Box of Tricks

Ohh, that would be intriguing and if anybody could write that, it'd be you. Go for it! Angst is my thing, ya know. Ponder faster!

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dawnebeth.livejournal.com

I've written this morning! All excited, although those paragraphs have made me sleepy and I must take a kip before writing more. I had an idea over a year ago, and have finally almost got to the place where I can write the scene I imagined then--only 30 pages into the story. Now, to find out what happens afterward...that's the quest.

Lovely inspiration.

Edited Date: 2015-03-30 05:32 pm (UTC)

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Yay! Writing is good. Kipping is good too when it's necessary. We love that inspiration, right? :)

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merentha13.livejournal.com

Still sitting at ~11,500 words. Haven't written in a long while. But I'm off work for a few weeks and the plan is to fill the hours with writing!

And thanks for providing some inspiration! *g*

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I expect you to get to it! *cracks whip* Wait... Is that in your story? *snirk*

You're welcome.

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halotolerant.livejournal.com

I have bought a new notebook *g* Sketched some more story outline notes and rough structure in it. There is underlining and some arrows.

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Underling AND arrows? Go you! LOL! I have faith in you because you're an experienced writer who knows when to get to it. I do have a whip, however, if need be.

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draycevixen.livejournal.com

The more I think about my plot idea the more infeasible it seems. I think I'm at about -2000 words now. :D

So, it's time to consider if I should abandon this idea and try to come up with another one.

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I think you should keep going since I happen to know you're your own worst critic. It'll bet it's fine so far, and after a good bit of writing, things will fall into place. Write!

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draycevixen.livejournal.com

Thanks, petal, but I think I may have just bitten off more than I can chew... or even Bodie can. :D

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garonne.livejournal.com

Last time I checked in I had about a 10000 words and was debating whether to abandon the story and start something completely new or not... Well, in the end I stuck with it, and it seems to be working out! 13000 words now :)

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There will be no abandoning of poor stories! I'm glad you stuck with it and it's working out. I do have a whip, you know. :)

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garonne.livejournal.com

*grins* I'm working hard, I promise!

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murphybabe

Erm... doing? Should I be doing something? *looks round wildly*

Oh, oh, I know! I had an idea about a piercing!

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I'm sure there's something you should be doing. And piercing something works for me. :)

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krisserci5.livejournal.com

I have lots of post it notes. . . .

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Are they placed on specific places on the lads' bodies? Or on Cowley's forehead?

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krisserci5.livejournal.com

Are they placed on specific places on the lads' bodies?

I do so like the way you think!!!

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Cheers!

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golden-bastet.livejournal.com

Well, I haven't written a single word more than last time, but I went to the pool and did some anemic swimming tonight. Woot! :D

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LOL! Maybe you can write a swimming scene into your story? A rescue or a pleasure swim, you pick. :)

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longstrt.livejournal.com

I've gone about 25,000 words done and I am definitely in the home stretch where one gorgeous body meets another gorgeous body. Of course, there's lots of tweaking to be done, but it feels good to be so close.

lbc

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Ohh, good job! I can't wait to read it. I have a long wait but it will be worth it.

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I am not so much *blocked*, in a completely unable to put pen to paper way, but... sort of constipated. :(

There's too much going on in my head that is *not* the story. Worry about reception, about whether certain specific people in the fandom whom I like or whose work I adore will like it (I have at least managed to get the three fics in progress narrowed down to one that will definitely be my BB... probably), worry about being trite or rehashing old themes, or just being crap. Not at writing itself, but at writing two men who are about as far from my character as is humanly possible. I think I have more in common with a mass murderer than I do Bodie and Doyle.

How do you - people at this comm - shut out and shut down the fear of failure and the self-comparisons that are fatal to creativity?

I don't even know if my idea is a good idea.

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Honestly, hon, it's up to you to get a handle on feeling as if you write something that people will hate it. A few might, but that's life. I write what I like and I hope people like it but if they don't, there's nothing I can do to control others. I can only control me.

Failure isn't necessarily bad! Everybody does it. No person on this planet has never failed. One can learn from it to ignore it, get better, hide, laugh, whatever! YMaturity, maybe? I'm old so at this age, I don't care if somebody hates it. *shrug* Besides, since you weren't around here eight or nine years ago, I got a post on a story that said it was the worst story every written in Pros. Imagine that. I achieve the highest thing possible in a (then) thirty year old fandom, writing the worst story. I had arrived! Obviously they read the entire thing and took the time to let me know how much they hated it. So I thanked them, and moved on. To really get back at them, I wrote more! I am a b*&ch at times. I consider that a good thing.

Comparison, well I'll never write as good as H.G. but I still write. :) There will always be somebody better than me, but trust me on this, FF.Net is full of crap a lot worse than mine! LOL!

So write what your heart and head tells you to write and the rest be damned. You should have fun writing! It's supposed to be fun and exciting. I love it and I don't expect to be the next award winning story writer. I try my best, have it edited to death, and post. And have fun doing it.

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I wasn't even worried about someone thinking it was the worst story ever before - just people whose opinions I value not *liking* it. If anyone left that sort of feedback, I'd never publish again. I'd want to *die*. Literally.

Maybe you had faith in yourself. Maybe you valued yourself without need for external validation. Maybe you just knew that your fic was no way as bad as... some other fic where the prose was purple and the guys out of character.

It's been hard enough coming back from the critical email I received on my first (and consequently, only) fic in SG-1 fandom about eight years ago. The negative thoughts I can produce are bad enough without adding someone else's words to them.

Maybe I should pull out of the BB right now and not take the risk. I've failed at everything I've ever tried to do. I know I'm "good with words", but I failed to even finish a fic last year, remember? I don't need more failure.

Edited Date: 2015-03-31 07:47 pm (UTC)

From:

agent-talis.livejournal.com

NO! Please don't pull out of the BB because some eejit was overly critical. I know my ideas are terrible and I write because I'd probably go mad if I didn't (seriously, it feels like fireworks in my head whenever I get an idea no matter how bad it is - fireworks hurt...) so hey, if you do it then you're going to be better than me. Also, don't panic if your story isn't finished, you can always enter next year and feel smug that it's all done and dusted while the rest of us are running about like headless chickens.
I remember getting one of my first stories attacked, the review started with 'What utter rubbish'. You can probably guess how the rest of it went. I was lucky enough that several other members of the site all reviewed it with positive comments to cheer me up. From my experience (limited as it may be) the Professional's fandom is one of the most welcoming ones I've ever been in and I can solemnly swear that I wouldn't be mean in ANY WAY shape or form. I bet all of the other writers are going to laugh at how bad my story is - you can too if you want. After all, it's my first time so I'm probably going to be rubbish.
Soo... I don't know if I've just rambled on at you or if this is in any way helpful or I've just been annoying, but remember this... failure is ALWAYS an option. *Huge healing hug*.
I hope you stay in. Please don't worry about it.
*Even bigger healing hug*
Agent Talis.

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From my experience (limited as it may be) the Professional's fandom is one of the most welcoming ones I've ever been in and I can solemnly swear that I wouldn't be mean in ANY WAY shape or form.

It's also one of the most talented fandoms I've ever seen - and neither so big that every fic with get *some* readers, nor so small that any new fic is a bonus.

After all, it's my first time so I'm probably going to be rubbish.

This is my first Pros fic, too, so by that logic I'm also going to be rubbish!

Thanks for the encouragement, though. :) I don't know. I'd rather be safe than fail again. (I signed up last year and had to pull out because of health problems.)

Good luck to you!

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garonne.livejournal.com

I've seen extremely negative comments left on stories that I adored, by writers I considered to be among the best in any fandom, ever. Since then I've always told myself that you shouldn't take harsh criticism too seriously. Sometimes people just go around thinking of nasty things to say about every story that features a certain pairing they don't like, or something silly like that.

I'm sorry to hear you had such bad luck with your first story years ago -- and pure bad luck is what it surely was, to have attracted the attention of an idiot on your very first story. I was "lucky" enough to have that happen to me only after I'd already posted quite a few stories in various fandoms, so it was easier to shake off.

I hope you can convince yourself that such a critical email certainly was just bad luck, and no need to see it as a reflection on your writing!

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I'm sorry to hear you had such bad luck with your first story years ago -- and pure bad luck is what it surely was, to have attracted the attention of an idiot on your very first story.

See, if I could've said, "Well, what does *she* know?!" I might have been okay. She was one of the fandom's BIG names - as both a writer and a beta. And it was the *only* feedback that fic got.

The line I have never forgotten was, "Glad you're joining us here in Jack and Daniel land! And the story was written in clear and correct English! Always a bonus!" because she was obviously hunting for something positive to say and that was all she could think of. It might be a bonus, but it doesn't really outweigh rehashed, preachy, vamping around, pointless, no climax, unsatisfying... and everything else she said subsequently.

"You suck!" I can ignore. A line by line analysis of why my fic was awful? That haunts me, every time I put pen to paper. Because that was not bad luck. That was a detailed breakdown of me not being able to write.

And when it comes to edits and asking myself the *structural* questions she said I didn't answer... I remain entirely convinced that I cannot write a story worthy of the name.

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I've had a quick skim through some of the past BB stories and didn't find a mean or negative comment on any of them. Maybe the Pros fandom is better-mannered than some other fandoms, or more appreciative of the effort that writers put into their stories and the courage and generosity with which they then share them. Either way, I hope you're reassured a little by this. If you're still horribly worried, and have not already done so, why not post a few Pros short stories or drabbles online and see how they are received? That's what I did with my Pros artwork and I'm so pleased that I did, because everyone was really kind and I had some lovely feedback. :-)

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If you're still horribly worried, and have not already done so, why not post a few Pros short stories or drabbles online and see how they are received?

If I had anything to post, I'd post it. :) But I spent six months of last year working on the BB - then never got to finish it because I spent months in health flare up.

I did post a few Pros drawings earlier this year but got virtually no response - from which I deduce no one thought they were very good, or else no one was all that bothered either way. Which is fair enough. I enjoy drawing more than writing but I'm not very good at it. And at least a drawing (my drawings, anyway) is only a couple of hours' wasted, rather than days and weeks on writing and editing a fic.

You make it sound like short stories just appear - "post a few". As I've discussed with you previously - while ideas are easy, bringing them to fruition is (for me) bloody hard work.

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*hugs you for not having been well*

I don't know where you posted your drawings, but AO3 seems to have a lot of Pros passing trade, so if you wanted a little more exposure for your work, that might be a good place to put them.

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I don't have an AO3 account. I posted them to my LJ, which is watched by the newsletter.

ETA: Sorry - too abrupt.

Thanks for the hugs - but I have chronic health problems and spend more time "not well" than functional (I'm never truly well). So I get a bit thrown by how to respond to people's reactions to it.

Also AO3 terrifies me because of the kudos thing. 500 hits and only one comment was bad (worse in that the comment was 2 pages of what was wrong with the fic); 500 hits and no kudos would destroy me. Especially as I know one person who hits kudos for every fic she manages to read to the end and another who hits kudos before reading as a, "Thank you for creating!" (neither of them in Pros fandom).

Edited Date: 2015-04-11 10:37 am (UTC)

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I have chronic health problems and spend more time "not well" than functional

How wretched for you. *hugs you some more*

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*hugs back* Please don't feel sorry for me. I can't - both in the sense that it isn't good for me and also when I compare my lot to others - feel sorry for myself. I won't pretend it's fun, but it isn't wretched unless I let it be. I'm very, very lucky - I live in a country with free healthcare and good benefits (in spite of all the DWP are doing to them) and I have an excellent family, a brilliant carer and access to the internet and fandom. Ten years in and six years since I was last able to work, it's... endurable. And if I can write or draw on my good days, maybe I can even make it worthwhile. :)

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