Authors who don't hang out on the AH

[MaroonPrincess]

I don't know about the rest of the new writers, but in my case, I am only on here because Duleigh suggested I check it out. I am a new/amateur writer so I don't feel I have much to contribute to a forum.

 

[Trionyx]

Many years ago, after my stories were assailed-- for content not grammar, period slang, and idioms-- an older wiser author suggested that I never mix certain categories under a single pen name and I never use an author pen name to comment in the forums. It has worked like a charm, I get blasted here, but my stories are not affected.

How does one do this? I tried recently with a different email addy and jumped through all the hoops and it appeared to have been accepted. However, when I try to use the other account now, it isn’t accepted.

 

[MillieDynamite]

I haven't been around much this month. My father is writing for NaNoWriMo this month. I'm his beta reader, giving input, "advice," making notes on things I'm not sure of, and doing minor edits for him. When he's in tune with his story, he writes very fast, and I'm not keeping up. What I'm doing doesn't matter much; it's more moral support for his efforts. He won't do the editing until the competition is over. So my personal writing time is spent reading and making notes this month. I think he passed 36,000 words yesterday.

 

[stickygirl]

I don't know about the rest of the new writers, but in my case, I am only on here because Duleigh suggested I check it out. I am a new/amateur writer so I don't feel I have much to contribute to a forum.

I used to be the same. Because I didn't have a catalogue of stories, I felt something of a fraud. Authors are just perverts of the head and pen - there's nothing that special about them. Just be yourself and pull up a mouse

 

[Imstillfun]

I don't know about the rest of the new writers, but in my case, I am only on here because Duleigh suggested I check it out. I am a new/amateur writer so I don't feel I have much to contribute to a forum.

I am a very experienced and highly rated author. I always feel I have very little to offer here. It’s normal to feel that way, but trust me, your questions and insights as a new author are as interesting as anything I might have to offer.

 

[Rustyoznail]

I don't know about the rest of the new writers, but in my case, I am only on here because Duleigh suggested I check it out. I am a new/amateur writer so I don't feel I have much to contribute to a forum.

I write stuff I like. I don't know an adverb from a fart in a bottle. First, second, third point of view? Whatever... I hang around to help understand that side of things and participate in the fun little side challenges. You never know what questions in your area of expertise will pop up. One of the first threads I saw was around Aussie slang. Always a fun topic.

 

[Seadog777]

I actually came in AH before my first story was published.
I'm very grateful that I did.
Fellow authors like Kumquatqueen, Bramblethorn, lovecraft68, electricblue666 and a few others, were really helpful in helping me get started. Answering questions and giving me advice.

 

[SimonDoom]

I don't know about the rest of the new writers, but in my case, I am only on here because Duleigh suggested I check it out. I am a new/amateur writer so I don't feel I have much to contribute to a forum.

I'll second what Imstillfun said. Don't let inexperience hold you back. This is a casual social media forum, not an academic blog. The standard for "acceptable contribution" is not high. Most of us are just hobby writers.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

What Simon said. We are just sharing some experiences and ideas and trying to learn something from other writers. And yeah, I believe most of us are writing for the fun of it. It is like a book club of a sort! Damn, where were dirty book clubs when I was a teenager...

 

[Seadog777]

I am a very experienced and highly rated author. I always feel I have very little to offer here. It’s normal to feel that way, but trust me, your questions and insights as a new author are as interesting as anything I might have to offer.

I disagree. I think you have a lot to offer newer writers such as myself.
I'd love to take any and all advice you have.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I was just looking for a place to start and never really found one, so this seemed as good as any. Cheers!

You'll be fine, and soon figure us all out. Welcome to the nuthouse, all sorts represented here!

 

[Agiel]

The AH is a tiny, tiny minority. We're not representative of anything or anybody. The overwhelming majority of authors wouldn't even know this forum exists.

I started off reading stories, decided I could do better than the writers of many of them, and had a go improving as I went along.

I had been submitting stories for nearly three years, reading them long before then, before I discovered what the words “bulletin board” meant and after not long realised I didn’t find it terribly exciting. Sometimes I wish I’d never found out.

I tend to pop in now when I’m bored to see if there are any interesting threads but sadly many of them are just … but occasionally you get a gem. Nowadays I am, more or less, back to where I used to be. Reading and writing.

But if some find involvement in the forums enjoyable then who am I, or anyone else, to decry them their pleasure. Let everyone enjoy what they like about the site.

 

[ChloeTzang]

AH is honestly pretty intimidating. The navigation is tough if you aren’t used to old fashioned message boards, most of the active contributors are well-established creatives, there’s a chaotic mixture of friendly fire and targeted attacks, it’s just bonkers.

I was just looking for a place to start and never really found one, so this seemed as good as any. Cheers!

LOL. Yeah, when I first started and didn't even know what a POV was, and 1st 2nd and 3rd person made absolutely no sense to me, it was a bit intimidating. As were my first couple of competition entries, but I just kept reading and asked a few questions as I went and got a lot of help along the way. Now it's more social than anything else. I went to a few writing classes and workshops where I live but didn't really gel with any of the other people there - most of them were writing boring shit (cough cough) and a lot were way to pretentious so after I got what I wanted from the workshops I dropped those. Most of the other writers I interact with are here on the AH or on Literotica, altho I've also hooked in with two or three Sci-Fi writers on Facebook who are fun and rather helpful.

But in the end, the AH is just a fun place to hang out in with like-minded (more or less, hey Keith LOL)

 

[MelissaBaby]

LOL. Yeah, when I first started and didn't even know what a POV was, and 1st 2nd and 3rd person made absolutely no sense to me, it was a bit intimidating.

My first submission was rejected because my grammar and formatting were so poor. Reading here, and asking questions, was tremendous help for me as I figured out just what the hell I was doing.

 

[Seadog777]

My first submission was rejected because my grammar and formatting was so poor. Reading here, and asking questions, was tremendous help for me as I figured out just what the hell I was doing.

This was exactly the same case with me.
I got frustrated and cut a promo on Laurel after the 2nd "rejection". She explained to me exactly why it kept getting rejected. I apologized and we're good now.
For me, lovecraft, Simondoom, ChloeTzang, bramblethorn and a few others that I'm forgetting, were very helpful to me.

 

[ChloeTzang]

My first submission was rejected because my grammar and formatting were so poor. Reading here, and asking questions, was tremendous help for me as I figured out just what the hell I was doing.

laughing. So was mine, and then it got bumped for plagiarism (I cloned it off of an existing Literotica story because I had no idea what I was trying to do but I liked the story and figured I could improve on it). I ended up with a completely new story in the end, thx to Laurel patiently rejecting my story three or four times until I'd rewritten it. It was a great learning curve and in the end, once I actually got it accepted, it did okay.

 

[SimonDoom]

For me, lovecraft, Simondoom, ChloeTzang, bramblethorn and a few others that I'm forgetting, were very helpful to me.

That's nice of you to say. Thanks. I'm glad.
I think of myself as something of a grammar nerd but I don't want to come across as a grammar Nazi. And the truth is, despite having a pretty solid background in English grammar, I'm wrong much of the time. The English language is just too weird and too complex for anyone to be right about it all the time. I learn from the other people who contribute here just like you do. I think that's one of the benefits of this forum: the wisdom of the sum is greater than the wisdom of the parts.

 

[Seadog777]

That's nice of you to say. Thanks. I'm glad.
I think of myself as something of a grammar nerd but I don't want to come across as a grammar Nazi. And the truth is, despite having a pretty solid background in English grammar, I'm wrong much of the time. The English language is just too weird and too complex for anyone to be right about it all the time. I learn from the other people who contribute here just like you do. I think that's one of the benefits of this forum: the wisdom of the sum is greater than the wisdom of the parts.

You're welcome.
The English language is always changing as well. Makes it even harder to try to comprehend or even keep up with.
I'm always asking questions and watching what people say here in AH, so that I can continue to learn and apply that knowledge.

 

[Athalia]

I don't know what "hanging out" actually means. I'm not a constant viewer or poster here, but I do try to check in every week or two to see what's currently being discussed.

I, too, found the Hangout very helpful when I was starting out. I'm still curious to know what other authors think about some of the topics that have come up in my own work.

So I'll probably continue to visit the Bulletin Board and the few sub-categories that I'm interest in. As to whether I'm contributing anything of actual value to them is a mystery to me.

 

[jehoram]

So I'll probably continue to visit the Bulletin Board and the few sub-categories that I'm interest in. As to whether I'm contributing anything of actual value to them is a mystery to me.

Well, the fact that you haven't seemed to sink to the level of exchanging rants and barbs with the other posters is something in your favor.

I see that you joined about twelve years ago, and have 1078 posts to date. That's less than a hundred posts a year... not a lot compared to me (I have three times that many), or to many other posters. So you haven't taken up a lot of bandwidth.

The Hangout is just that... a place where authors who want to socialize with other authors can do so. For many authors, that's not important. They'd rather hang out with people who focus on other aspects of life. I mean, I like to drink beer, but I don't hang out in bars.

 

[MillieDynamite]

In some ways, the hangout has been a substitute for the writing group I belong to, which hasn't met in forever.

 

[lovecraft68]

In some ways, the hangout has been a substitute for the writing group I belong to, which hasn't met in forever.

I was a member of one of those here in RI. 310(at the time) paying members, but a big meeting would be 25 most under 20. Of course like many things after the lockdowns were over a lot of people preferred to watch it through zoom.

I joined for connections and to get deals on events like the cons, but if you think this place has some egos and some drama its nothing compared to sitting in a room listening to these people without an ignore feature.

 

[Djmac1031]

I tend to come and go when it comes to visiting here but then, so does my writing.

I started out strong with a bunch of stories but have been on an extended dry spell for a bit and I find when I'm not writing, I'm not visiting here as often either.

Trying to get back in the swing of things though.

 

[MillieDynamite]

I was a member of one of those here in RI. 310(at the time) paying members, but a big meeting would be 25 most under 20. Of course like many things after the lockdowns were over a lot of people preferred to watch it through zoom.

I joined for connections and to get deals on events like the cons, but if you think this place has some egos and some drama its nothing compared to sitting in a room listening to these people without an ignore feature.

Mine is a real-life group but is currently inactive. I'm not sure if it will ever have a meeting again. I still talk to some of the members on a fairly routine basis. We had as many of 30 members at meetings, but the average was ten of us.

 

[sweetnpetite]

Honestly? Unless they have a specific question they can't find an answer to anywhere else, they're better off not knowing about the forums. Not that it can't be a fun place and you can make some friends, but writing wise? Best to be left on your own. I published for over a year and had a couple dozen stories before I came to the AH and I have often thought over the years I'm glad I did it that way so I wasn't influenced by a lot of what gets discussed here, which is often more concern over stats than actual writing.

And those people don't end up with the forum trolls bombing their stories whenever something is said they don't like.

I spent farrrr more time fucking around here with my friends than actually writing. Lol.