Who are you?

[Robinski]

On 08/10/2020 at 5:35 PM, Snakenaps said:

You still haven't let me read any M works and I'm still a little bitter after reading one of the last chapters when I first joined. Come on, there were velociraptors. That stuff is rad. One day...one day I'll convince you...

I'm afraid the thing about to appear does not feature M a great deal, but she is in it. Another teaser!!  

[Snakenaps]

6 hours ago, Robinski said:

I'm afraid the thing about to appear does not feature M a great deal, but she is in it. Another teaser!!  

I shall wait (im)patiently. 

[sniperfrog]

Better late than never, I suppose. 

Let me start by saying I am new to this.

I began writing about 7 years ago. More worldbuilding than writing, really, but I have finally starting getting into the prose side of things. It was a bit intimidating at first, but once I figured out what I wanted (which only took seven years) it started to become a lot more enjoyable for me. My background is in construction, so I don't find a lot of time for getting out my notebooks and working on my story, but that hasn't stopped me so far. I am currently only a couple chapters in and I will say that what you guys will see will already have been through two or three iterations by the time I will have the balls to share with the class. I am a bit weird, as I enjoy writing things down in my notebooks first before typing things up. 

I enjoy most levels of fantasy, but sci/fi can be a little hard for me to get into sometimes. Some of my favorites are: Brandon Sanderson, Wheel of Time, The Dark Tower, The First Law Trilogy, and David Eddings. I love characters that show their true natures, specifically characters with grey moral compasses. This is something I am hoping to bring out in my own characters, as I feel that it makes them much more relatable. 

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask! I look forward to working with everyone and am hoping to make some new friends as well. 

[Snakenaps]

40 minutes ago, sniperfrog said:

Better late than never, I suppose. 

Exactly! Welcome @sniperfrog !

I completely understand the more-worldbuilding-less-writing. I don't know about you, but I get a nasty case of Worldbuilder's Disease. 

43 minutes ago, sniperfrog said:

I will say that what you guys will see will already have been through two or three iterations by the time I will have the balls to share with the class.

You could give us your first draft and I'd still be excited to read something new. You can't write worse than one of my first grade students. 

46 minutes ago, sniperfrog said:

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask!

Do you like pizza? This is a very important question. 

Also, do you have any pets, and, if so, pics?????

[sniperfrog]

2 minutes ago, Snakenaps said:

You could give us your first draft and I'd still be excited to read something new. You can't write worse than one of my first grade students. 

Do you like pizza? This is a very important question. 

Also, do you have any pets, and, if so, pics?????

I will definitely be sharing. I am excited to get new eyes on the project, as my roommates are the only ones that I have shared with so far. 

Yes to pizza. Always yes to pizza.

Unfortunately, my roommate is allergic to pets, so my cat Perseus had to go with my ex wife after the divorce. I unfortunately do not have any pics of him to post. 

[Robinski]

Hey, @sniperfrog, welcome to RE. I’m always excited to read any new voice, also, it’s amazing what you can glean (I think), even from someone’s posts, about their basic prose, so I don’t have any worries on that front.

My own background is related to construction as I’m a Civil Engineer by training, and a transport planner by profession, so there .

I’m looking forward to reading your stuff. We don’t sugarcoat the feedback, but you’ll be used to that in construction! 

[Snakenaps]

19 hours ago, sniperfrog said:

Yes to pizza. Always yes to pizza.

Unfortunately, my roommate is allergic to pets, so my cat Perseus had to go with my ex wife after the divorce. I unfortunately do not have any pics of him to post. 

Yay! Pizza!

I pity your roommate, but I adore cats. I have one of my own, Juniper. 

[Sarah B]

@sniperfrog

Welcome! 

I think the depth and breadth of different knowlege bases and experiences in this writing group is awesome! It sounds like you have a lot to add. 

I'm new as well compared to most here. 

I look forward to reading your work!

[shatteredsmooth]

On 10/13/2020 at 6:33 PM, sniperfrog said:

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask! I look forward to working with everyone and am hoping to make some new friends as well. 

Nice to meet you! 

[Aspiring Writer]

Well, it was only a matter of time before I ended up here. Thought this was for a podcast at first. 

So hi. I am very new to this realm. I only started writing almost 4 years ago. I finished my first book in a year before trashing it where it hopefully will never see the light of day. I then tried to rewrite the book and got maybe a tenth of the way before deciding the idea was garbage and I needed time to refine it, so I moved onto a different idea I had thought more about. I have been working on that book for the past three years, and I am a third the way through. I have been forced to slow down my writing due to life, but I still constantly editing what I have. I also may have been releasing these chapters on Creator's Corner because again, I was unaware this place existed. 

I read all of Sanderson and have a long reading list including the Wheel of Time and the Broken Earth Trilogy, but again, life has made that slightly difficult. I am certainly going to open to growing that list. My favorite aspect of writing is worldbuilding, specifically things like how magic systems can alter a society and making things as logically sound as possible. 

Edited November 10, 2020 by Aspiring Writer

[ginger_reckoning]

Nice to meet you @Aspiring Writer! I totally get what you mean by not having the time to read/write everything you want to! It's mega frustrating. I'm excited to check out your stuff!

[Robinski]

Welcome to the group, @Aspiring Writer. It is the place to be  

Couple of suggestions:

(1) - Stop subbing your chapters on Creator's Corner forthwith, (and consider deleting what you have put up there already). Many publishers will look upon putting material out there in such a public way as being a form of publication, which will debar you from publishing with them. There is a grey area about a forum like this, however at least the writing is not accessible by Joe or Joanne public, and has to be obtained through private email list. Even then, certain authors on here have had Silk delete all their critique threads for a project when it went on sub to an agent (publisher?).

(2) - If you write you are a writer, not an aspiring writer. I don't mean to take a potshot at your handle, but it sounds very much to me like you have gone way beyond aspiring. Aspiring writers sit in coffee shops browsing the web and wishing they could write something. You've done it; you're a writer. Writers write. You've done that: you're a writer, with an aspiration to be published.

Additional information: I'm in a bad mood. I've spent the last 5 days solid writing four reports and was about to issue them to the planning authority and the architect emails me at 4:55pm and says, 'Have you issued the reports yet? Oh, by the way, better take out the bit where you propose an additional pedestrian crossing, not sure we like that. But you did issue the reports that you sent us drafts of TWO DAYS AGO, to comment on, yeah?'

Further additional information: I'm a grumpy sod at the best of times. Ask anyone  

Glad to have you in the group. Silk or I will get your email added so you get subs on Monday coming.

[Aspiring Writer]

7 minutes ago, Robinski said:

Welcome to the group, @Aspiring Writer. It is the place to be  

Couple of suggestions:

(1) - Stop subbing your chapters on Creator's Corner forthwith, (and consider deleting what you have put up there already). Many publishers will look upon putting material out there in such a public way as being a form of publication, which will debar you from publishing with them. There is a grey area about a forum like this, however at least the writing is not accessible by Joe or Joanne public, and has to be obtained through private email list. Even then, certain authors on here have had Silk delete all their critique threads for a project when it went on sub to an agent (publisher?).

(2) - If you write you are a writer, not an aspiring writer. I don't mean to take a potshot at your handle, but it sounds very much to me like you have gone way beyond aspiring. Aspiring writers sit in coffee shops browsing the web and wishing they could write something. You've done it; you're a writer. Writers write. You've done that: you're a writer, with an aspiration to be published.

Additional information: I'm in a bad mood. I've spent the last 5 days solid writing four reports and was about to issue them to the planning authority and the architect emails me at 4:55pm and says, 'Have you issued the reports yet? Oh, by the way, better take out the bit where you propose an additional pedestrian crossing, not sure we like that. But you did issue the reports that you sent us drafts of TWO DAYS AGO, to comment on, yeah?'

Further additional information: I'm a grumpy sod at the best of times. Ask anyone  

Glad to have you in the group. Silk or I will get your email added so you get subs on Monday coming.

1) I see. Would it be fine if I leave it for now and delete it later? I have some people reading it and feel bad taking that away. I can always delete them later, right, or is that not advisable? 

2) I tend to conflate writer and author for some odd reason. I guess Aspiring Author would be a more appropriate name, huh? That does have a nicer ring to it...

3) Sorry to hear that. Hope you can deal with the lesser intellect of your peers without going insane or flipping a table.

4) So you're a pessimistic guy even when you're happy? That sounds wonderful to me. Please rip apart everything I've worked on without any regard to my feelings and attempt to crush my soul. It brings me such joy. (Not even a joke, every error pointed out gives me happiness for some reason.)

5) Wonderful. Small question, how often are all five slots full? Because when I first heard that, I thought there would be a mile-long line, and then I saw the most recent ones and had a mini heart-attack. 

[Robinski]

1 minute ago, Aspiring Writer said:

1) I see. Would it be fine if I leave it for now and delete it later? I have some people reading it and feel bad taking that away. I can always delete them later, right, or is that not advisable? - I guess it depends how serious you are about publishing THIS book, and how imminent that is.

2) I tend to conflate writer and author for some odd reason. I guess Aspiring Author would be a more appropriate name, huh? That does have a nicer ring to it...

3) Sorry to hear that. Hope you can deal with the lesser intellect of your peers without going insane or flipping a table. - Bah. It's not really intellect, but Jeez, just think about what you're typing, architect!!

4) So you're a pessimistic guy even when you're happy? That sounds wonderful to me. Please rip apart everything I've worked on without any regard to my feelings and attempt to crush my soul. It brings me such joy. (Not even a joke, every error pointed out gives me happiness for some reason.) - I would not say pessimistic, just jaded  Just remember you asked for it, that's all I'm saying  

5) Wonderful. Small question, how often are all five slots full? Because when I first heard that, I thought there would be a mile-long line, and then I saw the most recent ones and had a mini heart-attack. - Not often at present. We're running to 2 or 3 slots, but there have been times when a person, maybe two, is disappointed. I'd say it's only a handful of times a year though.

 

[Aspiring Writer]

1 minute ago, Robinski said:

I guess it depends how serious you are about publishing THIS book, and how imminent that is.

Um, very serious and what do you mean by imminent? Like how soon?

 

3 minutes ago, Robinski said:

Just remember you asked for it, that's all I'm saying

I will remember, and I will not be regretting it.

[Snakenaps]

42 minutes ago, Aspiring Writer said:

Um, very serious and what do you mean by imminent? Like how soon?

I'm not particularly experienced in this regard, but I would definitely say before querying. You wouldn't want an agent stumbling across it, due to the publication worries as @Robinski said. Better to have a clean slate. 

Also, hi!!! Welcome! I hope you enjoy this group. Since you seem to be a masochist like the rest of us, I'm sure you'll do great as we pull apart your stuff and vise versa! 

[Aspiring Writer]

14 minutes ago, Snakenaps said:

I'm not particularly experienced in this regard, but I would definitely say before querying. You wouldn't want an agent stumbling across it, due to the publication worries as @Robinski said. Better to have a clean slate. 

Also, hi!!! Welcome! I hope you enjoy this group. Since you seem to be a masochist like the rest of us, I'm sure you'll do great as we pull apart your stuff and vise versa! 

What does masochist mean... *Typing* Found it. A person who derives sexual gratification from their own pain or humiliation.  That... that describes me perfectly. My god.

 

Also, so can keep uploading but make sure to delete it before attempting to publish, right?

Edited November 10, 2020 by Aspiring Writer

[ginger_reckoning]

Uhhhh I think in most situations when people talk about masochism it isn't in a sexual sense. Just someone who hurts themselves. But that could just be my interpretation

[Robinski]

1 hour ago, Aspiring Writer said:

What does masochist mean... *Typing* Found it. A person who derives sexual gratification from their own pain or humiliation.  That... that describes me perfectly. My god.

 

Like @ginger_reckoning said, I think popular usage has dropped the sexual connotation, but that is very much part of the actual definition. The key is that the masochist enjoys the pain. It's all about the gratification. So my friend George says, anyway 

Edited November 10, 2020 by Robinski

[Robinski]

1 hour ago, Snakenaps said:

I would definitely say before querying. You wouldn't want an agent stumbling across it, due to the publication worries as @Robinski said. Better to have a clean slate. 

Yes, this. Here's a example. An agent receives your book called The Cucumber Catastrophe. The first thing the agent does is [generic search engine] your name, and the title of the book. Maybe they find whole chapters of the book posted up on some forum, OR, maybe they find threads on this page, titled with the books name, and a whole bunch of comment from people tearing earlier drafts to pieces. Reaction?

This is why we abbreviate all unique names for character, places, etc. in our comments. I abbreviate my book names here too. I subbed a book through called 'TCC' - no, it's not called The Cucumber Catastrophe, although, maybe it should be 

It still rankles a bit with me that when I [generic search engine] the names if my two main characters, who are a duo, basically, there are 5 or 6 link think still come up when I goggle it. I am going to have to eradicate those (with @Silk's help).

Edited November 10, 2020 by Robinski

[Aspiring Writer]

4 minutes ago, Robinski said:

Yes, this. Here's a example. An agent receives your book called The Cucumber Catastrophe. The first thing the agent does is [generic search engine] your name, and the title of the book. Maybe they find whole chapters of the book posted up on some forum, OR, maybe they find threads on this page, titled with the books name, and a whole bunch of comment from people tearing earlier drafts to pieces. Reaction?

This is why we abbreviate all unique names for character, places, etc. in our comments. I abbreviate my book names here too. I subbed a book through called 'TCC' - no, it's not called The Cucumber Catastrophe, although, maybe it should be 

It still rankles a bit with me that when I [generic search engine] the names if my two main characters, who are a duo, basically, there are 5 or 6 link think still come up when I goggle it. I am going to have to eradicate those (with @Silk's help).

Hmm, could I do it in a PM perhaps, that way it's private and nobody can see it?

[Snakenaps]

26 minutes ago, Robinski said:

This is why we abbreviate all unique names for character, places, etc. in our comments. I abbreviate my book names here too. I subbed a book through called 'TCC' - no, it's not called The Cucumber Catastrophe, although, maybe it should be

Okay, admittedly, I don't have my title abbreviated but that's frankly because I doubt it will stay the same. It's a little too on the nose and sounds too much like The Name of the Wind. 

At least it isn't a food pun anymore. I went through a phase where the book titles were all food puns because Ir is a chef *facepalm*

[Robinski]

9 hours ago, Aspiring Writer said:

Hmm, could I do it in a PM perhaps, that way it's private and nobody can see it?

I guess, maybe? The issue on this page is just the sheer volume of exchanges. And with Creator's Corner, I guess people would need actively to request it? That might cut down the number of comments.

Just FYI, so I popped over there then searched for a bit of your title, and it did come up, of course, because, search engines.

I don't mean to beat you over the head with this, it's just an interesting topic of discussion. We have a page for that of course, and sorry to clutter up the Who Am I? thread with it, but @Silk will move the posts over if she deems it necessary.

And here's mine: smaller than it used to be, there used to be dozens, but I went through and abbreviate them all, or so I thought.

[Robinski]

Oh, and I tested to see whether hiding the text of the chapter works, and it doesn't:

[Aspiring Writer]

38 minutes ago, Robinski said:

Oh, and I tested to see whether hiding the text of the chapter works, and it doesn't:

Scud. Okay, could you delete those ones I tried to hide of you can? I'm going to try and get everyone reading into a PM that way it doesn't show when searched and I can still show it to them, because some of them do give feedback.