Thursday Night Write – And Some Tips

[image error]Time for another edition of Open Mic! WOOT!

I'll remind you of the rules in a minute, but first I want to give you a couple of tips to make the feedback you get here most productive. It's fine to post 300 words for comment, but I think it's really difficult sometimes to give productive feedback for so short a piece. A lot of the time, we end up saying, "I really like this," or "I love how you did XY &Z."

Which is totally fine!

But I think some little tweaks to the Thursday Night Write system will help give you all more constructive feedback and will also make reading and commenting a lot easier.

1. Since you can only post 300 words or less, try to post an excerpt from the beginning or the end of your piece if you can't fit the whole thing (as in a poem or song).

2. If you don't want to post something from the beginning or end, give brief context for the piece your posting to better allow the readers to see the piece as part of the whole.

3. Post a piece that you're having trouble with or are unsure of in some way. Tell potential readers what you're looking for, i.e. "I'm not sure if the second paragraph makes sense," or, "I have a couple of really long sentences here but can't seem to find a way to streamline them and still say what I want to say." Even something simple like, "I'm trying to figure out if my MC is sympathetic enough here" will allow a reader to give you more targeted feedback. You can use that feedback to figure out if you have a gripping opener, a solid end-of-chapter cliffhanger, or a smooth transition from one piece to the next.

All that said, if you're looking for an overall impression, feel free to ask for that as well!

All other rules as usual; post 300 words or less of your original short story, poem, song, or novel excerpt for comment. Don't forget to comment at least one other piece if you leave one of your own. Writers of all ages and experience are welcome to play.

Happy writing!