Young Writers Society

Hi! I'm working on sharpening my critiquing scalpel, and I need new victims on my dissecting table. I figure I'll be hanging out mainly in the literature forums. Nice to meet you all.

Hohoho, welcome, welcome Karsten. *rubs her hands deviously*
YWS can use people like you. *evil cackle*

Anyway!
We've got some important rules you should take note of before you strap down some victims onto your cold, unforgiving dissection table of doom:
1) Keep chatspeak and CAPS lock to an absolute minimal.
2) Rate your works appropriately. 'R' ratings for adult content, strong language/violence, and so on.
3) For every 1 piece of work you post, you must review 2 pieces of work done by others, and I'm sure you won't have a problem keeping to this rule We call this the 2:1 ratio rule.

So! We're really glad to have you, because we need more critiquing machines like you
Tell us more about yourself! What books do you like? Any favourite authors? Music?

If you've got any questions or just want to talk, go right ahead and PM me!
Have a great day then, I'll see you around!
~Meep(:

Hey Karsten, welcome to YWS!

Hey, once you've sharpened your reveiwing skills up enough, you should apply to be an Instructor, from what you've said already, you sound like you have the potential. Instrusctors go above and beyond to help people improve their writing on the site. If you want to apply, go to the Community forum, all the way at the bottom is Applications, click on that and you'll be good to go.

So what's your favorite genre to read/write? What kind of music do you listen to? What's your favorite sport to play/watch? What's your favorite kind of pie? If you were a shoe, what kind of shoe would you be and why?

I hope you have a great time here and if you have any questions or need anything, feel free to PM me!

-Carly

Hi there, you fast mover you! After my intro post, I was expecting rules more like "Do not delight in other people's pain". I think your rules are easier to obey.

Meep(: wrote:So! We're really glad to have you, because we need more critiquing machines like you
Tell us more about yourself! What books do you like? Any favourite authors?

I'm a huge fan of fantasy in all its forms, and I like to branch out into related genres and subgenres - paranormal romance, horror, SF, YA fantasy, etc. It would take me a week to list all my favourite authors, but a quick sampling: gritty epic fantasy writers George RR Martin, Joe Abercrombie, Scott Lynch, Richard Morgan and Paul Kearney; SF writers Lois Bujold, Richard Morgan (a genre hopper), Charles Stross and Jeff Somers; YA fantasy writer Sarah Rees Brennan; thriller writers Alistair MacLean and Dick Francis ... Yeah, I could be here a while.

I have three completed novels under my belt and I'm working on a fourth. Critiquing, for me, is a way to improve my understanding of big-picture and structural issues in novel-writing. Spelling and grammar problems are easy to spot. It's tougher to put your finger on a story that started too early, leaving too much setup prior to the inciting incident. If I can learn to see these problems in other people's work, I can learn not to do them myself.

Also I can pretend I'm still being productive when I'm actually just slacking off so I don't have to edit my novel.

edit:

tnme22 wrote:Hey, once you've sharpened your reveiwing skills up enough, you should apply to be an Instructor, from what you've said already, you sound like you have the potential. Instrusctors go above and beyond to help people improve their writing on the site. If you want to apply, go to the Community forum, all the way at the bottom is Applications, click on that and you'll be good to go.

That's a very kind suggestion, but it would be a case of the blind leading the blind, I'm afraid.

Hello Karsten!

I do like your enthusiasm for reviewing. and, I totally agree with you about review actually in turn helping the reviewer with his/her writing as well. I always feel like I can tackle my own writing problems after doing some reviews. So good luck with your critiquing.

Yes, I would say our rules are pretty basic. And, I do think you would make a good instructor. But, let's first see how great your reviews really are.

So, welcome to YWS and all. And do have a look in the help and support section in case something comes up, or you could always PM me.

Welcome to YWS Karsten ^^ I'm Shina, another one of those blue-titled people known as greeters. It is my job and my pleasure to welcome the newbs of YWS.

Sounds like you might want to be an instructor if you've got the right stuff

3 novels under your belt and working on your fourth? Remember it's about quality not quantity (: You can polish those up here on YWS.

Since Meep got most of the tech rules, I'll give you my advice:

Don't take all reviews to heart. Beware of the instructors! They will tear your work to shreds, literally. Nothing gets past their eyes =_= Nothing. It's a good thing though. It's all in the hope that you'll improve and write better.

When someone signs your guestbook, sign theirs back. It's nice.

Be nice! Be professional! This is highly important :<

Good luck & Have Fun

-Shina

P.S. If you'd really like to sharpen your editing skills, you can learn from the masters: Rosey Unicorn, Evi, Snoink, Springrain, and so on.

More people! Yay!

angels-symphony wrote:3 novels under your belt and working on your fourth? Remember it's about quality not quantity (:

Hahahaha ... ahem. Sorry. I'm writing at the rate of a novel every 1-3 years - if I were writing any slower I'd be going backward.

Thanks for the welcomes. Please ignore the blood spattering the walls in the fantasy forum. The pain is in everyone's best interests, really.

Hey,

Welcome to YWS.

If you need anything, feel free to pm me.

See ya around.

NM