Writing, Self-Publishing, Book Marketing

Have you heard of the crunch motivation, when writers of all walks brew pot after pot of coffee, peck furiously at the keyboards, awake and writing for maybe 12 hours straight, desperately trying to meet their preordained deadline? It doesn’t matter if you’re writing an article or submitting to a literary contest like Wordclay’s Short Story Contest, the fact is writers like to procrastinate. Writing is damn difficult – that’s why. It’s exhausting both physically and emotionally. In just a few sentences, writing can challenge people, realities and ideas. It’s not only easy to burn out, but likely as well.

The trick is to keep writing fun and interesting. Still, that’s quite a daunting task in times of existential crisis. Trust me – years of literary and philosophical criticism as well as a master’s degree in writing under my belt – when I say that quiet despair and frustration is all that awaits the lone writer, always struggling against a current of deadlines.

So how do you become enthusiastic and then sustain that enthusiasm about writing? If you’ve read our previous blogs, you know that communities and other engaging forums are a great way to talk the industry talk, but that’s still a discussion of sorts. What you want are places to visit where you can actively write alongside your fellow artists, egging each other on to the next great sentence.

That said, here’s Justin’s list of the Internet corners that not only encourage writers to write, but also seek to return writing to its invigorating (non-exhausting) roots.

Unveiling 15 Writing Communities & Web Sites that Engage Writers

Protagonize

About: (Note: All “About” sections are lifted directly from the source Web sites.)

Protagonize is an online community originally dedicated to the (nearly) lost art of the addventure (yes, that’s spelled right), a very specific type of collaborative fiction. Recently, the site has been expanded to support the creation of linear stories, as well. We hope this will allow the site to attract a broader community of authors looking to create collaborative, interactive fiction.

Continue for all 15 listings.

Members also have access to a bookshelf-style interface that allows them to flag favorite authors and stories, or add markers to track specific story branches or chapters, so as to not lose their place when reading a story. We believe that these are probably the handiest features of the bunch, as members can track their favorite authors, see what those authors have posted recently, easily navigate to new content, and the site will provide the user with suggested reading the entire time.

Readers can rate stories, which translate into author ratings based on average rating for all of an author’s stories. Each author has their own personal profile page that’s visible to everyone. The profile page aggregates each author’s content and allows readers to see similar authors, related stories, etc. Relationships between user-created content is maintained mostly via a combination of story categories and tags, though we may expand on that in the future.

To top everything off, the homepage serves as a giant content aggregator for the entire site, listing off both hot and top rated stories, providing random snippets of content extracted from story sections throughout the site, as well as recent activity, newly posted comments, top story tags presented in a cloud format, and other relevant information. Both stories and authors have their own aggregator pages as well, which act as a more focused breakdown of the higher-level topics you’ll find on the homepage.

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WOW!
About: WOW! is a global magazine, designed to support women’s creativity, energy, blood, sweat and tears, throughout all stages of the writing process. We envision Wow! being a favorite watering hole for professionals, the up-and-coming, and the recipients of our labors – the avid readers.

Our concept is unique, as it fills in the missing gap between writing Web sites and women’s magazines. We are dedicated to raising the overall standards within the writing community, and devote an active profile within writing industry associations, organizations and websites.

Ultimately, WOW! hopes to contribute to the love, enjoyment and excitement of producing quality writing – so that the reader in all of us will never want for good material, in any form.

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Found magazine
About: We collect found stuff: love letters, birthday cards, kids’ homework, to-do lists, ticket stubs, poetry on napkins, doodles – anything that gives a glimpse into someone else’s life. Anything goes. We certainly didn’t invent the idea of found stuff being cool. Every time we visit our friends in other towns, someone’s always got some kind of unbelievable discovered note or photo on their fridge. We decided to make a bunch of projects so that everyone can check out all the strange, hilarious and heartbreaking things people have picked up and passed our way.

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So There
About: Do you have something to say, but never had the chance to? Founded in late 1997 and originally published August 15th, 1998, So There has stood as a testament to your daily lives for over five years. Now home to over 2500 letters, we continue to grow exponentially through your readership and submissions.

A dedicated staff works hard to publish a new letter every day, including weekends and holidays. Events happen on a daily basis, and someone always has a story to share. Life never takes a break, so neither does So There.

From first loves to last goodbyes, So There is your chance to get it off your chest. To say what should have been said a long time ago. Or yesterday. It’s a chance to take it back, or to finally say it out loud. So There is your forum. It’s about getting it out and letting it go. It’s about closure.

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StoryTop
About: StoryTop is an interaction online Web site that allows anyone to easily create multi-page stories by dragging and dropping clip art to illustrate your story; adding text in dialog boxes; creating storytelling clubs with your friends; and finally sharing your stories with others.

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StoryMash

About: We created StoryMash because it was a website we wanted to use. A creative writing community where new and experienced authors, writers, and readers could come together and collaborate on short fiction stories, novels, screenplays and new creative writing forms yet to be named. An environment for collaboration, constructive criticism, and experimenting with different creative writing styles.

The basic unit of authorship on StoryMash is the chapter. Attached to every chapter is a discussion forum allowing readers to provide encouragement, criticism or new ideas to the author and promoting collaboration. Once an author is satisfied with their new chapter, they “publish” it thus making it available for “peer review” via chapter ranking system.

After a chapter is published any registered user including the original author can continue its story by adding the next chapter. In fact many different authors can each create a next chapter. Each author adding their take on where the plot goes. StoryMash stories have multiple endings but they can also have multiple middles as well!

Authors earn money for the creative writing content they self-publish on StoryMash. We share at least 50% of our revenue, such as advertisement revenue, with authors. In addition StoryMash runs a regular creative writing contest. Over $500 is won every contest.

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sleeptrip
About: Composed of Wreckless, 300 Love Letters, sleeptrip.com, Kim Chi!, belongings and LQASFH this corner of the Internet is just plain awesome and should provide hours of entertainment for writers as well as collectors. Submit your dreams or your love letters, and let loose!

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The Dead Letter Office
About: The premise is simple: You are now dead. You just died. You don’t know how it happened, you don’t know what happens now. The only thing you know for certain is that your life is over. This is your opportunity to write one letter to the world. You may say anything you want. You may use as many or as few words as necessary.

What will you say?

Consider that you have no more time to plan for anything, no more time to wait for anything, no more time. Period. All that you experienced in life to this moment is the sum of your entire life. What will you say? What words do you want to leave behind? What lessons do you have to teach, and what regrets would you want to share?

Explore the letters with an open mind. You may bookmark any letter—all Web addresses for all Dead Letters are permanent and will never change. Once you find a letter you want to keep, bookmark it. You may never find it again.

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iTales

About: iTales is a new online community of storytellers and listeners. The vision for the site is to provide a vast array of stories from around the world…harnessing the talent of both amateur and professional storytellers.

iTales is the creation of an amateur storytelling mother of two young children. Seeing the value not only in how the stories brought wonder and laughter to the kids, but also impacted their writing and vocabulary, she began researching the world of storytelling. Inspired, encouraged and helped by many along the way, she decided to create a storytelling site that is endless in possibilities - a place where stories for people of all ages and interests can be enjoyed at the click of a button. And, importantly, a place where those who record and upload their stories, benefit financially from sharing in this most ancient of art forms.

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LitLine
About: Like Newpages and  CLMP, The Independent Literary Community consists of noncommercial literary presses and magazines, literary centers, writer’s conferences and festivals, writers who publish with noncommercial literary presses and magazines, service organizations which support the community, and independent bookstores which are the chief purveyors of noncommercial press books.

Quality literature is now at that point where it must be sustained by subsidy or it will become less and less available to present and future generations. Art lovers should understand that a collection of poems or a literary translation or an innovative novel is as different from a Hollywood biography or a new diet book or a best-selling novel as Bach is from U2.

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SoulScribe
About: SoulScribe is an online creative writing community, with the goal of having everyone and anyone submit their writing in one centralized place. We want everyone to be heard and read! Each month we have contests and prizes, which grow over time as we gain new members. So submit and refer friends to help grow this community!

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The Writer’s Beat
About: We are a community of authors that share a common passion: writing. At the Writer’s Beat writing forums we discuss various topics related to the art of writing. If you are interested in writing, we suggest you stick around and become a member.

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FanStory.com
About: FanStory.com is a writing community founded in 2000. Writing is reviewed by writers and readers on the site. A separate review is also available by the Seal of Quality Committee. The committee is made up of published authors and stand-out reviewers.

All posted work is rated. A review includes a comment on the posted work and a rating. The site recognizes writing with “Recognized”, “All Time Best” and “Seal of Quality” levels. Each level is more difficult to receive with the final level determined by the Seal of Quality committee.

The site also features free writing contests with cash prizes. Site members also have the ability to create their own contests to challenge other writers to write about a specific topic or a specific form of writing (such as writing using specific poetry format).

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Pubular
About: Popular Publishing - That is the concept. We give writers a place to share, receive feedback, and learn from others - the tools to produce better work. We provide a prominent place to publish your writing online and have it noticed by an audience that matters.

Pubular was launched April 16, 2007. It is wholly owned and operated by Hebe Ventures, an organization dedicated to producing quality informational and content-based Web sites.

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OnceWritten.com
About: Originally designed as a resource to help first-time authors with beginning marketing skills, OnceWritten.com now has a three-part mission. The site spotlights exciting new voices in the world of fiction, it helps entry-level writers get unstuck, and it provides a community where new authors can learn how to promote themselves and their books.

Note: All “About” sections were lifted directly from the source Web sites.

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Closing Note:

So click on a link and check out these great writing sites – you won’t regret the experience, and you may just recharge your creative batteries.

As a side note, remember that today’s Earth Day, and if you publish with Wordclay, we’ll have Trees for the Future plant two trees in your honor. And even if you can’t publish today, schedule an hour for the great outdoors and appreciate some nature.

This is Justin Dimos, blogcasting from Wordclay, signing off.