Hello all, My name is Marsden, I came across your site earlier today and only got around to registering there now. I'm a student, musician and part-time writer, so I'm hoping I can find a few people with similar interests here. I'm assuming you share work with each other here to help each other. What all do you share? Is it mainly fiction, or do you also cover poetry? I should probably have said that I'm working on two pieces of fiction at the minute. I've been developing the plot for 6 years on one and 2 years on the second one. I just never seem to be able to sit down and write them. The story goes way on in my head, and I just never seem to be at the point when I'm ready to sit down and type. I've got a very brief plot outline for the whole story which spanned fourteen A4 handwritten pages. However, I still don't feel like I'm ready to write it yet. Any help as to this problem would be greatly appreciated. Does anyone else have similar problems? Thanks in advance for any replies, Marsden
Hello Marsden, Welcome to the Writing Forums. Before you can get critique, you must first give constructive critique. This is not just a quid pro quo, it is because improving your critiquing skills is the primary focus of the Writing Workshop. Improving your critiquing skills will improve your ability to find and fix weaknesses in your own writing. 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. 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!
Hi and welcome. We share anything and everything here. Poetry, fiction, nonfiction, essays, and any other stringed along words that we think would be inspiring to others. And plot problems are just as common as the cramping to our wrists received from over exertion. Hope you find inspiration and helpful advice here.
