ci5_boxoftricks | Weekly Check-in Post

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check in post 2015

Weekly Check-in Post

Hello, Pros people! This is your weekly check-in post. So come on, all you hard working writers out there, and chime in to let everybody know how your doing. Do you need help in any way? Do you already have an idea or need somebody to bounce an idea off of? Gently, of course. Those ideas can have sharp edges. I'm here to hash it over with you or to hold your hand if you like.

Or maybe you're finished, you spiffy little devil! Allow me to be suitably impressed.

And to help, here's our main influence, or as I like to think, something pretty to look at while you write you write your fabulous tome!

bodie_doyle_cowley

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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.

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. :-)

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.

*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.

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 2015-04-11 10:37 (UTC)

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

How wretched for you. *hugs you some more*

*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. :)

Good on you for being so positive!

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