I encourage serious writers to join Scribophile. As a member for over 4 years, I’ve found the community to be invaluable in all respects. Membership is free, and although a Premium Membership provides widgets and whistles, the Free membership is perfectly adequate to get the feel of the community.
In this user-friendly venue, writers encourage, critique and celebrate each others achievements and when a writer’s block raises its ugly head, there’s lots of forums to engage in that will soothe your angst and inspire you to move on. One can easily start a group to gather together in genres, goals, or any category that strikes your fancy and keeps you engaged with other writers in a well moderated safe-from-flaming space. Contests are a regular feature and provide the impetus to explore new areas or shine in familiar ones.
I’ve posted, over the course of four years, 41 shorts – from flash, short stories and poems to query letters and two complete novels. Every page has borne the scrutiny of criticism that either changed my mind or entrenched my own voice, encouraging me to persist and improve my skills. Every piece posted costs you Karma (the on-site remuneration system) but is guaranteed 3 long critiques from others. Earning Karma is a lesson in itself. As you critique other’s work, you earn enough to post your work while learning to read critically and closely and using your growing skills to help fellow writers. This experience has been a tremendous boon to my ability to revise and edit, to see fault in my own writing and know how to fix it.
Scribophile is a lively environment of diverse writers from Literary to Limerick, Non-fiction to Fantasy and every genre in-between. Sign-up. You’ve nothing to lose and everything to gain.
