I've been suffering from a serious lack of motivation lately in terms of making new captions (as my drastically reduced rate of posting clearly indicates.) So I've been spending a good amount of time thinking about why this is, and what can I do to fix it? And I think I finally have an answer.
I'm running out of ideas.
Well, that's not entirely true. It's more of a feeling that each new caption I make is something I've already done. I mean, granted there are only so many ways to tell the story of a guy becoming a girl, but there are caption makers out there who have been at this for way longer than I have, and they still seem to come up with new material.
I guess the difference is this whole fantasy isn't as personal for me as it is for them. I'm here for the primary goal of becoming a better writer, and recently I feel like I'm beginning to go stagnant.
So there's the problem. Now let's move on to the solution.
The two keys to getting better at anything are practice, and getting feedback. The tg community is fantastic at giving positive feedback. It's an extremely supportive environment that is great for new captioners to build up some confidence as they begin to share their work with the public.
But now I'm asking for the opposite. I'm looking for things that I need to improve on. So while I still appreciate and love all the support you all show for my work, I'm asking for you to please start criticizing it. Just don't be a complete jerk about it.
For example:
If you leave the comment, "This sucks. What the hell were you thinking?" I'm going to write you off as an asshole and ignore your comment.
But if instead you leave, "This. sucks. What the hell were you thinking? The protagonist's character arc is completely unbelievable and I don't find his emotional reaction to the situation to be a valid response based on his characterization." I might still think you're an asshole, but I'll be impressed that you made such an astute observation and work harder in my next piece to create a more believable character.
Now obviously I don't expect crazy, in-depth analysis of my work (although if you want to take a crack at it, I'd be impressed). But something as simple as "your description of the transformation was a little awkward," or "I'd like it if you would have given the gender change aspect of the caption a bigger role," would really help to get my motivation going.
For those of you who have ever had the privilege of being part of a creative writing workshop (and if you haven't I'd highly recommend giving one a try if you ever get the chance) you know how helpful it can be to have a group of people tell you how great a job you did, and then proceed to tear your work apart so you can rebuild it into an even better piece.
I want to keep getting better at this whole captioning thing, but in order to do so I need people to show me places to improve.
So go ahead, tell me what you like, what you hate, what you want to see more of, and what I should never put in a caption ever again.
I'd really appreciate it.
Thanks,
Rauk
P.S. I know a lot of people are touchy about getting feedback on their work so I usually avoid any kind of criticism when I leave comments on other people's blogs, but if there are any fellow cappers out there who want me to give them honest input on what they can work on in addition to what they're doing well, I'd be more than happy to do so. Just let me know.
Hmmmmmm, I know this all too well since its a combination of "writers block" & "boredom" perhaps with what to write.
ReplyDeletePersonally, being someone thats capped for years & have done over a thousand caps, its not easy to always bring something fresh & new to the table with storys in caps.
Either you've already done a theme, scenario etc etc or you think you've done something inventive ONLY to find that you've created something someone else has just created or created already.
I've managed to do a couple themes mixed in my TG/TF caps that I've yet to see & that would be my "hentai verse" scenario's even though there basically bled from the "alternate realms or universes" which can go as far back as old "Twilight Zone" episodes.
Sometimes, you just need to take breaks to get the creative juices jump started again which is what I do when I get stumped or burned out of making my caps or writing stories.
As far as my honest opinion on your works personally, I think you've progressed extremely well since the days we use to chat on TF Media when you first started capping over a couple years back or so.
You do a good job of mixing up your stories which is what keeps people wanting more which is what I see as important when writing in general.
Familiarity is good but variety just makes it that much better. I would like to see more bimbo & crossdressing caps at random from you but I would really like to see you do a "hentai" based cap just because youve never made one as far as I remember?
Now I know you dont make those but I'll request it, if your up for the challenge & if so, I'l send you a note on Rachels Haven.
Doing a hentai cap may be what you need to kick that monkey off your back or perhaps it wont.
Thats my only complaint about your caps, is I would like just a bit more bimbo & crossdressing themes but other then that, keep up the great work. :3
If you get the time, I would love a critique as well sometime since I value commentary from others in the TG community that I respect as cappers as well as consider friends.
~Candy
Thanks for the input, Candy. And if you've got a hentai pic you'd like to see me cap I'm all for it.
DeleteI went back through some of my older pieces and I've definitely been slacking on the bimbo captions lately so Ill try to start throwing those in again more often.
I actually have a couple of pics already in my "To Caption" folder that I was planning on using for a some crossdressing stories, so you'll be seeing those in the near future as well.
And I'll try to get a critique to you sometime this weekend.
Thanks again for the ideas and feedback.
I love your work. I do have one idea if you would like to try it. A daughter has a best girlfriend of another race. Father is prejudice and does not approve. Could be Middle East, African American, Oriental etc. This bothers daughter and upsets wife. Wife buys spell, turns husband into teen girl of that race and it alters reality. Wife is now married to husbands former brother and hubby is now part of a family of his new race. He must now be friends with his daughter to stay in her life and see his wife. The tables are turned.
DeleteInteresting story idea. I don't currently have any images that could be used for this, but I'll keep it in mind the next time I'm looking for new pictures to caption. Thanks for the suggestion.
DeleteRauk,
ReplyDeleteThis is something I often struggle with. It really doesn't make it any easier that it happens to be a personal fantasy of mine... If anything, it actually makes it a little harder, as my natural tendency is to focus on storylines that reflect JUST my personal fantasy/taste, ignoring other aspects of transformation....
I WILL try in the future to offer constructive criticism, if I feel it's warranted. For now, here's some generalized "tips" on things I have tried to get past this same block. For reference, I have been doing this for about 12 years, and have made in excess of 2k captions.
1.) Try changing points of view. I know, based on past discussions/comments, that you are familiar with this, but try looking at the same story from different angles. A story about a "bad boy to good girl" teen comes across entirely different when told from his/her perspective, as opposed to the transformer, perhaps the Mother. But that's just the surface. You can make an entire story told from her classmate's perspective, or his friends. What about the perspective of the Dad who didn't want his son to transform? Of course there's always the sister... Is she happy to have a new sister, jealous, or perhaps embarrassed? What about the protagonist's girlfriend? The story takes on an entirely different feel and flavor if you change who is telling it.
Change focus. A story about finding yourself suddenly dressed as (or actually) female can focus on a number of things... The tactile sensation of the clothes, the physical feelings of having breasts and/or vagina, the emotional distress, shock, humiliation, acceptance, happiness, horniness, and the list goes on. You can focus on the joy or misery of the transformee, the satisfaction, surprise or disappointment of the transformer, etc. Or, you can focus on the consequences of the change... What will school/work be like now. How do they tell their family/friends/co-workers?
One thing that has worked for me is to seek out themes that I am not as familiar with, that require more thought, and sometimes research to do well. No matter what the transformation method, the basics are the same, but the devil is in the details. Do a magical transformation set in a different time, or a different country. Just that simple change will make the story more interesting for you to write, and others to read. Do a sci-fi transformation with your own backstory.
One thing you can try is to take a single pic and caption it multiple times. Most authors see a pic, and decide upon a story. After that, THAT picture is forever linked, in their mind, to that theme/story. Try breaking that habit.
As I said, I'll try and make more specific comments on individual works in the future... I hope some of this helps :) It really is a common frustration. As you said, there really are only so many ways to turn a boy into a girl!
/hugs
Steffi
Thanks for the tips, Steffi. There are a lot of great things here.
DeleteAs you noticed, I do try to change point of view around, but for the most part it's all been kept pretty close to the action. My stuff is almost always from the view of either the transformer or the transformee, but I have never really taken a further step back and wrote from an outside observer such as a family member or friend. I'll definitely keep that in mind for future captions.
The same thing applies for your advice about the change in focus. I tend to go straight to the emotion aspect of the character as that's what I find interesting, but as you pointed there are a lot of other parts to the transformation, such as the physical feeling of new clothes or body parts, or the difficulties and challenges of adapting to a new life.
Anyway, you've given me a lot to think about. I really appreciate this. Thanks again.
Rauk,
ReplyDeleteBravo for opening yourself up to this type of criticism. I think it takes a very good and very confident person to not only accept constructive criticism, but to actually request it. I'd be more than happy to offer some critiques... but I don't feel anywhere near qualified to critique your writing. You write very eloquently and paint a picture with your words better than most out there now.
It's also admittedly hard to critique something that I enjoy so much. When I read your caps I sit back, smile and let the story wash over me. Any small problems simply don't register, and larger problems are worked around in my mind or just wholly ignored.
BUT... that being said I will try.
As for your lack of motivation, I believe that almost every cap artist out there that has been doing this long enough has gone through something similar. Call it lack of motivation, call it writers block, call it getting tired... it all amounts to the same thing; difficulty in creating something new. I've personally gone through two such bouts and am ready for a third (as the two previous bouts of block came in the summertime). Both times the desire to create was there, but something was lacking. Inspiration, imagination, and dedication were certainly not present. The first time I simply sat back and waited for the moment to be right... it took several months. The second time I worked through it. I just buckled down and wrote. Most of what I wrote though that period was pretty bad, but there were certainly some gems in there.
You mention that some artists keep coming up with new material. I think you'll find that they are rehashing out idea, and just presenting them with new perspectives or twists to keep them fresh. I know I feel that I've written just about every story I can. Most caps I make now are telling some variation on something I've told before. Something that helped me get over that was picking a cap I made far earlier and directly and intentionally retelling that story. It worked pretty well as the new cap followed the same basic premise, but was a completely different story.
So... I'll offer up criticisms when I can to help. And I would absolutely love for you to offer criticisms of my work.
Caitlyn
Thanks Caitlyn, I really appreciate it.
DeleteMy biggest issue recently has been every time I come up with a idea I immediately start to see how it's similar to something I've already done, instead of focusing on the ways I can tweak it to add in some originality again.
I'm just going to have to start playing around with my stories and perspectives some more and hope to find some new angles that will spark my creativity again.
Thanks for the input, and I'll definitely return the favor.
First off, you have some of the best-written caps I've found anywhere. As far as my two cents, I would love to see more focus on the transformee's perspective. Often you have the angry/loving girlfriend speaking to either the reader or man being changed, but there's not as much from his point of view. When it is, there's often a female personality working her way into control. Don't get me wrong, I definitely enjoy that style, but if you're looking to shake things up, you might try having a willing male working through his own transformation or an unwilling one dealing with the aftermath. Hope that helps, even a little! You really do great work, so please keep it up!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the input. I'll certainly try to mix up the perspectives I use in future caps.
DeleteHey Rauk,
ReplyDeleteI like what you're doing here, but I've noticed that recently I can't get your pictures to open in full size, so the caption is readable. Even when I use the old "View Image In New Tab" trick. What am I doing wrong here?
Hmm, that's weird. I'm able to open the captions just fine, so here's a quick list of how I'm doing it.
Delete1. After getting through the "adult content" warning you should be on the home page of the blog.
2. Clicking on either the image or the title of a post will bring you to that post's page.
3. On the page the first (or only) panel of the caption will appear twice. Clicking on the first will just bring you back to the page you're already on; clicking on the second should open the caption in it's full size, with the option to zoom.
I've just run through process with three different caps and had no problems getting them to fully open. Let me know if you're still having difficulties and I'll see what I can do to fix it.
I usually don't leave a lot of constructive feedback, but that's mainly because I've settled for lower standards. For instance, I like on average anime captions from the revived tfmedia better than the average RH caption. Its for style, but its also because the anime captions tend to have more developed plots or stories, whereas the model captions gravitate towards or sometimes crossdressing. However since my tastes aren't as popular, I have to content myself with whats available when I'm too lazy to think up and write a caption...
ReplyDeleteFor me the biggest drawback of TG captions compared to stories is that they are inherently short. By the time you've written a few paragraphs and things are starting to develop, you've generally reached the limit of the caption.
Actually captions are to fictionmania stories, what songs are to ballads... they're almost really like haikus for better or worse!
For me its hard to limit my writing because I want to cram the constrains of a PNG and develop as much as I can. But at the same time when I'm reading longer stories can be a chore, (that's why they don't get as many views due to the ADHD nature of our modern society.)
I can relate to your motivational level because I often write captions for the same reason you do--to practice writing (or record a fantasy,) and to a certain extent I'm sometimes bored of reading the same stories. Bored to the point that describing sex scenes or transformations just isn't fun to write anymore, and I usually speed through them quickly even though they're probably the main appeal for most readers. I'd rather write about worlds, characters, moments, or the experience of being someone else and the resulting changes.
I know I've been rambling, but captions tend to be more fun than stories--short and sweet I guess. While I follow certain authors that suit my tastes better such as yourself, I'd be hard-pressed to give constructive advice without a bias towards my tastes. I can't even give much technical help since I'm conditioned to suspending my disbelief when I read, because I know there's no words to waste on describing every detail or character motivation leading into the caption.
Obviously if I told you how I wanted captions to be written, I would be better off writing them myself rather than waiting for someone else to do it for me!
hey there love your site. you inspired me to try my own. Would love any comments from you http://marissafuntgcaptions.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteI'll be sure to check it out when I get a chance.
DeleteI'd love to see zip'd or rar'd image pack if you think that could be possible, I enjoy the pictures but dislike having so many tabs open. (if you know what i mean >;d )
ReplyDeleteHey Rauk I found a long tg story with AR that I'm fond of which I wanted to share because it interest you, even though the ero content is low:
ReplyDeletehttp://tgmangas.xeraweb.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=2506
Although I can't speak for the author since I'm not her, if it interests you enough to read it I'd love to hear some feedback or analysis from an author who has been able to write some decent captions. There just isn't enough constructive feedback sometimes, and we can work together to improve. Btw, even though I hardly comment I've read all your captions and you're now the only caption writer I still actively subscribe to. (I had several other favorites from TF-media like Judo or isobelle-nichole, but they've essentially quit...my guess is the cause was burnout or writer's block.)
Thanks for the reading suggestion. While the subject matter really doesn't interest me, I read the first installment and the piece is obviously better written than most of the tg stories out there. While the author has a tendency to beat the reader over the head with details all at once instead of letting them appear slower and more organically over the course of the piece (particularly with the long description of the girlfriend to start the story), the plot still flows well and the character development is definitely above the usual fare in the tg world. So while I doubt I'll continue reading this, it's nice to see there are people out there putting out quality work. Thanks for showing this to me.
Delete