From: rc@depsych.Gwinnett.COM (Richard Carlson)
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.infonets
Subject: Writers and Critics?
Date: 27 Sep 92 14:47:04 GMT

I recently posted to this list asking if anyone knew the networks
on which creative writers and literary critics were active,
especially writers of juvenile fiction.  (I have an interest in
some topics that are related to children's fiction which aren't
relevant to the inquiry ... well, maybe they are: I'm a clinical
psychologist with an interest in role model theory -- the kind of
thing Dan Quayle is talking about in the context of _Murphy Brown_
-- and I've been personally interested in deconstructing
children's literature since I was myself a child and realized that
the "world" described, particularly in American children's
fiction, bore little relation to the world that _I_ lived in ...
but _why_ I want to get to the population of children's writers
and critics doesn't have all that much to do with how to do it, I
guess.)

I got several thoughtful answers which I would like to summarize
here with a view to seeing if these ideas suggest any further
ideas.  Here are the ideas I received:

1. Try GEnie.  It was pointed out that there are some SF writers
who have taken to hanging out on that online service.

Naturally I wondered if they would be a nucleus for other writers.
I know that SF writers are maybe a bit different from others --
more like folks on the net, I think.  Does anyone know if other
creative writers, especially writers of children's fiction, have
found their way onto GEnie?

2. Try Usenet's rec.arts.books Newsgroup.

I had read that Newsgroup and most of the discussion was about
books the posters themselves were interested in.  It's also a huge
Newsgroup with a lot of articles.  I don't have a threaded
newsreader.  I get the whole Newsgroup or nothing from a smarthost
running Unix Waffle and download it into my DOS Waffle software
running as a point.  (There are lots of ways of getting to the
net.)

I have thought that I might be able to start a thread there and
see if there are people who are interested to some extent in what
I'm interested it, but it looked hard to do.  If anyone has read
rec.arts.books for a long time he or she might have an opinion on
the feasibility of starting such a thread based on his or her
knowledge of the interests of the posters.  Any suggestions or
thoughts?

3. Try k12net.

I had noticed this little network in the list of alternative
Newsgroups, but it seemed to be for teachers and kids.  There was
one Newsgroup that deal with language arts. I decided to try it
and requested it from my smarthost but couldn't reach him for
several days -- that happens when you are a point off a small
system -- so I don't know yet if I'll find anything useful there.

It goes without saying that I appreciate the thoughtfulness of the
people who sent me suggestions.  I'd like to push this to the
limit and see if there are online resources and online venues
appropriate to my interests.  If anybody else has a thought I'd
like to see it.

--
Richard Carlson
Internet:              rc@depsych.gwinnett.COM
Bangpath:              {rutgers,ogicse,gatech}!emory!gwinnett!depsych!rc
CompuServe:            76605,470
Voice:                 (404) 881-6877
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU