[ SECRET POST #2809 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2809 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.


__________________________________________________



02.


__________________________________________________



03.


__________________________________________________



04.


__________________________________________________



05.


__________________________________________________



06.


__________________________________________________



07.


__________________________________________________



08.


__________________________________________________



09.


__________________________________________________



10.









Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 012 secrets from Secret Submission Post #401.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 1 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[ketita]

Not commenting on your fics personally, because I haven't read them, but I don't think that extended vocabulary = pretentious. I read literature too, and stuff that's definitely not YA, and there is a serious difference between writing using vocabulary you're comfortable with (including high-level) and pretentious writing.
Sometimes I'll read something that just oozes smugness, like I can practically feel the author patting themselves on the back for a job well done. And that is annoying.
Have people actually told you your writing is pretentious?

[saku]

no, but i generally see people equating flowery or ~colourful quips with pretentiousness, so i've always been worried that might extend to me. i see it more as an artistic/creative process than a technical one so i've never seen "poetic" or "thesaurus-fuck"-like writing as being inherently pretentious, but then i guess i don't know what i'd consider pretentious through wordage alone. like, john green patting himself on the back because his female character kissed the guy instead of vice versa (as if that's a rarity) - that's what i'd consider pretentious, but that's less in writing and more in just... him as a person i guess.

there was one time someone commented like "oh yeah your writing doesn't seem pretentious at all :)" without any prompting on my end so i feel like it might have been sarcastic. but i write the way i do because i feel like it suits my stories and portrays the kind of mentality in my characters or the state of the situation that i'm trying to get across - maybe chaotic and surreal. i don't want my writing style or habits to be misinterpreted as something that's meant to serve a purpose beyond that. but i'm obviously not very good at figuring out what is and is not pretentious to other people, so i have no idea.

[ketita]

tbh, I think you're overthinking it. If nobody even complained, then what's your basis for thinking that your writing is pretentious? If you're writing the way that feels right to you, then great, keep going. If you're really worried, get a beta or two who has a style different from yours and see what they say, or look for concrit. That's if you really think it's worthwhile trying to change and see what happens.

I mean the thesaurus thing is when you read something and it looks like somebody had a party with a thesaurus because the fancy words aren't actually contributing anything to the text. They're fancy to be fancy.