Hello! Name's Dan, but I've been called 'Sal,' a fair share of times for it to be alright. I'm 20, from Canada, and a pretty avid fan of any genre of writing. If I had to give a preference it would be fiction, or to be more specific, fantasy. Not completely sure how this site works, but it looks interesting. The older I get and the longer I write, the increasingly building qualms I have with my writing has come to infuriate me, so I thought what better way to resolve some personal fears/dislikes with my writing than to come here. After brief perusing, a lot of the issues I've had with writing seem to be universally shared and that has made me a feel a little better, haha. It also gave me motivation to actually join the site. =p Not sure how introductions are suppose to go, or how long they are, but I'll give a brief run-down of my experience (if anybody cares when it comes to that xD). I started actually reading when I was about ten, I was a slow starter and enjoyed the pictures more than the act of... well, reading. I was later on introduced to Harry Potter by a friend and, albeit painfully at first, I started to really delve into reading, fantasy being my main interest. I grew out of Harry Potter fast, though I admittedly have nostalgia for the series on a whole, I don't view the series as a personal favourite. That may be due to spoiling myself with authors like George R.R Martin, R.A Salvatore (dominated most of my childhood reading him), and finally, Robert Jordan. I will say, regardless of the criticism laid on Robert Jordan, he is by far my favourite writer and I have, whether wrong or right, modeled much of my 'style' around his works. However, I have deviated from that for some time (reading Steven Erikson has inspired me to change my structure somewhat). This is all rather long-winded, so my apologies! The last thing I'd like to say is I'm not a very good 'technical writer.' I don't know how to properly put that, but I taught myself how to write through reading (if that makes sense) and when it came to English class, I was rather abysmal. I place blame on my total disinterest in the drama-theme (meaning acting :<) most of my classes took. It is rather embarrassing to admit, I am rather ignorant when it comes to strict English terms and such. That being said, I do my best to self-research when it comes to structure, punctuation, etc. In the end, I still make mistakes =P A rather lengthy introduction aside, I just wanted greet everybody and hope I'll be welcomed amongst you all!
Welcome to the forum, Sal. Harry Potter was one of my first reads aswell, altough it was in swedish since i was only like 9(?) maybe and i probably wouldnt be able to read it in English at that age. Hope you enjoy the forum mate.
Hello! I'm Scott, 22. The Hobbit was actually my first book, but I quickly picked up the harry potter series. I had to really chew my way through the Hobbit, at age nine. I, too, am quite horrible at English classes. For me, however, it's largely because I would much rather my writing suit me. I'm having to constantly check and double check rules and the like. Is it OK to continue to use he and she in a separate paragraph if the subject is the same? How do I use hyphens and dashes again? Those kinds of things. The best thing I can say for working with your own writing is to approach it like it's not yours. As I've said to others, trying to proofread your own story will irritate you. It irritates all of us. We see, in our minds, what we want the story to be. We envision flowing tendrils of consciousness and unadulterated creativity washing against the shores of our readers minds. Unfortunately, when we try to proofread, all we see are errors. We compare ourselves to the great works of Shakespeare, Stephen King, William Blake, etc. We undoubtedly fall short because we're not, well, we're just not that experienced yet!
Hello Dan, Welcome to the Writing Forums. Please read How to Use the Writing Workshop 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 Writing Workshop, 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 Writing Workshop, 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. We also impose a two-week waiting period before you may post writing for critique, to give you time to become familiar with what is expected and how the site operates. The Writing Workshop 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 Writing Workshop 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!
