Have I caught your attention?
I just wondered why, as a writing community we don't seem to communicate that well. As a frequent flyers of four writing related sites, why is it on this one, people are unwilling to critique other peoples work. Aren't we here to help each other in any way we can?
As to myself, I attempt to review at least two or three per week, even though I'm currently re-drafting my own MS. Please don't take this the wrong way, I'm only trying to get people talking and helping each other, because without that, how do we know if what we are writing is any good.
So come on, who's behind me on this? Let us make a brilliant writers community that will make others drool with envy.
Sarah. :)
Sorry, Jonathan and Louise for taking my time in getting back to you, been busy re-drafting.
Jonathan, as to your comment I understand completely, but if the writer in question is new to the process, then don't you think it would be helpful to explain their mistakes so as they can learn from them.
I know when I first began to write I had multiple issues with punctuation, and I'm sure I still have a few misplaced commas here and there, but if it wasn't for some really helpful advice, I would have carried on regardless. As to plots and characters, a couple of guiding lines in the right direction is all that's needed.
Louise, I must say I had no idea "Share Your Work" was open to the public domain, but then you're right, you can read the pieces without entering a password. Perhaps that's an issue that needs to be addressed.
I think you're correct about the question and answers segment, there needs to be somewhere, where people can discuss topics and get advice on writing, not just the blogs, which of course are helpful, but a forum of some sort for the thousands of members on this site. Don't you think it would be great to have a British equivalent? I've trawled the internet looking for one, and as yet I haven't found anything. Writers & Artists is a known name, it would be nice to see their site move with the times and become more user friendly.
I hope I haven't just earned a one way ticket off this site now.
Sarah :)
I found another one called Fictionpress.com but submitting things to that is a bit strange; it double spaces everything by default which I found confusing to read, especially because I put up a couple of poems and the verses weren't split up, so I've abandoned that one. I've also gone back to my usual area - prose. Poetry was a quick dabble, so I've replaced my submission here with a story too.
I agree Brits don't seem to be quite as keen to critique other people's work on sites like this. It seems to be a sort of "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all" mentality. I've done it myself because I didn't want to offend the other person. But I've also seen cases where people did review something and the reaction was unbelievably defensive.
Thanks for the info Sarah, I'll check those out.