hi all, i need a little help and guidance. i've never thought of myself as a writer, it has never been anything i thought of becoming or write as a past time hobby. when i got bored during my last job, to ease the boredom i used to ask my colleagues to come up with 5 words instantly without thinking and i'd go off and write a very short story incorporating those words. i used to do it to pass the time i then found others coming up to me with their 5 words. i was in demand!!!! but as suddenly i started, i stopped. not written anything in years. then i met a woman who i got on well with. she writes columns for magazines, and one day i found some of my old stories that i had written years ago on a floppy disk. she read them and convinced me to start writing again. i've started a short story but that's when i get stuck. what constitutes a short story? how many words does it stop becoming a short story? where do i take them once i've finished? as you can guess i know nothing about writing, all i know is that i enjoy it and want to carry on. well that's how i got started. my book interests mainly involve true crime, serial killers, psychology books and auto/biographies. i've started reading mo hayder books, specifically the john cafferey thrillers. it was recommended by a work colleague, so there you are, a brief glimpse into my world of literature! any help at all will be gratefully accepted as this is very new to me. thanks to you all, marc griffiths (no pen name yet!!!)
Hi! I started by reading as many forum posts as I could stomach. The sticky posts were extremely helpful and not just for site navigation. A large population of this site is desperately looking for the same things and actually getting answers. I just learned what qualifies as a published work and the limitations one could be put under by having something self published. A lot of the answers are not easily quantifiable, but you may find that they are readily understandable. Good luck in your goals.
Welcome to Writing Forums, marc! 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 and Cogito) 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
