rant #1 - you are a writer
purple heavens • a writing contest >> REVAMPING -- COMING SOON>> something worse than a writer's block??
Hello everyone! This is not really an update, literally opened the contest two days ago, but I've been getting a lot of messages about authors reading the SECTIONS and thinking they're "not good enough." Seeing as how I've worded my descriptions, I can see where you guys are coming from, but what the heck.
YOU'RE AN AUTHOR. You're in charge of the story. No matter what your readers say, whether they're praising or criticising, you're the one who's putting words on paper. The story's yours - your plot, your characters, your words. What are you comparing your story to, for it to be "not good enough"?
Back to my SECTIONS, I am freaking out at the fact that you guys are freaking out. I meant for the SECTIONS to be intimidating, make viewers think "oh, I haven't written/read anything similar before, perhaps I should try it out," not "oh, no this sounds too complex I can't write anything about it, my content will be too dense and boring and turn out horrible, I don't know what to do."
Just, CALM DOWN PEOPLE, yes, I meant for each SECTION to be provoking, as a challenge that will encourage writers to explore the SECTION, not scare them away!
I did hint this in a few SECTIONS, but what I'm really looking for, is how you, as the author, are able to interpret my ideas, and how well you're able to manipulate them and express them in your own words. I want to read these given ideas in different perspectives, and I want to be able to pinpoint and appreciate each author's individual style of expressing the same set of ideas. If I really wanted to see which contestants managed to reach my expectations in each SECTION, what am I even doing, holding a contest with all these ideas when I'm a writer myself? Doesn't add up, right?
It's a bit like how you go to a review shop, have your story read, then see the reviewer say "oh, it's a beautiful story, but it's not very 'original'." Of course it's not going to be 'original', is there really a storyline out there that hasn't been written on paper already? I'm not interested in finding all the right answers to the SECTIONS. Instead, I want to see how you shape the ideas and adapt it to your own writing style. I have my own interpretations of the topics, and I want to see yours. Turn them into something beautiful, but beautiful by your standards, which means you need to write until you're 100% proud of it. And in the end, it doesn't really matter what I say, or what others think, because if you're happy with your story, it will always be good enough.
So don't stress peeps, it's a contest, but it's more of a showcase of different writers' voices. Be confident in yourself, and be proud.
I don't know whether to laugh or cry, looking at how I posted everything up thinking I'm going to get 108429 comments asking "what the frick are you talking about?!?" and instead, got totally different messages. Seriously though, if you think my descriptions are a load of bizarre bs that make no sense whatsoever, NO OFFENCE TAKEN MY DUDES. Sometimes when I'm talking to others in person I go off on sooooo many tangents I end up losing MYSELF in my own words. I know. What even am I. There're conversation-starters, but have you ever heard of a conversation-stopper?
Anyway, keep the questions rolling through, and don't forget about the ROUNDS; future ones may potentially be more specific than the SECTIONS, but we'll just have to see! Happy writing!
- exoexoexolellel
YOU'RE AN AUTHOR. You're in charge of the story. No matter what your readers say, whether they're praising or criticising, you're the one who's putting words on paper. The story's yours - your plot, your characters, your words. What are you comparing your story to, for it to be "not good enough"?
Back to my SECTIONS, I am freaking out at the fact that you guys are freaking out. I meant for the SECTIONS to be intimidating, make viewers think "oh, I haven't written/read anything similar before, perhaps I should try it out," not "oh, no this sounds too complex I can't write anything about it, my content will be too dense and boring and turn out horrible, I don't know what to do."
Just, CALM DOWN PEOPLE, yes, I meant for each SECTION to be provoking, as a challenge that will encourage writers to explore the SECTION, not scare them away!
I did hint this in a few SECTIONS, but what I'm really looking for, is how you, as the author, are able to interpret my ideas, and how well you're able to manipulate them and express them in your own words. I want to read these given ideas in different perspectives, and I want to be able to pinpoint and appreciate each author's individual style of expressing the same set of ideas. If I really wanted to see which contestants managed to reach my expectations in each SECTION, what am I even doing, holding a contest with all these ideas when I'm a writer myself? Doesn't add up, right?
It's a bit like how you go to a review shop, have your story read, then see the reviewer say "oh, it's a beautiful story, but it's not very 'original'." Of course it's not going to be 'original', is there really a storyline out there that hasn't been written on paper already? I'm not interested in finding all the right answers to the SECTIONS. Instead, I want to see how you shape the ideas and adapt it to your own writing style. I have my own interpretations of the topics, and I want to see yours. Turn them into something beautiful, but beautiful by your standards, which means you need to write until you're 100% proud of it. And in the end, it doesn't really matter what I say, or what others think, because if you're happy with your story, it will always be good enough.
So don't stress peeps, it's a contest, but it's more of a showcase of different writers' voices. Be confident in yourself, and be proud.
I don't know whether to laugh or cry, looking at how I posted everything up thinking I'm going to get 108429 comments asking "what the frick are you talking about?!?" and instead, got totally different messages. Seriously though, if you think my descriptions are a load of bizarre bs that make no sense whatsoever, NO OFFENCE TAKEN MY DUDES. Sometimes when I'm talking to others in person I go off on sooooo many tangents I end up losing MYSELF in my own words. I know. What even am I. There're conversation-starters, but have you ever heard of a conversation-stopper?
Anyway, keep the questions rolling through, and don't forget about the ROUNDS; future ones may potentially be more specific than the SECTIONS, but we'll just have to see! Happy writing!
- exoexoexolellel
01/11/17
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