Alright, so I'm ne here....

Well, guys, I'm new here, and I'm just curious as to the nature of this site. Can we share serious pieces here? Do we just talk about things? Can we get real, critical judgment on our pieces? Just curious and would greatly appreciate any help you can lend me

Welcome to YWS!
On this site, you can submit your writing pieces or join discussions. People can review your work for you, if you want. Most of the reviews here are pretty helpful and trust me, you won't regret making this account.
Have fun!

Welcome to YWS Phoenix!

You can do pretty much everything awesome here! You can post your works (everything from poetry to short stories to novels to scripts) and you can get some really awesome feedback. Most everyone here is really helpful, and you can always request reviews from some of our most motivated reviewers in the Will Review For Food forum.

We're also big into chatting with each other and just generally having a good time. You should check out the chat room (there's a link on the home page of the site) as well as the lounge (from the community forum page) and join in some discussions.

I hope you enjoy your time here! If you have any questions, feel free to shoot a PM my way and I'd be glad to offer help&advice or just chat.

-Lauren-

Hey PheonixRain. Welcome to YWS. I'm Masq. What kind of writing do you like to do?

YWS is a great place for getting good critical reviews. We have a point system where you get points for writing reviews, and the longer the review, the more points. On Sunday we started review teams in which you are randomly sorted into a team and together you try to get as many points as you can to beat the other teams. You should consider joining a team.

We can share all kinds of pieces here. Just make sure you rate your piece when you post it if it has mature content or anything, because there are some younger writers on here.

We also talk about things. There are lots of forums for different types of discussion and a live chat room.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask me.

Hello!

My name is Micki (duh) and this site is awesome! You can post virtually anything you want, here. You can even post fanfiction, if you want! I think this site and the people on here are amazingly helpful with everything. Reviews here are almost always detailed (especially during this month, since we have a fun new competition going around here) and they tell you what you can improve on and are always very helpful. You can even request reviews from people willing to listen.

Also, you can get onto the website's chat room and talk to anyone signed on there. There's usually people on at all times and everyone I've met is very friendly and welcoming. I think you'll fit right on here! If you're taking a break from writing or suffering from a small bit of writers block there are forums like Time Wasters & Games where you can procrastinate with other procrastinators ;P as well as the Writing Activities forum.

If you have any questions there's also the Question and Answers forum as well as the Information Desk. Or, of course, you could just PM one of us and we can answer your questions or simply just talk! I would also recommend joining a review team! For the month, this site has split into four teams who are competing against each other (for fun) to see which team can earn the most points! It's very fun, and you can meet a lot of people! (I'm on the Power Rangers Team! Woo! ;D)

~Micki

Thanks guys! I posted a piece just a few moments ago, so if you want to see it, it's up! It's entitled "Unity." It's a pretty good example of the things I like to write. I also like to write....well, I guess you could call them informal essays. I have a blog, and I've been wanting some good, critical judgment on some pieces I have written/am writing.
How exactly does this point system work? How are reviews "graded" as far as getting points?

If a review is 1k characters long, then it's worth 50 points. The points you get are based on how long your review is character-wise, so the longer and more detailed the review, the more points you can get!

PhoenixRain wrote:Well, guys, I'm new here, and I'm just curious as to the nature of this site. Can we share serious pieces here? Do we just talk about things? Can we get real, critical judgment on our pieces? Just curious and would greatly appreciate any help you can lend me

Hey there!

First of all, I love your name. You can share serious pieces here, but they have to "family friendly". You can just talk about things, in fact there's a place called The Lounge that has everything from contests to discussions/debates, etc. You can get real critical judgement, but I'd say in order to do that you might want to check out someone's "Will Review for Food" thread.

I realize I just vomited bucket loads of information on you, so if you have any questions, you can PM me and hopefully I'll have the answer.

We're glad to have you on YWS! Enjoy it here!

~Amfli
GO TEAM TOXIC NUDIBRANCH!

We specialize in critiques!

....the more experienced reviewers, anyway.

Which is why the more experienced people help the newbies! We want everyone to be a star writer and reviewer. ^_^

So, when reviewing:
1. Give your thoughts on the piece. Explain.
2. Find something to nitpick. If there isn't anything, find something you liked and comment on it. (This doesn't mean the whole piece, just a few things.)
3. Give your overall impression.

If you do it that way, it's easy to get up to 1,000 characters! That's the number you have to reach to get the max number of points--50.

On review day (I think it's the last Sunday of every month) you can get 100 points for a 2,000 character review! ^_^

...it's really not that hard. Just start typing!

Also, you can post anything you want here. Short stories, novels, poetry... even art! There are contests here, too-- you can join a review team (you earn points for you team by reviewing) or just find one another user is hosting-- Azila's hosting one right now, as is Kagi. You can usually find them in their signatures-- that's the words most people have at the bottom. (You can change yours by going to My YWS at the top banner under the blue logo, then clicking edit profile settings.)

I'm sure you'll enjoy it here! Everyone's really nice.

Hey Phoenix, a little late on the welcome, but I would be honored to welcome you! I had the honor of reviewing a piece of yours and I dare say you are a great writer. You can write pretty much anything you want, and even share your pictures or lyrics if you have those. There are some really great reviewers here, and most try to be as helpful as possible. If you have any questions or would like another review from me, I would be happy to comply!

-HoH

Welcome to YWS! Yes, you can post anything you want, whether that's serious or not. Personally, I post excerpt from my novel. Other people post their whole novels and poems. Whatever you write, you'll probably receive amazing critiques that will easily help you improve your writings.
Just make sure you review people as well!

Hi! Welcome to YWS! It's really nice to meet you!

On YWS, you can post your work, get awesome critique, as well as talk with other absomazing writers!

Nice to meet you, and welcome to YWS!

Hey there =] I've been on the site for a month or so now. So I'm pretty new myself. But any who, you can do just about anything on here. Post serious works, like myself, or silly things like children's poetry and such. And believe me, you definitely get criticism on here and almost always it is constructive. You can talk as well, and there are definitely good people on this site that will help you better your work. Luck =]

Hey!

Welcome to the site!
I hope you enjoy it.

If you ever need anything leave a comment on my wall. It's an easy enough site to get around but it can sometimes get confusing especially when your new, I was new a while ago so I know how it feels.

Well, see you around!
Kagi x