[ SECRET POST #3025 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #3025 ⌋

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

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03. http://i60.tinypic.com/339t7j4.png
[linked for it being a pic of a giant dildo]


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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 019 secrets from Secret Submission Post #432.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 1 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

06. http://i.imgur.com/Rs2xgNJ.gif

[(Anonymous)]

That looks like Bakka Books in your background pic, OP!

[blitzwing]

Why do they scare you OP? I think they're just people that prioritize writing over other things. Same with anyone who is really good or does a lot in their field/hobby/interest.

[(Anonymous)]

Not OP, but I find the high level of focus that's needed to be prolific a little scary whether with writers, athletes, politicians or whatever. Often they're willing to sacrifice things that really should not be sacrificed, like their health, principles, or family. I automatically distrust them until I have evidence to the contrary.

[(Anonymous)]

You would distrust someone for neglecting their health? Principles and family I get and agree with, but I'm inclined to believe that someone else's health isn't my business.

[kallanda_lee]

They don't scare me, I envy them.

[sarillia]

I envy them too even though I've been called prolific. There's still so much time I could be taking advantage of (and I'm not even talking about the time I spend here).

[othellia]

Wait. What?

Like people who write a lot (judging by your picture) or prolific people in general (e.g. anyone who draws a lot, blogs a lot, etc)?

[(Anonymous)]

Well, being prolific isn't always necessarily a good thing, at least not for the person being prolific.

The one time I was ever highly prolific it was because my offline life was equal parts empty and overwhemling at the same time, and throwing myself into creating scary-copious amounts of fanwork was both a distraction crutch and the only thing that gave me any scrap of validation or meaning. tl;dr, it wasn't exactly being prolific for any healthy reason (like sheer enthusiasm for a thing).

[(Anonymous)]

I kind of envy them because I'm such a slow writer, but on the other hand it's rare that someone is both prolific and good, and I don't want to have the quality suffer for the sake of speed.

[(Anonymous)]

Many people are prolific and good. They just choose not to seem prolific by choosing very careful what they show to the world.

[(Anonymous)]

nayrt - You can, of course, cite examples?

[(Anonymous)]

I don't know about that. One of my favorite prolific writers--JD Robb/Nora Roberts--clearly uses a formula that's really obvious if you've read many of her books, although she's published something like eighty of them.

On the other hand, I find it's more true to say you can also be non-prolific and bad.

[(Anonymous)]

I used to be somewhat prolific in my fandom, but that was because I was writing, writing, writing all of the time. Now I much prefer to do other things, although sometimes I wish I could hit that vein of inspiration again.

[skeletal_history]

I have to admit, I'm suspicious of Joyce Carol Oates. How the hell can someone write so much so quickly, and have it be any good?

(I'm not accusing her of plagiarism. I just think, damn, lady, do you even edit? Do you just get an idea and churn out a 200-page novel in a month and then move onto the next idea for the next month? How does that even work?)

I've also been thinking of making a similar secret to this one, about one writer in one of my fandoms who has about a half-dozen 200,000 to (no joke) 500,000 word fics, plus a good amount of shorter ones, all written within the past five years. They're pretty good, too! How does this person have a life outside of fanfic when they write that much?

[sarillia]

That sounds pretty similar to my output over the same time period (though split into a larger number of shorter works instead of a half dozen at that length) and I still feel like there is so much time I waste that I could be spending writing.

To go back to what you said before that, the way it's been working for me is that I work on a first draft at the same time as editing something else. I like switching between the completely free imagination dump and the more analytical revisions.

[rosefyre]

*shrugs* If you get an idea, you can seriously write, especially if you have a proper outline and know where you're going. A friend and I are cowriting a Hunger Games fic and we've written at least 170,000 words (mostly story, but probably a solid 15k is outline and another 15k is authors' notes, and we have been editing each chapter twice - once some time after we write it, once right before we publish) since we started on January 20th, and that's including probably 15 days where we didn't write at all and another 15 where we poked at the story but got maybe 500 words if we were lucky. And with two people, we're dependent on both of our schedules, which have included such things as jobs, working an anime con, crazy family holidays, visiting each other for a week (oddly we got less writing done when she was at my apartment), and dinners/weekends/hanging out with family and friends. We've done a 10,000 word day before and multiple 5-8k days. It really just depends on writing and writing and pushing through writers' block, ignoring that you may not have the right words as long as you have any words. You can always edit them later.

Transcript

[(Anonymous)]

Image: a room full of books, full bookshelves on all the walls up to the (high) ceiling, and stacked around on the floor and surrounding a desk

Text: Prolific people scare me

[(Anonymous)]

I don't know where they find the time and energy. I watch some fanartists turn out new sketches everyday and wonder how they can do it. But then again I've had fellow art students think I was really fast so who knows. I guess lots and lots of practice makes you better and faster.

[(Anonymous)]

I know DWS gets a lot of hate sometimes about daring to promote writing quickly, but have you actually sat down and read thru his post on the subject? It makes sense. And frankly, some of us who do tend to be prolific...we just put the hours in and work hard, you know? http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/killing-the-top-ten-sacred-cows-of-publishing-2/