Thread: Hi everybody. I'm new and would like to know more!

Hi everybody. I'm elieni and I'm new and would like to know more about how the forums are used. I read through some of the posts but because I'm new it all seems really hard to get a feel for how to best utilize the forums. Do people come here to read? Is the forum like a community writing coach?

I like reading and writing, and a lot of what I do for fun might be short essays or stories. I really just want to meet other writers and see what kinds of things people are doing. I'd also like to get some feedback on my stuff but I don't want to leech. But being a newbie, maybe I'm not the best to be critiquing other work out of the blue. How do you guys go about what you do in here?

I am pretty active an another forum regarding foreign languages which is pretty strict about keeping things concise and question/answer related. But that forum is more technical than creative so I'm not sure if my experience there applies.

Anyway, thanks to all for any advice!

elieni

Hi elieni and welcome.

You will need to reach a post count of 10 before you can post your own creative works here for critique or review. This gives you a perfect opportunity to use those ten posts giving an opinion or critique of others works on the forums. I know at first it's easy to feel unqualified to give a critique, but you can always find something that you like or dislike about a story or poem and point that out, along with your reasons. Most people here will return the favor when you post your own stuff for review. Also, have a read through the rules and guidelines, this will help you feel more confident about what you can and can't do here. Then, just have fun and enjoy.

http://www.writingforums.com/faq.php...and_guidelines

Hi Elieni,

I only joined yesterday myself and have really enjoyed looking around at what others are up to. Don't be afraid to offer constructive criticism, especially where people are asking for it. That's how everyone betters themselves and their story anyway, I would have thought.

(Great name, by the way)

Different people use the forum in different ways, and different parts of it also have different emphasis. I find reading and making suggestions on other people's work a great help with my own, especially when it comes to editing it, and a lot of the suggestions are also very helpful. Others seem to use it more as a place to relax between writing and occupy the debate a writer's lounge. I wouldn't worry too much about being a beginner, if there is something not right about a critique someone will probably point it out and that in itself is a learning experience. Those who are honest and open about things don't get treated harshly, we were all new here once, it is usually those who try to defend untenable positions that suffer, however the staff don't tolerate 'flaming', so no-one suffers too much, welcome to the forum, see you around i hope.

Thanks for the primer everybody. It's all a bit clearer now and I think this will be just what I've been looking for.

Welcome to the forums, Elieni.

Hi Elleni,
welcome in, close the door behind you, there's a draft.

Welcome to WF, elieni.