New short story and poetry critique blogs!

January 6, 2013January 6, 2013

As I walked my dog around the park this morning, Sunday 6th January 2013, the idea came to me of setting up an online short story writing group.

I’ve recently set up a Feedback section on this blog, but that’s just a list of readers / writers willing / offering to provide feedback and they then go off and talk amongst themselves (hopefully!). But I know from my now-weekly Red Pen Critique slot, how useful open critique is to other writers. Hence, Morgen’s Short Story Writing Group was born, and while I was designing it, Morgen’s Poetry Writing Group formed in my brain.

The plan is for me to post your stories or poems on the relevant home page then list them within the relevant genre / form headings for readers to enjoy and let you know what they thought (positively / constructively). It will be fiction prose and poetry only, sorry non-fiction authors.

For the short story site, there’s no lower word count limit so if you have a 50-word story you’re burning to share then feel free to send it to me. Because of my existing workload (stupidly busy) I am asking for a 5,000-word upper limit but much more than that and it strays into novelette territory anyway.

For the poetry site, there’s no lower line limit so if you have a haiku you’re burning to share then feel free to send it to me. Because of my existing workload (stupidly busy) I am asking for a 50-line upper limit so email me first if your poem goes over that.

There’ll be no payment for the stories or poems put on these blogs because it’s all about feedback. They will also count as being published so bear this in mind when planning to submit to competitions etc.

Each story or poem can carry below it a 250-word max third-person biography of the author, one contact link (e.g. their website), one photograph of themselves (if they wish to include one) and / or a cover of their latest (or favourite) book (if they have one).

To submit your stories, see Short Story submissions / Poetry submissions.

Each new posting is advertised on my Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr and Yahoo profiles so it is a chance for extra traffic to your website too. 🙂

There are also two extra sections on each blog, just for visitors (you!)… 🙂

Q&A: where writers / readers ask and answer questions;
Writing Tips: where writers / readers leave their favourite writing tips.

I shall be monitoring comments on both sites, so please leave positive / constructive feedback. Anything spiteful will be removed (or not approved in the first place).

Is there anything else that you’d like to see on these blogs? If so, let me know.

Thank you for taking part and I hope it proves useful and enjoyable to all concerned.

Morgen With An ‘E’
morgen@morgenbailey.com
https://morgenbailey.wordpress.com

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Next up (in about an hour) is my aforementioned Red Pen Critique followed by (about an hour or so after that), the first instalment of a new feature Novel Nights In. Then in the morning is my 605th interview, this time with novelist and screenwriter Mark Adam Kaplan.

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For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback privately, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.

As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do, and a feature called ‘Short Story Saturdays’ where I review stories of up to 2,500 words (and post stories of up to 3,000 words). Alternatively if you have a short story or self-contained novel extract / short chapter (ideally up to 1000 words) that you’d like critiqued and don’t mind me posting it online in my new Red Pen Critique Sunday night posts, or posted for others to critique (up to 5,000 words) on the new Morgen’s Short Story Writing Group), then do email me. I am now also looking for flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays and poetry for Post-weekend Poetry.