The mighty 4!
My honourable friends,
our fourth prompt post!
That's right, number FOUR.
Like the nucleobases, the fundamental forces of physics and the horsemen of the apocalypse.
Like the number of seasons, the number of letters in most swear words and the number of boxes each tetris shape is made of.
In this spirit, here are four things to keep in mind:
1) The ( Read more... )
our fourth prompt post!
That's right, number FOUR.
Like the nucleobases, the fundamental forces of physics and the horsemen of the apocalypse.
Like the number of seasons, the number of letters in most swear words and the number of boxes each tetris shape is made of.
In this spirit, here are four things to keep in mind:
1) The ( Read more... )
Firstly, every one of us started somewhere and has improved with practice. There will always be a small group of people with a really exceptional talent for writing, but even they were never the finished article overnight.
Never feel bad for posting your work. The more you write and receive constructive criticism the better you'll get. I think you have good plotting ability, but I agree that you're being held back by typos and grammar issues. Betas are a wonderful way to deal with these, and if you find someone who will take the time to explain the necessary changes rather than simply making them for you you can start to identify your strengths and weaknesses. At the moment we don't have a beta community, perhaps I should start one.
Another important thing to do is to read a lot. Read other author's work, read a variety of books and articles, read things from different genres, and read your own work out loud. Notice the way sentences flow, and where you instinctively pause when speaking your words. This can help with punctuation.
When it comes to fanfic, there are a lot of cliches and tropes, most of which do not need to be followed, but some do. Lubrication really is a must; you don't necessarily need to follow the standard One finger, Two fingers, Three fingers, Fuck model, but you do need lube. If you're interested in the intricacies of m/m sex some people find this NSFW guide useful: http://www.squidge.org/minotaur/classic/eroc.html it's written by a gay male slash fan. Not everyone agrees with everything he says, but it is useful. It's also EXCEEDINGLY NSFW and contains graphic photographs. You have been warned.
In short, you're making a promising start as an author. I hope you'll take our comments in the way they're intended i.e. as friendly and constructive critiques.
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