AO3-ing

[kriadydragon]

I'm slowly but surely getting my stories up on AO3 (SGA stories and up. Anything before then I haven't really decided if I want to transfer since it's my earliest of earliest so not that great). Everything White Collar that I wanted to transfer has been transferred.

SGA I'm currently up to Hound of Hell you Cry, and that's just my FF.net stuff. There's still my LJ stuff, my Flashfiction stuff... my word I wrote a lot of SGA :/

And knowing what I know now, it's all mostly cringe worthy. Not bad just... to clean most of them up I would probably have to rewrite them.

And have I improved over the years? Honestly? I can't say. I've fluctuated so much in terms of style, and mood, and motivation (which at one point took such a major beating I almost lost the will to write) that it's all kind of jumbled - some stories I've written with care and attention, others written to get them out of the way, some stories are wordy, some stories in need of more words. And, being the author, I'm forever going to see the need to improve.

But I can say that I have definitely changed when it comes to writing. Plot is what matters. Writing a good story is what matters. Writing candy fic... not so much. Though I still love H/C and whump, I'm not as heavy handed about it as I used to be. Nor am I bound and determined to squeeze in every single one of my little kinks. Writing a well written fic has become far more satisfying than writing a story merely to satiate a craving, and that I do consider to be an improvement (not that I think there is anything wrong with candy fic. Far from it. But I want to be a professional writer, and to write the kind of books that make it in the publishing world - and with readers - I need to be careful not to let my plots get bogged down by my "trope cravings." In other words, I need to be able to balance having my cake and eating it, too.)

Comments

[kazbaby]

I've been slowly going through all of your SGA fic since I discovered it last year and I can say that you've definitely improved. Not that you were bad when you started, I'm just saying that your abilities as a writer and storyteller have become much stronger over time.

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

Thank you:D Being the one who wrote these stories, it's hard to see the improvement when all I see is what I could have done to make the story better. Which, really, is a good thing or I wouldn't try to improve at all. But it's also a pain, especially during those times when I'm having confidence issues.

But, as they say, writers are their won harshest critics ;)

[black-raven135.livejournal.com]

I guess you know how much I loved your Hound From Hell You Cry..............
I feel your writing has evolved as any writer would do........
I have not read your White Collar as I am not familiar with the show, but....
I also wonder what happened to your mystery?? Is it still in the works or
what? I loved the detective in that.........

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

Hound of Hell remains the favorite among all the SGA I wrote. It was so much fun to write.

Considering all the SGA I've written alone, improvement is inevitable. But being the authors it's hard not to focus mostly on the things I need to fix. Plus there are some stories that I didn't put as much effort into as others, and that also makes it difficult to see improvement.

I've had to set the original story aside for the time being. But I do plan on finishing it.

[black-raven135.livejournal.com]

there are some stories that I didn't put as much effort into as others

I think every writer experiences this to some degree......Even in the case of published writers e.g. Michael Connelly and others who sometimes are not up to snuff when it comes to a character who I particularly love, in Connelly's case, Harry Bosch........and that bothers me as I really have Bosch in my sights
I have also noticed it in Crais. Sometimes his Cole and Pike are not
up to inspection either.........

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

That's something that often worries me with writing. A lot of what helps to make a story good is having the desire to want to write that story. When the desire isn't there, then you're not as motivated to put as much effort into it. And there's a lot that can kill a person's motivation - boredom with the story and characters (which is why I'm nervous about writing series and trilogies. There are quite a few stories I quit because I lost interest in them), the story and characters not turning out the way you want, overly complicated plots, the story not being received positively by the readers, and so on.

I try to only write what I have the desire to write, because it's hard to put effort into something you don't enjoy. Most especially if it's something you're only writing because you feel you have to (as much as I love fic exchanges, I hate it when I end up with a story idea I don't particularly care for, yet I can't seem to come up with anything else).

[black-raven135.livejournal.com]

**nods**
I still recall how boring the characters around Harry were in one book. I did not care at the end what happened to them and just wanted
him to walk away, actually early on, as they were soooooooooooo trying.
The odd thing is Clint Eastwood made a film from one of Connelly's worst books.........
I still recall writing a review for Amazon about it.
A real yawn
It did not do justice to Harry as his other stuff, and since has......
He was really off his mark.

[kajahryujin.livejournal.com]

I can say that there was a definite improvement in your writing since you started. I quite enjoy your stories since they are the hurt comfort genre but there is also an emphasis on the recovery. There needs to be more of that in this genre. I agree that there are many things that distract authors from their writing and make them leery of writing very long stories, myself included. I also have an issue with the middles of stories. I can get the beginnings and endings down but the middles are difficult. Do you have any advice on how to resolve that issue?

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

Endings are my own bane. I know how I want a story to end but can never get the story to end in a way that feels just right. I hate ending a story. Drives me up the wall.

Middles I love since that's where all the good stuff happens. As for advice, I don't know if I have any that's helpful. Everyone has their own way of writing - some are linear, some aren't. Some outline down to the smallest detail, some figure out the plot as they go.

For me, it helps to be organized. Not just to have the beginning and end in mind, but to know what needs to happen to get from the beginning to that ending. Which is why I love outlines, especially for the longer, more complicated works. They not only put the plot in order but help keep the major plot points on track.

How detailed to make the outline usually depends on the story - some outlines for some stories are longer than others - but I like to at least leave a little room to let the story develop how it needs to. Writing an outline doesn't mean doing exactly what that outline says - for me, most of the time, once I start writing I never look at the outline again. But it's there when things start getting so complicated you have no idea where to go next.