Gathering Of Dedicated Scribblers discussion
Introductions
Hi All,Just started the Coursera novel class which led me here. I never liked writing in school but always loved reading. The more I read the more ideas began to form in my head, often times loosely in dreams. I want to get them fleshed out and am slowly getting into this. Would love to do it more but often have trouble motivating myself so I figured joining a group would help. Looking forward to producing a bit more instead of always consuming.
Sage wrote: "Hi All,Just started the Coursera novel class which led me here. I never liked writing in school but always loved reading. The more I read the more ideas began to form in my head, often times loos..."
Hey Sage,
I got the same situation as you. I hope you get a good experience in the upcoming days.
Hi Lalitha, will read your chapters and leave a review, you can find links to other people's chapters in the thread entitled coursera reviews, when you have time check a couple of my chapters too.
Lalitha wrote: "Liavali wrote: "Hi Lalitha, will read your chapters and leave a review, you can find links to other people's chapters in the thread entitled coursera reviews, when you have time check a couple of m..."Hi, you can find links, and leave links for your chapters, in this other thread, called coursera reviews:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
@Lisa , Welcome. I hope you find what your looking for here. Your one of the GODS now!@Sage , You sound like you're going to be very popular around here with everyone trying to find a consumer =D. On that note, take your time, write at your own pace so you don't get burned out and I'm sure I speak on behalf of the active members, we are here to help. You have to take the steps but we'll cheer for you ever step you take.
@Lalitha , Welcome, I'm sorry your group fell apart. Many of us have experienced the same thing. Although not everyone on here is active, the few that are have been extremely motivating and helpful and I hope you enjoy your experience with us as you write towards your goal.
Hi Malak, welcome!This thread is inside the section called General, bellow are writing groups section where you can join threads with others of hopefully same style if you wish, but the most traffic seems to happen in the section coursera reviews. Add your link for a review or just post under a new topic for your own project, we look forward to seeing your idea, AND first chapter
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...
Hi! my name is Ana and I'm writing a Fantasy novel in spanish but I translate it in English every time I post a chapter. I'm still confused about the inner workings of this group but I'll be reading your works and posting my chapters in the coursera sections. Glad to meet you all :)
Welcome Ana and Malak. @Malak Yes, each author should have their own thread to keep others on track with their stories.
@Ana The inner workings?
Remember, we're all here to help. Post only at your own pace. Some of us are chattier than others however, whenever you feel that your ready to ask for some help/review/editing whatever, we're here.
Hi Ana, reading your first chapter now!!
Hi! My name is Amy, and I found this group through the Coursera group. I did finish my novel on Coursera a couple months ago, however, I did rewrite the last 5 Chapters. I just finished my re-writes today. Looking for other writers who have completed their novels and looking for other beta-readers. I like to edit and review work as much as I like to write, and I guarantee to give really thoughtful feedback. I put a lot of energy into the reviews on Coursera, but I felt like I didn't get much back in terms of reviews of my work.
More about me: bachelors in English Literature and Linguistics, masters in English Linguistics.
My novel is called Safe Heights and centers around 3 characters: an abusive husband, a determined wife, and an advocate at a domestic violence center.
How do we go about finding readers on here? Anyone else with a completed novel?
Hi Amy, I don't know if there are others who completed their novel but various people in many different stages. I have made my own deadlines and not really following the coursera and want to finish my book before the 15 October, right now, it seems doable for a first draft even though I am getting lots of ideas of things I want to change already, trying to just keep going forward and not move backwards.
I am also writing about abusers and abuse survivors and would be very happy to read your novel and do my best at a review, I do try to be conscientious and pay attention in my reviews but unlike you am not from a language or writing studies background.
And since I hope to finish mine within next 4 weeks I could send you mine then.
And it is very possible you may find others here happy to make such an exchange also!
Welcome to the group!!
Hi there!Thanks for your reply. I'd love to connect. If you want we can even swap the first half of our books? Just let me know.
Cheers,
Amy
@ Amy congrats! What an accomplishment. I can't wait to cross that finish line with the rest of you.
Hello! I found this group via Coursera, I just started auditing the novel course a few days ago. I'm writing a YA sci-fi novel. I actually have a degree in creative writing but I've never used it. I've done some freelance journalism, editing, academic writing, business plans, online content... but not much fiction since school.
Welcome Ray, do post links to your writing on the coursera links reviews and we shall check your writing out!
Welcome Ray. Be careful, there is a member on the team that will try to recruit you into his super secret justice league of New Mutants.Just kidding. It's awesome having another well educated member of the GODS.
Hi. I am on chapter 17 already, about to finish the novel (for course purposes) but I realized that my story is longer and bigger than fits in the course framework. I am behind schedule, since according to my course's timetable I should be about done. I am nowhere near the end (more like close to the novel's midpoint). Anyway, I still need support, encouragement and review/feedback, and I am willing to give the same. I hope there are still writers active in the community.
Hi Shecyl, I for instance have more than 100 thousand words and not finished yet either. Some of us are doing the 20 chapters others are doing their own thing, it is all welcome!You can use google docs to share your chapters that don't fit coursera so as to get reviews from us.
Welcome and look forward to seeing your writing
Hello, everyone. I joined a couple of weeks ago but didn't notice this introductions thread. So...hello :)I did a short free course with the OU that focused on characterisation and setting, and enjoyed it so much that I went looking for a bigger course. I'm finding that I'm not really learning a lot from the instructor in the Coursera course(not since the first couple of weeks), but I have been picking up lots of little bits from my peers (which I guess is the point). If anyone has recommendations for free writing courses that would pair well with this course, I'd love to know.
Anyway, I'm working on chapter 7 at the moment and I'm pretty happy with how it's going so far. Nice to meet you all. I look forward to reading some of your chapters.
Welcome Eleanor! There is another thread here with tips and sites for writers with some interesting stuff.
Glad you joined, and hope you can keep going with your novel and make it to the end!
Hi again,Kinda disappeared for a couple of weeks. Just reading through comments. Andres, did you say you finished your novel and you're looking for beta readers? If so, feel free to contact me.
So NanoWriMo is coming up. And I am thinking I would like to participate this year. I completed my first novel a couple of months ago, and I am still in the process of editing it. I don't want to put too much pressure on myself but I've always wanted to do Nano!
Anyone else going to participate this year?
Cheers,
Amy
Hi Amy. That's a great idea! I've never done NanoWriMo, but I'd like to. Maybe this is the year. It depends what's happening with Covid in my country. If I'm still stuck teaching from home, I think I'll take part. Having these creative goals is helping me stay sane right now!
Eleanor wrote: "Hi Amy. That's a great idea! I've never done NanoWriMo, but I'd like to. Maybe this is the year. It depends what's happening with Covid in my country. If I'm still stuck teaching from home, I think..."Hi Eleanor. I've been watching a lot of youtube videos (authortube) that talk about prepping for Nano. They call it Preptober, and they have a lot of useful tips for getting started to do Nano. Somethings to consider include creating an outline and character profile - kind of like the coursera class. Doing research. Making writing goals for each day and planning times to write.
Basically, what I did was create a project on NanoWriMo where I could write about what my novel is about. I figure even if I don't reach the 50k words in a month, it would still be useful to get a lot of writing done within a community of writers. As I mentioned, I have been editing my first novel. I miss the freedom of just writing to write. Also, the topic that I want to address for my next novel is kind of taboo and controversial. So I feel like writing it in a short burst might be more effective so I don't mull over it.
Thomas wrote: "Hello, name's Thomas.Happy to be aboard"
Welcome dude, Hope the Coursera class is treating you right. I'm on chapter 6. I'll giver your stuff a look in the morning.
Amy wrote: "Hi Eleanor. I've been watching..."I've signed up on NanoWriMo. I'm really interested to see how different the experience is compared to Coursera. On one we're encouraged to go slow with our chapters, on the other it'll be a race against time. I'm not sure which style will suit me best.
I just have to finish the last 3 disciplines for this semester of my online uni course before I start actively prepping, but I'm feeling excited already.
Thomas wrote: "Hello, name's Thomas.Happy to be aboard"
Hi, Thomas.
Hi Everybody! I started writing my first novel on the Coursera course a few weeks ago. I am on chapter 7 right now. I posted all my existing chapters together in a new thread. Please take a look and I hope you all enjoy it!
Hello, I'm Bill I've been writing mostly poetry since I was a kid but have taken to writing creatively as a way to deal with the pandemic. My educational background is in Cybersecurity, Political Science, Intelligence Analysis, Criminal Justice, and Terrorism Studies; so 'of course' the genre I'm writing in for the Coursera course, "Write your first Novel" is Urban Fantasy (at least that's what it is starting to look like to me anyway). I'm looking forward to participating in this group and am grateful to Andres for taking on the effort to create this group (especially so I didn't have to ;) )
Greetings, I just started that novel writing coursera class at the end of September and am attempting chapter 3... I struggle with that interface and was delighted to find this group. As soon as I get that third chapter done I would love to post the link for some input. Seems hard to judge a chapter independant of its predecessors... however, I would love to be able to say I finsished writing a book, even if no one will read it. I have four books that I did on researching my ancestors culture... I think they have been reviewed on GoodReads...maybe ... they are self-published and I love to write and have to get back in the process again. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
Hello to all newcomers!!I have to personally apologize to everyone as I usually would review people's work and check links often but have been very sick, so I hope to soon catch up and start reading everyone's chapters!
No worries in my case; just make sure to get better. You'll get to it when you can no doubt...
Hi everyone, I'm back. Welcome to all the new GODS. @AMY I would appreciate the assistance. Just send me a message with your email and I'll send it over.
For all the new members just starting on Coursera. Do not feel overwhelmed receiving/giving feed back on chapter by chapter reviews. Having completed the course myself and spoken to others that have completed it as well, not all of your chapters will get 5 reviews. Which is sad to say. However, you are part of the GODS now, so not so sad for you.
The other thing is, it can be very taxing to write while your limited time is spend reviewing other works. I submitted my last 8 weeks of work without reviewing anyone else's. This means it is not part of the class completion requirements.
My advice for you guys as GODS is to submit your chapters through Coursera as you normally would. When you have about 5 chapters done, trade your work with someone else here. The feed back you receive will more likely be of a greater quality than a random 25 people looking at different individual chapters.
Write submit, write submit. Don't worry about feedback until you hit your 5 chapter milestones. This will put less stress and demand on both you and your fellow GODS. I hope this information helps you finish your book and the 5 reviews doesn't dissuade you from completing it.
Hi, everyone, my name is Aura and I started on COURSERA in February. Thank you so much, Andres for creating this group and for updating the invitation on Coursera, otherwise I wouldn't have found it. I have a peer group but only 4 of us are actively writing and I'm the only one writing a fantasy/superpowers story. Plus, it's difficult to achieve the necessary 5 reviews per after week two.
So, I hope to read awesome novels and meet awesome people.
Best,
Aura.
Hi Aura, welcome!Fantasy author, alright! Don't worry about the reviews for now your with the GODS. You can always go back and help out people that reviewed for you. Just keep writing. Try to write 10 chapters. Once you get that far I'm sure someone here would be happy to review it, if not myself and you will get a better review on the direction of your novel.
It's hard to review chapter by chapter, you only get pieces of a story and the chapters change so much with edits. But, if your stuck and can't get into 10 chapters just let me know and I'd be happy to read what you've written so far to help give you some ideas.
Andres wrote: "Hi Aura, welcome!Fantasy author, alright! Don't worry about the reviews for now your with the GODS. You can always go back and help out people that reviewed for you. Just keep writing. Try to wri..."
Thank you for the warm welcoming, Andres! I'll update my thread when I reach chapter 10, for sure. I will check out your material as soon as I have the time. I'm a mother of two, the schools are closed, I'm working from home, so being able to write a chapter per week is already a feat! But I'm working with other writers who are doing the Coursera course as well so I'm reading about 5 works in progress as well.
Best,
Aura
@Aura, Ugh, we have all been there. Honestly you're doing too much. Don't burn yourself out correcting and correcting others peoples beginning chapters. ML, Liavali and myself all did a 10 chapter round table. Its much easier and a lot more efficient. It let us put a lot of words on paper and get a good flow going before worrying about flushing out details or typos.
Don't worry about checking my material, my book is already done, I'm onto the next one. I will need help but i'm thinking it wont be until around june-july ish.
I know now that you might be committed to your group until the coursera course is completed but hopefully if your going to continue writing through the future this group will be a little more helpful. We want you to not feel that you're spending so much time checking other peoples work that it is somewhat of a burden. Rather its nice to find a break or stopping point where you can trade work with someone who has also written so much that they can stop, take a breather and gather some feedback of their progress.
Best of luck, hope you continue to chat with us here.
Hi, My name is Chris, I am a Canadian X-Pat living in Mexico. This is my first fiction. It is a historical novel. I am about to start my fourth chapter, I am taking the Coursera course but it has gone dark. No one is left alive in there as far as I can tell. I need feedback and am committed to giving it to anyone who needs it. I speak and write English, French, Italian, and Spanish.
I can be contacted directly as well at tremblay@usa.net
Hi Chris!Congrats on joining the GODS. I've been on here for almost 4 years now, active. Although it make get dim, it will never go dark. Start a new topic with the title of your book and start posting your coursera links there. The most important thing to remember is do not stop writing. There are moments when activity gets really high on here and then dims down. So keep writing that way when its up you'll get some good feedback.
Hi, I'm a 57-year-old living in small-town America trying to write the next greatest American hit. ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Not really, I'm keeping my mind active by letting stories flow into words, but I am not very good at it. Hence, taking the Coursera course. But, alas, my two critique partners have let life get in the way of their story goals and I must continue without them. I do get one or two nice critiques on my writing, but after I fix things, there is no way to resubmit, hence this might be the solution to that problem. I've written children's books and this is my first attempt at a "real" book.
Welcome Sonja,What genre are you hoping to publish in? What's your "Real" book going to be about? Do you have a title and a blurb?
Hi Andres, Thank you for doing this. I suppose all that info would be helpful. I am thinking YA. I've actually got several books in different states of dress. I can't focus long on one so I move to the other. But, the Coursera novel logline is: Banished to Maine by her overbearing father, a teen dodges hurdles to help a civil war ghost clear his name. It's about Lizzy learning to rely upon herself and believe in herself which is why she was having issues in the first place. It takes an old B&B manager and a ghost to do this for her. Or something like that.
@ Sonja,Oh awesome! Sounds like a great start for your first novel. A historical fiction with a YA audience. Did you already map out the storyboard for the ghost? How/why is name is tainted and how it gets cleared?
Hi Andres, Yes, I know exactly what happened to the ghost and how he was labeled a traitor by the actual traitor. I just haven't gotten that far in my writing up to that point where he tells Lizzy, my protagonist.
Maybe you could turn it into a supernatural series where Lizzy is traveling and uses her ability as a medium to help ghosts. Could be a supernatural version of young readers Nancy Drew mystery series. Just a touch of scary and the boy she swoons over in every series always turns up a bad guy. Oh, and her little brother is the oddball character that adds comedy. His autism gets him picked on which helps your protagonist address bullying issues from a guardians perspective. This makes her a bit unpopular which increases her self esteem issues. Still her love for her brother prevails and his genius links her clues together helping her solve the case.
Bah, now I'm rambling. I'm sorry. Okay, good writing Karma headed your way. Keep dropping in and let us know how its going!
You have a very creative mind. I've already thought about the next ghost but keep thinking it's too much like the TV series, Ghost Wisperer" but it's a good thought. Nah, no younger brother, as of yet, but maybe a step brother she finds out about later, that's an idea....oh and I like the boyfriends being bad guys idea too
I just looked up ghost whisperer and it ended over 10 years ago. I think it would be safe if you wanted to write in that direction. Plus she was a married woman not dealing with the YA genre in which you are. Here are critic reviews to the show:
It's all a bunch of mush, but I suspect it's mush that will find a receptive audience.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
by Rob Owen
Season 1 Review: Hewitt is quite good, or as good as the show allows; there are some potholes along the way, as the script sacrifices sense to sentiment.
Los Angeles Times
by Paul Brownfield
Welcome and please do post your review links up for us! There is a coursera links post further down.