Enter The Shredder Forum Reviewing Scheme

The scheme for reviewing is open for the moment. So we will determine the format as we go. I have some suggestions. They may or may not work. Lets open them to debate and any others you may have and then decide what works best.

Here it is:

I think that having the featured work be the center of reviewing for the group might be a good way to start of. The featured work would remain in the spot light anywhere from three days to a week giving everybody enough time to review the work. We can post comments on the reviews and the work through the group forum under a thread titled for the piece. In this way we create a dialogue on the work between the critics and the author. As to determining the feature work, anyone who wants his or her work in the spot light should email me with their request. I am reluctant to volunteer people for the spot light for fear they take offense to being shoved onto the stage. At the end of the month we could assemble a list of the featured poems and determine the best rewrite by anonymous vote. Something similar could be done for the best review. The best review could be done through a nomination scheme and than subjected to an anonymous vote. That of course is optional and we can decide that as we go.

Besides this proposed format, anyone who wants there work reviewed by the group as well can post their work through the group site.

In short my scheme for reviewing:

The feature Work will be the groups reviewing focus

It will remain the feature no longer than a week

During that time the group will review the work

A thread in the forum will be created titled for the piece.

Comments on the reviews and the work will be posted through the forum thread.

We could possibly hold a contest for best rewrite of the month and best review.

As to the reviews, the key things to remember about a good review are these four principles:

Make the review constructive

Make the review instructive

Reference the work when ever possible

Express yourself honestly

If we keep to those guidelines we will have gone a long way to improving our craft.

I look forward to hearing from you,

Marco.

That sounds amazing. I love your ideas for the review procedure; I think through this process we could go a long way in improving our work and honing our craft.

Thank you for the group invite.

Kasia.

If I could make one suggestion, I think that work to this forum should be submitted rather than added automatically so that the author has control over which pieces will be selected for review.

Quote:

Thanks for the group add. Overall I like your idea for voting on the best of writing, reviewing and critiquing (so few people know how to write a good critique, and I'm largely guilty of it because a lot of people don't know how to check their egos at the door around here and I've made LOTS of enemies by being honest). I like the sensitivity of having people send you their work for review. To further the point and maximize our comfort in reviewing others, I would like to see our work reposted anonymously so our reviews are based on the content and mechanics of the writing and not on protecting our alliances on the site. We're likely to go easy on people we know and speak with regularly, and that's not the idea here. It's meant to be no holds-barred constructive criticism. I think anonymity fosters greater honesty.

Hey all,

I agree with kasia, I would not like to see anyone volunteered for the process. The author will pick the poem they want reviewed.

As to Jess's Idea - Perhaps I can create an Identity called The shredder where the poem being review could be posted. But I am not so much afraid of hurting anyones feelings. If you've joined this group it is for the same reason as I had in making it, to get a great review and give a great review without any fear of hurting someones feelings. Lets chew it over and then decide. For my part I think I will offer one of my worst poems up for sacrifice in the manner of Abraham and Issac.

I'm glad to see a good turn out on our first day.

Talk soon,

Marco

Ahh, my concern for the anonymous review process is not for my own ability to write honest reviews, but for eveyone else's. By creating an anonymous system, we ensure that we're all able to say what we think without worrying out protecting our friends. Agreed, if you post stuff in here, you should be able to handle it, but it still stings to hear it from your friends.

I do agree, it is after all called "the Shredder".

If the format of my work is crap then I'd rather hear it loudly so that I would have a bit more knowledge on what to look out for in future writings. Also I think the biggest thing is incorrect spelling or the leaving out of a word (which I tend to do so often because I do the majority of all my writing at 2am-4am).

As far as story content though, some people have different ideas and where they want to take it, so it can be difficult to critique that honestly because obviously we all have our own tastes when it comes to reading material. So what I guess I'm suggesting is that maybe if you're really great at pinpointing spelling errors or grammar errors, let that be your strength when you critique instead of struggling to comment on structure.