[ SECRET POST #2164 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2164 ⌋

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

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 044 secrets from Secret Submission Post #309.
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]

05. http://i.imgur.com/LamQ7.png

[(Anonymous)]

That might be true, but there'll always be writers better than you no matter what age you're at, OP. Your teenage years is waaaaaaaay too early to decide that anyone is 1) a writing genius or 2) a writing failure. So much can and will change over the next couple decades that the best you can do is keep practicing and not worry so much about where everyone else is at.

Read lots, write lots, and learn to take good concrit. There are no shortcuts.

[(Anonymous)]

1. Authors who get published young aren't always the best, or the most disciplined. For instance, Flavia Bujor wrote "The Prophecy of the Stones" when she was 12, and it wasn't very good. It was mostly widely acclaimed BECAUSE she was so young. I also got the impression that it was supposed to be a series of books, but that's the only one she's ever written. That was 12 years ago. She's my age. She's only working on her second novel now, and who knows if it'll ever be published?

2. You don't become good at something overnight. If the people your age who are writing well, it's because they started earlier than you.

3. Keep writing because that's the only way you get better.

4. I've been writing for fourteen years and I still get surprised when people like my stuff.

[saiika_von_maou]

I don't think it could be said any better than this.

[(Anonymous)]

The Prophecy of the Stones was the worst book I've ever read. (Of course, I haven't read 50 Shades of Grey.)

But anyway, anon, Gordon Korman isn't as big a writer as Mary Higgins Clark -- she published her first book when she was nearly 50 and has been a bestselling author for about 30 years.

[ariakas]

I was about to say something similar. Authors who get published at, say, 14, have books that read like 14-year-old wrote it. That's... not a compliment.

[citrinesunset]

+1

For most people, it takes time to become really skilled at writing. It's not just about raw talent--while I think some people do have more of a natural talent at writing than others, maturity and experience can go a long way in honing it.

And while I think young people deserve to be recognized for their accomplishments, most young people are not able to produce work on the same level as an adult who has more experience. There's nothing wrong with that, but I think putting young people on adult-sized pedestals can do more harm than good.

[nynaeve_sedai]

Don't judge yourself yet. My writing was terrible when I was 15, 16 years old. I'm 30 and I'm just now arriving at a place where I feel very good about the words I put on the page. Part of it is life experience, including reading experience, part of it is learning the art of revision and how it's the revision process that makes a story really shine.

There will always, always be people that write better than you. What you should search for is your style. Learn all the rules so that you know how to manipulate them. That sort of training just takes time.

Good luck and don't give up.

[(Anonymous)]

You may be right, OP. You may not be a good writer. You may never be a good writer, no matter how hard you work at it or practice or read. But that doesn't mean you're a bad person, or a bad fan, or that your contributions to the fandom are meaningless. It just means you're not the best writer. Not everyone can be the best. So, y'know. There's that.

[ex_paola492]

This is the second time I post this macro on f!s but:

[tamabonotchi]

Life lessons learned from Adventure Time!

[unicornherds]

Aww you beat me to it!

[unicornherds]

You will get better with time and practice and as you learn. But remember that there will always be people who are better at something than you, and there will always be room for improvement no matter how good you get.

[maverickz3r0]

You do just need the practice, though?

I mean. You had the right idea the first time. Even if some people manage to do well at 14 (and okay, I have the book in the secret, it is quite good and so's the rest of the series), that is far from the norm. It doesn't make you bad just because you're not publishable at fourteen.

[forgottenjester]

You shouldn't judge yourself against others because you will always come short.

However, if you do look at your own writing and think you need to improve? Fantastic. That is the first step to be a great writer. A great writer is always trying to improve their own writing because no one is perfect. There is always room for improvement in everyone.

[(Anonymous)]

I loved those books when I was 11. Now it's 20 years later and I'm afraid to reread them because the magic may be lost (or simply never existed in the first place).

Everyone proceeds at their own pace with learning a skill, but you have to keep trying in order to improve at all. (Unless, apparently, you get a head injury in just the right place - http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/05/eureka-when-a-blow-to-the-head-creates-a-sudden-genius/257282/ - but I can't really advise that method.) Most people aren't published when they're teens. The ones that are are anomalies.

[(Anonymous)]

Holy hell, Bruno and Boots! I think I read every single one of those books when I was a kid. "Beware the Fish!" Hehehehehe... I totally didn't know the author was that young. I'd always kind of thought he was a kind of Martyn Godfrey type. Wow, nostalgia.

(Sorry, I know this wasn't at all the point of your secret. And I know exactly what you're going through, OP. The best advice I can give you is to consciously choose everything you write. Have a reason for every plot/scene/sentence/word you include. It's a slow process, and there will always be bits you aren't 100% sure about, but being able to articulate your writing style in that way will help you to understand it and improve on it, and it will make the fact that other people are "better" writers than you completely irrelevant because you're not trying for some abstract concept of "quality," but rather you're writing what you want to write how you want to write it. And, yes, practice is your best friend. =))

Gordon Korman!

[leisuretime]

The Twinkie Squad and Toilet Paper Tigers were some of my favorite books as a kid! I re-read them a few years ago (perspective: I'm 30 now) and loved them nearly just as much.

But as for your secret: Don't worry. In addition to the "keep writing" advice, I'd also say to keep reading. Read a lot of different things by a lot of different people to get a feel for ways that elements of writing can work and fit together and how stories can be plotted over unlimited length constraints instead of 44 minutes (assuming your fandom is TV-related, just because mine is these days, but I fully recognize it might not be).

And personal anecdote: I wrote much better when I was also reading. A while back I had a big long stretch (think, like, a year) where I didn't really read anything -- I just watched a lot of TV and movies -- and it's like I completely forgot how to set a scene that read as anything other than stilted and awful and very "Joe walked into the room and sat in the chair. The phone rang, and he answered it."

So yeah. Read. Write. Do both often. You'll get better.

[silverau]

Comparing yourself to people who are better than you won't make you a better writer; it'll just make you miserable. Just focus on comparing yourself to how good you used to be and how good you want to be and you'll get better with practice.

And anyway, I'm sure your stories are better than you think they are.

[tabaqui]

Consider this. Some of the books you really like and think are awesome, other people can't stand to read. You like a certain style/story/whatever, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the author is 'brilliant' - just that they got published, and you like that type of book.

I mean, think about it - some people say the Tolkein Rings series are incredible classics, everyone should read them, and some people say they're utter shite, they couldn't get through one chapter.

Who's right? Don't worry about if you're a good writer or not - just *write*, keep writing, and read, read, read. You'll do fine.

[mutantjules.livejournal.com]

Hey man, some people are just insanely talented. Age has nothing to do with it. You just work on your own stuff and don't bother comparing with others :D keep practicing!

[(Anonymous)]

OP, please remember that writing is one of those things people learn at different speeds.

[nyxelestia]

Eh, you're probably doing better than writers much older than you, and there are probably things you're good at that those teenage authors suck at. (And getting published is really no guarantee of thoughtfulness or quality of writing).

Don't worry about it.

[solarbird]

Just commenting 'cause of the font, which I actually licensed so I could use it for my band. (Requires a lot of hand-editing to make it look right, tho'. XD )

[(Anonymous)]

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORDON KOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORMANNNNN!!!!!