✒️ Writers' thread ✒️

I could have sworn I posted in this thread before but apparently not! Well, here I am! Hello fellow writers!

✒️ Who are you?

I'm Arty! Basically my username everywhere is artyrambles. arty because artillery, and rambles for obvious reasons haha
I've finished two novels so far, of which one is self-published (but we don't talk about that one). Also I wrote various shorter stories that are connected to my main stories.

✒️ How long have you been writing?

Uhhh good question. I'm 25 years old now, and I've been writing stories ever since I learned to form coherent written sentences! Writing is my life, although until about 4 years ago, I was never able to finish even a single story. I guess my projects were always too ambitious, and before they were going anywhere, I lost interest. That changed when I got interested in history, and specifically tanks. My first novel was never intended to be a long story, but then I got more and more ideas and I just kept writing, and suddenly I had 90k words haha.

✒️ Your preferred languages in writing?

I write in English and German. (It's the two languages I know.) I only started writing in English about 7 years ago, though. I usually translate my stories, so generally they're available in both languages.

✒️ What kind of things do you write / enjoy writing?

Intense action and battles, intrigue, conflict, situation comedy, and travels.

✒️ Favourite genres for your own stories?

My favourite genre is action/adventure! Although if we're being specific, I'd say my current stories could be best described as Post-Apocalyptic Medieval Science-Fantasy, LOL.
I used to write ridiculously angsty stuff, but completely lost interest in that at some point.

✒️ Any current writing projects?

Yep! I'm currently rewriting my first novel, The Hummel Quest. It feels great to transform the mess that the original was into something great. I am also working on its sequel, which kinda puts me in the awkward situation that people who are new to my stories will have to wait until I finished the rewrite of the first part before they can start reading the second part. The other option would be them reading the terrible (but finished) original, but I strongly discourage that haha

ya boi just hit 50k in nano ✌️ I still have the other 50k to go though and I'm going to die because I got sick + I have deadlines coming up 

How has nano been for you others? 

Just a question on everyone on this thread--- Do you guys sometimes read so much topics for the sake of your literature's accuracy? I can't believe I'm reading about the Salem witch trials and Prehistoric creatures for my two major stories >|0

@wanco-alien Oh definitely! I think it's sometimes necessary especially when aiming for historical or other kind of accuracy. I'm blessed with the fact I can access a lot of information in university through courses and books you can't find from public libraries so I tend to learn a lot just there, but I often have to do proper, independent research too ovo/ 

I have done research on the treatment of children in factories during the industrial revolution and what kind of physical problems they often developed as a result, for example! Also a lot of small things like how people advertised things during late 1800s/early 1900s, what kind of winter clothing people wore in Russia/Finland/Sweden in the past and the schooling system in Finland during the 40s haha. Some are less strict ie the Finnish schools in the 40s was more to give me inspiration for my own setting rather than to be a historical and accurate portrayal. 

Another thing I have done has been to ask people with expertise! When I was thinking about the dormitory building for Sinfonia I asked my mum about the best possible materials and which would be the most useful for dormitories; mum is a carpenter's daughter and can build and construct herself so she has a lot of information regarding the matter! I have also asked her a lot about sign language stuff since Jet's mother is mute and their family uses sign language to communicate (my mum teaches sign language and does a lot work with people who use it on daily basis)

Nanowrimo is now over! I hope everyone who participated had a good time, and I hope November was a good month for others as well! December and January are definitely going to be editing and fixing months and I hope by the beginning of the year I could start uploading some finished stories properly!! 

Which leads me to a question: Have you guys ever completed a work and uploaded it somewhere? If yes, what was it about? What was the feedback like? Did the process of putting your stuff out there encourage you, or did it have a negative effect?

Caine Hmmm... I've been extremely inconsistent on my stories but I'm near on putting Cardinal Decree, a lore of mine that has the themes of vampires and witchcraft, to an end!

I've been recently brainstorming after a certain conversation at school (and Yuki Kajiura jam) has inspired me to do so!

I've finally fleshed out the falling action of the story, hehe

So far, I've been getting satisfactory feedback from people who proofread my stories

Whew... finally, the long journey of writing in one, going to be two, year long is going to an end and it was actually an adventure writing this story due to the themes of this story physically hurting me at times HAHA

I'll be publishing a summary of my story so far as a bulletin soon!

"Have you guys ever completed a work and uploaded it somewhere? If yes, what was it about? What was the feedback like? Did the process of putting your stuff out there encourage you, or did it have a negative effect?"

Caine Well, short answer is yes. Long before I really took writing too seriously, I did upload some completed works somewhere online. Back then I wrote without too much of an understanding of the process, but now I think I'm getting it.

As for the effect it had... even though I cringe at what I wrote in the past, seeing what I uploaded before, I feel like getting responses from it really encouraged me to work harder, and to improve my writing. It was definitely hard, and there were times that I just wanted to quit... but I managed to tough it through. At least I'd like to think so. Now I'm less nervous when it comes to getting feedback from my beta-readers! I don't see it as potential 'harsh criticism', but ways I can improve! ^_^/

Bumps this back up!

I haven't even touched my writing files since nanowrimo, I'm totally in need of a proper break! But I need to continue working on my VN between my SS and holiday art haha