As I'm new to this forum, I'd hate to come off as selfish in the sense that I try only to develop my story, without taking into account what I'm allowed, and not allowed to do. Am I allowed to have someone (or everyone) proofread a short chapter or excerpt of my novel? If so, would anyone be able to in half an hour?
Ah, yes, but like all things, it comes with a price; our price is that you need to wait 2 weeks, have 20 posts, and do 2 critiques (per post). Also, the only place you can post such a thing is the workshop.
Yes, I'm serious. In the link below, you will find everything you need to know about getting your work looked at. As for the 2 per 1 deal, for every thread you make in the workshop, you need to have done 2 critiques. https://www.writingforums.org/faq/writing-workshop.16/category
@OJB So seeing the two week thing, I absolutely can not post my work until then? Even if I contribute to others' work, and follow the other guidelines?
While you're here @OJB , how can I inquire about changing my profile birth date? I don't know what happened, but I'm well off 43 years of age.
You can purchase a supporter membership, which allows you to bypass the two-week wait; however, you'd still need to critique two other workshopped items before posting your own. Other than that, there is no way to bypass the wait. - The only person who might be able to do this would be @Wreybies I would inbox/pm with the age change request.
@OJB Thats a shame. I imagine its in fear of people getting the help they need, and leaving? Is there no way I couls support my case to prove Ill be here a while?
You're unlikely to get "need answer fast" support here even if you've been a member for quite some time. We're in a variety of different time zones, have a variety of different outside responsibilities, and, to be blunt, no one here knows your or owes you anything yet. Imagine walking up to a group of complete strangers who are chatting with each other and asking to borrow twenty bucks. Not that they aren't friendly people and all, but it's rather sudden and there's really no way you can leave your driver's license with us until you pay it back. I don't want to discourage you from joining and becoming a member, but you're not in an ideal spot for your expectations at the moment.
@Iain Aschendale I don't recall asking anything out of the ordinary. I'm very aware you owe me nothing, as I owe you nothing, but I really enjoyed @OJB's list of rules, as they really help the community flourish. I don't expect fast responses or for someone to write me a novel, but I was hoping I could bypass the 2 week rule, as it is obviously an attempt to keep people from getting what they need and leaving. I'm in a forum for a game I play. Could the time I've spent there (The fact that I stick to forums) help vouch for me?
@ChickenFreak I believe I wrote, "If so, would anyone be able to in half an hour?". Nowhere does the demand anyone to, or indicate any state of urgency. I was hitting a milestone in the first draft, and not knowing there were some prerequisites, I was wondering if anyone was available. I see now that this is not possible.
Ah. OK. I think I get it. Yes, the review room doesn't really work on a timely direct-interaction basis--even if you had fulfilled all of the requirements. It's more like you throw a bottle in the ocean and hope that someone picks it up. I think that you're thinking of a model that, while it would be handy, isn't the one we use.
@ChickenFreak I'm honestly very confused. Am I allowed to share, or do I really have to wait two weeks? In the meantime, I'd love to help others in the workshop.
You really have to wait two weeks (or whatever the number is) or do that membership thing that someone mentioned. You'll also need to do some reviews, so you could start with those now, so that you have some racked up for after that two weeks and you want to request reviews. The deal is that you do two reviews for each one that you request.
I know if you donate enough to become a contributor (Little blue tag next to some peoples' names) you can bypass the two week requirement.
Appreciate it mate. I guess waiting two weeks and attempting to situate myself sounds like a better way to go. No disrespect to the forum of course.
As OJB said you can buy supporter membership if you really can't wait two weeks (its actually 6 days now -its 14 days from date of joining) That said the workshop is more about critique of writing style, plot, character etc ... proof reading (for spelling and grammar) is a whole different thing
SPAG is one of the things addressed in the workshop. But usually people aren’t going to proofread the whole piece—for example, if the writer has dialogue punctuation wrong, the critiquer will generally point out one or two examples and make it the writer’s job to apply that knowledge to the rest.
