Writers on Smogon

  • What do you like to write?: Mostly short stories, I have the attention span of... Well, my attention span is so short there's nothing to compare to it. My point is I can't write novels. I'm considering getting into fanfics though.
  • Are you working on a current project?: Nope! I haven't written anything outside of school in several years.
  • What got you interested in writing?: I have a friend who started writing a book in 6th grade, we made it into a joint effort for a short time until I moved after 7th grade. It's not done or published yet to my knowledge. I also read a lot of Douglas Adams and Bill Bryson.
  • Are you branching out?: Nope. My school doesn't even have a creative writing class anymore.
  • Do you have a method?: I think of ordinary words and put them together in ways that would get me admitted to a mental hospital in some countries.
  • Favorites: Douglas Adams and Bill Bryson. My favorite quote of all time is from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: 'The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't.'
  • Misc: I live in the disgustingly athletic Bend, Oregon. It seems like everyone there likes skiing, football, baseball, basketball, Russian roulette, basically any outside sport in their free time, and the people that don't either play CoD or are autistic. It's not a good place for either a gamer or a writer. Oh yeah, I'm re-re-re-reading the first 5 Hitchhiker's Guide books.
 
  • I will never want to become official purely because I want a quiet life. I don't wish to become famous or rich. I just want to do what I love and that is to share my knowledge with others, and the best way is to teach.
You could do the same thing with a ghost writer.(having someone else take the credit for what you write can be depressing though)
 
What do you like to write?: Primarily novels, though fanfiction has been tempting - it depends on whether I can get a complete idea or not. My current flagship project is a sci-fi drama.
Are you working on a current project?: Yes. Several novels are in the works at the moment with steady progress being made. None are near completion, though, unfortunately.
What got you interested in writing?: I've been juggling with the idea for years, but what got me serious about it was a complicated chain of events that got me to create an alien species that a world gradually built itself around.
Are you branching out?: Not at this stage. A creative writing minor in college is in my sights, but no classes are being offered at this point.
Do you have a method?: If by "method", you mean "helter-skelter chaos"... Being organized makes me panic and worry more about the organization more than the actual writing.
Favorites: I'm still searching, but I generally enjoy crime dramas as a genre.
Misc: I live in South Carolina. I don't get out much and tend to play competitive Super Smash Bros. when I'm not writing. I'm trying to find something to read, but I'm not having much luck.
 
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What do you like to write?: Poetry mostly, with short prose pieces littered in between. I write mostly on the themes of solitude, alienation, loneliness, life, but lately I've primarily been focusing on putting to words complex emotions. I'd love to write short stories and maybe a few novels, and I've been trying to compile ideas for the former but the process has coincided with a somewhat annoying writer's block, exacerbated because I'm not able to find time already because of college.
Are you working on a current project?: I keep a blog where I post everything I write, and which has over 85 poems now. Interested people could check it out here: https://visionsofakind.wordpress.com/
Some of my better works linger towards the bottom of the blog, so in case anyone likes the poems be sure to explore throughout the timeline.
I've also started taking up 'informal' formal reading projects and getting friends to join me. Currently analyzing and making notes on The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot. Looking to start a short story readership project as well.
What got you interested in writing?: I always used to write as a kid but the bulk of what I personally consider my best work came after 2012 during and after a really low point in my life which led to start writing more.
Are you branching out?: Delhi, where I live in, has an amazing poetry culture and I've been attending 'poetry meets' fairly regularly. I don't really collaborate with people right now, but I'm definitely going to continue writing and hopefully get an anthology/novel published.
Do you have a method?: Yes. I don't try to write about everything that comes to my mind, but only specific themes that I deeply want to write about. Other than that, I don't really have a preference. I'd love to write in all sorts of genre that are out there.
Favorites: I read and love a lot of authors, but Ray Bradbury is who inspired me to write. My favourite books are Lolita, Brave New World, A Tale of Two Cities and To The Lighthouse et al.
Misc: To supplement what I just wrote with a little context, I'm an Engineering Physics major studying in Delhi, India.
 
bump, i guess?
What do you like to write?: Stories and short stories, mostly. I generally write fantasy and sci-fi, but I figured that with the amount of material high school has given me, I'd try branching into realistic fiction. I do like writing news pieces and have done it for my school's newspaper for 3 years.
Are you working on a current project: All my projects are on hiatus until I finish up college apps and senior year in general. I want to focus more on editing for my school's newspaper, as I managed to get a position as a co-editor. Before school started, I had an idea for a sci-fi story, but that one is shelved for now.
What got you interested as a kid: The process was kind of two-fold; in elementary school I always avidly read (I used to have a crease on my forehead in 5th grade because when I got bored I'd put my head on the desk and start reading under it) and teachers always told my parents I should become a writer, so somewhere along the way the idea took hold. Also, whenever I read fiction I'd always try to insert a character that represented myself into the story, sort of like a fanfiction, but my characters then were always flawed because they were "too perfect". I started writing down the bios of those characters though, and that combined with the aforementioned teacher recs.
Are you branching out?: Not right now, but I plan to very soon. My school doesn't have a writing club, only a newspaper, but I often get in touch with my writers and editors and I learn from there.
Do you have a method?: I don't think I have a designated method; I write mostly what comes to mind and tinker with it until it feels right. For characters, when they pop into my head, I create a file for them, detective-style, and put it into a box with other files (I like writing by hand first) and keep them until I think I could use them.
Favorites: My tastes haven't evolved much from those of my childhood, which may or may not be a bad thing. I enjoy the works of Neil Gaiman, especially Coraline, The Graveyard Book and American Gods. Carl Hiaasen's books are also high on my list. I also read quite a bit of Eoin Colfer (Artemis Fowl, etc.) though that one's tailed off a little bit since high school. I really like reading the Septimus Heap series by Angie Sage; I've loved them since I was 9 and I personally think they're superior to Harry Potter. And of course, I will defend Tolkien to the ends of the earth (or Middle-earth, haha). My friends convinced me to read Game of Thrones, but I wasn't impressed. Overall, if I can read it, I will try to.
Misc: If I'm not writing or playing Pokemon/Zelda, I'm probably either doing community service (voluntarily) or eating pizza. I can't be separated from the stuff. My family wanted to see a specialist because they're convinced I'm addicted.
 

BIG ASHLEY

ashley
is a Community Contributor
  • What do you like to write?: I write some fanfic, but largely novels.
  • Are you working on a current project?: Quite a few. None are very far though- my attention span's terrible, and I'm quite busy currently, so they'll probably advance slowly.
  • What got you interested in writing?: Always loved reading, from a very young age. And my high school English teachers were generally just awesome people.
  • Are you branching out?: Not really.
  • Do you have a method?: I write whenever I have time.
  • Favorites: Harry Potter. Has my favourite characters and quotes, too- ""After all this time?" "Always"". (the feels) and "Dobby is a free elf!"
  • Misc: Currently reading: The Labyrinth of Dreaming Books, by Walter Moers. Part of a series, new one coming out soon.
 
What do you like to write?: Throughout my life, I have completed or at the very least put extensive amounts of work into writing that falls under many different categories, and even I honestly do not remember all of them. However, there are four categories of writing to which I have dedicated more effort than any other for most of my life:

1. Participating in 'Add-on Story' threads. An Add-on Story thread is a forum game thread in which the topic creator starts writing a part of a story, before the next poster continues writing it. Then the third person who posts in the threads continues writing the story from where the second poster left off, and so on. The vast majority of the Add-on Story threads in which I have participated exist in the Pokémon forums (especially the Red, Blue, Yellow, Gold, Silver and Crystal ones) of a website known as Neoseeker, but I have also made and participated in such threads on many other websites as well, including the Pokémon Showdown! forums that once existed (Kingler12345 probably remembers what I am talking about more than anyone else here).

Because most of the Add-on Story threads I participated in exist in forums dedicated to Pokémon games, most of such stories take place in the setting of the Pokémon world. However, this has traditionally never stopped me and other participants in such threads from introducing characters, themes, powers, abilities and locations from other series into such stories, or adding in original characters in possession of powers and abilities which would look out-of-place in the Pokémon world. This often made what started off as normal-looking Pokémon stories ultimately develop into bizarre tales consisting of characters from countless different series mashed together in such a way that they no longer resemble Pokémon stories at all.

2. Writing fanfictional stories. The vast majority of the fanfictional stories I have written take place in the Pokémon world, so if I were to assign most of such stories to any particular series, that series would be Pokémon. However, in truth, most of such 'Pokémon fanfiction' that I have written were really nothing more than an excuse for me to write what I personally view to be incredibly cool-looking fight scenes between a number of original characters I created (whose powers and abilities are mostly inspired by characters from Bleach) as well as characters originating from other series, mostly Digimon (in my stories, such characters are usually given more and greater powers and abilities than in the series from which they originated). So although such stories of mine take place in the Pokémon world (which I also heavily expanded upon, by adding a whole new region, an afterlife location, as well as an extraterrestrial location with strange beings in it including Digimon to that world), and Pokémon and Pokémon characters appear in them sometimes, such characters ultimately take a back seat to the true stars of my stories.

My writing style has improved a great deal since those early stories though, as I wrote most of those stories back in 2007, when I was 15, and didn't really bother to reread each chapter I had written to see if there were errors back then.

3. Pokémon Rate My Team threads. Many users on this website are probably aware of how I like to make incredibly long ones. I personally see writing such threads, especially their introductions, as a form of art. Here is a list of every Rate My Team thread I have ever made:

Flames of the Heavenly Light


The Blazing Glaciers


Mirages of the Frozen Wasteland


Probability-Defying Perfection


In Luck We Trust


Mare Tranquillitatis


TheAbsolutePower


The Champion's Glory Team


In Luck We Trust II [إحْياء من الآس البستوني]


The Master of the Universe [Transcendent Being of Power Mix]


The Master of the Universe [Immanent Being of Thought Mix]


Gaia☯Force


4. A fantasy novel, which I will talk about in the next section.

Are you working on a current project?: Throughout most of last year and this year, I have been working on a fantasy novel titled 'Purity Before Existence.' It is a mostly fighting-focused novel in which characters possess superhuman powers and abilities, being able to radiate powerful energy out of their bodies, shoot energy beams, move at blinding speed, block swords bare-handed, smash craters in the ground with their incredibly strong attacks, transform their bodies to assume more powerful forms, and things like that. However, the story also explores many philosophical and theological questions and ideas, including the origins of life and the nature of the afterlife, and contains many dark themes including racism (between fictional races), ethics, and conflicts rooted upon (fictional) religions.

In my story, characters often have attack names, spell incantations and other things in foreign languages. As such, I have received tremendous help from various users on this website in terms of translating various English words and phrases I have them into foreign languages, with Lord Outrage and Arikado helping me with Arabic, hexandwhy and hyw helping me with Japanese, ShadowQuinn and Lacus Clyne helping me with German, James Jimmy helping me with Greek and xDesch helping me with Norwegian. I am currently in the middle of publishing it, and I estimate that it should be available in Australia within the next few months or so. I don't know when it will be available in other countries though, unfortunately. The novel I have finished writing does not end the entire story I have planned, by the way, as it is only the first book in a long series.

My story will obviously only contain original characters, since it is not fanfiction. In spite of that however, you will find that some characters, or even singular moves and abilities in my novel may be Expies of characters from series I like, since Purity Before Existence is a story whose idea was originally inspired by the old fanfictional stories I wrote when I was much younger. Additionally, some of the characters in my novel will even have the same names as some of the original characters I created in those fanfictional stories, as well as even some Add-on Story threads in which I have participated in the past (all of such characters were originally introduced to such Add-on Stories by me, of course). However, my decision to use such names is entirely for aesthetic purposes, as I find the names to be meaningful (in relation to the personalities, powers or abilities possessed by that character) and cool. The characters in Purity Before Existence who share names with characters who have appeared in fanfictional stories or Add-on Story posts of mine in the past have no connection whatsoever with the characters with whom they share names, and are unlikely to even have the same personality.

Anyway, I'd like to share a short scene from my novel here (I will be sharing more in this thread as we get closer to the day of my novel's publication, if that's OK):

Vulkanrich said, 'Yuki, stand back.’

Yuki nodded before jumping back about 30 metres.

Then the silver-haired man screamed, 'Hhhhhhaaaaaaaahhhhh!’ as a huge fiery aura surged powerfully out of his body. The fiery aura cratered the sand beneath his feet while burning it black. ‘O heilige Kraft, die in den Tiefen der Seele Fernenweltians ruht, erwache!’ he chanted.

Yuki stood silently, watching in anticipation. Bright orange light shone on his front body, and his twin tails blew high in a very hot ember-carrying wind radiating from the fiery aura around him.

‘Hahahahahahaha! Very well! Show me! Show me the power . . . of your Kriegssieger!’ said Steiner excitedly with a huge smile. As he spoke, he clenched his upward-facing right palm into a fist and then pulled it back to the right side of his waist.

‘Ehre wirst du erlangen in jedem siegreichen Gefecht und möge die Herrschaft deiner stolzen Rasse für Jahrtausende bestehen!’ Vulkanrich chanted, as the blood covering his body evaporated in the heat of his flames, and his jacket and shirt disintegrated within that fiery aura, revealing his muscular body and six pack.

I see . . . so the incantation is just like Rensingelv’s, huh,’ thought Steiner.

‘Kriegssieger . . . Höllenfeuer!’ shouted Vulkanrich. An enormous fiery explosion radiated from his body. Steiner jumped back 20 metres to avoid being caught in the explosion.

Within the gigantic inferno, the silver-haired man’s two small demon-like horns grew much longer and became black in colour, curving back above his head and pointing diagonally upward behind him. They extended 30 centimetres behind his head, resembling a pair of horns at the back of a dragon’s head. His medium-length spiky silver hair changed to a glowing fiery reddish-orange colour, dramatically increasing in length until it reached his knees, and his hair also became flowy, fiery, and wild in nature. The irises of his eyes remained blue while their sclera became black. His teeth became sharp, draconic, and inward-curved, and the flame-shaped markings, which previously covered only his cheeks, spread over his body.

In addition to those transformations, the muscles of his body became larger and more defined and his forearms became completely black. He grew a long, thick, and muscular black dragon tail which tore a hole through the back of his pants. A pair of massive dragon wings, black at the back and blood-red at the front with huge flames burning across the entire length of their arm bones sprouted from his back. His hands changed to a pair of glowing red-nailed five-fingered dragon claws, and his feet changed to a pair of black dragon feet each with three extremely sharp red-glowing toes. His sword’s blade glowed brightly in red, having been heated to an extreme temperature. His long hair blew dramatically in the powerful fiery aura which constantly flowed from his body, covering a huge area around him, making it difficult for anyone to even get close to him.


What got you interested in writing?: I am a person with a great imagination, as well as an obsession with fighting and choreography. Back in school, I spent a huge amount of time in classes daydreaming, in vividly choreographed detail, about fights between characters with superhuman powers. In addition to that, when I was younger, I kind of viewed the act of writing, or even simply thinking about fictional stories as a way of 'escaping' from the mundaneness and stress of reality. These two factors led me to participate a lot in Add-on Story threads and write Pokémon fanfictions about fighting, as such activities brought a lot of joy to my life, since I sometimes became so incredibly invested emotionally in the fictional universes I created that it was almost like I lived in such universes rather than reality.

Once I entered University, I stopped spending so much time on such stories as I thought that being so incredibly distracted by them would be very detrimental to my future. However, during that time, I still did write a lot of other stuff, mostly to do with Pokémon metagames I played during those years, such as my Rate My Team threads as seen above.

However, after I graduated from University, I realized just how much I hate having to work eight hours a day (not even including travelling time) and five days a week with a boss over my head while having to deal with other people I dislike just to survive. I once took a creative writing course, in which the lecturer said that after writing the very first Harry Potter book, J.K. Rowling had earned enough money to never have to work again for the rest of her life. As I have been told by many people that I am an excellent writer who is able to describe images in vivid detail, and also happen to enjoy writing a lot for reasons I have previously explained, I decided to write Purity Before Existence. Even if this novel itself does not serve as a ticket to a life I can live without having to deal with bosses and other unpleasant stuff, this is no big deal to me, as I can simply continue on by writing the sequels to my novel, which I have already planned out. "If you do what you love, you'll never work a day in your life," they say.

Are you branching out?: Not really aside from what I explained above.

Do you have a method?: Because of the sheer length of my story, I always try to plan everything out in the big picture before actually writing any part of my story. For example, if I suddenly come up with a good character or plot idea which will only be relevant far, far later on in the story, I will instantly stop writing the immediate part of my story and try to work out exactly how that idea will be incorporated into my story later on in a way that makes sense and looks natural, even if it means spending several days doing absolutely nothing except daydreaming while listening to music on YouTube for inspiration and writing down brief notes on a WordPad document until the problem is solved. This is because as a writer, I enjoy foreshadowing and making use of Early-Bird Cameos in order to make my story's universe look consistent, and not make it look like I have been making up things and utilizing retcons as I go along, meaning that the nature of events that will take place far away in the future will still to some degree affect the way I write events that take place long before then.

I would say that of all the time I spent working on my novel, only about 5% of that time involved actually writing anything. The other 95% of that time was spent on me coming up with characters, deciding what cool personalities, themes, powers and abilities they will have, making decisions about the plot on a grand scale (for example, I might have formed two cool scenes in my mind and want them both to be in my story, but the inclusion of both scenes would create a contradiction in my story, or prevent things from making sense in other ways. In such situations, I need to work hard in order to decide what to do), deciding which character will fight which character at which point in a certain arc, and things like that.

As I mentioned before, I absolutely love listening to music (mainly background music from video games, Animé and movies, instead of actual songs with lyrics) while working on my story, not only while I am trying to get inspiration in order to make a decision about the plot or how to create a character, but also while actually writing the scenes in my story. This holds true for me especially when it comes to writing fight scenes, or other scenes with spectacular events happening, such as a person using a technique to transform into a monstrous and intimidating form, as listening to an appropriate background theme while writing such scenes really gets me in the mood for describing every aspect of the action in them in vivid detail.

Favorites: I absolutely love series with lots of fighting, people using supernatural powers, and utilizing/achieving cool-looking power-up forms.

Misc: I live in Sydney, Australia. Purity Before Existence will be my first published work.

Anyway, thank you for reading this post. I hope you'll be looking forward to reading Purity Before Existence as well :)



 
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What do you like to write? Primarily poetry and fiction. I'm currently working on a screenplay, comic book script and a video game script.
What got you interested in writing? To me, its the perfect way to share ideas and thoughts. It's creation and detail from a single mind and about a single mind, the worlds a person can craft can be trivial or they can be important but no matter what one thing rings true: They're your world.
Are you branching out? I try to do some solo performance when I can. These performances aim to simulate the feeling when your not sure if you should laugh of if you should cry in the viewer. I feel like that's a feeling important to being human that people don't try to bring out enough.
Do you have a method? At least fifteen minutes everyday I work on tankas. They're poems with the syllabic line pattern of 5/7/5/7/7 making them easy to master and practice. I'd recommend everyone learn them as they help with a sense of rhythm.
Favorites: Black Beauty, Life on Mars, Equus, A Boy Like Me, Joe Kelly's run on Deadpool. It's a varied list.
Misc: I'm a former horseback rider.
 

Ampharos

tag walls, punch fascists
is a Community Contributor Alumnus
What do you like to write? Screenplays, mostly for TV/short films (though I've had an idea for a feature bouncing around in my head for a bit now). Genre-wise, I skew towards the comedy end of the spectrum
Are you working on a current project? I do a lot of writing for a YouTube channel called ForcedReset (it's in my sig, yo!) and for my college's student TV network (primarily a narrative comedy called Down to Film)
What got you interested in writing? I was a huge bookworm as a kid, and I've always had a great love for telling stories and creating fictional universes.
Are you branching out? As stated above, I have an idea for a feature-length screenplay that I'll probably put to paper when I have some spare time. I might also try my hand at short stories/novels/whatever someday, but for now I'll stick to screenwriting (it's arguably way easier LOL)
Do you have a method? My mind tends to wander a ton during the day, and I usually have some sort of electronic device on me, so whenever I have some sort of funny/interesting idea that I think I can build off, I write it down.
Favorites Harry Potter, Fullmetal Alchemist (the manga), Watchmen (the graphic novel), A Song of Ice and Fire, The Sun Also Rises, Ender's Game, anything Edgar Wright has ever done ever, Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Misc i have more posts than this entire page combined RIP
 
So this is a thing.

Hi, AxeBane here. I'm presently a Moderator within the PS! Writing room! It's a title that I'm certainly glad to have. :o
  • What do you like to write?: I'm usually a short-story kind of guy, though my work often branches into fan-fiction, and due to the fact that I often Roleplay, I like to take the ideas I like and run with them in the novel format.
  • Are you working on a current project?: My current project is to just get through Year 11 and University alive. ;-;'
  • What got you interested in writing?: I was naturally fond of correcting others' grammar (even though my own is by no means perfect, heh) so I sort of took up writing initially to sort of vent my own nitpickyness into my own work as a test. It... had mixed results, to say the least.
  • Are you branching out?: I wish.
  • Do you have a method?: I'm a procrastinator. Being both an amateur writer and coder can have its drawbacks, certainly. ;-;'
  • Favorites: I love the dark and grim junk. Also pieces of literature that include a transformation theme (literal or figurative) are cool.
  • Misc: I live in Australia. It's currently burning hot, at 9:30PM, and I can't sleep. Hooray.
 
Oh this is a thread? Nice.
  • What do you like to write?: I really like fantasy. With fantasy you have a lot more freedom, and it let's you go into characters (or species! :D) you couldn't do in realistic fiction.
  • Are you working on a current project?: Except for schoolwork, no. In my Science Olympiad I have a lot of writing to do though because I made the mistake of doing 2 study events. I just finished doing my Invasive Species ones, and they came out pretty well.
  • What got you interested in writing?: I honestly don't remember. There's seriously an old book I wrote about two frogs and an elephant going on a picnic that my mom wrote down for me when I was like 6 and I then covered the cover in stickers of frogs and elephants. I think I've always just been a writer.
  • Are you branching out?: Not really. As school has me go into different styles (poetry, etc.)I do usually enjoy them. I've sound I really like doing limericks.
  • Do you have a method?: I think of an idea and roll with it. My most recent story I wrote for school was partially inspired by a story my grandma told. Also I get inspired a lot by the style of Rick Riordan and Erin Hunter when I write.
  • Favorites: Every Rick Riordan book in the Percy Jackson universe. I own every book (except The Sea of Monsters for some reason.) in every up to date series and I love them so much. I'm also a fan of Warriors/Survivors/Seekers by Erin Hunter but not as much as Riordan's books. Also Harry Potter of course.
  • Misc: I've been told I'm really good at writing and photography for my age. Also in class every single time I finish my rough draft everyone else is still doing their first one.

Here's a story I did recently for school! It's giant! Feel free to read it, decided I might as well show something I really like that I wrote. Ignore copy paste quality, I need to go to schooool. Also ignore underlines, those are dress up things.

Hello. I'm Jordan, and I'm hiding behind a boulder while a phantom panther hunts me down to crunch my bones into dust because it's probably evil. Meanwhile I'm shaking like a completely afraid chicken, which I guess I might be looking back on that day. But I'm ahead of myself. So let's start at the beginning. It started earlier today. It was a dreary Friday afternoon, and school had just ended....


At school, people call me many things. Weak, bully food, nerd, and Mr. Trips On His Own Desk. I prefer to be called the uber-awesome guy of courage who is also wickedly gorgeous. No one calls me that. So, back to this afternoon. It started wonderfully! I was thinking about what game I would play when I got home when I was shoved down on to the ground. I found my face full of mud while HE stood over me, laughing. HE is named Hamilton. What kind of parent names a kid that?! His group of minions, who I personally think look like goblins, laughed and snorted their diet sodas out of their noses. "Good one Hamlet!" One screeched. No idea why they call him that, those doofuses couldn't even read one page of our Shakespeare homework.I grumbled as I pulled myself up. "Very funny Porky, now why don't you go roll in the mud yourself?" I taunted. Porky is a much more fitting nickname for Hamilton. His potbelly, pink sunburned skin, bald head, and pig-like nose make it perfect! His face reddened and he grabbed me by the shirt. "Take his journal." Porky said with a sneer. My blood ran cold. Let's just say I'm a good artist, but no one seems to appreciate my amazing fan art for just about every game series I play, just because it's video games. If people saw it, I could be a laughing stock! Or I could be a rock star. 50/50 chance, but I didn't like those odds. "No! Wait!" I cried desperately. One of Porky's minions was holding my journal, which he had found after rooting through my backpack. "I'll... I'll accept a dare from you Por- I mean Hamiltion!" I pleaded. Porky looked thoughtful for a second. Can people like that think though? He then grinned wickedly. "Go into the swamps by the old coal mine, enter it, and bring back a... a gemstone! Yeah! I dare you Jordan!" He laughed. His minions followed suit. I had no choice.


I accepted the dare/demands and got on my bike. What's so bad about an old coal mine in a swamp besides being an old coal mine in a swamp? Well, there's this urban legend here where I live. A long time ago, like, 50 years ago, a circus came through town. They brought with them a massive black panther. One night they parked the cage in the swamps. The circus woke up when they heard the monkey's screams. They ran to the panther's cage, but it was gone! Vanished! They followed the tracks into the coal mine. They never found the panther. The panther story is true though, very true creepily enough. There's a newspaper article which is super old and everything. But the legend starts after this bit of truth. They say the panther lives on inside the coal mine. They tell us that the panther has eyes made of emeralds, and that wherever it walks it leaves rubies when it wants to lure people in for the kill. They say it wants vengeance because of what they did to it in the circus. People have gone looking for the panther, or as we call it now The Gemstone Panther, and never returned. No one has gone looking in about 20 years or so. But, I guess I'm going. Those idiots believe the legend. How could that be true? What would it eat? I stopped at the pawn shop on the way and bought a little red glass imitation of a ruby. I'll still go and look, they'll be waiting to see me enter. But I need something to bargain with when I find nothing but soot covered rocks.


I stood in front of the cave. Porky and his minions had been "kind" enough to give me a half-dead flashlight and a plastic bag. They giggled as I walked into the mine. The ground for the first 30 or so feet was green and squishy, like the swamp outside. I turned on the flashlight when it got too dark for me to see at all. I peered around each corner. It certainly was spooky. I couldn't help but feel captivated by the beauty though. Some vines were growing off of the rotting rafters (that can't be safe), a little stream trickled by, and those paw-shaped gems looked stunning. Wait. Paw-shaped gems? I bent down and stared. Those were definitely paw prints. What?! I looked around nervously. Was that the sound of footsteps? Pawsteps? Whatever you call them, something was moving. I looked around and saw a thin stalagmite. I broke it off because I'm so strong (Which I actually found it on the ground, already broken.) and held it out like a sword. I quietly stepped deeper into the darkness. No way was this real. It couldn't be. But there I was, Jordan, normalish red-headed nerd, holding a big rock and a flickering flashlight. And in front of me stood the scariest thing I had ever seen.


The Gemstone Panther was right there. It glared at me with... yes, those were actually emerald eyes. I could see the rubies forming around its paws. The Gemstone Panther, which is so long to spell I'll just call it Gem was transparent. Not very, but I could see everything behind its black fur. Its eyes glittered and I heard a low growl. "Well, I guess if there was an interesting way to die it would be this." I muttered. Time to be brave! And run away! I chucked my rock sword at Gem, which flew right by its head and then I ran out of there. As I dashed away I was screaming some very unpleasant things I shouldn't say in this story. I could hear Gem roar, which sounded a lot like the Jurassic Park T.rex instead of a cat. I dashed behind a boulder and froze. I could hear Gem's pawsteps near me, getting closer... and closer. I looked around and there was Gem. Her, yes, I could tell now, definitely a her, sniffed me. Those eyes... what was with them? So dark and green, yet full of... misery? I had an amazingly stupid idea. Slowly I reached my hand forward, a lot like Hiccup from How to Train Your Dragon I realized, and touched Gem. She didn't bite off my hand off, hooray! She just let out a long sigh and sat down. "So... not gonna eat me then?" I whispered, my voice quavering because of what I thought would be the end of me. Gem looked at me, and I swear she rolled her eyes. Can cats do that?! I continued to pet her anyway. "I guess those legends... were kind of true." I said. I nearly had a heart attack when a deep voice replied, "Oh, they were true young human, if not always correct, they were partially true."

I leaped backwards. "Whoa! Whoa, whoa, whoa! You can talk?!" I squeaked. She chuckled. "Well, when a spirit decides to use you as their form, you get these kind of privileges." Gem stood up and shook her dark fur. "You'll ask me to explain anyway human, so I'll start now. A long time ago, I escaped from my circus prison. When fled, I found myself here, in these dark and lonesome tunnels. It was here I met the spirit." I lifted my hand to interrupt, but she ignored me. "She was dying. These caverns had been falling into disrepair for years, and it had only gotten worse when the miners took all the coal because of their greed. I am a cat, we are humble. I offered myself to her. I promised I would make this cavern beautiful, full of life like it was before! She agreed. We merged. I speak with her voice and I use her powers, but that spirit is gone. I am Kósmima, but that translates to Gem in your language so you may call me "Gem" if you find that to be easily said. I protect these caverns from those who wish to give it harm. The others who came here, I did kill. But they were greedy old men who wanted to steal my gems only for their own profit. But what about you? Will you keep the wonders of this place secret, and only take what I give?" I was speechless. I nodded, I was probably in shock. "Take these then, human. I may not know your name but I know you need these gems to return something important to you, not get more of what you already have. Spirits know these things." She placed her paw in front of me, and four paw-shaped glittering rubies appeared. I thanked Gem, picked them up, and started to walk away when I turned back. "Gem... you sound happy. But why do your eyes look so sad?" I asked. Gem sighed once again. "I miss my kind. Not the spirits, but the panthers. We are a noble species, and I am alone here in these caves. This cave is beautiful now because of me, and I am immortal, but it makes me sad knowing I am all alone." I didn't know what to say. "I could uh... bring by this stray cat that hangs out near my house?" I offered. Gem smiled. "That would be nice, human." She muttered, and then disappeared. Well, I' m either insane or I did really just offer to kidnap a cat and bring it to a panther/ghost/spirit. I resumed running out of the cave, threw the fake ruby at Porky's forehead as I ran out the entrance, and kept running until I could see my bike. I jumped on my bike and went home as fast as possible. I kept the promise I didn't actually make, I brought the cat to Gem. She's happy now I think. I don't know if I will ever have an experience like this again. But I go back to the caves, and sketch. I draw Gem and the stray cat, the cave, the beauty inside of there. I am Jordan, and I made friends with a ghost panther.


"Yeah right Grandpa!" Judy laughed. Toby rolled his eyes. Their Grandpa had such weird stories, must be because he's old. "Don't believe me?" Jordan smiled. His grandchildren were just as disbelieving as he was. "Well, ghosts aren't real!" Toby said. Jordan slowly got up from his comfy chair, which was leopard print by coincidence, and walked towards the closet. He opened the dark closet and waved away a few moths as he picked up a small box. "What's in there Grandpa?" Judy questioned. Jordan grinned and open it up, and sitting on white velvet were four paw-shaped rubies. Judy and Toby gasped and stared at their Grandpa. "Want to see the drawings I did when I was there?" Grandpa asked with a smile. "Yes!" Both children cried as they followed their Grandpa and bombarded him with questions about the panther in the cavern.
 
I noticed this thread when I first joined the site, but have held off posting until now for... Some reason I don't entirely recall.

Anyways, here goes. The name's Hektor, and I've been dabbling in writing and editing for several years. Sadly, my interest is more in the behind the scenes work of building a world and plot as opposed to actually completing the project. ^^;

What do you like to write? I tend to write using the framework of pre-existing universes rather than designing my own, but I do make tweaks to make things for the story I want to tell. These universes range from realistic/historical fiction to dunking my toe into fantasy. Maybe someday I'll design a whole new fantasy universe; it all depends on how much I like my own ideas.

Are you working on a current project? Well, there's my Nuzlocke run (which I'm documenting as a story over on the Nuzlocke Forums), but other than that I just dabble until I really like an idea. That hasn't happened for quite some time, sadly. Academics also impede my progress rather frequently.

What got you interested in writing? Funnily enough, it was English class. I'm not a natural, per se, at seeing things like motifs and symbolism, but damned if I don't appreciate them mightily. The tapestries that great authors weave are things of real beauty, and I want to try making things like them.

Are you branching out? Slowly but surely. I like to really master the thing I'm working on before starting the next, but I'm getting better at keeping the experience fresh with side work. I've written a couple poems in the last year or so, and I'm starting to experiment with screenplay.

Do you have a method? I tend to base much of my prose on how my characters would react to the events around them and each other. I find it helps me stay consistent with them throughout a work, and really lets me give the situations some unique color (as opposed to "Here's the next town, folks!"). My poetry is highly introspective and communicative of my mood when I wrote it.

Favorites: I have a really strong appreciation for tragedies of all sorts: Shakespeare, Vonnegut (Slaughterhouse-Five in particular), Greek tragedies, and Orwell's dystopian twists on the formula are all up there on my favorites list.

Misc: I'm a really good writer and editor at the sentence level. I also really love it when I come up with the perfect descriptive word or passage for the situation I'm working on.
 
  • What do you like to write?: I write short stories, mainly for the sake of humor, however I do sometimes get a bit philisophical. Text-based Rpgs and choose-your-own adventure stories are a fun way to pass the time, but they can really eat up your creativity.
  • Are you working on a current project?: Right now some friends of mine and myself are trying to get a few of our ideas off the ground, most notably an entire section of our website which is dedicated to a large fantasy world.
  • What got you interested in writing?: Well, when I was in about fifth grade I scored really well in the writing proficiency, and the test graders praised my use of voice and character. From that point on I began writing a little, and during middle school I would write short stories during my free time. When I found out about Role playing games, I became fascinated by the idea, and used it as a practice ground for my different ideas. I never thought I would grow so fond of my characters, and they helped me understand more about myself and the world.
  • Are you branching out?: Actually I took up a job doing copy editing/writing for a short time. It's very easy money. Eventually I'll start submitting short stories to websites and magazines, but it makes me extremely nervous.
  • Do you (oops) I wouldn't say I have a definible, long-standing method of writing. I focus on the characters feelings, thoughts, and reactions to the settings and situations. It keeps me passionate.
  • Favorites: That's a tough question to me, because I usually end up disappointed with novels and such. If I find a Science Fiction novel that seems interesting, and not overly godless, I'll pick it up. Discworld sounds like a great series, and reading Infinite Jest is probably the ideal way to go insan.
  • Misc: Well, I live in Vegas, which, sadly, doesn't have many good opportunities for a writer. I don't know if I'd be comfortable letting an agent market my work, unless it was someone I really trust.
 
  • What do you like to write?: Poetry, analogies, short stories, fantasy, horror, quotes, school papers (yes I'm odd), etc.
  • Are you working on a current project?: I'm currently working on what would be called my "magnum opus", but it is extremely far from being finished, with only mere outlines having been done, and not even all my character bios being completed. I'm also working on several short stories, and I have a poem in the works. I am also planning in the mere thought stages the books that will come before my magnum opus. Never start with your magnum opus, folks.
  • What got you interested in writing?: Ever since 7th grade I was told I had a gift for writing. Then in high school I started doing outlines for what would become my magnum opus (someday :P)
  • Are you branching out?: Urm I'm in the writing room? I don't do much irl because there's not much avenue tbh, beyond really going beyond my comfort zone.
  • Do you have a method?: Yes and no. I tend to revise after I write. However, I do have a method for my poetry.
  • Favorites: Anything by Brandon Sanderson, Harry Potter series, LOTR & The Hobbit, Emily Dickinson (haven't read a ton of her work, but what I have has been excellent), several upon several others.
  • Misc: I am somewhat acquainted with Latin, as my name stems from it. However, don't listen to Monomire who thinks it means "Gas Light". Also my personality is a tad... felis-ish.
 
  • What do you like to write?: Mainly poetry. I feel can convey my feelings with more power through a poem, which can be short and sweet and long and haunting.
  • Are you working on a current project?: I'm just working on a few poems here and there, and possibly a long story hopefully featuring ~30 chapters.
  • What got you interested in writing?: I've always enjoyed writing, but around the sixth grade I was told I should do more writing as the teachers/people who read my works really liked them.
  • Are you branching out?: Aside from sharing works in the Writing room, I occasionally write a poem or two every other week for my English and/or Theatre class. I'll read the poem and act it out (provided it's something I can perform).
  • Do you have a method?: Yeah, not really. I just write from my heart and maybe I'll edit it a few times of need be.
  • Favorites: HARRY POTTER
  • Misc: I love theatre, which provides me an opportunity every day to write/act something new. This can lead to many possibilities of story ideas.
 
I'm not sure if it is appropriate for me to use this thread for this purpose, but because it's been some time since my previous post in this thread, I'd like to share another part of my novel (if it is not OK for me to share a scene in this thread once every couple of weeks, or if you'd prefer if I just edit these scenes into my original post each time, please let me know, Eevee General). An editor is going through my entire manuscript as I am typing this. This scene is considerably longer than the previous one:

‘Ya qowat al borkan al ha'ila, edkhaly al ardh wa ahrik man al dakhil!’ the swordsman chanted while continuing to dive downward. He changed the way he held both of his swords such that he was now holding them each in a reverse grip. As he did that, the blades of his swords began heating up to an exponentially higher temperature than before. This created a very strong, searing wind, which blew in the faces of everyone in the chamber, causing the other two men to cover their faces with their arms as their clothes waved wildly in that wind. ‘Thuran!’ the swordsman shouted loudly as he performed a rightward 360 spin in the air before thrusting both of his swords into the centre of the sand pit while landing on his feet. Immediately after doing that, he screamed, 'Haaa!’ as while still holding his two swords in reverse grips, he moved those burning swords around in such a way that he wrote the Arabic word ‘ثوران’ in flames on the ground in front of him.

Immediately as he did that, he jumped back away from the burning ‘ثوران’ on the ground in front of him. At that instant, an enormous and loud eruption of lava spouted out of the fiery ‘ثوران’ on the ground, with that eruption accompanied by a huge cloud of pitch-black smoke.

‘Hhhhhhhhhh!’ the cobra was then heard letting out a loud hiss in unbelievable pain as it emerged vertically out of the lava, with its entire body badly-burned. Flames covered its whole body, while its skin was also peeling off, with drops of lava falling from its now pitch-black skin. Its right eye was no longer functional, as nothing except for a torrent of unnatural-looking green blood could now be seen coming out of that eye socket. The swordsman, who had now landed back on the ground on his right knee and was holding his swords in a normal grip again, smiled confidently as he looked up at the badly-burned and blazing cobra. The gigantic creature displayed a furious look in its left eye at the swordsman, before opening its mouth and once again spitting a huge amount of purple acid down at him. The swordsman jumped back and dodged the acid, which landed on the sand and began disintegrating it rapidly.

Upon witnessing its acid attack missing the swordsman, the cobra faced its opponent as the eye-like patterns on its hood glowed blue. It once again fired a blue laser beam from each of those two eye-like patterns at the swordsman just as he landed back on his feet from his previous jump. However, the swordsman formed an ‘X’ with his swords in front of himself and blocked the two laser beams, which created some magnificent-looking sparks of flames on impact while pushing the swordsman back about 10 metres on his feet. He raised a huge cloud of sand in front of him as he slid across the sand pit.

The cobra stopped firing its laser beams. It began ascending straight upward, until it reached the ceiling above. After that, it hissed loudly again as it started violently crawling upside down around the ceiling at random directions and at a very high speed, as if it was performing an upside down dragon dance on the ceiling. As it did that, it shook the entire chamber while sending a rain of falling rubble from the ceiling down towards the swordsman. Due to the flames and lava engulfing the cobra’s body, much of the falling rubble was also covered in fire and lava.

The swordsman narrowed his eyes while displaying a determined look in them, as the reflection of one blazing and falling rubble increased in size in his eyes. He quickly got into his signature fighting stance, before kicking off the ground and launching himself straight upward. He sliced the piece of rubble diagonally in half with an upward and rightward swing of his Scimitar, before thrusting his Khopesh straight towards another piece of rubble falling towards him, smashing it to pieces. After that, the swordsman did a rightward 360 spin before slicing yet another piece of rubble falling at him horizontally in half with his Scimitar.

Immediately after cutting that piece of rubble in half, another huge piece of rubble fell towards him, but this one was covered in neither fire nor lava. The swordsman thrust both his feet at the piece of rubble as it approached him, before kicking off the piece of rubble in order to launch himself diagonally downward and backward through the air. He did a backflip while once again holding his two swords each in a reverse grip, before his feet landed on the solid perimeter of the sand pit behind him, with his knees bent.

He stretched his arms out to the side, such that his two red-glowing swords held in reverse grips in his hands now resembled the wings of a fiery phoenix. He looked up at a huge cloud of dust in the ceiling with a determined look in his eyes. As he did that, he saw the cobra sticking its head out of that cloud of dust, looking down at him while hissing loudly. It briefly stuck its tongue out, while an absolutely insane amount of black energy began surging out of its body like a raging fire.

‘Ajnihat anqa'a!’ the swordsman said as dozens of burning pieces of the chamber’s ceiling were falling all around him like a meteor shower, creating huge explosions and craters on the ground as they landed. The swordsman kicked off the ground and launched himself diagonally forward and upward towards the cobra, while leaving a magnificent and brilliant-looking trail of flames in the air behind him as he traveled. At that very instant, the cobra hissed loudly as it began diving diagonally forward and downward towards the swordsman for a head-on collision.

As the swordsman continued flying diagonally upward, he screamed, 'Haaa!’ as his entire body became surrounded in a great flame that manifested in the shape of a majestic-looking, blazing phoenix. The phoenix’s wings surrounded the swordsman’s arms and swords, while its head faced the same direction to which the swordsman flew. This made it such that when viewed from a distance, the swordsman resembled a flaming phoenix which was flying diagonally upward straight towards the descending cobra for a head-on collision. The diving cobra fired a huge amount of purple acid from its mouth straight down at its opponent, only to see that acid getting evaporated into steam in the air upon colliding with the sharp beak of the burning phoenix, before that acid could touch the swordsman at all.

The swordsman and the cobra let out a battle cry and a hiss respectively and simultaneously. The other two men in the room watched with an amazed look in their eyes at the sight of the two combatants heading straight for each other at a point high up in the air at the centre of the room. As the swordsman reached the cobra, he swung both of his swords forward horizontally like a closing pair of scissors. The swordsman and the cobra collided at a point in the air right in front of the chest of the statue of the old man from the perspective of this battle’s two spectators, resulting in a catastrophically powerful, loud and bright explosion of flames in the air. An immensely strong shockwave radiated outward from the explosion, causing even more pieces of rubble to the fall from the ceiling.

‘Hhhhhhhh!’ the cobra was heard letting out its final hiss as its head was cleanly cleaved off the rest of its body at the centre of its hood, while both of the severed parts of its body began falling from the air engulfed in flames. At the same time, the swordsman landed back on the ground on his right knee with his head lowered and his arms spread out to the side. The huge phoenix-shaped flame around his body faded away, while the blades of his two swords rapidly cooled down, with pitch-black smoke rising from them.

‘I guess this was the final challenge . . . huh,’ said the swordsman as he raised his head while standing back up, while the two severed, burning and smoking pieces of the cobra’s body fell down from a great height behind him. Those pieces of the dead cobra crashed on the sand behind the swordsman, raising an enormous cloud of sand on impact, while once again shaking the entire chamber due to their huge weight.

‘Y-Your Highness! You did it!’ one of the two men watching this battle said excitedly, as both of them ran towards the swordsman, while the rain of blazing rubble stopped falling from the ceiling.

‘Your Highness . . . are you okay?!’ said the other man.

‘I’m fine,’ replied the swordsman as he looked at the other two men, while holding the hilts of his two swords in a normal grip again. Just then, all three men heard some swooshing sounds coming from the direction where the cobra had fallen. They turned to face that direction, and saw a massive amount of black energy leaking out of both pieces of the fallen cobra’s green blood-surrounded corpse before vanishing in the air. After that, the cobra’s entire corpse along with its green blood melted into sand, which mixed with and became indistinguishable from the rest of the sand in the room.
 
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Yeti

dark saturday
is a Community Contributor Alumnus
  • What do you like to write?: hour long dramas. namely procedurals. I have a feature film spec script and two comedy pilot specs I need to revise this summer but m'drama where it's @
  • Are you working on a current project?: see above but I have two drama pilots (one is technically a spinoff of the other) I need to revise, one is currently in class. I also have Expansive word docs of series concepts and episodes I work on.. I don't know if they'll ever actually go anywhere or even resemble what I've constructed currently but they're there :^)
  • What got you interested in writing?: idek I just always liked when we got to do creative writing in grade school. went through the fanfiction stage as a teen. wrote some srs cringe content. what really inspired me to go into TV was star trek 2009 (not the quality of it just the concept of telling more star trek stories) and when criminal minds' spinoff was canceled i was Irate feeling like those characters had more stories to tell.
  • Are you branching out?: I'm currently getting my MFA at LMU
  • Do you have a method?: wait for inspiration to hit me and then be too lazy to write it down at first then it comes back to me and I write it down. I find it more difficult to force myself to write but sometimes the vibes are right and it's easy to dig into a piece.
  • Favorites: cop shows and sci fi lol. fringe and person of interest = best tv shows 2k10s
  • Misc: this industry is yolo af lmao why am i here. my goal is to be a tv writer, maybe showrunner if i'm also the creator, but really just to be in the writers room working on shows i like and gaining enough favor to pitch and sell my own pilots and work on them (top kek). long road to the top bois. once i graduate i'll be begging agents to take me on but ugh so many shows aren't looking for baby writers it's a Struggle.
also wtf Walrein i didnt know you were getting into screenwriting too.... when did u get old enough for college tho ;~;
 

Martin

A monoid in the category of endofunctors
is a Smogon Discord Contributoris a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnus
I might as well do one of these. Gonna be kinda long because I'm terrible at making things short and because I like to give lots of context and/or explanation when I answer questions about myself.

What do you like to write?: I enjoy writing in general, although I don't write much (outside of school and the unnecessarily-long essays I write on this site--I probably write two or three stories per year max); however, when I do write I usually stick with single-chapter descriptive pieces. I've been praised by people who have read my work for being really good with being able to completely milk my descriptions of things to make them spectacular (I did a piece about two years ago in which I described a Windows XP computer booting up in minute detail which was submitted for one of my GCSE controlled assessments; I got a perfect score on it and was told by my English teacher that it was one of the most spectacular descriptive pieces she had ever read). I'm not very funny (anyone who's read almost any of my abysmal attempts at being funny in Firebot will know this) and as such I am very poor at writing comedy pieces.

Are you working on a current project?:
I'm about to start writing a story for a writing competition in school. I'm going to write it over the holiday, and I've decided to try something that will put me outside of my comfort zone so that its not completely unfair to everyone else who will be submitting stories (considering that I'm the only person who's not in year seven or eight who's participating, if I were to do a descriptive piece it would probably be drastically more sophisticated than the stuff that most other people submit (please don't take this the wrong way... I'm not trying to sound mean or anything, its just that it'd be a borderline eighteen-year-old against a group of thirteen/fourteen-year-olds) as well as because I want to challenge myself in order to stimulate my brain and make revision for my upcoming AS-level exams a little easier and more useful. I'm going to be writing an alternating monolouge told from the perspective of two characters, and it is going to be a psychological piece which covers issues such as bullying, depression, schizophrenia and suicide.

What got you interested in writing?:
I had no interest in it prior to my GCSEs, and as such I neglected English a lot and even managed to sleep through a handful of lessons (being woken up and scolded by my teacher every time as they walked past me after explaining what our task was). However, at GCSE my English Teacher (Miss Thompson)--who really loved writing--was able to see that I had potential from my analytical ability and the amount of detail that I put into verbal explanations, and recognising that I needed a push to make the most of this potential she reached out to me in a way that my teachers hadn't done in the past (she treated me as her friend as opposed to her subject (obviously within the limits of what the law and professional standards allowed) and was able to connect to me by opening up with me and encouraging me to open up to her). This lit a flame in my mind and made me really enjoy English in a way that I had not done prior--so much so that it became one of my favorite subjects at GCSE (although I ended up dropping it in favor of a more academic slate for my A-levels with graphic products as my creative subject due to me really disliking the A-level English Literature and English LangLit specs and not particularly wanting to be forced into either entirely dropping half of what makes me love the subject or following a subject which waters both aspects down to fit them into a two-year study period). If it had not have been for Miss Thompson, I would have never grown to love writing; she quite literally changed my life, and she is easily the best teacher I have ever had for this reason.

Are you branching out?:
Not much really. There is one thing of note other than the writing competition though. I'll give some context before I say how I'm branching out, as I feel that it is needed to explain the details; about a month ago I voulenteered to talk at an evening about screen and internet use at my sister's school as the organisers were looking for teenagers who could explain their experiences on the internet and social media, and they lacked anyone who was able to give the perspective of both a: a male and b: a gamer, meaning that they were encouraging anyone who filled said criteria that they were unable to find beforehand to come up and contribute to the discussion. Anyway, I discussed and gave a drastically different view on the internet as a whole to what virtually every other person in the room thought of it (there were a number of people on there who I am entirely convinced went into the evening thinking that the internet was the root of all evil) and talked about how the internet was one of the most important influences in my life--getting the only applause of the whole evening. It just happened that the editor in chief of a moderately-sized local publication was in the room that evening, and at the end of the discussion he came up to me and asked me if I wanted to write an article for his magazine about how the internet is misconcieved and demonised by society and to talk about my experiences with it. I jumped on the offer and have been back-and-fourthing with him over email for the past four weeks talking about the specifics, the style guide and other rudimenary things which I won't go into depth about here.

Do you have a method?:
I'm almost entirely casual, and I never share my work with anyone else because it leaves me kinda embarrassed to. I have a box full of the stuff in my bedroom, but I almost always delete any digital copies of my work the moment that I'm finished with them because it means I feel less inclined to share my work with others. When writing I have a bad habit of writing out of order (adding sentences between previously written sentences) and it can lead to continuation problems when I get lazy over proof-reading.

Favorites:
My favorite genre is definitely either supernatural or psychological. There is just such a wide range of directions that you can take with them that it ends up being very varied, and it is what I love about the genres. I'm also a big fan of dystopias, although there are also a lot of dystopias that I really, really hate. Two of my favorite book series are His Dark Materials trilogy by Phillip Pullman and the Maze Runner trilogy+prequel by James Dashner. Both of these are well-written dystopias and I thoroughly enjoyed reading them, although admittedly by about a quarter of the way through the final book in the Maze Runner trilogy I hated the main character with a passion. I also love Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels for more reasons than I can be bothered to list. With regards to standalone novels, my favorite has to be Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandell for its incredible storytelling and believable dystopian setting. In case you can't tell by now, I'm not very good at writing reviews of things which I've not seen/read five or more times in order to pull them apart and analyze every scrap of detail I can find (the only thing I've ever bothered to do this with is Boku Dake ga Inai Machi). Speaking of Boku Dake ga Inai Machi, my two favorite characters and my favorite quote both come directly from that series. The characters I'm referring to are Katagiri Airi and Hinazuki Kayo. The latter really resonates with me as a character, allowing me to empathise with her much more deeply than I have with any other character in my time reading stories, and quite honestly looking at her personality is very much like looking at myself in a mirror, and as such I extremely like her character. As for Katagiri Airi, I have spent hours talking with people I know IRL who have either watched or read the series about why I think her character is genius (this isn't an exaggeration; I have literally wasted away three hours of my life talking about her character with my family and friends). I will spare you my full analysis of her character (please don't ask me for it over PM either, because I really don't want to spend two hours typing out my full analysis of her), but to give you a tl;dr of it: she can be connected to the entire main and supporting cast, almost as if she is literally the human embodiment of both justice and the best sides of the entire cast and allowing her to act as a beacon for Satoru to aim for and be inspired by; that and she is just an all-around nice person! As for the quote, it goes to the thing which Kayo wrote, called "Watashi Dake Ga Inai Machi" (roughly translates as "The Town Without Me") because it basically matched my entire mindset from a big chunk of my life during junior school and the first half or so of secondary school due to issues that made making friends basically impossible. Here's a loose translation here courtesy of some random facebook thing that appeared on google.
When I get bigger, big enough to go somewhere by myself, I want to go to a land that’s far away. I want to go to a faraway land. I want to go to an island that has no people. I want to go to an island that has no pain or sadness. There are no adults, children, classmates, teachers, or my mom on that island. On that island, I can climb a tree when I want to climb a tree, swim in the sea when I want to swim in the sea, and sleep when I want to sleep. On the island, I think about the town I left behind. Kids go to school, as if nothing has changed. Adults go to the office, as if nothing has changed. Mom eats, as if nothing has changed.

When I think about the town without me, I feel a sense of relief. I want to go far, far away.
Misc: I live in North London, and I am currently reading The Business by Iain Banks, The Snapper by Roddy Doyle, WLT by Garrison Kellier and another book which I started reading earlier today for which both the name and author escape me at this moment (its down two flights of stairs and quite frankly I can't be bothered to go and remind myself now; my short-term memory is terrible please don't judge me xD).
 
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I'm going to talk about things completely out of order and off the top of my head because to me, this thread seems way too formulaic and it's making it boring, which sucks, because I want to know which of you out there are going out and getting stuff done.

The 1st thing I'm going to say is y'all need to put your shit up in Smeargle's Studio. Writers are allowed to do that; in fact, I've done it myself, but I made a point of asking Bummer if I was allowed to because I saw no precedent what-so-ever. We're here - there are 4 whole pages of people who are interested or have some experience in writing and pretty much no one is putting their work up. Go do it. Also, the more of us there are that put their work up, the more of us are around to hopefully critique each other (so yes, this whole paragraph was kinda self interest - do it anyway). Just a warning though - the formatting for Smogon posts is absolutely appalling. Using tab to indent paragraphs doesn't work, so I recommend doing a 'double enter' to show a paragraph instead - that makes dialogue super annoying because it takes up so much space, but at least you don't have a giant text wall.

2nd thing - If you're on PS!, just hang out in the writing room. I recognise a couple of the writing room regulars on here (Mystifi, Felis, Axebane, for example) but either the rest of you aren't or are on alts. It's a great place to chill with people who share a similar interest, who are willing to look at your work, or holding discussions about writing in general.

I might as well do one of these. Gonna be kinda long because I'm terrible at making things short and because I like to give lots of context and/or explanation when I answer questions about myself.

What do you like to write?: I enjoy writing in general, although I don't write much (outside of school and the unnecessarily-long essays I write on this site--I probably write two or three stories per year max); however, when I do write I usually stick with single-chapter descriptive pieces. I've been praised by people who have read my work for being really good with being able to completely milk my descriptions of things to make them spectacular (I did a piece about two years ago in which I described a Windows XP computer booting up in minute detail which was submitted for one of my GCSE controlled assessments; I got a perfect score on it and was told by my English teacher that it was one of the most spectacular descriptive pieces she had ever read). I'm not very funny (anyone who's read almost any of my abysmal attempts at being funny in Firebot will know this) and as such I am very poor at writing comedy pieces.
Are you working on a current project?: I'm about to start writing a story for a writing competition in school. I'm going to write it over the holiday, and I've decided to try something that will put me outside of my comfort zone so that its not completely unfair to everyone else who will be submitting stories (considering that I'm the only person who's not in year seven or eight who's participating, if I were to do a descriptive piece it would probably be drastically more sophisticated than the stuff that most other people submit (please don't take this the wrong way... I'm not trying to sound mean or anything, its just that it'd be a borderline eighteen-year-old against a group of thirteen/fourteen-year-olds) as well as because I want to challenge myself in order to stimulate my brain and make revision for my upcoming AS-level exams a little easier and more useful. I'm going to be writing an alternating monolouge told from the perspective of two characters, and it is going to be a psychological piece which covers issues such as bullying, depression, schizophrenia and suicide.
What got you interested in writing?: I had no interest in it prior to my GCSEs, and as such I neglected English a lot and even managed to sleep through a handful of lessons (being woken up and scolded by my teacher every time as they walked past me after explaining what our task was). However, at GCSE my English Teacher (Miss Thompson)--who really loved writing--was able to see that I had potential from my analytical ability and the amount of detail that I put into verbal explanations, and recognising that I needed a push to make the most of this potential she reached out to me in a way that my teachers hadn't done in the past (she treated me as her friend as opposed to her subject (obviously within the limits of what the law and professional standards allowed) and was able to connect to me by opening up with me and encouraging me to open up to her). This lit a flame in my mind and made me really enjoy English in a way that I had not done prior--so much so that it became one of my favorite subjects at GCSE (although I ended up dropping it in favor of a more academic slate for my A-levels with graphic products as my creative subject due to me really disliking the A-level English Literature and English LangLit specs and not particularly wanting to be forced into either entirely dropping half of what makes me love the subject or following a subject which waters both aspects down to fit them into a two-year study period). If it had not have been for Miss Thompson, I would have never grown to love writing; she quite literally changed my life, and she is easily the best teacher I have ever had for this reason.
Are you branching out?: Not much really. There is one thing of note other than the writing competition though. I'll give some context before I say how I'm branching out, as I feel that it is needed to explain the details; about a month ago I voulenteered to talk at an evening about screen and internet use at my sister's school as the organisers were looking for teenagers who could explain their experiences on the internet and social media, and they lacked anyone who was able to give the perspective of both a: a male and b: a gamer, meaning that they were encouraging anyone who filled said criteria that they were unable to find beforehand to come up and contribute to the discussion. Anyway, I discussed and gave a drastically different view on the internet as a whole to what virtually every other person in the room thought of it (there were a number of people on there who I am entirely convinced went into the evening thinking that the internet was the root of all evil) and talked about how the internet was one of the most important influences in my life--getting the only applause of the whole evening. It just happened that the editor in chief of a moderately-sized local publication was in the room that evening, and at the end of the discussion he came up to me and asked me if I wanted to write an article for his magazine about how the internet is misconcieved and demonised by society and to talk about my experiences with it. I jumped on the offer and have been back-and-fourthing with him over email for the past four weeks talking about the specifics, the style guide and other rudimenary things which I won't go into depth about here.
Do you have a method?: I'm almost entirely casual, and I never share my work with anyone else because it leaves me kinda embarrassed to. I have a box full of the stuff in my bedroom, but I almost always delete any digital copies of my work the moment that I'm finished with them because it means I feel less inclined to share my work with others. When writing I have a bad habit of writing out of order (adding sentences between previously written sentences) and it can lead to continuation problems when I get lazy over proof-reading.
Favorites: My favorite genre is definitely either supernatural or psychological. There is just such a wide range of directions that you can take with them that it ends up being very varied, and it is what I love about the genres. I'm also a big fan of dystopias, although there are also a lot of dystopias that I really, really hate. Two of my favorite book series are His Dark Materials trilogy by Phillip Pullman and the Maze Runner trilogy+prequel by James Dashner. Both of these are well-written dystopias and I thoroughly enjoyed reading them, although admittedly by about a quarter of the way through the final book in the Maze Runner trilogy I hated the main character with a passion. I also love Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels for more reasons than I can be bothered to list. With regards to standalone novels, my favorite has to be Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandell for its incredible storytelling and believable dystopian setting. In case you can't tell by now, I'm not very good at writing reviews of things which I've not seen/read five or more times in order to pull them apart and analyze every scrap of detail I can find (the only thing I've ever bothered to do this with is Boku Dake ga Inai Machi). Speaking of Boku Dake ga Inai Machi, my two favorite characters and my favorite quote both come directly from that series. The characters I'm referring to are Katagiri Airi and Hinazuki Kayo. The latter really resonates with me as a character, allowing me to empathise with her much more deeply than I have with any other character in my time reading stories, and quite honestly looking at her personality is very much like looking at myself in a mirror, and as such I extremely like her character. As for Katagiri Airi, I have spent hours talking with people I know IRL who have either watched or read the series about why I think her character is genius (this isn't an exaggeration; I have literally wasted away three hours of my life talking about her character with my family and friends). I will spare you my full analysis of her character (please don't ask me for it over PM either, because I really don't want to spend two hours typing out my full analysis of her), but to give you a tl;dr of it: she can be connected to the entire main and supporting cast, almost as if she is literally the human embodiment of both justice and the best sides of the entire cast and allowing her to act as a beacon for Satoru to aim for and be inspired by; that and she is just an all-around nice person! As for the quote, it goes to the thing which Kayo wrote, called "Watashi Dake Ga Inai Machi" (roughly translates as "The Town Without Me") because it basically matched my entire mindset from a big chunk of my life during junior school and the first half or so of secondary school due to issues that made making friends basically impossible. Here's a loose translation here courtesy of some random facebook thing that appeared on google.
Misc: I live in North London, and I am currently reading The Business by Iain Banks, The Snapper by Roddy Doyle, WLT by Garrison Kellier and another book which I started reading earlier today for which both the name and author escape me at this moment (its down two flights of stairs and quite frankly I can't be bothered to go and remind myself now; my short-term memory is terrible please don't judge me xD).
There's so much here I can relate to it's insane. I started writing outside of school last year, when I was 16, because of my Literature class - I thought something along the lines of 'hey this is cool, I should give that a shot'. The person we were studying was Wislawa Szymborska, a Polish poet who got a Nobel prize in literature, and who's poems are all super edgy and ironic - so naturally, most of my poetry is super edgy, I'm just not as good at it. I also encouraged by my teacher, although IIRC he said something closer to 'your writing is excellent and you should do more with it AFTER school when you don't have study and shit'.

I'm also entering a competition run through my school for writing, and most of that writing is coming from year 7s and 8s. The topic was something like 'Connections and Renewal' and I have no idea what I'm going to do for it yet, but yeah, similar.

Finally, I also don't share my work that often, though I'm slightly less OCD about that than you. I'm the kind of person who forces myself to do things I find uncomfortable to get the experience - like going to parties, or submitting my work to competitions. I don't think I've ever shared something with my parents that wasn't school work, but I find it's much easier to share on the internet because I feel much more anonymous. I also find that asking someone to have a look over it, and then coming back afterwards for suggestions helps - looking over someone's shoulder as their reading my work isn't the MOST uncomfortable thing I can imagine, but it's up there.

So basically, if you want to talk about stuff, discuss writing, or whatever, I'm here. That goes for the rest of you too ;)


I guess I'll do a bit about myself now:

I'm mostly interested in Fantasy and Sci-Fi, with my favourite book series being 'The Wheel of Time' by Robert Jordan. Eragon was pretty cool, but I wasn't a fan of the 4th book. I'm currently reading the Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson and the first book is AWESOME - seriously, go read it.

Most of my work at the moment is edgy poetry, as I referenced before. I've also dabbled a bit in short story writing, with more coming (at some point). My 'Writing Archive' on Smearle's Studio has a bit of my work, though it's by no means all of it - I'm far too lazy to update it enough. There's a link in my sig if you're interested.

I'm hoping to write a novel at some point - I'm thinking futuristic Sci-Fi, aliens, galactic warfare, the whole nine yards. I also have a couple ideas for smaller projects rattling around in my head - a poem about Utopia, a short story about a kid who suffers family abuse, and a couple others. The problem is that I need the time and the inclination to get started, both of which are difficult for me. My method is very much about feeling inspired, and I find it very difficult to write when I'm not in 'the zone'. I've tried to force myself to do it, and wasn't pleased with the results, to put it mildly (it was fucking garbage). Time is also an issue, I'm doing things after school on pretty much every day and am relying on the weekends to catch up on all of my homework.

TL;DR:
Put your work in Smeargle's Studio, and look out for other writers in there.
Can someone please see if we can get better formatting for posts so that writing formally isn't a pain the dick? I don't know who to talk to.
Check out the Writing Room on PS!
Talk to me about writing things, I'm looking for attention here to help!
 
What do you like to write?: Comedy writing. Comedy plays, short stories, novels (I've yet to finish one), speeches, etc.
Are you working on a current project?: In the loosest sense of the term, I'm currently working on a novel, which I hope to have completed before January 2017. I've got around 47 pages down, but no title. Heh.
What got you interested in writing?: Reading. I'd always want to write after reading.
Are you branching out?: I plan to join my school's literary magazine, but I've never gotten around to it.
Do you have a method?: No.
Misc: My best friend thinks I'm a real chuckle inducer, so there's that. I have some stuff up in Smeargle's Studio.

On a side note, I can't help but say that I've gotten dumber and less attentive - i.e., worse at writing, as I've grown older. It probably comes with reading less and using my computer like a moron more. It's something I can't reverse. I can't muster up the courage to even start reading again. I have plenty of books I'm highly interested in - Nate Silver's The Signal and the Noise is just two feet away from me - but I got it a year ago and I've yet to finish it. Were I younger I'd have finished it in about three days. I also used to write a lot more when I was younger, but not any more. It shows. My writing when I was in the seventh grade is roughly around the same level as it is in the eleventh grade, right now. If I keep this up I'm going to be a complete moron.

I'm in a death spiral and there's no way out but through myself.
 
Not sure if this is the best place to post this, but I would like to make an important announcement:

5:32 PM (8 minutes ago)

"Congratulations! Your book, Purity Before Existence, has finally completed the publication process. It will be available on the Xlibris website for purchase within 3-5 business days. You will receive a sample copy of your book in 10-15 business days.

You will first receive an Author Proof Copy of your book. A notification email with a tracking number will be sent as soon as it is shipped out from our printer facility. If everything is satisfactory with your Author Proof Copy, please inform me, so we can start printing the complimentary and additional copies you will be ordering."
 

EV

Banned deucer.
Not sure if this is the best place to post this, but I would like to make an important announcement:

5:32 PM (8 minutes ago)

"Congratulations! Your book, Purity Before Existence, has finally completed the publication process. It will be available on the Xlibris website for purchase within 3-5 business days. You will receive a sample copy of your book in 10-15 business days.

You will first receive an Author Proof Copy of your book. A notification email with a tracking number will be sent as soon as it is shipped out from our printer facility. If everything is satisfactory with your Author Proof Copy, please inform me, so we can start printing the complimentary and additional copies you will be ordering."
Tell us about the book!
 

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