Feedback

Fablehenge has an easy, integrated way to collect feedback on a given scene from your friends, family, and writing group and view it right alongside your story.

Generating a feedback link

Feedback can be found near the bottom of the right sidebar. You'll likely want to collapse the "Tags" section by clicking the headings. Here's a view of the sidebar with all the headings except "Feedback" collapsed:

Right now there isn't much to see other than a beta notice. Click the "Share Scene" button to generate a link to your feedback. You will be shown the following popup:

You can change the title that reviewers see if your working title or scene title are not meant for public consumption. You can also include a message for the type of feedback you are soliciting. Le them know if you are looking for line edits, general impressions, or emotional response, for example.

Once you've crafted the message, click the "Generate Link" button. The resulting screen will look like this:

You can copy the link to your system clipboard by clicking it. Then paste it into your favourite messaging or social media platform to request feedback.

If you later want to share the scene with someone else, click the "Share Scene" button in the right sidebar again and the link will be shown again. You can only create one link per scene, but you can share it multiple times. If you want to create a brand new link for a different version of the scene you will need to create a new draft of the book or a duplicate of the scene first.

Incorporating feedback

(If you want to give me feedback on my little scene, here is a clickable version of that link)

Your reviewers will be able to add comments to the scene as described below in Giving Feedback. After they have added their comments, the feedback will show up in the right sidebar below the "Share" button:

Click the feedback title to expand it:

Click the feedback to expand it. You may want to use the drag handles to hide the outline and expand the right sidebar:

Simply hover your mouse over the highlighted text to see what the critiquer had to say. Then decide whether and how to address the feedback and make any changes to the manuscript.

Giving feedback

When you receive a feedback link, you will be taken to a page to accept the invitation. If you are not already authenticated, you will be asked to log in or sign up, as discussed in the welcome page.

Once authenticated, you will be presented with an invitation to give feedback on the scene:

Assuming you want to give feedback, click the "Accept Invitation" button.

The feedback interface includes a message from the author, a box for commenting on the scene, and a place to enter your overall impressions of the scene:

You can't edit the scene itself, but you can provide comments on certain portions of it. Simply select the text you want to comment on. A box pops up to enter your feedback:

Click the "Save" button to save your comment. It will not be shared with the author yet.

Text you have commented on will be highlighted.

You can click the highlight to see, edit, or clear the comment.

You can comment on as many words in the scene as you like. The only rule is that comments are not allowed to overlap. The interface will prevent you from selecting text that has already been commented on.

Once you've finished reviewing the scene, enter any scene-level impressions in the "Message to the author" area. Then click the "Share Feedback" button to send it to them.

Feedback that has been shared cannot be edited. After you've shared it you'll be shown a read-only view of the feedback. Hover your mouse over the comments to recall what you said:

The "Give Feedback" link in the right sidebar shows a list of all feedback you have accepted or given:

This view shows that I have accepted an invitation to give feedback on two different scenes. The green check indicates that I have already submitted feedback for one of them, while the blue plus circle icon indicates that my feedback has not been submitted yet.