I'm starting this in case David isn’t following Terry’s thread in the lounge, which has spawned a whole thrutch of ideas. I'll kick off with a few of my own. Perhaps other members could add theirs without getting too verbose so the ideas are not lost in a discussion.

In the Archive pages, do Recent Comments and Recently Added really need to be side-by-side? If each were given the whole width of the page then, for example, Recently Added could include the word count, the type of work – fantasy, flash, poem, whatever, and the group it’s in, if any. Then underneath we could have the introduction displayed, and the author could use it to be specific, if they wanted, about the type of feedback they’d like. (maybe the links to related pieces could be in a separate box, not displayed?) And the Recent Comments, also given the width of the page, could then include the name of the piece of work and the author.

For novelists, maybe we could have the option of ‘terms’ starting, say, every three months. Members could sign up ahead and work towards having a draft ready to upload fairly quickly, knowing there’ll be other novelists starting at the same time.

I'd like an email notification when certain members upload work, whether we’re in the same group or not.

Sorry Dee

I hadn't realised you had started this thread.

Here's an idea I posted elsewhere.

ollowing on from the recent threads about the future of WW, I have a suggestion for an acitivity we could trial, and I wondered what everyone thought?

Many WW individual groups have obviously proved successful, and many on here report benefits from workshops and courses that they have attended, so I wonder if we could combine the two on WW.

So, for example, we could select a theme such as, taking Dee's suggestion, story structure, and set-up a week's worth of activity around that theme. This would involve recruiting experts - existing WWers and other authors and coaches - to take part and offer advice, answer questions and perhaps even set exercises on this theme.

The activity could be broken down into a forum thread dedicated to the theme, WW interviews or perhaps even Q&A sessions with experts, and a week long group dedicated to exercises or discussing problems people have with their current work in progress. The group would probably have to have a limit on membership.

The activity would last just the week - although obviously the forum thread could continue - and then another theme could be chosen for the next activity. The activity, workshop, brainstorm or whatever we call it could be repeated every two months or even monthly if it worked well.

It would provide us with structured time to focus on key points and issues about writing and enable us to get more people involved at a particulary point.

Any thoughts?

Beadle

Sounds good to me, Beadle.

Dee

I don't know if this is the spot for this, but just wondering what the chances of getting an expert to maybe even just drop into Children's Group now and again would be? It's been about a year since we've had anybody comment on anyone's work other than one comment that popped up from a random read situation. We have really great contributions from everyone in the group- so not whining, but I think we'd all love to have the opportunity to hear what someone firmly entrenched in the biz thinks.

I have no idea what goes into finding someone to do so entails, but figured it coudln't hurt to ask.

Thanks again,

Sascha

Beadle - workshops are a great idea. Character motivation and reader empathy are always on my mind, it would be nice to discuss with others instead of talking to myself about it.

I also like Shay's idea of uploading work into 'Just for fun' or 'Looking to develop' archives; this would be very helpful when giving comments.

As you can see I have no ideas of my own, so I’ve hijacked yours. Oh well, it is Monday!

Dawn

I suppose everyone has got their own thoughts on how to improve the site further, but it would be impossible to implement them all. People use the site in different ways and therefore want different things out of it. I want to write and I want to regularly post work; sometimes casual pieces and sometimes serious pieces. Serious in this sense means the work I want to ultimately get published and the casual stuff is normally what I write to keep the creative juices flowing and normally I wouldn’t be looking to take it any further than a WW posting for the delectation of my fellow members.

To this end I would like to see a split in the main archive and, as Dawn has picked up, my early suggestion was to bracket these as ‘Just For Fun’ and ‘Looking To Develop’. These, I believe would benefit a lot of members, from both writing and reading POV’s. As a writer you are letting the audience know (including site experts) that you have a piece that you have plans for and you want good, constructive crit. Or not, if you put it in ‘Just For Fun’.

As a reader, depending on what you are looking for you can browse the ‘Just For Fun’ archive for a light read without the expectation of a writer requiring detailed feedback or if you have the time and are one of the many members who likes to provide constructive, honest and ultimately helpful crit you’ll be delving in the ‘Looking To Develop’ archive. Also Site Experts would know to use their time, on pieces in this archive because this is the place to find all the ‘serious’ work.

This suggestion is not to devalue the groups, of which many are excellent places to be. However it would ensure the bulk of traffic on WW would know which work is serious and which is fluff without the need for summarising what comments you want.

Mark

I also think Dee's ideas are excellent.

Beadle - that's a good idea and I'm not sure if it's what Terry was initially getting at. I know that WW launched a sister site offering more in-depth services. I suppose I should look it up (think there's a link on the homepage). Perhaps the fact that the thread went on so long and we are now here debating this suggests few of us have used the other site.

I've just had a quick look at word school. At £150 for a ten week email correspondence it's a bit rich for my blood. It would be nice to hear from anyone who has used the service.

I was interested in the criquing service. I would need to email my details and a summary of my project before being provided with a full proposal and costings.



<Added>

For those of you who don't know, criqing is the purest form of critiquing ie know help with editing and typo's included. :)


<Added>

Can't even spell my own typo. Or no.

Shay

I like the idea of the option for serious and just for fun. Some people use this site a lot for the ready pleasure, whereas others are keen to offer advice to promote better writing skills - your solution would allow people to chose and mix and match.

Didn't know about writing school but I will certainly take a look. Perhaps a more informal, miniature version of this is what the workshops could aim for.