# What Ho...



## Pork Sausage (May 1, 2014)

Hello.
 My name is Darren and I live in Cornwall in the Uk. I have been writing a novel for 18 months now and am getting close to thinking I might have a first draft. Problem is that as I learn more and get better, I keep changing it! I love the process and think I have a good yarn, one that I certainly haven't come across.
Think Freaky Friday meets Romper Stomper. 
I look forward to learning from the community and getting as much as I can from the wealth of knowledge here, and you never know, I might be able to help someone myself.(If anyone needs to know about Caravans... I'm your man!)
D


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## Bishop (May 1, 2014)

I'll tell you, my first novel is going through it's fourth edit soon, because I learned how to be a much better writer while writing books 2 and 3. So I feel your pain! 

Welcome to the writing forums!
Writing Forums: None of us WANTS to edit. We have to.


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## A_Jones (May 1, 2014)

I am excited to read your work.  Welcome to the site!  Is this your first novel?


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## Pandora (May 1, 2014)

Welcome Pork Sausage!  

Hi Darren, nice to have you join us here on WF. Great first post! Your novel sounds cool. After you make ten you can then share your work for critique. There are many helpful writers here sharing experiences and suggestions. We would love to hear yours.

Pandi


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## Plasticweld (May 1, 2014)

Darren welcome to the forum, you will find that others here share some of the same joys and frustrations.  I love the weight lifters tee shirt that says " No pain, No gain."  Writers should have one that  says " No editing, No Story."  Looking forward to seeing some of your work..Bob


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## PiP (May 1, 2014)

Hello, Pork Sausages... love the name  

I can imagine you must feel excited at the prospect of finishing your novel so our "Beta Readers" group might be of interest. The complete list of groups can be found here.

Once you have made ten posts you are welcome to share your work to  the     creative forums for critique. Don't forget to check out      Leyline's  post: Tips On Presenting Your Story For Online Critique for some useful tips.

If you enjoy writing short stories why not enter our monthly Literary Maneuvers Fiction-Competition, it's great fun and you also receive feedback from the judges.

Please don't forget to check out New Member FAQs

Welcome aboard!

PiP


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## belthagor (May 1, 2014)

Welcome Awesome New Member!


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## Pork Sausage (May 1, 2014)

Yes, had an experience that stuck in my head and starting wondering. Then I kept reading books that didn't challenge my thought process, the inevitable ending arrived... inevitably. I don't like to criticise without having a go myself, I don't think its fair, so 18 months later im still as excited putting down another sentence as I was at the beginning of the journey.  I'm reading some great books as inspiration, and love reading the excerpts on the forum,  I've found reviewing is an excellent way to really look at your own work.
Looking forward to getting some feedback from you guys.( I think!)


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## Elvenswordsman (May 1, 2014)

Welcome to WF! It's a great forum, with lots of great users. Enjoy your time here


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## aj47 (May 1, 2014)

Welcome!  I admire anyone with the wherewithal to write a novel -- I do poetry and short stories.  

I don't think anyone mentioned we have games here.  Look around, find what interests you, and jump in.  Nice to have you with us.


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## Pork Sausage (May 1, 2014)

Hi, thanks for the great reply's. The hardest thing is trying _not _to write my novel. I wanted to leave it so I could get a fresh perspective on it, but I couldn't.

I had to start something else for a bit, that worked for a few weeks, I'm back on it now.
 I cant wait to find out if its any good. And if its not... there's not many people I know who can say they have written a book, at least I can say that.


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## thepancreas11 (May 3, 2014)

Your name is gold, first of all. I hope you become a permanent staple around here because I'm pumped to have a fellow pork lover around.

I wrote a book that took me eight years to write. Still doing edits on it, really. I found my issue was activity. I created so much background, I forgot to do the actually story-telling. That's only one of many things you'll learn here when you filter through the writing sections. I promise, the more critiquing and reading you do here on the site, the better that writing will get, the easier it will be to put the words down on paper, even if it's not perfect the first time.

Don't hesitate to ask any questions. Please, share both your work and opinions on other works. The more you can contribute to the people around here, the more they're going to help you get published too. It's a bit of a family, really, hoping that we all end up in that same elite echelon.

Toodles!
thepancreas


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## Pork Sausage (May 4, 2014)

Talking of questions, and while I have such a wealth of attention.
 I am currently 80K words deep in a novel. I am constantly looking at my work thinking its not good enough (occupational hazard I believe). Then I wonder how good does it have to be. I've read some great books recently with some glaring issues. I know that if I posted the like here; I would get critiqued to the max.
However, there they are, in print and doing very well.
 I've aimed my book at me; I'm hopeless at English(if you'd seen this post before spell check that would be glaringly obvious!), I didn't read much and my knowledge of sentence structure and so on is minimal. As long as there is a good story, 'earthy' content and a twist, I'm happy. A non reading friend of mine had a look at the first few chapters; he loved it and wanted more. He didn't notice the glaring issues; he was too busy noticing the sexy bits, and the story.
At what point do you write for the intended reader, or try to write for a mythical publisher because I eventually want to get published..
I'm never going to write like Will Self, but then no one who reads will Self is likley to like my stuff. I read things on the forum that boggle my mind. I  dont understand the words, let alone their meaning. Am I trying so hard to write a perfect book, that it my never get written?
Children's books are different to teen book are different to adult books. If you carry on with that hopefully my level of writing should have a place.
 So, How does it have to be?


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## PiP (May 4, 2014)

Pork Sausage;1728414
At what point do you write for the intended reader said:
			
		

> Hi Pork,
> The WritingDiscussion forum is a better fit for this type of question. Intro posts are really just to introduce yourself to other members


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## Pork Sausage (May 4, 2014)

Will do....


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## ToriJ (May 4, 2014)

Welcome to the forum, Darren. It's nice to meet you.


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