Poll-yah!

[leethet]

Note: I was reviewing some old posts about the craft and remembered that I had had some really fun ones in another fandom so I went over there and collected some, and will post a few here. Those who know me know this, but for those who don't: You can say anything in my LJ. If it's offensive you won't get a pass on it, but I censor no one, I ban no one, and I'm not afraid of being corrected or disagreed with. This is unlikely to come up in regard to these writing questions; just makin' the point.

Here's the thing. I re-read my own stuff and I like it, but I don't love it. I wouldn't place me in a list of my favorite writers, or more accurately, in a list of the best fandom writers. So ...

[Poll #1974441]

Please elaborate upon your answer in a comment!

Comments

[lgvu.livejournal.com]

If it helps, I LOVE your stuff.

[glennagirl.livejournal.com]

Writing is like cooking, if it isn't any good I won't serve it. I eat my own cooking and I read my own stories; how else do I get better?

[elmey.livejournal.com]

I answered #3, though it's not exactly the perfect answer. I don't normally re-read what I wrote, but sometimes I'll stumble across it for one reason or another and re-read. I can't say that I read it with unadulterated pleasure, because I can see what's wrong with it and where I could have done better. At the same time, I don't truly dislike any of it and will finish reading. And I do like my characterizations and the kind of subject matter I tackle. So yes, if someone else had written those stories, they'd be right up my alley :) Maybe I'd be less critical of the faults? I don't know for sure, I'm a pretty critical reader.

My reading habits are definitely broader than my writing habits though, I enjoy a wider range of stories than I'm able to write.

What's interesting on re-reading is that invariably I've forgotten that I've put such and such into the story. It's very odd.

[veronicaluv.livejournal.com]

I write what I like to read and to fill a need in my own fandom enjoyment. That's not to say I've liked and re-read everything I've written - there are some embarrassing stinkers from the early days of my fan fiction writing career that are not to be spoken of - but for the most part, I find it comforting to know that there's just the perfect fix-it fic for whatever issues I had with whatever canon. Writing fanfic has always been more fun for me than reading fanfic...so now I'm just confused :).

[granderobino.livejournal.com]

I consider you one of the best writers in the fandom. As for my own writing, I always write for myself. If others fancy one of my pieces, I consider it a bonus.

[graculus.livejournal.com]

I don't re-read my stuff as a matter of course and find that quite a bit of time needs to have elapsed before I will happily do so, which helps with not remembering how it all pans out (which is an ideal for anything I'm reading, really, I'm not a massive re-reader unless I really like something in the first place). It's cool sometimes to go 'oh, did I write that?' if I come across a particularly nice turn of phrase...

As for popularity/fame as a writer, I've resigned myself to being in the middle pack wherever I am. Sometimes I help that out by writing pairings people don't go for as much, but I have to write what gets me going and if that's not the main pairing in the fandom, it can't be helped.

[franciskerst.livejournal.com]

I write so slowly and so painfully (in a foreign language, that doesn't help) that I must be satisfied with the result. As a rule, I am not when I post the text (though not knowing how I could improve it) but months or years later, I'm usually pleasantly surprised: I have the "Oh, that's not bad!; really is it me who has written those lines?" sort of reaction. However I cannot say I positively love the best I have produced; I just like it, more or less.

[vysila.livejournal.com]

Well, I hope my response didn't sound quite so egocentric as I think it might. But I am tickled when someone recs one of my stories and I do re-read at that point. Sometimes I am pleasantly surprised and think, oh that really did turn out pretty well. And sometimes I groan and think, whyever did I let that one out before its time?

There is always so much more to learn about the craft of writing. I'm not always sure I see that progression in my finished stories, but the only way to improve is to keep on trying!

[mayamaia.livejournal.com]

I tend to like my writing well enough, but what makes some of my stories meaningful to me is beyond even that, a place where the original inspiration lives alongside the story. When my writing works, it has a particular special life to me.

When my writing doesn't work, I puzzle and fiddle with it, and I may change things for any work at any time, except for drabble-sized unimportant things.

And I have a lot of patience with bad writing when it comes to fandom. I will read all the way through a bad fic, usually, if it is not simply disgusting and cruel. I find my own writing is not in that category, so it is not difficult to read my own work.