One thing I’ve discovered about writing is that you’ll want someone to eventually read what you’ve written. If you don’t ever want anyone to read it, you’re kind of just spanking off. When I first started writing stuff that was good enough (I felt) for public consumption, I gave it to my husband and my mom. Neither one is a writer, but they gave me some very good encouragement. However, besides encouragement, a writer also needs critique. You need other writers to give you feedback. If you’re just starting out, I recommend http://www.critters.org, a great site for getting your fantasy, science fiction or horror work critiqued. It has some great guidelines for how to give critiques, as well. And you’ll need to know how to do this because critters requires that to get critiques, you have to give them, which is a fine practice. After all, critiquing the work of others often helps a person improve their own writing and spot their own mistakes.
