Any writers here on the Escapist?

[MrMixelPixel]

I role play a lot... does that count?

 

[James Kortright]

I love to write, although primarily for poops and giggles. Just short articles mainly, but I am in the process of writing a fantasy novel (about 30,000 words in at the moment. Will probably try to actually do something with that lol).

I posted one of my articles on here the other day, but no one read it haha. It's on http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.276119-Mass-Effect-The-Face-of-Evil-SPOILERS#10719213 (shameless plug).

I think I like to write as you have unlimited time to formulate a proper expression of your point/argument. Most of the time in my life, complicated matters only get brought up when there has been a lot of drinking, and I can't express myself in the way I want to. Hell, even if I haven't been drinking, I still find it difficult as I find myself exaggerating or agreeing when (if I had had a minute to think) I wouldn't have done. In that way, I guess it is a little be therapeutic as well. Plus, it helps me sleep.

 

[Extravagance]

Mostly alot of quite bad teenage poetry, and then a few things of a more political nature that I'm actualy vaguley proud of. I've started and never finished a couple of short stories, mostly because I get distracted and run out of inspiration. I do pretty much exclusivly post on DeviantArt; not for the 'community', which I ignore, or for the whole favourites/pageviews ego trip thing which tends to annoy me. Mostly, it's just a good place to store what I've written online so if I loose the paper version I can just print it out again.

I'd almost kill for a decent place to post, regardless of ability, that would actually give constructive feedback. And would, hopefully, forgive me for the appaling vampire-related rubbish I wront when I was 14 x_x (Before Twilight, loooong before then.)

 

[Dream_Sequencer]

I am a freelance writer. I am published on the Kindle and do literature edits. I'm searching around for an actual publisher.

 

[Illesdan]

I was an extremely prolific writer when I was a teenager. My love of comics made me think I would like to be a comic book writer until I became friends with a professional one. He thought my writing, while rough, was quite interesting. Once I found out more about how demanding comic book writing was, I realized I should probably shift my writing style to original works and concentrate on novel-style writing.

I would love to get back into writing again. I haven't written much outside of entertaining my circle of friends at the gaming table when I DM the occasional Dungeons and Dragons campaign. I write all my own campaigns, which I have been told are quite good.

I have three projects in mind, and I do go and work on them when I get the inspiration and time to do so. Sadly, I don't have enough of ANY of them to show off to anyone. Bah. I need to win the lottery so I can live in my head as much as I please.

 

[PatrickXD]

I enjoy writing, and people have always told me I'm a good writer, but I've never been able to stick with a project beyond around 15 pages. Typically I'll have an idea, maybe a certain character or setting I want to explore, and I'll write a bit about it, then get bored and move on to my next idea.

Definitely this. Although I wrote a book with my dad, about 300 pages. It will never see the light of day, however, it's just a personal project.

 

[JoJo]

As a writer myself I've found there are very few places on the net you can really go to be around other writers and make good discussion- believe me, I've looked. Makes me wonder just how many members of the hobby, casual or otherwise, we have here in the big E.
I take my writing pretty seriously even though I've only had a single minor publication in the past, but mostly just because I love getting into a project. Just started a whole new one today actually and hoping I'll actually be able to stick with it.

SO how about it, do we have any pen jockeys in the Off Topic~?

If it hasn't already been mentioned, there is a group for writing on the Escapist.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/groups/view/Writer-s-Bloc

You'll also find alot of us hanging around the RP section

 

[SYSTEM-J]

I'm having my first story published in a national anthology in October, so soon I will be a published author. I recently finished my second story and have sent it out to a few places to try and get that published as well. There have been a couple of rejection letters so far, but my first story was rejected and has still ended up being published.

Rejection is just part of being an aspiring author, but when you're still learning your trade the important part is recognising when you should soldier on with a piece of writing and when you should take the hint. People often point out that the first Harry Potter book was famously rejected by eight publishers before it got picked up. Not that I personally believe Harry Potter is great literature, but it's self-evidently of publishable and marketable quality. That kind of story can console you when you get rejected, but it's very easy to fall into self-protective fallacies about people just not "getting" your work, or it all being a matter of opinion. It's almost impossible to be objective about your own writing, especially when you've put such a lot into it, and sometimes a story just isn't working.

I've also had some sports writing published on the ESPN website, and the occasional pop culture essay on places like Pop Matters. I've pretty much ditched the essay/journalism writing though, because it just saps my creative energy away from the fiction writing, which is what I'm more interested in.

 

[FightThePower]

I write videogame reviews from time to time but that's about it. I helped my sister with her Creative Writing dissertation for Uni, but I just helped with the grammar, not really writing as such.

 

[Hectix777]

My imagination is vivid and wild, remebering the good and bad that creates a confusing landscape to newcomers to mind. A land both beautiful and horrifying; breath taking and wretching; peaceful and chaotic; normal because its weird; in short:insanity

 

[Freechoice]

You know what would be cool? If the OP had asked everyone to post something of theirs. I'd be willing to bet that half the comments here would have vanished if that was a requisite.

If it hasn't already been mentioned, there is a group for writing on the Escapist.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/groups/view/Writer-s-Bloc

You'll also find alot of us hanging around the RP section

I hit the button for it.

 

[Nickolai77]

Yeah, I'm a writer. Just finished the second act in my series, The Chainsmoker's Trilogy. It should be going up on sale in the next few months. I just love the whole process of writing. Sculpting the characters, the worlds, and so on. The best feeling, by far, is that warm fuzzy glow at a book signing when someone you've never met before comments about their favorite character and you realize that they're talking about something YOU gave life to.

Can i ask then how you went about getting your work published? Also, how do you fit writing into your day to day life? Do you work full-time as a writer or do you have part-time jobs on the side?


On topic:
Years ago, i used to write poetry but now i put my energy into writing short stories instead. I have written about three of such stories, they are about 30-50 pages long, and i am currently working on one right now. I have managed to get past the stage where you start writing a story but lose motivation after a few paragraphs, largely because it is easier to press on with a story which already has a framework to it than start afresh on a new one.

Whilst at university, i have started to write for the features section of the university newspaper. Only had one article published so far, but i've had more articles on the website where space is less competitive. I then do my own creative writing whilst on holiday.

My main problem i think at the moment is going back over a story, re-reading it and doing a heavy amount of editing after, in that i simply don't do that. I can re-read my own stories and correct spelling errors and make a few modifications, but not as much as you are meant to. Plus, all my stories so far have been open ended because i intended to write a sequel. Instead my imagination goes somewhere else after writing a story....Another problem is ensuring that my stories have an engaging structure, some pretty, meaningful language and interesting characters. Really, i'm not focusing on these things enough and instead focusing on trying to complete the story.

 

[awmperry]

Keen writer. Been close to going pro a few times, but never quite made the sale. But yeah, I write a bit. Novels, short stories, scripts... Whole bunch of fanfic, too.

 

[Dectomax]

As a writer myself I've found there are very few places on the net you can really go to be around other writers and make good discussion- believe me, I've looked. Makes me wonder just how many members of the hobby, casual or otherwise, we have here in the big E.
I take my writing pretty seriously even though I've only had a single minor publication in the past, but mostly just because I love getting into a project. Just started a whole new one today actually and hoping I'll actually be able to stick with it.

SO how about it, do we have any pen jockeys in the Off Topic~?

I have 1 finished short-story and an opening idea for a much longer story, plus a few other pieces of experimentation. I swear there used to be a short story thread hanging some around here?...

 

[derdeutschmachine]

After eleven years of serious writing I've still nothing published. Not for lack of trying mind you. I completed one book only to realized I hated the entire thing and have scrapped it to use some of its ideas for a completely different novel. I have two novels in the works at the moment as well as a short story that I'm really hoping can develop itself.
The problem with writing (at least for me) is the inability to be satisfied with my own work. for example my main project has been scrapped so many times an restarted it isn't even funny, I think I'm working on the fifth version.
Ah well I'm getting longwinded... hope everyone else has better luck than I.