Haha, know it, and STILL having plenty of trouble getting it down

Ack, ack, ack, CRAP! Totally sent that post WAY too early. Yuck!

Ack, the first part was originally meant to point out the difficulty of keeping someone in character, of whcih none of us can get that down perfectly.

But also, I wanted to bring up this - I mean, so maybe I can see "laundry chute" and get an idea for a short humor piece.

But WHO was it who worked out the entire plot of a particular story (ha, how about we codename it "WWOTH") all by herself, while I was absolutely coming up with jack squat and had actually begun to panic because I honestly thought we had no ending?

Plus, as just proven here, and by the plethora of spelling and grammar errors one can see in anything I write, I'm far from computer savvy.

Well, I'm okay at coming up with the general plot lines of entire stories (as if I haven't had to diagram a plot THOUSANDS of times in English class), but how many times, when dealing with individual chapters have I asked you for help??

It's like knowing what's going to happen in a movie, and watching how it unfolds.

I'm REALLY bad at the tiny things. I detail unimportant things, and other crap.

YOU can truly write.

-Marty 8-)

I'm far from any Ernest Hemmingway of William Shakespheare, I'm just a guy who enjoys writing Foster's fanfiction in his spare time - something we both have much, much less of now that the new school year is up in full swing.

I think however that you're fantastic when it comes to the big picture - the basic idea and plot that is absolutely essential to every story. I don't just automatically come up with good story ideas - what I do is I come up with three or four horrifically bad ideas until I can come up with anything remotely reasonable.

And in some instances, I actually mistake those horrendously atrocious plots for legitimate story lines and start to write them until I need to realize how God-awful that story is.

Every writer has their strengths and weaknesses. I have them, you have them, we all have them.

And more specifically, I have them.

In the words of my English teacher last year: "You are one of the best writers in this class," (*snorts*- yeah right), "but you 'tell' and don't 'show'."

After a few weeks, I started describing everything in sight.

But now my problem is that I don't use enough indirect characterization- the characters tell too much about themselves. They never shut up.

Which is why, I've found, that first person is the best point of view for me to write in. Why? Because I apparently (or so my English teacher put it THIS year) relate to the characters more when I am putting myself in their position.

So, (and this could be why my writing is taking forever) I started writing EVERYTHING in first-person, and then switching it to third person.

And although I think I'm improving a little (read my eariler fanfiction and you'll see), I still think I suck.

-Marty 8-)

It probably can't compare to the grade-A garbage I wrote on my first FF.net account.

I actually had one about four years ago before my current one, and believe me, every single piece I wrote was cliched, God-awful trash, to say the very least. No lie, I actually deleted all remnants of that particular period in my writing history long ago, everything I wrote then was simply just that terrible.

It took me a while to get where I am now. Trust me, you're already doing infinitely better than the total hack I used to be. You are a good writer.

Hell ,you guys are BOTH good.

Writers progress over time. My early stuff is really really bad, but I think i've improved.

Cross-dressing? CROSS DRESSING? when was THAT in a fanfic?

Ack, I KNEW I shouldn't have used THAT as an example.

It was one of my much weirder, stories, "Slight Misunderstanding."

Well, I jsut read the two new short stories you have up, and, yay! Except for the one with goo. That was not Yay. It is, however, an interesting story.

Ha, thank you for the blunt honesty, it always helps out.

Yeah, it's always a bit risky using Goo in anything....people either seem to love her or hate her in most cases. Nevertheless, thank you so much for the sincerity!