Hello from Holland! New fantasy/scifi/short story writer

Chiara Nova

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Hi! I'm Chiara, I'm 22 years old and I'm from The Netherlands. I have been writing seriously for the past three years. I have always wanted to be a writer, I always said I would be a writer when I grew up, and now I’m finally working on that. When I first started putting my heart and soul into it, I started out with a fantasy novel but I couldn’t get it on paper the way it deserved to be told. So I decided to put it on hold for a while, let it burn slowly in the back of my mind while I work on other things. Those other things are, mainly, short stories.

I read books in a lot of different genres, like fantasy, science fiction, dystopian, thriller, horror and with the occasional contemporary novel thrown in. I write stories in almost all of these genres as well. I want to try as many styles and genres as possible to see what truly fits, and so far, I like writing fantasy and science fiction stories the best. My main problem is actually finishing them, though I have been steadily improving with that :) I hope to get enough experience with the short stories, and finish them, so that I can truly devote myself to my fantasy book. Another problem I've been having with writing is that there are too many ideas and too little time, and it's easy to get distracted by new, shiny things. But, in the end I think it's better to have too many ideas than not having enough ideas.

I used to work in a bookstore, which I loved because nobody gave me funny looks when I got over-enthusiastic about books, but after I graduated from university, I started working as an economic psychologist for a large international company here in The Netherlands. Besides reading and writing, I like playing guitar, painting, bullet journaling, and learning Spanish.

I’m here to get in touch with like minded souls and I would love to talk with everyone about everything there is to talk about writing. Also, English is my second language, so I’m bound to make some mistakes here and there. Please don’t hesitate to let me know as it will help me improve writing in English.

So I guess that’s it for now. Thanks for bearing with me and don’t hesitate to get in touch! :)
 

relletyrots

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Welcome, Chiara! :welcome:

I read and write in those genres as well. I'm also a non-native English speaker, so know you're definitely not alone.

Good luck with your short stories and with the prospective novel!
 

regdog

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:welcome:


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:welcome: Wow, your writing is impressive given that English isn't your first language. Honestly, I wouldn't have known by reading this, so I should say you're doing a wonderful job - and Spanish on top of that! I've played with learning Japanese, but I've only gotten as far as learning basic sentences. Kudos to anyone who can get it down :)
 

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Wow, that’s an extensive introduction considering English is your second language!

Greetings, Chiara, and welcome to AW!
 

TinaG

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Hello Chiara nice to meet you. This is the place to be for like minded souls. I look forward to seeing you around!!
 

Tristann

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Hey Chiara,

I'm in a similar place with my writing. There's a big story that I've been dancing around telling for a while now but I know I'm not ready yet, so I'm trying to improve with short stories.

Do you keep a notebook to spill your ideas into? I started keeping notebooks about a year ago and it really helps when my head gets overcrowded. I can let the idea out, give it a safe place to nap, and come back to it when I have time (I would recommend getting one that you really like, my current one is a hideous day-glow pink :D).

Tris
 

Vhb_Rocketman

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Hey there Chiara!

Welcome to AW, where all your dreams come true! ...well..maybe not, but you can find some good advice here. I'm still learning how to finish my own first novel.

Though I'm wondering, what exactly is an Economic Psychologist? Sounds interesting.

....sigh...my phone really hates editing posts on this forum...
 
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Chiara Nova

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Welcome, Chiara! :welcome:

I read and write in those genres as well. I'm also a non-native English speaker, so know you're definitely not alone.

Good luck with your short stories and with the prospective novel!

Thank you! :)

Great to see that there are more of us! Do you write in English as well or do you prefer writing in your native language?
 

Chiara Nova

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:welcome: Wow, your writing is impressive given that English isn't your first language. Honestly, I wouldn't have known by reading this, so I should say you're doing a wonderful job - and Spanish on top of that! I've played with learning Japanese, but I've only gotten as far as learning basic sentences. Kudos to anyone who can get it down :)

Thanks so much! :) It's really reassuring to read that you wouldn't have noticed it by my writing! I do my best, but it's sometimes hard to be 100% sure about things like grammar.

I did a four-week Spanish course in Valencia last year which helped me improve a lot, but in daily life outside of Spain, it's a lot harder to keep up. Wow, Japanese, that's impressive! I always imagine languages like Japanese to be very hard to learn, and I think you're a brave soul to try :) Did you take a course or try to learn it with apps and such?
 

Chiara Nova

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Hello Chiara nice to meet you. This is the place to be for like minded souls. I look forward to seeing you around!!

Hi Tina, nice to meet you too! Great to see that I came to the right place where all the souls can be found :) (Not in a creepy, demonic kind of way, of course ;))
 

Chiara Nova

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Hey Chiara,

I'm in a similar place with my writing. There's a big story that I've been dancing around telling for a while now but I know I'm not ready yet, so I'm trying to improve with short stories.

Do you keep a notebook to spill your ideas into? I started keeping notebooks about a year ago and it really helps when my head gets overcrowded. I can let the idea out, give it a safe place to nap, and come back to it when I have time (I would recommend getting one that you really like, my current one is a hideous day-glow pink :D).

Tris

Hi Tris!

Nice to find someone who's in a similar place! :) What kind of short stories do you write? And how long are your short stories?

Yes, I have one notebook in which I note tiny ideas. Then as soon as an idea grows, I give it its own notebook so that I don't have stories spilling over each other in one notebook. This lets me make my stories grow even when I'm not actively working on them, as it's easy to keep all the ideas together. As a result, I have around six notebooks for growing stories beside the one for tiny ideas and a notebook-buying addiction that has left me with around 20 empty notebooks - and counting.

That's good advice, I think you really need to like the notebook and the feel of it needs to fit with the story :) Though I think the hideousness of day-glow pink may be inspiring in its own peculiar way :)

Chiara
 

Chiara Nova

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Hey there Chiara!

Welcome to AW, where all your dreams come true! ...well..maybe not, but you can find some good advice here. I'm still learning how to finish my own first novel.

Though I'm wondering, what exactly is an Economic Psychologist? Sounds interesting.

....sigh...my phone really hates editing posts on this forum...

Hi Rocketman!

Thank you! A shame that this is not the place where all your dreams come true... though I don't think I would trust that place anyway. I guess we'll have to do with the good advice :)

I think finishing stories is one of the hardest parts of writing. What genre is your story?

Economic psychology is about the psychology behind marketing. So I'm in online marketing, but from a psychologist's perspective with a more scientific approach. What this means is that I, for example, analyze our company website and see where any obstacles may be, how people interpret and process information etc. Then I make a hypothesis about how we can improve that and then I test to see whether I'm right. The process then starts all over again and then I start improving more based on that conclusion. That's it in a nutshell :)

(Does your name imply that you're an astronaut?)

- - - Updated - - -

Welcome to AW, Chiara!

Thank you!
 

A.graye

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Hi, welcome.

Distance from a novel is a healthy thing--few things are worse than a forced novel. Good job in continuing to write other things in the meantime. Your other story will come, eventually.
 

TinaG

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Hi Tina, nice to meet you too! Great to see that I came to the right place where all the souls can be found :) (Not in a creepy, demonic kind of way, of course ;))

No worries that was not creepy at all acutely made me smile and wonder how available the souls here are :tongue
 

Vhb_Rocketman

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I think finishing stories is one of the hardest parts of writing. What genre is your story?

My story's a space opera. Assuming I ever get to the part where I'm comfortable with others reading it.



Economic psychology is about the psychology behind marketing.

Ok. That sounds kinda what I thought. Didn't know that was a thing (mainly cause I never thought about it). Sounds really interesting!

(Does your name imply that you're an astronaut?)

I wish! I had to settle for being an Aerospace Engineer. Maybe when I get filthy rich from my writing I can pay for a tourist ride to space lol.
 

Chiara Nova

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My story's a space opera. Assuming I ever get to the part where I'm comfortable with others reading it.





Ok. That sounds kinda what I thought. Didn't know that was a thing (mainly cause I never thought about it). Sounds really interesting!



I wish! I had to settle for being an Aerospace Engineer. Maybe when I get filthy rich from my writing I can pay for a tourist ride to space lol.

There's this great quote portraying the horror of letting others read your work: "If you show someone something you've written, you give them a sharpened stake, lie down in your coffin, and say, 'When you're ready'." - David Mitchell

It is really interesting! It's also a fairly new job, which is why a lot of people haven't heard about it.

Aerospace Engineer sounds really cool as well! I have always been fascinated by space and I think that that must be a really interesting job :)
 

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Welcome from another newbie! I'm a fantasy writer, too, and I've also done the step-away-from-the-novel thing...and I think it helps in the long run. I hope it helps you, too!
 

BradCarsten

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Welcome. I'm like that as well. At the beginning of the year, I had 5 novels that were 95%+ completed! pushing them over the finish line is so difficult. Anyway, I decided to work through each, one at a time and get them out there even if I have to stay up until 4 in the morning to do it.
Best of luck. hope to see one of your books on the shelves soon.