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Note: I will be working on this post for a while, so expect some changes in the next few hours.
I'm kind of a scatterbrain, and I can't really keep track of all the things that are being suggested here, so I'm actually going to start acting as a bit of an organizer/bookkeeper right now if nobody minds. I guess you could call this post an absolute minimalist approach to this very complicated business of renewing the fanfiction section. Here's my philosophy: I will create some key goals for the renovation, placing them in order from most important to least important (according to me). I will then file suggested solutions or changes under the major goal(s) they address. Hopefully this will save some brains from exploding, including mine. Any suggestions or comments are welcome. 1. Increase interest in the fanfiction section in general. A) Bring back the prompt challenge. B) Hand out emblems like drugs candy. (Get the art section in on emblem creation?) C) Do one-shot challenges. D) What if we picked one fic a year to be advertised site-wide? Sort of a fanfiction blockbuster? 2. Increase/improve reader input (including reviewing). A) Provide incentives for reviewing. B) Have some sort of reading/reviewing competition with prizes (anyone remember Book It?). C) Create a thread in which people critique other people's review styles. 2. Increase productive writer interaction. A) Revamp the plot bunny thread to allow any person to post any idea and receive feedback on it. B) Make the Lounge more writing-focused/offload the craziness somewhere else. 3. Improve ease of access to all sections for new writers. A) Revise the purpose/structure of the Lounge to make it less cliquey. 4. Increase interaction between experienced writers and inexperienced writers. A) I propose that we have a reader adoption system, in which experienced writers take one or two new writers under their wing and basically act as a mentor to them, regularly beta'ing and/or critiquing their work. 5. Streamline both the rules and various guides/increase new writer exposure to these sections. A) Create a guide in which a badfic is reviewed, pointing out common mistakes of new writers. B) Create a resources thread with links to helpful websites. C) Have writers post a link to every new fic in the Rules thread! :D |
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There was more I could say, but I'm half asleep and wanting to go play old Nintendo games. So it's going to have to wait one more day for me to be useful. |
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Oh, bobandbill, you're an Aussie, so of course you don't know what Book It! is.
Of course, I'm American, and I had no idea. Then again, I don't eat pizza. Book It!, a program created by Pizza Hut (Their pizzas make me terribly terribly ill) to get children to read. Basically, a goal is set per month for a child, and if the child reads that much each month, a manager of their local Hut gives them a free kid-sized pizza (this is making me sick), a Book It! card, and a backpack kit. That can't happen here, but there are similarities. If someone reads and reviews a certain amount of fics per month, then they get a shiny emblem. Because we just love our extrinsic rewards here. |
Oh, I see. Cheers for the explanation then. =)
I suppose that could work...although a check on the reviews themselves (because if anything weak one-liners reviews hinder rather than help the community as a whole at times) would probably be needed if done. |
That's one reason why I would like quality to be put ahead of competitions. Because it's not too helpful to have a lot of one-liner reviews that can be quickly c/p'd to various thread in the section. But if there's a certain standard of quality, then things can look better.
Right now, I'm really bugged about reviews seen on another forum, but that's gonna be something I'll have to discuss at another time. We're still in the planning stages. Hopefully soon we'll be getting somewhere with this. Edit: I'm sure if I'm a PITA enough about it, I can fix up the subforums of this section. Getting a Completed Fics forum and whatever else y'all desire. |
I think that completed fics should be placed in a "Completed" subforum and stickied, but not locked like Serebii does; after all, what if you realize they were moved before you could get in a comment on the climax or the end of the story? Sorry, I know the comment is terribly short, but I don't have anything else to say on the matter except that I have an unpleasantly vague idea on what you could put on an achievement for reviewing stuff... a keyboard and pen?
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I'mma use bobandbill's format and then go back to lurking DeviantArt...
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This way is much easier. XD; And sorry for late reply, had to take care of some things. >.>
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I'm so busted if I get caught on here during work.
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Then there was the recent "Hey, let's just review with no stipulations!" thread from last month. That failed for some reason that I can't fathom, or just completely refuse to fathom. I dunno. Maybe we should focus more on getting stories to review, and then working on getting the quality of reviews up before we decide we need more reviews? Because I bag people more on lesser quality reviews than the quality of a story posted. Kind of a short response because lol work. |
I volunteered to make an emblem, and have no problem making several, I just need ideas on what they should look like.
[OFF TOPIC] Spoiler:
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And even then, one of the benefits of having an active reviewerbase with plenty of people to offer quality reviews is that the more people see that they're likely to get feedback on a certain place, the more likely they'll be to post. This is why you get kids who say, "OMG, I thought this place would give me awesome reviews because the other place did" and why kids post more on places where there's a lot of reviewers: because they're focused on getting as many reviews as possible. There's exceptions, of course, but these are usually loaded with other incentives -- like how Pokemon Tower has its own awards system set up -- or have just been around for awhile. Hence why my original question about activity was "how do we get more people to review" and not so much "how do we get more people to post stories." I mean, if all of the threads on the first page were updated within the last couple of days, that means you at least have fifteen new stories to check out. Activity in the writing department's not that bad if that's the case. It's just that people aren't getting that many reviews. So, you're not only stopping short of setting a standard, but the kids out there are also getting impatient when they go for a couple of chapters without getting so much as a note. (Case in point.) tl;dr, from what I can tell, you're fine in terms of fic activity. It's the feedback end where there's a disconnection. And anyway, it's the reviews that really help feed the activity in a writing community, so it's a win-win situation if you can kick people into posting more reviews. Quote:
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Hi. Yes, I'm not lurking (as much) today.
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If anyone's interested, I have the code for it sitting on my external drive somewhere. - Liam |
Maybe we can use reviews as a stipulation to get writing contests. The contests seem to be what gets resounding positive answers, so maybe saying "hey people, go out and review the fics that are out there before we get more here with contests" could work. Same with emblems. Because, y'know, extrinsic rewards seem to work better than intrinsic ones. So give people some reason to review more other than "out of the goodness of their little hearts".
So swing your focus on getting reviews, people. Upping the amount of reviews and the quality of them. (Don't look at me for suggestions/motivation because I have a host of issues getting in my way, unfortunately.) Besides, if we follow science, then reviewing more --> getting more people wanting to post their fics There's more to that, I'm sure, but I can't think of it. Also, CALIBAAAAAAN (iluvu,indy), I'm not sure how willing the upper staff is to put a random rotating code on the forums for this section. But that does bring to mind the return of Fanfiction of the Month, which might not work out for reasons that will be brought up. But that's probably getting ahead of where we need to be looking. |
Well, I've resolved to start reviewing more (both here and elsewhere) so I'm all up for this. I'm also writing at a a hundred and fifty knots, so that might help generate some more reviewage, yes/yes?
I say we get this party started. *cracks knuckles* Who's with us? |
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Does the box where it says "Fan Fiction and Writing Submit your stories and poems" support links? If so, you'd probably be able to put your rotating link there. (image in spoiler shows the box that I'm referring to) Spoiler:
*Liam wanders off irrelevantly to somewhere else again* |
I'm pretty sure that supports links, as I think I've seen other forums use it to link to their respective rulesets.
*me picks a random fic off the first page and reviews it* |
I haven't done anything around here in a good while, so I guess reviewing sounds like a good way to get back in the groove. I'll do some of that once the school day's over.
And while I'm here, how about a bold topic? When you're thinking up an idea for a story, which do you think of first, characters or events? I've heard some people say that you're supposed to think of some good characters first and let the story grow around them, but I find that I usually think of a kind of scene that I'd like to do and let the characters grow around that. What about the rest of you? |
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Once I know what's going on I can start thinking about what kind of characters I need to tell my story. |
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I took the entrance exam yesterday and was quite tired from that, whether that is the reason why what I am about to say didn't get on my last post I honestly don't remember. "While taking the writing section of the exam, I found it to be rather easy, I spotted lot of errors that I see getting pointed out all the time in reviews. I was wanting to thank every one in the FanFiction lounge. Reading some of your reviews helped me out a lot yesterday." That would be the reason I posted it here in the lounge, There are too many people to go to each and everyone and post a VM, and a blog would not reach everybody. |
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Also, emblems good idea too. Speaking of which, how is that going? Quote:
And AH, BOLD TOPIC! D: *checks solovino's Bold Topic Index* As far as I can tell, don't see a bold topic of this. I might've missed that though, so someone kick me if indeed there's a bold topic about this. >.> When you're thinking up an idea for a story, which do you think of first, characters or events? I tend to think up events I want to do and then what kind of characters I want to put. Like Silawen said, ifI do the other way round it makes it as if I'm trying to have the plot revolve around the character, which is a big no-no. :P |
When you're thinking up an idea for a story, which do you think of first, characters or events?
Characters, definitely. I have so many of them I’m always struggling to give each and every one of them a story. I never think of the story first, probably because I care more about the characters than the plot. A story / plot / setting is just a sandbox I play in with my characters, nothing more. |
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I can help with emblems as well, once I have access to my netbook (might take a few days).
As for the list I posted a bit ago, I'm not sure what to do with it now. I could either a) make a new thread for it, b) continue adding stuff to it here and strike out things that people don't want to do, or c) add stuff to it here and include links to posts that express concerns about certain items. I'm leaning toward the last one, because basic brainstorming philosophy dictates that you don't throw out ideas. It would make things more complicated, though, which I was ultimately trying to avoid. Creating a new thread is also inviting, but would people actually go to it? I probably wouldn't if I were me. Which I am. |
When you're thinking up an idea for a story, which do you think of first, characters or events?
Events. Then Characters and then sometimes sometimes a first page. For me, the most difficult part of fanfiction is getting the ball rolling. I can write points B - Z but I can't write A - Z to save my life. I have everything planned out almost always before hand except that part. XD I dunno, its probably not answering the question 100% but when I do a one shot or w/e, it's what's always at the bottom of the list of 'things to think up' |
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