I'm Van and I'm new to this forum. I write mostly short science-fiction and fantasy and have been writing since I was about 14 years old. I am currently working on longer project that will hopefully be a novel. This forum looks in it might be the kind of one stop shopping resource I've been searching for that isn't an enrollment type writing class or workshop. I have taken some writing classes, having majored in Creative Writing at Southern New Hampshire University, though I am taking time away from school to work on my own projects. I look forward to sharing in the writing experience with fellow writers and hope to be able to make use of the resources on this forum. Happy writing!
Welcome. I'm new myself. After poking around a bit, I've come to the conclusion that there are good resources.
Hello Van I'm one of the forum moderators, and I want to welcome you to the forum. In fact, it's great to have somebody new who is obviously experienced, having taken a Creative Writing degree, and who has been writing for years. There are all levels of expertise here on the forum, and it's good to have somebody join up who is well along the path to becoming an established writer. Not only that, but Sci-Fi is an extremely popular genre on the forum—probably surpassed only by Fantasy! So your presence here is doubly welcome. As you find your feet here, please do take the time to read these two links, if you haven't already. They'll give you an idea of how we operate, what our forum goals are, and what we can offer. New Member Quick Start Forum Rules Feel free to dive into any threads that draw your interest. It's the best way for us to get to know you, and for you to get to know us. We are a very non-commercial site, and don't allow any kind of spamming, so there isn't any hidden agenda here. We are all people who are interested in writing and getting to know other people who share our interests. So you should feel comfortable, very quickly. If you encounter any difficulties getting started, please let me know and I'll do what I can to help. But meanwhile, have fun, get settled, and I'll see you around the threads. Cheers, Jan
Oh, it's so much more! Hi @Van Turner, and welcome from me; in all seriousness I have found this forum to be a fun and informative place with a great combination of serious writerly discussions, critique, competitions, and bants. Basiscally a good place for writers.
Hi Jan. I do have a question about posting works for critique. I have a 13,000 word piece of fan fiction that's still a WIP I'd like to submit for critique. Should I be concerned about length? I saw in the rules that's required to do 2 critiques for every 1 piece one submits for feedback. I could break this down into smaller pieces if need be. Guidance, please. Thanks!
Sorry, I didn't see this till just now! I would say that while there is no specific rule about posting a 13,000 piece of fiction (although I'm sure our software won't allow that much on one thread) I would strongly encourage you not to try! Reason: Nobody will attempt to read it. The upper limit for any single posting in our novel section is usually only 1000-2000 words or thereabouts. People scan through and tend to reject the longer ones. By all means, maybe post a portion of it (once you've fulfilled the requirements ...I haven't checked.) If it's your opening chapter, just say so in the introduction, and if it's from an inner chapter, try to get the readership up to speed on what has already occurred in the story, so they won't critique the piece as if it's your opener. If you want feedback on your entire piece, you'll probably need to address it in the Collaboration section of the forum. (There are requirements for posting there, so catch yourself up on them. We encourage collaboration, but we don't encourage people who just join up to seek collaboration and then are never heard from again. So there are time/posting requirements for that as well.) However, if you've fulfilled the requirements, then just ask if somebody would swap with you for a beta read. This means you'll need to read theirs as well, but you can learn as much critiquing somebody else's work as you can getting a critique of your own. Just for information, if you want a mod to respond to a question, the best way to do that is to click on their avatar and 'start a conversation' with them—or quote from their previous statement using the quote function in the insert icon, on the top menu of each thread. Otherwise we won't get an alert that you want to talk to us! I just ran across your question here by accident. Easy to miss. Hope this helps - Jan
