Introductions: A few words about yourself, please Showing 51-100 of 1,792

[Nik]

Hi Kevin and welcome!
Thanks for an elaborate intro and I feel we have now some idea about your motivation and the subjects you tackle, which, by the way, sound compatible and relevant to quite many threads here.
7 published titles in just half a year? Some tremendous productivity. Well done!
Hope you'll enjoy and contribute, as it's also a good way to influence minds

[Eldon]

Nik wrote: "Eldon wrote: "Hi all, Eldon here. I'm a newly published author but it's my career as an accountant that pays the bills. Married, with one six month old baby at home. I love reading (though have les..."

Hi Nik, I started the publishing through Kindle so it was ebook only then when I discovered PoD it turnef out the ebook cover didn't have enough DPI so it had to be changed. I don't know how to change the ebook cover now so...it gets it's own cover ☺

[Nik]

Eldon wrote: "I don't know how to change the ebook cover now so...it gets it's own cover ☺"

Gotcha, one riddle less - :)

[Tina]

Hello, I'm Tina and I accepted an invite from Nik. I'm currently a student of writing, completing a Master of Arts and currently have two subjects left to go. Yay! I don't have any published books, but I make a small income through online writing and online admin which helps to pay the bills. I am working on my first SFF novel as part of my studies and I have a handful of short stories ready to go. In the real world, I've worked mostly in administrative roles such as, bookkeeping and Human Resources, but I prefer writing stories then working for someone else's business, so I hope to somehow make my writing work for me.

[Nik]

Tina wrote: "Hello, I'm Tina and I accepted an invite from Nik. I'm currently a student of writing, completing a Master of Arts and currently have two subjects left to go. Yay! I don't have any published books,..."

Hi Tina, welcome!
Making a small income from online writing is certainly a good start. With only two subjects left, an ongoing novel and a number of short stories, sounds like all is set for pursuing a writing career -:) I'm not sure it's enough to abandon administrative roles immediately, but hopefully your writing will generate an ever growing source of income.
Good luck with the remaining subjects and the novel, of course.
Hope you'll enjoy and contribute

[Eldon]

Tina wrote: "Hello, I'm Tina and I accepted an invite from Nik. I'm currently a student of writing, completing a Master of Arts and currently have two subjects left to go. Yay! I don't have any published books,..."

Hi Tina, nice to meet you! I admire your courage in trying to make writing the full time gig. The best of luck to you ☺

[Graeme]

Hi Everyone,

I've been writing for tabletop and electronic games since the 80s. Over the last ten years or so I've been trying to branch out into the mainstream, with mixed results. I write mainly nonfiction (history, myth, folklore) with occasional forays into fantasy and horror fiction based on history, myth, and folklore.

My books get good ratings and positive reviews, but both I and my publishers have been struggling to translate this good feedback into respectable sales. Likewise, my blog traffic, while consistent and warm, remains on the low side.

I would love to hear from other members who are willing to share their tips and strategies for promoting books and blogs.

Thanks, and it's great to be here!

Graeme

[Eldon]

Hi Graeme, welcome! Writing for electronic games must be interesting; is the process different than that for a novel?

[Nik]

Graeme wrote: "Hi Everyone,

I've been writing for tabletop and electronic games since the 80s. Over the last ten years or so I've been trying to branch out into the mainstream, with mixed results. I write mainly..."

Hi Graeme, welcome!
You have an impressive collection of written stuff and writing record of more than 20 years!
Sure, we discuss here strategies and approaches that can help, however one thing is clear that there is no magical formula. There are lucky ones who seem to hit it off with the audience the moment their book appears on Amazon or with relatively modest effort, but for most - it's keeping pumping new content onto the blog/amazon, doing some marketing and hoping it'll catch on -:)
Hope you'll enjoy and contribute from your own extensive experience

[Graeme]

Eldon wrote: "Hi Graeme, welcome! Writing for electronic games must be interesting; is the process different than that for a novel?"

High-level plot, setting, character, and story work (known in the industry as "story bible") is similar, but that tends to be a fairly small percentage of the total.

Usually one is writing into a very restricted space dictated by the design of the game's interface. Also, there is a general antipathy toward exposition and third-person narration because they interrupt the game and players tend to "click through" instead of reading. That leaves dialogue to carry a lot of the load. Imagine writing a stage play in tweets.

There is a lot of peripheral writing as well: barks, for example, are the one-liners that background characters utter when interacted with in a specific way: being wounded, for example. I once had to write 64 variations on "ouch" (8 enemy types, each with 8 variant speeches) for a strategy game. No line to exceed 32 characters, including spaces and punctuation.

[Alexander]

Hi... I'm Alex. I guess I'm fairly young for an indie author, but then again, one doesn't need to be a certain age to become a writer.

I tend to write either modern-ish neo-noir crime stories or post-apocalyptic sci-fi with elements of bizarro storytelling and black humour; horror, and high levels of violence (not without criticism from physical peers and online readers).

Generally I tend to explore themes involving the dark side of humanity (corruption, hypocrisy, genocide, politics, commercialism, etc.), bleak irony (although I generally use this for humorous purposes), loneliness, desperation, anti-social characters on the search for acceptance, love, revenge, or something else; and finally, inevitability.

I'm an expert pessimist myself, which is probably made evident in my works. Out of the seven works I've published (not including the short stories I've written on DeviantART prior to becoming an indie author), only one of them ends on a hopeful note. Which is kind of sad, I suppose. To be honest, I write my best work (in my opinion) when I'm in a state of depression. The same goes for my art. I draw sketches and also design my own covers. Naturally, I have people asking me why I'm so down all the time, and then when I tell them, they tell me to grow up and stop complaining. So naturally, I vent in my writing through my characters instead of, you know, to real-life people. Despite how I'm probably displaying myself to you guys, I can be pretty fun to have around when people are willing to be around me, and I actually enjoy receiving as well as giving constructive criticism. When someone complains about violence in my stories, I do see their point, and I enjoy reading even the negative reviews when they give me something to think on. It's the people who seem to outright condemn me and my work and treat me like a dangerous psychopath because of my preferences in writing... well, I just feel like trash afterwards.

But by all means, criticize! It helps me grow!

I've done three short stories (one of which was in collaboration with a handful of other authors in an anthology--my first anthology, and the second I've tried my hand at (the first time around, my story was rejected for being too dark ;-;); one novella, and three cyberpunk thriller novels (two in a series).

I often break out into rants about nothing. It's quite irritating for the listener and to me once I lose steam and forget what I was talking about in the first place. People tell me to live in the real world, but I refuse to listen to them, mostly because they're comprised of the same people who would condemn me as a person because of the themes and elements in my work. My work is where I take refuge. Most of the time, you'll find me sitting there, staring off into space with my head in the clouds and my brain in an alternate reality.

Oh, and I don't get bored. Ever. Haven't been bored since I was twelve. And time passes by really fast for me, so I often lose track of what day it is. My brain's just that preoccupied all the time.

I'm also wordy. But I'm guessing you've figured that part out by now. :P

[Nik]

Graeme wrote: "High-level plot, setting, character, and story work (known in the industry as "story bible") is similar, but that tends to be a fairly small percentage of the total."

Interesting insight into behind- the - curtains. Sounds almost like programming in English, which someone afterwards translates into c++ or html5 or whatever language they use -:)

[Nik]

Alexander wrote: "Hi... I'm Alex. I guess I'm fairly young for an indie author, but then again, one doesn't need to be a certain age to become a writer..
I tend to write either modern-ish neo-noir crime stories or post-apocalyptic sci-fi with elements of bizarro storytelling and black humour; horror, and high levels of violence "

Hi Alex and welcome,

Tarantino, Rodriguez and Ritchie achieved both fame and fortune in the genres you mention. Although they are in the film industry and some of these themes are more 'visual' than 'readable', your topics may well appeal to their fans.
Being a bit eccentric is probably a plus in any art biz, even if others don't see it that positively.
Sorry to hear about depression, but glad you route it into a creative venue!
Hope you'll enjoy

[Alexander]

Nik wrote: "Alexander wrote: "Hi... I'm Alex. I guess I'm fairly young for an indie author, but then again, one doesn't need to be a certain age to become a writer..
I tend to write either modern-ish neo-noir ..."

Funny you mention Tarantino, Rodriguez, and Richie, as I'm a fan of all three myself (moreso Tarantino than the other two, but still). Thank you for the kind words. ^-^

Yes, sometimes the depression can be a bit of a problem, but most of the time we have something of a mutual creative understanding (lol).

[Nik]

Alexander wrote: "Funny you mention Tarantino, Rodriguez, and Richie..."

They are the first, who come to mind in association with 'high levels of violence' that you mention -:)

[Eldon]

Graeme wrote: "Eldon wrote: "Hi Graeme, welcome! Writing for electronic games must be interesting; is the process different than that for a novel?"

High-level plot, setting, character, and story work (known in t..."

Very interesting Graeme!

64 variations for ouch!? Do find it difficult to come up with so many different variations? I guess I would relate writing for games to the old "choose your own adventure" books from my youth in that you essentially need to write many different stories based on the path the gamer chooses. Is that accurate?

[Eldon]

Alexander wrote: "Hi... I'm Alex. I guess I'm fairly young for an indie author, but then again, one doesn't need to be a certain age to become a writer.

I tend to write either modern-ish neo-noir crime stories or p..."

Hello Alexander, nice to meet a fellow Canuck author on site :) I totally agree with your comments on criticism. So long as it's constructive I have no problem with it either; just can't stand when it's criticism purely for the sake of criticising!!

BTW, I like your profile art...is that drawn by you personally?

[Alexander]

Eldon wrote: "Alexander wrote: "Hi... I'm Alex. I guess I'm fairly young for an indie author, but then again, one doesn't need to be a certain age to become a writer.

I tend to write either modern-ish neo-noir ..."

Agreed. Always exciting to meet a fellow Canuck author!

Yes, all the art on my profile, with the exception of the Reality Glitch cover, is my own. Thank you, I'm glad you like it. :)

[William]

Hi all,
I joined the group following Nik's invitation. I'll probably be more inclined to post on the Shakespeare fan group site than any other, as I find Shakespeare's work is something you can dip in and out of over the years and find new things ( .... haven't got round to familiarising myself with all his plays yet by any means ... but in a way who could? ) Still, please don't take this as a back-handed complement for this group as I've noticed you get some very interesting discussions on it.
I've spent thirty years ( this year ) in EFL , and have just got back from two years teaching in Saudi Arabia. I'll probably post in a spontaneous way rather than a contrived one, which I suppose is the best way to share an opinion.

[Nik]

Hi William and good to have you here!
I didn't count, but my own feeling is that Shakespear is mentioned here more frequently than any other author and I hope you'll meet a lot of like-minded members.
Please, feel free to chime in on any existing thread or open your own.
Hope though you won't be too rigorous with my English as FL -:)

[William]

thanks Nik, I might have spent thirty years teaching EFL but I can tell you ( .... maybe I've earned the right ) I still have to go back to the old English grammar books on occasion. English is a very inconsistent language grammar-wise, it's full of anomalies and exceptions to rules... and as for the spelling...!
Anyway, thanks for the warm welcome. In fact I've an idea for the Shakespeare fan group I think I might post.

[Melanie]

Hello Nick and thank you for inviting me to join this group.

Briefly, I'm an actress, voice over artist and audiobook narrator. Born in South Africa, I have lived in England for most of my life.

The economy is a huge subject here in the UK. As world news has mentioned, tomorrow's IN or OUT result as a member of the EU will have a great impact globally. At last the British people now have a chance to vote for their preference and I hear there is projected to be the highest turn out at the polls since the 1950s - hooray.

[Nik]

Hi Melanie and welcome!
Economy, enrichment, business and global trends are among the main subjects here on the group.
Being part of the globe we are ready to be influenced by the outcome of the vote -:)
With Scexit held two years ago, it starts looking like a tradition to hold a referendum every once in a while in the UK. It's not that often that people are given an opportunity to decide their country's fate directly and to influence that of the globe, so I understand the excitement.
Hope you'll enjoy both the historical event and being part of the group!

[Nikolai]

Hi everyone.

My name's Nikolai. I was going to say you can call me Nik but you already have Nik in the group :)

I'm from Australia but was born and lived the first 26 years in Russia.

I'm writing a memoir. Some bits and pieces of it can be read here:

http://nrwriter.com/

See you around.

Cheers

[Nik]

Hi Nikolai and welcome!
Having lived on three different continents you should have an interesting enough story for a memoir..
If I borrow a phrase from O.Henry, it's not like 'Bolivar cannot carry double' and we can surely and gladly have few Niks on the group -:)
Hope you'll enjoy and contribute. Have a mild winter in Down Under

[Nikolai]

OK, you can call me Nik then (and you can call me Коля :)

[K.]

Hi Nikolai
I definitely want to read your memoir!! :) I just checked out your website and really enjoyed it. Laughed about people thinking the web had something to do with spiders. We have a little something in common - I wrote a memoir also (about a Soviet KGB defector). Good luck with your book.
-Kolleen

[Nikolai]

Thank you, Kolleen. I'll send you a copy once it's out. Not sure in what form though :)

[K.]

Thank you Nikolai. I look forward to reading your memoir! :)

[Michael]

Hi, my name is Michael. I'm friends with Tara so I see these discussions on my page and usually end up reading them. I'm not a big debater so I don't know how much I'll contribute, but I'll throw my two cents in every now and then, I'm sure.

[Nik]

Hi Michael, good to have you here!
Many two cents sum up to a dollar and more, so pls feel free to chime in on any thread. Any currency goes -:)
Hope you'll enjoy

[Steven]

Hello Nik and everyone,
First, thanks for inviting me to join, Nik. I'm not sure I'm qualified. I'll also stay away from political discourse for a while too, but I'll mention that the stories in my 22 books seem to echo some of the concerns here.
As a grade school pupil, I was drilled to hide under desks to protect myself from nuclear attack (height of Cold War), which I said quite vocally was absurd--I had started to read dystopian and post-apocalyptic novels. My sci-fi often reflects that interest (No Amber Waves of Grain could be considered a prequel to Christopher's No Blade of Grass, for example). A major villain in that "Clones and Mutants Trilogy," Vladimir Kalinin, was a victim of the Russian oligarchy (a bit of a twist, but revenge often drives his actions). The "Chaos Chronicles Trilogy" discusses a general breakdown of society where multinationals play an ambiguous role. Even my detective novels deal with the struggle between corporations and individuals.
I have nothing against capitalism per se, but I'm against its abuses. My blog topic "Capitalism without Control" has the most posts archived there--I was worried about a financial implosion even before Bear-Stearns. The non-fiction books listed on "Steve's Bookshelf" at my website outnumber the fiction books and deal with many of the topics that seem popular here.
I'm being candid here, but don't let that get in the way. I listen to contrary opinions. And writer's opinions never stop me from reading a damn good story. Heinlein, Pournelle, Hogan, Vonnegut, Card, and Crichton are all very political in different ways, but they're all great storytellers--and that's just sci-fi!
At any rate, here I am, and I'm glad to meet all of you online.
r/Steve
PS. I'm seeing many new books to read for this summer listed here. I spend more time reading than writing, so that's a good thing.

[Nik]

Hi Steven and welcome!
Wow, 22 titles - well accomplished!
I don't think many here are against capitalism per se either, but maybe it's because there aren't that many human-friendly alternatives-:) And we certainly discuss the abuses as well as a plenitude of other issues.
Not all are interested in politics or economy, but these insolent things affect our lives whether we want it or not, so each has some kind of opinion or observations. Not many like to voice them though..
Honored to have you here. Hope you'll contribute, enjoy and find some previously unknown titles to consider

[Steven]

Nik,
In another thread, I commented on your soccer post. Goodreads is all about finding people with different interests and opinions, about reading or otherwise. Except for my author page, I don't participate on Facebook anymore because Goodreads is where the readers v. ranters are--I reserve my rants for my blog posts, btw, and they're not all rants either. Lots of good karma here....
r/Steve

[Nik]

Steven wrote: "Nik,
In another thread, I commented on your soccer post. Goodreads is all about finding people with different interests and opinions, about reading or otherwise. Except for my author page, I don't ..."

Glad to find another soccer fan! Robert even opened a group dedicated to Euro 2016, but I guess England's early ouster undermined some of his motivation...
Yeah, I just check occasionally what's up on FB, but to hang out I come here -:)
Checked out your blog. Many recent posts resonate with the themes we discuss here, so you can sometimes simultaneously publish posts there and share your thoughts here

[Matthew Culberson]

Hello,

I am new to Goodreads and excited to be here. As a book lover and author I am glad to be a part of this community. With a job, three kids, a video game addiction, and a writing/reading addiction, I might not be on here as much as I would like, but I will do my best to be as active as possible. Thanks and have a great day!

Matthew Culberson

[Steven]

I RSS all blog posts to Amazon and Goodreads and share with Google+. I used to share to FB, but they ended that option for me--don't know why--so I just announce each week's list of articles on my FB author's page.

[Nik]

Matthew wrote: "With a job, three kids, a video game addiction, and a writing/reading addiction, I might not be on here as much as I would like, but I will do my best to be as active as possible..."

Hi Matthew and welcome!
Congrats and good luck with the freshly-aired novel!
Beware, you can easily contract another addiction here (of haunting GR) -:)
Hope you'll enjoy

[Steven]

Nik,
Matthew jumped in there in a flash. #88 was in response to your #86. Wasn't it Iceland that beat England? Sorry, Robert....
Matthew,
I don't know how you manage with three--I was busy with two, especially when I was a single parent--so keep that day job. It's hard to make enough money writing these days. I spent years just sketching out things and hoarding story ideas. I think Dean Koontz's wife gave him a year, and he could do it way back then, but now the competition is ferocious. I just spin my yarns and hope to entertain a few people.
r/Steve

[Nik]

Steven wrote: "I RSS all blog posts to Amazon and Goodreads and share with Google+. I used to share to FB, but they ended that option for me--don't know why--so I just announce each week's list of articles on my ..."

Nice outreach

[Kevin]

Hi everyone,

Kevin here, a new member. Not sure how I came across this group, but it looks most interesting.
I am in southern California, and my business is insurance and financial planning. I have long had a strong interest in economics and the business world in general.
I am a new author, with a novel, Night of the Bonfire, that recently made the Amazon best-seller lists. The genre is action-adventure-thriller. I also have two short stories out, and a third one about to be published. My website is www.kevinscottolson.com.


One of my goals is to work economics into a fiction story. How to keep the reader engrossed while discussing Schumpeter's theory of creative destruction? Hmmm.

[Nik]

Hi Kevin and welcome!

Well done with Night of the Bonfire!
I totally share your ambition to weave economics (behavioral type for me) into fiction. The way they influence our lives, economics deserve a much more prominent role in lit than they have now and desirably - on account of billionaires-alpha males -:)

We are pretty international here, but have a relatively large Californian representation, so I hope you feel home away from home, enjoy, contribute and share your thoughts and experiences

[Michael]

Hello Everyone ! Thanks Nik for the invite. I just joined today... and yes I am an author - though a reluctant one at that. Almost 20 yrs as an entertainment attorney in SoCal but I have clients all over the world. I travel to Europe often for business.

I love reading historical fiction, which led to me to a family genealogy project that has lasted 12 yrs - so far - and I am far from finished - which has now led to my first HF novel.

[Nik]

Hi Michael and welcome!

Congrats on your debut!
I'm also partly in historical fiction, but you have here more successful authors writing in the genre -:)
Hope you'll enjoy, contribute, entertain and get entertained

[Marie Silk]

Welcome to everyone :)

[Joan]

Michael wrote: "Hello Everyone ! Thanks Nik for the invite. I just joined today... and yes I am an author - though a reluctant one at that. Almost 20 yrs as an entertainment attorney in SoCal but I have clients al..."

Hi Michael,
My debut novel is a result of my genealogy research also. And I agree, it is a lifetime project. Putting the puzzle together, though, is quite rewarding.

[Michael]

Hello there. I'm Michael Whateley from Sheffield. Please call me Mike. I am married with four children. I spent most of my life as a computer programmer, until the financial Crisis. I am now a trucker. I also spent six years in the military, mainly as an infanteer. Also spent five years in the Police as a Special Constable. the one constant in my life has been my passion for books.

After many years of thinking about it, I finally tried writing one. I have now released my third, and currently working on my fourth.

Happy to be here. Glad to meet you all.

[Nik]

Hi Mike and welcome!
You are having an interesting and diverse career(s), no doubt. We discuss here a lot about writing, but also international affairs, law enforcement, enrichment, societies and people behavior in general, so you'll probably be able to contribute on many threads and hopefully - enjoy!

[Jen Pattison]

Hi there! I'm Jen, still navigating my way around Goodreads as there is so much here to delve into. I came across this group as I saw Marie's posts on it and it looks interesting to me, partly because my recently published first book is about money - or more precisely the lack of it, through personal debt.

I'm hopeless at marketing and have never been one to push myself forward (in fact I find it downright embarrassing) so some of the posts on here look very helpful!

[Eldon]

Hi Jen! Welcome to the group :)