Oh no! First, L, good luck, and don't beat yourself over the head with NaNo. I thinking you're doing great so far!
Hm. I definitely think that there are all kinds of people telling us how to write, which is a problem. I'm not sure it's my problem, because I don't listen to those people. HAHAHHA I am a snob. But my problem is definitely related; it's that I keep thinking about what is publishable. I do the same thing when I write fanfic, actually--I think about my audience and what people will really like.
I'm proud of myself in that I think I do that less with fanfic, now. It started when I wrote that Batman fic. I was like, who on earth is going to want to read Gordon/Bruce Wayne TDK slash? But I had such a bee in my bonnet; I really wanted to do it; and I did it thinking maybe one person would read it. But I did it, had a lot of fun with it, and actually got a really nice response considering. Which I think goes to show that if you love it enough to put the effort in to make it good, someone else will probably appreciate it.
(I used to also feel pressured to put porn in my fic, because porn is popular, and I like porn. But the more I analyzed it the more I realized what I liked wasn't strictly porn, like just any old sex scene would do it. It was some specific kinds of love scenes, and specific things that happen in sex, and actually sometimes it wasn't porn at all. So now I'm a lot better at writing what I think characters will do and say, which sometimes means sex and sometimes means just a lot of talking, both of which I find exciting!)
Anywho, originality. I know! And I agree with you. But I do think that some people sit down and think of an original character, and they're not thinking, "He's going to be sort of Giles-y with some Xander thrown in." They're thinking, "A rugged and repressed Englishman with a streak of rejection humor." But I can never think that way; I can only ever think, "Giles. With some Xander." I think there *is* a difference. Maybe we're both being influenced by the same things, but our intent is different. The interesting thing is I don't think the end result is necessarily different--witness the story I wrote in college. It had the characters, but changed the names and took away super powers and oh yeah, changed the story, so of course it was just as original seeming as someone who hadn't started by realizing they were actually going to write Wolverine and Rogue, you know?
Anyway, I miss this too, talking about writing. I should post more often when I'm dead tired. I say a lot of good and silly stuff then that at other times I think is too disorderly to post.
no subject
Hm. I definitely think that there are all kinds of people telling us how to write, which is a problem. I'm not sure it's my problem, because I don't listen to those people. HAHAHHA I am a snob. But my problem is definitely related; it's that I keep thinking about what is publishable. I do the same thing when I write fanfic, actually--I think about my audience and what people will really like.
I'm proud of myself in that I think I do that less with fanfic, now. It started when I wrote that Batman fic. I was like, who on earth is going to want to read Gordon/Bruce Wayne TDK slash? But I had such a bee in my bonnet; I really wanted to do it; and I did it thinking maybe one person would read it. But I did it, had a lot of fun with it, and actually got a really nice response considering. Which I think goes to show that if you love it enough to put the effort in to make it good, someone else will probably appreciate it.
(I used to also feel pressured to put porn in my fic, because porn is popular, and I like porn. But the more I analyzed it the more I realized what I liked wasn't strictly porn, like just any old sex scene would do it. It was some specific kinds of love scenes, and specific things that happen in sex, and actually sometimes it wasn't porn at all. So now I'm a lot better at writing what I think characters will do and say, which sometimes means sex and sometimes means just a lot of talking, both of which I find exciting!)
Anywho, originality. I know! And I agree with you. But I do think that some people sit down and think of an original character, and they're not thinking, "He's going to be sort of Giles-y with some Xander thrown in." They're thinking, "A rugged and repressed Englishman with a streak of rejection humor." But I can never think that way; I can only ever think, "Giles. With some Xander." I think there *is* a difference. Maybe we're both being influenced by the same things, but our intent is different. The interesting thing is I don't think the end result is necessarily different--witness the story I wrote in college. It had the characters, but changed the names and took away super powers and oh yeah, changed the story, so of course it was just as original seeming as someone who hadn't started by realizing they were actually going to write Wolverine and Rogue, you know?
Anyway, I miss this too, talking about writing. I should post more often when I'm dead tired. I say a lot of good and silly stuff then that at other times I think is too disorderly to post.