Discussion

[wook77]

I know I said fic today and, err, it needs quite a bit of work so it's not happening. It's looking good for this weekend, however.

Now, on to my discussion question -

Lately, I've been writing things and being disappointed in them. They're well-received (at least according to the commenters) but I'm disappointed. I've found that the stories I'm most disappointed in are the ones that I had every intention of writing something else but time ran out so I had to tweak. Thus - when I see the story, I see what it could have been and not what it is and am disappointed.

On the other hand - I have one story that I was terribly disappointed in at the time of submittal and now that I've had some distance, I actually enjoyed reading it.

I've also seen a variety of people on my flist saying that they are finally getting to write what they want and not what they have to do.

So here it is - why do we post works that don't make us happy, that don't reflect our visions/skills? Why do we write stuff that simply isn't up to par (as far as we're concerned) and hope that it's good enough for the challenge/prompt/fest/giftee/person? What point do you say "this is good enough"? How do you determine "good enough"? Is it ever "good enough"? Do you eventually like the work?

Comments

[midnitemaraud-r.livejournal.com]

And see, many of my best stories were written for fests and exchanges (with one glaring exception *g*). But I don't tend sign up for more than one exchange at a time. I know my writing habits and tendencies, and I just can't concentrate on more than one fic at a time because when I'm writing it, it consumes me and I can't multitask like that. (Not with writing stories at least. I'm perfectly fine with multitasking when it comes to work stuff and legal docs. :-P)

I also find I write well under pressure. If I have a deadline, I don't know why it is, but I just seem able to focus better. Without a firm deadline, I'll tweak and rewrite and second guess myself until I've practically killed it dead. Heh.

I mentioned this last week, but even when I'm writing in a fest - particularly an exchange fest - and I'm tailoring a fic to someone else's preferences, I just can't write something that I myself don't like. Even though it's for someone else, and I really am doing my best to please them, if *I'm* not happy with the story as a whole, it goes nowhere. Some people see their prompt and try to include every single thing they can. I can't do that (well, usually - depends on how many things they list) and I refuse to force myself. I pick a few things, figure out my plot and how I can incorporate them, and go from there. It's a process and I edit a lot when I write, but I just don't like writing from a checklist.

I do, however, look at stories my giftee has written to see what kind of language they like and things like that, but I still have to write my own story in my own style, in my own way. Sometimes I'm wibbly and I worry about fics, but I've never turned in anything I wasn't happy with on some level. Most of the time I really kind of love the fic, and then later I might start liking it less, or sometimes I like it and then after a week or so I'll realize I really like/love it. But I've never turned in a fic and thought "well, fuck it, that's good enough." (Even the one fic that I hate now, I liked it when I first wrote it.)

Maybe that's because I don't write as often as so many other people. Or also because I don't sign up for as many fests as others do.

[icyaurora8.livejournal.com]

i personally cannot write unless i'm in the mood for it. i'm not sure how else to explain it. if i REALLY don't feel the urge to write, then everything i do write reads like crap to me and i'm not happy with it. on the other hand, when i get that really good urge to write, i'm always insanely happy with the final product, even if i have to do a bit of tweaking later on.

my biggest reason for not entering fic challenges and such is that i'm great at getting stuff done before a deadline, but not when it's fictional writing. if i don't 'feel' it, then yeah... i never know when these urges will hit, therefore i can't make myself promise to write something for someone, etc. the thing i hate even more than writing something when i don't want to write is gifting/entering/posting a fic that i'm not happy with.

[mizbean.livejournal.com]

It usually takes some time after I finish a story before I decide if it's successful or not. I tend to have a love-hate relationship with all my fics. There are fics that I liked a year ago that I can't read now, and others that grow on me.

With fests, however, I tend to go through a lot of internal angst when I write, and last the two fests I've participated in I've turned in fics that I wasn't entirely pleased with -- There were some parts that I liked, but on the whole both fics felt unfinished to me, and I think a lot of that has to do with my struggles with writing under a deadline, nerves, and a lot of overthinking on my part. In the end, I had to turn something in or drop out.

[icyaurora8.livejournal.com]

2nd comment... lol

another thing... good enough for me basically consists of how i feel when i read over it again, if that makes sense. if i want it to be angsty, i want to be able to feel that when i read it, even if i'm the one who wrote it. if i'm going for humor, i better giggle at the parts i want people to giggle at. if i write something and then when i read the finished product and it doesn't do what i want it to do, then i would consider it not good enough in my mind. i'm one of those people who writes something that i want to read, but i don't mind sharing with others. in the end, as long as i'm happy with it, then i think it's good enough (i hope all of that made sense!)

[why-me-why-not.livejournal.com]

I've found that the stories I'm most disappointed in are the ones that I had every intention of writing something else but time ran out so I had to tweak. Thus - when I see the story, I see what it could have been and not what it is and am disappointed.

I can totally relate to that. Even though mine isn't always that I ran out of time, it's sometimes that I just lose the voices before they're finished telling me the details of where I wanted the fic to go.

I try not to do exchanges unless I'm forced (slashnotsmut) and I usually limit my challenges. My biggest problem is that I go through phases of being able to write and not being able to write, which is probably mixed in with my bipolar or my hormones or something. Plus, as I've said before, I have a problem with follow-through, so I go into a fic with all these grandiose plans and they never turn out right and then I feel even less confident.

I don't always post things that I'm not happy with publically, but you're on the filter that I do post them on. It's... like you have this great idea and you start writing it and it doesn't turn out and you're not happy with it, but you still need to share it, b/c it's not fair to that piece of work if you stick it in some unused corner of your harddrive & never see it again.

I usually say "this is good enough" when someone I've driven crazy by emailing pieces to them along the way (usually de or krystal or iris) says it's okay. Or when I get tired of looking at it.

But I'm a fucking liar sometimes too, so don't belive that. I've got stuff sitting here on my computer that's been finished for months and has never even been seen by anyone else. B/c I think I suck.

Why am I rambling on your LJ? I don't know. I'll say one more thing and then go work on my slashfest j2 fic.

Ash asked the other day what was the one fic you always wanted to write and hadn't done it, and I wanted to share my doomed-to-never-be-written ideas with you.

HP. Harry/not!dead!Cedric. Where Cedric wasn't killed in the Triwizard Tournament but Dumbledore manipulated everyone. He placed Cedric in a Muggle mental-type institution after using a mix of Muggle and magical memory-altering techniques on him, and then he used Cedric's "death" to manipulate the wizarding world into war. Years later, after the war is ended, Harry is attracted to this boy who works in a coffee shop type place who reminds him of Cedric, and looks like Cedric. And Cedric's got this memory block thing (very similar to the Azrael block described/used in Dean Koontz's Strangers) and it starts to crumble and he remembers bits and pieces of his real life. He and Harry start a semi-relationship, but Harry freaks out about it when Cedric wakes up and talks about dreaming of the two of them flying -- Quidditch memories. So they have things to resolve, b/c first off they have to figure out what happened and why and how to help Cedric recover his memories and whether or not the two of them could actually work. And there is angst & plot & stuff, and a happy ending of course.

SPN -- the hurricane fic I once told you about, where the boys are investigating something in Florida and they're split up doing stuff and a tropical storm shifts course and grows into a hurricane and heads straight for where they are. And Dean goes out in the hurricane searching for Sam, only he keeps getting sidetracked b/c he keeps coming across other people who need help, and he has to help them b/c he's Dean. And Sam's looking for Dean too, and they can't find each other and I don't know what all would happen but they would eventually find each other. And probably end up riding off into less-dangerous parts of the country in the miraculously-untouched Impala with the puppy that Sammy rescued in the backseat.

[enchanted-jae.livejournal.com]

I'm usually satisfied with what I write. Strangely enough, I've found that some of my stories that I liked the least (and I'm thinking here of some of those hd_365's that I had to whip up at a moment's notice) were very well received, which enabled me to feel better about them. There have been a few times, when I was scrambling to meet a deadline, that I knew I hadn't given my best effort, but as long as it was just for a challenge, rather than a gift for someone in particular, I didn't feel too horribly guilty or bad about it.

[football-girl.livejournal.com]

Hm.. Interesting question. What I do when I write for a challenge is I write non-stop. I don't think, I don't plan, I don't out-line. I can't do that. Whatever comes out initially out of me is as good as it gets - if I go tweaking with it, I ruin it.

How do I stop myself from tweaking with it? The moment I am done with the fic that I am writing for someone else or for a challenge, I post it straight away. I always have doubts as I write. I always think it's not good enough as I post (this could also be because I procrastinate a lot and don't have a lot of time to do it in the end), but I also know that, given a few days, I always like the outcome once I've distaned myself a couple of days.

To answer the question "is it ever good enough", I would say it always is. That's the way I look at it. I may not think that at first, but good enough is the best you can do. Something that isn't forced because I have to do it, but something that started coming out the moment fingers hit the keyboard.

:)