Kill Winter! (also known as a CHEERLEADING post!)

[scifishipper]

Hello writerly friends! Several of us, including me, have been feeling a little uninspired and down about writing and other life things. I would love for us to rally around and give each other support

Comments

[sevanatwonights]

I am one of those, "Oh it's good enough to post" but a week later I'll go take it down because no one has bothered to review. I mean my stories seem to get read a lot but there is NO feedback from anyone outside. And if I do get feedback it's all technical bs that this ONE particular reviewer likes to pin on me.

So I'm stuck writing, posting, and then deleting. It's even happening in my original fiction. I write some and then I think, 'you know this is crap,' and either I lose interest because of my little acceptance psychosis I seem to be suffering from or I'm tired of thinking about it!

I just want to get my 'Circles' story (a story about crop circles and well how the one character realizes he's in love.

[beesandbrews]

Comments of any stripe seem rather few and far between compared to a few years ago. Unless you manage to strike your fandom's collective id exactly right, then it's the sound of crickets. I wouldn't pull your work down, that makes readers skittish. They might unconsciously lump you in with writers who hold their work hostage for kudos.

[sevanatwonights]

Thanks for the advice and your right. I plenty peeved when a writer pulls everything they had written but for some reason I never thought of myself of being stingy. I was also thinking about putting my works on my own site and be damned with the popularity contest until I finish it completely and then make it available for popular consumption. What do you think about that?

[beesandbrews]

I think that's a good idea. Sometimes you just need to get work off your desktop. The important thing though is tell the stories that make you happy and don't worry overmuch about other people's feedback because that's the road to discontent.

[sevanatwonights]

:D

[kakodaimon]

Maybe it would help to cultivate an apathy towards the idea of it being "crap." If you asked yourself instead if you said what you needed to say (or similar, whatever works for you), perhaps you could keep things open to critique/revision while leaving the paralysis. Keep the metrics specific and meaningful to you and you will also avoid those shifting goalposts of what is meant by "good" (most often moved back by our own selves when we get nervous...).

[sevanatwonights]

I know about metrics but I hadn't considered applying it to my writing! What a wonderful idea! However, would it be a Rubrik (a list of detailed goals or just a list of vague metrics?

[kakodaimon]

My guess is that the more vague our standards are, the easier it is for insecurities to prey on us in unproductive rather than productive ways.

[scifishipper]

It's very frustrating to write and post and then get no feedback. I've certainly had that happen and have to wonder why. I guess I just keep trying until something clicks. ((HUGS))

Original fic, however, I just can't get to work at all. That critical voice you're talking about is QUITE mean (at least mine is) and I have started a novel only to freak out and quit. *sigh*

As I always say (and not to be undervalued), "Writing is hard, yo!"

Good luck with everything!

[millari]

I am one of those, "Oh it's good enough to post" but a week later I'll go take it down because no one has bothered to review. I mean my stories seem to get read a lot but there is NO feedback from anyone outside.

I know just how you feel about this. I am currently posting a multi-chaptered fic in the Hunger Games fandom that is getting plenty of hits, and even a few kudos here and there, but *very* few comments. Like three or four with the initial chapter, and then for the next six chapters - silence. It can be very paralyzing and de-motivating. I had publicly set a schedule of posting once a week, and even though my chapters were ready to post, I got into a loop where I was avoiding posting because I think subconsciously, I didn't want to face another chapter landing in the forest with no one to hear. I had to make myself keep going after I got one reviewer, but she such lovely, complimentary things, so at that point, it was like getting 10 reviews.

Your crop circles premise sounds intriguing.

[scifishipper]

AO3 is terrible for comments! I receive VERY few in relation to kudos and hits. I've just come to assume a kudos is a "loved it" comment. *sigh* I do miss the LJ days of MANY COMMENTS OF LOVE!

[millari]

Yeah, AO3 is convenient, but it's just not the same. :( I miss LJ too.

Crop Circles

[sevanatwonights]

Yeah, it seems to be phenomenon that has never been done or addressed in the fandom. Which is really weird because you would think of the possibilities of a sci-fi program addressing them. Thanks for the encouragement!

[sevanatwonights]

Thanks so much for the words of encouragement!

[lanalucy]

I started writing just to get the stories out of my head, and I still write mostly because it's fun when the characters talk to me.

If I waited for feedback, I'd probably have already quit, but I do at least have a good relationship with my beta, so I get some feedback on nearly everything I write.

Crop circles is definitely an interesting subject for fandom, especially a fandom that's Earth-centric.

I'm sorry you're having trouble liking your own stuff. I don't have any advice for you there, not because I always am satisfied with/like my own stuff, but because I don't know how I get around posting something I don't particularly like. I just do it. :shrugs: