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

[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.