Feb
23rd
2013
Keeping calm. · 4:00am Feb 23rd, 2013
Ok, for some reason, due to comments. I'm now literally shaking and twitching from anger. So, I will not be writing ANYTHING, until I calm down. Say what you want about me, about my stories. But when I come back, I will start to delete some comments for stress relief.
Now, good bloody night!
P.S. I will be working on A Change in Harmony tomorrow.
P.P.S. How did my story Dog days get featured?
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Shadowstalker · 498 views
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Some people are just assholes.
P.S.Yay.
P.P.S. I have no idea.
Just ignore them because people will complain about anything these days. And if they dont like your stories then why are they reading them anyways? Just gotta wonder where some peoples brains are these days.
well i'll just say take everything with a grain (or in some cases a tanker) of salt and just know that their are people who enjoy your stories!
You see that guys. You got ShadowStalker all mad up in the internet.
Welcome to the internet. Asshole's ahead. Douches abound. Trolls off the starboard bow.
(are these comments on your story My Little Slender?)
Some people have absolutely no respect for others. I use those people for target practice. Just ignore all the trolls and haters, they're not worth the trouble.
Why would anyone say anything bad about your story(ies)? I think they're pretty good
i know what you mean. they did it to me to, in only one 1000 word chapter. i hope you get through through this soon. love loveless
PS: good
PSS: i will have to read it and find out
Take a deep breath. Let it out. Breath in... Breath out. In. Out. Soft, slow, regularly. In... Feel the tension in your muscles.... and breath it out. Again. and again. Don't let your muscles be tight, don't let your throat close. Just focus on breathing. on letting every muscle relax. Think of something peaceful. The soft flow of the waves against the sand in the light of the full moon... water pouring against the shore, then sliding back out to sea in a soft, slow, steady dance of give and take. Think of the rise and fall of the sun, or the trickling of the stream through the rocks, Think of the glory of the sunrise. Relax. Breath in. And out.
Are you feeling better yet? Are you calm. Do you still feel a knot of tension in your back? If so, then go back up to the top and start over. Find something that makes you feel calm... and breath in and out...
Alright... Now that you're calm and relaxed....
Why do you write?
Do you write because you have ideas that you want to see written down? Do you write for your own personal satisfaction? If you write a story... could you smile, nod to yourself and never upload it? If the answer is "no", that's alright. Most people can't write without wanting to share it. Tha'ts a natural part of being an artist, I think. But you SHOULD write for yourself. You should write the things you enjoy. No one wants to be told "stop writing fantasy, write sci-fi instead".. most artists CAN'T do that.
But here's a question... Do you write so you can post it and share you ideas with the world? Do you post it, and feel satisfied knowing that others will read it?
Do you write to get feedback? When you post, is it with eager anticipation for page views and favorites and the ever elusive comment?
If you could, (and please, answer this without thinking about the events of the last day or so) would you post a story and disable comments, content to know that people and reading and rating?
Most people post for feedback. They have splendid ideas, but their ideas would barely lift off the ground if not for the people encouraging them and commenting on their works. GO look at all the biggest stories... there will generally be a post saying "It's finally finished. I couldn't have done this without you readers!"
This is OKAY. This is normal. It's okay to be hurt by thoughtless comments. People tend to forget that there is a person on the other side of the keyboard. and that careless words can hurt.
As an artist, though, you need to learn to let those words slide off of your shoulders. It's easier said then done. For ever thorn shoved in your paw, it takes a lot of water to sooth the hurt BUt I promise every writer who posts those massive stories has dealt with critisms...
Just breath.
If there is a repeated trend of people saying "I dislike this", then look at that aspect.
Breath in. Do they have a point? Is it something that can be fixed? Is it an error, like a typo, or a spelling error? What do you do to avoid things like that? Do you reread? do you use spellcheck? Maybe you could find a friend or a fan who'd willing to read over your story before you post it and look for stray errors.
Maybe it's something that can't be fixed. I saw a lot of people complaining about the lack of explaination followed by an info dump. Ask yourself, is this a result of poor writing? Or is this your intention? In this case, yes, you anticipated and planned for action, then explaination. You wrote a carrot to lure the reader into the story. This is NOT bad story telling. This is the sad result of reading a story in progress. After the story is finished, it will flow more smoothly then someone who came in while in the middle.
Maybe it's an opinion -- a character is out of character. That's always a tricky one. Everyone--EVERYONE has their own perspective on what a character sounds like. And tha'ts okay. But sometimes it's good to look again when someone raises a point -- IS the character out of character? In dog days, Twilight IS out of character... because tha'ts the point. she's been living a lie. that doesn't make it bad writing--but then, the lie is still her, even if it's not ALL of her. So look at it -- could you have done better? Maybe. That doens't mean you have to change it. Sometimes it jsut means that next time you think about writing for them, watch one of your favorite episodes with that character again to try and get a better feel for how they talk first.
Art is a journey. We all start out with stick figures and work our way up. Don't be embarassed if someone says "A hand isn't shaped that way." Just look at it and ssee -- are they right? If they are, can you fix it easily now (like with a typographical error)? if not, then is it worth changing (as in the case of a large plot hole)? If not, take the idea and work on it next time.
Most people don't mean to cause pain. Some do. Others are careless, but most people are honestly just trying to help. But it can be hard to accept critism sometimes. Especially from a toothy maw. If people start to hurt, take a deep breath, smile and tell them "thank you for the feedback, I'll keep it in mind." and let out the breath and the stress. Ultimatly, you write for your own pleasure. Because you want to write and it makes you happy. That's awesome. and is how it should be. You don't have to make them happy.
But self improvement, improvement of your craft is always good.
There are a few very difficult concept I've learned over the years that apply to a lot of things in life... I'll share them with you now.. you odn't have to take the advice, but you might gain from it. Or it might take you a long time to understand fullly. I've been telling my best friend about this concepts for about a decade and he's only JUST starting to really GET IT. Also, you shouldn't take these are specific critisms about your stories. THis is.. generic advice. Like smile every day, or always wash your paint brush between using different colors. :)
the first most valuable piece of advice I learned is to 'never go with your first idea'. Come up with several ideas, then look at them all on an individual basis. AS an example: Why is Twilight a wereponylycan thing? let's see... she was bitten by one as a filly, she found a mystic artifact in Everfree that cursed her, Luna has blessed her to be one of her moon guardians, she's always been a lycanpony but has been hiding it. (if so for how long? her 'normal' life span? Centuries? if so, why?), all part of a plot of discords or some other ancient evil.... now.. which one soudns the most interesting. To me, I would pick the luna blessed her option ;) but tha'ts because it made me go "oh, what a cool idea, what happens next?" --the reason you do this is because very often the first idea you come up with will not be the cleverest. case in point -- being bitten by a werewolf as in my first idea is pretty much the 'generic' answer to "why I am a werewolf".. .so by spending more time dwelling on the WHY and HOW and WHAT, you can come up with a more compelling idea in general (as a note, I dig the idea that Twilight's a 400 year old Lycan princess-- don't take this as critism about your idea) :)
The second biggest tip I have is a hard one. My friend that I mentioend above finally GOT this one recently and dubbed it 'kill your babies'. Which sounds horrible, lol, but it covers the idea effectively. As an artist, we sometimes become attached to an idea. (or as an artist, the first sketch or pose we do) and it can be hard to give up that idea when we realize it doesn't fit as well, or is fundamentally flawed. To use the luna idea above.. it'd be like be building up a story idea around the idea of Twilight as a lunar guardian and turning into a werewolf.... but I eventually realize that her becoming a werewolf is a gimmick, and that it doens't really ADD anything to the story... so I go back to secret one -- is there a better idea that I could use rather then her turning into a giant were beast? ... Maybe it's solved if I give her a piece of jewelry that enables the transformation rather then letting it be magic imbued upon her--that way it can be broken or stolen, and she'll be less 'all powerful killing machine' and more vulnerable. Maybe it could be used against her by the bad guy and she has to win by using her wits instead of her strength. Maybe applejack or somepony ends up using it instead of her to help save the day. Maybe this artifact has been corrupted by a fragment of night mare moon lingering inside luna and slowly correpts twilight and threatens to let the beast take over until she figures out how to triumph.. or maybe the big bad guy isn't the changlings attacking after all, but is the spectral nightmare wolf that leaps free of Twilight's chest after she defeats Crysalis, and in the end, the changelings, realizing the threat, band together with the ponies to defeat the NIghtmare wolf! Yeah, that sounds cool. But, Hm, does that really mean that Twilight still needs to be a lunar guardian...? well, otherwise itc ould just be a random artifact she finds that she things amplifies her abilities... or maybe it's sent to her by someone who knows it's a cursed item and everything is going according to plan and after they defeat the nightmare wolf, they'll need to play detective t o trace down where it finally came from--since luna denies ever seeing it before. Ahem. I think I went on a little long there ^^; but you can see how if I'd clung to the first idea of "Twilight sparkle, we give thee this amulet to protect thine kingdom and thine rulers from those that would oppress Equestiria" it would totally screw up all the other ideas that I came up with later on how to make the plot more interesting. So by discarding that really cool scene I had of luna bestowing an amulet to Twilight--the one that really started the whole idea--I got a way better story. So, morael of the story, don't be afraid to let go of that ONE idea that you love if it'll make the rest better. :) Of course, sometimes that ONE idea is worth fighting for :)
but be happy, most of all. And breath in. And out.
(sorry I went on so long! <3 I hope maybe I helped a little. Looking forward to more!)
857943 Thank you for your comment, but it is no longer needed. I have been calmed down, I'm listening to music and I've kindly asked my commentators to post errors instead of other things. Your comment did help.
I write because I would like to know others can see it, I write to write, I write to express my ideas.
857950 I'm glad you're doing better now <3 And I"m glad you've asked your commentators to be more constructive. :) Sometimes you have to ask people to respect you--a lot of people don't think about doing that.
and answering to me isn't important, just know for yourself <3 Be happy! <3
858387 I am, and, the authors note I wrote for the prologue, which I still haven't finished, is worthy of being a blog itself. But, no, thank you. You helped me. And, do you know how I can get my story off featured? It's bugging me now...
858393 I"m afraid I don't -- I've HEARD That it's kinda random. But, I figure you should be off of it iwithin a day or so, honestly. :) I rarely see stories stay for more than 24 hours.
858885 It was on since yesterday.