An increasing number of Web sites allow aspiring authors to publish their literary works. Even cartoons, anime, photographs and comics can be published for the artistically inclined.
Carrie Vaughn, from Findlay, Ohio, is one of the many Web surfers who have jumped on the bandwagon by starting their own literary Web site.
Vaughn describes her site, Aislynnus's Grove, as, "a home for writers, authors and poets."
Vaughn said, "I post art, poetry, short stories, fanfics and the like. I have to review what Geocities' policies about what is acceptable. And if yaoi (male/male stories) and yuri (female/female) stories fics are acceptable, then they will be there, too."
Vaughn said that she started the site for many reasons.
"It was partly because there is a lot of beauty in many forms of the arts and the world needs more beauty," she said. "I know many gifted people, and I thought their work and mine should be displayed. Maybe by displaying our souls online, we might bring a ray of hope, love, acceptance, comfort, or sympathy for someone lacking it or maybe bring another into the love of the written word."
The site, www.thinkmag.com accepts works of poetry, short story, essay, art, and music. The Web site, www.poetry.com, which features contests, answers questions about poets, and claims to feature over 4.6 million poets. The site also has September 11th dedication poems along with the 100 greatest poems ever written and the 100 greatest love poems.
According to English professor Barbara Bogue, "The thing of it is, is you just post your work. It's not published - it's just vanity work saying, 'There it is.' Actual Literary journals are where committees actually judge the quality of the work and are more preferred because as an author you should get more satisfaction out of someone evaluating your work and being able to get it published."
Bogue evaluates sites to see if they would be something she could use in class for her students. She found a Web site run by movie director, Francis Ford Coppola, who directed "The Godfather." On Coppola's site, www.all-story.com, one may submit their work but only after reading the work of five others. Visitors to the site may also participate in contests the site runs such as being able to submit your script to be turned into a movie.
Bogue recommends looking at the site guidelines and how reputable they are. She said it was important to consider whether or not they just want money or if they have a jury process.
"If you can get reviews of your work as a student writer some sites, such as www.all-story.com, are great ways to receive feedback on your work and have it evaluated by your peers who are at the same writing level," Bogue said. "If you aggravate the reviewers then they will not give you a favorable rating."
Matt Damon and Ben Affleck who won a screenwriting Oscar for the 1998 movie, "Good Will Hunting," decided to give other budding filmmakers a chance to share their works. The stars created a concept called Project Greenlight and asked screenwriters to submit scripts. The winning script receives a chance to be produced by Miramax.
Tom Koontz, Creative Writing Program Director also mentioned Ball State graduate students are launching a national online journal called "Against the Grain."
"This journal will be the only one of its kind," he said. "The students intend for it to become a widely-read showcase of new American writing and writers. As such it will, of course, draw a lot of attention to the Ball State Creative Writing Program.''
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