I tend to avoid most culture: no movies, no novels, etc. Sometimes I'll see something interesting and look at the synopses and reviews of it, but I'll never actually "consume" the product. Which leads me to "reinvent the wheel" numerous times. People say to me "oh, you must have been thinking of such and such when you wrote this" and I'm like "sorry, I never even heard of that."
Music is my inspiration and guidepost for cultural landmarks, mostly. I learned about "Spaghetti westerns" from Dan Reynolds...
Sometimes research messes up the entire idea. Oh, that's not physically possible? Well, in my story it does, lol. If you're interested in marketing to the current fads that are selling, I guess you could listen to your audience. What I absorb while navigating life certainly feeds the idea beast, but it doesn't influence my unique voice.
Great questions!
L~
Note to anyone who visits my portfolio: editing is a skill I neglect...an awful lot. With the exception of my short stories (which leave something to be desired; probably still not enough edits to them), I just don't really revise much. This is not noble, this is not something I'm proud of. I don't take honor in saying, "oh I got this down pat, my work is gold, they don't need any touch ups." No! No I do not think this. My process is that I get inspired to write, I try to take an idea to its fullest length in as few sessions as possible (for anything that's not a short story that almost always means one sitting), and I feel a real compulsion to post to the portfolio as soon as possible. I know there is an audience here, and I know I'm not optimizing my writing reputation with this approach, but it's a question of having the peace of mind to be able to work on something else, and have satisfaction that something is "finished."
However, I now do declare that I can treat most of the work here as living documents. I am not cocky enough to say I'm sitting on completion.
What it all means to say is: I'm kind of sorry. At least to myself. I see how I'm losing the optimal approach to my work.
BUT. If I can view all of this as living and breathing, I can take solace in knowing that there are improvements waiting ahead. Maybe some of the work is good, good enough, a couple might be on the cusp of very good, and maybe a good chunk of it is self-indulgent. But I mostly write for me! I don't enjoy editing. It's structural, technical, detailed...and it's probably the most important of the whole darn process lol. But if I took on that task, I'd be scrutinizing a single piece for weeks potentially, and I wouldn't be creating. So it's a question of finding where my joy lies so that I can keep writing.
One day/some day I'll enter editing mode. Maybe I'll eventually take months just going back through this portfolio to tweak, revamp, rework, or totally rewrite. I just don't know! I do know that I should - at least out of respect for the craft.
I'm open to feedback on this. If you edit, what's that like for you? Do you enjoy it? How do you make it manageable? Would you post without any editing?
Thank you all for your readings, our exchanges, and God bless this awesome community.
I get what you've written here because I capture the ideas. Editing is important but if the ideas are not written somehow and somewhere then there is nothing to edit. I edit but not as much as I capture ideas. Writing for yourself is a wonderful activity and it is art for you to enjoy. Be true to you, edit when you can, and write with might for your delight.
It is important to write what you see, hear, or feel at that moment and get it all down on the page.
But reading your work after it is completed is just as important, as you may have missed a detail, or added too much.
When you read each line to yourself as a reader, not a writer, it allows you to correct any spelling or grammar you might have mucked up on the way. And if you miss a few things after that, I'm sure the next person who reads your work will be kind enough to let you know.
The importance then is to verify if the corrections someone else provides are valid, and if they are, then they should be done on your piece, along with a thank you for their time. A reader will come back to read again, but if they feel their time was wasted in providing suggestions or corrections, they will no longer bother to do nothing more than read, and perhaps even not return to your portfolio again.
Wannabe - I like that distinction you made: as a reader. That implies to me a certain detachment or objectivity that is prepared to put ego aside. And that's partially why I wrote this note, probably. I feel like my ego doesn't want to risk hurting my own feelings at mistakes. That includes *all* of those inevitable muck ups you mentioned. The largest reason is sheer laziness and fear of losing my passion. It's not who I want to be as a writer, though, and now that I am cognizant of this...discrepancy (?) or contradiction in my writing identity I have a feeling it is soon to change.
I'd like to circle back to this note, eventually, and let you know when this stubborn block has lifted. I'll probably be writing (hopefully a ton) over the next month or two, but I owe it to myself, the audience (to a lesser extent for me because I try not to have an audience in mind when I write for better or worse, although I wholeheartedly agree with you about the grace of reviews and the courtesy to embrace and acknowledge that support), and the craft of writing itself.
Still in the throes of Finnegan's Wake. It's sort of occupied my literary universe. I haven't been able to write since starting it. I want to write, though.
I'm glad you want to write. That's a great start (and often not one I share lol). What do you think is going on? What's the sticky point? Or can you fully identify what's wrong?
Schnujo - Thank you. And thank you for presenting questions that get at the core of the block. It was time. Mental space. Maybe some anxiety, too. I guess I can't half write, it has to be like a 100% commitment for me - everything or nothing. In my mind it's not enough to write something, anything, for an hour here or an hour there (besides my journal writing, but that's just for me). I don't want my foot in the pool, I'd rather be swimming laps every day. Writing is a muscle for me. Like going to the gym, I don't call myself an athlete without being present there at least 3/4 times a week. And if I commit to that, I find my peace in that as an identity element. I don't feel like a writer if I'm not integrating it as a lifestyle. I'm open to feedback to that mentality, but it seems to be my overall approach to life. You're either in or you're out. Extreme? Maybe. See my note above ^^. I'm getting back on track in this vacation week of mine ^_^
I've just edited Are You Sleeping? Cleaned up some of the language, and enhanced character development and story background. Also deleted a couple of things.
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- I like that distinction you made: as a reader. That implies to me a certain detachment or objectivity that is prepared to put ego aside. And that's partially why I wrote this note, probably. I feel like my ego doesn't want to risk hurting my own feelings at mistakes. That includes *all* of those inevitable muck ups you mentioned. The largest reason is sheer laziness and fear of losing my passion. It's not who I want to be as a writer, though, and now that I am cognizant of this...discrepancy (?) or contradiction in my writing identity I have a feeling it is soon to change. 
- Thank you. And thank you for presenting questions that get at the core of the block. It was time. Mental space. Maybe some anxiety, too. I guess I can't half write, it has to be like a 100% commitment for me - everything or nothing. In my mind it's not enough to write something, anything, for an hour here or an hour there (besides my journal writing, but that's just for me). I don't want my foot in the pool, I'd rather be swimming laps every day. Writing is a muscle for me. Like going to the gym, I don't call myself an athlete without being present there at least 3/4 times a week. And if I commit to that, I find my peace in that as an identity element. I don't feel like a writer if I'm not integrating it as a lifestyle. I'm open to feedback to that mentality, but it seems to be my overall approach to life. You're either in or you're out. Extreme? Maybe. See my note above ^^. I'm getting back on track in this vacation week of mine ^_^ 
un: 
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Music is my inspiration and guidepost for cultural landmarks, mostly. I learned about "Spaghetti westerns" from Dan Reynolds...
Great questions!
L~
I couldn't agree more