Several years
and millions of words ago, an idea was borne from thought to reality by the
efforts of handful of writers who believe in their craft: a place where people
serious about the craft of fiction writing could gather and discuss issues
close to their heart and relevant to their work.
As every good
idea does, it needed a home in a place where writers and books and the people
who love to read them would gather.
It began as a
group in a quiet corner of a busy thoroughfare on the Goodreads platform.
On
Fiction Writing
In this group, we discuss
storytelling and the hazardous road to publication in its many guises from the
standpoint of craft and technique. This group is not a showcase or an arena to
promote our particular works. We seek to debate how we research, structure,
plot, draft, edit, write, and rewrite our novels. How we format, condense, and
prepare synopsis, proposals, blurbs, and hooks. And how we plan our assault to
the seemingly impregnable fortress of the establishment: agents and publishers.
Our founder, a
quiet ...stop laughing, please!.. but serious man of letters, author Carlos J Cortes.
Exceeding hopes, the group grew, and best of all: it acquired as member a group of
writers who were serious about their craft.
From this humble
beginning came first the 2009 anthology, Ménage à 20: Tales with A Hook (Twenty
Goodreads Authors).
Meanwhile,
Carlos and Renee Miller, another of the writer/moderators of OFW had been
having other ideas. They wanted to write a book on fiction writing. Not just another book, but a definitive work on the state-of-the-art of
fiction writing, from the germ of an ide to getting published, in todays
changing world of publishing.
What came of
that effort was ‘the writers best friend’, The
Writers Companion, published in 2011.
Now, follow-your-heart and all other
platitudes aside, writing is a serious business.
It was obvious from the
beginning of OFW that to attract
serious writers to a place where they could not only discuss and work at their
craft but also be rewarded for their effort, one needed to provide a platform,
one that would be able to provide and sustain dynamic content.
And so, after
much hard work, profanity, sweat sleepless nights and alcohol …
Beginning January 2012, On Fiction Writing will have a new home:
We hope to see
you there in the new year.
I cannot even begin to describe your awesomeness, Gwen. I hope you will have time to join us in the forums and on the site. I'm leaking. Jeeze. Thank you.
ReplyDelete