Yeah, 100%, before Hive, it was a very solitary experience, where I was the only reader, but since joining Hive 10 months ago I've received so many pointers and tips from people which helped me hone my skill in the beginning and now I can see a major improvement in my work, even when comparing it to my first posts! Also, posting my stories publicly, I think has built up my confidence. At the start of Hive, I would hover over the post button for a few seconds almost afraid to publish it haha
I think one thing that can help writers too, is, let's say someone is writing a novel, and all they are focusing on is the novel. I think it helps to branch out a little here and there and write something that doesn't relate to it, whether that's a small single short story. Or maybe even writing for a completely separate character, but, in the same world.
I think the latter is good because we can kind of get a 3D look at the world we're writing for, through the lens of someone else, who isn't tied to the plotline.
That might be bad advice for someone, but I think it helped me, so I thought I'd put it out there.
It becomes like a shared art experiment in many ways here. People rarely go solo and are encouraged to be part of the community more than other platforms that incentivize the "influencer" mentality and competition based on irrelevant aspects, like how one looks in a bikini :)
I don't look good.
I still do that - but it is more to make sure I have the heading correct and a community chosen :)
This is a great idea. It would help flesh out the landscape more and bring in context, as well as give more avenues to explore in the future - like parallel stories in the same universe.