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#sometimes my brain produces. sentences
redgoldblue · 1 year
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catch me burting on his bees till he balms
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peapod20001 · 6 months
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I actually do have very complex thoughts about many different things, it’s just a bit challenging to connect the inner voice to the outer voice sometimes </3
#random post#I have SO many thoughts and ideas. I love to create and I love to build on what I have and I like to connect to existing things#there is lots of oc lore in my brain! it graces my blog sometimes. not always. it’s hard to put abstract feeling and thought into words#and it’s challenging trying to find the best place to start talking about things yknow? like I as the creator of this whole unique universe#pretty much already know how things end up. how they’re going. how it started. some are easier to know than others. but that doesn’t stop me#from trying create for it. or searching for the missing piece to start the domino effect of development and fulfillment#it’s hard to see where the pieces fit sometimes. but getting a new angle or changing something about the piece can make finding where it#belongs easier. this is what I mean when I say I have very intricate and complicated thoughts. not spending too long writing my sentences or#overthinking them helps to keep things as they are in my head. since I’m not filtering them into something almost unrecognizable#writing a paper in a single sitting in a set time really helps me produce a unified and intricate product. I’ve been told I write well#which I find mildly humorous. I’ve never been a writer by choice really. I’m an artist that works with a physical visual piece rather than#letters that convey meaning. I’m more of a thinker than a writer. but in some instances they’re one in the same. I’m rambling but y’all know#that about me by now I’m sure hahagahaha. yea. my OCD makes me spend too long on words and that’s why I always talk in a short way#a more simplistic way. leaves less room for the mind to pick out flaws if everything is flawed on purpose yknow? haha yea. I like me yknow?#and other people like me too! that will never cease to surprise and amaze me haha. I’m one of those people that has an easier time with#people different from themselves. the people I’ve known and spoke to throughout my life are so very different from me. but they all feel#comfortable to share their experience with me. a lot of these people on paper would be ones I’d try to avoid I guess. differing opinions and#world views yknow? but the way I am. gives people comfort I’ve found. I’m not bragging about that it’s just interesting. it’s the same with#my whole household like we meet people that are like. idk a good descriptor but they’re very set in a specific way. and then we just?? they#like us?? idk it’s just funny to think about my dad getting along with legit crazy people or my mom being the person who’s the favorite of#the least liked / polite person in the office. or my brother and sister being very well liked in their schools but are just average students#who aren’t trying to be more than kind. or when I as myself. with the thoughts and opinions I have. am able to get along with anyone I#come across. I’m really not trying to be bright about that I’m just an. empath? I guess? I’m just very nice to people and meet them at their#level and don’t try steering the conversation to smth bad or controversial. but even then people will still talk to me and like me cus I’m#not putting them down or hating on them for how they think and feel. I listen. I can understand them. not agreeing with their views doesn’t#mean I can’t get why people think or feel how they do. I try to not be biased or entirely antagonist to things different than me#I’ve gone my whole life not understanding a lot of things. and over time I’ve learned them. I go into experiences with people like that#I may not understand yet. but I’ll learn to. that’s probably the main reason why people feel comfortable around me. that and also I have#a smile pretty much always lol. I’m small and non threatening lookin with a single dimple on the cheek and eyes so dark you could see the#faintest light reflected in them. anyways I have gone into several different directions with this and kinda lost the main point I was making
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cursedthing · 1 year
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lies on the floor in one specific pose. the rage through me blinds the watchers hand hook car door doorknob
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burr-ell · 11 months
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"the tendency of this fandom to only engage with what THEY want these characters to be#as opposed to what their creators are trying to do and the stories they want to tell" slap this on a bumper sticker, you just summed all cr discourse (about PCs at least) in 2 sentences
It truly is maddening (and it's not by any means exclusive to the CR fandom). The reason why the discourse always goes the way it does is that at the end of the day, the loud fanwanky people only see what they would do, if they were self-inserted into the story, as a valid choice; and they are, more broadly, fundamentally disinterested in what others think or feel. There are several examples of this, and the variety of spaces within the fandom that produce these ideas is an indicator that this isn't endemic to one specific group of people.
-Keyleth is an important character whose feelings and choices are validated by the other PCs and cast even if they still disagree with them, in spite of how she and her preachiness get in the way of the Murderhobo Jubilee? It's not because the cast are all friends and they genuinely believe Keyleth is valid and are interested in how these discussions and choices can guide the story. It's because Marisha is the DM's girlfriend, and also here's my totally unbiased theory that my pet favorite players Sam and Travis secretly hate Marisha and Keyleth.
-Vax's presence is still felt and nodded to in the post-canon VM oneshots? It's not because he was an important character who mattered. It's because Liam wants to make everyone talk about his tragedy because he has Main Character Syndrome. Scanlan Wishes for Vax to appear at the wedding? It's not because he cares about Vex or because Sam and Liam wanted a sweet tribute to Vex and Vax's relationship and by extension Liam and Laura's friendship. It's because Liam thinks Vex's life should always revolve around Vax, and Sam wants to enable him and jerk himself off as the one who facilitated it.
-Beauyasha and Fjorester become canon? It's not because the players wanted it and it happened naturally. It's because there was a secret behind-the-scenes push to "force" those ships to become canon instead, and like, Dani Carr is some sort of shipping puppetmaster who made the players do it, and "they" (whomever "they" is) decided to sink Beaujester or Widojest because it was "obviously" going to become canon before the pandemic hiatus gave them time to "make the corporate-approved ships happen".
-Beau and Caleb try to reform the Empire and dismantle the Cerberus Assembly from within? It's not because it makes sense for their stories or that people who would take this position regarding a corrupt government might have a valid perspective that differs from your own. It's because the people at Critical Role Productions LLC are all spineless neoliberal cowards who won't commit to real activism. The best activism, after all, is violent, and violent revolutions have always resulted in stable aftermaths, and the real world has never demonstrated that this mindset is foolish.
-Relatedly: Caleb doesn't kill Trent personally? It's not because the most poetic justice would be to deny Trent the thing he wants most from Caleb. It's because "Limo Brain" is too obsessed with tragedy to have the stones to do "what needs to be done".
-Asmodeus, DnD Satan, turns out to also be CR Satan? It's not because it fits with the cosmology and the lore; it's because Matt Mercer is too attached to the "establishment", and the Prime Deities should have actually turned out to be the bad guys because of my personal baggage about Western religion and Christianity they're a little mean to my blorbo sometimes.
There's a pattern here: fans had expectations that they'd built up for themselves after projecting and building up fanon and deciding what players meant before they explained themselves fully, and when the players strayed from that, they were derided for all manner of reasons. I think we're seeing that same pattern play out in C3 as the story progresses in a way that fans dislike, and in fact we have seen fanwank spread whenever someone does anything that interferes with personally catering to a) the favored ship and/or b) the favored philosophy. (Orym, Ashton, FCG, Percy, Pelor...all valid when they affirm the Fandom Opinions and all disdained when they don't.)
Don't get me wrong, I think there's a place for comfort stories that deliver a personal catharsis. And I'm not going to dismissively say "well if you want it so bad make your own" because, as an artist, I am very familiar with the fact that creating is hard and draining and sometimes you just need to consume instead. But when you become so wrapped up in yourself and your feelings to the point where your perspective is the only valid one, someone else's feels like a betrayal when it isn't. It's always "They aren't doing what we wanted and here's why they're terrible people because of it" and never "Hmm, why is this what the cast wants? Let's examine that."
This isn't a new phenomenon, but I think it ultimately stems from not assuming that other people can differ from you in major ways in good faith. There are a lot of reasons for that (some more understandable than others), but I think you rob yourself of the potential to enjoy something new when all you do is demand what you already want. No matter what you're doing or where you are in life, you tend to become a better and wiser person when you open your mind to what other people have to say, no matter how mundane the subject matter. Sometimes the stories people have to tell are challenging—and the only healthy way to deal with that is to engage with them on their own terms.
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a-dragons-journal · 10 months
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Singlet+
I've been meaning to write this one for a while, so let's see how this goes.
~1k words; essay on the experience of one person who sits right on the funny little edge between "normal roleplay experience" and "actual plurality".
So, let's start with this: I am not plural. But. I do seem to live in a weird space juuuuust on the edge of plurality (and no, I do not mean that I'm a median or blurry system - I mean on the edge of that).
For one thing, I'm a daemian - that is, I practice daemonism; that is, I have personified and given faux autonomy (fauxtonomy, if you will) to my "internal narrator" of sorts and he now lives in my brain with me as a thoughtform, a brain companion, in the shape of an animal. Strictly speaking, that does qualify us for plurality, but we personally don't view our daemonism through that framework and consider ourselves a singlet (as hilarious as the plural grammar makes that sentence, I know). Many daemons don't consider themselves plural; this isn't particularly unusual - in muir case, Locke is a part of me before he is anything else, and while yes there are forms of plurality that look like that, for us personally it makes more sense to view him as "part of me, therefore, still one person".
For another, I had... basically plural experiences when I was younger. I don't want to talk about the details publicly, but suffice to say that for many years I had what I would now call headmates, and I suspect that if I had been exposed to plural spaces during that time period, they may well have stuck around permanently, instead of "fading out" and eventually disappearing as is what actually happened. To this day I don't know how "real" or "imaginary" they were, and I doubt I ever will - they were certainly real to me at the time, but I have also always been very good at suspension of disbelief. Trying to analyze it in any great level of detail is made basically impossible by my piss-poor episodic memory rendering the memories of that time so fuzzy that I can't rely on them for details.
For another, my experiences with OCs are often... soulbond-adjacent? Recently in particular I've had a lot of funny experiences with an OC of mine, a character in a Vampire: The Masquerade campaign I'm a part of (Viridian Caldwell, for my own future self's reference), which led me to do some research on soulbonding because of how fictive-adjacent the experience of her is.
And yet. The answer is a definite no. I get very strong impressions and echoes from her; she "gives" me facts about her and her life that simply Are and that I feel as strongly about being true and unchangeable as I do about my own noemata; she's almost a separate person living in my brain sometimes; I somehow come up with near-prophetic knowledge about her world (as confirmed by my Storyteller, who happens to be part of a system alongside a number of fictives from the world in question, including several who know Viridian personally) with zero explanation on a semi-regular basis.
And yet. The answer is no. Because while I seem to have all the effects a soulbond proper would produce on my end - she is not aware of me, not really. She is not conscious of my world and my life. When I really quiet my own brain and reach out to call out and see if someone's there, there's only silence. It's as though I have a one-way soulbond somehow - which, of course, puts me in the fun gray space between "soulbond" and "normal roleplay/writing experience".
And she's not a unique instance of this. This just happens to me with OCs, although it's been a bit more dramatic with her because of the presence of fictives from her world to converse with (and, realistically, because of the real-time roleplay aspect that a TTRPG has that a video game or the writing of a fanfiction doesn't).
It's as though my brain has the capacity for plurality, but it just... doesn't manifest fully.
And, truth be told, I kind of prefer it this way. I like being a singlet; I would kind of hate having to share headspace with other people. Especially since, if my childhood pseudo-plurality experiences are anything to go by, we would not have good separation of thoughts and memories and true privacy would be very difficult if not impossible. Plus, because of that, I would... probably never get over the doubt of Is It Real Or Not, and I don't need that stress in my life. (For this reason, while I'm 99.9% sure that if I intentionally tried to bring her over as a fictive, it would work, I will not be testing the theory just out of curiosity.)
I wonder if I didn't train myself out of the ability to be Plural Proper, to be honest. Not intentionally, but - I may have mentioned that my power of suspension of disbelief is very strong, and as a child this came with me being extremely easy to manipulate because it was very easy for me to fall into believing things that I wanted to believe. (Again, I don't really want to talk about the details, but suffice to say I had a pretty bad case of Protagonist Syndrome, as it were, for a while.) I had to learn to combat that natural tendency of my brain for my own protection (especially as someone active in witchcraft spaces) - and I wonder if it didn't come with the side effect of immunizing me to developing true plurality (at least without actively trying) by shutting down any attempt by my brain to form a true headmate in the process.
I don't know. I might never. All I know is that while I am, after careful consideration, definitely a singlet, I do seem to live right on the edge of plurality, and it comes with some weird experiences. (And I would like an explanation for why I keep spitting out nigh-prophetic knowledge of this campaign's world; if I find out Viridian is a fictotype of mine or something I'm going to flip my fucking lid.) I've started half-jokingly calling myself "singlet+", half as a joke on cis+ (ie, someone who's questioned their gender and come to the conclusion that they are indeed cis but has a better understanding of their experience of cisness for it) and half as an "unless" "unlesss...?" acknowledgement of the weird border area some of my experiences sit in. It's... not really a serious label, but also isn't entirely a joke.
So... yeah. Singlet+, I guess. Another victim of the "if you only have two words for fear in your language, one for mild test jitters and one for life-threatening terror, you're going to have a lot of trouble describing a lot of normal human experiences" problem of how our language around plurality often works.
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reflectionsofthesea · 4 months
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Hiii I’m back! It's been a pretty stressful and busy time at work, so I'm less online than usual, but still learning finnish daily! It's actually being my saving grace: getting to detach myself from work,routine and stress and just putting my head into something completely different that I enjoy doing. Putting a read more because I wrote a lot here:
I've been progressing with my exercise book, and learned how to express the need to do something 'i have to...' and also the imperative tense. Really useful stuff. I also finally finished trascribing all puhekieli 'basic rules' on my notebook!
Some new stuff in my daily learning routine:
I started listening to podcasts and short stories! I was a bit intimidated at first, but now I've been enjoying doing it every day when I am cooking, cleaning the house or even when drawing/working. I'm listening to a beginner's podcast and can basically understand a good 80% of it, which is making me feel so proud and motivated hahaha. The crazy thing is that even if I don't understand a couple of new words, I can follow the conversation and the topic and I always know what the host is talking about, it's crazy. I'll definitely continue listening to podcasts and stories daily because I think it's helping A LOT and truly making me feel like I'm making huge progress and my brain is enlarging lol.
I started using LingQ! The importing videos/podcasts feature is super useful, and I imported some videos in finnish from youtubers I found and having LingQ generate subtitles in finnish for me and translation in english, so I can study them is so useful. That way I can exercise listening to more puhekieli and expand my vocabulary. It helps that the videos are super fun and entertaining themselves, so I genuinely want to know what's happening hahaha. (one was a Sims4 house building video, another one a travelling vlog)
I tried writing some 'stories' for the first time, this is also an advice I heard from a video, that helps with getting your brain used to constructing sentences and phrases. I already did this in a smaller way, writing very short sentences practicing different grammar rules to commit them to memory, but this exercise really makes you put more effort into building longer and slightly more articulated sentences, like phrases you'd say to someone when having a chat, or thinking out loud. I decided to pick some random themes and just write what I can about them! The pink underlined words/verbs/adverbs are things I had to look up because I didn't know how to say yet. I think this is a pretty fun and creative exercise to do though, and I can see how it can make your brain faster at producing sentences on the long run :) It will be fun to keep doing this when my vocabulary grows and I can say more stuff! (I saw a writing exercise idea on tumblr that was describing your Dnd characters and something about their personality/stories, and I really want to do that!)
Overall, I'm feeling really good and motivated. I remember feeling a bit stuck a month ago, and now that feeling is gone, and I feel like I improved a lot. I really think implementing new exercises like the written stories exercise and especially listening a lot has been so useful and important into me feeling like I'm growing more in this language. I'm really glad I fought my inner doubt and saboteur and just did it. I also gander at posts written in finnish here on tumblr and realized I understand a good 70/80% of what's written in there. Sometimes more or less, depending on how long the post is or how specific the words used are. But that's pretty crazy to me and really satisfying!
Also, if you need some inspiration for your language learning journey or some good tips (like the listening to podcasts and writing stories I'm currently doing), please watch this video! It really inspired me to keep going in my journey :)
youtube
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azrielgreen · 6 months
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I know you get a lot of questions about writing and how to write fast and how to produce as much content as you. My question is sort of related. How do you stay motivated to continue fics when it’s been a while since updating? I have multiple WIPs and want to finish them all but I feel like a different person now than I was when I started them and don’t feel the same energy for the ideas either. I know it’s an option to abandon them but I hate the idea of that. I know passion is one corner of your triangle for the Az method, but how do you keep it alive and not burn yourself out by writing so much? Do you ever force yourself to finish stuff? Idk if my question makes sense. I hope it does. Thank you!
Ahh, this is an amazingly important question and you sent it AGES ago and I couldn't reply until now because I was SNOWED UNDER WITH MULTIPLE WIPS and didn't have a clear answer for you, beyond "hang in there babe😭" until now!
My advice is:
a) anyone reading this, don't write more than 2 things at the same time. If you have two and you're thinking of a third, don't do it. Trust me. Finish the others first.
b) if you find yourself in the ✨WIP SEA✨ you need to choose ONE island to swim to and one only. Get to your biggest project and set up shop there. Forget the others, immerse yourself again in the vibe, the story, the magic. Make a playlist, plan a themed tattoo, make a mood board, but get back into why you fell in love with the story in the first place and STAY THERE. You have to finish the biggest project first. The others will fall like dominos after that.
c) keeping passion alive is REALLY fucking hard sometimes and it takes very little to snuff it out, so my advice there is to remove yourself from what can dampen your spirits. Take a social media break (always radiant advice), make a new desk area, hype yourself up for THAT SCENE you have in mind, and if nothing else is working for the story, do something drastic. Write a dialogue only chapter. Do a POV switch.
d) Change your font to one of these: Comic Sans, More Sugar Thin, Jessica Antique or Beryllium Ink. These fuckers work MIRACLES for the neurodivergent brain. Switch the font, just start writing SOMETHING and watch the magic happen.
e) Know when to cut bait. I have never abandoned a fic in my life, but I have abandoned stories before I published them, including professional publishing ones and I have deleted MASSIVE amounts of text because it just wasn't working for me and I can confidently tell when to move on, start fresh and shift gears. If these are fics that are published and WIP, then the pressure to complete them definitely is higher, I know from experience. My advice is to either work on the biggest one and complete that first OR find one that would take very little to complete and smash it out.
f) Don't lose your momentum. This is CRITICAL and I want to talk more about this because creative momentum is powerful and important. The more you write, the more you can WRITE. Write every day, keep it doing. When you complete something, use that boost of pride and joy to fuel yourself. There will be days where you don't physically write of course but writing is a cyclical process and the more you map it to your energy (especially if you have a moon cycle VS sun cycle) the more you'll realise there are specific weeks where you'll have high, clear energy and other weeks with lower energy, so you can adjust your output to prevent burn out.
g) Don't let it get you down. The longest gap between update and completion I ever had was 6 years for my Twilight fic. 6 fucking years and in the end I had to end it with them writing letters to each other, back and forth because I was a completely different writer to who I was before and everything would have been different, so I took a risk and wrote it differently and it paid off.
h) Know that you CAN do it, you just have to decide to. "I just decided to..." is one of the most powerful sentences we can ever say aloud. Just look at yourself in the mirror and DECIDE to do it. That's it. Maybe it won't be great to start off with but that's why we edit. Just get the ball rolling again. The first push after a long period being stationary is ALWAYS hard but keep it going and it'll get easier with every passing word.
I hope this was helpful, apologies again for the delay.
P.S- Finishing Touched changed EVERYTHING for me. I really do recommend ticking off the biggest one first. 💜💜💜
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mareenavee · 10 months
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Been meaning to pick your professional brain a bit, so... Tell us about rewriting/drafting/editorial pass! What happens when you read to edit? How is it different when you read someone else's work vs your own? What do you look for, what do you notice differently from when you're in writing mode? Any advice to get better at the whole editing thing, and what typical advice that we often see (kill your darlings, never do x, always do x, write for yourself, know your audience...) do you think could use some nuance or explanation? And maybe most importantly, what advice would you give a starting beta reader? What makes for a good beta reader and/or editor, especially when there's no monetary transaction involved and it's all donated labor? What are some of the essential skills?
Hello my friend!! Thank you so, so much for asking me about editing!! I am over the moon. I love this part.
I'm lucky because while it's been my job for quite a long while now (often among other responsibilities) work hasn't ground out the joy of it. I prefer to edit fiction, of course, over corporate copy and advertising, but am honestly happy to dig into either kind of project. The point of it is to bring the right words to the forefront of whatever the written material is, I think. To make the piece the best it can be, and at the same time show the writers how capable they really are. (: So let me dive right in! (THIS IS LONG, by the way, so under the cut! The irony is not lost on me about wordiness and editing and then producing this LOL but it's alright. I'm a chatty person online and this is more or less conversational.)
What is an editorial pass?
There's several kinds of editing. What I do most for paid corporate work is proofreading -- which is catching typos and grammar mistakes and correcting them. This is usually a first pass of any given project. This pass doesn't usually suggest changes -- things are left as is except typos and grammar mistakes. This is sometimes also called copyediting, though copyediting is the next step up and also checks for style consistency, among a few other things, especially in academic and corporate work.
Next is line editing -- this is more checking for word choice at the sentence level. We're looking to make sure things flow together nicely, and that we're cutting the fluff out when necessary. When things get too wordy and there are cleaner ways to phrase something, a line edit pass will catch these things.
Next past that is content editing -- this is done on a full manuscript or story to check that the ideas are complete and the story flows together logically. This should be paragraph and chapter level and should also check for consistency in tone and authorial voice.
After that is my personal favorite, which is structural editing. This is actually technically what you should start with if your manuscript is already complete. But we'll get into the difference between having work beta read and having work edited below. Anyway structural editing is going to check for, well, structure -- organization, flow and quality of the book in its entirety.
There will be notes regarding concerns and big picture issues with the story. These usually won't include detail-level edits, though some professional editors do offer multiple passes on the same manuscript. If your structural edit is mostly glowing praise with few key concerns or suggestions, you can move onto more detail oriented edits to address those specific concerns.
And an even higher level editing that can happen even before a manuscript is complete is Developmental Editing. I like to think of this as an outline critique or consultation more so, as this pass won't be rewriting or doing any sort of detail work. The editor takes your idea and helps ask the right questions to make sure you're organizing your ideas to the best of your ability. They help an author to see the book as a reader would see it.
What happens when you read to edit?
Reading for enjoyment is actually as important to editing as it is for writing. The key takeaway is that an for either, you need to have a extremely solid grasp on the components that make a good story. For an editor, especially so when the 'rules' might be broken purposefully by an author. Honestly, a lot of it is still opinion based. Two different editors, generally, will have different insights for you reading the same manuscript, biased by how much they read and what their specialties are. Most editors, too, will have an ear for grammar which nobody wants to talk about but it's true. You don't need to memorize every single tiny little grammatical detail to explain in full to your authors when you edit and catch errors. But an editor usually can hear when things are off more or less and can provide resources if a mistake is noticed as a consistent issue.
Mostly when you're reading to edit and I'll use structural editing for an example here, you're always thinking of how things flow together and how the story threads intertwine and connect. You're thinking through how the story will land for a casual reader. There's a lot of work in the background in this case, and it takes practice to be able to point out when elements fall flat. You as an editor should also be able to suggest ways to fix the flat parts of the story -- and to do that you need to have read widely in many genres. Read for the sake of understanding how stories come together. Read while taking extensive mental notes as you go. Each book is a learning opportunity.
How is it different when you read someone else's work vs your own?
I actually just reblogged a post about this that sums it up pretty nicely. When you're writing you're so close to your own work it can be hard not only to spot errors but to let go of work you've written. It can also be difficult to see where your work shines because it's not how you envisioned it in your head. Writing is an entirely different process, even if you can go back in with good editing eyes, again it comes down to perspective. You're too close to your own work. You've spent so much more time with it. You know every detail (presumably) and might not be able to see beyond that. The editor, on the other hand, and also a beta reader, will be able to shift perspectives a bit based on their own biases and specialties and help spot things that weren't obvious in the thick of the project.
For me I know I am not as strong a writer as I am an editor for this exact reason. (Regardless of what others think of my writing, this is still true lol) I get a sort of tunnel vision on what I'm attempting to get on paper. A second set of eyes helps point out what needs more attention. An editor should be a project's biggest cheerleader because our goal is to bring out the best an author can do. We can see the threads of greatness as we go through a piece. When we suggest things, it's always to make the piece stronger and for the story beats to hit harder. So this piece really comes down to perspective. When I read my own work, I still am very much mired in it. When I read someone else's work, I get to experience it without it having lived in my head for x amount of time. It's a fresh view of the text, and that can often be invaluable.
What do you look for, what do you notice differently from when you're in writing mode?
This kind of plays off the last few questions, more or less but here I'll switch to self-editing. It really is a mindset change and it's incredibly difficult on one's own writing. Usually I need to take a day or two to let the chapter (for instance) I'm working on simmer and move on to the next thing to get my mind out of the weeds about it more or less. Then I go back in with the goal to proofread and do line level editing.
Because I am the author, I'm always trying to keep in mind overarching structures and plots. (I'm a planner rather than a pantser/discovery writer normally though there are exceptions when I add to the plan later.) This does make "editing mode" a little bit easier for me, besides being a professional editor. I'm actively trying to keep the threads together in editing mode, and actively looking for accidental repetition, places where fluff can be cut out, areas where the words sound off/discordant and can be improved, and personally I am always trying to be sure each line of dialogue or inner monologue SOUNDS like the point of view character I'm working with. This comes from asking the right questions of your work -- "Why would x character respond this way?" But that's a whole other topic. Someone could ask me about how I handle character building another time if they'd like (: But it's all part of the editing process.
In writing mode the goal, at least for me, is to get the idea out of my head and into a draft / on paper. I have the bones of the story in my outline and now I need to get the words out. First drafts are incredibly important and are not -- I repeat -- are NOT garbage. These are the rough foundations and the effort is not wasted. You can't refine anything if there's nothing on the page. The first draft is gold. It is the authentic creative writing experience. The rest is editing. (: And the revision process, the editing, helps bring forward the gem of an idea you had to begin with.
Any advice to get better at the whole editing thing?
The two biggest pieces of advice I have for this is to read widely and to come to your work with fresh eyes before you attempt to edit.
Reading widely means to read outside of your preferred genre as often as you can. This can also mean reading craft books -- ie things that talk about the writing process or even the editing process -- and it can mean consuming other kinds of media with a focus on storytelling like video games, ttrpgs or movies etc. It also means paying attention while reading, always keeping an eye on your own answer to the question: "Why does this work so well?" or conversely "why do I hate this?" (: Reading critically is a habit that not a lot of us innately have. You do have to put in the work just like with writing to read closely in a way that benefits you as a writer and an editor.
Now for the next part -- walking away from your draft entails two things. One, that you've written all you could before you turned on editing mode and two you've given yourself a day or two to do something else (or continue writing) before you return to what you want to edit. It's so much harder to catch what you're missing when you immediately turn back and edit what you've just written. (With exception.) You can catch more typos, and fix the fluff or underwriting when you've given your mind a second to rest.
Improvement comes with practice, too. So purposefully trying to edit, and purposefully trying to read critically and building a habit out of these things will lead to a better understanding of the craft in general. All of it translates to writing strong first drafts and being able to revise more effectively. It's cumulative. Nobody is born a perfect writer or a perfect editor.
One last tip that might be a little impractical depending on your circumstances is -- if you want to get better at editing quickly, read your work out loud. It's easier to find clunky areas as you verbalize them.
What typical advice that we often see (kill your darlings, never do x, always do x, write for yourself, know your audience...) do you think could use some nuance or explanation?
I could write about each of these but this post is already long! So I'll pick my favorite. "Write what you know" doesn't mean "Stay in your lane and write about your retail job" for example. To me, it's more like even in a fantasy world, you can bring in things you've experienced and give them to your characters.
Not a single one of us is as boring as we think we are (: I learned this when I was going through the Creative Nonfiction track in my undergrad creative writing degree program. Even something so average told from your perspective can be fascinating to someone else. So apply it to your story -- all your experiences, your emotions, whatever you can throw at the canvas so to speak.
Your character isn't a reflection of you if you don't want them to be. But they can still go through a fantasy version of troubles that evoke the same kind of big emotions that you've been through. It can be kind of cathartic -- at least in my experience, it can be.
What advice would you give a starting beta reader? What makes for a good beta reader and/or editor, especially when there's no monetary transaction involved and it's all donated labor? What are some of the essential skills?
So first, the difference between a beta reader and editor does come down to the donation of time. You're going to get different responses based on the skill of your beta reader and how much attention and time they have to donate. The ideal beta reader will be someone who is in your intended audience and is generally a close reader, even if they're not there looking for grammar mistakes or anything like that. They'll have a working idea of their own personal answers to what they feel works well and what doesn't when they read in general.
Generally a beta reader will be a set of eyes that will catch your grammar mistakes and typos but probably won't be providing line level suggestions. They'll function as a light structural editor or work more or less on a chapter level. Some beta readers (like myself because I am also a editor) might donate more time and effort to the project than others and be able to make professional suggestions, but this is not to be expected or requested.
If you're just starting out as a beta reader, it might be good to practice on maybe a published novella or short story first, low stakes because the author can't see your comments. Begin the process of reading widely and asking yourself "Why (or why not) does this work for me as a reader?" "What makes this enjoyable (or not?)" "What is it about this piece that is done well (or not?)" The grammar practice can come later -- refresh on the rules, but again don't worry about being perfect. The biggest skill you can build is reading critically. Practice, practice, practice. And when you offer your skills as a beta reader, let your author know if it's your first piece. Sometimes a very fresh set of eyes are just the thing a project needs, so don't be shy about saying so.
On the skills needed -- beta readers should not be shy to say exactly what they're thinking in a kind, constructive way. This can take some practice. But if you're going to point out something that's not working, it's good to have an idea as to why and be able to convey that. It doesn't have to be to the level of a suggestion and certainly not to the level of a rewrite or being able to provide comps/resources.
Being able to provide comments of your thoughts in a structured and logical way based on your opinion of what you've read comes with practice, of course. It's essential because an author is generally looking for specific feedback when they're asking you to beta read their work to make sure their story is hitting as intended for their intended audience.
Again having a good ear for grammar is going to be important here, too. You don't have to be perfect about it, either, or memorize every tiny technical detail. But being able to hear when something is off is useful again because while writing, an author is very close to their work and might not catch it.
And last -- remind yourself you are human. You aren't going to be able to catch every error. You aren't going to be perfect. (listen, not even every editor is going to catch every single mistake. Again, we're human!) You are not a machine. The act of being a close reader for an author and donating your time to assist them is selfless. Nobody should be expecting perfection. This is a collaborative effort between audience and author in this case. You get to make suggestions and perhaps change an author's mind about the direction of some things in their stories. Authors can choose not to take advice, too, without needing to explain anything at all. It doesn't mean the effort is wasted. It comes down to having a second set of eyes on the project with the intent to bring out the best.
Beta reader or editor, your job is mostly to be the work's cheerleader and see past the rough edges to the gem underneath, and then show the author how truly talented they are when they've forgotten in the thick of it. These are simply two different levels of the same kinds of tasks (:
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indigopoptart · 10 months
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How do you have time to do an entire chapter every week!?!?! I live in the void and I still don't have the ability to form that many related sentences into paragraphs into art?!?!?! Do you have a secret superpower you're hiding from us because you're going to use it to save the world from destruction?!?!!?
OHOHO! Hello there!
dude i get it so much. before stumbling upon Welcome Home i was in SERIOUS writers burnout but somehow seeing those silly little guys yoinked me out of that and now i am here!
this is gonna be a bit of a long-winded explanation, so i’ll provide it here under the cut!
when i had first started writing stamps, i had published three chapters back-to-back, writing one a day. which i know was because of my hyperfixation kicking into high gear and making my brain go go go! until i realized i was running low on Juice!
So that was when I had decided to start posting every sunday, that way i could take my time on producing things and build a buffer.
as of right now, i’m about a week ahead of what’s posted. that means that, i am currently working on chapter ten while chapter nine is being proofread and readied for publishing! having this sort of “buffer” allows me to feel less stressed about getting chapters done, which means i have the potential to write better!
ive always been a fast writer, even in my early days of starting out and even in my first and only other long fanfic (We Don’t Talk about That One!). but one thing i Majorly remember from that one is that i felt very stressed to get the next one out on time, to reach that word count minimum that i had set for myself. and im taking the time to make sure i dont do that with stamps. if a chapter must be 3,000 words, then it will be 3,000 words! if it must be 1,000, then it must be 1,000! Anything more or anything less will take away from that solid craftsmanship that me (and others) have been working on bringing to the table.
i know this answer may not Make Sense for your question, but i did want to explain my thought process behind it! the main things fueling my writing at the moment are my adhd and my asd. to be honest, without them, i never would have even started stamps! being neurodiverse is a Very wonderful Experience sometimes!
i write in the Notes app on my phone and ipad (evil, i know)! for some reason, doing so really helps me get the creative juices flowing. and it means i can work on it whenever! whether it be in the car on my phone, or in between classes on my ipad, or anywhere else, i write! and when i am Writers Blocked, i usually write on-stream with one of my buddies! body-doubling (even if not physically) really helps me focus.
but there we go! long winded explanation over! i hope you enjoyed this smidgen of information on my writing process!
btw, here is a link to STAMPS for those who are interested in reading!
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vonerde · 5 months
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He settled down beside her, making himself comfortable, and then smoothly repositioned himself, resting his head gently on Gaia's lap. His eyes met hers, and despite his feigned innocence, there was a mischievous glint that hinted at the thoughts running through his mind. "When you think of me, what goes through your mind? If you share, I promise I'll return the favor."
𝙪𝙣𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙙 | 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 ➥ @un1awful
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most of her attention had been captured by the book within her hands, cerulean irises trailing along inked words among yellowed pages — it was one of her older novels; the ones at which you could look wrong & it would disintegrate into dust. but she knew how to handle it properly. however, as soon as he was close, there was no denying that the pull experienced by the fictional story within her hands was totally lost. all of it had now been captured by kurama.
when the blonde was near, she would always become so painfully aware of herself; the way her heartbeat accelerated, beating against the ribs that kept it in place. the way her emotions felt both like a soothing fire & raging flame at once. it was all so incredibly confusing. but she did not seem to mind it. in fact, she welcomed his presence. there was this pull on her that she couldn't explain; it was stronger than with her novels, even. & thus, as he sat next to her — her eyes immediately trailed to his figure, taking in every detail as if she had been starved. god, wasn't that embarrassing? she immediately wanted to stick her nose back between yellowed pages but was halted in her movements.
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"huh?" eyes visibly widened as she could feel his weight upon her thighs, leaving her to shift in her seat ever so slightly. now she definitely wouldn't be able to finish that damn novel. azure met azure for a moment & she immediately felt her throat go dry. she had seen that impish glint within his gaze & could only guess that this wouldn't end well for her mind. & of course, she would be proven right; his request leaving her brain to short-circuit for a split second. alas, by the way she would blankly stare back at him — he could probably guess what effect his query had on the divinity.
nevertheless, gaia would rather quickly regain her composure once more. plush lips were nervously pressed into a line whilst a faint coral flushed her cheeks. & then, she had almost tossed the extremely fragile novel away from her. "n—now why would you even want to know that . . . " carefully would she close the book, leaving her whole attention to shift to kurama ( as if that wasn't the case before. ) of course she knew the answer to her own question & by all means, his query was rather simple, too. simple for anyone but her, who was currently fighting her whole vocabulary to produce some coherent sentences. should she she lie? should she just ignore him? should she tell him the truth?
"a whole fuckin' lot goes through my mind." the truth it was then. a rather unexpected turn as the divinity was known to lie until the sun set in the west. but something within her told her to just . . . take a leap of faith. just this once. & whilst her words sounded aggressive, her tone remained soft as she averted her gaze. nervously would her tongue lick over her bottom lips, not knowing where to put her hands now that the book laid next to her & laid on top of her lap. "when i . . ." she swallowed. "when i think of you . . . i think of warmth." a light groan escaped her, closing her eyes. oh, she probably sounded and looked so stupid.
"it's confusing, it's a lot and it doesn't leave me." the thought of him. "but i don't dislike it. i actually enjoy it . . . sure, does it keep me up sometimes? y—yeah but that's not the point!" oh gods, why were you telling him this? you didn't have to be this honest. "t—the point is that there is this . . . want within me when i think of you. this aching." one of her hands moved towards her chest, balling a fist. "it's like . . . this yearning that i want to know you — really know you. all of you. that i want to hold you & protect you from this horrible world. that i couldn't stand seeing you hurt again. that i want to feel my hands all over you & not only skin-deep." the longer she would talk, the less she seemed present in the moment; as if she was somewhere far, far away.
"i don't think anyone has made me feel like this in a long time. hell, i don't even know if i ever felt like this . . . at least, i don't remember. " she mumbled, one of her hands absentmindedly trailing towards his head; leaving a feathery touch to some blonde tresses. "it's scary, you know." but her eyes remained distant, even as she chuckled softly. "how much i want to keep you for myself." a pause, gaze darkening for a split moment. "i think about the prospect of someone else touching you and i'm filled with this desire to rip out a stranger's throat. i couldn't stand it, not even the idea of it. "
& once again would she find herself staring into pools of blue, fingers entangled in blonde tresses & the realization of what she had just said slowly sinking in. if a head could spontaneously combust, it would have definitely happened in that very moment. the light coral on her cheeks darkened significantly & seemed to slowly encapsulate all of her facial features. eyes widened as if she was a deer struck by headlights. quickly would her hands retract from his hair, holding them mid-air. oh gods, oh gods, oh gods — this was too much, wasn't it? she was being too much again, wasn't she? curses in various languages filled her mind & yet, her gaze never seemed to leave his. how cruel. she wanted to drown in them.
"i-if you tell me that you were only joking, i'll rip off your head, kurama!" gaia's eyes narrowed somewhat, feeling so bare in front of him that it made her want to scream. & truly, her mind was chaos. pure chaos. unfiltered & raging against the inhumane speed of her heart. it would take her yet another moment until she felt her mouth able to speak again, lips taut as her eyes finally ripped themselves from his. "n—now your turn . . . and don't lie!" there was an earnest glint in her eyes mixed with a bit of mischievousness whilst a small smile could be seen. "after all, you promised me. so . . . what goes through your mind when you think of me?"
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asamiontop · 1 month
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How do you write so good? Give us some tips please
😳😳
This is very kind of you to say. I’m not a professional or anything of the sort, so my “tips” are really just things that work for/help me.
1. Read! I consume a lot of content in the genre I like to write. It helps inspire ideas and teach me new turns of phrase. I also found myself pinpointing authors whose style I really appreciate and devouring as much of their writing as I could. Pay attention to what you like about their writing and consider how you might incorporate that in your own (for example, I really like how this person captures feelings and how this other person manages to describe actions very succinctly).
2. Only write when you feel inspired. This may not be very good advice for everyone, but writing is a hobby for me. So I’ll only do it when I have a really compelling idea. That means that I’m only generating content I’m actually interested in. It also takes the pressure off a bit, which helps things flow more organically. I recognize this doesn’t apply to everyone, and is certainly not an effective way to help produce more quantity. But if we’re talking about quality, this is part of what works for me.
3. Visualize! I try to play out scenes in my brain before getting them down. Inevitably the written version will be different (and will often go on fun tangents I hadn’t planned—like the tricycle scene in Ch 25 of wtstu), but having a guiding image in my head helps ground me when I’m not sure where to go next.
4. Say less. This is one I struggle with a lot; lezbehonest I am a wordy person. Especially if I follow item 3, I usually have a lot in my brain I want to describe. And when I put down first drafts, every detail seems of critical importance. But that can disturb the flow of the writing when you go back and read it. It can feel jumpy and uneven when there are too many descriptors! Sometimes the descriptors are, in fact, critical. But sometimes they’re not. Try taking some words out of a sentence that sounds awkward, and you might find it gets across exactly what you want without the extra length. Another way to do this is to take a lengthy sentence and split it up into two. That trick almost always does wonders for me. If you’re feeling brave, delete the sentence altogether!
5. Pay attention to grammar. Look, I know this can sound a little snooty. But in my experience, nothing yanks me out of a story faster than an obvious “grammar-wrong.” That’s not to say you have to be perfect (hell, sometimes incorrect grammar can be a very effective storytelling device). I make mistakes all the time. I find mistakes all the time if I go back and read stuff I’ve already edited. No one has to be perfect—I’m not so much of a snob that I’ll put down a story at the first error. But on occasion enough of them will add up and I can’t stay in the story or follow the plot.
It isn’t easy, especially if you’re not writing in your native language (you absolute hero). But I do think it’s worth combing through and correcting what you can. You’ll remove things that can distract from your work and it will have a much more polished feel!
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max1461 · 1 year
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Sometimes I say sentences that are just remarkably ungrammatical. Like I’m taking antibiotics for a tooth problem currently and I just said “this would be time I would be supposed to be take it”, like that’s what my native English speaking brain just naturally produced. I’m very tired currently so that’s probably part of it but like, I think it also has to do with a general aversion I have to restarts? Like if I make a performance error (to accept a framing that may or may not be accurate) I tend to just chug ahead, trying to somehow correct towards grammaticality with the next word. But sometimes this makes things even worse, as above. Interesting.
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polaroidcats · 1 month
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14 and 34!!!
hii bat! 💖
14. what’s something you’ve always wanted to do but maybe been to scared to do?
hahahahah bat you know I have anxiety, I am scared of everything, the first thing my brain produced as an answer to this was "live", but that's a bit too dark so I will give you a fun example (there are so, so so many things I could answer this with though) - there's several outdoor swimming pools in my city and I've broken into another one that's an island where you can just swim there from the other shore of the river to get in after it's closed, but I've always wanted to break into the other swimming pool too, that's in a park/woods area, not on the danube. Also my friends and I have been talking about getting locked in on purpose at another park that's closed for the public during the night, and sleeping there just for fun. Those are things I dream about being brave enough to do (again), meanwhile on some days I am too scared to be able to take public transport or go to a café. Baby steps, I guess.
34. any pet peeves?
I'm sometimes guilty of doing this too, esp when I'm emotional abt sth but I really hate it when people interrupt me or don't let me finish a sentence/thought.
ask game
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I'm on my little mission to give some love and gratitude to my favorite fic writers because you're all amazing. You are authors who don't get paid for your great works. You are the reason I am still in this fandom. 💕💗🤍
You were one of the first blogs i followed and I think you were the first one I ever commented on haha. Even if it was a simply 'this was beautiful'
I love your smut. I love your fluff. I love drunk confessions where she boys are just in love with their ladies. I love your christmas fluff, the perfect mix between heartwarming and funny. I love you fics for Elriel month, Elain week, Azriel week. I love everything. You writing is great.
But one of my favourites is The Heart of a Wanderer. Espacially the latest part. Be it the teasing between Az and Elain or the end. Go Elain let him have it 🙌😆
Oh my goodness this is the nicest message I think I have ever received! 🥹 thank you so so much!
Sometimes writing can be so hard, the creativity is waning, sentences aren’t working, plots aren’t plotting and sometimes fanfic just doesn’t get love and we’re convinced no one is reading/enjoying our stuff. But wow this absolutely made my morning and my week and I cannot thank you enough for your show of gratitude. I appreciate it more than you know 🩵
And I am so pleased you’re enjoying the Heart of a Wanderer! It’s all my brain has been able to concentrate on lately, and tbh I’ve felt guilty about not being able to produce anything else. I’m so relieved to know there are still people looking forward to reading it, despite updates being chaotic and often super delayed.
Thank you, for taking the time to send me this. You have no idea how big of a smile you’ve put on my face 💕
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lobac one thing i really am impressed by is how articulate you are. i wouldn't call your style consise or to the point, but your phrases are precisely-and-creatively-worded that it is very clear what you want to convey. every word carries weight, and it is obvious what weight each word is carrying for the assembly of the complete sentence, the completed idea.
it's a very important skill for academic writing and i want to learn how to to that. when you write, what is your process to convey an idea? were there any influences to your writing style?
you got that from my posts??? that's amazing. well first of all make sure you don't undervalue whatever your writing already is just because it doesn't match someone else's style. secondly i can't give you a specific process but i think the secret to being good at anything is to enjoy doing it. stringing words together has always been its own hobby to me and the fact that it sometimes produces fanfiction is entirely incidental to the process. incorporating sources and developing plots are things i don't enjoy nearly as much and so i am doomed to suck ass at them by comparison.
probably there's some way to brute-force some amount of competence by reading and editing and analysing but ideally you find a way to derive simple playful joy from doing it. you don't have to do academic writing to train specific subskills of writing, you can find some topic or medium or genre where every other part of the process is already interesting to you and then experiment with the actual text production. see which words set off a little spark in your brain when you put them where. become language-loving. and always give yourself time. always wait and reread and edit because your brain is thinking even when you think it's not thinking.
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f1 · 11 months
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Editor of Die Aktuelle 'is fired over Michael Schumacher fake interview'
'Editor of German magazine Die Aktuelle' is fired for producing a fake interview with F1 legend Michael Schumacher using AI software The editor of German magazine Die Aktuelle has been fired over a fake interview  AI-generated interview claimed to include quotes from Michael Schumacher Schumacher hasn't given any interviews since a skiing accident in 2013  By Jeorge Bird For Mailonline Published: 10:17 EDT, 22 April 2023 | Updated: 10:17 EDT, 22 April 2023 The editor of German magazine Die Aktuelle has been fired for producing a fake interview with F1 legend Michael Schumacher.  Die Atkuelle published an interview including fake quotes from Schumacher which were generated by using artificial intelligence (AI). As reported by The Mirror, publishers Funke Magazine have fired editor-in-chief Anne Hoffmann. Schumacher, who won seven world championships, hasn't conducted any interviews since suffering a severe brain injury during a skiing accident in December 2013. The publishers of the magazine apologised to Schumacher's family and to their readers, describing the article as 'tasteless and misleading'. The editor of German magazine Die Aktuelle has been fired for producing a fake interview with F1 legend Michael Schumacher  Michael Schumacher's family are planning to take legal action against a magazine who promoted an 'exclusive interview' with the stricken F1 legend. Pictured: Mick Schumacher (left), with his mother Corinna (right) and sister Gina-Maria (middle) The magazine, which was published on April 15, includes an image of Schmacher smiling on the cover. The issue is claimed to include the 'first interview' with Schumacher since his accident. Little has been made public about Schumacher's condition. In the interview it is claimed that Schumacher said: 'My life has changed completely since [the accident]. That was a horrible time for my wife, my children and the whole family.  'I was so badly injured that I lay for months in a kind of artificial coma because otherwise, my body couldn't have dealt with it all.  Schumacher (pictured in 2012) hasn't been seen in public since a skiing accident in 2013 'Much better than years ago. With the help of my team, I can even stand on my own again and even walk a few steps slowly. 'My family and children have been a blessing to me and without them, I would not have been in business. 'Of course, they are very sad about how everything went, but unfortunately, that's life and I just have to endure the fact that things sometimes go badly. 'They support me and stand fast at my side.' The front page offered a sub-heading that read 'it sounds deceptively real', which immediately lead to questions over the interview.  The article opens: 'Talk to him once. Ask him how he's really doing. And finally got answers almost ten years after his tragic skiing accident. 'No meagre, nebulous half-sentences from friends. But answers from him! By Michael Schumacher, 54!  Die Aktuelle eventually admitted that the quotes had been generated by Artificial Intelligence 'Here it is - the incredible interview! With redeeming answers to the most burning questions the whole world has been asking for so long.' The article, which does not feature a byline, ends with an admission that the quotes are in fact fake and the magazine had not spoken to Schumacher or anyone in his family.  'Did Michael Schumacher really say everything himself? The interview was online. On a page that has to do with artificial intelligence, or AI for short,' the widely derided piece concludes. F1 fans condemned the magazine for its 'lack of decency' and the 'shame' in purporting to have spoken to Schumacher.  German media expert Boris Rosenkranz wrote a comment piece labelling the stunt 'Too stupid to be true'.   Share or comment on this article: Editor of Die Aktuelle is fired for producing a fake interview with Michael Schumacher via Formula One | Mail Online https://www.dailymail.co.uk?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490
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