Title says it all. I'm just curious. Personally, I didn't come here looking for help (I'm still grateful for the help I've received), I just like interacting with people. I like to listen to people and understand how they think. I also like to argue, although I haven't really gotten into many of those (bummer). Anyway, why are you all here? Is it for help with whatever projects you're working on? Do you just like interacting with people as well? Or maybe you just want to get your work out there, in preparation for publishing? I don't think I've seen this question before, so hopefully this isn't a topic that's been done to death already.
I'm not really here because I want help writing or publishing, though I do learn a lot just by reading what people say about these subjects. I am, however, pretty confident in my ability to write what I want to write the way I'd like to read it. I am here because I just love to talk shop. I love to discuss writing and writing technique. I love to yak about things like planning vs. pantsing, character-driven vs. plot-driven, etc. I love to get steamed at people who reject adverbs just because Stephen King doesn't like them, or semicolons because Kurt Vonnegut doesn't like them (or worse: they reject semicolons because they don't know how to use them and think that therefore semicolons are BAD and others should never use them, either). I love when people post lists of pointers from great writers on how to improve. I love the minutiae of things like what software people use to write, whether they write with pen and paper or computer (or even typewriter), how many drafts they do, how much editing they do, how many words per day they write, and so on and on and on. What are their favorite how-to-write books? What does their writing space look like? Do they write every day or only when inspired? Why do they revere Stephen King so damn much, anyway? Showing vs. telling, debated by people who sometimes don't seem to know what showing and telling are. Why do we all hate Mary Sue, and is she really all that bad? All that stuff and so much more. I just dearly love writing, and I love talking about it with others who love it. (That said, I really do think we've all had a bellyful of the whole italics for thoughts, yea or nay thing.)
I'm here, cause I"m here.... actually, I need to improve on my writing for an audience, also the dreaded tenses, improve my sentence structure and grammar, plus learn how to take criticism (still working on that one )
I used to be active on writing forums when I was a youngun and I missed it. Back then it was much more about getting feedback on what I'd written, but I enjoyed the discussions about writing that could spark. I think I got to a point in my development as a writer where just writing wasn't going to make me any better, and I needed to be thinking critically about why I wrote the way I did, and seeing what other people had to say on such topics seemed valuable. I actually ended up joining, though, because I'd been lurking, gotten distracted, and found myself thinking back to this one thread that I was sure I could help with. I like the idea of being able to help other writers, and I think this place is great for that. I still get very anxious about posting things for feedback, sometimes, but that was a factor too. I had never really shown anyone my serious writing since the old forum days (used to rp but that doesn't count), so I felt like I needed some sort of outside perspective on it just to get out of my own head.
@minstrel took the words out of my mouth. Writing is such a fun and fascinating topic to discuss with others - even if some aren't well-versed in the field as others. Plotting, characters, grammar, the whys and hows, my perspective compared to yours, it's just a fun bundle I'm thankful to be a part of.
I’m here because, originally, I needed help with questions that weren’t easily google-able. But now I just like being here. I like being able to get other people’s opinions and I like helping others when I can. It also makes being a writer feel less - lonely -if you will. Everyone here cares about writing because that’s what we do. For the most part, I’m not friends with writers in real life, much less ones that currently have a goal of getting published and are working towards that goal.
I want to improve my writing skills through daily blog writing. Writing helps me think and thinking helps me write. If I don't write daily, I start to accumulate too much stress from holding it in. I would like to thank the community here for allowing me to do this. I haven't discounted the dream of actually writing something that will earn money. But it is not my number one goal for sure. I write to stay sane.
I used to belong to a different writing forum. To make a long story short... I had a disagreement with another user. It was a delicate topic, but I figured hey, sometimes adults disagree. It's okay to talk things over respectfully and walk away. She, apparently, did not feel the same way. She sent me (and I mean this with zero irony or exaggeration) the most verbally abusive email I have ever received... describing in detail what a meaningless, petty, childish, thoughtless, lying piece of shit I was. It was (again, no exaggeration) the most personal and abusive thing anyone has ever said to me, in person or on the internet. And I thought: Nope. I'm done. I'm not engaging with this person. So I thanked her for her time and quietly left. I googled "writing forums" and wound up here. I like it here. It's nice.
Haha. I have bad news... She was (and still is) a respected moderator. I let it go and moved on. Sometimes bad behavior is its own punishment. Life goes on. I got books to write.
I'm here because... well, it's a semi-long story. Some time ago, I learned about the concept of Flash Fiction. Don't remember how, but I ended up happening upon a now-defunct flash site called MicroHorror. I got a few stories published there, and one day I got an email from the admin telling me that they'd been contacted by a student filmmaker who wanted to make one of my stories into a (student) movie. Long story short, the contract seemed a little dodgy, so I went looking for forum advice and... ...I ended up on another forum that isn't this one. I was googling, not sure what happened but that was where I landed. Nice people, but a very small (<20 active members maybe?) forum, but it let me get the feel of the writing forum thing. And then it folded, but when I hit google-sensei up again, I wound up here. I've made some friends here, prolly an enemy or two, but this is where I'm at now, so...
I am here to learn. I always loved reading but never felt the need or want to write. But, a year ago I decided to try. I set up a goal. Within two years I shall have written a novella. Genre, content unknown. So I came here and liked it. Lots of interesting people and lots to learn. I have no story to tell, yet. So the contests are important to me. I use them as an excuse to write and finish stuff. I always thought authors just had this gift of telling stories. I didn't understand it's hard work. The novella will not be finished in two years. I have just started to learn how to do it. You can say it's an art, but it's also a craft. A forum like this is important. I am very lonely in my writing. No one I know writes, and even if friends and family know they are not that interested. You need to find those who also have this urge to learn and write. You find them here! Without many of you I would have been worse writing student.
