The Anonymous Writing Feedback Meme
THE ANONYMOUS WRITING FEEDBACK MEME
Since it’s been more than half a year since the last one.
Let’s keep this simple. As a writer, do you want to know what readers really think of your writing?
THE ANONYMOUS WRITING FEEDBACK MEME
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I've been writing a lot of drabbles in S4, and fewer longer stories. Something about the canon was really uninspiring to me as a reader and a writer this year, and S3 had problems for me too. There are longer stories for previous seasons, though "long" for me can be 700-1500 words more often. Things in the 3300-6000 word range seem "epically" long to me as a writer, and I wish it weren't so, but I have not been able to persuade my brain otherwise. I really envy those who can work a 10K-30K canvas and have it make sense in their heads!
Your words are encouraging, though, and I'll continue to strive toward writing more longer stories (even in past-season settings) so that drabbles don't seem like the bulk of my SPN work!
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Wow, negative comment is negative, but I hope you take it in the spirit in which it was intended, because I know you're a popular writer, with good reason. I just think you could be even better.
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For the floweriness and clinicality, are there any stories in particular that represent the negatives to you and others that you think avoid those negatives? Examples always make that more clear to me, especially because... I've written a LOT of fics, and styles/tendencies change over time. I may think I've "stopped" doing something that I'm still doing, or that I'm doing something better than on average maybe hasn't changed much.
Thanks for taking the time to leave comments!
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Only praise for your writtings on the early Supernatural days and the early Prison Break days, I have since fallen of the fandoms but I really enjoyed reading your fiction. Thank you!
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Did you wind up leaving those fandoms for the same reasons? Prison Break just went entirely downhill for me after S1 (it became a different show), and Supernatural has been hard on the fans since S3 and lost a lot of people then.
But one thing both have in common is that the relationship between the brothers, which for me at least was a huge part of why I watched the show, became less "close" and "tangible" over time. I'm curious if that pushed you away from the shows, or whether it was just that they stopped "speaking" to you for other reasons.
Boy, I miss the early years of both these shows!
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I ask because I label the drabbles on the "character/pairing" line along with the genre, and if it doesn't say drabble then it's a regular fic.
Which still might be short to you, depending upon what you prefer!
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What about the full-length stories? Do you find a similar problem there? I spend a great deal of effort on making sure the story seems complete to me, which doesn't necessarily mean that it will work for you, but ideally it should.
Can you think of any non-drabbles in particular that felt "incomplete"? Examples are always so helpful!
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If you can find the time, I would say, trust yourself and try to write more longer fiction, because drabbles, for all their momentary brilliance, tend to leave one wanting more. That would really be my only criticism - not enough! - and I do appreciate that it may be time restraints as much as or more than your belief in your abilities as a writer.
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Thank you!
You know, other people have said similar things over the years, and I think it's just that I view imagination differently-- perhaps in a much more limiting way. I can write fanfic in part because the characters and their context already exist-- I'm exploring someone else's foundation. The idea of writing on an open canvas doesn't lead much of anywhere for me (and that may be partly because I'm a small-scale writer and not a "novel-scale" writer).
Not to mention that things like AUs (writing a romance novel with Sam/Dean instead of the original characters) tends to stymy me. I love it when other people do it well, but just yesterday I looked at some prompts for one of those and just mentally froze. Because I have no imagination! :0
For the longer stories, it actually has more to do with your last thoughts than a lack of confidence. I started to struggle with SPN in S3 a little bit, and I've found S4 terribly hard to work with-- ( ... )
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However, I have to say that your drabbles are some of my favourite works of yours. I find that they tend to pack a punch, to express strong emotions, and to convey profound love, desire, etc., despite their brevity. Sometimes, I think that the brevity itself adds to this; by forcing yourself to write within the limit of a hundred words, you distill the those emotions or ideas to their most powerful essence.
And you do so beautifully. In every drabble there's at least one turn of phrase that just wows me.
Of course, your longer fic is wonderful, too, and I wouldn't advise you to write fewer longer fics, or shorter fics, but I especially love the drabbles.
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The drabble actually forces out more "flowery" language simply because you don't have as many words to throw around, and you have to be sparing with the ones you do have. Oddly enough, it forces showing rather than telling as well, for the same reason. I'm glad you think they work well!
They are at least "faster" to write than longer stories, though for some settings they're also a vignette that suggests itself to me where a longer story might not. I've noticed that much more lately with Supernatural S3 and S4-- the construct is hard to work with for longer stories, but smaller ideas are more "appealing" in that setting. Some authors don't seem to have that problem, but it's been a real challenge for me.
Thanks for commenting!
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Anyway, you're welcome!
As for S3 and S4, I know what you mean. In working on my own epic S4 fic slowly as I have been, for months, watching S4 unfold in way that made my fic more and more AU, I've really struggled. But then I remember: Fanfic is, in a way, a commentary on the source material's lack. I do believe that canon can be wrong; when it contradicts its own previous canon or makes characters do things that are OOC, it is wrong.
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