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Wow, my Writing Sucks! · 2:04pm Apr 6th, 2021
Not sure where else to say this. Ordinarily I would've said something like this on Twitter but I've sworn off that platform for a while now. So yeah... This post is just a vent. There's nothing much to it, and I'm not expecting any replies, but I suppose this post could serve as a milestone marker or progress check of some sort.
I'm writing a fic. One that's much longer than I'm used to writing. It's destined to be a huge one, an idea that could easily be a 50k word fic, which will be far longer than anything I've ever written (I haven't exactly been writing actively for very long, so yeah...). My longest was in fact an 11k slice-of-lifey Star Wars one shot compilation that I wrote when I was 13. I wrote that over a year. And as for this story...
...I have one month left to write it, because I'm entering it for a contest. Hoboy, that's really putting some pressure on me to get it churned out even though I definitely wouldn't win. Even if I wrote up to my expectations, I don't think it's the style of story that most people on here like. So eeyup. Even in the highly unlikely scenario that I get a prize, it's going straight back into hosting Appledash contests since I don't have online transaction methods ;v;
Anyway, back to the main point. I have a lot of grand ideas, and also a healthy amount of confidence in my writing, even as a rookie. I mean, at least I'm better than the cringiest, bottom-of-the-barrel Wattpad dwellers, right? But then I sit down and start writing this fic—stars, I don't even have a title for it yet—and I fart out this steaming pile of garbage. It's abhorrent. And also the best I can do juggling college and squeezing out these tiny (VERY tiny) chunks of text while on commutes. Right now most of my scenes are a pitiful 300-500 words each, even what are supposed to be important scenes. And try as I might, I just can't fluff up these chapters to feel rightly paced, and I don't want to go into unnecessary filler! It's a real head-scratcher. The fact that someone, or even a panel of judges are going to sit through (currently 5000+, which is also the minimum word count for the contest to begin with) all these horsewords and snore their flanks off. Oh horror. Maybe they won't even bother reading it, seeing as I'm up against some pretty big names in the community.
At the same time, though, I realise that this is just training. A stepping stone, as crumbly and unstable and pungent a stone it is, is still a step forward. And no matter what, I'm going to sit down and finish this fic.
...Though, I'd like to come back and edit it slowly again once the deadline is past.
Okay, no! You started later than me and already garnered some attention. I'm jealous of you already- don't doubt your potential.
-and you have an amazing personality. Why the hell are you putting yourself down
"And no matter what, I'm going to sit down and finish this fic."
That's the spirit!
I was browsing blog posts, saw this, maybe I can provide a bit of help.
Don't let your concerns slow you down. When you're wondering how to flesh something out, or whether something is too rambling, write whatever comes to you anyway. Type TK, which is a journalist's trick I picked up from a writing blog somewhere. The letters TK hardly ever appear next to each other in a single word in the English language, so it's super easy to text-search for them. Type something like: TK (fluff this up, add more emotion?), TK (too bloated? trim this down), TK (What is AJ feeling here?) and just keep on going. Do not stop to worry about your craft while you're trying to bang out the story.
Then, when you're ready to post to the site, search TK and make your additions and changes. Some of those questions will have been answered when you finished the draft, so agonizing over them as you write will be pointless. (If you do come up with something to add to an earlier scene, don't stop to go back and make changes. Create a new document and write something like, "idea for scene where such and so happens" and add it when you do your TK search.) Some scenes will obviously be superfluous and can be cut and formed into another story or a behind the scenes blog post. Don't worry about it now. Just get the story down.
Best of luck.
I know exactly how you feel. I have confidence in my writing, but when I start to actually do it it just doesn’t look like something anyone would enjoy.
It’s awesome that you’re persevering through your struggles, and you are determined to finish the story. I’ll definitely be reading it when it gets posted.
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Thank y'all so much for the kind words and helpful advice, I'm definitely going to keep your comments in mind and start using that TK trick
No really, when I read your comments I quite literally felt like this image, minus the fuzzy text:
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Thank you so much!