Hi guys, so a quick introduction... I am looking for some help and after searching a little bit in google I found this forum. I'm a chef in training; I can never seem to be able to shut up about food, so my friends have suggested to me to start blogging about food, my education as a chef, my recipe ideas, food trivia, etc etc, However, I don't believe my writing is up to scratch & there's a lot of room for improvement. Since I haven't got the resources to visit a writing course in addition to my culinary studies, I was wondering if you guys could help me improve my writing? There must be basics of writing I simply don't know about, basic tools and methods to improve, how to read/analyse someone's work, how to work with the first draft most effectively, come up with a headline, and speak to the reader instead of sounding preachy. I'd be very grateful for any help you could offer, food really is my passion and to share that passion with others like that, would be fantastic. So, this is me, I'm looking forward to 'meet' you all here, and to get to know the community. Thanks guys, r3d
Just looking at your first post, you're ninety percent of the way there. Don't sell yourself short - you have the ability to express yourself very well in writing. Go ahead and blog!
Hello Red, Welcome to the Creative Writing Forums. Please read How to Use the Writing Workshop before you try to post there. Posting your own writing for people to comment on should not be among the very first things you do here anyway. It is worth taking the time to see what other people have done to improve their writing, and see if some of it applies to your writing as well. That is part of why we require members to review other members' work before posting their own for review. On the other hand, there are no restrictions, other than content and copyright rules, on showcasing your work in your member blog. Also, be aware that posting a piece of writing on any public site, including this one, will greatly diminish your chances of selling it for publication. Removing the writing later does not alter that fact - once posted, it is irreversibly considered published. So do not post anything more than a small excerpt of any piece you are planning to submit for publication. If you haven't explored the site yet, you should probably do so soon. Newcomers often gravitate to the Lounge, the Word Games, or the Writing Workshop, but there is much more to be discovered if you poke in the corners. Remember to check out our FAQ as well, and be sure to read through the forum rules, too, to avoid any misunderstandings or hurt feelings. Respect for one another is our principal mandate. As for the Writing Workshop, new joiners often wonder why we do things a bit differently on this site than on other writing sites. We emphasize constructive critique as a vital writing skill. Training your eye by reviewing other people's work helps you improve your own writing even before you present it for others to see. Therefore, we ask members to review other people's writing before posting work of their own. We also impose a two-week waiting period before you may post writing for critique, to give you time to become familiar with what is expected and how the site operates. The Writing Workshop forums on this site, therefore, are true workshops, not just a bulletin board for displaying your work (and on that note, please only post each item for review in one Writing Workshop forum). Also, please use the same thread for all revisions and additional excerpts from the same piece of writing. See this post, Why Write Reviews Before Posting My Work? for more information. And while you're looking around, don't forget to check out the RPG forum for improvisational fiction. Also try our Weekly Short Story Contest and Weekly Poetry Contest. They actually run more than one week apiece, but any member may enter, and all members are urged to vote for their favorites. Enjoy your stay here, and have fun!
Food now? That's quite unique. Well, the best you can do is to share some of your work (writing, not food) and I'm sure you'll get some great feedback which is necessary for improvement.
