hi, my name is theo. newbie here, found the place while googling around on writerly subjects. looks like other folks here are discussing the kind of stuff that's been in my head so i figured i'd sign up and fire off a few questions that have been keeping me up at nights. me? i guess i'm an old guy compared to many of you. been writing off and on since i was in grade school back in the 60s, short stories and novel-ish things and screenplays etc, never successfully. was a hack writer for the entertainment biz for a while, millions of words of dreck hammered, sucked and spewed out to attract the punters to the product de jour. not very glamorous but hey, i learned a lot about getting words on pages so what the heck. one way or another my life has always seemed to come back to the writing so i decided to get serious about it a couple years ago. am now about 60,000 words into my first (real) novel. pretty much lost-in-space with it if the truth be know but fighting the good fight nonetheless. reading? most recently Frey's stuff of "Damn Good" this and that. pretty helpful to me, better than most of the stuff i've read. got me focusing on specifics which i think is probably the best thing i've taken from it. anyway, there it is: one intro. guess i'll see you on the boards. ~theo
Please collect your straight jackets and muzzles on the way through. Thank you, Management <bahahahahahar>
Hello Theo, Welcome to the Writing Forums. It's not all young'uns here -- there are a few of us in our second half-century, to show the kids how to have fun and shake off the angst. Posting your own work should not be among the very first things you do here. 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 Review Room, 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 Review Room, 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. The Review Room 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 Review Room 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 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!
