As you might see on my list of links, I belong to the deviantART community. At one point in time, I had posted an entire novel, and, luckily, received much feedback and compliments on it. However, therein lied the problem: my story, titled Purity, was about vampires, and I began writing it around the time when Twilight began its domination of the literary world. Although Purity was nothing like Twilight in terms of plot, writing style, and character development, many of my readers were adamant Twilight fans.

Over time, I started to hate the original copy of Purity, and I removed it from dA.

Since then, my number of readers has declined dramatically.

I started to rewrite Purity. Then again. It now sits in my computer collecting virtual dust, left alone but not forgotten. It will always be my baby, my introduction into the world of serious writing, but because Stephenie Meyer obliterated the need for serious vampire writing – the world that Anne Rice created – I feel completely uninspired to pick it up again. None of my new rewrites of Purity have seen the world of dA. I have emailed parts of it to loyal followers, but it petered out since I stopped actively writing. Caitlyn, Fane, and their little supernatural world will never leave their special spot in my heart, but I had to move on.

And move on I did. Inspired by the video games I play – like The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and the Dragon Age series – and by the books I read, I began to work on a novel of medieval fantasy.

And thus, my vision, my dream, the novel with which I will sashay into the published world, Of the Arbour, was born. It is nothing like my previous writings – especially in that there are no vampires and that I veered completely away from traditional fantasy cliches – and it holds the most tender love in my heart.

Because I have 100% intent to publish Of the Arbour one day, I haven’t put much of it on dA. There are excerpts in my journals, as I always do, and I uploaded the prologue and first part of a chapter, but that’s the extent of what dA will ever see.

Then along came Changeling. And though I faithfully put parts on dA as deviations, I don’t get much attention. A friend of mine reads and comments, and someone else blindly favourites, but that’s it. My readers and watchers, who had stuck with me throughout Purity and its sequel, Immortal Misconception, no longer comment on my work. If they are reading it, I have no way of telling if they like it or not, because nobody comments.

And I am not alone in this endeavour. Most of the serious writers on dA feel lost and isolated. There is no solid community for literature, like there is for poetry or visual art, simply because people in the age of the Internet don’t have the patience or “time” to go through multiple chapters. This frustration clashes with those of hobby writers, and dArama ensues.

Frustrated with this lack of support on a beloved website created for the appreciation of art, I, along with my friend, Elisa (who is also on dA and here, on wordpress: http://elisamichelle.wordpress.com/) decided to do something proactive about it. So we created a group called For-Serious, dedicated to finding those writers on dA who want to do something more than write for fun. We want to bring people together to help them find beta readers, supporters, other people who write with the intent of publishing who will give them thoughtful critique and feedback.

So if you’re a writer who wants to enter the world of professional, published writers, but you can’t seem to find the right group of people to help you achieve your goals, consider For-Serious. We want to bring the writing community of dA and beyond together, and give each other the support we need in order to enter that enigmatic world of published authors. You comment, people comment back. It’s a win-win situation where you get exactly what you ask for from people in the same boat.

http://for-serious.deviantart.com/

We’re serious writers, and we can’t wait to see you there 🙂