Questions about getting community feedback

Metallucas

Hi there,

I'm not exactly a new Boards user (although I haven't used it much) but it's the first time I'm thinking of using it for this purpose. See, I'm currently writing a fantasy novel, and I really need feedback to know if it's worth it to bother continuing. So far only my mum has read it, I've given what I have to a few friends but they never really started reading... so I'm thinking about turning to strangers like you (yes, you)

Before I do, however, I would have a few questions about how to do it properly.

1/ Would you post (with a link to the file) the entirety of what you've currently written (as of now, 127 pages on Word)?
2/ If you only put a passage, would you put the first chapter, or something from the middle, for example a passage you're particularly proud of?
3/ How do you make sure that nobody steals your work?
4/ Will people be mean? I'm not looking for everybody to say I'm the new Tolkien (my Playstation and social life prevent me from making up an entire new language), but if people say stuff like "it's total ****" well, that can be discouraging. I'm really more looking for people to say "this part is a bit weaker than the rest" or "it took me a while to understand that part"...

If I'm satisfied with the answers to my questions, you may have the pleasure, the immense honour, to be among the first to read the first half of my novel.

Das Kitty

I'd start with a passage. It's slow around these parts at the moment so you've a better chance of getting some suggestions.

Any feedback I've seen on this forum has been constructive. It can be good and robust though, but that's a good thing. It's something that's important to get used to, because a thick skin is essential for a writer. The thing to remember is that people are giving suggestions and making you ask the questions of your writing as a favour to you. It's the only way to improve really. Some people are great at spotting their own writing flaws, but most of us are at least somewhat blind to them.

pickarooney

I'd say always put up the first chapter. If you're not confident enough in the first chapter to share it, then you need to work on that until you do, as nobody will give a book a chance if the start is unconvincing.

Afterwards, you can put up individual passages that you want specfic feedback on.

Nobody will steal your work; you have dated digital copies of it that prove it's yours.
If you prefer, you can post it in the private forum which is not searchable. Let me know if you want access to it. The downside is fewer people will read it there.

The best way to get feedback is to give it first. Find someone who needs some chapters read and give an honest opinion on it and the chances are they may return the favour.

What's your book about?

Metallucas

Thanks to you both, I think I'll put the first three chapters online around tonight then (the first one is good but there's not enough background yet at that stage to get an idea of where the story will be going), and I'll have a look at some of the fantasy work that's on there (I read many styles but that remains my favorite one)

What's the book about... Well as you probably know that's always hard to sum up your story because you have a lot to say but you don't want to give out too many details.

But to try to sum it up: it's my first lengthy work (I've written only short stories and comic strips before), and the story is about a former king with the curse of immortality in a world ruined because of his actions, and his mindless quest to bring his wife back to life. Then as the story goes forward we'll learn more about his past, he'll get something a bit more important to achieve, and mostly we'll see what's the true nature of his heart (because no matter how many dragons I put, it's still ultimately a story about love in its different forms)

Oryx

Rather than what you have put above, write a teaser for your book. The kind of thing you read on the back of novels.