Personally, I tried to write a huge story to include all of the things I am interested in all at once. 17 years later, on and off, I can confidently say I am nearly half way finished - until I think of something else that is! Turns out I’m a details person and in no way whatsoever a creative writer, haha.

So maybe I need a new approach to write something from scratch as a newcomer to this forum. I will try tomorrow and I hope that people like it.

To be able to get unlocked stories boards, you must have at least 30 postings

This post was made 17 years ago, is there still a hidden story board that only unlocks after 30 posts?

Because a lot of people on here seem to be posting stories in general discussion for some reason.

I don't want to be rude or tread on anyone's toes especially since I'm a newbie here, but if you have a dedicated stories board on this forum I think it would be better if people posted stories there instead of clogging up the General Discussion board with them.

I post my stories in both sections, it just depends on the level of maturity needed to read the story.

When I first came to the forum, it was to read the stories. I followed the rules to gain access to the club section. Many other people have complained about needing to gain access to the club section to read the stories.

This is the first time I have seen someone complain about there being too many stories in the general section, and I don't think there is any rule about where the stories are to be posted. I encourage people to write a story to get enough posts to gain access to the club section. It is a good way to show that they are contributing in a meaningful manner.

I know that many people go through the old posts and answer the ones about age, country of residence, how they became interested in braces, etc, just to get to thirty posts. I did the same thing when I first came here.

I find that there are quite a few people with good stories in their heads who don't have access to the club section yet. Use some of those thirty posts to show us what you can do to contribute to the growing number of stories in the Forum.

There are many reasons for the Forum. For some people it is the stories, others come here for the pictures and videos, some others come here for the discussion.

Just pick the posts you want to read and ignore the posts you are not interested in.

Why have a story club at all if people just post stories in General Discussion? What's the point?

Personally I'm here for interesting discussions not to read stories and having to scroll through endless stories I don't want to read I personally find really annoying, no offence.

Why is this story club secret anyway?

It DOES help to keep out the trolls.... but as BF2015 said, the stories there tend to be a little more "mature" in their themes

There have been so many people posting stories lately that I am going to make one post to cover them all.

Thank you to everyone that has added to their stories or started a new one. I know how much effort it takes to create the stories.

I have fallen behind in adding them to TheArchive and I am working to reduce the number of chapters I am behind. It is a very nice problem to have.

To everyone who reads the stories, a brief comment about something you enjoyed in one of the stories is always appreciated.

If anyone is thinking of writing a story, go ahead and do it. Everyone who is writing a story now started at the same place, at the beginning of their first story. Don't worry about being good enough, your first story probably won't be your best and you will get better as you write more.

And a Merry Christmas to you all from me too! I'm currently taking a break with family...

A couple of years ago, I got a bit disheartened because I wrote stories, and no one ever commented. But then I realised that quite a lot of people DO read my stories (you may have spotted that more recently there's a number at the bottom of each post... that lets me capture number of views, and number if posts. The first seems to be quite big, the second quite small... and I'm ok with that!)

My stories are not braces stories, they are stories that, every so often, include braces, and many of you are ok with that, so the stories will continue. What you don't realise is that the number of crazy ideas I get for, for example,  the CJDL girls, is big, they get to do quite a few things you never read about. Like did you realise that at some point in the next couple of years of the CJDL timeline, Linda has a kid, who got adopted, and in 18 years time, she will meet with her, and perform with her. Like I said, probably won't get written....

So why do I post them HERE rather than in the stories section? Simply because it lets more people enjoy them. I too suggested to Marty why not set up a more public story topic, but he obviously decided not to. And he's not yet stopped me posing my stories.

So let me go back a few years. I can't write stories, I can do technical writeup and that sort of stuff, but not fiction. Then I had a simple idea for a braces story... boy meets girl at party, she wears retainers... I suddenly discovered that I could write simple stories, and enjoyed sharing my love of braces.

So, have a great holiday. If you are new here, then (a) do read some of the older stories in this topic, but more important, do contribute because (b) there's a whole load more braces stories to read over in the Club area. Then (c) dont be scared to write a simple story yourself. Base it on your own knowledge and experiences, and braces interests. Don't worry, your story WILL get read and enjoyed by many!