Hello Hope you can help me? I am new to forums- this being the first forum I have ever posted in. I have written a book based on my life. I have spent the last five years getting help with PTSD. My parents are of European descent. I was born in London. We emigrated to Cyprus when I was just three years old, before losing our home in the war of 1974. We left Cyprus, returning to the UK. Once here (I was ten years old), we began to suffer the most horrendous racism. My parents car was destroyed, house smashed up many times, bricks thrown at my baby sister, brothers hospitalised and myself beaten and hospitalised on many occasions. At eighteen I decided to retaliate, joining a gang, abusing steroids and finally, after our home was threatened with a petrol attack, I fought back with disastrous consequences. I am 56 now and after five years of intensive psychiatry and medication for PTSD, I decided to write my life story. It was only after I put pen to paper that the words started to roll from my fingertips. I couldn't stop writing and on many nights I would sneak out of bed, creep downstairs and start writing. Ninety two thousand words later, I am still writing. For many years, my mind had somehow closed a door onto those dark memories, locking them out in an attempt to protect me. Now that the doorway has been finally opened, I can capture on paper, all that was hidden away from me for so many years. I would love to throw a few chapters on here just to see what others think. My PTSD has driven most people away, except my wife of course but I can't let her read them as I don't want my past to effect her too. My question is- 1/ Where would I post the chapters And 2/ It's a true life story and includes profanity, including the names that were used against us. These names are obviously racist and I don't want to offend anyone or get into trouble. I just feel omitting words from my true life story would damage the true impact of my story. Sorry to go on. Thank you for any help you can give me. Great Forum by the way. I love it!
We do have a non-fiction area of our writing Workshop, which in turn has a section for autobiographies and memoirs. So that would probably be the best place to post it, given that the purpose of the Workshop is to give and get critique. Just keep in mind that we have certain requirements you must meet before you can post in the Workshop (see the FAQ and the New Member Quick Start for the full details). When you have met the requirements and are about to post your chapters, you might not want to post all chapters at once. Usually we recommend Workshop entries to be <2000 words or so, since people read and critique on their spare time. While some people will read really long entries, most seem to prefer shorter entries. So it might be advisable to post one chapter at a time, or maybe even just excerpts from a chapter if your chapters are long. Of course, this is just a suggestion and not rule. Regarding racist slurs and such, I'll have the mod team get back to you about that.
I'll add that given the personal nature of the work you mention, it's important to remember that this forum's Workshop is exactly that - a workshop. Members in our forum engage items posted in that area with a critical eye. This is different from, say, an archive forum where works are posted simply to be read and enjoyed. Here, you can expect the members to engage in a more hands-on manner.
Hi Thanks for that. Yes, that's exactly what I am looking for. I have already sent a couple of chapters to a well known British author. I received a reply, (which I really wasn't expecting, as I know they must get inundated). Anyhow, she requested I get a literary agent but before I go further I need to get everything right, to where I am absolutely happy with it. I would like to know where I may be going wrong and how I can improve. I am looking at writing more books in the future and so the actual personal details of what happened are unimportant. I wish to keep things at a professional level. I have written the book and require opinions of its layout structure etc, rather than questioning the personal contents itself. I would like to eventually market the book through an agent but I don't feel it is ready yet, which is why I joined this Forum. Hope that makes sense? Thank you.
Perfect sense, yes. It was just that I read the initial post in this thread and it's clear that this work is not only from your real life, but clearly very personal to you. I didn't want you to feel defensive when the members bring their tools to bear.
Hi. Oh no, not at all. I am looking for rock solid, hardcore opinions and criticism. My life has taught me how to be tough and take it on the chin but it has also taught me to listen to those with more experience. This is just my first book. Hopefully, there will be more. At the moment it's a hobby I wholeheartedly love. There are not many things in life that can take you where writing takes you. With regards to my previous question. My book contains alot of profanity, racist names and extreme violence, that were used against our family. Being a true to life book, removing these will soften the actual reality of the story. I am not sure where I stand with this, as I don't want to break any rules when I come to upload a chapter or two in the near future? Thank You.
Moderator here (descending from the heavens in a ball of flame while Ride of the Valkyries plays in the back ground) Within reason just put a trigger warning on the start of your work (by which I mean a couple of sentences that just says 'this work contains racial slurs, profanity, and violence if you are easily offended it may not be for you' or something like that) I say within reason because while we are not a PG forum we do have underage members here and we don't want work posted that is gratuitously offensive or a gore fest ... the general guideline is if it would be okay in an 18 film then you're okay, if it is the sort of content that would be only found in a Hard R vid, sold under a brown paper wrapper by dubious looking men in greasy overcoats, then not so much
That seriously made me laugh! You can tell you are in the company of authors on this forum I will follow your guidelines to a T. Thank you
