This looks like a busy forum, so I thought I'd stick my nose in and see what's going on. Quick bit of info about me: I'm 34, married, have two kiddies, am self-employed, and can only write sporadically, unfortunately, because of my stupid broken brain. I was diagnosed as bipolar two (or three??) years ago, and while I have it somewhat under control, I really can never tell when I'm going to be able to write and when I won't. Sometimes the ability to write goes away for a few days, sometimes for weeks, months, or a couple of years. Very frustrating! But, I'm kinda in the zone at the moment, enjoying having some characters in my head again going quietly about their business, which means soon they'll be bugging me bad enough to have to write it all down. *Happy sigh* So, forgive me if my presence here is unreliable, but I'll try and be as regular a visitor as I can. Looking forward to meeting you
Welcome to the forum, Mummy Please have a look through the Forum Rules, and the FAQ as a start. Then take a leisurely stroll through the different areas of the forum to get your bearings. Once you have a good idea where everything is, come and say hello in the Lounge or have a look at the items already up for review in the Review section. Please remember that as a full participation workshop. You are required to give two (2) constructive reviews of posted items prior to posting your own work. Thereafter, two reviews for every post of your own work is the expected standard. Remember that two is only a minimum. Now, why do we have this requirement? Because we have a very different philosophy here than you will find in most other forums. We are not a refrigerator door to pin up work with a colorful magnet for all the world to see. Our forum is not about getting reviewed. It’s about giving reviews and in the process of actually giving the review, improving your own writing. Just as an FWI, we do not host Flame Wars or Pie Fights. We at writingforums.org feel that there are enough places on the net already catering to those needs. Have fun!
Hi, welcome! I write sporadically too, depending on when my work/college gets hectic and when I have free time. I write horror and dystopia mainly, what do you write?
Hello Mummy Munt, Welcome to the Writing Forums. Please read How to Use the Review Room before you post there. Posting your own writing for people to comment on should not be among the very first things you do here. 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 Review Room, 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 Review Room, 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. The Review Room 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 Review Room 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!
Re: Mallory's Question Sorry I've taken this long to reply, Mallory - another thing my brain does is forget things, so I'd completely forgotten about joining this forum :redface: As for what I write, that varies an awful lot. Back when I actually started to get half-serious about this stuff, I could only write short stories and wondered if I'd ever be able to write anything novel-length. I guess most of my short stories would belong somewhere in the horror/supernatural genre, although there are a couple that are definitely in the funny zone. These days I only seem to be able to write long, long stories and I wonder if I'll ever pop out another short story! And, although I read horror novel almost exclusively (apart from authors like Terry Pratchett and Bill Bryson), my writing has taken a terrifying turn without my permission and I keep pumping out romance. I have read probably half a dozen romance novels in my life, all of them on a dare or out of sheer desperation, and they really aren't my cup of tea. Not to say they have no merit, they're just not me. I read my first Stephen King book when I was 8. Still, I have all these stories in my head, and although they are all quite different, I think all of them are still, technically, romances. It's very puzzling Also, I am not able to work exclusively on one story for any significant length of time. I'll work on one for a while, and then people from other stories I've already started, or even a completely new batch of people, will start chattering in my head and I have to move over to work on that for a while until the next interruption. I can say with complete honesty that I have somewhere between 20 and 25 stories on the go right now, all at various stages of completion. I started a new one last night. I have a pretty good idea which ones are going to be decent enough to one day show to somebody else and which ones are going to have to remain just as writing exercises and learning experiences. One problem I have with just about everything in my life is that I'm not always great at finishing something I've started, so that makes finishing a full-length novel quite a challenge Another problem is that, particularly with one or two of these stories, I enjoy the company of my characters so much that I don't actually want to finish them because then I'll have to leave them behind. Kinda like your kids leaving home, or something. I know there are plenty more people waiting to take up precious room in my overheated brain, but that doesn't make it any easier. I'll shut up now (!!) except to say thanks for everyone's kind words of welcome. I might have a proper sticky beak around the site now
