Are you new to Protagonize? This group is a great spot to learn the ropes and meet other authors.
Welcome to Protagonize, a collaborative creative writing environment like you've never seen before!
Protagonize is home to a wide variety of folk, ranging from published authors to newcomers to the writing arena who are just making the first strides in learning their trade. If you like to write, this is the site for you. And if you're new to Protagonize, this is the group for you — there are no stupid questions here, so please feel free to ask any questions you might have. One of our moderators or our helpful members will do their best to answer you.
Now what?
You could tap your fingers nervously and refresh the main page every ten seconds in hopes that your notifications will update, but I'd recommend you try a more active approach. For those of you who didn't notice, Protagonize "is a creative writing community dedicated to writing various forms of collaborative, interactive fiction."
Look at the three words I have highlighted: Creative, Community, Collaborative. From these three aspects of the site, I'll draw several tips for becoming noticed.
Creative
First, make sure the writing you have posted is something that other people will not only want to read, but will want to continue reading. A good piece of writing will have two key features: creativity and polish. A creative work is something that is, well, unique and original. A polished work is something that has gone through the editing and proofreading necessary to make it look as good as the story it tells. I hate to say it, but you most likely will be judged on spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Don't take offense, though! Protagonize is a writing website, and the people here want to help you improve your writing.
For tips on how to achieve these aspects look around at the groups, particularly Editing, Rewriting, and Polishing and Grammar & Usage. Both groups are very useful for prose (stories) and poetry (which can be a story, too), while there are others that are more specific to what you're writing.
Community
Second, introduce yourself to other people! Look at Who's Online and write a quick comment on their profile, or read a few of the recently posted stories and comment on them. In fact, most people on Protagonize will try to return the favour. Protagonizers don't bite for the most part, and will most likely take a look at something if you ask them to nicely (the key word here is nicely; don't copy+paste a generic message to tonnes of people's profiles, you'll likely be contacted by a site moderator and be asked to stop your spammy behaviour).
Another place to visit is the Mentoring group, where you can pick up a "veteran" of the site to show you around and even help you one-on-one with some of your work (however, the Mentoring group isn't too active these days, so it may be a while before you get a response there if you choose to join it).
Taking a look through all the other groups on Protagonize is yet another way to thrust yourself into the community. There are groups for fantasy enthusiasts, poets, roleplayers, writers and readers of fanfics, and lots more!
If you're just looking for someone to read your work, take a look at these next two groups. The Shameless Self Promotion group is exactly what it sounds like, and is useful if you just want some exposure. On the other hand, head over to the Critiques Wanted group if you want some serious, detailed assessments of your work.
Collaborative
Third, try your hand at a collaborative story. Start out with something Just For Fun, so you don't have too much pressure. The Popular Stories list on the Read page is a great resource, as it will almost always have a few fun collaborative stories on it. Collaboration will also show other authors that you are serious about being a part of the community, and not only a recipient of critiques.
If jumping into an established story is a little too intimidating for you, take a look through some of the recent discussion posts in the Collaborative Corner. This group has been specifically made to find co-authors and encourage collaboration.
And that ends my little guide on becoming noticed as a new Protagonizer! I hope that this helps, and that you can use it to gain success both on this website and elsewhere.
If you have additional questions, there's a dedicated Moderator team here to help. Just head over the the Who's Online? page and look for a green Mod badge. If no Moderator is online, feel free to post questions here or on my profile. I would, however, encourage you to look at the FAQ page in the Help menu on the far right of the black taskbar.
(:
Last updated 19 August 2012
Erpfairy x
Meant to say this right after I posted mine but I was being
naggeddistracted by my girlfriend and forgot all about it.Er... *cough*...
Yeaaaah...
If you've got some useful tips for new members, make yourself at home, I reckon :)
That's what I did anyway. I certainly wasn't told or even invited to make a post. Don't know about that dodgy Jack character though. Have you heard what he does with rubber chickens?
-2- I've SEEN what Jack does with rubber chickens. It's impressive in the way one can't help but stare at a gruesome car wreck.
And it was a great topic called "Dealing with know it all moderators"
Go figure. Any ideas?
Anyway... yar, that appears to be a bug. It seems to work if you click the Create a new topic button on this page -> it's just under Post A Reply up there on the left.
(;
Do you think any of you could maybe suggest or add something to The Willow Den?
Blurb: "Hard working Devlin is set on climbing the work ladder, she's moved and set about digging a branch of K-Tech out of the ground & breathing new life into it with Gavin's help. She's in a new, bigger city with only one thing in mind; success. What's buried in her past that could keep her from it though?..."
Any thoughts?
I was bullied into posting it so hopefully it'll take off from there, but I'd still welcome ANY ides
@KitKatKid : you can be 'new' as long as you want, i think, as long as you have a good reason for it. (;