WHO are YOU?

Hello,

I'm new here so thought I should say hello. I'm Stephen Aryan, I live in Yorkshire in England but am really a visiting Geordie from Newcastle in the North.

My day job is marketing, at the moment its a health / technology company but I've done marketing for all sorts.

I've written for many years, my two loves are fantasy, and urban/supernatural horror/thrillers like Koontz, King, Herbert etc. I'm an enormous fan of David Gemmell and I consider myself extremely lucky to have met him once before he sadly passed away. They say you should never meet your heroes but he didn't let me down.

I love comics, have read them for years, I'm self publishing and writing an indie comic at the moment, first trade done, working on the next chapter in the story.

I'm also a comics podcaster, as people weren't talking about the type of comics I was reading, so I started doing it myself and we've been going for over a year and a half.

I'm a gamer too, although not hardcore, but I've played or owned most games consoles and played a lot of games on the PC, and am currently re-addicted to World of Warcraft.

In terms of writing, I've just finished a supernatural horror/ thriller and am currently submitting it to agents, and have made a decent start on a new crime thriller, but am also working on a pilot for a TV programme for a writing competition.

Um, can't think of anything else at the moment.

Steve
 
Blimey, Waffles, when do you find time to write? I guess all those activities and life experience give you so much to draw on, though?

So, since my avatar is Boneman, I am male and I will admit to being an Osteopath (that's a bit like a chiropractor, for those of you abroad, only much better.....:D)

My great, great, great grandfather was Captain Marryat (Children of the New Forest etc), and storytelling has always been strong in my family: my father had it..... I have it.... and my sister ha..... oops, wrong flight of fancy!

As I said in another thread, my older sisters used to read Enid Blyton books to us 'The Faraway Tree, the Secret Seven etc', so fantasy was inculcated in me from an early age. I used to read so avidly that I had to go to the library and read the book there, because their system of stamping the front of the book couldn't handle somebody bringing back their book on the day they took it out. (Wow, one sentence and three 'book' in it...)

I started writing back in the late 80s and it was mostly for fun, and my kids (now 25 and 23), and then I did some writing courses for fun,and got a bit more serious, entered a scriptwriting competition, and actually got short-listed. That encouragement still carries me on, and I write about three days a week now, doing about six hours a day. I fiddle with what I wrote at other times.

I play steelstring blues guitar badly, and ride a harley-davidson, but only when the weather is good, and I'm in my 50s, well and truly into a decent mid-life crisis ( my third. Or was it fourth?).

I love these forums, you can learn soooo much just reading through, but I also enjoy participating. 'Nuff said.....
 
Boneman said:
I play steelstring blues guitar badly, and ride a harley-davidson, but only when the weather is good, and I'm in my 50s, well and truly into a decent mid-life crisis ( my third. Or was it fourth?).
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Ah the mid life....my dad is doing that. But Ithink it's doing him some good. He's a spot older then you. What kind of Harley you got Boneman?


I went through a quarter life crisis....it lasted two years.
 
Wow...well it seems like most of you posted for a fairly long span of time before getting up close and personal but as is the norm of my genre I tend to be bare fached and brutily honest (That is when I'm not being sneaky and underhanded ;) )
I am 28 and will be so for altleast another few years, decided I liked the age before tradition tried to shove another at me a few months back and I had to run for cover. I'm currently an Autobody Mechanic student and hope that I can use the education for pleasure rather then to keep myself and my children fed...but incase it takes me longer to become anything more then a starving artist it is another of my lesser passions.

I am also an addict...I am addicted to Urban Fantasy's, Medival fantasy's and for some strange reason the odd Mystery or Medical drama novel (I trip out of the norm sometimes...must be something in the ink) I have a hard time not making all my protagonist sarcastic and mean, sometimes have to spend time around nice people to have an easier time writing for my non jaded characters and have the most difficulty giving my characters any down time.

You're right...WAA. So who's ever writen so long they've replaced food with coffee for more then 12 hrs straight? ;)
 
Boneman said:
Blimey, Waffles, when do you find time to write?
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Simple, I don't (lol). Well, I do a bit here and there, when I have both the time and the inspiration to do so. Will be easier after Febuary when I'm finished with the acting gig until next winter. I'm only averaging a sad 1500 words a month right now :eek: (well, of the stuff I keep anyway).

Boneman said:
I got a Heritage Softail Classic, pearl blue and chrome, chrome, chrome...... 14 months old and only 4,800 miles on the clock....well, we've had a crap summer, again!
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Sweet ride. Friend of mine from Canada has a 1957 relic that he's riding around on. Love the look of that bike (I've had to bury too many of my friends over the years to ever want one of my own, but I still like to look :D).
 
me, Im just me <<<< see my pic, guess my age coz i don't know?

Writting lifts my soul....>>>>>


Steve:cool: I think I'm cool (some one has too)
 
I've been lurking on this forum for a few days (great place btw) and decided I might as well register and introduce myself here.

I'm an avid SF and Horror fan who discovered his passion for reading rather late (at the age of 11 or 12) by picking up one of the "Conan" books by Robert Howard. My desire to write did not present itself until my early twenties when I was at university but even then it was ignored and pushed back to some far corner in my mind. I remember one of my physics lecturers commenting on my essays (about Black Holes, Nuclear Power, String Theory and etc) that he "rather liked my writing and my style" but it wasn't until a few months ago after finally getting my BSc in Astrophysics (I'm now 25) that I decided to give it a shot.

I always though that I'll write hard space SF but so far I have a few horror stories and a couple of SF (most of them are unfinished and of course unpublished). The greatest challenge for me is my mind that keeps reminding me that English is my second language, and that I've been speaking it only for 10 years so far. And every day I have to tell that little voice in my head to shut the hell up and keep going.

My most recent job was working as an internet assessor for a major search engine company but at the moment, it seems that nobody wants to employ a physics graduate.

But enough about me.

Edit: the authors I tend to read are Al Reynolds, Ben Bova, Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Clive Barker, Chuck Palahniuk, Robert Reed, Charles Stross, Chris Beckett, Roger Zelazny and many other mostly SF writers.
 
I'm a special effects student and daydreamer, I like to create characters and bring them to life, which is mostly why I like to write fantasy and sci-fi. I have a very vivid imagination which is great for when I want to think up a new idea or character, but I can't seem to switch it off. I had a nightmare this morning that I'd swallowed a drill bit, one of those spiky ones. I panicked for three minutes before realising it was impossible.:rolleyes: never eat sweets before bed folks.:cool:

I wrote a bit of a novel once but I didn't like the outcome, which is just as well because the computer crashed and deleted everything, except for my brother's games for some reason. I read all kinds of books, especially fantasy and Sci-Fi but I occasionally go for horror. I made a big deal out of reading well as a kid, because my teachers honestly thought I couldn't read at all.

I like to hunt for inspiration, often in the form of real people with interesting quirks, but sometimes it can hit me randomly. Thats all from me!:D
 
dustinzgirl said:
Everytime I see this thread I start singing Who Made Who in my head.
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Really? Who wrote that? The reason I ask is because 'The Who' wrote "Who Are You?" Boop, boop... boop,boop. I'm currently catching up, and will post myself as a sticky note in a moment or two, or three.

-Z.
 
AES, TEIN: Quote for ya: "Black holes are where God divided by zero". - Steven Wright

Zubi-Ondo is a tool making company in Mexico. I didn't know that until I rather randomly chose the Avatar for this site from something I had come across. I used to live in Southern California (Santa Barbara - yeah, lucky me!) and I found this crescent wrench with that name on it. That's all it said anywhere on the wrench (Zubi-Ondo). I thought that was both odd and funny. Now live in Colorado Springs. It's a city in some rectangular looking state in the western middle of nowhere. I'm a Computer Engineer/Systems test Engineer - I've wandered a bit in my field. My undergrad degree was called Computer Engineering, and was basically like having two majors at the same time - Electronics Engineering, and Computer Science. By now, the schools might be integrating the two a little better, but I haven't gone back to check. I have a masters in Systems Engineering, I'm close to 50, and I have a 3 1/2 year old, and a 2 year old :eek:, both boys. Yes it's true. Neither my wife or I found the right person until we were "older". She's 40 now. I have always had a penchant for writing, and unlike most engineers I scored very high on the GWR (Graduate Writing Requirement) test that the Cal Poly system gave to all of it's graduates. I had a really cool senior project because I took a physics course that was about electronics, and got to know the head of the Physics department. The experiment he was setting up had to do with something called "stochastic resonance" which means basically that you can sometimes see a repeating pattern poking it's head out above the noise in both natural and man made systems. He invented this thing for modulating light he called a "spatial light modulator" (liquid crystal held between two glass plates, hooked up to a voltage), and when I told a fellow student about that name he asked, "Wasn't that the gun that Marvin the Martian used when trying to vaporize Bugs Bunny?" :D

I'm writing a science fiction story that would probably be categorized as "semi-hard" science. It does involve FTL travel so it's not terribly realistic as far as the near future goes. It's set about a thousand years in the future, but I can't tell you anymore than that because it would take too long. My heart is really in it, but I am not in a hurry to finish it. I read a lot of SF too (for both fun and research), but not much fantasy. I don't like horror, (I did when I was a teenager because your date would grab you during the scary scenes) I like positive SF like "Contact" (Carl Sagan). I don't like military SF or horror SF unless its really really good. (I liked Alien, and Aliens, and I own the Firefly series and the movie Serenity.")

I wrote a paper recently on the notion of re-structuring education in America. I don't know if it will go anywhere, but the educational system (at least here in the states) has been sorely lacking in usefulness for eons IMHO. The paper can be seen in bulleted form in the "World affairs" section. Ooohh! Almost forgot - I play guitar, piano, and I used to play drums. I write music, and love music.

That's me for now. I'm about to post a new question in this category (Aspiring Writers). :)

- Zubi.

P.S. The glass is not half full, or half empty. It's just too darn big!
 
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I am only doing this because my mother seems to take forever when replying on Instant Messenger, and I need a diversion.

For starters, it should be obvious I am male. Also, I am 26 and live in Bradenton, Florida (which is a place you are likely to never hear of nor locate on a map in one or even two passes). My time is mostly spent between graduate school (trying to get my Masters of Arts in Teaching, for English: Secondary Ed.) and working as a substitute teacher. It does not pay so generously, and I am badly in debt to my family, but all should be well someday.

When I have a free moment, I will occasionally cook, work on complex pieces of art, try to beat world records in videogames of my choosing (I will refer to myself in public frequently as a penniless professional gamer) or write. Just recently I built a new computer; damn, that felt good. If I did not write, surely I would have no business here? Generally, you will not catch me uploading anything for critiques though becuase my writing is so unusual that there is no place for it here, as I was quick to learn. :) I do, however, like reading the Aspiring section, and I find more interest in reading peoples' comments than the actual excerpts for which they reference. I love to study people; sometimes it makes me callous and very scientific, but I will frequently place learning and personal research above everything else that makes us human.

I grew up with two main goals in life: to become a published novelist and to earn my doctorate in writing. I will be applying for the doctorate probably around the age of 30 after I have had a few years of actual teaching experience. The novelist thing...well...what can I say?

I'll keep you posted if that swings in my favor.



Cheers,
D.C. Szczepanski

P.S. I do not read for pleasure. I haven't for many years. I don't have the time for it, and I think once you start earning English degrees, you really become turned off for awhile becuase your entire life revolves around it. Right now I am five times more likely to read the back of a salt packet than the back cover on a new Best Seller.
 
I, for my sins, am currently in the final stages of a War Studies degree in Canterbury. I hope to go back when I have saved the money and do a Masters, and hopefully my doctorate as well (being a Doctor of War? Hells yeah). My speciality is guerrilla warfare, and I'm working on a 15,000 word dissertation researching the continuity of US interventionist policy in Latin America during the Cold War. If you weren't bored silly by that last sentence, you may well be me - stop stealing my life!

Anyway, on more relevant matters. As a writer I am, to be honest, pretty green. I have had nothing published, and really haven't done a huge amount of proper writing (by which I mean, stuff I would be happy for others to read :p).

I am currently working on developing story arcs and properly detailed concepts for a steampunk-inspired take on feudal Europe circa 1850s. I hope, in my very over-ambitious way, to write a series of books from various perspectives in order to tell the larger story of my rather catchily-titled War of Nations world. I'm hoping to pound out some short stories over Christmas as well, so duck and cover when you see those in the Critiques section :p

As a random piece of trivia which I was going to put in a lack-lustre thread, I have a huge problem coming up with names for characters. Anyone else have this perverse mindblock?
 
I'm a new writer. I've spent the last several years being told that I can't write, and telling myself that as well. As a result, I haven't tried.
Recently I decided to enter an essay competition, and I did so with the intention of writing an essay. I then chose a topic which called to me, but seems to fit the short story genre format more than the essay. I've only written the first paragraph, but it's gradually bringing me out of my shell. Tonight I randomly decided to recount something that happened to me about a week and a half ago, just to see whether I could. I'm slowly turning into a writer, but I'm still predominantly a reader.

As for the other stuff, I'm Ella. I'm 15 (going on 50, apparently) and I'm an Aussie. As well as reading, I ballroom dance and do archery. I suspect a lot of my first attempts at writing are going to involve either recounts of good moments (already got one of them!) or imagined scenarios.

Erunanion, yes, I also have trouble coming up with character names. When I'm writing nonsense stuff like character Bios or D&D, I use Japanese words that have some meaning. For example my current character was raised by an old strict woman. I named the woman 'Kibishii' - the Japanese word for Strict. The child I've given the last name of 'tatsuko' - Dragon child - as the woman was a so-called 'dragon'. her first name (the child) means 'bookmark' because she enjoys reading.
It amuses me at least...
 
I'm Tom, 54, Colorado, USA. A reader by birth, a writer once I found out I could do it. I loved reading so much that when I was nine I decided to write a Tom Swift novel. The cover was delightful fun and came out fine. Then I started on the first sentence and realized after an hour or so of having no idea what to say and not writing a word, that I sucked at writing and hated it.

Never liked writing again until I met a guy in the navy who turned me on to stream-of-consciousness poetry. Realized I could just start blathering words out and sometimes they would come out pretty darn cool. After that, I wrote several reams of crappy teen angst poetry, even though I was in my twenties, bemoaning my terrible lot.

Then I decided to write a fantasy novel. Started it in 1984 and finished it twenty years later. Since I hate short stories in general, as being too short, I never apprenticed in prose in short story format. I just beat my head against the same book for a couple of decades, intermittently.

Wrote a kid's novel during NaNoWriMo, and have half of volume two of my magnum opus completed.

Otherwise, I have a writers' site I'm trying to promote. Anybody wants to get promoted, let me know. My web guy says I need to start finding people with sites who will link to mine if I link to theirs.

One of my pages is a good resource for those who like writer's quotes. It's a roughly 300 pagedown keys page full of wit & wisdom for writers, especially young or beginning ones. Anybody knows how I can get it to show up on search engines, lead on.

As far as real life, I try to ignore it. English Lit major in college. Was a pressman for many years, then became a cubicle drone. Blissfully unemployed at present.
 
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Hello.

I've been lurking for a few weeks but now I decided to come out of the darkness.

My name's Paul and I'm an English teacher in Beijing, China. I originally came from the desert southwest of the USA but I try not to admit that too much these days. :p

I'm 38 and knew I wanted to be a writer since I was about 10. So when I was 37 and sick of working for Uncle Sam, I quit and moved to China so I could get some more time to myself. So I can finally write more than ever! :eek:

Mostly I write fantasy but as of late I'm more inclined to write Chinese flavored fantasy as my environment and recent reading have influenced me. I do have the odd horror idea floating around and a few sci-fi ideas tucked away that I work on from time to time.

And I read my butt off!
 
To tell the truth I am a mosaicist. I read as much and as often as possible on all subjects I might find the slightest interest in and allow them to mush themselves up into this grey mess I got, all in one massive jumble of letters and limericks. I'm an avid reader/dissicator of sci-fi for the scale it emparts to my meager mind. I'm tired of the little, the teeny tiny.

I want it big.

I want four-mile-high (not to be confused with four mile-high) towers erected on behemoth glacial erratics rising from the seething methane mists of Rwiik XI (wherever that is). I want a lustrous mädchen on an impenetrable battlecruiser, dreamily wielding the legendary plasmatic Amakuni. Mmmm-hm.

Though I'm not per se a regular fiction writer, I am tired of leaving these fantastic worlds behing when I finish reading a novel. I want them to continue, to be guided in other directions. So I will write and see what happens.
 
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Hi, I'm Zoe Whitten. I'm 33, a former Texan now living in Milano Italy. I'm an MS sufferer and as such, I'm "kinda retired." My hobby for creative writing has blossomed to fill most of my free time. I've self-published a trilogy of dark fantasy/horror novels, as well as a number of free novellas and short stories on my web site. The first two novels, The Lesser of Two Evils and Trail of Madness, were released through Lulu in 2007, but I opened my own publishing label, Aphotic Thought Press, to release Redemption Lost this past November. I'm still waiting for the reviews to come in on that one.

Writing is still my hobby, but I take it about as seriously as most people take their jobs. I code my own web site, and I try to promote myself via blogs and and social networking sites. Last year, I started working with more test readers and critique groups, and then six months ago, I was lucky enough to meet a freelance editor. In October, I celebrated my first sale of a short horror story to Necrotic Tissue. (Alpha Male, Issue #4) In spite of getting a few decent reviews for my writing samples and my books, I have been unable to sell a novel or a novella to any of the publishers. This does not discourage me from tweaking my work and trying again.

I like to write a lot. In 2006, I wrote two novels and a lot of failed attempts. 2007 was better for me, as I wrote five novels, three short stories, and seven novellas. My health made this year a bit less productive for me. I wrote three novels, four short stories, five novellas, and ten non-fiction articles. :D

My current writing project is Changeling, a novel about a shapeshifter, Jenny/Marcus Wrigley. S/he has been a recurring side character(s) in three of my other stories, and this is their first solo story. It revolves around a family of shapeshifting Grifters who are trying to recruit Jenny/Marcus into a complex bait and switch scheme worth millions. Also, the book will offer the first views of the witch hunters, who will become a dangerous antagonist cult group of "good guys" in the next major story arc.

The Sole Survivors' Club is a dark fantasy novella about an "accident magnet," a woman named Monica Harper, who cannot go a week without seeing a car crash. Through a tabloid journalist, she begins to find other people like herself, and she attempts to form a support group. Then, one by one, people around Monica start dying in freak accidents.

And I guess that's it. It's nice to meet all of you. :)
 
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