Welcome to Writing

[mactombs]

Welcome to this section of the forums. Since you're reading this post, I'll assume you're either very bored or have more than a passing interest in posting your writing or your thoughts about writing. Good for you (not that you need external validation). Writing is still civilization's most taken-for-granted magic -- I'm sure if you're seriously into writing or reading you know exactly what I mean.

The organization of this section will come together over time, but for now, let me start with a few helpful links (feel free to suggest any additional sites).

The Writer's Guild of America: http://www.wga.org/

The Science-Fiction/Fantasty Writers of America: http://www.sfwa.org/

"On Thud and Blunder" (an article on writing by Poul Anderson): http://www.sfwa.org/writing/thud.htm

That'll do for now. A few excellent books on writing are Stephen King's On Writing, Ray Bradbury's Zen and the Art of Writing, and the indispensible The Elements of Style by Strunk and White. A recent addition to this list: Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies For Every Writer by Roy Peter Clark (this one is good for anybody, even semi-vegetative bloggers).

[mactombs]

Here's a fun test to take:

http://www.rinkworks.com/fnovel/

It's the "The Fantasy Novelist's Exam: Ever since J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis created the worlds of Middle Earth and Narnia, it seems like every windbag off the street thinks he can write great, original fantasy, too. The problem is that most of this 'great, original fantasy' is actually poor, derivative fantasy. Frankly, we're sick of it, so we've compiled a list of rip-off tip-offs in the form of an exam. We think anybody considering writing a fantasy novel should be required to take this exam first. Answering 'yes' to any one question results in failure and means that the prospective novel should be abandoned at once."

I've failed this one before.

[sarahstaby]

Lol, I know what you mean.  It's hard to be entirely original, and it's okay to overlap ideas.  It's the total rippoffs that aren't.  There was this really strange girl in my high school aerobics class.  The kind that might show up one day in star trek garb, the next with a plastic sword.  You know the type.  One day she started going on about this sci-fi book she was writing.  It was going to be 500 pages.  Mankind had somehow been sucked into a dreamworld and only her main character, Morpheus, could save them.  Sound familiar?  I thought it was pretty funny.  Too bad those 500 pages were a waste of time.

I love that you posted those writing books.  They are classics.  There's one I love that isn't as popular called The First Five Pages, by Noah Lukeman.  It's teaches how to perfect a manuscript but is just as helpful if you just need a little guidance.

Hi, I'm Mrs. Jakestaby by the way.

[Latro]

Welcome Sarahstaby!  Thanks again for offering to help us out with this section of the boards.  Check the rest of the forums out and feel free to let us know what you think about any of the topics, including the numerous amount of them that lack any real point of interest.

[sarahstaby]

lol, thanks Latro