Welcome to the Writer’s Den. This section of the forum will be used for a few different things. First and foremost, this section will be used mostly by those who would like to express their opinions on music with more than just a few, quick sentences.

To explain a little more, if you have an article that you have written, and interview with a band, a review on a new album or even one about a recent movie, this would be the place to share it.

This section will also be used to hone your skills as a writer or reviewer. A few of us here are avid writers. Personally, my college background is in writing and English. Your wonderful webmaster is an avid review writer and is also working on a novel. We also have other members who enjoy the craft of writing. In any case, questions can be asked and answered about writing, writing form and the general art of the written word.

We’d like to set up a few guidelines and rules for this forum. They are as follows:

Guidelines for topic creation:

Music Reviews:
- Please title any music review topic this way: “MUSIC REVIEW: Band name – album title”
- The reviews should be composed of at least a few paragraphs. Reviews within this section of the site should strive to exceed the few, short sentence opinions on an album on other sections of the forum.
- To help keep everything organized and easily understood, if you would like to grade the album on a scale, please use a scale of 5. See the Lifer Music Blog for examples.
- If you’re confused, taking a look at the Lifer Music Blog can help you understand what we’re looking for. As an added bonus, if your review is good enough, it can be added to the blog. You will be notified before this happens to make sure you would like it on there.

Movie Reviews:
- Please title any movie review topic like so: “MOVIE REVIEW: Movie Title – Year of Release” The year of release will help to avoid any discrepancies about remakes.
- The guidelines for movie reviews are basically the same as the music reviews. Give your opinion and back it up. Not simply, “This movie sucked.”

Articles:
- Title article topics which contain articles written by yourself like so: “Title of article by your name” (You can use your forum name if you do not feel comfortable using your actual name, but we encourage you to use your real name.
-Members may also publish articles from other sources for discussion. Please title these threads the same way you would title your own, simply use the original author’s name.


RULES

1. This section of the site is for constructive criticism only. Do not bash other member’s writing. Everyone needs to start somewhere.
2. If you’re going to write an extremely negative review, back it up. The same goes for positive reviews. Don’t just tell us that an album sucks or is the most amazing album you have ever heard. Tell us why. This is how a review should be written.
3. If you write a review on an album and a topic already exists, please create a new topic. The more reviews on an album, the better spread we have. One person may write a positive review. Another may write a negative one.
4. DO NOT review classic albums that everyone knows and loves…unless your review is going to differ from the thousands already written about it. Examples of albums that do not need to be reviewed: Judas Priest’s Painkiller, Iron Maiden’s Number of the Beast, Black Sabbath’s first album, etc.

More rules and guidelines may come. For now, this should cover everything. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

LegionOvDoom
Administrator

Ferret-like Additions

We've seen an increase in opinions from other area's. This is intended to be a Writers Den, not a Reviewers Den. Topics such as fictional stories, Video Game reviews and Book Reviews are all welcome here.

- The title should make it clear as to what the topic is, for example: FICTION: "The Deceit of Angels." This is once again to avoid any possible confusion as to the contents of the post.
- There is no blog for such works due to their infrequent occurance, though whilst no facility exists this should not dissuade you from publishing such content for opinions. You will find many will be able to offer constructive criticism so as to improve your own writing abilities.

SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCE: If you were writing multiple reviews, a themed group of reviews, or something similar, than you may post them all within the same thread. Title this like you would an article, but give it a proper name so as to denote what is contained within.

So, since my coding ability has improved, if you wish to include an image or two within the text (its nice for longer reviews, to break things up a little) just shove a few links at the bottom and i'll see if I can't stick them in.

Example