Not THE Beginning, but A beginning

[Stick's Interlude]

Hello all,

This is my first time starting a topic on these forums and, well, my first posting ANY topic on ANY type of forums.  So like I said, a beginning.

 

Anyway, I just listened to Writing Excuses for the first time, despite seeing constant updates from Adam on Brandon's website about it.  This weekend, I tried it out by listening to both the most recent episode and the very first episode.  I gotta say, I've been missing out.  I really enjoyed listening to it.  

 

Just out of curiosity, who are the other people that are part of the podcast?  Brandon is the only one that I specifically know of.

[zmunkz]

Welcome! The Writing Excuses podcasts are really excellent (as are Brandon's YT videos, if you haven't seen them... search my YT channel "zmunk" for a mirror).

The original four were (I believe):

• Brandon Sanderson
• Mary Robinette Kowal https://www.writingexcuses.com/about-2/marys-bio/
• Howard Taylor https://www.writingexcuses.com/about-2/howards-bio/
• Dan Wells https://www.writingexcuses.com/about-2/dans-bio/

You might know Dan Wells for the "7-point structure" for stories, as that is pretty popular even outside the podcast. They've had other visiting and recurring guests in the last few years, but I don't know them all.

[Stick's Interlude]

Thanks, that's a big help!  I'm afraid I'm not familiar with the "7-point structure", but I'm not very well-versed in the many concepts behind writing (I'm an engineering student, so math is my forte).  However, I feel like I've always had some sort of story simmering in my head.  I absolutely love reading and want to try to craft a story of my own.  I've been developing one in particular for the past year or so, but haven't put anything down on paper, in part because I'm afraid that if I try, I'll ruin what I have in my head, and in part because I just don't have free time.  I thought that listening to Writing Excuses would be an excellent starting point for listening to the nuances of writing, and yeah, Brandon's YouTube videos sound like a good idea too, so I'll have to check those out.

 

Thanks!

[zmunkz]

6 hours ago, Stick's Interlude said:

 I've been developing one in particular for the past year or so, but haven't put anything down on paper, in part because I'm afraid that if I try, I'll ruin what I have in my head, and in part because I just don't have free time. 

I can relate to the both parts of that concern. Not much to be done about that second issue, though, as little as 2 hours a week on a Saturday afternoon can get you going. As to the first issue, I encourage you to try it anyway. I've found, once the story begins to coalesce into something real, it becomes much more exciting than the ephemeral amorphous form it takes in the head. You might surprise yourself.

[Stick's Interlude]

Those are some really kind words... thank you.  I still think I would like to listen to some more Writing Excuses and Brandon's YouTube videos before getting anything down on paper, but I feel a little more ready to try now.  Isn't there a place on these forums to post personal works like that?

[zmunkz]

This particular forum caters a little less to writers, and more to Brandon's cosmere. There are a few sites out there that are great for that kind of thing, my favorites being:

fantasy-writers.org (I'm actually a moderator over there, and we'd love to have you); sffchronicles.com (larger community, and many are successful career writers), or scribophile.com (far less personal than the other two, but also by far the largest site for this kind of thing).

But stick around here too, so you can geek out with the rest of us about Brandon, lol.