Your First Fic · 10:23pm Mar 23rd, 2012
When you write your first fic, don't hide behind that. Don't mention it in your preamble- That's the tiny box of text you have to sell your story to the people who might want to read it. It's the only chance you have to convince people that your story is worth their time. Don't say "go easy on me" or "it's just my first fic" or "in all honesty I don't care about this" because those are just pre-emptive excuses for poor quality, and if you know your fic is poor quality, take it away and edit it until you're proud of it.
If you think your fic is finished, and fun, and good to read, put it up and don't apologise for it. If people say "hey this isn't that good" then ask them why, and learn, and edit your next fic accordingly. But stop, please stop thinking so little of your creative talents that you apologise for the quality of a fic before I've even read it. Maybe you're just trying to lower expectations, I don't know, but please, believe in your writing, or nopony else will.
Agreed. When people say their work is not good, it will distract the reader to look for the flaws the writer mentioned and they won't be able to focus on the story nearly as much. It is like giving someone a knife and saying you are not sure if it is sharp, just to watch them cut themselves with it... ok, maybe a little morbid... but the idea is out there.
Writing is a form of art. The artist always sees the flaws, but the viewer look at the big picture. If they say it is bad, then that means you really need to work on your work. Get pre-readers to check it out first, or have friends edit it for you. Don't post it and say it is bad...
I am rambling now... So I will shut up...
I agree wholeheartedly. It's bad advertising. This should be in that page when you post a fic, something like:
"If this is your first fic, please DO NOT write 'this is my first fic' in the description. Sincerely, the FiMFiction team."
I think that's something that people do if they're afraid of rejection- by saying that they try to bolster their confidence hoping for somebody to cheer them on.
of course, that doesn't make it any less annoying for an experienced reader, but it does make it understandable. Celestia knows I've had that reaction, and still do- though that mostly makes me not post anything than putting disclaimers.
If someone says their work is bad, I make a point of liking and tracking it. Nearly every one of them are brilliant.
41786>>41840 I hear you, and I do think this is more forgivable than I might have made it sound originally, but like you said- most of it's good! Even a simple "feedback appreciated" works better, I think, because if you say "this is so awful, don't klnow why I uploaded it lol" and then it's not that great then you can brush off the criticism because you knew it was bad. It's like showing up to a race in clown shoes so you can blame them when you lose.
42438 mhm. Totally see your point.
Btw, can I link this blog post in some comments I leave? Just found a fic that... does exactly what we're talking about and so I'd rather not repeat myself hundreds of time whenever I comment on something
42645 Sure, I guess so! I may edit it to be a little less brutal, though :)
43190 nah no prob. I'll probably use this only when I'm annoyed, so this way I'll be brutal by proxy and avoid passive-aggressive comments such as "A cardboard cutout has more depth than your characters"
43211 No worries, then. Those ponies redirected here: Seriously have more faith in your stories I'm sure they're good! I'll give your fic a once over if you message me, if you like, and I'll give you a little advice.
43227 seriously though, I'm surprised there isn't a pre-readers group here on FiM- or if there is, it's not really advertised. If there is one, I wouldn't know how to find it anyway, I just found out about the "favourite" button xP
Also, I just noticed the logical fallacy of me linking to this blog post to avoid acid passive-aggressive comments -.- how fun, isn't it?