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The Writer's Apprenticeship - Write your stories and have them critiqued!

The Writer's Apprenticeship:
OP used and edited with permission from Bay 12, courtesy of Phantom of the Library.​
Looking to learn how to write or to improve your writing skills?​
Have the time to tutor an aspiring writer?​
Welcome to the Writers Apprenticeship!​
All of the following is to be modified at the will of the members:​
___/Purpose\___​
This 'apprenticeship' is created as a method of providing a place for newbie writers, experienced writers, and people to mentor said writers. Criticism MUST be constructive, as we don't want to hurt feelings. However: if a particular piece is unsalvageable (don't worry, it happens to the best writers), we will say so.​
___/Guild Roster\___​
Currently, we call Reudh, Tiruin and FuzzyBlueBaron the main guild members- but hopefully it shall expand soon.​
___/How to Participate\___​
  • Write as much as possible, and post as much as possible. The key to learning how to be a good writer is practice, the more you write the better you get.
  • Mentors should browse the posts and offer critique when people are asking for it as much as possible.
  • Offer new links to add to the resource list...
___/Getting Critique\___​
Do not take critique personally, it may seem like someone is attacking you, but if they are doing their job right, they're just trying to help you.​
___/Giving Critique\___​
Constructive Criticism Only. I do not care if the person writing sounds like a seven-year old girl on a sugar high writing a Twilight fanfic. Your criticism will be constructive. No slamming, no attacking. Remember, while I don't necessarily expect you to be nice, I expect you to be helpful.​
___/Resources\___​
http://www.springhole.net/writing/marysue.htm/ <- A test to see how cliched, or tired your character is. A high Mary Sue score indicates your character is too powerful, cliched or tired for the genre; however, that does not always mean that it's a bad character. For example, Batman scores very high on the Mary Sue tests.​
Useful for building a character. I'm going to do one on my character Kenozi from the story example.​
After the extensive testing, Kenozi scored 12. For a somewhat fanfic character that's considered a little dry.​
0-12 - Most likely Not-Sue. Characters at this level could probably take a little spicing up without hurting them any.​
http://www.writingexcuses.com/ <- A podcast by genre writers who are all published. There's a lot of good material here, and while there is material you may not need, you're allowed to skip around to what you need. They always give a writing prompt at the end of each podcast.​
http://coyotecult.com/communities/sfandf_critters/references/limyaael.php <- Limyaael's fantasy advice rants. There is a wealth of knowledge in here based on one of the pickiest readers in the fantasy genre. She has her own tastes, and those may not be your own tastes, but her perspective can improve critical thought.​
Write Or Die is a webapp (though it's available on other platforms for a price) that checks to make sure it is receiving input in a specified amount of time. Keep typing until you're done, and you're good. Stop typing, and it will start to alert you to the fact that you've stopped. You can set it to different alarms.​
Editminion is a webapp that goes over your stories for the most common problems editors face. HOWEVER it is not always right. Its best use is to highlight things that might be problems, but you should always use your own discretion as to whether it has found a real problem or not.​
How NOT To Write A Novel; quite simply a book on things you should definitely not do while writing, by Howard Mittelmark and Sandra Newman.​
Consider it a document specifically about science fiction tropes, cliches and bad habits that can be applied to many fiction genres with a little extra thinking. It's a great read all around and a good place to bounce story ideas off of.​
Climbing the stairs on the road to writing.​
This shows common beliefs on grammar broken down by the hard facts of a writer's world.​
Some tips on what you can do when you can't think of what to write, a bit opinionated though.​
The page name is 'Finding your Writer's voice', the whole website is basically a treasure trove of information! This is a guide.​
Local Member's Tips and Tricks:
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