Hi everyone! I am so excited that I found a place where I can talk to other new writers, like myself, and get feedback from people with more experience. I think it is exactly what I need. To begin, I am more of a biologist then a writer, but I have been writing on and off for the last few years. I have a "graveyard" folder in my computer full of the beginnings of countless novels. I get new idea faster then I can write. I finally started something I think I can finish. My new novel is sci-fi that I am having trouble describing. I am sick to death of all these action focused, space marine saturated, evil alien, and gun filled science fiction stories. I want to write something that actually takes the science seriously. If any of you have read Jack McDevitt you will know what I mean. I set out to write a story about a group of scientists stepping onto a new planet for the first time, and the huge magnitude of excitement and scientific curiosity that would come with it. A biologist in a new world would be like a drug addict in a room full of the new super drug. I want to take things in consideration that most sci-fi stories ignore. For example, I hate when people in stories step foot onto a new planet, realize the air is oxygen and take their suites off and our fine. There is so much more to take in consideration! If this new planet supports life, there is no doubt an abundance of cellular organisms unknown to our bodies immune system and microbiota. Even on Earth, before vaccinations, if you went to a new continent and interacted with a new culture you would most likely get sick. I am writing this book to explore those ideas. I chose to do it differently (despite the internet's warnings) and post my book, chapter by chapter, on a blog. thedaughterofasclepius.blogspot.com I know, I know, if it is posted on the internet then it makes it harder to publish. I am honestly not looking to get this book published; I just want to get it written. If I like the final result I might try to self publish on Amazon. By blogging the book I am keeping myself motivated to get these chapters rolling out. It has been helping greatly. I am looking forward to being a part of this forum, and reading all those great things in the writers workshop. I honestly feel like I struck gold here.
Welcome to Writing Forums, CodyThomas! I hope you find what you're looking for here, whatever your interests in writing. This forum aims to provide the best workshopping resources on the internet, and to that end we have a few rules which you should familiarise yourself with before you get stuck in. The main section of the site is the Writing Workshop, where members can post their writing in order to receive critique of their work. However, before we allow members to post their work, they must have met some basic requirements. Firstly, you must have been a member for fourteen days, and have made twenty posts on the forum overall (please note, posts in Word Games do not count towards this). This is so that members, when they post their work, have familiarised themselves with the forums and contributed to them (as well as hopefully learned something for themselves). Secondly, members must provide two constructive reviews of other people's work for each piece of their own that they wish to post. This is because we believe that the focus of workshopping should be equally upon giving reviews as receiving them, as they allow a writer to practice and improve their editing skills, which they can then apply to their own writing. Beyond the Writing Workshop, you will find that we have extensive forums for discussion of aspects of writing, as well as a community area for general discussion. We also run periodic short story and poetry contests, which are good for challenging yourself and expanding your skills. The requirements of the Writing Workshop don't apply to the contests, so new members are allowed (nay, encouraged!) to get stuck in and enter! If you have any questions or problems, then the moderators (myself, Lemex and Dante Dases) should be your first port of call. Any technical problems with the site itself should be directed to Daniel, the site administrator and owner. I would recommend you have a look over the rules so that you know what to expect, and what is expected. But aside from that, I hope you enjoy your time here. Banzai
