"I just don't know what I'm supposed to be, you know. Tried being a writer, but I hate what I write." That's a quote from my favorite film Lost in Translation by the amazingly talented Sofia Coppola. I've always struggled with liking my writing. I'd say about 90% of what comes out of my keyboard is poopypants. It's bad. And I've got rewriter's syndrome to the gills. But sometimes I produce something half-decent, something I can read without cringing, without debating whether it wouldn't be better if I became a goat herder instead of wasting my time arranging these letters. Those scenes justify it all. ✶✶✶ Two years ago I knuckled down and wrote a full first draft of a book. I printed one vanity copy and it's now slowly decomposing in my drawer. Surrounding the creation of this big draft I've also written smaller ditties that have never seen any eyes but my own. I want to stop this habit of cave-dweller writing, of concealment. So now I'm trying something new. I'm publishing one story little bits at a time through the format of a web serial as diary entries of the different characters. Note that this post is not promotion. There are no links here. I've read the rules. Just the idea of publishing—that what I write is available on the internet for those who try to find it is a new experience, a new relationship with writing. ✶✶✶ I've found this forum and think hanging out with the writers on here will be a cool ancillary to this 'challenge' I'm doing. So hello good people! I hope to see you around. I'm not very experienced with fora but I am excited to see what I can learn on this platform and who I can learn it from. Thank you for reading. Let me end this introduction with the response Bill Murray gives to Scarlett Johansson after she describes her struggle with identity and purpose summarized in the quote at the top of this page. "I'm not worried about you. Keep writing."
I'd suggest joining a writers (or writing) group. The down side is your time and availability you'll willing to put forward. As for writing itself, it needs to be your passion (sorry, my personal thoughts only). As for this forum itself, it is a good starting block. Fine tuning your talents, into "learning" the art of creative writing, I'm not too sure.
I do believe I learnt a significant amount from this forum when I was starting out over 10 years ago. I've grown beyond this forum now, so I visit rarely, but it's important to have a few sound writers around yourself for feedback and learning It's a good place.
Hey, @Adam Rendo! Welcome to the forum. Big welcome. You sound like somebody who is serious about writing, and actually has a novel you actually finished. Yee ha. Fantastic. You've got one of the writing bugbears already defeated. You finish what you start! I would suggest to NOT go out and publish work you're not sure about, however. Instead, get a few other people to take a look at it behind the scenes. If these folk are accomplished writers themselves, so much the better. But even pure (non-writing) reader feedback is very very useful, if you can get your beta readers to give you specific feedback. Get them to think about, and tell you about, what they liked and/or didn't like about your story and your writing style. You might be very pleasantly surprised at the favourable reaction you get. Just judging from your post here, you can obviously write. I like the way you personify things ...like the 'cave dweller' remark. I suspect you probably write much better than you imagine you do. But do pay attention to what your beta readers tell you. Ask them questions like: Were there any places where you were confused and didn't know what was happening? Were there places you skipped over because you either found them boring, or were too eager to get to the next bit? And so forth.... Get feedback. That will give you a place to start. There is often quite a gap between what you think you said, and what your readers pick up. This is a chance to close that gap. Also ...why not take your decomposing vanity novel out from beneath the cobwebs and read it now. See how it strikes you now? Hindsight is a great teacher. Don't concentrate on how 'awful' it may be, but think how you would do it differently if you were writing it today. And, hey ho ...you might actually discover it's not 'awful' at all. But maybe it could use some polish?
Thank you! If you wanna connect over FB, send me a PM I'm friends with a number of members from the forum!
Followed your @writerkayan instagram page, but don't know how PM from IG to FB, since I am not an IG user. My author page is @LewisMcIntyreAuthor. Good news, my military history book was just picked up by Casemate Publishers
Every time I try to access my IG, it tells me there's been suspicious activity and I need to change my password - it keeps happening, several times a week lol. To the point where I just type something random as my password to gain access because I know in two days I'll be asked to change it again. In other words, the profile is there but I don't go on anymore lol. Happy to know other people can still see the content though! I am on Twitter mostly for writing. My handle is the same as my IG's if you wanna follow me there instead? I liked your FB page. Congrats on getting a publisher!!!
Thanks! I don't do twitter either, but anyway, good luck! Feel free to PM me, I think you have a better handle on that than I do
