Hey everybody, My name is Jeff. I'm new and looking for people to critique my writing and critique the way I write. I've looked at a few posts, and I see that youguys have great advice and good writing skills. I want to join you and see if I can give advice as well. A little about me: I wanna be a Science-Fiction Author someday. (My big dream in life!!) And I would love help in my writing. This place already looks great! I know I'll have some good times here. Thank you very much!
Hello Jeff, Welcome to the Writing Forums. Before you can get critique, you must first give constructive critique. This is not just a quid pro quo, it is because improving your critiquing skills is the primary focus of the Review Room workshop. Improving your critiquing skills will improve your ability to find and fix weaknesses in your own writing. Posting your own writing for people to comment on should not be among the very first things you do here. It is worth taking the time to see what other people have done to improve their writing, and see if some of it applies to your writing as well. That is part of why we require members to review other members' work before posting their own for review. On the other hand, there are no restrictions, other than content and copyright rules, on showcasing your work in your member blog. Also, be aware that posting a piece of writing on any public site, including this one, will greatly diminish your chances of selling it for publication. Removing the writing later does not alter that fact - once posted, it is irreversibly considered published. So do not post anything more than a small excerpt of any piece you are planning to submit for publication. If you haven't explored the site yet, you should probably do so soon. Newcomers often gravitate to the Lounge, the Word Games, or the Review Room, but there is much more to be discovered if you poke in the corners. Remember to check out our FAQ as well, and be sure to read through the forum rules, too, to avoid any misunderstandings or hurt feelings. Respect for one another is our principal mandate. As for the Review Room, new joiners often wonder why we do things a bit differently on this site than on other writing sites. We emphasize constructive critique as a vital writing skill. Training your eye by reviewing other people's work helps you improve your own writing even before you present it for others to see. Therefore, we ask members to review other people's writing before posting work of their own. The Review Room forums on this site, therefore, are true workshops, not just a bulletin board for displaying your work (and on that note, please only post each item for review in one Review Room forum). Also, please use the same thread for all revisions and additional excerpts from the same piece of writing. See this post, Why Write Reviews Before Posting My Work? for more information. And while you're looking around, don't forget to check out our Weekly Short Story Contest and Weekly Poetry Contest. They actually run more than one week apiece, but any member may enter, and all members are urged to vote for their favorites. Enjoy your stay here, and have fun!
Thanks Gigi for the welcome! Cogito, I just have a few question... maybe a few 'watch out JFree' rules I might need to look out for. You didn't really touch on in your post. So, lets say I want to make a short story and post it on here. Like an exerpt of some kind. and lets say the short writing has a based character that I did not make up my own, for example: Superman, Spider-man, a member of the X-Men. ect... So, I do my own short story about Superman and I would post it on here to get critique in my writing. Am I allowed to do this? If not, then that's cool. Just so I know. I know there's copyrights and stuff. Also, thanks for letting me know about posting any writing that I would want to publish later as an Author, won't be able to be published again. That lets me know that I need to be carefull with what I share with you guys. Again, thanks alot! I appreciate the welcome to this forum. It's going to be fun!
Hi Jeff, I'm new too so my welcome is more a – hey, me too, nice to meet you. I'll look forward to reading your sci-fi & posts... see you in the threads, laure
Jeff, there is a fan fiction section. There are authors, such as Anne Rice, who specifically request no one write stories derived from their characters and settings. If we know of such restrictions, we will honor the author's wishes and not permit those stories. But mostly, our attitude toward fanfic is that we permit it as long as it isn't clearly inappropriate. I personally don't have the greatest regard for fanfic. I feel most writers will be better off creating their own settings and characters, and not glomming onto someone else's work. There's a much greater sense of satisfaction from developing your story from the ground up too. But fanfic is the set of training wheels many of us used to get started. And yet, there are also franchises for serious writers to write within existing fictional milieus, such as the many Star Trek novels. I certainly can't cover every possible question in one intro post, which many people already think is too long. But some of those questions are anwered in the resources linked to in my post, others can be found by exploring the site for a little while.
Ok Cogito, Thank you much! Hey Laure. Nice to meet you here. This is going to be fun. Can't wait to read your stuff!
