A Writer's Forum

I participate in a few writers forums. I like to share and exchange experiences of writing. I think it's good to communicate with other writers so tips and advice can be shared. A writer's experience is always valuable to other writers, to help in deciding where to submit, and how best to use sites for earning money. Most writers are helpful, but online forums do get nasty sometimes, and some members will easily take offence at what is posted. Any forum needs good moderators to remove bad posts and ban members who break rules.

I've been a member of the same writing forum since 1999, and it feels like I'm hanging out with a bunch of friends during our breaks from work. We talk about everything under the sun, both writing related and not. I find writing opportunities there, I share leads I find that others might like, we encourage each other, we warn each other about scams, and we critique each other's work. I used to visit there daily, but I'm on there much less lately.

no experiences here as of yet, but my experience of writers forums are very limited, other than here at mylot. But then, no one critiques my writing, it is either responded to or ignored, with no direction how to proceed. Are there writer forums that help people write better? I will be very interested in hearing about them.

until now, i am still all for mylot online. so for experiences, i can only touch on mylot. not a very encouraging note, huh? however, as i pour my thoughts into this, your friend can always consider to make it like mylot but so much more. maybe, a forum wherein one can fully express himself in some good writeups which shall available for everyone who is interested to join in or just simply read articles and drop comments. kind of, we still can have conversations about the written article, the way we do it here making those responses to a discussion.

It all depends on the kind of writer's forum that you get yourself into. In my opinion, if you wish to get some constructive ideas and motivation about writing, you may want to go through some of the comments posted on a certain writer's forum, and gauge (what kind of people is involved, look through their profile page - are they authors, journalist, freelance writers, or are they just critics, or someone who likes to critics illogically without reasons?) Only if you are satisfied with most of the comments which you think are constructive & helpful, then you may want to sign up/ register for that particular writer's forum. That way, you can share your ideas or your writing without being afraid that someone will criticized you without any basis at all. Most of us will be discouraged to write if others criticized our work without logical reasons.

By "forum" I assume you mean online? I was a member of a site called EditRed.com for several years and really got a lot out of it, at first. After a while it stopped being about the critiques and started being more about goofing off and playing games on the "bulletin board." In a "real life" Round Robin sort of situation, I look for honesty and substance. I don't want praise without explanation and, likewise, I don't want criticism without explanation. And I don't give either without explanation.

I guess I am not sure if you are talking about an in-person group that meets regularly to discuss their work or an online vehicle to do the same. I think that an online writers forum would be a lot more challenging. The main reason I think an online group would be harder is that some people don't have the right spirit, and unless you know the people, not everyone will participate. It could also get too large and then not function well either. It's tricky to get the right number and commitment of people. I think an in-person group that works well together of about 5-6 would be great. I have heard of other people's writing groups (which meet in person), but never participated. You might also try NaNoWriMo. The group in Chicago, for example, meets year round at regular intervals. Good luck with your writing. I'd love to hear more about your friend's plan. I think it could work online, but you would need to limit the size and also have committed folks to really get some value from it.

I like to write but I do not consider myself a writer. I have joined Helium but have not earned anything for my articles, just for cursory page views. It might take me several lifetimes before I even consider joining a writer's forum. Cheers!!

This is the first forum I have stayed with. Normally I get bored with the forum. Here everyone is so friendly and always wanting to help out. I like that. So you could say I look for friendly people, with friendly advice. I basically like to be able to communicate with other people who think like I do. Seeing as I don't see people very often anymore, it is nice to make friends on My Lot. I don't feel so alone all the time. Take care, happy mylotting.

Hmm, I would have to say it would be the type of forum where I know I can start a thread and get a nice diverse mix of opinions. I kind of take it as a given that there will be some who will be quite harsh when critquing a piece of work, which I actually see as a good thing.

Support and critique are the main things I look for in a writing forum. For me, it is less about socializing and having a good time and more about honing my craft. It's a job thing. But, that being said, I'm tending to avoid the online world right now because of copyright issues. A lot of markets won't touch something if it's been posted online, even in a workshopping forum type thing. As much as I'd like the feedback (and I would like the feedback), I'd rather have the market open to purchasing the work down the line.

I have been a member of a writer's forum in my country (Denmark) and I think that one of the biggest problems is that very few people comment on the poems or stories that people post. Sometimes more than 200 people have read the text, but not a single person left a comment, so I would say that one of the most important things that I look for in a writer's forum is active participation. Sometimes I have chosen to post my poems on a general forum instead. There are many other topics and writing is only a small part of it, but more people respond. I actually prefer a forum which is only about writing, it just seems hard to get any comments there. I like to get critique of my writing, and I also like to get help or new ideas. Sometimes I have asked for help on a particular line of a poem or a couple of lines, but I have never received any responses.

Hi, sounds interesting.I do write some poems and scribble some short stories with Morals(Values).Will these do? =Lahiri,Kolkata,India.

Is this a paid writing job...like Get Paid For: http://cashearninggo.synthasite.com Lot of forum owners pays for writing articles..I don't think that writing for a blog for free is a good idea.