Young Writers Society

Hello everyone,

I am your newest member and as such a very naive writer. I am not a great writer and in fact I write anything that I feel interesting. I have written a few situational humor and were thoroughly liked by my friends which were small write-up. I love to explore the fantasy fiction genre. I have a few questions to ask :

1. Is an over the top vocabulary absolutely essential if you have to present the book or the draft at the global platform or to the literary agents?

2. A suffer from reading deficiency. It is not that I do not want to read. It is just that I do not have to patience to read through pages and pages. I lose interest in the book very often and the description in the books for me, is often a bottle neck to read further. I feel that writers who do not have a deep story line fill their pages with oodles of description.

I know I am not correct but this is my point of view. I would appreciate any help to overcome this deficiency

Thanks a lot in advance.

Hey Sunny,

My name's Firefly, and welcome to YWS! Before I answer your questions, let me link you to some helpful forums:

-Go here for the YWS FAQ page.
-Snoink's Welcome Page is very useful!
-Need information? Go here.

Now that you know where to go, let me remind you that we have a 2:1 review policy. That is, for every one post you make (uploading a poem/story/etc) we encourage you to review two pieces of someone else's work in return. It keeps things here at YWS fair, and is also a great way to meet new people and make new friends!

OK, so on to your questions!

1. No, an over-the-top vocabulary is not essential for getting your work published. In fact, if you can substitute "that's absolutely fallacious" with "that's false", it's much easier for the readers to understand without having to get up and grab the dictionary from their shelf! Keep It Simple, Silly (K.I.S.S)!

2. I have this same problem. It's not that I don't like reading—in fact, I love to read! But it all boils down to your own personal preference. Reading something overly-descriptive is a big turnoff for me; likewise, reading something that lacks imagination also turns me away. There's nothing wrong with feeling that way, it's just a matter of taste.

Well I hope that I've covered everything! Enjoy your stay here at YWS, and if you have any further questions, feel free to PM me.

Again, welcome to YWS!
~Firefly

Hello! I simply love your name, Sunny! Glad to meet you her at YWS!

Don't say you're a lesser writer! Everyone has a writing talent, it'd just take some moments to show it. I'm sure you have that talent, dear. Firefly already gave you the list of FAQs you're likely need, so check up on them. I'll also send you a Greeter Message, which contains an intro of what you should expect here at YWS. Make sure you read it!

Lemme answer your two questions:

First, yes and no. The answer actually comes from your genre. If, per se, you're writing a children' novel, an over-the-top vocabulary can make your work a mess! You'll make the kids explode! If you're writing a Sci-Fi, a technical dictionary would help. Since you're a Fantasy writer, you can use both simply-sweet and vocab-serious based on what you're writing. If per se, you're writing about war and stuff in a fantasy world like Wicked by Gregory Maguire and the LoTR series, seriousness matters. If fairies and the like are your points, then a sweet simple vocab'll work. In fantasy, you can even make a language of your own!

Second, I'm a book reader and collector, and so I've pass through that stage in my younger life. When I was young, I'd rather read cyclopedias and almanacs than novels. But then I grew into the written tales by *tat dada da!* children's books. Don't be ashamed of reading them if you're too old for them. They can help you come close to novels and such. Try reading 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid' by Jeff Kinney and 'Dork Diaries' by Rachel Russel. Believe me, you WILL read it! There are even chapters where all you will see is pictures. The story is also great and presented in a child's perspective making it EASY to read and is quite funny. After that, move to other children's books with less images like 'A Series of Unfortunate Events' by Lemony Snicket. They have BIG words in them, but lesser illus., making them readable!

Also, books can help you create an idea for your storytelling. But you can also get help from friends and teachers!

I hope I have helped you in your prob! Good luck writing!

Your Pal,
Al

Oh, hallo! I welcome thee, although I am somewhat new myself.

To answer your questions...

1. Actually... I find myself sometimes having to simplify my language consciously after reading too much Shakespeare, so 'over the top language' is rather ambiguous... But I would say that the language simply needs to be of sufficient quality. There was actually a popular book I have read, nightfall (2010), which utilized a rather simplistic form of English... It mostly depends on what mood you want to set, setting etc.

2. Reading deficiency? You are reading the wrong books! I found the Wheel Of Time series very enjoyable (although somewhat stretched out later on), but if you want, you could read shorter works. Although The work of H.P. Lovecraft may not be the perfect example (being early 20'th century), he did write mostly by short stories, although by 'short' I do not mean 1-page-long. I think these are most, if not all, of his stories, if you are interested, but if you are not that interested in horror, then you might still like his stories 'The Silver Key' and 'Through the Gates of the Silver Key ', which are the purest form of fantasy fiction I ever read): http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/fiction/


Anyway, reading will make you a great writer, along with writing, of course. So, see you later.

Hey sunny!
Welcome to YWS!

As to question 2, reading isn't necessary but is sure is fun! I know of a poet here, who rarely reads, but he is quite adept and gorgeous with poetry. So, yeah, no worries! ^^

Feel free to PM if you have any questions!
~Lex