Introduce Yourself

[Pandora]

Hello, my name is Mark. I write because I had a stroke three years ago that robbed me of much of my vocabulary. What started with a blog quickly advanced to an e-book of poetry and prose. Then I felt froggy and wrote a science fiction e-novel that had been rummaging around my head for over forty years. Now, beside being a full time university student, I am attempting to complete my third e-book between heart ailments.

My forum name is the Korean word for American which in Korean would be written 미국인

Oh you are very inspiring Mark working through what you have been dealt, making positive. Forty years a Sci-fi book in your head, that is very cool. Another coo, back to school, I so admire you! I very much look forward to reading your work which you can share after ten posts if you would like to. Welcome to WF Megookin! The word written in Korean is beautiful.

[talmaflower]

Hello! I'm not a writer (yet); I used to write a bit in my college days (UK 'college' is 16-18 )but have fallen out of the habit. I studied Fine Art - Painting - and directed my creative energies more into the visual arts, although these days I have a desk job in an office.

I recently thought I'd like to get back into writing but I've hesitated to take the plunge so I thought I'd sign up here to see how other people go about it.

My problem (or maybe it isn't really a problem?!) is that I have to be totally and utterly convinced my 'base' idea is strong before I can get down to the nitty gritty of fleshing it out at all. If I'm not fully invested, I just wimp out. That could be a good thing, I suppose, because if the premise of a story is crap, it doesn't matter how nicely-polished the writing is, it probably won't end up being believable or carry your readers along. But on the other hand, you have to start somewhere, right?!

I'm usually brimming over with good 'hooks' for stories - fascinating situations or zingy characters - but never make the effort to flesh them out and see if they lead anywhere. I have plenty of ideas that are 'kind of cool' or 'a neat idea' or 'intriguing' - but when I start to try and build on them, they lead down a blind alley. You can't build a story on a neat idea. You need an arc, a purpose and stages along the journey and that's what all my ideas are completely missing so far.

With that in mind, I've started to use the 'snowflaking' technique to start from the very basics and see if I really have got a novel in me. The beauty of it is, it allows you to explore your ideas without massively committing yourself to something that later turns out to be a pile of manure.

However, this means that I haven't got paragraphs of prose to post here for critiquing. What I've got so far is an idea for a novel. An idea that can be explained in a single paragraph, that has a beginning, a middle, tension/conflict, an ending and a point. And characters (which I'm just starting to flesh out a little). But I still don't know if my idea is any good. If it has too many holes - why on earth would character X do that? why wouldn't Y go to the police? why the need to move part of the story to France at all? - then it just won't work for me, and similarly if I can't do enough/the right research to make the parts that move far enough away from my personal knowledge plausible. The idea starts off from something that really happened in my life and tries to take wings with the 'what if?' aspect.

Anyway enough waffle (or is it woffle?)!

[Pandora]

Hi talmaflower looks like a couple more posts and you can share your work for critique, add your avatar and signature. There are many writers of all genres' here to help with advice. I might suggest writing small pieces on your ideas, giving them a home in a short story. That might be the birth to something larger, yes? We have challenges for that and also a visual arts area you might like to check out, with talented artists, musicians and photographers. We truly have it all! Welcome and enjoy!

[Megookin]

Oh you are very inspiring Mark working through what you have been dealt, making positive. Forty years a Sci-fi book in your head, that is very cool. Another coo, back to school, I so admire you! I very much look forward to reading your work which you can share after ten posts if you would like to. Welcome to WF Megookin! The word written in Korean is beautiful.

What some would call inspiration I view as adaptation. We are all dealt cards in this game of life that sometimes don't help the hand we want to play. We can either fold and walk away or adapt to the new hand and work it to our advantage. I hope to be learning here until mortal death elevates me to the next plane or dimension and then the learning process begins all again.

Thank you Pandora for being the virtual world's welcome wagon. I hope to contribute and learn on here to not only enhance my own experience, but also the experiences of others.

[Dawson]

Hey all.

I'm Bennie.

I'm writing an incredibly violent and gory fantasy book series, among other things.

I also write poetry that has a feminist theme to it, and some short stories based on my experiences with mental illness.

I also write essays for fun, mostly about movies, but sometimes about neuroscience and psychology because #hellanerd

[Pandora]

Hi Bennie, I ran over to poetry and took a quick peek. I will ponder but can tell emotions will be triggered with your work.What more I can I ask for? Nice to meet you, welcome to WF!

[talmaflower]

Thanks Pandora! My 'problem' so far is that I am preferring to start my ideas in a kind of framework... i.e. working on the basic idea, the characters and then hopefully the structure in some small way (all subject to change as the story grows of course!) until I have a synopsis to start with. Rather than the 'patchier' approach of writing one main structure and then a scene here and a scene there... so I think I won't have a 'sharable' scene for a while yet, but I hope to be able to share here once I do. And of course, I can share my basic idea in the Writing Discussion section.

Maybe it seems that I'm taking too much of a 'structured' approach for a novice (following a formula rather than writing creatively) but it works for me so I'm sticking with it for the time being. I don't see it as a 'formula' but more of a method for me.

[J Anfinson]

Thanks Pandora! My 'problem' so far is that I am preferring to start my ideas in a kind of framework... i.e. working on the basic idea, the characters and then hopefully the structure in some small way (all subject to change as the story grows of course!) until I have a synopsis to start with. Rather than the 'patchier' approach of writing one main structure and then a scene here and a scene there... so I think I won't have a 'sharable' scene for a while yet, but I hope to be able to share here once I do. And of course, I can share my basic idea in the Writing Discussion section.

Maybe it seems that I'm taking too much of a 'structured' approach for a novice (following a formula rather than writing creatively) but it works for me so I'm sticking with it for the time being. I don't see it as a 'formula' but more of a method for me.

And that's exactly what you ought to do. Find what works for you. Some find that lots of planning helps, some don't work well that way. Everyone writes a little different. Welcome to WF.

[Pandora]

Thanks Pandora! My 'problem' so far is that I am preferring to start my ideas in a kind of framework... i.e. working on the basic idea, the characters and then hopefully the structure in some small way (all subject to change as the story grows of course!) until I have a synopsis to start with. Rather than the 'patchier' approach of writing one main structure and then a scene here and a scene there... so I think I won't have a 'sharable' scene for a while yet, but I hope to be able to share here once I do. And of course, I can share my basic idea in the Writing Discussion section.

Maybe it seems that I'm taking too much of a 'structured' approach for a novice (following a formula rather than writing creatively) but it works for me so I'm sticking with it for the time being. I don't see it as a 'formula' but more of a method for me.

Oh, welcome talmaflower. I agree with J, he will always give you wonderful advice. Do what feels right for you and enjoy the journey. I bet many storywriters do a synopsis, I do with my current project of family memoirs and poetry, theses based on my ancestry. I find an outline keeps me focused and also buzz words of how I am feeling, emotion all important for me, these will be gifts to family members. I look forward to sharing with you talmaflower, very happy you joined WF!

[Dawson]

Hi Bennie, I ran over to poetry and took a quick peek. I will ponder but can tell emotions will be triggered with your work.What more I can I ask for? Nice to meet you, welcome to WF!

Thanks you!

Nice meeting you, Pandora!

I can only hope that somebody eventually will review the first chapter of my fantasy novel lol...

Otherwise, seems nice here!