Hey guys, I have a story that might be over 9,000 words long to post for a critique. Can i post the entire thing or break it down into an excerpt?. Let me know, thanks!
The thing is, if you post an excerpt (more like a chunk of story in your case), when and if you decide to get a publisher they will not want your book as a big bit of it can be found for free online. I would recommend posting an extract no longer than 2000 words, but try to keep it shorter than that, if possible. Also, post something you think you really need to work at, or something you want feedback on to know if readers will like a certain thing that you have written; you don't always have to post the beginning of your story, so if a short bit in the middle of your story would make sense without anything else and you wish to have it critiqued and reviewed, then go for it. Hope I helped.
I would be concerned that 9,000 words is just too long for a proper critique. I know I'd be shying away from trying to give constructive feedback on that much text!
If you post 9000 words, many people will skip over it, especially if it looks like an unbroken wall of text. If you post a few short paragraphs instead, critiquers are less likely to be turned away by the sheer size of it. There will still be plenty there to critique. And if you post the full 9000, somone like me would most likely only dissect a few paragraphs anyway. If that excerpt becomes reasonably clean, you may be ASKED to post a bit more. And the next excerpt, if you have learned from the responses to your first sample, should be a tremendous improvement over your original draft. Read How to Use the Writing Workshop
