HP Concrit Fest!

[dicta_contrion]

Very excited to say that I'm signed up for the new HP Concrit Fest!

As the name suggests, the fest is designed for giving and getting feedback on the strengths and weakness of your writing. What the name alone doesn't tell you is how thoughtfully the fest has been designed. Entries will be closed to community members, so no one outside of the community will see your comments unless you choose to make them public at the end of the fest. Written submissions will be between 2k and 7k to keep the commenting commitment manageable (and to avert the temptation to turn everything into a 30k mini-epic *cough*me*cough*) and the deadline is almost a whole three months away. Participants agree to comment on half the entries and will give at least one point of positive and one point of constructive criticism and flaming is strictly forbidden, so feedback should really give a sense for both what could be improved and what's already strong. And, with more and more people joining in - they're up to 19 participants already - it looks like it will be a really well-rounded group.

The kicker for me was that I haven't seen and can't remember hearing about something like this before. That could be a product of relative newness, but whether or not that's the case it seems like a not-to-be-missed opportunity to work at getting better with a community of people who want to do the same and who share the underlying love of fandom and fanworks.

So! Check it out! And consider joining in. My (possibly ridiculously kinkysmuttywrong) entry is already underway and I very much want to share the excitement!



Share the Good, the Bad and the Ugly
–
A Harry Potter Fest for Constructive Criticism



Rules & FAQ || Watch

Comments

[vaysh]

Thank you so much for this promo :) I can't wait for the fest. And I have never seen anything like it in fandom. There may have been similar communities in the earlier days of fandom but not since I am on LJ.

[dicta-contrion.livejournal.com]

Thank you for co-running the fest! Such a brilliant idea, and I'm so looking forward to this kind of feedback. The uniqueness makes it even more exciting!

[firethesound]

I'm very much on the fence about this. I saw it and thought it was a brilliant idea and I like the idea of getting constructive criticism... but giving it to other people is something I have trouble with sometimes. And I'm honestly not sure I can write anything that's under 7k that isn't PWP. So... maybe? Lol, I'm still thinking about it.

[dicta-contrion.livejournal.com]

I am totally biased, and totally in favor of you doing it. Also saw in the comments here that the mods will be making a post(s?) about how to give constructive feedback, so there’s be some guidance there (which I'm also exited for. Plus it generally seems like Vaysh and Nox are being super thoughtful about how to make this a good experience)

The length thing…yeah, intimidating as hell, and I’m totally writing a PWP. So, hey, if you go that route you won’t be alone! I’m thinking of it as “porn with character development” instead of “porn without plot” but, you know, it’s both. Writing shorter pieces is something I want to work on, so there was an inducement there in addition to the intimidation factor, but when I thought about what I would want feedback on - smut, character development, nonverbal communication, whether what I think is subtle is actually subtle vs invisible or forced, a bunch of other stuff that’s escaping me at the moment - a PWP lent itself pretty well to that. And it’s going to be sort of small-scale (two characters in a room one moment in time, which, I'd probs do something similar even if it wasn't porny) so it can still feel complete and fleshed out in 7k. That has everything to do with what I want feedback on and your mileage may vary, but thinking in those terms was helpful re: considering whether/how on earth I could tell a story in less than 7k. Which did seem kind of impossible! But I *think* is working. Hopefully.

The thing that really got me off the fence, though, was that it’s such a unique opportunity. That and some inducement from my beta. Which I am more than happy to pass on. *entices*

[anemonen.livejournal.com]

I think this is such an interesting concept! I'm a bit on the fence myself, though. For the same reason Fire said; I would love getting critical feedback myself, but giving it seems very hard. But if they put up a post about it that might help. Although I'm not sure how much I could contribute to you writers, I know nothing of writing processes... So I'm a bit tempted and a bit scared :)

[dicta-contrion.livejournal.com]

Instruction in giving constructive feedback definitely helps. I've done a few writing workshops and the guidelines they give are priceless. But it's also stuff that (at least in principle) is pretty simple - thinking about whether the author/artist achieved what they set out to do vs. whether it fits your own preferences ("Does this version of Harry and Draco's relationship really lend itself to bondage? Did you set out wanting to communicate the origins of that desire/relationship, or do you want to plunge the reader right into the action?" vs "bondage is gross and H/D would never do that"), giving feedback that's actionable ("This description was confusing - could simplifying it help?" or "I didn't understand this character's motivation. Where do you see it coming from? Would giving that reader the backstory be helpful?" instead of "The things your characters did really didn't make any sense."), and owning your own subjective perspective ("I was confused by x and y" instead of "x and y were incomprehensible and would be impossible for readers to understand"). But it is totally learnable!

That said, tbh, I'm nervous about giving feedback to artists. There's so much I don't understand about the process, both the decision-making and the technical aspect, and it's definitely going to take some learning from me. I hope it'll make me a better commenter post-concrit and I think for me that will be worth it, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't have some nerves about it.

[anemonen.livejournal.com]

That's all great tips! Thank you!
As for concrit to artists, most people who look at pictures aren't artists, so feedback from a viewer is just as valuable. (It feels so wrong to talk about myself as an artist, I just draw lol!) I guess that can be said for me as a reader too. Although fandom is a bit special; many of the readers are writers themselves here.

[dicta-contrion.livejournal.com]

Not an artist? Just draw? Oh my goodness. Listen, the random shapes I doodle in boring meetings are the stuff of "not an artist." You draw things that make sense and have shading and tell stories and convey emotion. If you're not an artist, I'm not a writer.

I feel the same way about feedback from non-writers - knowing how the story works to readers is invaluable. Though leaving concrit for art still makes me nervous! Knowing what kinds of things would be helpful to hear...it's going to be a learning experience. Maybe a hard one, but I think a good one. And a little comforting, too, to be doing it in a community of people who are learning the same things.

[anemonen.livejournal.com]

Oh god, I'm sorry I didn't mean to sound like a complete jerk and fish for compliments! But thank you so much <3 and you shouldn't underestimate margin doodles, they were my artistic outlet during Uni XD

And you are very good at giving positive comments for art, picking up on the little things. So I think you'll do great at concrit too :)

[dicta-contrion.livejournal.com]

Oh my goodness, I didn't think you were fishing at all!! And thank you:) That's reassuring to hear!

[blithelybonny.livejournal.com]

I'm so excited for concrit fest too! It's such a cool idea, and I'm glad it's set up the way it is, with safe space at first. It's going to be awesome.

And yay for kinkysmuttywrong!

Awkwardly, I think I'm going to submit some genfic...

[dicta-contrion.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you're doing it!! And yeah, I think it's going to be really great. The safe space piece, and that Vaysh and Nox are being so thoughtful about it, is just awesome.

Genfic is totally not awkward!! I was thinking about what I most want feedback on, and for me, smut was high on the list, and other things that could be communicated through smut. If the same is true for you and genfic, that's awesome!

[blithelybonny.livejournal.com]

That's exactly it. I've never been super confident about things where romantic relationships aren't, if not the focus, at least the general idea of what I'm writing about. But I love genfic, so I thought, here's the place to do it.

It's going to be legendary. :)

[dicta-contrion.livejournal.com]

Yay for that! I'm still finding it strange to sort of write to my weaknesses instead of strengths, but also refreshing. I think it's going to be a really good exercise, and a great experience!