I joined two years ago, posted a short intro, and then sort of disappeared. But now! Now I am back! And actually writing stuff, omg! At the moment I am writing mostly stories illustrated with the Sims 3 game, although I am trying out full text with a story about the villain of In The Valley of the Sun as a 15 year old in high school. My other current project is an interactive Sims 3 story where I take suggestions from my readers and write the story based on those. One day I would like to write Valley as a novel and try to get it published. And no worries - the novel version would be very different than the Sims version (as in I have to create a new world and an alchemical system and redo the plot and change some of the characters and well - totally recreate and restructure and rewrite the thing) and so I don't think it would count as already having been published online. I am much more seriously into writing than I was two years ago and I expect I will stick around and get to know you guys and do some reviewing and stuff this time. It's hard to give or get real constructive criticism in the Sims community, so I am looking forward to that.
And quickly practice reviewing a couple short stories so you can know what to expect from other's reviews, and then post one of yours, so we can enjoy it and practice our reviewing skills.
Hello Medley Misty, Welcome (back) to the Writing Forums. It has been a while since your first into thread, so I'll give you the current version of the grand tour. Please read How to Use the Review Room before you post there. Posting your own writing for people to comment on 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 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!
Oh yes, I was looking at some of those threads last night. I'll look some more and find some to review after I update the full text story - kind of promised my readers I'd have the next bit out last night and then didn't write anything all weekend due to headaches and family stuff, sigh. Cogito - See, I pay attention and read that before and mentioned how Valley will be extremely different when/if I submit it for publication. And I will definitely look into the contests when I have time - I tend to get swamped with my own projects, lol. Shinn - Thanks. Promise I'll stick around this time - during Valley it became clear to me that writing is supposed to be what I do with my life.
