@Bee: Thanks for the comprehensive reply.
I feel a little better now actually, sitting with my laptop at Starbucks. Completely alone (well, metaphorically speaking). But just the way I like it. I think I'll probably do this more often when I can afford to.
Oh and, Recettear has an English version, which is what I'm playing. I find the mechanics fun since it's basically a mix of being a merchant (buy low, sell high), and dungeon crawling. It kind of reminds me of Persona, but with less magic and seriousness.
I mean, there's Social Links in Persona, but here it's more like...customer levels (since you own an item shop and all...). The recurring characters are all pretty hilarious, and there's one lady thief there that totally reminds me of Miki...which is testament to how awesome she is.
Also, the main character and her friend/partner/tutorial guide totally reminds of GakiKame... ("How, HOW is it possible for anyone to sleep that much?!" -- actual game dialogue
) Not to mention all the backhanded references to old classic video games, like Dragon Quest. The humor cracks me up, it does.
Everyone should try it just for the lolfactor.
But anyway, getting off point. And ooh I see shiny new question! *pounces*
What do you find most difficult about writing and/or consider to be your weaknesses?- Finding the right tone for things. It can be really difficult to get started, especially for someone like me. I'm too finicky about little things, and I get too easily distracted, so I can get derailed very easily instead of doing what I was originally doing. Sometimes those derailments have good payoffs, like leading me to solutions I hadn't thought of, but most of the time I get distracted and end up doing something else, thus preventing me from doing my research for writing. Lol. I make it sound like homework...
- Getting into character can be really difficult too. A lot of time I just end up sitting there, spacing out, trying to figure out the what and whys. Who is this person? Why are they doing this? What are they doing it for? Do the inside and outside match? If they don't, why? And if they do, how can they be so honest, or not? I tend to go into obsessive detail for some of them. Haha.
- Which leads to one of my major weakness. I tend to overlook the minor characters, or just reuse stock characterisations. I feel like I should be developing them completely, even if not all of it is shown in the end. I need to know my characters inside out, but that can be a problem if I have a problem liking or caring about one of the girls, this being H!P fanfic and all. That said, I can be extremely biased towards my favorites. Yes, I said it. Haha. I know I sometimes make Ai incredibly OOC, but then again, I keep throwing her into the weirdest scenarios (woo assassins, vampires, nuns on one occasion...). So I can't expect her to be the same person as she appears to be IRL, ie. an idol. At least that's my justification. Lol. I can only hope she isn't too deus ex machina. Ah well, need to keep the fangirlism in check...
- Another weakness of mine is lack of personal detail. Oh I know how people tell me I go into excruciating detail sometimes, but what I meant was little things like how they look, what they wear, etc. Human details, what have you. One of my worst failings is that I pay only cursory attention to how they look. I make weak attempts to describe things, but usually they're just generalizations. I guess it's a reflection of my personal vision. I don't really pay much attention to people and how they look, unless they give me reason to. And even then, I feel like I'm not really looking at what they wear or things like that. I'm usually more interested in what they're up to, what they're thinking and/or feeling, trying to get a read on them, basically. Of course, outward appearance plays a factor with that, but like I said, I find it difficult to pay attention to things like that. Basic flaw with me I guess. I'm trying to work on it though, but I'm woefully hopeless with fashion and the like, so don't expect any descriptions like something out of a fashion magazine anytime soon.
- Another thing worth noting is probably how overinvolved I get with my stories and characters. I literally live and breathe them while I'm working on any piece of writing. I am everyone and no one in the story. I am the protagonist speaking, I am the villain scheming, I am the wallflower observing things. Hell, I'm the vase in the background, the sun above. I am God in my own world, as fanciful as that sounds. This personal connection can be useful, though I do have to take a step back to be able to review things with a critical eye. I find that I can only be objective only after a certain amount of time has passed, which can be anything from days to weeks, even months. Anyway, the point I'm getting at is that it can be terribly inefficient to work like that, because if I don't feel in the zone, I can't write at all. I need to be more disciplined about the whole thing if I want to be consistent and all. Heh.
-Oh and how I forget having the time to actually devote to writing/research?
That's like, a major obstacle.
Not to mention natural laziness...
- Endings. It's hard to find a good ending, or just the right one. I tend to be pessimistic, so I rarely have happy endings. Lol.
What do you find easiest about writing and/or consider to be your strengths?- I guess my strength lies in the ability to make links and conjure up situations and stories out of nowhere, and spontaneously as well. As Yuuchan and doubtlessly rokun have probably noticed, since I occasionally go on word vomits with them, I tend to figure stuff out on the spot, telling the story in abbreviated form right there and then in the IM window...well, usually the background leading up to the story. I can't write something without knowing what was behind the actual story. Lol. Though just as consistently, I correct and change whole concepts and themes during the actual writing, so the first "draft" that comes out of a brainstorming session like that doesn't always gets adhered to.
- Which leads to something that is probably a strength of mine, that is, research. Lol. I look at things in the real world to inspire me to things. I wiki surf a lot, and sometimes I have so many tabs open that it's hard to keep track of them. I have a lot of random info that makes it easy to make links and tell a convincing story (at least, I hope).
- And that's what I find easy about writing, that is, after I get past the tedious plodding around of finding the right atmosphere and content for my work. Once I get started, with everything in place, the story tends to write itself. I just follow with the moment, letting events guide me even as I shape them with my own hands. The only thing I have to worry about is if it's coming out right during the process. Lol. I stop to spot-check every few lines, in between paragraphs, etc. That's why the average Gegenschein chapter (the current one I'm writing), takes at least 3 hours, and that's for something relatively short. The original Gegenschein has chapters averaging something on order of 5k-7k words, and that takes at least twice the amount of time. Ah well, me and my crazy nitpicking over details.
- Another thing I think I'm good with probably seems to be details about scenery. I like setting up atmospheres. It's like painting a picture and inviting the audience in for a looksee. Haha. I enjoy creating situations and scenarios. There's a certain beauty about background, and I love slipping in little details that hint at things about the plot, the situation, or just the characters themselves. These things are very important (to me anyway).
- Gore. I'm good with gore (at least I think so). Violence, and the action that goes with it, is kinda something I take to naturally in writing. I feel like fighting can be more honest, though I suppose I enjoy a good tension-filled scene where lots are being said without a single word being uttered. Except writing those can be awfully draining (I'm looking at NR...). Heh. Writing action gives me an adrenaline rush.
- I'm good at bad endings. You know what I mean lol. I have a lot going for me when I write angst, though I like to think that the way I convey angst is a lot different than the average fanfic writer who's just writing for fun (not that it's wrong or bad, just different). I don't really need to throw in a dramatic handicap or problem to make it a problem. Sometimes all you need is a simple little misunderstanding, or just one small problem that escalates...angst can be subtle and painful too! People don't need to die to make it sad. Sometimes it's more painful if they live and things don't work out. Just saying.
Can't think of anything else at the moment.
Topic: Fanfics Review / General Discussion Thread (Read 306386 times)