I have some fairly big news: I've started the editing process of my novel -- with outsider advice!! It has been so amazing thus far (it really hasn't been that long...) and I am super excited to continue with the rest of the story with these people! If anyone watches this blog, and also wants to write, I highly suggest using this website. It's called Critique Circle. There are so many amazing aspiring authors with so many amazing ideas! They've helped me take the first part (prologue/chapter) from aout a 50% to at least an 85%! I've never met more helpful people in the world!
Here's how it works:
1. You sign up for the site (it's 100% FREE for all functions! At no point does it seem like you really miss out on a lot by not being a gold member. Gold members are those who want to spend about $7 (or more as donation to the wonderful administrators and moderators) and they get some nice perks: including, but not limited to, a "buddy" system, private critiques, and novel organization settings.)
2. You must "crit" (critique) other people's work before you can even post your own. You start out with either two or three credits (depending on how long of a crit you give and how long the story was (above or below 3000 words) determines the amount of credits you have. Ex: I critted a story that was 2000 words. The possible amount of credits possible was 1 credit, but I only wrote a 241 word crit, so I only got .5 credits. I then critted a 4500 word story which had a possible 2 credits, and I gave an 800 word crit, so I got all 2 credits. I now how 2.5 new credits on top of the two I had for signing up, which brings me to 4.5 credits.)
3. After 3 credits, you can post your first story to the Story Queue (you must have an account to access this page). You select a crit time-range that lasts from a Wednesday to the following Tuesday for your story to receive crits. It costs three credits to do this. If you would like to post another (part of the) story while your current story is still in the Queue, the "price" goes up -- now it costs 6 credits to post your story. If you decide to wait a week between when each story is in the Queue (so, in other words, one week you have a story in, the next week not, the following you do) as long as you put your second story in during a time when you don't already have another story in the Queue, it will go back to costing 3 credits.
4. Edit away! The whole website is based around critiqueing. Once you receive a crit, edit your story (or wait until you have all of the crits at the end of the week, it's up to you!) Then, once you've read through the crit, GRADE IT! It helps other critters (others who critique) know what areas to improve on when they give critiques. Don't worry -- no one knows what grade you give them. Each person's critter grade is only updated after every five grades given and they're all anonymous, so you don't know who scored you as what in each section.
5. Become a better writer: the more you crit, and the more you are critted, the better you'll become. I've only been on this site for around two weeks, and already I know the areas that I need improvement on (I need to cut out passive voice and I need to cut out a LOT of adverbs: those are the two things I abuse in my writing apparently).
6. Have a good time! You can make some great partnerships with the other critters on this site. For the most part, everyone acts very professional and is very passionate about helping you as they hope you will for them. It's a giving relationship on this site, and I love it dearly.
There are a TON of other aspects to this website that I couldn't possibly have time to write about (nor really should I because, once you sign up for CC, you'll figure everything out like I did, by searching and reading through the FAQs and emails that the admins send you). In all, though, this site is absolutely amazing. If you're ready to take the plunge and let some others see your work, I highly recommend visiting the site, signing up, and giving it a whirl!
