First person to put in my head that I want to be a writer: Year 5 teacher, who said one of my stories back then was one of the best she read. I'd always told stories to myself, but she was the one who made me think 'writer.'
There were various teachers of writing workshops I went to when I was a bit older than that. Then in high school, a good friend and I decided we'd write novels together, and we encouraged each other on, though we didn't get much further than the first quarter of those stories.
Later on; I learned an awful lot from threewalls beta-ing a few stories of mine, most of which haven't made it online and likely never will, but her knowledge and suggestions really made me think more about both style and characterisation (fandom characterisation in particular, how to 'read' the characters in particular).
Oddly, I've produced more lately, but I've kinda of eschewed betas, not because I don't think they are valuable, but because I'm often rushing to meet a ficathon/challenge/gift exchange deadline!
These days I tend to find inspiration and thoughts on the writing process and such from all over, kind of plucking what I need and considering what makes sense and what doesn't.
I think right now also, in terms of my original work, I'm trying to finish a novel, and getting that finishing at the moment seems the important thing rather than the craft (though I keep reading about that as I go along). And I have a great bunch of friends who are supply the necessary cheerleading for that, which is wonderful - knowing that they want me to do well is good. I suspect, though, once I've gotten through the slog of the draft, I'm going to need something different - the critical but kind eye as you talk about.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2010-04-24 10:42 am (UTC)There were various teachers of writing workshops I went to when I was a bit older than that. Then in high school, a good friend and I decided we'd write novels together, and we encouraged each other on, though we didn't get much further than the first quarter of those stories.
Later on; I learned an awful lot from
Oddly, I've produced more lately, but I've kinda of eschewed betas, not because I don't think they are valuable, but because I'm often rushing to meet a ficathon/challenge/gift exchange deadline!
These days I tend to find inspiration and thoughts on the writing process and such from all over, kind of plucking what I need and considering what makes sense and what doesn't.
I think right now also, in terms of my original work, I'm trying to finish a novel, and getting that finishing at the moment seems the important thing rather than the craft (though I keep reading about that as I go along). And I have a great bunch of friends who are supply the necessary cheerleading for that, which is wonderful - knowing that they want me to do well is good. I suspect, though, once I've gotten through the slog of the draft, I'm going to need something different - the critical but kind eye as you talk about.