Miss Forum Conversations (Page 1 of 2)

I'm with you, Tirz.  It seems the Groups have partitioned the members so that we never connect with anyone outside our groups and connections.  I guess we'll have to get in the habit of group-cruising, or else find our favorite hangouts and just hang out, which is kind of isolating.  JP

One of the reasons I've stayed with TNBW (besides the reviews) was the quality conversations on writing and other topics related to it.  Now no one is talking.  I keep waiting and waiting...but it's like no one is either on the site or no one is willing to use the new forum.   It's the same four people talking and none of them are really talking about writing or related topics.   Maybe there are conversations happening and I can't find them.  Since groups are limited...you have to manually search all groups that you aren't a member of to see if there are any new conversations.  It's frustrating.

There is no way to check all groups (whether I'm a member or not) to see if there are new conversations going on.  The manual search is not helpful when I am only looking for the new conversations.  I don't want to search each group I'm not a member of manually.

I really find the Forums frustrating.

Or post it to the Writing Tips & Advice group that's already here on the site.

Dirk

You want to discuss writing?  I intend to be courteous and helpful, but I really think someone needs to teach the principles of writing somewhere on the site.  I have just spent an evening trying to find something to read.  The short stories aren't stories--mostly they're editorial opinions, and that's not to say that editorials are bad, it's just that I like to read stories.  How can I be polite and helpful when I can't tell what the author is trying to say?  Okay, that's round one.  Would somebody like to start a group or forum called Writing 101?
P.S. And yes, there were threads on the old site forums that offered instruction--I learned some things there.

Sounds like we need a bank of forums at the top level, outside of any groups.  As well as the option to create forums for each work and sub-work.

I've been a member for 7 months, and I've read everything I could find--yes, Sycamore Flynn. Skeptikoi, and a bunch more of the experienced writers.  I used to just look at the dailies and read my way down the list.  These days, I'm having a hard time finding new stuff that also ready to read.  Our new members may not be getting the attention they need, and old fogies like me want more!  JP   I forgot to say--a recommended work list would be good, too

http://www.forummatrix.org/

I hate to say this, but a lot of "new" members aren't getting the attention because they don't give attention. The Free Group doesn't require that they read to post, so they don't. I have 2 new folks that I've read and have marked to continue to read. JP, I didn't realize you were so new.

If you can follow these links, there are great articles on writing here. 50 Articles on Writing to Help You in 2015

from Brian A. Klems, Writer’s Digest…

8 Articles on Starting Your Novel

4 Approaches for the First Chapter of Your Novel

7 Ways to Create a Killer Opening Line For Your Novel

Important Writing Lessons From First-Time Novelists

7 Steps to Creating a Flexible Outline for Any Story

The Keys to Good Science Fiction & Fantasy Storytelling

Writing Dystopian Fiction: 7 Tips

How to Destroy Your Initial Idea (& Make Your Story Better)

How to Harness Creativity to Empower Your Writing

9 Articles on Structure, Plot and Character

The 7 Tools of Dialogue

The 5 Essential Story Ingredients

The 5 C’s of Writing a Great Thriller Novel

Novel Writing: 10 Questions You Need to Ask Your Characters

Write Better: 3 Ways To Introduce Your Main Character

3 Things Your Novel’s Narrator Needs to Accomplish

The Pros and Cons of Writing a Novel in Present Tense

When Flaws Go Too Far: Avoiding Unlikeable Characters

5 Moral Dilemmas That Make Characters (& Stories) Better

5 Articles on Nonfiction Writing

25 Tips To Make You a Better Nonfiction Writer

5 Lessons I Learned From Writing A Memoir

8 Ways to Prepare to Write Your Nonfiction Book in a Month

Memoir or Novel? 8 Issues to Think About Before Writing Your Own Story

9 Ways to Crack Into Major Markets With Personal Essays

2 Articles About Grammar

Alright vs. All Right

Are Subjects Joined by “And” Singular or Plural? – Grammar Rules

6 Answers to Frequently Asked Publishing Questions

How Long Until You Can Follow Up on Query Letters?

Do You Have What Publishers Really Want?

How Book Advances Work – A Simple Explanation for Writers

What Writing Expenses Are Tax Deductible?

What Are the Guidelines for Formatting a Manuscript?

Will Publishers Buy a 200,000-Word Novel?

5 Articles on Freelance and Copywriting

What Magazine Editors Want (& Don’t Want)

The Secret To Writing Stronger Feature Articles

Copywriting: A Crash Course for Writers Looking to Break In

Is a Freelancing Career in Writing Feasible?

8 Strategies to Build Your Freelance Writing Career

4 Articles on Finding an Agent

How to Write the Perfect Query Letter

8 Unexpected Lessons From Working with a Literary Agent

5 Things Writers Should Ask Potential Agents

How to Be a Writer Literary Agents Want

3 Articles on Publishing

The Pros and Cons of Publishing With a Small Publisher

How to Sell Your Picture Book

Is It My Writing or Is It My Editor?

5 Articles on Finishing Your Novel (and Other Advice)

How to Finish That Novel

6 Lessons Hemingway (& Others) Can Teach Us About Being a Writer

8 Reasons Every Book Needs a Business Plan to Achieve Success

3 Writing Tips from Brat-Pack Star-Turned-Writer Andrew McCarthy

5 Writing Lessons Inspired by Famous Writers

3 Articles on After the Book is Finished

6 Things to Keep in Mind When Gathering Testimonials/Book Blurbs

How to Make the Most of Any Writing Conference

9 Steps to an Effective Virtual Book Tour

You might also like:

·        6 Tips for Writing Fiction Based on True Events

·        What Are the Guidelines for Formatting a Manuscript?

·        Write Better: 3 Ways To Introduce Your Main Character

·        How to Write Novels About Faraway Lands

·        Novel Writing: 10 Questions You Need to Ask Your Characters

I have no clue, Linda. They were sent to my email and if I hover over them & click I got to that story in Writer's Digest. Maybe go to Writer's Digest and do a search for the article.

Sol, posting this here because it relates to this discussion in a big way...hope you see it.

Taking some time over the last month to really look at the functionality of the new site, I think I’ve narrowed down most of the largest complaints to two simple missing functions: the lack of a single global member forum (with header controls), and the lack of a single global listing for new uploaded works. Without these two things, the largest complaint and issue I think most of us long-time members are suffering from is the isolation factor.

It’s like you spent all this time building this giant new Facebook interface for writers. The problem with that is on a deeper level, the workshop aspects that most of us have grown to know and love, are all but gone because of the deep sense of isolation this new interface fosters.

First, without a global feed of uploaded work, it is extremely difficult to see or be seen. And if the only easy way of seeing and being seen is to “connect” with virtually everyone, then what’s the point of adding that layer at all? Why not just go back to having a single global listing?

I had envisioned the “connection” feature to be an added layer; i.e. a way to deepen the connection with those you’re in a reciprocal relationship with…not as THE only functional means to operate on the site.

Further, because the ‘connection’ feature automatically populates our personal homepage listings, our home pages become like Facebook feeds. But at least FB gives you some filtering choices, and allows you to set those perimeters in terms of what you see on your feed. I’m not as inclined to blindly accept every request to connect because of the lack of filtering. Too much uncontrollable clutter otherwise.

I know you said you’d be bringing back our old forums—thank God for that, but until then even the group function is suffering a lot. People are all over the place trying to figure out a way to globally connect—and they can’t. Your choice of forum interface doesn’t in any way promote lively discussion or sub-discussion anymore because we can’t create new threads under a single heading. We have to get good at group surfing and invest double or triple the amount of time in order to go through all those forums just to find the few nuggets of useful or valuable information that someone puts out there. Big time sink, and quite frankly, a giant waste of precious time.

Meeting new authors and seeing available works used to be a simple, at-a-glance process that most of us are sorely missing.

Don’t get me wrong, there are many things I absolutely love about this new interface, but for each good thing, there are many extremely valuable facets that this interface has crushed. Most of us old members are still struggling, but I can’t imagine how horrible this isolated factor must be for new members. They have to invest hours upon hours sourcing writers and hope those writers will be willing to return the request to ‘connect’ before they ever really get much action in terms of reads and reviews.  Yes, there are ways to do this successfully for the studious writers, but not all of them are that experienced or that studious. I really hate the thought that I’m probably missing out on some very good writing because there’s no way to access one global listing. I really feel for the newbie writers. We used to shower those people with welcomed support and guidance, and can’t really do that now because they aren’t easily visible to us anymore.

We all know you are working hard to bring back some of the features we’ve been asking for, but I do wish you’d give some serious consideration to making both global listings (as a drop down choice “all new uploads” on the read tab), and a single global member forum (the old style with header control) your first major priorities.

Thanks, and happy New Year!

LeeAnn

Linda, for new works, why not use the Read->Groups Content page? From there you can see all works posted to groups you are a member of, and filter by genre or story type. You can also see which works pay points. Admittedly, if someone posts to the Horror or YA groups, for example, without also posting to Premium/Free, then I won't see it.

Dirk

I'd be curious to know how many people are posting to genre specific groups without also posting to Premium/Free. I post to both of those as well as sci-fi to get the widest possible audience.