Wanting to be better · 4:57am Oct 8th, 2016
There are many steps to writing a story. Making an outline, writing a first draft, revising, writing a second draft, proof reading and editing then publishing would be those steps. And really I don't follow those steps. I never have. I sort of followed the steps with The Price of Magic but never any other story, that's published on here at least. I think I want to start doing that.
I've come with an excellent story idea that involves a guilty Celestia trying to help out the changelings to help lighten her guilty conscience. Because the thing is, she knows she basically killed off the changelings at the Canterlot Wedding and she felt so guilty since then (in this story at least) that when she finds a new, starving hive out in the badlands, she agrees to help them in any way she can no matter what cost.
I want my stories to be better. The Price of Magic did so well I believe because I followed those steps. And really I want all my stories to be better from here on out. So I'm going to try and follow such steps and see where it takes me. Which means I may not get stories out as fast. But hey. Just know I'm mostly finished writing Nox Clara. Or it's first draft anyways I suppose. Nonetheless, I'll also try and keep everybody updated about where I'm at with Nox Clara and that new idea above.
And all the others I mentioned in the last blog as well.
-Raichu
Do you want the honest response to this or the nice one?
4245829 Both.
4245841
Sorry, but it's kinda either one or the other here.
4245843 Why can't it be both?
4245849
Because I'm told I'm honest like a punch to the face. That doesn't really come in "pleasant."
I tend to write an outline, write a full story, get a couple of pre-readers to look for errors, then publish.
If I'm feeling particularly fastidious, i'll occasionally even fix the errors that the pre-readers found before publishing it!
4245853 Be honest then.
4245911 Oh. Cool!
4246146
Can do.
Well, having read the first chapter of the story you're talking about in this blog, I think perfection is not something you need to worry about. You'll have more than enough on your plate just aiming for "good." The story premise alone was badly presented enough all by itself that I never even wanted to read the rest of it - and doing something as basic as "planning out your story" really didn't do nearly enough to change that. Twilight Sparkle banged a fox and apparently that makes her really angry at Celestia. Somehow. Also, random Japanese out of nowhere because grorious Nippon! That's all I took away from that part of the story - which is not really much of anything.
Actually planning out your story for once and doing basic quality control isn't an achievement, it's just living up to the minimum standard. Truth is? The story actually didn't do well. In fact, it did pretty badly. The average story here will have ten times as many upvotes as downvotes. That's the "ok, but unexceptional" participation award that you get simply for publishing something. "Price of Magic" has a 5:1 ratio. That's, in fact, an unusually bad reception. This should tell you something about where to not look for success, if nothing else.
It's commendable that you're trying to improve yourself, but I think a realistic and grounded self-assessment of where your writing skills actually stand right now is something you need a lot more than any lofty ideas of writing something "perfect."
4248070 Finally! An honest review for once in my life! Very few people have actually ever given me honest and helpful comments on anything. I try my best but how can I know I'm doing well if no one says anything! Thanks so much.
4248122
Well, I hope it was helpful. I'm good at "honest," but I can't do "tact" for the life of me.
That you actually want criticism and not praise already puts you a good bit above the average author here, that's for sure.
4248320 Criticism is always better than praise. It helps you improve, tell you how you could do better.
4248447
A depressingly large number of people here would disagree with you there, vocally.
4248498 Hm. Interesting.
Vocally you say? What, would they try and make me see that my way of thinking is wrong?
4248504
Not unless you count "throwing a bitch-fit" as a convincing argument. I have run into a few people who actually argued that criticism is either harmful on principle or that not upsetting people's egos is more important, though.
4248511 There was a funny video somehow on the step by step process of how some people take criticism. Summary: They don't take it very well.
great
now i have
to go downvote it
thnx for giving me shit
to do
fgt
That is all. Equestria is ours.