Hello everyone!! I've been looking for a while for a more active writing forum, because I'm always looking for a quick and critical audience I'm hoping this can be my new home!! I love to write, always have, and probably always will. I'm 19 (for two more days) and I live in Atlanta, GA. My friends tell me I'm a Grammar Nazi, so watch your semicolons when I'm afoot!! >_> Anyway, I'm happy to be here and have been lurking and reading since last night, and can't wait to go comment on some of the stuff. See you guys around
Newbies unite! Hello! I also am a newbie. Welcome. I haven't been here very long, but I'm enjoying myself already. I'm sure you will too. I've been awarded the title Grammar Police by friends and family. I guess that's sort of similar to Grammar Nazi, only less . . . severe.
Hello Vayda, Welcome to the Writing Forums. Are you often a pedal appendage? In any case, good to see another person who winces at the sight of excessive and incorrectly placed semicolons. If you haven't explored the site yet, you should probably do so soon. Newcomers often gravitate to the Lounge, the Word Games, or the Review Room, but there is much more to be discovered if you poke in the corners. Remember to check out our FAQ as well! As for the Review Room, new joiners often wonder why we do things a bit differently on this site than on other writing sites. We emphasize reviewing as a critical writing skill. Training your eye by reviewing other people's work helps you improve your own writing even before you present it for others to see. Therefore, we ask members to review other people's writing before posting work of their own. The Review Room forums on this site, therefore, are true workshops, not just a bulletin board for displaying your work (and on that note, please only post each item for review in one Review Room forum). See this post, Why Write Reviews Before Posting My Work? for more information. Enjoy your stay here, and have fun!
I am, in fact, a pedal appendage. Thanks for noticing! Most people just ignore it, you know, try to treat me like it's normal, but really I prefer it when people notice my difference, especially my lovely toes. Out of curiosity, do we have any sort of system in place that tells reviewers what kind of critique the writer is looking for? On another forum I frequent, they use the "tornado rating scale" system, where the original poster will say he's up for "F0" level criticism (basically just posting for fun, if you don't have anything nice to say please don't reply) or all the way up to F6 criticism (Please break this down word by word and tell me every little nitpicky thing, rip me to shreds, put me in a blender and feed me to your coyote)... As far as I have seen, there's not a system here, so I'm wary of providing a line-by-line breakdown, or even pulling out particular passages in quotes that I think could use work, for fear of insulting the creator.
hello and welcome Keep your keyboard safe, my daughter is about and she likes to eat them Hope you enjoy your stay here
Welcome, Vayda Believe it or not, I used to be nineteen. I was. Really! Anyway, enjoy the buzz on the forums. Look forward to being corrected by you along the way.
Heya, welcome to the forums. We don't currently have in place a system like the one that you described, perhaps its something that you could offer as a suggestion. There are some detailed articles about how and why to review dotted throughout the forum, but other than that maybe just taking a look around the more thorough reviews would show you how we tend to do things
Writers submitting for reviews often preface their work, either saying "I'm just starting out, go easy on me," or "I'm looking for advice, give it to me with both barrels." The truth is, though, most people giving reviews use their own judgment, however good that is, as to how deep to go and how harshly they phrase it. The way I usually approach it is to select up to about three of what I see are the things that could best be improved, and focus on those. The purpose of a review is to try to find and fix problems, or to explore alternatives - the writer can always count on praise from friends and family.
