Story Reviews
Reviews by Story Reader
About Story Reader:
About me: I'm male, middle aged and a prodigious reader. I average more than 12 hours a day reading everything from news to erotica. I am not a professionally trained editor or proofreader but I think I have a good eye of what makes a story work.
What I read on SOL: I do not read snuff and 'necro'. I generally avoid really short pieces and the story codes of scat, extreme violence, 'MM', furry, 'TG', and BBW unless they are a minor code. I love Scfi, harem, incest, and slut stories. I prefer longer works with well developed and believable main characters. I look for plots with a love story where 'boy gets girl'.
Why I review stories: I've been a consumer of online erotic and fiction for almost to my third decade and I have many plots floating in my head. I realize that I'll never write any of them for my contribution to other consumers. Reviewing, proofreading, editing, encouraging, archiving and suggesting plots are the forms that my contributions will have to take for the foreseeable future.
How I will review: Other than the prescribed format of for the reviewer of 'Stroke | Plot | Technical Qualities | Appeal to Reviewer' my reviews will, hopefully, include two things. Foremost, I will attempt to help the author. My intention is to mention the one or two things that will most improve the story. I will, also, attempt to give the author an overall grade based on the following guide. (Given the amateur status of the SOL site, I suspect that the top rating will rarely be used and given the rules for reviewers the bottom rating will be given only to the author.)
Superb = The author should be ready for the book tour
Outstanding work = Well written piece with plenty of polish
Winner = Story has everything going in the right direction
Good effort for an amateur = Work has strong points but needs more editing
Not ready for prime time = Too many flaws and errors
Secondarily, I will attempt to guide the reader to stories they will like by mentioning other similar to this one. Maybe one of these days, SOL will have a section with the title 'If you liked that story, read this one, too.'
A word to Authors: We all read at SOL for pleasure and not perfection. Therefore, I use my ability to 'read passed' some errors in the search for a 'pleasurable read'. For example: I hardly notice the use of 'passed' in place of 'past' and I barely slow down for the use of 'barley' in place of 'barely' and the inclusion or omission of a few commas will most like only get the comment 'needs more proofing'. What will get my attention are errors that break the flow of my read - like sentence fragment or complex sentences that don't make sense. Having written in the business world for 30 years, I realize that one cannot reliably and consistently proof ones own work. I suspect that there are not enough editors/proofreaders to go around. (I, also, suspect that a proofreader would have a field-day with this note.) My belief is that if you do not have two people looking at your work before it is posted you are going to have excess mistakes.
Lastly, I have a few words of advice to you. Some of us readers will happily make note of needed corrections. Personally, I hesitate to do that on most stories because of the format in which I read the work. If the story is in one piece or is in text format, making suggestions is as simple as typing. If the story is in HTML or in multiple/small chapters, toggling back and forth to making editing suggestions or 'proofer' marks in the text is not worth the effort. Making your story available as one file would increase the number of errors reported to you. If I ask you for one file it us up to you was to whether or not you make it available. (I have been refused this before by an author that sorely needed the help.) As to the best way to make single files available to all, I'll leave to others.
I thank all readers and authors for your time spent in hearing my POV.
Feel free to write
If the Muse strike.
Story Reader
P: Plot | Q: Technical Qualities | A: Appeal to Reviewer
