TheDen:Beginner's Guide
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Contents |
Ratings
All examples given are merely opinions of the writer, and are in no way the perfect/only way of doing them. They are there to help members that are confused with what they are rating/writing.
This section of the Beginner's Guide will explain the What, Where, When, and How of rating a member's piece of writing.
What is Rating?
Ratings are a way for the writer, as well as other members of the den, to determine his/her progress in their writing abilities. Ratings are based off of five simple categories, which are compiled to get an overall rating on that specific piece of work. The categories are as follows:
Concept/Plot: Ratings under this category correspond with how well you think the idea of the piece was put together. Things such as storyline, characters, and character development should be taken into consideration when rating this category. When rating this category also consider how well everything fits together.
(Ex. Aliens running around with rubber chickens throwing flaming tennis balls at lamp posts would not be a good Concept.)
Imagery: Ratings under this category correspond with how well the images/feelings in the story were portrayed. Things such as description of characters, setting, feeling, and emotion should be taken into consideration when rating this category.
(Ex. Mike was tall and had black hair. He wasn't an angry guy but you couldn't tell at first glance. - bad descriptions and no feelings portrayed.)
(Ex 2. Mike was a tall, muscular guy. He had long black hair that curled down and brushed his shoulders. He wasn't a very angry man, but his face said otherwise; Eyebrows bushy and slanted inwards made him look scary in the happiest of times. - Decent descriptions of character)
Spelling and Grammar: Ratings under this category correspond with the spelling and grammar of the piece of work. Things such as spelling, grammar, punctuation, run-on sentences, and missing/different words should be taken into consideration when rating this category.
(Ex. Dave was a graet guy but he never licked many people. He generally kept to himself, Kim on the other hand was a great lover of of children. - There are 4 mistakes in this sentence, all of them underlined.)
Flow/Rhythm: Ratings under this category correspond with how well chapters/sentences go together and how well the writing is organized.
(Ex. Tim was a great lover of coffee. He enjoyed his coffees black, and had one three times a day. In 1941 there was a great war, and many people died. Tim always drank coffee when studying history. - These sentences are jumbled and confuse readers.)
(Ex 2. Tim was a great lover of coffee. He enjoyed his coffees black, and had one three times a day. Tim always drank coffee when studying history. Tim was studying a great war in 1941. - sometimes sentences must be re-written to help the flow of the writing.)
Vocabulary: Ratings under this category correspond with the use of a wide range of words, instead of using the same one over and over again.
(Ex. Jim was a wonderful guy who owned an amazing blue car. One amazing day Jim went for a ride in his beautiful car. He came across a wonderful park and saw this amazingly beautiful girl wither her dog. - This is an over-exaggeration but it shows repetitive use of the same words over and over. Names have a bit of an exception in this case but shouldn't be repeated every sentence either.)
Where do I Rate somebody's submission?
To rate a members submission to the den, simply scroll down to the bottom of their writing. You will see a small section between the writing itself and the comments allowing you to rate the work in all five of the above categories.
When do I Rate somebody's submission?
After you have read the submission you have selected, simply scroll down to the ratings box and select your ratings.
How do I Rate somebody's submission?
When you are looking at the ratings box, you will find a drop-down box beside each of the five categories. When you click on the drop-down box you will find the numbers from one to 100. To rate the submission, select the rating you wish to give in each category (1 being the lowest, 100 being the highest). Once you have selected a rating for each category, simply click on the Rate! button to confirm.
If it seems that you have rated unfairly or just out of spite your rating will be removed. You have to remember you are rating the submission based on the categories, not based on whether or not you liked it. Also, rating every category the exact same rating is unacceptable because it makes it look like you just rated for the sake of rating, without paying any actual attention to the submission.
Submitting
All examples given are merely opinions of the writer, and are in no way the perfect/only way of doing them. They are there to help members that are confused with what they are writing/submitting.
This section of the Beginner's Guide will explain the What, Why, Where, and How of submitting a piece of work to the Den. This section will ONLY cover the main submissions (stories, poems, songs etc). Blogs, Forum posts, and Articles will be explained later.
What is a Submission?
A submission is any form of writing that you put onto the website under your account. This includes everything from fantasy stories to poems, and even songs or role play. Submitting a piece of writing allows other members of the Den to read it, rate it, and comment on it.
Why submit my work to The Den?
By submitting your work to the Den, you join hundreds of other amateur writers looking for a place to share their work and read others' work. When you submit something, it is shown on the main page until enough submissions have been entered. Once it is no longer found on the main page, it can be found by clicking on The Writings button along the top bar or by clicking on your profile.
Once submitted, other members of the Den can then read, rate, and comment on it. This not only gives others the pleasure of reading your work, it allows them to give you valuable feedback to help you further improve your writing skills.
Where do I go to submit my Writings?
Once you have created an account and logged into the Den, you will see a user panel in the top left corner of the site. The user panel consists of several different links, but for now we only want the My Writings link.
Once you have clicked on the My Writings link, you will be brought to a page that shows you a list of all of your previously submitted writings, as well as overall stats and instructions on editing, reading, and deleting previous submissions.
In the top right corner of this page you will find a link saying Submit New Writing. Once you click this link you will be brought to a new page.
How do I submit my writings?
Once you have clicked on Submit New Writing you will be brought to a page with several blank fields. The fields are as follows:
Title: Put the title of your work in this section.
Type: There is a drop down box to the right of the screen. Click on it and select your type of writing. If your type of writing is not offered, select the closest thing and message an admin requesting the type you want to be added to the list.
Description: Put a brief description of your work here. Ex. New horror story chapters 1-3
Body: This is where you will put your work. There are a couple of ways to do this. First, you can type the entire work in the body itself. The only problem with this is the area to write in can get hard to scroll through when entering large writings and if your internet fails for any reason, you have to start from the beginning.
Second, you can type up your entire work in an offline word processor such as Microsoft Word. Once you have finished writing it, you simply copy and past it into the body on the website. This allows you to save periodically when writing long pieces of work, and allows you to write at your own pace without leaving your web browser open all the time.
The only downside to using an offline word processor is that any font changes, size changes, and things such as bold and underline have to be re-done in the body using the coded buttons attached to the bottom of the body.
If you do not have an offline word processor, you can go to http://www.openoffice.org/ and download a free set of useful tools, including a word processor. Remember to VIRUS SCAN anything you download off of the internet no matter what source it comes from.
When using the coded buttons at the bottom of the body, you will find that little bracketed letters are placed into the body. These will not show up when you submit your writing, they are only there to show you what you have selected.
Ex. [u] this will be underlined [/u] this will not be underlined.
Preview and submission will look like this:
Ex 2. this will be underlined this will not be underlined.
Once you have filled in every field the way you want, you will find two buttons at the bottom of the page. Submit Writing and Clear Submission.
Click on the Submit Writing button to finalize your work and have it posted on the website. If you make a major mistake or just want to start over, click Clear Submission. Doing so will clear all fields and reset the “type†box.
Please note that all writings submitted to the Den are owned solely by those that write them. The use of these writings in any way without the original writers permission is prohibited. If you are unsure about the legality/permissions of what you are doing please message an admin or look at The Den's Rules.
Editing
This section of the Beginner's Guide will explain the What, Why, Where, and How of editing your writing.
What is Editing?
To edit your piece of writing is to change something without completely re-posting it.
Ex. (Before edit) - My mother is is great! (After edit) - My mother is great!
When you edit something, all posts, comments, and ratings stay with what you edit; you just change what the comments and ratings are about.
Why Edit my stuff?
Editing is a very common thing found on the Den. When somebody submits a story or a poem, others will go through and comment/critique it. Some make suggestions about the plot while others point out spelling and grammar mistakes.
As the writer of the piece of work, you may wish to clean up your writing without deleting and re-posting it. This is why the edit function is available to you.
Not just stories but almost anything in you add to the Den can be edited.
Where/How do I Edit my stuff?
To edit a story/poem/song etc. you will need to first be logged in. In the top right corner of the site you will find a list of links, one of them being My Writings. Clicking on this link will take you to a page showing you all of your previously posted works.
To edit something, simply scroll down the list until you find the title of the work you wish to edit. Beside the title you will find an “Edit†button. By clicking on this, you will be brought to a page exactly like the one you used to submit it in the first place, only your writing will already be there.
Scroll through and fix what you are looking for, then click “Submit Writingâ€. Simple as that.
There are several other things such as the forum, shout box, and blogs that you may have content on that you wish to edit.
No problem, just by looking near your own posts you will find an “Edit†button somewhere that will bring you back to a page similar to the one used to post something new.
Shoutbox
This section of the Beginner's Guide will explain the What, Where, and How of using the Shoutbox.
What is the Shoutbox?
The shout box is a small section of the website that is used to essentially “Chat†with the other members of the Den. While it can be fast paced and sometimes flow through comments quickly, there are a few rules that need to be followed.
Where is the Shoutbox?
The Shout box is located on the right side of the site, about half way down the page. It is recognized by the scrolling of several posts.
Rules of the Shout box:
Making a post in the Shout box is simple, all you do is enter a short “shout†in the given box and click shout; But, there are several rules that must be followed when using the Shout box.
1) No promotion of work is allowed. It is okay to congratulate a writer on their work but promoting your own, or any other members work is strictly prohibited. (Ex. Hey guys, check out my new story!!! – this is not allowed)
2) No spamming of any kind is allowed. If your post is pushed off of the Shout box because of high activity, it can be read by clicking on the “Shout box Archive†button at the end of the scrolling.
3) While we understand things can be slow in the Shout box, we try to not have double postings. If they are on different topics and are a decent amount of time away from each other then it is OK, but if they are only a few hours apart and are about the same thing, the second one will be deleted. You have the ability to edit your shouts, so if you forgot something just add it to your first post.
4) Long posts and major discussions should be sent to the forums. While a small discussion or a post spanning two shouts is alright every once in a while, the Shout box is designed to give a quick hello to a friend or “high five†a good job.
As long as these simple rules are followed, the Shout box is a great way to say hi to friends in a matter of seconds. It is also a good place to post questions about the site, or any quick comments in general.
