Hello all, I'm Joseph. I'm from Rhode Island. I've been writing for a long time and have been looking for a group to belong to for quite some time now. I'm hoping this might fit the bill. For a bit of personal background, I'm about to get my RN license though I also have a master's degree in psychological research (long story there). I've moved about quite a bit, living in Rhode Island, Kentucky, Florida, and even Italy and England. But I'm always a Rhode Islander at heart. I enjoy gardening and working out (weight lifting, mostly) and of course writing. So I should probably get into the latter since that's what brought me here. I write in the speculative fiction genre. Think China Mieville, Jeff Vandermeer, Laird Barron, or Thomas Ligotti (without the severe cosmic pessimism). So essentially, I place my writer's flag in the New Weird genre of fiction for the most part with occasional excursions into pure science fiction. I also like noir fiction and so of course mix some of those influences into my writing. So that sums up me thus far. I'm hoping to make connections and learn more about my craft as well as get the feedback I need to progress in my writing. Looking forward to jumping into the forums. If there's anything you'd like to know about me, just ask. I'm more or less an open book.
Hey, Joseph! I’m one of the forum moderators, and I want to welcome you to the forum. You sound like exactly the sort of person who will fit in well here. You're an experienced writer, in speculative fiction, which is probably our most popular genre here. I also see you're already making lots of posts, even though you've only been here one day. That shows a real enthusiasm for being part of our community, which bodes well indeed. I look forward, with pleasure, to seeing more of your input and your work. In order to help you get oriented and get settled, here are a couple of links I strongly recommend that you read at the start, if you haven’t already. They will give you a good idea of how we operate here on the forum: New Member Quick Start Forum Rules You will notice in the New Member Quick Start that in order to post your work in the Workshop area—the only area of the forum where you are allowed to post your work and ask for feedback—you will need to do at least two critiques for other people, in exchange for receiving feedback on one of your own pieces of work. This site is designed around the concept of members helping each other out by ‘paying it forward’—through our two-for-one critique system. So do two critiques, THEN you can post something of your own. This advance 2:1 ratio lasts as long as your membership here—although it is your responsibility to keep track of your own ratio. The software doesn't keep track of it for you, beyond your first two critiques. In order to help you get started doing critiques, here is a link to a good article written by one of our former moderators: https://www.writingforums.org/threads/constructive-critiques.20627/ One of the popular areas of our forum is our contest section. There is a monthly contest running for Short Stories, Flash Fiction and Poetry. You can enter these ongoing contests, even as a new member. And we really encourage you to visit the site, read the current entries, and vote for your favourite when the voting period starts. This means a lot to the people who have written these entries. And it will also give you a good idea of what our members are capable of writing. https://www.writingforums.org/writing-contests/ While the Role Playing Game section is not new, it’s being given a revamp. So if you are interested in playing and writing Role Playing Games, you might want to visit this section and get in on the fun. https://www.writingforums.org/threads/resurrecting-the-dead-rpg-section-rebuild.165055/ I hope you have fun getting to know us and let us get to know you, via the posts you make. Please feel free to explore the forum. There is a lot under the hood. This site map might help you find your way around more quickly than the menu bars do, so feel free to use it. https://www.writingforums.org/faq/ If you encounter any difficulties, don’t hesitate to contact me or one of the other moderators, whose names appear in yellow at the bottom of the Community page. We will be glad to help. Again, welcome! Cheers for now, Jan
