martianpress: I realized today when I saw the Locked Room rules on the side of the main page that my entry does not fit the criteria for contest. In my story the characters did not rent the cottage in the summer as stipulated in the rules, but instead won a vacation in the fall. Since I did not have access to FanStory when I wrote the story, I only remembered the part about being on vacation and the character finding a locked room; therefore, I inadvertently changed the rules, and probably disqualified myself. Oh well. People enjoyed it anyway :) |
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martianpress: As much as it feels nice to have someone say your work is perfect, I would rather have them be critical and point out any simple little error, like a typo or a word that obviously should have been there that as a writer looking at it for the umpteenth time I cannot see because I read it the was I thought it should be after a while. This to me is what reviewing someone is all about. It's not to boost our egos, but to make us better writers, so to any of you who I may have been too harsh in my reviewing, please know I do it only to help improve the quality of your writing. To anyone who wishes to review my work, please do so with a critical eye and heart. I will heartily thank you for it. My daughter who just got in town from college read my latest posting and she caught several typos after multiple people had reviewed it and said no corrections were needed. She did me a greater favor than any five stars and glowing review might. Of course, if I have no errors, those wonderful stars and comments are always welcome! |
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martianpress: After a summer hiatus where I remodeled an apartment my husband and I own and rent out, I tackled a good deal of yard work and projects around our house, as well as enjoyed my share of traveling and entertaining, I am finally back to FanStory. Sadly I have learned that this school year I cannot access this website during my down time at work. Last year I enjoyed reading other's work when I had a few free moments, but now I must make time when at home. I hope to work this into my busy schedule soon. In the meantime, keep writing everyone! |
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martianpress: I am so honored by all the glowing reviews I received for Opposites Attract and I am tickled pink it won the contest! Thanks FanStory for bringing me back to a form of writing I find so much fun but abandoned long ago for pursuits in short story and novel. Poetry was how I began writing as a child and it is something I should have never given up! |
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martianpress: Yesterday I had an epiphany. Though I have been working on writing for years and have struggled to be recognized, I had the dawning realization while going through other people's work and people critically analyzing my work that I am a writer. I know that sounds funny, maybe a little silly to state after nearly 45 years of placing words on paper just because I was driven to do so, but it was such an important discovery for me. I am no longer "hoping to be a writer", what I had wanted to study at college but was not allowed to pursue by my parents; well really, by my mother, I later found out. In the many years that have passed where I have stated that writing is a hobby of mine, or a passion, I never really grasped the full concept that I really am a writer in all its forms until that moment yesterday when I was trying to help several people with the stories they had written for the same contest I entered the day before. These stories, one better than the other, lacked careful design, proper use of the English language and grammatical construction, but more than that they lacked what I felt was the main job of a writer: construction that takes the reader on an effortless journey to a place that is only found in the writer's mind. While leading the reader on that journey, like a tour guide, the writer has to determine what sites to see; what treasures to point out; what things to say to her tourists to bring the best part of the journey to light. And as a writer crafts the story, he or she needs to hone it down, polish it up, tighten the phrasing before it is done after all the mechanics are reviewed and followed. The advent of the computer and word processing programs have given the illusion that anyone is a writer, but more importantly, that anything someone creates is a story. A good story has been crafted carefully so that the reader does not see the construction, but feels its effects. It is a skill, as much as a gift. So many people tell me I am talented, and I do believe that is true, but talent alone will not take you places in the world of writing. A writer needs to study the craft, work on pieces that inspire them, giving them that spark, but like with any other skill writers need to perfect the actual mechanics of the craft in order for that talent to shine. The books that are on the shelves for sale around town have been written mostly by those kinds of writers; though granted, some who reach the best seller list sometimes find their way there not because the writer showed great skill at their craft, but because there was such a frenzy amongst readers that rumor and curiosity brought it fame. But yesterday I realized I have mastered the craft of writing and therefore can proudly call myself a writer, whether or not I am published in a national magazine or have a book on the best seller list; something which people have been telling me for years, but I did not truly believe until yesterday. As I spoke of the story I crafted carefully for the contest with a colleague who is also an aspiring writer, she seemed amazed by some of the things I managed to weave into my tale, but what seemed to surprise her even more was hearing that the things she mentioned were entirely intentional. I told her that I had given hints to where I was going, trying not to say it outright, like the symbolic red in the movie The Sixth Sense where the creators were certain everyone would get it, but it was not until they told you that you realized what their symbols were leading your mind to unconsciously. When I told her why I put things I had and how I thought they would give the story away, she told me that they did exactly what I had hoped; teased the reader into reading on. But it was while I was trying to create constructive criticism, helping others with basic mechanics of writing, that it dawned on me, I am a writer. And I am more passionate about my craft than I ever realized. |
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martianpress: At the advice of many people I have spiced up my submission of Floating High and Free with color and an image. Hopefully it is more compelling this way. |
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~~~~****inmage****~~~~ my new favorite word... *sigh* - | ||
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martianpress: I posted What the Night Brought today and discovered when I saw it in its final posting that I had a typo for "from" written as "form" and another one for "what" written as "that". Somehow my mind has a way of seeing the word that is supposed to be there, not what really is, when I reread something for the umpteenth time. Even friends who read it for me before I posted missed those. |
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