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Do what you love, what you must, what you decide

Yora

Maester
I have not thought that far yet. Bigger distribution channels have more potential to reaching a larger audience, but commercial also means a considerable amount of additional work and resources, which I don't know I want to bother with.

Though admitedly I am for shorter pieces of fiction. I think these are much more viable to just put up on the internet than whole novels or series. Those probably could only work for people with tablets or ebook readers.
 

Demesnedenoir

Myth Weaver
I'm a blend.

My brain is always creating stories, but by no means do I have to write them down or I will go insane, or some such. So, creation is compulsive, writing is not.

Love? It can be a grind, but finishing a project is the love... whether its a chapter or a book. I never experienced that euphoria with shorts, I first felt it finishing a screenplay. Now, when I feel like I've nailed something, or sometimes even the lightbulb or aha! moment can create that. The more I write, the more little highs I get, LOL. But as a whole, love writing? Maybe I dunno what love is. My favorite little rush is when I realize that I've planted all these little seeds in a story and finally realize that damn! They do come together! Wow! Who knew? It's like the subconscious mind is writing a part of the story and waiting for the conscious mind to figure it out. That's a wicked cool sensation.

Career... That's the goal. I have too many other interests that I could "do for myself" and they wouldn't take as much time, LOL.

By word count, love is dominant, heh heh.
 

Laurence

Inkling
I'm a blend.

My brain is always creating stories, but by no means do I have to write them down or I will go insane, or some such. So, creation is compulsive, writing is not.

Love? It can be a grind, but finishing a project is the love... whether its a chapter or a book. I never experienced that euphoria with shorts, I first felt it finishing a screenplay. Now, when I feel like I've nailed something, or sometimes even the lightbulb or aha! moment can create that. The more I write, the more little highs I get, LOL. But as a whole, love writing? Maybe I dunno what love is. My favorite little rush is when I realize that I've planted all these little seeds in a story and finally realize that damn! They do come together! Wow! Who knew? It's like the subconscious mind is writing a part of the story and waiting for the conscious mind to figure it out. That's a wicked cool sensation.

Career... That's the goal. I have too many other interests that I could "do for myself" and they wouldn't take as much time, LOL.

By word count, love is dominant, heh heh.

That’s interesting—I was wondering if I’d missed out on a great deal of satisfaction in not starting out with a shorter story. Have you always found that to be the case?
 

Demesnedenoir

Myth Weaver
Shorts never hit the euphoria button with me. Still don't. Chapters that achieve a major payoff in the bigger book, are another story, there's a rush there. But really, nothing compares to finishing a book. Screenplay... maybe close. But screenplays can be whacked out pretty fast. When the trilogy is done? I've no idea what that'll feel like.
 

Laurence

Inkling
For me a lot of why I write is because of how I imagine I’ll feel having put out my own trilogy. It’s just fortunate that I also happen to love the process of writing the thing—I really just assumed I would. I always did the bare minimum in school but basically enjoy everything that stimulates the brain now.
 

skip.knox

toujours gai, archie
Moderator
OP chiming in here to say thanks to all for the responses; newbies are welcome to resurrect the thread to make their own comments, of course!

Anyway, what strikes me here is the variety. It doesn't surprise me, but it drives home the point that art is a highly personal thing, and the experience of creation varies with every human who engages in it. Every generalization that can be made has a thousand thousand exceptions to it.

So, whatever writing is for you, that is a true thing. Never doubt it. Even if it changes for you every other Thursday. <g>
 

Demesnedenoir

Myth Weaver
I'm a sick bastard, I love editing, heh heh.

For me a lot of why I write is because of how I imagine I’ll feel having put out my own trilogy. It’s just fortunate that I also happen to love the process of writing the thing—I really just assumed I would. I always did the bare minimum in school but basically enjoy everything that stimulates the brain now.
 
Hi,

I'm not sure where I fit on the scale (but every time I stand on them they tell me to get off!!!) But as for writing it's somewhere between love and a compulsion - but also because it's the only thing I can think to do. If I'm not writing then sooner or later I'll be thinking about it and doing it. What I love is telling a story. Writing it down is good. Rewriting it / polishing it is ok. Editing it is pure hell!

As I have often said - I write for me - I publish for others.

Cheers, Greg.
 

Ewolf20

Minstrel
I seem to treat the idea of creating stories as a job of sorts. something i need to do. there's barely any joy in what I write and it comes off as if I don't care. making comics, doing scripts, writing short stories, I lose all sense of passion the moment I actually do it. when I do art, it's less like that. I sometimes just doodle then perhaps decide to flesh it out to an outright masterpiece. for writing on the other hand, not as much. there's no such thing as a writing equivalent of doodles. I've been doing doodles for all my life and my art gotten better for it. my writing on the other hand, barely developed as I rarely write anything. I feel a sense of cringe when i put something down on paper. I feel a sense of unease and grimace when my eyes follow each line of my work. I sometimes hate it so much that I delete it and start all over again. It's the number one killer of every idea that have ever thought of over course of being a novice writer.

people always told me justt to do it or write, but how can just write when i can't even think of anything to write today. I tried outlining, writing on the seat of your pants, mind maps and any form of brainstorming people think of. they all failed one by freaking one. I've struggled countless times trying make sure it's just right or apply previous advice I got from various people. Unsurprising to say, none of them worked.

Ideas or projects, to me atleast, are like a relationship. while others are serious about it and what to make it work, I'm that sort of person who's unfaithful and ends up going after a new guy to make into a boyfriend. Everytime i think of a new idea, I claim i'm working on it only to overthink it and drop everything in a blink of a eye. I'm scared of commitment and i feel i'm letting everyone down when i say this projects canceled. I find this sort of behavior so immoral and deplorable I don't even consider myself a writer. i'm just a fraud and it makes asking questions feel all the more guilty.


so sorry for this post but i had to get it out of my chest. I admire people who try to write depsite the fact they don't feel satisfied with their work. even people who published novels looked back on it and feel they could have done better. I wished i had this mentality I really do but i find it harder and harder to get things done in this day and age. I guess i'm one of the few people who kinda hates the idea of writing a story cause I worry about my audience. I worry that people might not like it or see it.

I had this short story i posted around this forum. not many seen it. perhaps they hated how dialogue heavy it was as my scene description skills were atrocious. that's what you get when you can't visualize things in your head anymore.
 
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