Hi there! I am new to creative writing, but I have been doing some sketch stories and some brainstorming for about a year now. I want to do this as a hobby, since I found writing a very uplifted thing that shouldn't be spoiled by bureaucracy. So I don't have any publishing dreams, just a lust for creativeness in general. Also I do love how characters and plot comes alive in a narrative. So to put it simply I am just an enthusiast. I've already spent some time on the site and found some pretty good stuff to all things related to writing. I am Hungarian, but I learned English pretty fast and I have a level 'C' (advanced) language exam. To be honest I see a slim chance at learning the grammar and mechanics of the language properly, but expanding my vocab to the level of a master seems delusional. I would never look at writing as a job, but I would feel fantastic if others might like my work. This forum might be a very good starting point besides me sketching sometimes. There is a pretty unique feel to the constructive critique here, almost as if this was a course . So please people if you have a good advice on how i should start improving my grammar it would be awesome. I studied all kind of tenses as it was a requirement on the language exam, but I seem to lack the skill of constructing sentences and paragraphs, is cohesion the word for it? Right now I am feeling the urge to write stories but there is this big barrier (the language) that is keeping me from it. So please don't hesitate and leave a starting advice of any kind in this thread. Cheers!
Personally, I think your grasp of English is excellent and if you hadn't said that it was your second language, I don't think I would have noticed.
Hello DSZ, Welcome to the Creative Writing Forums. There is no shortcut. Keep reading, keep writing, repeat until proficient. Please read How to Use the Writing Workshop before you try to post there. Posting your own writing for people to comment on should not be among the very first things you do here anyway. It is worth taking the time to see what other people have done to improve their writing, and see if some of it applies to your writing as well. That is part of why we require members to review other members' work before posting their own for review. On the other hand, there are no restrictions, other than content and copyright rules, on showcasing your work in your member blog. Also, be aware that posting a piece of writing on any public site, including this one, will greatly diminish your chances of selling it for publication. Removing the writing later does not alter that fact - once posted, it is irreversibly considered published. So do not post anything more than a small excerpt of any piece you are planning to submit for publication. If you haven't explored the site yet, you should probably do so soon. Newcomers often gravitate to the Lounge, the Word Games, or the Writing Workshop, but there is much more to be discovered if you poke in the corners. Remember to check out our FAQ as well, and be sure to read through the forum rules, too, to avoid any misunderstandings or hurt feelings. Respect for one another is our principal mandate. As for the Writing Workshop, new joiners often wonder why we do things a bit differently on this site than on other writing sites. We emphasize constructive critique as a vital writing skill. Training your eye by reviewing other people's work helps you improve your own writing even before you present it for others to see. Therefore, we ask members to review other people's writing before posting work of their own. We also impose a two-week waiting period before you may post writing for critique, to give you time to become familiar with what is expected and how the site operates. The Writing Workshop forums on this site, therefore, are true workshops, not just a bulletin board for displaying your work (and on that note, please only post each item for review in one Writing Workshop forum). Also, please use the same thread for all revisions and additional excerpts from the same piece of writing. See this post, Why Write Reviews Before Posting My Work? for more information. And while you're looking around, don't forget to check out the RPG forum for improvisational fiction. Also try our Weekly Short Story Contest and Weekly Poetry Contest. They actually run more than one week apiece, but any member may enter, and all members are urged to vote for their favorites. Enjoy your stay here, and have fun!
Congratulations for the very articulate introduction, your english skills are excellent and I'm admired to see such a fluent prose from somebody whose first language doesn't resemble english at all. Hungarian is a very peculiar and hard to learn language, different from everything we have in Europe. I've to confess that english is not my first language as well, and I'm facing the same problems (or challenges, like my boss calls them) in writing in a english in a way the native speakers may find enjoyable and not just a bad translation by google.
