Short Story Feedback?

May 2, 2007 2:13 AM

I've written a short story that experiments with genres and social groups in a unique way. I'd like some feedback before showing this to an English professor and potentially embarrassing myself. Where can I get some feedback online? Preferably in the next couple of hours .

p.s. I'm a poor student and wouldn't really like to pay for it. For you reference, my email is thebrightnewyear [at] gmail.com

posted by jne1813 to Writing & Language (5 answers total)

You could try putting it on Scribd with a description asking for comments (and presumably it'd be ok to post a link here? Not sure...). Though if you're looking for more "scholarly" review then perhaps one of the appropriate usenet groups, (misc.writing?) would work better.
posted by Morbuto at 3:17 AM on May 2, 2007

zoetrope.com and critters.org both offer critique - you are expected to critique others' work in return, but iirc both sites give you the first critique right away. Both groups will be looking at it from more of a book-industry kind of perspective than an academic one, and the quality of critique is variable.
posted by joannemerriam at 3:28 AM on May 2, 2007

jne1813, you might also think about the ramifications of posting class work on Internet sites (thereby "publishing" it), soliciting comments and suggestions, perhaps making changes to the work on the basis of those changes (which could certianly be seen as making the work collaborative), and then submitting the product of that process as classwork. Anti-plagarism tools are increasingly fast, and broad of scope, and you, as a student, should do everything possible to steer clear of activities that could call your scholarship into question, even by misinterpretation or accident.

Have some faith in your professors, and discuss the issues making you nervous directly with them, perhaps before submitting the work directly for consideration. If your story revolves around elements whose treatment is generally in poor taste, is inflammatory, or would be generally offensive, you might have a problem with presenting it even as coursework in an academic setting, but submitting your topic and treatment to good faith academic guidance in advance is part of the function expected of college professors.
posted by paulsc at 3:46 AM on May 2, 2007

Every professor in the country is grading a stack of papers and trying to get out of town right now. I don't think any of us are going to read papers posted online for free. We get paid for this shit.
posted by spitbull at 4:39 AM on May 2, 2007 [1 favorite]

Mail it to me. Address in profile. Can't be as bad as that chunk of crap by Ted Dekker that was in my last lot of random library books :-)
posted by flabdablet at 5:16 AM on May 2, 2007