4,001 Reply by Norm d'Plume

(4 replies, posted in Writing Tips & Site Help)

They all strike me as being similar to thoughts. I would use italics. One downside to italics is that it is such a busy font, I have to use underlining to show emphasis within italics. Not really a big deal if you self-publish. The other options for showing emphasis within italics didn't work for me. I tried using regular font within italics to show emphasis, but the occasional word in regular font within a sea of italics is not easily distinguished. I also tried bold, but it stood out like a sore thumb, dragging the eye away from what I was trying to read.

You're up late. :-)
Dirk

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4,002 Topic by Norm d'Plume

(48 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

I just did a very detailed review for a new member only to realize part-way through that he was probably a free member and won't be able to see it. I'm aware of the limitation and still got burned by it. Also, I won't be able to do nearly as detailed a review using a regular review (commas, dialogue punctuation, formatting, bits of grammar, etc.), so the user won't be aware of what he's missing, since he can't see it. I know regular reviews can be used for very detailed feedback as well, but it's a royal pain and I know I won't be as thorough with dozens of small suggestions if I have to revert to old-site style copy-and-paste.

Perhaps a way to go would be for free members to get a three-month premium trial or some other way to see what they could have by becoming premium. Another way to go would be to let a free user see one (three?) inline reviews from each reviewer, but then no more. The former is probably easier to implement, but I think the latter is preferable, since it takes more than three months (in my experience) to really find and make helpful connections. If I was a free member and saw a Charles Brass-style inline review of my work, I'd sign up in a heartbeat. Lucky for me, I've got several awesome reviewers, but it took time to find and build those relationships. If someone can see inlines applied to their work, it would be a major hook.

Regardless, we really need a way to warn reviewers when someone won't be able to see an inline review. The button to leave inline reviews should warn off reviewers if the recipient won't be able to see it. The warning message could include the suggestion to leave a regular review instead.

In the mean time, is there a way to tell if someone is free or premium?

Thanks.
Dirk

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4,003 Reply by Norm d'Plume

(33 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Who are the judges?

Thanks.
Dirk

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4,004 Topic by Norm d'Plume

(1 replies, posted in Science Fiction, Steampunk, and Space Opera)

Since notifications to my regular reviewers aren't working yet, I thought I'd post ongoing requests for reviews here for now.

Chapter 24 (Hail, Apollo!) is up in "Into the Mind of God v2".
Chapter 1 (For the Realm!) is up in "Into the Mind of God v3" (separate book). I used a separate book, since versioning won't work well for me as I do major chapter surgery in v3.

Thanks.
Dirk

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4,005 Topic by Norm d'Plume

(1 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

I was wondering if anyone on the site knows how to translate English to Latin. Google translate is very unreliable.

Thanks.
Dirk

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4,006 Reply by Norm d'Plume

(11 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Don't forget to join us in the new Writing Tips & Advice group.

Dirk

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4,007 Reply by Norm d'Plume

(342 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

janet reid wrote:
Norm d'Plume wrote:

Sol, I seem to have lost a review. I reviewed a very short piece called Perplexing Pyramids from Derek Atkins that didn't require any inline comments nor even fifty words for a regular review. I went inline, left no inline comments, and just put a closing comment at the bottom, knowing that I wouldn't receive any points, which was fine. The system allowed me to submit this without apparent error, yet when I look for it my completed inline reviews, it's not there. Is it in the ether?

Win 7 PC & Google Chrome.

Thanks.
Dirk

Dirk,

You might have tried this already, but if not, it could be the problem.

If you go to your "review" page, select the "in-line posted" tab, see if it isn't there as a draft.  If it is, then "view" it again and make sure you select the "Submit In-Line Review".

This is one of the changes that Sol and the team made to in-line reviews - you can save it as a draft to work on it over time or you can submit it immediately.  If you don't see it at all, then it's a Sol problem!  smile

Cheers Janet

No, it's definitely not there.

Dirk

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4,008 Reply by Norm d'Plume

(342 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Sol, I seem to have lost a review. I reviewed a very short piece called Perplexing Pyramids from Derek Atkins that didn't require any inline comments nor even fifty words for a regular review. I went inline, left no inline comments, and just put a closing comment at the bottom, knowing that I wouldn't receive any points, which was fine. The system allowed me to submit this without apparent error, yet when I look for it my completed inline reviews, it's not there. Is it in the ether?

Win 7 PC & Google Chrome.

Thanks.
Dirk

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4,009 Reply by Norm d'Plume

(212 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Howdy, Sol. I couldn't find the earlier discussion about restricting minors from some posted work, so I thought I would add a few more suggestions here. Everyone agrees that prompting for user's age when they sign up and then forbidding them to read certain work marked for older readers can be easily overcome by the user lying about their age.

An easier alternative would be a simple rating selected by the author for each published work marking whether it is G, PG-13, R, or NC-17. That rating should then be made visible whenever a chapter is displayed. That way, you've done as much effort as the motion picture industry to keep kids away from adult material. Obviously, some kids are going to be attracted to R or NC-17, but that happens with movies too. It's up to parents to know what their kids are watching or reading.

I'd be a lot more comfortable to have at least something to steer kids clear of my book.

Thanks.
Dirk

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4,010 Reply by Norm d'Plume

(4 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Thanks, Vern.

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4,011 Reply by Norm d'Plume

(342 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

SolN wrote:

This has probably already been mentioned, but in case it hasn't, when I double-click a word while giving inline feedback, it usually selects two. Just a nit, but an annoying one.

Is this from computer or from tablet?

Shame on me. Forgot to include my support details. So much for my tech background. I'm using a Windows PC running Win 7 and the latest version of Google Chrome.

Thanks.
Dirk

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4,012 Reply by Norm d'Plume

(4 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Hopefully, I won't cause confusion by commenting here, but Sol, I think Mrs. Piddles was asking if she should include "version 2" in her name for the chapter. If that's the question, then the answer is no. I haven't used the versioning feature since last year, but I believe there was a separate version link on the page to click and choose a version number.

Dirk

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4,013 Reply by Norm d'Plume

(342 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

This has probably already been mentioned, but in case it hasn't, when I double-click a word while giving inline feedback, it usually selects two. Just a nit, but an annoying one.

Thanks.
Dirk

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4,014 Reply by Norm d'Plume

(5 replies, posted in Additional Writing Feedback)

Is chapter 14 up yet?

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4,015 Reply by Norm d'Plume

(44 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Basic)

Perhaps there is some way to warn reviewers who are reviewing free members' work that the latter can only see regular reviews. While inline reviews are an awesome feature and may attract more premium members, it will be frustrating to both reviewers and free authors if the time has been wasted in doing a review that the latter can't read. Unless there's a message, every premium reviewer will probably run into this limitation at least once when reviewing free work until they've learned not use inline for free members. Also, will premium members be able to tell if an author is free only?

I'm not sure if this is part of the system yet, since I'm in premium, but it would probably be best for free members if they could see the inline review (including the closing comments at the bottom), but not get access to the inline comments (e.g., if they click on an inline comment it tells them they have to be a premium member). This gives them no more functionality than a regular review, but entices them by showing them what they could get if they pay up.

Regards,
Dirk

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4,016 Reply by Norm d'Plume

(342 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Not sure if this is on the list yet. When I receive forum emails on my Android phone (using the default email client app), the link isn't highlighted and there is nothing to click on. I have to navigate to the forum to see the new post(s).

Thanks.
Dirk

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4,017 Reply by Norm d'Plume

(37 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

JP, if you choose Read->Groups Content and leave all of the filters set to All, you should see all work posted to any group of which you are a member, which presumably includes TNBW Premium and TNBW Free. The only stuff you wouldn't see is works posted solely to groups of which you are not a member. I'm not sure why someone would exclude posting to Premium and Free when they can do so, but someone may decide they only want reviews from people interested in the same genre.

I'm a Premium member, so I'm a little fuzzy on what you can/can't do if you're a Free member. I've seen that some people choose not to publish to Free, although I do. You never know where an agent might be lurking. :-)

Regards,
Dirk

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4,018 Reply by Norm d'Plume

(61 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

A further advantage to reviewing is learning how to write (or not!) by reading other people's work. I've gained quite a bit of experience that way.

Dirk

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4,019 Reply by Norm d'Plume

(61 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

I wouldn't worry if I were you, Jill. With rare exceptions, it's a great community of people who try to help each other improve their writing and get published. I've been a paying member since 2012 and have several reciprocal author/reviewer relationships that have been invaluable to me. Some very experienced, published writers on the site have taken a great deal of their time to provide me with detailed feedback, more even than I can give them, since their writing is much more mature than mine. I picked up another big-picture/detail-oriented reviewer just a few weeks ago.

Welcome to Premium.
Dirk

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4,020 Reply by Norm d'Plume

(2 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Ideally with the cursor already active in the text box. Saves a click for each inline item.

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4,021 Topic by Norm d'Plume

(1 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Sol, several people have created groups that require points to post.

If we wanted to post to Premium AND to one of those groups, would it require twice as many points to post?

Also why would some create groups requiring points to post? What advantage is there to creating such groups?

Thanks.
Dirk

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4,022 Reply by Norm d'Plume

(61 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

One comment to what Janet Taylor-Perry said about free reviews/reviewers. Their lack of reciprocating may be due to a lack of understanding of how the site works.

I received two early reviews on my first draft, one from a phsychologist and another from a theologian, both of whom gave generally positive reviews even though my book has the potential to offend people in both of those fields (not intentionally, it's just the nature of the material). At the time, I didn't realize that reciprocating was the best way to get them to continue reading. Unfortunately, I eventually took down those chapters when I started posting v2 of my book and no longer know who those two people were. I'm holding off broadcasting a request for new reviews of v2 since I already have my hands full reciprocating with authors who are reading my latest posts.

Bottom line, lack of reciprocating was due to a simple lack of knowledge about the site when I first joined, not a reflection of the reviewers's own material. I suspect other new users may be in the same boat. Some of the free stuff I've read hasn't even received a reply yet.

Regards,
Dirk

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4,023 Reply by Norm d'Plume

(37 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

I'd be curious to know how many people are posting to genre specific groups without also posting to Premium/Free. I post to both of those as well as sci-fi to get the widest possible audience.

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4,024 Reply by Norm d'Plume

(6 replies, posted in Writing Tips & Site Help)

You're welcome to use any of it, Sol. The main reason I used the forum for this is that I think more users will find it there, hopefully encouraging a discussion back & fourth among multiple participants. Are you suggesting we use regular reviews as a means of back and forth discussion rather than the forums? That would require users to click on each chapter in a book and scroll to the reviews to find a discussion like this one.

I'm not sure if I understood you.
Dirk

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4,025 Reply by Norm d'Plume

(37 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Linda, for new works, why not use the Read->Groups Content page? From there you can see all works posted to groups you are a member of, and filter by genre or story type. You can also see which works pay points. Admittedly, if someone posts to the Horror or YA groups, for example, without also posting to Premium/Free, then I won't see it.

Dirk

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