I didn't mean to post another message but it looks like I did anyway and now I can't delete it so... THANKS!
you only can't delete posts as a new member - when you've been here two weeks and have 20 posts you can edit and delete
New member here. I write YA. My book The Ghosts of Sand Island Lighthouse will be out this summer. I'm looking forward to learning and sharing with all of you.
Well I finally found where to introduce myself as a New Member! My name is Norton Williams. I am a 76 year old who has been writing intermittently for about 70 years. I can say that because I had a poem published in my grade school newsletter when I was in 4th grade. I currently have several short stories (about 5000 words) I have been editing and re-editing for over 20 years. I primarily write Science Fiction, because that's what I love to read. I also have a hack-and-slash story, and a pseudo-current day UFO story in progress. I have also been putting together a much longer story originally written by my wife many years ago. I feel my writing has improved over the years since I took my first Creative Writing class in junior college. I have several other through the mail writing courses under my belt. Writers Digest, Long Ridge Writers Group, and at least one other I can't remember at the moment. Last year a stumbled across a computer program advertised on Facebook, that claimed to improve my writing. I liked what I saw from the short video clip and downloaded the free program (there is a Pro version available for $$). I love the program and have imported several of my stories into it for revision. I don't know if I can state the program name here so I won't. Using it's features have improved my stories significantly. Anyway, since I have been 'working' on these story(s) for so long, I feel I need to get some critique on them from someone, otherwise I may rewrite/edit them for the next 20 years. Hopefully I will be able to do that here. This site looks promising and may provide me the additional guidance I feel I need at this point.
Welcome NWilliams! I look forward to seeing what you have in store for us. I know the feeling of editing, changing and re-writing. I one WIP that i started when I was 16 and at just shy of 41 I'm still playing around with it...although I hope it will be complete before I make it to 76
Old Guys Rule. Didn't attempt writing fiction until I turned about sixty. No, wait. there were a couple of failed attempts at science fiction, one of them satirical, about twenty years ago. Loved Reading SF, now writing more mainstream stuff. Working on a novel that was half done in just three weeks, about three years ago. Spent the remaining time writing other stuff, mostly non-fiction, and trying to figure out the resolution of the conflict.
Thanks for the mind boost Vince. I often wonder if old guys do rule. Then I look at how old Steven King, Kurt Vonnegut, and the like are and I agree. Even though they got their start many years ago, they still have it and that helps me keep going.
Writing fiction is an area where you can keep getting better with age. Poetry on the other hand is for the young, or so I've heard. It's because of the differences between crystallized and fluid intelligence. Fluid intelligence peaks in young adulthood and fades, while crystallized intelligence can keep developing.
As we age, and expand our horizons and knowledge, we gain broader perspectives on everything. In our youth, we are still building the foundation for that knowledge. So which term fits which age group could be up for many major discussions, I like your term Fluid Intelligence and in my mind, it could apply to older folks as well. Then again, I may be looking at it more in physical terms than thought processes. I appreciate your comment.
It's not my term, I only borrowed it Here's a little snippet about it: Fluid intelligence has long been thought to peak during the late 20’s before beginning to gradually decline (Cacioppo, Freberg 2012). The decline of fluid intelligence is likely to be related to the deterioration of neurological functioning but may also decline as it is used less frequently during older age. I read somewhere that (to be more specific) writing poetry at a high level requires a lot of fluid intelligence, whereas prose writing relies more on crystallized intelligence. I think that's in relation to the kind of poetry that presents vast profound ideas in seemingly simple words. Of course there's poetry that's more like prose, more oriented on form and rythm and meter rather than the expression of the sublime in purest form. And some authors can make prose sing like poetry. But the more recent studies do suggest that constant use can keep fluid intelligence active as we age. Here's an article about the differences Fluid intelligence is measured using the Woodcock-Johnson tests. Make of that what you will... You don't even have to be juvenile to appreciate the humor in that, but it helps
Time to introduce myself I guess: I am a twenty-five years old guy from Greece, but write almost solely in English when it comes to works of fiction. I write science fiction, detective, fantasy and Wuxia stories/novels. My works on science fiction range from shorter hard sci-fi stories to softer sci-fi novels that are better termed as 'space operas' (think of Star Wars). The current novel I'm writing (or, rather, rewriting since it's an older story) is a softer sci-fi one with elements borrowed from other genres (especially fantasy). As my profile picture of Basil Rathbone's Sherlock Holmes indicates, I like detective fiction and I've written occasionally such short stories. They usually star a rather eccentric detective, whose eccentricities I use to provide some comic relief. For fantasy, I haven't written any purely fantasy stories/novels, but I've borrowed heavily from the genre for my writings. Wuxia is a genre that is similar to both historical and fantasy Western novels. They are usually set in an either fictional or historical China and concern themselves with martial arts heroes. I hope that my introduction wasn't overtly long. Hope to be able to contribute to this community, both with critiques and (hopefully) interesting writing.
Hadn't heard the term "Wuxia" before. Interesting to think of it as analogous to American westerns. Welcome aboard and looking forward to reading your work.
