The Writing (and Artistic) Ranting Thread

[Rebel Dynasty]

http://www.scarymommy.com/bookstore...urce=moms&utm_campaign=GLP&utm_medium=partner

I think this is about the stupidest ****ing thing ever. "Silencing the male voice"? That's not feminism, you lack-wit; that's misandry. You want to spread awareness and promote female authors, then by all means--but don't pretend for two ****ing seconds that the means by which you're doing it isn't as equally sexist as you perceive the publishing industry to be.

The facts and figures might hold sway, and granted, there are some misogynistic a-holes out there; such as those whose comments are provided in the article (which I don't believe for a moment reflected all of the male input they received, but of course showing other than those ones wouldn't sell their point, right?). But be that as it may, it doesn't mean the male authors whose books they've reversed didn't struggle to garner the acclaim they have.

In essence, pushing one demographic down to lift the other up is a BS way of doing things. If that's the only way you can think of to promote female authors, then your imagination and sense of equality are seriously lacking. :meh:

 

[V's patron]

On friday i wrote a poem about loneliness. Ironically that made me happy because its the first poem I wrote to completion in a while. It still has to be typed and looked over but yeah it feels good.

 

[Rebel Dynasty]

By the gods, I think I've finally fixed Phenex's dialogue in that one piece. Three years and the fifth draft later... :facepalm:

At least, I think it reads a lot smoother than the previous versions. For anyone curious:

Spoiler: Snarky Phenex is snarky

Wait…does he mean…? “Like the legendary bird, phoenix?” she asked aloud, feeling her cheeks warm in embarrassment when he sneered back at her.

“Not just like it, little girl,” Gwen made a sound of protest at his gibe, but he ignored her. “My kind were already ancient when yours were still nothing more than simple-minded beasts. Though from what I’ve seen, not a lot has changed.”

 

[Rebel Dynasty]

No matter how many times I've edited it, the first scene of Ch. 17 still feels off. The problem is, I don't want to rewrite it. If I rewrite it, I'm likely to lose some of the character bonding originally implemented--and that's a big no for me.

I'm probably being too stubborn for my own good. Or maybe I'm being harder on myself than I need to be. Maybe the scene isn't as awkward as I think.

I just really don't want to lose the light-heartedness or the introspective quality to it, because it's supposed to be the proverbial "calm before the storm". A moment of levity and relatability between the main three before everything goes to hell in a hand basket.

I'd better get this **** together, if I intend to publish later this year. :facepalm:

 

[Shadow]

It's a sham (no, not shame, an actual sham) that all the "how to make your adventure story better" guides cover everything except the most difficult part: which is how to cover long travelling distances without a million scene breaks and without boring your readers. There's only so much talking and scenery descriptions you can do before it gets repetitive to the extreme. -should probably write something about that one day-

 

[EA9Sol]

Hm, looks like I'm going to try and write a few 500 word short stories....since y'know those are things I can write without getting too distracted. Also see if I can help me with a few random story ideas that I know for a fact won't really work in full length stories....of any kind. lol

 

[Dante's Stalker]

I was wondering, when you post fanart online and someone uses that to make a profit, is that all legal and stuff?

 

[Shadow]

I was wondering, when you post fanart online and someone uses that to make a profit, is that all legal and stuff?

As far as I know, fanart is a legally grey area. Making profit off of it can give companies grounds to sue, but most companies allow fans to sell prints of their own art or things they've made that are from the series. I'm not an expert, though, this is just what I've found talking to people who take commissions for fan stuff. If someone's taking your stuff and using it to make profit? Afaik, it still falls into that grey area. Depending on the person, there's not much you can do. If someone's making prints of it on another site or selling stuff with it on it? You can usually contact the site and see if the admins will take it down...preferably after talking to the person selling it and seeing if they'll take it down. Beyond that, I don't believe there's much you can do except spread the word that the person who stole it is untrustworthy. Bring down enough angry people on them, and they should stop. Now...if it's a company doing it--ie: you posted an idea for a story and a company stole it and is producing a game/comic/book/etc following it word for word--you're out of luck. Granted, it's extremely ****ty of a company to do, but, as far as they're concerned, that stuff is public domain.

tl;dr: if the person taking your fanart is just a person, it's not illegal but it's still really rude and you can usually get the site they're selling on to help you. If the person taking your fanart is a large company, you're SOL.

 

[Viper]

@Dante's Stalker
Making fanart is these days perfectly legal as long as you don't make profit from it or you use characters that are iconic enough and give it your own take (for example, Mickey Mouse on a painting depicting some social theme in artist's own style).
Selling fanart and doujinshis is conditionally okay, the condition being that you keep number of copies low and the owners of characters in question are not going on a crusade.
It is important to mention that even if you do not own the idea, you still own the work, ie. your fanart is legally yours and no one can use it as is, not even the owner of characters, unless you give permission. If someone is selling your fanart, you can request from the site owner to take it down. Most will comply to avoid trouble and bad rep. I don't think you can take any legal actions against the perpetrator, since even if you'd have the money for it, you still don't own characters.

 

[Dante's Stalker]

Okay, thanks guys.
The reason I was asking was because I found some fanart made by a member on the forum here for sale on an online sales app.
Linky
I was wondering if he was aware of this or not. Not sure what his username on the forum is anymore? @Shadow you might know?

 

[Rebel Dynasty]

Okay, thanks guys.
The reason I was asking was because I found some fanart made by a member on the forum here for sale on an online sales app.
Linky
I was wondering if he was aware of this or not. Not sure what his username on the forum is anymore? @Shadow you might know?

That's @Sweet JP art. http://bastardprince.deviantart.com/art/vergil-557597839

 

[V]

That one's been stolen by about 4 or 5 people now and that's just the occasions I know about. Thanks for letting me know. I'll take it up with them, although getting these online stores to even reply is a job sometimes.

Yeah what they're doing is technically illegal. They won't have Capcom or the artist's permission and just hope nobody notices they're ripping stuff off, usually. Buyers don't tend to care. The reason I try to get the stuff taken down when I see it isn't so much personal pride, I just don't want Capcom's lawyers or whatever thinking the seller is me.

 

[Rebel Dynasty]

*On finding yet another book with a common theme to mine*

The writing gods have a strange sense of humour. I mean, really, what were the chances that her third book, and my third book, would both contain floating islands in them? In the AIR floating islands, with dragons (oh, excuse me, "Draekon" in her case).

No, seriously; what were the chances?

Now I remember why I post my stories online; it's not so much for feedback (which is little more than pointless during early drafts, anyway, unless it helps me refine certain things before I'm passed the point of no return), but because at least if the posting date precedes the release date of another's book, I have an alibi that I didn't rip anyone off...and it's not even other authors that worry me on that front.

It's the readers. You wouldn't believe how many people assume that because a work was released before another, the one that came out later just must have been copying them.

Oh, paranoia. Why must you be my constant companion? :facepalm:

 

[Shadow]

Found some posts that sum up my current problem with writing right now:

Yesterday I was reading a thread about people who make mobile apps and there was a guy who said he had forty plus installs a day and thousands of users, but he didn’t make any money off it.

And it made me think about how drastically the internet has devalued creative work of any kind.

Imagine it: you’ve created something on your own free time that thousands of people like and enjoy, but they refuse to support you and if you try to implement some method of revenue, such as ads, they turn their backs and look for the next guy desperate enough to be seen that he’ll offer his thing for free without frills

They were also discussing the best ways to generate revenue via ads in their apps, and that was to reward a player for watching short videos with coins or points or whatever. Think about that. Some apps have to pay the player to play them so the creator can get some of their money back that they spent advertising and creating them. It’s crazy.


People then argue that creation should be done for the love of it, but the fact is that love doesn’t pay the bills. You can love what you do but it doesn’t change the fact that doing it has to be squeezed in between ten hour days at a company who values you just as much as your end users do: that is, not very much when it gets down to it. There just isn’t that much time to DO what you love, for some people, and it’s all the more disheartening when thousands of people think what you do is good enough to consume and sometimes steal, but not good enough to pay for. People preach about supporting artists, but the numbers show no one is really interested in doing that. People are hardly bothered simply to click a like button most of the time.

I feel like this entitlement from the internet, where creators should be grateful someone used their product and should expect no returns no matter how deep the enjoyment, is killing people’s desire to create, or at least to share what they’ve made with others. The message people spread is to spend your life doing what you love… but how can you do that when people don’t value what you love as much as you do?

Actually there is a very good example of this right now: Patreon.

Patreon is, effectively, artists bribing people into supporting them because they won’t do it if they don’t get something out of it, aside from what the artist already produces. People won’t throw artists they love and enjoy even a dollar unless the artist strokes their ego by putting their name in a public thank you note. It’s sad.

And I’m not trying to make people feel bad but part of my point here is that this isn’t sustainable

People expect more and bigger and better, for free. But it’s not free for the person who has to pour their life into something only to get people saying ‘I liked you before you got so naggy’ when you ask people to at the very least reblog your art instead of bury it in their likes

You’re gonna end up with just pros who have some free time to toss the internets’ way and kids who try and try to find feedback and don’t get enough to feed their dreams

Source: 1 2 3

 

[Dante's Stalker]

After months of finding no time or energy to write, I'm given a whole 24 hours to write to my heart's desire.
The problem is that I can't decide what to work on!
Do I carry on with my fantasy novel which, in hindsight, has a lot of stereotyping and cliché and would need a total overhaul anyway?
Or do I carry on with my supernatural series which at the moment has three books in different stages of drafting?
Or do I run after that other plot bunny that hopped into my head a couple of days ago?
What a friggin dilemma!

 

[EA9Sol]

Grr! Can't seem to write....>.> But I want to so badly!!! What is this nonsense!? Damn you brain. I'll just think of something till inspiration...heh.

 

[Kurisu]

That's @Sweet JP art. http://bastardprince.deviantart.com/art/vergil-557597839

Wait. Really? OH DAMN, I love their Metal Gear art so much! (Especially 'cause almost everything in the Metal Gear folder is my dear child Liquid).
Anyway, yesterday I felt pretty down (and I still do) 'cause I don't see any improvements in the way that I color things. My friend told me that I am improving but I still see my coloring bad. Ugh.

 

[AmazingGaming]

Wait. Really? OH DAMN, I love their Metal Gear art so much! (Especially 'cause almost everything in the Metal Gear folder is my dear child Liquid).
Anyway, yesterday I felt pretty down (and I still do) 'cause I don't see any improvements in the way that I color things. My friend told me that I am improving but I still see my coloring bad. Ugh.

"You're Pretty Good."

 

[Dante's Stalker]

I managed to get about 5k down. It took me from morning 'til evening but it's something at least.
Although my inner editor has been writhing since I posted it up because it's practically a newborn draft that is only just past half complete.
I think it's best that I put it up online because 1) I don't know when I'll get back to it and it only has a 90 day lifespan in my doc folder, and 2) I can work on it from anywhere that has wifi. So if my PC goes kaput, I still have my work online.
Ed doesn't agree. Ed is screaming 'take it down, take it down before anyone sees it, do it nao!'

This is going to burn me until I get back to it. Anybody else get that? Like you can't stop thinking about your work, the characters, the setting, where you need to go fix stuff, where the story will go next? My head is going to be stuck in my fantasy world for a while, I think.

Muses be like:

 

[Rebel Dynasty]

@Dante's Stalker Tell Ed to can it; I must read this ASAP. I guarantee it's better than you think it is. And yes, that's basically been the past 3+ years on the WoN Trilogy. Don't get me wrong, there are days where I'm like, "Eh, if I do the absolute minimal amount of work, it isn't the end of the world" (more so since I'm down to edits) but there are also so many days where it's like, "Oh gods, I'm so sorry I only did one scene today! I'll do better tomorrow, I promise! D:"

...Not even joking. The guilt...it's all consuming.

More importantly though, I am so freaking happy for you! ^^ I'm glad you're getting back into the swing of things, even if sometimes it feels like more of a curse than a gift. :happy: