Hey, I'm back! I'm so happy to finally have another chapter... bet you all were surprised.
Chapter 8: Communities Explained as Quickly as Humanly Possible
I hardly use Communities. Maybe it's different for you, but not many people take the time to go searching through all those Communities and actually pick yours and read something. You would be better off joining some larger community, honestly.
Shortly explained, stories are stuff with stuff in them, and Communities have stories in them, so generally they are stuff with stuff with stuff in them. C equals S times X, to put it mathmatically.
You could also have staffs for the Communities, and they'll look after it and stuff, but again: Not a lot of people choose to do this. I tried, and I failed miserably.
Chapter 9: Moving on to the Forums (Thank Goodness)
On a brighter view... here I will be explaining how Forums work with as little advertising on my own part as possible.
They are basically those things where you can go meet other people and chat, play games, Roleplay, do challenges (I'll explain those later) and generally have a good time. You do this by posting, well, posts, and you'll (probably) making some friends along the way.
Hey, um, I have this forum called Stormclan. Just search it up and find the one under my name... Yes, Stormclan, not StormClan. It's a thing.
First, though, you need to actually join the forum; all forums have a sort of welcoming thread, and some have a rules thread where you have to read them all and state that you did. Others just make you read them. Click on the topic/thread, and look at the first post. Then, click 'post' on the bottom right corner of it, and the only thing left is to follow the instructions on it.
...after that, waiting. Wait for the admin or a mod to come formally accept you. If you are in a warrior cats forum, then you'll (usually) also have to go to a ceremony thread of some sort where they'll give you a welcoming ceremony.
You start out as a kit- well, most Forums do that. Some just require waiting to rank up, while other times, you need to do those things called challenges. Find the challenges (they usually have threads of their own), read the description, and start getting creative. You can turn them in in the challenge-turning-in place.
Stormclan.
There's more, but I'm not gonna do it all in this chapter. Maybe not ever, because I already have some idea of what I'm going to do for the next chapter...
Chapter 10: Becoming, Befriending, and (Maybe) Begging a Beta For Help
Betas are people like you. Don't worry, they're not gonna chew your head off. They're just people. I am one too, and I'm not going to harm anyone in any way, despite the fact that I ate three slices of mutton yesterday for dinner.
Betas are basically people that sign up for others to come asking them for helping with their stories. If you are a beta like me, then you know that requests pretty much come at random.
Most of the betas on the list are inactive, and still others won't respond. It's like emailing a publisher, and believe me, I've had experience with that. You should probably check their profiles (what was the last time they updated their profile or stories?) and use that information to help you with your search.
To become a beta, you need to fill out stuff, be here long enough, and either have a very long story or a lot of stories. That system, to me, seems kind of inefficient if you want to know who's good enough at writing, but that's just me.
Some betas actually respond. Some don't. Try to be the first one.
Chapter 11: Rainy With a Chance of Reviews
Reviewing other people's stuff. It's a thing. I don't really read other fanfictions, just write them, but when I do, I usually go for the less popular ones that might be a writer's first attempts. I like to leave reviews and follow, maybe favorite if I really like it and see them improve.
There's not much I can say about this, but I will tell you to (in most cases) tell the author your true feelings about the story. I'm not suggesting you go like, "U SUK," but constructive criticism is always good. Try to say both positive and negative things about it.
Oh, and yes: if you ever see a story that has obvious work put into it (regardless of how good it actually is) and literally no feedback at all, review it. Follow it. Give them advice, and maybe tips on how to attract a bigger audience. Chances are, they'll be so happy that they'll PM you as a thanks. Reply to them. Start a conversation. Maybe you'll have a new friend soon!
Sometimes, the problem is all in the title and the summary.
But wait. This is not all!
The next time I'm here, it will be a full-on Mary-Sue evaluation quiz. I'll try to list as many different variables as possible, and if the character's situation makes them different. Until then... Goodbye!