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Rules
Before going into the process and everything, we have some rules to go over first.
🌻 You must be okay with mature and LGBTQ+ content. We accept all genres, mature and LGBTQ+ content, as we are a fully inclusive community. You will be split into groups based on genre preferences, so we do take that into account, but we make no promises about mature or LGBTQ+ content. It's best to stay away if you aren't okay with both. If there is enough demand, we will think about adding a group for members who won't read mature material (in which case you can ignore the rule below) and/or a group for stories in the LGBTQ+ genre, where their overall plot revolves around the LGBTQ+ community.
🌻 All books must be in English.
🌻 Your story must adhere to Wattpad's guidelines.
🌻 You need to have at least four chapters, preferably more. If everyone in your group runs out of chapters to read, we will put you on mandatory leave until you have at least two more. This doesn't include prologues, aesthetics, author's notes, or anything along those lines.
🌻 We do accept readers only, if you have no book you want to add in.
🌻 You can change your book at any time, though the end of the term is the best time to do so.
🌻 You can enter in the middle of a term.
🌻 You must follow this account and all admins for this project in order to be accepted.
🌻 Add this book to your library to receive all updates. If you miss an important update, that's on you.
🌻 We do not tolerate bullying of any kind. Any harmful and hurtful comments and/or messages will result in an automatic removal from the reading group. All comments should be helpful and constructive. That being said, please don't complain to us about "unfair" comments if it is just constructive criticism. Criticism can be hurtful, but try to remember that your group member is just trying to help you better your story. All complaints will be reviewed to see if your claims are just. PLEASE don't respond to any comments in a hurtful way! Breathe for a moment, think about the comment(s), and then PM us if it's still bothering you. Responding in a negative way will not help you!
🌻 We appreciate all shoutouts but they are not required.
🌻 You can't enter more than one book.
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Process
- After applying, which you do in a comment in the 'Forms' chapter, you will be accepted and labeled as a 'Seedling' in the next bloom, aka each assignment or round. You will be assigned an admin's book to read two chapters of and make constructive comments. Assuming you do it in time and fulfill the guidelines highlighted below and in the next chapter, you will be accepted and labeled as a 'Sunflower'.
- You are able to retrial if you didn't pass the first time, though we recommend waiting until the next term to do so.
- After becoming a 'Sunflower', you'll be put in a group based on your preferred genres to read and the book your genre is in. You will be in the same group as your book, so if your preferences and your book's genre don't line up, we will put you in the group for your book. Please keep this in mind when filling out the form.
- Your group, which you will be tagged under, will have a book at the top that says 'Spotlighted Book', along with the book title and the writer tagged next to it. You must read two chapters of the Spotlighted Book by the end of the bloom. You also have to read one chapter of the BotW (more info on that below). If your book is the BotW or the Spotlighted Book, you only have to do the one you're not. Feel free to take the week off and relax if you just so happen to be both!
- When you are done reading and commenting on the spotlighted book, you will comment next to your username in the most recent bloom and say "Done chapters 1-2 of [Spotlighted Book Title Here]". You should also tag your comment checker, the admin who checks your comments at the end of the week and is tagged with your group. It will look like this:
"Done commentchecker chapters 1-2 of [Spotlighted Book Title Here]"
- For a seedling's done comment, they will tag their comment checker as well, who is listed above them in the 'Seedling Trial' section of the bloom.
- New assignments are posted Mondays ET and are always due Sundays 3PM ET.
There are also terms and the Book of the Week. More info on those below.
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Terms
- The reading group is separated into terms, which last eight blooms (roughly two months). Whatever term we're in is at the top of the bloom. So for the first eight blooms, the top of the bloom says 'Term 1'.
- You are allowed to join in the middle of a term. However, we'd prefer it only if you left at the end of a term. We understand emergencies pop up, so PM us and we'll see what we can do. It's hard for us to keep track of many people coming and going though, so please only leave at the end of a term, and it essentially guarantees that you will have the same group for two months. The password is any word that starts with the letter 'S', and please don't use the same word as the person before you. There will be an opportunity in the last bloom of the term, the eighth bloom, for you to say that you're leaving or staying. If you say nothing, we assume that you're staying.
- If you choose to stay after a term is over, we reassess what you've done over the last eight blooms (or less, if you joined in the middle of the term). If you've had multiple underperforming blooms (forgetting to comment done, not meeting the feedback requirements, finishing the bloom after it's over but before the next bloom is posted, etc), which we call "warnings," we will have to make you sit out for a term. So it's not guaranteed that you'll be in the next term just because you want to be. You won't have to retrial, but we do expect you to stay on top of things. The amount of warnings you need to be kicked out depends on how many blooms you've been in. It resets every term, and you can always rejoin the term after if you have been kicked out.
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Book of the Week
- As mentioned above and in the 'Glossary' chapter, the Book of the Week (aka BotW) is given to the person who gave the strongest and most helpful feedback this past bloom.
- Every member of the reading group is required to read one chapter of the BotW. The BotW info is at the top of each bloom. The Spotlighted Book and the BotW shouldn't be the same, but if we have a small number of members, they might be. No promises. If they are, you should read three chapters of it that week. When you are done with your BotW chapter, inline comment it next to the BotW info. It should look like this:
"Done chapter 1 of BotW"
- Don't worry about tagging anyone for the BotW, just inline comment. If you don't inline comment, you will either get a strike or a warning for it (depending on whether or not we notice you actually did it).
- You can be BotW multiple times but never two weeks in a row. Hopefully this will prevent monopolies so one person isn't dominating every week.
- You will get a strike if you don't complete it in time. More info on strikes below.
- How the BotW is chosen: The comment checkers tell me, the manager, who in each group gave the most helpful feedback that bloom. I, the manager, look through those members' feedback to determine who the BotW will be for the next bloom.
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Groups
- You are put into a group based on genre preferences, aka your favorite genres to read and the genre your book is in. Again, if your genre preferences and your book's genre don't line up, we will put you in the group for your book's genre. You will be tagged under whatever group you're in.
- Your group can change over time, and it will probably change a bit as we're starting up and getting new members. We will create more groups as we get more members. However, we will do our best to keep you with the people you started with so that you'll be going through your whole books together.
- Group sizes can and will change, but we're hoping to have roughly five members per group and spotlight one book in each group per week. If the reading group gets a lot bigger, we may start spotlighting more per week.
- The group names are very simple, just 'Group 1', 'Group 2', etc. A description of the group is below each group name.
- You do not get to choose which group you're in; we will choose for you.
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Strikes
- For every week you have a missing assignment, you get a strike. You will be tagged under 'Missing Assignments' and PMed when this happens.
- You can only get one strike per week, out of fairness, so missing both the BotW and your Spotlighted Book will result in one strike. However, if you only miss one of those (either the BotW or the Spotlighted Book), you will still get one strike.
- Strikes accumulate for the Spotlighted Book. Every week you fail to do that missing assignment, you get a strike. This is NOT true for the BotW. If you miss the BotW, you get one strike, no more. It'd be polite if you made it up, but you don't have to.
- You will not get a new assignment until you complete your missing one. You are not responsible for any new BotWs or Spotlighted Books your group has while you have a missing assignment. Only worry about completing your missing assignment.
- When you're done with your missing assignment, comment inline next to your username in the most recent bloom, NOT the bloom your missing assignment is from. If you do this incorrectly, you will get a warning.
- After you get three strikes in one term, you are removed from the reading group. Strikes will clear in between terms, though. But this is not like warnings; you are not allowed to rejoin at all if you strike out.
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Extensions and Time Off
- If you need more than a week to do your assignment and want to avoid getting a strike, ask for an extension instead! Extensions can last up to two blooms, and you must ask for one every time you need an extension; it's never automatically given. You cannot get an extension for a striked assignment. If you still haven't finished your assignment(s) in two weeks, you will get a strike.
- Seedlings don't get extensions. If you can't complete your assignment in time, just reapply later.
- Extensions are for the BotW and the Spotlighted Book that week.
- Your extension will be granted starting the next bloom.
- We don't do long hiatuses in this book club like we do for our other two book clubs because of the term system. You can easily leave for a term and come back when you're ready to. If you are rejoining, please say so in your form! We don't always remember every member of our book clubs, so telling us in your form will avoid us having to retrial you for no reason.
- However, we do allow for 'Time Off', which can last up to two weeks per term. Considering you don't have an assignment every week because your book is going to be the spotlighted book roughly twice per term, you shouldn't need as much time off as you would in our other book clubs.
- We are reasonable people. If something comes up and you need more time off, just PM us! We try to be as understanding as possible.
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Comment Guidelines
- For your comments to count towards your assignment, you have to leave at least five sentences of constructive criticism at the end of each chapter. If you liked something, why? If you think something could be improved, why? This is per chapter, so you should be writing minimum ten sentences of constructive criticism for each spotlighted book and five sentences of constructive criticism for each BotW, bringing the total to fifteen sentences of constructive criticism per week.
- Inline comments don't count towards this goal, though constructive inline comments will help you become the next BotW, nothing else.
- Use the hashtag '#SFRG' when commenting your constructive criticism to help us find it more easily.
- For more help on what type of comments to leave, check out the next chapter.
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That's it! This is a lot of information, so please look at this any time your confused and need to brush up on something. Check out the next chapter if you need help with commenting and then fill out the form.