I'm Markus, I'm your new moderator around here and the new guy who's going to be making decisions for the monthly Flash Fiction contests.
I've never been a moderator before so please don't give me a lot to do.
A bit about me ... I have a meager publishing history, but I'm proud of the collections of which I've been a part. A big house is currently looking at my novel, and I have a book-length collection (part "concept-antho") which I'm beginning to shop.
I don't have a conventional education, what I know about writing I learned on the street from the greats -- the only reason I know I'm doing anything right is the reaction I get from my work when people read it -- although I've been twice-compared to a "young Edward Lee," which I will take.
I'm a Grammar Nazi, I believe in classical story structure, and I think if you haven't read , then you should do that before you write another word.
I'm going to tell you my absolute main annoyance: adverbs.
If you must use them, know that adverb is there because the cosmic weave of time and space would otherwise tear apart at the seams. I ignore them in dialogue because people reflexively use adverbs to communicate. I believe, however, that the adverb is the tool of the lazy writer, and I don't think that, just because we're dealing with shorter fiction, that that's any excuse for lazy writing. I take this stuff seriously, seriously.
That's all info regarding submissions -- I don't grade the grammar of every thing I read, just books and stories.
My all-time favorite novels are Orwell's 1984 and King's CUJO.
So, those are some things about me.
From you, I wanna know some things about what you get out of this forum and what more you'd like to get out of this forum during my tenure.
I'll do what I can to help.
~Markus