Looking for mentor.

[RufusRaw]

Hello all!
I have several stories started and I would love to start submitting to the page if I could only find a mentor to help me with a few things.
Proofreading and giving me feedback on most all things other than grammar would be really helpful! have a hard time with conversation/interaction between people and the actions being taken.
Please let me know if there is anyone out there with the spare time to read my stories and give me an honest opinion.
Thanks so much yall!!

 

[TarnishedPenny]

I have found through experience that I'm not a good editor or critic. I might however suggest you go to Story Feedback and ask for help there. Good luck.

 

[RufusRaw]

I have found through experience that I'm not a good editor or critic. I might however suggest you go to Story Feedback and ask for help there. Good luck.

Anything helps. Thank you for your input

 

[MillieDynamite]

Hello all!
I have several stories started and I would love to start submitting to the page if I could only find a mentor to help me with a few things.
Proofreading and giving me feedback on most all things other than grammar would be really helpful! have a hard time with conversation/interaction between people and the actions being taken.
Please let me know if there is anyone out there with the spare time to read my stories and give me an honest opinion.
Thanks so much yall!!

I have had several people message me about reading their work and giving them advice. I have done that. However, I feel quite odd in doing so. It's difficult for me to tell others if their work is good or bad for several reasons. One, I don't believe any outside influence should determine your view of yourself. They can serve to boost or diminish your own opinion of your own work, but if you depend on others liking your stories, you shouldn't be a writer. Second, I don't always like what the masses like, so my opinion might not be the right metric to use. Third, I feel a necessity to be kind to anyone who asks for my help. This has, at times, led me to tell a person their work is good when I know it isn't. Who am I to even give that kind of feedback? I'm a no-one, and my views don't count for much. Proofreaders, beta readers, and editors are all great if you find one you can work with and one that will give you the right feedback. I only wish I was that kind of writer! But honestly, I'm still trying to figure out things myself, and I've been publishing for 10 years or so.

 

[RufusRaw]

Thank you for your reply! I suppose from your response that I should just post what I have regardless? I respect that.
Its not so much input on what I'm trying to get across as much as I could be navigating the conversation/ physical interaction more fluidly with the overall direction in mind? I've always written but never shared. I hope yall can understand what that does to me. Tha is again for your input!

 

[MillieDynamite]

Thank you for your reply! I suppose from your response that I should just post what I have regardless? I respect that.
Its not so much input on what I'm trying to get across as much as I could be navigating the conversation/ physical interaction more fluidly with the overall direction in mind? I've always written but never shared. I hope yall can understand what that does to me. Tha is again for your input!

The first tale I wrote was a six-part fan-fiction based on StarGate SG1, but not the SG1 unit. While Jack, Sam, Teal'c, Doctor Daniel Jackson, and others from the first five seasons of regulars dropped into chapters, only General Hammond and Doctor Frasier were in every chapter. The story involved a Greek God Gou'ld named Aphrodite and her Minotaur guards and some nasty stuff they were doing to populations of several planets. An SG unit designated SG8 was assigned to the problem. I can't remember the particulars, I'm sure I have the chapters somewhere in a printed form. I may find it and rewrite it or rewrite it from memory. I don't know what happened to the file

That's a long way around to get to my point. And my point is, no one, not even my folks, ever read the story. You won't know what others think of your writing, till you publish it. But developed a thick skin, because there are always those that hate what you write. And don't let your ego get too big. You can always write better than you do at any given moment.

 

[RufusRaw]

Thank you!
Btw your story sounds awesome I'd love to read it! I love stargate!!

 

[KeithD]

Hello all!
I have several stories started and I would love to start submitting to the page if I could only find a mentor to help me with a few things.
Proofreading and giving me feedback on most all things other than grammar would be really helpful! have a hard time with conversation/interaction between people and the actions being taken.
Please let me know if there is anyone out there with the spare time to read my stories and give me an honest opinion.
Thanks so much yall!!

Most seriously considering providing help to other writers are genre centered and time constrained. What are the genre and wordage of the story you most want help with--for starters?

 

[RufusRaw]

I'm all over the place. The genre most developed are incest/taboo. And science fiction.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I'm all over the place. The genre most developed are incest/taboo. And science fiction.

There are volunteer editors here. The site FAQ has info on how to contact them. I've never used one, so I can't tell you what the experience is like. Some people here do rely on them for things like "beta reading," proofreading, and more advanced editing. There's even an Editor's Forum here although I've rarely looked at it. I suspect most of them are authors who play a role as editors too.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Thank you!
Btw your story sounds awesome I'd love to read it! I love stargate!!

Well, should I have the time, it might be written and published here. If I can find the original printouts It would be easier.

 

[SouthernCrossfire]

RufusRaw, I was going to suggest what gunhilltrain said. Approach some of the volunteers but understand that they are volunteers, they may not still be active, and they may be swamped with life, work, or other writers. Be patient and don't take it personally if they don't respond. Keep trying!

Another approach is to do your best and publish a story with a note that it's your first and ask for help from readers who find your story interesting. I've helped two writers who used this approach. I've become friends with one of them and am now I'm working on editing the ninth submission them.

Good luck!

 

[BobbyBrandt]

Others might disagree with my suggestion, but I'll throw it out here anyway...

Decide which genre you want to write in and then find some of the most popular stories in that category. Read the comments for those stories and explore what readers with actual accounts here have to say. When you find some of the more constructive and positive comments, e-mail those readers and ask if they would be willing to read your story and provide feedback to you.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Others might disagree with my suggestion, but I'll throw it out here anyway...

Decide which genre you want to write in and then find some of the most popular stories in that category. Read the comments for those stories and explore what readers with actual accounts here have to say. When you find some of the more constructive and positive comments, e-mail those readers and ask if they would be willing to read your story and provide feedback to you.

I have no idea what would happen if one contacted commenters on another stories (assuming that they are not anonymous.) It's hard enough to get them to answer the original author (assuming that person does reply to the first comment made). My impression is the average commenter does not provide a huge amount of feedback, and then they move on to something else. Sometimes there are no comments at all. (Well, Loving Wives stories usually get quite a few of them!)

Either you do or you don't find a single editor who is willing to work with you. (I don't think it's too difficult.) Sometimes other authors are willing to provide feedback, and they may show up if you specifically ask for replies in the Feedback Forum. (It worked for me once because I suspect I may have been fairly-well known in the Author's Hangout for a couple of years.) In any case, in that forum the story has to be already published. If you get really good advice, you have the option to replace the existing version with a corrected version, although that takes a while - at least two weeks - and fewer people are still reading it. And that doesn't include the time it takes to write the new version. (I did it in about twenty-four hours.)

The Story Ideas forum can be helpful, but you can at most put an outline or summary on there. You can't just post multiple paragraphs of a proposed story, although I've seen people try it. Usually they get a friendly warning not to do that again.

 

[Emotional]

I wont read anything incest, but would be willing to read sci fi or romance.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I have had several people message me about reading their work and giving them advice. I have done that. However, I feel quite odd in doing so. It's difficult for me to tell others if their work is good or bad for several reasons. One, I don't believe any outside influence should determine your view of yourself. They can serve to boost or diminish your own opinion of your own work, but if you depend on others liking your stories, you shouldn't be a writer. Second, I don't always like what the masses like, so my opinion might not be the right metric to use. Third, I feel a necessity to be kind to anyone who asks for my help. This has, at times, led me to tell a person their work is good when I know it isn't. Who am I to even give that kind of feedback? I'm a no-one, and my views don't count for much. Proofreaders, beta readers, and editors are all great if you find one you can work with and one that will give you the right feedback. I only wish I was that kind of writer! But honestly, I'm still trying to figure out things myself, and I've been publishing for 10 years or so.

I've had that problem on the rare occasions when somebody I knew in person asked me to read a sample of their work. This was long before Literotica or even the Internet. I didn't know whether to give an honest critique or be concerned about the other person's feelings. I tried to steer through a middle ground, and I didn't do a very good job of it.

Of course, professional reviewers and movie critics are paid to give an honest opinion. And yet, although it usually isn't personal, actors, directors, and others sometimes still get miffed by bad reviews. At least they rarely have to meet in person.