Poster:	mickeylover303
Date:	2012-06-09 23:28
Subject:	pity, party of one
Security:	Public

Dear self,

You're not a bad writer.  Inability to proofread aside, you may actually be a good writer, so accept that it's okay to think of yourself as such.  Trust me, you're at no risk of becoming an egomaniac any time ever.

Poster:	witchofnovember
Date:	2012-05-02 17:06
Subject:	Wishing for wings that work
Security:	Public

I wish I knew if there was a summary critiquing community. 'Cause I think mine suck. They're slightly better than claiming the title says it all or whining about writing summaries but still...

Poster:	chelonianmobile
Date:	2012-01-02 21:40
Subject:
Security:	Public

Dear self; You yourself dislike the idea of fanfics using actual historical wars and atrocities as backdrops for rape-fantasy fics. It's probably far worse if you are instead thinking of using them as backdrops for happy brotherly bonding between immortal human-eating monsters, even if that idea is at least more original. Seriously, self, if you're coming up with this stuff you probably need to lay off the Simon R Green for a bit.

Poster:	ratt9
Date:	2011-12-20 20:13
Subject:	Dear Self,
Security:	Public
Mood:	discontent

Seriously, stop starting a fic and then leaving it alone as soon as you get another idea. YOU USED TO NEVER DO THAT WHY ARE YOU DOING THAT NOW?!

Stop feeling super embarrassed about your older fics. Everyone has one or two really bad fics, but so what? Well, it's true that you have many more horrible fics than just one or two, but you do have a few good ones! So stop spazzing out and hiding under the goddamn bed every time someone mentions one of them. JUST REWRITE THEM ALREADY, LIKE YOU'VE BEEN SAYING YOU'RE GOING TO DO FOR THE PAST 4 MONTHS.

STOP BEING RIDICULOUSLY STUPID.

From,
Self.

Poster:	mickeylover303
Date:	2011-08-18 23:42
Subject:
Security:	Public

Dear self,

Stop comparing your writing to everyone else's. Take a break from reading for a while if it's affecting you to the point where procrastinating from something you claim to enjoy has become a leisure activity.

There's nothing inherently wrong with the way you write. A bit obscure at times maybe, with a few mistakes here or there (squash those perfectionist tendencies--you're still human), but your style is yours and yours alone. And although you're still trying to figure out exactly what that style is, the journey's ultimately more important than the destination, so have the most fun you can with it before you arrive there with nowhere else to go.

More importantly, though, for the sake of your quickly depleting sources of caffeine, please hurry up and finish that one fic so you won't have to secretly feed those other plot bunnies beneath the shroud of a nagging conscience.

Poster:	shmellowriffic
Date:	2011-07-24 07:45
Subject:
Security:	Public

Self, I am disappoint. You've pointed this error out to others, and then do it yourself? 

In-game distance =/= Actual distance. Maybe it takes character A's sprite ten seconds to get from point B to point C, but in-game, it probably takes character A six hours. 
 

Also, finish something already. 

Still love, 
me

Poster:	chelonianmobile
Date:	2011-03-19 18:05
Subject:
Security:	Public

Yes, self, I know it's disappointing that almost nobody wants to use the ficmeme you set up, that there are very few requests on it, and that only you and one other person have filled any of them. That does not mean you should attempt to fill ALL of them. For one thing there are requests for things you personally can't write without being triggered on there, and for another you really, really don't have the time.

Poster:	writinchica2k
Date:	2011-03-17 23:11
Subject:	*dons mod hat*
Security:	Public

Porn spam has been deleted, and although gobbledyu0 said s/he is not coming back I will ban hir soon as I'm on something more reliable than this mobile. Thank you for the alert.

Poster:	missjigsaw23
Date:	2011-03-12 14:17
Subject:	Deadline alert, deadline alert
Security:	Public

Dear Self,

You have at best a month and a half to write the remaining 120k words of your Big Bang... Maybe, just maybe you should stop getting distracted by all those movies that you haven't seen in "omg so long" or by those fics that keep cropping up in your OTP comm.

In fact, it might be nice if you could avoid the internet all together, but since the world is more likely to end before that happens, at least don't get caught up in something and lose five or six hours before you remember that you're supposed to be writing. To aid in this, it might be a good idea to avoid anything that even remotely looks like a TV Tropes link.

Also, dear Muses, could we focus on what we need to write now, instead of a few chapters from now? Because that's really not helping anything.

Poster:	sour_idealist
Date:	2011-03-02 00:59
Subject:
Security:	Public

It is more than fair to want to write ridiculously plotless fluff for your OTP.

But that plan will be significantly trickier when they're the monarchs of Attolia.

Just a little thing to keep in mind.

Poster:	chelonianmobile
Date:	2011-03-01 19:31
Subject:
Security:	Public

Dear self; you probably should stop reading fics that you know you'll hate just to fulfill cravings for certain characters and scenarios.

Poster:	transient_words
Date:	2011-02-19 04:15
Subject:	why pwp and me just don't get along
Security:	Public

When you write a fic about sex, you do not mention chess.

Or talk about things a chess player should do. Wasn't this fic supposed to be about sex?

You do not stop as soon as it comes to actual penetration.

Poster:	irrisia
Date:	2011-02-07 03:31
Subject:
Security:	Public

Dear me

Stop writing about the insane and/or angry trolls (preferably also stop swearing like said motherfcking insane and/orangry trolls), and get on with that story about the creepy-joke-troll being less of a creepy-joke-troll.

Even -if- the author has already done it. Adorably. And far better than you can.

Speaking of which, if -you- have no confidence in your writing, how do you expect anyone else to have any confidence in your writing? Why write at all? Think about that for a while, and come up with a good answer. Preferably soon.

Me.

Y halo there outing myself on an anonymous meme. *sigh*

Poster:	ayeayes
Date:	2011-02-05 14:03
Subject:
Security:	Public

 Seriously....it took you three years to finally get over the fact that *gasp* there exists RPS of your favorite band? I can understand feeling kindasorta surprised or shocked at first, but....THREE....YEARS?!? Three years of that confused and uncomfortable mindset, wondering if you're really that horrible and gross because you actually felt kinda intrigued and fascinated by some of the fics and skimmed through them every now and then?

Look, there are plenty of things you could have done in your life that would be worth feeling disgusted at yourself over, and reading friggin'  fanfiction is not one of them! Seriously...all that energy spent being mad at yourself or the people who wrote the fics could've been spent...oh, I dunno, caring about something that was actually worth caring about. You really need a life if "Oh no, someone ruined a band I like with icky evil fanfic! And I actually took the time to read it, what is wrong with me?"  is really that big a concern to you. 

Poster:	chelonianmobile
Date:	2011-02-03 23:46
Subject:
Security:	Public

Dear self:

If a summary or header warns for something that squicks you, for crying out loud either don't click on it or click Back as soon as you see it. Curiosity may not kill the cat but it can sure as hell trigger you.

Poster:	shirozora
Date:	2011-01-31 01:25
Subject:	About that tronkinkmeme WIP...
Security:	Public
Mood:	angry

FINISH. THE GODDAMN. FIC.

Sincerely - a very anxious, very pissed off shirozora

Poster:	ansela_jonla
Date:	2011-01-28 14:48
Subject:	Dear Self,
Security:	Public

( Cut for mentions of rape and torture...Collapse )

Poster:	icecheetah2
Date:	2011-01-21 23:36
Subject:	On fluff...
Security:	Public

Fluff is not:
1: A fic with "Desperately" in the title.
2: That begins with a character angsting on how the past five years have been a waste of time. In detail.
3: That then goes into a flashback about a bad fever he had, that left him bedridden and pretty much incoherent.
Self, you really do need practise if THAT is how you start your fluff fic.

Poster:	chelonianmobile
Date:	2011-01-18 15:27
Subject:
Security:	Public

What the hell, self? You're already dealing with way too much in real life! You don't need to be writing more fanfic right now! If you are, it needs to be one of your many, many works in progress, not an entirely new one!

Particularly not an entirely new one that's likely to be controversial. The fact that the fandom in question is easy-going about slash is a hopeful sign that they wouldn't mind a fic exploring a character's gender identity issues, but it may not be a guarantee. The fact that the character in question is canonically kind of a jerk and you don't plan to change his personality for the fic would probably earn flames from people who take it as making fun of the transgendered. I personally think there's a huge difference between "I think all people of a certain group are jerks" and "this particular character is going to act like a jerk regardless of which groups he belongs to", but it's kind of hard to get that across if he's the only member of that group in a particular story.

(Further context: the character in question is not canonically transgendered, but nothing has canonically confirmed it's impossible for him to be so, and there are rumours on the TVTropes "Wild Mass Guessing" page that he could be. Rumours are fandom-specific and might take a while to explain, but not at all related to the fact that he acts like a jerk. I saw the WMG page, remembered a fic I saw a while back and loved which explored a similar theme with a different character, thought it could be interesting to explore the idea, and it's sort of stuck in my head. Character is canonically male and I was going to explore the idea of him secretly being FTM, not coming out as MTF, which would be a bigger change, though either's probably workable in the hands of a knowledgeable writer. I am not transgendered myself, but I think I've done enough research to pull off writing about it reasonably well.)

Even if nobody sends outright flames, you're probably still going to get stupid questions from reviewers if you try this. You really don't need an extra potential source of irritation right now.

Poster:	sour_idealist
Date:	2011-01-04 18:40
Subject:
Security:	Public

Whatever happened to writing about the somewhat neglected ladies instead of the most-popular-of-all-of-everything-in-this-fandom slash pairing? Even if you do have a slightly different take on it than most, even if you do have a lot of cool symbolism - well, FINE, so what if your idea is more concrete and cohesive with these, BE LIKE THAT. Just write the ladies too after you've exorcised these plotbunnies, kay? And dammit, write all of it on your own time!

Sincerely,

Me.