18:58:53 +0000

Oof. That sounds like a lot of drama. (One of the reasons I would recommend against trying to cowrite something as a first-timer*). Anyway, if you’d like, I’ve added a review forum here for you.

*Some other reasons:
–Most first novels change SUBSTANTIALLY from conception to completion. Although the coauthors may agree with the original conception, as the story evolves they may see it evolving in different ways.
–Writers get attached to ideas and characters. (“John wouldn’t say THAT!”) If the two characters have different conceptions of how the character acts or speaks, they may end up with a wildly inconsistent product. In the comic book industry, a character is sometimes referred to as a “pod person” if he suddenly starts acting out-of-character when he gets a new writer. Alternately, trying to iron out the consistencies may cause conflicts between the authors.
–Most authors that get published don’t actually do it with their first novels, so I think it may help to be able to walk away from a finished-but-unsold manuscript without any sour feelings.
–In theory, having two people working should make the process faster. In practice, the coordination is often quite difficult and each coauthor has incentive to pass the buck to the other guy.
–The authors may not have very compatible styles.
–If one author is substantially better, he may be held back by the other. If either (or both!) author thinks he is better than the other, he may feel he’s being held back.

By: The Man on the Moon

The Man on the Moon — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 18:54:55 +0000

Hello, I am the Last Man on Mars’s brother. I created the characters in Anarchy in Black and let him and his artist friend have them when I didnt want to continue with the idea. After his falling out with his friend I took the characters back and now I want to work with them and show the good people here my original plans for the story.