[sindohte]

Over the past few days, I have been keeping an eye on the Fanfic Recommendations & Discussion thread. One theme which I noticed being brought up in diferent ways was that people wanted to grow and develop as writers. Certainly reading the work of others is one way to hone your craft. Having the chance to develop a dialogue with a favorite author is another way to actually get to know what is going on during someone else's creative process. And Scribe pointed out that she wanted OSA to be a place for writers to meet each other and to be changed by the interaction, in a hopefully positive way.

As a person who is nearly a psychologist (fingers crossed, knock on wood), I spend my life asking questions about the world around me and the people in it. And now I have a question to pose to you - What do you bring to the Open Scrolls Archive in terms of talents, abilities, or gifts? How can your strengths be used to benefit a new or long time writer out there to improve their writing? So let me put myself out there and mention what I think to be my gift and how it could assist other members out there.

I love writing, because it allows me to bring a psychological perspective to all of my characters. Roisin and I have spent hours, as she can attest, carefully analyzing and reanalyzing the motivations of every character in the story we are in the midst of creating. I want my characters to literally be able to walk off the pages and function as a living person, by the time I am finished with them. Even if all of my analysis does not get translated to the written page, at least I am clear about what makes my character tick. And hopefully the reader will have a clear sense of that too.

When I read or write about a character, I do not just think about what they are doing in terms of that moment. I consider the impact of childhood influences, various experiences and interactions over the years, and how all of this has shaped the character to become who they are at the moment they are being read about on the page. That is why I enjoyed Estel by Viv, because it has given me some additional insight as to Aragorn's childhood and how the particular moment in time she highlights, shaped the man who would become king. And I will file away some of the tidbits that I gained and then use that to influence my own characterization of an adult aged Aragorn who is filled with concerns about his family and kingdom.

So that is my gift which I bring to the table - the gift of psychoanalysis, be it of real people (which is my day job) or fictional characters (which is my form of therapy and relaxation).

What gifts do other members have out there that they want to share with others? If we want this site to be a place where mentoring relationships are to develop, then everyone needs to know about the talents possessed by others. It makes me think of the saying - When the student is ready, the teacher will come.So potential mentors and students - please step up to the table and make yourselves known.

[Maram68]

I am as eager an student as anybody else. I'd wish I could tell I bring something to the table for others, but I don't.

So, I beg you to differ that there are people here whose work has been allowed to stay online (which certifies maybe that it isnt really that bad) but who might just be looking for fellow writers that , even they are immensely more talented and more informed in the Tolkien-verse, wouldn't doubt to go down to "newbies"-level and share, help and encoutage writing. And the improvement, both of the works and the author herself.

THANK YOU, VIV!!!!! If I have learned something of fanfic writing in the 18 months I am online it was certainly thanks to you, Una and Terri. Thank you for being the most generous and helpful friend, "fan" and beta anybody could ever wish.

I have met wonderful people here, but I must say that again, I feel a bit disheartened and ... belittled. I am aware that some people, who just begin writing in this fandom (like myself) can not dare to reach the excellence of some writers who have innate talent or have been doing this for long.

I almost feel like not "publishing" my work (on the net) ever again.

I am not afraid of constructive criticism, never have been. In fact, I consider myself a beta-addict (specially since English is just my third language).

So, I am here just to learn, but I am not sure I will be able. For now, with a few exceptions, I must say that most authors here intimidate me beyond reason. I will creep back into "the dark I came from" and keep on watching, trying to absorbe as much as I can from the ones that might belong to a higher league of writers but are certainly much too conscious about that.

Hmmm, sorry , I was venting a bit.

I shall sit back and enjoy all the knowledge I can get.

Apologies for the "WHINING" and thanks for sharing your wisdom, ladies (and few gentlemen).

[Ellbee]

I hope, Maram, when you say you feel belittled, it's because you're going through a down period in your writing, and not because of any attitudes or opinions that have been expressed here, and which have almost all been polite and reasonable. I know that there are fanfic writer whom I'll never be able to hold a candle to, in terms of style and imagination and talent, but you can't let something like that intimidate you. The only reason we're all here is because we love the LotR books and/or movies, and because we like to play around with the world and the characters. That's a pretty level field, in spite of any variations in style, individual likes or dislikes, or reviewing styles.

-Ell

[sindohte]

[JennnLee]

Ack, the pressure! I don't know what I bring to the table, honestly. Loved the movies, love the world, still struggling to finish the books. I read LOTR fanfic because I find myself wanting to know MORE about these characters that were created that sadly were not given enough development, IMHO. I write LOTR fanfic because I've always loved the idea of immortality, be it vampires or elves, and how a being that lives forever falls in love with someone who doesn't. Which led to Ell and I (Ell and me? Neither sounds right) writing "Eternally" and we had a good time with it. But I don't consider myself any kind of Middle-Earth expert, far from it.

But, at the risk of sounding like an egotist, I do consider myself to be a good writer. I have a good handle on spelling and grammar rules, and I've done a lot of betaing. I love to write, and God willing I WILL finish that book someday, it's just taking a while.

So I guess I bring a bit of an editor's eye to the table. Is that good enough?

(Oh, I also write LOTR fic because Eomer needed to be climbed. )

[sindohte]

[ElizabethWyeth]

First, I think anyone who reads and try's to review constructively brings something to the place. Something important.

But I think I bring a decent style of laying out battle scenes in a poetic yet technically clear fashion. At least that's what I have been told. As an artist, I see things in my mind's eye but have to draw them out before I can write of them . I can't just write a battle scene I imagine. I have to see it on paper. And that sometimes means I have tons of sketches sitting about me, but it also means that my battle scenes are geographically placed as realistically as possible (for little ole me). I have studied large army statistics and troop movements and if you ever need to ask about how many wagons of food and tack have to come along for 20,000 orcs... I can tell how many with reasonable accuracy.

Being a nurse for several years in the past also means that I bring a certain knowledge about the plausibility of some medical issues.

But I don't bring much in the way of Writing Skills per se. I would be a laughing stock without my trusty spell-checker.

[dolarabee]

[ElizabethWyeth]

Don't please be upset! As I said, I think everyone who reads and try's to be a constructive reviewer is very valuable! (Not that you have to meet a certain criteria of value to be a member here...)

I listed my skills (such as they are) in an effert to put myself out there should anyone need help with either planning a battle or with medical questions. (I do medical betaing for several writers)

No ego, just an honest listing of what I bring should anyone need that kind of help. I am always willing to help.

I am NOT the person to contact if you want help catching subtle spelling mistakes. Though I can test the grammar waters most of the time.

I thought this discussion was just a way of listing what you might possess in the way of special skills that might be helpful to other authors....

Is there a better place to do that? Big oops on my part if there is. But I never meant to intimate that anyone bostimg no special skills in unworthy of membership. That's just silly.

[Roisin]

I believe that Sindohte was just trying to make the point that we ALL have something to contribute and shouldn't let our own self-doubts or insecurities interfere with MAKING our contribution. Come on. From what you've read of Sindohte's posts so far, do you REALLY think she is suggesting some sort of test to see who belongs here? Actually I know for a fact that she is suggesting no such thing.

Roisin

[sindohte]

[JennnLee]

[Ellbee]

[Ariel]

Hmmm.... Well, apparently I bring the skill of pissing everyone off just by posting... Interesting skill.

Reading through this thread I was also getting the feeling that Do expressed - of not being elite enough to participate in this site. At the risk of expressing something that may again not be popular, (and also in the wrong thread, again!) that was the thing I liked about OS.... It isn't elitist - or at least I never felt it was. I'm just a lowly hobbit writer, not great, not horrible, but just like a million other so-so writers out there. What I have to offer, if anything, isn't what the folks on this board (or most boards) want. But it seemed that at OS, I could chatter away, commiserate, read and hopefully make friends without having to meet some invisible standard that I could never possibly touch. *sigh* Please don't make this a popularity contest or a site where you have to fall in with the 'party line'.

I'd fail... miserably.

Ariel

[Gaslight]

Even though I'm late to all this discussion, and I see that it somehow got put onto a touchy route, I'll answer anyway in the spirit it was originally intended.

Granted, I only have two "serious" fics to my name and a couple throwaway humor pieces that are really just knockoffs of someone else's idea (posted with permission by the original creator! ). So I haven't really found certain things that I'm confident I have a firm grasp on. But...I think I'm quite good at details. When I read some fics, I see lots of blank spaces that need coloring in. Fleshing out scenes to include sights, sounds and smells. Things like that. I don't know if that's anything of substance because some folk really like bare bones prose, or something that doesn't get too weighted down in details and words. But I kind of fancy elaborate description rather than sparse stuff.