New to this

[Dragonheart]

Ok cool thanks all.

The longest one i have is only at 4,059 words at the moment, so got alot of work to do I guess lol.

[Dragonheart]

Oh just one other thing, when you write, does the author put it into chapters as he goes along or is that something that comes way after the story is done?

[Expendable]

If you're writing a book or a novella, most decide where chapters are going to be during the outlining or writing - but there's nothing to say you couldn't create chapters in the editing phase. Really it's how you feel comfortable in writing.

After all, this is your story, nobody else's. If you want to wait until editing to separate your writing into chapters, do so.

Libraries and book stores are filled with helpful writer's books. Remember they're guidelines, suggestions.

If you decide you want to post a short story to the site, click on where it says "Stories" in the top menu and create a Community account. Then post your stories there, set it to "publish" and save. In your Community Menu, click on "Stories" and then on the story you just created. When that page opens, copy the link and post it here in the Writer's forum if you want critiques.

[Dragonheart]

thanks and i did post a little peice of one of the stories i have. Its probably not very good because it is old.

http://www.sffworld.com/community/story/2214p0.html

[KatG]

Hiya. No, training is not required. But an inquiring mind is a plus. One of the best writers I've known had an 8th grade education and wrote on a typewriter fished out of a dumpster. But that doesn't mean he didn't try to improve his craft. Plundering your local library to read lots of novels -- things that interest you -- and short story collections, is a good way to start. Writers guides can be helpful, as long as you take what they offer as suggestions, rather than as rules that you have to follow. Learning some grammer guidelines from guidebooks doesn't hurt -- gives you more control over your tools. A class may be helpful, but again, as a way to help you understand the tools available to you, not as a way to tell you how to write.

Fantasy novels vary widely in length. Until you get a better idea of how you yourself write, you might want to stick with short stories. Some writers prefer that form. If you do tackle a novel, it can be in the 75,000 words area. Big war epics tend to be much longer -- 100,000-200,000 words or more occasionally, but you are not obligated to write such tomes.

We don't have all the answers, but we're willing to listen to the questions (and commiserate.)

[Expendable]

It's a very interesting opening, but you're right it needs some work.

It was unusually dark in the city tonight, but its always been unusually dark lately, like some sort of evil storm coming in.

"it's", not its here. Unusually dark but always unusually dark - interesting attempt at color. Grab a thesaurus and come up with an alternate for 'unusually' to avoid repeating yourself.

He walked down the road on this night, cloaked as if trying to hide himself and staring all around him looking to see if someone was watching him. He was always cautious and always wandering alone. For he had no home or friends, just himself and his past.

These last two lines you the author are telling us about the character instead of showing us. Does he slip into the shadows when the nightwatch comes marching by? Does he stop, leaning against a wall and watch the people in the darkened street?

As he walked down the great city of Grimdor...

You can walk down a street, you can't walk down a city.

"We'll be needing your gold lad." the dwarf said as his two friends smiled.

The tavern keeper is going to let someone rob his customers? Also, what told the dwarf he had gold? Did your character produce a heavy purse when buying the ale?

Then with a crack he was in the air pinned against a wall in the back of the pub by one of the men.

Wearing armor, he's still thrown back against a wall while sitting at the far end of the bar counter?

...even though he had the face of a young man as he drew his sword you could see wisdom and age in his face.

What does age and wisdom look like? Show us, don't tell us about wisdom and age in a young man's face.

"My name is Ravilla Dragonheart and if you wish to continue this I will kill you." he said without any emotion.

Earlier he was trying to hide himself, now he's here in showy white armor telling everyone his name? If someone's looking for him, he won't be hard to find.

Odds are that tavern isn't completely empty, maybe someone recognises him. Then he's got people who might want to help him against the thieves and others who'd want to sell him out to the authorities. Or maybe this was just a setup to catch the dwarf and his henchmen?

Your narative of the fight is ok, but you need a serious edit and spell-check. However there is potential here.

The above is only my opinion, you are free to accept or reject anything I've said.

[James Barclay]

No training necessary. It's all on the job if you ask me and you only get better by writing more and more stories, and probably doing more and more reading of other people's so you learn how others do the things you like and dislike.

At the risk of people saying 'well, that explains a lot', I had no formal training in writing. I didn't even do English beyond GCSE level (not sure what that is in the US but these are the exams we do at 16 in the UK). But I have been writing fiction since I was 11. And now I manage to get by as a full time writer.

Just keep on writing.

NOM

[Gary Wassner]

I agree with James. Just keep on writing. With each line you write, you learn. And with each paragraph, you learn more. When you finish your first book, you've just started the process. I can't tell you how many authors, myself included, look back on their first book and wonder why they didn't notice all its shortcomings when it was written. But that's an author's fate. All you can do is keep working, and just as important, keep listening. Listen to your friends, your editor, the reviewers, your teachers. Hey, listen to your enemies as well because they often try harder than others to find your faults, whereas your friends tend to be more gentle than the text might justify. In this sense, it really does pay to keep your enemies closer to you than your friends!

The satisfaction you get from writing should be your best motivation. Eventually, you'll know when what you've done is good. You'll know when it strikes all the right chords. And you'll know when it sucks.

[Expendable]

Writers write. We're not happy doing anything else.

Like anything in this world, if you want to write stories, you've got to work at it.

[Physics Knight]

Is there any point in writing a story, if you havent had any training in doing so?

Of course. Writing is fun! And it may not always be a choice, not to write. I always have all these ideas and people running about in my head when I'm idle. I think I'd go crazy if I did not put them to paper and to rest. Although I'm sure I just convinced everyone I'm already crazy.

[JamesL]

I've had a couple of short stories published and am over 50,000 words into a novel, and I've never had a single lesson on writing fiction, or any training of any kind. Everything that I've learned is the result of trial and error, of critiques that I've received and of hundreds and hundreds of hours spent writing. I've lost count of the dead ends I've hit and the false starts I've endured. But all of it has had a purpose and I'm a far better writer now than I was 5 years ago. This improvement was not due to training, but to practice.

You don't learn ballet by reading a book, you learn it by doing it. Same goes for writing. Just write and see where it takes you.