Tag Archives: forums

Jun 12 2014

Reasons for Dead Forums

Sometimes in life, I just have to sit down and really speak my mind and say ‘to hell with whether it pisses people off.’ Today is one of those days.

I’ll withhold the name to protect the guilty, but I’ve been watching a particular writing forum for years…and sometimes posting on it until the past 6 months to a year. I know what you’re going to ask: “Why?” The answer is simple: I wanted to put time into writing and being a professional writer and not being a professional forum poster.

Well, I’ve systematically watched this particular forum go downhill since I left and it’s not even sad. In fact, I find it humorous to say the least.

When moderators get into pissing matches with trolls, knowledgeable people are told they’re sanctimonious and talking down to people, you have the recipe for a failed forum. Oh, no doubt the owner and mods will say I’m incorrect but they’d be wrong. Said forum needs 250 USD to cover costs and we’re halfway through the month and they’ve gotten all of *fifty* dollars in. Houston, we have a problem.

The biggest fail of the entire forum was when a particular poster from Pennsylvania was allowed to run amuck on the boards for months, posting inane comments meant to seem intellectual but coming across as a pompous asshole with delusions of grandeur. This person was able to make life miserable for several posters, do nothing but plug his free books on Amazon.com, and then act like he was the self-prescribed expert of writing. Really? Talk about sad as hell.

Now let me speak on the subject of moderators. In forums, they’re supposed to be impartial and enforce the rules. The ones on this forum? They get into pissing matches with the above troll that degenerated into whipping their dicks out of measuring them to see who’s bigger. Then, and if that wasn’t inappropriate enough, the mods then harass other posters on here-myself included-because they find us threatening to their status quo.

Most people on that forum will never be published and are sitting in a ‘blind leads the blind’ situation. Writing is a solitary endeavor for a reason…and sitting on a forum making posts asking questions and then reading what the artistes have to say is a waste of time.

Personally I find the whole thing ridiculous to say the least and find that the place gives me more information I can use on my blog than anything else. As they would say at Kings Dominion: Ride on!

 


 

Feb 6 2014

Does Anyone Really Give A Damn About How Many Words You Write In A Day?

 

I love the threads about how many words a person can write in a day. They really tickle me to death. Does is really matter whether it’s 1k or 6k in a day? To me it sounds like the old ‘my dick is bigger than yours’ that boys have so much.

Now, a person can sit back and write 1k of solid, publishable work compared to another’s 6k of shit? Who’s doing better? The more important thing to consider is this: are you writing something that is of high quality? Now I don’t mean lacking typos, because that’s going to happen even if you type slowly. Do your sentences make sense? Are the simple and clear? Did you use a ten dollar word when a fifty cent word would’ve worked better?

There are so many things to consider when discussing how many words in a day one can write. When sufficiently motivated, I can crank out anywhere from 2.5-4k when in the ‘creative’ phase of the book. After that I end up having to do at least 2-3 edits to get it to what might be considered publishable quality.

Like today: I’ve done a final read through/edit of my Talia novel to the tune of 4-6k, I have also written almost 3-4k in my Athol novel, but I can guarantee you the Athol work is nowhere near publishable quality, so what have I gained? Not much. Although, I will admit that when I’m in the creative phase (when I’m actually putting the idea to paper) I tend to write far more in a day then when I’m rewriting/editing. This is because I just want to get the story down while I have it in my head. After that its edit, edit, edit, edit and edit some more.

In a nutshell, don’t compare yourself against others when it comes to how many words you write in a day. Just make sure they’re the best amount of words you can write. Shoot for quality over quantity.


 

Feb 5 2014

Blind Leading the Blind

 

 

Once again I have to say I find the forums to be comedy relief when I’m trying to work out a difficult section on my writing. Today, it’s reviews of someone’s writing and the one’s making the reviews. When I see someone whose writing sucks ass and is boring as hell trying to tell another writer that the other writer’s work is boring, I nearly bust a gut laughing so hard.

You got to love the self-righteous people who think they’re God’s gift to writing! And the same ones can’t write for shit themselves but they’re trying to tell others how to do it. See the combination of stupidity and comedy? It truly is the blind leading the blind.

Things like this continue to hammer home why aspiring writers need to spend more time writing and less time on forums. They’re liable to get advice that sends them down a rabbit hole that they may never recover from.