I’m currently a beta for In Fire Forged, thanks to an EY recommendation. Going over someone else’s writing with a fine-tooth comb, looking to correct anything that’s subperfect turns out to be an excellent way of improving. Also, we have a truly fantastic beta community (6 betas plus the original author); I’ve learned lots from them too. We’re not looking for more betas, but if you’re at a level where you’re not getting better by writing your own stuff (ie. you can see that your writing isn’t as good as you’d like, but can’t make it better because your writing level is too low, and you can’t level up since you effectively can’t edit your own writing because your writing level is too low...), I could probably get you on the team. PM me if interested.
Also, I’m taking a writing course, but it’s certainly not helping and may even be making me a worse writer. It’s also, unfortunately, very required. In general, I’m extremely skeptical about improving writing in anything vaguely resembling a traditional classroom (putting the words down initially is an individual process, and improving a draft starts breaking down past 3 editors at a time; I’ve had several top-tier writing teachers and still haven’t seen an effective way to teach writing to a class), so take that as a data point about where to not look to learn writing.
Thanks, but it sounds like you have enough beta readers, and I don’t know the source material.
But I do some critiques on /r/destructivereaders, and I know of many other websites that offer similar reciprocal critiquing schemes.
As far as writing courses, they’re at least a good commitment device, and you might meet other people who can be good to know long-term. For people whose discipline and self-reflection are aided by a structured setting, they should help. For others, maybe not.
I’m currently a beta for In Fire Forged, thanks to an EY recommendation. Going over someone else’s writing with a fine-tooth comb, looking to correct anything that’s subperfect turns out to be an excellent way of improving. Also, we have a truly fantastic beta community (6 betas plus the original author); I’ve learned lots from them too. We’re not looking for more betas, but if you’re at a level where you’re not getting better by writing your own stuff (ie. you can see that your writing isn’t as good as you’d like, but can’t make it better because your writing level is too low, and you can’t level up since you effectively can’t edit your own writing because your writing level is too low...), I could probably get you on the team. PM me if interested.
Also, I’m taking a writing course, but it’s certainly not helping and may even be making me a worse writer. It’s also, unfortunately, very required. In general, I’m extremely skeptical about improving writing in anything vaguely resembling a traditional classroom (putting the words down initially is an individual process, and improving a draft starts breaking down past 3 editors at a time; I’ve had several top-tier writing teachers and still haven’t seen an effective way to teach writing to a class), so take that as a data point about where to not look to learn writing.
Thanks, but it sounds like you have enough beta readers, and I don’t know the source material.
But I do some critiques on /r/destructivereaders, and I know of many other websites that offer similar reciprocal critiquing schemes.
As far as writing courses, they’re at least a good commitment device, and you might meet other people who can be good to know long-term. For people whose discipline and self-reflection are aided by a structured setting, they should help. For others, maybe not.