Hi all, I'm Chris, I'm from Finland, and I'm a wannabe-author. I've been writing with my wife (who'll register here soon enough) for, oh, I don't know, around five years or so. We've both been writing since we were kids and one day figured it'd be a fun experiment to scribble something together. Well, that scribbling ended up as basically an unpaid full-time job as we write (or plan/research/whatever else work a book needs) anywhere from 3-8 hours a day depending on how busy we are with work/studies/other hobbies. It's like a drug; we'd rather skip sleep than writing... and often do. Too often. Being an insomniac doesn't really help. Anyway, what else... I play guitar in a rock/funk/metal band called Niavka (we just got a few songs up on Soundcloud, the link's at the bottom, in my signature), I write the songs/lyrics, and generally act the slave driver in the band. I compete in IPSC shooting (production/minor) and plan to branch out to rifles next summer. I've got an upcoming match 24.3 so wish me luck! I also train boxing in the same team with my wife and hope to step in the ring this summer. Previously we've also trained krav maga and Brazilian jiu-jitsu and I have some muay thai under my belt. Oh, and I play drums too but not actively at the moment. I draw or try to, I'm nowhere near as good as I'd like, but I try to make at least one drawing a day (a sketch, a doodle, anything as long as it's one picture a day). And we're also dabbling with parkour (she's much better at it though). We both major in English at the Helsinki University although she's going to be a teacher while I'll be a translator. I'm hoping to add Russian and Swedish to my list of languages I can translate for money but I'm a long way off yet (hur mår du and как дела are about as sophisticated as I can go at the moment but being half-Bulgarian helps a bit with Russian). We hope to self-publish our first effort (Solus, the Darkness of Space) as an e-book come summer. I've got a link to the first part of the first book in my signature. It's a sci-fi novel that's based on an "alternate reality" but with the only difference to our reality being that in the book's world, people have directed more funds to space exprolation and have managed to build a space colony, Solus. We also write fantasy and contemporary fiction set in our time/world but I guess our stories all share some elements: we strive for realism, a gritty but fun feel (even though the subject matters can get a bit heavy at times), and the stories are character driven. We try to draw as much from personal experience as possible and sometimes seek out experiences just to be able to better understand what we're writing about (like, say, joining a historical fencing club to better be able to describe a medieval sword fight). Since we don't get paid, we just do this for the sheer fun of it. Currently we have about a dozen finished stories needing some (okay, a lot of) editing/rewriting. Most of them are somewhere around 100 000-150 000 words and some have 1-4 parts. Anyway, that's about all I can think of right now, I hope to learn lots from all you good people and have some fun on the side. Later! -Chris
Welcome to Writing Forums, Chris! 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
Thanks for the welcome! Banzai, sounds very reasonable. I'm just learning how to properly critique other people's work because I've found it is a skill just like any other. I'll likely be writing some reviews once I've familiarized myself with the forum a bit first because every place has its own unique atmosphere/standards etc. but so far this seems like a great platform for writers to enhance their work. See you on the boards. -Chris
(whereupon the goblin showed, saying "...well I guess you'll like this place then human because there's an awful lot of you humans here, and those writertypes too, but more importantly there are readers here in ever increasing numbers now, I mean it's not like the old days where these writers forums were more like ad hoc workshops for wannabe writers, nah forget that mindset, no, today one just writes amongst one's readers directly, why, because if anyone is looking for their next read by word of mouth without all that publisher's hype, where do you think they'll go to judge for themselves the nature of your works directly...", and with that the goblin just stamped hard upon the old red welcoming carpet turning it the deepest and pleasantest of greens as befitting the occasion he felt, saying "...and now that I have explained here to you human, you'll write with us won't you now, I mean we do so lavish attention upon those whom we find interesting...")
