Young Writers Society

The name's mamthew. Well, technically the name's Justin and only the username's mamthew, but you get the idea.

I've been writing for almost eight years, now, and in that time I've only really managed to write one and a half novels and one short story. Nothing else was really up to standard. When it comes to my writings, though, I'm a bit starved for some kind of feedback. I've shown my stuff to all of my friends and family and all the forums I've been on and yet managed to only get a couple people to actually read them, which is sad.

I really only write fantasy, although I'll read or watch most any genre that falls into my lap. One of my greatest passions is characters. The idea that you can spend a few hours learning about a person who isn't real and then know them better than someone you've known for real all your life is one that fascinates me.

I love anime (current obsession is Baccano/ permanent obsession is Cowboy Bebop) as well, so yeah...

Besides that, I'm wondering where I would go to ask some questions about rules for posting and the like. Posting one chapter of a novel each week really doesn't work with an 84 chapter novel...

Hi Justin! Welcome to YWS, I'm peanut! So you've been writing for 8 years? That's awesome. There are a few rules for the site:
No chat speak we are writers so we have to post and talk like them. Ur riting wuz gr8!<--- not how we need to say things.

Try to post two reviews for every non review you post. This helps to balance things out.

There is an Advanced Critique forum for your stories over 5000 words.

If you have any questions feel free to PM me.

~peanut~

Hello Justin! Almost eight years writing? Well, that's impressive. I'm only somewhere in my second or third year concerning serious writing. I've never completed a novel yet I have something against finishing things.

Anyway, great to meet you! Peanut's explained the rules, so I can go on to the other things. I'm sure you've noticed that some people have usernames with different colors, right? Well, that's because they have different jobs to do around YWS. Here's a quick list.

Black- regular members
Blue- Greeters, who welcome new members and help them to get acquainted with the site.
Purple- Instructors, who will help you with reviewing your work.*
Light Green- Junior moderators, who help the moderators with keeping the site in check
Dark Green- the moderators
Red- Administrators
Orange- Distinguished members, who are retired admins and mods

*Speaking of which, you can check out this list. It'll help you with the instructors, and who will be more likely to review what.

Well, that's it. What's your novel about? Having 84 chapters sounds impressive.

I hope to see you around soon, Justin. If there's anything you need, you're free to PM me. See ya!

Hi Justin!

If you're looking for feedback, you've definitley come to the right place. YWS is a crazy website full of quirky members, and we all consider ourselves family.

So, welcome to the family!

I doubt that you won't make new friends or find at least one person with the same interests as you. There's a great section called the About the Authors forum where you can post a bio about yourself.

Have you checked out the Knowledge Base? (It's under the Resources tab at the top of the screen) But, you probably won't need that, since you've been writing eight years (that's impressive, by the way)

You might find the Will Review for Food section more helpful. You can send links of your work to open members who are willing to give reviews, and before you know it, you have feedback.

See how easy that is?

Hope you have fun, and prepare to be addicted!

If you have any questions, feel free to PM me!

- Fraggle

Hiyas, Justin! Welcome to YWS! *hands a cheesecake*

Fantasy is a wonderful genre; and characters are the next best thing. ^-^ I know what you mean when you say that it's amazing when you create a character in a matter of hours and know everything about them. Sometimes I wish so badly that I could actually meet them, because they seem like such wonderful people. lol

Anime is awesome. I've never seen or read either of those. Do you draw anime?

So, apart from all that, what kind of music do you like? And who's your favorite author?

PM me if you need anything or just feel like chatting. ^-^ And have fun!

Smiles!
~Mira

Hi Justin!

One and a half novels equals about a gazillion poems, so you're still ahead of me in terms of writing quantity. And this is the best place for [s]shredding[/s] feedback, so I think your problems there are over. In terms of posting, usually you shouldn't post too much more than 1500 words in one post. It's not against the rules, it's just that a lot of readers have a short attention span. So...yeah, I'd post only the chapters that you really need help on - you never know, someone might want to follow the novel all the way through and help you edit!

Or, like Peanut said, there's the Adv Critiques forum. =]

Hope you're enjoying the site so far! PM me if you need anything.

-Mars

Well, lemme tackle everything here one at a time.

So there's a place where I can post links to my stuff and have people review them that way? I'll have to take advantage of that...

Besides that, I guess I'll post up my short story (bit long for a short story, since I am a novel writer, but ah well), and yeah...chapters I need help with.

I don't use chat speak anyway. Pisses me off to read it. I tend to write how I talk, though, so I'll throw in the occasional "dunno" or "sorta" or "dun" instead of "don't".

The 84 chapter finished one, Noname, is kind of a parody of the traditional "Chosen One with shiny sword goes to fight evil dude who took over the world" story, although it's still relatively serious at parts. It's told from the PoV of the Chosen One's mentor. I'm also working on another one (currently 62 chapters in) that's a Reaper story with a couple twists titled Death Comes to Many. It's definitely got my favorite character work of anything I've done to date. I've also got that short story mentioned above; it's my only work that's been published. I'll probably post it in the advanced critiques section, as suggested.

Heh, I wish I could draw anime. I used to be able to draw, but I lost it. It's actually one of the reasons I started writing as heavily as I do, since it's the only method I have to show people what I want them to see. Unfortunately, though, it's harder to get people to read a 94k-word novel and tell you what they think than it is to get them to do the same for a picture.

I'll listen to most music except for rap and hard metal. I mostly listen to video game and anime music (nerdy, I know), but I also listen to ska, specifically Streetlight Manifesto and Catch-22, some They Might be Giants, Frank Sinatra, and more besides. I don't really have a favorite author, but I do love Eoin Colfer and Douglas Adams (the two authors with books on my shelves right now; given most of my books to my little brother).

The two-for-one thing makes a lot of sense, but I do find it hard to critique stuff (bit hypocritical, I know), so it may be a little while before I can put up anything, but I do look forward to doing so.

Well, this was a pretty long post. Maybe I'll look around and see if there's something I can critique tonight. Thanks for all the welcomes. This looks like a nice place.