harrypotterfanfiction forums: What I Have Learned from HPFF - harrypotterfanfiction forums

Here I am writing an essay at five in the morning because my car broke down...

Anyways, let's get down to it. I started stalking HPFF without an account beginning in oh, April, 2008 (My little sister made her account then, but she's not active anymore). Then I created on for myself on May 5th the following year.

Kind of took me awhile huh?

But I was, as I still am today, the kind of person who likes to be sure they're completely prepared before they dive into a new situation, and I knew once I 'offically' joined HPFF, I'd be hooked. So, I practiced writing over and over, made an outline of my story, and was constantly reading stories on here trying to pick up tricks from the masters. After a full year of doing this, I was finally ready to make my own account. The day after I joined I finally submitted my first story.

Of course, I was terrified to receive reviews, what if no one liked it? What if my grammar was terrible? Or worse, what if no one reviewed at all? I'm the kind of person who needs motivation when they start something, as long as I have that push in the beginning I can keep going. Later on? I'm fine. But if no one reviewed (or gave me a good review) on my first chapter, I probably wouldn't be here today. This is why I owe pretty much my WHOLE writing career to anonymouswriter. They left me a review, saying they couldn't believe that this was first story, and that they were 'honestly am amazed at what you've written so far'. THAT review is the reason I still write. It wasn't just a good first review, or a nice guesture it was probably the biggest compliment I've recieved on my writing. Actually, that's not true. It IS the biggest compliment I've recieved on my writing.

Now, when I don't get a review for a chapter, or I don't get very many reads, I look at this review, and it reminds me that I can keep going. I got more than the push I needed to keep going, I got a SHOVE! Because of that shove, I always have something I love to go back to. That's what's so great about HPFF, you can always come back to it. There's no friend drama, grades, failures...there's just you and your Microsoft Word. It's nice to know that if you're doing terrible at something, that there's always another something you can fall back on. My other something is HPFF, and I know I would have never made it through my ballet studio closing or the ever stressful audition season without this site.

So, what point have I been trying to make through this long, crazy essay? That I've learned how to keep going from HPFF, and that whatever may seem simple at the time, might pack a BIG punch in someones life. I try to review every story I read now, because I want to be the person who gives someone else their shove. What goes around, comes around, right? My goal on here isn't just to publish a full novel, become a TA or a prefect. No, it's to help someone the way anonymouswriter helped me.