Perspective, Not Skill · 12:39am Oct 6th, 2014
Twice now, I have encouraged someone else to either write or post a story, and they have refused to do so because they think it's bad, and that I should just write it because "You're a better writer anyway".
It doesn't matter if I'm the best writer ever (and honestly I don't think I'm very good at all). Writing a good story isn't just about your skill with words, it's about who you are as a person. I could never write the same story you can write, because I'm not you. What matters here is ideas and the way you express them, because who you are as a person means you will express ideas in ways that are unique to you. Writing is art, so once you get beyond grammar technicalities, there is no right or wrong. One person's style of writing is simply different from someone else's, and both are just as valuable.
Good stories don't always come from good writers. When Law Abiding Pony started Of The Hive, I immediately realized that it was a fantastic story... but he was terrible at the technical parts of writing. His sentences flailed all over the place, had incorrect grammar, and generally looked like this:
The embrace would have lasted longer if a pink alicorn had not come into Twilight’s field of vision. Twilight’s shift in posture to better regard her caused her family to loosen up. A dozen different thoughts raced through Cadance until one hit her and she backed up a few steps to lower into a crouch.
It was pretty painful. So I offered to edit his story and taught him how to write properly. Now he can write very well, and his stories are even more fantastic than they were before. Your most important asset as a writer is not your vocabulary, or grammar, or how good your diction is. It's your ideas.
Choosing to not write because you aren't SS&E is a terrible mistake. You have ideas in your head that you can express in a way that is different from everyone else. There can't be a "better" way to express those ideas, because this is art. There is no right or wrong. You are valuable not for your skill, but because you have a unique perspective that no one else has. Every perspective is valuable, even if that perspective is unrefined.
Anyone can learn how to write well. The only person who can be you, is yourself.
Very true. When I first came to this site I didn't know my "their" from my "they're." Now a lot of people regard me as a literary master. Well... not a lot, just a select few.
As with any kind of art, people are prone to comparing their style with others.
Perspective is but part of the writing itself - a regular reader will first notice the style, grammar and overall presentation of the story before they decide to spend their time on reading it. Hence, it is no real surprise some may feel a little self-concious about it.
I agree that every view is unique and great, but many are ignored and unappreciated simply because the writer couldn't put together two sentences without causing the reader to reach for their eye-bleach.
That and how competitive it sometimes gets leads to people not believing in themselves and ultimate getting discouraged before they manage to improve
Well put, friend.
I agree; my problem is that I seriously doubt anyone here will like my ideas and what I have to say. That's a much trickier hurdle to clear, I feel.
Choosing to write because you are SS&E is a terrible mistake.
Joke, joke, don't kill me.
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Even after he just wrote Refraction, which was a beautiful, amazingly executed story that demonstrated unfathomable depths of characterization and a deep understanding of the show and how relationships affect us?!
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I think SS&E is an enormously talented writer.
I've just never forgiven him for the end of Background Pony.
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Ok, to be fair, I've never read background pony specifically because I've heard awful things about the ending, so that's probably a valid critique.
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I read it straight through over about 10 hours (with a six hour break to sleep), so my feelings about the ending are not necessarily trustworthy.
Just wanted to reply to this to say a couple things (and sorry for hijacking your comments section with my random blatherings. Feel free to delete this comment if you like):
False.
Wow. How...did you see through it? I...huh?
Still, based on the reviews, it's another story added to my RL list. Being honest (and hopefully not cruel; I don't intend that, ever), I wouldn't have seen the forest for the trees there.
And if those ideas are shallow and poorly thought out?
Sorry. I write, but I feel like I just never get it. I don't know what it is, I just know it's missing from my work. I try, and I think I've improved some of the more mechanical aspects of my writing, but I just feel like the end product is flat, insipid, and uninspired.
Well, back to gDocs, to hack away at more insipid, uninspired [fan]fiction, in the hopes that someday I'll unearth a golden acorn. Thanks for the inspirational blog post.
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Fun fact: I rewrote 33% of Of The Hive during the editing process. It was the most difficult editing job I ever had and I don't regret it one bit. While the original story had serious writing issues, it quickly and rapidly introduced incredible worldbuilding elements that I instantly latched on to. The underlying plot itself also had a huge amount of potential. I spent a significant amount of time helping him shape the overall arc and convinced him to cut the story off after the climactic battle at the end of Of The Hive. Don't worry, the story doesn't look anything like that. None of those sentences ever got past my editing stage xD
It's not that your ideas are necessarily shallow or poorly thought out, it's simply that you need more practice expressing them. I mean really, most of my ideas are shallow, but it's the way I execute them that entertains people. "Hurricane is the manliest pegasus ever" is not a particularly insightful idea, it's the way I chose to execute it that people liked. Same goes for "Twilight Punches Flash Sentry". The crazy batpony fic is an example of taking something ridiculous and then trying to make it feasible by constructing an entire world around it.
2510698 The last part of this = the way I feel about my writing.
Huh. I can almost guarantee your a better writer, though...
Thanks for posting it saved me the trouble of having to-