Over the weekend I received an e-mail from Nancy, who describes herself as "a fairly new writer." She's looking for an online "community where people can share their writing and love of writing, etc. and get feedback if they want it." She's hoping for a site where people critique others' work "gently and lovingly."
I have Nancy's permission to post this, and I am hoping some of you will have suggestions to help her out. Please share what you know on this topic in the comments section. Thank you in advance!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Sometimes those groups that critique 'gently and lovingly' are nothing but ego-strokers. They make you feel good, but you don't necessarily learn how to be a better writer. Some of the harshest critiques I've received have been the ones that helped me the most. There's a difference between cruel crits and ones that give an honest and fair assessment. I learned long ago that attitude is the key. If you consider that a critique is meant to help you, not hurt you, you'll be fine.
I am also fairly new to writing and I have found the Absolute write forums to be quite helpful. There is an area there where you can post your work for critiques. They may not be "gentle and lovingly" but they will be honest and fair.
One thing I have learned is it takes a thick skin to be a good writer. When someone critiques your work it is not personal, they want to help you improve. Why else would they give freely of their time to do the critique.
Absolutewrite.com is the address, there is something there for all writers.
I suggest theh internet writing workshop (www.internetwritingworkshop.org), which is very active on both the submitting and critiquing ends. It has fiction, nonfiction and general writing areas for interaction about work, and a blog. The one regular blind spot I've found is that critiques are often overly brief, or focused in a studious fashion on keeping the writing "rules." But the volume and attentiveness of comments makes up for this, generally.
I'm thinking of Zoetrope and Critique's Corner. - Janice Colman
Post a Comment