Going For The First Time...

[glennagirl.livejournal.com]

Yesterday I posted a piece that covered the idea of hosting, at least once, an event or challenge for people who are submitting their stories for the first time. We can help if asked to or needed, and there is the option to post in mfuwss for stories that go beyond the Gen/Canon guidelines we have here in Section VII.
 If you have wanted to try your hand at writing, then we want to offer you a safe place to do that.
We'll talk about it more, but I'd love some feedback from you if this is something you're interested in seeing happen. You can find the original post HERE
In the meantime, here are some First Stories that we archived over on ff.net for the MFU Board/Community.
First Stories@ff.net

Comments

[leethet.livejournal.com]

That too is a good idea - linking other people's first UNCLE stories. :-)

Might encourage people (might intimidate some, though.....)

[glennagirl.livejournal.com]

Various degrees of skill; mine is just 🙃

[leethet.livejournal.com]

After all, the goal in this particular case is to encourage people to overcome any timidity they might have, so it's not as if anyone plans to be mean. If they want crit they can ask, if they don't they can say so without fear of reprisal. Getting your feet wet is the thing. There's all levels of first stories, from amateur to terrific.

I hope this encourages some folks to do it.

[glennagirl.livejournal.com]

That was supposed to be goofy. Nothing like writing on a phone.

[jantojones.livejournal.com]

My first UNCLE story was passable, but my first piece of fanfic (A Torchwood fic) is absolutely terrible. Writer's are often far too critical of their own work (something of which I am exceptionally guilty), only to find that the readers loves what is written. The best way to get better at writing is to make a start.

[glennagirl.livejournal.com]

Everything has a learning curve, and writing is no exception. I’m just glad you kept going😉

[leethet.livejournal.com]

I have a really early one that might be my first fanfic, or nearly so. It's a total Mary Sue Star Trek fic. :-)

[leethet.livejournal.com]

I would say, though ... within reason, it's good for a writer to be very critical of his or her own work. Not so much so it stifles you, of course - particularly with fanfic where there is no professional standard that must be adhered to. You improve, first off, by being aware you need to. Y'know?

[jantojones.livejournal.com]

My big problem at the moment is the I'm stifling myself by being too critical of myself. (Also, judging by my comment above I really must learn to proofread before posting.)

[glennagirl.livejournal.com]

Just write and don't try to make it perfect. Perfectionists rarely get anything done ;) The story's the thing, and if there are weak spots, everything is changeable.

[leethet.livejournal.com]

The thing that always strikes me about perfectionists - I know they can't help it - is that they're always unhappy. Being OK with being OK seems to me a more cheerful way of living. But I'm pretty lazy, so ... :-)

[jantojones.livejournal.com]

I'm doing that with my Once Upon a Time Piece (Which I keep forgetting to remind people of. I'm just writing it and, for now, only going back to edited something I've changed along the way. I'm not going to fully go over it until the draft is finished.

[leethet.livejournal.com]

Though I am not, as anyone who reads my stuff can easily see, a perfectionist, I think this is a really good approach. Deliberately placing yourself in the "will not edit" mindset has helped a lot of people just get the draft down. Reminding yourself that it's a draft helps. Then you don't stall halfway through.

I tend to stall halfway through because of plot. :-) "Oh, crap, that makes absolutely no sense at all ..."

[leethet.livejournal.com]

It can totally happen - especially if you are generally a critical reader (as I am - I've acknowledged that I would probably not be a fan of my stuff if I approached it as a reader - it's not good enough).

I recommend drinking before writing (NOT before posting!).

I'm semi-serious. I mean, it does shut off the critical part of one's brain. Anything you can do to let the creative stuff flow and be critical later. :-)

[leethet.livejournal.com]

Oh - it occurs to me that I read someone's post once and they said if they didn't have to surrender their stuff to their beta their own self-criticism would never let them release anything.


Something to consider, perhaps? (Unless, like me, you don't use betas)

[glennagirl.livejournal.com]

I can’t bend to the beta, I just go over the story until I’m pretty sure it doesn’t have holes or horrible grammatical errors.

[leethet.livejournal.com]

I only meant for people who find they can't let go of a story for being too critical - having a deadline to give it to a beta might help them to let go.

But I'm an advocate for betas in general, even though I don't use them myself, but they need to be good or there's no point. As I've said before, I make a bet with myself when I see a story with three or more betas: that I'll see a grammatical error within the first paragraph or two. I never lose that bet. :-) A poor beta is a waste of time. A good one is a treasure.

[glennagirl.livejournal.com]

I have no objection to a beta, and I sought out help for a story I did for DtC several years ago. I had a particularly peculiar set of prompts that led to a story needing some outside 'vision'. It was helpful, and the story was better for her help. This is very early on for me.
Thinking about that now I went searching in the DtC archives:
Falling Down (https://muncle.livejournal.com/883923.html)

[leethet.livejournal.com]

I had a particularly peculiar set of prompts that led to a story needing some outside 'vision'.

Though I don't write to prompts as a rule, I completely know what you're saying. I've needed outside input for certain stories from people who could tell me "your idea of Europe/French/Belgium/Ukraine/whatever is a total joke, you dope - let me help you."

We have a really broad knowledge base in the UNCLE community. It's great.

[jantojones.livejournal.com]

My stories tend to be too short to use a beta. I have used one twice (2 different ones) on longer pieces. I will admit that they did help me to see where I was bogging myself down. I may use one again in the future, but not at the moment.

[leethet.livejournal.com]

Oh well - that was the only advice I'd ever heard on "forcing" people to stop overcriticizing and release a story! :-)

But ... you do actually finish and put them out there, right? I guess what I'm asking is "is being overcritical only an occasional problem, or a constant one?"

[jantojones.livejournal.com]

I've always been critical of myself, but it's only recently that it has impeded me. Saying that, I've posted a couple of things this week so, hopefully, I'm getting back on form. In fact, I'm writing something right now :-)

[leethet.livejournal.com]

Glad your flow is flowing again!

I decided long ago that if I let the flaws in my work stop me writing, I would be the loser, because the joy I took in writing (back before the menopause when I was able to do it) was one of the major joys in my life. I really miss it.

[glennagirl.livejournal.com]

Are you not writing at all? I know you joined the Round Robin recently, which was terrific. Perhaps one of the Short Affairs, just to get you back in the flow of things. I know, it's a prompt, but it's also short :D

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