So, lets say that I have a story (novelish) that I would like to have reviewed in the near future. Asking someone in my family or one of my friends to do it is out because I'm tired of hearing the useless "Oh, yeah! This is really good!" Where can I go/who can I talk to about getting my piece reviewed? I would prefer not to have to pay for it if possible Thanks in advance for the help, guys.
I agree with Islander. Find someone you can exchange work with, either online or in-person (e.g. a writer's group).
This is what I do. If you'd like I'd be happy to do it. Reviewing helps me work on my own writing in that it's easier for me to catch my own mistakes. I'm kinda bad with grammar other than obvious stuff but I'm descent with content.
HA! I so know that feeling, k.little. I'm too close to my writing to see the holes anymore. Check out the querytracker forum or another writers' group and put some feelers out for willing beta readers. What's your genre? I might be willing to swap a few chapters with you--or anyone else for that matter--if you like dark fantasy. I do mean dark. Blood and death simply everywhere.
Corbyn and Beckarah- That would be awesome guys, thanks a lot for the offer! Currently I'm jumping the gun a little bit because my novel is still in the roughdraft stage... but it's great knowing what my options are! You guys are the best
This made me smile. Seriously, how useless is "You're so talented!" I see we come from the same town, are probably the same gender and possibly close to the same generation. I have just started working on a novel. If you want to trade some work (I don't have any yet) or send me a chapter or portion thereof, I promise to be completely objective and only as tactful as I'd want someone else to be. I may even be useful. I thought there was a place here where folks posted their stuff for review? Is this it?
Hearing "You're so talented!" has made me want to bludgen my head so many times over. It's quite tiring when family and friends can't say anything but: "That's great!" "You're so talented!" "Awww I'm so jealous of you! You're gonna be the next Rowling" .... No more please. If I hear that once more from a family member or any of my friends I'll probably go find the nearest sky scraper and dive head first. Which is probably why I quit going to my family and started doing the work myself until I can find someone to review. So hard to find someone who's willing to review twisted little fiction with blood, guts, foul language and characters that aren't your traditional good vs evil. Not to mention someone who'll sit there and be able to put up with my horrid grammar ;~; Anyways, I'd check around for writing groups. Or librarians, or some other kind of person who deals with books all day. Every author needs a book worm in their pocket I swear XD You can also try online, I once posted a forum about reviews and got a few hits from people willing to review my works. So it might work for you.
The creative stuff bit me in a number of areas. Writing is one. I do music and graphic design (heck, I even get paid as a freelancer for that last one...when I'm in the mood for a project...). Thing is, and this is the dumbest thing you're ever going to read on this forum...I'm decent at all of them. To be sure, I don't see myself as some multi-talented savant. I'm persistent when I want to be good at something so when I want to be good, it seems to happen. That I'm saying I'm good is only repeating what others say. I see/listen to whatever it is that I create and I hate it. I like that I dislike my own work. Keeps me honest. Still, I never see my stuff and go 'rock on!'. Even when it comes to music and design... Writing...What I've written so far has been read by a few here and a friend I trust to be brutally honest. I need brutal honesty. Because I'm ok at a number of things. I've heard the 'your talanted' deal enough. It messes with your perspective though. There is a downside to even that honesty. Sometimes people want you to write in the comfortable mold they like and have a hard time reviewing outside of their own comfort zone. If my writing has any merit and I am lucky tohave gotten as far as having an editor, I look forward to it. Someone who doesn't care about how I feel but understands what is needed and what is not....that's what I hope for....
For me it would have to be 3 people not connected to you to get an overall feel, bias is too easy otherwise, be it positive or negative.
This is a great idea. In fact, you can post on places like Craigslist where you can find places that will actually do this. I, too, find that while I have not written a novel, friends and relatives are only oh to quick to praise and leave out important criticism. "I'm writing an essay, I need an A on this." "Oh, it's really good!" Teacher: C-. If you're not looking to get the novel published, you can post it on various different places, like here and other websites (not sure what, if any websites we are allowed to mention). If you can I do eventually suggest getting a paid editor to look at it - it will make it sound much better, and it will be worth the cost. If you don't want to do that, you can consider joining some kind of professional book club where members actively critique one's work.
