Newfound respect for Authors. · 8:14pm Jan 24th, 2015
I had been reading fanfics for years now, both on fanfiction.net and here. I've seen nearly every excuse for people cancelling their stories or putting them on hiatus.
And then I decided to just go ahead and write my own.
Suddenly it became completely understandable. You can't really understand writer's block when you aren't an author yourself. 'Changing Views' is honestly my first story ever and I'm worried about potentially hitting aforementioned block but, well... I'll keep going until I no longer can. As I mentioned in the author's notes of the prologue, I have a general idea of where I want my fic to go.
And then, there's the readers. Sometimes I think people underestimate just how much a single comment can mean to the author. Then again that varies depending on the author. Nevertheless, I believe that when someone posts a story, they do it with the hopes that others may enjoy it. Having begun writing my own, as well as it being my first one, honestly makes me anxious / nervous whenever I go read the comments. And yet, I was usually the one who told authors to not let the comments bother them.
Positive comments are always nice, for obvious reasons. It seriously helps give incentive to write more when I see that others are enjoying something that I spent time on. Negative comments can be easily looked past when they actually give feedback and constructive criticism. Straight-up comments such as "This story sucks" without any explanation however? Whether we shrug it off or not, it still hurts. (At least, when you actually care about your story.) Once you start off your own story, invest time into it, think of the setting, the plot and where you want it to go, and then have some random dude just walk by and essentially say you just wasted your entire time writing said story because it's shit, without him saying why at all...
This is why I avoid trolling in general. A few words and insults that may seem harmless to you might be the final straw for others. You don't usually know how the lives of others are at the moment you write your comments. The wrong words at the wrong time could very well end lives. Even now, I have a friend whom I have known for a long time who is suffering from depression, and with good reason. Not everyone has nice, comfortable lives with families that loved them.
But I digress, I merely wanted to essentially 'tip my hat' to fellow Authors. Whenever I go and read a new story nowadays, I just realize how little I knew of the struggles of attempting to write a proper story and it makes each new read that much more appreciated.
Thank you.
I have put "A changeling's soul reflection" on hiatus because this story was actually during my first stages as an author and I think the characterization I gave Chrysalis is... cheesy. To be honest I might get back around it but I have much greater ideas and I want to tell some other stories of my own. If you wish to I could pitch in some ideas I have or give you inspiration. My inspiration comes from many sources but I tend to rather visualize stuff and it helps a lot.
2744496 I'll keep that in mind in case I ever get stuck. Same goes to you, just in case
2744559 Honestly really appreciated man.
Add me on skype dionysiosbbbb
2744738 I would, but not only do I rarely ever use skype, I would not be able to talk at all for quite a bit, having to resort to using library internet and all :V
2748686 You can still pm e and all
Yeah, I never under truly understood an author's pain until I tried writing. I've had writer's block for over six months now, and it really sucks. It also sucks that of the reviews I have, very few of them are actually constructive criticism, so I don't really know what I am doing right or wrong.
I know this pain, despite how I hesitate to call myself an author.
I have tried writing several stories by now, and despite feeling it started off well, and I had a lot of interesting things in store for it... I just never finished it, because I got hung up on numerous little writing issues and writer's block in general. Almost feels like actually finishing a story is harder than actually making it good.
So yeah, I'm right there with you. A lot of respect goes out to authors here. Their job isn't nearly as easy as it seems sometimes.
Also for what it's worth, I totally did not think Changing Views was your first story. So far I think you're doing amazingly with it, and I hope you don't get so discouraged as to drop it--because I would love to read more, even if it takes awhile.