So, there you are, your writing skills are slowly improving, and you feel like the king of the world. Perhaps a few of your write-ups have received C!s. Hell, perhaps all of your write-ups have multiple C!s. But then... How can you become a writer if people just up-vote your stuff and then quietly move along? How do you know for sure that what you're writing is what the Everything2 wants to read?
It's simple: Get your work audited by your peers. That's exactly what a Node audit is.
E2 is a lot of different things to a lot of different people. Because of this, we have been accepting a lot of different style write-ups (fiction, factual, technical, poetry, 'how-to' nodes, recipes, daylogs, you name it). Some people write on E2 to share their knowledge with the world, others write to publish their poetry or fiction in a public setting. Some people treat E2 like a journal, and primarily write day-logs, and other use it as a spring-board to try and sharpen their writing skills.
The Node Audit is aimed at a specific type of noder: E2 is a very particular writing community, and it is not always obvious why something gets love, and something else gets hatred. Node audits, then, are primarily for new noders (about 50 writeups or less), who want to understand why E2 accepts and loves some of their write-ups, while rejects and down-votes others.
What happens during a node audit?
Node audits are as different as the auditors. Some auditors will sort the auditee's write-ups by lowest reputation, and then give feedback on the 20 lowest-rated nodes. This type of audit is particularly effective if a noder wants to understand why E2 dislikes their write-ups.
Other audits may be specifically tailored for noders whose first language is something other than English. This type of audit may go specifically into the details of grammar, spelling and language syntax.
Other audits again may be offered to noders who want to improve their writing in one way or another. Personally, for example, I work as a journalist and an editor, and may be particularly useful in helping noders who contribute articles they are writing in journalistic style. Other auditors may be more familiar with the intricacies of building characters in fiction, and their audit may be specifically targeted at developing the auditee's fiction writing style.
In general, if you want to improve your writing in any way, going through one or more node audits may give you the nudge you need in the right direction, and it offers an unique opportunity to get direct feed-back on your writings - an invaluable tool to any developing writer.
Are there any rules for node audits? How do I become an auditor?
There aren't really any rules as such. In general, the audits happen to help the auditee, so if it doesn't help them, it has failed. However, we are all a gang of helpful people, and we are here to help each other develop as writers. How we do this is up to ourselves, so we just kind of make up the rules as we go along.
If you have a field of speciality (most people do, whether it is Magic: The Gathering, fire, mathematics, comic books or space exploration), you may be a particularly valuable auditor, in form of being a specialist auditor, as you can help noders who are writing on these speciality topics along. This means that you can audit a noders' writeups on a specific topic.
The following noders are currently offering node audits:
Nick specialties/ notes
Albert Herring Grammar and editing tips, any writeup type. Intolerant of bad fiction
BookReader Offers advice on fiction, especially
Glowing Fish
gwenllian General audits and medical stuff especially
Jack Will not downvote < lvl 3. Prefers non-techie factuals and fiction
LaggedyAnne I will audit anything but the work of rude people :D
SharQ Audits anyone with fewer than 400 writeups.
wertperch Offers feedback on around 50 writeups - primarily factuals
wordnerd Will audit anyone!
skybluefusion Will audit anyone who asks
themanwho Will audit anyone. Helps improve already good writeups
isogolem See homenode for more info.
Serjeant's Muse Lvl 1 or 2 noders. Feedback on all work. Non-factuals okay.
Two Sheds Will audit level 1 and 2 noders with feedback. Prefers Factuals
Wiccanpiper Will audit anyone who asks.
Notes, comments and explanations
If you would like an audit, message any of the auditors directly. If you would like to offer audits, get in touch with SharQ - make sure you include a few words about how you like to do audits, and why not add some more info on your homenode!
(Noders who have not logged in for 6 weeks will be removed from the list)
Last updated March 28, 2007