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theinquisitor View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote theinquisitor Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: "This is for all you new people..."
    Posted: 13 Dec 2023 at 7:45pm
Originally posted by Alicia Western Alicia Western wrote:

"Link your story.

  • Pasting your story into a post means it will be here forever - you can't delete the post.  
  • Sharing your story read-only from your google drive, onedrive, or blog allows you to unshare, remove, or password-protect it later. 
  • Pasting the link without making it live (clickable) is sufficient - but there are lots of stories to read, and the time it takes to copy and paste that into a browser is enough to send some people on their way.  The easier you make it for people, the more people will respond :)"

Can you go back to the post later on and edit it to remove the story?

Yes. Post options - edit post


Edited by theinquisitor - 13 Dec 2023 at 7:45pm
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Kristen View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Kristen Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Dec 2023 at 7:18pm
God bless you Nixie, thanks so much!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Alicia Western Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Dec 2023 at 7:08pm
"Link your story.

  • Pasting your story into a post means it will be here forever - you can't delete the post.  
  • Sharing your story read-only from your google drive, onedrive, or blog allows you to unshare, remove, or password-protect it later. 
  • Pasting the link without making it live (clickable) is sufficient - but there are lots of stories to read, and the time it takes to copy and paste that into a browser is enough to send some people on their way.  The easier you make it for people, the more people will respond :)"

Can you go back to the post later on and edit it to remove the story?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Alicia Western Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Dec 2023 at 7:06pm
Originally posted by nixie nixie wrote:

[subject proudly borrowed from the Starship Troopers screenplay]

The following is not ‘official’ in any way. It merely reflects my observations from participating in the forum. 

Veterans: If you have had a different experience or expectation, please comment!

Noobs: This should serve as a basic introduction, and get you started.


When Do I Post?

After you receive your confirmation e-mail from NYCM.  (Not the auto-message from Submittable, but the one that comes directly from NYCM a few days later)

Where Do I Post?

Creative Writing Corner is an open forum. This means that anyone on the internet can see what is here.  When posting links to stories, you are *strongly* advised to post in the forum for your contest – which can only be accessed by those in your contest.

What If I Posted in the Wrong Place?

You can't delete posts - even your own.  But you *can edit them.  Visit your post, click "post options" in the top right corner, and select the "edit" option.  You can then erase your text, replace it with a message that it was posted in error (sometimes, if you change the subject to "please delete - posted in error" the admins will take it down for you), or even add a link to your correct/preferred post.

What Do I Post?

Add a “New Topic” (this will start your very own thread - so be sure you do it from within your contest's forum, and not here in CWC) and in the subject, include the Challenge #, Group/Heat number, and the Title of your piece:

Ch2 Gr17 My Title

In the body of your post, include the prompts, title, and synopsis/logline

Link your story.

  • Pasting your story into a post means it will be here forever - you can't delete the post.  
  • Sharing your story read-only from your google drive, onedrive, or blog allows you to unshare, remove, or password-protect it later. 
  • Pasting the link without making it live (clickable) is sufficient - but there are lots of stories to read, and the time it takes to copy and paste that into a browser is enough to send some people on their way.  The easier you make it for people, the more people will respond :)

If you use Google, please note that if you are looking at your story, you can’t just copy the address from your browser – it will point users to their own google drive, or give a permissions error (depending on how you go about it).  Most reliable: look at your google drive.  See your story in the list of files? Right-click it and choose the option to share a link (or whatever they are calling it this week).  Make sure you chose “view” permissions – and use that link.

For additional info, check out JensPenDen's "How To Post Your Story To The Forum"! 

Wait – How Do I Link Stuff?

In the body of your post (for example, if you want the title of your story to be a clickable link to your story):

Type your text   “MY TITLE” - then highlight that text.

Click the 5th button on the toolbar (earth + links of chain)

In the box that comes up, leave the two drop-downs alone – you are looking for the third box, the text-box with no drop-down! If you selected text before clicking the link button, that text appears in this box.

Replace “MY TITLE”  with “myurl.com”  (note that I did *not include http:// in that – it will be added by that drop-down box just left of where you are typing.  If you include it here, your link will be http://http://myurl.com and will not work)

[step by step with images here]

Linking In Your Signature

This one is a bit more challenging because you have to do it like a programmer ;)  Some people link directly to their story in their signature, but it is probably preferable to link to your forum post – that way folks also know where to leave you feedback!!

To add a link to your signature:

  •        Click member control panel
  •        Click profile
  •        Scroll down til you see the box for your signature
  •        Follow the example below (Parentheses have been added in order to ensure the text is displayed and not 'interpreted" and presented as an actual link - replace them with square brackets.  Replace the first blue text with your link. Replace the second blue text with the 'friendly' words you want to appear in your signature)

 (URL=http://mylink.com) The text I want you to see (/URL)

 That says:

["this thing is a url"] "display this text*["/end of the url stuffs"]

There is a limit to the number of characters in your signature. (150 characters max)  If you have multiple entries in your signature and your edits don't seem to save - length is usually the issue.  Try a link shortener like Tinyurl to cut the length of your links. 

How Do I Get/Give Feedback?

Getting feedback:  Post in the forums, and review other peoples’ stories!

Giving Feedback:

  1. “I liked your story” is not really very helpful feedback.  While it is nice to hear, the point of feedback is to make us better writers.  So take a minute to talk about *why you liked (or disliked!) a piece.  What, as a writer, struck you?  Strong, defined characters? Descriptions that made it easy to visualize? Dialog that felt so real you thought you were standing there? Just as importantly, what didn’t work for you, and why didn’t it?  “I didn’t like X” isn’t very helpful either – talk about why X didn’t hit you quite right, or what felt off about it.
  2. It is customary to review the work of those who have reviewed yours.  If you do not return feedback, you will find that as time goes on people realize this and are less willing to invest in critiquing your stories.
  3. Think about what would help you as a writer – and start there.  With a short time and tight word count, we know everyone is rushed – a few minor typos or punctuation errors are going to creep in. Are they worth commenting on?  If it is every sentence – maybe.  But if is it a handful – maybe that’s not the most constructive thing you can offer your colleague.  

It’s hard work to come up with real, Writer-y feedback.  If you can’t think of any, it’s OK to say so.  That’s a statement in itself.  Take a minute to explain what you felt was right with the piece, in that event, so the author knows “what to do more of.” Don’t have time? It’s OK to let it lie and come back another day. Most writers will appreciate quality feedback over immediate response, so if you don’t have time to do it well, it’s OK to wait until you do. If you are worried about it, you can always pop a quick comment of “loved this – have more extensive feedback but no time to type – back to you tomorrow!”

Quality trumps instant gratification. Star


SPOILERS

Got something to say but don't want to ruin the fun for everyone else?  You can use the "SPOILER" code to hide your text.  here are the rules (As above, replace the () with square brackets):

(SPOILER)The word "spoiler" should be in all caps. Hitting "enter" will end the 'hide". If you need a line break, use shift+enter. When you're done, end your spoiler by adding

(/SPOILER)

(Same text, but with square brackets):

Spoiler Spoiler

The word "spoiler" should be in all caps. Hitting "enter" will end the 'hide". If you need a line break, use shift+enter. When you're done, end your spoiler by adding


*********

As I step away from managing the Master List, I am adding this link, with instructions for making and maintaining a master list.  As that task changes hand for any given contest, hopefully the info there will make it easier on each new person.

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ChillyToez View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote ChillyToez Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Dec 2023 at 10:41am
bump!
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KevinKingAuthor View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote KevinKingAuthor Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Aug 2023 at 1:23pm
EDIT AGAIN:

I responded to a post on the first page without checking later followups...already taken care of. Ignore this post

Originally posted by Kmax Kmax wrote:

This is great thank you for doing this. I feel like I have followed the directions but i still cant create a link.
I got as far as shortening the Google Drive Link and that Bit.ly version opened fine in Facebook.
Im on a Mac and tried both Firefox and Safari and now I'm losing my mind.
This is as far as I can get. Looks right but doesn't come up in preview and on my other posts it doesn't work. Im guessing it wont here either. And yes-A video or screen shots would be super helpful for us newbies.

Dont Drink the Kool-Aid

http://bit.ly/2a4SYUh  


Edited by KevinKingAuthor - 30 Aug 2023 at 1:38pm
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nod1v1ng View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote nod1v1ng Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Aug 2023 at 12:41pm
Bumpity bump bump!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Rachel M Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Jun 2023 at 11:57am
bumping for linking-in-signature help (which I seem to need every round...)
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote spilledink Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 Jun 2023 at 7:50am
Bump
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote nod1v1ng Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Jun 2023 at 10:32am
Bump
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