Mercy_boo

uh oh. I just had an idea for a story. Aw crap, now it's not going to leave me alone. It's sorta crazy but only because it's the type of story I don't usually find interesting - gender reversals.  Urgh.  Like I don't have enough to work on. Thanks ADHD brain. Always on target, you.
          
          I've been incomunicado for months, popping into wattpad sometimes when I remember I left things hanging, but RL has been demanding and hasn't quit. (I'm stealing a few minutes on turkey day while things bake and I' m supposed to be taking a shower!) I'm sorry if I left you hanging. I really want to fix that, honestly. I think about our conversations a lot.  I'm really sorry to be so unreliable.

Every now and then I really just want to write to the author of a fic in private and say something like, "I was reading [XYZ] story and I want to be honest I have both criticism and praise: your writing shows great promise. I really want to read more of your work--but only after it improves. Because the writing in [XYZ] isn't that great, I'm afraid.  I could break it down for you, but you may think I'm just being a jerk, when the truth is I want to encourage you.  I want to read your stories, I truly do, but I want to read them when your writing has gotten stronger and clearer.  
          
          "You'll need to write a lot to get to that point, and a lot of what gets written between now and then won't be much good, BUT *you* will improve. I promise. And then your talent will shine like a polished diamond.  Practice proofreading; take writing classes; read a lot of different kinds of things (news articles and literature and comics books and blogs and letters to the editor...), and always keep pursuing what you love. I think you have a wonderful perspective and I want to see what else you come up with."
          
          Something like that. There's not many writers who inspire this in me--I tend to stick to stories that are already solid in talent & skill. But every so often I can detect a good talent being undermined by undeveloped skill and I want to encourage improvement.

WHY though.  Why can I read multiple chapters of a fic but it won't be added automatically to my current reads?  Why does the option to archive a story ONLY become available if I (manually) add the story to my current reads and then (manually) archive it? Why is there no general history of all the stories I've looked at? Why can't I change any of my reading lists to private? Why do I only get updates to stories I've archived, not stories in the reading lists? Why can't I have a private "round file" for stories I'm over and done and don't want to have recommended to me again? WHY??

hey there just noticed you threw my law book into a list! 
          just popped by to say hi, because i thought your user seemed familiar. that was cus of your comments on “captive,” the kidxreader. 
          loved reading all of your analyses! ♥️

I may be the only person who nerds out about languages and bothers to study silly anime like ONE PIECE to try to get as close a full understanding as possible, without, you know, being a native speaker & reader of Japanese.  Or maybe I'm not. Either way, I occasionally find tiny discrepancies between official and fan translations that hint at what Eiichiro Oda originally meant, or imply a sentiment that can't be captured in a direct translation, and then I have no idea what to do with what I've discovered.  (And sometimes I find straight up mistakes! )  So, while I read other ff and struggle with writing my own fics, I think I might try to work out how to put stuff up here, as a way to figure out how best to use Wattpad. 
          
          tl;dr I am likely to post really wonky details that probably no one will care about--it's find if no one responds, I'm just playing with Wattpad. However, if you're interested or confused, by all means, let me know what you think or ask any questions you've got.
          
          Take care