Just wanted to say hello.

Been looking for a good writers' site for a few weeks and tried a couple then found Write Words, which feels like a very good place to begin.

Wrote a lot of short stories several years ago - some published, some not. Stopped when two very demanding kids came along. They're now at school and first thing I did, day 1, was get behind the computer and plough out some stories. Been hacking away at a novel and know it's not something that comes naturally, so would love to join a group or forum on the novel. I know a good one when I read it but can't seem to apply what I know - it all wriggles away.

I love to know what others are reading/who they like -I've been reading Stephan Zweig novellas and Murakami shorts recently. Loved both.

Hello and welcome to the site!

Give either me or Dee a shout if you need help finding your way around.

Nik.

Welcome,again,Cherys!

Yes, joining a group is a great way to progress, for feedback but also for everything you will learn from critting others' work.
Have a good look around at the groups - novel, fiction or whatever your particular genre...and if you're feeling nervous don't worry, we all are to start with!

Casey

Hi Cherys, and welcome to WW.

Emma

Hello! What awards have you won, Cherys? Sounds fun!

Hi Cherys,
welcome to the site. As Casey says, the best thing to do is join a group for regular feedback, and the directory and jobs and opps pages are worth checking out if you write short stories.
Saz
xx

hi Cherys,

thanks for your feedback on my novel extract in Novel II (will have a think about come or cum, quite like the bluntness of the second, but i see your point) - not sure if the group is full? but it is a great way to get and give feedback on works in progress.

Juliet

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oh and i'm reading the Kite Runner, just finished Tender is the Night.

Hi Cherys,
I'm new to the WW game too, but there are a lot of welcoming comments out there.

Will look forward to reading your (and everbody else's) work
H.I

Welcome aboard, Hal.

Nik.

hi im a newbie, im writing my first novel(chick lit) and have been doing so for over a year had so mny problems with it i have at times thought of giving up, i doubt that i will ever get published but i live in hope. anyway i just wondered if anyone can advise me,
is it better to write by hand or use a pc/laptop
is it better just to grab time to write when you can for example when my lovly 3 kids are asleeep or is it better to set time aside every day at the same time so you know you have to do it or is it better just to write when the inspiration takes you?
and finally how on earth after youve just done a heavy session with the character can you chill out and also do you ever have really bad days and take it out on the main character(im guilty)
i have been reading loads of posts in the last few days and everyone has offered so much advise this is a great site.

hope someone can help me

chrissie

Hi, Chrissie!

To answer your questions:

is it better to write by hand or use a pc/laptop

- whatever suits you. Though in the end it'll have to be saved as a computer document, so you and others can transfer it easily from office to office.

is it better just to grab time to write when you can for example when my lovly 3 kids are asleeep or is it better to set time aside every day at the same time so you know you have to do it or is it better just to write when the inspiration takes you?

- again, I think you have to go with what suits you personally, what's working consistently for you as a writer. I used to have to grab the odd hour or even half hour here and there, but I tried to make sure I did it pretty much every night. I find if I don't write every day, I get out of the rhythm of it. But not every writer uses that approach. I do think you have to keep what you're writing in mind, though, even if you're not actually getting words down on paper.

and finally how on earth after youve just done a heavy session with the character can you chill out and also do you ever have really bad days and take it out on the main character(im guilty)

- I think all writers get days when their characters won't leave them alone. That's good! Maybe it's best not to chill out, under such circumstances, but to see what else that character comes up with for you while you're in that buzzy frame of mind.

Not sure I've ever 'taken out my bad day on a character', but all the way through writing a novel, my opinionm of what a character does is changed subtly by things I read or or hear, or by my own experiences.

Hi, Hal and Chrissie, and welcome to WW.

Chrissie, I think every writer has a different answer to how to write, and which suits you also depends on what stage of the writing of a piece you're at. But this is how it works for me, and might give you something to think about.

I think longhand suits stages when you want to go forging ahead: brainstorming, first drafts, times when you want to follow your instincts wherever they lead, times when you don't want to be tempted to look back (because it's harder to skim-read longhand, unless yours is much neater than mine!). I like the way a longhand script shows your thought processes: the crossings out, the changes of mind, the interpolated bits. I've written whole first novel-drafts longhand, and the typing-up stage is a hugely important moment of getting your first overview of how something works that you've been nose-down in for so long.

Computer suits when you want some distance from your work: it looks more perfect, more separate from you on the screen. It's easier to hop to and fro, search for particular bits, move chunks of writing around (though there's no reason you can't do that with scissors-and-paste on hard copy either). For me that's the later stages, revising, sorting out, extracting a minor character from all through the book, and knitting the plot up again. But it's also horribly easy to keep fiddling with existing things, by way of procrastinating on major work or new, more daunting bits. Half the time I end up changing things back to what I had before, (only I can't see that, because unlike longhand it always looks perfect) and the bits I've done get staler and staler to my eye, while I never get any more done.

Combining the two, it can be very helpful to write long-hand revisions on hard copy of a printed version, specially if you're trying to read it fresh, either aloud or in your head: your thought processes are so obvious. I print the beast out at several stages: it also means you can get away from the computer.

As for when you write, when can you? There's a lot to be said for getting into the habit of writing every day, but it sounds as if you're managing to do a fair bit. In the end I think if you want to be a writer you have to learn to sit down and write even if inspiration hasn't struck: someone said, of course they waited for their muse, and they made sure she arrived at 9am every day. The thing is that you have to give it the space and attention so that it can strike, and that may mean staring at the screen till it does. And besides, a lot of writing a novel isn't inspiration, specially once you're past the first draft, it's good honest, getting-on-with-it craft.

I think chilling out is hard when you've been really deep in it: you have to accept being a bit spaced-out for a while, and resenting even the loveliest kids when they claim your attention. I find it's easier to do something simple and necessary like loading the dishwasher, than something that's emotionally or intellectually demanding. But I don't think you can help whatever's going on in the rest of your life getting into your writing, and I think that's fine: the book is the product of you at this time. I suspect if I went back and fished old books of mine out from under the bed, I'd find they read like diaries, whereas then I thought they were about other people entirely...

In the end, I think a lot of writing your first big piece - novel, or whatever - is about getting to know your writerly self, understanding how different processes aren't right or wrong but work in different ways and have different effects, understanding what you need as a writer. That's essential learning, and I don't know anyone who regrets spending the time on their first novel, or thought they needn't have written it, whether or not it got anywhere near being published.

Emma

hi thankyou both for the advice it has been extremely helpful and informative i really appreciate it.
this site is so helpful and to think i found it by chance.
chrissie

Hi Cherys, Hal and Chrissie, welcome to WW.

Chrissie, you’ve had some excellent advice from Kate and Emma. All I can add is that there is no right or wrong way, no best or worst. Find a method that suits you and your circumstances, and just keep plugging away.

Dee

Hi everyone

Thanks for all the warm welcomes and replies, and for the excellent advice, Emma.
Lammi, you asked what awards I'd won. Moons ago (before kids) I was down to the last six in the first CWA New Novelists' Award (following year it was relaunched as Debut Dagger) same early chapters of same book also got me a Hawthornden Fellowship and a local bursary, but I hadn't the skill to finish the book, which is one reason I've come on here, as clearly writing novels is something I have not a lot of natural aptitude for. Short fiction and poetry got shortlisted twice for Ian St James, also for Real Writers, QWF, Commonwealth Short Story prize, longlisted for Pen short fiction prize, and accepted by several smaller mags and comps. So, years ago I thought I was getting enough yeses to write a novel and get somewhere with it, but found it far harder than expected. Kids with medical problems intervened and now they're both fine and at school and I want to make up for lost time. Still feeling my way round the site and not investigated how to upload (is that the term?) work yet, but get a string sense that this is the right place to give and get feedback.

Cherys

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String sense? Strong sense. Also very sloppy typist...