fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2334 ]

[ SECRET POST #2334 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2334 ⌋

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

#13 is a moving .gif.

01.

__________________________________________________

02.

__________________________________________________

03.

__________________________________________________

04.

__________________________________________________

05.

__________________________________________________

06.

__________________________________________________

07.

[Jesus Christ Superstar]

__________________________________________________

08.

[Torvill and Dean]

__________________________________________________

09.

[Conan O'Brien]

__________________________________________________

10.

__________________________________________________

11. http://i.imgur.com/eBIFfE1.jpg
[linked for gore, video game]

__________________________________________________

[ ----- SPOILERY SECRETS AHEAD ----- ]

12. [SPOILERS for Resident Evil, Gears of War, Red Dead Redemption, The Walking Dead and Jonah Hex]

__________________________________________________

13. [SPOILERS for Iron Man 3]

__________________________________________________

[ ----- TRIGGERY SECRETS AHEAD ----- ]

14. [WARNING for suicide]

[Hetalia]

__________________________________________________

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 00 pages, 000 secrets from Secret Submission Post #333.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 1 1- broken links ], [ 1 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ], [ 1 2 - posted twice ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

What is it you don't like about your writing? Excessive comma use? Poor characterization? Plot stagnation? If you can find a problem, fix it. If you can't actually find a problem you're probably just being too harsh on yourself.

I wish there was an encouragement emoticon. I'd put it here.

Like anyone ever finds those problems with their writing. :/ Most people refuse to admit they have poor characterization.

If I had to guess, I'd say OP is just being overly critical--nothing kills the joy of writing quite like being on the look-out for every phrase that might possibly be offensive/purple prose/full of epithets. /personal experience

lol same here, i'm constantly rephrasing to make sure there's not even the slightest vaguely offensive thing. this is what i get for making friends that turned out to be rabid sjws.

Create a new account if you need to and post whatever you want to write and/or explore in your writing. Fuck 'em. SJW's are no fun and can't tell the diff between fiction that explores the issues, fiction that exploits the issues for fun, porn, etc., or just clueless writers who need to be gently informed of their errors (ime screaming at someone (go DIAF, etc.,) by the SJW's just puts the author's back up and will meet resistance (you might get a fake apology to get rid of them, but that's it, really).

I think seasoned writers are more aware of their own flaws and weaknesses than they want to admit in public. For example, I write things that are too emotional, I write in circles in chaptered 'fics because my memory is so terrible I literally cannot remember what I just wrote a single day ago, and re-reading your own shit over and over sucks ass, there are certain characters I've written OOC and thought they were IC at the time (HAHAH oops), there are characters I don't even try to write because I know I don't have the ability, I can't write battle scenes, writing two people of the same gender in a scene is hard for me, but three+ is worse because it feels clunky.

Etc etc believe me, there's more.

I think it's hard to go out in public and admit these things, though, because some people will be like OH YOU ARE BEING TOO HARD ON YOURSELF!!! NO YOU'RE PERFECT AS YOU ARE!! KEEP WRITING!

It really depends on the fandom though. When I admit those things it's not for pity/praise/encouragement, it's just me stating a fact because these are things I'm actively working on conquering.

I've been writing a while, though, so there's that. People who've just started writing in the last couple of years might not have reached that point yet, either where they realize their flaws, or a step further, they can admit them.

I abuse commas. Like, voraciously. I can't seem to help it! I also have circle-writing problems too! *sympathizes* Except my memory is sometimes so bad that I've forgotten the beginning of the sentence by the time I get to the end.

It's honestly why I reread from the beginning almost every time before I continue writing something. And I ctrl+F certain words that I know I tend to overuse (like 'almost') so that I can check how many times I've used it, and change the wording to fix it.

Your username is the best. I love Karma Chameleon so it's even more awesome to see for me! :D

I am also, sigh, a comma abuser. As soon as I figured out where commas actually went in a sentence, I went to town. I also (unsurprisingly) have a loving relationship with Mr. Oxford Comma.

I try to reread but I rarely write chaptered anythings (because I'm so bad) and I get more discouraged the more I read my own stuff. I think about how much MORE I have to write, and eventually I decide I don't care anymore because I've already written the story in my head--why would I need to finish it on paper?

I proofread a lot for phrases like, "a little." I have caught myself using it two or three times in one sentence! Ouch! (Mostly in RP but when I edit those to turn them into fanfiction, it's so obvious that it burns.)

Also, I sympathize on the sentence thing, too, because I'm the same way. I will reread stuff I've written and say, "Wait, that doesn't even make sense. What was I even doing when I wrote this, because...it was like I changed thoughts right in the middle of a sentence."

Or worse, switched words, phrases, typed whole phrases in reverse order of the way they're actually said, et cetera. It's like my mind just thinks, "Once upon a time..." but my hands are too stupid to START with "Once"--they jump to "time." And then my brain is like, "BITCH YOU FORGOT THE REST OF THAT," and my hands are like, "OH OKAY LET'S ADD THEM ON THE END, IT'S THE SAME THING RIGHT?!"

And for some reason I don't notice this until I proofread.

My last chaptered 'fic I had a character answer a question with "Yes," instead of "No" and that threw...everything off. A friend reviewed and was like, "Uh, you meant...no, right? Or this doesn't make sense."

What? I can recognize quite easily that I overuse commas and will abandon a fic if I feel like the plot's going nowhere. Then again, I typically only write short stories, so if the plot isn't moving, then, something's got to go.

*\o/* is a pretty good one!

It'sactually less tangible.

I can fix punctuation, plot, or even characterization.

If just feels like it's missing soul, I can't explain otherwise. The characters aren't miscast exactly, but they're missing a spark, the writing is not as tight as it used to be, the rhythm is slightly off. It's all very subtle.

If you've been doing a lot of revision, stop. You're killing your voice. I keep reading that advice by very successful professional authors and I believe it. Keep writing and do little revision other than for continuity errors, etc. in order to develop your own voice. Kill that perfectionist voice and learn to let it go.

I agree with you, anon.

I write things TOO emotional most of the time, but this means I can spot a story with no soul about a mile away. Characters need to have personalities and sometimes editing too much can edit away their accents, their way of speaking, et cetera.

I know a lot of professionals say to delete non-plot relevant stuff, but don't forget that character development is a plot device, too, and characters interacting and THINKING and *FEELING* can be important to the story, too.

Find authors who write in a style you LOVE, and pay attention to what they do.

(Writers read. Writers read ALL THE TIME.)

Look at manga, anime, TV shows, movies, books, comics--what are your favorites and why do you love them? You can keep a list, too: what do you like to see in writing? Is it emotion? Do you want to FEEL something when you read? Or are you drawn to action? To the resolution that will happen at the end of the story? Do you love silly little details in stories, or do you like clean-cut, simple description that gets right to the point?

Some people love L. M. Montgomery and other people hated her Anne books because they were so damn full of description. I love description. Sometimes I feel she has too much, but boy when I was reading those books, I felt I *KNEW* that place. It reminded me a little of where I'm from. And because I cared about the PLACE the characters were from, I too cared about the characters, because the description spilled over into their mannerisms, speech patterns, the way they loved and feared and FELT.

I try to edit for simple basic errors, like grammar. I make sure my sentences make sense, and shorten them or rephrase them when I made a three-paragraph long sentence on accident. But I have a specific way of writing that makes every piece uniquely mine. I bet most of my friends could pick one of my fanfics out of a pile immediately, just by recognizing my writing style.

One last thing: for lots of people, they like to read what they write, at least to an extent. I love history so historical AUs make me go AHHHHH and correct representation of any time period is met with me weeping all over the place (tears of joy, obviously).

That's something to keep in mind. Sometimes, too, we make the mistake of telling a story USING the characters, instead of telling the story OF the characters. :)

I'm a visual writer, mostly. People keep saying my writing could easily be a screenplay. I actually prefer writing over reading, and I'm one of those people who doesn't necessarily write what I'd read and vice versa. I'm strange in that sense.

Actually I never did much revision at all. I mean, obviously spelling and such, and taking out plotholes, and kicking out redundant sentences. Apart from that, though, I always sort of know what I want to write before writing it, and it end up on the page 80% done.

I don't know what it is, maybe I'm just not connecting to the characters, or the events. What sucks is, in essence it's something I really love doing, but sometimes I just feel like a stranger wrote it.

I've suffered from this in the past. Honestly, I'd say that this probably happens to a lot of people, probably at that point where you start really caring and have the experience to know what you like and don't like about reading generally and about your own writing.

I sometimes feel like my writing had sort of stagnated and become overly, idk, clinical? That is, everything seems technically correct, but it lacks some undefinable thing, some style or personality. The best thing for me when I get this way is to set it on the backburner for a time (depending on deadlines, of course), then come back to it when my brain has stopped nagging me about it.

If you've read your own work too much, it gets repetitive. The time and distance can help you see what it is the writing may be missing, when you can look at it with a fresh perspective. There may not even be anything wrong, which is always a welcome surprise. And if there is -- like maybe the verbs or adjectives you've chosen seem inappropriate to the character's mood or the atmosphere you want to create -- then you'll be able to spot it better. If it doesn't work the first time, or seems to only do so halfway, just rinse and repeat until you get it.

But it's also possible that, as others have pointed out, you're just being too hard on yourself. :)

SA

Also, I don't know if you do this already, but one of the best things any writer of any sort can do is to read the work out loud. I think this goes especially for fictional works; it lets you hear, in your own voice, the emotion/mood/atmosphere of the prose and the voice of the characters. If something seems off, you can highlight those parts and work on them, specifically, rather than feeling that the whole piece just seems "off".

*\o/* <-- waving pompoms!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ SECRET POST #2334 ]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

OP

Re: OP

Re: OP

Re: OP

Re: OP

Re: OP

Re: OP

no subject