Hi everyone! I just came across this forum about an hour ago after looking for some sort of community to learn more about professional writing. Currently I'm in graduate school for a profession in the medical field, but my real passion has always been writing. I have been writing stories and poems, mostly in the fantasy genre, since I was a child. Unfortunately, I'm horrible at planning out plots and carrying a story through from start to finish. I have no idea how many stories I've started only to stop for a while, come back to later, decide that I hate them, and delete them. I'm hoping to learn some new tricks and techniques to help get me started (and more importantly, finished), and also hoping to meet some interesting people along the way!
You'll definitely meet some interesting people. We come from all walks of life and cultural backgrounds... we are definitely an interesting bunch. Sticking to a project is all about discipline, we were all there once. How long have you been writing for? usually it takes a year or two to work yourself out and get into the habit of writing, that's just from the experiences I read about on here and my own experience. Read through some of the older general writing forum posts and you'll find it all in there lots of info in there. Anyways, there is a new member guide located here for you to read. It will tell you all you need about everything so you don't get lost. Nice to meet you
On behalf of the staff, welcome. Amanda kindly shared the link to our New Member Guide. It contains ins and outs of this forum, and should get you started well and proper. Have fun! -Kat
Don't delete anything!!!!! Put in in a separate file marked "The Cutting Room Floor" and forget about it. You never know when you might be stuck for an idea, the basis of which you might one day find, on the cutting room floor. Every writer/author thinks their own writing is rubbish at some stage so don't worry about it. Just keep at it. Welcome to the forum, btw! I've found some lovely people on here who are always willing to help out and as I myself have recently been told, there's no such thing as a stupid question so if you have something on your mind but don't want to ask, ask!! Odds are, one of us has either thought the same or are currently thinking the same! xx
Thanks so much for the responses, and nice to meet you all, too! And thank you for posting the rules, I read them over . I've been writing stories since I was 11 or 12 when my mom gave me her old computer. I get really into them, then step away for a while for one reason or another, and then decide that I don't actually like them. I'm working on two right now-- a fantasy story and a general fiction story. I think discipline is my main issue! Along with organization-- like having a set plan for everything that's going to happen over the course of the story. I was almost thinking of having a story board like they do for movies just to have some sort of organized visual of how I want things laid out. So any tips along those lines would be much appreciated! I'll see what I can find in the forums too, though.
