I'm an eighteen year old in college, majoring in Journalism and building on becoming a published writer. I've completed one novel recently (Pushing it aside for a few weeks so I can look back on it with fresher eyes) and am currently working on another (Though it started as a short story idea -- funny how things work out). I write primarily crime/suspense stories. To give you a little bit of an idea, think Elmore Leonard, John D. MacDonald, or Richard Stark, all influences of mine in some way or another. I've got a soft-spot for gritty noir prose and hardboiled characters. I've been writing since I was ... maybe 12 years old. Yeah, around then. I've got a long way to go to get where I want to be, but I'm on my way, taking it one step at a time. To tell you the truth I've been on this site for a while now. Maybe two years or so? Stalking the threads, though, not posting or anything. On a whim I've decided to step out of the shadows and ... you know. Post things. Anyway, hope to meet everyone at some point. Good to be here.
Welcome to Writing Forums, J. Blake! I hope you find what you're looking for here, whatever your interests in writing. This forum aims to provide the best workshopping resources on the internet, and to that end we have a few rules which you should familiarise yourself with before you get stuck in. The main section of the site is the Writing Workshop, where members can post their writing in order to receive critique of their work. However, before we allow members to post their work, they must have met some basic requirments. Firstly, you must have been a member for fourteen days, and have made twenty posts on the forum overall (please note, posts in Word Games do not count towards this). This is so that members, when they post their work, have familiarised themselves with the forums and contributed to them (as well as hopefully learned something for themselves). Secondly, members must provide two constructive reviews of other people's work for each piece of their own that they wish to post. This is because we believe that the focus of workshopping should be equally upon giving reviews as receiving them, as they allow a writer to practice and improve their editing skills, which they can then apply to their own writing. Beyond the Writing Workshop, you will find that we have extensive forums for discussion of aspects of writing, as well as a community area for general discussion. We also run periodic short story and poetry contests, which are good for challenging yourself and expanding your skills. If you have any questions or problems, then the moderators (myself, Cogito, Lemex and Dante Dases) should be your first port of call. Any technical problems with the site itself should be directed to Daniel, the site administrator and owner. I would recommend you have a look over the rules so that you know what to expect, and what is expected. But aside from that, I hope you enjoy your time here. Banzai
