[Sticky] RULES for critiques

Wow, it even gets its own sub-forum. Awesome! Thanks, Brad.

Thank WriteToLive, as it was his (her?) idea.

Yes, thank you WriteToLive!

I am a mystery, wraped in an enigma, wrapped in a puzzle, wrapped in a dodecahedron, wrapped in a candy bubble gum exterior...

I guess I never posted my name on here when I introduced myself, did I ^_^;

My name is Michael, so I am a him.

And it was nothing. I just figured I wouldn't mind you guys taking a look at a each other's works. It always makes the next work better, after all.

My name is Michael, so I am a him.

Just for the record, I do know a Michael who is a her. Yes, it's on her birth certificate that way. To make matters even more confusing, she married a Michael who is a him.

This is why I always address my cover letters "Dear editor's full name:" and not "Dear Mr./Ms. so-and-so:" Even names that are dead giveaways of gender aren't.

Obviously, I believe you when you say you're a him, but I wouldn't have assumed that.

ohhh going to stretch my legs out in the new forum!! Thanks Michael for getting it started and Brad for putting it up.

I was to meet a friend for lunch and he was bringing an old friend with him. He told me his friends name was Lynn. I thought "OK, he's bringing a date." NOPE... was an old college buddy of his. So yeah, good idea not going with gender specific salutations.

The movers and shakers in my son's Scout Troop are Pete, Fred, Danny, Jo and Chris. 3 of the 5 are women. You pick. 😀

(Answer: Pete, Fred and Danny!)

I'm going to sound extremely paranoid so nobody hate me...

I'm extremely reluctant to put any of my work online without it being copyrighted, and obviously it won't be with the critique exchange... Is there some way to ensure nobody is going to plagiarize your work when you do the critique exchange...?

I'm going to sound extremely paranoid so nobody hate me...

I'm extremely reluctant to put any of my work online without it being copyrighted, and obviously it won't be with the critique exchange... Is there some way to ensure nobody is going to plagiarize your work when you do the critique exchange...?

Emily,

You're not the first to ask. No one will hate you. We don't do hate here!

Let me start with my standard disclaimer. I'm not your lawyer, nor anyone else's. Never take legal advice from strangers you meet on the Internet, even friendly strangers. This is the situation as I understand it, but you should research for yourself. (Start with The Copyright Handbook.)

Now that I've given the disclaimer... Assuming you're in the USA (and most other countries, but you'll have to check), anything you write is immediately copyrighted as soon as you write it. Copyright registration (which I assume is what you're asking about) allows extra damages if you win an infringement suit, but it's generally unnecessary until your work is actually published.

There is, sadly, no way to stop plagiarism, here or anywhere. You have to decide who you'll trust. No one else can decide that for you. Hang around a while and decide if we're trustworthy. I wish there was a better answer.

I'm going to sound extremely paranoid so nobody hate me...

I'm extremely reluctant to put any of my work online without it being copyrighted, and obviously it won't be with the critique exchange... Is there some way to ensure nobody is going to plagiarize your work when you do the critique exchange...?

Sorry about the long reply...
I broached this same subject and The Copyright handbook is a great place to start. As stated once you have penned the work (so to speak) it is yours. I would still save it to your hard drive and perhaps on a flash drive as well, so you do not lose your work. Also be advised I already asked the following question; your book title is not copyrighted. There are books out there with the exact same title which is acceptable so long as they are not plagarized work. I presently am working on getting an artist for the cover of a novel I have which has the exact same title as a non fiction work from the late 60's (a text book in fact - weird).

I was thinking of something else that might alleviate your concern about this issue and it seems to me that sending it out to multiple people at one time in one e-mail, PM, or as part of a group story exchange cements your work as yours. Unless someone is on here as a multiple personality if you send your story or anything else out to a bunch of people at once (as opposed to one person) you have more people who then know it is your work. Based upon that premise it is highly unlikely statistically that you would encounter more than one unscrupulous individual. Quite the contrary; I have found everyone on here so far to be helpful, considerate, honest about my failings without being insulting, supportive of my successful writing aspects, altogether a fine caliber of forum folk. On a side note the word brooch (the ornamental pin) lost me the 5th grade spelling bee. I spelled it broach - D'oh.

I am a mystery, wraped in an enigma, wrapped in a puzzle, wrapped in a dodecahedron, wrapped in a candy bubble gum exterior...

I guess I never posted my name on here when I introduced myself, did I ^_^;

My name is Michael, so I am a him.

And it was nothing. I just figured I wouldn't mind you guys taking a look at a each other's works. It always makes the next work better, after all.

Since I am a stalwart RP gamer I am wrapped in an Icosahedron.

I'm a claustrophobe. Don't wrap me. I WILL rip your head off.

Brad.
I'm a newbie.
I have a story that is on sale at Zon. It was the only copy sold there (I had more sales on Xixii.de but no comments) it was given 5 stars and a few complimentary words. I would appreciate a full comment, but I am not sure how to go about it (call me stoopid). So, what do I do?
Regards,
Bill.

Brad.
I'm a newbie.
I have a story that is on sale at Zon. It was the only copy sold there (I had more sales on Xixii.de but no comments) it was given 5 stars and a few complimentary words. I would appreciate a full comment, but I am not sure how to go about it (call me stoopid). So, what do I do?
Regards,
Bill.

1. You cannot mention anything of the story you need critiqued if it is an entry or potential entry for the Writers of the Future Contest.

2. You must, basically, initiate a call for critiquers to look at your story via a post with your e-mail and any other contact information they want to share.

3. Critiquers respond to the writer via e-mail or Bulletin Board Private Message. Not through the forum itself.

Can I question these rules?

I wouldn't want to post my email onto an forum where anyone can see it. (Rule 2)
When I offer a critique, I nearly always do so via the forum itself, as others do. And if someone has had several offers already I leave it. I wouldn't know if offers were via PM. (Rule 3)

1. You cannot mention anything of the story you need critiqued if it is an entry or potential entry for the Writers of the Future Contest.

2. You must, basically, initiate a call for critiquers to look at your story via a post with your e-mail and any other contact information they want to share.

3. Critiquers respond to the writer via e-mail or Bulletin Board Private Message. Not through the forum itself.

Can I question these rules?

I wouldn't want to post my email onto an forum where anyone can see it. (Rule 2)
When I offer a critique, I nearly always do so via the forum itself, as others do. And if someone has had several offers already I leave it. I wouldn't know if offers were via PM. (Rule 3)

I always recommend PMing the person you're trading with to exchange e-mails privately. That's how I've always handled it in the past, and I think that's what these rules are meant to encourage. (I realize rule 2 says to post the info publicly, but I've always seen info exchanges handled via PM, myself.)

Someone I crit recently had posted her email as per the rules. First thing I said in my response was to delete her email, which she did.
You seem to agree that Rule 2 should be changed.

I think those rules were written when e-mail was just becoming a thing.
CERN was it?

No, no. ARPANET.

For me, Rule 4 needs adding: that the critiquer should be thanked for his/her time and effort regardless of what the writer thought of the crit.

I spend 3 or 4 hours or more on each crit. If I don’t get a simple thank you within a few days, I spend another half hour or more re-reading it to see what I did so badly. After 2 writers consecutively ‘forgot’ to say thanks I have to conclude my crits are really bad or people are rude. I cancelled my last offer and will stick to my normal critique site from now on.

I have to agree with Tim in principle if not experience. I've received some bone crunching constructive crits and as much as it pains me to not read, "This is the one", I reply with a thank you. OSC drilled that into our heads during his workshop...

There are a lot of useful, interesting threads in the forum. Since this thread is already sticky, I figured I could put a number of useful links here that involve critiques. If anyone is new, I recommend you read all of them.

First, for an Introduction to critiques here, how to get them, and some other useful things, by Tina Gower.

If you don't need a full critique, and just want to see if your first four-fifty words are a good start, check out the Four-fifty thread (by Stewart Baker).

A great thread about how to critique the "write" way, by Writetolive.

Here's a thread about how to receive a critique, by Liz (Disgruntled Peony).

Lastly, Becky (and Andy) wrote up the most common issues they find when critiquing someone. Chances are, your writing suffers from a few of them; all of ours does.

For me, Rule 4 needs adding: that the critiquer should be thanked for his/her time and effort regardless of what the writer thought of the crit.

I spend 3 or 4 hours or more on each crit. If I don’t get a simple thank you within a few days, I spend another half hour or more re-reading it to see what I did so badly. After 2 writers consecutively ‘forgot’ to say thanks I have to conclude my crits are really bad or people are rude. I cancelled my last offer and will stick to my normal critique site from now on.

I am shocked some people aren't saying thanks for critiques given. That's a great way to never get one again. As you just proved, TimE.

Do to others as you'd want them to do to you. Even if you don't agree with the critique, say thank you regardless. They take much time.

For me, Rule 4 needs adding: that the critiquer should be thanked for his/her time and effort regardless of what the writer thought of the crit.

I spend 3 or 4 hours or more on each crit. If I don’t get a simple thank you within a few days, I spend another half hour or more re-reading it to see what I did so badly. After 2 writers consecutively ‘forgot’ to say thanks I have to conclude my crits are really bad or people are rude. I cancelled my last offer and will stick to my normal critique site from now on.

I am shocked some people aren't saying thanks for critiques given. That's a great way to never get one again. As you just proved, TimE.

Do to others as you'd want them to do to you. Even if you don't agree with the critique, say thank you regardless. They take much time.

It's disrespectful of another's time, not to say thanks... just saying.

Hey folks, I'm here again, posting my little list o' links for the new forum. These take you to threads on the forum that deal with critiques. If you are new to this forum, or critiquing in general, check them out.

First, for an Introduction to critiques here, how to get them, and some other useful things, by Tina.

If you don't need a full critique, and just want to see if you're off to a good start, check out the Four-Fifty Thread, by Stewart.

For an enlightening read on critiquing: How to "Critique the Write Way", by Write To Live.

Here's a thread on Receiving Critiques, by Liz. 

Lastly, a useful compilation by Becky and Andy on Things they most often see on critiques. Read this before you send anything to a critiquer. You want your work to be as best as it can be before others read it.

What Dave Farland looked for in a WOTF story: https://galaxypress.com/seven-vital-elements-every-story-must-have/

Posted by: @ease

↑

What Dave Farland looked for in a WOTF story: removed link

Looks like this has been moved to https://writersofthefuture.com/seven-vital-elements-every-story-must-have/