Scribophile Members

Phillip,

I just cross-posted (on the Showcase as well) my first chapter over at Scribophile. It's in the queue, though, so who knows how long it will take to come up for review. 3 weeks to a month?

Let me know if you post, and I'll try to do a critique if you want (the new member queue is expedited).

Thanks.

Brian

 

I've been on Scribophile for several months, and have had nothing but good results. The first thing to do, of course, is to critique a few stories so you can build up your karma (which is required before you can post your own work). And the first story you post shouldn't take any time at all to get critiqued, since they put it in a new user spotlight. I think I had critiques back from my first story in less than a week.

One suggestion I would make is to join a few groups -- I'm in several that are scifi/fantasy related. If you critique the work of someone in a group you're a member of, you get bonus karma. And you can post to the group's forum asking for critiques when you post something, which speeds up the process (since I believe group members get bonus karma even if your story isn't in the spotlight yet).

I added you to my favorites list, so I'll keep an eye out for when you post something.

 

I've been toying with the idea of showing the beginning of my WIP.

I'm not a member of Scribophile, but I'm curious.

Should I show my work here or there or both?

I've never performed a professional critique before so I'm not sure how beneficial my opinion would be.

I'm worried that if I show my work here and get met with silence that I might get discouraged, and that could be a bad thing for me mentally right now.

Do other writers really want to read my work? I'm guessing no.

I could be way off.

 

Hey, now! I'm on there too! I'm under my pen name: Rue Hirsch if you want to add me. I love Scribophile. So far, I have only posted the first chapter of my novel in progress and the commentary I received blew my mind. It was constructive, positive, and very helpful.

MineOwnKing, it's a great site and the people are super friendly. Don't worry about getting discouraged from the commentary. The structure is set up for reviewers to be graded--somewhat--on how they review as well.

 

Thanks Chesterama,

I've had some big projects holding me back from my work lately but I'll scrutinize my opening again and possibly showcase it there or here in a couple of days.

I like to help people when I can but I'm suffering from some depression and I'm still on the fence about revealing my work.

I need to finish my current novel and I feel fragile.

I need happy thoughts.

 

I recently joined Scribophile, hoping to improve my writing in english. i'd be glad to check out your upcoming writing phil. I put in my "pen name" if I were to have one : Louis T. Guegan. Yeah, doesn't sound so good.

The site seems pretty nice ! Looking forward to using it.

 

Hi Philip, I've been on Scribophile for several months but haven't used it as I didn't know anyone on there. I've now followed a few of you, so maybe we can connect on there. You have to do about 5 critiques before you can post. I'm on there under my real name. I think I was put off by the high standard of the critiques and also it's very public and time consuming when you're trying to write your novel!

 

I really enjoy the critique process there. Agreed that it is time consuming, but it fills my tummy with flurries when people thank me in return.

 

MineOwnKing -- Don't worry too much about having done a professional critique. I had that same worry when I first joined the site. But they've got a couple of really good tutorials that walk you through what's expected. And as much as anything, it's just about giving an honest opinion of what you thought of the writing (in a very polite, constructive way). The goal is to help the other writer improve, so it's all about making helpful suggestions and giving honest feedback. And you can be as detailed as you're comfortable with. I've had some critiques that are just a quick summary paragraph of how they felt about the story, while others have been detailed, line-by-line critiques with suggestions on grammar, structure, style, the whole works. So you can choose your comfort level as far as how in-depth your critiques are. And there are plenty of stories to choose from, so you can focus on the type of fiction you're familiar with, where you likely can provide worthwhile insight.

As far as critiques of your work go, I wouldn't worry about getting discouraged. Yes, you may have to face some hard truths about short-comings in your writing (believe me, I've been there). But at the same time, every critique I've received has been polite, respectful, and aimed at helping my writing improve. And the information I've received really has done wonders to improve my writing -- there are so many little things I've found that I could be doing better. So ultimately I would say that getting on there and putting your works up to get critiqued will only help to make you a better writer.

Chesterama -- I'm right there with you. Once I got comfortable critiquing someone else's work, I was surprised at how enjoyable it can be. Knowing that I'm helping another writer improve their writing, even if it's just in some small way, is a very satisfying feeling.

 

Thanks Ryan,

I went to the site to sign up but it seems that they don't appreciate anonymity.

I've never thought of inventing a pen name before....how about Jacques Lapin aka Jack Rabbit?

Seems silly. I guess I could try it.

 

Jacques Lapin -- I like it!

And I would say the reason they don't appreciate anonymity is that sadly way too many people take advantage of anonymity on the Internet to showcase the worst of themselves. A little accountability helps to keep people civil in their interactions with each other.

 

Thanks,

I'm still thinking of joining, I'll try Jacques Lapin if I do.

I would hate to pay the yearly fee and then get bumped off of the site for using a pen name.

I'm trying to critique some stuff here to get my feet wet, I'm not sure if I should be spending additional time on another site, my daily word count on my novel is just starting to go back up and if I go to Scribophile I might get sucked down a rabbit hole of inefficiency.

Yet, it might be worth it.

Decisions, decisions....

 

I just joined Scribophiles as Garren Jacobsen.

 

Hey, I'm there too Been there 3+ years so far. Meet a tonne of awesome folks there too.

Scrib is a great place for getting a wide range of crits, from line-edit style to big picture stuff to reader-response type feedback. Like amny places, the more you put in, the more you get out. Join a few groups and build relationships by critting and joining in conversations (usually best done in groups).

The main forums have their ups and downs