I've been emailing the complete first chapter to interested readers -- if you PM me your email address I'll send it to you.
Should I leave my commentary on FF.net?
I'm also willing to set up a mailing list or a private LJ community if we had enough folks interested in using something like that. I'd rather not use a wiki or a public site because my novel is intended for eventual publication.
PM sent.
ff.net will do fine; the message system there runs faster than my email and a prolonged discussion would probably clutter other formats such as my primary emailbox or the threads around LW.
Some common forum might be necessary for projects whose commentariat consists of several people, so as to avoid people stating the same points over and over, but the idea of mailing lists doesn't hold much appeal - I get huge noise-to-signal ratios from some of my university mailing lists and I'd rather not add to the list of mailboxes I have to sieve through on a regular basis. I've never tried LJ; does it work differently and is it any better?
This community has a recurring interest in "rationalist fiction," and several members who are writers. I wonder if it would be useful to create a space where Less Wrong members could provide each other constructive criticism and encouragement on in-progress original writing projects?
Disclosure: I'm working on a sci-fi novel right now, and my regular circle of "beta readers" are fantasy fans and aren't providing much feedback on the new project. I am much, much more productive as a writer when I get steady feedback, so I have a personal interest in looking for something like this. Less Wrong came to mind as a community of intelligent, creative, forward-looking types who are likely to enjoy sci-fi.