# Hello.



## XanderSloan (Mar 13, 2017)

Hi Everyone,

I'm a 30y/o chap from the UK. I write in blocks, so right now I'm "on", but I'm mostly "off".  

Big fan of Pratchett, Adams, Hornby. Basically anything with humour.

Really I need some consistency in creative writing because I work freelance as a logo/web designer and I need to be doing a whole lot more writing a) for fun but b) to get some clients in the door.

Thanks for having me.


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## Phil Istine (Mar 13, 2017)

XanderSloan said:


> Hi Everyone,
> 
> I'm a 30y/o chap from the UK. I write in blocks, so right now I'm "on", but I'm mostly "off".
> 
> ...



Welcome to the forum from a fellow Brit.  Looks like we enjoy some of the same reading.
There are challenges on here where you can stretch your writing legs.  When you have made ten posts, more of the forum will be visible to you.
Have fun.


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## aj47 (Mar 13, 2017)

Hello and welcome.  So you read humor, what do you like to write?  The same?


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## ArtBlinked (Mar 13, 2017)

Hello and welcome to WF! It's nice to have you.


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## XanderSloan (Mar 13, 2017)

astroannie said:


> Hello and welcome.  So you read humor, what do you like to write?  The same?



It depends on the direction of the wind, really.  I always like to have fantasy in my work somewhere, to some degree, but I've written lots of different genres.  Nothing ever sticks with me.

What about you?


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## aj47 (Mar 13, 2017)

I write mostly poetry with occasional forays into short fiction.


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## Bard_Daniel (Mar 16, 2017)

Welcome! : D


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## XanderSloan (Mar 20, 2017)

I presume I cannot start a new thread in the poetry forum because my post count is low?

Anyway, maybe someone can help here instead; I write Haiku occasionally (mainly because there's not a lot to know about writing haiku) but I wan't to write longer poetry. Perhaps a couple of thousand words, and tell a full story through a poem.  I _think _that's a ballad?

Anyway I wondered if there were restrictions to a ballad? Must you stick to below a certain amount of syllables per line, must there be certain themes, is a rhyme scheme necessary, etc etc etc - if anyone has a link to a good "ballads for idiots" type cheat sheet, that would be great.  

I'm an absolute novice, but I like the idea of telling a whole story in a poem of a thousand or two words, as opposed to 80,000 or more.

Thanks.
XS


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## Ptolemy (Mar 20, 2017)

XanderSloan said:


> I presume I cannot start a new thread in the poetry forum because my post count is low?
> 
> Anyway, maybe someone can help here instead; I write Haiku occasionally (mainly because there's not a lot to know about writing haiku) but I wan't to write longer poetry. Perhaps a couple of thousand words, and tell a full story through a poem.  I _think _that's a ballad?
> 
> ...



I think you're trying to delve into prose poetry. 

To to my knowledge Ballads consist of 13 lines in ABABBCBC format with couplets of rhymed verse, which are 14 syllables each. Prose poetry is much longer, complex and delves into more fleshed out and thought out stories. I believe our resident Darkkin does prose poetry but I may be wrong on that statement. Either way, you could check out her threads for some good starting outlines for "longer" poetry as her poems are pretty sizable in length.


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## The Fantastical (Mar 21, 2017)

Hello and welcome to a fellow Pratchett fan! For all the fact that his books are popular it isn't everyday that you bump into someone who also likes Discworld. Maybe because normally we are all off reading them  lol. Anyway welcome and I am sure that you will be able to find answers to all of your questions here.


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## XanderSloan (Mar 24, 2017)

Are my thread replies going for moderation/listed as a "draft" because I'm new?


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## Deleted member 56686 (Mar 24, 2017)

Yes, sometimes that will happen to our new members. A couple more posts and it shouldn't happen anymore *

* unless you post in the Feedback forum- everyone gets moderated there. :icon_cheesygrin:


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## XanderSloan (Mar 24, 2017)

I thought so, best to check though!

Thanks.


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## AnnPreston (Mar 24, 2017)

Welcome


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## H.Brown (Mar 28, 2017)

Hello and welcome,

You have definitely come to the right place we are a friendly and helpful bunch here. We all have those moments of peak writing and also those episodes of not writing there are plenty of discussions on the subject of writing through writer's block. 

Looking forward to seeing you around.


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## Jedi Knight Muse (Mar 28, 2017)

XanderSloan said:


> Really I need some consistency in creative writing because I work freelance as a logo/web designer and I need to be doing a whole lot more writing a) for fun but b) to get some clients in the door.



Hiya!

How do you like doing the freelance thing as a logo/web designer? I've thought about doing it...and technically I kind of did do it, for someone in my town a few months ago. But having never done it before, it...ended up not going that well. :nonchalance: I mean, I got paid for it, but if you go to the site that I built for him (which only had minimal information when I did it because that's all I had), there's...nothing indicating that I had any part of it, because he went in and changed things from the way I had them. Which is annoying, but it's not something that we had discussed. Basically what I ended up doing was kind of giving a tutorial on how to do websites and I said that it's easy to use a drag and drop site builder and...yeah. I definitely can't use it as an example of a website I've made for someone else, 'cause it's all him. 

I honestly need to take more web design classes, though. I just got done with my graphic design degree, but there was only web design class for me to take. It was also using Dreamweaver, so it only taught me basically basic HTML (most of which I already knew) and not much else. 

Anyway...mini web design rant over. Welcome to the forums! I'm new here, too!


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