Writing on the Internet
A reviewer asked me, "How the heck do you get so many reviews?" It got me thinking. Why do some stories get reviews, and some do not, when the quality of those stories are more or less the same? In some cases, the stories with superior writing actually get fewer reviews. I do not claim to be anything more than a mediocre writer; better than some, but vastly inferior to others. However, people do read my writings and give me reviews, so I've tried to isolate factors which have helped my story to get more reviews than some which have a higher quality of writing.
- Regular and frequent updates: - Readers do not want to read a good story which might get abandoned halfway. In a way, it's worse than reading a bad story because the good story leaves you hanging, and you are dissatisfied when it is not finished because you want to know. Regular and frequent updates assures readers that you are going to continue posting and finish the story. People like resolutions, and they want to know when they can get their next dose of angst/hilarity/action etc.
- Reply to reviews: - There is nothing more disheartening than giving someone a long, well-thought out review and not getting a reply of some sort. Replying to reviews show that you respect the readers, and it's only polite to thank them for reading your story and commenting on it.
- Chapters of respectable lengths: - Anything under 1500 words is not good enough. Reading a chapter of, say, a thousand words is like watching a five minute episode of a TV drama series. You don't get anywhere with the story and even if you do post frequently, you end up starting and stopping a lot, which disrupts the flow of the tale.
- Spelling and grammar: - I cannot stress the importance of correct language usage. It's annoying to read a piece which is riddled with spelling and grammatical mistakes, such as using 'your' instead of 'you're' and vice versa. Spellcheck does not always pick up those mistakes, so going through the chapter at least once before you post it is a very good idea. As for grammar, it's the basis for prose which flows. No one wants to read an epic which sounds like it's being narrated by a two-year-old. So, unless you're trolling for flames, check your language usage to see if it's appropriate.
- Proper word usage: - If I ever see the word 'okay' being said by someone like Elrond, Aragorn, Jack Sparrow, Hector of Troy and Balian of Ibelin, I hit the back button. There are some words which simply cannot be used in certain settings. For example, in Middle Earth, people wouldn't know about Jesus, and so they wouldn't say his name, not even as a way of expressing frustration. They wouldn't know American slang either.
- Proper names for period pieces: - If I encounter names such as 'Evelyn' in a story set in the twelfth century, I will also hit the back button. If modern names are used for characters who are native to Middle Earth (such as an elven maiden called Cecilia) I will also hit the back button. Modern names in period pieces and fantasy worlds with their own language systems are very jarring.