Hello there, Hmm where to start a bit of a back story about myself, my name's Sam, living in the SW of England. Main passion is writing and riding my motorbike. Started writing for fun about 2007 after a close relatives death (sound bad but please read on). I couldn't sleep till the exact time that they died which for months I got memorable dreams some that I still remember to this day in vivid detail. I've always enjoyed writing although English was not my best nor favorite subject at school; as you can most probably tell from my writing/punctuation. From the memorable dreams I've wrote the starting plot for about 10-15 short stories at the moment. Got a few questions regarding them; the main one is basically they can all be connected together or used separately. You see they are set at different times. Would it be a bad idea to join them up ? Anyway any questions please don't hesitate to ask.
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Welcome to the forum, Sam! Are you talking about having a collection of stories or combining them into a single piece (i.e., a novel)?
First of all, just because you didn't like/excel at English in school doesn't mean you can't go back and brush up. And if you are thinking of writing for publication, that's a must. And since you've asked for opinions on linking your stories together or not, I will assume for the moment that you are at least considering publication. As for linking them or not, that's a decision that only you can make, but my question would be if they necessarily fit together in a cohesive story. The dreams make sense to you because they're your dreams and you link them to a traumatic event in your life, but a reader doesn't have that advantage. Moreover, dreams do not tend to follow a logical pattern, whereas stories usually do. Since you are new to writing, I would write them as individual stories to start. Then, if you see that they follow a pattern that a reader could discern, then you can link them together. But tighten up your writing skills, first. Reading a lot will help. Best of luck.
Cheers for that I'll check them out don't worry I'm used to forum etiquette. Basically they are individual novels each are about 10k words and I haven't scratched the surface most can be easily 90k minimum . What I'm considering is keeping them separate but having them linked. So you could read two novels and see a link between them; however you wouldn't have to read say the third book to understand what is happening in the fourth book .
Thank you, at the moment doing English classes outside of work is quite hard I'm on rotating late/early shifts. So most of my improvements are coming from the internet or just reading other books. Right here might be a good place to mention if you have any creative writing books recommendations then I'd love to hear them. At the moment I'm just doing it for fun and I see it as a good hobby, don't really intend to go down the publisher route. Maybe in the future but not as of yet. The dreams aren't the average dreams I can't really explain the story line in much detail (don't want to give too much away however if I could you would understand. I've asked other people that I know and some from a forum (60 replied) that don't know me; they all say that the novels can go together and do quite well.
Ah, my fault. By "go back", I didn't mean necessarily going back to school, I simply meant revisiting a part of your education. From what you've posted so far, I wouldn't think that books on creative writing are what you need. There are a number of books on grammar - also web sites. But you also need to see it in context, and that's where reading comes in. Read widely, but with an eye not just on what is written but how. And when you find a book that you like a lot, sit down and compare your writing to the author's. What's different? And if at that point, you see a difference but aren't sure what it means, that's when you can consult the grammar books/sites. One book I have on my shelf at all times is The Elements of Style by Strunk and White. Also, take a look at our Writing Workshop section. You've just joined, so you can't post pieces for review, yet, but you can read what others have posted and the comments that have been made by those critiquing the writing. Good luck with it.
Hey! I'm a new member as well. I thought I'd point out your not alone, the project I'm working on right started with a dream! I cherish my dream journal and write down every dream I can. Dreams really are the beginning of some wonderful ideas!