What Kind of Writers Do We Have on This forum?

Nanowrimo gives a lot of amateur writers bad habits anyway.

Yeah, something tells me that at least one writer who completed Na No Wri Mo eschewed the revision and editing process.

And it also causes people to actually care about word count and get in the habit of adding filler to pad word count, which is usually the opposite of what you should do while writing.

There's a reason I don't do it.

I look at Na No Wri Mo like this: fast food is quick and tastes good, but is not good for you. Growing your own vegetables takes time and dedication to do it properly, but in the end you have a healthy treat that came from your hard work.

edited 2nd Mar '12 3:44:18 PM by PancakeMckennz

Here is a list of people who have gotten their Na No Wri Mo novels published after finishing and editing it. Several of them are critically acclaimed.

Now stop ragging on people who participate in a fun community writing event and start talking about what people wrote for their answers to the OP.

I don't have a problem with people who did NaNoWriMo. I just don't like being told to do it, so I'm supporting someone who called that his least favorite bit of writing advice.

Wow, I must be really bored today.

1. At what age did you start writing? How many years of writing experience do you have?

Shit, I dunno. At least since I was seven, so that makes eight years of experience. I never got any better until about two or three years ago, though.

2. What kind of phases did your writing go through? What's the most important lesson you have learned from each?

The first stage was when I was still trying to figure out what made a decent plot. Second was when I learned how to make decent characters. The third one, which I'm still kind of muddling around in, is prose. I obsess over prose and word choice. People tell me it's creepy.

3. Which genres do you deal with? What medium? What do you reckon is your target audience?

I used to write slice of life. 90% of it was making unsubtle jabs at bullies and teachers I didn't like, and then I started writing fantasy and shit hit the fan; there was no returning from the abyss for me. Fantasy and light sci-fi are pretty much the only things I can stand to write now. If I absolutely had to care about marketing at this point in time, I would like to be able to say my stuff is YA, but it doesn't seem like most YA I run into these days and I don't know if adults want to read it and it sure as hell isn't good for the little kiddies so I dunno.

I write novels, but would like to do graphic novels someday when my art is better.

4. What are your influences?

The Good

• Harry Potter: These were my absolute favorite books growing up and they inspired me to write.
• The Hunger Games: Even though I have mixed feelings about this series, it got me writing in first person present tense, which is now my default and I like it.
• Jane Austen: She and her characters are cool, and I love her books even though I usually don't find those sorts of plots riveting, which is saying something, I guess.
• Portal: Gave me a fondness for dark humor.

The Bad

• Twilight: It taught me what unhealthy relationships, bad plots, weak characters, and terrible vampires were.
• Graceling: I use this as an example of a Real Women Don't Wear Dresses character gone wrong. People don't tend to agree with me on this, though.
• The Inheritance Cycle: Terribad. But it was what got me out of Urban Fantasy into straight-up fantasy, so... yay?

The Ugly

• Christopher Paolini: His success put foolish ideas in my head about becoming a published teenage author. That dream has never quite left me, and I resent him unfairly for that.
• Other peers that I compete with: I don't handle competition well even though I keep seeking it, and I'm not sure if this competition is a good thing or not. On one hand, I learn from them. On the other hand, they take tricks from me, too. So I'm not sure.

5. What do you think are the most important things to get right in a work? What do you think a writer should keep in mind if they want to actually get those things right?

The characters. I know that readers will endure a lot to follow a certain favorite character. Really think about that character and get to know them. As for doing that, you're going to have to find your own way.

6. Did you let any friends read your work? Family? Internet pals? What did they have to say?

I have to beg my non-writer friends to read my stuff, and they say they like it, but I'm not sure if they're lying or not. Tropers give me good critiques about 90% of the time, and my parents hate the fact that I write so they don't read my stuff, obviously.

7. What do you think is your biggest failing as a writer? In all seriousness, put yourself in place of someone reading your work and, to the best of your ability, complete the sentence: "Wow, this sucks, because _____".

My three biggest weaknesses are beginnings, exposition, and transferring my vision of who a character is to words.

"Wow, this sucks, because this character is too over-the-top and he's a jerk/ she's weak and pathetic."

(Extra Credit, 5 pts.) Which commonly-given writing advice do you hate the most?

"You have no excuses if you don't write enough. Just do it!"

Gee, I don't know, maybe I have to wake up at 6:30 in the morning, go to school, pay attention in class because my parents go ballistic if my grades drop, volunteer at the animal shelter, do my homework, practice violin and piano, and by the time I finish all that it's usually pushing 10:00 so I only have about half an hour to write? This comes under judging other peoples' lifestyle without knowing what they go through, and that pisses me off.

edited 2nd Mar '12 9:34:23 PM by SnowyFoxes

And with your free hand?

• 1. 9, and I am 20, so 11 years.
• 2. Sentai, then Mind Fuck, then Darker and Edgier Up To Eleven, and now...its a weird blend of Urban Fantasy, and a little of the previous ones.
• 3. I mainly identify with a fantasy work. I always envision my works as both a novel and as an anime / manga. My target audience would be teens and young adults, though periphery demographic applies.
• 4. Believe it or not, Eragon. I read that at thirteen or something and led me into thinking of writing, mainly to see if I could outdo Paolini. But I also read fantasy classics, which shaped my first few books notably. I recognize the book has faults. I was also influenced by animes like Bleach, D.Gray Man, Tri Gun, and Evangelion.
• 5. Characterization, Plot, and Active, Engaging Details that are fresh in the modern mind. It is best for an author to regularly look through mass media for this.
• 6. Yes, my family. My first work, Something Dark Arises, was hilarious in a bad way. The protagonist was a Marty Stu who pulled powers out of his ass until he used Blue Moon Energy to defeat a big-ass squid. But my parents said nothing about that, just said "its interesting". Somehow, everyone at my school liked it un-ironically.
• 7. Viandas' initial handling. Oh. My. God. I barely got to writing it, but wrote stuff on here that had not even happened because I wanted it to be scary shit like Berserk. The random Space Alien Nazi plot was out of nowhere, with ridiculous names like Zeltha V, Malistra, Demolicia...and Rupert. The Big Bad was a cackling loon without characterization whose appearances were fewer than those of Galbatorix, even in mention. No, he did not even have a fricking Shade to order around to enforce his will. Just some psychotic living Take That! to Ayn Rand named Richard Viandas who is terminally retarded. Ein Woe's origins changed every time I wrote his character. All around, it was a mess of continuity snarls, mis-named places, governors of specific cities changed every chapter, and then there was the plot clusterfuck, which made Misery Senshi Neo-Zero Double Blitzkrieg Debacle look simple.
• 8. Be original. Oh, how I hate this. In this age inundated with shout outs and expies and captain ersatz's, you'd think these elitists would believe you can absolutely come up with something new and genre breaking.

• 1. Guys: Matthew Streika, Shuuji Kazeshima, Shane Allister, Raikou (real name unknown) Girls: Sorata Eisenmann, Alina Ivanov, Presea Grandesville, and Angie Sephion.
• 2. Mrs. Claude supposed she had a job to do. She also had a husband. But the job could wait. Matthew was a young man with an angular, handsome face, long blond hair she enjoyed playing with, and big blue eyes that said how innocent he was. Though the loose long sleeved shirt and jeans did not show it, oh yes, Mrs. Claude knew he was quite a healthy, muscular lad. She supposed the over-abundance of innocence was regrettable.
• 3. Matthew, unaware of the eyes of his teacher following him out the room, found himself navigating the hallways of Central High School. He always kept near the walls, so as to let others go by and not get caught up in traffic. Transferring to a wide open court area, he found more gang graffiti on the old gym. He'd remember to volunteer to get rid of that.
• 4.
  • Matthew awoke with a start, looking around. Crowley's house, the same room he had awoken in following the fight with Sangou and Kasuga. Shuuji walked in, a gloomy look on his face, "Matthew..."
  • The blond boy asked, "Shuuji...what's wrong? I...I beat Shira, isn't everyone okay?"
  • Shuuji looked down, shaking, any facade of being well shattering, two rivers of tears flowing down his face, "Matthew...I'm not the real Shuuji. I'm a clone, a copy. A Red Eyed Demon took the real me, and made the me you see here to act as a spy. Matthew...I am so sorry. Kill me. Now."
• 5. Matthew looked down at the sheer number of broken swords around him he had used to shield himself from Nebiros. The fact was, Nebiros had such high offensive and defensive power, and somehow knew wherever he was going to attack well enough to counter everything he could throw at him. But even if that was so, Matthew was never going to give up.
• 6. The house on Michigan Street, Sanfield California, at the junction between another road and a court, at a first glance, was just like any other. But inside, something spectacular was happening.
• 7. Matthew Streika, son of Kyrio, looked at a first glance to be like any other teenager. But inside, something spectacular had happened, and he continued living for his friends.

edited 3rd Mar '12 10:12:44 PM by NickTheSwing

Ok I just have to comment on one of this excerpts because it's really bugging me:

This does not sound at all like a soldier/office who just saw three of his subordinates/fellow soldiers die in front of him, it sounds like a kid who's ambush tactic in Command & Conquer didn't work.

^ I would venture it needs more context.

I don't think there's a lot of context that can save the word choice there, though - "give me a break!" is just not the kind of reaction I'd expect someone to have in that situation.

I suppose if the character in question is meant to be uncaring about his men, it could work.

Edit: I'd also add that "wiped out" also carries a certain uncaring tone - it does sound like something you'd describe a video game with.

edited 6th Mar '12 3:03:43 PM by nrjxll

Well she is more results focused. That's not the first time on page you'd see her reaction to casualties. (On the first one she's more frustrated about the loss of her capabilities to perform the mission than about how many just got killed.)