Hiya everyone,

I'm new to this site, and hope it will be more active than the last two I've been on.

I am looking for an online writing group where I can ask questions and advice and get answers within a reasonable length of time. My recent question on one site still hasn't been answered and I asked it about 3 weeks ago! It was a perfectly straightforward question too, not something difficult.

I am new to sites like this, so please bear with me.

Has anyone recently completed 'The Writers Bureau' creative writing course?

I am thinking of enrolling, but want to make sure it is worth it before I part with £250.

Any advice would be much appreciated, thanks

Kat x

Hi Katarina

I signed up for a Writers Bureau creative writing course many years ago and got about half-way through it. I've seen the WB mentioned on this site before and nothing but good was said - however, personally I can report nothing but bad. A lot probably depends on the tutor you're allotted. Mine made ludicrous comments, such as "A mother would NEVER say something like this!" (one of my characters having remarked that her teenagers treated the house like a hotel).

Perhaps I was just unlucky - but certainly I've never regretted abandoning the course and don't think I learned anything at all.

best wishes, Elbow

Hi Kat,

things are a little slow at the moment, but normally it's a fairly active site, and unlike some others, isn't swamped with bored kids. There are a lot of people on here who really know their stuff. I've been here two years and learned a hell of a lot. Welcome aboard.

Colin M

Katarina, welcome to WW.

This is a fantastic site for support, advice, general writerly chat, and constructive feedback on work.

Hate to disagree with Elbow, but I started a Writers Bureau course when I was new to writing, and found it hugely helpful. I opted to waive the money-back guarantee because I had no intention of doing certain parts of the course – non-fiction, for instance – but even so, I thought it well worth the money. The feedback from my tutor was enthusiastic and encouraging, but also honest; if he thought I'd got something wrong he told me in detail. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend WB, even if you don’t finish the course.

I think I can guess the site you mention… I tried it before I found WW. What was your unanswered question?

Dee

What was the site? (yours too Dee) I've only been to one other, oh hang on, no... two. One US and one UK. I think the uk one was writeonline, and pretty crap (but seemed to be in the early stages) and the US one was absolutewrite, which is incredibly user friendly, fun, great to look at, but doesn't quite match up to this, at least not for me.

Colin M

Hi,

Thanks guys for your replies. The site I mentioned was 'oneofus', and there is another one 'abctales'. They are both incredibly slow moving and often ignore normal queries in favour of what they think are intellectually bright discussions, where they come out with big long words that they must think make them sound knowledgeable.

On sites like this, I am all in favour of 'plain speaking' so to speak, leave the big words and flowery descriptions for your writing if you must.

Ha, I've got that off my chest. I'm looking forward to joining in with your ideas and discussions, but might need a bit of help navigating. (apologies to those of you who might like using big long words!)

Must go and cook the dinner now,

Thanks again

Kat x

Hi Katarina,

People have discussed this topic before on this site (you mind find it if you do a search) and people's responses to the WB course have been very positive, from what I remember.

Cath

<Added>

Just found the link for you:

http://www.writewords.org.uk/groups/66_12095.asp

Hi,

Thanks very much, I've just looked at the posts and they all seem positive.

I've just enrolled and am starting my first assignment. Although I am interested mainly in short stories and fiction, I am going to attempt all the assignments, because you never know, I might find my niche is in non-fiction instead.

I do feel that as a writer, you shouldn't be blinkered and only want to write certain stuff, if you have a way with words, you should be able to adapt your writing to anything, whether it is travel articles or fantasy stories. Yes there are some areas you will be better in and feel more comfortable with, but dont dismiss other avenues.

Our minds are wonderful things, there are no limits, so we shouldn't be afraid to try something new.

I'll let you know how I get on.

By the way, I'm only on the free month trial membership at the moment, if I decide to become a full member, which is the best to pay for? What are you all members of, there are so many different ones. If I want to be able to chat to you guys, send in work for you to constructively criticise, use the directory and that sort of thing, do I need the community membership?

Cheers

Kat x

[quote]which is the best to pay for? What are you all members of, there are so many different ones.[/unquote]

Sorry, I don't know about the community membership. I joined WW for a year. Much better than Writing.com which lapsed in favour of this. Joining a group is a good thing depending on what you write. Even before I did that, Writewords had lots going for me. I put a few stories on, looked at the forums, and generally settled in. Now I'm starting to work out that the number next to my name goes up occasionally, and that some people have huge numbers.
Ian

Hi Ian,

The number next to our names is, I think, the number of posts to different topics that we make.

Apparently, there are different types of membership, costing different amounts of money. The full membership is £35 per year, but you can have access to certain things only for £20 per year. Wonder if I'll use this enough to pay for full membership.

Sent off my first assignment earlier, they sent it to me via email before I received the pack in the post, so that I could get started. I was in the process of writing a women's fiction novel but will put that on hold and concentrate on the course I think. If I get stuck, can I call on you guys for advice?

Kat

I'd go for full membership. Aren't full members the only ones allowed in the lounge? The lounge is the best place for random chat as it isn't viewable by non-members.

The points system is often discussed. You get 8 points for uploading, 4 points for commenting on someone else's work and 1 point for a forum post. Some people love it, some hate it, some don't care. You can knock up silly amounts of points by commenting on someone's work and opening a discussion, as every time you post a reply it counts as another comment (even if it's your own work!!). Likewise, low impact comments like "great work" "or loved it" (personally I don't mind these, but they wind a lot of people up) take no time to post, so again you can knock up points that way. I guess this means that the points aren't any reflection on a member's worth/status or anything else. Still, it feels good when you get to 1000. (or 10,000 ).

Lots of good things about the site, but by far the best way of improving as a writer is to start commenting. This encourages return comments which can help your own work, but I found that the actual act of commenting on someone else's work made me take a harsher view of my own stuff.

Colin M
ps paypal is probably the easiest method of payment.

Hi Colin,

Thank you so much for your reply, it helped a lot. I am always a bit wary of paying for sites, but this one looks very informative, and I suppose there is always the school of thought that if you have to pay to be a member, you are more likely to use it and it sorts out the serious people from those time-wasters who just post stupid banal comments.

I have a lot to learn about writing yet, in a sense I am a novice. I have been writing short stories, poetry and childrens stories for about twenty years, but I have no idea of the correct process for submitting work to publishers or anything. So in other words, I have a way with words and can use them to write interesting stories, but that is where it stops. I hope I'll learn a lot, both from my course and this site.

Thanks again, it's always a bit daunting being the new person and not knowing your way around.

Kat x