Any theory on why there are so few revisions in the review threads? Are people hurt by harsh reviews and stop trying? Do people take the reviews, rewrite the text but think those were the only possible corrections and there's no point in asking for a second round of reviews?
Most likely a mixture of both. Everyone, to some degree, will take any kind of constructive criticism and turn it bad and ignore the helpful and useful points and instead focus on what they believe to be the real message behind the criticism, which is generally (in their mind), that their work is bad and that they shouldn't bother again with their work if people criticise it.
I wouldn't necessarily go along with the premise that all criticism on these forums is constructive. Yes, there are some good reviewers. From what I've seem of it so far, some people adapt a very rough tone, replete with questions and exclamation marks, which IMO comes across as completely respect-less. People should remember that it is a lot had to write something than to read it. This is the main reason people probably get disheartened and don't bother to post redrafts. I posted a redraft yesterday and took on board some stuff, leaving out what I deemed stylistic gripes, or where I felt the reviewer missed my intention. That said though, personally I'm generally happy with the feedback I got. I would caution to people though to watch their tone when posting reviews as forums are about respect for each other at the end of the day.
Do we have a post that explains how to take and roll with a review? Something with: "All suggestions are just how the reviewer would write a certain part, if you like it more your way, feel free to leave it as it was, take whatever changes you did like and post the revised version."
I think it's possible that a lot of people revise their work but no one notices because they edit the first post rather than making a new post. I'm having the same problem on mine. I'm going to post my revisions from now on. If I ever get critiques on these first revisions. so basically what I'm saying is, its possible that some people are actually posting revisions but you don't notice. Also I believe that oftentimes people might not fully understand the review room rules and believe they can't post their revisions until they make two more critiques. And I agree with whats been said, that all happens too
Also, sometimes they get what they need from a critique pass or two, and instead of fitting it into the original piece, they apply it to a new piece of writing.
From my own experience, I find that a story I've posted may get two critiques at the most. Usually one has merit (meaning a constructive critique, rather than "Wow, I liked it. Good job!"). I take what I get from the one crit and apply it to a revised draft of my story. At that point, I usually post the revision on another critique forum. The few times I've posted a revision on the same site, I've received no further crits. I also send my revisions to friends and family to critique as well. Then, I let the story rest for a month or so, then give it another rewrite. I don't find reposting a revised story for additional critique on the same forum to be very fruitful.
3 days and no critique for my first article for review. I cannot see my post in "Unreviewed". Is that why? Anyways, I am off to review.
From a personal experience, I posted a piece for review sometime last year. After several comments were made it gave me ideas on how to write it in a more professional way. I'm currently in the middle of writing it, its currently at 22,000 words and 66 pages so I think it would be a bit difficult to post a revision. I can only assume that other people who have their pieces reviewed approach a re-write in the same way that I have.
There is a thread, Receiving a Review. There is a natural tendency anyway to ignore advice that doesn't fit the plan you had when you wrote the piece. Yes, all critique is opinion, but don't be too quick to just pick the suggestions that immediately appeal to you. To get the most value from the critiques, evaluate every suggestion dispassionately. Use the critiquing mindset to put yourself in the critiquer's position. Sometimes a radical change that doesn't immediately pique your interest will be the magic that makes it all fall into place. Absolutely not. Spoiler tags really don't belong in Review Room threads at all, and will usually be removed if seen. Huge excerpts will rarely receive critiques, and what critiques they do get will usually only be on a small portion. Critiques are not full edits or proofreads. The idea is to open a window into the writing to address the writing quality, style, and habits. Eventually, you may need to present a larger window to look at issues of overall development, character consistency, etc,, but you can do that through a collection of excerpts later in the thread after the benefits of short excerpts have been realized. Openings are critical, because you can lose a potential reader if you don't capture his or her interest in the first few pages, so excerpts from the beginning of a story are a good choice. Also, an excerpt of a section you are struggling with can be very lucrative. You can even present a split excerpt consisting of two or more short but non-contiguous excerpts. For example, you may want to sample the first few paragraphs, then skip to a scene with a four-way conversation you are trying to iron out. Choosing excerpts wisely will benefit you much more than dumping everything you have into a critiquing thread.
Taking criticism was much easier than I expected... or maybe I've just been lucky and got really constructive criticism on the two pieces I've posted so far.
