We want to be the online home of aspiring writers. This project was kickstarted when the BBC decided to close down much of their 'Get Writing' service, leaving many amateur writers without the support of a likeminded community. As big fans of the BBC's service, we've designed Great Writing to be familar to fellow users. This however, is just the start. We hope that as we grow, Great Writing will evolve in response to your needs.

The idea behind Great Writing is simple; sign up, submit a piece of creative writing, and allow others to offer advice and constructive criticism. This is supported by a general discussion area where you can promote your work, ask questions about all aspects of writing and publishing, or just chew the fat with friends. We're also trying our darndest to bring you original articles on writing and interviews with those in the trade. We'll be keeping an eye out for writing contests too, and even running a few of our own.

Getting started
You can browse the work of GW members straight away, Just choose 'Read and review others' work' from the main menu, then select one of the categories of work. When you're feeling inspired enough to review a piece, or even write a work of your own, then you can create a free account by clicking on the 'Register' link at the top-right of each page. We just need a few details to identify you by, and then you're all set to make Great Writing your personal writing space.

Reviewing others' work
Once you're signed in to Great Writing, you'll notice that a review panel appears at the end of every piece of work. Here you can see the comments left by other members and add your own. Please try to make your reviews detailed and constructive - the kind of reviews you'd hope to get yourself. While we know it's easy to fire off a quick "great stuff, mate!", most authors would prefer to hear why you enjoyed their work or, more importantly, why you didn't.

Writing your own work
When you're ready to compose a creative work of your own, select the 'Write a new work' option from the main menu (it's only visible once you're signed in). Here you'll see a form into which you can type your work, or copy-paste from your word processor. You can also apply some formatting to your work, using the word processor-style formatting buttons available.

You can choose whether or not to 'publish' your work. Published works can be seen by everyone, allowing other people to offer their reviews of your piece. Work that you leave unpublished can be seen only by you, when you choose 'View my existing works' from the main menu.

Before publishing your work, take some time to make sure you've corrected any spelling or grammatical errors. Make sure you've also selected a category appropriate to your piece.

Editing your work
Whether your work is published or not, you can edit it at any time. Just go to 'View my existing work' and click on the title of the piece you need to edit.

Longer work
For best results you should try to keep each piece under 5,000 words. If your work is a little more epic, consider splitting it into chapters and publishing these seperately. The category of 'Extended Work' is intended for episodic works of this type.


Talking about your work
While engaging in thought-provoking discussion in the forums, you might want to refer to or promote your work. The forum system allows to to include URL links (web addresses) in your posts, so to post a link to your work first visit the page where your work appears (assuming it is published) and copy the address from your brower's address bar. It will probably look something like this:

http://www.greatwriting.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view

When making your post in the forum, click on the link button and paste in the URL link.


Frequently-asked questions

Who is behind Great Writing?
This site is run by former members of the BBC 'Get Writing' site and some of their mates from down the pub. It is not run, nor has any affiliation with, the BBC.

Why did you start this site?
We wanted to provide fellow members of BBC Get Writing with a familar home on the web. We also wanted to attract a new audience and promote creative writing in general.

But surely there are loads of other creative writing sites?
Indeed there are, and we salute anyone who supports creative writing - especially our fellow volunteer-run websites. Each creative writing community has its own unique flavour, and we hope that you'll find Great Writing easy to use, providing you with the right blend of feature articles and community tools to support your own great writing.

If I put something on this site, who owns the copyright?
You do. This site is an independent community forum and we take no ownership over your work whatsoever.

Can I swear or say generally naughty things in my stories?
Unlike sites run by large media corporations, we're not so worried about tarnishing our brand image with any blue air created by our users. We trust you to act with creative justification, and so our naughty word filter is set fairly low. However, in the interests of community harmony if your story is the kind of thing you wouldn't want your mother to see, then please give ample warning in your introduction.

We also insist that you stay on the right side of our Terms of Use, which basically state that you can't be generally offensive (such as publishing racist or sexist material) and you can't slander anyone. We take no responsibility for such material published, and we reserve the right to edit or remove any submissions we find that contravene our Terms of Use.

Can I write an article for the site?
If you're interested in sharing your writing advice with the GW community, you can submit an article to the 'Advice from the community' section using the same creation and publishing process used for your other creative writing works. If you're interested in providing the more 'newsy' articles or interviews that we publish, then drop us a line to editors@greatwriting.co.uk outlining your experience and what you have to offer.

Can I donate money to the running of the site?
We appreciate your support of Great Writing. At the moment, we're only looking for you to donate your creative juices, by submitting new works and reviewing those of others. It's your visits and your continued writing that will make Great Writing a success, so for your sake and ours we hope that you'll make us your daily destination. You can also help us save advertising costs by telling your friends about Great Writing.



We'll add to this list as things come up. To discuss any other burning issues on your mind, head on over to the forums.