The Story Circle Guidelines

I (and others) were delightfully surprised to find so many good writers in this group (when JMG put out a call for stories). We wanted to find ways to keep inspired and keep writing post-peak stories, and so this forum has come into being. We would like this to be a place for constructive critique for those who want feedback in editing story drafts.

Because, in my experience, it is not hard for critique circles to devolve into emotional defensiveness, and lopsided participation, and because I'm inspired by JMG's wonderful moderation of comments on The ArchDruid Report, I'm presenting some guidelines for anyone who wants to participate here (Dtrammel will be co-moderating).

1. If you submit a story for feedback, you must also commit to making thoughtful comments on others' stories. To start off, can we please have you post here that you would like to participate? That way we can see who's part of the circle.

2. Since this is a "public forum" (ie: visible to anyone who signs up for greenwizards) please be conscious of how you are wording your critique. Remember it's good to also hear the positive things about a story. Please keep it constructive (ie: specific is better than general suggestions, usually). Good critique can often be used by everyone in working on their stories.

3. Please restrict your story to 5,000 words. At this point, we can't do novel chapters.

4. Moderators reserved the right to not put through or to remove comments that are overly harsh, or ad hominem attacks or off topic.

5. Please make the stories "post peak" themed, at least for now... there are many good forums for general story critique.

6. We'll post each story in a separate topic under this forum, so all the comments pertaining to that will be in one place.

7. If you want a story critiqued, put "FEEDBACK WANTED" in your header.

There might be other guidelines as we progress. But hey, I'm looking forward to the stories!!

PLEASE POST ALL COMMENTS UNDER THE "DISCUSSION" TOPIC