This week: Be A Helper Edited by: JACE  
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Hi, I'm JACE .
Welcome to this issue of the Noticing Newbies newsletter. Join me as I take you into some nooks and crannies of Writing.Com that you may not have found time to check out yet. This newsletter is about and for you. And for you seasoned members, I hope you'll find something you can take from my ramblings. 
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Product Type: Kindle Store
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Amazon's Price: $ 12.99
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I have a young friend, who like most here, is an aspiring writer. She has an idea for a novel (a pretty good idea, I think), but is really not sure what to do with it. Of course, when I’m asked for my opinion about writing, I’m not afraid to share.
That said, I'm not a novelist. I tend toward short stories, essays and form poetry. Beyond knowing that a great idea is needed, that a novel is divided into chapters and that it’s much longer than a short story, I'm not a good source for things novel. Novel writing is not my bailiwick.
Keeping it simple, I suggested two things: first, just start writing. Get your ideas down on paper while they’re fresh in your mind. And second, join Writing.Com. I know she needs more help than I can provide.
Where do people go when they need help on writing matters?
Writing.Com has so many different and helpful outlets for all manner of writing interests. Groups are available in any number of genres and general interest for novel writing, short stories, poetry and the like. Here are a dozen groups you might find helpful on your writing journey. Some are limited in scope while others are of more broad interest.
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I found these in the Navigation Menu under Browse By Type, then Groups.
In addition to the Groups above, try looking under Forums. Some of these forums may be hosted by a group listed above; others may be stand-alone. In any case, if the group or forum comes up as Restricted, shoot an email to the host asking if the activity is still active and for permission to enter.
If these don't help, consider posting for help in one of the following site forums:
General information:
Specific or technical information:
Our members are often the best source for helping other members. Someone, among the many thousands of members, has been there before, or has done just the thing another member wants to do. Take a moment to share.
Over the years, there have been mentor programs on WDC. Perhaps some still exist. If you know of one, please let me know and I'll share it.
I'll leave you with a final thought--check out some books on writing (figuratively and literally) from your local library about novel writing ... or whatever topic you desire. It's been written down before. The Internet, the library, a local bookstore or a local writer's group are all great sources for you to tap.
Good luck with all your writing endeavors.
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Check out this forum designed to assist Newbies.
Then drop in on these Newbies. Take a moment to review this offering ... or something else in their Port. Welcome them to WDC through a scribble in their Notebook.
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A ball of yarn is chased by a cat. It must do everything in its power to survive.
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Have an opinion on what you've read here today? Then send the Editor feedback! Find an item that you think would be perfect for showcasing here? Submit it for consideration in the newsletter!
https://www.Writing.Com/go/nl_form
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Thanks for spending time with me today. At the bottom of every newsletter is a section entitled
followed by a text box. If you liked what you read (or if you didn't), please take time and drop me a line. I'd love to hear your ideas.
From the mailbag:
From markmore : Nice, very good advice. Thank you.
You're welcome.
From the Newsfeed:
From Happy to write  : Not really. Most of the time however I do pass them along. Reasons vary.
From elephantsealer : It depends on how interesting the story is...
From Mouse says gobble gobble  : It depends. If the story has a good hook that catches me in the first few paragraphs I will probably read it through. If you don't hook me, though, I will probably leave a note of constructive criticism on fixing your opening.
From TheBusmanPoet : I read poems on WDC not stories. So the answer would be no.
From Beholden  : This newsletter has all anyone needs to know about formatting a piece (presentation, in other words). It is crucially important if you want your stuff to be read. As writers we should be doing everything we can think of to get people to read what we produce. The object is communication, after all.
There may be some WdC members who are prepared to fight their way through great blocks of text without paragraph breaks or punctuation, but I'm not one of them. When I'm hunting for something to review, it's always poor presentation that makes me move on to the next candidate. Why should I have to squint at some ridiculously small font or a bunch of text that resembles a rainbow more than a serious piece of writing? And that makes one reader you'll have lost. Don't risk it - take the time to format and make it easy for the reader before offering it for review.
Note the font size used for this comment. It's 4 and that's large enough to allow the older readers to read without effort and small enough not to overpower the page.
I should just mention that, if you go to Settings in your browser, there is a zoom facility that enlarges the screen view for you. While this overcomes the problem of too small a font, it's not fair to expect reviewers to do this for your writing. Play it safe and do the enlarging for them!
From s This newsletter is so very true. There have been stories that maybe could have been great reads but when you're faced with a 1200-word chunk of a paragraph in a small font - no thanks. If you submitted that to a publisher, it would be rejected straight away without even being read.
Also, be consistent in paragraph separation. So many stories on WdC have paragraphs separated by a line, and then a chunk of them where they just start on a new line without that separation.
For an online reading site, the industry acceptance is a line break between each para, or an indent and have the whole thing at least 1.5 spaced. While i know this is not an industry/publication site, it is good to practise these things.
Great advice.--both of you.
From Pumpkin Spice Sox  : I don't pass, but I do offer suggestions on formatting that would make for an easier read for the next person.
From THANKFUL SONALI Library Class!  : Yes - most definitely. Now that my eyesight has weakened, I need a legible font, large size and, most importantly, enough line space.
Lengthy stories which don't offer these are not easily accessible to me. Paragraphing matters too. I click out if they show up on random reads. And I don't offer to help with judging awards / contests and so on because there might be stories that I struggle to read and can't, therefore, judge the quality of writing properly.
From Sopheral : Hard no! Then again, I have been blessed with exceptional reading comprehension.
Also, psychosis helps. I can put more into the writing than is written, and get more out of it.
Thanks to all who posted.
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Noticing Newbies: July 13, 2022 Issue [#11455]
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