To flip this, I sniff out what Idol's particular audience wants at the time, too, I just -- there have been a couple of seasons where I tried to play to what the audience seemed to like most, and I hated it. I hated playing those seasons. I was bitter and frustrated because what I thought the audience liked/wanted, wasn't ultimately what I wanted to write.

I am one of those people who have to write what THEY want to write, period, exclamation point, the end, apparently. I try to fit within certain standards (I mean, I like stories that have a clear beginning/middle/end as the next guy but sometimes I just wanna wax poetic about a little slice of life/moment in time and that's okay, too?), because I'm also competitive as fuck and like doing well as much as the next guy, but -- the Idol audience isn't the one I have to have in mind, first, when writing a piece. Not if I'm going to write what speaks to me.

Now, editing and shaping a piece after I've gotten the bones of it on paper, that's different. But I forgot about the "me" part of writing, last time. I would second guess every idea I had and throw out ones that really appealed to me, because they weren't, quote-unquote, Idol friendly, and I was miserable as a result.

And every time n3m3sis43 and I would sit down and discuss ideas, she'd hit me with questions like, "Well, what's the point of this? What are they trying to accomplish in this? What's the conflict?" about her pieces and I would be like DO THEY EVEN MATTER IT'S SPEAKING TO YOU WRITE IT GODDAMNIT.

Clearly we have very different approaches to playing Idol and tbh it's what makes being friends with her so great, if we can get past annoying the crap out of each other. xD

Hi, Kim!

It's okay to be a little intimidated at first -- especially if it's your first time playing or even just hanging around in the GR. I promise you we don't bite. <3 Much, anyway...

Getting to know everyone is the best part. :) I love how LJI always seems to bring people back to LJ who seem to have disappeared from it for a little while (myself included, but -- I'm always reading, I'm just a lurker at heart...)

That's weird :boggle: I didn't think stuff like that happened in communities since everything in the community is public unless the community itself is closed...

I leave the baby holding to others! I'd rather puppies and kittens thank you!

Yes! Yes! I was terrified of babies, and even young children, untill my uncle put his daughter in my arms, and I looked into those three day old eyes as Scrunchie sized me up and fell head over heels in absolute love.

So yes to everything you say!

Hi! Welcome to Idol!