Our Club Guidelines

1. Respect the Writer Behind the Words You can disagree with an idea, interpretation, technique, or piece of feedback without disrespecting the person behind it. Critique the work. Never attack the writer. 2. Feedback Should Help When giving critique, aim to explain why something is or isn’t working for you. “Didn’t like it” doesn’t give a writer much to work with. “I lost track of whose POV I was following during this section” does. Be specific. Be constructive. Be kind. 3. Writers Choose What Feedback to Use Feedback is advice, not an order. The author always has the final say over their own work. 4. Ask Before Deep Critique If someone is casually sharing an idea, excerpt, milestone, or rough draft, don’t automatically dissect it. Use The Workshop when you specifically want critique. Sometimes a writer just wants to yell, “I FINALLY FINISHED THE CHAPTER.” Let them yell. 5. Original Work Matters Share your own writing and ideas. Do not copy, repost, publish, claim, or distribute another member’s work without their explicit permission. What is shared inside the club belongs to the writer who created it. 6. Keep Discussions Relevant to Their Channels A little wandering conversation is perfectly normal, but using the appropriate channels helps everyone find the discussions they care about. Plot emergency? Head to The Plotting Room. Writer’s block eating your afternoon? Stuck on the Page awaits. Finally finished Chapter 27 after it fought you for six weeks? Take that glorious thing straight to The Victory Shelf. 7. No Spam or Uninvited Self-Promotion You’re welcome to celebrate publications, releases, acceptances, and writing accomplishments. Please don’t repeatedly advertise books, services, newsletters, social accounts, paid products, or outside communities. Community first. Promotion second. 8. Writers of Every Experience Level Are Welcome There are no “stupid beginner questions.” Every experienced writer was once trying to figure out dialogue tags, POV, commas, chapter lengths, query letters, and why their character suddenly needed a horse. Ask. 9. Different Writing Paths Are Valid Traditional publishing, indie publishing, hybrid publishing, online serialization, fanfiction, private writing, competition writing, and writing purely for enjoyment can all coexist here. There is no single correct way to be a writer. 10. Keep Inkbound a Place Writers Want to Return To Encourage curiosity. Share knowledge. Celebrate other writers. Offer thoughtful disagreement. Give more to the community than you take from it. And above all: Keep coming back to the page.