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Scofield4424
Okay when I have free time I love to write. I'm always writing about something. I kinda wanna have a book published and I might get its published by Penguin Group. (They are the second largest book publishing company) I have my friends read my stories, but they read so much of my stories they know what i'm doing. *sighs* I write all kinds of stories. Anything you can think of I might have done. I would like other people's opinion. People that don't know my writings or how I write. So when I saw this thread I was so on it. (Thanks Mattie :) ) I write short stories and long ones. I going to start with a short one just to see if you all like it. So please PLEASE tell the truth. I want to be a better writer so your comments will help. thanks (Also I know this the right thread lol)
You mean you were "on it" over a year after it was created? Heh, at least I don't procrastinate that bad.
(sorry, just had to tease you a bit about that)
Do I see a Wish in the works here? Hm, there might be a thread about that around here somewhere.
I'll start with some advice if you want to be a serious writer. First, don't set your sights on just one publisher - especially a well-known one. Sorry, but they rarely, if ever, take writers off the street without some kind of reference. Second, join a writer's group. A local one where you can meet face-to-face is ideal, but there are online writer's groups too. That's where you're going to get that reference.
Third, spell-check, spell-check, spell-check. Then do a spell-check. Fourth, if you want to be published, get away from writing fanfiction unless you're just doing it for practice. Which brings me to the last, most important one: Write! Every day. And don't let your friends discourage you from it.
If it's what you really want to do, start looking at the English department in different colleges to see if they have a writing program. Don't let your learning disability discourage you from going to college either - use it to your advantage. Most good schools have special arrangements for people with LDs, such as giving you longer to take tests. I knew one girl at Texas A&M who had dyslexia, but she didn't let that stop her from getting into college - she just had to work harder than most students there and give up more of her free time, but she did it. You can even find good English classes at community or junior colleges too, and you can use that as a stepping stone to a university. What you'll learn in those classes is invaluable.
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Scofield4424
((Well here is I guess you can say Chapter one. I just wanted to get something up so please tell me what you think okay thanks.))
[snip for space]
Ok, I'm not really a fan of Lost, so I have to stick with the technical side. You have a good writing style (why have we not seen this side before? hm?
). You stick with active verbs most of the time, but I see some passive verbs slipping in every once in a while. For an action story like this one, you want to keep it as "active" as possible. One lesson I'll never forget from my first writing class (yes, I was a Creative Writing major at A&M): Go through your story/essay/article and locate all the passive "to be" verbs. They are:
AM, IS, ARE, WAS, WERE, BE, BEING, BEEN. Circle them with a red pen or marker. Don't forget contractions too: I'm, we're, it's = I
AM, we
ARE, it
IS. Try to change as many as you can into an ACTIVE verb. Example: He
was running down the beach >>> He RAN down the beach. You won't be able to eliminate all of them, and in some cases you won't want to, such as dialogue. Not every story needs to eliminate passive verbs, but action stories always do. Shorter sentences also imply quicker action (I personally suck at that, I know.)
Again, I'm not a fan of Lost, so I have to say it wasn't original enough to keep my attention for a full-length story (fans of Lost will enjoy reading more, just like fans of Supernatural read SN fanfics). Fanfics are the easiest kind of stories to write and the hardest kind to publish (the writers of the SN books aren't "fans". they're established genre writers that were tapped by their publishers to write the books.) You already have established characters, backgrounds, characteristics, which the readers will be familiar with, so you can skip a bit of exposition. The trick is to put your own spin on it, create an original character or situation and don't do what the original show has already done (seriously if I read one more fanfic where Dean says "best sandwich EVER" or calls for pie, I might start hurling monkey feces at the authors). Even in fanfics, BE ORIGINAL. Your readers will appreciate it and spread the word.