9961 réponses à ce sujet

[fluffywalrus]

AustereLemur799 wrote...

I think it takes me a day or more to be receptive to constructive criticism. It's just that when I read things initially, I tend to get upset. This is definitely a negative personality trait that I have - I'm not sure whether it's appropriate for me to mention the full extent of my issues on this site. Basically I tend to focus more on the negative than the positive, and I really take the negative to heart.

I know that, at the moment, whatever I publish on FFN is a essentially a draft and a work in progress. Having a beta reader has really helped me a lot because I've made some really embarrassing mistakes due to my dyslexia - another thing that gets me down.

Constructive criticism is one of those things that can take some time to adjust to. I used to kind of hate it, but after a few years of DMing pen and paper stuff, where I was getting feedback after each session, it eventually became a pretty normalized thing for me. But at the start, it sucked, and it hurt. It's relatively normal to feel that way, but it's important to try and key in on what the criticism is, and why it was said, and what could be improved or changed to amend it, and whether or not you'd want to do that.

Dyslexia's tough. I helped my roommate with their papers last year because of it, and I got a very real sense of how frustrating it can be. I'm glad you got a beta to help with that, because leanguage shouldn't get in the way of a good story, but it still does in a lot of cases.

@ the floor: the other thing that makes me ashamed is that I've really stopped reading around since I published my own story. On the one hand I'm afraid that reading other people's stories may, in some way, influence my ideas and I don't want to be guilty of stealing other people's ideas. On the other hand, I feel unable to read successful stories because they just seem to reiterate my own lack of success to me. I know that these are horrible, bad traits that I have. I honestly used to enjoy reading around. Now I just feel ashamed of myself, my writing and my inability to read and fully-appreciate others.

I guess I'm a bad person. I feel better for admitting to it. I think it's bad when other people's success makes you feel bad. But there it is. I honestly admire all you guys. The truth is that it took me a year of lurking on the BSN before I summoned the courage to come on here. I feel priveleged to have mixed with other writers. Truthfully I don't feel worthy to dwell among you. My pattern is that I come on here and make a complete fool of myself, then disappear for a while, hoping that you guys have short memories. Then I come back when I'm drunk and make more of an idiot of myself.

I don't think there's any requirement that anyone read stories if they're publishing them, because time is an important and limited thing, and people sometimes just can't, or don't want to, make room for it. That's fine.

Getting worried about other stories influencing yours...hrm, I guess i can understand that. Although I'll admit that if I see something in another fic that is relevant to a character of mine, and that would fit well into my fic, I'll use it. I'll put y own twist on it, but I don't think it's a bad trait to get inspiration from other stories. There would hardly be any media of any kind if people refused themselves to touch on what inspired them. I don't think it's stealing anyone's ideas so much as just adapting some inspiring and fitting material into your own, using your own skills. Copy+Paste would be stealing. Taking the exact scene or whatever and switching a few words would be paraphrasing, of sorts. Taking the concept of the scene and working it into yours with your own words? If that's stealing then i'm terribly guilty, and so is likely every writer on this board.

I can also understand getting discouraged by some very well written stories. PMC65's "A Thessian's Whisper" and Logicalpremise's "Of Sheep and Battle Chicken" are stories I love to read, but constantly toss me into a state of doubt over the quality of my own writing. Their stuff is intimidatingly good and it's difficult to feel I match up when I'm covering some of the same ground as they are, conceptually. But then I screw my head on straight, put a good night's sleep between me and those stories, and get back to work. because i know that even if I don't really put out as good of work as they do, I still have fun writing, and I still have people who enjoy my stuff, so even if I'm not the best writer (and I'm certainly not the best), I'm still making something that's somewhat entertaining. I just try to focus on that and run with it.

If reading makes you hate your own work though, then I can understand why you would shy away from it, but you really should try and figure out what you can do about your self esteem. It's not shameful that you feel or react in these ways, it's just a byproduct of your experiences, and it's not likely an innate, static aspect of your character. I don't think you're a bad person, it's easier to fall into those traps when you're discouraged, depressed, have low self esteem and feelings of low self worth, etc. Not that the previous are necessarily fitting of you, per se, but it's something I'm fairly familiar with.  So if reading makes you feel bad, then I suggest you don't read in order to spare yourself such an experience. At least, not until you feel you can approach other stories confidently with the ability to not directly compare your story with others, or until you feel more confident in yourself and your storywriting.

I realise that none of this sounds particularly great!  Whatever happens, thanks for putting up with me thus far.

Psh, we welcome you with open arms here This is a community, and a support group. We're not here because we have to be, we're here because we want to be, and we help because we want to.

Modifié par fluffywalrus, 01 décembre 2012 - 06:21 .

[Drussius]

Well said, Fluffy.

On an entirely unrelated and pointless note, just because it struck me as funny, I just clicked on the traffic stats for my story out of curiosity, and found them reset for the new month. But for just a split second, when I saw an empty graph and 0 visitors/views for every Chapter, I was very confused. Stupid December, coming along and confusing me in my tired state...  

[fluffywalrus]

Drussius wrote...

Well said, Fluffy.

On an entirely unrelated and pointless note, just because it struck me as funny, I just clicked on the traffic stats for my story out of curiosity, and found them reset for the new month. But for just a split second, when I saw an empty graph and 0 visitors/views for every Chapter, I was very confused. Stupid December, coming along and confusing me in my tired state...  

Remember, remember, the 1st of December!
But yes, it can be a shock if you're not expecting it.

[Spiritwolf1]

AustereLemur799 wrote...


@ the floor: the other thing that makes me ashamed is that I've really stopped reading around since I published my own story. On the one hand I'm afraid that reading other people's stories may, in some way, influence my ideas and I don't want to be guilty of stealing other people's ideas. On the other hand, I feel unable to read successful stories because they just seem to reiterate my own lack of success to me. I know that these are horrible, bad traits that I have. I honestly used to enjoy reading around. Now I just feel ashamed of myself, my writing and my inability to read and fully-appreciate others.

I guess I'm a bad person. I feel better for admitting to it. I think it's bad when other people's success makes you feel bad. But there it is. I honestly admire all you guys. The truth is that it took me a year of lurking on the BSN before I summoned the courage to come on here. I feel priveleged to have mixed with other writers. Truthfully I don't feel worthy to dwell among you. My pattern is that I come on here and make a complete fool of myself, then disappear for a while, hoping that you guys have short memories. Then I come back when I'm drunk and make more of an idiot of myself.

I realise that none of this sounds particularly great!  Whatever happens, thanks for putting up with me thus far.

A little insight, I'm a realist at heart with slight pessimistic tendencies. I don't have the greatest self confidence in the world and I tend to settle nicely in the "what I can do" and stray away from what the I could do because I am afraid of failure and the mark that would bring to me. Which causes a couple of problems. The first is when I find something that I doing very well, I get very angry with myself when I am in a slump. Like hockey this year, started out in a slump and almost quit.

This brings me to writing. I have a few really favorite awesome cool stories that I have read and am reading on a few sights. I read them and know that I am not even close to the level that these writers are at and then I look at my little fics and wonder why. There were several points during my first fic that I almost did, because I knew I couldn't be like some of the better writers and my pessimistic nature really took over. Hell there are several times I still do (Almost every second chapter). There are things I know I can't do and I just won't do them.

However, I've said this before and I will mention two great writers here. The first Tolkien, Lord of the Ring etc. I don;t know whose read him or not. Even if your not a fantasy fan (I am) but the way he masters the language and strings words into a painting, or a filming of a scene is beyond anything I have ever seen. Now given sometimes he goes on too far, but mostly ... wow. I see his vision with slight little bits of my own imagination, but mostly his vision because he leave little to wonder about. He is to me, the greatest writer ever because of the way he twirls the english language around like a paint brush... He would be the writers on FF that I envy and a few of them know who they are.

Then you get CS Lewis. His book are merely a quarter of the size of Tolkiens, if even, his "Paint stroke" are much smaller and very much so less flourished then Tolkiens. He leaves a lot open to the imagination.  He would be me(except hes better)

These two men were best friends, writing their stories some what at the same time. I am more then sure they influenced each other since between the two of them they redefined the fantasy genre. I often wonder what CS Lewis thought when he would produce a 5-8 page chapter and then look at Tolkiens 20 page chapter. Where would we be if he decided he didn't write as good as Tolkien and gave up. We would never have had the Chronicles of Narnia, a set of book I grew up on and my son is now growing up on.

This is what I thought of as I continued my story. I might not be as accomplished a writer as some, but I like to think I have interesting stories to tell, interesting enough that I know some would like to read. And interesting enough that I want to write for myself cause when I write, I don't always know the ending til I write it either.  I have gotten a bad review in the past but the guy didn't like the content of my story and there is nothing I can do about that. It was my story and my head cannon as is yours Lemur, if you like it and want to write it that is all that matter. 
Good reviews are nice, we all like to be pat on the back (I know I do), but I like to look at how many people are reading my little tale, but more importantly I love writing and in the end that is really all that matters

[mothbanquet]

AustereLemur799 wrote...

Just got my first negative review.  Any advice on how to deal with that? In my head I know I should be thinking logically and taking constructive crtiticism and all that... Yet in my heart I feel really upset and bummed. At the end of the day, I spent four weeks writing this particular chapter and I failed. It hurts.

Lemur - negative and/or critical feedback is often the making or breaking of an author/artist.  This is your chance to really step up and learn from what has been said and strive to do better.  It's easier said than done, but the best thing for you is to think about reviews rather than 'feel' about them.  Take a logical approach to it - instead of seeing something bad, see it as something that simply isn't as good as it could be, and strive to learn lessons from it.

That said, some people can give reviews that often sound more negative than they actually intend.  Have you contacted the reviewer?  Often thanking people for the honest feedback and asking them how they think improvements should be made can really open doors to new ways of doing things.

Even if you don't necessarily agree with a critical point that's being made, you can still think about why the person said what they said.  For example, I've had a reviewer who didn't think my character was being consistent in a certain scene.  I looked back and didn't see a problem with what this character said/did but I could see that I hadn't properly explained their behaviour, and so that's always been something I've taken into account.

So yes, my advice is:

1) Develop the right critical attitude - see bad feedback as an opportunity rather than a setback

2) Contact and develop a dialogue with the reviewer if you can.  This could even reveal how seriously you should take them...

3) Even if you don't agree with the criticism, never overlook the reason for it

Hope this helps ^^

[Drussius]

Okay, here's a question for people who have read the novels, comics, collector's edition books, or whatever else I haven't seen that might hold the information I want. Raan mentions in the second game that there is a celebration when a quarian gets her first suit, and that it's a rite of passage. But is it ever mentioned at what age that happens?

I'm only curious, so this isn't a super-urgent question, but if it's mentioned anywhere, I'd love to know.

[hot_heart]

Apologies if I'm mistaken, but I seem to recall Tali mentioning something about suits and bubbles during the Alarei mission in ME2. Not sure she says anything about age though.

[Dark Satris]

hot_heart wrote...

Apologies if I'm mistaken, but I seem to recall Tali mentioning something about suits and bubbles during the Alarei mission in ME2. Not sure she says anything about age though.

i've played enough ME2 to assure you she doesn't say a thing about age.

Drus, i'd recommend looking on the wiki first, as there will be the most chances of finding what you want

[Lilivati]

Belated congratulations hot_heart! That is awesome!

Regarding negative reviews... honestly I wish I'd get a few? Sounds weird but knowing what people DIDN'T like about your stories is often more valuable and useful than knowing what they DID like, even if it's harder to hear. If the negative review has any detail whatsoever (not simply "this is stupid, I hate this, yadda yadda") then it's really a gift, as Drussius said. I also agree with Moth about contacting the reviewer- clearly this is a person who's at least a little invested in discussing your work, and that's a somewhat rare thing.

Lots of internet hugs though. Regardless of any value, it's never easy to face rejection.

[hot_heart]

Lilivati wrote...
Belated congratulations hot_heart! That is awesome!

Regarding negative reviews... honestly I wish I'd get a few? Sounds weird but knowing what people DIDN'T like about your stories is often more valuable and useful than knowing what they DID like, even if it's harder to hear. If the negative review has any detail whatsoever (not simply "this is stupid, I hate this, yadda yadda") then it's really a gift, as Drussius said. I also agree with Moth about contacting the reviewer- clearly this is a person who's at least a little invested in discussing your work, and that's a somewhat rare thing.

Lots of internet hugs though. Regardless of any value, it's never easy to face rejection.

Thanks very much! Though, now it's been two months (and counting) since an update, I wonder how long it is before angry readers (rightfully) pester me.

I agree about the negative reviews things. Though, obviously you mean constructively so.

No one writes perfectly and shouldn't be afraid to write something terrible. It's handy to know where you went wrong or how people perceive a story. Sometimes, it may just not be for them, or you might learn something.

No doubt positive reviews can be helpful as well, since they can help you play to your strengths, or give you a little confidence in other areas. Obviously, you have to make sure you're pushing yourself in the first place, though.

Trust me, writing any sort of story takes courage. You should be proud that you're flexing those creative muscles and putting yourself out there. It's not something of which everyone is capable. Don't be afraid to take risks and don't expect everyone to like everything you do. 'Nothing ventured, nothing gained' as they say.

And, if you're worried about your writing before letting it loose in the world, you can always run it by the wonderful, friendly and helpful people in here first.

[Spiritwolf1]

bump

[AgentStark]

Ok. I've posted about 5 chapters total and Im working on chapter 6.

http://www.fanfictio...ffect-Judgement
Chapter 1
http://www.fanfictio...ffect-Judgement
Chapter 2
http://www.fanfictio...ffect-Judgement
Chapter 3
http://www.fanfictio...ffect-Judgement
Chapter 4
http://www.fanfictio...ffect-Judgement
Chapter 5

I tried to put a cover to it through a really well done commission by a friend of mine but it the awesomeness of it couldn't fit. http://fc09.devianta...101-d5lgxmj.png -by nao_chan101

Modifié par AgentStark, 03 décembre 2012 - 05:09 .

[mothbanquet]

Whew...after 16 months and 331,113 words, Mass Effect: Interceptor is finally finished.

I need a nap...

[hot_heart]

mothbanquet wrote...

Whew...after 16 months and 331,113 words, Mass Effect: Interceptor is finally finished.

I need a nap...

Congratulations! Nice job.

[Obsidian Gryphon]

After dithering for some time, not motivated to write, I decided to replay ME 3, with the Memem mod installed. FYI, the mod essentially removed Starbrat and created a 'happy' ending (reunion, etc). And as I progressed through the beginning right up until Shep received the P:Eden Prime mission, this feeling of dissastisfaction grew.

I love to see Shep again, Liara, etc. But the flaws in the game is coming across glaringly bright. Something that I never noticed much when I played it during launch. I practically have issues with almost everything; dialogues, how the events happened.

And I have to wonder is it due to writing ME fanfic that changed my perspective. One positive thing to come out of it is that I got a little boost to resume writing.

[Tairis Deamhan]

Obsidian Gryphon wrote...

And I have to wonder is it due to writing ME fanfic that changed my perspective. One positive thing to come out of it is that I got a little boost to resume writing.

Wouldn't be surprised. When you start writing these things and making the connections in your head it makes it far more glaring when someone else makes a mistake.

[AgentStark]

So you're saying the MEHEM (sounds like an attention cough. MEHEM!) anyway, so you're saying that the MEHEM mod is actually more flawed than it's made out to be?

[Obsidian Gryphon]

AgentStark wrote...

So you're saying the MEHEM (sounds like an attention cough. MEHEM!) anyway, so you're saying that the MEHEM mod is actually more flawed than it's made out to be?

? The Mehem mod only affects the ending. I was talking about my impression as I replay ME 3, for the 2nd time incidentally. I have not finished the round, I halted at the point where Priority : Eden Prime mission is in the email. The Normandy had only just left the Citadel.

And as I indicated, in my first run months ago when the game first launched, I noted that there were flaws (muted perception). On this current round, the flaws were downright glaring (screaming). I found myself getting exasperated with the chain of events and dialogues.

[mothbanquet]

Hey all, I'm not sure if I've mentioned this but I'm an admin for a recently-added group on deviantART, one devoted to helping artists and authors expand and engage their audience in a fast-evolving online world.

For the benefit of all, here is a link to part 5 of Getting Exposure For Your Art, a series of helpful lessons that can apply just as well to fanfiction as original/professional work:

build-your-platform.deviantart.com/#/d5n1h0h

[Ignis Mors]

 Alright, I'm pretty nervous about my latest chapter because I think I'm going to get a ton of flack for it. I have two reasons that I think people won't like it. I put in an A\\N that is almost as long as the chapter itself, because it is  along thing about something a couple of people have asked me about , but isn't very popular amongst people on FF.net. I was wondering how you guys would suggest dealing with the probable backlash for it. (It is a long list of why I hate Liara, and then a bit on why ME3 is bad, but is still related to dissing Liara. Thanks to anyone who answers. 

[hot_heart]

Is it really necessary to make a list of reasons why you dislike Liara? What do you gain from it? Seems like fishing for...arguments, and it probably won't help people's impressions of your story.

[Ignis Mors]

I had received several PMs asking about it, so I figured, I didn't like how short the chapter was, so I figured that since PMs don't allow enough length to fully explain my dislike, I figured that it would be a good way to answer their question.

[Obsidian Gryphon]

If readers asked about why the Liara in your story would behave contrary to their impressions, then perhaps there isn't much buildup to explain such behaviour. Rather than splashing out a long list based on your POV, why not create the platform that would support your interpretation of Liara? I think readers would find that more acceptable. They may not agree but you may not get so many stones.

[Ignis Mors]

Obsidian Gryphon wrote...

If readers asked about why the Liara in your story would behave contrary to their impressions, then perhaps there isn't much buildup to explain such behaviour. Rather than splashing out a long list based on your POV, why not create the platform that would support your interpretation of Liara? I think readers would find that more acceptable. They may not agree but you may not get so many stones.

Thanks for the idea, I'll try to find a way to integrate it into the story, and if I find it succesful, I'll remove the long A\\N. Thank you guys again. You've been a ton of help with improving my writing. 

[fluffywalrus]

Aye. I'm pretty honest and clear on my dislike for Kaidan, and while I try to minimize translating that into my story, I do eventually integrate some of the reasons why into how his character responds to certain situations. It just happens.

Normally, for me, if a character is flat out obviously hated by the author and written in such a way to consistently punish the character with no build up or reasoning, it's kind of a put-off, and I generally stop reading unless they're merely a cameo character. I've seen fics that paint Ashley Williams as a card carrying terra firma member and made her relentlessly xenophobic, despite her opposition to the group, just because they wanted to contort her entire character into something that they hated about her.

In the end, the more complex you make the character, the better people will usually respond, and the more one dimensional a character is, the less people will want to read about them. I know people who hated Garrus and made the decision not to write more than a few lines about him through their fic, as to avoid their hatred of the character altogether and potential backlash from readers.

I'll agree with Obsidian Gryphon. If you're set on exploring that territory, work it into your story, it'll be less soap-boxy like that, and people may be willing to accept it more.