Looking for Ideas to Build a Unique Writing Community

[ikedastory]

Hey everyone,

I’m thinking about creating my own writing forum/community and would love to hear your thoughts. What features or tools do you wish more writing forums had? Are there any unique or convenient additions that could make a writing community stand out?

I’m not here to self-promote—just genuinely curious about what writers find most valuable in an online space. Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated!

Looking forward to your insights!

 

[pmmg]

Personally, I like a good forum, and a place for stories to be posted and commented on separate than forum posts.

Depending on the site, a useful news feed to display to the public.

MS has some good features, but more than we really need, and does not have a focus on writing and reviewing...the tools for posting and commenting on stories is not really present.

Scribophile has excellent tools for posting and getting comments, but...I dont enjoy the karma system, and the last time I was there, the forums were not for me.

 

[ikedastory]

Got it! Thanks for the advice. It sounds like the key things to focus on are making the site easy to navigate, ensuring members can easily post and comment on stories, and providing a space for social interaction. I appreciate the insights!

 

[Prince of Spires]

In the end, by far the most important feature of a writing community (or any community really) is its members. The rest of the tools don't matter all that much, and most software can do most things. Yes, something like better critiquing or reviewing options might be nice, but you can build the best platform in the world, if you don't have a great community then it will not matter.

 

[Devor]

I'm going to echo pmmg a little. Scibophile has great tools for editing. I wish we get a license or something to use their tools here, but that just isn't a thing. We're limited to the tech that's available on the market, which doesn't always work the way we would want it to.

Ideally, the best site for writers would have:

- Content: Commentary. Industry updates. Interviews. Flash Fiction. Reviews. How to Get Started with Writing kind of stuff. More than ever it has to be video, yet still tied to the main site community, which is a challenge since a successful YouTube/TikTok series would naturally splinter off and leave the rest behind.
- Forums.
- Customizable author pages, which could provide your bio, a mini blog, and links to your works available online, and allow for reviews. And it should integrate with the rest of the site; i.e., when you post something in the forums, it should give you the option to add it as a post to your miniblog.
- A suite of online editing tools, including features like a calendar and private chat, to support your own online writing group within the framework of the site.
- Connections to agents, editors, artists, and others in the wider industry. You're self-published? Here's some editors we can recommend. Here's some cover artists. Here's a list of credible agents. The ability to say, oh, we work with a publicist, so if you've been a member for six months and you get approved we'll take these steps to help promote you. That kind of thing.
- Finally, the ideal writer's support site has a second half which develops a community of actual readers, with all the same things flipped for that perspective (i.e., content about book recommendations or up-and-coming authors to watch, tools for creating and running your own book clubs, or connections = discounts for select indie writers each month, and so on).

^ None of that is remotely easy to create.

 

[Fidel]

Hey everyone,

I’m thinking about creating my own writing forum/community and would love to hear your thoughts. What features or tools do you wish more writing forums had? Are there any unique or convenient additions that could make a writing community stand out?

I’m not here to self-promote—just genuinely curious about what writers find most valuable in an online space. Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated!

Looking forward to your insights!

Building a unique writing community sounds like such a cool project! Here are a few ideas to make it stand out:

1. Themed Challenges: Weekly or monthly prompts based on quirky themes (e.g., “Write a story where the villain is a sentient toaster”).
2. Feedback Circles: Small groups where writers swap work and give constructive feedback in a supportive way.
3. Collaborative Projects: Let members co-write stories or build a shared world together.
4. Live Events: Host virtual write-ins, workshops, or AMAs with published authors.
5. Gamification: Create a points system for participation (e.g., posting stories, giving feedback) with fun rewards.
6. Niche Focus: Cater to a specific genre or style (e.g., dark fantasy, micro-fiction) to attract like-minded writers.