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Forward Motion for Writers

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Hi there! My name is Emily. I'm a mother of three little boys. As such, I get little time for writing, but i take what i can get. I've been an avid writer ever since i learned how, but I've only ever done it for school assignments or for my own enjoyment. Now, I'm actually close to finishing a novel-length story for the first time ever, and I'm a little overwhelmed. BTW, my genre is fantasy, mostly for younger audiences.

Like many writers (all writers?), i see my stories somewhat like movies played in my head. I started writing down my favorites merely for the sake of passing them down to my children, since they are a large part of who i am. But now that I'm near completion, I've actually started entertaining the idea of making the attempt at publication, which is what led me here.

I don't have a very thick skin for criticism, but i usually do okay if it's kind. I also realize that the only way to gain a thicker skin is to allow myself to be criticized. That still doesn't make it any easier, though. lol! These stories are my babies, as i'm sure you can understand all too well.

Anyway, forgive me for blathering on. I like what i've seen of the site so far, and i'm hoping i can muster up the courage to actually post some of my own work!

Welcome, Emily. Congratulation on getting to this milestone -- many people never finish the first draft. Learning to accept critiques can be difficult. Remember, the critiquer is trying to help you improve your story, but they are only making suggestions. You choose which suggestions (if any) you want to implement. Also, you'll be thankful your critiquers help you avoid goofs you wouldn't want an agent or editor to see, which means they're helping you make a good first impression.

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Hi Emily! Welcome to FM!

If you're toooo nervous about being critiqued, you might want to try critting a few stories first. I learned a LOT from doing crits, plus I learned where the reader/critiquer stands, which made taking critiques easier. It's rare that people intend to be unkind.

Best of luck to you!

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Welcome and congratulations - on finish first draft, on joining FM, on thinking about publication, but most of all on recognising that improvements are there to be made.

Roving Crits - http://www.fmwriters.com/community/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=38 - is our board you can post a chapter or so (max 5000 words) for comments, but as others have said you can learn a lot by critiquing others, seeing what could be improved in thier words, then looking for those same problems in your own.

I also found in explaining what I saw as an issue helped me solidify the concept and made it easier in working on that issues in my own words.

If you are unsure about commenting one other's works - a lot of writers are - then do what I term a 'readers' critique. It's more than just 'Oh I like this'. More than a disection of the plot, and characters. It's more what you felt, thought, expereinced as you read the story.

An example would be 'I got the impression that James was a bit scared of Helene when he met up with her, but the next day when they were training I thought he was angry at Helene.'

Another example; 'I got lost here during this action, I thought Helene had the sword, not James. And James had the wand.'

Such a crit can be very useful to a writer to find out what impressions we are giving the reader.

If you do find the courage, don't worry about being thick or thinned skined. We're all writers, we've all been through letting out our babies to the big bad world. We're here to help you improve so you can publish or be published.

We don't bite. Well, not too hard anyway *grin*

For writing with limited time, there was a recent thread here that might help you out for ideas on how to get writing done in the middle of a busy life: Writing In Fits and Starts

Welcome to FM!

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