>They currently have, what, five kids? Six if you've seen "The Passage" and count Kat?
Definitely six. Kat definitely counts. (Then again, she's dead, so I dunno...)
>Actually, yes, you do in most areas and that comment was largely tongue-in-cheek. Though I feel that encouragement and deserved praise is never out of place. I sometimes wonder if you know who I am and what I can do, but that could be my own insecurities.
To be blunt...
I think you are a more talented writer than me. (Well, you already know that I think that, so that's not news, and that is not what I was going to be blunt about. Wait for it.) How *much* more talented exactly is beside the point, as these things are impossible to measure, and also, we're both not even remotely done growing and learning. But I know that when I read your stuff I am frequently awed, and that doesn't happen to me very often. With about 95% of all fanfic writers, and perhaps 70% of 'real, published' writers, even writers I love and admire, I feel like 'yeah, well, with a little bit of practice I could probably do something like that, myself'. (See? My megalomania doesn't need much encouragement either!) With you (and a select few others) I don't.
The fact that you are very talented indeed does not guarantee anything, of course. It does not even guarantee you'll manage to write a single decent book in your lifetime. (This was the blunt part, in case you hadn't noticed.)
Talent is just talent; what you make of it is subject to the decisions you make for your life, and to a lot of outer circumstances, too. And you may very well still have a lot to learn about writing - frankly, I haven't seen enough of your writing yet to judge that. I do know that it's possible to be very, very good at one aspect of something and be completely clueless about the next. Also, at least some of the areas you may still need to improve in would probably be areas in which I need even more to improve, so I may not even be aware enough of the possible flaws there to judge yours.
>(good lord that makes me sound like I'm about to reveal myself as a serial killer!)
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Re: Okay... some more replies...
Date: 2007-02-13 10:32 pm (UTC)Definitely six. Kat definitely counts. (Then again, she's dead, so I dunno...)
>Actually, yes, you do in most areas and that comment was largely tongue-in-cheek. Though I feel that encouragement and deserved praise is never out of place. I sometimes wonder if you know who I am and what I can do, but that could be my own insecurities.
To be blunt...
I think you are a more talented writer than me. (Well, you already know that I think that, so that's not news, and that is not what I was going to be blunt about. Wait for it.) How *much* more talented exactly is beside the point, as these things are impossible to measure, and also, we're both not even remotely done growing and learning. But I know that when I read your stuff I am frequently awed, and that doesn't happen to me very often. With about 95% of all fanfic writers, and perhaps 70% of 'real, published' writers, even writers I love and admire, I feel like 'yeah, well, with a little bit of practice I could probably do something like that, myself'. (See? My megalomania doesn't need much encouragement either!) With you (and a select few others) I don't.
The fact that you are very talented indeed does not guarantee anything, of course. It does not even guarantee you'll manage to write a single decent book in your lifetime. (This was the blunt part, in case you hadn't noticed.)
Talent is just talent; what you make of it is subject to the decisions you make for your life, and to a lot of outer circumstances, too. And you may very well still have a lot to learn about writing - frankly, I haven't seen enough of your writing yet to judge that. I do know that it's possible to be very, very good at one aspect of something and be completely clueless about the next. Also, at least some of the areas you may still need to improve in would probably be areas in which I need even more to improve, so I may not even be aware enough of the possible flaws there to judge yours.
>(good lord that makes me sound like I'm about to reveal myself as a serial killer!)
Oh, but you *know* I like serial killers! *g*