# Greetings Earthlings!



## Stygian (Mar 25, 2019)

Howdy,

After a long, long, time of putting off writing, I'm finally going to give it another go. I remember always having a knack for creating good stories, but sadly, I chose a career which pays well, but doesn't allow for much creative writing. Well, I do pride myself in writing the best lawyer speak emails that gives me all the catharsis of telling someone to F themselves, without the unpleasantries of unemployment that would soon follow. 

Currently I've got a really good idea for a trilogy. I think it is a really good concept that I'm still working out the logistics. I think I will put it on the backburner to practice writing some short stories first. I need rattle off a few in order to know where I need to improve. With that said, my sincere apologies to all the beta readers. My grammar will likely make you reach for a jug of bleach while you contemplate the finer points of the gift of sight. Know that your suffering will not go in vain! I'm parking my ego and going into this as a rookie. Any and all feedback is welcome. If the comments are bad enough, I'll take out my frustrations by designing a character so good, you'll shed a tear when I kill them off ;-)

Anywhoo, I've started to ramble and my blood-caffeine levels are starting to drop to dangerous levels. I'll likely be lurking for a little while, as I still need to make a solid creative space to work from. I'll be mulling over some short story ideas to keep sane...ish.

Cheers!

P.S. If anyone is from Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Shoot me a message. Lets grab a coffee. I pinky promise that I'm not an axe murderer


----------



## Gumby (Mar 26, 2019)

> I'm parking my ego and going into this as a rookie. Any and all feedback is welcome. If the comments are bad enough, I'll take out my frustrations by designing a character so good, you'll shed a tear when I kill them off



Parking our ego is half the battle won! You have the right attitude.  Welcome!


----------



## clark (Mar 27, 2019)

Welcome Stygian. Leave your dark place and come up to the higher floors of the Asylum, where sanity rules. . . in a desultory and ineffectual manner. Actually, I've given up on sanity and embraced Scotch instead, certainly a more solid and predictable companion than the pursuit of an illusory mental equilibrium. You must make yourself known to our very own Tim Murphy, also a Senior Mentor like me. Senior Mentors are not wiser than Mentors. . .just older and more decrepit. Hence the need for more Scotch. Tim just lives down the street from you, in Cranmore. He has been a carpenter forever, a crazy-ass mogul-humping back country skier, and a prolific poet. That dude cranks out more good poetry in a week than I do in a year. Tim and I and his charming artist-wife Wanda have met a couple of times, once in Vancouver, once in the S Francisco area. He drinks beer. Well, he's a Canadian. I write poetry too. And I've got two novels on the go. . . . .ing to be finished some year.

Good people here, whatever genre interests you. I've been roaming poetry groups online for damned near 10 years, and WF is hands-down the best. Welcome. Enjoy.


----------



## Stygian (Mar 29, 2019)

@Gumby In my mind I'm coming at this from the perspective of a challenger. I was always skilled at writing, in a literal sense (pun intended). For me, putting words on paper is way easier than speaking ideas aloud; Although, I can sell a compelling flux capacitor story when explaining why HVAC systems aren't working in my tenants' office space. (I work as a Building Operator)

@clark Sanity is often a fickle and tenuous state of mind. My cabal of imaginary friends have voted in favor of sanity being overrated and thus largely excisable. I'm ahead of the curve on the scotch. I love beer, but it isn't mutual, so I had to switch. I'll be sure to shoot Tim a message sometime. Poetry as always been alien to me. Very interesting to read, but I've never had much success. Math and science has rotted my brain 

My genre of choice has always been sci-fi. I particular enjoy the stories where morals and philosophy get injected into the overall plot. I'm currently hammering out the outline for a story that will give you a realistic solution for mankind never being able to create faster than light travel. Exploring and colonizing the galaxy would be a lot more challenging, morally questionable to boot. 

My plan is to hash out a solid outline, and then put in on a shelf for a few months while I work on my actual writing skills. As I said, grammar is my Achilles heel. Long story short, I came to Canada when I was 6, so I went through the ESL program. I put all my effort in the "how" of writing as opposed to the "why". I've been looking up random lessons to get a grasp of where to start, and it feels like picking at old scabs. It's going to be a fun challenge either way. There is no way I can afford to ever pay an editor, so I must learn to do it myself. My plan is to write a few disposable short stories to use as editing practice. That way I can edit chapter by chapter when it's time for writing my actual novel.


----------



## Gary Gray (Mar 30, 2019)

At first glance I thought I had clicked on Coast to Coast AM. The UFO network. 
Welcome.


----------



## Gumby (Mar 30, 2019)

Gary Gray said:


> At first glance I thought I had clicked on Coast to Coast AM. The UFO network.
> Welcome.



I loved that show when Art Bell was the host. It made many a long night go quicker when I worked nights.


----------



## MzSnowleopard (Mar 30, 2019)

Greetings Stygian, welcome to the forums. It sounds like you're got the right ( or is that writer ? ) attitude. I wish you well in your writing. Not being able to develop faster than light travel makes sense. After all, at some point time slows down, at another, doesn't it also bend?


----------



## Stygian (Apr 1, 2019)

I think I've got a pretty solid idea, but I need to hammer out conflicts and characters. I can't recall which author, but I remember them giving an interview explaining how characters make or break books. Looking back at every book I've read, I have to agree. A story happening to people is more exciting than a story with people in it. I want that to be a fundamental part of my writing. 

I found it interesting that almost every piece of scifi has faster than light travel, but there are none that I can think of that ask the question "What will humanity do if we can't find a solution in time?"

Humans have invented all sorts of techno wizardry, but still can't cross the light speed limit. Solar system is becoming over crowded and extinction is all but certain. A fleet of colony ships are created and sent out to different systems to bring the spark of life to otherwise dead, sterile, systems. Catch is, each ship only has one crew member. While human in appearance, they are anything but. They were engineered to be the vector in which humanity will spread across the stars. 

There are still lots of ideas that are fluid, but the story will focus on one ship, one captain. Morality will come into play when this captain will be playing God in every aspect. Rather than the planned sniper approach to colonizing, these ships will be more of a shotgun approach. Their mission will never end. They are all immune to aging and radiation. I'm still working on the negatives, but they themselves will be sterile. 

The main theme I want to play with is the idea of a man made God. They will be the sole reason for humanity not going extinct, but they will be creating life system by system like a virus spreading from host to host.

 Seems like a good universe to play in. I think my biggest issue will be a good antagonist. I've got a few good ideas, but I'm still in the planning phase. Sadly, before I start to write, I need to go through a bunch of grammar books and nip my issues in the bud. I definitely want to get a few short stories done before I tackle this novel. It would be too much of a shame if I couldn't execute on a good idea due to inexperience.


----------



## Ralph Rotten (Apr 1, 2019)

So is it okay if we ask you free legal questions?


----------



## Stygian (Apr 2, 2019)

Haha, I'm not a lawyer. I've just mastered the art of rebutting any passive aggressive work emails. Come to think of it, I did read over and point out a glaring flaw in a cohabitation agreement I had to have drafted up by a lawyer. He listed clauses are to be honored by both parties, but the wording implied the contract is null and void if one of said clauses are not followed. Kind of made the whole contract redundant without the edit. The down side, I used up my entire retainer fee, the up side, I out lawyered a lawyer with their own words. The secret is copious amounts of coffee and removing all sharp objects from the room you're reading in.


----------



## Gary Gray (Apr 2, 2019)

Gumby said:


> I loved that show when Art Bell was the host. It made many a long night go quicker when I worked nights.



I recently spent some tim in Savanna, GA and got hooked on I with George Norry. When I got back to Atlanta I found it on an AM station but after dark that station loses reception.


----------



## MzSnowleopard (Apr 6, 2019)

Out lawyered a lawyer.... congratulations, this is not easy to do.


----------



## Stygian (Apr 8, 2019)

MzSnowleopard said:


> Out lawyered a lawyer.... congratulations, this is not easy to do.



The trick with lawyer writing is to think in flow charts, or basic programming logic. If agreement is proven true (upheld) then scenario A happens, if the agreement is false (broken) then scenario B happens to one side of the agreeing party. The breakdown in logic I found, by the wording, was that if a scenario was proven false, the contract could be viewed as null and void. Literally making the whole thing pointless, as there was no repercussion for breaking the agreement. Like I said, it's riveting stuff, but it did save my house in the long run. On the bright side, I got pretty good at content editing haha


----------

