posted
I am writing a story, but I'm not happy with how it's going. I can't really say why I'm not happy with it, I just don't like how it's written. Unfortunately, I can't think of how to change it.
I'd really appreciate any help that anyone could give me in looking through the story, and giving criticism/suggestions on how to chnage/fix it.
Sorry if this is the wrong place to post this request.
posted
You can only post 13 lines here--I mean in the fragments section--but then you ask for readers to give you feedback through e-mail. Posting any more than 13 lines is considered publication.
You go to the Fragments and Feedback, a sub-forum within Hatrack Writer's Workshop.
You then post your first 13 lines. You only post the first 13 lines b/c anything more than that is considered publication. You don't want to publish your story here if you plan to send it elsewhere.
So you post your first 13 lines and ask people to read your story and help you with either all of it or with some specifics.
People will respond, saying, "I'll read it," or something like that. They will provide their e-mail. You then e-mail them your WHOLE story and, presumably, they will read it. They will respond back to you via e-mail.
posted
Don't be offended by the concept here. You don't have to put the 1st 13 lines; it can be any 13 you want.
The reason people want to see them first is because they want to see a small sample of what they will be committing themselves to reading. Since no one knows your style or if you write well enough for it to be readable, not many people will be willing to ask for it. I have muddled through some stories myself which were not very good and required large amounts of effort to force myself to actually read it.
Your story might be incredible and well worth reading, but since no one knows, they want to see a bit of it. I doubt I'm the only one who has read some poorly written stories. So try and understand that the 13 lines is a taste of whether we will be able to read it. Also you need to tell us how long it is, and a word count is the most common way. Since time is valuable to most everyone you need to provide these few things if you want some help.