CloverReef

I say, we get together, trap this ugly motherless chrak'tova (I am definitely going to start using Straxi in life now, just to get weird looks...) and send it and RL into the sun...  Kill it!  Kill it with fire!

Only one or two?  I thought this place was filled with nutjobs!  Myself included.

I should probably reply to this thread when I’m not having one of those ridiculous crises of confidence that strikes every so often… but let’s pretend I’m not. So here goes:
I think the two reasons mentioned in the article are a load of claptrap. It might apply to novel writers, but it certainly doesn’t to fanfiction authors, who can’t sell what they write, so therefore the second reason can never apply. As for the first, I don’t think many of us start writing (original or fanfiction) with a fully formed story in our heads. I think it comes to us during the process.
Why do I write? Getting down to the nuts and bolts. I love the language. I like words, and I like playing around with them. I’m not educated, so I don’t always know the correct terms, but I know more or less what I’m doing. Also, despite the crisis mentioned above, I suspect I’m actually quite good at it, unlike, say… football. So I write. And I don’t play football.
I like writing casually, sure. I also like writing less casually. I like writing where I take my time over word choices and put a lot of effort into building and maintaining a specific atmosphere. The horror story I wrote for JayDee is an example of that. There’s lots of water-based description going on there that happens when I’m describing ordinary things. i.e. her hope bubbled up in her. The S&M story The Hook I adored writing, because of the atmosphere of despair in it.
Fanfiction is an art in and of itself. Lots of people who hate fanfiction will disagree with me here, and they’re free to, but I won’t change my mind. Let’s imagine I’m my usual confident self for one moment. I’ve now got years of fanfiction writing experience behind me. I’ve written in a lot of different fandoms. There’s a slightly different art to writing fanfiction for a literary medium, to writing for a visual canon, like a film or tv series. The echoes you need to include are different. At this point, I’m like a master art forger who can knock out a fairly credible da Vinci, but can’t paint for themselves. I’m not less of an artist.
I still haven’t found that key that makes the original work sparkle in my head the same way as the fanfiction does, but if I ever do, I probably won’t look back. In that case, the second reason will probably seem to apply. But it won’t be the first why and wherefore. It won’t be the driving force. That is and will always be the need to play about with words, to use them to create a feeling, or an atmosphere, or to say something that can’t really be put into words, only alluded to by way of a story. If we could say these things out loud just like that, we’d never have made stories. Stories grant us power we don’t otherwise have. It’s a good feeling, even if you tend to write rather awful things.

Ok… can I go back now?
*huddles back under rock*

I agree 100%. I have a hard time believing writers write just to sell books. I mean, of course a lot of writers want to make money off something they put so much work into. That’s just natural. But for most of us, I think there’s more than just the possibility of monetary rewards that inspires us to put pen to paper that very first time.

Found an article on one of the writing pages I follow where the writer explores the two reasons people write a novel, and I was like, “WTF?! Only two?!” Apparently, we fall into two categories. 1: We feel we have a good story to tell, and 2: we feel we have a good story to sell. I may be simplifying the point of their article a little, but I wanted to bring the discussion here. 
For me, it’s neither of the two options. I don’t always feel like I have a story to tell. Sometimes I just have characters or events in my head and a story forms as I’m writing. Sometimes I don’t even have that much, but I just need to write because the options I have to read just aren’t satisfying a specific need or craving. 
So, as the title of this thread asks, why do you write?

lol definitely not alone. I’m sure there are writers out there who are 100% confident in their summary skills, but I have yet to meet one. 

Second, better, normally, to go with what you were intending.  However, if stuck, or the their idea works better, sure, use it, or as clover suggested, to the opposite.  In the end, it’s your story that you’re sharing with them. 
Paying attention to the reader can help too.  For instance, toward the beginning of Dale’s Game, I wasn’t certain where the main thing near the end would occur, but Dirty Angel made a suggestion (I think she was joking), and it fit perfectly to the character, so I went with it.
 

Yeah, summaries are tricky things. Ideally, you’d know the audience well where you’re posting or publishing. Or at least have an idea of the general demographic you want reading your story so you can play to them. Like, posting on an erotica site, you probably want to stress the erotica side of your story. 
But in general, as @Tcr (and @BronxWench?) said, make sure the summary describes something you want to read. Don’t focus on telling the passersby everything you think is important about the plot or the characters. They don’t need to know everything. They just need to know whether they wanna bother clicking on it. Pick out the most interesting points to draw them in. Touch on the romance (If there is any) and the main character’s conflict. I say the main character’s conflict rather than the main conflict of the plot because I tend to be attracted to summaries that are more personal. More character focused. What the elven warrior is struggling with will draw me in quicker than a world in peril, if that makes any sense. 
That’s how I try to think about it, but it’s by no means a one-size-fits-all thing. 

Just my humble opinion, but having the characters put on hats, gloves and scarves to begin leads the reader to expect play that’s a little rougher than your scene needs if the erotic content is going to work… that’s where you’re going to run into trouble. Ditch the accessories. By using them, you create a peculiar mental image, and call attention to the parts of the characters that aren’t covered up, and that makes the reader feel the cold. You want the play to be very light. You want the snow to be extremely light. You want the the Oh, but that’s cold! to be a perfect counterpoint to Oh, but you’re warm! That’s how this scene would work. I’ve written it before, more than once. And I’ll write it again, because…
Ahhh… they’re going to end up in the snow. Poor buggers. Even the wildling is going to hate it by the end. I am so evil. *shakes head at self*

That Outline:
So KYBCLM are out in the snow. All semi naked and shit. There were more of them originally, but giggles cause avalanches. They toss a few snowballs and talk about the innate sexiness of frostbitten labia. Or whatever the point of the specific fetish is. Is that right? A solid six or seven minutes in which their skin begins to take on lovely blue tones. Wind chill’s minus 30 or so. Numbness begins to spread. They stumble inside and get hit with pins and needles as nerve endings start getting blood supply in surrounding tissue. Groans, moans, squeals. The odd detaching extremity. Then, play time.
Out comes the Trivial Persuit. Kim wins because she’s like the best.
[/Scene]

Eh, I suppose not. But as a female, the notion of naked play in snow doesn’t strike me as all that arousing. I guess that’s why my headwaiter’s little joke came to mind, and why I did say it was entirely unhelpful.

This is entirely unhelpful, but I was reminded of my college days when I was waiting tables in a bistro. We had a cat (in utter violation of the regs, but the rats were a bigger violation, and the cat kept those away) and she had a habit of wandering into the walk-in refrigerators. The headwaiter posted signs for us:
“Don’t lock the cat in the walk-in. Cold pussy doesn’t do anyone any good.”

I can only speak to my own experience, which was being published via a small press with a targeted readership (LGBTQ). The original owners of the press are tremendous people, authors themselves, and I absolutely adore them. They sold the press, though, and the new owners were not as dedicated to readers or authors. The press is gone now, and I’m the process of having my stories republished with another press.
I have never self-published, so I’ll let those with more experience speak to that, but I can tell you why I went the small press route.
First, identify the publishers in your genre. Don’t pitch a slash romance to a het-oriented publisher. Keep in mind most publishers won’t touch pedophilia, incest, rape for titillation, necrophilia, bestiality, or stories that discriminate against a particular group. Some won’t want graphic sex. Most want happy-ever-after or happy-for-now endings.
One of the keys to being successfully published is a polished, edited, proofread manuscript. One of the biggest mistakes people make is thinking they can self-edit, or that their dear friend who beta-reads their fan fiction is going to make a terrific editor. What you need is a professional editor, especially when you’re new to publishing, and it can get expensive out of pocket. A good editor makes sure you don’t leave loose ends, that your chronology makes sense, and characters don’t change names mid-scene.
Same thing with the proofreader, who looks for the technical stuff like punctuation, verb tense agreement, and all that good grammar stuff. They aren’t as expensive as editors only because they don’t spend as much time with your manuscript.
There’s cover art, and the ISBN numbers, which aren’t very expensive if you buy them in bulk, but most of us aren’t going to purchase them that way. Ten ISBNs can cost $125, and you need a separate ISBN for ebook and paperback editions.
Many publishers will send books out for review, and maintain relationships with review sites and blogs for their genre, and some even take out banner ads. But most small presses expect you to help market your book actively.
Publishers provide those services for you, and in return, they keep a portion of the royalties from each sale. Given that the publisher’s just spent good money on the gamble my book will sell and return their investment, I’m very happy to share royalties, and tweet my ass off, blog, and even buy a banner ad myself. 
Just read your contract carefully, and don’t be afraid to ask about anything that isn’t clear to you. Are you contracting for ebook rights only, or print rights? For how long with the contract run? Most are two to three years. Make sure you understand how to have your rights revert to you, if necessary. Investigate how royalties are paid, and how often. Third party sellers pay the publisher, who pays you, and that means those monies lag compared to a direct publisher website sale. How often do you get royalty reports? How are you paid: by check or Paypal or other means? Get in touch with other authors who publish with that small press, and ask how they like the publisher.

I appreciate a well-placed reference when I catch it, but I prefer them to be well spaced out, you know? Like if it’s obvious there are tons of references and I don’t get them (which isn’t uncommon since I’m not up on a lot of pop culture stuffs), I might feel a little alienated or detached from the story, but if it's like the rare reference I don’t get, then it’s more like something I can look up or pass over and still feel connected to the writing. That’s as a reader. 
As a writer, my references are pretty rare. And I usually try to make them pretty veiled, with the odd exception. But that might just be because there’s not a whole lot that I’m into that would make sense to a lot of people lol. 

Meanwhile, in vault 108, Gary seeks to upset this order.

Clones, we’re all clones.  So, how do we properly tag a bob/bob pairing?

You are forgetting
Challenge. A demon is almost always an immortal being. A being with a completely different mindset than any human. Summoning one for the challenge and glory of defeating, understand or otherwise just getting one up over a being like that is an accomplishment in of itself.

"Hi, Bob."
"Hey, Bob?"
"How's it going, Bob?"
"Not bad, Bob.  How's the wife, Bob?"
"Bob's not doing too bad, Bob.  How's the kids?" 
"Oh, sorry, Bob.  I thought you were talking to Bob.  Has anyone noticed the high number of Bob's working here?"

That's why I resort to random generators, simply because my mind gets stuck otherwise, and it becomes rather unrealistic if all your characters are named "Bob".

Definitely, simple and not over thinking is a great way to go. But having fun and getting carried away with words and languages and research is totally legit too, even for something so simple as a name for a little village or a street name. As long as you don't get stressed or discouraged, going simple or going batshit both have their merits. So you just gotta do you. 

My characters better not if they know what’s good for them.

That's actually a really good idea. Not one I see often, so a little outside the box, and may be a little harder to do well than a standard emotional shift, but would be awesome. 

That's actually a really good idea. Not one I see often, so a little outside the box, and may be a little harder to do well than a standard emotional shift, but would be awesome. 

That can be powerful but hard to pull off if it’s awkward to write. I did something like that for a recent fic, switching out of my usual first person POV and into something starker. I tried for more poetic and strong images and third person. Reaction was very good, but when the shock and devastation wore off for the character, I shifted back to my usual style. (it’s a canon char, so I didn’t need to introduce him and I start in middle of the canon trainwreck) This is a long way to say that shifting your writing style shows more than italics, what your char does, or how they see these events.

When it comes to puuuure porn, I feel like anything is game as long as it’s not like saying ‘hey reader, go out and rape a bunch of school girls with your tentacles right now’. Well… I kinda feel that way about non-porn too. I think a lot of the appeal of pure porn is that we can play with and glorify depraved things that wouldn’t necessarily appeal to us in reality. (I hope). You mentioned murder. I can totally write or read a sex scene murder and get turned on whereas if I saw it on like a snuff film, I’d get sick. 
So yeah, lazy writing is lazy writing, I think. I don’t think it can be blamed on what’s happening in the story, whether its rape or deus exs or the koolaid man making a random cameo in a downton abbey fan fiction. The only thing that makes writing lazy is a writer ceasing to care or improve.