Hi All, I joined this site because I love creating worlds, people and events and wanted to learn how best to express my ideas in fiction writing. It's a lot harder than I thought, but I'm enjoying it. Hopefully this site will help My current project is a piece of dystopian fiction. I very much enjoy the genre, though it has to stay grounded for me and that's where my novel is hopefully headed. I'm not into fantasy or extreme sci-fi (I like to read it, but I'm not interested in writing it). I'm interested in playing with the interplay between the dysfunctional or unusual, but seemingly reasonable and plausible. Kafka, Orwell's 1984, Philip K. Dick (the staples of good dystopia), that sort of thing. If you have any author recommendations or ideas/resources for this sort of writing, I'd appreciate any thoughts! I'm a qualified lawyer and have worked in politics/government in a variety of roles, so if anyone had any questions about those fields for their characters/plot, I'm happy to help. Cheers! The Peanut Monster
Authors: Aldous Huxley Kurt Vonnegut Anthony Burgess Ursula K LeGuin HG Wells, even These guys are considered "literary sci-fi" Titles: Handmaidens tale, Atwood Never Let Me Go, Ishiguro Hunger Games series Fatherland, Harris and I guess anything else satirizing communism or fascism... actually anything nonfiction about fascist/communists states would do just fine. Read up on the cultural revolution in China. It is a great example. Is your interest in dystopia born of your work in law/government? Haha, I'm mostly joking. Mostly. Good luck with your project!
Welcome to Writing Forums, Peanut Monster! I hope you find what you're looking for here, whatever your interests in writing. This forum aims to provide the best workshopping resources on the internet, and to that end we have a few rules which you should familiarise yourself with before you get stuck in. The main section of the site is the Writing Workshop, where members can post their writing in order to receive critique of their work. However, before we allow members to post their work, they must have met some basic requirements. Firstly, you must have been a member for fourteen days, and have made twenty posts on the forum overall (please note, posts in Word Games do not count towards this). This is so that members, when they post their work, have familiarised themselves with the forums and contributed to them (as well as hopefully learned something for themselves). Secondly, members must provide two constructive reviews of other people's work for each piece of their own that they wish to post. This is because we believe that the focus of workshopping should be equally upon giving reviews as receiving them, as they allow a writer to practice and improve their editing skills, which they can then apply to their own writing. Beyond the Writing Workshop, you will find that we have extensive forums for discussion of aspects of writing, as well as a community area for general discussion. We also run periodic short story and poetry contests, which are good for challenging yourself and expanding your skills. The requirements of the Writing Workshop don't apply to the contests, so new members are allowed (nay, encouraged!) to get stuck in and enter! We also have a growing short story club (think book club, but with short stories!), which you can find stickied in the Book Discussion forum. If you have any questions or problems, then the moderators (myself, Lemex and Dante Dases) should be your first port of call. Any technical problems with the site itself should be directed to Daniel, the site administrator and owner. I would recommend you have a look over the rules so that you know what to expect, and what is expected. But aside from that, I hope you enjoy your time here. Banzai
