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Post by Jenny (Reffy) on Feb 14, 2013 15:57:24 GMT -5
Mine's childness. Children's stories or stories that have silly phrases is my comfort zone. Writing something serious and "Adult" is difficult and will often slip back into the comfort zone.
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Post by Matteo ((Taed)) on Feb 14, 2013 15:59:21 GMT -5
Yeah, sorry, I wasn't suggesting that fan fiction is making you worse. I phrased that wrong, and that was my bad.
What I meant is that you've correctly identified a weakness in your writing, and fan fiction isn't the cure. It isn't the -cause-, but it also isn't the cure. Fan fiction was probably great when you were honing your technical skills, but that isn't what you want to work on anymore. I think that by putting aside the fan fiction for a while, you can start to improve on your plot and creativity aspects.
It's like if you had a really strong upper body, and weak legs. I'd tell you to stop doing all those bench presses, and hop on the exercise bike. Not because the presses are making you worse, but because they aren't doing anything for your legs.
I'd forgotten about the NaNo novels, though, so even that advice isn't 100% accurate anymore. You obviously -are- doing more than just fan fiction. I guess my advice is really just that: creative storytelling is something you should focus on right now, and you can do that by pushing yourself into new areas, and for the best results those areas probably shouldn't include fan fiction for a while.
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Post by James on Feb 14, 2013 16:06:19 GMT -5
I guess my advice is really just that: creative storytelling is something you should focus on right now, and you can do that by pushing yourself into new areas, and for the best results those areas probably shouldn't include fan fiction for a while. I think this comes down to a fundamental question you probably need to ask yourself, Tam. Do you just want to write because it's fun? Or do you want to write because you love writing, and you love the audience, and it's something you want to do during life? Because, to go back to the gym metaphor, if you're just going to the gym for fun and you like bench pressing, then yeah, keep bench pressing. If you're going to the gym because you enjoy it, but you also want to get fitter, then you need to start working on those chicken legs. |
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Post by Jenny (Reffy) on Feb 14, 2013 16:16:44 GMT -5
It's like if you had a really strong upper body, and weak legs. I'd tell you to stop doing all those bench presses, and hop on the exercise bike. Not because the presses are making you worse, but because they aren't doing anything for your legs. Great analogy! |
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Post by James on Feb 14, 2013 17:01:40 GMT -5
We should have a Challenge or competition or something where we identify the writer's comfort zone and they have to write outside of it.
Although, now that I've said it, for some people it's going to be harder to identify a comfort zone than others.
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Post by ASGetty ((Zovo)) on Feb 14, 2013 17:14:00 GMT -5
We should have a Challenge or competition or something where we identify the writer's comfort zone and they have to write outside of it. Although, now that I've said it, for some people it's going to be harder to identify a comfort zone than others. We should have a competition similar to Arena, where you're given a beginning, except make it so you're given a final sentence and have to write a story that ends with it. |
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Allya
Senior Scribe
My Little Monster!
Posts: 2,271
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Post by Allya on Feb 14, 2013 17:18:27 GMT -5
We should have a Challenge or competition or something where we identify the writer's comfort zone and they have to write outside of it. Although, now that I've said it, for some people it's going to be harder to identify a comfort zone than others. We should have a competition similar to Arena, where you're given a beginning, except make it so you're given a final sentence and have to write a story that ends with it. That could get evil fast. I like it. |
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Post by ASGetty ((Zovo)) on Feb 14, 2013 17:31:43 GMT -5
We should have a competition similar to Arena, where you're given a beginning, except make it so you're given a final sentence and have to write a story that ends with it. That could get evil fast. I like it. Maybe do Arena twice a year; once in the Winter/Spring when you get a Beginning; and once in the Summer/Fall where you're given and Ending. |
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Post by Jenny (Reffy) on Feb 14, 2013 17:35:49 GMT -5
LOVE IT!
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Post by James on Feb 14, 2013 17:43:55 GMT -5
We should have a competition similar to Arena, where you're given a beginning, except make it so you're given a final sentence and have to write a story that ends with it. When constructing a story in my head, I generally begin at the end and build the story toward that last sentence. In fact, virtually everything I can think of the -didn't- begin that way never got finished. ...  Although, yeah, I actually like the sound of that. |
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Post by ASGetty ((Zovo)) on Feb 14, 2013 18:27:47 GMT -5
We should have a competition similar to Arena, where you're given a beginning, except make it so you're given a final sentence and have to write a story that ends with it. When constructing a story in my head, I generally begin at the end and build the story toward that last sentence. In fact, virtually everything I can think of the -didn't- begin that way never got finished. ... Although, yeah, I actually like the sound of that. Good to see -someone's- paying attention.  |
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