not sure if this thread is in the right place but i'm not sure where to put it. how can i post stories on this site? is it possible? i'm not sure on this either. UPDATE: ok, i have found the writing workshop, i understand what im meant to do now, more a less, one last thing. my story isn't exactly short, would it still be welcome?
To post stuff for review there are three limits. 20 posts. 2 reviews. 2 weeks. Only after you have been a member for two weeks, posted more than 20 times and have posted atleast 2 reviews in the workshop are you able to post your stuff in the workshop.
No one likes reading and critiquing very long stories. I would recommend posting only a small chunk (maybe 1500 words or so). You can then take any critiques and apply what was said to the rest of your story.
was going to do it a chapter at a time but i thought that might not be allowed. still a Work in Progress you see
If you haven't I suggest you take a look at the New Member Guide. It should tell you everything you need to know (including the forum rules and how to get your work posted).
There are no rules against publishing several chapters from the same novel/work. However, the more you post here the more it may harm your chances of getting that story published in the future, so you should generally only post a shorter piece (like a chapter) and then try to apply what critique you get on that part on your whole work. Also, as @thirdwind mentioned, it's good to limit the pieces/excerpts you post here to 1500 at max since longer stories tend not to get as many critiques.
You can also post sections in a blog. Blogging isn't specially for what reasons you want to post but it meets the requirements of being able to post sections at a time. If this is your strategy, have reliable beta readers then it doesn't matter where you post the workshop is a good place to start.
The workshops are great for spotting writing 'errors' in novels and short stories, but not so good for spotting continuity errors, unconvincing character development, or errors in plotting. When you post a short snippet, it's taken out of context. If your story falls flat at the end, or if your character start doing stuff later in the story that makes no sense because of what has gone before ...this won't be caught in the Workshop. The tendency of many people giving critiques is to assume each snippet is the start of a story, so if your stuff doesn't make immediate sense, it needs to be corrected. Maybe it does and maybe it doesn't. If the information the critique-giver is concerned about has actually appeared in a previous chapter, then that skews the critique. As well as joining the forum, you might want to cultivate people who are willing to read your whole thing AFTER you've finished it. That way your story is read as a whole, and the feedback will be for the story as a whole. That's when the real work begins. The Workshop is a great place for feelers pertaining to style, but the real work of learning to write a whole, believable story takes place outside it.
