Welcome to Gaia! ::

You're just starting college. You can't give up NOW. Especially not when someone's trying to help.

What do you expect, perfection? Right out of the gate? Crowds of admirers? Even the best writers have received criticism.

Don't give up! Just... tell your story. And then tell it again until it gets understood.

I mean, look, I haven't worked as an editor in Five years, but I did do it for a living for a few years. And I still screwed up the quotation marks (wasn't sure how to make them appear in the Gaia posts.)

So don't give up. Just be more careful. Pick up a dictionary to help with spelling (never trust gimmicky gadgets like computers) and maybe a style guide (available at your college book store.)

Well, the creative part of writing is about emotion, feeling and soul - but you really DO have to edit your stuff. Honestly. That's the WRITING part.

All the writers I've known (mostly guys with only a few stories out there, like Doug Lain and the idiots who handed me their stories for the Greenhorn Tribune and the other rags I worked for) had to edit and re-edit their stuff. Expect it.

Just don't stop - or you're not writing. You're preening.

See: if, for instance, your emotions, feelings and soul do not immediately appeal to the reader, they'll look for any excuse to stop reading. Bad grammar is #1 on that list.

Oh, quite. Quite.

I had just assumed that Alexzander had already gotten past that part. Sorry.

If this is an excersize in online creative I'm entirely out of line and I apologize.
Please continue, if that is the case. I won't edit any more.

That's certainly a risk of posting it online.

I myself would not be above ripping off some fan fic that I'd re-edited...
if I ever felt like submitting vampire-related stuff to magazines - Which I have vowed never, ever to do.

Unless I get a really, really good offer, of course. I mean pay off all my debts good.