Second Chance Reviews - Interest Check

[June Scarlet]

Have a piece you wrote, but no one seemed to notice? Want to introduce new readers to an old definitive piece? Heck, I'll even include pieces that haven't even been published, but you can't wait to show off.

Here's your chance to get it seen!

Second chance reviews work like The Neopian Times review threads. The first post contains links to the pieces to be reviewed, and the rest of the thread contains chatter and reviews about the pieces.

Unlike the Times review threads, it doesn't have to be a Neopian Times piece. It could be anything NTWF-safe and of a reasonable size.

What do I consider a reasonable size? Well, it's pretty easy for Neopian Times submissions. I'd consider it a single Issue's piece, such as a comic, short story, article, or a single part of a series. For non-Neopian Times pieces, I'd still use the Neopian Times as a hint of what's reasonable. A short story there is 4000 words, so I'd consider that to be a reasonable upper-limit. For longer pieces, an excerpt perhaps, or a chapter. It's negotiable. The goal is to make sure everyone gets their piece reviewed, the shorter the piece, the easier it is to do that, so please keep that in mind.

I am thinking there should be a requirement that if you submit a piece, you must review pieces as well, though I'm not quite sure the best way to handle that. I think it partly depends on how many people sign up. If it's a small group, it's entirely reasonable to have everyone review everyone else. But a large group, that gets harder, and I don't want people to give up or back out because it's overwhelming. A minimum would be at least one other review, though you'd want to make sure that everyone gets at least one review. Maybe a compromise would be at least a certain percentage of pieces reviewed? Or randomly assigning which piece you must review, and allowing you to review more if you want? There's all sorts of ways to handle this, it's something that needs to be discussed further.

Of course, anyone is welcome to review without having submitted a piece.

This is an idea I've had bouncing around for about a week, and wanted to get out there while it's still in my mind. I am not prepared to host it right now, though. Maybe after the April Showers event is over.

However, I would like to use this time to see if anyone else is interested in this sort of thing, and discuss logistics and such. Thank you!

[Twillie]

This sounds like a fun idea, yeah! I think we've all got a work like that, where it didn't get as much attention be it timing, platform, etc. That, and getting more perspective on something never hurts!

In thinking about logistics, a past event with a similar idea that could be good for reference is Critique Circle. With that, everyone reviewed everyone else's piece, and the Plan B if participant list got too big was to create multiple critique circles. It was a sort of Warm Fuzzies style of reviewing, which I think could be feasible here as well. There's also a Secret Santa style we could do as well, though, where everyone is assigned one or two people to review. 

I think the advantage to the former is you get more eyes on your work, but the latter could potentially have more in depth reviews. Personally, right now I'm kind of favoring the latter option, as the idea of "second chance" to me not only means getting feedback, but feedback that goes beyond what you may have heard before. It could also feel less overwhelming for participants, depending on whether or not that's an issue others have felt in the past regarding reviews.

Another possible idea, regardless of what method is chosen, is that each person gives a brief list of what they specifically want feedback on with their work. For example, if I wanted a comic reviewed, I could specify beforehand that I'm not concerned about art critique, but I do want to know if the dialogue is too clunky and if the punch line came across well. That way, the creator can get substantial feedback, and the reviewer has a better idea of what to look for and what to filter out when reading.

[June Scarlet]

I kind of prefer the latter as well. Not-so-secret Santa style. Ensures everyone gets at least one or two reviews, without putting too much pressure on the reviewers. It's at least worth a try.

Another idea I had was to assign everyone one or two people to review, and also require another review or two of their own choosing. But I mean, people are already welcome to review whatever piece they like in addition to the ones assigned, so I think that's a bit redundant.

Another advantage to having less reviews to do is that the turnaround time can be quicker.

I could see having a comment or note from the creator on what exactly they're looking for in the critique. Or maybe in the thread itself, the creator could make a comment there, so that the first post isn't as long? One nice thing about the NT review threads is that they can turn into discussions, and when that happens, it's nice to see. I would hope for discussion to happen in the Second Chance Reviews as well.

I wonder if we do not-so-secret Santa style, if we should do it completely randomly, or put a little thought into who reviews what. For example, say I had an April Showers fic. Maybe it would make sense to have people who understand the setting review it. Or maybe I'd prefer people who don't know the setting, so I can tell if it stands alone. Or maybe I want one of each. Or maybe I'd prefer to leave it completely to chance.