Noticing Newbies

Please excuse my cynicism.

My name is Chris, and I lived in the US for the first half of my life and have lived in Germany during the decade since. I am about to begin studying to become a teacher of English as a second language as well as philosophy (or math...), but I write a lot in my free time and hope to become published some day.

I've loved reading since I was a kid and started writing––or learning to write––when I was ten. In the decade since, I have taken writing fairly seriously overall and have developed my skills to the point that I am reasonably satisfied with them. Obviously, what I do is far from perfect, and I can rarely read anything I've written without editing it impulsively, but I'd guess that's fairly normal. Ultimately, I currently have multiple ongoing writing projects and would like to hear input on some of it––particularly critical input, if it can be found.

What do I write? I've written the first drafts of two fantasy novels. One is a fairly typical 'high fantasy' novel in the vein of Jordan's 'Wheel of Time', while the other is a darker, more experimental project in the vein of Tolkien's 'Silmarillion'. I've also written a few short stories of varying genres and have recently begun (trying) to write poetry, although it's not great yet. I don't know what I'll share in this community, but I've already posted the first chapter of the drama I'm writing right now––a cynically comic drama set somewhere in the 18th century.

Ultimately, I understand that this kind of community is only made effective by 'give and take' relationships, so I also plan on interacting with other people's works to offer my impressions, but it may take me a bit of time to find my feet and remember to do my part with any consistency, so, sorry in advance if I drop the ball in that regard at first.

Ultimately, I'm interested in interacting with whomever as long as they strive for quality in their works. As I mentioned above, I really do want to hear critical input; obviously, nice comments are great, as well, but they won't help me improve the quality of my writing. I'm not thin-skinned, so don't worry about offending me. If you take the time to read any of my work, I'm interested in any of your thoughts and appreciate your energy.

Sorry for if I traumatized you with this introductory novella.

Cheerio.