Welcome to Gaia! ::

Hmm, well for me, there are two people that I usually go to for feedback on my writing: my sister and my best friend. My sister is really good at giving advice in general, and my best friend is a professional editor (she helps me for free though since I'm mostly writing fanfic and it's just a fun thing for the both of us, there's no money involved) (I should probably mention that at this point in my life, I'm not aiming to be any kind of professional writer any time soon). We all have degrees, too, and are quite adept in writing university-level essays, at the very least.

I have another friend from high school that I have shared my writing with, and who has shared her writing with me, but it's been a little while since the last time we got together. She has a Masters Degree in Creative Writing and lives in a different city now.

So, from my experiences, I'd recommend becoming friends with other writers, especially those who have a university degree (type of degree is generally not that important). But if you're really serious about writing, find out what professional writers do - who do they turn to most often? That's what I always do when I'm serious about learning/doing something. I look at what the professionals do, not what the amateurs do, and I emulate them. For example, if the professionals are using a particular piece of software that might be more expensive than other software out there, I'm going to get the same one, regardless of price, because that's what the professionals are using and I want to be one of them.

When I get advice on my writing, I usually ask critique partners. Having other writers look over your work can help a lot. I've never hired an editor, but that's always a option too if you want feedback. The drawback is the price (depending on what the editor is focusing on will depend on how much he/she charges you).

Congrats by the way on finishing your novella. Did you participate in Camp NaNoWriMo?

If you can make money from it then you're a professional, correct? I'm incredibly broke and could definitely use the cash. Even if I put my stories online for free and only get occasional donations, I would still work hard. I think you and I are very alike in the sense that we hold ourselves to high standards. I recently started learning Cubase (it's a music software) which is incredibly difficult but worth it if you're serious about what you're doing, which I am.

Personally though, I don't like showing my family members my stuff. *shrug*



I see your point. I haven't publicized anything of mine yet so the only people I show my work to are people I hope to get critique from.



I'm less paranoid about the theft thing, but I see where you're coming from. I haven't posted any of my stuff online yet. Thanks for the encouragement. 3nodding



I do need more critique partners. I had plenty when I was in Fiction class last semester but now I'm slightly at a loss :

I want to get my piece turned in for my Composition final before I start participating more on Gaia, but I did see the thread! Looks like fun.



I'm in the same position you are, tbh
Most of the people I used to ask aren't a part of my life right now.
I'm tentative about letting anyone read anything of mine before I'm sure that it's perfect emo

Yes, you're a professional if you make money from it. The only situation I can think of where I'd consider someone professional without making money is if they're an Olympian for a country that doesn't pay their athletes and in a sport that doesn't really make money (where the biggest event for that sport is the Olympics... like swimming). Heck, I'd even consider them professional if they were only at National level but trained 40+ hours a week. But maybe that has to do more with their level of mastery of the sport than how they use it to help others (because every "job" is a form of helping others... a form of helping someone solve a problem... and in the case of athletes, their "job" is -- at a basic level -- to entertain and/or inspire people).

Heheh, I definitely hold myself to a high standard. So yeah, we're very alike in that way! When it comes to family though, I dunno, my sister is probably the person I'm closest to in the entire world (more than even my best friend). We just get along so well, understand each other without speaking, and trust each other with anything. I know that every family is different, so if it makes more sense to you to share your stories with a friend instead, do it!

Do you have the contact info for anyone from your Fiction class last semester? If you found them to be good people to share your work with, then you should contact them and ask them if they'd be willing to do a critique-swap sort of thing. If you feel uncomfortable contacting them out of the blue, appeal to their egos first: "Hey, I really enjoyed reading and critiquing your stories last semester. I was wondering if you'd be up for sharing any more of your writing with me and I could do the same? It'd be nice to keep up with writing fiction and having people to bounce stories off of..." or something like that (probably a better way to word it).

If you don't have any of their contact info, might be tricky, but you could contact your teacher and ask them to pass along a similar message which includes your contact info. In other words, you: 1) give your teacher permission to hand out your contact info to other (specific) students and 2) have a message you'd like them to pass along. This is better than asking the teacher for the other students' contact info, which they probably cannot give you. Hmm, wiifm for the teacher... (wiifm = "what's in it for me?", which basically means putting yourself in their shoes and finding some motivation for them to do what you want them to do)... maybe you could explain it in a way that really flatters the teacher, that you enjoyed their course so much and really found that critique/feedback portion of the course to be super useful and you'd like to continue to do that with some of the students from the course. If there's anywhere that you can review the teacher with a positive review, that could also help your cause (and do it anyways, whether or not they'll help you out).