International Geek-Out Report (and a note on catching up)
First, the note: I haven't gotten any further with my LJ catch-up plans because it was the last week-and-a-half of term and I was busy doing university stuff (except for the three days beccatoria was visiting me, when I was busy geeking out). Will get around to the catching up next week, I think.
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Now for the International Geek-Out Report.
beccatoria arrived on ( Read more... )
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Now for the International Geek-Out Report.
beccatoria arrived on ( Read more... )
Definitely six. Kat definitely counts. (Then again, she's dead, so I dunno...)
>Actually, yes, you do in most areas and that comment was largely tongue-in-cheek. Though I feel that encouragement and deserved praise is never out of place. I sometimes wonder if you know who I am and what I can do, but that could be my own insecurities.
To be blunt...
I think you are a more talented writer than me. (Well, you already know that I think that, so that's not news, and that is not what I was going to be blunt about. Wait for it.) How *much* more talented exactly is beside the point, as these things are impossible to measure, and also, we're both not even remotely done growing and learning. But I know that when I read your stuff I am frequently awed, and that doesn't happen to me very often. With about 95% of all fanfic writers, and perhaps 70% of 'real, published' writers, even writers I love and admire, I feel like 'yeah, well, with a little bit of practice I could probably do something like that, myself'. (See? My megalomania doesn't need much encouragement either!) With you (and a select few others) I don't.
The fact that you are very talented indeed does not guarantee anything, of course. It does not even guarantee you'll manage to write a single decent book in your lifetime. (This was the blunt part, in case you hadn't noticed.)
Talent is just talent; what you make of it is subject to the decisions you make for your life, and to a lot of outer circumstances, too. And you may very well still have a lot to learn about writing - frankly, I haven't seen enough of your writing yet to judge that. I do know that it's possible to be very, very good at one aspect of something and be completely clueless about the next. Also, at least some of the areas you may still need to improve in would probably be areas in which I need even more to improve, so I may not even be aware enough of the possible flaws there to judge yours.
>(good lord that makes me sound like I'm about to reveal myself as a serial killer!)
Oh, but you *know* I like serial killers! *g*
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Hey, even dead kids need parents. Plus this can be pre-death. She can be Kara's growth-stunted irritating twin. Or maybe the eight year old that's really mad the six year old keeps out-doing her.
I'm going to skip over all the praise because it makes me shy, because I'm genuinely uncomfortable believing I'm better than people even if I am (and there are lots of people I think I'm better than - there's that irritating meglomania/fear of arrogance rearing its head again!)
>The fact that you are very talented indeed does not guarantee anything, of course. It does not even guarantee you'll manage to write a single decent book in your lifetime. (This was the blunt part, in case you hadn't noticed.)
That blunt part doesn't upset me. Or rather, the notion does upset me but you saying it doesn't, because it's something I'm hugely and acutely aware of. It's the main reason I feel unworthy of the praise sometimes given me (by you, but also by others like my writing profs at uni) because I feel a fraud. Like you say in your comment, one can be great at a certain aspect of writing (language) but fail, utterly at another (plot). That and my character flaws that prevent me from getting on with anything really do cause me to fear that I'll end up wasting whatever talent I do have. I think this is a real and terrifying possibility and it's one of the reasons I feel uncomfortable being held up as "better" than anyone.
See? We're both allowed self-indulgent self-centric posts!
Ooh, also, watched Life on Mars. Also will likely get to the 68 Wives beta work tomorrow or friday (going out this evening for Valentine's thingy) and get it back to you by the weekend at the latest. Hope that's all right. :)
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