In addition to your story's 13 lines, please post:
1. The story's genre
2. Total story length so far
3. Do you want comments for the whole thing, or just the first 13?
4. Anything else we need to know about the story in advance (for example, if you want us to focus on something specific, like POV or character voice)
I think that about covers it.
It doesn't mean 13 lines in the little post window, and it sure doesn't mean 45 manuscript lines just so you can get to the good part in your beginning.
Or am I imagining it? It was a long time ago and I've probably well lost my mind since then...
For a short example, this:
quote:and this:
I wish you wouldn’t do that.
Genn smiled. “What, Wendell, open the door for you?”
Yes.
quote:are both three lines in manuscript format, but the second has a lot more words than the first.
Heart pounding, Abigail stood and entered the dark Council chamber. She knelt before the Council and offered up a quick prayer to God, asking for him to accept her service and her life.
[This message has been edited by Jaina (edited April 21, 2005).]
Using "ROWS=13 COLS=65" instead of the current "ROWS=10 COLS=45" would give approximately the amount of space for thirteen lines from a 12-point Courier manuscript. That way we could just have a rule that if it isn't all visible in the text box, it's too long.
[This message has been edited by EricJamesStone (edited April 21, 2005).]
It would be useful if there was a static (ie, doesn't disappear in 45 days) document that could be easily found by even the most naive beginner. I have in mind somthing that details the F&F guidelines, Critiquing guidelines, etc. Yes, I finally figured out I could pull up old critiquing documents by clicking "show all files", but as a newbie I had no idea how MANY files that would pull up, and with a dial-up modem I'm reluctant to take that road because of my experience in having my computer lock up because it's overloaded.
As a newbie, I've searched for:
**F&F posting guidelines
**When should I jump in and offer to critique (ie, who would want to hear from ME)
**What are the guidelines for offering critiques
**How do you join a group?
**When should you join a group (ie, during the writing phase or after your book/document is completed?)
I'm sure there are other questions I've since resolved, but it sure would have been nice to have a handy FAQ document to download or somesuch. Yes, the info is out there if you search for it (I've just recently begun searching archives to see if a topic has been covered before), but newbies unfamiliar with the board could access the information easier if it resided a little closer to the surface on the board.
Just my two farthings worth...
[This message has been edited by Elan (edited April 21, 2005).]
Just be glad this isn't an IRC channel with insane rules intended mostly to get rid of n00bs. Speaking of which, I've got to hang out there more often...
**When should I jump in and offer to critique (ie, who would want to hear from ME)
I would! If you read the genre I'm writing, that's qualification enough for me! And for most, from what I hear
**What are the guidelines for offering critiques
Follow up on the fragment with "I'll read" -- that's all!
**How do you join a group?
See the "Hatrack Groups" forum (about 6 lines under "Fragments and Feedback." There are 2 topics; Kathleen explains
**When should you join a group (ie, during the writing phase or after your book/document is completed?)
I joined when my novel was nearly finished, because I wrote it quickly. But it was problematic. Most apparently write slower and submit a chapter every month or so.
There are two valid options:
1. Thank you.
2. What did you mean when you said x...or....what would you think if I did y?
These are invalid options:
1. You're wrong.
2. That's too bad.
3. You weren't paying attention. (Alternately: If you were paying attention...)
4. I meant X.
5. The reason I did this was because....
6. Any other long detailed explanation of why your story is perfect the way it is.
You may always, of cousre, disagree privately.
As long as you have 12-pt font and 1" margins, there's no guesswork.
The hard part is when the crucial turning point, plot-moving line of your story is on line 14!!
I personally never want to lose the right to publish my story for money just because I carelessly posted too much of it on a public forum. The rules are not set to annoy you; rather, to protect you. Also, if a publisher knows that people routinely sacrifice their first publication rights on this site, it will be bad for the members who do not post full stories as much as for the ones who do.
Moral of the story: post less than thirteen lines whenever you have very short stories, and never post more, even of full-length novels.
End of rant.
Do it for you Yep, you. When you crit you learn. You will see errors in the works of others that you may not have thought about before - then you will think about them when doing your own writing. Thus you get a two-fold benefit: you learn both how to crit better and how to write better
Meenie