-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi, I'm writing a book for personal reasons. I don't expect ever to have it published. I'm quite past all that now. I posted this following excerpt from what I've written in chapter 4 of my book on another forum and it was quite well received. I am a complete literary noob and I will always stay that way. I don't even know where best to post this stuff so I just picked the most obvious forum I'm sure someone will advise me or even move the topic to an approriate place - if this isn't the right section. Anyways I would appreciate some help on writing style and am just generally interested to see if anyone likes it really. Perhaps egotistical? Not really. Not anymore. Eyes have been open for too long now. I know where I stand in the realms of ability, and I'm right at the back of the league I'm in. I'm actually an electrician and an engineer and I've never written anything before, but I've seen enough of people to be humbled that's for sure. Anyways, here's the chapter. Thanks for anyone who bothers to read it. Cheers:
Hi adder noir, If you want a review of this excerpt, you should post it in an appropriate review forum (according to the genre this piece belongs to). You can find the forums to choose from at the bottom part of the main page of this website. Also, you should read the policy of reviewing other people's work before posting your own for review.
That's great thanks! Seeing as I've stuck it here now I'll pm a moderator and ask them to move it. With regards reviewing others people's work sir I do not believe I could offer them anything useful at all in all truth. I know nothing about literature and i don't even read books to be honest. I've always had some strange difficulty with regards to learning and properly processing the written word. I can read instruction manuals no problems at all, but I have hell reading anything wth emotions or point behind it. When I sit down to write it comes all in one go, I never plan it and re-reading it again it often doesn't even feel like my words if you know what I mean? I'm happy to try but to be truthful I'd be doing it mechanically to just play along so someone would read my stuff. Also I wonder if anything I said given that I really don't know what I'm talking about - might be more confusing or platitudal then helpful? Anyways.. thanks for you reply sir
Hello Black Adder, Welcome to the Writing Forums. Before you can get critique, you must first give constructive critique. This is not just a quid pro quo, it is because improving your critiquing skills is the primary focus of the Review Room workshop. Improving your critiquing skills will improve your ability to find and fix weaknesses in your own writing. Please read How to Use the Review Room before you post there. Posting your own writing for people to comment on should not be among the very first things you do here anyway. It is worth taking the time to see what other people have done to improve their writing, and see if some of it applies to your writing as well. That is part of why we require members to review other members' work before posting their own for review. On the other hand, there are no restrictions, other than content and copyright rules, on showcasing your work in your member blog. Also, be aware that posting a piece of writing on any public site, including this one, will greatly diminish your chances of selling it for publication. Removing the writing later does not alter that fact - once posted, it is irreversibly considered published. So do not post anything more than a small excerpt of any piece you are planning to submit for publication. 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, and be sure to read through the forum rules, too, to avoid any misunderstandings or hurt feelings. Respect for one another is our principal mandate. 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 constructive critique as a vital 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). Also, please use the same thread for all revisions and additional excerpts from the same piece of writing. See this post, Why Write Reviews Before Posting My Work? for more information. And while you're looking around, don't forget to check out our Weekly Short Story Contest and Weekly Poetry Contest. They actually run more than one week apiece, but any member may enter, and all members are urged to vote for their favorites. Enjoy your stay here, and have fun!
if you can't post the excerpt here, due to the rules of reciprocation, you can send it to me and i'll be glad to give it a going-over... love and hugs, maia maia3maia@hotmail.com
Hi Aww, that's great! Thanks for a nice welcome to you both! I'll send it through for sure cheers mammamaia. I think I'll have a read of the FAQ and try as the good and big post from our moderator says start at least trying to review the work of others. It's nice to get some advice from folks who know about this stuff. Seems good writing and good writing forum etiquette are two seperate things both of high importance
Wow, with respect to adder_noir and all members here I am now beginning to understand the reasoning behind the rule stating why we MUST review other member's writings before we dare post our own work here. Gosh, if things were left to be it would appear to me this site would have a very large flood of authors awaiting reviews of their work with 0 replies. Imagine a review forum in which the entire thing is made up of stories that nobody takes the time to review even a little bit? It's discouraging to be an author that gets the nerve to share his/her writings online only to read 0 replies, I would speculate. After all it's a two way street and SOMEBODY is needed to do the reviewing, even if we feel we have too little to offer in improvement ideas. Any feedback is better than none, normally. I fail to understand just why we have such a large lop sided ratio of authors seeking reviews to what appears to be almost nobody offering to review other good member's hard work. I already have learned more about writing on this site than I ever expected in a short period of time. However in my personal opinion it's a two way street when it comes to the reviewing forums here and I am rather bewildered as to why such an overwhelming amount of people wish to post work for review/feedback and leave in such a hurry. I can completely relate to the feeling of not being qualified to review here though, as I too fall in the same boat. But I have made at least one serious attempt at a review of a short story here at the request of a new friend of mine. I am not qualified to review either, in my opinion. But I found out that even I could post some feedback on what I strongly thought was worthy enough to help the talented writer I reviewed. I thought we had the same problem on the banjo player's site I was a member of for seven years, but even that site had more users offering feedback on other member's artwork (posted mp3s of self created music) than it appears have the will to offer writing reviews here. I remain a bit puzzled as to why this is....? adder_noir: I wish you the best in your personal book you are working on. Please do not take what I posted as being directed straight towards you! I don't mean it that way. In reality I am pointing out an obvious trend I notice in the short time I have been here, that's all, so you are in some good company. Just call me Terry.
Hi adder If your work is sufficiently important to you that you want to post it here and gather opinion and advice on it, then you've found the right place. And don't be intimidated by the technical "experts" and their detailed critiques. All levels of comment are welcome, and sometimes all a budding author really wants is to know whether his or her work is entertaining to the ordinary reader, so if you're interested in expressing your opinion on someone else's work, go right ahead. Once you've done it in sufficient detail a couple of times, you'll be able to submit your own work for the same treatment, so good luck.
