So how many hopeful authors are out there?

Gynxie_Masters · Post by **Gynxie_Masters** » 07 Aug 2014, 19:16

Are any of you writers? I am an aspiring writer and I am doing this for fun since I read a ton anyway. I write fiction so far, because I love creating new worlds. I love the idea of a magical world that anything is possible in.

What do you guys write about?

caryjr73 · Post by **caryjr73** » 07 Aug 2014, 20:49

I primarily write historical fiction and naturalist essays...the novella that I am working on is a coming of age story using WWI as a backdrop.

notgoodatusernames · Post by **notgoodatusernames** » 11 Aug 2014, 06:14

I just tend to write whatever ideas come into my head and am currently working on a piece of children's fiction of an adventurer and a piece of historical fiction about an unchivalrous knight looking to find some honour.

Kzin · Post by **Kzin** » 11 Aug 2014, 15:29

I used to be an aspiring author, but now I'm actually published. HAve been for 10 years.

CloudedRune · Post by **CloudedRune** » 12 Aug 2014, 12:51

I'm an aspiring writer too! I mostly write fiction too, most specifically fantasy and adventure.

moderntimes · Post by **moderntimes** » 19 Aug 2014, 18:07

Kzin wrote:I used to be an aspiring author, but now I'm actually published. HAve been for 10 years.

This is very important. If people keep thinking of themselves as "aspiring" writers, they'll NEVER step past that point.

Instead, just say "I'm a writer" and focus on getting published. Keep working toward that goal. It's the mental image of being an "aspiring" writer or "I'd like to be published some day..." that stifles the enthusiasm. It's that sort of head in the clouds posture that prevents a person from actively seeking REAL publication.

As Kzin, once I was an "aspiring" writer but now I've got 2 novels, many book reviews, short stories, articles, etc published. And by published, I mean not self-published but published by professional firms who actually paid me money for such.

It CAN be done but it's first necessary to quit the "aspiring" label. That is a dead end.

CharlotteWolf · Post by **CharlotteWolf** » 31 Aug 2014, 04:56

I also like that idea of creating new worlds, but I've found that sometimes it's too difficult to draw the readers into this new world. Does anyone have this problem?

MaryB · Post by **MaryB** » 02 Sep 2014, 08:38

I don't know if I'll ever be published, but I do enjoy writing. The hardest part for me is how much personal background creeps into the stories.

MatthewAlexander · Post by **MatthewAlexander** » 03 Sep 2014, 16:01

Mostly I write realistic fiction...I hope to be published someday. That'd be absolutely amazing wow

cdisenberg · Post by **cdisenberg** » 06 Sep 2014, 20:01

I have been a hopeful author for a very long time. I took Telecommunications in college and I guess if you count writing PSA's for a local station at school I would be published? Long before that in grade school through high school my friends and I would write stories. I live in a small town so it was our escape we were often speared on by the romance novels of Barbara Cartland and Violet Windspear, now if that isn't dating myself I'm not sure what is! I still write in a journal every day and I am working on a book that I have had in my head since my son was small. It was a story I would make up for him to get him to go to sleep...good luck with that! He was the main character of the story and I would draw pictures of the characters for him, I still have all those. I can't imagine a day without writing.

Topaascat · Post by **Topaascat** » 07 Sep 2014, 09:00

I have one book published on amazon and hope to write a lot more before I die

my second book is almost done so.. Tough part is that I have few reviews...For amazon no news is good news isn't always true...nobody seems to want to buy a book without reviews

hiluhriehope · Post by **hiluhriehope** » 24 Sep 2014, 02:38

moderntimes wrote:
Kzin wrote:I used to be an aspiring author, but now I'm actually published. HAve been for 10 years.
This is very important. If people keep thinking of themselves as "aspiring" writers, they'll NEVER step past that point.

Instead, just say "I'm a writer" and focus on getting published. Keep working toward that goal. It's the mental image of being an "aspiring" writer or "I'd like to be published some day..." that stifles the enthusiasm. It's that sort of head in the clouds posture that prevents a person from actively seeking REAL publication.

As Kzin, once I was an "aspiring" writer but now I've got 2 novels, many book reviews, short stories, articles, etc published. And by published, I mean not self-published but published by professional firms who actually paid me money for such.

It CAN be done but it's first necessary to quit the "aspiring" label. That is a dead end.

So true! I have had several short stories published in online magazines, and a poem published in an anthology of poetry. I wasn't paid for them, but I got to see my name in print!
Even after they were published, though, I still considered myself an 'aspiring author' because I just didn't think that those stories counted. They weren't published by a real publishing house, after all!
One day I decided that I'm a writer, and that's it. I am not going to limit my potential by calling what I do anything less than what it is. Since I started referring to myself as a 'writer,' and, occasionally, an 'author' (because those stories were published whether I was paid for them or not!) my confidence in my writing ability has improved dramatically.

We should always bring ourselves up, instead of down. Dreams become reality when you start to believe in them.

emmyduffel · Post by **emmyduffel** » 24 Sep 2014, 04:54

I've wrote non-fiction stories since I was in the second grade. However, since the second grade they have not got passed the second page. Writer's block? Maybe. I believe it is more of a confidence thing though, and something I've tried working on for many and many of years now. I'm awake now, searching 'How to get rid of writer's block' on Google, at 3 am, if you can imagine, and I come across this lovely website. I hope I can find it in me to finish something because constructive criticism is really all I need to get something going.

moderntimes · Post by **moderntimes** » 24 Sep 2014, 11:21

emmy, don't believe in writer's block! Tell yourself that it simply does not exist.

Confidence comes by WRITING! Don't wait "many years" to become confident. If you do, it will never happen! It's because you've programmed yourself that you are an "aspiring" or "hopeful" writer and hoping won't get one single word written.

Just start writing. I don't care what it is and you should not think "this isn't good enough so I'll wait till I get better before I actually write" because it's self defeating. You've got to see this. Don't wait for anyone here to boost your morale either. Even though we will be happy to help with that.

You must generate your own morale and you can do that by simply starting your novel or story or whatever. Start immediately. Start with some random chapter, like "Chapter 14" if you wish. Start by writing down a specific event or scene that is buzzing in your mind. It could be a love scene or a fight scene or big battle between ogres and humans or maybe a comic encounter. The subject doesn't matter. What matters is that this scene or chapter or sequence is one that elicits energy in your mind. After you write that 1 small chapter, you'll then need to ask youself "What happened that led up to this?" or "What happens next?" and you answer that by writing "Chapter 13" or "Chapter 15" and then you'll ask the questions again, and you'll write the next or preceding chapters.

Regardless, you need to start actually writing and not thinking about writing. Actually writing is what matters. Honest.

Here's a chapter from my recently completed novel for example. I wrote this chapter long before things had progressed to this point, but the events in this chapter were vivid in my mind and so I wrote them and saved them. This is from my modern private detective novel:

-----
Chapter 25

Throughout the next few days, fragments of it came back to me in disconnected segments like quickly cut scenes in a horror movie illuminated by lightning flashes.

Pickup truck beside us.

Rattle of rusty muffler, stink of fumes.

Ski mask.

Shotgun barrel.

Burst of flame.

Blood.

And more blood.
-----

Naturally this is a critical chapter in my novel and it was stuck in my mind for months, and the entire novel pivots around this scene.

This is just one example. What I'm trying to impress on you is that you need to actually start writing now. Even if it's a few sentences, fragments of ideas, segments. Just start, okay? And good luck!

onourporch · Post by **onourporch** » 26 Sep 2014, 10:18

I am a self-published children's book author. I wrote and published a picture book geared towards 4-8 year olds. I read nightly bedtime stories to my youngest and sometimes the picture books were very poorly written. I always wanted something I could call my own and read to my own kids. Now I do. I am working on a fantasy novel for teens and adults. It's slow going, but I'll get there someday. I am also a freelance writer for an online publishing platform. It's satisfying to be able to share knowledge and experience through writing. It doesn't pay the bills but it's lots of fun.