lwhitehead wrote:Hey it was rough and done on the fly, I can write.
No, you can type, but you have so far not demonstrated any ability to actually
write a story.
I can't figure out in these forums how to add a proper writing to this forum,
Basically, if you can write a sentence like the one above without every fiber in your body screaming about how bad the sentence construction is, you are not a writer.
Writing is a combination of skillsets. One skill is storytelling: The ability to take an idea (for ideas are cheap) and spin it into a tale worth reading or listening to. You have so far not demonstrated this in any meaningful way.
The other skill is "technical" writing, by which I mean the ability to construct sentences that not just convey the story, but through their structure communicate the flow of the story.
To quote Gary Provost:
“This sentence has five words. Here are five more words. Five-word sentences are fine. But several together become monotonous. Listen to what is happening. The writing is getting boring. The sound of it drones. It’s like a stuck record. The ear demands some variety. Now listen. I vary the sentence length, and I create music. Music. The writing sings. It has a pleasant rhythm, a lilt, a harmony. I use short sentences. And I use sentences of medium length. And sometimes, when I am certain the reader is rested, I will engage him with a sentence of considerable length, a sentence that burns with energy and builds with all the impetus of a crescendo, the roll of the drums, the crash of the cymbals–sounds that say listen to this, it is important.
So write with a combination of short, medium, and long sentences. Create a sound that pleases the reader's ear. Don't just write words. Write music.”
Suffice it to say that you haven't shown any ability in this regard either.
Finally, and I apologize for harping on and on about this, but grammar and syntax aren't optional. As a writer, words and sentences are the tools of your trade; just as a craftsman who treats his tools with disrespect is likely to be incompetent, so is a writer who thinks that certain writing (like, say, forum posts) is not worth spending any effort on.