From First to Final Draft - The New Creative Writing Thread.

[CharCharGabor]

Everybody's welcome, if you want to share ideas, techniques, publishing info or just chat about writing. Come on in!

is there such a thing as a writer's forum where you can post up some of your writing & get some honest reviews? dh and i have such different tastes that he is almost bound to hate anything i write, and having just moved to us, i don't have anyone else to read it for me, unless i post it to the uk

thanks

There's Writewords - a lively UK site with some very knowledgeable (published) writers on it, as well as lots of beginners. Posting your work for crits from fellow-writers is positively encouraged. You are expected to help others in the same way and crit for them too.

It's free to read most of the site (though some of the good stuff is hidden away for paying members) but I think you do need to join and pay (£20) if you want to post your work for feedback.

Published writer of novels and non-fiction here. Seconding the call to send to stuff to agents, especially if it is good! I shall pop back in over the weekend and recommend some sites and blogs I find useful.

Hello! Sorry I have been absent, DP spilt beer on the computer and it died I have lost the chapters of my novel that I'd written which I was really upset about but I am hopefully going to try writing it again once everything's sorted. Atm I only have a barebones computer with no hard drive in so it's easier to wait until we've got that replaced. Luckily I had sent my short story to a few mners to read so it was saved in my emails. Hope everyone's writing is going ok

Okay, friends, it's been a week.
How much and what has everyone written?
C'mon, let's be 'avin' yer.

Not much going on here. I went to the library to have a bit of time to myself and went straight to sleep.

I've been trying to get a bit of dialogue going, but without much success. I think I'm putting it away for now and going to see if anything is worth salvaging when I have written some of the context....

HI!

May I join you?
I'm a mother-of-two, working full-time as a Philosophy teacher, and an aspiring author currently writing a novel on the tube. It's so hard, but I'm loving it. Unfortunately (or fortunately?), it's in French, so I can't share much...
I've sent the first section (90p.) to a few friends and family for comments a few days ago and I check my inbox compulsively since. My mum thinks it's amazing, obviously. My dad says it's "very good" (crap??).
I'm also writing flash fiction in English because I'm too scared to write anything longer, because of all the mistakes I might make...

RosemayBingle: I've just had a whole fortnight of hideous block, writing 10 lines a day (of real crap too). Just getting over it now...

oops, sorry RosemaryBindle, I was reading your "block" post from two weeks ago

Oops RosemaryBinGle.. I'm being thick tonight. Not a good start on this lovely thread.
Goodnight ladies

How's everyone doing? I've had a really good week of writing, almost like the tap has been turned on.

Hey, am new to this so be nice! I am three quaters of the way through a childrens novel, have three under four so can be a challenge. It is nice to find a place with others in similar situations (smile)

oh yes, we're all nice here. I've got 4 aged seven and under, and I'm trying to HE at the same time. Sometimes, I think I'm going slightly potty.

I think slightly mad is an assett, gives us an edge!

I wrote a short story a couple of weeks ago - the first one for over 15 years!

Still failing re: poems though - I have half of one that is stuck at the moment, although the final few lines are in place.

Well done!I think it is just a case of keep on writing, I force myself to do it everyday, sometimes its complete crap but it does help.

I'm finding a problem at the moment in that members of my family keep popping up in a short story I'm writing. I don't know how recogniseable they are, but it's causing a bit of friction for me and I'm not sure I like it!

I was checking out a few threads on here that I have not visited before and I found this one. I am a "wannabe writer" and have found that blogging and writing articles on various sites have taught me a lot. I have a novel in its first draft, apart from one chapter that needs finishing and now I am trying to motivate myself to go back and "fine tune" as well as do more on "character development".

I was given a book for Christmas that I have found to be the best one about the realities of "writing" and trying to get published. It's a great read and very funny.

It's called "wannabe a writer?" by Jane Wenham-Jones, it's available from Amazon, where there's various positive reviews.

I hope its OK to leave a link on here. I have done my own review HERE if you would like to read more about it before thinking about buying.

I've been writing this week, just a short story but its actually going really well. The words just seem to be flying out and I'm making a concerted effort not to read or edit until its finished!

Well, I've managed about 4000 words per day this week, I don't know what's going on. Mostly in the evening,and lots of note scribbling in free moments in the day.

Wow kay, that's fantastic!

Kay that's fab! I'm still struggling with the discipline at the moment. I think I seriously need to reorganise some 'life stuff' (give up housework).

Does anyone else ever have a slight panic that, by the time they've finished the masterpiece, someone else will have beaten them to it and your novel/short story will just look like a sad copycat? Or is that just me?

Have been reading this thread with a lot of interest - finding MN has been such a relief after all trying various boring forums where nothing of interest ever seems to happen.

I too am a frustrated wannabe writer and yes, plumpchoc, I have that panic constantly but am still too rubbish to get with the programme and just write the damn thing. If I was a superhere I'd be called The Procrastinator-aways putting off until tomorrow what could be done today. At least when it comes to writing, which is so weird because it's what I've always wanted to do.

Also too much going on at the moment with DH's company possibly going down the recession pan leaving us with the usual financial woes that most people seem to be struggling with these days. Don't find anxiety and general worry very conducive to writing.

But - adapt and survive as they say, and it might be a useful form of escapism. Kay's enviable 4,000 word epic effort has inspired me to at least try. So I'm going to log off MN now for at least 10 minutes and have a go for the first time in ages. Wish me luck!