I'd like to expose the view of a new comer, and particularly the view of a new reader on the forum. First of all, I must say that this forum is really convivial with developed and interesting critics. The texts I have read so far (even if I don't always comment them because of my difficulties to write in a foreign language) are often well-written, with nice plots, characters that catch the reader's attention and striking feelings. For that, I thank you (writers and administrators) a lot. However, when I get to the section "Short stories" in order to discover some texts, I am quite disappointed by the length of these stories. They could hold on one or two pages for the mainly part. The solution you would tell me is to go to the section "Novels" but "extracts" seem bitter : you start reading and then stop : end of the debate. I wish I could read between 10 and 30 pages of the same story without being interrupted. I know a lot of readers can't afford, and don't have the time to discover them. Moreover, they are not the best format for the critics. Yet, from my experience in French texts, this kind of short stories are often a good training for novels. Besides, the addition of the section would create a branch "reading" on this writing forum. To my mind, these 2 activities are tightly linked and it would be a shame not to take profit of this wonderful leisure that reading is. In expectation of your reactions ... Loup
The purpose of the Review Room is not to display complete works, but rather to contain large enough excerpts for effective critique of the writing. The Review Room is a critiquing workshop, where participants learn to find weaknesses and suggest improvements. The same process is than applicable to one's own writing. The reason for separating novels from short stories is that the stories are developed somewhat differently. Short stories require a leaner, more focused approach than novels, and those differences also affect the analysis of the writing. It really isn't intended to be a reading room or an online publication medium.
also, many who post work here hope to eventually have that work published and if they post the entire story, it won't be publishable, since if people can read it for free, there's no incentive for a publisher to buy it and expect people to pay them for the privilege of reading it... which is why we encourage writers to post only brief excerpts and never post an entire piece of work they intend to submit for publication...
Looking past the focus of the workshop, there just aren't a lot of people who write novellas and novelettes, in part because there are very few publication venues that accept them. However, several of the novel threads have quite a few chapters posted, so if you want to review longer works, look for those. If you are just here to read, you're in the wrong place.
Thanks for your answers that I expected like that (a writing forum and not a reading forum). I used to hope secretly that a reading forum might appear but, and I understand you, this site is entirely turned on writing. I will keep on reading and commenting these little stories and I may take a look at the excerpts of novels.
