Hi, my name's Ben, and I have a writing problem...

Well, only in the sense that I'm addicted to it...

Oh, sorry, you wanted the a/s/l thingumybob? Right, here goes... shoot me if I get boring.

My name's Ben Eastaugh (pronounced something like East-awe), I'm 18 (old enough to do just about everything, including drinking and getting married), and I live in London in the UK. Currently unemployed (kind of... got a tech support job fixing my dad's company's computer network), having just finished my A-levels.

Sorry, think I must have bored myself into a doze for a minute there... Umm... right, favorite writers! Wow, where to start? Hmm -- how about with what I'm reading right now?The Business by Iain Banks. He's a great writer, got a wonderful imagination; I'm only just starting to read his 'normal' fiction (I put the inverted commas in because nothing he does is normal in the usual sense of the word, but I have to do something to differentiate those books from his science fiction). He uses his middle initial 'M' when he does sci-fi -- and does it extraordinarily well I might add. Damn, I'm rambling again: back on track. Other favourite authors: Asimov, simply because I love the way he extrapolates his ideas (although he does tend to sacrifice characterisation to do this, something I'd rather avoid); Ray Bradbury, for the wonderful atmosphere his stories evoke (although it's a shamefully long time since I last read Farenheit 451); Terry Pratchett, because his books are so clever and witty -- Only You Can Save Mankind is especially close to my heart, and I read the Discworld books religiously; John LeCarre; Homer; Rosemary Sutcliff; James Ellroy.

A couple deserve a special mention: Tolkien -- I first read The Lord of the Rings when I was 8, and I've been re-reading it ever since. An amazing work from so many perspectives; too many to go into now. And last, but certainly not least, Ursula LeGuin. Both the Earthsea quartet and her science fiction stories are essential reading matter -- I've just finished re-reading The Left Hand of Darkness.

(I bolded the authors' names so you don't have to actually read all that rubbish I wrote, just skim it)

Doubtless I could blather on for hours about writing: about me, and my love of writing, my wonderful imagination, and so on...

But as Shevek says, "Don't egoise."

So I won't.

I'm sure I'll see you around...

[edit] Special thanks goes to British Telecom, whose telephone directories I steal names from.

Unlike most people in these groups, I have never read a piece of OSC fiction. I was pointed to his "Characters and Viewpoints", which is a really great book. As soon as I can make some headway on my current to-read list, I'll put every Ender book on it.

So, there you have it.

Arron

My SN is a butchered combination of several words: Hermione, from Harry Potter; Rhia, from _The Lost Years of Merlin_ by TA Barron; and hija, Spanish for daughter, because I needed an email for Spanish class and Hermionerhia was taken.

I've just very recently started writing. (read: in the last two months) I credit OSC for inspiring me to write. (Day I finished ES: May 30. Day I finished my first story: June 18) I write short (very short) fiction whenever I get a chance. I would like to be published someday, but I want my work to be better before I try.

Hmm... favorite authors... Well, there's really too many to name; I've only read one or two books in my life that I didn't like at least a little... but a few of my favorites are:
Orson Scott Card of course; especially the Alvin Maker and Homecoming series and EG & ES
JK Rowling I know they're a little childish but I love Harry Potter, and they were the books that brought me into the world of web communities.
T.A. Barron Great fantasy books; I especially like _The Ancient One_ and his Lost Years of Merlin series.
Grace Chetwin The Gom Gobblechuck series - it's out of print, but they're great books if you can find them.
There are a whole lot more, but I don't have time to list them all. Right now, I'm in the incredibly awkward position of liking books from three sections of the bookstore - intermediate, young adult, and adult fiction, which are all in different areas of the store - but I don't mind too much.

I'm not going to bother with another time consuming paragraph anymore. I'm just going to stick with the facts now.

-been haunting the boards for a month, posting(though rarely) under different names such as litterateur and wicked.
-14 years old, a freshman in highschool.
-If you care(heh), Azile is my first name spelled backwards.
-Feel free to figure it out yourself
-Had a love for writing since I was eight.
-Been obsessive over writing just recently(last year)
-An avid reader, I especially love books involving fantasy or sci-fi.
-Ever seen me at the books store? I'm the one teetering five to ten books at a time.
-This :: points to the bullet above:: is the main cause of my severe money problems.
-I come from the city of polluted streets and contaminated water- ie. Los Angeles, California.
-I have a one eyed dog named Mr. Hobo.
-My dad later renamed him "coco".
-Shucks.

Ok thats about it(I think). Bye now!

Anyhow, the name is Wolf. Yes, this is my real name. I'm happily married w/ two children, and a third on the way. I'm currently living in Barstow, CA, which is about two hours south on I-15 from Las Vegas, NV, where I grew up. I've started a great number of stories, but have gotten distracted or encountered our passion's bane, -writer's block-. Anyhow since I'm a house father now, with lots of time on my hands (when I'm not dealing w/ kids) to keep my sanity I've resolved to write, and complete a novel with in the next year or so (It's prolly not going to be published but hey). As for other related items, I'm a truck driver, I also grew up in the state welfare system, as well as the streets. My views are, well blunt, it's the only way I know how to be, so if sometime later down the road is offended by my blunt POVs... tough I'm not changing them.
(Point of Note: This does not mean I'm mean and heartless, this does not mean I go out of my way to offend, this simply means I'll tell it how I see it, with no sugar, and expect the same.)

i haven't been much of a reader or writer until this past year reading at college...i guess i just found a lot of books i liked. anyway i way behind all of you guys...i am reading lord of the rings for the first time.

my favorite author right now is c.s. lewis (a good friend of tolkeins). i love his space trilogy and The Great Divorce.

anyway i want to tell stories to people relating real christianity to everyday life for us for God and for the devil. i think there are definatly some good stories hiding in all that.

well i hope i can learn something from you all.thanks a lot.

Q. What's the perfect number of beans to put in chili?

Give up?

A. Two hundred-thiry nine. Why? Because if you add one more, it becomes two-forty.

Don't get it? Well, the only hint I'll give is to say that some Missourianites would just as likely eat chili with a fark, er, fork, as they would a spoon.

My nick comes from the book Xenophobia by OSC and a joke told by a highschool Spanish teacher about the sales of the car Nova in Mexico. (It means no-go in Spanish).

A few biographical facts:
- 21, college student (senior) in Western MA
- major in Spanish, minor in mathematics
- originally from the Dakotas

I read sci-fi/fantasy, Victorian/gothic novels, poetry and fiction.
A selection of my favorite authors:
- Ursula LeGuin (she started my reading kick in 5th grade)
- Ray Bradbury - Mervyn Peake
- Victor Hugo - Dostovesky
- Robertson Davies - George Eliot
- Wordsworth - Robert Penn Warren
- Sherwood Anderson - Rumi
- Pablo Neruda - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
- Isabel Allende - Orson Scott Card

I've been writing since I was in 4th grade (or earlier -- short stories and poetry. I started one novel in 7th grade but never finished it. I go on writing & reading binges and then stop and rest for awhile. I'm trying to smooth out that habit and turn into a reading, writing, churning machine (including man's eternal quirk).

I'm open to unsolicated emails about writing, creativity and favorite authors -- no forwards please.

My aol nick is bluequrl, icq 39091912.

Thanks

name: let's just stick with cosmi
age: 15; ya ya whine whine. i'm not supposed to be here, but i think i'd go bonkers in the kiddie corner, so you can just...

no, i digress. let's just get this over with.

location: soule pretty much summed it up. good ol' Misery. she's the one who dragged me to this site in the first place.

now about myself.

i try to not be a "nice" writer. i hate happy endings (for the most part), i hate good vs. evil (there goes about 85% of all fiction ever written ), and well, i'll get back to ya.

i try not to rant or ramble(ehhmm, soule ), but i do have a tendancy to go on and on about things i'm passionate about. for the most part, i'm unyeilding in my opinions around peers and a little too easily swayed by elders. i'm still trying to decide which is the worst of the two evils.

misc: i like to write in a variety of genres... mainly sci-fi and fantasy. if you talk to me long enough i'm bound to make you laugh, but my writing has only subtle humor (for the most part). i've never taken a "writing course", which i assume some of you guessed because of my young age. but, please o please, don't be gentle. there is just about zippo chance you'll hurt my feelings and if you don't tell me the niddy-gritty, no one will. certainly not those coddling (coddling? sp? word?) teachers we got at my high school.

now i'm ranting. i'll be better later... i go bye bye now, take nap...

TTFN & lol

Cosmi

If you didn't notice, Cosmi and I go way back. And I didn't have to drag her here - I merely mentioned it, and she came running faster than a speeding bullet.

My new favorite hobby, and Cosmi's too, is eating poptarts, especially the cinnamin ones. I just thought that you should know that.

If you are feeling really inquisitive about our usernames, just go to our website. If you still don't get it, niether do I. P.S. - the site is still (sigh) under construction, and I refuse to be held accountable for any dirogitory comments made towards sci-fi. I have seen the light, and plan to install a 300-kilowatt lightbulb soon.

By the by, I liked your joke, JP, and here's a few for you:

You know you're from Misura when:

you add an un-needed preposition to the end of every sentence. By the way, where's my coat at?

I'm very happy to see constructive interaction here. I may even open my mouth from time to time, as this proves.

Me? Name is John. 34 year old musician who studied English in college and put writing on the back burner for about 15 years. Now, I'm working on my first book. Epic Fantasy. World building and research and much too much planning still going on, but I'll put prose to page sometime early next year.

I'm most influenced by Tolkien, Fritz Leiber, Stephen R. Donaldson, OSC, Dan Simmons and Larry Niven, but I've read many more books in speculative fiction. Here are a few: Ursula K., Poul Anderson, Asimov, Heinlein, Robert E. Howard, H.G. Wells, Piers Anthony, Andre Norton, Lovecraft.

I've been reading as long as I can remember breathing. I was reading Detective Comics and X-Men by the time I was in 1st grade and got firmly hooked on Batman, of course. I believe I discovered King Arthur, Beowulf, Norse Myths and Homer's works as early as 8 years old, and I've been absorbing writings of heroic fantasy, mythology and science-fiction ever since. This love was cemented when I discovered Tolkien a few years after that, followed closely by a love affair with Dungeons & Dragons gaming when D&D was still a mysterious thing only whispered about in the back of school libraries.

Somehow or other I got swept up into being a professional musician, and I've had much success at it, but the years have taken their toll (it's an often harsh, unfair business), I've burnt out (for now) and I have felt my creative juices flowing back towards writing.

I'll drop by the forums and read as often as I can. When I think I have something constructive to add, I'll do my best to be helpful.

Peace,

John L.
aka
Foehammer

I have been writing on and off (mostly off) since I was ten. I wrote a lot in elementary school, not much in junior high, a lot of poems, songs, and a few short stories in high school. I wrote a lot my first two years in college, then I entered a Catholic monastery. When I left the monastery a year later at age 22, I ended up studying Catholic theology very intensely for four-and-a-half years. I didn't write a lick of fiction then, but probably close to a ream of dense theology and philosophy papers. I have been published -- a little 1,500-word article on the Gospel of John in a Catholic magazine called Lay Witness.

During those four years of intense theological studies, I read maybe one novel -- Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose. While I was studying for my comprehensive exams for my master's degree, I started reading fiction again to get my mind off of my studies. I started with Ender's Game, which I loved immensely, and then went on to Tad Williams epic, Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn. These two works perked my desire to write fiction. Then for Christmas 2000, out of the blue my wife gave me Stephen King's On Writing. The desire was beginning to catch fire again. Then for my birthday my sister gave my OSC's Homecoming Saga, and when I finished I would start to salivate just thinking about penning a story or novel that would allow people to transcend themselves.

Yet, there was a problem--namely, I wanted to get a Ph.D. And anyone who knows anything about doctorate studies knows that it leave little room for anything else. I graduated with my master's in May 2001, and after a week break, immediately began studying for the GRE and preparing to apply to five doctorate programs. And then one day I was looking at my then 5-month-old son, and I realized that I wanted to be a dad more than a scholar. My wife and I talked about it, prayed about it, and decided that it was best for the family if I let the dream of earning a Ph.D. pass on by.

It was hard at first. I mean, for close to five years I was focused on one goal--getting a Ph.D. Every ounce of intellectual energy I had went into achieving it. But I soon realized that not getting a Ph.D. left a lot of time for writing

So, here I am.

I have recently finished two short stories--one fantasy, one science-fiction--and I am working on a science fiction novel. It's not my first attempt; I do hope it is the first one I finish. And a second non-fiction article on the Nicene Creed is currently being considered for publication. I know the dream of being a full-time writer is a long shot, but one thing I have learned in my short life is that the old axiom, "where there's a will, there's a way," is very, very true.

Sorry for being so wordy, but that's who I am. I am looking forward to exchanging ideas in this forum.

My name is Tyler Bower. I'm a 24 year old obsessive procrastinator who should be studying for a mid-term rather than browsing the net right now. I just started a graduate degree in Theology this fall semester and before that I was living in Alaska with my wife and daughter.

I've always been one of those artsy, craftsy types and I have attempted to write fiction several times in the past, never sucessfully (life invariably get's in the way). But the insidious creativity bug combined with a compulsion to-put-off-utill-tomorrow-what-I-could-do-today recently caught up with me once again.

I tried painting and then drawing (more hobbies) but they didn't cure it. So I decided to get out the last story I had shelved and work on it a bit. Tragic mistake. Now all I want to do is work in it instead of smelling the roses and going to the pumpking patch with my family. Therefore my first step in expunging this plague from my system is to have other people who I have never even met harangue (or should I say provide constructive criticism?) my work so that I am too demoralized to continue.

I probably should have joined this forum long ago, but, well, I'm lazy and never bothered to check it out. Although, I do know that some of you already know me from the VBS forum (who am I, Hermionerhija?)

At any rate, I don't care over-much for giving out my real name on public forums - although I'm sure everyone here can be trusted, you never know who else might read this! BUT, Mary-Michael is a nice name, and has sentimental value to me, so I'll use it instead! I'm 19 years old, and I live in NC. (and I'm currently being attacked with a water pistol by my boyfriend's roommate...) I have started several dozen very good stories in my life, and finished maybe 2. Is is obvious what I need help with? Yeah...

Obviously, I'm a fan of Card. Between him and Heinlein, I've basically based my world-view and writing styles on my sci-fi gods. Weirdly enough, only about half my writing is even vaguely sci-fi. For example, a story once popped into my mind - a military adventure/spy thriller type of thing. I don't even like to read that style - but there I was, writing it!

At any rate, I would like help, but I also rather need to know how this works! Does one just randomly join a writing group? Please help!

One of the "roads less taken" leads you to

http://www.hatrack.com/writers/writers/join-form.shtml

which has a form on it that you need to fill out if you want to participate in a Hatrack writers group.

Please go there and fill out the form and submit it, and it will be sent to me to let me know what I need to know in order to create a group for you.

My real name is Kostas and I am from Greece. I've been writing and writing and writing... a lot.

(And some advertisement: )

If you are Greek and enjoying fantasy and/or scifi, visit our on-line web-zine

http://fankingdom.topcities.com/

My real name is Dan Eshleman. I'm a computer science major at Valparaiso University, with a minor in Math, Creative Writing and Japanese. I really enjoy writing, but it seems that I am cursed with a very whimsical writing sense; a good portion of the time I can't stand to read my own writing (it blows!), but every now and again I write something that is above and beyond what I've ever done before.

Some of my favorite authors include J.R.R. Tolkien, Robert Jordan, Tracy Hickman, Margret Weis, George R. R. Martin, Stephen King, Jonathon Swift (Gulliver's travels), Scott Adams, Orson Scott Card and of course the great bard Homer.

My ICQ # is 15138144 and my AIM handle is masterful12

Ta ta,

I'm a first-year Architecture student at the good old University of Minnesota (I guess it's a nice way of saying 'freshman', which, I suppose, is a really nice way of saying 'easily tricked', 'naive' and/or 'just out of her parents' house'). I'm a born and bred Norwegian-American who loves snow and lefse, and is currently learning to converse rather clumsily in her ancestors' tongue. In a few years I'll be marrying a nice boy (that's what my grandma calls him; a 'nice boy') who's an engineering student at the University of St. Thomas. He is not Norwegian, but wants to be, and I suspect that's why he's chosen me...

I've been writing...well...not including what was imposed upon me by the public education system...since about 1st grade. The manuscript I'm working on now I've had in my head and in various forms on paper for years and I really hope you guys can help me finally turn it into something good! Needless to say, I'm not yet published and greatly admire all those who have accomplished this - to be able to see my ideas in print and share them with the world would be just incredible!

I love to read and found this writer's discussion because Ender's Game is my favorite book on or off this beautiful world of ours and I was looking to see what I could find on OSC. I also paint, draw and play the clarinet. As my profile says, I love to drive and only wish I hadn't totaled my car so I could still do so!

wow, i didnt now wou could be on both workshops!!!

I'm SarkyC - can never utter a word without someone, somewhere, thinking I'm being sarcastic. Never had a problem with that in my writing, but mainly 'cos no one has ever read any of my stuff...

... and there isn't exactly much of that stuff yet anyway.

But that will change.
Oh yes.
That WILL change.
One day.
Probably not today, though.

I've been intending to start writing for years, but only started a few months ago, as I had so many ideas for stories that my head hurt (things are better now that I've emptied them onto paper). I love fantasy (and to a lesser extent sci-fi) and my favorite books include anything by David Gemmell, the first three WoT books, the lord of the rings (though I'm ashamed to say I have only read the first book), and naturally the Ender saga.

Pet hates include people assuming that fantasy is a sub-section of either sci-fi or porn, philosophy teachers who think they are supposed to be peddling their faith, and close-minded nationalists. Apart from that I'm a happy chap, and look forward to a fruitful time here.

I am over 30, and have been writing off and on since I was in my teens. Have written several short stories, and have two series length novels in the works set in the same world. I have not ever attempted to get published, and one major point of joing Hatrack is to improve to publish, within the next 2-3 years (not quite finished the novels).

Major influences are Tolkien, McCaffery, OSC, Heinlein, Cherryh, Anthony, Eddings, Asimov-- you name it, I've just about read it- very voracious reader!

I see we have quite a diversity on this forum/site, which is wonderful, even for the youngsters. My daughter is also a writer, and that's the best time to start!

Will be roving around checking the boards occasionally when work/school/life & writing permit.

Hope to see you out there-

Regards,
Graceful

Just thought I'd say hi...

And the fact that I can't sleep means I probably won't remeber this experiance at all in the mourning. So don't be mad at me, if you happen to be like VBS and hate 'newbies' because I'm not new... just... strange.

I'm 28 and working on my first novel manuscript for submission. I've co-authored other manuscripts for school plays and things but not to send to publishing houses. I live in GA and will probably be keeping my day job for quite a while.