New to This: Forums, community, and writing world.

D. H. Alistair · Mar 16, 2018

Hi.

I'm Dustin. This is the first forum I've ever joined. I've been writing for several years but nothing published, but I'm looking to join the world of writing.

If anyone has suggestions for threads or blogs to follow, I would greatly appreciate it.

I like writing superhero stories and adventures.

Not sure what else to say. So thanks for having me. Have a good day.

regdog · Mar 16, 2018

Take some time and read the Newbie Guide and the Stickies found
at the top of Forum pages. They are your best guide to learning about
Absolute Write.

Stop by the Weekend Progress Report each week to brag about your weekly writing accomplishments.
Awesome smilies and awards are given each week.

Please read the FAQ about posting photos.

In fact we have lots of brilliant FAQs check them out.

Members who want to start a thread in Share Your Work to have work critiqued need
50 posts. Don’t make a mad dash to reach your 50 posts. That is frowned upon and can lead to your posts being deleted.
Take some time to greet fellow newbies, critique other members’ works, or join a discussion.

Announcements, Events and Self Promotion is for active members only. All obvious spam will be deleted on sight!
Here’s how to Promote With Aplomb.

Try stopping by Writing Exercises, Prompts & Whimsical Pursuits and give the Flash Fiction Challenge a try.

Zan75 · Mar 16, 2018

Hello Dustin. Welcome aboard. Best of luck going forward.

xkara · Mar 16, 2018

Hello, Dustin! My name is Kara. I'm new here, like you, though I've pretty much grown up on forums.

My fiancé is a big fan of superheroes as well, and I guess I do like them, too. I'm big on Wonder Woman right now, but considering trying to come up with my own superhero or otherwise powered-human character. Do you read comic books? Do you write in prose format, or for comics? I ask since that's the medium most commonly associated with superheroes.

Denevius · Mar 16, 2018

Not much more is needed to say, Dustin!

Best of luck, and welcome to AW!

Enlightened · Mar 16, 2018

Are you named after Alistair Smythe (Spider-Man)? You found a wonderful community.

D. H. Alistair · Mar 18, 2018

Thanks guys for the warm welcome. Regdog, I'll be sure to check all that out. Thanks!

D. H. Alistair · Mar 18, 2018

Hi Kara. Wonder Woman is pretty cool. I do read comics when I have the time. (I have very little these day. Haha.) But I write prose right now. Maybe someday for comics.

What do you write?
(And if you have any tips or suggestions of how I should be posting, please let me know. Thanks!)

D. H. Alistair · Mar 18, 2018

Enlightened said:
Are you named after Alistair Smythe (Spider-Man)? You found a wonderful community.

Lol. Not named after him but I've always like the name Alistair. But the character always takes me back to the 1994 spiderman animated series. Classic!

rawan · Mar 18, 2018

Hi Dustin! I'm also new, and I'm usually terrible at message boards (read: I join them and abandon them, but I'm using all my will not to do that here). Who's your favorite superhero? I'm partial to the X-Men, but I only read comics every now and then.

averydarkword · Mar 18, 2018

Hey Dustin! I'm new here too and I hope we both have a great time!

Anything you need just contact me.

Chase · Mar 18, 2018

I thought of Alistair Cooke, the Brit-born journalist and author of America. DH is also the first initials of DH Lawrence, another famous British journalist and novelist.

The combination for a username should serve you well. :welcome:

to AW, DH. :greenie

xkara · Mar 18, 2018

D. H. Alistair said:
Hi Kara. Wonder Woman is pretty cool. I do read comics when I have the time. (I have very little these day. Haha.) But I write prose right now. Maybe someday for comics.

What do you write?
(And if you have any tips or suggestions of how I should be posting, please let me know. Thanks!)

The only suggestion I have about posting is to just post once when replying to multiple people. Double-posting is generally frowned upon on forums, and I expect there is no difference here! (Although those new to forums like you are tend not to have it held strongly against them!)

I like to write fantasy and romance, and interactive stories. At least, I would like to write these stories. I don't currently have much to show for myself.

My fiancé's favorite superhero is Superman, and the two of us are considering making up our own superhero story. Maybe making a webcomic around it (for fun, though it'd be cool to publish and share it!)

D. H. Alistair · Mar 20, 2018

xkara said:
The only suggestion I have about posting is to just post once when replying to multiple people. Double-posting is generally frowned upon on forums, and I expect there is no difference here! (Although those new to forums like you are tend not to have it held strongly against them!)

Thanks Kara. I didn’t know that. So when I reply to multiple messages is there a way to tag others in it so they know I answered their questions? Are these kind of questions answered in the FAQ?

And you should totally work on the superhero story. As much as I've found, there aren't a lot of hero stories out there for anyone out of high school. So go for it.

Thanks Chase! I knew about DH Lawrence but not about Alistair Cooke. That's pretty cool thanks.

And hey Rawan, the struggle is real to try to read comics. There never seems to be enough time in the day. Haha. But I would say I read spiderman and the fantastic four more than the other.

CAQuinn · Mar 21, 2018

so dustin,
tell us about your writings
how many do you have ready for beta readers!

my main question is
what kind of things make you superhero story different from other's?

cant wait to read one.

will you swap beta reads with me?

let me know and we'll chat more

Christoph

D. H. Alistair · Mar 22, 2018

CAQuinn said:
so dustin,
tell us about your writings
how many do you have ready for beta readers!

my main question is
what kind of things make you superhero story different

Hi Christoph.

I'm working on a novel and it is it not ready for beta readers yet. But I'm game to read something if you have it ready.

And that's a good questions. My stories differ in that they take place in an alternate timeline where the San Andreas fault tore the west coast apart. The new major hub in the west is Palms Nevada, a state of the art city built next to the ruins of Las Vegas. The heroes and villians are people with abilities that vary from simple flight to materializing objects out of thin air. No one is superman nor ever be, and their abilities mature over time with practice allowing the user greater feats within their ability's framework.

Thanks for asking. Tell me about your writing. What do you focus on?

thearchduke · Mar 22, 2018

Welcome. This seems like a nice forum to cut your teeth on, nicer than many at least. As for your name, I thought of Aleister Crowley, but of course his is spelled differently.

And that's a good questions. My stories differ in that they take place in an alternate timeline where the San Andreas fault tore the west coast apart. The new major hub in the west is Palms Nevada, a state of the art city built next to the ruins of Las Vegas. The heroes and villians are people with abilities that vary from simple flight to materializing objects out of thin air. No one is superman nor ever be, and their abilities mature over time with practice allowing the user greater feats within their ability's framework.

That could be interesting. Are you perchance a fan of Worm?

D. H. Alistair · Mar 22, 2018

thearchduke said:
As for your name, I thought of Aleister Crowley, but of course his is spelled differently.

That could be interesting. Are you perchance a fan of Worm?

Thanks thearchduke,

I had not heard of either, Crowley or Worm, but Worm looks interesting. I'll have look into that. What is about Worm you liked?

thearchduke · Mar 22, 2018

D. H. Alistair said:
Thanks thearchduke,

I had not heard of either, Crowley or Worm, but Worm looks interesting. I'll have look into that. What is about Worm you liked?

Crowley was probably the most famous 20th-century occultist, if that's the sort of thing you're into.

Worm I liked because I thought it detailed a believable modern world dealing with the sudden arrival of superheroes, complete with sclerotic bureaucracy and fights over things like utilities. Plus the fight scenes were cool. The beginning is kind of meh, but the author improves.

A lot of superhero stuff leaves me cold because it either feels stapled on or completely overtakes the world, but I liked that one, it struck a good balance.

D. H. Alistair · Mar 23, 2018

thearchduke said:
Crowley was probably the most famous 20th-century occultist, if that's the sort of thing you're into.

Worm I liked because I thought it detailed a believable modern world dealing with the sudden arrival of superheroes, complete with sclerotic bureaucracy and fights over things like utilities. Plus the fight scenes were cool. The beginning is kind of meh, but the author improves.

A lot of superhero stuff leaves me cold because it either feels stapled on or completely overtakes the world, but I liked that one, it struck a good balance.

You sold me on Worm. I'm going to have to look it up. I want to be able and strike that balance of realism with the fantasy of what if superpowers did exist. Worm might be good inspiration.

And I can't say I'm in to the occult, but I can say it's good to know what's out there.

Thanks!

New to This: Forums, community, and writing world.

D. H. Alistair

regdog

The Scavengers

Zan75

xkara

Denevius

Enlightened

Always Learning

D. H. Alistair

D. H. Alistair

D. H. Alistair

rawan

averydarkword

Cat lover

Chase

It Takes All of Us to End Racism

xkara

D. H. Alistair

CAQuinn

D. H. Alistair

thearchduke

D. H. Alistair

thearchduke

D. H. Alistair