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Message: <blockquote data-quote="takyris" data-source="post: 1897329" data-attributes="member: 5171">I think it's pretty right on. PC or not, most people accept the notion that while training and practice make people better at something, there's going to be a certain level of inherent skill. Perhaps years from now, we'll figure out that the inherent factor isn't, really -- that it's due to factors we were missing at the time. But until they can label everything, it's easier to just assume that practice can make you better at something, but you are also going to be inherently good or bad or average at it to begin with.(I personally am really good at dialogue and fight scenes, good at plot, average at character, and bad at setting -- I can toss off good dialogue without trying in a first draft, and in the second (and third, and fourth) draft, I tweak the plot, fix some character issues, and put in all the setting I didn't put in at all in the first draft. Eventually, I can usually reach the point where my setting doesn't detract from my story -- but it's rarely if ever a reason to like one of my stories.)The stuff that has really stuck with me:- The Ideal Reader. This one just works for me. My wife is my ideal reader, except when I'm writing a fight scene, which she'll just gloss over.- Right Story = Almost Right Story minus 10%. This idea has gotten some of my short fiction published (ie, it didn't sell, and then I cut 10%, and then it did sell). I'm currently applying it to a novel.- Tie Goes to the Writer. I like this idea as well. It's helped me a lot in my responses to critiques. Remembering that I don't have to "fix" everything that anyone had an issue with is important, for me, because I'm in a writing group, and my instinctive response is to fix everything anyone had any issue with, which results in most of the sharp edges of my story being filed down because someone didn't like them.Those were the things that directly clicked with me. There was a lot of other stuff that I agreed with, but those were the things that I remember really being grateful for.</blockquote>

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