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Comments
^ So you're planning to write vapid "romantic" BDSM (fan) fiction that sucks so badly that it makes a normal person claw out their eyes, yet somehow gets picked up by a publisher, nets you millions, and is popular enough that it will likely get a movie made based on it?
Haha, no.
But I am going to try a few really good screenplays that hopefully are good enough to make it to at least the Semifinal round in the Nicholl Fellowship, and I'll get enough industry exposure to jump start my writing career. Ideally I would like to WIN the competition though.
...you know there are thousands of people in that competition, right?
If so for any of the above, you're in the wrong place. I mean sure, we'll look and tell you what we think, but there's only so much we can tell you, only so much we can help with.
Pointing out typos is also always good.
That seems like a bad way to improve. At anything.
That's not what a beta reader is. At all.
And beta reader sounds about right. To what I would want.
I'll try and be game for what you're writing. If i don't respond, kick me.
You realize that writing is not one of those things you can just kind of decide to do, and then do fairly well first time, right? There are no steps to writing beyond vague guidelines.
I, for instance, will never be good at writing beyond being sorta okayish at dialog, because I simply don't have the patience to hone my skill as a writer. Getting truly good at any kind of writing takes years--let that really sink in--of practice.
Don't get me wrong. You don't have to be a good writer to write as a hobby (as I do), but if you seriously think that you're going to get a scholarship with something that you just "like", you're mistaken. Ponicalica has the right idea here, if you're totally contented with your own work, you're doing something wrong. You're going up against people who have already had a career of writing for a living. And most of those people aren't even going to come up with anything good enough, because that's the kind of competition you're facing.
I'm genuinely not trying to discourage you, but this is really not the kind of thing you can just jump into and expect to win by just putting effort into it.
I mean, these screenplays, do you even have any ideas for them? And you are aware that a lot of screenplays just kind of get kicked around Hollywood for years before anyone does anything with them, right?
Now I don't know enough about that system to know if you get paid regardless or not (I am going to assume not, because it seems strange that you would.) but I just....you're really going to hinge your entire welfare on a one-in-a million shot? That just seems....like a bad idea? I mean, if your plain is to just sort of pick up a stopgap job for a few years and develop your writing over that time that's one thing, but you're making it sound like you expect to just hand in whatever and have it accepted. That's not how that works.
Lazuli is correct in nearly every point here.
He's wrong here though. You can be content with your own work.
No truly excellent writer is ever completely content with their own work, but that is more due to perfectionist habits on the part of the author. It is possible for writers to spend days and days editing a single scene, but it is also people to hand in a manuscript and say "Okay; I am content with this work, here is the book."
However, what you described was not at all that. Remember that only amateur writers ever write something expecting it to be totally cool without editing it first. To get something to be truly good- living up to the standards expected of the aforementioned authors- requires more than just casually writing some scripts and seeing if people think they're alright.
I should've specified that yeah, I really only meant that as far as first drafts go.
This is actually why I write on Blogger. Because you can edit things after the fact, and still post them to show your friends.
Such that the work sort of evolves as you're writing it, rather than just being a static piece of prose. One of the wonders of the internet, that (not that you can't do the same on paper, but it's much easier on a blog).
You can do the same with Fictionpress.
I've heard bad things about Fictionpress, but I've also heard bad things about every site, so I have no idea.
I only use Blogger because the interface is idiot-proof and it's what I'm used to.
I don't know if there was a moment of misunderstanding or I didn't make my intentions clear or what, but you guys have been talking like I am just some kid who decided "I'm gonna be a screenwriter, so this is the contest that will do that for me."
That's not it in the least. I already know everything you have said. I've studied, I've practiced. I read scripts daily, and I write. A lot. I know how to write a story, and how to write a script. I've written a lot of crap, but I know where my mistakes are, and I can find mistakes in other scripts. This isn't just a hobby, or a whim, or whatever. This is what I want to do, forever, and I'm really working my ass off at this. So please, try not to sound so condescending. I know I have a lot to learn, but that doesn't mean I don't know anything.
At the moment, I don't really have much to go on but word of mouth. But I have my ideas, one in particular that is currently in the outlining stage, but I really think in a few months I will have the script that might break me in. I also have a few other ideas to start immediately after.
Sometimes, a few objective readers saying "Yes, I think this is good." is enough to help me in even the tiniest way.
Fictionpress is okay as long as you don't read most of the stories on it.
See thing is, I know a lot people who do exactly what you described (the whole "Wheeee I'mma be an awesome writer cuz I get A's in my English classes!" thing), and had no indication that you had really thought about this. So, yeah, communication issue.
And I'd rather be condescending than not say anything and let someone be disappointed down the road. I have no idea where you are in your life right now age-wise or anything, so, y'know. I've had several friends who've gone into depression after having someone tear into work that no one had previously criticized.
Good example: girl I know basically thought she was going to hit it big when she wrote what was essentially Twilight but with the vampire replaced with a demon. Things did....not turn out that way.
Point I'm getting at is that I didn't know and really wasn't trying to be a dick or anything. I'm not like that.
The impression I got was that it was alternately really circlejerky and really flamey. Which is kind of a terrible combination.
But again, I don't know firsthand.
I apologize for not making my situation very clear. And I agree that you were actually in the right to be condescending from your point of view. I'm going to be 19 in March FWIW.
Mostly, I would just like some well-placed criticism, and I think people like Nova would be good for that. But I don't want those who would read my work to go in thinking "Okay, I'm about to read a story from someone who has no idea what they are doing."
Hey, so am I.
The Ides for moi.
edit: I don't understand why this edit isn't sticking.
The Ides?
Oh, the 15th.
It's... an online publishing site. It's full of people of varying levels of anonymity, many of whom don't know how to write very well.
Take from that what you will.
It looks nicer than stories on Blogger though, and its review system is less clunky on an individual basis than Blogger's comment system.
Yep. Born on the anniversary of Julius Caesar's death.
And now you know the most interesting thing about me. :'D
Well, I might look into it then.
I just don't really want unsolicited "writing" advice from random anons. Is there a way to turn comments off? If I get advice I want it to be from people whose opinions I put stock in, not a smattering of assorted netizens.
I know you can turn off anonymous reviews. Not sure about signed reviews, as I have never published a story on my account there.
Yeah that's the thing.
I don't want to be forced to either A) put up with anons or
turn comments off and then get ranted at for NOT TAKING ANY CRITICISM WHY WON'T YOU LET ME SAY YOUR THING SUUUUUUUUUUUCKS. Which, to be fair, my thing will suck, but, I don't need to be told that. I'm aware of it already.
I also kinda wanted to run a concurrent development blog where I can post relevant bits of worldbuildng.
If you turned comments off, how could you possibly get ranted at?
That's a very good question, actually.
I don't know.
DON'T MAKE ME THINK I'M BAD AT THINKING