re: getting writing-blocked by past you; omfg i get that feeling all the time. it's just like *past you, you've done it, you've set the bar so high that it's unsurpassable, i have plateaued in my early twenties goodbye world.* we have to recognize that other people think this way too and i think it's exactly like you said--you need to believe that you're improving! because you definitely are but you read/hear your writing all the time so it all seems the same. it's like if you hang out with someone all the time you don't notice how they're growing, but they are! your writing's growing too! (i think that was a bad analogy but I DON'T CARE IT WORKS.)
re: original content; aw yeah, write awesome stories and get them out there!! fanfic writers can go on to be awesome original fic writers because, well, fannish tales give you exposure to a whole lot of stories and storytelling styles that you wouldn't see out there in the mainstream published world. it gives your stories a unique quality that i think people really enjoy. :) i expect signed copies, wink wonk--
re: writing for yourself; those fucking kudos. anyways, i know you love writing and i know you have a lot of ideas, so i believe that you can do this for yourself! cheering you on!! (one thing that might help is turning off your ability to see the hits counters on your fics on ao3)
re: characters + dialogue; synecdochic has fun but tiring getting-to-know-characters exercises that i like, described here and here. basically, you choose a character (or multiple! but start with one while you get used to it) and create them as an imaginary character in your head (character-sim). then you go about your day and just check in with them every once in a while. you could be standing in line for pizza and ask your character (let's say... snart) what kind of pizza they like. then your character-sim of snart would answer. eventually, the more you do it, the better the grasp you'll have of (a) your characterization of them because of all the questions you've been asking and (b) their speech patterns because they'll be yammering at you all the damn time.
if you'd like to try this technique and journal it, i'll journal along with you and we can both be a couple of too-invested writers with voices in our heads. :)
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Date: 2015-12-11 06:59 am (UTC)omfg i get that feeling all the time. it's just like *past you, you've done it, you've set the bar so high that it's unsurpassable, i have plateaued in my early twenties goodbye world.* we have to recognize that other people think this way too and i think it's exactly like you said--you need to believe that you're improving! because you definitely are but you read/hear your writing all the time so it all seems the same. it's like if you hang out with someone all the time you don't notice how they're growing, but they are! your writing's growing too! (i think that was a bad analogy but I DON'T CARE IT WORKS.)
re: original content;
aw yeah, write awesome stories and get them out there!! fanfic writers can go on to be awesome original fic writers because, well, fannish tales give you exposure to a whole lot of stories and storytelling styles that you wouldn't see out there in the mainstream published world. it gives your stories a unique quality that i think people really enjoy. :)
i expect signed copies, wink wonk--
re: writing for yourself;
those fucking kudos.
anyways, i know you love writing and i know you have a lot of ideas, so i believe that you can do this for yourself! cheering you on!!
(one thing that might help is turning off your ability to see the hits counters on your fics on ao3)
re: characters + dialogue;
basically, you choose a character (or multiple! but start with one while you get used to it) and create them as an imaginary character in your head (character-sim). then you go about your day and just check in with them every once in a while. you could be standing in line for pizza and ask your character (let's say... snart) what kind of pizza they like. then your character-sim of snart would answer. eventually, the more you do it, the better the grasp you'll have of (a) your characterization of them because of all the questions you've been asking and (b) their speech patterns because they'll be yammering at you all the damn time.
if you'd like to try this technique and journal it, i'll journal along with you and we can both be a couple of too-invested writers with voices in our heads. :)
LOVE YOURSELF, WE LOVE YOU, AND KICK ASS IN 2016!