Hey guys, nice looking forum you have here. I've spent a long time writing without even bothering to seek out a forum dedicated to creative writing, so I'm pleased to have found such an active one. My name is Travis, and I've recently finished my first novel, a 100,000 word behemoth I am not looking forward to editing, so it's sitting on the shelf for a bit while I read and absorb and discuss all sorts of writing. Hopefully when I return to it I'll be in a better position to edit it and proceed to my next one. In the meantime, I look forward to talking with you all. Let's see...autobiographical stuff...I wish I was a more prolific reader, that's something I've tried to improve lately, but my favorite authors put emphasis on dialogue and character development. Sometimes I feel as if my work reads more like a screenplay than anything. Yeah, I like Hemingway. I like music too. Love it, in fact. I come up with some of my best plot points through conceits in songs. Anyway, I meant to keep this short, so I shall. Thanks.
When you mentioned that you feel like your works read like screenplays, it reminded me immediately of The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. He said himself that he wrote his novel the way he pictured it would occur as a movie. And if you haven't read it, it's one of the best fantasy epics to come out in a long time--he has been compared to Tolkien. So it's a valid medium. I've never heard of someone using songs to find their plot ideas. That's pretty interesting.
Welcome to Writing Forums, Travis! I hope you find what you're looking for here, whatever your interests in writing. This forum aims to provide the best workshopping resources on the internet, and to that end we have a few rules which you should familiarise yourself with before you get stuck in. The main section of the site is the Writing Workshop, where members can post their writing in order to receive critique of their work. However, before we allow members to post their work, they must have met some basic requirements. Firstly, you must have been a member for fourteen days, and have made twenty posts on the forum overall (please note, posts in Word Games do not count towards this). This is so that members, when they post their work, have familiarised themselves with the forums and contributed to them (as well as hopefully learned something for themselves). Secondly, members must provide two constructive reviews of other people's work for each piece of their own that they wish to post. This is because we believe that the focus of workshopping should be equally upon giving reviews as receiving them, as they allow a writer to practice and improve their editing skills, which they can then apply to their own writing. Beyond the Writing Workshop, you will find that we have extensive forums for discussion of aspects of writing, as well as a community area for general discussion. We also run periodic short story and poetry contests, which are good for challenging yourself and expanding your skills. The requirements of the Writing Workshop don't apply to the contests, so new members are allowed (nay, encouraged!) to get stuck in and enter! If you have any questions or problems, then the moderators (myself, Lemex and Dante Dases) should be your first port of call. Any technical problems with the site itself should be directed to Daniel, the site administrator and owner. I would recommend you have a look over the rules so that you know what to expect, and what is expected. But aside from that, I hope you enjoy your time here. Banzai
Thank you all for the warm welcome. My novel is about a young man in a small, backwards town who starts a political uprising for selfish reasons and winds up tragically over his head. Parallel to this, his best friend goes through the motions and ekes out a happy existence studying at a local community college. The underlying question of the book is whether or not it's best to keep your head down and accept your fate or push for something more.
Welcome! Though I'm not sure I can say that, seeing as you joined the forum before I did and I've still not really ventured outside this section of the forum. It's the thought that counts I guess? Anyway. It sounds like your novel explores a very interesting subject. Did you take a stance? Or did you leave it entirely up to your readers? I couldn't help but giggle inside a little when you said you're not looking forward to editing your novel. I plan on going into editing, professionally, and the instructor of my current class just last week mentioned that I should rejoice when I hear that because it ensures I'll stay in business! I used to be a lot more prolific in my reading (and writing for that matter). Then I enrolled in college and now all I really get to read is textbooks. It's a little depressing because I have a lot of books I want to read! I just never have the time to sit down with them. I also used to be very picky about the books I read. It was always fantasy. Now, though, I've come to understand the benefit of reading anything and everything. Once I graduate and have time to read again, I have every intention of expanding my literary horizons. I'm really looking forward to it. I'll even get to read The Name of the Wind! That thing has been gathering dust for entirely too long... I've heard a lot of good things about it and haven't even glanced at a page. And with that, I think I'm spent on material. See you around!
Ha, if I said what stance I took it would spoil the ending a bit, actually. The real tragedy of the book is that the two characters are in the wrong positions. The unskilled, less intelligent of the two is the more ambitious, while the extremely intelligent one is too burned out (due to various circumstances) to attempt anything beyond the bare minimum. It's funny, I do love editing other people's material. I've only been writing for the past couple of years and I still get attached to everything I write though. That has to change. College did change my reading habits. I started gaining a greater love for reading once I started writing and appreciating the craft. I'm a more active reader now than I used to be; there is more for me to look out for. I'm grateful for that. Even the poor books serve some kind of educational purpose. See you!
Well, say no more! Not that I need to tell you that... The tragedy of the transposed positions makes this sound all the better, though. Thank you for sharing! Maybe some constructive criticism here will help you gain a healthier grasp of your writing. I tend to dislike editing my own stuff because every go-through results in me finding major errors that aren't easily fixed! It's a little disheartening but I'll have to power through it eventually. I understand completely! I don't think it was college that opened my eyes to that perspective, of even poor books serving some kind of educational purpose, but it has certainly reinforced the notion. Or maybe it did contribute. I don't know anymore. It feels like I've been in college forever at this point and I don't know when the epiphany of gaining something from everything occurred.
