Hi everyone, I'm fresh off a creative writing course - God, help you all - and missing the student forums we had there. Before the course I had thought having other people look at and comment on my writing would be scary but it was an incredibly useful and enjoyable experience. I had also thought that commenting on other people's work would be pretty tedious. I was wrong about that too; things that look 'wrong' in other people's stories help you see flaws in your own writing and when their work is really good, well, it just makes you want to do better. I've been working on a Giant Undying Thing for about four years that, happily, I've put to one side while I work on all the smaller and more exciting things that I started during the course. I mostly write short stories that are set in almost-but-not-quite the real world. Is that perhaps 'speculative fiction'? I also write poems but only as exercises; I enjoy the way they force to me think harder about language and make sure every word earns its place. And now I need to go and have a think about my critique of the very good sci-fi story I just read... Sal
Hi Sal... I'm sure your thoughts will prove valuable. If you've been missing the cameraderie of your course, you'll find some great minds to bounce ideas about with here, and you've already shown your work with a view to critique and so understand how intimdating and helpful it can be. You've come to the right place.
I had the opposite experience as you! I joined a site similar to this a long time ago and thought sharing my writing in a class room would be terrifying, but joined the class because of my positive experience in the forums. Now I can't decide what type of work shop I enjoy more, those online or those in person in a class room. Can't wait to read your work!
Hi @shaddix looking forward to reading your stuff too. My course was distance learning. We met in person a few times but mostly it was online forums like these. Glad to hear you've had good experiences online.