Hello, I'll start with a simple introduction. My name is Liam. I live in central scotland. I wouldn't say that im a writer but i did want to write my own book. I wouldnt say i have read all that many books either but the ones i have read i really love. So i wanted to create something that could insipire others as the books i have read did for me. I have to apologise now that i am not educated well at all. If anyone takes grammer and punctuation seriously can probably tell that those were the first victims closely followed by spelling. Now that i have that out the way i hope the people can look past this and maybe even help me to overcome it and look to the content that i produce and the ideas i try and put across. Anyway sorry ranting on. Im just nervouse because i feel quite outclassed just by reading a few posts. Sorry Thanks Liam
Hello Liam, Welcome to the Writing Forums. We won't look past spelling, punctuation, and grammar, at least not in critiques. It's too important to writing, so we;d be doing you a disservice by pretending otherwise. But you CAN learn, probably more quickly than you believe. Posting your own work 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 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!
Hello Liam , I'm a new member to so dont worry about spelling or grammar it isnt just you who has problems . My ancestral home is in Scotland so I have great feelings with parts of the place even though I'm now living on the boarder of Devon and Cornwall . I have written some real crazy pieces of work before and I even spell and grammar check everything, unfortunately I have a condition which likes to deceive me and generally play games with what I see and read . Just keep writing and in the end it will all fall into place . Hope to see you around ................willows.
Hi, Liam, and welcome. Your formal education is irrelevant. Anything you didn't pick up in school, you can easily learn on your own, if you have the will. There are a lot of people around here who can help you with the mechanics, and much more. I hope you stick with it and write that book.
Thanks for the support guys and girls. It really means alot. I am always willing to learn new things but i have to admit in school it was a totaly different case. Now a little older and wiser i usually have an idea what i need to do, but in this case i haven't. Sure i know how to learn how to spell just comes with practice (and google). The problem is with grammer, in all honisty apart from full stops and capital letters is probably the total of my knowledge. Does anyone have advice on excersises and things to improve this?
To answer your question, Scarecrow: 1.) Read as much as possible. You'll pick up a lot from observation if you read enough (good) published material. Try to pay closer attention while reading and you'll quickly notice patterns. You'll get a sense of where a comma fits even if you don't know exactly why. I learned the basics of SPaG from reading before I ever studied them in school - so it does work! 2.) Check out the Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar forum, the sticky in particular. Links: https://www.writingforums.org/showthread.php?t=4675 https://www.writingforums.org/showthread.php?t=21049 3.) See Cogito's signature for some excellent guides. 4.) Read some reviews in the review room. Note the corrections people make and why. Read enough reviews and you'll eventually be able to write them yourself. That's all I can think of for now, but it's a lot to chew on. All you really have to do is study. It's going to take some time. . . there's no way around that. Just don't give up!
