Why do we write?

[Saileri]

Because it's fun.

 

[Zirrboy]

For most of my muses, it's the opposite. I appreciate them when they are part of my life, but the inspiration comes when they leave me. I miss them, and writing is how I cling to my memories of them.

Abusive boyfriends...

My pursuit of writing, and my afore mentioned rise from being a rather bad writer to what I am now, has lead me to completely discount the idea of talent even being a thing and has also caused me to view the concept of "muse" as a harmful crutch that will destroy your ability to write effectively.

That is not to say there is not inspiration. What I mean is that if you are dependent on the muse in order to write, then you will loose your feet when the muse inevitably leaves you. You need to gain the power to write even without that sort of thing.

You can also be divinely inspired. If you want to see what that looks like, take a look at my "A New Hero God" series. (A series that fizzled out due to lack of reader interest in comparison to other more popular series on my writing list. I hope to get back to it at some point, but I have 2 other series that I need to lay the groundwork for in my shared multiverse first before I return to that one.)

I am the type who rejects the idea of the muse, but occasionally when I write I feel a very strong pull to bring my creation in a particular direction. That is what I call divinely inspired, and that was very active when I wrote the introduction portion of "A New Hero God."

I won't deny that working hard enough will get you somewhere, but how much "enough" is can vary greatly.
And within reasonable effort, I'd say few have the chance to pierce the ocean of mediocrity

Some issues are easier to fix than others and bland author voice is among the hardest and common.

 

[EternalSunset0]

Well, it is up to the commenters to respond to an OP who looks like they are about to proselytize. I treated the topic seriously in my opinion.

I answered it seriously too

 

[Anon_Y_Mousse]

Bruh reading this full thread everyone has such detailed answers and here am I. Really though, the whole reason I started writing was out of spite, it didn't help that the first webnovels I read were Xianxias and Wattpad fics. Soon I got tired of looking for good shit to read and I wanted to write my own. My classmates(who don't speak English well) read over my draft and said I was pretty good, looking back now I'm glad I didn't publish that draft because wtf that was so edgy and cringe.

 

[Mysticant]

I answered it seriously too

I know you did. To be honest, I would like to read something like Campione again. That was really nice for 2010-ish feels, STB and the others don't really scratch my itch.

Bruh reading this full thread everyone has such detailed answers and here am I. Really though, the whole reason I started writing was out of spite, it didn't help that the first online webnovels I read were Xianxias and Wattpad fics. Soon I got tired of looking for good shit to read and I wanted to write my own. My classmates(who don't speak English well) read over my draft and said I was pretty good, looking back now I'm glad I didn't publish that draft because wtf that was so edgy and cringe.

I had never bother writing previously, since I could just drop and find better things to read back then. Now I am stuck because there really isn't anything much better to read after LOTM and freaking cuttlefish is still persistent on writing Ember Ad Infinitum instead of LOTM2. Thus, now I just write cause my personal bias to my series is that strong that I would push other novels off the edge.

 

[EternalSunset0]

I know you did. To be honest, I would like to read something like Campione again. That was really nice for 2010-ish feels, STB and the others don't really scratch my itch.

Yay someone remembers Campione. I didn't follow it that much (I was just getting started on seriously getting into anime back then so I was not follow seasonals so much) but it's pretty cool from what I saw.

 

[Zirrboy]

Yay someone remembers Campione. I didn't follow it that much (I was just getting started on seriously getting into anime back then so I was not follow seasonals so much) but it's pretty cool from what I saw.

StB with halved edge

 

[Jemini]

Some issues are easier to fix than others and bland author voice is among the hardest and common.

Haha, sorry, sympathetic laugh.

The great thing about the route I took is that I have probably experienced almost all of the issues an author may struggle with. For bland author voice, the solution I found was to give the voice to my characters. Focus VERY hard on characterization, and push your writing more in a slice-of-life direction regardless of what the primary genre is. It solves this issue rather neatly.

Ultimately, it really just changes the focus of your problem from something inpenitrabe to something that you can at least find a starting point on. In order for this solution to work, you need to dig VERY deep into characterization and character studies.

I managed to find my author voice after adding elements of characterization, then world building, and then took an anthropology course that further enhanced my world building into straight-up culture building.

If you just say "create your author voice," that seems like a nebulous and amorphous, yet absolutely monumental task. What you have to do is figure out what the elements of the author voice you want to form are, and then create it peace-mail. Every time you add a new element of technique, an element of your individual author voice will be drawn out with that improvement in technique that you are putting into your story.

 

[Mysticant]

StB with halved edge

Not only just that, but actually someone working extremely hard to get what they want. This was actually probably the first harem I actually approved in all the JP/CN/KR novels I have read.

The next amazing one is heavy object....oh that was really awesome. The giant objects, devious schemes and flat chested lolis in that novel proves that a thing known as a cultured gentleman exists in novels.

 

[Zirrboy]

Haha, sorry, sympathetic laugh.

The great thing about the route I took is that I have probably experienced almost all of the issues an author may struggle with. For bland author voice, the solution I found was to give the voice to my characters. Focus VERY hard on characterization, and push your writing more in a slice-of-life direction regardless of what the primary genre is. It solves this issue rather neatly.

Ultimately, it really just changes the focus of your problem from something inpenitrabe to something that you can at least find a starting point on. In order for this solution to work, you need to dig VERY deep into characterization and character studies.

I managed to find my author voice after adding elements of characterization, then world building, and then took an anthropology course that further enhanced my world building into straight-up culture building.

If you just say "create your author voice," that seems like a nebulous and amorphous, yet absolutely monumental task. What you have to do is figure out what the elements of the author voice you want to form are, and then create it peace-mail. Every time you add a new element of technique, an element of your individual author voice will be drawn out with that improvement in technique that you are putting into your story.

So you mean to say that it's easy?
Because I never went as far as impossibility.
Even when split into many, the tasks require immense dedication and effort.
Not to mention that without the ability and willingness to reflect on your past works, all of this is pointless, no matter how well you are able to explain it.

Your take is interesting, on the other hand.

 

[EternalSunset0]

Not only just that, but actually someone working extremely hard to get what they want. This was actually probably the first harem I actually approved in all the JP/CN/KR novels I have read.

The next amazing one is heavy object....oh that was really awesome. The giant objects, devious schemes and flat chested lolis in that novel proves that a thing known as a cultured gentleman exists in novels.

I got into Heavy Object because I was such a fan of the Indexverse. Certainly a different take on what I expected out of Kamachi

 

[Mysticant]

I got into Heavy Object because I was such a fan of the Indexverse. Certainly a different take on what I expected out of Kamachi

I would say my taste has grown as I aged.

My expectations are along the lines of:
Inuyasha
Haruhi
Trifecta (Naruto-Bleach-One Piece)
Dual harem fantasy (SnS and ZnT)
FMA (both original and brotherhood)
FSN
Kaze No Stigma
Hitman Reborn
GINTAMA (in all cap because it deserves all caps)
Hidan No Aria
SAO (Exists here but I never rated it highly besides volume 1)
Baka To Test
Mushoku Tensei (WN)
Tate Yuusha (WN)
Re:Monster
Kumo
Slime Tensei
Campione
Log Horizon
Heavy Object
Guilty Crown
AoT (I feel kind of mixed with this)

there was this huge void in between since it is just isekai generic trash to me. So I moved to KR and CN WN. Now, there is.

Re:Zero (barely meets the cut now imho, still pretty meh to me)
Vivy
86

For romance:
Anything by key (Air 2002, Kanon 2006, Kelannad+Afta Story, AB 2010, LB 2013 iirc, Charlotte 2015, and god awful kamisama)
Anohana
To be honest a large amount of them are VNs so I would exclude them.

There are others but I cannot be bothered, I'm a key VN simp. Though their works are also getting too meh for my taste recently, kind of sad about that.

 

[EternalSunset0]

I would say my taste has grown as I aged.

My expectations are along the lines of:
Inuyasha
Haruhi
Trifecta (Naruto-Bleach-One Piece)
Dual harem fantasy (SnS and ZnT)
FMA (both original and brotherhood)
FSN
Kaze No Stigma
Hitman Reborn
GINTAMA (in all cap because it deserves all caps)
Hidan No Aria
SAO (Exists here but I never rated it highly besides volume 1)
Baka To Test
Mushoku Tensei (WN)
Tate Yuusha (WN)
Re:Monster
Kumo
Slime Tensei
Campione
Log Horizon
Heavy Object
Guilty Crown
AoT (I feel kind of mixed with this)

there was this huge void in between since it is just isekai generic trash to me. So I moved to KR and CN WN. Now, there is.

Re:Zero (barely meets the cut now imho, still pretty meh to me)
Vivy
86

For romance:
Anything by key (Air 2002, Kanon 2006, Kelannad+Afta Story, AB 2010, LB 2013 iirc, Charlotte 2015, and god awful kamisama)
Anohana
To be honest a large amount of them are VNs so I would exclude them.

There are others but I cannot be bothered, I'm a key VN simp. Though their works are also getting too meh for my taste recently, kind of sad about that.

Interesting to see how our tastes have evolved over time. My very first anime that got me started on the road to weebdom was Bleach. One Piece never stuck for me, and Naruto's fine. I also watched K-on and Vampire Knight.

Then I started with the critically-acclaimed blockbusters like Evangelion, Madoka, Death Note, the likes. I think only Madoka and DN really stuck with me up to now.

Then I fell in love with SAO and Accel World (I still give KYH votes in those waifu polls and such all the way in 2021, as well as Asuna) before moving on to the modern fantasy haremy shows like SnS, Fate, DAL, StB, Shinmai, and the like. And the battle academy harems. I think I watched like half of them when I was in college. Stuff like Asterisk War, Blade Dance, yeah.

I think this above paragraph is where my taste really crystalized. This is also where I started contemplating writing because as you can see, almost everything in this paragraph is a novel as opposed to manga. So yeah, that paragraph makes this reply relevant to the thread

Never got too into AoT. It feels so edgy and "Westernized" for my taste. Not that I'm saying it's bad for me but it just lacks the stuff that makes me crave anime. It's a really really good series though as I've still kept up until the end.

Isekai is fine, and I like Shield Hero and Rezero, but I just can't dig high fantasy that much. At least compared to the To Aru-style universes.

I watched some of the Key stuff, and I liked them. But of course, you can see that it's the chuunishit that I fell in love with, so it's them that I get inspired by more and rewatch at will despite being of lower quality critically speaking.

 

[Nekroz]

I told myself I would write today. But now I'm just sitting here reading all these comments.

 

[Zirrboy]

Interesting to see how our tastes have evolved over time. My very first anime that got me started on the road to weebdom was Bleach. One Piece never stuck for me, and Naruto's fine. I also watched K-on and Vampire Knight.

Dokuru-Chan and Kampfer for me lel
Not starting with the popular stuff always boosts my extra self image

 

[Mysticant]

Interesting to see how our tastes have evolved over time. My very first anime that got me started on the road to weebdom was Bleach. One Piece never stuck for me, and Naruto's fine. I also watched K-on and Vampire Knight.

Then I started with the critically-acclaimed blockbusters like Evangelion, Madoka, Death Note, the likes. I think only Madoka and DN really stuck with me up to now.

Then I fell in love with SAO and Accel World (I still give KYH votes in those waifu polls and such all the way in 2021, as well as Asuna) before moving on to the modern fantasy haremy shows like SnS, Fate, DAL, StB, Shinmai, and the like. And the battle academy harems. I think I watched like half of them when I was in college. Stuff like Asterisk War, Blade Dance, yeah.

I think this above paragraph is where my taste really crystalized. This is also where I started contemplating writing because as you can see, almost everything in this paragraph is a novel as opposed to manga. So yeah, that paragraph makes this reply relevant to the thread

Isekai is fine, and I like Shield Hero and Rezero, but I just can't dig high fantasy that much. At least compared to the To Aru-style universes.

I watched some of the Key stuff, and I liked them. But of course, you can see that it's the chuunishit that I fell in love with, so it's them that I get inspired by more and rewatch at will despite being of lower quality critically speaking.

I know and that is where our tastes differ and it is still relevant. All of these shows I mentioned have probably influenced the way I write and I reserved arcs of my xianxia just for their key events to be similar to some of these novels. LOTM is probably the cake of it all but it isnt JP so i excluded it. You prefer more of a schoollife battle romance, what I desire is a story with intricate lore, deeply hidden motives, and an overall plot that moves without the reader looking at it. That is why I compared between Campione and StB, I have read quite a lot of StB and finished Campione to know that I would 10/10 choose Campione over it. It is just my preference.

Nakama power died in me after I got around 14-15 so one piece was meh to me by then. But before that, One Piece was my go-to for world lore while Bleach was for action. Naruto was just meh to me till Shippuuden but I already gave up on it by then.

 

[EternalSunset0]

I told myself I would write today. But now I'm just sitting here reading all these comments.

Same

I know and that is where our tastes differ and it is still relevant. All of these shows I mentioned have probably influenced the way I write and I reserved arcs of my xianxia just for their key events to be similar to some of these novels. LOTM is probably the cake of it all but it isnt JP so i excluded it. You prefer more of a schoollife battle romance, what I desire is a story with intricate lore, deeply hidden motives, and an overall plot that moves without the reader looking at it. That is why I compared between Campione and StB, I have read quite a lot of StB and finished Campione to know that I would 10/10 choose Campione over it. It is just my preference.

Yeah, really fun to compare stuff and go over our history. Along the way, I also loved a lot of the mid-2010s shows like Mahouka and Black Bullet. Put NGNL there too. I think that era's probably my "peak" in terms of simply consuming and integrating anime into my system.

 

[Zirrboy]

Dokuru-Chan and Kampfer for me lel
Not starting with the popular stuff always boosts my extra self image

Getting a like on a joke is the equivalent of getting friendzoned

 

[EternalSunset0]

Getting a like on a joke is the equivalent of getting friendzoned

 

[Mysticant]

Yeah, really fun to compare stuff and go over our history. Along the way, I also loved a lot of the mid-2010s shows like Mahouka and Black Bullet. Put NGNL there too. I think that era's probably my "peak" in terms of simply consuming and integrating anime into my system.

I mean I have also watched or should I say read all of those. You know when you are one of those baka tsuki readers who wiped the entire site of all the translated novels. NGNL is amazing as a starting concept but it died somewhere, cannot remember where. For vampires eh, though I kind of liked Vampire Knights I would always remember Rosario+Vampire, don't know why. Maybe it is just the combo of silver haired kuudere+big tits, aww teenager Mysticant is a simp. The next vampire I moved to is Shiki, did I mention I am a fan of horror and gore like higurashi,umineko, another etc?