The Art of The Review

If fan fiction were its own nation, reviews would be the currency. The above statement is one I would venture to guess almost every author (and probably reader) of fan fiction could agree with. Writers love it when readers leave them a review at the end of a chapter. After all, what human doesn’t like to receive some type of acknowledgment after working hard on something? Reviews are a way for authors to know what people loved, what they hated, what stuck even after the chapter ended, and whether or not the plot bunny in question will carry...

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Beta 101: How to be a Beta

Of all the inboxes, on all the sites in all the world…she walked into mine. Okay, so maybe my adventures as a beta didn’t begin so dramatically. But narratives without drama are like 50Shades of Grey without the Twilight references…they just don’t work.             My life as a beta actually began quite by chance. I read a story, and the more I read of the story the more convinced I became that the author was really onto something, if they could just push themselves to write outside...

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Writer's Block

12:00am: Reach for your third cup of coffee with shaking hands as you reread last paragraph you wrote. Notice you said the same idea twice and changed from Omni-present point of view to first person point of view and back again. You also notice that you have spelled the character’s name at least three different ways. 12:20am: After picking keyboard off floor, you attempt to correct mistakes but hit wrong key and translate entire story into Polish. When you try to translate it back computer locks up. Invent seventeen new curse words in less...

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