Updating/Reviews

This section will discuss how often to update and how to receive and leave reviews

UPDATING

"Ooooh, the pain! The terrible agony! I can't live like this! I think I'm dying!"

"LeFay…what's wrong?"

"This person needs to update their story! I MUST FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENS NEXT!"

"…and here I thought it was something serious."

"THIS IS A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH! Of course it's serious!"

That horrible feeling when the amazing story you're reading runs out of chapters… Raise your hands if you've ever felt like this. I have plenty of times. And just imagine, many people have felt this way about your stories. You, yes you the person that is reading this. Your eager fans are waiting right now for you to update, but how should you go about updating? Many people just update whenever they get around to writing their story. Others have their own updating schedule they try to stick to. You could go either way but sticking to a schedule will more than likely bring you more readers while keeping yourself organized in your writing.

Scheduled Updating:

Why have a schedule for your updating? The readers know you will continue the story (many readers won't read a story if they think it won't be completed because no one likes an unfinished story). This will encourage them to stick with the story. It will also give you a drive to write more, knowing you have to update by a specified time. And if you write more, then you'll be able to update more often. Which leads to the question of how often you should update.

Every person writes at their own pace. Some average, some ungodly slow, some inhumanly fast. Know thyself before you set up a schedule. Writing pace is one factor; another factor is chapter length. Some chapters are average (in my opinion, that's about 4-5,000 words). Some chapters fall short or long of that. Depending on chapter length and writing pace you can determine your update schedule. And then there's that other variable we tend to forget about called real life. It can be very distracting or nonexistent. Or maybe you're working on more than one story. Really it all comes down to what you think you can handle.

Personally I think updating once a week is a great way to go. It's frequent enough to keep readers coming back and bring in new readers every week, while it also gives you enough time to write the chapters. If you write longer chapters, at a slower pace, or have a busy life, then I suggest once every two weeks. I definitely wouldn't advise doing one a month or later. People might forget about your story… For stories such as drabbles I'd recommend every week or twice a week (since they're so short). I wouldn't advise updating more than twice a week. You should give the readers time to read what you've given to them so that they'll review. If you update really quickly then they might skip reviewing one chapter to go read the next chapter. So don't update too quick to where you don't get much feedback but don't take too long to where you lose readers.

My final piece of advice would be to set your updating schedule up on your profile, preferably at the bottom. Do this especially if you have other ongoing stories. This enables the readers to know exactly when you update a certain story. Plus, this is a great spot to inform them if you will be missing an update. If you will be missing an update, it's a good idea to tell them when you will be able to update the story. Also, if you have a story on hold but don't want to put that in the summary(because it might discourage readers from reading) the update schedule is a good place to say that. If you want to go the extra mile you can put up percentages of how complete the new chapter is. For instance, say, "New chapter 25% done." That'll enable readers to track the progress of their favorite story and see that hope is on the horizon.

REVIEWS

Let's face it, reviews are the bane of our existence. As fanfictors, we strive to receive feedback (generally positive), to know what we're doing right, wrong, or just because it makes us happy to hear someone praise us. It's our crack and we are happily addicted. So how do we get more of our fixes?

How to receive more reviews:

- Be direct and polite by asking (nicely) for reviews in the end author's notes of your chapters. Take it a step further by assuring the readers that you are open to all kinds of criticism and advice.

-Don't update too fast, otherwise the readers might skip reviewing one chapter to go read the next.

- Don't demand reviews. Some people demand a certain amount of reviews before they update. That doesn't sit right with me, nor does it encourage me to review. In fact, it makes me want to do the exact opposite and just not review. Firstly, if your story is good then you shouldn't have to demand for reviews because people will want to tell you how good it is. Secondly, reviews are nice but you shouldn't write for them or other people. Writing is about way more than that. Write because it's enjoyable and the story deserves to be written, and update stories because someone out there may read it and enjoy it too, even if they don't review.

- Do something creative. For example, in one of my stories in my author's note I had a little game going on. I had trapped someone in the review box and the only way to free him was to submit a certain amount of reviews. It was a fun way to get the readers involved and even if the review limit for his release was never met, the readers were assured that I would still update anyway. Another fun thing to do is offer virtual cookies and such to the readers who review. And who doesn't like a virtual cookie? Not very filling but has an amazing zero calories!

- Review other peoples stories. Reviewing other people's stories might entice those authors to reciprocate by checking out your stories. And it's a good way to get your name out there. The more people see your name the more recognizable you are. If they're looking around for stories to read and see some story you wrote, they might think, "Huh, I've seen their name around…I'm gonna check 'em out!" It goes without saying though not to leave flames as reviews. If they know you leave flames then they'll be disinclined to read your stories.

- Ask questions about the story and/or chapter in your end author's notes. Sometimes the readers don't review simply because they don't know what to say. Give them the initiative they need by asking questions like, "Do you guys think Hawkeye was in character?" or, "How was the chapter's pace? Rushed? Dragging?" or, "What was your favorite part of the chapter?"

Answering Reviews:

A great aspect of this website is the ability to interact with the readers. Answering reviews informs the readers that you appreciate their review. Does that mean you have to answer every single review or any at all? No, it doesn't, but if the readers are assured then they will be more likely to leave more reviews in the future. And if your story receives a large amount of reviews, it can be pretty taxing to answer them all. But I encourage you to at least respond to the ones who ask you questions so they aren't left hanging (as long as your answer isn't a spoiler).

Generally, the system is set up for the author to reply to the reviewer through a private message, but many author's respond by putting a list of replies within the new chapter of the story either in the beginning author's note or the end one. Some readers might be annoyed by it, others might be entertained by reading all of your responses to each individual review. It's really up to you if you want to go this route, but remember that your responses are out there for everyone to see.

When responding to reviews, you don't want to be disrespectful or upset your reader. You could lose them as a reader. And really, people come to fanfiction to have fun reading or to better their skills as a writer, not for confrontation and needless drama. We get enough of that in the…le gasp, real world. So remember to keep things lighthearted. But then, what about the reviews that are flames? What are you supposed to do about those? They may anger you, but the best option is to be the better person, ignore them, and move on. Sometimes you have to because the flame is left as a guest review. But if you must reply to them (if they were signed in, that is), then I still say you should be the better person. Perhaps tell them they were out of line, that the review system is to help improve the writers by giving them advice, not insulting them to hell and back. If they can't back up their reasons for saying things like, "This sucks. You should give up as a writer," then they have no business reviewing. This is just their opinion and if they think it so bad, they didn't have to read it in the first place. Simply tell them these facts, keep it polite, and move on.

Leaving Reviews:

So what are reviews for again? They're to help improve the writer by giving them advice on what needs improving and how to improve on it, or a way for the readers to praise the writing by telling the author what they enjoyed and what they excel at writing. They are not there for leaving insulting critiques (say no to flames kids). Like when responding to reviews, you should be respectful and polite when leaving them as well. It's perfectly fine to give your opinion and say something like, "I didn't enjoy this chapter," as long as you explain your reason why, "It felt too rushed to be realistic," and then follow up with advise on how to fix the problem, "Try to lengthen your scenes by adding more details, more dialogue, and try to draw it out more."

Maybe giving writing advice isn't your forte; maybe you're not a writer yourself and are simply here to enjoy reading the stories. You can still leave the author a worthwhile review. But what if you don't know what to say in the review? Talk about what you liked in the chapter, what shocked you, what made you laugh. Tell them your favorite part, how you reacted to certain parts. Authors love to hear the readers' reactions! Along with your reactions, try guessing what will happen next, guess where things are leading in the story, give theories on whatever mysteries are there. You could also ask questions about parts of the story if you're curious or confused. Most authors don't mind that at all and will reply.

Try to review as much as you can! Sometimes it takes quite a while to write down all of your thoughts, sometimes it only takes a minute. The authors will appreciate whatever you give them (flames aside). And even if it's a story that was written five years ago and has over a thousand reviews, you might be inclined to think, "This was written so long ago," or, "They already have so many reviews." Trust me, they love each and every one. It doesn't matter that it was written long ago or that they have a lot of reviews already. That shouldn't matter. Give them your thoughts via reviews. Trust me, they will be grateful.