Manuscript
I've written a novella!
I've accidentally written a novella. Let me explain. I wanted to write a serialised story. Vocal lends itself to this very well with the way that you can publish instantaneously and my idea was to write a seven part story, releasing a new part every day over a week so that there was no delay between chapters and the momentum was always there. It seemed like a good length.
By Rachel Deeming2 months ago in Critique
Hallmark
Not Quite There - The Prompt: Share a story that never fully came together, along with what’s holding it back. Not every piece reaches a finished form. This challenge makes space for work that is still unresolved. Share a story that never quite came together, along with what’s holding it back. The gap might come from structure, clarity, scope, or something harder to define. Be specific about where it falters. What feels incomplete and why has it stayed that way. The focus is as much on the friction as the draft itself.
By Denise E Lindquist3 months ago in Critique
My Self-Critique of My Writing Battle Entry (Part Deux)
This is a breakdown of my most recent entry into the Writing Battle that didn’t make it out of the peer judging round. I recommend reading it before you dive into my self-critique of why it doesn’t work because nothing says, “Hey go read this!” quite like leading off with, "Hey this didn’t actually place so it might not be very good!”
By Matthew J. Fromm3 months ago in Critique
Reflections on A Languishing Manuscript. Top Story - July 2026.
Years ago, I was president of a town’s writing group, but it disbanded. Ten years ago, a character appeared in my mind and poured onto the page, words frothing from my fingers like sudsy waves at the shore. My hip replacement cemented my decision to retire, and recovery meant long hours outdoors on sunny days with my aging dog. Her love and devotion grounded me. I finished the book that summer. Two years later, my faithful companion was gone, and the manuscript remained untouched, saved in a file that moved only when the computer did, still unseen.
By Andrea Corwin 3 months ago in Critique
The Birth, Dissection & Evolution of a Story Never Written
For as long as I’ve had the desire to entertain readers with creative fiction writing, I’ve had a mermaid tale in my mind, just dying to come to life. It started out as a simple story idea, but has gradually evolved into something much greater.
By Justiss Goode3 months ago in Critique
Wild Rose (MY ONLY 'FRIENDS' FROM THE PSYCH WARD "soap opera"). Winner in Not Quite There Yet Challenge.
Dostoyevsky wrote that Hell is the inability to love. Among other things, my experiences with psychiatry and drugs, etc. would come to prove to me that the inability to truly love is indeed, at the very least, a type of hell or purgatory. But where this hell originates from is a mystery bequeathed to psychologists and writers to ponder and analyze; although the quality of this analysis is proportional to the writer's own level of evolution and enlightenment.
By ANTICHRIST SUPERSTAR3 months ago in Critique
Conversations
Not Quite There challenge - The Prompt: Share a story that never fully came together, along with what’s holding it back. On Friday I was told I could have the extension I was asking for to continue to complete my book and the rest of what I proposed. How could I not be done with it. I received my grant to write the book back in December of 2024 and it is the middle of 2026.
By Denise E Lindquist3 months ago in Critique
Fire I Wasn’t Ready to Hold. Top Story - June 2026.
If patience were a myth and I were the confidant of Prometheus, then I would be chained beside him; bound by the force of my own urgency, rushing toward a larger audience. My ambitions were molten. This story is a container for both my younger self and the self I forged later. I only came together after the explosion.
By Caitlin Charlton3 months ago in Critique
