there seems to be a lot of unbridled creativity in this forum. i really love the Release forum... and the fact that it seems to be growing slightly and gaining a loyal set of readers is astounding. most of RM seems to ignore this one, but the users who drop by do so frequently. and your praise and criticisms seems to come from educated backgrounds... or at the very least, it shows that you have a passion for the written word.

im wondering... what types of classes/ education have the posters here received? i personally have none, but some of you seem very analytical in your feedback, and i would like to further my writing... if only for my own enrichment.

anyway, lets get a discussion going.

no formal education whatsoever besides the basics of languages. honestly i prefer to keep it that way. i don't want to think about if it's technically right or not. it comes from my soul, not some textbook.

Here, here.

I've also noticed a gain in interest in this forum, it's great

I used to post stuff in the Tenclub forum, but the problem there was that there were about 30 people putting new stuff up there every day, so your poem usually got about 7 views and then disappeared. Forever.
Here's got a good balance though, people take time to read and comment everyone else's stuff, as well as posting a good deal of their own - it's a cute, little balance. Aww

In terms of background, i'm finishing up my last year in 6th form (studying Eng Lit, Eng Lang, Music Tech, and Art), and i'm going on to study Eng Lit at University...so i know some basic criticism on poetry...but aside from sounding like a nob when i display it, it rarely comes in handy

I don't have any formal aducation as such, I mainly just learnt wordplay watching Pauly Shore movies, hence my lyrical genius.

no education in literature or anything like that. i have a career in law, but i've been furiously reading and writing, articles, poems and songs, both in portuguese and english, since i was, like, ten years old. english is a learnt language, i got a cambridge proficiency in english certificate... twenty years ago? well, maybe writing those compositions did help... and, no doubt about it, being here has helped me to improve my writing skills.

I'm pretty new to this site but I think Release is an awesome outet for the exchange of ideas and contstructive critisism. I have worked for years in record stores and love music discussion. Then taught myself to play the guitar and write songs. I have always been somewhat verbose, often to a fault in lyrics. Also have a creative and professional writing degree. But I'm sure you will here more from me as i often get stuck with lyrics and bogged down with ideas and need all the help I can acquire

I have a B.A. in English. But I think reading a lot (so long as there's variety) gets you halfway to that one anyway.

I have had literature courses such as English Lit. to 18?? and World Lit. since 1600. I had to take some lit courses, so I did. I greatly enjoyed the World Lit. College Writing and Advanced College Writing. I have always been told I'm good at writing. I once wanted to major in Journalism or Creative Writing. That's it really as far as formal education in this area as I am a double major in political science and history right now. After that I'll get my master's in poli sci most likely.

My writing just is. I don't put a lot of technical thought into it really.

I was an English Minor in college, along with Psychology... Legal Studies being my major. I do enjoy reading, though it's fallen by the wayside with the American busy nature; and have always attempted to write or draw. Drawing became far to time consuming for me to pursue even as a hobby, but writing became a nice crutch as one can carry a pad around and jot things down at odd times. This helped significantly, along with a break-up of a long relationship; I had to let things out and I did it through writing. The choice to do that was better than any mental therapy, cheaper by far and really got me into writing about emotions, people and not things. I also had the luck to take lit classes that turned me off to over-reading of classic fiction and a few creative writing classes that opened my eyes to poetry and short-fiction.

I'm going to do my best to spend some more time here, love to see the forum grow... but not too, too much; hehe gotta keep it semi-small and elitist.
Release.

This place is awesome and you people are a seriously talented bunch. I plan on spending a lot of time in "Release." I majored in journalism in college and have a history minor. Poetry and prose are dear to me. I edit and design for a living, but do little writing nowadays. I would like to write more and you guys have inspired me to do so. Many thanks.

pretentious film major

I love you.