Anyone want to read an amateur's short story?

Ghost, in AW we have the SYW section, which is pretty much for what you're looking for. Swing by a check it out. You can post your own work up if and when you have 50+ posts, but you can post on other's work right now.

And, work on your grammar. Writing skills take lifetimes to acquire, but grammar is elementary. Get a grammar book and start fixing thing, 'cause no one wants to read something that doesn't make sense.

Ditto WillSauger.

Readers want to feel useful. We don't feel useful correcting things you could easily correct yourself. And quite honestly, it's really hard to read something when the grammar is a mess. The flow will be interrupted trying to understand what the author meant. A comma's presence or absence can completely change the meaning of a sentence. I know someone here has this amusing example in their signature:

"Let's eat, Grandpa!"
"Let's eat Grandpa!"

See? Take away a comma and the grandkids just turned cannibalistic.

Now, all that being said, I am totally in favor of writing things down just to get the ideas out first. Especially if you're new to writing. But these rough drafts aren't for second readers yet. Get it as clean as you can, then ask for feedback. That way your readers will help you catch things you couldn't find on your own.

Best of luck and welcome!

don't delete it (mods rarely do this anyway) but I will second what Will says--if you are unaware what needs fixing people are happy to help, but if you already know where a bunch of the rough spots are....it is generally considered good form to handle everything you can instead of leaving the heavy lifting for someone else.

participate, learn (you can learn a ton here) and get to your 50....one advantage of this Will did NOT mention is if you go to SYW you may get a dozen crits, instead of a single beta.

GhostReporting said:

Thanks everyone. I will admit that I think my short story readable and not a complete mess. However, compared to the grammar proficiently on this message board, it truly is trash LOL.

Also, I was unaware of the 50 post limit and the SYW section so thank you again for that information. It will takes years to reach 50 posts so maybe by then maybe my grammar will be much better!

Thanks all

Click to expand...

The 50 posts is only for posting your own work, but you can start critiquing others work before then. And even if you think your own writing skills are "trash," one of the best ways to improve is to critique someone else.

If your novel is written with the same care and attention as you seem to devote to your posts, I'd stop worrying.

You spell grammar correctly, which is a pleasant change.

It may just be on the technique side where you need assistance.

It will take a lot less time than you think to achieve 50 posts.

Browse around this massive site, and have a peek in the Share-Your-Work Forum.

Nothing stopping you from commenting on the work of others. Also, critically reading the work of others and spotting perceived flaws will help you spot the same flaws in your own manuscript.

GhostReporting said:

Thanks everyone. I will admit that I think my short story readable and not a complete mess. However, compared to the grammar proficiently on this message board, it truly is trash LOL.

Also, I was unaware of the 50 post limit and the SYW section so thank you again for that information. It will takes years to reach 50 posts so maybe by then my grammar will be much better!

Thanks all

Click to expand...