Authors and Arrogance

[KillerMuffin]

I'm pretty much about as conceited as they come around here. I think I'm the most arrogant author on these boards. I certainly think I know all about everything, don't I?

I'm also insecure as all hell, too. Like the 6 emails I just received over my knew story had me galloping for the boards at warp factor 10, Mr. Sulu for a little validation. I'm heartened to know that it's not the last line that killed the story, but the bad writing. That was a relief. What? I knew the writing was bad. I didn't like the story, hated the main characters, and had to force myself to write it. It's just also got an interesting and never done viewpoint on the old Mind Consent catego-- uh, tangent here.

I think that we writers are an arrogant lot. We start out very shy, quiet, and humble. Then we get some kudos and start to think, maybe I'm not so bad at this writing gig. Then one of the "greats" that we have admired so much agrees with some bit of whatever lecture we've been giving about writing and all of the sudden, bam! There goes the head. I walk around the house feeling like a body attached to the good year blimp some days.

A little humility is good, don't you think?

Oh well, done lecturing. Going to wallow in my positive feedback to make myself feel better.

 

[Stardog Champion]

Damn right we're arrogant...thousands of people a day, from every corner of the world, come here a Lit. looking to 'get off' on the stuff we created in our own minds..and no matter what their kink..most of them switch off the computer a few ounces lighter than when they logged on..that's pretty heady stuff!!

Stardog

 

[P. B. Walker]

LOL... wallow away Muffster... ya deserve it.

- PBW

 

[Karlynn]

LOL Killer Muffin..funny! That one made me laugh out loud. I would get soooo high when my stories managed to hang out in the top 10 list for a day or so,,,and then totally crash when they were sent to story limbo! funny..its good to know others feel the same... karlynn

 

[daughter]

What did you think you were alone

KM--

Yes, we artists are arrogant, drama queens, pithy. We're also creative, amiable, funny as hell.

Got a bad dose of arrogance? Share your 'better than sliced bread' with your peers and someone will give you a dose of reality.

Love the praise. Lawd knows I need my peers sensible feedback. I'll take humility over humiliation anyday.

Peace,

daughter

 

[christo]

I think there's a line between "arrogance" and "confidence", and another line between "insecurity" and "humility". If you publish something you're taking a pretty big chance-- you're asking people to spend their precious time on what you've written, and if they don't like your story it stings. So you have to have a certain amount of confidence that your work is worth their time. If you start thinking that, hey, my story is fantastic and these unwashed masses better goddam LOVE it, you're committing the sin of arrogance. And your audience will eventually punish you for it. I think arrogance makes people lazy, they don't think they have to put forth their best effort to make their work the best it can be.

If you're insecure, you might not publish at all. Or, again, you might not put forth your best effort, thinking that you'll never be good enough, so why try your hardest? Conversely, the humble person understands his/her limitations and works hard to overcome them.

I try to keep an even keel about my stories and scores and whatnot. I know I'm a pretty good writer. I know that I have lots and lots to learn. I know that I've learned a lot since I started posting here and getting feedback on my stories. When I write "normal" fiction now I set the bar higher because of what I've learned here. You just keep plugging away and putting your work out there, because you know it's pretty good. Not perfect, but the best you can do.

 

[Mickie]

KM, I shouldn't have much to say on this subject, it'd be like the pot calling the kettle black. The only thing I can really add is -- If you still know you have a lot to learn, then it isn't arrogance. I recently had an experience of learning from a complete newbie to writing. It was humbling, and I'm thankful I had a mind open enough to listen instead of lecture.

There are certain things we know better than some people, and it's all right if you claim to know them. It's not all right if you claim to know everything there is to know.

Mickie

 

[RisiaSkye]

I'm with KM on this one--I can go from "I'm a genius" to "I'm an idiot" in about 3 seconds. I don't seem to comfortably find that middle ground, where I recognize my strengths and weaknesses realistically.

In reality, I know I'm hardly a perfect writer. But, I also think I'm fair...at least I understand the basics. But, my self opinion swings wildly, often based on email, votes, reads, threads, and other feedback. *sigh*

Any suggestions for curing writers' bipolarity?

 

[alltherage]

The problem of going from feeling like a genius to an idiot in three seconds is the story of my life. I think in those moments when you feel accomplishment we are most vulnerable. I have posted two stories thus far. I do not call myself a writer and i wrote them almost as a dare to myself but also to tell myself a story. I posted them without expectation(well thats a lie). I just can't tell you what i expected.

When i was accepted to graduate school it did wonders for my ego. The summer before my first semester i walked around on cloud nine. I was just full of myself. That ended my first day in my department. I met the other teaching assistants and my first thought was, "god how in the hell did i get in here." I was completely convinced that they all were smarter than me and if I so much as opened my mouth they would all know. Needless to say i became a very quiet paper weight for that first semester.

When i posted my stories i felt a bit proud. I have written for years and i am about 200 pages into a novel. This was my first attempt at erotic writing and i thought both stories where at the very least different. Then i read some work that was posted by others. I read Killer Muffin's stories and I was blown away. Suddenly, I felt like some schoolgirl playing with the adults. Insecurity does not even begin to describe what i felt. I also felt challenged to try to be better.

If we were arrogant none of us would ever strive to be better. If we were as insecure as we sometimes feel we would never try. Maybe, in the end we are all just normal, but we are smart enough to know that normal is a moving target.

 

[Quiet_Cool]

KM--I read that and thoght, well, I guess all of us ARE really similar. Go figure! you get used to living in a world where every one around you thinks art means drawing things or painting (and that IS art, I know) but totally ignores the writer's perspective, then you stumble onto a site like this one and your confidence in the cultural aspect of human existance is temporarily renewed. But it takes a post like the first one in this thread to bring that into perspective...
My viewpoint: Fuck it! Be arrogant, the rest of the world is, and it doesn't have half as much to offer as we do!

 

[KillerMuffin]

Cure writer's bi-polarity!!! Never!! I'm of the opinion that my mental instability makes me the writing genius that I am. It gives me a good excuse to act the way I do.

The genius to idiot thing, ain't that the truth? If Dodge could harness that in an engine, nothing would ever catch the Viper, not even light.

 

[P. B. Walker]

lol.

more power to ya muffster.

- PBW

 

[Bob Peale]

I guess another way to look at it is, are we arrogant because we write, or do we write because we are arrogant.

The arrogance/confidence thing is kind of like the old jokes about rich people being eccentric and poor people being crazy, or "When Does A Politician Become An Asshole? When Your Guy Loses!". For whatever the reason, we have a need to share what's running out of our head and onto the paper with our fellow man. It's not really ballsy to write it - it's ballsy to expect someone to read it (and liking it is a whole 'nother story!)

I don't know if I'd call myself arrogant OR confident, but I definitely have a strong personality. I originally started writing because I couldn't find a lot of things I wanted to read. As KM said, some misguided soul sent me positive feedback and 250+ written pages I'm still here!

I like to entertain, and I really do care about writing things that people want to read. In return, I expect the courtesy of your time and attention.

Ok, so maybe I am arrogant

 

[Never]

KillerMuffin:
"I think that we writers are an arrogant lot. We start out very shy, quiet, and humble. Then we get some kudos and start to think, maybe I'm not so bad at this writing gig. Then one of the "greats" that we have admired so much agrees with some bit of whatever lecture we've been giving about writing and all of the sudden, bam! There goes the head."

Not so much.
Then again I've never been published in one form or another so that might account for that. I have received positive feedback though and I've never felt like an genius or an idiot.

 

[Karlynn]

"Any suggestions for curing writers' bipolarity?"

Are there support groups for online erotic story authors?

I am poweless over my mood swings and the voting has made my life unmanageable! lol...sorry, feeling silly...again!

karlynn

 

[JUDO]

Support Group?

Well, if you were ever to start one..."dis mus' be da place."

Although, I would encourage finding ways to increase your instability (at least to the point of still being able to type).

Why? Because I totally agree with KM that it's our insecurities and will to succeed in spite of them that make us artists. The "Im a genius-> Im an idiot at warp factor 10" eluded to by RS earlier.

If we were all perfectly satified, enlightened beings - why create? Everything's wonderful, so no need to change.

Great comedians suffer greatly, otherwise why become funny but to cope?

 

[Ravenswing]

As a beginner at this erotic writing lark I don't think I've had the chance to do the complete arrogant bastard to moron cycle, I'm just working on happily confident to gentle sobbing.

The voting drives me nuts, however. When my first story was doing so well, and then it dropped by like .03 points and I was mortified! I was obviously the worst writer in the world and everyone had just noticed. It crawled back up and I'm back to happy idiot. Now I check in every morning and worry about changes of .01 in the score. Is this a trend? Am I destined for the scrapheap?

Hey Ho.

Anyway, if I need bringing back to earth, all I need do is ask KM to review one of my stories. She'll bring me round no trouble.

<muttering> Sheesh, make it longer.</muttering>

 

[JUDO]

Babies

Just realize that watching how your babies fare in the cold world of Literotica is simply part of the process. We all have done it-do it. It's a phase of becoming a better writer. After a while, it doesn't matter...much.

 

[susurrus]

I've been writing stories for years, all through high school and beyond. I don't know if I was overly arrogant when I received positive feedback about them, but I do remember the couple of times I actually tried to sell a story. Form letters. No real help as far as "changing this would make the story better" or any other real helpful feedback. It was a real downer.

For maybe ten years, I didn't really write much of anything. I read plenty. And over the past few years, I've read plenty of erotica and its like. I've learned a lot about myself and the genre that I've recently started writing in.

I've received some positive feedback on a few of the small handful of stories I have posted. It is, as you all know, a heady feeling to receive good reviews from the folks who take their time to not only read, but also to respond to your work.

As for arrogance? Well, it is somewhat arrogant to write what most of the rest of the world would consider utter filth. It is further arrogant to think that anybody else would want to actually *read* such filth.

On the other hand, it is also an exercise in potential masochism. There is no guarantee that *anybody* will care what you have - in some cases - spent many hours of your own life to create. There exists the possibility of great joy in good response to your creation; there equally exists the possibility that every person that reads it will consider it the greatest load of crap that was ever put to "paper".

Arrogant? Definitely. You have to be arrogant, or there would be no reason to write in the first place. If you aren't arrogant enough to think you have something to say, chances are you aren't going to waste your time trying to get it out of your head.

 

[TheDR4KE]

LOL

If I'd seen this post, I would have thought twice about being nice on the other thread about that story

<wink>

Drake

 

[Natalie Nessus]

No, authors are not arrogant because they are authoers, they are, of course, humans first?

But of course I am arrogant because of my upbringing

 

[TheDR4KE]

nessus

No, authors are not arrogant because they are authoers, they are, of course, humans first?

yes indeed....

But of course I am arrogant because of my upbringing

Hahaha ... you and me both. French have it just as bad as the Germans. And now living in the paradise that is Australia, we can even look back on those still in Europe with a certain arrogance, non?

And might I just add that you can be rightly arrogant. Your writing is fantastic. I discovered Blue Raincoat quite a while ago and it was a great introduction to your words... Thank you.

Drake

 

[Ravenswing]

Okay, so NOW I'm arrogant

I just got runner up in the November Reader's Choice thingie...

Now I know what it's like to be arrogant! Yeah!

Ego won't fit in room, gotta go outside now.

 

[TheDR4KE]

woohoo

Congrats Ravenwing!!! Well done

Drake

 

[Natalie Nessus]

Re: nessus

And might I just add that you can be rightly arrogant. Your writing is fantastic. I discovered Blue Raincoat quite a while ago and it was a great introduction to your words... Thank you.

Drake

You are kind Thank you