For writers - the purpose of this board

Brian G Turner

Brian G Turner

Fantasist & Futurist
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I figure all of us aspiring writers are in the same boat. We face an uphill struggle in a highly competitive market place.

I've had to do a lot of research and surfing to find useful information - and I am happy to pass it on to others.

I was actually going to withhold on some of the resources before because I really do prize them that much. But I figure what the hell...I'm too altruistic. Besides, I'm very confident on my chances of getting an agent - maybe even a contract - this year. I'm no longer in competition.

Feel free to add your own resources and links, or make comment where you will.

Do have fun - and best wishes all.

Brian
 
You shouldn't be helping others. Part of the test is problem solving and research. You shouldn't try to make that easier for your competition.
 
No, that's an invalid method of....

Okay, now I hate myself. See, in evolution, a clade tends to compete against itself, not against other clades, because the members of a given clade all tend to compete for similar ecological niches. So when an evolutionary biologist talks about clades competing against each other, you know that he's not very smart.

But for writers, it is just the opposite. The more writers that belong to a given genre and use a particular style, the more demand for and acceptance of that genre and style is created. Since other people that want to write are going to write anyway, convincing them to all join the same literary movement is very advantageous for all the members of that movement, even the ones that aren't lucky enough to be published ever (at least they will belong rather than not belonging).

The only problem is that if a movement gets so big that there is no room for innovative writers outside the movement, then it becomes bad for writers that don't want to write in that particular genre and idiom. And ultimately, that is bad for literature and society as a whole.

But I somehow doubt that Brian is setting up an association for world domination here.
 
But I somehow doubt that Brian is setting up an association for world domination here.
Click to expand...

I'm sure there must be must more fun ways of going about it!

As for the resources - needn't worry, Nemesis, if you are - don't think most people care a toss for the links I've posted.
 
Btw - do note that there are now multiple pages on the default setting for this board.

Watch for the heading:

Pages: [1] [2]

on the red bar of the board, and click the page number to view the other resources.
 
I love to write, although I was never very good at it. I can only get a grade B in my stories at school :(
 
Hi Guys,

I've always wanted to write and due to the hundreds of books in my collection......conclusion I'm one fo thpse shadow writers who just end up reading other people's work rather than writing my own.

I've started reading fanfiction and I've written one extra epilogue for one sci fi book where I hated the last chapter. It was fun......:D

I'm now planning on writing a short story about a stuffed cow being kidnapped from an office.

I plan to call it, due to copyright reasons, "The Quest for the Golden Quadruped".

What do you think of the title?:)
 
Whats a Grade B? I have numbers for grades. my teachers hate my stories becasue there is too much violence and they are all fantasy. they want realism and i just can't write that. i am a pretty good writer i believe and that ever time i write a new story my skill has improved. mind you i only have 5 short stories ans the start of two novels.
and i placed third in a contest with my worse story!:p he he. so yeah, whats a B? is it like a 80 or something?
 
aftermath said:
Whats a Grade B? I have numbers for grades. my teachers hate my stories becasue there is too much violence and they are all fantasy. they want realism and i just can't write that. i am a pretty good writer i believe and that ever time i write a new story my skill has improved. mind you i only have 5 short stories ans the start of two novels.
and i placed third in a contest with my worse story!:p he he. so yeah, whats a B? is it like a 80 or something?
Click to expand...
cool- a B grade varies with the subject, but for english its about 70-80% I think
 
I was an A student in English and always scored whithin the top 99 percentile in english on standardized tests. That being said, all but my last english teacher hated me. I knew what i was doing, and didnt want to conform to the garbage the rest of the class was being forced to deal with. I got a lot of "David, you are a very good writer but (list various complaints about how i "do my own thing", "use too much creativity", and "go too far beyond what I really wanted for the assignment".)

I never let a teacher get away with, well, what teachers often try to pull. I once had an assignment where we were supposed to do a detailed description of a room. So i did. I described, in excrutiating detail, the inside of a dwarven stronghold that had been taken over by a dragon.

I was told "I wanted you to describe a REAL room, not make one up."

I responded "You didnt specify what you wanted,. You said describe a room, so i did". I recieved a bonus 100% because i had done so well (the other kids had done real rooms and couldnt touch my level of detail :p). He wanted me to do a real room. So i did a description of a room in Neuschwanstein, which i had visited the year before when i lived in germany. He thought i was doing another fantasy room. Noy did he get pissed when i corrected him :)

I butted heads with that idiot for a year. His other classes were "Advanced PLacement" english, so basically, they had to read longer andmore boring books than i did :)

Okay, sorry about the ramble there (hope i didnt come off as arrogant, i am just very confident of my ability). Iguess my point is that grades dont really mean too terribly much. most of my writing and english teachers werent writers at all. They lacked the talent and basic ability for creative, or even technical writing.

Write what you like. If you are passionate, others will like it too. Proper grammar and syntax are for classrooms :)
 
Is it possible to agree more than 100%? Because if it is, then I do :)

most of my technique and wording was developed through observation and intuition. i credit my teachers very little with contributing ANYTHING to my education. I learned because i enjoy it.
 
I would probably recommend that if creativity is a beast, then writing for the publishing markets is all about finding a way to tame the beast, without destroying its spirit. So, so many aspirants I've met on other forums refuse to limit their beasts. They jump into self-publishing so that they never need correct anything for an editor or agent. But who reads their stories? :(
 
That would be why there is a link to my story Gloom in the critique forum;)

no need to be a legend in one's own mind.
 
Hmmm... I've rarely come accross an English teacher who was that into writing and stuff. For my CGSE coursework I had to describe a room, as well, and I think mine was a sort of gothicish room. Oh well. For the short story I think I filled up an entire excercise book and she screamed at me saying 'you can do that when you're a famous writer!', sarcastically, of course. She was a good teacher though- she taught me how to write a proper essay.

I've always been a bit behind because I didn't learn to read until I was about 8. I remember being given the same story book over and over again, it was the 'Tinderbox' I think. I remember getting to the last bit and getting so sick of it that I decided to read, and also getting so sick of sitting on the stupid table, and the next book I read was LOTR- I tend to be crap at things for ages, and then to pick them up fairly fast. That said, I should have learnt to write my bike ages ago- I'm 18 and I only learnt two weeks ago!
 
With every new book I read, I pick up inspiration for my stories, or a trick for my writing technique.


Ack! I know just what you mean, Esioul. I'm 15 and working towards my GCSEs, and I told my English teach about my writing, and the first thing he said was "it's not going to interfere with your coursework is it?". Prat.
 
It doesn't really improve much at A Level, either, although if you do lit&lang combined you get to write a short (very short) story.
 
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