Honestly.

I love writing with a passion. It's my escape from the real world at times and also is an amazing way for me clear out my head with all the thoughts that cloud it. I have so many views, so many ideas, and so many things to say. But sometimes just trying to pronounce them through word of mouth just can't do the job right. I post something I write from time to time here. And yeah, nearly none of it is ever commented on. I get it might be because people read, and then just don't really have much to say. Or maybe they just don't want to read. Whatever, man. I write to write. If someone wants to read, be my guest. You have advice/criticism on how I could maybe pronounce my thoughts better? I beg of you to share it. Honestly, I see wRHG as a fun way for writers to feel like they can have the fun of what RHG does.

I'm honestly frustrated with this discussed perspective of writing as being a lazy form of not animating. Look at it this way:

Why the fuck should I learn how to animate stick figures fighting if literally all I want to do is creatively design a character to have a choreographed battle with another person's designed character? What else am I going to do with that animation "talent"? I know I'm not pursuing a career in animation nor do I want to. I used to do it for fun back in the day but now I can't be bothered to spend my time trying to make the perfect moving art piece. But words. Words come out naturally. Thoughts. They happen. And I can put them down and express my view. I don't have to animate. I can write all the fuck I want because I love to write. Not because I'm lazy.

What Sacred said.

Writing is not easier anyway. Animating and writing have their own rules to follow and each have their own difficulty in mastering.

This first time I did wRHG, I did it as an alternative to writing. That much is true. However, writing isn't a lazy or easy route. While everyone can say words, fewer people by comparison can spin them into something intriguing, and it takes every bit of effort to carve a fantastic story out of a vocabulary than it is to manipulate a program to create a moving picture. There is no better or worse, only different. I know that you all don't need to be reminded of that, but I felt that I ought to say this anyway.

I joined wRHG because though I wish to be an animator professionally in future, text is a tool anyone can use, and it's a damn sight easier. Besides, I had a character I wanted to introduce to this world.

Not directly related to wRHG, but I'm posting this here where people are most likely to see it.

With the Valley of Dreams winding down, I've been thinking. People are generating plenty of content but very little feedback. Obviously, I'm not the only person to bring this up, but that doesn't change that it's a definite problem.

The thing is, people generally don't give feedback because they don't know that it'll be put to use and no matter how much you like giving feedback, it doesn't change the fact that it's all wasted time if the feedback isn't read. Honestly, when someone just writes "Please give feedback" at the end of their story, there's no way of knowing if they actually want criticism or some easy praise or they're just writing it to look like they care. However, if someone goes up to Friend and says, "Friend, please read my story and tell me what you think about Blank," Friend tends to work harder on their feedback because they know what information the author is looking for and that their feedback will be put to work. By the same token, the author will be more likely to go through that feedback carefully because they know that Friend put actual effort into it.

Here's my proposal: A writing workshop where people can sign up and offer feedback or other writing services (e.g., proofreading, beta reading, discussing ideas). Every person who signs up would specify what types of work they would be willing to work with and their focuses and then people would be able to go there and request these services directly from these people.

The point of this is twofold. First, it means that people who want to help other people with their writing can make it known that it's an option. Second, it means that people who need these services have to go out of their way and actively request it, which shows that said writers will presumably put these services to use (at the very least, they'll read the feedback).

To sign up, you'd submit the following information:
-The service(s) offered (e.g., feedback, ideas discussion, proofreading)
-Their focus in writing/details on service(s) (i.e., your own writing strengths)
-The type of writing they are/aren't willing to work with (e.g., wRHG pages, poetry, short fiction, essays, first drafts)
-Anything they would like the requester to do before submitting
-Preferred method of contact
-(If desired) examples of said service and/or samples of writing

That fourth point (asking the requester to do things prior to requesting services) is there because writing and feedback should be a two-way process. After all, all the data in the world is useless if you don't run some analysis on it. An example of something the requester would be asked to do is to answer a few questions about their work or say what specific types of information they're curious about for their story. Obviously, whatever you'd ask your requester to do, it should tie into what service you're providing.

All of these offers would be listed together in one thread where people can browse through and see what help they would want as well as discuss writing in general. It's not so much an event or organization as a congregation. (I'd put it up after the final summary stuff for the Valley of Dreams is over.)

The biggest thing (and the reason I'm making this proposal a few weeks beforehand) is that this will only work if people sign up to offer services and then people request said services (these groups are by no means mutually exclusive).

So here's the question: Would you participate in this?

I'd be up for it, I'd gladly be in the idea discussion sector. One of my main strengths is conceptualization after all.

I might join as a student.

On an unrelated note,

I just viewed the old pages of this thread and saw Hewitt's old tennis tournament. Sad it never came to be because of the spam-o-matic. Maybe I'll try a hand at it when I have the free time.

Heh. Um.

The State of the Writer's Lounge: All on the Table
Gather

I honestly can't form a sentence right now because I genuinely can't tell if you're trying to one-up me or if this was something you'd been genuinely planning for a while now.

EDIT: I've been thinking about it the pasts few hours, and one-up or not, blow off or not, it was still a pretty cold way for me to react and I apologize for that. We do have the same goal after all. I'm trying to keep from committing myself to too many things at the moment however, so I'll just be sticking with what I've got. I do wish you only the best with this though.

We could merge the two ideas though with both of you leading the charge.

So, one question, if I were to make a wrhg can I add my own literal RHG and just "convert" it?

At the same time, having both present.

I don't quite understand what your asking. Do you mean to have the same character you have in the RHG but in written form?

If you mean that, then its perfectly fine. Go for it.

Quote from devi

I don't quite understand what your asking. Do you mean to have the same character you have in the RHG but in written form?

If you mean that, then its perfectly fine. Go for it.

Yeah, that's what I meant. Thanks.

Yeah, you can use the same character for both

You guys probably saw already, but my tournament, The Valley of Dreams, is now over. I'm just letting people here know because I released my list of prompts at the bottom of the first post. There are about 70 story prompts (and I honestly think some of them are really interesting), so you might be interested in taking a look.

(There's also a summary of common mistakes we found over the course of the tournament with point distributions. You might also be interested in that.)

Alright, so we've had one on ones and one on one on ones. Now this is probably a really stupid idea, and nothing yet because I have things on my plate at the moment, but who's game for some insane BS?

This is mostly aimed at people nervous to challenge other people, new or otherwise, but what's the support gage for like a giant free for all? It won't be for like a month minimum, but I'm just curious where everyone's head's at. No number cap, no tryout, just if you want in you're in.

EDIT: Actually, second thought, I wouldn't want to try to steal anyone's thunder or create time conflicts, so I wouldn't try to start this up until after Lombo's thing