# Just a suggestion...



## Poetigress (Dec 6, 2007)

When people post fiction or poems here for critique, it might be a good idea to put something like "FICTION: (title)" in the subject line, so that it's clear what the post is.  I just say this because I've seen other forums get taken over by fiction/poetry posts where it's hard to tell by the subject lines what's a title and what's a topic.

*shrug*  Just my two cents.  Unless the admin(s) think it's better to just have people put a link in their post leading to the story file on FA.


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## TakeWalker (Dec 6, 2007)

We might be better off having a "post links to your work here!" thread. We can keep everything in one place that way, without cluttering up the board, and people can still (hopefully) get critiques if they so desire.


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## Poetigress (Dec 6, 2007)

That would work, too -- maybe start a thread called "Crits Wanted"?


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## Xipoid (Dec 6, 2007)

Seems logical, though someone should note under the hypothetical "Crits Wanted" section that _links_ should be posted and not the actual text of the piece.


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## Poetigress (Dec 6, 2007)

Good point.  How would this sound for a quick set of guidelines:

Writers should post
1) a brief summary/description of the work, including any content advisories (so people can know whether it's something they want to crit)
2) the link to the work on FA
3) what type of crit the writer's looking for (just grammar and spelling, or anything, or some particular aspect or issue the writer's dealing with in this particular piece)

Maybe there should also be a friendly limit of, say, three works per writer, to keep it from turning into a self-promo thread?


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## ShÃ nwÃ ng (Dec 6, 2007)

Poetigress said:
			
		

> Writers should post
> 1) a brief summary/description of the work, including any content advisories (so people can know whether it's something they want to crit)
> 2) the link to the work on FA
> 3) what type of crit the writer's looking for (just grammar and spelling, or anything, or some particular aspect or issue the writer's dealing with in this particular piece)



I was about to write the same thing.


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## TakeWalker (Dec 6, 2007)

That's basically how it works on the writer's board I'm on. Go go go!


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## TheGru (Dec 7, 2007)

A splendid idea Tigress!


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## Kindar (Dec 7, 2007)

Poetigress said:
			
		

> Good point.  How would this sound for a quick set of guidelines:
> 
> Writers should post
> 1) a brief summary/description of the work, including any content advisories (so people can know whether it's something they want to crit)
> ...



I like this idea, but I think at least one person here doesn't have an account on FA, that might limit what he/she can critique on


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## Poetigress (Dec 7, 2007)

Um... no offense, but... why be active on the FA forums if you don't have an FA account?  >o_0<

Well, I'll go ahead and start the thread, and we can change the rules later as it becomes necessary.

*looks around*  Um...  Just so you know, I'm not trying to, like, take over or anything.  It's just... I don't know; I see a niche, I try to fill it, I guess.  >^_^<


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## TakeWalker (Dec 7, 2007)

Dude, you take over _everything_.  It's the result of having a forceful personality amidst a sea of limp noodles.

But that's okay, 'cuz you're cool. XD


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## Poetigress (Dec 7, 2007)

Which is odd, because in real life, I'd tell you I consider myself to be fairly shy and would rather stay back in the shadows.  *shrug*

[EDIT: I also like how "dude" became unisex at some point when I wasn't looking...]


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## M. LeRenard (Dec 7, 2007)

If we're doing it this way, maybe I should get an FA account....

I'd just feel bad having an account with nothing on it just so I could rip apart peoples' writing.  No chance for them to get back at me.


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## TakeWalker (Dec 7, 2007)

Poetigress said:
			
		

> Which is odd, because in real life, I'd tell you I consider myself to be fairly shy and would rather stay back in the shadows.  *shrug*
> 
> [EDIT: I also like how "dude" became unisex at some point when I wasn't looking...]


I'm fairly uniform in my generalization of sex-specific words of that sort. 

Also, what are you doin' this weekend, huh? 



			
				M. Le Renard said:
			
		

> If we're doing it this way, maybe I should get an FA account....
> 
> I'd just feel bad having an account with nothing on it just so I could rip apart peoples' writing.  No chance for them to get back at me.



DOO EET

Are you telling me you don't write anything on your own? Nothing you'd want to share with the community? It doesn't help that registration is down at the moment, but still... As long as you keep your most scathing critique for those of us who can actually handle it, you'll go far.


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## M. LeRenard (Dec 7, 2007)

No... I write plenty.  It's just that ever since I've started actually sending things out for publication (no luck yet), I haven't wanted to risk losing first publication rights by posting my stuff on the internet.  Either that, or the stuff I haven't sent out sucks so bad I don't want anybody to see it.  Maybe I could just take part in a couple of those Thursday prompts and call it good.

I probably won't do it right away, though, because I'm going to be taking off for about 6 months come January, so it'd seem kind of silly to have an account for a few weeks and then leave it.  We'll see.  Depends on how much I feel like writing/critiquing during Dead Week.


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## TakeWalker (Dec 8, 2007)

M. Le Renard said:
			
		

> I haven't wanted to risk losing first publication rights by posting my stuff on the internet.



...Wait, what?


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## Poetigress (Dec 8, 2007)

That's a good point. Technically, any full text posted online is considered published, and would have to be sold as a reprint.  I have to be careful about that, too.

So far I've dealt with it by posting 1) works that were already published (for which I retained electronic rights), 2) works that I don't intend to send out for whatever reason, and 3) works-in-progress that are likely to be significantly revised by the time they're ready to send out.

It should be noted that markets within the fandom are a little more tolerant of things appearing on people's websites and sites like FA than markets outside the fandom would be.  Sofawolf Press, for instance, has mentioned (regarding at least one of their publications) that they'll consider stuff that's been online, although if they have two stories of equal quality, and one has appeared online and one hasn't, they do lean toward the one that hasn't.

If FA were password-protected -- that is, if you couldn't see anything without logging in -- it wouldn't be considered a public site, and wouldn't be considered publication.  I'm not advocating going to that, but that makes the difference.  For example, Critique Circle.com is set up that way so that it's not considered viewable by the general public, and people can post stories for critique without worrying about losing any opportunities to publish.


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## Kindar (Dec 8, 2007)

M. Le Renard said:
			
		

> No... I write plenty.  It's just that ever since I've started actually sending things out for publication (no luck yet), I haven't wanted to risk losing first publication rights by posting my stuff on the internet.



this isn't something I have to worry about since I have no plans to ever publish what I'm writing


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## M. LeRenard (Dec 8, 2007)

Right-o.  Account created under username MLR.  We'll see if I do anything with it ever, but it is convenient to have.  Maybe I should start looking through that list of good writers to find some people to watch.


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## Metassus (Jan 11, 2008)

Poetigress said:
			
		

> Technically, any full text posted online is considered published, and would have to be sold as a reprint.  I have to be careful about that, too. ... If FA were password-protected -- that is, if you couldn't see anything without logging in -- it wouldn't be considered a public site, and wouldn't be considered publication.



Curious. I wasn't aware of that.
Question as a result : if you post on FA with the "Mature" or higher tag, you must be logged in to view it. Wouldn't that be the same thing?


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## Poetigress (Jan 11, 2008)

I see that as a gray area... technically, I guess the mature/adult work wouldn't be considered published because of that, but if I were to send it out, I'd still want to inform the editor just to be sure.  If in doubt, disclose it.  I know some people don't -- I haven't always in the past -- but it's risky, and you can lose an editor's trust if you're found out.

The only other exception to the "online is published" guideline that I'm aware of is that if you're only posting a small portion of the work -- say, the first three chapters of a twenty-chapter novel -- that's something publishers would generally be okay with, as it could even be seen as a type of promotion.  They just don't want to pay for, and try to get people to buy, something that's already been online in its entirety for free.


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