Hello everyone. My name is Diana and I've only been writing for about 5 years. I don't even think of publication right now because the thought intimidates me so much that as soon as I start thinking about it, I become unable to write. So mostly, I just want to improve my writing and have some fun. Maybe one day I will think of publishing or maybe not, I'm not ready to that right now. I have only written essays and blog entries so far, which I think I'm good at. That makes it difficult for me to understand why I find fiction so difficult and challenging. I am working very hard on 'finding my voice'. I think one of the problems that I have is that I am a very inward person. I can write all day about what my characters are thinking and how they are perceiving, but come up completely blank when I have to describe outward details. For instance, I may be able to talk about how my character feels about the Teddy bear from her childhood and how it reminds her of her mother or something, but have a hard time talking about what it looks like. When I try to go there, my writing becomes very wooden and dull. And I have also discovered how my vocabulary is very poor in the sense that I just don't know the names of things. For instance, I know this is a flower, but I don't know what kind. I know that this is a tree but I don't know what kind. I think that naming things more specifically sounds so much better and it irritates me that I can't do this. Does anyone else have this problem? Anyway, I have really been wanting to find someone to read my work and give me some ideas about what, if anything, I may be doing right and what I am doing wrong. I've been lurking around here for a while and have been very impressed by the advice that I have seen, the seriousness of the forum and the helpfulness of it's members. I have seen other forums on which everyone politely and insincerely complements each others writing no matter how bad it is and offers no constructive criticism whatsoever. The advice on this column is also very astute and I know that I can learn a lot here. Right now, I don't have the courage to post any of my writing. I am working on something and have rewritten it and rewritten it so many times, I don't know when I will ever think I can let someone see it. But in the meantime, the advice that you give to one another helps me (and also makes me even more self-conscious, which I guess is good, I'm not sure). Anyway, I'm looking forward to becoming an active member of the forum. It will be instructive and enjoyable at the same time. Diana
Oh yes you can go on forever with the vocab. To me it seems that there is no limit of how sophisticated you can get in naming things properly. I sometimes see the grammar as something more compact, not impossible to learn. Maybe before writing you should research the naming of the things that will surely be in the story. Or perhaps you can just leave marks where you want to indicate the poor word selection, and address them in the second draft. I didn't study much about creative writing, but I remember a part from Stephen King's 'On writing' noting that it is a bad idea to plan a vocabulary of words that you want to stick to. By the way that book seems pretty useful, although I read only a part of it. I heard that there is this book called 'Elements of Style' which seems to be a standard for writers. Oh, and good luck with everything!
Hello Diana, Welcome to the Creative Writing Forums. Please read How to Use the Writing Workshop before you try to post there. Posting your own writing for people to comment on should not be among the very first things you do here anyway. 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!
Hi! Feedback is a great thing. I'm curious to see what you wrote although I don't really like much. I mostly tell people their stories need more action
