Social Writing - Writers on the Internet.

Hi readers, thought I'd write something a bit different today. So this is going to be a sort of informal essay style post discussing how the internet has made writers more sociable and the positives and negatives of this.

I want to look at this subject more closely due to my recent activity on a site called Readwave. This website allows people to put/publish their writings, though there is an 800 word limit. The one thing that really attracted me to Readwave was their weekly challenges, which they have been improving. Every week there is a different subject (now four) which is often connected with a theme. Writing can be fiction, non-fiction and biographically. You can add images, tag lines and summaries. Also, as far as I know there's no limit to the stories you can put up, but you can only enter a challenge once. You get your own page for your stories and can have a bio. There is share buttons for social websites. The best bit about Readwave is that people can comment on your stories and can share them. My page can be sen here;
http://www.readwave.com/hayley.hardman.7/

I think that's the key to most writing websites. The internet is allowing writers to interact in a new way which was not possible before. Writers know that they need isolation time and space in which to work, but afterwards, social interaction is needed. The writer wants and often needs a readers opinion and other minds to spot things that they have missed. Also new writers seek reassurance about they work. Thus the sites are very useful. The other side of this is that they allow readers to experience new genres and writers.

There are downsides to this though. A writer shouldn't let other people's opinions influence their on own every occasion. The writer needs to remain in control and do what they think is right. Over-posting needs to be avoided. The writer doesn't want to flood their page or their readers with too much at once by continuously putting up new or redrafted pieces. The writer also shouldn't think that just because they are gaining a large readership that they must post up more pieces to keep all the readers. Normally, posting once a week or month, the same as doing a blog, is a good strategy to have. Readers can become easily bored with the same or similar pieces.

 Lastly, don't let negative comments or lack of readers get to you. People always have opinions on things they don't like. Remember not to take it to heart and perhaps if they make suggestions you could see these as changes to bare in mind during redrafting. The internet is massive and there are so many other websites and stories that grab peoples' attentions. It can take a while to get a readership, the same with a blog and the way to do that is to keep publishing different stories and doing a bit of self-promotion.

There are all different kinds of websites for publishing too. Doing research into this could be beneficial for some writers, as if you have a piece on a certain topic or containing certain themes, which you wish to share with a connecting audience which some sites are tailored too. Fan fiction is a good example of this as some sites only accept fan related pieces and others sometimes don't.




For me, publishing on these websites does need to be taken seriously. That's because it is increasingly becoming the in between of officially unpublished and published writers. There are writers now who are earning a living through self-publishing online/kindle without an agent or a publishing company. Writers are also being picked up by agents and publishers after their work has been seen online. It can also be used as examples of writing for job applications or agents.

I publish though because doing the challenges means I have to write once a week and it's helped me get over my writers' block. It also allows for story subjects that are new or need a different take on them to happen. This is a good way to practice more and share your thoughts with others. I have also enjoyed reading and commenting on other peoples' works. That is something that really needs to be done, you need to give back as well as receive. Becoming an active member of a site can also attract more readers and help other writers to develop.

So there are a lot of good reasons why a writer should be getting themselves out there on the internet. That saying of you take out what you put in is very true and I believe that every writer will find publishing on writing websites beneficial in some way. It is a great chance to share your work, get a peoples' opinions and read the works of others. That idea of writers being anti-social is a fantasy, because we are a very supportive and respectful network.

That's it for this post then and next week I'm going to be writing a book review. It's going to be slightly different though. I hope this post has been helpful and the discussion can be carried on in the comments below. I've also included a list of websites for people to check out that relate to this post.

Images from:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Stipula_fountain_pen.jpg
http://www.openculture.com/2013/11/the-100-best-novels-1898.html
http://blog.moveguides.com/skilled-freelance-writers-wanted/


Websites:

http://www.readwave.com/
http://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/
https://kdp.amazon.com/
http://www.lulu.com/
https://www.createspace.com/
http://www.writeandshare.co.uk/
http://www.writing.com/
https://www.fanfiction.net/

D&D Part 8: Victory Finish

On Wednesday evening, I played the last encounter of the Council Of Spiders adventure. The large group was spilt into three small groups of 4/5 players and we were off with our DMs for the final battle. My table was warned before hand that this ending was a bit disappointing. Which is interesting when the other encounters have been building up to something that felt really big, like a epic Drow war or battling a Goddess or a wizard army. Having never experienced the last encounter of an adventure I was keen to find out what was going to happen.

I was still playing my female Drow rogue, Kai. There was a female priestess, another rogue and a human slave. Now we were searching for this Drow called Valan Jaelre, who is one of the Council's leaders. Questioning him and then killing him could be very useful and possibly help put an end to the unrest that has been going on in Menzoberranzan (that's basically the whole of the Drow society). We entered some catacombs, which then turned out to be a forgotten shrine to Lolth. There were large patches of cobwebs everywhere and we were told that disturbing them and/or killing the spiders would lower our renown points. (Renown points are given or taken away due to actions taken by the players. Worth points work in the same way, but are decided on by the characters' stats as well).

A brown cloud of smoke appeared and started speaking to us telepathically. This smoke turned out to be connect to Lolth and was a sign of her favour or displeasure depending on how we answered. It was a role playing moment with each of us answering to why we where here and though we had agreed on the goal of completing the Demon Weave, it being all telepathic meant that we could answer with something different if we had decided to have individual goals. Myself, the priestess and the slave stuck with the goal and the rogue decided to bluff a different answer and failed. Lolth was displeased and cursed him.

We were then attacked by Valan's allies and they were Hex Knights and Spellsinners. I would like to say by a cruel twist of fate, but actually it was by the DM's hand, that I who'd put Kai at the back, got moved to the front and because I'd rolled a higher number then anyone else, I had to go first! I had no choice but to fire an arrow at the nearest enemy. I hit and did some small damage. Everyone else then got immobilised, weakened or slowed down by Valan. They couldn't really fight on their turns, so I had to fire another arrow and deal some more damage. I also got hit though and had to be healed by the priestess. I was then joined in the fight, though I was still stuck leading the group. I'm not very keen on being in that position, just because Kai isn't built for fighting and I'm still learning!

The other rogue tried to hide almost the skeletons in the alcoves of the catacombs. This didn't work so well and I decided that corners were still good shields. In front of us there was a staircase going down and we had to try and fight some of the enemies on it. This was a little bit hard and then it got worse because one set of the enemies (I forget which) when they went down turned into bone spiders. So, we had to fight them off as well. They turned out to be easy enough to finish off....as long as you weren't blind or weakened. The rogue somehow was weakened for six rounds before finally shaking it off with a good dice roll. Valan then cast a spell and covered the staircase in cobwebs, making it difficult terrain. This meant for me and the other rogue that we could only move half our movement number (which is 6) down the staircase. The priestess and slave were on the last step when the spell hit, so they were the first to enter the chamber at the bottom.

We quickly dispatch the remaining enemies and were left to face Valan. The DM did a bit of RP, acting as if we couldn't defeat him and he was so powerful. However, the priestess soon changed his mind about that and hit him twice with a magical attack really reducing his hit points. It was then my turn and it was decided that we'd question him before we killed him. The DM muttered that it wouldn't matter and I rolled high numbers. Kai took aim with her bow and shot him with an arrow to the head. He dropped and silence hit the table. The DM claimed it was over and that on searching him we find the last piece of the Demon Weave. It also meant that the Drow civil war was dropped and things calmed down, going back to normal for Drow society.

So that was it and with such an anticlimax too! I have to admit that I did feel a bit disappointed by this because I'd been expecting a bigger finish and a much more victorious feel. I think if we'd not been warned before we'd started, I'd feel even worse. I'm not sure why the adventure had to end that way as it really felt rushed and unfinished. However, I'm happy to say that Kai (below) and I survived our first D&D adventure!

So, as the book closes, what is my conclusion about D&D and the Council of Spiders adventure? Well, I know I still have a lot of learning to do! But that'll come with practise and time. The best way to play D&D is really how I've done it; going to a place which holds D&D playing and joining a group with newbies and an experienced DM. I've had a great time and it's given me something to look forward too each week, which was so needed after four years of uni! I've also made lots of friends and had a lot of fun. I know at the beginning I was worried about a number of things; from not liking D&D and RP, to not being accept as I'm a girl, to being seen as silly for not understanding. This quickly disappeared though and I now have to admit that I really do like playing D&D. I like listening to the back stories behind the story of the adventure, I like creating characters, I like fighting the monsters, (even though I complain about it all the time!) I love all the little random events that happen like; characters jumping on tables, hiding in bones, arguing with the DM, role playing between the slaves and masters/mistress. Also for a change my writer and nerd sides are both happy.

As for the adventure itself; I enjoyed it and liked all the missions we had to do. It was good that everyone could be in a different house because we were all- beside from the goblin, human and dwarf slaves- of Drow race, so it was good that we were still able to have conflicted between characters because of the different houses not getting along. It was interesting how things were revealed too in twisty ways that could also be shocking. I liked doing the secret missions as it added a different element. As for the role playing, this is an area I need to work on and not be so embarrassed to be seen doing. It can make you feel a little silly at times and the DM ends up encouraging you to act in the mind set of your character. Other people are really great at RP and this just brings the game alive and gives you so many funny moments.

There are only two small negatives I can think of to add. The first is that this adventure is actually a squeal to Web of the Spider Queen and because I didn't play that I don't know if I missed some important information, which might have helped play in my adventure. My boyfriend did explain some of it to me and the background you get from the Council of Spiders is pretty sound. Still though, playing that adventure first would have been beneficial. Secondly, the ending of this adventure wasn't very good in my opinion. I was expecting something far better and greater. Okay, maybe not an all out fight with a dragon or some large monster, but a more satisfactory conclusion then the anticlimax of things just returning to normal would have been good. Saying that it's still a good adventure.

Finally, I'm happy to say that I've decided to play another season of D&D! So, there shall be more on this blog about my adventures. I've heard that things are slightly changing in the encounters though and that we are going to be given more chance to RP. That should be interesting! Next Wednesday will see the creating of new characters, so if you fancy trying out D&D then I've linked the website you need at the bottom. I also found this image whilst searching today and I thought it was cool, also if you click on the link and read about it, it becomes even more interesting and just goes to show that D&D is an ever expanding game of possibilities.  

Images from:

 http://imperioliancount.wordpress.com/dungeons-dragons/
http://www.pocketplane.net/volothamp/chap8.htm
http://dungeonsmaster.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/council-of-spiders-cover.jpg
http://torontoist.com/2012/08/dungeons-and-dragons-and-improv/


http://www.wizards.com/dnd/