Write in your native language. Even if you're fluent in a second language, more fluent even then most native speakers of that language, handling that language creatively requires intimate familiarity with it that you may not posess.
To write in a certain language, you have to live, breath and think in that language, so either move ot an English speaking country and submerge yourself in the language, or write in your native tongue.
The thing is, after many years in an English-speaking country, my English is better than my mother tongue.
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First of all, Argeus is back! Yay.
About the confidence problem, asking for critique is the obvious solution. I know that this is exactly where you have problems, but in general I find that criticism helps you overcome this kind of paranoia because the critics never mention all the things you were afraid they were. Give it another try.
As for your work getting ignored... as far as I remember, you're talking about an historical/alternate history visual novel. It's audience is very specific, so it's only logical that less people are interested in it than in others. No reason to doubt your writing skills because of this.
^Thanks for the welcome back, Dealan.
Yeah, I'd agree that I have some weird taste * when it comes to writing, some more discouraging to readers than others. At the end of the day, though, I still want to put forward something that can be considered 'well-written'. A story that has well characterized protagonists as well as antagonists. A story that makes sense both in terms of logic and research. A story that is worthy of other people's time.
And yet I still fear that my shortcomings would overrule any good points my works would have.
Should I just put up an app on the new critique thread then?
edited 18th Aug '11 7:03:49 AM by ArgeusthePaladin
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Yeah, I'd say that's a good idea.*
If it helps your confidence any, I'd read your text but I'm horrible at criticism. One of the reasons being that English isn't my native tongue either, so I miss half the stuff that other tropers complain about. (Plus I generally suck at these things, though I'm trying to improve.)
Ahr river
Argeus: Well, you're already conversing in english here, that's a plus.
Now, watch movies and television shows in english.
Read my stories!
You don't have to be a master of the English language to write masterfully. If you know your grammar good, you can write without using fancy prose, and then revise to put in action verbs and good imagery. Many authors are known to be economical with their writing.
Ahr river
Your grammar well.
Also, as you can see, you do need to be a master of fluent in the language so you don't make mistakes like that.
Luckily, you might know basic grammar and spelling mechanics better than us.
The fact is, if you're going to write simplistically, you need to be even better at the english language than if you were to be all prosey.
edited 18th Aug '11 3:27:38 PM by MrAHR
Read my stories!
turning and turning
That's good. It makes editing so much easier.
Scepticism and doubt lead to study and investigation, and investigation is the beginning of wisdom. - Clarence Darrow
So, after a long time of not writing seriously (unless you count RP-ing. But that is another story for another day), I have decided to once more take up the quill and put one of those ideas of mine into words.
However, I am also going a bad confidence crisis. It's hard to write anything when no more than five minutes after I've finished a particular part than I start to find all sorts of flaws with the words I've just written.
One reason may be my being unfamiliar with the higher echelon of the English language. English is not my mother tongue, and even though I studied uni in an English-speaking country, I never had much chance to acquaint myself with the finer point of the language.
Another reason is because I have this crippling fear that others would discover my inadequacies at a glance. Maybe it is just me being a spineless author, but I've taken the few flames I've gotten until this point very seriously.
The last reason is that it has been proven time and time again that I (and by extension, my works) are likely to be ignored most of the time. Maybe I have not been contributing enough to the community - this is in turn brought about by my lack of understanding of the language enough to offer meaningful critique. Or maybe my work doesn't quite cut it.
So now, here I stand, still writing and hoping I am going on the right track, but I am dreading the very thought of putting it up for anyone to see.
So, advice. What should I do?
I know this might better go into the general writing insecurity thread, but that thread is out of sight, so I'm putting it here. In other words, be free to move or delete this thread if necessary.
Thanks for your concern, and my apologies to the whole community for any inconvenience.
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