Find a Safe Harbor for Critique Groups with Scribophile

Every year, we’re lucky to have great sponsors for our nonprofit events. And each year, our sponsor Scribophile likes to ask a new member who found them through NaNoWriMo to write about their experience at Scribophile. This is what author Snorri Haugen submitted: 

NaNoWriMo is one of the seas upon which I sail my ship of prose. It’s an adventure with high winds, heavy waves, and all sails set. The bow crashes into the waves, throwing off cold spray, and the story pours out like the rushing sea over the edge of the world. 

A couple of short months ago I made the 50,000-word journey and coached a bunch of students to writing tens of thousands of words together. It was then I started looking for a sheltered bay.

I sailed several years through the ether of the internet, making long stops at havens for writers. It was one cold Thanksgiving week when an old friend told me about NaNoWriMo. It took another year for me to jump in. And there, while cresting waves of creativity, I heard of a new harbor.

Scribophile: my new home port. Every ship needs a home port: For repair, refit, comfort … yes, and training, improvement, and practice too.

Scribophile is just that place. It’s great for any serious writer honing their skills to razor sharpness. Take that rough draft which sprang from the wellspring of your heart and mind in November, and bring that ore to the forge of Scribophile. The writers there will help you purify the ore into gold.  

For years I tried to get decent assessments of my writing, without paying thousands of bucks for the privilege (OK, so I’m cheap).  After the Anger and Denial phases, I skipped Negotiation and went straight to Acceptance. It seemed like I could only get one of three responses: 

I Love It!*Crickets chirping* Let me give you the long long list of everything I don’t like about the content, the grammar, and you personally.

Then I found Scribophile, where it’s fun to critique and be critiqued. Seriously. I get to read first drafts of great stories with wonderful original plot ideas and concepts. And I even get to put my own two cents in with the author!

Then I get to have my own writing read, reviewed, and critiqued. So instead of  “It stinks” or “It’s great,” I get input which indicates someone actually read the piece before commenting.

There are a lot of established groups to hang out in and share with. The forums are full of fascinating threads on all kinds of topics including literature, publishing, and more. Genres of all types abound in this writer’s landscape, from common ones to endangered species.

Scribophile is the friendliest and most professional group I have encountered. Everyone is welcoming and supportive. I received welcomes on my profile almost immediately. The staff are top-notch, every question I have asked was answered quickly. And the web site functions flawlessly. So, if you’re a writer—get over there. The rest of us are waiting for you!

Snorri Haugen has been a firefighter, fisherman, farmer; soldier, sailor, airman, teacher, traveler, technical writer, editor for training manuals, and writer.  Right now he teachers Naval Science in an NJROTC program at a public high school. He coaches marksmanship, drill, archery, and literacy. Snorri lives with his wife and daughter in what he likes to call “Middle America,” with a tiny dog in the house and seven random cats on the porch.

Top photo by Austin Neill on Unsplash.