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We've lost some balance recently in replies, which is to be expected as new people join. I'm not going to criticise people for replying, but we have our own way of doing things at this forum. We've been running for years now, and all our older members have come to an understanding. So for the benefit of everyone, this is what I suggest. For every story you reply to, try to incorporate the following.

Something you liked about the story.
Something that could maybe be improved.
A positive mention to the author for taking the time and effort to share their work with us.

Dead easy, and it won't take any longer than before to reply. Someone criticised us recently for being a "warm fuzzy forum". You know what? We are, and we like it that way. We want to help people to improve and we want to encourage. I can see no reason why we can't do both at the same time.


As a minimum those three points are what I'd like to see. If people want to go into more detail than that, great, go for it! If every post has those three points though, we're getting a balanced take, even in a short reply - which should stop the "great, well done" posts. Minimum, not maximum. Any posts that do that, and go into greater detail as well I'll be REALLY happy with.

First, you need to have some ideas in mind- who is the character (or characters)? What do you want to happen? If you are writing a fan-fic, the setting is already provided, but you can pick and chose the parts of that setting that will be useful to your story.

So, those are your elements- character, plot, setting.

For the character, ask yourself some questions: What is he/she doing here? Does this individual have any particular traits that make life easier/harder (bad temper, prejudice, wit, charm, etc. How aware of events is the character? Is s/he cluelessly stumbling from one misadventure to another, driven by circumstances? Or does the character have a purpose, one that drives him forward against all obstacles?

What point-of-view do you want to write in First person narrative-

"I had not intended to kill the annoying little Bosmer, but his constant chatter left me no choice."

Third person narrative- "Psmith had made up his mind. If the stupid elf didn't shut up in the next five seconds, there was going to be blood upon the floor. And it wasn't going to be Psmith's."

Do you want to be humorous, dark, darkly humorous?

The main thing to do is to pick an event, preferably a startling or exciting event, and throw your reader into the action. Write in a style that you like to read. Think about your favorite stories and about what makes them enjoyable. Most of all, write down EVERYTHING, right when you think of it. Then, before you post, makes sure what you have makes sense, moves the story along, and leaves the reader wanting to know 'What happened next?'

For those of you writers who think you need some assistance with editing your stories before posting them.....

Feel free to PM me and I´ll try to help you.

We have quite a few very skilled experts here, who almost certain will help you out, if they´re asked to..