(Notice how I *** the title of this to conform to Google policies?  I'm proud of my self, yes I am.)

I started this creative writing schtick, also known as authoring Twilight fanfction, at an old age, really, fifty-three.  

Before I started this labor of love, the only thing I ever really wrote for semi-private consumption was my livejournal and then that was read by friends whose only feed back was "I hope you have a good trip" or some such relevant comment.  The quality of what I wrote was never remarked on and so I wrote and pontificated and reported on my life and my thoughts without worrying about how good I was at it.

Then, I was introduced to the thrill of writing for entertainment purposes and the delights of criticism.

I learned:

1. Writing creatively is like birthing a baby.  You painfully labor over it and then when it's produced, you hover like a new parent: proud, happy, and eager to have others tell you how pretty and wonderful your baby is.

2. Not everyone is going to like your baby.

3. It hurts like a mo-fo when people tell you your baby's ugly, or even that your baby's got this one little wonky eyebrow but the rest is gorgeous.

4. My first response is ALWAYS emotional and I can (and do) over react, much to my later regret.

I'm learning:

1. I have to get over the birthing baby analogy.  Writing is more like developing a lesson plan or a project report.  I need to think about it with less emotion and more cognition.

2. I have to go into it knowing there will be flaws or not everyone's cup of tea and people will comment negatively.

3. I learn more about being a good writer from negative but informed criticism than I do from the "I hope you have a nice trip." variety.

4. I love to participate in discussions about writing.

5. I need to put both negative and positive comments in their appropriate place.

6.  I need a safe place to vent and to try to remember NOT to do it in a public forum, mostly because my first response may not be my most reasonable.

I'm still not perfect at this but I am doing better.

Writers, do you have any suggestions on how to appropriately participate in public discussions about your work or how handle negative criticism with grace and wisdom?

Readers, do you have any suggestions for writers on how to handle your comments?

As you may have noticed the past few days our ads have not been showing, Google has suspended our account as the site contains pornography.  In particular their was a campfire a few weeks back entitled "lets talk about sex" which had some graphic images inside.  

We use the revenue from the ads to pay for our hosting and all related expenses, as such effective immediately there will be no posting of any images which could be considered pornography. This includes anything on the front page AND inside the campfires as well.

Sorry to be a downer, but thats just how it has to be.

Edit: Although Google considers many things against the rules, the main issue here is straight up pornographic imagery.  I've included a video from Google b/c its kinda cute.

Edit #2: I'm going to re-iterate.  Google considers many many things inappropriate, and I know we don't fit the bill a lot of the time.  The issue here was full on frontal nudity with GIF of Sexual activity - everything else thus far has been a fairly grey area and I'm not saying we can't do them anymore.  The policy change is around pornography only, i.e. no full on pornography or nudity AT ALL, EVER, ANYWHERE.

Its not preferable, but we can do without porn :( as the alternative would be to shut down the site as it does cost money to run.

Link to full Google Policies

I just got this from a French friend and have to share, Pictures are inside for the well known rules about p0*rn.

Adults only, please

Since it is not free for all I add a rec

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10108743/3/Masen-Manor

It is a new story by Drotuno and it is intriguing

Masen Manor, home to a prestigious boarding school, Masen Academy. An immortal hiding from the world has his faith tested by a hundred-year-old fortune and a broken, silent girl. AU…E/B…Slightly OOC…Rated M

Welcome to the Monday Morning Hot Guy Campfire. What better way to start your week than a hot guy?

Every Monday, I'm going to dedicate a CF to the Hot Guy of the Week.The catch? The CF can ONLY be about the current nominated guy. 

We all have different tastes in men, so please don't yuck anyone's yum.If you have a man you'd like to see crowned for the week, PM or hit me up on twitter (@ffcherry) with his name.

Do you write fan fiction?

Give us a little peek!

excerpt / pictease / music / poem / banners

~ Don't forget to include a link to your story! ~

Kurt Vonnegut's 8 Basics of Creative Writing

1) Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.

2) Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.

3) Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.

4) Every sentence must do one of two things—reveal character or advance the action.

5) Start as close to the end as possible.

6) Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them—in order that the reader may see what they are made of. (VW's note - Diana Gabaldon really took this one to heart, eh?  -- OHMYGODEVERYTHINGCOMESBACKTOOUTLANDERWITHYOUDOESN'TITFORF**KSSAKE?!!!  Er, yes?)

7) Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.

8) Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.

Authors - Do you use any of these tips?  Do you fly by the seat of your pants?  Do you think he's on to something, or do you think he's just an old whackadoodle? 

Readers - Do you agree?  Do any of these enhance your reading experience?  I, for one, heartily agree with #8.  I'm one of those people who frequently spoil myself, both with books and movies.  Too much mystery and WTFIGO? distracts me too much from the story. 

It's FFAW, right?

I just put on an old DVD, The English Patient which I first saw when it came out eighteen years ago.  Oh wow, what a difference a couple of decades makes.  

So much I didn't 'get' in my youth!  All the nuances in the two stories.  At the time I just thought he was grumpy (though pretty hot) and I didn't understand their affair, nor much of Juliette's Binoche's journey either.    The love scene during the Christmas party embarassed me.

I GET IT ALL NOW that I am older.

It also has an amazing passionate sex scene.  Now THAT I remembered well.

It hit me today how much he's like Edward.  Brooding and silent, too intelligent and tortured.   

There's a discussion of commas that I love too.  Some great dialog.

WHAT books or films did you not really understand as a teen that you totally get now?

Arizona has done this: http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/21/us/arizona-anti-gay-bill/

Seriously.

You would think we took a step back into the 1960s. There's a thing called Civil Rights, people!

To make this interactive, how does this make you feel? Or how does it affect you personally? What are your thoughts - even if you are against gay marriage, maybe explain why.

KEEP IT RESPECTFUL, please - these things tend to heat up.

Welcome to the

Feed Your E-Reader

weekly campfire

Please post all the fabulous deals you've found this week. And if you pick up a book from a comment inside, please let your fellow campers know you did. This CF is open to all genres and all book deals.

And don't forget to feed the trees, yeah?

So, today Sweden was just a little bit better (than Finland) in the semifinals of Olympic ice-hockey tournament. What can I say, I may have a list of excuses, but history will only remember the result. SIGH...

Finland and Sweden have centuries of shared history, they have so much in common - and when it comes to sports, they really, really love the rivalry. (Actually, if there are any resident Swedes here, please let me know if there is at all the same kind of feeling when the rival is Norway or Denmark? Any sports?)

Like today, before the match, the correspondent of Aftonbladet*, went and decorated one of the main statues in the centre of Helsinki with the national colours of Sweden (blue and yellow, or from the heraldic point of view, blue and gold) just to get rise out of Finns.

So let me know, who are the enemies you love to hate. Is it the same for the American and Canadian ice-hockey fans? (The other semifinal, USA-CAN is 0-0, the second period just started.)

What sport, what rival, what history? Like, is there a skijumping rivalry between Austria and Germany? Or Switzerland?

(Canada just scored, I need to concentrate on the game.)

*one of the Swedish yellow papers

Brought to you by the letter 'F'

If you replace the word BOUNCE with FLOUNCE, you'll get the gist of the CampFire

(Go ahead + do it, I posted the Censored version )

The idea for this came from a Fic I was reading the other day, that I just had to flounce.

Not only was the summary completely off-base to what the plot line was really about, all of a sudden, way more drama than a Telenova happened.

While I won't tell you which Fic this was, I will tell you what makes me flounce a fic

Come on in + talk about your reasons for flouncing

So, what TV shows would you like to discuss involving heroes? Arrow, Agents of Shield, Heroes, those Batman shows with Adam West...anything! Talk about your fav Superhero shows here!

(Or continue to give me more ideas on what you would like to see in this campfire in the future!)