• Welcome to the Fantasy Writing Forums. Register Now to join us!

My future

It has been some time since I have posted on this forum. I wanted, needed, to take a long break from my writting. I tend to have an obsessive personality when it comes to things and i literaly poured every second of my free time into writing and I was constantly obsessing over ways to critique and improve my skills when i should have been focused on much more important things. During this long break, i felt more at peace. I felt calm, I felt like I had the freedom to do other things. Before I felt like I had to write and it felt like a chore to me, but taking a break and stepping back, I took a deeper look into my reasoning on why I write, and have come to a conclusion. I am no longer striving to become an author, at least, not in the way I originaly thought.

This may be a bit of a shock, to me it was too. Am I throwing in the towel? Maybe. Sometimes I see it that way but I feel there are more important things I can devout my time toward. I am a raging perfectionist and I literaly spent months trying to create a first chapter to my book, which I didn't even come close to finishing three pages. I was unhappy with everything I wrote and felt over pressured to make it truly outstanding. I believe I am much more of a creative person. I have sharred the vision of my many worlds I have created and the plots with friends and they all have said that they were blown away by the creativity and originality of my concepts and ideas. But where I aparently excel at imagination, I lack in presentation.

I enjoy creating and using my imagination. I always have and I always will. But it was not healthy for me to spend the amount of time that I did working on my story. I became very stressed about my work and it took the passion away from it. I wondered what my future would be. I still like to write but I enjoy writting plots and less specific style. It's hard to explain so the only thing I can compare it to would be something like the Similarion. The different stories in there are very fun to read yet they are not written like modern books. It doesn't go into any deep povs and it's more of a telling of these grand tales. That's what i like to do and I have no problem at all writting in this style because this is what I enjoy.

So my question is this: Do you think books written in the style of the Similarion could be published? Not asking if they will be a bestseller. A style that goes to great length showing the grand tale of a story and having a more poetic and, as I see it, "narrative purpose" rather than the modern pov driven book.

I do want to thank every member here that has helped me in my journey and just because I am deciding to do this, I don't think the time I spent before was wasted. I've learned from it and the members here at this forum have really shown me things I wouldn't have thought of myself. I want to again thank every one here and wish you all the best of luck on not only your works but your life as well. In a sense I can see how some would see me calling it quits, and while in a sense I am, I am still trying to move in a different direction. I want to keep writting fun, even if it means i'll never get published, so be it, popularity is fleeting and only temporary. I would rather never get a single fan or reader yet enjoy it than have many fans but hate the process of what I create.

edit: I would like to make something like my collected visions book. as some of you might know, warhammer 40k is a HUGE, HUGE universe/setting. This book pretty much set up most of the background info as a collection of informative books. It was almost like a poem that explained the universe's lore and history.
 
Last edited:

Xaysai

Inkling
Androxine Vortex,

I'm sad to see you giving up, but as someone who has also mostly given up on the prospect of ever truly enjoying writing, I would encourage you to continue to participate in this community.

There are aspiring authors here who could benefit from your knowledge and experience, and established authors from whom you will continue to learn things from even if you aren't actively writing.

Aside from that, you never know when you will come across something which will inspire you to write!

Good luck in your future endeavors, and keep the faith, my friend.

Thanks,

Dan
 

CupofJoe

Myth Weaver
Of course you must do what you feel is best for you.
I second Dan [Xaysai] in wishing you well and hoping that you stay part of Mythic Scribes if only to laugh, giggle, celebrate and commiserate with us.
As for your question "Do you think books written in the style of the Similarion could be published?"
I sadly think not as a first book and possibly not ever. Publishing is changing fast so anything could be possible...
 

Penpilot

Staff
Article Team
This reminds me of a something Neil Gaiman said. In response to a fan coming up to him and saying they have all these ideas in their head but they can't seem to find the time to write them down, and they feel guilty because of that. Gaiman's response was, and I paraphrase, everyone has ideas, but absolutely nobody has to write them down. Why feel bad about something you have absolutely no obligation to do?

Which brings me to my point. Do what makes you happy. Write what you want to read, and expect nothing of it except the joy in doing it. If what you write is publishable and/or popular, then that's a bonus. If not, then you still have the joy derived from doing.

And to answer if I though your approach will work, maybe. It's all in the execution. Anything can work and anything can fail in the right or wrong hands. If you want to look at an example of fantasy book that has a higher level view of things, kind of what you're describing, check out this one Death of an Ancient King by Laurent Gaudé
 

Guru Coyote

Archmage
Androxine Vortex, I think you built yourself a nice trap. It's called Perfectionism. I wonder if you turn your passion to another creative field... won't that trap show up just the same?
Maybe you need to learn that it's ok to suck... I had to :)
 

Weaver

Sage
Androxine Vortex, I think you built yourself a nice trap. It's called Perfectionism. I wonder if you turn your passion to another creative field... won't that trap show up just the same?
Maybe you need to learn that it's ok to suck... I had to :)

I deal with my own perfectionism streak through visual art: I make mosaics with VERY small squares of color. My clone thinks I'm crazy, but this kind of art lets me impose order on something that won't fight back. :) That way, I feel free to "let chaos storm" (ha! worked in a very obscure Robert Frost quote without even trying) in my writing and don't have to worry about it.

I agree with Coyote. If the problem is perfectionism, it WILL show up in anything you do, unless you get control of it and make it work for you instead of against you.

As for whether or not a book 'like the Silmarillion' would sell these days... There's a somewhat recent (published in '09, maybe?)sci-fi novel called Anathema. It is, essentailly, the history of science itself worked into a narrative set in an alternate universe. It's not a fast-paced novel, nor a plot-driven one, but it is an interesting novel nonetheless. I think that a novel that looks like a travelogue for an imaginary place, for example, could do well if it was well-written.

(I have no idea what your referrence to Warhammer 40K means. I know the game -- my clone plays and is sometimes prominent on the boards for people who scratchbuild tanks and Titans and whatever -- but what does this have to do with your writing?)
 
Thanks for the responses. Maybe sometime down the road I'll change my mind but as of now I have no drive to do it anymore more of the fact because I wasn't enjoying it rather than it being difficult. Like I said popularity was never a huge goal in mind for me so really it doesn't matter all too much to much if I get published I really just like to create for fun and I want to keep it that way. But as xaysai said, I really do still enjoy the community here!
 
Hi,

Perfectionism is as they say a good servant and a poor master. And as others have said it will stay with you, and it will be there in whatever you do. You need for your own peace of mind to take control of it. If you don't then it will do the same thing to you in whatever new endeavour you try, and you will probably end up with it robbing you of the pleasure you took in the pursuit. Having said that I suspect that the pleasure in your writing is still there, and it may return when you least expect it. And if you control your perfectionist impulses it may be better than before.

In any case, good luck to you whatever you try. And yes, I have a copy of the Silmarillion, and I love it. I see no reason at all why something else like it couldn't be published.

Cheers, Greg.
 
Last edited:

A. E. Lowan

Forum Mom
Leadership
Androxine, I wouldn't say you're quitting. You're just moving in a creative direction that is healthier for you as a person and as an artist. One of the most creative minds I know writes about the most amazing, elaborate worlds and characters, and she does it for an audience of one - herself. There is nothing wrong with this. She does it because perfection paralyzes her, and though I may see it as a pity, as an OCD perfectionist myself I understand it and sympathize. So whether you publish or not, however you write and conceptualize your stories, nothing changes the fact that you are a writer. And if a traditional publisher isn't interested in your work, then so what? A lot of folks on this forum go the self-publishing route - you could to, if only to get your work out there to the one single fan meant to appreciate it.

We are artists. That comes with some suffering required. But, there comes a time when you have to do exactly as you have done, and evaluate how your work is effecting your health. Back off and slow down, if you need to. You're not quitting - you're just moving in a different direction. Your work cannot help but improve from it.
 
A E Lowan, that is exactly how I feel. I want to enjoy and love my work even if that means I'm the only one who enjoys it. Same when I create songs on my guitar, I'm not a famous musician so the only people that are going to hear these songs are myself and friends I might happen to show. I don't want to feel like I have to show off my talents.
 
Top