Time for the Daily Exorcism!

[hackthis_archive]

In an idea ganked from lexcorp_hope, and by extension glockgal, today we are going to exorcise some demons and neuroses. Doesn't that sound fun, kids?

Step 1: Tell me what you don't like about your writing, your art. What are your fears? Your neuroses? What freaks you out? What are you so afraid of?*

Step 2: Screw that bullshit. Tell me why you rock. What do you do better that any other bitch out there? You love yourself, right? Good remind yourself why you are so fucking good.

* You can do this anonymously if you like, but fandom related only as I only have so much room in the Freudian chair.



Step 1:

- I'm a one trick-pony; the pony just happens to change color by fandom. I can't do long-form (TA being the notable exception for better and worse). I can't do plot. I write these little blurbs, but nothing that has meaning. I don't change lives. I don't have people thinking about my stuff once they move on. I'm not memorable, I just happen to be good at catching the fandom wave.

- I promote my characters to the exclusion of their faults. If I love you, I love you and if I can't stand you, you'll never get a fair shake.

- I worry that my stuff is shit and nobody's telling me.

- I worry that I just keep writing anyway.

- I worry that nobody's reading.

- Everyone else is doing it better than me.

- I'll never be great.

- People think that my stories are all that I am.

- I worry that if I'm not constantly producing stuff that everyone will forget about me and I'll just become That Writer That Everyone Forgot.

- I worry that nobody cares.

Step 2:

- I like trying new things. I will always be willing to try out another fandom and another pairing. I will always be willing to toss over the favored pairing for something new and different. I remember when there wasn't any Harry/Neville at all! I remember saying Lex/Adam and hearing 'eh?' Entourage, Ocean's 11, X-overs, what have you, I do them for me (unless I get a special request I can’t say no to)

- I don't write long stories that's true, but you can never accuse me of being covered in purple prose. I say what I think should be said and I'm done.

- Good, bad or indifferent, I'll keep writing anyway, because I do it for me.

Comments

[elynrae.livejournal.com]

I worry that if I'm not constantly producing stuff that everyone will forget about me and I'll just become That Writer That Everyone Forgot.

Word! Only, I did and they did and it turned out to not be the end of the world after all, which helped alleviate that one.

I always write about the same things. I never write funny things. I angst about word choice and phrasing and even paragraph length. I worry that I'm too prosaic and too poetic all in the same fic. I can't write if I don't have something to jump off from. I'm not very prolific any more.

On the other hand, I too am all for the new things now, the crossovers, the rare fandoms - no more HP-only for me, I like to write stuff that no-one else has written before just to see if I can. And I still get feedback for stuff I wrote nearly two years ago when I was HP-only, so no matter what I think, it can't have been that bad!

[algernon-mouse.livejournal.com]

I worry that I'm just copying everything that's already out there - and the nothing I write is really original. I can't come up with anything longer than 2000 words without sounding like I'm rambling. And like you, I always feel that everyone else is doing it better than me.

I like that what I write is short and the sentences snap. I'm happy with the voice I've settled into.

giving it a try.

[dorrie6.livejournal.com]

Step 1: I can't write a plot to save my life. Or at least I'm afraid I can't, so I shut myself down whenever I really try. In an effort to avoid flowery writing, I think my writing has gotten so sparse that it has no real life to it. I write short pieces that mean a lot to me but nobody else. Half the time, people can't understand what the hell I'm trying to get at, and this must be my fault. I have only written one long story, and I can't seem to write another. The first story I wrote in my current fandom is still by far the most widely read and recommended of all my writing, and I feel like I can never live up to that, despite the fact that I think I'm a better writer now than I was then. I fear that I'm wrong about that, and that my current writing is actually crap. I fear that I'm a one-hit wonder. When my close friends don't comment on my current work, I again fear it is crap. I fear that it will always be crap and that I am wasting my time thinking I'm any good at it, when really I am not, and that my friends are afraid to tell me this. I fear that people are disappointed in my writing now, and that they keep me friended only for recs and wish that I'd stop torturing them with my own fic.

Step 2: I write short, sparse stories that let characters be as complicated as they really are. I don't write sap. I love my characters, warts and all, and I think I manage to write them both compassionately and in-character. I think I write one hell of a 100-word drabble, at least most of the time. I think I write great dialogue. I think that I work well outside my OTPs. I think I am able to write my OTPs as though they aren't. I think I am able to create something effective while leaving a lot left unsaid. I think I write with confidence, even when I'm not feeling that way otherwise.

God, I'm neurotic. I think this was a good idea, though. Thank you for the outlet.

[ranalore.livejournal.com]

This is an excellent idea.

Step 1:

- I can't write plot. When I try, it doesn't make sense.

- I can't write funny. It always ends up painful, yet I keep trying anyway.

- I worry that I sacrifice reading comprehension for poetic phrasing that isn't nearly as beautiful or moving as I think it is.

- I worry that I bring nothing new to the fandom. When it looks like I do, it's only because the fandom is so small no one who could do it better has gotten there yet.

- I worry that the unusual metaphors I think are strokes of genius really just have people wondering what I'm smoking.

- I worry that my blatant character biases negatively impact my writing in ways that I just don't see.

- I worry that I write talking heads and floating bodies, though my betas are very good for catching those times when I have no setting.

Step 2:

- My stories may not be remembered for new ideas, but I've had chat conversations that confirmed I hit character insights other people don't. I've also had chat conversations in which people have quoted lines of my fic they read at least a year ago. So not all those poetic phrases are a waste.

- When I write in first-person, I nail the characterization.

- My dialogue sounds like the characters.

- I have a talent for understated angst that will tear your heart out as elegantly as possible.

- My style is spare and lyrical, which is what I've always wanted it to be.

- If I believe it, I can take a pairing that would never have occurred to you and make you believe it.

- I have it on good authority that I can make unsympathetic characters both comprehensible and sympathetic without warping the characterization.

- I write what I love, and it shows.

[poor-choices.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Sounds like fun.

1.
-I am listening to "Ice, Ice, Baby." While not fandom related, I feel it shows some sort of serious problem.

-I too cannot write plot. I have conversations thusly.
Person: What are you doing?
Chash: Writing a story.
Person: Oh really, what about?
Chash: ...I don't know.
Person: How does that work?
Chash: ...I don't know.

-I am crap at endings. And when I am not crap at endings, I am crap at middles. I cannot write long fiction because I can't supply a plot and/or middle and/or ending.

-When I try to write long stuff, it doesn't come out in order, and then I refuse to put them in order so they are incomprehensible if you aren't me.

-I worry that I am writing the same characters over and over.

-I cannot write established relationships. I can barely write relationships.

-I cannot write genres. I have no genres. It is not angst or comedy or fluff, it is angomeluff and obviously some kind of freak of nature.

2.
-Now I am listening to Bob Dylan.

-I can hear the character's voices. I like to think that this means I am writing in character.

-I write really obscure fandoms, filling an important void on the internet. I like to call that void "My Fair Lady slash," and I try not to think about it late at night.

-I sometimes get lines that I think really work and are awesome, and a lot of the time people say the same thing. That makes me happy.

Now I have to go shopping, but I feel cleansed. And, for the record, I keep thinking about your fic, because it is awesome, and TA got me to read OC fic, even though I do not watch the show because I never remember.

[serialkarma.livejournal.com]

You had to do this the day after I saw Ryan, didn't you?

I'ma have to do this, um, later. *scrubs eyes with fist*

[shatterglass.livejournal.com]

I continue to refer to you as one of The H/D Writers, and love all of the stuff you have done in the HP fandom more recently as well--quiet your fears, dahhhling. :D