Hi, i'm new to this website. I'm looking for friends able of commitment. I'm writing a sci-fi book, and i have deadlines. But i need friends who'd give me their honest opinion about my chapters. I do not like idle talk, i like to work towards the goal without any distractions. I will work towards mine, and i will help you get organized and work towards yours. Sometimes a good author only needs an encouraging push. I'm sure that there are people here who would like their chapters read to receive an opinion. I'm a very caring critiquer - i do not hurt, and i do not say mean stuff. I will crit your work in exchange for you reading\critting mine. Please PM me, if you're interested. Regards, Griffin
I must have trust issues, as I'm not sure I'd share chapters of my work with what are effectively strangers. Heck, I only let a few close friends read my stuff while it's it progress for feedback. Maybe I need to work on some of my trust issues.
Huntsman40, Well, obviously, that depends on a person. There are extroverts and introverts... I'm an extrovert, and i have no problem with others reading my stuff. Besides, self-publishing on amazon means a whole bunch of strangers reading your book. But before i do that i actually need to know if my stuff is good or not... Don't you?
Strangers reading your published work is one thing, but quite another letting them have it before it is. Of course it's good to get feedback on your work before you publish, but really you'll often learn nothing overly useful if you are looking for if they like it or not. For the same reason after you publish on Amazon – if that is your chosen route – you'll get feedback reviews from people that like it and those that don't. I'd ask how much of the book were you panning on sharing with people? Will you give them small segments, full chapters or all of it? And share it with how many? Trust aside, remember most writers tend to write differently and the saying too many cooks can spoil the broth doesn't always apply just to cooking. Feedback on parts can be good, but too many involved can just get confusing in my experience. It’s each to their own method though I guess in the end.
Huntsman40, There is plenty of truth in what you're saying. Actually, all of it is true. I guess, i'm used to chapter-to-chapter feedback, and that is my way of work and support of others in exchange for getting their support. I'm planning to share all the chapters (give or take 60 of them) with 2-3 people of the support group. Sure, too many cooks, albeit the best of them ARE gonna spoil the soup, but i'm looking for more support than critique. I have discovered that saying positive things helps the author get better (inexplicably so!), work with more self-confidence, as opposed to pointing out as to where he\she is wrong, and ripping down their self-confidence... This approach has always worked for me both ways. I guess that's what i'm looking for.
Hello Griffin, Welcome to the Creative Writing Forums. Asking for offline critiques, or offline critique partnerships, isn't really the purpose of this site. It's a forum, and as such it works best out in the open with group synergy. Hopefully you can glean value from how we do operate. Please read How to Use the Writing Workshop before you try to post there. Posting your own writing for people to comment on should not be among the very first things you do here anyway. 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 Writing Prompts, or the Writing Workshop, 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 site rules, too, to avoid any misunderstandings or hurt feelings. Respect for one another is our principal mandate. As for the Writing Workshop, 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. We also impose a two-week waiting period before you may post writing for critique, to give you time to become familiar with what is expected and how the site operates. The Writing Workshop 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 Writing Workshop 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 the RPG forum for improvisational fiction. Also try 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!
Cogito, Thanks a lot. I did critique other people's work about a week ago, i'll say, 3 people, or so. And i was planning to return crits for the nice guys who gave me their opinion on this thread. And you're saying it is not a good thing for me to put many chapters on the website? Well, i'm not much for talking about stuff on forums. Frankly, i'm here to post my work, see how it sounds to others, and crit their work in exchange. I also offered Daniel to become a volunteer contributing articles on the way of writing i have to offer, and I sent him an article. I mean, i'm not here to just reap other people's attention. I'm also a contributor. But my main goal is to post my work and see a response. If this is not the place for that, i'll go elsewhere, not a problem.
I actually used this method with my first book, but found it a little counterproductive. I use my wife and two friends who are voracious readers of the genres I write in to read my work. They found it hard to give great feedback due to getting the book in slices and finding it hard to connect things together with gaps between reading what I'd written, and so I didn't do it again. I'd stay again though that I'd think real-life friends you know and trust are better than strangers that you can't be sure wouldn't do something you wouldn't like with your work. Support and self-confidence are great to have, but surrounding yourself with people that just say they like you work to boost confidence will rarely provide better writing. It might push you to write more, but rarely to write better material. The right people reading your work can be critical without being brutal, and as long as they like things as well it shouldn't be a confidence dampener either. My harshest critic is my editor and my mother, who has been a freelance book editor for about thirty years, which is both good and bad. Good that I have an editor for my work that I trust, but also the last person that I want to shred my work to pieces – not that it stops her from doing so It can often be the pointing out of our weaknesses that make us stronger, not the exultation of our strengths. When was the last sportsman that got better just from the coach telling them they were brilliant? Never is the answer.
