Adam,
the best advice has been given, take a lesson to learn how to present the tools to the wood and join a club, however...
If you tell us where you live (town not full address) we will be able to direct you to the nearest club, that or you can look to the AWGB Main web page and in the menus there is a full list of AWGB Clubs and affiliated clubs.
As to why you work looks like it was attacked by a chainsaw, it is down to the presentation of the tool to the wood. If you've watched certain YouTube videos, the turner probably used a ceramic cutting (scraping) tool, and if you've tried to use a real tool in the same way, it will tear the timber badly. I'll also say that if you have one of those £20 to £30 pound sets of tools, you are doing yourself no favours.
Turning is not something you can learn overnight, tool presentation, and other techniques can be show and taught, but it will take practice to do it naturally, so don't expect fantastic results from your first turnings.
The good news is it really does not take long to start to make reasonable items and if you stay with us in this forum, we will help you learn and improve through constructive feedback, so,
Welcome to the forum and when you are ready, please post something you've made.
