[ SECRET POST #5203 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #5203 ⌋

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


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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 37 secrets from Secret Submission Post #745.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

06. https://i.imgur.com/SlXoipd.jpg

[(Anonymous)]

I'm one of those writers. Honestly, the only reason I write is that I want the story I have in my head to exist and be exactly the story I want it to be, so reception and objective quality just... don't matter to me. It's just extreme self indulgence. If other people end up liking it too, great! If they don't, *shrug* it was myself I was striving to satisfy all along anyway.

[(Anonymous)]

Different anon, pretty much exact same deal. =)

If I sat down and tried to write "a 50 chapter story that will interest people" I probably wouldn't get far, but sometimes there is a story that just wants to be told.

[(Anonymous)]

Different anon, IA.

Actually I am most surprised when people write something that's actually well thought out and carefully planned and not just pure spontaneous self-indulgence. Then again, I only write as a hobby, so no idea how the professionals work.

[(Anonymous)]

DA
100% this. Sometimes I do sit back and think, "I wonder if people will find this cringey?" but then it gives me exactly what I want so I keep writing.

[(Anonymous)]

Exactly this! It's just the story I want to tell/see. It's literally for me. It's nice if other people like it (and at least ONE person is bound to like it) but it's mostly for me.

[(Anonymous)]

Over the short term that works for me, but how do you make that excitement last? I only like my writing in the approximate hour immediately after I finish a piece.

[(Anonymous)]

SA - I don't know what to tell you, honestly, maybe I just have a very big ego lol. I'm not always happy with my writing of course, but if I am, that to me means that it's exactly what I wanted and that there's no "better" writing possible (objectively better, sure, more catered to my tastes, no) and that just... doesn't change, at least for several years.

[(Anonymous)]

This... uh... almost sounds like a backhanded compliment.

I've been on both sides. Sometimes inspiration just smacks you in the ass until you're over the finish line. Other times, it's damn near futile trying to keep yourself from NOT looking back all the time.

[(Anonymous)]

Most fanfiction is not good, and the longer a story is, the greater the likelihood for it to suck. A good novel-length fanfic is vanishingly rare, but being to write that much without losing focus is still a skill.

[(Anonymous)]

I don't disagree, but the original post is too close to "tee hee how do I motivate myself to suck like the rest of you who are awesome for sucking, because being as good as I am is SUCH TORTURE" for me.

[(Anonymous)]

...I think you're reading into that.

[(Anonymous)]

Possibly, but I don't think I'm that far off.

[(Anonymous)]

It's not even a backhanded compliment. It is 100% pure passive-aggressive "oh, woe is me, I can't just let myself be TERRIBLE like the rest of you plebs."

Maybe if OP took that stick out of their ass, they'd be able to enjoy writing more.

[(Anonymous)]

Haha, let's be real, your 50-part story probably is bad, or else it wouldn't be structured like that. Try removing the chip from your shoulder and your fic might improve!

[(Anonymous)]

This just in: long stories = automatically bad (tell this to classic literature first, though?)

[(Anonymous)]

I feel you OP

[(Anonymous)]

Because I've got a story in my head I really want to tell. It makes me feel good to tell it. And then I can share it, and if others like it/it helps them, that makes me feel good too.

It is 100% inner motivation.

If I don't like the first iteration. That's fine. I got it out. I told the story in my head how I wanted to tell it. I can edit it to it's where I want it to be. Editing can cover a multitude of sins.

It also helps, a lot, if you finish something before you post it. Do I have a lot of WIPs. Yes. Yes. I do. Those that get finished, get posted/published. I just have too many ideas and not enough time/energy.

[sparklywalls]

With fic I was generally struck by inspiration enough to churn out 10-15 chapters in a short time and then I hit the wall.

So that's why I mostly stuck to one-shots eventually. I thought it wasn't fair to anyone reading my work so stopped posting WiPs if I didn't finish them.

Basically, I feel you OP. I wish I could complete an entire WiP with that same level of enthusiasm I have with the first few chapters, but I just never have.

[(Anonymous)]

I feel you on this.

The whole "I wrote it because I wanted it to exist" mentality is completely foreign to me, because the story I want is a masterpiece, not the stick figure shit I'm capable of. If I try to write the fic I wish existed, what I'll end up with is a shitty approximation of that fic, which is not remotely satisfying, just discouraging.

[(Anonymous)]

This is how I feel about drawing. Exactly this.

When it comes to writing, at least in my language, I don't seem to have the same issue. I write it because I want it to exist, period. But, I feel you.

[(Anonymous)]

But um. Most writers of "masterpieces" wrote millions of words honing their craft. And masterpieces are not really written they're edited. If you don't write the crappy draft, you end up with nothing anyway.

[(Anonymous)]

That has nothing to do with what was said. "I just want Thing to exist so I guess I'll write it" is zero percent motivating if what you want is a masterpiece and what you're going to get is slop. If you're options are "Spend a lot of time and effort on something you won't enjoy or feel proud of" or "Just don't bother" then yeah, the just don't bother option looks pretty sweet.

Not everyone feels great just to have written a thing. Some people hate everything they write. Feel lucky you're apparently not one such person.

"I'm going to spend thousands of house writing crappy, utterly unsatisfying versions of stories I want, so that one day fifteen years from now I can write a satisfying version of a story I want" is...well, accurate. But not exactly motivating.

[(Anonymous)]

I hated publishing my fics, until a friend with the same problem sent me an unpublished one of hers and I replied with a continuation. We've been going forth and back for about 2,5 years now and we have over 1000 parts for several verses. There's no pressure whatsoever, you can talk through the plots beforehand and adjust them however you like and still get good criticism, it's amazing. I never wrote more than two parts of a story before and now I'm continuously writing and don't feel the need to publish anything anymore.

[(Anonymous)]

Having a writing partner sounds awesome. Some of the best long-form fanfics I've read have been co-authored, I wonder if those writers had a similar system.