This may have been dealt with already - couldn't find anything, so here are two questions;
a) If your intention is to be published, how much of a 100,000 word novel should you post for discussion on Chrons?
b) Are agents/publishers happy with work shown on a public forum?
a) as little as possible
b) not unless they're the ones doing it
Absolutely agree!
Trouble is, I need to post most of my novel on Chrons just to get the help I need to correct it!!
No you don't!
Most writers think they have to post a load of work, so people can get into the characters and events. Nothing is further from the truth.
From long experience, I can state plainly that a couple of hundred words is easily more than enough. That will demonstrate your style, pacing, word craft, and similar issues - their positives and their flaws. And people will respond to that.
The biggest turn-off for a critique is to post a big wad of content - no one wants that. Most people have a life and don't have time to volunteer much to contribute.
Therefore a small section is easily enough, it invites reading, and any issues with the text will become very apparent indeed.
Frankly, most writers have issues that show plainly in the smallest piece of text. It's only once they develop a sharp and advanced understanding of their writing that they no longer need to ask for short crits.
In which case, when you reach that stage, it's time to either a) find a dedicated crit group of advanced writers, or b)pay for editing services such as from Teresa Edgerton or John Jarrold.
Personally I side towards editing services, on the grounds that if you're going to get someone to critique your work for submission to the publishing industry, then better to have someone do so from the other side of the industry with the benefit of the knowledge and experience that brings.
I know Teresa has said she doesn't do line editing, but I would imagine any simple errors will be pointed out, with her preferring to focus on story and characters - the very thing most people try and get critiqued, BEFORE they have developed a proper tight writing style.
So overall, little steps - develop your style using short excerpts posted here and take the feedback as required, then move to editing for the bigger concepts.
And, yes, publishers are potentially very wary of material already published even on forums, as it potentially invalidates the digital rights of the piece. And we have a strict policy of not deleting material from chrons, precisely because we warn people not to post any large excerpts anyway for precisely that reason!
Hope that helps, anyway.
