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Young Writers Society


"The Real World"



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Sun Oct 01, 2006 12:52 am
Firestarter says...



So, for pretty much ten years of my writing life, nobody had ever really shown much interest in my writing from the "real world". I suppose I am quite shy about it; I don't openly tell people I write poetry (I get embarrassed) or fiction. I don't know why. Mostly because people don't ask about it. See the paradox?

Anyway, today, my girlfriend told me she felt like she was missing out on a whole important part of my life. I suppose, in a way, she has been. She wants to be involved now. She wants to read what I write, help me look for places to get published (in magazines and such) and just support me towards writing a novel finally. It felt strange to see someone actually care about it.

And, then, to top it off, just half an hour ago, my Mum was telling me how similar I was to my cousin, about a year younger than me, who also writes a lot. Apparently he gave a 40,000 word story to his mum and sent it off to our gran as well. Of course, this made me feel inferior, since I've never shown my parents anything.

So now my parents said they'd like to see my stuff, and always have done, but just didn't want to press me into doing anything I didn't want to do. I'm not sure what to do yet, I think I'll be really embarrassed the first time. I might just find my best stuff, and give that to them, to make a good impression. My Gran? I doubt it. I hardly ever talk to her.

But, yeah, it was all very strange. Especially on exactly the same day.

Suddenly, though, I have a urge to write and produce things now. Perhaps it will spur me on knowing people will support me in the real world, rather than people from across the oceans I've never met before?

So what about the rest of you? Do lots of people in the "real world" know you write, do you advertise the fact, and do you show your work to your parents or friends?
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Sun Oct 01, 2006 3:16 am
smaur says...



Haha.

Everyone knows I write.

Everyone.

And most people have seen some form of my writing — friends and family.
"He yanked himself free and fled to the kitchen where something huddled against the flooded windowpanes. It sighed and wept and tapped continually, and suddenly he was outside, staring in, the rain beating, the wind chilling him, and all the candle darkness inside lost."
  





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Sun Oct 01, 2006 3:24 am
Doctor Kitty says...



Meh. I don't particularly make an effort to mention it, but I'm fine with people knowing that I write stories and poetry and whatnot.

And if they think the fact that I write is "gay" or "retarded," as they say, they can continue living in their close-minded hellhole while I'm graduating as valedictorian.

And they lived happily ever after.

I should probably go to bed. I'm a little cranky.
  





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Sun Oct 01, 2006 3:29 am
Roaming Shadow says...



Interesting thread. Personally, I'm not afraid to tell others that I'm a writer. I often make the note that it's usually fantasy and sci-fi when I tell them. That, I'm fine with. It's actually showing that work that gets me. I'm just really self conscious about my work or something, at least with people who actually know me. It is certainly different on a site like this, though sites like this are certainly valuable resources.

I also have so many ideas that I never want to talk about. Heck, I almost feel embarrased to do so. As it is, I think I've only had my mom read one piece of mine, and that piece is all but scrapped unless I put it in some kind of anthology later in life. Thankfully, I have two family members who have offered to give me the closest thing to a proffesional critique I'm likely to get. One just graduated college and is now an english teacher, the other is the author of a few childrens books, which I can't remember the titles. Well, the last name is Sinke, just in case you've ever seen those books and remember the author.

Anyway, someday I'll have a truly finished work that I'm confident in, hopefully a novel, that I'll share with anyone who cares to read it. Until then I'll try to learn as much as I can from you guys (and girls) and perhaps teach a thing or two myself.

And if they think the fact that I write is "gay" or "retarded," as they say, they can continue living in their close-minded hellhole while I'm graduating as valedictorian.

Amen to that MisterWaffles.
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Sun Oct 01, 2006 3:53 am
Caligula's Launderette says...



Like smaur said, everyone knows. Though I really just got into the swing of actually telling people I write.

By the by, that little fact there - actually telling people I write - has opened up new doors to me. I told my Godmother the other day, and found out that she is really into poetry, and wants to start up a poetry club.

My friends were the first people who knew I wrote, then my mom, and then the rest of the world. I also like to force things on my friends, so yeah...

Fun times!
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Mon Oct 02, 2006 8:59 am
Myth says...



My best friend and my kid siblings know. When my parents found out they were not too pleased. They've tried to stop me so I use the computer for all ideas and such, my parents tend to throw my papers away if it has 'nonsense' words or doddles on it.

My English teacher was the first to notice and always helped me with grammar and plot twists.

So that's only six people in the real world. I'm very shy so I don't come out with the love of writing, I hate being in the spotlight.
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'...'
  





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Mon Oct 02, 2006 9:06 am
backgroundbob says...



They've tried to stop me so I use the computer for all ideas and such, my parents tend to throw my papers away if it has 'nonsense' words or doddles on it.
... that actually hurt me physically, to hear that.

I've never been very open about sharing *what* I write, but most people know that I do, or at least have been told, whether it registered or not! My dad is an English graduate, and teaches it at university level sometimes; he's really big into poetry, so I occasionally give him bits to look over for me. Apart from that, I occasionally write poetry for other people, especially my Grandpa, since he's at the point where getting him things for Christmas is extraordinarily difficult :) a framed poem written especially for him is something he understands and appreciates. He doesn't really need more chocolate XD
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Mon Oct 02, 2006 10:56 am
Cassandra says...



Mmm. Well I'll tell people about it if they ask, you know? But most don't. Plus I always feel kind of silly and stupid telling people I'm writing a novel...it makes me feel arrogant. And I have this thing where I have a hard time calling anything I'm writing a "novel" until it's got this humongous word count, even if it will eventually be a novel and isn't yet. Most of the time I'll say I'm just writing a story, but that makes me feel stupid too...*sigh*
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Mon Oct 02, 2006 5:26 pm
Snoink says...



Haha... um yeah. People know, but most don't care. So yeah. Many people know that I'm writing a novel, but since that novel isn't technically finished yet, I'm shy to talk about it. Funny, huh? But there's several people who I talk to all too frequently about it. XD

But my parents support it! They don't read it unless I put it in front of them though, but Mom read my unicorn story last night and *gasp* liked it!!!
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Mon Oct 02, 2006 5:43 pm
Sureal says...



A number of people I know are aware that I write (although I don't really go around talking about it), and I dislike showing my stories to family members.
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Tue Oct 03, 2006 3:56 am
Skye says...



I, too, am rather shy about my writing. Two of my closest friends know, and they write as well. My parents know I write prose, but not poetry. I never show anyone anything if I can help it.
"A poet in love is best encouraged in both capacities or neither." ~ Jane Austen, Emma.
  





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Tue Oct 03, 2006 2:29 pm
Fishr says...



Hehe... In my teens, and even earlier than that, I showed no one, and really didn't enjoy showing teachers either. By eighteen, I ended up with a pretty decent English teacher who pushed me to no end with my work and eventually I wondered what others thought besides him. So, I started showing my work to my uncle who lives in Colorado. (A good distance never hurts anyone, lol). Whether his comments were genuine or not, like my old English teacher, my uncle pushed even harder, and encouraged me to show my work to everyone. At first, I wasn't too keen on that idea, but now, everyone knows I write. Family, friends, co-workers - everyone, hehe.

In fact, when my sisters hear, "Can you come look at this?"

The response is sometimes, "Jess... Not another story. I don't feel like reading, maybe later. OK?"

I have my family whipped, lol! As a matter of fact, I still have to edit Pugna Pro Patria, and send that off to a friend. :)

Feedback is awesome, and if I knew that beforehand, I wouldn't have been so damn secretive, lol!
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Fri Oct 06, 2006 12:42 pm
tinny says...



I sometimes show things to my friends. I have two that like to write too. With one of them we just read each others work and that's about it. I don't see her as much, but with my other freind we do stuff like point out stupid mistakes. When I read sometihng by her I'm always armed with a nice red pen. ;)

Aside from that, I only have one other frind that asks me to send her what I write.

I never show anything to my family. At all ever. When I was younger, my Dad would give me false praise, you can tell when his voice is all cold and stuff, and my sisters just say anything I write is stupid. It's got to the point where I can do anything on our computer or my dad will ask why I'm wasting time that I could use to study, or my sisters will thing it's funny to delete it, mutilate it and generally mush it up.

I keep everything on my ikkle mp3 player. And college computers.
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Fri Oct 06, 2006 3:29 pm
xanthan gum says...



I'm with Firestarter. In fact, I might even be worse. Gummy is the one that writes, then Sara-Bara parties while plain, old Sara stays home and pulls "A"s in academics and constructs a future from, let's say, thin air.

My best friends know I write. My immediate family is aware of this, as well. Anybody I've ever lived with is aware. Otherwise, it is my little secret. On top of that, my best friends, my immediate family - none of them have seen a word I have written. Not even an essay.

Actually, once I walked into my room where I had been hand-editting a handful of poems. My friend was reading them. I stood in the doorway, dumbfounded. I felt as if a stranger had walked in on me naked. All she said was "You never seem to be strongly affected by your life, and now I know why. You let it out here."

I'm terrified of exposing my writing, even if I know it would be accepted. Myth -- I'm sorry. I agree with BGB. That hurts.
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Wed Oct 11, 2006 10:03 am
uniaeca says...



My family knows I write, but I've never let my parents or sisters read it, unless it's something I've written for them or posted on my blog.

Almost everybody in my group has read my poetry books, my class at my old school listened to my published poem.

One of my old friends has read my plot for a story, and my boyfriends read everything save the plot for the story.

He lets me read his stuff sometimes. He writes stories.
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