Share your poetry and all your writing Get feedback for your writing

the site is run by a megalomaniac and, unless you're ga-ga, wealthy or have oodles of time to spare (mayhaps doing porridge) or all three, is to be avoided! referring to a post by Aaron F earlier in this thread, regarding 'eats, shoots and leaves', i was banned for two days for bringing this blatant plagiarism to the attention of the aforementioned megalomaniac, Tom Ens, and, as Indie S. said in a previous post, the little hitlerite makes the rules as he goes along, wringing his hands all the way to the bank. it is obvious to an amoeba's braincell he has no interest in poetry and writing. he's a moneygrabbing egoist. but, if you simply want a good ego trip and have the money but no talent, then, go for it! mind, having now dredged several writing sites, they're all pretty much the same, and should be avoided if you wish to improve as a writer. instead, why not send me £20! it'll save you lots of money and you'll be able to write like what i do and be as good as i do in know thyme a tall! whoop-whoop!

Very disappointed. No critiques are provided from the contest judges. Not once did the feedback I receive from other members address technical aspects of my writing. There seems to be a cultural expectation that all pieces are rated 5 out of 5. And yes, scoring a piece a 3 can result in one of your pieces being subjected to retaliation scoring. Members are generally cordial. Some appreciated my feedback - they reworked their piece and asked me to provide feedback on the edits. So that was a positive experience. Definitely not of value to writers who want meaningful critiques of their writing. I'm closing my account.

Fanstory is fine if you keep your mouth shut regarding sexual predators and contest cheats soliciting votes. When I tried to bring this to the attention of the site owner Tom Ens, I was treated with contempt, had my work consigned to the fanstorian crematorium and my account suspended numerous times. He reactivated my account after supportive poems from other members. Today he finally deactivated my account permanently because I had once again written a cryptic poem regarding a cheat who had procured votes and won the month of the poetry contest. The contest cheat identified himself in a review of an open letter to Tom Ens from another fanstorian poet who had written a letter in my defence,. The result was; her account 'temporarily' suspended and as I have already said, mine being deactivated permanently. The ratings system is a con. All you have to do is look at the poor quality of poets in the top 10. In particular - Mrs Happy at no 7 and Righteous Riter at no 4. Righteous Riter posts homophobic posts, such as The Writing on The Wall and shows no poetic skill. Despite protest from a 'minority', Tom Ens refused to condemn the post, Sadly, the majority supported his homosexual rant. He recently wrote another purporting to be Jesus Christ himself! Barely one objection out of over 100 reviews. There are many members on this site who are genuinely lovely people, have integrity and are talented writers, but they are not given the recognition they deserve. When disgusting sexually offensive remarks were made by one, Tom Ens refused to suspend this member's account. He is one who purports to be a Rabbi, but is not even Jewish. Tom Ens simply deleted his offensive remarks, although I had asked them to stand so others could be warned. The owner of this site has two years membership paid by me, but of course will not refund my money. He makes the rules up as he goes along and has his favourites, i.e., the members who pay the most money to promote their inadequate works. BE WARY!

I've been a member of FanStory for a while, and it's a great site with a nice writers. There's lots of good writing to read. People post all kinds of genres. But it's not a great feedback site It's more for posting your reading to be looked at by others, but not critiqued on a professional level. Still love it!

Here's the good and the bad about FanStory. FS is a great place to post your poetry, short stories, novels, and scripts, and receive feedback from other members on the site. It also has numerous contests, both site-sponsored and member-sponsored, and these can be fun to enter. The cost to be a member allowed to post your writing is not prohibitive. So what's the downside? In order to have your writing reviewed, it needs to be "promoted". All your postings will have a free initial certificate which expires after two reviews. To give your work visibility, you must buy a certificate which will cost you between six and ten dollars. But wait! That will only get you a place far down on the list, where you might only get one or two more reviews. To move your work higher, you need to buy "pump" certificates that pump your work up the list. This costs another $3, but you may need several to move you piece up where it will get a lot of visibility. You can either whip out your credit card to purchase certificates and pumps, or earn member dollars by reviewing the work of other writers. In order to avoid spending "real" money to promote their work, other writers review, review, review. Of course, the volume of reviews they need to do results in some reviews being virtually worthless "fluff". Ratings are based on the volume of work you post, and the review ratings given them. The top-rated poets on FS are not by any means the best poets on the site, but they are the most prolific, some with literally hundreds of (sometimes remarkably) mundane works that get numerous "fluff" reviews, and therefore move them up the ranks. Some of the highest rated poets do have talent, but even again, the driver is volume, which of course requires - you guessed it - that people buy certificates to promote their volumes of work. But here's the real danger to serious writers, and a well-kept secret that the owner doesn't want potential (or current) members to know. Many publications consider a work posted on FanStory as having been published online, which disqualifies it from being considered for publication elsewhere. FanStory will tell you that by making your profile "private" and setting "content sharing" to off, your work is only visible to members, and therefore that rule does not apply. This is not true in all cases, and reputable submission services may refuse to consider any work that has been posted on FanStory because it is considered "previously published". If you are looking for a supportive writing community, recognition within that community, and fun contests that will inspire you to write, FanStory is a fine place to go. If you are a serious writer looking to be published, DO NOT put your work in risk by posting it on FS and opening up the possibility that your opportunity to be published will be lost. There are many testimonials about writers cuttting their teeth on FS and their experience there helping them to get published. But the opportunities to get published are, as we all know, hard to come by. If your goal is to publish, don't risk having your work disqualified from being accepted because it has appeared on FS.

Very regulated and slanted towards religious viewpoints not shard by all. They have a leviathan like character in their matrix called, Tom. He simply rules in a very subjective and discretionary manner. Remember laws or rules enforced arbitrarily is the most insidious evil.

I was a member of FanStory for 3 years and have now joined the All Poetry website. I found FanStory to be filled with cronyism and vote buying. They repeat the same contests over and over again, and the same people keep winning all the time.The reviews are carried out on a very friendly basis and you seldom find any constructive criticism that is really helpful. I won 16 contests during my time at Fanstory, all of which were blind i.e no one knows whose poem is being displayed, but as soon as the poets names were displayed against their poems I did not receive one single vote in 3 years. Numerous poems thar came last in FanStory have won multiple gold medals in All Poetry, which is free to join and all postings are free. They also have a far greater variety of contests to choose from and I have earned over 1900 awards in a little over 3 years,..and would never consider returning to Fanstory, which is a costly website as opposed to All Poetry, which is free.

I was hesitant to join because I was afraid there would be harsh criticism. But I was pleasantly surprised to find most criticism to be helpful in improving my writing. Everyone was welcoming and so supportive. It is great to be part of a community that supports the craft and offers endless help In many ways. I have realized that opening yourself up to criticism is a great way to become a more confident writer as well as happily passing on lessons learned to other newcomers.

In my opinion this site is absolutely brilliant. Never before have I had the opportunity to have my writing reviewed like this. It has been better than any writing workshop could be. There are some wonderful people in this community and I have enjoyed it. I have grown as a writer and this site is great at getting you motivated. So many contests to enter! For a poet to have such a sounding board is a treasure.

I just want to say how happy I am to have found this site. I've always wanted to write, but have always struggled with confidence and actually finishing what I started writing. I've been on here most days since I joined. I have finished my poems and stories and and received helpful feedback. This has boosted my confidence no end, and now that I have started writing, I am finding it really hard to stop! It's a great idea and it WORKS.

Your time is limited. As is your money. And there's one thing your hard-earned money and precious time can't buy on Fanstory--no matter how much of either you spend on this archaic site--and that's how to become a proficient writer within a practical time frame. With a few exceptions, most of the feedback I received on FanStory for my writing were rarely helpful and tantamount to no more than a ostensible lets-stroke-his-ego pat on the back. Giving me wrong grammatical advice will not get me to where I want to be as a writer, either. I just can't take serious any writing site endowed with a plethora of supposedly knowledgeable writers and reviewers, many of whom don't know the basic rules of grammar, punctuation, or spelling, or who arrogantly rewrite stories to their satisfaction rather than constructively critique them for the sake of the author submitting them. If you're a decent writer with interesting stories, I truly believe you'll find FanStory's not a desirable site to promote your writing. You could end up finding yourself victimized by spending more of what the site owner really wants--your money--before you even come close to being recognized for your overall writing skills and storytelling ability. Believe me, there are easier and less expensive ways to promote your writing effectively and FanStory is simply not among them. If you really want to learn to write, to learn from other writers--many of them published--who really know the craft and the pitfalls that come with it, please consider looking elsewhere beyond FanStory. Check out well-respected well-known sites like Scribophile.com and/or your local community's writers' group. I spent very little time or money at FanStory, but unlike some of the poor souls who have--a lot of them pensioners--I know there are much better sites to practice our craft, places on the web where our time and money spent really means something and gives back an equitable and fair return for their exchange. I firmly believe this site preys on vulnerable fledgling writers through its unconscionable practice of openly and blatantly giving its members the option to spend additional money to be recognized and reviewed and then hopefully move their way up the site's ranking's ladder. The truth is if you're a good writer, gaining recognition shouldn't be a problem and you should NEVER have to come out of pocket to enhance what's already there. Your writing will speak for itself, but that criteria doesn't seem to fit the modus operandi on FanStory. The bottom line is you'll need deep pockets to get from FanStory what you should have been getting all along at a minimal cost, even free, like the more reputable sites such as Scribophile.com and others do. Some may call FanStory a sham, while others may call the site the greatest ever, but I call it what I really think it is--a regretful, exploitive waste of time and money. In my opinion, FanStory runs on a business model imbued to pull the maximum dollars from its users with little concern for their creativity or the quality of their writing. The site's alternative to getting noticed and reviewed is getting members to use their PayPal money--real dollars--to pay their way to the top, so to speak, even after paying a basic membership fee. This means the membership paid for is just short of worthless and gives you little in return for value. And their FREE TO REGISTER prompt is just as worthless. On other sites I've received something in return or at least had the opportunity to contribute just by simply registering. On FanStory, I also had to contend with obnoxious pop-up ads, even after signing up for and paying for the basic membership fee. My inquiry with the owner as to how to eliminate those ads from my page yielded a quick but canned response from him. His return message implied it was simply part of the site's way of doing business but the subtext underneath read to me as "deal with it, live with it." To conclude, I believe this website completely violates the creative spirit of writing and sharing through its selfish, extreme for-profit self-serving practices.

If you love to write you'll love this site. Easy to use Writing contests are fun and committee judged. . The community is made up of helpful and caring people. I started off as a true beginner but now am considering publishing.

It made me a much better writer. When I first joined I didn't really understand how to write a poem - keep a rhythm, or what makes the poem stand out. However, through feedback from writers I learned more about what poetry is all about and worked hard to improve. I enjoy sharing my writing. Entering challenging contests - and learning.

I have been a member of Fanstory.Com since 2011. Fanstory is a community of poets/writers ranging from novice - professionals. It gives the opportunity to have your poems or stories read and reviewed by Fanstory members. Fanstory members have a chance to rate each poem/ story they read, on a star system ranked from 1 star to 6 stars ratting. Fanstory also holds competitions from prompts, challenges and monthly reviewer rewards or poem or story of the month. you only win fanstory credits (Member dollars) from prompts and challenges and can win up to a max of 90.00 member dollars, but other contests created by fanstory/Tom, you can win cash prize for 1st place of $100.00 USD , 2nd I think is member dollars and 3rd prize is: 10.00 member dollars. You also have the opportunity to Self publish your book and sell them at amazon.com. Other positives of this site is you are able to get positive/helpful reviews off other poets which can allow you to grow as a poet. There are also poetry and writting courses that can be taken with professional teachers for a fee of $90.00 USD you can learn grammar and punctuation, how to write stories, sonnets, Haiku ETC. My experience on this site has been positive until a few days ago. When a poet named: Dean Kuch was caught plagiarizing on a recent fanstory Write a Dr. Seuss style sonnet contest, where his poem (Dr. Suess on aging. by Dean Kuch) which was a copy and paste (plagiarized poem) of this bellow. copy and paste it in your browser and then press enter and you will see the poem. http://www.google.com.au/search?q=Dr.+Seuss+on+aging.&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=slWUUcaDNMeTiQeB4YCACQ&ved=0CDwQsAQ&biw=1024&bih=683#imgrc=vR546wqPsyV9XM%3A%3BEZeyJqDhvmG8MM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.woodriverfire.com%252Fimages%252Fdrsuess.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.woodriverfire.com%252Fdrseuss.htm%3B478%3B366 He has used this poem on several other poetry sites and have won and got placings, including Fanstory. Fanstory owner Tom was notified by a poet who hosted the poetry contest, same day contest ended which was may 9th 2013, then yesterday morning 15th of May 2013, I did my quick 2 second log in to find that he had received a reviewer reward and nothing been done so I congratulated him for the reviewer reward and getting away with plagiarism. and a link to evidence and let him know i was aware he used the same poem on other sites, he latter logged in, went to all the sites including WritersCafe.org, WritersCarnival etc and removed them, some it appears he has deleted his whole account. After I contacted Tom yesterday, The reward of split pot of the 90.00 fanstory credits went to the 4 deserving poets in 2nd place. No idea what happened with the 90.00 credits given to Dean, he had several days to spend it. I got a warning as it's against fanstory regulations to expose a cheater or plagiarist publicly on their or your own page or to write a poem about it. He obviously got a warning even though he didn't just break Tom's little rules which punishments seem to vary depending on person. I have seen other honest and talented writters such as Indie, Tammy Gail and others banned for far less offense then plagiarism which isn't just morally wrong or breaking one of Tom's rules but AGAINST THE LAW. yet he is still aloud on the site and gets a small slap on the hand (warning.) and a reviewer reward on top. If he has done it numerous of times before and yet again in the last week, who's to say he won't do it again? He's gotten away with it so many times. FANSTORY also has the ability to add copywrite/protection to your poems. Don't actually think they hold any validity, just a pretty pic. here is my final letter to Tom after I received a warning... Original Message ------------------------------------------------- So does he get a warning to? after he has gotten away with the same poem being posted on several other sites and won with the same plagerized poem? It's not just morally/ethically wrong or breaking just fanstory rules but breaking the laws as well. Is that aloud? regards Tia _____________________________________________________________ Toms reply.... Yes, he did not win. The site stepped in. Tom ____________________________________________________________________ So basically Tom removed the poem after Dean disabled the poem after we caught on. Then he and I get a warning mine for exposing him, his for plagiarizing. he gets a reviewer reward on top and I'm meant to shut my mouth and let him get away with it. Also A talented poet is able to get on front page by getting 2 x 6 stars minimum. But you may purchasing credits, I've never done it myself. you can earn credits from reviewing poems which comes free which is what I do. I think it's a waste of real money to purchase them, If your work holds any worth, it will get there on it's own merit. It's other branches that Tom owns is poetrydances.com which is another great site and is all fixed up now, providing helpful tips on how to do various forms of poetry from Tyburn to sonnets. Also Fanartreview.com where people can post their created art work. I would have given 5 star rating to fanstory if it wasn't for the allowance of plagiarism. It should be exposed , dealt with severely, not just a slap on the wrist and certainly not praised. Also there is a fanstory membership from monthly fee of $6.95 month, $48.00 for 1 year and $67.00 2 years subscriptions. Regards Tia

I've been writing on Fanstory for seven years. The feedback that I have received has really helped me grow as a writer. The contests are fun and challenge me to try new things. The site is wonderful for anyone that enjoys writing even if you are just getting started. Go ahead and join - you'll be glad you did!!!

A complete and total joke. I have to think that the ballot box was stuffed considering all the favorable reviews (C'mon, 5 stars that often??) As others have stated, it is not cost effective to belong to this site if you want constructive feedback....way too expensive. By the way, I signed up -- and paid for -- for two years (as it was cheaper). When I reached my one year anniversary, Fanstory told me it was time to renew my membership. When I told them I had paid for two years (check their records) good old Tom basically told me to "prove it." Can you imagine that...they supposedly DON'T have the records of member transactions??? I think it was simply a ploy to get me to pay again, if I couldn't provide proof that I had indeed paid for two years. I was able to prove I had paid for the second year, which really didn't matter at that point because I told them what they could do with their con-game disguised as a writing site. There are many sites far more worthy of your hard earned dollars (and they will require far less of them too). Try writing.com, scribophile, and others. Just stay away from Fanstory. Your best interests are the LAST thing on their collective little minds!

This is a really difficult one! I have met really quality people who are competent and talented writers. On the other hand the only way you get your work seen is by paying for it. The more you pay - the more reviewing your work is worth to a reviewer. That is not to say that a reviewer shouldn't be rewarded - or that a writer shouldn't pay something - but there has to be a more equitable way to do it. I have seen stuff on the featured page which is akin to vomiting all over a page - but it gets all the attention because someone paid a comparatively exorbitant amount to get it on the front/featured list.

There are good writers and reviewers on the site. If, through the "fan" function, you build a community of your own with other writers who agree to seriously critique each others' work, it can be a good resource. Other than that, the reviewing system encourages perfunctory and unhelpful reviews -- which you have to pay for. Here's why. A decent review of an average story takes ten to twenty minutes. Each review awards, on average, a dollar in member bucks. So, a decent reviewer makes about four to five dollars an hour in member bucks. In order to get your work reviewed, you have to pay at minimum $60 in member bucks, and often much more. So, back of the envelope, you need to do 60 reviews for a dollar each; you can do five of them an hour; so that's 60/5 = 12 hours of reviewing you need to do to pay for your own story to be reviewed. That's clearly not practical. So site members have a choice: Either churn out dozens of perfunctory and unhelpful reviews, or pay cash money, and lots of it, to get your own work (shoddily) reviewed. Doesn't sound like such a good deal now, does it? I get that FanStory is a for-profit business, but in the balance between making money and serving writers, it clearly skews toward making money.

Every review I've found gives this site a 5/5 and extols the virtues of the free reviews you can get. But you only get them if you sign up, which costs money. And, more interestingly, most of the reviews have links to other reviews that create a loop effect, allowing you to go from one to the next to the next then back to the first. I think these are really just nothing more then creative ads.

If you enjoy writing you'll love Fanstory. The writing contests challenge you to try new things. The people that are part of Fanstory are really wonderful. My biggest hesitation was sharing my writing with strangers because I was so new to writing. Heck, I had never even heard of any of the poem types in the contest listing. But everyone was so helpful. The reviews were really supportive. I really look forward to sharing my writing each day and seeing what my friends are writing. Don't worry! You'll love it!