I wasn't 100% clear on the images after reading the rules a third time. Is there any problem with illustrating my work I place up for critique? I thought it might be courteous to ask before I just go putting visual art out there with my text. It appears it's pretty common outside the workshop. Wasn't sure about in our short stories.
This would be a no, sorry to say. If I take your meaning correctly, decorative, explanatory or "mood setting" imagery is not allowed within the Workshop. It should be your writing and simply your writing. Now, this having been said (and this is not directed at you in particular, @DrWhozit) , I am sure there will be one or two who've been simply dying for this segue to point out the exception I recently made in the Poetry subforum that ruffled at least one set of feathers. The exception was just that, an exception. In one case, the text of the poem was electronically dynamic and in the other, the OP offered the words of his poem in simple print and in a visual context. Still, the visual context was composed of the very words of his poem. I felt, for the sake of the valuable discussion that ensued, the exception was worth making.
Is there any point where the edit limit ends? That is because I didn't realize the editor in the workshop removes THAT much format. I can understand your reasoning for saying no. Part of me feels it might not be fair either for those who can't do illustrations.
There is. I'm not sure at the moment what the post count is or the time limit because it's changed a few times since the flip to Xenforo from VBulletin. I'll have to ask Daniel for that. I can help you there, though. Send me a conversation with the corrected format version and pointing me to the correct thread and I can edit the post for you with the cleaned up version.
The reason this is not permitted in the Writing Workshop is to keep the focus on the writing, without influencing critiquers with artifacts of presentation. Making the writer depend solely on wording, punctuation, sentence structure, and all the other aspects found only in unadorned text makes the writer better at those fundamentals. This is also true of lyrics. Even though the final presentation will have a musical accompaniment, focusing on the lyrics in isolation means better writing overall. When the music is added later, the overall product will be so much the better. So we don't allow the musical score or audio tracks to be included in the Workshop.
Then, for the sake of an illustrated book, the use of the artwork is okay in novels? If I should decide to post some of one of my novels for critique, I'd think my own illustrations show a scene that might keep the reader wondering where it is in the text. I would think children's books would be the same. For here, I would think, if the art will be what might go in the ebook, it would be up for critique. Isn't part of the forum mission to take budding writers from cradle to grave?
First off, the illustrations are not, as a rule, done by the author, even in a children's book. The manuscript is accepted as a first step, and then the publisher selects an illustrator in a process that is every bit as competitive as phe process for manuscripts. Second, the site may be designed to assist the writer from start to finish, but the Writing Workshop's goal is considerably more specific. It focuses on the critiquing process, as the single most effective skill to improve the member's writing skills, Please read Why Write Reviews Before Posting My Work? and How to Use the Writing Workshop.
I actually did a quick search. This has been a trend for over 2 decades now that may have started with Heavy Metal books associated with the magazine. Artists are increasingly making everything from new comic books to illustrated books. http://www.heavymetal.com/ I don't know if you remember the animated feature. They were pretty gnarly for the most part, but they over used high contrast rotoscope techniques.
