Hello all. My name is Wesley, but you may feel free to refer to me by my username on here. "SlayGuy" is a variation on a nickname I had in high school, and the "138" part is a reference to an album by one of my favorite bands. I am 19 years of age and currently on summer break following my first year at college in New England. Next semester I'll be taking a course on creative writing. I've always had a tendency be observant, perhaps too much so. This, in combination with a passion for language and (what I consider to be, at least) an eclectic arsenal of a vocabulary, contributes to what others have called "a gift for word pictures". Please forgive me if I come off as a pretentious braggart in describing myself. My passion for writing was kick-started by my 3rd grade teacher, who I remember as a quirky firebrand. He had each and every one of us in his class write a paragraph a week - didn't matter what, it just had to get on the page. I'm ashamed to admit I'm not much of a reader, not as much as I should be. I draw inspiration from other media sources, and, of course, the world around me as I process it. I found this place by literally just searching "best creative writing communities" in Google. Right off the bat I would just like to commend the staff behind this forum for the user-friendly interface of the site; it's quite similar to another forum I am a part of. I sincerely hope this community is supportive and that I can gain a lot of insight and tools to help motivate myself to complete and refine my projects. Currently, I have two projects vaguely outlined. One is a bitter coming-of-age satire, that I'll admit, is largely the product of my messed-up upbringing. The other is something I describe as a modern fantasy, also satirical in tone, presented in an epistolary format about the downfall of the human race, and those who take their place as the inhabitants of Earth. I will admit - my ideas for stories are quite often ill-defined, grandiose in scope, and very "niche". But I like to think that I've matured at least somewhat since the dark days when I just regurgitated spaghetti onto paper towels, metaphorically speaking. If you have any questions for me, please do not hesitate to ask.
Hey, Wes. Welcome to the forum. Thanks for the props as to setup and the like. Appreciated. Have a look through the New Member Quick Start to get your bearings as to the particulars of our little slice of the digital pie. Wrey
Hello, Wesley. Nice to meet you. Sounds like we relate a lot. I too seem to have the observant blessing/curse. I've noticed the gene seems to run in writers. Maybe we take in so much, we are driven to have an outlet. Or maybe I'm only talking about myself. Anyways, I also find I don't read much, either. I love to read, but I more and more find myself enjoying movies, comics, manga, music, and nonfiction text. I want to understand the world. Then I find a good book of fiction and I start wondering why I haven't been reading more of it. And, what do you know, I also had a "messed-up upbringing". Performance artist Marina Abramovic says suffering is good for an artist, though. I don't know if it's good for anybody, but I know I have masses of material to draw from that other writers I have known never could tap into. Well, nice to meet you, fellow site newbie. See you around.
Thank you for your relating to my struggle. I agree with the point about suffering, as much as it sucks in the moment, in a sick way, the trauma offers for some good material after enough time has elapsed and you gain some perspective.
