What Inspires You?

[Passion]

Hey everyone!

For a while now, previous moderators (including myself) have tried to find ways to revitalize the CW forum. From creative writing critiques to contests, we've been trying to find ways to bring more activity to this cozy part in the forums.

I do feel, however, that I can't make that happen without knowing what you want from this section. For so long we've been trying to put together a plan that works, but our fatal flaw was not having your input. With that being said, I just wanted to ask a few simple questions that could really help me out moving forward.

What motivates you to post in the Creative Writing section (and it's sub-forums)? What would you, as a frequent visitor to CW, like to see from this section in the coming weeks, months, and so forth?​

I don't feel like I'm asking for too much of your time, so please feel free to respond and let me know how you feel! As your moderator, don't ever feel nervous, ashamed, etc. to come and ask me a question! My Skype is in my info bar (the area where my avatar is on the left) and you can always PM/VM on the forums!

Thanks loves ♥,

Passion

 

[Annoyance]

What motivates you to post in the Creative Writing section (and it's sub-forums)? What would you, as a frequent visitor to CW, like to see from this section in the coming weeks, months, and so forth?

I like helping people with their writing more, especially having a back and forth discussion about their writing like I did with Aqua and Izayoi previously. It helped me realize I would really like to be a freelance editor for writers in the future with enough practice and learning [I know I'm not perfect by any means I make a lot of mistakes in my editing still.] I found this through the critique thread which is unfortunately dead, but I feel it boosted activity and critique, or at least I hope. Lately I haven't really had the time to read some of the stuff as thoroughly, which is unfortunate and makes me sad. I really should start up again some time soon...

Anyways, I always had a fondness for this section regardless, and I'd like to see more activity, more communication. Even if you don't write doesn't mean you can't give critique and opinions. Writers [AND NON-WRITERS] can help each other!

Contests would be awesome, but it's so hard to get people into that kind of thing.

Nanowrimo is coming up, so that'll be hopefully productive.

I like the ideas of the short writing things with word counts and all, it encourages you to just WRITE and not worry too much about major things. Just get the stuff moving in your head. Maybe we could have contests with those?

Maybe we could have like, neat little prompts every week, not like, as an assignment, just add to stuff, keep it interesting, keep people coming back?

I don't know I'm really throwing shit in the air right now, but I'm liking the activity in here that I have been seeing.

 

[Nutari]

Well, my response is going to be significantly shorter than most: but what motivates me?

I feel motivated when I see people posting, but really posting projects, not just sketches- or WIPs that never get finished (I am SO guilty of this). I just love seeing activity, and right now DM is SO DEAD. My shop is on hiatus because I'm at college and it's quite sad really.

 

[Annoyance]

Well, my response is going to be significantly shorter than most: but what motivates me?

I feel motivated when I see people posting, but really posting projects, not just sketches- or WIPs that never get finished (I am SO guilty of this). I just love seeing activity, and right now DM is SO DEAD. My shop is on hiatus because I'm at college and it's quite sad really.

Real life is a gigantic thing to do with productivity here. Priorities are definitely important to have. Don't let forum posting get in the way of real life, but don't let those keep your hobbies and passions down. I have went through many many many hobbies and side projects, all while maintaining a full time job. Right now those focuses on hobbies include my cosplay work and baking, both of which are actually very time consuming, like writing can be.

Giving yourself time and patience to sit alone and focus on something is very rewarding. If you have a day off, instead of sitting around doing nothing, motivate yourself to just work on something for just 15 minutes and see how that goes. I've seen studies that if you force yourself to do something for 10-15 minutes, you're more likely to keep going with it.

Maybe set up a day to do that thing, be it writing, or whatever makes you happy. Schedules are hard to set up and maintain but once you get in the flow of things I think it's easier.

Also I apologize for my tl;dr posts.

So tl;dr: Make time for yourself!

 

[ChibiHearts249]

What motivates me? I'm honestly not really sure, haha! X3 I've always loved to write, ever since I won a story award in second grade. I still have that story, too! Writing is like baking, to me: you make it to share in the first place, and you feel rewarded when people compliment you on a job well done. So you might say I do it for praise, but I don't think that's it, either...I do it for the smiles, even if I can't see them. I haven't had a terrible life or anything, but I always try to be the cheerful one. When someone is feeling down, I feel like it's their friends' job to help them smile. Poems can be beautiful! After all; music is simply poems with a beat , I think. The rhythm is there, people just don't recognize it until you add the narrator (singer) and setting (instruments). I guess, maybe what motivates me to write stories and poems and the like is because I'm hoping to connect with others. We don't have to share the same interests to appreciate writing!

I wouldn't mind seeing contests on different things. People sharing their interest about Kingdom Hearts, current events, movies, or even each other would be great fun! But, like you said; there aren't many people that gather in the CW section. So contests would consist of us frequent visitors, mostly! ^_^'
I don't think bribing with a physical award would help, either...Then we might start getting people who don't respect CW at all just throwing stuff out there to win it, then leaving.
Maybe just consistent contests to get it running, first? Like, weekly or bi-weekly just to figure out who's interested? We could even have something like a "contributor of the month" sorta thing. Those of us that frequent the section can help to spread the word and get new people interested. After all; it takes hardly any talent to write what's on your mind! You just have to be willing to share!

So, in short, I think we all just need to communicate with others. We need a REASON to get other people interested! I realy like the steady calm of the section, but having a healthy dose of activity couldn't hurt!​

 

[Lanydx reborn]

What gets me write? Well in the words of Tim Curry: "When I just a lad, looking for my true vocation, my Mother said " Now son this choice deserves depilation." You could be a doctor, or perhaps a minister. So I picked a more artist career.

I've always wanted to write, thanks to movies, anime, comic books, books, music I'm working on a novel, and as for my fanfics, I like to write what I would want to read. Where I could like my shows, or games to go, and so on. Also a bit of spite is in the mix. I do write and hope that other people well enjoy it.

Now for what I could like to see....We need new blood. We need new writers. Fanfis, and otherwise. That is all I can really think about.

Until next time.

 

[Annoyance]

People sharing their interest about Kingdom Hearts, current events, movies, or even each other would be great fun! But, like you said; there aren't many people that gather in the CW section. So contests would consist of us frequent visitors, mostly! ^_^'

This thread is to my understanding for those frequent people to possibly interest the others who are off doing those other things. @n@" Also in my experience, those contests usually fall short because not enough entries are put in.

I don't think bribing with a physical award would help, either...Then we might start getting people who don't respect CW at all just throwing stuff out there to win it, then leaving.

If they really don't give a shit about writing, it would show, and if they did, hey, good for them.

This is to promote activity. Telling someone they can't enter a contest though because they don't RESPECT THE CW LIKE WE DO is kinda mean. If they wanna put the time into making an entry, kudos. If they do it and later don't feel it's their cup of tea to stay passionate about, that's okay too. o3o

After all; it takes hardly any talent to write what's on your mind!

*sweats profusely*

 

[SRKTAVRXAYGDM]

I have daily goal for myself to post everyday in my writing, so that's something. Other times it's just having fun. That's what I want to see more of in CW. People having fun writing, and not worrying what others will say. Commitment is good too. Not naming names, but I fee kinda sad when! Writers stop writing after a while. I understand if your blocked, but after a month it seems like you forgotten.

 

[Mite]

What motivates you to post in the Creative Writing section (and it's sub-forums)? What would you, as a frequent visitor to CW, like to see from this section in the coming weeks, months, and so forth?​

What motivated me in the first place was that I had a couple of ideas I thought would be fun to write about and went from there. I wrote my two fics because they were fun and I liked writing about them, plus I had a writing intensive major in college, so it was a way for me to keep up my writing and have something that wasn't a weekly assignment to write that I actually enjoyed. But as I got toward the end of my college days the workload pretty much stopped me from continuing on writing here. I've been wanting to get back to writing my fics because they're unfinished, but I haven't gotten that writing spark back to return to them yet.

As for the future of the CW section, contests/awards have already been discussed a bit; my two cents would be that if there are contests in the future that they shouldn't be exclusively for the Fanfiction section. For example I know holiday themed contests are a given, but I wouldn't feel motivated to write a x-mas story about Kingdom Hearts, but rather write something more original.

I also like Annoyance's idea of daily/weekly writing assignments/prompts to keep writing skills up and keep us coming back, just so long as they aren't huge assignments I suppose.

That's all I got right now.

 

[King Sora X]

What motivates you to post in the Creative Writing section (and it's sub-forums)? What would you, as a frequent visitor to CW, like to see from this section in the coming weeks, months, and so forth?

I sometimes am inspired by others to post — as seen in the recent uprising of the journal threads. Sometimes it's the inspiration I get from myself to share what I have written for others or even myself. Though, if I'm going to be completely honest, I am, more often than not, inspired just by whatever is going on in my own little world. This really can range from a dream I have, an idea I have brewing in my mind, thoughts that plague my mind, or even entertainment(TV, movies, video games, music, etc...)

I like the ideas of the short writing things with word counts and all, it encourages you to just WRITE and not worry too much about major things. Just get the stuff moving in your head. Maybe we could have contests with those?

Maybe we could have like, neat little prompts every week, not like, as an assignment, just add to stuff, keep it interesting, keep people coming back?

I pretty much agree with Annoyance with the two ideas she said. It would really be great to move forward activity. Or in the very least, keep it from declining.

 

[ChibiHearts249]

This thread is to my understanding for those frequent people to possibly interest the others who are off doing those other things. @n@" Also in my experience, those contests usually fall short because not enough entries are put in.

Ummm? Yeah, I understand all that. I got the message, too. Why do you think I said what I did?

If they really don't give a shit about writing, it would show, and if they did, hey, good for them.

That's what I think. But people can be a little unpredicatble, which is why we're discussing this, after all~

This is to promote activity. Telling someone they can't enter a contest though because they don't RESPECT THE CW LIKE WE DO is kinda mean. If they wanna put the time into making an entry, kudos. If they do it and later don't feel it's their cup of tea to stay passionate about, that's okay too. o3o

Kinda missed the point. I don't mean "respect" in the same sense as what you're thinking, and I certainly didn't mean it to be rude. Omitting people from a contest would be discrimination, and in a forum that's just silly. We're here for the opinions of others. But I DO think people should give it a shot, and something to promote fresh blood would be pretty awesome!

*sweats profusely*

I'm not really sure what this means?
All I'm saying is that it takes absolutely NO talent to write about something simple; like how your day was, something you enjoy, and even something as simple as how you feel at this particular moment. Don't take that the wrong way! To get someone to show their creativity, you sometimes have to show them how easy it really is. They don't need help, they just need to understand that writing is a great, fun, and easy way to express oneself!

 

[Annoyance]

I'm not really sure what this means?
All I'm saying is that it takes absolutely NO talent to write about something simple; like how your day was, something you enjoy, and even something as simple as how you feel at this particular moment. Don't take that the wrong way! To get someone to show their creativity, you sometimes have to show them how easy it really is. They don't need help, they just need to understand that writing is a great, fun, and easy way to express oneself!

I was joking slightly throughout this thing, but the way you worded it, it implied something like "writing about what you think [i thought you meant in the context of critique and the like] isn't hard at all!" and as someone who mainly does that i was joking like "oh shit she's onto me."


As for the rest, it's great and all that everyone wants contests, but what makes people actually give a shit? We've tried contests before, and many have failed and had default winners because eventually people just quit or don't write for the next round, or whatever.

How can we make that WORK.

Prizes are great and all, but motivation to even join is a problem for some people, let alone write about something that is fun for everyone. Writing about something specific can be constricting, but having a prompt too broad can be too vague and intimidating for some.


Also my first comment was referring to the fact that the rest of the forum is for sharing people's love about movies and KH and the like. This section is for writing prose, poetry, and maybe some fanfiction about those things, and I just read what you said wrong I guess??? Idk it just was weird.

 

[Roxie1563]

What keeps me coming back to CW was because of Aiko's start of writing journals and she inspires me to start one. I actually get some good response while getting my writing to good form at times. :3

As to improve, maybe spice things up with games shows (but in the form of writing) like Game of Fortune type. o3o I'm just putting some ideas.

 

[SRKTAVRXAYGDM]

What keeps me coming back to CW was because of Aiko's start of writing journals and she inspires me to start one. I actually get some good response while getting my writing to good form at times. :3

You're too kind. Sometimes I just keep on coming here to read all the other great writing. And add my own to the list.

 

[Roxie1563]

You're too kind. Sometimes I just keep on coming here to read all the other great writing. And add my own to the list.

You're welcome. ^_^ And that's like me. xD

 

[Annoyance]

As to improve, maybe spice things up with games shows (but in the form of writing) like Game of Fortune type. o3o I'm just putting some ideas.

How would this work, exactly?

 

[Roxie1563]

How would this work, exactly?

Okay, that's not going to work. >.<' You know, forget that idea.. I don't know why I even came that one up.

 

[Moonlight Aqua]

I just feel motivated because while I want to have fun writing, I always want to free my thoughts a bit here. And thanks to my friends for helping me with everything I've been through, it's helped a lot. :3

 

[spirit-of-light]

I don't really know what inspires me to write. Some times I'm just filled with the need to write, so I do. If that makes any sense.

 

[ChibiHearts249]

Really, how DO we attract newcomers? Contests and fun threads can only lure in so many for so long...Any more ideas?