Creative Writer Welcome Mat
This week's new members:
scheheraz_odd, mcdonaldrenee, lexiej195, coldclarity, de311_nightluva
Welcome to Creative Writer!
This is your official welcome mat, an introduction to the fun which is our
community and an entreaty for you to join in.
How does it work?
Creative Writer is an online version of a writers' group. While writing
itself is usually a solitary occupation, what all writers need is contact
with other people who can give feedback, answer questions and, as with all
professions, provide guidance and a learning environment. While all artists
create their work, they can't create in a vacuum.
A writers group provides that environment. Here you are able to post
excerpts from your work and receive feedback, here you can learn from other
writers, here you can contribute to others, here is a safe place to grow
your talent.
So welcome to Creative Writer! Jump in, have some fun, any questions, feel
free to ask at any time.
A little history
Creative Writer was born in March 2001, the brain child of Joe Morris, who
was looking to make a place for new and seasoned writers to hone and show
off their craft. Some time after that, he passed on the community to
BethAnna, who revamped the site and injected her own sparkle into what soon
became a group of over a thousand members.
Unfortunately in February of 2006, Joe passed away suddenly and BethAnna's
life was thrown into turmoil. With the assistance of Ayoub, Creative Writer
was kept alive and well until BethAnna returned.
In June of 2007, BethAnna decided to pass on the baton to the current
maintainers - Windcharmer & Ayoub. windcharmer is the
maintainer of the Library of the Four Winds, a network of LJ writing
communities of which Creative Writer is now a part.
Any queries are welcomed by the both of us.
Community calendar
There are a number of regular events designed to inspire our members and we
hope you find them useful.
Monday - Round the table - Members are encouraged to talk
about their current projects and progress, ask questions, brag about their
word counts and achievements. Tell us what you've been up to, before we
pounce on you and ask what happened to that novel, or how that piece of
poetry is going. We like to hear how you are all doing.
Tuesday - Blockbuster - Stuck in your writing? Don't know what
to write at all? Need a direction? The Blockbuster is designed to give you
that start. Sometimes all we need to do is sit down and write and the words
will start to flow. Take the challenge and let your muse loose.
Wednesday - Outside the box - a puzzle or two to help you
think outside of the box.
Thursday - Weird word - English is a wonderful language, it is
full of some of the strangest words. Expand your vocabulary to include the
weird. Use the word as a challenge to write or simply as a curiousity.
Friday - Question - The question can be anything...about
writing, characterisation, a challenge, anything that sparks either
amusement or writing.
Saturday - Welcome mat - A welcome to all our new members that
week.
Sunday - Grammar Quiz - A quick quiz to keep those grammar
neurons buzzing.
Rules for this community
- Members are encouraged to post regularly, though it is not a requirement,
a community is nothing without participation. Also regular posting of work
can be a source of motivation.
- All works submitted to this group must contain a header and the work
itself must be behind an LJ-CUT.
The header must contain the following:
Title: (the title of the work)
Author: (who wrote it - LJ name, handle, nickname, whatever the
author goes by)
Genre: (Sci-fi, fantasy, crime, chick lit, general, romance, etc)
Rating: (G - General, PG - Parental Guidance recommended, PG-13 - not
suitable for under 13, R - recommended for mature audiences, NC-17 - not
recommended for under 17, please err on the side of caution)
Warnings: (sexual situations, violence, blood, etc, anything that may
be of concern to the reader)
Critique: (Yes/No, what level - quick look through to give it your
worst)
Summary: (short summary - One to three lines of what the work is
about)
Authors note: (thanking anyone who helped you with the work, anything
else you might like the reader to know).
- Creative Writer is a fully moderated/friends only community. It is
highly recommended that members posting original work lock their posts to
the community for their own protection.
- Please keep all entries free and clean of mature/inappropriate content.
There are children amongst our members. Please conduct yourself
appropriately. The posting of adult material is not condoned. Inappropriate
material will not pass moderator's review - the piece will be rejected with
a request to edit. Profanity should only be used in dialogue and only if
critical to the character. Any graphic sexuality or violence will be deleted
immediately or will not pass moderation review. If you are unsure, please
feel free to approach one of our moderators for advice.
- Please post entire works, not links to works on other journals. Link
only posts will be rejected during moderation.
- Fan fiction, or works not of the members own creation, are not accepted
here. For fan fiction please visit libraryofwinds. For
plagiarism, see the nearest law courts.
Feedback
- As a writer do not expect feedback. It is not guaranteed and it is not
mandatory.
- As a reader, please give feedback freely. We all enjoy acknowledgement
and as this community is designed for support, it should be noted that
nothing motivates more than constructive feedback.
- As a giver of feedback please be honest and constructive, but gentle.
Consider others feelings.
- As a receiver of feedback, remember to thank the reader for taking the
time to read your work.
- Posts/comments complaining about lack of feedback and demanding attention
will be deleted and the member warned. If unpleasantness ensues, the member
will be kicked out.
In summary, do unto others what you would wish them to do unto you.
Give and you will be given.
Write and you will receive.
But if you expect...
Expect disappointment.
If you demand...
You demand ignorance.
For a gift can only be given by a giver
And received by the same.
- The Librarian does not speak
chat speak, so if you want to be understood, proper English or other
language is a good idea.
- Play nice, windcharmer carries a yard long steel ruler around
with her, misbehave and expect painful knuckles.
- The Librarian reserves the right to ban and/or kick out any malcontents.
Please play nice or she will call in a tornado.
- All queries to windcharmer
All in all, remember, we all write for enjoyment, so enjoy yourselves.
How to make and LJ-cut
Cut and paste the following into your post.
<*lj-cut text="Title of your work here"*>Title of your work here
Content here.
<*/lj-cut*>
Remove the * to make the code work.
-o-o-o-
Have fun and here's to great writing!
Windcharmer & Ayoub
(your local Creative Writer facilitators)