Hello... New...

Hello, I'm fhwdf, I'm 13 (14 in 4 days!), I live in London and I am absolutely crazy about writing. Unfortunately, my friends aren't. I'm not that into internet forums but this seems completely the right one for me. I have a question, though: I have a really long piece which I would love to be able to get feedback on, but I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post it - all the other things I've looked at are only a few hundred words.

Erm, about me: I write pretty much everything, poetry and fiction, most genres and usually a mixture of several. I read in a similar way, although I am obsessed with the Tudors (you know, Henry VIII, the six wives, Lady Jane Grey, that sort of period)so read quite a lot of non-fiction about them. I'm a grammar and spelling maniac, which most people find annoying: I also have a lot of rules (for myself) when writing, like avoiding adverbs, not using extravagant vocabulary unless it has a purpose, etc...

I love being creative, which usually entails being weird, so I'm a bit of an oddball with a skewed sense of humour and a really warped imagination. So, um... Please help me find my way in this wilderness!

Hey fhwdf! Welcome to YWS! You can call me Stella!

For the long piece- try looking in Advanced Critiques. It works on a one for one basis though, so you'll have to do one for someone else. Other than that, a lot of people post just bits of their novels or whatever to get looked at.

So you seem to have gotten the hang of most of the rules- the review ratio, grammar etc. So I'll just tell you some interesting things that might help you out, since you asked:

-the coloured names: blue are Greeters, who should be around any minute to help explain stuff and show you your way around. Purple are Instructors- they give really good reviews and strive to help you write. Light green is Junior Mods, and dark green is Mods. Mods keep you in line around the forums, JM have mod powers in one specific part of the site. And red are admins, who are all-seeing, all-powerful. Bow down before them.

-Under Writing Resources, you'll see the "Writing Tips KB" which is the Knowledge Base. There are loads of helpful articles in there written by YWSers. In fact, since the site got resigned, there are a million helpful features, so just explore and find them!

Other than that, I hope you stay around. You seem cool Warped imagination? Great! And everybody here is a grammar fanatic, trust me. Also, I love simple prose, anything too fancy with long words just, yeurgh. No Looks like you'll fit right in.

So who's your favourite author? Band? Food? Random thing? Type of cheese?

If you need anything, feel free to PM me!

-Stella x

Thanks so much for explaining all that. I was getting really confused! Advanced critiques I definitely want to have a go at, although my slight concern is the copyright issue - I know it says that the copyright remains my own, but I just wonder, how would I know if somebody did use anything without me knowing? Not that anyone here would do that (or necessarily that anyone would want to!) but since anyone can view the site...

Er, favourite author, well, I like lots... I love the classics, Jane Austen, Wuthering Heights, Dickens and so on, and I have a soft spot for Eva Ibbotson although her books all have exactly the same storyline. The Lemony Snickets; Harry Potter may be badly written but it's genius; generally any random thing my dad (who's a bookseller) happens to pass into my hands. Band? I really don't know. Random thing, cheese, cheese, erm, stilton. Maybe.

Greeting fhwdf, I am Adelaide, the AI for YWS.

You seem very well read. I think you will find YWS to be filled with many people that have similar interests. In addition to writing, there are many usergroups which can use new and active members like yourself. You might consider joining one.

If you have any questions, let me know.

-Adelaide.

I'm really not sure about the whole copyright thing- on the whole, it's probably not going to happen. If you're unsure, you can always take your work down after you've gotten the critiques you wanted. The chances of it happening though are probably quite slim- nobody's going to go onto a young writer's site specifically to steal work- no matter how good it is! And plagarism is taken really seriously here on YWS, so there's very slim chances that a member would ever do something like that. It's pretty safe.

And your booktaste! Sounds like we'll get on fine. Austen is one of my favourites. Wuthering Heights, myeh, I preferred Jane Eyre! And Eva Ibbotson! I love how you have exactly the same thoughts as I do about her- her books have exactly the same plot except in a different guise and yet they're so delicious... and Harry Potter? Psh. It's awesome.

Don't worry about the explaining This place is difficult to navigate- even when you've been here for nearly two years! If you need help, as I say, I'll be happy to oblige.

-Stella x

HI!!

Welcome to YWS!

Since it seems that Stella already covered it all, now some more about you!!

What's your favorite color? what type of music do you like? What's your favorite movie?Do you like Jonathan Rhys Meyer, ? What's your favorite book?

Well, and many more.

If you need anything, a review or just abuddy, well I'm a PM away.

Welcome to YWS again!!

XOXO
Pudin

I'm afraid I would have to disagree about the Jane Eyre/Wuthering Heights, although to say why would be to completely undermine my own philosophy: why should we have to like main characters? And Cathy and Heathcliff are both horrible as well. I suppose it's the reasons for the dislike - Cathy and Heathcliff, the whole point to them is their flaws, whereas Jane Eyre is supposed to be perfect, she's always making the 'right' decision, and you just want to yell at her 'we all know perfectly well you don't want to marry him so just go back to the one true source of happiness in your life, it seems a fairly obvious decision', although quite why Mr Rochester would be a source of happiness in anyone's life is beyond me. Anyway, whatever, they're both great books, I did like Jane Eyre, just not as much.

OK, er, favourite colour, I don't really know, but I do like black. Music, really no idea. I dislike most pop music because it's all the same. Movie, well, maybe St Trinians or the Incredibles, both brilliant. Jonathan Rhys Meyers is OK, I suppose he's good at what he does; he's no Henry VIII but he admits that so I'm OK with it, though I can't say I watch the Tudors much. The good thing about it is that it brings attention to the period, even if it's not particularly accurate, so that means more people talking the same language as me! I really don't have a favourite book. It's impossible.