Who are you?

[kais]

On 1/22/2022 at 8:54 PM, Mwindaji said:

just have to mention that I once walked into a library, found a fun book in which a princess runs off and finds a dragon to capture her (or something along those lines). I proceeded to sit in the library and read it all then and there, absolutely loving it. Since then, I've wondered from time to time what that book was, and it wasn't until you mentioned Dealing with Dragons, and I looked it up that I was able to figure out what book it was, so thanks for that!

I ADORED that series as a kid. Still one of my all time favorites. I have all four books in hardback on my bookshelf

[K. Preston]

Hi everyone,

This is the same post I used on the Forums introduction. So, I will add a little more to the bottom.

 I am someone who loves to write, although I am not sure if I could consider myself a writer. I have always written different things when able. Mostly my own extended epilogues to my favorite movies, video games, or stories, and on occasion writing poems or short stories. I am here because I was inspired to write a novel (and have finished the first draft), all while following Brandon Sanderson's lectures online.

This kind of started last year after retiring from a 20 year military career and found myself sitting on my butt doing nothing. I enjoyed the Mistborn series thoroughly and began asking myself, "Can I write like that?" Sadly the answer is "No", but through listening to him I have been improving this craft and enjoying it more. Maybe one day I will be able to say I am an author, but for now I am not sure I fit the title of writer. So, for now, I am excited to meet new people and see what is in store for me all while putting my work out there for willing beta-readers. 

I think I can claim I am multi-genre in likes and style, but with my preference being sci-fi. The above mentioned book is a sci-fi universe without aliens. I play it off as if we discovered how to leave earth and the galaxy, but never discover another intelligent species. This leads to planets becoming the equivalent of countries and governments regressing to monarchies while politics changes to control it all under one umbrella. That is all below the surface iceberg stuff. I am both nervous to see what you think while excited to edit it into a finely crafted tale. 

I say all that to then add that I will get to that in time. I am still in my personal editing stage to ensure that each chapter carries the same tone and that I have all the parts written out. Right now I am just introducing myself and letting you know what brought me here. I also look forward to reading everyone else's work, although I am not sure how qualified I am to be critique anything. lol. 

Take care,

K.P.

[ginger_reckoning]

8 hours ago, K. Preston said:

although I am not sure how qualified I am to be critique anything. lol. 

Welcome! Glad to have you. And I think I can say, as long as you know how to read, you are qualified to critique here. 

[Demiurgess she/her]

Hi! My name is Nadya and I am a writer based in London.

 

I've been writing on and off at uni and then during my PhD (not PhD thesis implied). Then later on I discovered literary translations and realised that I want to put more effort in my stories as well.

 

I currently have a complete draft of a novel, which I need to edit and I am trying to produce more short stories as well as writing flash fiction and a serialised novella for my website.

 

The book I fell in love with in the past year was "The Coral Bones" by E.J.Swift.

[Robinski he/him]

Hey Nadya!

I think we got there in the end

[Mandamon he/him]

Hi @Demiurgess and welcome to Reading Excuses!

I heard you're familiar with @Robinski ;-)

 

[Demiurgess she/her]

Hi Mandamon and thank you! Yes, I am. The world is too small  

[MyDude she/her]

Found this forum through the writing excuse podcast, which I in turn through Brandon Sandersons youtube lectures. 

Not a native english speaker but I try my best hahah. 

Been drawing since I was small and I suspect that I am and will always be a better artist than writer. But hey! Atleast I can make my own fan art

Right now in school for game graphics and can at most spend time on my writing on my free time. Don't know if writing books will become a career for me but I do have a passion for story telling and have been wanting to improve my craft for a while. In the middle of a writing project that is probably faaar too big for me but I keep on. 

Duller than grey rock when it comes to books. Remember liking War Horse by Michael Morpurgo and the Earthsea book by Ursula K. Le Guin.

[Mandamon he/him]

Hi @strange24 and welcome to Reading Excuses!

[Silk she/her]

On 7/31/2023 at 0:45 PM, strange24 said:

But hey! Atleast I can make my own fan art

Well I for one am jealous

Welcome - we'll look forward to seeing you around the forum and, whenever you're ready (no rush, as you know) your submissions.

[Mr. Misting he/him]

I'm a high school writer trying trying to improve my craft and enjoy the process. I've written a lot of short stories, some of which are pretty decent, and a book and a half, the half having been dropped indefinitely.

When it comes to writing, I typically include elements of fantasy, and usually gravitate towards dark topics, either disturbing in violence or horror, or just plain ol' depressing. (This is amusing, because I can't stand any horror or serious violence on screen).

Some of my favorite writers and works include Dan Wells, Terry Pratchett, the Kingkiller Chronicles, Will Wight, Good Omens, and of course Brandon Sanderson. I recently finished Project Hail Mary, which was an incredible read. 

[Silk she/her]

On 7/10/2024 at 7:08 PM, Mr. Misting said:

I'm a high school writer trying trying to improve my craft and enjoy the process. I've written a lot of short stories, some of which are pretty decent, and a book and a half, the half having been dropped indefinitely.

When it comes to writing, I typically include elements of fantasy, and usually gravitate towards dark topics, either disturbing in violence or horror, or just plain ol' depressing. (This is amusing, because I can't stand any horror or serious violence on screen).

Some of my favorite writers and works include Dan Wells, Terry Pratchett, the Kingkiller Chronicles, Will Wight, Good Omens, and of course Brandon Sanderson. I recently finished Project Hail Mary, which was an incredible read. 

Welcome! I know you messaged me about joining a while ago, but it's good to see you around

[reisleK she/her]

Hey!

I'm a highschooler who intends to lurk around here before officially joining. I've been reading non-stop forever, along with creating worlds in my head. Or more commonly, modifying worlds from books I liked. 

Until the fall of this year, I was never able to get past 3,000 words in any writing project. Right now I'm in denial of having worldbuilder's disease and my main project is close to 20,000 words (I re-wrote it once so in total I've written about 70,000 words contributing)

I love Brandon Sanderson's cosmere (hence why I'm on the 17th shard), along with a whole host of other authors, none of which I remember off the top of my head.

Oh and I suck at grammar (but only for my own writing, I'm good at catching other's errors)

I write a bunch of fantasy, right now I have a world encompassing seven planets, handful of fleshed out cultures, too many characters, and more. But not enough plots!! Only one of my many projects actually has a plot. The amount of times I've tried to write before actually having a plot is way too high (especially when I wonder why it's not working, hmmm I think there's some key element missing here, I wonder what)

Yeah. 

Edited August 12, 2024 by reisleK
making it make more sense

[Through the Living Shadow he/him]

Y’all. I’m SpiritOfWrath, but, like SadDragon, that doesn’t really describe who I am. Also, like the one above, I will prob just lurk for a bit b4 actually joining

I write because if I don’t, the little demon spren in my brain that give me ideas will find me and hurt me. 

The demon spren got to me early, and that is all I’ll say. (The reason I’m writing early is cuz I like it and I need to grow confidence)

Right now I am working on a few things, mainly trying to build confidence. The most recent on is Mirth, a story from which my username comes from. But before, my first was a story named Draconics, then one, as of yet unnamed, about taking common fantasy magics/races and making them stranger. (Goblins are dwarf warriors, hobgoblins are corrupted elves, etc.). Then I moved onto a story line comprising of multiple stories I’ve worked on.

My favorite authors other than one small author, u know, Sanderson, are James Islington, and Michael J. Sullivan.

Edited September 23, 2024 by SpiritOfWrath
The best one

[Tam Tucker]

Hi this is Tam Tucker. 

 i got into writing as an escape when i was 12 years old. Also noticed through reading that I could explore ideals and motivations. So that just translated in my writing, to explore an ideal and see a character's why. 

Started as a coping mechanism, hoping that it grows into something more as a way to explore and discover truths that may help someone in this life. 

some of my favorite books are House of the Scorpions by Nancy Farmer, and Dune by Frank Herbert all of them. I just love how these books explore human nature and the characters feel real. 

The book that inspires me that most and I have been reading it my whole life is the KJV Bible. As a writer and seeing different really old writing styles and since I am from the states. Learning how different languages form writing differently due to what they were writing on or just part of their culture just fascinates me to no end. 

I take inspiration from the Bible because God used writers and He didn't take away their voice. Every writer is very different and its shows that a writer can be a county boy like Amos or a highly educated man like Isaiah. 

Thank you for allowing me to share, God bless 

[Vielence She/Her]

Hi everyone!

I'm VieB13.

I have always loved writing. making up stories and characters always came naturally too me (ahem. Except the names part.) But its only recently that I've been practicing regularly.

I am looking to publish a book eventually (I already have a bunch of ideas, including one I'm working on right now! And I'm planning to share some of it eventually (;  )

I may not be able to get back on here for a minute, but I hope to share my writing soon!

But for now, I just wanted to introduce myself

 

Edited August 14, 2025 by VieB13

[Silk she/her]

Hello Vie, nice to meet you! Looking forward to having you join us more officially whenever you're ready!

In the meantime, if you just want to join the mailing list so you can start participating in the critiques, even if you're not ready to submit yet, you're more than welcome to. 

[Keel_and_Quil he / him]

Hello, my name is Matt, and I've been fortunate enough to retire early and sail away with my wife!

While I didn't write much while working and raising a family, I now find myself with time and a need for a creative outlet.  I am a long-time fantasy reader, RPG lover, and dreamer.

Looking forward to meeting y'all.

[Silk she/her]

On 10/23/2025 at 3:41 PM, Keel_and_Quil said:

Hello, my name is Matt, and I've been fortunate enough to retire early and sail away with my wife!

While I didn't write much while working and raising a family, I now find myself with time and a need for a creative outlet.  I am a long-time fantasy reader, RPG lover, and dreamer.

Looking forward to meeting y'all.

Welcome, Matt! Congrats on the retirement. Nothing at all wrong with coming back to writing after some time away, I've done it myself.

Glad to have you!

[Robinski he/him]

Hey everyone,

I think it's been long enough that I should introduce myself, again!

I'm Robin (writing as Robin CM Duncan). I joined this group in <gulp> 2013, and was super active for many years, enough to become (assistant) moderator. I wrote two novels through this group (2016/2017), which are now published (2022/2023), and so is the third in my Quirk & Moth series (The Rigel Redemption, 2024, Space Wizard Science Fantasy).

Nowadays, I am editorial officer of the British Fantasy Society (1000 members and counting!), editor of their twice-yearly fiction publication BFS Horizons (closed for submissions at present), and producer, co-host and editor of the BFS podcast Long Story Short - currently editing Episode #29, we've been running for just over a year and have talked to some awesome guests including Joe Hill, Nnedi Okorafor, Anna Smith Spark, Adrian Tchaikovsky, and Reading Excuses' very own @Mandamon 

I'm presently going into edits for Quirk & Moth, Book 4, with two more planned after that.

I can't promise to dive into critting; I'm also a member of the Glasgow SF Writers' Circle, and do a lot of critting there, and I'm preparing for several convention appearances in the coming months, BUT, it felt great to log on just now, and I hope to be around to comment, offer support (and maybe some limited feedback/crit), etc. going forward.

Robin C.M. Duncan - British Fantasy Society, Editorial Officer

BFS Horizons, editor (details here)

BFS Long Story Short Podcast, co-host and producer (listen here)

author website (https://robincmduncan.com)

[CoderDrag0n8 He/Him]

Hi, I'm Coder.

I have always been an avid reader, and while I only just started writing recently, I have written a few unpublished short stories/poems that you can find here on the shard.

I just started attempting to write something, and hope to share it with the community once i finish.

I am very excited to be a part of this community, and to get to know you all!