Your first drafts need to be the most fucking perfect thing you have ever written.

Do you post your stories on sites like Wattpad or Fictionpress in hopes of getting feedback?  Out of those of you that do how many of you get comments like this? "I found a lot errors, you should edit before you post." or "You should get an editor when you finish there were a ton of errors."

No shit?  The great thing about the digital age is it's easier for artists to get their work out there; to get feedback and help.  Something writers in times gone by couldn't. The problem?  People seem to think you are posting these finished immaculate stories for their viewing pleasure.  So in other words, you put in all the hard work of a working writer but getting any of the benefits because you are posting it on the site out of the kindness of your heart.

Yeah that's right, they expect you to post publish worthy quality for them to read for free!  They seem to forget the whole point of the site is for you to read it and give feedback.  Not for them to get free fucking books.

Now you might be thinking, "But Melissa them pointing out your errors is feedback."

No, it isn't.  That's treating your work like they are grading it. Seriously, writers at the first stage of writing care more about characters, plot and overall flow of the story.  Once editing starts that's when they care about spelling and grammar, because at that point it does matter.  For people who want to be published the editing works a little like this: Edit yourself, then you get professional to edit it.

You know, someone you pay to fix your shit.  Sure on those sites you can get an 'editor' or a 'beta'.  The problem? Most are not reliable or that savvy on spelling and grammar.  Worse half don't even know how to help you fix character problems like severe personality switches or plot flow.  So yeah your story might look good enough to get by the common rabble but that's it.

It makes me think that these sites have just lost their meaning.  They are just places for teenagers to feel popular and people to try and sound smart while getting free books.

I am not going to share the final clean cut edit on the sites I am on, are you fucking mad?  I want the story published!  I am not going to post the finished product on a site so you can read it for free and I get nothing for the money and time I spent on it. No, you are out your damn mind!

So do we go back to giving our work to our friends and family and hope they will give us honest feedback or do we continue to try and wade through the cesspool of these sites?

While you think on that remember kids to whistle while you work it:

Oh and these words of wisdom: