Hubpages and Questions from a New Hubber

Today I was asked by a fellow hubber to write a hub about a few questions that he wanted answered about hub pages and writing. I feel very flattered that this hubber would ask for my opinion being a novice hubber myself, but I let him know that I would be happy to give him some answers about my own experience here on hub pages. And maybe it will answer his questions as well as possibly help others who are new as well.

Should I post a short story or should I be writing about my life experiences?

My answer to this question would be that you should write about what you know and what makes you most comfortable. If you write about what you know then the writing pretty much flows out of you and it shows through your writing that you know what you are talking about because people will be able to feel the passion in your writing. Basically you should and will develop your own niche on hub pages. When I started on hub pages 4 months ago, I didn’t have a clue about what I was going to write about. I knew that writing about my life experiences and the things that scared me the most about myself and my relationships, made me feel better after writing about them. So basically I write about my own experiences or others experiences.

I have never really tried to write fiction and I probably wouldn’t feel very comfortable writing fiction. I guess I don’t feel like I am creative enough about writing it. But definitely there are all kinds of writers on hub pages, there are poets, fiction writers, people who like to write about themselves and writers who write about others. I think I fall into this category, if I were to start writing books, I think that I would feel comfortable writing biographies about interesting people because this is what I like to read. So that is always another option to write what you like to read about.

How should I start?

My advice to you would be to do what I didn’t do when I first started here. I basically learned as I went without reaching out to others for support. So if I were you I would go to the forums and read the new hubbers forums and that will answer many questions and I would definitely read as many hubs as I could. There are so many great writers on hub pages that you can learn from and each of them has their own style of writing but it gives you an idea about what works and what doesn’t.

Will people laugh at me for not using proper grammar and if there is a spell checker on hub pages?

When I first started on hub pages I cringed every time I wrote and published a hub because I thought that someone would laugh at my writing or tell me to do something else with my time. I am very insecure about many things and writing was one of those things. I have felt humiliation before and I remembered an incident when years ago I was a pizza delivery driver and when I delivered a pizza to this one guys house, I guess I was a couple minutes late and the guy grabbed the pizza from me and said, “Get a real Job”? I was so angry and humiliated because I heard a bunch of laughing in the background. So I know that some people can be mean but honestly, most of the people on hub pages are wonderful people and will not laugh at you and they are the most supportive people that I have ever seen on any forum. I cannot promise that you wont get the occasional heckler but everyone has had at least one of these and remember that the good comments outweigh the bad a million to one, so don’t worry too much about that. As far as the proper grammar. It is a good idea to makes sure that you use good grammar in anything that you write. What I do is I write my hub on my Microsoft Word and then I run it through the spell checker and it usually picks up some errors such as run on sentences and some punctuation but it doesn’t pick up everything; so do be careful to be as punctually correct as possible so that you will sound professional to your reader. Also in the capsules there is a spell checker as well if you do not use a word doc.

Does my Bio sound nuts?

My answer to this is no, I did read the bio and it sounded interesting, however it does sound like someone who is a little insecure about themselves and this is alright because it sounded very real and human an honest. The good thing about the bio is that you can change it as many times as you want. I have changed mine a couple times as well.

Is there any point in what I have to say?

Of course there is a point to what you have to say. Everyone has something to say and to offer. I mean maybe not everyone will read or like your hubs but I am sure that there is always a variety of people out there that will love to hear what you have to say. The fact that you are really taking this seriously tells me that you are wanting to be a serious hubber and you want to be heard. And the most important thing is to just put yourself out there even if it is a little scary and before you know it you will be a successful writer on Hub pages and also remember not to take yourself and others too seriously and have a good time on this forum.

Here is a list of my favorite writers here on hubpages. Most of them have befriended me when I first started on hubpages and they are pretty good about checking in on me and giving me great feedback. Each has their own style of writing and there is plenty that you can learn from them. Some are funny, political, religious, creative and all of them write very well.

Hynodude, Nell Rose, Tattooguy, Shazwellyn, breakfastpop, 50 Caliber, Nellienana, Ann Nonymous, rmcrayne, drbj, Rebecca E, Coolmon209, A. M Gwyn, Sage Williams, Pamella99, dohn121, Aevans, Micky Dee, msorrenson, Mystique1957, Tonymac04, Somelikeitscott, MFB III, Zsuzsy Bee, De Greek, Amillar