could a thread be made with all the links for really good advice ie a list of links to bits of advice that every author should know for instance cogitos show and tell link in his signature advice is hard to find if you dont know what your looking for
Threads like this are definitely encouraged. For example, threads on publishing, editing, or any important writing topic could all have threads explaining the basics and linking to authority threads on writingforums.org or on credible web sources. If these threads are high enough quality they could be made stickied. Anyone is welcome to create such a thread to compile important information. Perhaps one could open a thread and ask for members to contribute and edit the original post.
To follow on from Daniel, I have to say that the biggest problem is that advice is a) subjective and b) not always good. What I mean is that not only is advice at the mercy of the person who says/writes/publishes it, different people may or may not find it useful. Therefore, a thread like that might give the wrong impression, saying that the advice within it is good when some people may find it to not be good. The advice not always being good is a secondary part to that. Some people don't know how to recognise the value of advice, and may suspect it to be worth more than it is, or less than it is. That's nothing against those people; it's just that some people aren't good at judging advice.
Very valid points. Perhaps such threads could contain disclaimers and only include links/advice that appears to be the consensus among the writing community?
I don't know about that. Writers aren't to be trusted for their advice, so far as I'm concerned. They're a very untrustworthy people. :s (before anyone decides to be smartassy, yes, I guess that includes me)
There are many threads here where the same information is repeated over and over. Especially on publishing and general writing. Much of the advice is good advice. Saying writers can't be trusted for their advice (even if you include yourself) is pretty short-sighted, as we should all be thankful for the time, effort, experience, etc. that other writers have gleaned and are willing to share with us. Further, some advice is NOT subjective, some things are simply right or wrong. For instance, it is NEVER a good idea to print your MS on pink paper, in a lime green gothic font, or to burn it into a piece of wood. Those things may seem rational at the time (I'll stand out!) but they're not. Stick to the basics, tried and true, and let the words speak for themselves. You may be laughing right now and think that people don't do that, but they do. If you wish to be distrustful of all writers advice then maybe you just shouldn't read these threads? I think they're a good idea.
i think that is a yes to the oracle do we have any volunteers to contribute, ideas on what it should cover, standard disclaimers that should be added, can it be made sticky and non editable all but mods and a second thread for contributions etc should the thread contain information or links to information
Well I think what you need to do is think of what you think needs to be covered, start a thread and see what kinds of responses you get. What I think Daniel was saying was that if it has enough good information in it then it might be considered for stickydom.
We have such posts stickied in Writing Issues and Publishers. They are closed threads. To add to them, send a private message to one of the moderators with your recommendations. Commercial sites will not be considered. Non-authoritative sites will be evaluated with respect to the value of their advice and what supporting evidence is provided (where appropriate). From time to time we have new members attempt to lecture to the community at large. Mostly, they get ignored. As was already said, many of these matters are quite subjective. And sometimes, the positions taken are self-serving if notg demonstrably wrong.
I would agree there are many stickies and some links to very good sites however the links are spread across a number of stickies and some of the best articles are actually blogs like your own. There are a number of subjects not covered and a few common questions that could be answered IE: any question that you reply with a cut and paste answer to. For example "how do i come up with a good character name?","Is my synopsis OK?" This is the reason i would like to see a central location for all these questions carefully structured so that all (common) questions are easy to find. I would like to see some simpler answers to some grammar questions which quite often turn into massive debates on what is considered good grammar. What do you think?
One way to do this would be to utilize the blog feature we all have here. If several interested, and hopefully knowledgeable, members contributed to it then you could add a link in your signature. Look at Cogito's signature for an example of how this can be done. Just a suggestion, of course.
