GeekLit: Writing Sites Round-Up
While there’s always the option of starting your own blog (wordpress.com, Blogger, and tumblr are some popular free places to get started), publishing your work to a site that isn’t part of a larger community can sometimes feel like sharing your writing with the void.
I’ve put together a short list of options for those of you interested in sharing your work with the world (or at least, the internet).
- deviantART: maybe not the best option, but still an option. The interface for publishing as well as reading has in improved over the years, if slightly. If you’re already on the site for art, and have a bit of a fanbase (or at least a few loyal watchers), it can be a decent place to share your work. The drawback is that you may not get much in-depth feedback, as comments on dA tend to be in the 3-5 word range (“I liked it!”). This could be seen as a plus, actually, if you’re just looking to test the waters and you’re not that concerned about the technical aspects.
- LiveJournal: I have limited experience with LJ, but from what I can tell it’s a decent spot to share your work, especially if you’re writing fanworks. There are communities for pretty much everything on LJ though; if you can find one that’s a fit for you, you can often get some really good feedback as it seems every group has a resident literature nerd.
- Ficly: the site’s tagline is “a better, shorter story,” so it’s no surprise that Ficly is all about short fiction. They actually impose a 1,024 character limit, for a few reasons— one being that having a constraint makes people choose their words more carefully, forcing you to edit as you go; another is that it’s a realistic character count to bang out over the last 15 minutes of your lunch break. There’s also a focus on collaborative writing on Ficly, meaning that you can contribute a chapter to anyone else’s story if you choose, and they can add to yours. This is either great or terrible, depending on your point of veiw— but sometimes it doesn’t hurt to kick around ideas with the internet and see where things go.
- Fictionaut: with a crisp, minimalist site layout and an about page touting users who’ve gone on to be published, Fictionaut is arguably the most “literary” of the writing sites I’ve looked at lately. Founded in 2008, the site is a self-described “vibrant literary community that is opening exciting new possibilities for short fiction and poetry.” There’s a heavy focus on potential publication. I’ve read a lot of interesting, well-written work on Fictionaut, but quite honestly, I’m a little intimidated by the prospect of signing up.
- Protagonize*: don’t let the bright green and yellow layout scare you off. Protagonize started in 2007 as a collaborative writing site based on the addventure format of the early 1990s. Since then the site has grown to embrace solo fiction, and creator Nick Bouton has thrown in a nice dash of social networking as well (authors are encouraged to write bios, interact with each other, and join groups of folks with similar interests). While the rating system can be a little off-kilter at times— users are encouraged to rate a work from 0 to 5 stars based on the concept and it’s technical merit, but often opt to rate anything they liked a 5— comments left are often thoughtful and helpful. There’s also a group for those seeking serious critique, if you’re looking to improve your skills.
Those are my top five picks for places to get started if you’re looking to share your work— or if you’re just looking for something new to read on the internet. There’s plenty more out there, and if you have a site I didn’t mention that you think deserves a look, please feel free to comment and let me know.
*Full disclosure: I am currently a Top 50 author at Protagonize.
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http://www.protagonize.com nickb
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