Hello Everyone

[Lundgren]

Hello everyone,

Considering I wasn't even in my teens when I got a typewriter as either a birthday gift or a Christmas present, I've been poking around with stories for quite some time now. However, so far I've just been writing for my own eyes (and since my late teens it has mainly been smut of some kind... ). I've also been GMing pen-and-paper role-playing games since my mid-teens, so crafting worlds and situations has kind of always been a hobby for me.

I've been thinking about writing stuff I'm more comfortable sharing, and finding a place where I can talk with other writers. At least one of the two achieved now. I have a few story ideas that could fit the first part as well, but those are mainly in the planning stage so far (I'm mainly a pantser/gardener, but just as with first or third POV it kind of depends on the story at hand). Well, I did have a co-worker I used to bounce a lot of ideas with, but he took a two years leave of absence to study.

My current crop of in-planning or in-progress writing is mainly on the fantasy or scifi scale of things, even if a few of them begins on present day earth or a couple of decades into the future.

I think one of my main weakness at the moment is writing descriptions (places, people, items, whatever).

English is a second language to me, and writing has been one of the ways for me to practice and improve it. Then, if I ever would produce anything good enough to publish, at least 90% of the potential target group among those speaking my first language are at least as likely to pick up a book in English. So writing in English is my primary option.

While I'm also trying to learn Spanish, I don't think I ever will get my Spanish to a level where I'm good enough to write any prose in it; but I hope I will get good enough to comfortably read in it.

 

[regdog]

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[Maryn]

I always marvel at how well people whose native language isn't English manage with our weird exceptions-to-the-rule language. Lots of people lag at description of setting (raises hand) and we can help each other.

You're definitely at the right place, and we even have a board you're going to like, the Brainstorming Sandbox, where you can present your idea and other people help you figure out what doesn't work or where it could go from there, whatever it is you need.

Welcome!

Maryn, glad to meet you

 

[Lundgren]

Thank you for the welcome

I always marvel at how well people whose native language isn't English manage with our weird exceptions-to-the-rule language.

To be fair, my native language, Swedish, is very closely related to English. Take a handful of old Norse, German, and French, put it in a bag and then shake hard. Depending on the proportions and what parts ended up in the bag, you get the different Scandinavian languages, Dutch, or English. The rest is a large part exposure and the necessity steaming from it's a lot harder to find a Swedish speaking person in an English speaking location, than the other way around.

Lots of people lag at description of setting (raises hand) and we can help each other.

You're definitely at the right place, and we even have a board you're going to like, the Brainstorming Sandbox, where you can present your idea and other people help you figure out what doesn't work or where it could go from there, whatever it is you need.

Sounds great I will definitely check that part of the forums out.

 

[CMBright]

Welcome to AW. I was guessing from Lundgren that you were somewhere in Scandinavian territory, but hesitated to ask.

 

[Izz]

Welcome to AW, Lundgren! It's great you're here

AW is, in my opinion, the internet's premier writing place. It's packed full of information on all things writing, and populated by a vibrant, global community of writerly folk at all stages of their creative journeys, from newbies to established pros. Because the place is so large it's easy to get lost/overwhelmed at first but if you take your time exploring you'll know the lay of the land soon enough.

Please carefully read the Newbies Guide you were linked to when you registered, as well as the stickied threads at the top of each forum page. These will help you understand the rules, etiquette and culture of each space within the forums.

It looks like you're already enjoying our International District. You might also like our Science Fiction | Fantasy genre room, and the AW Roundtable, and maybe even our Novels subforum. Well, I'm sure you'll like the whole place but those might be nice places to begin your forum explorations from.

Explore, lurk, join in conversations you find fun or interesting, make friends, enjoy yourself

See you around the boards!
Izz

 

[Nether]

Welcome.

My current crop of in-planning or in-progress writing is mainly on the fantasy or scifi scale of things, even if a few of them begins on present day earth or a couple of decades into the future.

I think one of my main weakness at the moment is writing descriptions (places, people, items, whatever).

Descriptions have always been an area of disinterest for me, which is why I tend to go light on them, and it's often the first thing I have to fix during revision (although I got better about in some of my more-recent manuscripts, and even started with some descriptions in book 7; and I went out of my way to go heavier with descriptions in book 6 (a high fantasy), which is one reason I think I hated writing that so much, although I'll also mention that my level of description increasingly shrunk as I continued through the book yet my dislike didn't much change).

English is a second language to me, and writing has been one of the ways for me to practice and improve it. Then, if I ever would produce anything good enough to publish, at least 90% of the potential target group among those speaking my first language are at least as likely to pick up a book in English. So writing in English is my primary option.

Like my esteemed colleague Maryn said, there's something impressive about writing in one's second second language.

I will mention that once upon a time, I had considered trying to learn a language by writing fiction in that language, but then I realized there was no language I cared enough to learn... scratch that, Japanese had been an area of interest, back when I've sporadically been on anime or manga kicks (although that wasn't one of the ones I'd wanted to learn by writing, and learning kanji (?) would prove difficult)

While I'm also trying to learn Spanish, I don't think I ever will get my Spanish to a level where I'm good enough to write any prose in it; but I hope I will get good enough to comfortably read in it.

I took 3 years of Spanish in high school and I can't even hold a rudimentary conversation.

 

[Lundgren]

Thank you everyone for the welcomes

Welcome to AW. I was guessing from Lundgren that you were somewhere in Scandinavian territory, but hesitated to ask.

I didn't bring it up in the first post as I thought it irrelevant, not a secret Then it kind of became less irrelevant when I found the International District, and while typing my answer above. Questions are welcome, and if it would be about something I don't feel comfortable to share I can always decline to answer.

Welcome to AW, Lundgren! It's great you're here

AW is, in my opinion, the internet's premier writing place. It's packed full of information on all things writing, and populated by a vibrant, global community of writerly folk at all stages of their creative journeys, from newbies to established pros. Because the place is so large it's easy to get lost/overwhelmed at first but if you take your time exploring you'll know the lay of the land soon enough.

I could probably spend the next year just lurking, and still find something new to learn each day on this site.

I wish I found this place years ago. On the other hand, I'm glad I found it now and not years into the future.

Please carefully read the Newbies Guide you were linked to when you registered, as well as the stickied threads at the top of each forum page. These will help you understand the rules, etiquette and culture of each space within the forums.

That's what I've been doing the last few hours, and I still feel I've just started skimming the surface. But I'm in no rush, and some things are clear enough within what's acceptable so I can start getting my feet wet. If it's not clear enough, then I need to reread the sticky threads. And if it's still not sure, then I can always ask.

While a lot of text, I haven't seen anything strange rule-wise so far.

It looks like you're already enjoying our International District. You might also like our Science Fiction | Fantasy genre room, and the AW Roundtable, and maybe even our Novels subforum. Well, I'm sure you'll like the whole place but those might be nice places to begin your forum explorations from.

Thanks. I will definitely check those out.

Descriptions have always been an area of disinterest for me, which is why I tend to go light on them, and it's often the first thing I have to fix during revision (although I got better about in some of my more-recent manuscripts, and even started with some descriptions in book 7; and I went out of my way to go heavier with descriptions in book 6 (a high fantasy), which is one reason I think I hated writing that so much, although I'll also mention that my level of description increasingly shrunk as I continued through the book yet my dislike didn't much change).

For me, I think it's more that I kind of forget that people don't have the mental image of the situation that I have, and I forget to convey it. On the other hand, at times that doesn't matter, and it's just a matter to give enough seeds so those that need some description also can enjoy the story. As I tend to not write it, it also means I don't have the practice, so when I remember to write it, it probably isn't that good. Then there's the detail of remembering the other senses as well.

Like my esteemed colleague Maryn said, there's something impressive about writing in one's second second language.

I will mention that once upon a time, I had considered trying to learn a language by writing fiction in that language, but then I realized there was no language I cared enough to learn... scratch that, Japanese had been an area of interest, back when I've sporadically been on anime or manga kicks (although that wasn't one of the ones I'd wanted to learn by writing, and learning kanji (?) would prove difficult)

Japanese definitely isn't an easy language to learn, but one of those I would want to learn.

As one of my hobbies is trying to learn how to draw, I've been thinking about making a comic to get around the writing description part. However, I'm not good enough at drawing (but there's always the option to team up with, or hire, an artist) and I think I tend to be far to dialogue heavy for comic.

I took 3 years of Spanish in high school and I can't even hold a rudimentary conversation.

I had it for two years in Gymnasiet (grade 10-12), was in a relation for four years with someone that spoke it fluently, and still couldn't even manage to order food at a KFC in Colombia. I have found some resources that works for me, so I'm actually learning no (and I actually learning Spanish from English now, instead of trying to learn it through material in Swedish).

 

[AW Admin]

I've been thinking about writing stuff I'm more comfortable sharing, and finding a place where I can talk with other writers. At least one of the two achieved now. I have a few story ideas that could fit the first part as well, but those are mainly in the planning stage so far (I'm mainly a pantser/gardener, but just as with first or third POV it kind of depends on the story at hand). Well, I did have a co-worker I used to bounce a lot of ideas with, but he took a two years leave of absence to study.

My current crop of in-planning or in-progress writing is mainly on the fantasy or scifi scale of things, even if a few of them begins on present day earth or a couple of decades into the future.

Have you thought about trying to write a 50K novel for NaNoWriMo? Basically, you spend the month of November writing about 1600 words a day, concentrating on forward momentum rather than revising.

 

[Lundgren]

Have you thought about trying to write a 50K novel for NaNoWriMo? Basically, you spend the month of November writing about 1600 words a day, concentrating on forward momentum rather than revising.

Focus on a single story throughout a month? What kind of sorcery is this?

I've heard about NaNoWriMo several times before, but never looked closer at it. There's quiet a risk spending my evenings and weekends writing towards the NaNo goal would make me dislike whatever I'm writing on. Still, doing it could put some word count toward something I would be comfortable sharing examples from when discussing writing.

If I put up some constraints of my own;
* Using an existing story idea, or writing another story in one of my existing settings. I don't want to add another idea intentionally to the pile.
* It should be a plot-bunny I'm ready to sacrifice, in case participating would make me antagonistic towards it.

...then I already have two ideas to pick between, and probably will have some more ideas before this day is over. I guess it's time to decide which plot-bunny that should fear for its life.

Too bad my upcoming vacation will be in the first three weeks of December. Oh well.

 

[CMBright]

According to the rules, you just have to put in 50,000 words. No editing, no revising, just pure writing, hopefully for the fun of it.

My goal is to do that exploring the ramifications of my sci-fi world. Whether it turns into a novel or not is another story.

 

[Lundgren]

So, while the hamsters were busy redecorating. I have...

* Registered on the NaNo website.
* Picked out what project to write on.

It will be writing a novel on an even that happened twenty years before one of the scifi stories I had in the idea/preparation pile (I could find the test scene I had written for it, but can't find my other notes). If nothing else comes out of it, it will at least give a lot of extra world building for that story

So, now I just have to figure out what characters I will follow during that event, and start figuring out details.

 

[Nether]

Focus on a single story throughout a month? What kind of sorcery is this?

I will say that just drafting one thing at a time was a driving force in me actually finishing things.

I've heard about NaNoWriMo several times before, but never looked closer at it. There's quiet a risk spending my evenings and weekends writing towards the NaNo goal would make me dislike whatever I'm writing on. Still, doing it could put some word count toward something I would be comfortable sharing examples from when discussing writing.

Think of it as a fun experiment where you're trying a new approach.

A large part of the writing process involves experimentation to see what will or won't work for you (or how certain things can be adjusted so they work for you)

If I put up some constraints of my own;
* Using an existing story idea, or writing another story in one of my existing settings. I don't want to add another idea intentionally to the pile.
* It should be a plot-bunny I'm ready to sacrifice, in case participating would make me antagonistic towards it.

Both of which are well within the rules. Pre-planning is also allowed. The only thing you can't do is continue a draft.

Too bad my upcoming vacation will be in the first three weeks of December. Oh well.

I think as an exercise something like NaNo is more productive during an ordinary month because you won't always be able to rely on time off. This way you're discovering ways to try to make writing fit within your schedule and building habits/routines that go well beyond November.

 

[Maryn]

I know one writer here at AW who writes on her lunch break most weekdays. She eats and writes and finishes novels. I think she's said she sometimes writes for a few hours on a weekend, but not regularly. Just lunchtimes.

While I no longer work outside the home (where I work plenty, thank you!), this reminds me that the time is there for nearly everyone. We have to identify it and figure out whether we're willing to forgo what we've been doing with those minutes. Maybe you can't give up the break a lunch hour provides, but you could give up a half hour of gaming or YouTube, or write instead of binge watching whatever show people are talking about, like that.

Maryn, with the time but not the skill

 

[Lundgren]

Maybe you can't give up the break a lunch hour provides, but you could give up a half hour of gaming or YouTube, or write instead of binge watching whatever show people are talking about, like that.

Oh, I have time to write. It's just that this November I don't think I have enough time to get even close to 50,000 words. Still, if I only get to 15,000 words, that's okay with me.

On the other hand, I don't have a clue what my words per hour speed is.

 

[Set2Stun]

I think one of my main weakness at the moment is writing descriptions (places, people, items, whatever).

Descriptions have always been an area of disinterest for me, which is why I tend to go light on them, and it's often the first thing I have to fix during revision (although I got better about in some of my more-recent manuscripts, and even started with some descriptions in book 7; and I went out of my way to go heavier with descriptions in book 6 (a high fantasy), which is one reason I think I hated writing that so much, although I'll also mention that my level of description increasingly shrunk as I continued through the book yet my dislike didn't much change).

Saaaaaame. I try to write what I would like to read, which is typically something that prioritizes plot and character, in that order. Reading a pages-long description of an object, person, or even a setting, is rarely something I find interesting, and it's all soon forgotten as the plot and dialogue start to pick up again.

 

[Lundgren]

Saaaaaame. I try to write what I would like to read, which is typically something that prioritizes plot and character, in that order. Reading a pages-long description of an object, person, or even a setting, is rarely something I find interesting, and it's all soon forgotten as the plot and dialogue start to pick up again.

I don't mind descriptions when I read, at least unless the writer isn't drone on and on about it. My problem is that I at times might even forget to write any descriptions and get a white-room problem.

On the other hand, that might be something that maybe would work as a second draft kind of thing for me. Get the plot and dialogue down, then add the scenery after. I guess I will have to experiment.

 

[Mjfaraldo]

Hello everyone,

Considering I wasn't even in my teens when I got a typewriter as either a birthday gift or a Christmas present, I've been poking around with stories for quite some time now. However, so far I've just been writing for my own eyes (and since my late teens it has mainly been smut of some kind... ). I've also been GMing pen-and-paper role-playing games since my mid-teens, so crafting worlds and situations has kind of always been a hobby for me.

I've been thinking about writing stuff I'm more comfortable sharing, and finding a place where I can talk with other writers. At least one of the two achieved now. I have a few story ideas that could fit the first part as well, but those are mainly in the planning stage so far (I'm mainly a pantser/gardener, but just as with first or third POV it kind of depends on the story at hand). Well, I did have a co-worker I used to bounce a lot of ideas with, but he took a two years leave of absence to study.

My current crop of in-planning or in-progress writing is mainly on the fantasy or scifi scale of things, even if a few of them begins on present day earth or a couple of decades into the future.

I think one of my main weakness at the moment is writing descriptions (places, people, items, whatever).

English is a second language to me, and writing has been one of the ways for me to practice and improve it. Then, if I ever would produce anything good enough to publish, at least 90% of the potential target group among those speaking my first language are at least as likely to pick up a book in English. So writing in English is my primary option.

While I'm also trying to learn Spanish, I don't think I ever will get my Spanish to a level where I'm good enough to write any prose in it; but I hope I will get good enough to comfortably read in it.

I'm new too! My first language is Spanish, so let me know if you need help. I must warn you that Spanish is frustrating as hell though. My husband has been living in Urigiay for 13 years and he still struggles and pulls his hair out.

I must confess that writing in Spanish doesn't work for me, not sure why. I just feel that can't say as much in Spanish or that it sounds silly.

 

[Lundgren]

I'm new too! My first language is Spanish, so let me know if you need help. I must warn you that Spanish is frustrating as hell though. My husband has been living in Urigiay for 13 years and he still struggles and pulls his hair out.

Gracias.

I have found some resources that have helped me from "not really able to string a sentence together" to actually be able to communicate a little bit in the language. The website "Spanish with Paul" is a bit pricey as it costs $200 per course for the first year, and $100 for renewing it, but it helped me a lot. The focus is to get an English speaking person to be able to communicate as quickly as possible. So it starts with cognates, which by learning a handful of rules gives about 3000 words to the vocabulary. Then, when it comes to future tense he begins with the two options that are easy to learn, and waits with the one that seems to be the most common among native speakers as it is a lot harder to learn.

Then I use Duolingo for just hammering repetitions, and I take some classes through Verbling.

I guess that your husband however have got far past where I am.

Languages don't come easy to me, but I think all languages have their peculiarity.
Spanish is hard in the beginning as it conjugates all the verbs, and have a few sounds that's not in English (but most of them are in Swedish, just connected to another letter). Most Spanish speaker also speak very fast.

On the other hand, if seeing an unknown word written in Spanish, you can usually guess fairly well how it should be pronounced. That's not really the case with English or Swedish.

What's easy with Swedish is that a lot of words are compounds of simple building blocks. Hospital is Sjukhus, which directly translated is "sick house" and Nurse for a hospital is Sjuksköterska which directly translated would be "sick caretaker".

Then, Swedish have a lot of words where other languages have made them into different ones for nuances (and some words can have very different meanings depending on context). Isolering can mean either isolation or insulation. Val can mean choice, selection, election, or whale. Gift can mean Poison, Venom, Toxic, or married.

Then, of course, there's not only how words are used, but cultural stuff as well. As in how Dutch, Germans, and Danish can be very direct in how they speak; while for example Japanese is often very indirect. So even by having a complete grasp on grammar and vocabulary, one can still be pulling out the hair.

I must confess that writing in Spanish doesn't work for me, not sure why. I just feel that can't say as much in Spanish or that it sounds silly.

I feel the same way about Swedish, but that usually comes from when I or someone else are trying to, kind of, writing an English text with Swedish. That we haven't really learned to be cool with our own language. Then, I'm guessing it's also a question of familiarity. I mean, Spanish can sound very cool to me, and I'm guessing both Swedish and Spanish can sound cool to an English speaking person, but they can think English sounds a bit silly.

At least for me, I know that it would be possible to write in Swedish without making it sound silly, so it's more a question of me lacking the skill at the moment. On the other hand, if I ever manage to get something to a publishable quality, it will probably be easier to find an English to Swedish translator to work with, that can twist Swedish into not sounding silly, than it would be for me to make my writing to not sound silly.

 

[Mjfaraldo]

Most Spanish speaker also speak very fast.

I didn't think we did, until I started to teach Spanish conversation classes. The students pointed out that as I got more comfortable with them understanding, my speed increased.

It seems like you have an amazing system to learn, so that's awesome.

 

[Lundgren]

It seems like you have an amazing system to learn, so that's awesome.

Well, I hope so. I'm currently struggling with past tenses in Spanish (the "simple" and the "imperfect"). When I get a better grasp on those, that will be a great leap forward