Cool New Writer Friends?

Hey there! I've been finding my way on here for the past couple weeks, and I figured it would be a good time to be more active about trying to find some connections on here. I've always had this dream of having a bunch of serious writer friends, but that hasn't quite happened yet. When I was an undergrad student in creative writing, I guess taking writing courses was the closest I've come to that sort of thing, but a lot of people just saw creative writing, which was a concentration of the English degree, as being an easier alternative to the literature track (I have opinions about this particularly, but I won't go too far with that right now). Most of those students were in the education program too and didn't pursue writing after graduation. I did go on to an MA in literature after my BA, and while doing that, I also made a lot of friends with writing interests, but most of them are limited to what they can do outside of academics because they've moved on to literature PhD programs.

So yeah, now I'll talk a little bit about my writing interests. I'm currently pursuing publication of a YA supernatural/paranormal fiction novel that I co-wrote with a friend and working on a fantasy fiction one that I started all the way back in '13. Additionally, I enjoy writing historical fiction. Majority of my undergrad writing projects were history fiction, including short stories and my capstone.

In addition to writing, I'm also very passionate about genealogy, history, traveling, reading (of course), photography, baseball, tv/movies, board games. If you have any ideas on how to grow your social media (I.e: Twitter), as an emerging writer, I'm more than curious to hear any tips regarding that as well!

I'm not exactly sure what I'm soliciting here exactly. If any part of this post interests you, and you'd like to start a conversation down below or directly, please feel free to do so. I tend to be an interested and inquisitive person, especially when it comes to writing/reading and discussion, so please feel free to go off in any direction you see fit.

Marissa D said:

The best way to make friends here is to start participating: keep an eye on posts and if something looks interesting, jump in and comment on it. Or come play in the Writing Exercises board, or comment in the Share Your Work boards.

And yay! Another historical writer! I'm hopelessly in love with historical fantasy--the kind that is based in actual historical events, but sneaks fantasy elements in underneath.

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I'll keep that in mind. I actually have perused those writing games before. I just need to work up the nerve to participate! I also want to give some feedback on the Share Your Work boards. Oh, insecurities haha

I think those elements create some of the best historical fiction. I've heard it referred to as historical fantasy. It looks like you have quite a few books out. I'll have to check them out.

Patty said:

Heya.

Lots to love in your post.

I have mixed thoughts about social media but if you are a follow/followback kind of person, then on twitter there is something called followback friday and writers do support one another to increase follower counts. I mean, that's a whole can of worms, but if you are looking to increase followers, look up #FF or followback friday.

I've been unsuccessfully querying a science fantasy novel (climate crisis) and working on a couple novellas. Here, if you keep an eye on 'the beta project,' then in a week or so you'll see a whole raft of AW members pitching their work in search of critique. These will be finished projects, by and large, and good way to sort out the sorts of things people are writing (and their style and voice.)

Love historical stuff, historical fantasy (Hi Marissa!) is fantastic, and etc. Just finished reading The Dead Father's Club which is none of the above, but now ghosts and lies and truth are all rattling around in my head.

Welcome.

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Thanks for the information about the #FF stuff on Twitter. Now that you mention it, I think that I have gotten included in a few of those so far. I have wanted to do one of my own, but I figured I'd do so when I have some more followers. I find that the writing community on Twitter is very active, but it's easy to get very lost in the shuffle. Also, it's more than fair to have mixed feelings about social media. After doing some research, looking around, being active on multiple ones, I feel like Twitter is the best when it comes to platforms for writers/authors. I'm curious to know if anyone disagrees with me.

Oh nice! I'll definitely keep that beta project thing in mind. Sorry to hear that you haven't had much luck with the querying. It's definitely a frustrating process. The waiting is probably the worst part of it all for me. It doesn't help that I'm waiting on a lot of different things at the moment in my life overall.

I don't think I've heard of that one. I'll have to look into it. Would you recommend it?

Coddiwomple said:

Oh, yes! Please join in. Although I have to warn you — instead of finding serious writer friends, you may find silly, irreverant ones.

And +1 to everything Marissa and Patty said.

I don’t write historical fiction, but my fantasy worlds are heavily influenced by history, since I study art history and evolutionary theory. What eras inspire you?

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Haha, I'm open to writers of all kinds haha xD

I definitely can relate to that. My fantasy novel is very influenced by medieval/Renaissance England. I guess that's one of the most obvious eras to seek inspiration from, but I guess you can help what you're interested in. I'm mostly interested in 19th-century American history when it comes to historical fiction, so at least that's a little bit less drawn from.

Patty said:

It took me 84 pages to truly get into, but once I hit page 84 I quite enjoyed it. It's sort of 'thinky' in the end. The author's on Twitter too (@matthaig) and is a mental health advocate (as an author) in Leeds, I think. Really liked his How to Stop Time and plan to look up Reasons to Stay Alive.

Dead Father's Club intrigued me because it feels adult but the protagonist is 11 or 12 so that makes it a possible go-to book for writing young protagonists in adult fiction.

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Oh okay! 84 pages isn't that bad. I've definitely read books that picked up later into it than that or, even worse, they never did. I'll have to check out the author; books that make you think are great, especially when it adds re-read value.

Coddiwomple said:

Oh! I love 19th-century American history! What a fascinating time period. (See also: my interest in evolution. Yay, Darwin.)

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It really was a fascinating time. A lot of aspects of American culture and identity were so incredibly different from the start of the century to the end of it. Not to say that it's not true of every century, but I think that it's even true to a greater extent for the 19th. Ahhhhh Darwin. I took an ecocritical theory course about a year ago, and I had to read a compiled works of Darwin, which was definitely a slog.