Fic Talk > General Discussion
The Writing Thread
nicksgal:
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on December 28, 2020, 12:06:28 AM ---Happy birthday! I know, birthdays become less and less exciting each year LOL. This year has been especially weird. My birthday was on Easter, but it felt just like another random Sunday too, since my family didn't get together because of the pandemic. I hope you had a good day, all things considered!
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Thanks! It's a weird year to celebrate anything for sure, especially when you're doing it alone (or in very little immediate household groups). I mostly watched Friends, edited, and ate sushi, so again, more like a random Sunday, ha.
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on December 28, 2020, 12:06:28 AM ---I try to limit myself to working on one project at a time these days for exactly that reason, but it's hard when I get one of those rare, lightning-in-a-bottle bursts of inspiration for a different idea. Hoarding chapters instead of posting them right away helps.
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I'm trying to do two at once right now (if editing counts as writing a story), but I figure it's fine because they're all in the same universe, so it's like looking back on an earlier part of the same story to double check something. Had to push it aside for the holiday story idea though, since it had a strict deadline to be relevant and it kept creeping in on me. I love hoarding chapters! It's really comforting knowing that I could take a break if I wanted to (maybe not six months yet, but at least through May). If there was one thing I wish I could go back and tell myself, that would be it. Write, hoard, then edit, then post, and repeat.
RokofAges75:
--- Quote from: nicksgal on December 28, 2020, 06:48:52 PM ---If there was one thing I wish I could go back and tell myself, that would be it. Write, hoard, then edit, then post, and repeat.
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Yes! It does take willpower though. It's hard to hang on to those chapters, especially at the beginning when everything is new and exciting and you're dying to share it with the world. It gets easier once you can finally start posting something, even if it's something you wrote a long time ago.
The ability to go back and really edit is awesome. I used to only proofread chapters once or twice before posting, mainly just to catch and fix typos (which I still would end up missing), but now I read chapters many times and make bigger changes before they go online, and I think my stories are better for it.
nicksgal:
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on December 29, 2020, 12:40:33 PM ---It's hard to hang on to those chapters, especially at the beginning when everything is new and exciting and you're dying to share it with the world.
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Yes, excited word vomit, ignore all consequences! Editing is for suckers! (I'm kidding.)
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on December 29, 2020, 12:40:33 PM ---I used to only proofread chapters once or twice before posting, mainly just to catch and fix typos (which I still would end up missing)
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So, I relate to this in a hilariously painful way. When I was popping through my PBox editing, I found one instance where I'd accidentally written "aroused" when I clearly meant "roused" and laughed so hard for such a long time about how I could have made that mistake, how awkwardly hilarious it made the whole sentence, and that I somehow went over it initially (since I did proofread before posting even in the excited word vomit days) and still missed it. Then I cringed, because that's just been hanging out there for however many years making it hilariously awkward. I ended up changing that section into something that had neither of those words, but it still makes me laugh really hard thinking about it now. Oops!
I do miss that excitement sometimes though, especially when everyone was equally excited and we all fed off each other. But better writing is probably better in the long run.
RokofAges75:
LOL! I have made mistakes like that before too. Many years ago, a kind reader pointed out that I used used the word "erotically" when I probably meant "erratically," and she was right. Never made that mistake again!
I reread some of my old stories when I was writing those blogs for my site, and OMG, so many typos, even in the better ones. One of my early quarantine projects was going back through the posted versions of my more recent stories and fixing the ones I found. I don't usually edit stuff that's already online, but I will to fix typos and other little mistakes like that.
I also miss those days when we were all writing at the same time and fed off each other. That helped keep me motivated. I have to motivate myself these days LOL. I do appreciate the few AC regulars that are still around and still read and write, or at least don't mind talking about reading and writing.
nicksgal:
Hahaha! I'm laughing so hard, I'm so glad I'm not the only one. I wish someone had told me, because it was in one of the earlier chapters that I hadn't edited way back when, so it's been there a loooong time.
So many typos! And they're not even typos where the letters are close together, they're more like "my brain went faster than my fingers and I filled in the right word every time I read it to proofread." These days, I almost always edit three times and sometimes even run it through text to voice to check phrasing if I want it to hit a certain way. But then you have the issue of it not knowing how to pronounce some things or pause correctly, so I've definitely done odd spellings or weird punctuation to have it read correctly. That must have been a lot to just go through to edit typos! Were there any that you wanted to really overhaul after going through the effort of typo fixing?
Well, once I'm done with this edit overhaul, I will be writing again, so I would be happy to do weekly motivation with you. Might be a good thread.
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