New Blog for the New Year · 9:15pm Jan 1st, 2014
So, the last time I blogged was in, what, June? Six months ago, huh? Yikes. Well, here's me trying to play catch up for the newly 2014.
First, let me be a generic New Year Day greeting card and say I hope all of you assuredly magnanimous people have had a good year, and I sincerely wish for this new one to be even better for you all. The world can often be a cruel, unruly place, perhaps more so lately than the preceding years, this I know very well, so all the more reason for us to face the incoming future with a burly batch of rambunctious hope and genuine effort, yes?
Second, I guess I'll just react a little on season 4 of our (presumably) mutually favorite show: Squee. I can kind of do without the mass influx of vampire related fics, though. I had the despairing hope that I'd left that sort of thing behind when I fled the Naruto and Teen Titans fanfiction years prior. Thanks a lot, Obama.
Next, to address my stories, unfinished and pending alike. There was a Sparity oneshot contest announced a little under a month ago that I had been working on in hopes of submitting an entry for, but now am unable to because it's quite the mess and requires some further thought and effort and restructuring. It's a little bit over 11k words in length at the moment, and will definitely only get longer, so at least you can't say I've been completely lax and unproductive.
Working on that story did make me realize an unfortunate truth, though. I am a "writer" with little to no experience and even less talent, and I didn't type that just to fish for compliments or reassurances. If there's anything I'm somewhat good at, it's being analytical. And I can say for 95% confidence interval that I'm very middling in everything writing related; not terrible, but certainly no shining star in any particular area. As such, my creativity can be quite exhaustible, unfortunately. I've been trying to find a way to rectify this problem of mine, by reading a lot more than I write, which in the end still didn't fix the issues either. I'm well aware that this sounds more like whining and making excuses, and it definitely is in part, but it is the main reason I still have stories unfinished since months ago. But I'm not giving up on writing fanfics just yet. Well, not immediately anyway.
Well, what now? My current plans for 2014 in terms of fanfiction are thus:
1. Continue working on Sparity fic or some other short oneshot to see if I can't get some creative juices going at least.
2. Finish the last chapter of Once Upon a Night. When I wrote that story, it was done brainlessly, as I was just trying to put my personal fanon on the digital realm. Who knew it would garner somewhat of an interest from others? The effing Descendant's, in particular. Because of that, I got pants-browningly scared and have since been trying to improve my writing to increase the quality of the story, which keeps on getting delayed by my dissatisfaction with my own ability. Sighs. Hopefully I can find a way to turn my funk around at some point.
3. Work on Fighting is Magical. This one had the misfortune of being at the thinning end of my creative drive, and while I have chapters done for it, I'm still debating on what to do with it.
4. Pregnant Possibilities. This story. Well, all I can do is laugh sort of awkwardly. Inspiration can be an odd, odd thing. Curse you, Sergeant Jake. For those interested in this story, the second chapter has a good 4k words chunk written, but I'm sorry to say that it's gonna take a backseat for now until I've dealt with everything else first. I'll be working on it sporadically, but an update will probably be a ways off.
I'll be honest, I'm pretty frustrated with a lot of things regarding fanfics and otherwise. I'm doing my best to keep my chin up, though. Fortune doesn't lie randomly on the ground, after all. Again, here's to hoping 2014 will be a favorable year for all of you as well as for myself. Until next time.
Scared? Of me? I'm the least threatening guy I know! John Perry says that I'm a "Big, hairy Teddy Bear!" I appreciate your writing for what it is, Imaginary, and I wasn't any better than you when I got started writing twelve years ago. Hell, you're probably better than I was then.
"Last chapter?" Now that makes me sad. Anywho, I look forward to seeing it, and anything else you do, before long.
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Ah, jeez, you were't supposed to read any of that. Did I trip an alarm or something? I'm gonna guess I favorited one of your fics I put on my read later list. I guess "scared" would be too strong a word. It's probably more appropriate to say, "up-the-butt-seriously don't want to disappoint." Especially because you're one of the nicest, most awesome dudes around. If it were a twat, I wouldn't have cared whether or not I tickled your fancy. Twelve years ago? Aw, man, I was hoping improving writing skills to be like learning how to play Bejeweled. I guess I'm gonna have to be in this for the long haul.
By the way, I don't want to be impertinent, but do you have any suggestions for reference books on writing? I've never actually taken a writing course before (which might be a gaping, bloody mistake in retrospect) and I was wondering if such a reference material would be conducive to my writing endeavors. Thank you!
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Every book you read is a reference book, Val (I'm switching to Val instead of Imaginary for your nickname. Deal with it.)
When you read something that inspires you or gives you reason to whisper "Wow" go back and try to divine what it is that the author did to make you do that. I thoroughly enjoyed Douglas Adam's writing style, and as such I made a point to try and figure out how he wrote. Over time, when you adapt and adopt enough "clues" you'll develop your own style.
In other words, I've never read any writing reference books.