Ever since it started, I've had the privilege of being one of BME's top experience review editors. Having, at the time of writing, reviewed over 1200 submissions, I can honestly say that for the most part I've enjoyed it. I've had the pleasure of reading accounts of mods I've actually seen 'in the flesh', and, on several occasions, mods I'd had the good fortune of witnessing being performed. I've been enlightened, entertained, and on occasions moved, as people have given away touching glimpses of their lives and their personalities.
At A Glance Author Don Contact [email protected] IAM Don When N/A I've also been driven to despair by the number of piercees who write in "Anyways I did it cuz it's kewl" vein, oblivious of the fact that BME's experience accounts are intended to provide readable, helpful information about body mods. I remember reading on Shannon's page some time ago a 'hatemail' complaint from a mother whose daughter's submission had been denied because of low quality. I confess I do feel a lot of the time as if I'm marking students' assignments rather than reviewing experiences, but that's simply because so many of them are so badly written. So what, then, makes a good experience?
1. Please make an effort
All submissions are read by real people. Repeating the same couple of sentences five times over, and/or putting 'asdf...' here there and everywhere is going to get you nowhere fast.2. Try to follow basic rules of punctuation and spacing
In other words, don't write the whole piece as all one long paragraph, and try to split up sentences into bite-sized chunks. And while it may be very idiosyncratic and poetic to write all in lower case, in a BME experience it usually just looks ridiculously illiterate.3. Hands off that CapsLock key!
There is a general convention that WRITING IN CAPITALS is the equivalent of shouting verbally. As a technique for emphasizing a point, it's fine, but it can be (and usually is) wickedly overdone.4. OK for Orl Korrekt?
Please try and check the spelling and grammar - it is, I'd say, the single most common reason for denial of a submission! Nobody's perfect, but a depressing number of submisssions refer to tounges, tatoos, peircings, naviels, and assorted other things we can only guess at. If you don't have a spell-checker (and they're by no means all they're cracked up to be) then get someone who's good at writing to check it out for you.5. Think b4 u write.
It may be very 'kewl' to write in text-message format, peppering your submission with liberal doses of cuz, ppl, b4, ur, w/, b/f ....whatever. Bear in mind that fashions change overnight, and much of what you might write as today's cool street-speak will be undecipherable the week after next! Please don't do it.6. Aim for originality.
This one's probably not as difficult as it sounds: after all, every body mod is unique and original to the person who's got it. The trick, then, is to convey that unique individuality in the way you write about it. On BME there are now over 2200 tongue experiences alone. Ask yourself - what can you say about yours that the other 2199 haven't already said. It's your tongue / piercing, remember.7. Stick to the point
Experiences are 'filed' in categories, to make it easier (hopefully) for readers to find what they're looking for. So while it's fine and helpful to give a bit of background information on your level of 'experience' with body mods, if you digress too far into the realms of discussing all your other mods and/or your plans for the future, it's not really going to be all that much use to the BME readers searching for information on the specific piercing or mod they're interested in.8. The word count!
800 words is not the complete works of Shakespeare! If you find that you've run out of words, the chances are you haven't necessarily run out of inspiration. Take heart from the fact that around ten thousand contributors before you have managed to come up with something else useful and interesting to say at this point. Don't admit defeat.9. You tell me (us).
Time and time again, what comes across from the 'experiences' is how much help readers have found them. There's a vast treasure-trove of wealth there - information, help, tips.... drawbacks, snags, problems, difficulties and disasters as well. Tell us about your experiences - the good, the bad and the ugly - but try not to use yours to ask us for advice or help - that's what all the other experiences are there for.10. If at first you don't succeed...
For all submissions that are denied, it's a requirement that a comment from each reviewer is provided for feedback to the author. I try as far as possible to be positive and to suggest what alterations or corrections could be made for the piece to be resubmitted and accepted. I can understand that a lot of would-be authors may feel disheartened at this point - but I can certainly say that most of the experiences I've recognized as re-submissions have been fine the second time around.If you've read this far you're hopefully thinking one of two things:
What makes him (me) the expert?
Nothing! I got a very borderline pass in English at school. I do, on the other hand, have five successful experience submissions since the review system started - and four of those have gained 'star' recommendations.
Shall I do mine now?
That one's a yes! Follow the basic advice, and you've every chance of success. Good luck!