Friday, February 12, 2010

This is me trying to give a pep talk to myself young writers

After receiving my first critique on deviantART from Kazaein on a short philosophical piece I wrote about a year ago and recently submitting the first in the Heavenly Virtues project that I've put on myself, I've been thinking.

Writers are always dreaming and cooking up new ideas for a new work. But let's be a bit realistic here - not all of those ideas are going to be out of this world phenomenal. You'll have those off days when something you initially thought was a great idea turns out flat when you actually sit down and write it all out.

I'm sorta feelin' that way with my Virtues project. :/

But that doesn't mean that your story is completely beyond help and unsalvageable.

Ah, the wonders of editing. ^^ Snip a word here, trim a phrase there, tweak the plot over there. Something that you couldn't stand to look at and read over can be remade into something wonderful(: Despite detesting my story on patience, I'm still optimistic about its potential. :3 Which leads me to my ~*~sagely~*~ advice for today.

Write. Even if you think it's bad, jot it down. Just because it starts out bad doesn't mean it has to end up bad.

I've gotten into that habit after NaNo. If an idea has any potential, best believe that I've written it down. :D In general, I'll post 'em up on dA for feedback, and then eventually I'll put them through the editing process. :) That's how you grow and learn as a writer.

Do this for me, if you haven't done so recently. Flip through old notebooks or peruse your computer and look through some old writings from a few years back, or if you're daring, ten years ago, or twenty.

I have memories of third grade poems that I thought were so clever and pieces of stories that I thought were pure literary art at the time. Now I look at them and just laugh. It's so funny how far I've come. It all started in second grade when I started getting creative with some colorful similes and realized that I could smith words together to make something worthwhile. Now I can actually write something a tad more coherent and mature that people can enjoy. Practice makes perfect, no? :]

I commend you for your efforts, writer. They have not gone in vain.

A weary traveler, ready to take a break. He gathers the strength to lift his head, only to see the path in front of him stretching way past the horizon. His chest heaves heavily, breathing with much effort. "Can't I just stop for a little while?"

You've got a far way to go, I know. We're all human; we'll need to stop and take a breather every once and a while.

But just look behind you, and you'll see how far you've come.

2 comments:

  • ??? said...

    *legasp* I gave you your first critique? I took your critique virginity! XDDD

    On a serious note, I agree with everything you've said. There are some stories on my hard drive that make me depressed every time I read them, and then some of my most recent stories are like the most precious diamond to me. As our writing evolves and we learn more, naturally some things that were great a few years ago suddenly aren't so wonderful anymore. Once you learn to accept the fact that your writing isn't going to be amazing every time you do it, getting critique and remembering isn't so hard. Rather, it becomes almost fun. I love looking back and seeing how I've improved.

    Keri said...

    Writing is rewriting and so therefor rewriting rocks toe socks - but you can't just skip to that part so you have to burrow into first drafts and try to enjoy them as much as you can, even with all the sucktitude. =D

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