A little random thought

[cimorene]

I think my biggest problem lately has been how difficult it's been to write without a cheerleader to provide constant feedback. Of course cheerleaders make it more fun, but it's bad to be scared of that echoing silence I seem to hear, sometimes, when I can't get my ideas moving without another participant in the dialogue. I need ot learn to write for myself again, and a lot of my other difficulties - plots getting sticky and original fic ideas stagnating in the back of my mind even if they're enticingly well-developed and complex - would go away.

I've written for myself in the past and it's always been the most rewarding experience, ultimately, though a little less stimulating and fun and giggly along the way - nothing beats a grade-A cheerleader for that, and I don't mean to in any way diminish the tireless energy, love, and encouragement that my cheerleaders have poured into my work over the years. Thanks should go especially to bexless and perhael and elfiepike and aeslis, who have all, in their own ways, helped immeasurably in periods of depression and writer's block over recent years.

It would probably just be good for my psyche, too. It's always better to do things without reference to outside, even if you offer them up to other people afterwards. Internal motivation is the only source of it that's truly steady, or can ever be bottomless and unconditional, and it's the most vibrant, too.

Comments

[pixxers.livejournal.com]

There's someone on my friend's list who is constantly talking about comments and how little feedback she gets and (I'm sure you've heard this song and dance before)...

It took me a while to be able to put this into perspective, but I'm inspired to write something, I'm writing it for me and I'm writing it because I want to know how it's going to look on paper vs. how it feels in my mind. I recently wrote something that I hadn't really been planning to write, but the inspiration was suddenly just there and I loved the process of writing it and tweaking it and making it as perfect as I could possibly manage. I wouldn't have cared if no one had ever read it but me - that's how much I liked it. The stories I write for myself are always the ones I love the most. Some people will never understand what that feels like.

[ida-pea.livejournal.com]

That's a beautiful icon. What's it of?

[cimness.livejournal.com]

Pardon? I mean, are you talking about the icon this entry is posted with - this one? Because it's just a girl with a quill...

[ida-pea.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's the one. I just wondered where the illustration was from.

[cimness.livejournal.com]

Oh! well, the icon is from lecollage. I can't remember the artist's name, but I credited it in the icon comment, and there's a link at the community.

[elfiepike.livejournal.com]

this is very true. i find especially that sometimes i get into slumps where i feel like i can't tell a story unless i'm literally telling it to someone, but that also lacks the satisfaction of zooming into a scene really closely.

[aeslis]

♥

I'm glad I've been helpful. You've been immeasurably helpful to me, too, and I love you for it. :)