nny | (no subject)

Okay. I'm asking for trouble here, I do know this. And I'm not going to get upset, or at least I'm not going to get upset enough to stop writing 'cos sadly it'd appear that's impossible.

You're welcome to post anonymously here.

I'd really appreciate perspectives on what is wrong with my writing.

Seriously.

I know I can write reasonably well. Not memorably, though, is the thing. My fics seem to be vaguely diverting, but people don't seem to think of me as a writer, really. Of course, it's possible that I'm totally off base here, but it's hard to step outside the issue here and look at it dispassionately, which is rather the problem. Anything said would help - tell me to write longer fics, tell me to stop having Crowley call Aziraphale 'angel', tell me my pacing sucks or that I should really get my fics beta read more often... anything at all.

I'd really appreciate it.

:D?

Current Mood: curious

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From:

gramarye1971

*clears throat a little tentatively*

Looking at what

apiphile said, and looking over some of your writings as well, I think a lot of salient points were made. I don't always view writing improvement as a matter of writing longer fics -- though I did cut my own writing teeth on my thirty-plus chapter Crossover Monstrosity -- but as being able to answer the questions that canon always leaves one with. If you can look at something you've written and say 'yes, that's answered that question I was wondering about' then I don't think it matters how long the fic happens to be. Some kinds of fic challenges (the 'Five Things That Never Happened To...' kind, for example) almost force you to change perspective for each thing and answer that question in a number of different ways.

Also, and I would ask this of any fic writer who writes in a fandom where certain character pairings tend to be implicitly or explicitly viewed as canon, het or slash or whatever...can you write a fic without that pairing in mind? Without even the tiniest little hint of anything that veers toward PersonA/PersonB? I've discussed this with other writers before, the habit of taking a relationship as a given and hanging stories on it like Christmas ornaments -- which is not necessarily bad in and of itself, but it doesn't push the writer to think around the 'ship.

That said, I don't want to say that there's anything WRONG with your writing. You don't need "fixing"; you certainly don't make me cringe to read something you've written. Far from it. If you feel like you've hit an impasse in how you write, then you've done a very brave and sensible thing by asking for outside comments. So take whatever I've said with a spoonful of salt until you see if it makes sense for you.

*snuggles*