Interpretation: A World-Building One-Shot Contest

[Phoenixsong]

Sigh, after reading my failed experimental writing reviews that you ladies and gentlemen shared, I'll be honest to all the judges. I am seriously conflicted by these helpful things despite being thankful for them as well. Honestly, I don't know if I should just GIVE UP writing for good due to my complexity and style rather than suffering myself from just outraging at the world and others just backstabbing me in the end. I mean, almost no one liked my writing in the end anyway since I'm too much idealistic.

Yet, I really can't tell why I'm still motivated to write amidst all of those valuable reviews that motivate me even further. Personally, to that reviewer who liked the theme that I failed to execute somehow kindled me to continue. But, really, am I just ... terrible at my writing passion overall?

Currently, I'm fixing slowly the huge flaw that I have now. I guess be direct is all that I need. No complexities and fanciness whatsoever.

But currently, I'm on the fence and ready to throw the towel instead of just casting my anger to someone.

Jax and starliteevee are absolutely right. No one's saying that you can never, ever write beautiful, evocative prose; you just need to make sure that you're using that beautiful prose correctly so that it doesn't get in the way of the story you're trying to tell. Writing a few stories with simpler prose can help make sure you've got a solid foundation, and then you can work toward making it sound sweeping and epic in a way that compliments the story you're telling. Just take it a little slower! If you're really having trouble letting go of the heavier prose, give some serious consideration to finding a beta reader to help you correct any obvious mistakes and make sure your intended meaning is coming through.

There's no reason for you to feel like you have to give up on writing if you know that you enjoy it. If you don't enjoy it then obviously you shouldn't stress yourself out over it any further, but if you really love it that much then you've got to learn to get past those feelings of discouragement and focus on practicing. It's always going to sting a little to read negative comments about your work, but as long as they aren't intended to be directly hurtful to you then remember that those comments were made to help you get better, not tell you to stop. Maybe you agree with the advice, maybe you don't; what matters is that the advice was given with the intent to help, with the understanding that you'd keep going forward with either those suggestions or your own ideas for improvement. Someone who wanted you to give up writing altogether wouldn't bother with that.

To everyone, thanks so much for entering, and special congratulations to the top three! Reading all the entries was a lot of fun. I hope that whatever insight we were able to provide is useful to you going forward, whether you're revising your entries (@InsaneTyranitar: ) or just keeping things in mind for future stories. I don't know what or when the next contest will be, but I hope we'll see all of you back when it comes around!

 

[Venia Silente]

I'm thinking that after I'm done publishing the story I'll start a revision as well (and good luck with that, InsaneTyranitar!). Speaking of which I intend to post the fic exactly as it was submitted for the contest, and only Eventually™ release a "2.0".

However I'll try a different approach than usual for the revision: besides finding a dedicated beta reader if possible, I'll try first rewriting it in my native language. It feels like it follows naturally, that if my problem is ideas end up being too wordy (I just am a verbose person I guess) then it should be easier to catch issues when reading them as realized natively than if I have to add yet another layer of complexity. Granted, that might mean I'd have to find a Spanish-language beta reader which might be even harder than as things stand down right now, but in my head at least sounds like a sensible approach.

(Plus, if I'm lucky, it means I can publish in both languages, increasing my potential audience)

Well, I should probably really stop being flippant about telling people to just "find a beta reader," since it's honestly not that simple. Beta readers generally act like a little more than just proofreaders, since they usually comment on larger issues than just commas or whatever ("I think your characterization here is weak," etc), field questions about the plot/future plans and so on, and provide some moral support. As a result there usually has to be some interest in the writers' work beyond just "here I'll put the commas in the right places for you," and that can sometimes be difficult to find.

That's true. I've had discussions with other authors about my works or theirs from a design perspective (SpitefulMurkrow and I talk a good lot) but in the end it all boils down to if one is willing and able to be interested enough in someone else's work. I guess at that point and for that kind of dedication one is looking less for a "beta reader", as I understand the term to be, and more for something like what in the film industry would classify as a Production Designer (someone with actual knowledge of film-making industry please correct me on this ).

Still, I'll give some beta reading threads a try. Thanks for the pointers.

Also, for Poetry and Elvyvorg: of what I've grasped from the reviews your entries seem like they'd be very interesting for me to read (plus SpitefulMurkrow's but he already knows that). Hoping to see things going on nicely with them.

 

[Umbramatic]

Just a note, my rewrite is gonna be slightly delayed, since I don't think I can juggle it, schoolwork, and the entry for the next contest at the same time.

However, it won't be long, since I'll resume writing it once my Hoenn contest entry hits the revision stage.

So yeah.