What do you do?

[WarpGirl]

Misplaced awwwww don't let that happen. In a word, well yes. If you click on the green title in my sig, you'll get a prime example. I'm trying to revise but I gotta say the stress is getting to me. However we must stick together and fight the stress. I look at it this way, nobody has to read something we submit, so therefore we are obligated to first please ourselves and tell the story we want to tell, and then worry about how to make it fun for others. I'm not holding a gun to anyone's head to make them read, so I'm not in charge if they like it. I onlyhope they like it. But if they don't I remember that I love it.

I'm casting my OC's too. Vulcans are HARD!

[panyasan]

Misplaced, I can't say I wrote anything controversial, but with hot topic's people react in their comments. The question is, because you're the writer, are you content with what you wrote? In my own writing I try to stick to my gut feeling. For example I am writing a story at this moment and I really liked the first scene, but something bothered me. I coudn't put my finger on it, until I realized one sentence had some much complications, I decided to delete it. I felt better to let it more vague. Just my two cents.

[Misplaced]

WG & panyasan, you both make very good points. I think the problem is that when I feel like what I'm writing is no longer entertaining, then the muse fizzles out. I suppose it's really how much I planned to invest in something, versus what it's actually requiring. For instance, with "Unexpected Too" (I know every one could guess what I'm talking about) I had no plans to explain much of anything. I meant to keep it light and fun. Was I naive? Yep. (BTW, that's how you spell the word, WG. Just teasin' ya a little my young friend!). I have no interest in developing it into what it's become now. But it is what it is. Now it's going to take more effort than I wanted. The point of the exercise for me was less about in-depth character development and more about thinking outside of my usual box. That and fun. It was supposed to be fun.

My "Reflections of Another Universe" series is going to the next level on the other hand. I don't mind spending an inordinate amount of time on, say, looking up ways a hand can get broken and the proper treatment for it. I don't mind looking up trek star charts to see if something is a feasable distance away for what I have planned in my plot. My gut already knew that this would be closer to writing a real novel and that the work required would be greater than something that was a fun little ficlet.

My gut is still protesting taking "Unexpected Too" seriously ---as in developing complex storylines, delving deep into character motivations, etc. I feel like I'm writing against myself trying to pick up the pieces of this story and put it together in a way that won't have people calling for the proverbial hangman's noose.

Yes, I totally understand the "you can't please all of the people all of the time" cliche. But it's kind of a balance isn't it? I mean, I want people to read my other work too, and so if I stick my tongue out and say, "screw you people, I'm doing whatever the heck I want," I'm pretty sure that for some, I'd be crossed right off their "fanfic authors who's stuff I am willing to read" list.

I am desperately trying to keep true to myself and not blatantly pander, but where is the line? This is entertainment as well as art.

I'm sorry, I don't mean to rant. And I'm certainly very grateful to those who read and give their honest input. It definitely broadens my understanding!

[Misplaced]

Grrr... I think I came of harsher and more whiney than I intended. I apologize!

Thanks for letting me "talk it out"... it helped me to see what my problem was (and it's my problem, not a problem with readers!!) and I can already feel the muse saying, "Okay, we can work with this."

[WarpGirl]

(BTW, that's how you spell the word, WG. Just teasin' ya a little my young friend!). I am desperately trying to keep true to myself and not blatantly pander, but where is the line? This is entertainment as well as art.

I'm sorry, I don't mean to rant. And I'm certainly very grateful to those who read and give their honest input. It definitely broadens my understanding!

THANK YOU! I'm a terrible speller and my spell checker is busted.

An artist can't create art if they are not true to their own vision. Monet had critics, Van Gough had critics, they said their paintings were unfinished children's paintings. So sometimes the audience doesn't know best.

[aadarshinah]

True. The amount of time I spend researching random things - like broken hands, or the exact wording of war crimes laws (or, for one of my stories, British 1940s marriage acts) - for my stories is inoridinate. I wrote one set in the early 90s and researched to the day songs I mentioned in it, to make sure they weren't achronistic. Don't know if anyone ever noticed that level of detail, but it would have bothered me if I hadn't...

Now to try to write again...

[WarpGirl]

I put myself through heck trying to write my original work, reaserching the Imperial Russian world. But I know that if I don't do it, I won't be proud of my work. And it's the same with fanfic, if I'm not proud of my work than there is no use sharing it. Other people may not like it or notice my research, and dedication, but I have to be proud of it. I think writing is the absolute most selfish thing I do. And I'm not ashamed of that. The audience is secondary in my mind.

[Alelou]

Misplaced, once you've really charmed your audience, you may lose them for a given story, but they'll probably always give something new from you a chance. And anyway, it's not like you have to pay the bills with this stuff, or please a publishing house. The only person you should pander to is yourself.

Having said that, I once got tired enough of the scolding back and forth by people about a piece that I just started posting a chapter a day so I could leave all the drama behind sooner.

I still find it kind of startling when a reviewer really goes to town on somebody without any thought to how it must feel to the author, but then I caught myself doing it to Mary Contrary over at ff.net, so I guess it's just a risk you run when people get into your story. So ... try to take it as a compliment.

And be glad you're not, like, trapped in an ice-bound cabin with two broken legs with a crazed fan who wants you to rewrite your book.

[WarpGirl]

The bottom line is that the story is what you make it, even if you do have a publishing house breathing down your neck. A very prominent author told me that. You're the one doing the writing be true to yourself. But even when the scathing reviews come, (and resistence is futile) they will come. Take the kernal of truth in them and just resolve to do what you believe will make yourself better. Although I think it might be a little nuts to drop an author entirely based on one fic you don't like. I mean Clive Cussler has a few stinkers out there. And John Grishem. And even Jane Austen has a few I just cannot read.