Writer's Block Daily

If that were true, I'm pretty sure that The Wire's viewership figures wouldn't bear out their assertion. (They unfortunately do.)

Ehhhhhh...

I think that had more to do with the fact that The Wire premièred at a time when cable television was only just starting to get some traction in the realm of original programming. That, and while the writing is brilliant, the subject matter can definitely be on the grim side.

And let's not forget that those sort of people tend not to put effort into marketing things that they think won't sell well, thus ensuring that they will not sell well. It's a vicious cycle.

Finally found motivation to continue writing, amazing what personal fights can do, I'm excited.

I'm thinking about getting back to work, as well. Congratulations, Sly.

edited 26th Sep '14 7:18:22 PM by SpaceWolf

I just had a huge burst of activity. 12 pages in a week. Another burst is coming, I can feel it....

Though I should probably go to he villain critique thread, I just feel I should brag about how mine is turning out. Holy $&@* he seems real.

Gary is an empath who has a bad habit of assuming everyone hates him, based on what the media has tought him (essentially, based on the bad stuff going on in the world, he hates himself. I hope that makes sense...). At the same time, he is extrordinarily mad at the stuff going on in the world and simply wants equality, through any means possible. This of course leads to him screwing up his moral compass bad enough to believe killing all who are in charge^* Though this would make it EXTREMELY controversial... whites...PLEASE DON'T HATE ME HE'S THE VILLAIN!!! are evil, holding them accountable for everything bad.

This also scarily mirrors my perspective on things...I scare myself sometimes...

So...yeah. I'm REALLY liking how this guy is turning out. I'm sorry for wasting your time, but by Quad I love my villain.

Also NO STEALING IT'S MINE!

edited 28th Sep '14 12:08:29 AM by Dimentiosome

So guys I came up this new OC, his name is Larry and he's an empath...

@Dimant: Sounds awesome. Can we see a sample of the writing?

Finally fleshed out one aspect of my world I keep on procrastinating: Religion[[note:thanks to Killerclowns]], although I doubt it'll be relevant aside from a brief mention in my story.

Now my arm's basically healed from a bad fall, but there are a lot of... reddish-blue patches; damaged blood vessels, I'm told. It doesn't exactly hurt but it sure looks ugly.

I find writing fantasy religion interesting because it can be very different from real-life.

For example, the most wide-spread religion in my setting is devoted to a giant sea monster from a a blank void, but the worshipers are as well-adjusted as those in real-life.

You assume that religion (most likely Christianity) is the reason that people aren't well-adjusted?

Plus, historical fiction and fantasy (particularly with the pagan religions)! Those are often very well-written and pretty damn close to neopaganism today.

Speaking of which, the "YAY 92% ON MY MATH TEST" feels are still a bit distracting. It's surprising just how much my lack of math-motivation was screwing with my writing.

edited 1st Oct '14 10:53:43 AM by Sharysa

I mean that religions devoted to lovecraft-esque creatures are generally seen as crazy, and mentally warped. You never see an upbeat gospel song about Cthulhu.

edited 1st Oct '14 11:02:01 AM by BiggerBen

Au contraire. You mean you've never come across A Very Scary Solstice by the HP Lovecraft Historical Society.

@Flowing Cotton: pleasure to help.

Working on my world's religions is interesting. Monotheism and polytheism don't fit due to historical quirks. So I've been toying with alternative religion types that do without or sideline gods but still fill the social purposes of Earthly religions.

If you're curious, it's mainly the Confucius-meets-Nietzche Suelasa^note I am aware those are not easily melded; the religion represents a haphazard combination of rediscovered philosophical and spiritual writings incorrectly ascribed to a single author and the Xayusa, animists who wrote their beliefs down to preserve them... and promptly started debating the laws, meaning, and literalism of the old wisdom in a way best described as "rabbinic".

I'm starting to see how much someone's literary diet affects their writing ability. I know people who write a significant amount of material, but don't seem to improve because they only read fanfics and bad fantasy; they never leave their comfort zones.

You'll find many who will take offense at that implied equivalence. Somebody Pass the Popcorn.

I'm sure, in time, your own work will join that collection if you're going to besmirch an entire genre (if you can even call it that; it's kind of beyond genre) so easily.

@Killer: Butter and salt with that?

I'm not denying the existence of well-written fan fics. One of my favorite fan fics ever was a Winnie the Pooh fic about Gopher systematically murdering the entire Hundred Acre Wood out of sexual frustration.

Fan fic, however, does not commonly carry the luxury of professional editing, which lends to prevalent amateurish mistakes internalized within the minds of avid readers. Without exposure to a grander variety of lit, a writer has less avenues for growth.

I don't know why so many people carry anxiety about reading potentially harder material. I mean this differently than those who carry a preference for a specific type of work but still are willing to explore alternatives.

What I will give you is that we are learning animals and our perception does have a significant impact on our development of ability. However I would be hesitant to scapegoat an entire genre, bad writing exists in all and is not inherent to any one genre. One can argue that Fan Fiction has a lower barrier to entry and thus Sturgeon's Law is more prevalent but I would be very careful asserting absolutes, many a Flame War has been started on less civilized forums due to that.

@demarquis May I have some old chap?

edited 1st Oct '14 11:25:30 PM by Slysheen

Your argument, however, depends on these people not reading any of them, and if you do not deny their existence then you're either saying these people already had terrible taste (and that's not a problem that wider reading can cure), or your argument is internally inconsistent in that they can and do read fanfics that are at least as capable as the average professional and hence could learn at least as much.

Even arguing for "wider reading" while dismissing fanfic is bizarre, considering it very literally covers the entire range of human storytelling.

edited 2nd Oct '14 12:40:45 AM by Night

Meanwhile I'm having far too much fun with the fact that in the middle of combat a sensor malfunction caused half the units involved to cease acknowledging the existence of one of the main characters' mecha.

The pilot was already nicknamed "Ghost" by the press, mainly out of frustration for their inability to get an interview or even a decent picture. Now suddenly when other pilots couldn't target him, and he's not triggering their proximity alarms or showing up on their combat computer's logs, people are claiming he is a literal ghost and the reason they could see his mecha and their machines couldn't is because the machines know he's already dead and reject his existence. Or claiming that his skill at evasive maneuvering isn't the reason people can't hit him, but that the rounds literally pass through his mecha as if it doesn't exist.

I never intended things to go this way, but it's almost too much fun to pass up.

Even if you're reading the minority of good fanfiction, you're still only reading stories that contain characters and settings you're already familiar with if you're not reading much else. A key element of fanfiction is familiarity with an existing property, so I don't think it's unfair to say people who read primarily fanfiction have some shallow pools of reference.

Updated Moonflowers at least a couple weeks late.

It's only three pages, but it's an update and that's progress. Now to start working on Hunting the Unicorn.

edited 2nd Oct '14 11:51:54 AM by Sharysa

You don't have to read fanfiction only of things you've watched or read; c.f. my personal experience with Evangelion. For that matter, you've apparently never heard of crossovers, or the possiblity that someone will use characters to tell a completely different story; I can recall having once seen someone use the cast of Friendship Is Magic to write what was essentially an Honor Harrington piece.

You are manifestly and completely wrong in that what you are saying neither follows logically nor is true in practice, and the point stands.

edited 2nd Oct '14 12:44:07 PM by Night