Anyways, I have a really long way to go in all things with writing but I don't know where to begun i cant go and buy\go out and rent books so I'm mostly going to need online stuff (which i know for every good one there are million bad ones) the big problem is punctuation and spelling then i need to learn to WRITE what i mean is as I've said and admit my writing is chicle and terrible I need to learn how to describe and how to make a intro I know the best way to learn si to write and i do that been doing it for eight years but I need more since this dose not seem to be helping as much as it should
Well, the first thing to do is to realize that, at your age, there is a lot that you haven't yet learned - about yourself, about the world, about other people, about writing. So, just writing isn't going to be enough. You need to be able to tell what you are doing poorly and how you need to improve. You also need to read good writing so you can tell it from bad writing, and you need to get guidance on your own writing as to what you are doing well and what needs improvement. Do you get assigned reading at school? That's a start. Does your school have its own library? And a librarian? That's another source. Do you live in a place with a public library? Borrow away to your heart's content. Is there a literature teacher in your school whom you feel you can talk to? He or she might provide you with some guidance, and should also be able to give you guidance on your punctuation and spelling problems (which will take work on your part). You can also participate in the review process here on this site in the Review Room, and get pieces of your work reviewed, too. You will have to be open to constructive criticism in order to be able to improve. I'm 57, and I've been writing on and off since I was 12. I'm still learning. Best of luck.
thanks for responding first off I'm home schooled my mom is some what of a writer but i take after her in that we both have the same problems how ever i read a lot if you know waht AR points are they are points you get for reading a book and passing a test of it after words i went to a new school in foruth grade beat evrey kids school in all three shcools k-5 -6-8 and 9-12 in just three months and I even passed some teachers who where in it (and they read to win) i had read gone with the wind in third grade (i read it but i asked my parents a lot of questioning afterwards) I've always loved reading books and I'm really good at it by fourth grade i passed the 11th grade reading test So I've always loved reading timeless classics so reading form the best is not hard (the only problem i got now is getting a good book since im home schooled) in fact right now im reading Gary's Anatomy pretty much the holy bible of medical books and I also love how to book shows the Latin and Greek roots in the words so I'm a heveay reader (sometimes to heveay) the huge problem is that I dont have a library (there is a city near by but due to my dad losing a lot of books and i mean a lot we cant get any books in till he pays the fine........ yeah never going to happen) so I need free things which makes it that much more difficult
Interesting that your reading would be so far ahead of your grade level for so long, and yet you struggle with punctuation, spelling (even a simple word like "heavy", twice misspelled as "heveay"), capitalizing and sentence structure. When I read the posts above and elsewhere on the forum, I wondered if perhaps you were at times writing as if in verse. I'm also surprised that your library would restrict your ability to borrow books because of your father's fines. I've never heard of that. But, if that's the case, you could still go and read there. And I'm sure they have books on grammar.
It's a medical thing so that i cant tell the difference between Dose and does guitar and guitar Heavy and heveay in fact trust me, you should be so glad i have a spell checker I'm a home school student as such my dad got to books out in my name Why? because we could not afford two (yes we are cheep\poor) as such we don't go there the rule is this (since its a city library) if you don't bring a book back they donut trust you so yeah they don't trust me since the books got returned late their is a fee we cant pay (we talking hundreds here) As for puncration I'll admit it form kinder till third grade i did not pay attrition and i barely made it by (heck i was held back in kinder) by third grade and fouth i got a real good teacher and then i cared but the damage was done
Wow. It's great that you want to take on the challenge of writing, and I wish you the very best with it. I know that Amazon.com often has used books for sale at a fraction of their original price. Not free, I know, but as close as you can get. And I do recommend the Review Room. You will learn how to critique others as well as getting constructive criticism of your own work. Best of luck.
It is important to simply write. The more you write, the more you improve. Books and tips from other writers can help a lot, but ultimately YOU are the one who will need to make you ideas manifest on paper, and that takes a great deal of time and effort. Here is something I have found useful: Write multiple drafts of each chapter or page. Don't just edit, completely rewrite and keep each draft. I know it sounds daunting, but each time you rewrite you add something something new. You find a mistake you may have missed simply proofreading. This may not work for everyone, but I have found it to be the best way for me. I usually make a minimum of four or five drafts of a page and choose what I deem the best one and it goes in the "finished" folder. Many times I end up with 10-15 drafts of a page before I'm truly happy. Just an idea
this sounds like a great idea I o this in a way but i don't use it right i write one don't like it write the next one read both delete them in disgust in honesty I've started keeping a folder of them all and i delete to start "anew" so maybe this time i will use that correctly
It's important to keep your drafts, for cross reference and stuff like that. The newest isn't always the best, sometimes way you wrote a passage in the old draft turns out to be the best. The more you get in the habit of saving old drafts, the more you see the value in it. Plus it's pretty neat to compare the first, rough draft with the final, refined version. Best of all, if you do most of your writing on a computer it's pretty much improving yourself for free too
Wow I cant even read my first rough drat ever (yes I still have it) its so bad i don't even know what I'm saying one of my tricks to keep writing when I'm down is read the first one then read the latest (every now and then the latest is a close 2nd for the worst) but it uselay helps me keep writing thanks for the advice As I've said I have a long way to go in till I'm mediocre but I'll get there even if it takes another 40 or so years
A word of encouragement -- Kris Rusch, who makes a living as a writer of science fiction, mystery, and romance and who has won several awards for her work, has a serious case of dyslexia. Basically, the same sort of "heavy vs hevay" and "dose vs does" problem you have. Over the years her dyslexia remained the same, but she grew more familiar with herself and the issues she had to deal with. After a while she learned which words she was more likely to mess up on, and learned to double-check them as she wrote. That, plus Spellcheck, plus a couple of literate friends who were willing to help her proofread as she learned her craft, helped her to succeed. She still has to deal with dyslexia on a daily basis, and (of course) she still occasionally messes up. But with time and experience, writers like her and you can figure out ways to get around the handicap, and after a while it will be second nature to compensate. Good luck.
