Providing feedback

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Rate a narrative | Commenting on a narrative

Part of each member's role is to provide feedback for the stories we read.  We do this through ratings and commenting.  

Rate a narrative

We provide four different ratings for each story: quality of the story, quality of the writing, believability and originality.

We use a star system for memers to register their values for each rating.  To vote, simply click on the star that represents your vote.  Lowest values to the left (1), highest value to the right (5).

 

Fivestar voting button screen capture
     1 ------>5

The overall quality of the story

This represents how well the story comes together.  It includes believability, structure and scene.  It identifies if there is enough conflict, emotion, action and well written and believable dialogue to keep the reader interested.  

5 = Excellent work - well designed context, character and details.
4 = Very good work - some elements could use minor improvements.
3 = Good work - at least one story element needs further improvement.
2 = Needs work - needs revision.
1 = Story not written as narrative scene or other applicable format - needs revision.

 

The quality of the writing

This is probably the easiest to rate.  It really involves how well the story is written.  It doesn't necessarily measure the quality of the writer, but how well the writing presents the story.  Another way to view it is whether poor writing (grammar issues, poor sentence structure, misspellings, etc...) keeps you from enjoying the story.  From fully understanding the idea being presented.

5 = Excellent writing - no misspellings or grammar issues.  No writing issues which pull the writer out of the story.
4 = Very good writing - no misspellings or grammar issues.  Writing could be better with a bit more work.
3 = Average writing - No major misspellings or grammar issues.
2 = Needs work - Errors which could clearly be fixed with a spell checker and/or grammar editor.
1 = Needs revision - Issues which keep the reader from understanding what the writer is trying to communicate.

 

How original?

Begin by realizing work inspired by other creative work isn't necessarily lacking in originality.  Most genre work is built upon the efforts of other creative types who worked on similar material in the past.  The main quality this should represent is whether the idea being presented is truly original: whether the scene, characters or scenario are truly original, even if they draw on previous ideas.  If a majority of the work is templated on a previous piece of work or full of tropes, there isn't a lot of originality present.  The best way to measure this is to go with your gut feeling: if it feels tired and overly familiar, it probably isn't very original.

5 = Truly unique idea - groundbreaking in some way
4 = Unique perspective - outside of the box
3 = Good branch of existing ideas
2 = Minor changes from commonly known ideas
1 = Derivative of prior work

 

How believable?

A big part of what we're looking for is believable storytelling.  Rate believability based on how easy it is for you to believe this scene can play out in the timeframe the author selected.

5 = Very believable, I think this or something like it will happen in our future.
4 = Believable, there is a good chance something like this will happen in our future.
3 = This could happen, but there are aspects of the story I feel are less likely.
2 = I don't find it very believable.
1 = There are elements of the story I do not believe will ever happen.
 

 

Commenting on a narrative

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