Welcome to the Class

Hello,
I joined TNBW last August and it has been well worth it for the exposure and reciprocal review system I've been involved in.

1. My preference is Fantasy, and while most writers in that genre are quick to cite Tolkien as their inspiration, I actually haven't read anything beyond The Hobbit. I'll probably commit a sin of blasphemy here, but I find that Tolkien is too simplistic in his plot. He surely is a master world builder and even created languages, diagrams, you name it, bofore setting pen to paper. But when I compare someone's work like Stephen Donaldson, author of Lord Foul's Bane, the complexity of the plot isn't even in the same room so to speak.
2. I started writing for the first time a month before I joined TNBW. My novel in progress is posted on this site, and "I think" unless I mention that I'm a newbie, most who read my chapters are under the belief I've been writing a while. Of course, this could simply be a sign of delusions of grandeur on my part.
3. My favorite author is the late Robert Jordan, best known for his Wheel Of Time series. I felt a bit naive to find out recently that's not his real name. I should have known better after seeing the same name in Hemmingway's book as a character. I found his writing style incredible and even the jokes his character's will say are always related to their background.
4. A quirky fact about me, is those who review me still can't find anyone worse at comma usage.

Hi and Bonjour
I joined this site two days ago.
(1) What type of writing (romance, horror, science fiction, etc.) do you like to do?
Presently I am a published author of two poetry books and working on my third for publication this spring.  I have also a poem included in an international anthology of Lentos; all these can be viewed in my bookshelves.
Though my published works are poetry and my writings presently are essays for University courses,  I am starting to look at writing short stories, a novel (the first draft is written), and a memoir (recording historical research notes now).
Most of my past writings over the last thirty years are political articles on social issues affecting women and abused children and a community advocate for HIV/AIDS prevention.
(2) When did you start writing?
I started writing forty-one years ago at the age of fourteen:  by the time I graduated from high school I had a bit of published journalism and published poetry under my belt to enter the world of independence from my folks.
(3) Who are a couple of your favorite authors?
Tennessee Williams, Joseph Conrad, Edgar Allen Poe, Oscar Wilde, Stephen King, Margaret Laurence, Margaret Atwood
(4) What's a fun or quirky fact about you?
Not fun nor quirky but a fact:  I was diagnosed with HIV in 1987...which means half my life I have lived with a chronic illness.

(1) What type of writing (romance, horror, science fiction, etc.) do you like to do?  Typically I write about the supernatural.  On occasion a normal setting grabs my attention and I wonder what weird thing or situation could come from it.
(2) When did you start writing? With serious focus, over the last couple years.
(3) Who are a couple of your favorite authors? Koontz and King
(4) What's a fun or quirky fact about you? I hate touching dirty cardboard. I need a good hand wash as quickly as possible after touching it.

Hello,

1) My name is Kevin Saltzman. I use the pen name Guy Crédules which means Gullible Guy. (sorry francophiles for word order etc.)  It goes without saying, I wouldn’t have chosen this name. It should have been Guy Crédible.  Is it too late to go to the court to change my pen name? C’est la vie.

2) I started writing somewhere under the age of ten. It was a science fiction novel titled: Journey to Lakra Planetoid. I then took a very long hiatus and started to write poetry, off and on, since 1995. And finally started to write a novel in 2012 and wrote diligently for a year and produced 300 pages while sitting at a Starbucks. And somewhere in this time period I joined this site to post some of my poems.

3) I read voraciously throughout my life so I have many authors which I like. The first author that comes to mind is Frank Herbert and I have read the first novel thirteen times of the Dune series. Another author, because I love science fiction, would be Issac Asimov for a number reasons.

4) I am neither fun nor quirky. Seriously though, when I am happy or concentrating on something I start humming “A Little Night Music” by Mozart.   
             
Thanks guys, hoping to have with you all,
Kevin

P.S. To Rosie Zander, I hate cooked apples too!

Hi everyone,

Sorry for being late to this assignment. My name is Rosie Zander.

1. I enjoy writing romance fiction and even a little erotica (gasp) but lately I have been dabbling in poetry. I have always found it difficult to understand poetry and so this is more of a personal attempt to overcome a shortcoming in my literary upbringing.

2. I started writing in fourth grade when I was home sick for a week and deathly bored.

3. Favorite authors  include Margaret Mitchell, Carl Hiassen, and pretty much anyone. I read a pretty diverse group of writers.

4. Quirky thing? Hmm. Let  me think. I like to garden and try to do it every year despite a really poor yield. I'm an optimist. Not exactly quirky but true.

(1) What type of writing (romance, horror, science fiction, etc.) do you like to do? I like writing science fiction and romance with a fantasy twist to it. 

(2) When did you start writing? I started writing when I was 30 years old which was about five years ago. I wrote my first screenplay at 29 years old.

(3) Who are a couple of your favorite authors? Stephen King, Nora Roberts, JK Rowling, Stephanie Meyers, and James Patterson
(4) What's a fun or quirky fact about you? Whats quirky about me is that I like to rewrite my manuscript over ten times.

(1) My favorite types of writing to do is in transgressive fiction or a kind of gothic style. I suppose you would categorize it as general fiction. Hopefully, it will become more and more publicly recognized as a genre. I began writing poetry and I still write poetry from time to time when rhythmic lines come into my head.
(2) I began writing in poetry at the age of seven. I was told in my college undergraduate studies that I wrote at a Master's Degree level so at least I know that for academics I can write well. Creative writing is not something I am as well-versed in but I am steadily and avidly working on at present.
(3) Favorite authors (a few): Chuck Palahniuk, Neil Gaiman, Kurt Vonnegut, Bret Easton Ellis, H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allen Poe, Clive Barker, Stephen King, Philip K. Dick, Richard Brautigan, Andersen Prunty, Oscar Wilde, James Joyce, Ambrose Bierce, e.e. cummings, Plato, Chelsea Cain, Craig Clevenger, Jean-Paul Sartre, Friedrich Nietzsche, Sylvia Plath, Emily Dickenson, and many many more
(4) quirky about me: most people tell me directly that I am weird and hard to get to know. I am basically a hermit, though I cannot stand that word. I don't like leaving the house. Agoraphobic, I believe is the technical term, but it's one of those probably irrational fears of I don't know what. I just tend to have panic attacks where my chest is in pain from my heart beating so fast and I feel like I can't breathe when I am out of the house, especially if for longer than say, an hour.

Hi everyone

I've also joined a this class a bit late and need to catch up!  So here goes.

Historical romance

At the age of 16-17.  Seriously, only recently at the age of 39.

Stephanie Laurens

I'm in a highly technical career that few would ever associate with someone that loves to read (and write?!) romance novels.

Thanks for doing this Sol!

Welcome Janet and Mike!

Thanks Sol. I'm hoping to complete the next assignment soon!

Brand new here. Just signed up this morning, but thought I'd poke in and take the course on my own, even though it is "officially" over.

1. I write anything. I have a blog where I write short stories weekly, and they can be romance to horror to fantasy to sci-fi. Oh and throw in a cop drama and you have the gamut.

2. I started writing as a child. I've always dabbled in it, writing short stories, journal entries, poems, etc.

3. Favorite authors include L.J. Smith, J.K. Rowling, Anne Rice, R.D. Brady and many more I can't really think of right now.

4. Fun fact about me: I am a fire sign, which means, Aries. While I don't usually align myself with those attributes when it comes to my writing, anything goes. And I love to see things from other perspectives. And yes, shhhh, don't tell anyone but my stories generally involve something quite personal about me. (But my friends and family don't know that.)