Hello!! I am new here. I like to read and thought why not learn to write well. I am just a beginner and haven't really written much of anything. I want to learn how to write short stories and improve my grammar as well lol. Hoping to learn writing and make some new friends cheers Question: How should I go about learning how to write and which parts of the forum should I focus on as a beginner?
Welcome! Have you read any books on writing? I have read one, but keep forgetting some grammar rules... Heard that Stephen King's "On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft" is pretty good. I think you should begin to post some critiques maybe, tell people what you like about their stories if you don't feel confident enough to tell them what errors they may have made.
Hey, good to see someone just starting out! My advice would be to just start with something - no need to post or publish anything. But once you get into the habit of writing, you'll naturally get better.
Hi, SSW, and welcome to the forum! I'm one of the moderators here, and have to say it looks like you've started the New Year with a bang, by joining a writing forum in order to get your writing off and running. Hey. Many of our members are in your position, just getting started, not sure if they 'can' write or not, etc. So you're in really good company. If you're writing short stories, you'll find lots here to help you ...including a Short Story contest every month, which you can enter if you want, but you can also just read the entries (past and present), vote in the ongoing contest (votes are MUCH appreciated) and kinda see what our membership likes to write. As far as your question about which areas of the forum you should focus on... Becoming familiar with these two is definitely where you should start: New Member Quick Start Forum Rules These will help get you oriented, and give you an idea of what we do (and don't do) here. If you encounter any problems getting going, please contact me via a 'start a conversation' and I'll do my best to help. Just click my owl avatar and follow the signs. As you become more familiar with the forum, this link below might also be of use. It's not a Frequently Asked Questions (despite the title) but it's actually a guide to what's under the hood here on the forum, with clickable links to what we have going on. https://www.writingforums.org/faq/ Anyway, take your time to get settled. DO read our New Member Start guide and our Forum rules. Then follow your inclinations. Browse freely, jump into threads that you find interesting. Maybe do a few critiques in the Workshop ...which are MUCH appreciated by our members, and don't require any particular expertise—just your honest reaction to what they've written, coupled with an explanation for why you reacted the way you did. (You might want to read other critiques by established members, to get a feel for what critiques are like here.) Get to know us, and let us get to know you. And do have fun. Cheers, Jan
Writing is distilled thinking. You learn writing by learning thinking, by reading, by writing, by expressing youself in other ways, by self reflecting yourself... What you got? How did you get it? What you miss? What you can't see? How you can see that you can't see it?
When you don't see something, you might see empty places, shadows, reflections, holes in your thinking or views, you see that there is a wider scene but some pieces are missing... You can't see what is missing but you might see that something is missing and you might see that some location is empty and that might hint you what is missing.
Welcome! I joined a few days ago, so it's good to see other new folks getting involved. As far as being a new writer goes, my advice parrots that of other replies: write. You can read books on writing all day long (I suggest Stephen King's On Writing), but until you put pen to paper, you'll never improve.
Welcome! I think the best way to learn how to write is to just start writing and/or reading. The more you read the more your brain will just naturally pick up grammar rules and the more you write the more practice you get. Having impartial and fair look over your work and provide critique is another great way of improving faster. One book I'll recommend is The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. It's an old book but it runs down the basics of grammar pretty clearly; most of it's obvious in hindsight but it's nice to have the rules clearly laid out. Hope you enjoy it here!
Hello! That's one nice avatar.) I'm a newbie here too, strolling around, seeing people.) So, you're a beginner-beginner? That's great. So much experience ahead, it's going to be really interesting.) Wish you all good luck.)
