• Member Since 2nd Sep, 2013
  • offline last seen Jan 16th, 2018

Europa


I am best moon. Suck it, Titan.

More Blog Posts2

  • 482 weeks
    Happiness

    I hate myself for this.

    I do, I really do. Whenever I start a story, I view it as me making a promise that it will be completed, and it will be completed in orderly fashion. And circumstances have forced me to break that promise, and I hate myself for it.

    Read More

    15 comments · 1,028 views
  • 501 weeks
    Indefinite Delays

    To all the... five people or so who will actually read this, I will be heading off to college on 8/15/2014. I will continue to write, but I expect a heavy, heavy reduction on how many words per day I can crank out for Supersymmetry. So, yeah, that's all folks.

    8 comments · 507 views
Dec
28th
2014

Happiness · 9:00am Dec 28th, 2014

I hate myself for this.

I do, I really do. Whenever I start a story, I view it as me making a promise that it will be completed, and it will be completed in orderly fashion. And circumstances have forced me to break that promise, and I hate myself for it.

For a while now, I've been looking at Supersymmetry and just not feeling... satisfied with it. Initially I tried to blame it on college, or just ignore it, but I've taken a good long look and I've come to the conclusion why I'm struggling with it so much.

I can't write romance.

Don't get me wrong, I like writing it, I like reading romance too about ships I like, but I look at the storyline I have laid out for Supersymmetry and it just feel so... shallow. Empty. Lacking.

And that's only half of it, because I also know what sort of stories I'd rather be writing. Over on fanfiction.net, I wrote two Greene-Fields length novels, longer in fact, about WoW's Twilight Dragonflight, universally deemed irredeemably evil. My first story on this site was to write about Elizabeth Greene from Prototype, someone I feel confident in saying nobody else has ever written about! I made Celestia into a windigo. I have the idea for... well, stuff. Half the time I pretend to be a damn Galilean Moon.

I like writing stories about things most people wouldn't even think to characterize. I love it! And as taken as I am with the Moonlight ship, neither Twilight nor Nightmare really fall into that category. And in place of romance mixed evenly with adventure I'd rather write straight adventure, with at most some background ships that don't really do much for the story itself.

Which is why I feel like I'm breaking a promise with Supersymmetry, because I got nothing for it. It's not something I feel confident writing, because the characters aren't bizarre, or unthinkably alien. That's not even taking into consideration the niggling fear that it's college life wearing me down and that my creative font is drying up, and that scares the living shit out of me because I love writing more than anything and losing that terrifies me.

I'll have a new story up very, very soon, trust me on that. And with that, I'll see whether its the type of story that's making me slump, or if the well really is drying up.

I am so, so, immeasurably sorry. Words on a screen don't convey.

Report Europa · 1,028 views · Story: Supersymmetry ·
Comments ( 15 )

Hey I'm enjoyed it thus far, sorry you feel that way. Just for gods sake don't delete it.

Even if you have to stop it here, it was a truly enjoyable read. The romance up to this point has been right in tune with the story I thought, a slow build with staccato bursts of squeeable awesomeness. I understand if you think it needs more to meet your standards, but don't let anybody tell you you can't write romance!

Also, Nightmare Moon may have a moderately well characterized fanon, but you really made her your own in this story, both in her motivations and actions. I'd like to see more of this world, even if you are finding it is only a thinkably alien one :)

I think you are too self-critical, I like this story.

You know how I feel about SS. It works for me, in part, because it's not a traditional fluffy ship. The stage is set for drama and angst and conflict, as well as utterly adorable moonlit snuggles.

You're good at this! If you need a break, that's ok. Step back and look at it again as a reader. Maybe a little distance will help you see how awesome SS is.

I have not read SuperSymmetry, but I do know how you feel. I'm struggling with one of my own stories, trying to figure out how to move the plot forward. I know roughly where it needs to go, but everything I've come up with so far feels, as you say, lacking.

Hitting a slump happens to the best of us. You think Barker never had a block writing Imajica? That the waters of the Dark Tower series were smooth sailing for King? That Pratchett never struggled with Mort, The Fifth Elephant or Carpe Jugulum? Nyet, comrade. These things happen, but you work around them. When faced with these sorts of perceived quality slumps, or mental blocks, the best thing to do is leave them and come back to them later.

I too, often feel obligated to finish a story, and doubly so with the one I have active at the moment, since it was a contest entry. Yet it has lain dormant most of the year, because I lack either the inspiration or the motivation to deal with it on any particular day. Shit happens, but you'll get over it.

Now, go write something you enjoy and be damned to the consequences.

I completely understand where you're coming from and would normally be pissed if an author did this. The reason I'm not is because of two reasons, one it's the Christmas season, two Hail to the King updated.

Ah well. Sorry and good luck! I look forward to your next story.

In the meantime, I'll... sigh... I'll ask you what your Fanfiction.net name is, because, with the latest FIMFiction update, I can't even tell whether you've linked it from your userpage, much less what it might be. Anyway, though, as I like your writing and have recently gotten back into WoW, I am intrigued.

It's fine, that's the risk we take reading in-progress works like this. Better that you work on stories you enjoy and that flow well rather than grinding away on something that isn't working for you.

And it's only "indefinite hiatus", perhaps someday a moment of inspiration will strike and you'll resume it. I'll leave it in my watchlist against that possible day. :)

Selfish as it may sound, we write fanfiction for ourselves first and foremost. It is a hobby. We take time out of our busy daily lives to write not for profit but for our own personal entertainment and enjoyment. If you start writing fanfiction out of some sense of duty or obligation, then something's gone wrong somewhere.

It's not a job, it's a hobby. Do what you want when you want the way you want. Ignore anyone who moans. You owe them nothing.

Besides, speaking from experience, fanfiction reads better when your heart's in it.

*Looks at own fanfiction collection*

Uh...not that I'm justifying my own track record....I'm totally not writing something new right now. Totally.

Hey. Don't be so down on yourself. Writing should be something you enjoy doing. If you really want to work on something else, feel free to. Odds are we will really enjoy whatever you do. Plus, you don't have to completely abandon the story if you don't want to, you can put it on Hiatus, and just write it whenever you feel like.

It's a good story, and I find the worldbuilding and adventure to be the true draw of SuperSymmetry, if you prefer writing adventure in general don't be afraid to just downgrade the romance to make the story fit your interests anyway.

It's a shame because what drew me to Supersymmetry in the first place was the idea, not the ship. In fact, I would be totally fine if the last chapter revealed to Twilight the dystopia of the other dimension instead of just being romantic fluff. I hope that you can find a future for this story, even if, or perhaps especially if, you do away with the romance and turn instead to the worldbuilding and conflict/adventure.

I'm really bummed that this story went hiatus. I liked it. an interesting take on Nightmare Moon and Solar Flare. The shipping doesn't have to be a main point. changing the Dark Sisters can be a focus and nigthmare's feelings for Twilight are the start. We don't need an intense romance here., just enough to assist the plot.

I know I criticized the romance in Supersymmetry a little but I do want to reiterate, it's not bad just suboptimal. It may not come natural to you, but I think you could write good romance with a little more practice. And if you want to focus mainly on adventure and world-building that's more than fine, even if you followed my suggestion and added a scene or two, Supersymmetry would still be more exploration and politics than romance.

I think you do fine on romance when it's in the background (I could easily have seen Chrysalis/Cadence in Greene Fields if you'd wanted to push it, though friendship worked well) but if you're uncomfortable making it the main focus, just keep it in the background. I do hope you return to Supersymmetry at one point because of the interesting ideas involved, but I'll enjoy your new story in the meantime.

Well... if you're unhappy writing it, then it's probably worth stopping.

Still, if you *want* to be able to write romance, practice is usually the best way to improve at something. Your audience doesn't seem to mind terribly that you're not perfect, so don't quit on account of us.

Anyways, if the plot you've laid out is lacking, you can, you know, change it? Maybe find something more exciting? Just a thought, but... you're not shackled to what you've planned, and only barely restricted by what you've already written. Try tossing a few new ideas into the mix, see what comes up. It might be worth it to keep your 'no cancelation' ideal.

In the end, though... on a site like this, we write for ourselves, so if it's painful to write, there's no reason to continue.

Unless, you know, you're into that. :P

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