Rough trade or Naked NaNo as it was called back then actually got me back into writing fanfic after fandom had made me hate it. I loved one of the challenges that you had put out and joined up to do it and then I never looked back. The challenge helped me remember why I loved writing fanfic so much and why I needed to do it again.
You are so right, a challenge environment is not for everyone. I myself, don't do good at it, and it makes my respect for those that do, even more. I'm still not sure why anyone would complain that the rules are not enforced. I would think that would be a nice bonus and a bit less stress, but that's me.
I'm finding it extremely challenging, and I'm grateful to you and everyone else who make it possible by supporting us newbie numbnuts with tutorials and by answering questions. But yeah, why in heck would it be necessary to police the writers? You're not a 3rd grade school-teacher, and what a pain in the tuchus that would be for you. It's up to us to abide by the (very few, very reasonable) rules of the challenge, which are what makes it inspiring in the first place.
It is extremely challenging, and I don't always succeed, but that's okay. The challenges throughout the year are still things I like forward to, as a writer.
Like many, I’ve written stories since I was old enough to hold a pencil and always wanted to be an author. Real life found me, circuitously, in academia where I wrote, but not stories! Various health and other issues meant I became a reader of fanfic, which I love, but it wasn’t until 2016 that I felt I was confident enough and encouraged sufficiently to try for myself. I finished the Little Black Dress with one completed story, not three, but I now have five or six completed stories and was able to bring myself out of a period of deep depression because of RT, Discord, Keira, and Jilly. It’s not an understatement to say I almost owe them my life, so deep in depression was I. There are no sufficient words to say thank you enough or how much I appreciate the community we have on Discord.
Rules are there to help, not stifle. I live and grew up in England and we have a very different code of law to Europe and many other parts of the world - one reason why the UK could ultimately never see eye to eye with Europe. Our code of law is built from the bottom up and says everything is permissible except where it isn’t. The Napoleonic/European Law says nothing is permissible unless it is. I’ve always seen RT as being similar to the UK - and the USA I think. The rules are their to help, but unless we do something which is expressly forbidden - not warning, writing pedophilia, rape etc - we’re just to get on with it and require no policing.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2020-04-09 07:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-04-09 08:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-04-10 12:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-04-10 02:13 am (UTC)Rough Trade
Date: 2020-04-14 08:19 am (UTC)Rules are there to help, not stifle. I live and grew up in England and we have a very different code of law to Europe and many other parts of the world - one reason why the UK could ultimately never see eye to eye with Europe. Our code of law is built from the bottom up and says everything is permissible except where it isn’t. The Napoleonic/European Law says nothing is permissible unless it is. I’ve always seen RT as being similar to the UK - and the USA I think. The rules are their to help, but unless we do something which is expressly forbidden - not warning, writing pedophilia, rape etc - we’re just to get on with it and require no policing.
Phew. Here ended the lesson!