Greetings fellow scribes! It is I, Ben from Canada! I am here to hone my own technique and perhaps help others as well. I have only been published somewhere where they required actual quality to be published one time, and that was here: click I'm also doing the Clarion Write-A-Thon (but not Clarion West, was too slow on that one). And I blog, and occasionally do that twitter thing. Links in signature. I'm not sure what you guys want for an introduction aside from that, so if you want to know anything, ask me here and I'll answer.
Hello Ben, Welcome to the Creative Writing Forums. 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 Word Games, 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 forum 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!
Thank you for the warm welcome! I've a question. Actually, 2. One of them shouldn't be an issue with me, as I like to critique works, but the other is somewhat pressing. Firstly, the rules say you must critique 2 pieces for every one you post, contests notwithstanding, something I wholeheartedly support. However, does it have to be "critique 2 poems, you can post a poem, critique 2 short stories and you can post a short story" or is it just "critique 2 things, you can post a thing"? Secondly, if I have an idea, an overview of how I want to do a story, may I post a summary of that idea, but not what I've written in order to realize said idea, before I've done my 2 critiques? The objective would be, of course, to see if the idea (for both premise and stricture of the piece) has any real strength.
Welcome! You've got to crit two stories on the same forum....i.e. if you're posting a horror story, critique 2 horror stories. At least I think; that's what I always do. And if you critique two stories, then post your own story, but later you want to post a second story, do at least two more crits. As far as posting summaries, only do it if you need to explain what you're story's about and then ask a question about something you're genuinely stuck with. Don't start threads like "This is my idea, does it sound good?" You'll just get told not to seek validation.
Thanks, you're probably right. It would definitely sound like I'm seeking validation if I asked that.
