Honor amongst writers.

By: Chris Murphy

I had the opportunity to test out three communities of writers over the last two weeks. Typically they are large groups of people with varying degrees of interest in writing – everyone from the high school student to your uncle Fred. In the course of using the sites, I had the pleasure to run into some published authors - notably Victoria Strauss of WriterBeware.org fame - who do not feel above slumming with the rest of us. That was my first positive experience with these communities.

I typically spend about twenty minutes reading through or perusing the postings on the sites and offering my two cents on their work. For the most part there is a lot of great, unpublished material on these sites that are proverbial “diamonds in the rough”, and I would not be surprised to see some of these authors on bookshelves in the future. But one thing that drives me bananas is the fact that only a core group of users in these communities (unless you are a subscriber to a paid community), takes the time to offer good criticism in return for receiving useful criticism – this is usually called a “Crit-for-Crit” or “C4C” system.

The C4C system is a great method by which to receive feedback and reciprocate in kind. I understand that I my sentiments on the matter may be over-blown, but you would think that this would be a common practice like an honor system. That might not be the best example of a self regulated system, however, my point stands: people should reciprocate in kind. A kindness for a kindness. Someone took time out of their day to read your material and offer insights that could possibly better your writing. I am not absurd enough to expect it the hour I after I post a review (how great would that be?), or the next day – but not posting a reciprocal review at all? Come on.

I am told that there are quite a few aspiring authors with the same pet peeve and I have to wonder how much of it is due to people simply not being interested in the genre. Most poetry makes me want to yak, and the vast majority of the material out there is unbelievably inane, but I still read it, and I still offer criticism even if it is only on punctuation or grammar (to the extent that I am capable or *ahem* knowledgeable).

I hesitate to pay for a subscription site on principle. It is not because I cannot afford the annual fee or any such rubbish, but I feel that if I am willing to give my time, it is not unreasonable to hope someone else feels the same way.

Am I being a naive, idealistic nut?

Other links:

1. Visit Absolutewite.com, here;
2. Visit PluggedOut/Writers, here;
3. Visit Booksie.com, here;
4. Visit WriterBeware.org, here;
5. Visit Victoria Strauss, here;

• Posted: December 6, 2006
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