December 13, 2003

8:41 PM

I'm looking for an informal online writing community. I've got a lot of ideas for short stories, but without peer reviews, I just don't have any drive to finish stuff. Plus, you know, having other writers tell me what sucks is helpful, too. Subject matter varies quite a bit.
posted by billybunny to (16 comments total)

I like Kuro5hin.
posted by Yelling At Nothing at 8:53 PM on December 13, 2003

The Zoetrope Virtual Studio has been a great help to me in the past.
posted by oissubke at 9:11 PM on December 13, 2003

Zoetrope is wonderful. Second that.
posted by Aaorn at 9:23 PM on December 13, 2003

lately k5's fiction section hasn't really been the best place if you want a real review. a significant number of people are opposed to it existing at all and so vote down all fiction on principle.
posted by rhyax at 9:34 PM on December 13, 2003

AfterDinner is what you want, it's pretty low key crit between writers and readers.
posted by mathowie at 9:54 PM on December 13, 2003

MeFite vraxoin runs a mailing list for fiction writers, and via that list first-draft readers are always available. I'm not finding information about it on his website and I'm not able to access my e-mail at the moment for subscription info, but if you contact him, I'm sure he'd be glad to give you the skinny.
posted by Dreama at 9:58 PM on December 13, 2003

I'd love an equivalent for music, since music.MeFi never got a comments feature. Does anyone know of a friendly music community for people who want real criticism?
posted by fuzz at 10:16 PM on December 13, 2003

Garageband.com doesn't do music crit exactly, but instead subjects your music to a mass of listener members for rating, ranking, and feedback. Whenever I review tracks, I try to leave good feedback.
posted by mathowie at 11:33 PM on December 13, 2003

After Dinner is much more helpful than Zoe, in my opinion. Zoe's got some nasty, close-minded people floating about.
posted by dobbs at 1:12 AM on December 14, 2003

For speculative fiction, both the Online Writing Workshop for Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror and Critters are well thought of. I subscribe to the former.
posted by Slithy_Tove at 3:44 AM on December 14, 2003

Critters is great. Also (self-link): my site - the feedback traffic is incredibly low which I suppose is one defintion of "casual".
posted by mrmorgan at 10:04 AM on December 14, 2003

Thanks for all of the links. I'll check out everything. Odd, though, that I'm procrastinating on a project that's supposed to help me stop procrastinating...
posted by billybunny at 1:40 PM on December 14, 2003

Readerville.com has an active group of successful, published writers, including Katharine Weber, M.J.Rose, Caroline Leavitt, and many more. I don't really browse the writer's areas, but they are highly regarded. There's a lot of help for writers who are starting out and trying to get published. The fiction editor of The New Yorker turned up in The New Yorker thread at one point.

You'll need to register to read and post, and are expected to contribute financially if you decide to stick around. It's a webcrossing site, which is one of my least favorite things about it, but a great community.
posted by theora55 at 5:03 PM on December 14, 2003

Obligatory everything2.com mention, though I'm no longer an active participant there. The feedback/encouragement/friends I got from that site are what made me the starving unpaid writer I am today.
posted by WolfDaddy at 6:14 PM on December 14, 2003

The e-mail list that Dreama mentioned is called Fictional People and anyone is welcome to join here . It began as an online writing workshop that I ran a couple years back which never managed to quite dissolve itself. The membership tends toward the geeky/sf/fantasy element, but not exclusively.

It's a nice list for asking general questions about writing, passing along writing for criticism and opining about books and whatnot. New members are welcome.
posted by vraxoin at 7:41 AM on December 15, 2003

It could well be worth joining the well (www.well.com). It has a large and on-going writers discussion, and it's generally a helpful considerate place. It's like a smaller MeFi. Without the links. Or the blue colour.
posted by bonaldi at 1:32 PM on December 15, 2003