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Knightshade

I'm looking for help with a fiction novel I've been hacking away at for nearly a year and a half now, with minimal success. I'm hovering at around the 140-page mark, and I've hit the wall. I've done some other work in the past in the Young Adult and SF category, but I'm looking to work on some more adult-oriented material, based a bit more solidly in reality.

I can take harsh criticism, but I draw the line at abuse. (In other words, if all you can tell me is that it belongs in the round file, don't bother.)

I would prefer someone who has been published, simply because that's my ultimate goal upon completion, but I won't rule out assistance from someone who hasn't because I believe that everyone has something to contribute to his fellow man.

That having been said...HELP!!!
 

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doggone
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Have you considered joining a critique group? They can be very helpful, both for identifying flaws in your work and in jump-starting stalled plots.

By adult-oriented material, do you mean erotica?
 

Carmy

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Knightshade ~ Joining a critique group is a good way to get feedback. I would advise joining a private group, unless you want to take a chance on having your work plagiarised. I've found that private groups are usually smaller and give detailed and VERY honest critiques whereas most public groups don't and may not even reply to your post.

Some private groups have published authors as members.

Carmy
 

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I can't say that I've ever heard of someone's work being stolen by another crit group member. It seems an odd thing to do -- an author whose work is good enough to sell as-is probably doesn't need to be in a critique group in the first place. Most crit groups consist of writers at various levels who are simply trying to help each other. However, I would certainly agree that for online critique groups you should choose ones that maintain privacy in the form of password-locked access -- such as the share-your-work forum here on AW -- as work posted on the internet with open access is, technically speaking, 'published.'

IMO: When you've written dozens of stories or multiple novels to improve your craft, workshopped your stories through critique groups to improve your craft further, read how-to books and implemented what you've learned to improve your craft yet further, then you'll probably be at the point that only a pro writer can help you spot the flaws remaining in your work.

YMMV.
 
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