Now on to the reason for my excitement. It's finished! "Luna Unchained" has a cover!Habbits · 6:14pm Jan 11th, 2013
AKA
Melodramatic? Yes, a bit.
If you haven't already figured out what this means, I heard back from EqD. It didn't take nearly as long as I thought it would. My story didn't make it through. They work off of a three strike system, so I can submit it up to two more times, so this isn't the end of the line.
On the one hand, I am disappointed that my story didn't make it. On the other hand, I am a genius at finding the silver lining. I have chosen to interpret this as the encouraging sign that, I can become an even better writer. The Best news of all is that I know what the first steps towards becoming a better writer are. However, there is a problem. I was perfectly satisfied with the story as it was.
Asides from having written it, I read through 'Bolts out loud many, many times. I couldn't see any of the grammatical or punctuation errors. I didn't catch the places where I was telling instead of showing. I thought I had LUS pretty well handled. I have a problem. I might be able to "fix" my stories by relying on pre-readers, and if I recruit enough pre-readers I can probably even churn out some pretty decent material. That would produce readable stories, it doesn't fix the problem.
This is where the title of the blog come in. I have a lot of bad habits when it comes to writing. I habitually abuse and misuse punctuation. I don't understand the rules of dialogue and how it should be formatted. I don't get the difference between bold and italics. I am very much an amateur, looking to the stars, and relying on my pre-readers to take me there. That is unacceptable.
I realize I am being a bit hard on myself, I do make honest efforts to fix the problems my pre-readers point out, and not to make them as much in the future. But I think my focus in the past has been more on fixing the story, than it has been on fixing myself. I am eternally grateful to my pre-readers for sticking around and putting up with my drivel, but right now I need to fix me, and I can't rely on you to do that.
I have a grand vision, this next big story I want to tell has a lot of meaning for me. It has gone from a 'what if' scenario I thought up in class, to something much more. I have askireet to thank for a lot of this. Being able to bounce ideas off you has been immensely helpful and it has led to this story becoming even more ambitious and exciting that I thought it would be. So thank you, like, a lot. I want to do this story justice. I want so desperately to give you all the story I am envisioning, and not some watered down, shoddily written, piece of crap.
To that end I am going on a sort of internet pilgrimage. I have been saving links to writing tutorials and other cites that focus on grammar and format. I have half a dozen links, but If you can think of any cites that might be helpful I will gladly add them to the list. And it isn't just internet guides I am turning to for help, I have a few aces up my sleeves. I am going to do my damned-ist to become the writer that you guys deserve. So, here comes Anti 2.0
Don't worry, I'm not disappearing on you. If you want to get a-hold of me for any reason I will still be floating around here on fimfic. I also don't intend to stop writing while I do this. I think my problems all stem from with format, technical grammar rules, and lack of experience. So cleaning up my older works and anything I write while doing this will be a pretty easy process. I still (possibly foalishly) believe that my content is good. Being able to read this recent critique of my work, and come away from it with that, has been immensely encouraging. Now I know I can do it. My ideas are solid. This story can work. I just need to fix my presentation.
Here is what the EqD representative had to say about my work that has spurred me on to this.
... A simple little story, it's okay, but its got plenty holding it back. Problems with spelling (typos, poor wording, sentence structure/formation, italic use, spacing), punctuation (dialogue punctuation, ellipsis spacing, dash/hyphen confusion, ellipsis misuse, use/misuse of semicolons, use/misuse/lack of commas, use/misuse/lack of apostrophes), capitalization, off formatting (paragraph spacing), and show versus tell (character actions, place and time, Lavender Unicorn Syndrome) are present within the story...
If you read all that, I want to give you a hug. In conclusion, I propose a toast, to self betterment, and the future. Whatever it may hold.
What's 'Lavender Unicorn Syndrome'?
Over using titles and descriptors instead of the characters name to tell the reader who is talking.
Here is an example from the editors omnibus.
700597 Here... AA didn't quote you so you might not get notified and enlightened about this, thatis if you didn't already google-fu it yourself.
700604
Aight, I get it. Thanks.
702773
Naw, I didn't get notified, thanks.
702782 I typed that up to answer your question and forgot to tag you.
Dang I'm out of it today, sorry.
702797
'Tis alright lol.
It's okay antiquatedannomaly. We're here for you.
Or at least I am.