How do you judge your own success or failure as a hobby writer?

[Jsc]

How do you judge your own success as a hobby writer?

We're heard a lot of topics this year 2015 that are all about being a happy-go-lucky new world optimist. Things like: Everybodies right. Write your own way. Be an individual. There is no wrong way to do it. Force powers are whatever. Rank doesn't matter. ~ Ba'da'ba'ba'ba, I'm loving it. ~ etc. Yeah. Well. This is not that topic. Lol. This is about how you yourself judge your own success or failure as a writer. It's hard. It's real. It's what you walk away with each night when you log off. And it ain't an easy question either. Because the moment when you step onto this website. Ho boy. You are going to be flooded with opinions, feedback, 2 cents, and other such 'suggestions' about how what you are doing is right and how what you are doing is wrong. Most of these 'suggestions' that you receive won't even make sense at all. Because reasons.

At the end of the day. When you log off and call it a night. How do you judge your own success, (or utter failure,) as a hobby writer?

___

Note: This is a discussion topic on the Internet. People will comment and reply to your post. You have been warned. Lulz.

 

[Coci Heavenshield]

[member="Jay Scott Clark"]

Writing, in whatever format it takes, is one of those journeys that you never reach the end of. There is always room for improvement, always new ideas to explore, always different tangents that lead off in exciting directions. I have moments of good and bad with writing, I just have to look back through my list of RPs here to see them, and I have done so in the past and looked on with horror with some of my posts. But some I think .. yeah that was not bad.

And I learn from them both, the good and bad. I still have trouble with grammar.

 

[Ilias Nytrau]

I don't, because it's a hobby. :mellow:

 

[Condor]

I judge my sucess by how many likes the post gets.....


Or rather that I posted at all I don't really take it serious enough to care and figure as long as I'm doing it I'm improving.

 

[Valiens Nantaris]

By the amount of passive aggressive topics and emoticon filled blogs I receive from [member="Jay Scott Clark"].

I judge myself highly successful therefore.

 

[Coci Heavenshield]

[member="Valiens Nantaris"]


I LOLed.

 

[Nyx]

How do I judge my success as a writer?
By looking back at things I've done and asking myself, "Would I do something different?"
Most times, the answer is 'Oh yeah.' I'm a nitpicker, especially on my own posts. My writing has changed dramatically since my days as [member="Judgement"], and it's mainly through me combing through through my posts and and complaining to myself how much they suck.

Overall, however, I would say that that I'm in the middle between success and failure, leaning more towards failure.

 

[Matsu Ike]

If I am having fun and can be proud well that is good enough for me but this is a hobby and passes the time.

 

[Ilias Nytrau]

[member="Valiens Nantaris"]


I LOLed.

[member="Valiens Nantaris"]

I, too, LOL'd.

 

[Aithne Charr]

I kinda just shrug at the end of the day and leave it at that. Especially after recent events where i learned i just don't give a rats ass most of the time a day or two later so why even worry about things anymore. Might be a few month or maybe a year late for this revelation but its something we all come to at one point or another and worrying if you succeeded or failed only delays that. So in short, i don't judge my writing because all it does is make you worry and can make it worse.

 

[Jsc]

By the amount of passive aggressive topics and emoticon filled blogs I receive from [member="Jay Scott Clark"].

Have we dated? Is this a bromance and nobody actually told me? Because I get this weird vibe you actually know me sometimes.

 

[Via Dolorosa]

[member="Jay Scott Clark"]

Each night before I log off, I go through every post I wrote in to see if it satisfies me, not the writers I'm working with. Because to be brutally honest, I don't write for them nor care if they enjoy my writing/posts because it's always about me....me.....me. I write for myself, not others. As the old saying goes, "I'm my own worst critic."

If I had to judge my posts everynight, I would say that over 90% are poodoo yet for some reason people like them. Should I be happy, eh, like I said, it's about me....me....me. There are times I go to bed thinking about some of my posts and want to smack my own self for some of the things I've written.....but luckily I'm to lazy to get back up and edit them.

So.....if I had to choose success or failure, I would lean toward failure because I know I could probably give much more, but who am I required to impress? I'm satisfied with my output and that is all that truly matters.....to me.

 

[Noah Corek]

I actually have eight questions that I ask myself to see if I'm succeding on the site.

1.Am I enjoying myself?
2.Am I not stressing over a fictional site?
3.Am I going to snap and punch Jay in the face if he posts another emoticon?
4.Do I feel like there is room for improvement?
5.Do I feel like some people stifle my creativity in the factory with nitpicking and over analyizing?
6.Do I post to most all of my threads in a day?
7.Do I like everyone on Chaos?
8.Do I care if everyone on Chaos like me?

Well since the answer to those is yes to six outta eight I say I've been pretty successful. I'll leave you guys to wonder which two are a no.

 

[Jsc]

3.Am I going to snap and punch Jay in the face if he posts another emoticon?

What Kind Of Emoticon Annoys You The Most Corek?

Academically speaking. Of course.

 

[Jsc]

When I started writing SW back in the 2010 I was honestly looking for a place to just be creative without the world judging me for my hidden geekish'ness. I rolled with a bunch of dudes who didn't geek and there was a part of me that really hated that. We could pick up chicks, drive around in BMWs, and do all sorts of reckless college things just fine. But sometimes I just wanted to roll up to a good lightsaber and blast stuff. Video games didn't help that desire. They reinforced it. Even Modding KOTOR with new faces, models, armor, and side stories didn't help. It just made me want to build SW even more. I was that little kid who wanted to grow up and be a SW comic book writer. Still am I guess. That's why I'm still here.

So while a part of me wants to please people, help them succeed where I have, and be a fun guy to be around? I mostly judge my own self by how well I'm keeping to that childhood dream. Writing Star Wars. Which has been an absolute pleasure for the past five years. Even just for kicks and giggles. At the end of the day I'm not my blogs or my avatars. I'm not my discussion posts or the people who hate me. I'm not my Ignore List or a new suggestion to Staff. I'm not my Friend's list or the fullness of my PM box. My name isn't even Jay outside of this website either. Nope. When all is said and done. I'm just my happy little list of roleplays that I keep on my character's profiles. History. And that's just fine with me.

 

[Ordo]

I judge myself by how many bottles it takes for me to forget what I wrote.

 

[Nefertari Sovint]

I judge by whether or not I'd enjoy reading the thread after it's finished. Incidentally, that's also how I judge my growth as a writer.

 

[Cassus Akovin]

I judge success or failure as a hobby writer, based on whether or not I feel compelled to go back and reread old threads in nostalgia of the good times they produced for me. I don't typically dwell on the negative, but I do sometimes hold regrets about certain threads, and rectifying them when I see fit to do so in the future, so that I can look back at that work and be pleased with what I accomplished.

It's old threads, long gone and completed, to which I repeated go back and go man... that was fun.

I've never looked back on a thread and say... damn that fucking sucked.

I also judge my success on how hyped I am to see the response of others to my post, especially in a duel or a pivotal event in my character's history, and if I go back and reread my post again and again, even after I've already read the next reply, speculating all the possible ways they might respond, and when they do, what did or did not surprise me when finally a reply came, and every time I smile and start thinking something up that is probably unexpected and unorthodox in response... and I love it.

The diversity of my imagination is what prevents me from being a consistent novel writer. I probably write enough between Chaos RP, Homestuck RP, and independent writing projects to construct a 50,000 word novel twice every month... but the many varied paths my mind takes in creating the paths less travelled in the most unorthodox and unexpected combinations, that my muse rarely aligns enough to consolidate all of my writing capabilities into a singular work.

Damn though, if I could harness and put reigns upon my creative muse and self-satisfaction with writing them almost without fail, without my dependence on collaborative reinforcement that my works are appreciated and read with joy, I would be one hell of novelist.

 

[Liliane]

I don't judge my own writing, at least in Chaos. Because it's a hobby, it's an everyday writing, just a simple RP and I know it will get better on its own. There's a fine line between my 'real' writing of novels and 'hobby' writing of SW characters. The latter is just there and I don't put too much pressure on extremely good wording and fancy editing and whatever else.

So if I think I am successful, I am. If I think I am failing, then I am. Writing is not about numbers and different measurements -- I will not judge my writing by the fanciness of words I use, by the number of words and characters in my posts. My posts are the way they are.

 

[Ellie Mors]

Requisites for a successful character written by Lis:

• Character must be misfortuned.
• Character must find some sort of attachment that waves away that worry.
• Character must throw away that security and love to go seek out something they can't have.
• Character must be crushed with the realization that these attempts are too little, too late.
• Character must die a horrible, painful, death.