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[mare]

Final survey (To be completed after finishing the story you are reading)

Name of story: Switch

1) What was the biggest challenge for you when reading this story?
The grammatical errors and lack of editing.

2) Did you find yourself looking forward to reading as you were going along or did it feel like homework?
No it didn't because despite what I just listed above, the story was cute and enjoyable to read.

3) What was your favorite scene/chapter in the story?
Probably the salsa night lol

4) Was your favorite character at the halfway point still your favorite at the end?
Yup, I still enjoyed Kevin as Nick

5) Who was your least favorite character and why?
I didn't really have one.

6) If there was a sequel to this story would you be interested in reading it?
I really can't see a sequel to this one without it just being the same old thing so no, probably not.

7) Were you happy with the ending?
It's still in progress, so I'll have to get back to you on that one!

8) Name the biggest surprise in the story and did you see it coming? (If there was one)
There were no big surprises

9) What was this stories biggest strength?
It was a cute storyline

10) What was it's biggest weakness?
As listed above, the grammatical errors and lack of editing made it hard to read at times. But hopefuly Chris will be working on that.

11) Did reading this story make you want to try another one from this author?
I might click on another story by Chris to see if any of the things we talked about have been taken and utilized for a newer fic, but if I just see the same old mistakes after being corrected, such as spacing between commas and periods, I would most likely not read anything else.

12) Give us one final review that sums up your experience reading this, maybe explain why you gave the kind of feedback you did or if you would have perhaps picked a different story from this one?
I decided to read this story since Erika had disappeared and Chris deserved a chance to get her story read. I'm glad I did because it gave me a chance to offer suggestions and advice to Chris about writing. She had a great idea with this story and overall it was very cute. I think with just a little more work on storytelling and plot plus editing, She will go far in this fandom. My approach when giving feedback in this case was to try to help out with the editing and point out things that she was doing wrong or getting confused with grammatically but I also tried to talk about the story itself as well. I hope it didn't seem too overbearing to her, but most importantly I hope it did help her out some!

13) Did you prefer the way we did the challenge this year or did you like the pairings better?
LOL Same answer as before

14) Did the author respond to your feedback?
Always!

15) Any final thoughts or questions for the author?
Just wanted to say great job, Chris and thanks for being patient while waiting for your story to be read!

[FrickingKaos]

I actually had no clue you'd read any of mine, Cinzia!!! If I remember correctly though you read Ok Cupid if I'm not mistaken, so thanks glad you had a good experience with me!

[usako]

I actually had no clue you'd read any of mine, Cinzia!!! If I remember correctly though you read Ok Cupid if I'm not mistaken, so thanks glad you had a good experience with me!

Yes and I've read "Weird World".  Actually, Weird World is my favorite among your works. =)

[emilo]

Readers survey (To be completed once the person reading your story is finished)

Story: Falling in Love Again

Person reading it: Steph/Carter-Orange

1) When you found out this person was reading your story what were your initial thoughts?
Well, honestly, my initial thought was "Aw, she doesn't have to do that!  It's not originally her story to read."  This was actually the third story Steph read because of someone apparently deciding not to participate.  That being said, I was really interested to see what she thought because I don't think she'd read any of my stuff before. Plus, I was excited because we actually read each other's stories.
 
2) Did your reader leave you an adequate amount of feedback and was it helpful to you?
Yes, and yes.  She left a review for most of the chapters, only leaving out a few.  And, she said once at some point that she knew she should be commenting more on my writing, but she was getting so into the story that she wasn't doing that much.  That in itself was the biggest compliment!  Her reactions to what was happening were more than enough.

3) Did you find yourself going back to read your story as a result of the feedback?
I did with a few chapters here and there.  I finished this one back in the spring, so it was still relatively fresh, but I did go back and read a few chapters.

4) Do you have any questions for the person reading your story?
Nope.  She was a great reader.

5) Overall did you find the experience a good one or a bad one?
It was great! 
(sorry Steph, I forgot that I hadn't already done this!)


Readers survey (To be completed once the person reading your story is finished)

Story: Forever

Person reading it: Mare

1) When you found out this person was reading your story what were your initial thoughts?
Honestly, I was terrified.  As a lurker on the message boards for a while, it was very obvious that this definitely wasn't the type of story I imagined Mare enjoying.  I kind of felt like she might rip me apart-- like one of her female characters. lol

2) Did your reader leave you an adequate amount of feedback and was it helpful to you?
Yes, and it was very helpful.  She often even went above and beyond.  She was honest about what she liked and didn't like without being harsh, and even gave me some tips along the way for things I might be able to do with my writing in the future.

3) Did you find yourself going back to read your story as a result of the feedback?
I did go back and read basically all of this one, and read a chapter or more ahead of her.  I started this one almost two years ago, and took a long hiatus, and am just getting back into writing it, so I had to read to refresh myself anyway.  I also wanted to be able to respond to her con-crit by thinking about what I was thinking at the time I wrote what she commented on.

4) Do you have any questions for the person reading your story?
Just a little curious about why you are so anti-female centered fic.  I get that you love the boys and don't want anything to take away from that.  Is that pretty much it?  I really have trouble not including a female lead to complement at least one of the boys.  Though, I've not written that much.  The action/suspense storyline I'm working on, is (sorry!) not necessarily female centered, but will feature a female.  Baby steps, I guess..... So, I kind of doubt you'll even read it. haha.  Maybe for next year's challenge....

5) Overall did you find the experience a good one or a bad one?
It was great! Like I said before, I was terrified at the beginning, but through this challenge and commenting on each other's stories, we've started a bit of a friendship that would have probably never happened otherwise.  It scares me how much we are in each other's heads sometimes! lol.

[FrickingKaos]

Yes and I've read "Weird World".  Actually, Weird World is my favorite among your works. =)

Aww. I am trying really hard to finish that one. I am really stuck on that story right.now.

[usako]

As I said to Julie, I'm very patient. 

[carterkid]

Story: Switch

Person reading it: Mare

1) When you found out this person was reading your story what were your initial thoughts?
I was happy, although she wasn't the one who was reading it first. I was in stock when she had the time to read mine.

2) Did your reader leave you an adequate amount of feedback and was it helpful to you?
Yes, she did. She was honest, as I said her, I appreciate every little advice she gave me.

3) Did you find yourself going back to read your story as a result of the feedback? no but I might have too.

4) Do you have any questions for the person reading your story?
Nope. She was very clear in her feedback.

5) Overall did you find the experience a good one or a bad one?
Definetely good.
 

 
 

[mare]

Do you have any questions for the person reading your story?
Just a little curious about why you are so anti-female centered fic.  I get that you love the boys and don't want anything to take away from that.  Is that pretty much it?  I really have trouble not including a female lead to complement at least one of the boys.  Though, I've not written that much.  The action/suspense storyline I'm working on, is (sorry!) not necessarily female centered, but will feature a female.  Baby steps, I guess..... So, I kind of doubt you'll even read it. haha.  Maybe for next year's challenge....

This will be one of my typical babbly and long explanations lol

Like I think I've said before on the forum, if this were even a few years ago, I would have shunned a female lead character at all, but I've kind of gotten over that. I think for me in this particular fandom, I just kind of get what I like to read and what I don't. If it were an OF then I'd have absolutely no problem reading about the girl and her boyfriend who happens to be in a boyband. But since this is a BSB thing, I don't really care about the girl, just like in real life, I don't really care about any of their girls lol I lump them all into a misc... category. You know ...and the rest. I 'like' some of them but I don't really care about them.

When I read about BSB in a fanfic, it needs to be about them and their relationship to one another. Now if one of therm happens to be dating Cindy Winklestein, top model at the I R Purty Institute, that's fine and dandy, as long as Cindy's primary function is reacting to what's going on in the the boys lives and not visa versa. Once the story seems like it's about Cindy and the boy or boys only caring about her, it has lost any hope for me.

So to sum up, if your story is about the boys, and one of them gets in trouble and as a result someone is going to kill, kidnap one of them, or run one of them over with a moped, I'll be intrigued and will probably want to read it. If instead Cindy or her son/daughter/best friend/ cousin by a third marriage is in trouble so someone is going to kill, kidnap or run  one of those misc people over with a moped. I root for the driver of the moped. LOL

It's nothing against people who write those kinds of stories. I get what you all see in those, they just don't really interest me and most likely never will. BSB fanfic anyway.

I'm glad you enjoyed your experience and I am very happy that you are branching out and writing some suspense. I bet you'll do a great job! If you put a psychotic moped driver in there, I want her named after me! LOL

[mare]

Thanks, Chris. I'm glad you had an enjoyable experience!

[emilo]

Do you have any questions for the person reading your story?
Just a little curious about why you are so anti-female centered fic.  I get that you love the boys and don't want anything to take away from that.  Is that pretty much it?  I really have trouble not including a female lead to complement at least one of the boys.  Though, I've not written that much.  The action/suspense storyline I'm working on, is (sorry!) not necessarily female centered, but will feature a female.  Baby steps, I guess..... So, I kind of doubt you'll even read it. haha.  Maybe for next year's challenge....

This will be one of my typical babbly and long explanations lol

Like I think I've said before on the forum, if this were even a few years ago, I would have shunned a female lead character at all, but I've kind of gotten over that. I think for me in this particular fandom, I just kind of get what I like to read and what I don't. If it were an OF then I'd have absolutely no problem reading about the girl and her boyfriend who happens to be in a boyband. But since this is a BSB thing, I don't really care about the girl, just like in real life, I don't really care about any of their girls lol I lump them all into a misc... category. You know ...and the rest. I 'like' some of them but I don't really care about them.

When I read about BSB in a fanfic, it needs to be about them and their relationship to one another. Now if one of therm happens to be dating Cindy Winklestein, top model at the I R Purty Institute, that's fine and dandy, as long as Cindy's primary function is reacting to what's going on in the the boys lives and not visa versa. Once the story seems like it's about Cindy and the boy or boys only caring about her, it has lost any hope for me.

So to sum up, if your story is about the boys, and one of them gets in trouble and as a result someone is going to kill, kidnap one of them, or run one of them over with a moped, I'll be intrigued and will probably want to read it. If instead Cindy or her son/daughter/best friend/ cousin by a third marriage is in trouble so someone is going to kill, kidnap or run  one of those misc people over with a moped. I root for the driver of the moped. LOL

It's nothing against people who write those kinds of stories. I get what you all see in those, they just don't really interest me and most likely never will. BSB fanfic anyway.

I'm glad you enjoyed your experience and I am very happy that you are branching out and writing some suspense. I bet you'll do a great job! If you put a psychotic moped driver in there, I want her named after me! LOL

Changing one of my characters to Marianne now.....

[mare]

Woot! LOL

[kevmylove]

Readers Survey

Story: Safest Place

Person reading it: Mare

1) When you found out this person was reading your story what were your initial thoughts? Oh no...cause it's
one of my older stories and it's a bit teeny bopperish.

2) Did your reader leave you an adequate amount of feedback and was it helpful to you? Yes, she left a review for every chapter. Thank you.

3) Did you find yourself going back to read your story as a result of the feedback? No...but I'm tempted. lol.

4) Do you have any questions for the person reading your story? Not at the time.

5) Overall did you find the experience a good one or a bad one? It was a good one.



Readers Survey

Story: Bound by Honor

Person reading it: Steph (Carter-Orange)

1) When you found out this person was reading your story what were your initial thoughts? Yay...she's read most of my stories before.

2) Did your reader leave you an adequate amount of feedback and was it helpful to you? Yes, she reviewd almost every chapter. Thank you.

3) Did you find yourself going back to read your story as a result of the feedback? No.

4) Do you have any questions for the person reading your story? No. (I just wanted to apologize for not answering all the reviews right away, just have had a lot going on this summer. I appreciate all the feedback tho.)

5) Overall did you find the experience a good one or a bad one? I did...although I wasn't able to pay as much attention to the challenge as I would have liked to.

[kevmylove]

(I'm not sure if I'm not part of the challenge anymore since it looks like someone else read my stories, but I never said I was quitting. I apologize to my readers for not being able to respond to your reviews, please don't think I'm ungrateful I just had a lot of drama and no time to be on my computer. As for the stories I'm reading I also apologize for taking so long but I signed up for the challenge and I will go through with it. Sorry once again.)

Final Survey

Name of story: Switch

1) What was the biggest challenge for you when reading this story? It got a little confusing at times and the story was a bit too fast paced.

2) Did you find yourself looking forward to reading as you were going along or did it feel like homework? The story is cute and it's a great concept, I will admit it was a bit like homework at first.

3) What was your favorite scene/chapter in the story? Hmmm...I liked

4) Was your favorite character at the halfway point still your favorite at the end? Yes, Kevin seemed to be struggling more with the switch then NIck.

5) Who was your least favorite character and why? I didn't have a least favorite.

6) If there was a sequel to this story would you be interested in reading it? I probably would.

7) Were you happy with the ending? The story isn't completed yet. But it did leave off on a cliffy.

8) Name the biggest surprise in the story and did you see it coming? (If there was one) Nick in Kevin's body sleeping with Kristin lol. Wow!

9) What was this stories biggest strength? The concept

10) What was it's biggest weakness? Grammar

11) Did reading this story make you want to try another one from this author?

12) Give us one final review that sums up your experience reading this, maybe explain why you gave the kind of feedback you did or if you would have perhaps picked a different story from this one? I'm not really good at giving feedback where i try and tell someone what they have done wrong. But I tried with this story since some of the grammar, spacing and tenses were off. But all that is fixable and she has great concept and scene ideas. I'm glad I picked this one. 

13) Did you prefer the way we did the challenge this year or did you like the pairings better? In a way I like the pairing much more.

14) Did the author respond to your feedback? Yes

15) Any final thoughts or questions for the author? As I said before you have good ideas and grammar is fixable Once I got through the first chapters I enjoyed reading your story. 

[kevmylove]

Final survey (To be completed after finishing the story you are reading)

Name of story: Bound By Honor

1) What was the biggest challenge for you when reading this story? The fact that it was a police drama, I may like to watch it on TV but I don't usually read that kind of thing.

2) Did you find yourself looking forward to reading as you were going along or did it feel like homework? At times it was more like homework if I'm being honest.

3) What was your favorite scene/chapter in the story? When she finally gets together with Kevin.  I'd been hoping for that all along!

4) Was your favorite character at the halfway point still your favorite at the end? Yes, it was still Kevin.

5) Who was your least favorite character and why? Alex.  Not only was he just using Sophia for sex whenever he fancied it, but he was a cheater (he was engaged and still having sex with his adopted sister) and he was also a corrupt police officer by the look of things.

6) If there was a sequel to this story would you be interested in reading it? I don't think I would as this one isn't even finished yet.

7) Were you happy with the ending? No, because the story is incomplete lol.

8) Name the biggest surprise in the story and did you see it coming? (If there was one) I didn't see it coming that Brian was the father of his "sister's" child.

9) What was this stories biggest strength? I think Erika had a good idea with this storyline.  It's quite complex and has a bit of everything in it.

10) What was it's biggest weakness? Even though the idea for the story is a good one, sometimes I felt like the story jumped around a bit and left me confused.  Also I think it would've been better if they hadn't all been related, but rather just friends or something like that.  I still don't know if any of them were really related or adopted, but maybe it was explained and I forgot.

11) Did reading this story make you want to try another one from this author? I have already read a lot of Erika's other stories in the past.

12) Give us one final review that sums up your experience reading this, maybe explain why you gave the kind of feedback you did or if you would have perhaps picked a different story from this one? My experience of reading this story wasn't as great as I'd hoped it would be.  When I picked the story, I didn't realise it wasn't finished, or I would've picked something else.  I'm just wondering if it ever will be finished, or has it been abandoned.

13) Did you prefer the way we did the challenge this year or did you like the pairings better? I don't mind either way.

14) Did the author respond to your feedback? No, only the very first review I left.  
 
15) Any final thoughts or questions for the author? Do you plan on finishing the story?  What made you decide to write them as brothers and sisters rather than just friends or work colleagues?

Hey Steph,

I actually did type most of this story up on my ipod and it just wouldn't work with me sometimes. Sorry about that. Yes, when I did reread this story I found it a bit confusing too and don't feel bad about the critic part because that helps me out.
I don't really know why I chose for all of them to be adopted siblings really, I guess at that moment I thought it would make it interesting and complex lol. As for the finishing it...this story is complete in my mind I just haven't had time or concentration to keep writing...whic h sucks. Thank you Steph for all the feedback and once again I apologize for not being around to respond to your reviews, you know I appreciate them greatly.

[kevmylove]

Final survey (To be completed after finishing the story you are reading)

Name of story: My Safest Place

1) What was the biggest challenge for you when reading this story?
Primarily because it was a Kevin romance and female centered. Two things that tend to take me out of my reading comfort zone. I'm one to enjoy non romance Nick centered fics , but if I picked one of those, it wouldn't have really been a reading challenge lol

2) Did you find yourself looking forward to reading as you were going along or did it feel like homework?
Honestly, It felt like homework.

3) What was your favorite scene/chapter in the story?
When Kevin was saying his goodbyes to the guys.

4) Was your favorite character at the halfway point still your favorite at the end?
I think so

5) Who was your least favorite character and why?
Hands down, Nadine! She was too self involved and too much of an emotional train wreck to even consider volunteering at a hospice, never mind trying to date one of the residents!

6) If there was a sequel to this story would you be interested in reading it?
Not really, because I'm sure it would center around Nadine.

7) Were you happy with the ending?
I thought it had a very appropriate ending.

8) Name the biggest surprise in the story and did you see it coming? (If there was one)
There really wasn't any big surprises

9) What was this stories biggest strength?
It was a great idea!

10) What was it's biggest weakness?
The over all execution of the idea.

11) Did reading this story make you want to try another one from this author?
No, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't read something else by Erika. She has admitted that this is one of her earliest works. I bet she has grown by leaps and bounds by now.

12) Give us one final review that sums up your experience reading this, maybe explain why you gave the kind of feedback you did or if you would have perhaps picked a different story from this one?
As I've told Erika, the premise behind the story was a great idea! You have a dying Kevin in hospice care and then this volunteer trying to learn the ropes on how to deal with that. The idea was one I hadn't really seen before played out in fanfic. Unfortunately, there were a lot of inaccuracies when it came to the hospice part of the story and the actual fact that Kevin was supposed to be dying, that it took away from the entire story itself. I found myself not being able to get over those details enough to want to enjoy what I think Erika's main objective of the story was. I think I would have enjoyed it more if instead of giving him this terminal disease, she had made him paralyzed or something. Knowing how much training real hospice workers/volunteers have and how people really are by the time they hit hospice care made this really hard to read at times. So, yes I think in the end, I would have maybe picked something else from Erika.

13) Did you prefer the way we did the challenge this year or did you like the pairings better?
I enjoyed both ways but I think it was fun to be able to pick and choose what to read and what to submit as well. 

14) Did the author respond to your feedback?
Not really. I felt like this was a very one sided thing which is why I stopped giving any detailed feedback.

15) Any final thoughts or questions for the author?
Just wanted to say, I do apologize if this comes across as harsh, Erika. I definitely don't mean it to come off that way. Believe me as I was reading this, I wasn't sure if I was going to be honest or just kind of half ass my reviews and shrug it off. This was a challenge though, and I felt like in the end, I needed to let you know how I felt about the story as a whole. I have a ton of respect for you as a writer and I really am looking forward to reading something else from you at one point. I just hope the things I said were helpful to you, because that was and is my intention.

Hey Mare,

All your feedback was helpful and also made me think that this could have been such a better story if I wouldn't have been in my teeny bopper days. I'm glad you liked the concept and Kevin in the story. I never saw Nadine the way you see her and yet now i do. UGH!!! Also at that point I did do research just not enough to make it all believeable. That's why I cringed and was happy at the same time when you picked it, luckily it's a much older story and I do believe I've grown as a writer.
I also want to apologize for not being able to respond to your reviews as I would have liked to. I'm sorry you felt like it was a one sided thing it wasn't my intention. I do hope that one day you give one of my newer stories a chance...just not Bound by Honor lol. I'm not offended by anything you said either. I appreciate any feedback especially if it's helpful. Thank you Mare.