Hi everyone.
I signed up for a year last week and have joined the children's fiction group as well as putting my name down for a screenwriting group which is yet to have enough members to go live. Hope that happens soon as screenwriting is my passion. I have been writing on and off all my life. Although I enjoy writing - in fact I need to write I have never really had the confidence to stand up and be a writer or say I am a writer before. I am at a stage in my life now where it is simply a case of chase that dream or regret it forever. I don't come from an educated background and this has really stopped me from progressing, as in not beleiving in my writing. My grammer and puncuation are shocking and I have mild dyslexia so quite often I don't recgonise mistakes that seem obvious to others. I get bogged down thinking about third person and first person and alot of the technical side of writing and I think sometimes this knocks my confidence and stops me from writing for periods of time. Anyway, I've kinda gotten over that, or trying anyway!
To date I have written a radio play which I entered into the BBC Heartlands competition, it didn't get anywhere but it was a big step for me sending work out. I have uploaded it on here and straight away saw loads of mistakes! I have just finished my first childrens book which I will upload next. I have also just entered another script into the BBC for the scriptroom new year call. As yet heard nothing, not even a 'we got your script' email. Not that I am nervous or anything! The last stript is I feel my best work to date and once I am allowed to upload it I would really love feedback if anyone gets the time to look at it.
I hope that by joinng this site I will be amongst other aspiring and published writers who will share their knowledge and give me a big dose of truth about my writing so that I might move forward in the right way. I would love to say I will do the same for you but I am not sure I would know what I am talking about! I will try though.
Thanks for reading this long winded post.
Bonnie

Hello Bonnie,

Firstly, welcome!
Your personal story has parallels to my own, in that I'm a complete novice to all this and enjoy different aspects of writing, and I also entered a script to BBC Writersroom which was knocked back. I'm waiting on a new group, like yourself(the same one, in fact).
I've just posted a partial script in PDF format in Dramatic Writing, though it hasn't appeared there yet. I'll check out your submission sometime this week, hopefully.
I'm sure you'll get a lot from WW, as I have since October.
Good Luck.

Hi billy, thanks for that, nice to not feel so alone! Did you enter your script to writers room for 28th last month? I will go and have a look when your script appears. It's hard to critque when your so new to things isn't it! I didn't realise until I had uploaded the full pilot that I wasn't meant too! Oops! Novice
Hope the screenwriting group forms soon!
Cheers for the welcome

Hello Bonnie,

I entered my script early last year. It was the first of six or seven 40 min episodes. Looking back over it, I should have waited and polished it up a bit. The next two episodes worked much better but you can't re-submit or submit related work!
As for not feeling qualified to critique, I had the same reservations and did leave IC for a while. However, a few people explained to me that every opinion is valid as long as it's constructive. The people here are really helpful and you'll soon feel at home.
If the Screenwriting group doesn't take off, there's always Dramatic Writing. Scripts are certainly valid there.

Billy

Hello Rantmuse, and welcome to WriteWords

Sympathies with the last WritersRoom window - I had one in there which didn't get far either.

There are certainly other scriptwriters about - Billy's made some good suggestions.

With critiquing, I think the first thing to remember is that simply recording your reactions to someone's piece - both the things that worked, and the things that didn't - and transmitting that information to the writer is the most fundamental and useful thing to be doing.

You don't - if you don't feel confident - have to go any further than that.

If you have any ideas about what, in the writing, might be causing those various reaction in you, then that's a terrific add-on.

And the third stage - trying to think about what the writer might do about what doesn't work - is of course very useful. But that comes with practice, and it certainly not essential.

It's problem-finding that writers want help with from others - which is why recording your plain readerly reaction, of itself, is so useful. Most of the time, once a reader says "X doesn't work for me", if the writer agrees, they can see what problem-solving it needs themselves.

Thankyou Billy and Emma, I feel a bit more relaxed about offering my opinions on other peoples work now! It can always be dismissed if the writer doesn't agree with my points. It's all good. One last thing about the writer room thing, did you get an email to say they had recieved your work Emma? I didn't get one, but I sent it last minute so am wondering if they haven't got to it yet, or if I missed the deadline, althiugh I sent it in time. It's not that I am holding on to it but if they didn't get it in time I can submit it in the next round as it wont count as a re submission. It's not cool to ask them though so I am a bit in limbo with it at the moment. Thanks

Hi Bonnie and welcome. You'll find lots of help here!

Bonnie, yes, I did - though I see that it was the Autumn one that I submitted to.

But I'm sure they do say in the T&Cs or whatever that you'll get a confirmation, so it wouldn't be un-cool to check. Especially, as you say, since it makes the difference between whether you can submit it this time.

Hi there, I look forward to reading your work in the children's group!

Hi, thank you Emma, I will check with them. Thanks for the welcome funnyvalentine and Freebird I will get my work up in the children's group as soon as it lets me!

Hello, Bonnie. I hope you enjoy WW.

Hi Bonnie,
Welcome!
G

Hi! thanks for such a lovely welcome

EmmaD I just found out that script room received 2,500 scripts and that acknowledgement emails wont go out until May. So I guess there were lots of people wondering. Don't know if I can breathe better now or not!
Bonnie

Yes, that makes sense. There's all that logging-in to be done...