Welcome to Creative Writer!
Welcome to Creative Writer!! This is your official welcome mat! (No need to wipe your feet...um hm...please.) Please check out the link(s) below for helpful information concerning this site and better writing! Have fun!
Bethanna and Ayoub
An Introduction for New Members
My name is Bethanna. Creative Writer was set up in March of 2001 by Joe Morris as a place for new and seasoned writers to hone and show off their craft. He built the site to be a family friendly site. We have members as young as 13 and as old as who knows. When I came into Joe's life, my spine collapsed and I ended up bed ridden for nine months. Joe had opened Creative Writer, but went on to other things. In March of 2005 Creative Writer had a little over two hundred members. He gave me the community to work while I was bed ridden, mainly to keep me from going insane. Writing is my passion, so Creative Writer and I fit very well. I revamped the site, and made it more user friendly. Then a series of very difficult events happened. I had surgery on my spine to correct the collapse, I had to recover from surgery, then Joe died in a motorcycle accident, then I had to leave Florida due to another emergency, and now I am in England. Life has been insane. anarkian (Ayoub) took over the ownership of Creative Writer in May of this year to prevent it from completely disappearing until I was able to take it back. Thank goodness for his willingness to do so, otherwise Creative Writer would not exist today.
We are now over a thousand members strong. Now that I have some stability in my life (crossing fingers that it STAYS that way.) I will be working to bring Creative Writer into the place Joe and I had envisioned. We wanted Creative Writer to be a non profit organization that helps writers receive the education and tools they need to become the writers they want to become - as in: scholarships, computers, workshops, agent contact, publisher contact - and anything that might be useful. We began working on this process right before Joe died. I have no idea what this means now that I am in England, so the process will have to start over. Time and research will tell - hope is high.
So, welcome to Creative Writer!!
The Creative Writer Work Desk
The Creative Writer Work Desk cw_owner is the journal I opened for Creative Writer to keep maintenance clutter off of Creative Writer. Ideas are bounced around here. It is a public journal, but all replies are screened. If you would like to add yourself to it, we will certainly add you back. If not, there is a link to this journal on Creative Writer, and I post links to updates for important information.
I will write a "News" post each Monday here on the CW Work Desk and link it to Creative Writer in a post.
As I said, all replies to CW Work Desk are screened. Meaning if you have a concern, complaint, idea, anything that you would like to talk to us about, you can leave a private reply. It will remain private unless it is general in nature.
Calendar of Events
Monday - Creative Writer News - What's going on in Creative Writer, Maintenance updates, Future Planning
Tuesday - Creative Writer Block Buster - Posted writing prompt with reply answered free write challenge.
Wednesday - Creative Writer Short Lesson of the Week
Thursday - Creative Writer Character Honing - Ways to develop full faceted characters.
Alternate Thursday - Premise match / development - developing original interesting premises.
Friday - Creative Writer Weird Word of the Week - Vocabulary building.
Saturday - Creative Writer Welcome Mat
Quarterly - Starting January 15th - Creative Writer Writer's Challenge
Creative Writer Critique Suggestions
Please consider the following:
PRAISE:
Authors: Please be aware that while you have a piece that is absolutely of value and may well be good enough to be published, critiques that tell you it is a wonderful piece when it is not finished will not help you get to that polished perfect state. The best compliment you can receive is willingness for someone to help guide you to finish with fresh eyes. It means you have a piece that is worth the further effort. If you feel that your work is FINISHED and you are not asking for a critique and do not have plans for publishing, please note your work as FINISHED. A critique will not be given, instead it will be read for 'review'.
Critique Friend: Please keep praise at a minimum until the author states that this is a FINISHED WORK. Sometimes praise can really get in the way of making necessary changes to polish a piece in process. If you do want to praise, be absolutely SPECIFIC about what your praise is for.
FEEDBACK:
Authors: Please for your own benefit, either at the begining of your work or at the end (I would suggest at the end so that you do not influence the actual first reading)state as clearly as possible what kind of feedback you are looking for. What is your goal for the piece you are working on? This will give the people who read your work a clear picture of how to help you.
Critique Friend: When offering feedback, think about what kind of help YOU would want to receive for the piece of work you are reading. Think of yourself as the author. Be as clear in your response as possible citing paragraph number and sentence. Copy and paste the sentence or paragraph if necessary.
ELEMENTS TO CONSIDER
Characterisation: Do the characters seem real? Do they have depth of emotion, personality quirks, conflicts? Or are they recognizable sterotypes? Are their motives understandable and logical to the story? Is the good guy really a good guy? Is he lovable or at least likable? Do you hate the bad guy? Are they believable?
Dialogue: Does the dialogue seem realistic? Can the reader imagine real people carrying the same type of conversaton the charactors are holding? Is the dialogue stiff? Does it move the story or does it slow the story? Is the conversation necessary to the story?
Setting: The reader does not know anything the writer does not tell them. If the setting is sparce in detail, does it fit the theme and tone of the story? If not, is the reader able to see fully where they are at as if they were the characters themselves. The reader must be able to experience what the character is experiencing. Is this accomplished?
Point of View: Is the point of view first or third person? Is it consisntent throughout the story? Is the story or the sentences strong enough to carry the person chosen? Would another person view work better for the story? Are each of the characters easily worked in the story with the narrative view chosen?
Tense: Is the story written in past or present tense? Does the tense slow the story? Would another tense be more effective? Is the tense consistent throughout the story?
Development: Is the story logical? Does it have a beginning, middle, and end? Are specific changes easily followed? What specific areas of the story are confusing if any? Are there sudden complete changes that leave the reader behind? Is the plot specific, or is it aimless? Is the premise cliche'? Or is it original?
Pacing: Does the story move the reader? Is it easy for the reader to keep reading, or is the reader tempted to put the story down and not finish? Does the action progress quickly or is it very slow?
Is the reader drawn into the story? How long does it take for the story to set up?
A few other questions: What is the first impression of the story? What is the first thought? What was gut reaction after the story was read the first time? Did this reaction change after the second reading?
Would you read the piece again?
Mechanics: Suggestions to improve specific sentence structure is always helpful. Give an example, please.
RULES FOR GOOD CRITIQUE ALLIANCES
BE HONEST - Be gentle, but TELL THE TRUTH.
BE THICK SKINNED - Do not take the critique personally - EVER. It is imperitive (if you want to serously write) you grow that thick skin as your work will ALWAYS be critiqued, even AFTER it is published.
CONSIDER COMMENTS CAREFULLY - Sometimes changes need to be made, sometimes they don't. Sometimes it is worth setting the critique to the side for a little while and then coming back to it so that you can see for yourself what actually needs to be changed and how.
BE KIND - Honesty doesn't mean butchering. Be kind. An author's work is as much a part of themselves as your work is a part of you. Lead, guide, HELP. Be kind. 'Nuf said.
ENCOURAGING - Encourage each other to your best work!! The best cure for writer's block is another writer who has been there!!
BE FRIENDLY - Read the friend's page here on the community and get to know each other. This is a passionate art that can be brutal. It takes good friends to get through it and keep your passion surviving!
BE PROMPT - Don't pass up a work that you just read and enjoyed without giving some insight that will help the author finish and polish their work. After you read the piece, (suggestion) come to this post and pick one or two elements that you can give some insight on concerning their work. Then give an honest kind critique limited to that one or two elements. It will mean the world to them if they get their work published!
LOOK AT THE BIG PICTURE No nitt-picking! Look at the piece as a whole. If they forgot a comma, leave that for the editor UNLESS THEY SPECIFICALLY ASK FOR A GRAMMATICAL REVIEW.
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HOW TO MAKE AN LJ-CUT
Cut and paste the following on to your post. Place this cut after your introduction, and before the actual piece. Remove the asterick, Either place the title of your piece or the words 'CONTINUE READING' between the quotation marks.
<*lj-cut text="TITLE OF TEXT HERE">
<*lj-cut text="CONTINUE READING">
EXAMPLE:
SUBJECT LINE: POETRY/ GENRE / TITLE / MEMBER NAME
ENTRY BOX: (Favorite line in poem:)
I often wonder how it came to be that both of us
spent so much of our lives away on other things, places, and moments.
LJ CUT IS PLACED HERE
TITLE OF POEM OR PIECE
POEM
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Have fun and here's to GREAT WRITING!!
Bethanna