Our Aspiring Writers League (O.A.W.L)

[Mr. Merry-Go-Round]

Username: Mr. Merry-Go-Round
What will we call you: Merry
What are your goals as an author? I want to complete a novel, whether it gets published or not. I would like to write the storyline for a graphic novel, that's always been a dream of mine. I would like to write the screenplay for a movie, also.
Can you give us a sample of your writing?
“Shut up!” Leo cut him off. “I don’t want to hear your bullcrap attempts at sympathy! Everybody loves you! Oh, Kaishi’s so nice, they say! They don’t know that most of your life is a lie! But I do! I know all your secrets!”
Kaishi stood up.
“Nothing you say affects me! Don’t pretend like you rule the world! Not everybody is putty in your hands, you know!” Leo continued. “I can see right through you! So don’t go trying to get on my good side! It’s not going to work! You can’t--”
Leo suddenly stopped, shocked, as Kaishi wrapped his arms around him in a tight embrace.
“Calm down, will you?” The dark-haired boy muttered, blushing slightly. “I see what’s going on now. You’re jealous. Of me. You need this. You did it to be acknowledged.”
Leo didn’t respond.
“I’m right, aren’t I?” Kaishi asked softly.
He felt Leo stiffen, then nod slightly. “But like I said, I don’t want your sympathy.” He pushed his way out of Kaishi’s hug.
“You know, there are better ways to get my attention.” Kaishi said, looking the other in the eye. “You’re just digging yourself into a deep hole. There’s not gonna be a way to get out if you keep doing what you’re doing.”
Leo didn’t respond. With a sigh and a shrug, Kaishi turned and headed towards the door. “And when that does happen, you’re not going to have anyone to turn to for help. Because I certainly won’t help you.”
The door closed.
And though Kaishi would wonder if it was just his brain playing tricks on him, he could of sworn he had seen tears in Leo’s eyes.
Are you currently working on any books? Actually, I have one that I've been writing for about two years now . . . but I might give up on it, I have no more muse.
Why do you want to join? I'd like to meet other writers. Maybe they could help me find the inspiration I need.
Do you have published books yet? Nope.
Do you wish to find a "writing partner"? No.
What Role(s): ?
What's your favorite Genre? I like urban fantasy, but I've started to take a liking to poetry recently.
What kind of books do you write? Anything I feel like writing. ^-^

[VeritatisSplendor]

Username:

HorseDreamer

What will we call you:

I don't really care, HorseDreamer I guess.

What are your goals as an author?

To be more committed to a story Kess and I are writing, and to help push it to book length.

To further hone my writing skills to author-ish level

To get out of my habit of writing three or so paragraphs of a great story, and then tossing it
Also I guess to stop being so violent. I take a morbid delight in writing dramatic death scenes...

Can you give us a sample of your writing?

The jailer's single bloodshot eye was cold as he chained Jane to the wall. She didn't even try to resist, but only stared it in the eye, her own eyes asking why are you doing this? The jailer gave no answer, but simply left. He didn't even bother with the key, but simply tossed it on the ground. From the similar clangs echoing around her, she could assume that somewhere else in the darkness her friends were being chained as she was.
The light vanished for a second as the jailer ascended into the upper hallway, but then reappeared again. Marshal Blood's soothing, yet mocking voice echoed down.
"Where are your promises of fidelity and loyalty now? See where they have gotten you? Ha! The beast will devour you, one tiny bite at a time. He is always hungry. It is said that his saliva causes unimaginable pain when in contact with human flesh."
He paused, musing for a moment. Horror clutched a Jane's heart, numbing her limbs and making it hard to breathe.
"I will give you one last chance however, to save yourselves. Simply renounce it, everything. Everything you came here to prove. Your devotion to your friends, your loyalty to country, your simpering faith in this King. I will have someone here to listen for your recantation, and have them pull you out. Don't worry, only say that you renounce it, and you must mean it or else my minion will not pull you up, and your life is saved. Farewell!"

The trapdoor shut, and darkness envoloped them.

The worst was the wait. The darkness was suffocating, and Jane was afraid to speak for fear of whatever monstrous beast awaited them. She occasionally thought she heard labored breathing, and her heart would leap as she considered calling out to her friends, but terror would silence her.

As her eyes grew adjusted to the light, Jane could discern a formless exspance of water, with stone walls surrounding it. The water was calm, and silent. But as she watched, something...moved.
At first she thought it was her imagination, but then she was sure. Ripples spread gently to the stones at her feet, and Jane shivered, attempting to stifle her horror. And then she saw it.
The ripples spread farther, and something penetrated the ominously calm surface of the water. First a scaly, dark snout, followed by a hideous bulky head armored in murky scales emerged. The eyes were a paralyzing cold, speckled green that seemed to glow faintly in the dim light of the dungeon. The rest of the creature's body was a dark shadow of murky browns and greens, each scale ridged with poisoned barbs. The legs were thick as young tree trunks, though short, and its elbows pushed up above its body. After a thick, sinewy body, a long pliable tail swished quietly out of the water. A ridge of spikes trailed down the top of the tail, ending in a hardened spike. The creature was so wrong, so twisted, that its gaze was nearly paralyzing in terror. How it had been enslaved to serve the [evil person's] bidding, Jane didn't know. Finally she couldn't take it any more. "G-George? Cleo? Louis?" She heard muffled sounds in return. "Jane! They echoed." Looking around, she realized that her friends were chained all around the pool and hanging above the water, feet scrabbling for a foothold on the slimy stones.

Sooty wheat-colored hair dripping, she looked in despair to her friends. "I-I, don't regret anything we did. And I'm thankful for such faithful, generous, and wonderful friends as you guys. And, I-I, I'm sorry that I ever got you guys into this. It's all my fault, and now you are all going to die because of me!" She broke off, tears streaming down her face as she stifled sobs.
It was George who answered first. "No, this is my fault. I am part of the court, and could have notified the king or something. But, you guys, I wouldn't change a single thing. I know that what we did was right, and nothing, not even death, can change that."
Andrea, red hair bedraggled and muddy, choked through her tears as well. "Yeah Jane, G-George is right. I wouldn't change a thing, what we did was the right thing to do. And nothing can change what we have done now. Thank you, guys, for staying together and doing this."
Cleo nodded, violet eyes adamant. "Yes, and I speak for my brother, may he rest in peace, my father would be proud of us. Don't be sad Jane."
Louis, curly fair hair plastered against his head and his swordsman's arms bleeding, yanked on the chains that bound them to the wall in despair. "Agreed. We did something, and it would have been wrong not to do anything. We...we die in triumph. Salve Argetium!"

Jane's tears flowed freely now. "This is it then, it will all be over soon, we die in triumph. Salve Argetium!" Facing bravely the twisted beast before them, Jane's heart raced. Crying, she faced the foul beast and cried "you twisted beast of evil! Here, I'm the weakest, eat me first and see if I scream!"

^I'm still not satisfied with this, and I have yet to edit it. Everything else was either a death scene or silly though, so whatever.

Are you currently working on any books?

Sort of, more like trying out a ton of different ideas and churning out a huge collection of short stories. But none with any long-term commitment. Oh, and Misunderstood with Kess.

Why do you want to join?

To perhaps find help with my writing, and to get honest opinions on my work instead of "oh I liked it."

Do you have published books yet?

No. xD

Do you wish to find a "writing partner"?

Not at the moment, I have Kess and a very prolific cousin to help me right now.

What Role(s):

What do you mean?

What's your favorite Genre?

Medieval, adventure, action, anything with action really. Though I LOVE books, and I have favorite books from many different genres.

What kind of books do you write?
Fairy tale remakes, fantasy, fantasy from an animal's point of view, historical fiction, hunger games type time setting stuff, modern adventure, nothing disturbing though.

[uhtan]

(..........)

[violacherry]

I'm more of a third person limited person. I feel as if I can take in more of the character's world that way. But I like inject my main character's personality into the description. Thus, if my character does not like horses, than the description of a horse will be negative rather than positive.

When it comes to RPing, though, I actually prefer to work with first person since I'm focusing on a single character and only have oh-so-much control over the story plot. I just find it more enjoyable.

I'm ok at writing in third person, i do it in rps all the time, but when i write my books I write in first person, I feel like I can get the characters feelings across easier. however its at the expensive of details

[Redwall]

Well, I am drawing it longer slightly by making it slightly slow at the start. Well, not slow, exactly, rather mounting up to the starting punch-in-the-gut to the reader.

'The Seven Talents' is a strange concept of a book I came up while dreaming. It is based on the idea of genetic modification; after the second world war and after the discovery of the duble helix in genes, some german proffessor discovered how to crack it and therefore create hybrids that had abiliy to live, think, reproduce, etc.. but the first experiments that surged were horribly wrong, therefore, after a few trials, the proffessor let loose these errors into the wild, leaving them to die off so that they wouldn't prosper. Except they didn't. They mingled with humans, dispersing their dominant and recessive genes through human-kind.

The first Seven were based on seven - duh - different features, or talents (hence the name) from different species: The Hunters, from wolves, The Warriors, from gorillas/apes, The Intelligence/rats, The Fish, The Healers/plants, The Nightwatchers/panthers or other felines and the longlost line of Fliers, from white owls. Each talent is formed by a certain group of characteristics taken from each species that are advantageuos to certain goals and tests.

So now, government officials are searching through the tenage population of the world and trying to take back those with some trace of the genes left behind by those first experiments, their goal aiming to be to create the into a new arsenal of weapons for upcoming wars and such.

And our protagonist is obviously part of that small .01% of the population with a set of those genes.. So what happens after she is found, I haven't planned entirely yet.

I know it seems farfetched, but I've done my research and the idea isn't all that strange or hard to grasp if you have a bit of genetic kowledge. It is generally known that we all descend from a common ancestor, and, seeing that this is set in the future, I wouldn't see why I souldn't cobine some futuristic developments, along with the cracking of the genetic code genus, combining it to make possible the creation of humanistic hybrids.

And that idea about the teenage assasins = luff.

Any insights, please?

I absolutely love ideas like this. ^.^ And you're right, the idea isn't hard to grasp at all. Most teenagers should know at least a little about genetics, so they would understand what you're talking about. Sometimes in stories where they tie in scientific stuff, I end up feeling quite lost, but I don't think I would feel that way in your story. (:


And for the starting off fast/slow thing, it varies story to story for me. Usually I try to start off slow to drag the story out a bit, since length is always a worry of mine, but I also like to start out with something exciting (which often times I end up doing anyway) to make the story more interesting.

[shadow.wolfdog]

This looks interesting, so I'll join!

Username: Tuesday
What will we call you: Tuesday
What are your goals as an author? To express myself and what I've been through in an artistic way, but also in a way that others can relate to; to help others by writing in a way that makes them realize that they are not alone; to become published, well-known, and remembered.
Can you give us a sample of your writing?

you are the city,
and I am trapped in this
little, melancholic town.

your heart is a skyscraper,
soaring higher than any other,
leaving behind
old friends
old places
old feelings
and appearing so stable and powerful
to any and all who look up to you.

your eyes are northern lights;
the windows and neon city signs.
a clash of sunlight and moonlight,
collision of morning and evening.

your voice is a song,
every word a verse.
and screams in the night
all fall together in the chorus;
a ballad of fear and rage.

you're the place where I can
escape
from this desolate, morbid land.
the city I can
escape
to.
with open arms and tear-filled eyes,
won't you take me away from here?

Are you currently working on any books? Not yet; I'm going to start writing my first novel on the first day of the new year!
Why do you want to join? To talk to other writers and see their writing and share my own.
Do you have published books yet? Not yet.
Do you wish to find a "writing partner"? I'm not sure yet.
What Role(s): Not sure yet.
What's your favorite Genre? Romance, or things dealing with mental disorders/illnesses.
What kind of books do you write? Mostly poetry, and my first novel is a fantasy thing - similar to Warrior Cats or The Lion King.

[ωιитєяfℓу]

Hey, I was wondering whether I should make my short story into a longer more complicated plot (the first part of my story is on my form). If anyone wants to read what I have at the moment, let me know and I can PM the whole lot to you.

Any idea whether that would be good?

And to everyone's plots posted so far, I would read the lot.

Anyone wanting critic let me know, I can give some without becoming scary.

[{{ f i a s c o }}]

Well, I am drawing it longer slightly by making it slightly slow at the start. Well, not slow, exactly, rather mounting up to the starting punch-in-the-gut to the reader.

'The Seven Talents' is a strange concept of a book I came up while dreaming. It is based on the idea of genetic modification; after the second world war and after the discovery of the duble helix in genes, some german proffessor discovered how to crack it and therefore create hybrids that had abiliy to live, think, reproduce, etc.. but the first experiments that surged were horribly wrong, therefore, after a few trials, the proffessor let loose these errors into the wild, leaving them to die off so that they wouldn't prosper. Except they didn't. They mingled with humans, dispersing their dominant and recessive genes through human-kind.

The first Seven were based on seven - duh - different features, or talents (hence the name) from different species: The Hunters, from wolves, The Warriors, from gorillas/apes, The Intelligence/rats, The Fish, The Healers/plants, The Nightwatchers/panthers or other felines and the longlost line of Fliers, from white owls. Each talent is formed by a certain group of characteristics taken from each species that are advantageuos to certain goals and tests.

So now, government officials are searching through the tenage population of the world and trying to take back those with some trace of the genes left behind by those first experiments, their goal aiming to be to create the into a new arsenal of weapons for upcoming wars and such.

And our protagonist is obviously part of that small .01% of the population with a set of those genes.. So what happens after she is found, I haven't planned entirely yet.

I know it seems farfetched, but I've done my research and the idea isn't all that strange or hard to grasp if you have a bit of genetic kowledge. It is generally known that we all descend from a common ancestor, and, seeing that this is set in the future, I wouldn't see why I souldn't cobine some futuristic developments, along with the cracking of the genetic code genus, combining it to make possible the creation of humanistic hybrids.

And that idea about the teenage assasins = luff.

Any insights, please?

I absolutely love ideas like this. ^.^ And you're right, the idea isn't hard to grasp at all. Most teenagers should know at least a little about genetics, so they would understand what you're talking about. Sometimes in stories where they tie in scientific stuff, I end up feeling quite lost, but I don't think I would feel that way in your story. (:


And for the starting off fast/slow thing, it varies story to story for me. Usually I try to start off slow to drag the story out a bit, since length is always a worry of mine, but I also like to start out with something exciting (which often times I end up doing anyway) to make the story more interesting.

I am slightly preoccupied about the length, but I have decided to pace it slightly slower at the start because that way many observant readers might be able to notice slight changes in the style of observations lived by the character, and see why it is so important for the general plot.

And thankew <3 I feel appreciated :3

Yet I hope I won´t start rambling too much in the midst of all the explanations related to genetics in the book; I can become quite obsessive with the sciences, especially biology, therefore genes, and tend to get carried away when including details that might be a bit hard for someone to grasp.

Any critique is welcome, and I might post some of my writings today if I muster up the courage :3

[MBRShorse]

Tuesday, you are accepted!

[uhtan]

(WHY WAS I NEVER ACCEPTED? Did I put something wrong?)