Alderant Posted January 9, 2019 Report Share Posted January 9, 2019 3 minutes ago, Severian4Scadrial said: GIMME (Seriously, though, fantasy rarely touches the Pike and Shot era, and I love psychological stuff). Haha, yeah, I find my writing fits into a seldomly utilized niche. Most "horror fantasy" is just fantasy with Cthulhu or vampires/werewolves/ghouls. Which isn't nearly as thrilling. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robinski Posted January 9, 2019 Report Share Posted January 9, 2019 3 minutes ago, Severian4Scadrial said: I actually haven't read any Vance Do, really, do. In my opinion he is, by a fistful of light years, the most underrated / overlooked writer in the SFF genre. I couldn't even begin to recommend something. Araminta Station maybe. I was always partial to Wyst: All-star 1716, although the first I read was was the Demon Princes series. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aeromancer Posted January 9, 2019 Report Share Posted January 9, 2019 1 hour ago, Severian4Scadrial said: Being as I am relatively tired of historical and fantastical fiction saddling its characters with -- aside from, occasionally, a new twist on a current political issue or a thorny custom or two that gets in the way of certain characters marrying or shaking hands properly -- modern western worldviews, most of my fantasy elements center on moral systems. Our fantasy worlds, after all, ought to have developed completely different philosophical traditions than our own world. It's a simple matter of convenience that most authors choose to copy and paste; I can't fault them -- they choose to focus on things like elaborate magic systems, detailed history, or brilliant new species, and this is not a lesser choice -- but I do see some potential for expansion here. Though the religion is a descendant of an old magic system I made back when this was a high fantasy story and so can get ludicrously complicated, my main project doesn't explore this effect as much as I'd like, but some upcoming stories set in the Merchant Republic down the road certainly will. (Open for book recommendations for books that do this: I don't encounter enough of them. I'm certainly no philosopher, so -- though thankfully taking a broad philosophical tradition and filtering it down to popular moral belief doesn't necessarily require the wisdom of the ancients -- I'd love worldbuilding tips when I do wade deeper into this). Hmm. I can definitely Devil's Advocate if you need someone to try and bounce arguments off of, but I've never felt particularly compelled to explore the depths of philosophy, so I can't rattle off recommendations. That said, I found RA Salvatore's Legend of Drizzt rather excellent when it came to how it handled philosophy (I can go into greater detail, but that's better done on a different thread.) That aside, I can recommend a few non-fictions if you want interesting and exotic philosophies. Not a lot, though. 58 minutes ago, Alderant said: First and foremost, I'm an artist. I do 3D artwork mostly (modeling, texturing, environment work), but I'm hugely vested in the video game industry and have been working toward utilizing my skills as an artist and writer to create my own game. I write as a hobby. In dealing with depression, writing is a stress relief for me, but that doesn't mean I don't take it seriously. I've been building things out for over ten years, developing characters, refining ideas almost constantly while going about the various other aspects of my life. I don't know that I will ever publish--but I have stories I want to tell, and I hope that, in some small way, maybe eventually those stories will help someone else out, even if it's just to show that someone out there "gets it". I can't say my writing is light or simple--my current project is a psychological horror/epic fantasy novel set in a fictional post-medieval world, combining the two genres I really love most. Psychological themes are a huge part of why I write, as well as the hope that I can create a world for my daughters to live in and love like Tolkien and other authors have done; I'm fascinated by a horror concept I call "the horror beneath normality," which is a fancy way of saying that underneath that friendly smile you see everyday might lie some dark and frightening secrets. My writing may not be scary, but some may find it disturbing at times. Fair warning on that. This sounds great! I enjoy psychological horror, as I also enjoy figuring out what makes people tick. I don't think I'm quite good enough to try my hand at writing some yet, though. You mentioned a vested interest within the video game industry, so I'm slightly curious as to what genre of game you play. (My current avatar may tip you off that I happen to enjoy the odd character-driven game from time to time.) Great meeting both of you, @Severian4Scadrial and @Alderant 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandamon Posted January 9, 2019 Report Share Posted January 9, 2019 Thanks for introducing yourselves, @Severian4Scadrial and @Alderant! It's been a little quiet around here for the past couple months, but hopefully it'll pick up again. I think I have an introduction waaaay back in this thread somewhere, but @Robinski, @kais, @industrialistDragon and I are pretty regular with critiques and occasional submissions. I've just finished up the first draft of my latest book, so I may have something coming up in the next few weeks. Great to have some other viewpoints to the critiques! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blessed peace Posted January 10, 2019 Report Share Posted January 10, 2019 Hello everyone! My name is Baruch-Shalom Weissglass. My username is the meaning of my name in English. The reason I write is fun and to exercise my ability to describe things. I started to tell stories to myself when I was very young, but I seldom committed it to letters, I started to learn English in 4th grade and I am competent speaker for 8 years and reader for 4. I have read R. A. Salvatore, Robin Hobb, Tolkien, David Eddings, Robert Jordan, Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, Mary Robinette, Terry Goodkind, Drgonlance, and various others. Currently I read Steven Erickson "the Malazan book of the fallen" (on which I heartily recommend). I want to write fantasy (dah). Right now I base it on some Jewish lore, you will see enough of that in the future. One of the things I have written was an assassin killing his loved one then go on to murder everyone. It was so disturbing I wrote a page and that was it. (I don’t have it anymore). I dabble in way to many things. Namely: history, linguistics, martial arts, geography, and so on. I am an orthodox Jew, I have been studying Judaism for 8 years. Well I really don’t know if need or want more, but feel free to ask. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kais Posted January 10, 2019 Report Share Posted January 10, 2019 4 hours ago, Blessed peace said: I am an orthodox Jew, I have been studying Judaism for 8 years. @Blessed peace Shalom! I'm Jewish as well, but reformed so... sort of the diet coke end of Judaism. Still, nice to have another Jew on the board! Welcome! Also big welcomes to @Severian4Scadrial and @Alderant! Nice to have some new blood on the board. I think I might have an intro thread.... somewhere way back. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alderant Posted January 10, 2019 Report Share Posted January 10, 2019 14 hours ago, aeromancer said: so I'm slightly curious as to what genre of game you play I'm generally not as picky about genres as I am about content (I generally steer clear of sports games and mmos). Usually, I play a fair variety. I prefer games with a deeper story (such as RPGs and Adventure titles, games that require more abstract thinking), but I play "junk food" games on occasion too (like Platformers and party games--games that require little thought beyond technical skill). I have a really bad habit of playing 5-7 different video games concurrently, so progress through them is always slow. Lately I've been playing No Man's Sky. It's fun. Gives my mind something to latch onto when I'm depressed. The other games currently on my roster are Dead Space, NieR: Automata, Final Fantasy XV, Skyrim, and a replay of Halo 4 on legendary (yikes). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aeromancer Posted January 10, 2019 Report Share Posted January 10, 2019 2 hours ago, Alderant said: I have a really bad habit of playing 5-7 different video games concurrently, so progress through them is always slow. Lately I've been playing No Man's Sky. It's fun. Gives my mind something to latch onto when I'm depressed. The other games currently on my roster are Dead Space, NieR: Automata, Final Fantasy XV, Skyrim, and a replay of Halo 4 on legendary (yikes). I have similar habits, I suppose, though I do like your list. I'm currently playing Kerbal Space Program, while dabbling through The Bureau: XCOM Declassified, The Last Remnant, Reccetear, and multiple Tales games (I like starting them more than finishing them, apparently). And I'm trying to 100% an Etrian Odyssey 5 playthrough. I tend toward RPGs, similar to you, judging from the list, but I have a soft spot for story-less but mechanics heavy games like XCOM or Etrian Odyssey. (Or Kerbal Space Program, come to think of it.) 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alderant Posted January 10, 2019 Report Share Posted January 10, 2019 7 minutes ago, aeromancer said: I have similar habits, I suppose, though I do like your list. I'm currently playing Kerbal Space Program, while dabbling through The Bureau: XCOM Declassified, The Last Remnant, Reccetear, and multiple Tales games (I like starting them more than finishing them, apparently). And I'm trying to 100% an Etrian Odyssey 5 playthrough. I tend toward RPGs, similar to you, judging from the list, but I have a soft spot for story-less but mechanics heavy games like XCOM or Etrian Odyssey. (Or Kerbal Space Program, come to think of it.) So you probably enjoy games like Oxygen Not Included then, I'm guessing? Games with more resource management and tactical application? I admit, you list a few I haven't heard of here (though I haven't picked up a new game in a while, I've been more focused on the industry itself, rather then the products). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lost Owl Needs Tea Posted January 10, 2019 Report Share Posted January 10, 2019 (edited) Hello. I think I might have an introduction on the forum somewhere maybe some time back, but I'm a lurker so perhaps not, but would just like to say hi to everyone. Not very confident in my writing or Sanderson knowledge or opinions, so don't really post much, but thanks for having me! I'm a bit blunt, but I try to include what I like when offering critique. It's interesting to read everyone's opinions on the same piece. I write children's and YA fantasy, at least I think that is as close as it gets. I just write how I want, and it tends to lean to those genres. Edited January 10, 2019 by Lost Owl Needs Tea 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shatteredsmooth Posted January 11, 2019 Report Share Posted January 11, 2019 On 1/10/2019 at 11:29 AM, Lost Owl Needs Tea said: Sanderson knowledge or opinions I'm not sure I had heard of Sanderson before @kais suggested I join this group. Nice to meet you! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robinski Posted January 12, 2019 Report Share Posted January 12, 2019 Welcome! On 10/01/2019 at 4:29 PM, Lost Owl Needs Tea said: Not very confident in my writing or Sanderson knowledge or opinions, so don't really post much Yeah, me neither, but I post all the time We'd to hear your thoughts and read your stuff sometime 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atium Posted January 21, 2019 Report Share Posted January 21, 2019 Greetings! I'm Atium, I'm 14, and I am a student at BCI. I write because I have many ideas for possible stories that I want to get out of my head and onto paper. With my writing, I am currently working on two fantasy stories with some Sci-fi ideas. Each one takes place at about the same time, but in each one, the other character is the antagonist. My favorite Books and series currently include Mistborn, Stormlight Archive, The Martian, The Dark Elf Trilogy, and The Shannara series. In my spare time, I write, read, game, and try to figure out how to write dialogue. See you around! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robinski Posted January 21, 2019 Report Share Posted January 21, 2019 10 hours ago, Atium said: Greetings! Welcome, @Atium! Great to have you on the forum. Hope you enjoy hanging out, and I look forward to reading some of your writing some time (no pressure ). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
molah Posted March 13, 2019 Report Share Posted March 13, 2019 On 9/13/2014 at 10:17 PM, molah said: Hello everyone, Silk just added me to the email list, so I guess it's my turn to present myself. My name is Helge and I spend my working hours digging in the guts of Windows, telling customers why their machines crashed. I studied computer science, so - as others have stated before - I may be a bit pedantic at times. I hope you'll forgive me. I appear to have a more or less fixed set of hobbies (writing, drawing, computer games and recently photography), which I cycle through. Usually, I'm totally hot for one of them and have no interest for the others, until I'm not any more. Then it's the turn of the next hobby. So really, I joined Reading Excuses for two main reasons: To help me stay focused and to improve my writing. Of course, it is also great to get to know fellow (hobby) writers who I can share my passion with. I'm German, but I live in Madrid, Spain, so it's not so easy to find people writing in English around here. I first got in contact with writing in primary school. We used to get small comic strips, of 4 vignettes or so, and we had to invent a story that fit the pictures. I loved it. Later, when I was around 17, writing became more of a way to escape the real world. Having grown up reading lots of fantasy and playing computer games, I found the real world quite boring. I used to daydream a lot and eventually decided to create my own world, full of exciting adventures. I wrote a couple of what I'd call "story fragments" during that time, but also started plotting a full novel. I never got to write it, though. I did a lot of world building and I knew how I wanted the story to start and to end, but I did not know how to fill the middle. I guess I was lacking the tools. (And I guess this is the typical writing project that everyone has, that you will never finish until you're better at writing ) During university and in the years after, writing was not a priority. When I came to Madrid, I first had to learn Spanish and that plus working kept my neurons pretty busy. With writing, I always felt like I have a certain amount of "creative energy" and when I get home after a though day of work I feel like I already burnt through my "fuel" and don't feel very inspired. And I never really got into the habit of writing regularly. I wish to change that now. Well, sorry for the wall of text. Let me wrap up quickly with my favourite writers/books. It's a tough call, because I always seem to favour writers whose books I have read recently... I have only read a couple of books so far, but I really like Brandon's works. I only got to know about him when Patrick Rothfuss said that he was jealous at Brandon's throughput. I really loved the "Mistborn" books (have only gotten to read the first 2 yet) and "Steelheart". "Warbreaker" was also nice. I loved what the Writing Excuses crew did with the "Shadows Beneath", but not so much for the storied but for the insights. I absolutely love Patrick Rothfuss's "The Kingkiller Chronicle"! "A Song of Ice and Fire" by George R R Martin "Harry Potter" (Around the time that the 4th movie was released I got interested in the series and started reading the books. I was pleasantly surprised by how well-written they were) I loved the "Furies of Calderon" by Jim Butcher "Stardust" and "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman Last Christmas I learned about John Green's "Looking for Alaska". It was heartbreaking and got me on a "John Green trip". I read all of his books except "The fault in our stars". The one I liked best was "Paper Towns". That also got me reading "Thirteen Reasons Why" by Jay Asher, which was really emotional and heart-wrenching. "The Magicians" by Lev Grossman "Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card Yeah, I have a hard time deciding... Cheers, Helge Let me reintroduce me, as I've been absence for a few years. The above is still true, but some updates from the past years: After running my short story Elyse through this group, I submitted it to Writer of the Future and got an Honorable Mention. Thanks everyone for your help back then! In 2014, during NaNoWriMo, I started a novel, which I finished in summer 2015. I decided to self-publish it and it's been available on Amazon since January 2016. (with very little success I got maybe 200 sales since then) It's now available for free on Wattpad as well: https://www.wattpad.com/story/59142778-sky-high Life's been a struggle since 2015, so I haven't had a lot of time to write since then. I'm still struggling to find time to write, but I haven't abandoned "the dream". Regarding my favorite books list, I would add the "Red Rising" series from Pierce Brown, which are incredibly good. Looking forward to reading and critiquing your stories again! Cheers, Helge 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandamon Posted March 13, 2019 Report Share Posted March 13, 2019 2 hours ago, molah said: Let me reintroduce me, as I've been absence for a few years. The above is still true, but some updates from the past years: Welcome back @molah, and congrats on the Honorable Mention and novel! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robinski Posted March 16, 2019 Report Share Posted March 16, 2019 Hey Molah, welcome back. On 13/03/2019 at 10:37 AM, molah said: I submitted it to Writer of the Future and got an Honorable Mention. This is great, well done! On 13/03/2019 at 10:37 AM, molah said: I got maybe 200 sales since then. This is also great. Doesn't sound too shabby for a first publication of an 'unknown' Excited to read some of your new stuff. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JWerner Posted May 10, 2019 Report Share Posted May 10, 2019 (edited) Hello, I'm JWerner, I've been writing for a while now. At the moment, I'm researching how to participate with this forum because I have a fantasy novel (about 130,000 words) that I wrote three years ago and have been editing off-and-on since. I think it's on the fourth or so draft by now, and only two people have read the whole thing, so I'm looking to get more feedback on it. Other than that, I've also completed a first draft of a YA soft-sci-fi western novel and am currently trying to juggle several other projects: two fantasy novellas, a re-write of my first (and last) NaNoWriMo project, and just for funsies, a screenplay adaptation of the Final Empire (I'm only five pages in and I don't expect to be finished with it any time soon). Edited May 10, 2019 by JWerner 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robinski Posted May 11, 2019 Report Share Posted May 11, 2019 (edited) Hello, @JWerner, welcome to Reading Excuses Sounds like an interesting selection of material you've got there. Couple of ways to go about it, I would say, for the novel. You could submit a chapter(?) a week to the weekly submissions process (max 5,000-ish words) and at least see how the opening works for others. Then there's the Alpha Readers thread where people exchange reviews of complete works: maybe a bit early for that one. The key though is to see how things work, as you're doing, and give a critique or two. Looking forward to reading your stuff. p.s. - And of course the pinned guidelines info is the best place to check out the mechanics. Edited May 11, 2019 by Robinski 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Kraken's Daughter Posted May 12, 2019 Report Share Posted May 12, 2019 Hi everyone, I'm a new member to the forum, and relatively new to the Cosmere in general. (I read Elantris a while ago, and I'm about 150 pages into The Way of Kings. Haven't gotten to Mistborn yet.) I've been writing for a couple of years, and have had a few short stories published. I've also got an idea for something that could be a novella or novel, but that's not even really in the outlining stage yet. I'm looking forward to reading everyone's work and getting feedback on mine. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robinski Posted May 12, 2019 Report Share Posted May 12, 2019 Welcome to the forum, KD It's always really exciting to have new members and read their stuff, so looking forward to your first submission! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoWibble Posted November 18, 2019 Report Share Posted November 18, 2019 So I'm new. Ok, I'm GoWibble, *not gullible* and I write because I love to read. I feel like after reading all that I have, I should probably add something to the huge pile of books out there. I'm an avid reader and can read around 800 pages a day if I push it (only paper works that way, though). Favorite books include: Michael Vey, The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel, Harry Potter, Forgotten Realms, Leven Thumps, and Brandon Mull( & Sanderson, obviously) to name a few @Gwenhwyvar I love the series that your Username comes from. I haven't really run into that many fans, though 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robinski Posted November 20, 2019 Report Share Posted November 20, 2019 On 18/11/2019 at 1:29 PM, GoWibble said: So I'm new. Welcome to the group, GoWibble. It's always exciting to have another voice on the board. I look foreword to reading your stuff, and hearing your cries down the road maybe 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoWibble Posted November 20, 2019 Report Share Posted November 20, 2019 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robinski Posted November 20, 2019 Report Share Posted November 20, 2019 I typed crits, gosh darn it. Crits, crits, crits!!! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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