Fanfiction 101

Welcome to Fanfiction 101 where I, ThatRandomUnicorn, answer FAQs, write reviews, help with stories and site navigation help. Mainly, I just do reviews though. This chapter is completely optional, but recommended due to my honest critique, but you may want to read through some of my reviews to get an idea of exactly how I review. If you choose to do that, you can read a few of my first reviews, but things have changed, so the more recent reviews are recommended for reading.

My reviews are based off of a 10/10 system known to be harsh, full of profanity, and honest opinion - and trust me, I will be honest no matter who you are or how old you are. This is just a basic guideline, not an exact format I use as you will see by the end.

Plot Line: 3/10

This is the main idea of a story. The plot line, also called story line, can make or break a story. You can read my chapters entitled Overused Shit & Overused Shit 2 to get an idea of what I don’t want to see in stories. Although all authors will end up using some idea or another, it is good not to base your story off of something on these lists.

Grammar: 3/10
This includes spelling, capitalization (especially of titles), and punctuation. Grammar is vital when writing a story, because readers need to be able to read the story to understand and it needs to look good. Most grammar points are taken away due to poorly written dialogue and not knowing what interrupters are.

Description: 1/10

Stories aren’t all about dialogue. You need to add description to tell what’s going on in the story, opposed to what the characters are saying. Be descriptive, but not too descriptive to where you’re describing every single thing in the room.

Pace: 1/10

This is how fast, or how slow you make your story go. Rushing your story is not good. That’s why people are saying, “Well that escalated fast.” That’s not a good thing.

Flow: 1/10
This is how well you make transitions in your story. You never want to skip a bunch of time without warning because it ruins the flow of the story and can cause confusion.

Interest: 1/10

Basically: Is your story interesting? I want to read a story that won’t drag off and that I unsubscribe to after reading it halfway. You have to be able to grab and hold the readers’ attentions.

Bonuses:
Sometimes I give higher rates due to things I like. Most of the bonus rating points I add are due to unique plot and how realistic a story is.

Deductions:
Other times, I deduct rating points. You could have the best plot in the world, but if it’s poorly written, I will deduct points.

Unrated:
If I write unrated where the number should be, most of the time it’s because it’s too early in the story to tell. Other times, I really just don’t have much of an opinion to tell you, or you’ve probably plagiarized without giving credit to the film you based it off of.

I hope this helps you guys understand how I review/rate stories. As you can see, ratings can vary due to bonuses and deductions. Also, review ratings vary due to my mood. If I’m in an okay mood, you could have the worst story in the world and I won’t go harsh on you. If I’m in a bad mood (like when I’m on my period – only for a week every three months), if your story sucks ass, I’m going to tell you. You can tell what kind of mood I’m in by how much profanity is in the review (although I have been swearing a lot less in more recent reviews).

If you ever have any questions, never be afraid to ask. I will answer them either by reply, or by writing a chapter up if I feel it could be useful to anyone reading this.

Notes

If you are reading this, I just thought I would let you all know that I decided to make a more official looking first chapter by making the How I Review & Rate Stories replace View Counts because we don't really see those bugs anymore (or at least I don't). Some of you might be able to tell that this guideline for my reviews has changed a little bit, but not by much. As I've done more recent reviews, the way I've been reviewing has changed, so it made sense to update this and put it here for anyone new wanting a review. It also serves as sort of a warning for how… "brutal" I can be.

This Chapter Was Updated On 6/19/14 at 3:05PM (PST).