The Writer's Guild

[Phytomancer]

Flagwaver, that looks like a long and beautiful piece.

 

I began, but won't have time to finish tonight. I'll come back with feedback!

[Phytomancer]

So, this is for Oramac.

 

OK!  My challenge goal is writing 1000 words a week on my story.  So I definitely hit that goal this week.  Here's the follow up to the first part above!

 

Oramac didn't know where he was.  He saw only a great white expanse in all directions, like snow, but smoother and more solid.  He wasn't dead.  Of that he was sure, but what was this place?  How did he get here? 

 

 

'Am I going insane?' he mumbled to himself.

 

“Not yet, you ain'tâ€, came a familiar voice from behind him.  “But you might wish you were.â€

 

Spinning on the spot, Oramac's jaw dropped as he laid eyes on Johann. 

 

“But.......you're dead!  I saw that...man...kill you!â€, said Oramac in surprise. 

 

As he watched, Johann began to walk, and it was only then that Oramac noticed his appearance wasn't as he was used to it.  Johann looked frail and transparent, as if the lightest breeze would just blow him away.  His clothes were the brightest white Oramac had ever seen, and his normally gray hair was as white as his clothes. 

 

“Indeedâ€, Johann agreed.  “Baslamh did kill me.  And he will most likely try to kill you, now that he's seen you up close.â€

 

“Don't worry,†Johann continued, seeing Oramac's eyes widen at his statement.  “He won't be so brash as to come after you himself.  He's far to arrogant for that, though it's what he should do.  You see, he doesn't know who you are.  Not really.â€

 

Oramac kept watching Johann, listening to him talking about things he didn't understand.  Why would this Baslamh come after him?  And who was he, if not Oramac? 

 

“You have questions, to be sure, so just listen, for time is shortâ€, Johann said. 

 

“I told you I was a member of the King's Guard, yes?  Of course I did.  It's what I told everyone.  But that was only a small part of my duties.  I was the Executor of the Light, the Hunter of the Damned. It was not my job to play bodyguard to the King, but to go out into the world and actively hunt those who would threaten the very existence of our people.  Not only did I guard the King, I guarded every living soul in this Realm.  Even the King never knew all I did for the Realm.

 

Though you don't know it, your heroic act to avenge my murder has changed you.  In that act, you unwittingly volunteered to take over the position in my stead, and I must say, I am proud that it was you!  In all our talks I always knew you had a seed of Greatness within you, just waiting to be set free.

 

But, alas, my time is up, and I must move on to the Realm of Souls.  Speak to my daughter, Illenia, and she will care for you, if she isn't already.â€

 

And with those words, Johann faded out of existence entirely, leaving Oramac stunned and confused.  But even as he pondered Johann's words, if it even was Johann, he felt himself being pulled in all directions, and again he passed out.

 

==========================

 

Oramac slowly awakened, feeling as if he'd just run many miles, yet invigorated with some powerful feeling he couldn't describe. As his eyes adjusted to the dim light around him, he realized he was in Johann's house. He lay on the bed in what he knew had been Johann's room, a soft, comfortable place with candles shedding a soft light, and finely crafted furniture spread around the room. Turning to his side, he saw through the window that the sun was beginning to rise!

 

 

“Ughhhâ€, he moaned as he tried to get up, falling back to lie down.

 

“Oh dear! You're awake!â€, exclaimed a voice from the doorway. Looking up, Oramac recognized her as Illenia, Johann's daughter. She was surprisingly beautiful, with long blonde hair and soft features, though the fire that burned in her eyes showed a harder side of her. When she heard Oramac, she hurried away from the room and quickly returned with a bowl of warm water, and a tray of food. Setting the food on a side table, she took a sponge and began to dab the water over Oramac's head.

 

“You really shouldn't have attacked those men, you know.â€

 

Oramac winced as he tried to roll towards her and reply, “I know, but I couldn't just stand there and do nothing! They killed your father!â€

 

“I know,†she replied. “Daddy told me it would happen eventually. Made me prepare for it. I think he hoped to talk to you one last time before it happened, but I suppose that didn't happen.†Though she acted strong, her features betrayed that she was deeply saddened by her father's murder.

 

“Listen, Illenia, it's going to be okâ€, Oramac started. “I can't explain it, but somehow Johann did talk to me. Last night, like it was a dream, but more real than anything I've ever felt. He told me I was changed, or something. That I had to take over his position, whatever that means.â€

 

At these words, Illenia gasped and covered her mouth, looking at Oramac with a mixture of fear and admiration. Quickly, almost knocking it over, she moved the tray of food to Oramac and said, “Stay here and eat this. I'll be back soon.â€

 

She got up and hurried out of the room again, and Oramac could hear the floor creaking slightly in her haste to get wherever she was going. Pondering her reaction to his dream, or whatever it was, he began to eat. It wasn't particularly fancy food, just bread and soup and water, but it was good enough, and Oramac found that he was incredibly hungry. More so than he would have expected.

 

After what seemed like several hours, Oramac wondered where Illenia had gone, when he heard a scraping noise in the hallway, as if someone were dragging something towards the room. After several more minutes, during which Oramac couldn't decide if he should move to help or hide, he saw Illenia coming around the corner and into the room again, dragging a clearly heavy bag and making quite a lot of noise doing it.

 

“Get up,†she said without looking at him.

 

“But you just told me to stay here?†Oramac questioned her.

 

She returned Oramac's question with a glare that would make kings do her bidding, and Oramac did his best to get out of the bed, though he was still in pain. Hobbling over to her, he finally saw what was in the bag: an old, slightly rusted warhammer, and a set of equally old and rusty chain mail armor. Both looked like they hadn't been used, cleaned, or even looked at in many years.

 

Illenia pulled the warhammer out and unceremoniously shoved it into Oramac's hands, nearly making him fall over in his weakness. With apprehension, Oramac looked it over and almost at once saw the inscription on the head of the hammer: “While there is yet Darkness in the world, I am the Light that shines against it! – J.W.â€

 

His eyes widening in understanding, Oramac looked up at Illenia and, with a trembling voice, asked, “Illenia, this belonged to your father. Why are you giving it to me? It should be wreathed and set upon his grave to mark his honor!â€

 

“You don't get it, do you?â€, she replied, tears in her eyes. “By attacking those men last night, coming to the defense of Johann, you invoked ancient powers. Powers that have held sway over this land since before man came to be. Your foolishly noble attempt to save Johann marked you as his successor. You are now a Paladin of the Holy Light.â€

 

As Oramac struggled to accept what she said, silence fell over both of them, broken only when the hammer slipped from Oramac's fingers to crash to the floor.....

 

As before, feedback is more than welcome! 

 

That is an intriguing beginning of a story. So now we know Johann was older, and a father to a this girl. Seems like Oramac has gotten involved with something serious and has accidentally accepted the power of Paladin. Over all, I really want to follow along, but there are some unclear points you can make better with descriptions.

 

What I really like: the flow. I think the pace of the story is good. You keep giving us some answers, but keep promising it to be more. Now we know that Oramac will be given a job to be the Hunter of the Damned. But will he do it? Can he do it?

 

What can improve: personality/ description. I can't get the full picture of Oramac or other characters, which made the story harder to imagine. You described noise and touch well, but nothing visual. We don't know if Oramac is a big or small guy? Will he be able to carry the warhammer? I thought Johann was around Oramac's age, so I was surprised to learn that he actually was much older. Then we don't know much about the personalities of the characters. What do they do when they are awkward? How do their speeches different from each other?

[Phytomancer]

And this is for Jason (Flagwaver). It's a good piece. Although, I think if you bring us a smaller piece at a time, a crit would be much easier!

 

Two fascinating world seems to intertwine in this story: One of a handsome lord with warlike but pretty elven girlfriend. The other a war soldier with a good mood. This style of story is rare and refreshing, so I am glad to be reading this idea.

 

What I like is your description. You have a deep attention in details and you don't let anything escape. The contrasts between two worlds really got portrayed by your words very beautifully. I appreciate it very much!

 

What I hope could improve: Where you place your description. While you write these in beautiful prose, you can't expect us to read a page and a half of text about a dude's bedroom. We  don't even know who he is or what he wants in life. Then we had a sex/fight scene, which revealed things about the world quite a lot. However, there is nothing that move the story forward. It might be helpful to make the character want something, a prospect of changing or yearning might be helpful.

[Brawlrus]

And this is for Jason (Flagwaver). It's a good piece. Although, I think if you bring us a smaller piece at a time, a crit would be much easier!

 

Two fascinating world seems to intertwine in this story: One of a handsome lord with warlike but pretty elven girlfriend. The other a war soldier with a good mood. This style of story is rare and refreshing, so I am glad to be reading this idea.

 

What I like is your description. You have a deep attention in details and you don't let anything escape. The contrasts between two worlds really got portrayed by your words very beautifully. I appreciate it very much!

 

What I hope could improve: Where you place your description. While you write these in beautiful prose, you can't expect us to read a page and a half of text about a dude's bedroom. We  don't even know who he is or what he wants in life. Then we had a sex/fight scene, which revealed things about the world quite a lot. However, there is nothing that move the story forward. It might be helpful to make the character want something, a prospect of changing or yearning might be helpful.

 

He may be able to circumvent the expositional nature of the bedroom piece by making it reflectory, or just thoughts happening within the character's mind. If he's sitting back, reminiscing about it all for some reason.

 

Unless we're wrong and it's a necessary foreshadowing where the things mentioned become important later on.

 

If you end up cutting it down, the whole thing could fit beautifully into it's own short story, with a little bit of purpose thrown in.

[Oramac]

So, this is for Oramac.

 

 

That is an intriguing beginning of a story. So now we know Johann was older, and a father to a this girl. Seems like Oramac has gotten involved with something serious and has accidentally accepted the power of Paladin. Over all, I really want to follow along, but there are some unclear points you can make better with descriptions.

 

What I really like: the flow. I think the pace of the story is good. You keep giving us some answers, but keep promising it to be more. Now we know that Oramac will be given a job to be the Hunter of the Damned. But will he do it? Can he do it?

 

What can improve: personality/ description. I can't get the full picture of Oramac or other characters, which made the story harder to imagine. You described noise and touch well, but nothing visual. We don't know if Oramac is a big or small guy? Will he be able to carry the warhammer? I thought Johann was around Oramac's age, so I was surprised to learn that he actually was much older. Then we don't know much about the personalities of the characters. What do they do when they are awkward? How do their speeches different from each other?

 

Thanks for the feedback!!  My original goal was just to get words on paper and get a solid beginning to the story.  I think I have enough of that that I can go back and clear up some things, like you say.  

 

You make a great point about the visual description.  I was focusing on the ambient surroundings, I think, and didn't really consider the physical properties (age/height/weight/looks/etc).  

 

Tomorrow is my scheduled writing day.  I may drop this weeks goal to 500 words instead of 1000, and go back and edit/clarify some of the less clear points.  

[Flagwaver]

Thank you for the critiques.  In truth, I’m a bit of a criticism whore, both positive and negative.  I was actually thinking of cutting it back a little with the descriptions of the room and such.  As for the sex/fight, it is necessary to show their characters.  The second chapter deals with her coming out of the other world.  It actually hits a bit of a taboo, because they’ve been seeing each other for three years… and the thing she has to do is a grad-night party at her school.  It’s explained a little better than that so it’s not so pedo.

 

My inspiration behind the story is actually the gaming craze.  People spend time in an MMO, living another life, getting into relationships, and other things.  This includes the crazies who do stupid things because of the game.  I’m just making it a little more real in my novel.

 

I’ll be posting a little more as I get it done, but not all of it.  I mean, I want you to buy the book when it eventually comes out. 

[petefeet]

Hey kids,

 

Sorry for being awol again, 60 hour work week, meeting one night, normal life chores (Damn you dirty dishes!!!) and such.

 

Great to see everyone is active, and again I'm sorry for not having a mini challenge this week, it slipped my mind to be honest.

 

To make up for it, how about we share our "Hopes" for the current piece we're working upon? For example, Is it for yourself? Do you want your fanfic to be read on a certain website? Would you like your novel on a bookstore shelf some day? etc...

 

In my case, I seem to have too many projects on the go and flip between them as the mood hits, but I have two top priority projects:

 

1. Poem for the girlfriend. She has requested that I write her a poem since she is aware that before she and I even met, I wrote another poem for a woman I was courting. Now she's looking for the same treatment as it were. The downside is that I suck at writing poetry! LOL I do have a barebones for a theme for it, so at least it's a starting point.

 

2. I got an email from the publishers at Engen (outfit that's putting out anthology that my short story is in) saying that they have received such positive feedback/pre-orders that they're going to make this anthology a yearly project and they would like another story from me this fall. They're looking for an fantasy themed story where 75% of what I write is sci-fi <g>.

    Needless to say, this got the old brain-box spinning and I have an idea scratched out (mad scribbles) that has a tentative title of: "A Troll by any other name..."

[Red Dragoon]

Can another new person say hi? Hi.

 

I've been working on a project for the past few years that I've been posting online, pretty close to finishing the first part of it. Its not coming as quickly as I want it to, it took an embarrassing year to finish a chapter; I got to figure out how to produce content more regularly, before I lose what audience I have.

 

Let's see, answering a few past questions. Writing strengths? Character building, dialog, making plot twists not painfully obvious, keeping huge amounts of plot detail in my head (or at least remembering where in the story to look back and find it) without ever having to take notes. Weaknesses? World building, grammar, being too wordy, editing sanely (not going overboard, deciding the entire thing sucks, rewriting it all, getting bored halfway through, abandoning project - I have done that waaaay too many times in the past, I've been afraid to touch the weak parts of the current project lest I trigger that same old trap). Not a writing weakness per se but related, the networking and self promotion needed, being on a site that functions like a little community and it seeming like you need to make friends with everybody on there to get noticed, difficult even if I felt like I had a lot in common with said people, and I don't (and okay, that's far from the only problem on that particular site, there's a content issue I can't do much about, that's still the way it is in general wherever you are).

 

Hopes for the project? I aim low. I'd like to finish it (preferably before I'm ninety). I'd like it if at least a few people (okay, more than a few, more than a few would be better) read it and got some enjoyment out of it. I won't say being published wouldn't be great, but if all I get is the first two I'll be okay with that.

[Phytomancer]

Hey kids,

 

Sorry for being awol again, 60 hour work week, meeting one night, normal life chores (Damn you dirty dishes!!!) and such.

 

Great to see everyone is active, and again I'm sorry for not having a mini challenge this week, it slipped my mind to be honest.

 

To make up for it, how about we share our "Hopes" for the current piece we're working upon? For example, Is it for yourself? Do you want your fanfic to be read on a certain website? Would you like your novel on a bookstore shelf some day? etc...

 

In my case, I seem to have too many projects on the go and flip between them as the mood hits, but I have two top priority projects:

 

1. Poem for the girlfriend. She has requested that I write her a poem since she is aware that before she and I even met, I wrote another poem for a woman I was courting. Now she's looking for the same treatment as it were. The downside is that I suck at writing poetry! LOL I do have a barebones for a theme for it, so at least it's a starting point.

 

2. I got an email from the publishers at Engen (outfit that's putting out anthology that my short story is in) saying that they have received such positive feedback/pre-orders that they're going to make this anthology a yearly project and they would like another story from me this fall. They're looking for an fantasy themed story where 75% of what I write is sci-fi <g>.

    Needless to say, this got the old brain-box spinning and I have an idea scratched out (mad scribbles) that has a tentative title of: "A Troll by any other name..."

 

Sounds like you have a stream of writing project coming along. Congratulations.

 

For me, I plan to publish my work online. I want to create a few fans of my book in the US before flying back to my country. Having some fans who know me here can help me sell future books even though I'm no longer in the US.

 

It's just a hope. I still have to finish a book.

[UnquietBones]

*crawls back out of the Lukerdom shadows and vows to 'be sociable dammit'*

 

To make up for it, how about we share our "Hopes" for the current piece we're working upon? For example, Is it for yourself? Do you want your fanfic to be read on a certain website? Would you like your novel on a bookstore shelf some day? etc...

 

I'm gearing up for Camp NaNoWriMo and I actually don't have a current project. My goal is just to get in the habit of writing daily-- which I've never managed to do. But this forum is all about doing things we haven't done before, so I'm stubborn!  (It's in the list of things for next week's challenge as my 'stay happy by being creative' subgoal)

 

But... I just hope people read my stuff and enjoy it. Be it the Saturday Story Prompts, or my fan fiction, or the endless pile of original 'verse drabbles and flash fiction (and bazillion unfinished works in progress)-- I write to tell stories and learn how to tell stories better. Someday people might pay me lots of money for it, but I'm happy with the tipjar eBooks for now!

[petefeet]

February 29 - March 25, 2016 Challenge mini-challenge

 

(Take part or not, just a little bit of fun. I think it goes without saying that being polite and respectful is expected.)

 

The challenge this week is to either...

 

A. Which novel (or series) has BEST transitioned into the big (or small) screen in your opinion and why.

 

OR.....

 

B. Brainstorm a non-traditional means of space travel.

[petefeet]

February 29 - March 25, 2016 Challenge mini-challenge

 

(Take part or not, just a little bit of fun. I think it goes without saying that being polite and respectful is expected.)

 

The challenge this week is to either...

 

 

B. Brainstorm a non-traditional means of space travel.

 

While almost everything has been thought of by one author or another through the years, I've always wondered about travelling through space in the dream world. What if there was a means by which a person could "lucid dream" their way to another planet etc... Won't it require that the dreamer know what was on the other end? Would pictures be enough of a reference? Would this dream "highway" be a solo trip, or could you "drag" someone along with you?

[UnquietBones]

B. Brainstorm a non-traditional means of space travel.

 

I think most of my scifi flavored universes have non-traditional means, although I am heavy Science Fantasy for most of them.

 

Skipping Stones uses MacGuffin Drives that remove the time component from travel. It's not teleportation although it's visually similar. The ships use the same amount of energy and technique to travel from point A to B, it just doesn't take any time from the ship's point of view and from the planet's point of view. However if they fail (which they do, although very seldom), the ship will appear to act the same (vanish from point A) but will take the 'real' amount to time before reappearing at point B. The person inside the ship will notice a tiny pause and will become 'detached' from time and effectively immortal.

 

In Dreams of Trees is more multiverse travel than space travel, so I'm ruling it out-- but it just has an endless spiral of doorways constructed by a sentient robotic city that floats in the void between. The city can build these and they work 'because I said so.' (I did mention I'm a Science Fantasy writer...)

 

Shadows of a Dream is another multiverse one, where certain people (for very loose values of 'people') can follow and/or weave threads from one reality to the other. To be fair this is also the universe that has space prehistoric whale-dragons, so I suppose 'swimming' counts as a weird method of travel.

 

Sixteen Tons of Light and the The Rabbit Who Ate the Moon 'verses both use traditional 'it just goes fast, believe us' methods of travel. Although Tons is more of a 'relativity still works' 'verse and Rabbit is 'warp drive for everyone!'. Tons is also a 'AI's do all the flying, no humans allowed even in emergencies', so there's that.

 

Blackguards and Plaster Saints has both telekinesis and teleportation used for short hop maneuvering of smaller fighters, but normal travel for everything else. This verse also has spaceships flown by falcons, cats, dogs, rats, and dolphins, so... do wierd pilots count?

 

Camera Angled/Starcrossed has space whale-dragon things! Again! (I like space whales, they are much nifty.) But they are used as scouts, not transportation, so I guess they don't count.

 

And now I'm pondering more ways to get from point A to point B...

[Oramac]

B. Brainstorm a non-traditional means of space travel.

 

I suppose holding my breath doesn't count?  

 

As for writing new stuff, what about a sentient invertebrate race with air-tight shells that allow them to live in space? 

[Ojara]

Hello, fellow writers!

 

This accountability group is intended to be for those who include a storytelling portion in their challenges or those who like to write in their real life.

 

ANYBODY can join, we just ask that you be polite and respective to your fellow nerds.

 

This is a fun, supportive group of amateur writers. A resource in which you can offer support, bound ideas off of, look for beta readers, any number of things.

 

We ALL have our strengths and weaknesses, let's come together and pool our resources to become better writer's.

 

Each 4 week challenge will have a mini that either I or another member will suggest as a means to improve our skills.

 

Welcome aboard!!!

 

Ojara raises his hand excitedly, "Ohh, ohh, me me me! PICK ME!"

 

I have been working on my book for about 3 months now...Chapter 1 and 2 are completed and I am working on chapter 3, I am currently using a critiquing website called SCRIBOPHILE to help with reading/editing, but when I noticed this group I got a little excited.

 

I would love to join you all.

[Phytomancer]

B. Brainstorm a non-traditional means of space travel.

 

I think most of my scifi flavored universes have non-traditional means, although I am heavy Science Fantasy for most of them.

 

Skipping Stones uses MacGuffin Drives that remove the time component from travel. It's not teleportation although it's visually similar. The ships use the same amount of energy and technique to travel from point A to B, it just doesn't take any time from the ship's point of view and from the planet's point of view. However if they fail (which they do, although very seldom), the ship will appear to act the same (vanish from point A) but will take the 'real' amount to time before reappearing at point B. The person inside the ship will notice a tiny pause and will become 'detached' from time and effectively immortal.

 

In Dreams of Trees is more multiverse travel than space travel, so I'm ruling it out-- but it just has an endless spiral of doorways constructed by a sentient robotic city that floats in the void between. The city can build these and they work 'because I said so.' (I did mention I'm a Science Fantasy writer...)

 

Shadows of a Dream is another multiverse one, where certain people (for very loose values of 'people') can follow and/or weave threads from one reality to the other. To be fair this is also the universe that has space prehistoric whale-dragons, so I suppose 'swimming' counts as a weird method of travel.

 

Sixteen Tons of Light and the The Rabbit Who Ate the Moon 'verses both use traditional 'it just goes fast, believe us' methods of travel. Although Tons is more of a 'relativity still works' 'verse and Rabbit is 'warp drive for everyone!'. Tons is also a 'AI's do all the flying, no humans allowed even in emergencies', so there's that.

 

Blackguards and Plaster Saints has both telekinesis and teleportation used for short hop maneuvering of smaller fighters, but normal travel for everything else. This verse also has spaceships flown by falcons, cats, dogs, rats, and dolphins, so... do wierd pilots count?

 

Camera Angled/Starcrossed has space whale-dragon things! Again! (I like space whales, they are much nifty.) But they are used as scouts, not transportation, so I guess they don't count.

 

And now I'm pondering more ways to get from point A to point B...

 

Woah!! This is very well researched!

[Phytomancer]

February 29 - March 25, 2016 Challenge mini-challenge

 

 

B. Brainstorm a non-traditional means of space travel.

 

I think we agree that no book has been translating into a movie all that well. Ha!

 

One way I guess is to send the robots to different space stations, and have humans wear sensory responsive suit on the Earth Station that can control the robot real time.

 

Now humans could travel the spaces but still can pee and eat McDonalds any time they want.

[Flagwaver]

Think something along the lines of Star Trek’s transporter method, but the scan does not dematerialize the body.  Instead, it perfectly copies the body and transmits the data to a receiver station in another system.  That receiver station creates a perfect copy of the physical body and mind (electrochemical) of the scanned host.

 

Plot point!

 

This form of colonization has been working for hundreds of years before the invention of FTL travel.  The main character is one of the first Earth-born colonists to physically visit another planet.  Once there, they meet someone and fall in love, only to find that they both share the same great-grandparents (teleported colonists).

 

By the way, I should really stop watching old reruns of The Outer Limits.

[petefeet]

Ojara raises his hand excitedly, "Ohh, ohh, me me me! PICK ME!"

 

I have been working on my book for about 3 months now...Chapter 1 and 2 are completed and I am working on chapter 3, I am currently using a critiquing website called SCRIBOPHILE to help with reading/editing, but when I noticed this group I got a little excited.

 

I would love to join you all.

Any and all are welcome to join!

[petefeet]

Think something along the lines of Star Trek’s transporter method, but the scan does not dematerialize the body.  Instead, it perfectly copies the body and transmits the data to a receiver station in another system.  That receiver station creates a perfect copy of the physical body and mind (electrochemical) of the scanned host.

So they would be something like a DNA 3D printers? Hmmm... Interesting idea. Might play around with this myself!

[Gurkour]

Hi there!

I am really interested in writing, mostly blog articles or success stories

The probem is, I suck at writing (yet).

Even worse, I am having my finals in 3 weeks in English where you have in fact write a lot, but mostly in a formal language.

I think I found my problem which is me writing in "German-English", transfering German senteces with little changes to English grammar. Over the past two years I made great progress in my exams, but in the last one I failed with it because of nearly no writing preparation.

It is pretty clear now that I need to write more to get the practice in.

Because I know myself I know that I won't be writing 24/7 some kind of exam papers so I will get more active around this forum to have fun while writing

 

Are there any tips you can give me? Has anyone of you already overcome such a problem?

I am sorry if I misunderstood this thread, if it does not fit it would be awesome if you can send me the tips via pm

 

Thank you in advance!

~IkarusPictures

[Phytomancer]

7 hours ago, Gurkour said:

Hi there!

I am really interested in writing, mostly blog articles or success stories

The probem is, I suck at writing (yet).

Even worse, I am having my finals in 3 weeks in English where you have in fact write a lot, but mostly in a formal language.

I think I found my problem which is me writing in "German-English", transfering German senteces with little changes to English grammar. Over the past two years I made great progress in my exams, but in the last one I failed with it because of nearly no writing preparation.

It is pretty clear now that I need to write more to get the practice in.

Because I know myself I know that I won't be writing 24/7 some kind of exam papers so I will get more active around this forum to have fun while writing

 

Are there any tips you can give me? Has anyone of you already overcome such a problem?

I am sorry if I misunderstood this thread, if it does not fit it would be awesome if you can send me the tips via pm

 

Thank you in advance!

~IkarusPictures

 

Welcome to the Writers' Guild! And welcome to the ESL world!!

 

I struggled with writing in English a lot because I think in Thai. What works in my native language doesn't work in English. It just creates a whole lot of confusion.

 

My way out was that I read and listened a lot-- until I'm familiar with the way it was written and spoken. Instead of following grammatical rules, I read things to myself and ponder whether that's the way a 'John/ Mary' would say it.

 

Hope this helps, and good luck writing.  

[Gurkour]

Thanks for the welcome!

That sounds exactly like my problem - the sentence structure is totally different..  

The John/Mary Technique is really helpful! I will try this out even more Furthermore I will read more (mostly blogs & this site) in order to learn the correct way - thanks for your help!

~Ikarus

[Oramac]

15 hours ago, Gurkour said:

Are there any tips you can give me? Has anyone of you already overcome such a problem?

 

The hardest thing about English (in my opinion) is that there is a lot of slang terms that get thrown around, even here on NerdFitness.  Though being a native English speaker and knowing no other languages myself, I'm probably not much help.

[petefeet]

On ‎23‎/‎03‎/‎2016 at 10:25 AM, Oramac said:

 

The hardest thing about English (in my opinion) is that there is a lot of slang terms that get thrown around, even here on NerdFitness.  Though being a native English speaker and knowing no other languages myself, I'm probably not much help.

 

I hear you about the slang Oramac, it only gets more confusing the older you get as well. I listen to teenagers now and I think I'm on another planet!