The first fic I might seriously finish is...

Old Saturn

What Pokemon am I?

Vorpy

A shitty one. Next.


Ummmm.....let's see....Zigzagoon?

Stormtroper

Goddamnit, must... resist.. urge... to make... particularly offensive... zubat joke.

Also, Abras are damn hard to catch if you don't have a mon with hypnosis, so fuck that and be a Togetic who doesn't lash out when told it's not apt for the metagame and enjoys life instead.

Also, when I read those snippets I remembered this:



Edit: Or evolve to something that is apt for the metagame. I'm not sure where I'm going with this.

Bob

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[Reason: Shitpost]

Old Saturn

Oh, Zigzagoon's are pretty cool. I'll take it. And people actually catch them sometimes.

Bee

What am I supposed to do now, drop one of the things that defines who I am? Lose a critcal part of my personality?

Nope.  Just grow up.  I don't mean that as an insult; it's something we all get around to eventually, and in most cases you're way better off for it.

Good writing style is only half practice; the rest is knowing what to practice.  Read a bunch.  When you find something you like, start dissecting why you like it.  If you like how they handled a dark tone, start analyzing how overbearing they made it, and when they knew to back off so it didn't get stereotypical and obnoxious.  Look at their language -- how often do they use simple words, and how rarely do they go for something a bit more flowery?  If the flowery part worked, why?  If it didn't, what made it feel pretentious?  If you thought it was funny, what made it funny?  Was it a quirk of phrase, or the way a carefully-timed priceless expression got captured?  Really start looking into the strokes that make a good story, start second-guessing the writer's technique, figure out what moments stick with you, and above all, why -- because the why is what you can use for the rest of your life.

Writing voice is a voice for a reason.  Anything you write, you'd better be able to picture an actual person speaking aloud over a campfire, even if it is a somewhat eloquent or dramatic one.  Anything your character says, you'd better be able to imagine an actual person saying.

And most of all, don't be afraid to start soaking in bits and pieces of their overall
style.  It doesn't make you lose your personality or what defines you
or anything -- hell, you're gravitating to it because of that personality.

CommandoDude

What kinda poke'mon are you...? How do you do the things you doooooo?

Ba da ba dap ada ba da...

Bob

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[Reason: Shitpost]

Vorpy

^ lolololololololol

Bob

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Icalasari

I wish I got even half the amount of criticism on my art and writing as you got, Chagen. As it is, the best I got was somebody saying that they hated how I wrote a short fan fic in the perspective of a character and how it got garbled at the end

When she was dying

I learned not to try that again for quite some time, but if one says that the end is too garbled for someone dying, then at least explain how I could have done that better instead of saying, "Don't". Either that, or clearly come out and say that I should never do first person perspective ever again as the pain it causes to a reader is great enough to fuel all of Hell for millenia



Edit: Wait, there was a time I got good feedback when I was starting out on spriting. I was told that it was misshapen, that the shading was all wrong, that the outline made it look glowy, etc.

I thought it was great and said they were being stupid

Recently they complained about colour, but after I put it through a filter (I'm partially colourblind), they said it looked great

I tore into my own work

It's part of the process. You know you're a good artist/author when you can't stand to see your own work bevause you think it's crap. If you like it to the degree you do, then you're doing it wrong

Chagen

"You know you're a good artist/author when you can't stand to see your own work bevause you think it's crap."

I get this all the time. My work never ever comes out great. I can never get that final 10% to make it perfect coming out right.

Sammy

I've got an idea, Chagen. Instead of listening to these assholes hate on your work, you should post more of your fic so the people who care to give constructive criticism can do their thing.

Specifically, you should post the smut.

Chagen

Haven't written that far.

And there isn't actually any sex.

Unless you're joking.

And I'm at school. The story is on my laptop.

Schitzo

Chagen. Keep writing. You're going to get shit for what you write. You have to accept that all this bullshit comes with the territory. You should humbly accept any constrictive criticism that's sent your way, and you can feel free to ignore anything that's obvious trolling. Write what you want to write about, but keep in mind everyone's mileage on what is considered "readable" varies.

See what works, and use what you've learned to write even better.

Chagen

Thanks for the advice.

I just like my style a lot. So I want to get better, but I don't want to abandon my style and voice. So I need to perfect it a little more.

My difficulties are descriptions. I adhere to Said Bookism a little too much and my scenery descriptions tend to be forced.

I'm a visual person, but it's just so difficult describing the detailed enviroments I make in my mind. I wish I could draw, I'd be so much better...

Schitzo

Then draw. You're going to be drawing some pretty gnarly ugly shit when you start off. Same with writing. Just get the bad drawing out of the way.

Chagen

I don't think I'm meant for drawing. I also have this perfection problem--I feel so ashamed of my bad drawing that I don't want to practice because I feel so ashamed of how bad I am. So I never get better. I feel like I'm disgracing the character's by being so bad.

Schitzo

With that attitude, you never will get better.

Chagen

I know that. But it's hard seeing other's awesome drawings and looking at my own shitty ones.

Also, I'm somewhat bad at starting from nothing and creating something. When I try to draw, I don't know where to start. In prose, there's a defined beginning.

I'll try to pick up drawing again today.

Vorpy

Prakutisu, Chagen-baka.

You will never get better if you don't try to get better. Also, don't compare yourself to people who have had more years of training than you.

Schitzo

^ She speaks the truth

Besides, what you see is just people editing and editing themselves for hours, possibly even days in one work. What you see in comics is just refinement.

All Nines

Little did I know that another drama goldmine was growing right under my nose . . . This is actually getting annoying.

-exits asshole mode-

I would be willing to give a critique that wasn't harsh, but I feel that the other posts nailed it, even some of the more assholish ones. But I'll say this: your writing wasn't nearly as cringeworthy as statements such as "I don't follow trends, I break them", "now I'm pratically a walking stand-up comedian with the ways I make people laugh", and "I hate this. I hate everything. I hate other people. I hate myself.

Fuck it all." Just throwing that out there.

nohaynicklibre

God dammit Chagen just finish this goddam thing and a stop being mad over some people that you don't even know critizacing it.

Also

Vorpy

That picture made me laugh.

Stormtroper

That's it, I'm watching My Little Pony.

inkblot

...I'm still not watching MLP.

Chagen

Nick, I'm at school. The story lies on my home computer, which I will not be able to access for about 6 hours.

And even if I could work on it right now, only a complete idiot would write porn in a public area.

nohaynicklibre

Well, I wasn't asking you to do it immediatly (inmediatly?)

Also, this is my favourite Pokeman, Masquerain

Chagen

It's "immediately". One of the few words in English that's spelled almost exactly as it sounds.