I (hereby) warn you of my impending introduction! *Sorry, I'm currently taking a linguistics class and I'm 'studying' performative sentences as I post. Multitasking is where it's at! I've been writing for as long as I can remember and it's always been something that I had to do. The words had to pour through the pen (or my fingers on the keyboard) like literal word vomit bursting from my fingertips or an internal (and sometimes external) explosion was imminent. It's still that way to some degree, though as an adult, I've learned to channel and redirect it. Sort of. Publishing never crossed my mind until recently. I've always been a NOP, fly by the seat of my pants type writer, but one day I sat down and made a detailed outline, worked on characters, plot, etc, and what I had was pretty damn amazing! Or so I thought. Approximately 40k words into it, I scrapped most of the idea because I realized that there were too many holes in the story and the plot kind of sucked. So, taking the characters and the outline, I grabbed what was left of my pride (it was sobbing on the floor) and started again. To quote Professor Higgins, "By George, she's got it!" I think that I'm on the right track this time. I made another outline and worked on scene details, but I'm winging some of it, too. I enjoy it when my writing sneaks up behind me and yells, "Boo!" So....there it is in a nutshell. Sorry for the wordiness, but I'm rather long winded at times. You may call me, Ole Wordy One....
Hello Nosce, Welcome to the Writing Forums. Please read How to Use the Review Room 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 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 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!
Welcome Ole Wordy One, really kind of wondering what type of stuff you'll write if you think that you 'vomit words from the fingers' but that probbably is something that seems true to, and of most writers when we finnaly have that one golden idea we've picked out of the crud that normally floats through the human mind. Looking forward to your writings!
Thank you all so much for making me feel very welcome! I'm excited to be in a forum with other writers since it's something that I've never experienced before. My writing is usually between me, myself, and I though at times I share with my husband and a close friend. They are kind of partial, ya know. I'm taking a Creative Writing class as well as Linguistics (throw Microbiology and Trigonometry in the mix, too!) and it has been interesting. During one session we had to get into the head of a character that we created in a previous session and write a monologue for him/her. My character was a southern U.S. gentleman with a certain way of speaking and that way of speaking offended a reader, which amused me. In my opinion, if you don't cause some sort of strong emotion in your reader, then you aren't doing your job. Right? Ah, I've gone off topic again. Sorry, that tends to happen in both my writing and conversation. So, again I'm glad to be here and thanks for the welcome!