I tried a writing challenge a while ago. Story remains half-finished since I didn't think it was worth posting. I don't want to give people bad writing.
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The Writing-GAF Mega Thread
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fredrancour
Member
You don't. You get feedback. Half the time even award winning authors are convinced their work is horrible till they get feedback on it. You just have to share it and learn what could've been better. If you never let anyone look at your writing when there's a chance they'll dislike it, you'll never be able to show your writing to anyone at all.
Do you want to be published?
I do. But I don't want readers to cringe their way through bad prose and clumsy dialogue. The world already has Stephanie Meyer and Dan Brown.
That's all I needed to hear.
For every bad writer, there's a Leo Tolstoy out there. If you are prepared to put the work in, we'd love to have you on board.
PS. Any writer who can sell a load of bollocks is worth their weight in gold in my book. It's why I tend not to put down successful writers.
You'll have to suffer through it if you think it's bad and want to get better. But I haven't read anything of yours so it's hard to say. Also, reading other people's work always helps.
A lot of it is also subjective.
The Artful Dodger
Member
I've been slugging through writing, mostly to no avail. It hit me my story wasn't going the way I initially thought, and I had written myself in a corner....but now I'm back after tweaking the overall lot and last night wrote 500 words! It seems closer to my original intentions, so that's a huge positive.
The only way to get good, is to keep writing. If it sucks it sucks, but you gotta improve somehow. Besides, editing and rewriting will allow you to catch awful writing and fix/remove it.
Everyone has hang-ups, you're no different. And, for what it's worth, you're probably a step above fan-fic (Not ragging on all Fan-Fiction, but we all know what I'm talking about) so you're not the bottom of the barrel. Quality comes with revisions.
The only way to get good, is to keep writing. If it sucks it sucks, but you gotta improve somehow. Besides, editing and rewriting will allow you to catch awful writing and fix/remove it.
Everyone has hang-ups, you're no different. And, for what it's worth, you're probably a step above fan-fic (Not ragging on all Fan-Fiction, but we all know what I'm talking about) so you're not the bottom of the barrel. Quality comes with revisions.
Stephanie Meyer and Dan Brown sell. So does E.L James for that matter. The way I see it, many readers want to read their books. On the other hand, authors that are appreciated in literary circles don't sell as well on average. The way I see it, not many readers want to read their books. The natural conclusion is that... you should strive for worse. Yes, I know, perfect logic.
Same applies for movies. In the summer of X-Men, Edge of Tomorrow, Planet of the Apes, Guardians of the Galaxy... guess what made most money. Hint: none of the above.
Too right. This week's creative writing thread had an excellent fan fic story.
The Artful Dodger
Member
I've honestly read some pals fan fic that made me want to quit writing, cause it was soo damn good.
The sad thing is that person will never put their stuff out there, cause of that "I write just for me". We had huge discussions about it, ultimately, I came to realize it was a sorta diary thing for her, and it was an honor to read it.
Lol, but again, not everything is gonna hit that tier. Not criticizing the writer, just the writing.
"What does this mean? I will click on it. Wait, what does this mean? I will click on it." Repeat until death.
:/
Not enough good writers have someone believing in their work.
There is a sense of inexplicable joy when one's work is validated by a second individual - even moreso when this is a person one looks up to.
Freeza Under The Shower
Member
"she felt she might be approaching an event horizon of being Too Dumb To Live, except the conflict felt a bit lacking"
will this do?
One of mine involved inverting or subverting tropes as the secondary, and I definitely linked to some TVTropes pages.
What is TVTropes-style fan fiction?
Yeah, that was it!
I've been perusing some of the older threads lately to
The Artful Dodger
Member
cosmicblizzard
Banned
Third novel begin! Forgot how tough it is to actually start one of these things. Stared at a blank word document for an hour before doing any typing. Still managed to get the prologue done. Excited to really get into this one.
AngmarsKing701
Member
Dude you're on a roll. Come over to my house and help me write book 2.
The major problem I have with writing is getting a bunch of story ideas, going "hey that's a good idea" to where I boot up scrivener and... can't write. At all. Or if I do it's so mechanical and stilted it's like "geez, that's awful."
Damn dude, you're a machine.
Does it count if I'm prepping for NaNo?
I'm embroiled in characters and plot atm for that. Plus a GAF short and a short I've promised my writing group.Working on two short stories right now and thinking about a book for children.
H.Protagonist
[-_-]/
I have to write another short story that is complimentary to my novel for bonus material. Does that count?
Elfforkusu
Member
Currently?
No, but only because I haven't participated in the short story thread in a while.
Hoping to have book #3 close to done
lol, first draft close to done maybe...) by the end of October, so I can write most of book 4 during NaNoWriMo.If this sounds overambitious, it's because I've been watching Gurren Lagann
cosmicblizzard
Banned
Hey, books take time. Just because I'm writing more doesn't mean I'm any good. At the very least, you're still sitting a near-perfect average on Amazon
If I was a machine, I wouldn't find Nanowrimo super intimidating ;p. You guys that take part in that are the real ones worthy of praise.
Master Milk
Member
I've finally decided to get around to rewriting and editing my nano thing from two years ago, again.
I want to publish it, but having others read it scares me.
I want to publish it, but having others read it scares me.
fredrancour
Member
Yes. One short story actively being written, and one novel idea that has forcefully taken over my daily freewriting without adding permission first.
Not until November.
Do 1,667(?) words a day like I did. If you do the average you can beat it. It gets tough keeping the motivation to do it, but I did it to beat my Nano unbeaten four times demon.
cosmicblizzard
Banned
Nah, I get burned out at 500 words a day, and I usually do that for a year straight. With the way I write, I'd rather just take it at that pace. It also helps because I get a lot of great ideas while I jog, so rushing wouldn't be for the best.
I'm happy just watching people have fun with Nanowrimo.
tiggerkiddo
Member
Working on a story right now...I keep deleting large sections and rewriting sadly but i think I'm getting somewhere. I hope...listening to various soundtracks helps the prose greatly. I like to imagine I'm in the same place as the characters so I can fully immerse myself.
So I'm always hearing about creating a platform to engage with an audience and promote your writing. But at the same time publishing your stuff online runs the risk of squandering first publication rights, soooo... Seems kind of a catch 22 thing if you're not already published.
The ironic thing about this is that I already have a website that I haven't updated in years, but at any given point it has a couple hundred viewers. I'm pretty sure if I revitalized it, I'd have a built in audience from the word go.
The ironic thing about this is that I already have a website that I haven't updated in years, but at any given point it has a couple hundred viewers. I'm pretty sure if I revitalized it, I'd have a built in audience from the word go.
marimorimo
Member
My take on that phenomenon is that a majority of readers read as an escape outlet. They want to read a good yarn, and not necessarily to challenge their minds. I don't have a problem with this as I read primarily for pleasure too. A deep, introspective theme is just a bonus. I have my "brain candy" reads like the Stephanie Plum books by Jane Evanovich which require zero mental challenge but are very fun to read. I also read a lot of fanfiction, (the good ones).
I notice that many popular books have writing so bad they'd be full of red markings if submitted to a creative writing class. (This includes Harry Potter, especially the later books). But yet they bring in the dough so they're doing something right. So it must mean that beautiful writing alone does not make a best seller. Readers are perfectly happy as long as the writing is functional (i.e. serves its purpose not to bore them out) and the story takes them to a fantasy world that they want to live in.
My theoretical formula for a best-selling novel:
functional writing + captivating plot (preferably one that strikes a chord with reader fantasies)
....Now if only I could put it into practice >_>;
Well put. Although I wonder what damage, to young girls minds, Stephenie Meyer is doing. Some of the relationships in her books* just boggle my mind.
I had an interesting conversation with my sister in law who read them all and was a fan. She would defend Bella and Vampy dude's relationship and all the weird stuff that he did, and she's quite a sensible woman in real life.
It makes me wonder about what readers will accept from a story and how, I think, most won't be critical of the characters' actions if they are sympathetic.
*I've only watched two-ish of the films. Not sure if I could actually sit through reading one of her books.
I think Vonnegut said something to the effect of each of us writes what we have to write, and we simple wait to see if there is an audience or not.
Tim the Wiz
Banned
Damage? It's escapist fantasy. No more crazy than the power trip mass-murderers often venerated as heroes in fiction.
I am writing a novel right now and its almost backbreakingly hard.
At times my head hurts during the process and others I just let it write whatever comes on my mind.
I amnot even sure how good my grammar or coherent my writing is but I think I'll leave this step to the end.
I already had to restart once because I wasn't satisfied with my previous writing and it didn't feel genuine to me.Like I wasn't writing what I really wanted.
I wonder how bad or good it really is at 1,115 words or if it even writes like a damn novel.
Also I am just writing as it comes to my mind.
My previous try involved listing together concepts and lore/ideas and adhering to them as I write ,but i found it too restricting and suffocating.
I guess I'll just keep going and see what happens.
At times my head hurts during the process and others I just let it write whatever comes on my mind.
I amnot even sure how good my grammar or coherent my writing is but I think I'll leave this step to the end.
I already had to restart once because I wasn't satisfied with my previous writing and it didn't feel genuine to me.Like I wasn't writing what I really wanted.
I wonder how bad or good it really is at 1,115 words or if it even writes like a damn novel.
Also I am just writing as it comes to my mind.
My previous try involved listing together concepts and lore/ideas and adhering to them as I write ,but i found it too restricting and suffocating.
I guess I'll just keep going and see what happens.
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