Has this been asked before? Probably. So I'll try to be unique and make it simple. Choose from the following, or express yourself as you please. 1. Your teacher told you to join this forum for an assignment. 2. You're young, you love writing, and want to see what others think of your work. 3. You're in a career or line of work that requires some expertise in writing, and you want to pick up some tips. Maybe your boss has suggested this site. 4. You've had success with writing and you want to move on to the next step, and you recognize you may need some polishing. 5. You love novels and you are convinced you can write that selling novel - maybe not a best seller, but a published novel that's successful in the market. 6. You have an idea that you think will be a best seller. A novel, or maybe something different. 7. You have an idea besides a novel, a nonfiction piece perhaps, or a screenplay, that you think is a killer idea, and you want to post it for feedback. 8. You like to write and think you can publish stuff that's influential, humorous, provocative, or informational, and you want to brush up on your abilities. 9. You love writing as a form of expression, and you want to see what others think about it. 1o. You just want to connect with others. 11. Something else. (I wrote this quickly. So this number eleven may be a biggie.)
Simple to learn and grow, meet interesting and strange new individuals to discuss writing in multiple facets, and to socialize with people who are not so snobby.
I'm here to get help on making my writing better so I can one day possibly publish a book, and hopefully I'm helping others as well.
Heh, how about this one: Nobody in real life listens to me anymore so I have to argue with people on the internet to feel important.
But you haven't told me why you are into writing, unless I'm supposed to infer that writing helps you socialize. Can't you meet strange and new individuals who are not so snobby elsewhere?
I enjoy it as a release of my pent up imagination. That and it is much easier to write than it is to draw for me. It has allowed me some kind of socializing as well. Slogging through my second book, and a short story as well.
But they're two different questions: why do I write, and why am I here? Very different questions. I would have answered the second question pretty much the same as @Cave Troll . As to the first, I want to say, "None of your damn business." That's not my usual response to that question, but there's something in the tone of your response quoted above that comes off kind of like an interrogation by an prosecuting attorney.
1. Your teacher told you to join this forum for an assignment. No. 2. You're young, you love writing, and want to see what others think of your work. No. 3. You're in a career or line of work that requires some expertise in writing, and you want to pick up some tips. Maybe your boss has suggested this site. No. 4. You've had success with writing and you want to move on to the next step, and you recognize you may need some polishing. I've written health based articles for our work magazine, and other more scholarly types of writing. However, my personal writing is very different and I find I don't just need SOME polishing, but a whole lot! 5. You love novels and you are convinced you can write that selling novel - maybe not a best seller, but a published novel that's successful in the market. I do, but it seems the novels I may have success in aren't what I like to read or write. I wrote a children's novel some time ago, sent it to a publisher, was told it was marketable but I needed to lengthen it. I know this may seem stupid but I couldn't lengthen it, and I never bothered to follow through. 6. You have an idea that you think will be a best seller. A novel, or maybe something different. Sometimes I think I do, then its like the thought vanishes from thin air, and I'm trying to grasp at the outline I thought I had. 7. You have an idea besides a novel, a nonfiction piece perhaps, or a screenplay, that you think is a killer idea, and you want to post it for feedback. No. 8. You like to write and think you can publish stuff that's influential, humorous, provocative, or informational, and you want to brush up on your abilities. Yes. 9. You love writing as a form of expression, and you want to see what others think about it. Very much so, though I'm not completely sold on sharing it all with others. Some of the things I post are intensely personal, yet cathartic. I think interacting with others though is the best way to get to know people. Honest, humble, and crazy at times. That's what you can expect from me. 1o. You just want to connect with others. I connect with others via many different mediums, so its not that. Though I have interacted with some very thoughtful and fine people, so I'm glad I've signed up here. 11. Something else. I find that bouncing ideas, and sentences off of people at times leads to a different direction than one I would have initially taken. This wasn't something I had initially signed up for, but it is an added perk. Asking for feedback too at times can be helpful, I sometimes know inherently when something I'm writing is very good or bad. If its really good, it almost takes my breath away. If its crap, then it's a steaming pant load, and I know that too.
When I first got on writing forums as a young(er)un it was primarily because I wanted other people to pay attention to my writing. I suspected I was very very good at it and wanted that to be validated externally I got back into it a few years ago mostly because I missed talking about writing and hearing other peoples' methods and takes, and I like being able to help folks when I can. I also had the vague idea of doing the whole networking thing and finding people to trade beta reads with, but as it turns out I suck at that, hahah.
I am 64 and always loved reading. I have never written any fiction. Ten months ago I decided that I should try to learn how to write. My plan is to write a short novella within 2 years. I am here practising. I have no idea what to write about and I have now only fourteen months left. Without this forum I wouldn't write anything. I am not sure I will make it. I might have to consider three years, but I am having great fun. There are also a bunch of nice, friendly and clever people here. @izzybot , you write lovely and always have a smart thing to say (but was wrong with your avatar?) @Carly Berg You have so much to teach us, you give so good comments about our writing. @Homer Potvin I wish i had your energy There are many others, but I have learned that three is a god number of examples when writing. Those three might be smells, sounds and why not forum members. Thank you all!
I joined, because I have never written a book before, but I have a story in my head that I must put to paper. I am after learning new things as well as offering my own perspective as well!
This is also me as well. I have that story I need to get out of me. And I do learn new things as I help others out.
To talk with other writers and to get to know other writers. I don't really care if they read any of my work or critique it; I also don't care if my work is published or sells. I like to write for the fun of it and because I have a story that I feel needs to be told. This forum's just an opportunity to help others and to learn ideas that I can incorporate.
I guess this is one of the challenges we all face as writers, that we may unintentionally come across negatively, so I'm sorry you felt that way. Maybe I'm showing my age, but I'm thinking of starting a thread that asks how many of us have misinterpreted email or text to the extent that it's affected their interpersonal lives. I grew up in the 70s when speaking on the phone was the most common way to communicate with someone. That's changed - it's now text and email. Emoticons are useful - maybe I should use them more often?
I joined to 1. improve my writing, and 2. talk to other writers. I don't know many people who enjoy writing/literature as much as I do, so it's awesome to have a place like this filled with people who do!
I grew up in the 90's and early 2000's, and remember using the corded phone for primary communication. Cell phones didn't really become mainstream until the latter half of the early decade of the millennium. Though it will always be difficult to add the nuance of tone and inflection into a text based communication. Though emoticons do crudely compensate for the issue a bit.
I went to bed last night asking myself why I made a "simple" post so complicated, but your response makes it all worth it. I'm right there with you on number 4 - I've written nonfiction for magazines, but the kind of writing I want to do is different, more personal, and likely needs some quality critique. As for number 6, boy, how many of us entertain this fantasy, and to be positive, maybe it's not a fantasy! And I have changed my idea over and over. Alas, it may continue to morph into... nothing. Number 9 - Yes! Absolutely, me as well. Number 10 and 11 - Yes, as well. I actually got here because I posted a "rant" on craigslist out of pure curiosity. The responses were interesting, and I made a new friend who I found lives literally right down the street. Totally unexpected. So I got to thinking more about posting online and found this forum.
How small a world we live in eh? I recall when I first came online in 1999, the internet was kind of like the wild west. I was in university and I signed up for email with my full personal name, you know because anonymity... what's that? Then somehow I found myself in this chatroom called webcity at the time, and I made a couple of friends. One of which lived in the same city, whereas others were across the continent. The one who lives in the same city, her and I have now been friends this whole time, same with some of the others. By interacting via this medium, I've been fortunate enough to travel to various states in the US, and to the UK, all with friends I had met online. I'd like to think I was brave, but in today's day and age, I think I may have just been stupid!!!! This forum though, I found it by typing in writing forums. I figured that surrounding myself with people who had similar goals would either prompt me to get serious, or it would reveal that this really wasn't the avenue for me. So far I'm still not 100% certain I am a writer. I loved coming here though and finding someone who was on the exact same page as me, and who wrote about self doubt and so on. It was like a small beacon of light, and a whisper in the darkness 'maybe, just maybe, if you stopped doubting...' you might be able to come up with something meaningful. I have been writing on my sci-fi novel for about a year, I had a lot more than the 7 pages, but recently scrapped quite a few because the story just wasn't going where I wanted it to. That was as a result of throwing my 'first three lines' out there on this forum.
My first book attempt was about my online dating experiences after my divorce in 2005. It was meant to be, ahem, humorous, but it was a disaster. I can barely stand to read it - I must be learning something! Excellent! Me as well!
I'm here (I'm new!) in the hopes of meeting other writers, as my current friends are non-writers who politely tolerate my alternating states of manic productivity/hand wringing sorrow but really can't help much beyond "Good job!" or "You'll survive!"
