Writers' Workshop General Chat Thread

[Caitlin]

Honestly, it makes me feel a little better because of crap like Zoo and Twilight get published, then I can too. Hell, Naomi Novik's prose is not much better than the average fanfiction writer's prose -- and look where it got her!

That's the thing. People enjoy garbage, but they don't enjoy art. As much as I hate citing Family Guy, I saw an episode the other night where Brian's book that he had been writing for nearly the whole show was a complete failure, but then he went and wrote something people want to hear (pretentious self help) in three hours and became a huge success because of it.

Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of high quality stuff out there, but it seems to be older stuff, or continuations of established stuff that was started long ago. The only stuff that seems to come out today and actually succeed is garbage, memoirs or politics books. I don't read as much as I should, but I do follow best seller lists and I have a hard time recalling anything in the past five years that's worth reading.

 

[Dorothy]

The main difficulty with journey fics is that they're long. They take serious commitment to see through to the end, and most, like Heart of Crystal, end up dying partway through.

That was what eventually killed GK, honestly. I had the entire story planned out, but it would have taken years for me to complete. I just didn't love the story enough to devote that much to it.

 

[Legacy]

Always have this problem. I get really psyched about a story, then midway through, I lose it. It sucks, but I think the potential payoff for a good, well-written journey fic is great. I'm currently working on a new story that has more of a horror-based storyline.

 

[GastlyGibus]

I seem to have that problem as well. Getting a great idea, starting to write it down, and then getting another idea about halfway through and dropping it. I've never been tested for it, but I'm pretty sure I have some kind of ADD. xD

It's weird, because I don't get "bored" with my stories. I just get really excited for "the next best thing" that I thought up. I'm always jumping from one idea to the next, and I have a very hard time sitting still and focusing on one project. That's probably why I felt really accomplished when I wrote a big 4,500 word one-shot story. It felt good to actually finish something for once.

 

[Flaze]

I can understand how you feel. I feel the same way with my fics. It isn't so much I get bored of the one I have, just that I get so interested in new ideas that I become bored with my current one xD

 

[AetherX]

The problem with giving up on fics is that you then get it in your head that finishing a fic isn't really necessary. I'm pretty sure Flaze is the only person who has dumped a fic part way through and still managed to finish anything of length.

I personally can't bring myself to leave anything unfinished, so I'm in this journey fic thing to the bitter end. It's getting there, and damn is it satisfying.

 

[Flaze]

Yay I'm special!

...I think.

 

[Beth Pavell]

This is one of the reasons I've banned myself from writing anything other than The Long Walk. I'm not sure how many chapters it'll be in the end, but it is going to be a long-runner and I don't want to quit now I'm invested in these characters. And there's a hell of a lot of planning that would go to waste.

Does anyone else get paranoid when they're writing fast? I'm about 2,000 words into Chapter Nine and I can't help but think it's been done too fast ... and yet I can't find anything to radically re-edit

 

[GastlyGibus]

Does anyone else get paranoid when they're writing fast? I'm about 2,000 words into Chapter Nine and I can't help but think it's been done too fast ... and yet I can't find anything to radically re-edit

That's why I always send a finished draft to a friend before I post it. Often times I'll look at something I wrote and say "It's perfect!" and then I'll give it to my friend, who says "I like it, but you need to fix X, Y, and Z."

You never know what you'll miss until someone else reads it. Like that terrible first draft I did of that short story I wrote... *shudder*

 

[Dorothy]

The problem with giving up on fics is that you then get it in your head that finishing a fic isn't really necessary. I'm pretty sure Flaze is the only person who has dumped a fic part way through and still managed to finish anything of length.

Well, for me, I can't bring myself to keep writing something if I don't think I can make it satisfactory.

 

[Kyuuketsuki]

Most of the problem, for me, is having a new idea that seems much more superior to the original. But I am working on completing most of my abandoned projects, which is a lot...

 

[Beth Pavell]

How does the the Academy work in regards to submitting an article, by the way? Is there a template or style guide of some kind?

 

[Tophat Dragoneye]

How does the the Academy work in regards to submitting an article, by the way? Is there a template or style guide of some kind?

There isn't any existing template or style, but if you want to be certain of how you could write a lesson, why not look at the various lessons so far and see how they're structured?

 

[AetherX]

@Pavell; Well to start, you need to pitch your idea to Ace first. Just send him a PM with your topic idea, what you'd write about, possible references, etc.

As for actually writing the article once you're approved, it's really up to you. I'd do what Tophat suggested.

 

[Dorothy]

I hate when a chapter is just no fun at all to write but it's extremely important to the story so you can't just not write it

 

[Legacy]

I hate when a chapter is just no fun at all to write but it's extremely important to the story so you can't just not write it

I agree with this, although, I've been better about eliminating chapters I deem to be "boring," and making some sort of interesting action happen in every one.

 

[Dorothy]

I hate when a chapter is just no fun at all to write but it's extremely important to the story so you can't just not write it

I agree with this, although, I've been better about eliminating chapters I deem to be "boring," and making some sort of interesting action happen in every one.

I try to do that as well, but sometimes there's just no way around it.

 

[AceTrainer14]

As a general note, AetherX will now be in charge of the Review Game and we are hopeful that we can get it far more active once again.

 

[Caitlin]

Back to Game of Thrones discussion, because I'm curious how other people who've read/watched the series feel.

Does anyone else feel like the story on Essos would be a bit more compelling if Viserys had been the survivor instead of Daenerys? The more and more I read into Daenerys' story, the less and less I find myself liking her, the more and more weak of a character she seems to be. Viserys has every quality I imagine of a Targaryen king, he's ruthless, he's self centered, he's cold and calculating and doesn't care for others.

I'm find it hard to stop myself from imagining the road the story would have gone down if he was in control of the dragons. I imagine half of Essos would be a smoldering ruin, and that's what I wanted to see when I learned that Daenerys had the dragons herself. It would even probably affect politics in the Seven Kingdoms, as someone who burns an entire continent would certainly grab peoples' attention, probably enough to stop all of the squabbling and fighting.

It would certainly be more interesting than what I see now.

 

[Dorothy]

Viserys was a thoroughly incompetent politician, especially once he went off the deep end. He probably wouldn't have lasted very long, and I doubt he'd have been able to pull off many of the maneuvers Daenerys has (e.g. her acquisition of the Unsullied).

More than that, I don't think Viserys was really interesting enough of a character to carry his own narrative.