# Forum > Discussion > Friendly Banter >  Writers In The Playground

## Bartmanhomer

Hello everyone. I decided to create this thread for anyone who's a writer such as myself. This is a writer we get to share our stories of writers and give advice and support to each other. I guess I can start. I've been writing fictional stories for quite a while now. The stories that I wrote are mostly fictional stories such as Degrassi's stories. The reason why I write stories is that I do this as a hobby and I have free time for myself when I'm not occupied by something else. Is there anyone else who's a writer?

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## Altair_the_Vexed

My wife is a writer, not published yet - she's very self-conscious of her work and anxious about bad responses and reviews because she was badly bullied as a kid. Anyway, she's writing because her head is full of stories and she feels like she has to get them out. 
The story she's working on at the moment is about a woman who gained psychic powers as a teenager, but has supressed them all her life -and the young man who helps her take control again and do something good with that power.
The beta-readers have all loved it, but there were a few edits she wanted to make based on the feedback, so she's working through those at the moment - and also on the sequel, and on outlining of the third story with the same characters.

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## truemane

Hey all! I've considered myself a writer most of my life. I've written two novels (one quite long and one quite short), piles of short stories and poems, and a smattering of plays and screenplays.

I haven't had any of my prose published 'for real' (I've had a couple of poems and short stories published in very small indie publications). I had an agent interested in my first novel, but a whole pile of stuff happened in my RL around that time and I wasn't able to devote the time and energy required to whip it into shape.

I have, however, had two of my plays performed on a real stage. Both won awards. And I even sold a screenplay once! A very small one. And the movie never actually got made. But I sold it. And that makes me a...... PROFESSIONAL SCREEENWRITER.

Anyway. I still consider myself a writer. I love writing more than almost anything.

Hello fellow writers!

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## Batcathat

I love writing, but I rarely get around to writing fiction as much as I would like to. Ironically, actually writing for a living (I'm a journalist) kind of makes me write less (or at least less fiction), since getting to scratch that itch at work means I'm less prone to doing it in my spare time.

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## Bartmanhomer

> My wife is a writer, not published yet - she's very self-conscious of her work and anxious about bad responses and reviews because she was badly bullied as a kid. Anyway, she's writing because her head is full of stories and she feels like she has to get them out. 
> The story she's working on at the moment is about a woman who gained psychic powers as a teenager, but has supressed them all her life -and the young man who helps her take control again and do something good with that power.
> The beta-readers have all loved it, but there were a few edits she wanted to make based on the feedback, so she's working through those at the moment - and also on the sequel, and on outlining of the third story with the same characters.


Wow that's great.  :Smile: 



> Accept my request to Enter me into the matter, I don't understand what it is, is it some kind of a challange?


What the heck are you talking about?  :Confused: 




> Hey all! I've considered myself a writer most of my life. I've written two novels (one quite long and one quite short), piles of short stories and poems, and a smattering of plays and screenplays.
> 
> I haven't had any of my prose published 'for real' (I've had a couple of poems and short stories published in very small indie publications). I had an agent interested in my first novel, but a whole pile of stuff happened in my RL around that time and I wasn't able to devote the time and energy required to whip it into shape.
> 
> I have, however, had two of my plays performed on a real stage. Both won awards. And I even sold a screenplay once! A very small one. And the movie never actually got made. But I sold it. And that makes me a...... PROFESSIONAL SCREEENWRITER.
> 
> Anyway. I still consider myself a writer. I love writing more than almost anything.
> 
> Hello fellow writers!


That wonderful that your writing won awards.  :Smile:

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## Rynjin

> I love writing, but I rarely get around to writing fiction as much as I would like to. Ironically, actually writing for a living (I'm a journalist) kind of makes me write less (or at least less fiction), since getting to scratch that itch at work means I'm less prone to doing it in my spare time.


Yeah, that's kind of the curse. If I'm writing 3k words a day for work, it's hard to motivate myself to write for fun too. =/

I've moved into a technical writing position now (instead of a marketing one), so that's less actual writing. I need to get back to mashing out some fiction soon.

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## Batcathat

> I've moved into a technical writing position now (instead of a marketing one), so that's less actual writing. I need to get back to mashing out some fiction soon.


That's funny, I'm in a sort of similar situation, being in a more editorial/supervisory/project leader position than reporter and I've been thinking that the "I write so much at work" excuse isn't as valid anymore.  :Small Tongue:

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## LaZodiac

> Hey all! I've considered myself a writer most of my life. I've written two novels (one quite long and one quite short), piles of short stories and poems, and a smattering of plays and screenplays.
> 
> I haven't had any of my prose published 'for real' (I've had a couple of poems and short stories published in very small indie publications). I had an agent interested in my first novel, but a whole pile of stuff happened in my RL around that time and I wasn't able to devote the time and energy required to whip it into shape.
> 
> I have, however, had two of my plays performed on a real stage. Both won awards. And I even sold a screenplay once! A very small one. And the movie never actually got made. But I sold it. And that makes me a...... PROFESSIONAL SCREEENWRITER.
> 
> Anyway. I still consider myself a writer. I love writing more than almost anything.
> 
> Hello fellow writers!


That's honestly super impressive. Can you tell us what those plays were?

======

It uh, probably goes without saying since I won't shut up about it, but I'm a writer too. Have one published novel (Cursed World: Initial Sparks) and am currently releasing a side-story set in that setting, Mist and Fire, on my blog as I write it.

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## truemane

> That's honestly super impressive. Can you tell us what those plays were?


Thank you! Stage plays involve basically all the things I'm good at writing and skip over the parts I'm not as good at, so I enjoy the process. 

I don't want to dox myself, so I'm wary of getting too far into details. But one was a kind of small-town domestic drama about a guy who wants to escape his crappy homelife, but is held back by his sense of responsibility. The 'hook' is that, every now and then, everyone would freeze and the main character would look at the audience and have a little soliloquy about what should happen next in a play or a book, but since this is 'real life' things are different.

It was, in my (older now) opinion, a mediocre piece of theatre. But (also in my older opinion) the final speech just slaps. I still love it, even now, after all these years. And it WORKED on stage. We got a standing ovation. A real, strong, sincere, long one. It was awesome.

The second one was a SUPER SRS philosophical think-piece about what it means to find meaning in a meaningless universe, focused on the difference between freedom within the system and freedom from the system. We open on a guy in a mental institution, unsure why he's there, and there's kind of a wrestling match for his soul between the head psychiatrist ("Dr. Fell" - I was sooooo edgy back in the 90's) and an unruly, nonconforming patient. There was also a sort of neutral narrator who spoke for the idea that all constructs are equally arbitrary. My favourite bit was we had that actor sit in the front row like he was anyone and then, when his entrance came, he just stood up and started talking and walked on stage. So the protagonist's search to find meaning in absurdity is inextricably linked with the experience of the audience constructing meaning from theatre.

All in all, it was way too clever for its own good, lacked a clear sense of narrative urgency and, I think now from the benefit of hindsight, ended up with it's head stuck squarely up its own fundament. But I have a lot of fondness for the younger (thinner) earnest over-thinker I was when I wrote it.




> It uh, probably goes without saying since I won't shut up about it, but I'm a writer too. Have one published novel (Cursed World: Initial Sparks) and am currently releasing a side-story set in that setting, Mist and Fire, on my blog as I write it.


That's super impressive! I am deeply (but good-naturedly) jealous. I always wanted to blog-write something in real time. I could just never summon up the spoons to commit to it. That's really great!

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## animorte

We have several local writers, I have noticed. It's very cool. I myself half created one big work, a novel (not for me), a few screen/plays with a friend, handfuls of short stories, handfuls of songs, and thousands of poems (it's my favorite).




> My wife is a writer, not published yet - she's very self-conscious of her work and anxious about bad responses and reviews because she was badly bullied as a kid.


You just described my wife exactly. She's been renowned on several sites, but still feels this way. I was always the best writer I knew personally until I read her work. Brilliant woman.




> Hey all! I've considered myself a writer most of my life. I've written two novels (one quite long and one quite short), piles of short stories and poems, and a smattering of plays and screenplays.


This somewhat describes me. I actually performed in a play that went to contest written by a fellow student (who starred) and you similarly described him in some of your second half. Do I know you?  :Small Tongue: 




> Accept my request to Enter me into the matter, I don't understand what it is, is it some kind of a challange?


That's funny. I like where your mind went with this. I won a few contests myself and still never tried really tried for more.

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## truemane

> This somewhat describes me. I actually performed in a play that went to contest written by a fellow student (who starred) and you similarly described him in some of your second half. Do I know you?


That would be an amazing coincidence! And the circumstances do sound similar.

Does the letter X mean anything special to you?

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## Peelee

> Does the letter X mean anything special to you?


You're David X. Cohen?!?

For reals, though, you have an impressive background. Congrats! I feel kind of bad, the only thing I've been involved with in publishing is rejecting people from being published.

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## LaZodiac

> Thank you! Stage plays involve basically all the things I'm good at writing and skip over the parts I'm not as good at, so I enjoy the process. 
> 
> I don't want to dox myself, so I'm wary of getting too far into details. But one was a kind of small-town domestic drama about a guy who wants to escape his crappy homelife, but is held back by his sense of responsibility. The 'hook' is that, every now and then, everyone would freeze and the main character would look at the audience and have a little soliloquy about what should happen next in a play or a book, but since this is 'real life' things are different.
> 
> It was, in my (older now) opinion, a mediocre piece of theatre. But (also in my older opinion) the final speech just slaps. I still love it, even now, after all these years. And it WORKED on stage. We got a standing ovation. A real, strong, sincere, long one. It was awesome.
> 
> The second one was a SUPER SRS philosophical think-piece about what it means to find meaning in a meaningless universe, focused on the difference between freedom within the system and freedom from the system. We open on a guy in a mental institution, unsure why he's there, and there's kind of a wrestling match for his soul between the head psychiatrist ("Dr. Fell" - I was sooooo edgy back in the 90's) and an unruly, nonconforming patient. There was also a sort of neutral narrator who spoke for the idea that all constructs are equally arbitrary. My favourite bit was we had that actor sit in the front row like he was anyone and then, when his entrance came, he just stood up and started talking and walked on stage. So the protagonist's search to find meaning in absurdity is inextricably linked with the experience of the audience constructing meaning from theatre.
> 
> All in all, it was way too clever for its own good, lacked a clear sense of narrative urgency and, I think now from the benefit of hindsight, ended up with it's head stuck squarely up its own fundament. But I have a lot of fondness for the younger (thinner) earnest over-thinker I was when I wrote it.
> ...


Yeah that's understandable- the mortifying ordeal of being known that comes with the territory of writing. A shame though, both of these sound excellent- the first one has a fun meta vibe I appreciate that seems to play with the genre (which is always fun) and the second seems like it could be enjoyable despite your misgivings. I feel everyone deserves a bit of pretention in their life, after all.

Also, while your hindsight may look upon it poorly, you did win awards, and you did get that long and powerful standing ovation. That's more than I've ever done, and is super impressive to me- while your opinion on your own work has shifted some, you've seen unmitigated, irrevocable proof that a large amount of people really dug your work, so I'm jealous in much the same fashion as you are of me! 

I'll drop the link it at the end of this post if you ever want to read it (can't post the published work's link for obvious reasons). And don't worry, you don't really need to have read the first novel to understand this one.

I've found reading the works of others can inspire us to get work down ourselves so who knows, it might help! I encourage others do the same, if it suits them.

*Mist and Fire, a Cursed World Side Story
*

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## animorte

> That would be an amazing coincidence! And the circumstances do sound similar.


Extremely unlikely considering when you started here. I haven't spoken with him in over 10 years, but I remember he had written 2 plays at the time, the one we performed in contest was _Shadows_. He was an incredible actor.




> I feel kind of bad, the only thing I've been involved with in publishing is rejecting people from being published.


You'll make an exception for my wife?  :Small Big Grin: 

As we've researched it's an extremely tight market to break into.




> I've found reading the works of others can inspire us to get work down ourselves so who knows, it might help! I encourage others do the same, if it suits them.


Yeah, basically this. Well said.

The first step to getting better writing is reading.

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## Bartmanhomer

> The first step to getting better writing is reading.


I agree.

So anyway the original characters of all the stories I wrote have been inspired by RPG, TV shows, movies, and pop-culture genres.  :Smile:

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## Peelee

> You'll make an exception for my wife?


Well, I still technically own the company, I guess. Tell you what, give me a little background info. How many graduate-level textbooks  on educational philosophy has she written? The actual wheelhouse of the publishing company is much more specific than that, but that's a broad enough view of it to give you an idea. Every one of my rejections was people who obviously did no research whatsoever beyond googling the name of the company and asking if they could submit, for example, an educational children's book. More power to you for writing it and I hope you succeeded, lady, but that's not what we printed.

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## truemane

> A shame though, both of these sound excellent- the first one has a fun meta vibe I appreciate that seems to play with the genre (which is always fun) and the second seems like it could be enjoyable despite your misgivings. I feel everyone deserves a bit of pretention in their life, after all.


Yeah, fair cop. I dirt-talk them but I still think they're both okay. And they were, in their way, important guideposts on my journey as a writer. It's funny you mention pretention because that's one the traits I've been beating out of my writing for years. Everything I write seems to be want to become an endless existential debate about the nature of existence. And if I'm not careful all my character wind up sounding like me when I'm pontificating.




> [...] so I'm jealous in much the same fashion as you are of me!


Co-Jealous Solidarity Fist Bump! 




> I'll drop the link it at the end of this post if you ever want to read it


Thanks! I'll take a peek!

[QUOTE=animorte;25678074]Extremely unlikely considering when you started here. I haven't spoken with him in over 10 years, but I remember he had written 2 plays at the time, the one we performed in contest was _Shadows_. He was an incredible actor.
Neither of my plays were called Shadows, and I am NOT an incredible actor. Was a fun thought though. I had an entertaining few minutes thinking through everyone in my plays, and seeing if you seemed like any of them.

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## LaZodiac

> Yeah, fair cop. I dirt-talk them but I still think they're both okay. And they were, in their way, important guideposts on my journey as a writer. It's funny you mention pretention because that's one the traits I've been beating out of my writing for years. Everything I write seems to be want to become an endless existential debate about the nature of existence. And if I'm not careful all my character wind up sounding like me when I'm pontificating.
> 
> 
> Co-Jealous Solidarity Fist Bump! 
> 
> 
> Thanks! I'll take a peek!


While it is true that you shouldn't derive all sign of success from how others enjoy it, you definitely should derive SOME joy from that. Finely drawn from it, like a barrel of wine. And that's a really good way of putting it; important guideposts. Right now what I'm writing I genuinely think is some of the best writing I've done- and if I keep it up, I'll have even better in the future, and that's what growth is all about baby!

Honestly there are a lot of places where having that exact sort of existential vibe could work perfectly. Just gotta find the right place to put it; maybe not in the mouth of a child, but definitely in the mouth of someone who has had far too much time to think.

Ooh, do tell me how you like it!

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## Bartmanhomer

Zodi, I read your story and I like it.  :Smile:

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