General

1. This review service is called "Asterisks" because the word "asterisks" contains "Eris" and because asterisks are useful little things for fine print and asides.
2. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns regarding this reviewing service, feel free to let me know about them via comment, wall post, or PM.
3. I highly recommend reading my advice fic before you request a review. It addresses many of the problems that amateur writers come across.
4. If you are looking for extremely thorough feedback and advice on your story (down to the specific wording, pointing out every mistake, giving recommendations on organization of paragraphs, etc.), you should request a beta. There are shops offering beta services on AFF.

Rules and Regulations

1. Be polite. The idea is that I’m providing an honest opinion on your writing without being insulting, so I would appreciate it if you would return the favor.
2. Be patient. I have a life outside of AFF. Expect reviews to take up to two weeks to be completed and posted. If I take longer than two weeks, you may send me a reminder.
3. Be prepared for constructive criticism. My point is not to bash your writing or you as an author. My point is to call your attention the flaws I see in your writing and give you an idea of what areas you need to work on.
4. You may request reviews for as many of your stories as you want. However, do not request another review until the previous one has been completed. Basically, don't request two stories at a time.
5. Please enable text selection so I can more easily quote snippets from your story.

How to Request a Review

1. Decide whether you want a scored review or an unscored review.  In essence, a scored review examines the marketability of your writing, how well it stands up to competition. An unscored review, instead of grading you on how good your story is overall or compared to other stories, focuses on addressing the parts of your writing that need work and how to improve in those areas. Both will provide some form of constructive criticism, but if you want a truly author-centric evaluation, the unscored review is the better option. See the examples in the following section.
2. Fill out the request form near the bottom of this foreword and post it in the comments.
3. 24 hours after submitting your request, check the status page to make sure it got processed. If it got rejected, I'll put a note saying why, and you can request again after you've fixed the problem.
4. When I post your review, I will notify you and give you the link to it via PM. You do not have to subscribe in order to have your story reviewed, but it would be a good idea to subscribe in order to keep up with any status updates and changes to this review service. Feel free to unsubscribe after you have received your review.
5. Read the review and tell me what you think of it via comment, wall post, or PM (whichever you prefer). If you think I was unfair with my review or have any constructive critiques of my reviewing skills, I'd appreciate the feedback so I can improve as a reviewer.
6. If you wish, you may link to the review in your story. If you just want to keep it for your own reference, that's fine as well. However, if you do link to the review, please credit me.

About the Reviewer

Since my real name is very uncommon, I go by Eris on the Internet. I am currently 20 years old and an aerospace engineering major in my second year of university. Since I began reading, I have read thousands of books (literally) in just about every genre. I have been writing for as long as I can remember, but in stricter terms, I began creative writing in fourth grade. I discovered kpop in the fall of 2009, but I didn't really get into it until early 2011, and I am first and foremost an Inspirit.

Examples of My Writing: 1 (family) | 2 (historical romance with a touch of supernatural) | 3 (somewhere between romance and angst, but not really adhering very well to either genre)

Examples of My Reviews: 1 (scored) | 2 (scored) | 3 (unscored)

If you look at these past reviews and my rubric below, you'll see that my reviewing criteria and style has changed a little over time.

Preferences

These are not absolute requirements for me to review your story. They are just a heads-up about my personal tastes.

1. Idols: I love Infinite above all, but I also have special feelings for Super Junior and SHINee. I care about other groups to a lesser degree.
2. Genres: My favorite genres are fantasy, supernatural, alternate universe, science fiction, [romantic] comedy, slice-of-life, and fluff.
3. Content: I prefer that there is little to none. If there is , I will probably skip over it and simply not discuss it in my review.
4. /Yuri: I have no problems reviewing it given that #3 applies.
5. Completion Status: I prefer to review a story that's been completed because that allows me to give a comprehensive review that addresses the story as a whole.

Rubric

The questions give you an idea of what I’m looking for and what I will be answering/addressing in my scored reviews. For unscored reviews, I will still follow this format to keep some organization to my review, but I will not assign point values.

Title: 15 points

Did it grab my attention? Is it memorable? Is it meaningful? Does it match the tone, mood, and target audience of the story? The title is the first thing selling your story to potential readers, so you want to make a good first impression.

Description: 10 points

Did it hook me? Was there something in it that made me wary of reading the story? Does it accurately portray the content of the story?

Foreword (if applicable): up to 5 points added or taken away*

Did it contribute something meaningful to the reader’s understanding of the work? Does it turn the reader away? Does the author use profiles and such that reveal information that should be incorporated into the actual writing?

Presentation: 10 points

Did I find myself getting a headache while trying to read your story? Was it full of unnecessary customization? Did everything look sloppily organized?

Spelling/Grammar/Usage/Mechanics: 15 points

Pretty self-explanatory. Does it look like the author never used a spell-checker?  Does it seem like the author never reread his/her chapters before posting them?

Writing Style: 40 points

Is the author using a range of vocabulary? Do I keep seeing the same words used over and over that could be replaced with stronger synonyms? Is the author misusing words? Does the author use sufficient details for the readers to imagine the characters and situations? Does the author make use of figurative language and imagery to enrich the writing? Does the author manipulate sentence structure to increase the impact of the words? Is the style distinctive?

Flow/Pacing: 20 points

This covers everything from the smaller things to the bigger picture. Do the sentences seem like they’re cobbled together from the thoughts of a person with A.D.H.D. (assuming the narrator doesn't have A.D.H.D.)? Do the paragraphs transition well? Does the order of the events/chapters make sense? Does the story seem like choppy scenes from someone’s dreams? Did the story drag on too long or feel rushed in certain places?

Characterization: total of 20 points, 10 from each subcategory

• of idols

Are the idols properly characterized, or does the author assume that the readers know who the idols are and what they are like? Do the idols have well-developed personalities, or do they seem too two-dimensional and dependent on their real-life stereotypes (Key is a diva, Onew loves chicken, Woohyun is greasy) or general stereotypes (nerd, kingka, jock, etc.)?

• of the original character(s), if applicable; if not, the 20 points will all come from the first category

Can I relate to this character in any way? Does this person seem like a walking stereotype? Does the character develop and change over the course of the story? Does the person's personality and maturity level seem appropriate for their stated age? Does the character have believable flaws, or is he/she too perfect to be realistic?

Plot: 60 points from three categories

• Comprehensibility/Believability: 20 points

Could I follow what was happening, or was I always confused? Did everything make sense within context, or were there things that just seemed wrong/illogical or off or random? Did the author do the research necessary to write about specific topics or issues that came up in the story?

• Originality/Creativity: 20 points

Does it sound like every other Asian drama or manga plot? Does it sound like every other fic (on AFF or not) I’ve seen? Would I remember the general premise a two weeks or months or years down the road? Was I impressed by the twists or ideas you presented?

• Unity: 20 points

Did the fic jump around too much? Did the side issues usurp the main conflict? Did I feel certain parts were irrelevant or unnecessary? Did I feel like the fic had a definite focus, or was it just a few anecdotes connected together?

Emotional Reactions: up to 5 points added or taken away*

Did I laugh out loud at something I read? Did anything move me deeply? Was I simply reading through without really feeling anything? Was I cracking up at parts that weren’t supposed to be funny?

Overall Impression: 10 points

What did I like about the story? What did I dislike about the story? Did I enjoy the story? Would I recommend this fic to other people? I will provide general opinions and advice about your fic. Recommendations are biased based on my personal tastes, so I may not explicitly recommend a fic even if I give it a high score (but it will still get featured**, regardless).

Total: (main - penalty + bonus)/200x100=__%

*Source of bonus and/or penalty points

**If you score an 80% or higher, your fic will be featured in the description. It will remain there for at least a week, possibly longer, depending on how long it takes for me to review another fic that scores 80% or above. Once your fic is replaced, it will be listed in the Past Featured Stories section if you scored an 80% or higher or in the Hall of Fame section if you scored a 90% or higher.

Request Form

Author(s): [usernames of any and all authors]

Story: [title]

Link: [story link]

Status: [ongoing/completed]

Review Type: [scored/unscored]

Is English one of your native languages?:  [feel free to explain your English background in detail if you’d like]

Notes: [Is there any other relevant information that you think I should know? Particular areas to focus on?]

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Status of Requests

Chapter 2: List of Reviews (with links for easy navigation)

Chapter 3: Past Featured Stories and Hall of Fame

Chapter 4 and beyond: Reviews

Affiliates

How to Be an AFF Writing God. | The Dream Oasis } review thread ★