The Great Newb Guide

[Rouge]

Hello! Welcome to YWO! I see that you’re a newbie, and I’d just like to explain a few things.

First, many newer people to YWO seem to be afraid of joining contests or posting their work because they’re afraid that they’re not as good as everyone else on the site. This is not true. We were all newbs once, and quite frankly, I’ve seen a lot of stuff from newbs that’s better than people that have been here for a few years. In fact, some people that are here nowadays don’t even post literature anymore—they’re just here because we love them. In short, “YWO age” does not have anything to do with the writer’s skill. That all depends strictly on you, so don’t be afraid to post or submit things to contests! You may surprise yourself and everyone else.

Second, many newer people don’t know how to critique. I know we have a critiquing guide, but I’ll give you the basics; one liner’s like “OMGSH THIS WAS SO GOOD” suck and usually the writer that you’re critiquing won’t appreciate your crit—in fact, they’d probably get mad and report you to a mod. Now, I understand that many of you don’t know this, and yes, praise is good—but we’re here to improve, not to stroke each other’s egos. I mean, you don’t have to be like, “This sucks, yachta yachta yachta” and not say anything nice. The critique just needs to be balanced. If you can master this, and it’s not hard, then you’ll end up being a nice addition to the YWO crew. Here are the critique guidelines. (http://www.youngwritersonline.net/critiques.php)

Some examples of good critiques:
A Short Story Critique by Spacepirate (http://www.youngwritersonline.net/showpost.php?p=109870&postcount=5)
A Poetry Critique by Amour (http://www.youngwritersonline.net/showpost.php?p=105819&postcount=2)
A Novel Critique by Carraka (http://www.youngwritersonline.net/showpost.php?p=105221&postcount=2)

Remember, we’re here to critique each other’s work, so what you say is very important!

Third, don’t be intimidated by the staff. I know that I was nervous about asking admins questions about things, but they’re really only here to help. Moderators (mods), administrators (admins), critique (crit) sheriffs, and other members are all here to help you. That’s why this site exists. So, feel free to ask anyone any questions you might have, no matter the color of their name. (Red for admins, green for mods, purple for crit sheriffs and black for normal members)

Here’s where you can find the staff for any questions or comments: Staff List (http://www.youngwritersonline.net/showgroups.php)

Fourth, while YWO is meant to be an environment for you to grow as a literary artist, we also like to have fun chatting and becoming friends. Community isn’t quite as important as becoming a better writer, but it is important. It makes it easier to critique each other if you know each other more intimately than just a random “Hey, critique this for me?” In all likelihood, especially if you’re brand new, the person you’ve just asked to critique your work will either ignore the request completely or leave a polite message telling you “No” until you’ve done your fair share of critiques. Just remember, make friends and critique your fair share and you’ll be A-OK.

And finally, I’d just like to say that you can call yourself a beginning-but-sure-to-be-there-soon member of YWO if you’ve read all of this and think that you can follow through with the tasks set before you! Those tasks being to critique others in a balanced way, make friends, and help everyone grow as literary artists. This is why you are here. This is why we are here.

Thank you for your time and I sincerely hope that you will become a treasured member of our community. (:

[khairul6355]

That's right. That's why we call newbie. As a newbie in this forum or newbie in writing as well, they usually play safe, lack of confidence to say something or joining contest.