20 replies to this topic

[thewitt]

My name is Tim and I'm an engineering manager from the US currently living in Malaysia and working in China and the Philippines as well. I have a fantasy book project I've been working on for the last 15 years off and on. I decided to get serious and finish it, so after finding Storyist.... here I am.

Lots of questions, so I'll try not to be a pest,

[Thoth]

Hello Tim (thewitt),

Welcome to the forum. Take your time and browse around a bit. You might find that many of your questions have been asked and answered. One of the nicest thinks about the Storyist forums is that Steve (Forum Administrator & Storyist's creator and stalwart developer) is a frequent contributor. He KNOWS things the rest of us do not and likes to share. (You don't get that kind of fan service from Bill Gates!)

Happy Writing, Tim.
-Thoth

[Ironbark]

I'm almost as new here, Tim, but I have to say that the place is great, the software is great, and many of the most important questions have already been answered. At least, the ones about the software have. But if you do have a question, you will get a response very quickly.

And the community feeling is quite something too. In the fortnight or so since I joined, I've done my best to become a pest, and instead just had some fun and got some good feedback on some writing thoughts.

So, from one newling to another: welcome!

P.S. my two current novel projects have a combined age of 21 years, so don't be worried about that. The author who won this year's Booker Prize needed several years (from memory 7) for one of his shorter works, and he was writing full time.

[whirlybird]

Welcome Tim. I'm fairly new myself and as PC mentioned this is a fun place to lounge around and help your writing endeavor..

I agree with Thoth that if you have a question it may have been already asked so look around. You can always continue that post if you need clarification. Everyone here is really helpful especially Steve and no question is a stupid question.

-W

[thewitt]

Thanks everyone. I'm good with searching and researching older posts so hopefully I won't bring up too many issues that have already been answered. Looking forward to being part of the community.

-t

[Thoth]

thewitt, on 28 November 2011 - 03:33 AM, said:

-t

Uh-oh. Now I'll have to be careful to use an uppercase T.
-T

[whirlybird]

Thoth, on 28 November 2011 - 05:34 AM, said:

Uh-oh. Now I'll have to be careful to use an uppercase T.
-T

We'll be sure to let you know when you do it wrong, Thoth

-W

[whirlybird]

thewitt, on 28 November 2011 - 03:33 AM, said:

Thanks everyone. I'm good with searching and researching older posts so hopefully I won't bring up too many issues that have already been answered. Looking forward to being part of the community.

-t

Don't worry thewitt if some slip by you. No one here is going to bite your head off. I was happy to join this very helpful group of people a few months ago.

-W

[Thoth]

whirlybird, on 28 November 2011 - 01:45 PM, said:

We'll be sure to let you know when you do it wrong, Thoth
-W

Thank you.
-Ⓣ

[Marguerite]

Hi, thewitt:
Welcome to the forums, and good luck with the book project!

My current novel first saw the light of day in 1996 and promptly dashed back into the basement and hung out there for 10 years, so I know the feeling.
Best,
Marguerite

[thewitt]

Thoth, on 28 November 2011 - 05:34 AM, said:

Uh-oh. Now I'll have to be careful to use an uppercase T.
-T

Sorry to put the pressure on you.... I've been signing forum posts with a "-t" since Compuserve days and it's really hard to break that habit!

-t

[thewitt]

Marguerite, on 28 November 2011 - 11:19 PM, said:

Hi, thewitt:
Welcome to the forums, and good luck with the book project!

My current novel first saw the light of day in 1996 and promptly dashed back into the basement and hung out there for 10 years, so I know the feeling.
Best,
Marguerite

Nice to hear I'm not alone in my long term project effort

I have a good solid outline and have done a little writing in various sections as I get inspiration for this project. My world travels have introduced me to people and places that have ended up with derivations in the book - at least some of them have - and so the project has been a little disjointed to say the least.

I sat with a published author on flight from China to Malaysia two weeks ago who introduced me to Storyist and encouraged me to dig my book back out and work on it again. I had the first four chapters with me on my iPad and let him read them. He turned the last page and then turned to me and said, "What happens next? Where's the next page? You have to send me the next chapter!" I loved that

He said his first book took him nearly 20 years to complete, however the sequel was only 10 months - he had so much material left over from the first project. He is working on the third book in the series now and has promised to send me the first two if I keep him in the loop in my project.

It's been fun restarting. I hope I can keep up the enthusiasm!

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone.

-t

[Thoth]

thewitt, on 29 November 2011 - 01:53 AM, said:

Sorry to put the pressure on you.... I've been signing forum posts with a "-t" since Compuserve days and it's really hard to break that habit!
-t

No problem. I'll survive. After all, we all have our names and avatars posted to the left of our posts.
-T

[whirlybird]

thewitt, on 29 November 2011 - 01:59 AM, said:

Nice to hear I'm not alone in my long term project effort

I have a good solid outline and have done a little writing in various sections as I get inspiration for this project. My world travels have introduced me to people and places that have ended up with derivations in the book - at least some of them have - and so the project has been a little disjointed to say the least.

I sat with a published author on flight from China to Malaysia two weeks ago who introduced me to Storyist and encouraged me to dig my book back out and work on it again. I had the first four chapters with me on my iPad and let him read them. He turned the last page and then turned to me and said, "What happens next? Where's the next page? You have to send me the next chapter!" I loved that

He said his first book took him nearly 20 years to complete, however the sequel was only 10 months - he had so much material left over from the first project. He is working on the third book in the series now and has promised to send me the first two if I keep him in the loop in my project.

It's been fun restarting. I hope I can keep up the enthusiasm!

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone.

-t

t-

What a great reaction to your book! What are the chances of sitting next to another author and one who uses Storyist to boot. Did you ask if he is on the forums here? It's great that you're going to keep in touch with him.

Thoth (the BIG T) and Marguerite (M) are two people who have been around this forum for quite awhile. They both are extremely knowledgeable and helpful and definitely make this forum a great place to be.

-W

[Thoth]

whirlybird, on 30 November 2011 - 03:28 PM, said:

Thoth (the BIG T) and Marguerite (M) are two people who have been around this forum for quite awhile. They both are extremely knowledgeable and helpful and definitely make this forum a great place to be.

Aw, shucks, ma'am.
You're too kind.
-Big T

[whirlybird]

Thoth, on 30 November 2011 - 06:28 PM, said:

Aw, shucks, ma'am.
You're too kind.
-Big T

Big T what did you do with your circle T (or was it a magnifying glass?)

-W

PS-And everything I wrote about you and M is true.

[Thoth]

whirlybird, on 30 November 2011 - 11:19 PM, said:

Big T what did you do with your circle T (or was it a magnifying glass?)

You're sharp, Whirly. Very sharp.
-Ⓣ

[thewitt]

whirlybird, on 30 November 2011 - 03:28 PM, said:

t-

What a great reaction to your book! What are the chances of sitting next to another author and one who uses Storyist to boot. Did you ask if he is on the forums here? It's great that you're going to keep in touch with him.

Thoth (the BIG T) and Marguerite (M) are two people who have been around this forum for quite awhile. They both are extremely knowledgeable and helpful and definitely make this forum a great place to be.

-W

I don't see anything that looks like him in the Members listing, but I'll send him an email and ask. He loves Storyist and really convinced me to buy it by showing me how he uses it on both his Mac and his iPad. I was impressed, and so far I'm loving the software myself. Maybe I can talk him into coming and lending his support here as well. He seems like a very knowledgeable user. He clearly uses the software to his advantage while writing, and that would be wonderful experience to share with the forum.

I was indeed excited by the way he reacted to my first few chapters. It jazzed me up for sure. I've only let a few people read it over the years, and though response has always been positive, I knew all of them and thought they might just be stroking my ego To have a total stranger, and a published author to boot, react the way he did actually gave me goose bumps!

My daughter is an English major with a desire to become a professional editor, and so she has been providing me with editing support. She loves her Daddy however, and is reluctant to tell me when things might be improved - so I'm working on her to be brutally honest with the old man. At some point I'll be hiring an editor based on what I've read here...

-t (little t)

[Ironbark]

whirlybird, on 30 November 2011 - 03:28 PM, said:

What a great reaction to your book! What are the chances of sitting next to another author and one who uses Storyist to boot. Did you ask if he is on the forums here? It's great that you're going to keep in touch with him.

Hey, can't we all get copies? Maybe he is lurking here somewhere reading this and smiling.

whirlybird, on 30 November 2011 - 03:28 PM, said:

Thoth (the BIG T) and Marguerite (M) are two people who have been around this forum for quite awhile. They both are extremely knowledgeable and helpful and definitely make this forum a great place to be.

I second that. I've been in plenty of forums (I so want to say "flora"!) over the years, related mostly to work but also to writing, and never found anything quite like this. Close, but not quite this good. The two aforementioned simply make it great. And Steve... well, any software developer who takes the time to change my screen name for me AND points me, unasked, to a discount that I would never have found for the license... hmmm, I can't make this sentence work without drinking some more coffee first, but he's simply grand.

[Marguerite]

Steve is our greatest asset, for sure. I can't tell you how often he has personally fixed some file I managed to bork in one of the beta versions. How many developers do you know who offer that kind of one-on-one help?

As for the kind words about moi (channeling Miss Piggy), you're all too, too kind!

And I agree with Whirly, finding oneself sitting on a plane next an author who both uses Storyist and says encouraging things about one's work and wants to keep in touch is too cool for words. Real synchronicity, Tim!
M