#'I'm too tired to write about this' I say having written like 4 paragraphs about it lmao

[decembercamiecherries]

20 questions for fic writers

No one tagged me to do this lol but I saw it on someone else's blog and thought it was really cool! And I'm trying to get better at being proud of my writing so here I am doing it!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

125

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

1,205,862......wow that is a lot more than I expected

3. What fandoms do you write for?

It's mostly hxh, but this year and last I've been dabbling in other fandoms like MDZS and Hazbin Hotel

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Words That Water Flowers - HxH, killugon, hanahaki au

Running Start - HxH, killugon, high school soulmate au

Sleepover x At x Wing's - HxH, killugon, post-canon au

Match Point - HxH, killugon, high school au

Make x It x Everlasting - HxH, killugon canon & post-canon au

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to but I have a hard time staying on top of them so I mostly just respond to comments on fics I've recently posted haha ^^; but I love comments it always makes my day to receive one!

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

For HxH, it's probably: The Soulmate Phenomenon - modern soulmate au in which Killua rejects Gon being his soulmate Time x Bomb - canon au in which Killua is taken by Pitou instead of Kite For non HxH, I would say Statues which is a she-ra fic in which Adora dies and Catra ends up living at Bright Moon with her grief.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Oh gosh the happiest??? I write a lot of happy endings but purely happy fics are a little harder to come by so I'm just going to focus on HxH fics: After x Glow - post canon aged up au of Gon and Killua cuddling nothing else but you - modern au in which upcoming musician Gon visits his long distance boyfriend Killua during the holidays Shotgun Lovers - modern au in which Gon proposes to Killua after a month of dating

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not often but there's been a few comments here and there about elements in my fics that some people didn't like. A lot of people were unhappy with Time x Bomb so that's probably the one I've gotten the most hate for.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Lol yeah I have but only with friends as an rp sort of thing and that was yearsssssss ago.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

I don't write a lot of crossovers but I think my daemon au series is the closest I've got? It's basically just HxH but with daemons from the His Dark Materials series.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of and I hope I never will!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! I've had a couple of very nice people reach out to me, I'm honored that people liked my fics enough to want to translate some of them.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Only in an rp sense

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

Killugon, obviously haha XDDDD the only other ships I would consider to be my otps are usuk (Hetalia) and gamkar (Homestuck)

15. What's the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

The Wild Card and Gold Stained Blue TTT^TTT The Wild Card is a hetalia cardverse au that was my first attempt at a multichapter fic and I just don't have the energy to continue it any more. I'm planning to post a final summary of the ending so at least it will have some closure for readers. Gold Stained Blue is a killugon musician au written out in like bullet point form across three different google docs because it's so ridiculously long. I never got to post any of it because I was too tired after typing all the bullets out so rip. Maybe one day I will post the rough draft just for fun lol.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I think I'm really good with dialogue and also one shots. I love writing requests too because I get to create a whole story that has to be told in just a few paragraphs.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I'm not too great with worldbuilding or coming up with non-prompt ideas. I always feel like my more original stuff doesn't make sense and it's too exhausting to flesh out.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I think it's cool but I wouldn't do it again for a fic of my own because I can only speak english and I do not want to butcher another language haha

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Maybe....sharkboy and lavagirl??? I loved that movie a ridiculous amount haha. But the first fandom I posted anything for online was Hetalia.

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

This is so impossible to answer aaahhhhhh! I have a soft spot for all my long multichapter fics (Words That Water Flowers, Graffiti, Swan Feathers, Waiting On You) but my the most fun one shots were the most indulgent ones (5 Times Gon Was Jealous, steal x your x breath) and I also like how painting flowers for you turned out since it was a very different fic than my usual ones.

I'm just going to tag all the fic writers on here that I know! So @xyliane, @cyberflamingo, @storybookprincess, @fireolin, @autumnxsunflower and @murderkitten666! No pressure of course if you don't want to do this ^-^

[rollercoasterwords]

one and seven for the ask game!! 🫶🏼🫶🏼

hi lia <3 <3

Have you pulled inspiration from media sources other than the property your fic is related to (a plot point from a TV show that has nothing to do with the characters/setting of the fic, a line from a book, etc.)? If so, for which story? Why did you find that media source compelling?

absolutely yes! i mean fic in particular is extremely derivative but honestly all writing is derivative...i am always pulling inspiration from other stories i've loved which have stuck w me <3 gonna focus on wfrau in particular just to avoid this answer getting too long + bc that's what i've been writing most recently but. i've pulled inspiration from the animorphs series bc there are lots of fun ethical dilemmas brought up throughout that stuck w me after reading it; a particular scene from the anime 'banana fish' influenced james's story, though i can't say much more abt that without risking spoilers for the anime...if you've seen it you'll probably know which scene it influence tho lol. the crypt ch was influenced by book 4 of the fablehaven series which i read growing up as a kid--i loved book 4 bc it involved the main characters going on a mission into this underground treasure vault and having to fight past different traps to deeper down...so fun <3 the idea to write a werewolf fighting ring au in the first place came from me remembering a book i'd read as a kid called 'the abused werewolf rescue group,' though i couldn't actually tell you anything abt the plot anymore...and i'm sure there are a thousand other bits & pieces of media that have been floating around in my brain as i've written but those r the main ones coming to mind rn!

7. Share a line or paragraph you’ve written that you don’t think will ever actually be posted in anything! (Or, if you don’t hoard cut sentences and passages like I do, share anything you want that has yet to see the light of day!)

ugh see i really should save my writing better...generally w the way i write i'm not usually cutting entire scenes but it has happened once or twice & i've just. deleted it...

i can share a snippet of a pandalily time war au that i wrote about 2 pages of like 2 years ago but don't think i'll ever return to/complete so it will likely never see the light of day...here u go:

The low chatter—that is something that does not change. Gather enough people into a room, call it a party, close your eyes and it could be 1992 in Los Angeles or 761 in Koumbi Saleh or 1674 in Beijing. Humans will buzz like insects no matter what time you put them in, forever and ever and ever. Sometimes Lily wishes that they still existed; she scrubs the thought from her hard drive before her programming reads it as a virus. Humans do exist, forever. One only has to choose the right time.

This time, she is drinking wine. She is wandering through bodies, smiling and feeling the way it shapes her face. She steps past the marble columns, onto the terrace, under the moonlight that kisses her eyelids so gently when she closes them. She can feel the light, you know. That’s something she can do.

“Red suits you.”

The person beside her is a woman, today, or something like it. She wears the same clothing, white sweep of cloth, though she’s never quite able to get the same softness. It drapes willowy, slow-moving, with fingers that gnarl like roots.

“I’m too tired to kill you tonight,” Lily says, biting through the Latin with her canines like rich meat. “Go somewhere else.”

The woman smiles, slow and creeping, a lichen on the bark of a tree.

“Another place?”

“Another time.”

“I can’t do that.”

“Why not?”

“I like the wine.”

She isn’t drinking any. She watches the cup in Lily’s hands. When Lily takes a sip, the woman’s tongue darts out to wet her lips, pink and human.

“They have wine later,” Lily tells her, “And before.”

“Not like here,” the woman says, “Not like tonight.”

“Tonight?”

“Tonight.”

“And what makes it different tonight?”

The woman smiles. She is standing so very close. “That’s what I’m trying to figure out.”

fic writer ask game

[misc-obeyme]

I'm only asking about Arsenios for now 👀

General 03 When is their birthday? Do they celebrate it? Do they even remember it in the first place?

General 10 What was there initial reaction to Diavolo's plans of uniting the three realms? Has their opinion changed?

Relationship & Personality 14 What is their biggest regret?

Demon 03 Do they have any special abilities? (fyi you could write a 50 page essay about his powers and I'd happily read it because his powers are just so cool <3)

Yesss I could talk about this guy all day every day and never grow tired of it. It makes me feel silly but I love him lol. Thank you for asking about him!

General 03 When is their birthday? Do they celebrate it? Do they even remember it in the first place?

His birthday is 3/4 which is also a musical time signature because I'm a dork like that. (Er well that's March 4th here in the US, I know dates are written differently in different countries lol.) Yes, my boy is a Pisces. He doesn't celebrate his birthday at all because he doesn't think it's important. He's the kind of demon who won't tell people when it is because he'll just be like who cares? He does remember it just because he doesn't forget stuff like that, but he's not keeping track of it, either. I don't think he knows his exact age anymore.

General 10 What was there initial reaction to Diavolo's plans of uniting the three realms? Has their opinion changed?

Skeptical. Arsenios spent a lot of time in the human world previously and generally thinks the worlds are incompatible. He has no problem with humans. He thinks there are good and bad humans the same way there are good and bad demons. But he thinks the lifespan and power level situation makes things tricky. He's also highly suspicious of sorcerers and it seems to him that they're the only ones the Devildom would really be dealing with. Since it seems like regular humans don't even know the Devildom exists.

As for the Celestial Realm, he sees that as some mystical and magical place that's so removed from him in every sense he just can't imagine ever even talking to angels let alone befriending them.

I think his opinion does change after a while. He sees that it's slow going, but that progress is being made. And he's like hey whatever if this is what Diavolo wants to do, he's okay with that.

Relationship & Personality 14 What is their biggest regret?

If you asked him, he'd say he has no regrets because he likes to think he's learned something from everything that he's done. But what he says and how he feels are often two different things. And as his creator, I can tell you what it is lol. He was seriously injured and alone and while I don't think he would have died, the results would have been devastating for him. But someone found him and helped him. His regret is never finding his savior, never knowing who it was that helped him when he was at his lowest.

Demon 03 Do they have any special abilities?

Ahhh Melody you're too nice! I feel like I'm already writing massive paragraphs, but it'd be so easy to write 50 pages about it I think lol.

Anyway, yes, so Arrie's whole thing is obviously music. And his power kind of manifests in multiple different ways. The most prominent and probably most useful is his ability to use his songs to do magic. For example, he can use a song to influence someone. It's less mind control and more subliminal suggestion. This is something he can do quite easily and naturally. It's innate and he just does it by thinking about it deliberately. He can get people to do things, but it's a lot harder to make someone do things, especially if they don't want to do it. He's a lot better at more subtle things like a song that suggests someone's body needs to relax or that someone should consider falling asleep. However, he can also create entire spells with his songs if he wants to. He just doesn't normally bother to do this because it's a lot of work. It has to do with creating specific notes and using specific keys and chords. Kind of like instead of writing an incantation for a spell, he's writing a song for one. But it has to be very deliberate and most of the time he's like whatever there are already spells someone else created why would I make my own?

Another thing about his power is that he has this sort of ongoing song that's just part of his soul. It's not something most people can hear. If he's upset or hurt, though, it becomes loud and just sort of permeates whatever space he's in. Then people can hear it and it's always really harsh and almost painful to listen to.

He also has the ability to hear other people's natural songs. It isn't quite the same as his, which sounds more like someone playing an instrument of some kind. It's more like all the little sounds that make up a living being - heartbeat, footsteps, breathing, their voice, etc.

And just a lot of other little things like having perfect pitch and being able to play every instrument (though he still has to practice, it's just he picks it up quickly). Naturally good singing voice, that kind of thing.

Ahh well I still wrote a TON about it lol. But once I get started, it's hard to stop! I guess that's why his story ended up so crazy and long 😭

Anyway, thank you for asking, it is so fun to answer questions about him! 💕

MC & OC Ask Game

[73chn1c0l0rr3v3l]

3. What is that one scene that you’ve always wanted to write but can’t be arsed to write all of the set-up and context it would need? (consider this permission to write it and/or share it anyway)

4. Share a sentence or paragraph from your writing that you’re really proud of (explain why, if you like)

5. What character that you’re writing do you most identify with?

6. What character do you have the most fun writing?

8. Is what you like to write the same as what you like to read?

19. Is there something you always find yourself repeating in your writing? (favourite verb, something you describe ‘too often’, trope you can’t get enough of?)

24. Would you say your writing has changed over time?

25. What part of writing is the most fun?

3. I've written the same transformation sequence a couple of times, but I don't think I've managed just yet. Something about the way the body changes & how it's horny & also scary & also... good. I want to get it right, but I'm not sure what it NEEDS.

4. Nami spoke, and her father’s voice was echoed in it, buried like bones in sediment. “Fruit of my branches, graft of my trunk,” he said, in a voice that was tired and old and sadder than anything Peri had ever heard before. “I am old and I am foolish, and I want to see you again, before I sing to the sky.” She trembled all over, and more golden, sap tears dripped down her face. “You are welcome. You and your wife are welcome in my home. I am sorry for what I said to you, to your wife. The things I said were cruel, and I don't want to die with your last memory of me being of cruelty. I will love her as I love you, for all my days and into the sky. Please, Nami. Come home.”

I am terminally embarrassed by any showing of strong emotion, and the fact that I was able to convey something that was described as actually being fairly emotionally resonant makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. Especially with my own entirely original characters.

5. I'd say that I identify the most with Ace in certain respects, but in a lot of ways I put a bit of myself into everyone I write. The main thing I try to do is make the characters entirely THEMSELVES before anything else.

6. Missy is the most fun to write, although I don't write her very often. She is so very sassy and pop culture-y and snarky, in ways that I don't get to often indulge in.

8. I'd say that I like to read wider than I tend to write, but some of that is just because I don't feel like I'm very good at the kind of intense character analysis stuff that I like to read. I really should start trying that next, honestly.

10. I've found that I write a LOT of late night discussions in bed, usually with some sort of inclement weather. It's when things feel the most... intimate, and it's also a state I've been in a lot due to some pretty intense insomnia. I want to convey the FEELING of being awake in that hazy, velvety part of the night, and I like to think that every time I write it I'm a little bit closer.

24. My writing has DEFINITELY changed over time. I've gotten more comfortable with being more... flowery, for lack of a better way of putting it. I enjoy getting metaphorical, and I think I've gotten much better at character voice.

25. The bit where you get to convey whatever is in your head out onto the viewer, however that may be! And when you get to take an image in your head and turn it into something that's not just images or little bits of... something or other, but an actual thing people can comprehend.

[bullshit-bulltrue]

so science lab was fucking insane today bc we had a substitute .

i had to be mean to someone, almost got hit with a chancla, found out a guy i liked in elementary has a crush on me, and i ended up falling asleep in the midst of it all

and bc i wanna type the rest in a weird format, here u go:

me: *leaves at the end of class* *goes to locker bc holy shit i just found out a guy likes me* *gets pissed bc shit don't be adding up* *contemplates why he would like me* lowkey gets mad 💀* *screeches + punches my locker and leaves a small dent* (...oopsie) *closes my locker and takes a deep breath*

ben: *pops up outta nowhere* (awoop jumpscare) (but in a good way) hey! *does a lil wave*

me: hi!

ben: yo your class was REALLY loud. we could hear you guys all the way from our room.

me: yeah it was ten times louder inside.

ben: damn

*pauses for a minute bc we kept bumping into each other since everyone else is fucking bumping into us*

me: hey did Mr e. play the gummy bear song for you guys and make you all dance?

ben: yeah *kinda embarrassed*

me: i figured, i heard it playing from the hallways lol

ben: well you guys were way louder lol

me: yeah its bc we had a sub

ben: ohhh that makes sense

me: everyone went crazy i swear. people running everywhere, almost got hit with a chancla

ben: wait what?!

me: yeah someone took aaron's slipper and threw it over my head. that was fun.

ben: oh wow

me: surprised i got out of class in time

ben: why's that?

me: oh i fell asleep and barely woke up before the bell

ben: you can fall asleep in there??? it was fucking loud

me: yeah, i can fall asleep if im tired enough

ben: wow

*we walk out the building doors and head toward the front of the school*

ben: hey did you finish the english essay?

me: i haven't even started it

ben: oh i finished it already

ben: ah..

me: yeah its due tonight so i'm just gonna scrape smth together

me: that was a joke. um, a bad one. it's not that hard, so i'll finish it up in no time. besides, we only have to write like 2 paragraphs minimum

ben: uhh yeah i *might* have written a more than two paragraphs..

me: what, like four?

ben: um.. more

me: seven? six?

ben: one less

me: five? omg, good job

ben: and i'm thinking of coloring in the drawing too. aiming for that extra credit 😎 but idk yet (he was joking. our school doesn't allow extra credit)

me: thats good! and hey as long as you have some pretty solid writing, i wouldn't worry too much about the drawing.

ben: yeah. oh and uhm i'll show you my writing tomorrow (we have english Okay!

me: okay! *about to leave*

ben: wait a minute! i actually have a picture of it saved, because i sent it to [insert persons name i dont remember]. *shows me the picture of the writing and drawing* me: wow, that's really good!

ben: yeah i actually don't know how many paragraphs that is lol (he didn't use indentations) and i still don't know about coloring it in

me: i'd say that's about 4-5. and, as i said, don't worry too much about coloring it in. you have a good amount written, so you should get a solid grade on that. and the diagram for your drawing looks good. if anything, maybe highlight the main parts. so it's bold you know?

ben: okay, thanks!

me: yeah, anytime! ever need help, just ask.

ben: okay!

me: see ya later!

ben: yeah, bye!

so yeah <3

also i figured out what was different abt him

so yk that part where ur hairline ends? yeah he got it. it was bugging me all day bc I couldn't for the life of me figure out what was different lol

[roboromantic]

hmmm I wanna write a post about representation in kids’ cartoons and the lack of any particularly meaningful representation of religion itself (even Chrsitianity is only really ever represented as more or less culturally Christian atheism)

like it’s great that headscarves are being normalized but what’s the point if people don’t get a sense for some reasons WHY people might choose to wear it. if you see a bunch of people wearing hijabs but all you’ve ever heard about Islam is that people are FORCED to wear them then how exactly does that help. and like there’s differences between various types of headcoverings, and that includes things like different yarmulkes, kufis, turbans.

Like I want a whole show that actually talks about this stuff beyond the usual one-off Look How Diverse This Character Is™ episode and/or token mention of someone being Jewish during the (”not”) Christmas episode, but I don’t want it to be preachy and/or strictly instructional just. idk what exactly it’d look like though. something like an animated spin-off of Little Mosque that focuses on younger kids in the town maybe??? and I mean definitely not just one cartoon. not even one cartoon per religion, whatever the fuck that’d mean. ya gotta show how different religions interact with each other and ya gotta show variety within each religion and

i mean idk maybe it’s just because religion played such a huge role in my childhood and continues to be important to me (I say, writing on Shabbat) but even though I know why no one dares touch it with a 10 foot pole, it’s still very weird to me having grown up with uncensored Veggie Tales and Davy & Goliath et cetera how (almost) non-existent religion is in kids cartoons

but I didn’t sleep a wink last night and I STILL can’t seem to fall asleep even though I would really like to so I’m not really in the headspace for it atm

[adriannasharp]

20 Writing Questions

I'm very late on this tag but @venuscrescent tagged me and I'm finally able to actually do it!!! @clucksterwrites @leondaltons @coppercrane2 @teamvanessacloud @vchanny-og, not sure if you all are tagged but I'm tagging you anyways.

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

So much fewer than I wish. Just 12. I wish I didn't have to work so I could just fic full time. If anyone wants to pay me to be their Venus x Kunzite fic writer in residence, I will happily accept.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

183,261. Admittedly, higher than I would have expected. It will jump pretty dramatically once I can finally finish this one BEAST that I'm working on.

3. How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

On AO3, two. My main one is, of course, Sailor Moon. It has had my heart for over 20 years and I don't see that going anywhere anytime soon. My other fic is an Avatar: The Last Airbender fic. I just wrote the one fic, though I had another one in mind that I never wrote.

Before my AO3 days, I also wrote fics on ff.net for a few other fandoms including Harry Potter, Gravity Falls, Legend of Zelda, Fruits Basket, Inuyasha, Yu-Gi-Oh, and I think a couple others. But I believe I only wrote one fic for each fandom because I would bounce around. They were my minor fandoms and, while I still enjoy them, just didn't feel much pull to keep writing them.

4. What are your top five fics by Kudos?

Oooh excellent questions. I haven't really paid attention to which ones are my top five.

Experimentation: 112

Stay: 107

People Will Say We're in Love: 91

The Sultan and the Princess: 83

Perfect: 82

Hahahaha. Of course my smutty fics are all in the top five. A little surprised that Experimentation is number 1 but also not. The Venus x Kunzite corner of the fandom is a thirsty one. I love you dorks.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to but I can also be very bad at it. Especially this past year - year and a half I've been dealing on and off with depression and anxiety. So I'll see the comments, squee, but be too tired to craft an intelligent reply. I love getting comments, they bring me so much joy. I always try to make an effort to reply to the people who I don't know personally because I love expanding our corner of the fandom and making new fandom friends.

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

I really don't write angsty endings. I suppose, by default, it would be Stay since it's not really a happy ending.

Listen, if I'm going to suffer by writing angst, I just want everyone to be happy and loved and living their best lives by the end of it.

7. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

Haha. Several? My fics almost always have a happy ending. But the happiest one? I would probably say People Will Say We're in Love. Mia and Kam just deserve all the love and happiness because they're so damn cute.

8. Do you write crossovers? If yes, what’s the craziest thing you’ve written?

Nah. Too many characters to keep track of. I might read the odd crossover but that's pretty rare. I once had the idea of writing a Doctor Who fic where each chapter was the Doctor landing in a different fandom. I got three paragraphs in before giving up. It was when I was a very young, inexperienced writer. I shudder to think what I would have written. I feel like it would have been very cringy. I have enough trouble writing a dozen or so characters in one fic. This would have been a mess.

9. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

I have not. I consider myself very fortunate that the sen/shi corner of the Sailor Moon fandom is wonderful and so supportive of each other. I always consider myself so lucky that I joined a ridiculous bang challenge one year and never looked back.

10. Do you write smut? If so what kind?

Hahaha! Absolutely I do! In fact, talking about smut in question 4 has me itching to work on a WIP smutty ficlet.

I would say my smut is pretty tame, considering. Nothing too crazy, just a lot of "I NEED YOU NOW AND I DON'T CARE WHERE WE ARE"

It's fun!

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge. If anyone does ever see any of my fics posted somewhere else, please let me know.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Again, not that I know of. But I would be very flattered if anyone ever wanted to.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic?

Like venuscrescent, not in the traditional sense. I also take part in the same mini bang challenge every year in the senshi & shitennou fandom (pst. If that sounds cool to you, you should check out their official tumblr @ssminibang. We are always trying to expand our cult corner of the fandom.

If you're not familiar with it, every year, an artist and author get paired up to work on a story. It switches each year for who comes up with the idea first and you work together (to varying degrees of collaboration) to make fic and art that complement each other. It's so much fun and I highly recommend it.

My most collaborative one would definitely be The Sultan and the Princess with @lyrhia-art. It was so much fun with us constantly shooting ideas at each other and spawned a fan club within the community around a camel.

14. What’s your all time favourite ship?

Minako/Venus and Kunzite HANDS DOWN! I'll always have a soft spot for Usagi and Mamoru but VxK has my heart in its clutches. It's a complicated, flawed, crazy relationship and is so great to write/read/obsess over fanart of. I just love them so much, in all incarnations. Especially when they play very much into the 'one is grumpy and one is sunshine' trope.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I have a few, some more likely to be written than the others. In my mind, I'm going to eventually write all of them. Hopefully.

Berenice! A couple of years ago, @versailles-fairytale did a DROOL WORTHY piece of art for the mini bang challenge. I didn't get paired with her but I still want to write the fic that I thought of for it. It would involve Minako going on a trip to get away for a while before Crystal Tokyo arrives. She rents a ocean/lakeside cabin to just get away from it all. But quickly finds out that a reincarnated Kunzite with no memories is her neighbour. Angsty and piney but also lots of fun and just a focus of them falling in love again.

Another one I have takes place after Galaxia and involves the reincarnated shitennou coming back to Japan. They're healed and good and just want to be part of Mamoru's life again. And, of course, there would be lots of sen/shi content. Particularly around Mina and Kunz and how they could maybe pursue a relationship, but of course there are plenty of stumbling blocks. Just have had a lot of trouble finding a direction for it.

Mermaid Beryl! Ages ago, @mochibuni did art of Little Mermaid but Beryl is Ariel and Endy is Eric. We tossed some ideas back and forth and it's still sitting in the back of my brain. I want to write it. I NEED to write it. It's going to be GREAT!

16. What’s your writing strengths?

I would say fluff. Maybe some comedy too. But definitely fluff. I find it the easiest to write and I feel like my fluff has some really good stuff to it. I love writing it, even when it has little traces of angst.

17. What’s your writing weaknesses?

SOOOO many. My main one is long stories, especially ones that juggle multiple character arcs. How does anyone juggle so many characters and keep track of their emotional well being?!!??!?! It's so hard!!!!

Angst can be hard for me too, especially if it's over the course of a long story. I'm fine with short bits of angst but if it stretches more than one or two chapters, my brain shuts off and doesn't like it.

I'm fine with comedic and fluffy dialogue but give me a scene that deals with more serious topics and my brain shuts off. I'm so bad at writing scenes where characters try to talk their shit out.

18. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in fic?

Personally not a fan of it. If you're a fan of it, great! I usually encounter it with Japanese because Sailor Moon is my main fandom. But I find that random Japanese words/phrases in the fic pull me out of the experience. Admittedly, I use sailor senshi as opposed to sailor guardian but that's about it.

19. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

LOL! Technically it was Yu-Gi-Oh. It was a stupid idea my friends and I had over a lunch break when I was back in high school. It was dumb and ridiculous and served no purpose. But I still laugh about it.

20. What’s your favourite fic you’ve written?

I definitely don't have one favourite. I have different fics that mean different things to me and I love them for different reasons.

The Sultan and the Princess is one of my faves because I had such a blast writing it. It came together exactly as I wanted it to and it's one of the few fics where I can still look at it and not want to change a whole bunch of stuff. And it was a great, fun balance of comedy, drama, and just a little bit of angst and steamy.

People Will Say We're in Love is also in my top fics because I had a blast writing this too. It was light, it was fun, it was romantic, it was silly. It was such a delight, even if it did take me about two years to write. I'm also really proud of it because I consider it my first long, fully flushed out fic with big emotional arcs. Admittedly, Love Letters and Loathing is technically my first long fic but I adore PWSWiL because it felt more rounded and it was novel length. I'm still pretty proud of it.

When I finally finish it, Blood on her Hands will be on this list. It's been HELL writing it because I have so many characters to balance and keep track of. I've been working on it for about two years and I am constantly rewriting it and refining it to get it to be what I want it to be. But if I actually get it to be what I want it to be, I'm gonna be so, freakishly proud of it.

[dolliedarlin]

hello :)

i recently started writing but i have no idea what i'm doing rn i was wondering if you had any suggestions

if not thats okay too

(Also can i be the 🌸 anon pretty please?)

I hope you have a great day !!

hello, my darling 🌸 anon! (i'll add you to the anon list right away, dollface <3)

also, that's amazing! i wish you all the best in your writing journey!

in general, the best advice i can give you is that you should write whatever you like so that the enjoyment of writing stays with you and you can keep writing for the long term!

as for writing tips, i just want to say that i'm not a professional or an expert on writing so don't take my tips to heart too much, okay? nevertheless, here are a few that i find helpful to be conscious of . . .

TIP#1 - start a new paragraph when a new character speaks

TIP#2 - always have, at least, a small bullet point plan of what you want to happen (the main events especially) before you begin writing

TIP#3 - have a clear idea of your characters' personalities so that you know how to portray them in scenes and certain encounters with other characters

TIP#4 - use paragraphs and make sure you have varying lengths of paragraphs throughout your work - just the use of paragraphs makes it better and more comfortable for readers to read your work, if there are no paragraphs, their eyes are gonna get pretty tired of reading your work pretty quickly

TIP#5 - use the right punctuation correctly - again, this makes it easier for readers to read; the more comfortable your readers are when reading, the better!

TIP#6 - get good at writing quick summaries that you can put at the beginning of your work - some people are hesitant to read works that don't have summaries bc people generally want to know a little of what to expect before they read something

TIP#7 - if there are triggering topics being mentioned, always provide a warning and even add an age rating that is appropriate - this is for the reader's safety, just because you're comfortable with writing triggering topics, doesn't mean everyone's comfoftable with reading it

TIP#8 - always proofread your work before posting but if you aren't proofreading it then state so at the top of the post

TIP#9 - if you are writing a long chapter or a series, have multiple plans written up. if you're writing a series/multichapter, plan for the overall plot and it's arc, making sure to highlight key events that'll have an impact on the ending/character developments. if you're writing a long one shot/individual chapters for the series/multichapter, i would suggest splitting up the chapter/oneshot into different 'scenes' where you bullet point for certain things to happen as well as lines of dialogue you want to include. the scenes can be divided by changes of settings/time/appearances of characters/pov etc - i do this so often and for almost all of my works now, i can't write a series chapter/long oneshots without doing this, to some extent, first

tip 10 is a more advanced tip but it's really useful and i believe it will help you develop a lot of your skills as a writer - i'm trying to work on this myself when writing too ;)

TIP#10 - show, don't say - as in, when something is going to happen, write about it happening and not just say it outright

e.g . . .

DO ↓

"Good morning, mom," you cheerfully greet, stepping into the pristine kitchen, where you always find your mother in the morning, and lean up to give her a kiss on the cheek. It puts a beautiful smile on her face and you know the good mood will make breakfast taste even better.

You go about setting up the table but are stopped before you could put down the third set of cutlery.

"It's okay, sweetheart," your mother gives you a strained smile as your heart drops.

"Oh..." your shoulders deflate despite the tasty breakfast your mom cooked up for you - it was his favourite but again, he's not around to enjoy it with you two.

"Let's eat," your mother chimes in an attempt to lift the mood once more. She sits beside you and offers to pour you a glass of water before pouring her own glass.

"Thanks, mom," you know the food tastes good but it could have been so much better if he was here. All that remained of him was the empty chair where he always sat. What was the point of it all if he was never here?

An unpleasant feeling builds up in your stomach as you push away your plate and excusing yourself from the table.

"I'm not hungry anymore...sorry, mom," she doesn't say anything, she doesn't even look at you as you leave to get ready for school.

Walking out the door, you feel unpleasant; your stomach is empty of food but full of a hideous emotion you're scared to face.

DON'T ↓

"Good morning, mom," you cheerfully greet, stepping into the kitchen and giving your mom a kiss on the cheek. She smiles and you go to set up the table. You're about to put down your father's set of cutlery but are stopped by your mother.

"It's okay, sweetheart, he's not here today either," your heart drops at your mother's statement. Again? He does this all the time now!

Your father is never around ever since he got promoted at work. He promised to be a good dad and husband but he's never around to do that. He clearly cares more about work than either you or your mother. It made you miss all the times that he was still her and made you resent all the 'good' material things that came with his promotion. You hate him for what he's done to you and your mom.

i feel as though this just helps the reader immerse themselves better in the story rather than remain distant from the plot, the characters and their emotions by being told everything about the situation all in one go.

thinking of writing in this way really makes you, as a writer, get creative with how to present scenes and the characters you've placed in said scene, a lot more. it can be quite fun but also pretty challenging. to get started, i suggest doing small quick scenarios focusing on simple things/events so that you can work on getting the feeling, interactions and atmosphere right within the short scenario.

those are all the tips i have for you so far, if you want to ask anything else, feel free o reach out to me, i'm more than happy to give my thoughts and advise on things - again, i'm not an expert but i've been writing for quite a while so these are just my personal helpful tips for you! i hope you found them helpful!

you've got this! i'm cheering you on in your writing journey! i believe you'll do fantastic!

[natsumiheart]

I look at a lot of stuff on Pinterest and one of people's reasons on why Oumasai is toxic is because Kokichi made Shuichi want to kill himself? Something tells me this is wrong but I'm not sure what proves it wrong. (I mean they also point out that Kokichi mocks Shuichi for mourning Kaede-) I'm asking about this because its been eating at me and trying to prove that it isn't toxic.

Hooo boy this is gonna be long so buckle up! I’m sorry I couldn’t make this shorter I just really go all ace attorney mode when it comes to this type of stuff.

Sorry if there are any mistakes or some parts are too confusing my internet might go soon so I can’t proofread and edit anymore!

I think what they’re referring to is how Shuichi got really depressed after discovering that the world had ended, but how can it be Kokichi’s fault? He literally wasn’t the mastermind, he didn’t make all that stuff up. Heck, he was the first one to even see that motive and on his own it was way worse to deal with. His behaviour was so out of line that Kaito got fed up with him and punched him for the nonsense he was saying.

The motive was supposed to make everyone fall to despair, it’s purpose was legit what happened to Miu where she NEEDED to go out to help out the world before everyone was gone. The motive was MEANT to be seen to make the game “More interesting” but Kokichi didn’t let the others see it until he finally convinced them that he’s the mastermind. If he didn’t the Mastermind would find a way to show it to them in a different way and there’s no knowing what could happen, and if he showed it to them himself they’re bound to believe what he’s saying considering the fact it’s obvious he already knew about this. He took that motive to basically make everyone give up on trying escape by killing each other, since as the mastermind he said “The game’s over now! There’s no point.” to prevent another murder from happening. AND IT WORKED, for a long while no murder took place but of course the actual mastermind couldn’t just sit idly and let the game be “boring” (Which was Kokichi’s goal) So they made a flashback light that Maki ended up seeing and calling the others to see, and the flashback light made everyone including Maki believe that Kokichi was a remnant of despair. They wanted to get rid of Kokichi for messing with the game and taking over their position, and this was their way to do it.

So, after all that, if others see that KOKICHI was the reason Shuichi wanted to give up for a second there. Then I really don’t know what to say. Shuichi has went through so much already because of the killing game and Kokichi’s attempt to stop the killing game is not the reason he wanted to give up. It was because he lost a lot his friends and because the world was most probably all gone. At that point he had nowhere to go back to and everything he has worked so hard for was for nothing because there’s nothing left. Kokichi didn’t do anything to Shuichi for him to be the sole reason he suddenly wanted to die. His depression got the best of him after being all alone with his thoughts for a couple of days, not eating or moving just sleeping the entire time. If anyone is at fault it’s the mastermind for making up such a cruel lie that even made Gonta commit murder to “save” the others.

And for the mocking him about Kaede’s death part (Which is literally one line after Shuichi removed his hat) Kokichi at that point had witnessed that the killing game was real and it was going to get him eventually. He wasn’t alright either and he had already started to make everyone hate him, acting more hostile and annoying so they all stay away (since anyone who groups up everyone or brings them hope will end up like Kaede did) He didn’t want to be the next Kaede or Rantaro. It started with that line but in the end he cut off all ties he had (if he had any) in chapter 4 so that they have no doubt that he is only full of malice and that he is indeed the mastermind.

“But how do you know that he has been devising that plan since back then?” Remember the “horse a” message? the first letters were added to it right before the next morning after the first trial where Shuichi entered the dining room without his hat. If you don’t believe me, here’s a paragraph from well written wiki!

Sometime between the end of the first trial and the morning of the next day, Kokichi would begin to devise of a plan to get everyone to think that he was the mastermind of this killing game, willing to be seen as evil for the sake of ending this madness. To begin this plan, he would leave a subtle message in the courtyard "Horse A", which he would later fill in with more letters as the killing game continued.

And here’s the source if you wanna check for yourself: Click here!

If it wasn’t already obvious, Kokichi is a LIAR. And his biggest lie of being the mastermind started after he saw the deaths of Rantaro and Kaede. That first chapter affected Kokichi a lot, he lied and lied to hide it but he was shaken up by the sudden death of Rantaro and was devastated by Kaede’s death. Though all he could say at her last moments is that she wasn’t boring. Because he knew, if he was truthful? Eyes would be on him immediately and he would be in danger.

Kokichi did his best to be the person he would hate the most, he lies so much yet says he hates liars, then says that’s a lie. Making everyone confused as to what the hell is right or wrong in what he’s saying. But he couldn’t keep up his facade forever especially when he was starting to get interested and even attached to Shuichi. In one completely optional scene in chapter 3 he legit says that he doesn’t want Rantaro to be the one who gets resurrected (Though he probably was more interested in him because he obviously knew more than he let on in chapter 1. Asking everyone about the Ultimate Hunt when no one else remembered it until they say the flashback lights, his fight with Hoshi, and how he was so sure that he WILL end the killing game. Kokichi even had his effigy in his room because he saw it as a clue or evidence that can help later, he needed to know what he was hiding and what his talent was.) and despite all that when Shuichi asks why he doesn’t want Rantaro to be the one, he says “Because you’d rather have Kaede back.” Of course he writes it off as a lie, but then right after that he SHOWS Shuichi his interest in Rantaro saying he might be working for the mastermind. The exact lines are:

Kokichi: “What if Rantaro was working for the mastermind? Bringing him to life might be a bad idea.” 

(Trying to make Shuichi believe that he really did lie there about his reason why he didn’t want Rantaro to come back by making him believe that THIS was the real reason. I don’t know exactly if he entertained the idea or not, but he most probably did not believe Rantaro to be the mastermind here. He might have even made up that killing game anime he was talking about. Its’ real for us but might not be for them.)

Shuichi: “N-no that’s idiotic! Rantaro couldn’t have been working for the mastermind...:

“But is it really impossible? We only knew Rantaro for a short time. He did seem as though he was kind of used to the killing game”

The “used to” in that sentence was highlighted. THIS was Kokichi’s intention, to make Shuichi realise that Rantaro knew more than he let on. Which reinforces Kokichi’s interest in him. But Shuichi fell for Kokichi’s trap earlier and didn’t notice at all that he slipped the fact Rantaro would give more information.

It’s confusing I know, Kokichi’s thing is mind games after all. But what I’m trying to say is that for Kokichi’s goal to figure out this killing game and how to end it Rantaro would be most ideal to bring back but he just wanted to tell Shuichi that he’d rather have Kaede instead just so he’s happy. The evidence for that is how even after he says its a lie he lowkey shows Shuichi he’s more interested in Rantaro instead. It reminds me of those scenes where he says “WAAAHH I THOUGHT YOUD KNOW I HATE COFFEE” then right after he’s like “I’m tired of all that crying can I have a cup of coffee please.” Or “I actually can’t taste anything!” then “anyway my faves are spice and sugar!”

Kokichi did say something insensitive when he said “Is it cause Kaede died or whatever?” but it didn’t bother Shuichi at all he just brushed it off since he saw how he acted in the trial earlier. It wasn’t a surprise to him. Kaede’s death affected Kokichi too, and that line doesn’t match up with what he said about bringing Kaede back.

You never know what’s the truth and what’s a lie with Kokichi, everything he says contradicts each other. So how is it that all these people who hate Kokichi and call him toxic take his worst lines or moments as the truth when the context of his entire character and motive says otherwise. When he had to crush Shuichi the most so he believes that he is full of malice without a single doubt. To make him believe he was really the mastermind immediately, so he doesn’t go all detective on him like he usually does.

Kokichi’s actions were terrible yes but they were LIES he did it for a purpose that’s what makes him a grey character when in a KILLING GAME. It’s shown in salmon team that under normal circumstances the two would get along and Shuichi would want to learn more about Kokichi and his true self.

TLDR; Leave these children be, they were in a killing game. No ship is toxic unless it’s shown that person was terrible / messed up from the start and would hurt whoever they’re with. Those users just obviously don’t like Kokichi and hate seeing him with anyone XD and it’s obvious with how they blame him over a motive Monokuma/ the Mastermind has created and straight up ignoring the intentions behind his actions.

Now without evidence and stuff, truly speaking from my heart from here with full on bias XD

I get hating a character or a ship but oh my god can you not spread misinformation for others to feel obligated to agree? Toxic is such a strong word and I hate how people keep associating it with every ship they dislike. Making others feel bad for what comforts them! If Saiouma was so toxic how come it makes so many people happy? How come it makes people literally calm down,  stop crying, and feel warm. Saiouma is one of the most adorable and realistic ships out there... Don’t ruin it for everyone else just because you don’t agree with how we feel. Just say you’re not a fan and move on!

Anyway don’t worry your ship is very valid! You can continue supporting them without feeling any guilt and if anyone calls it toxic they can see me so I break their kneecaps.

[bellaslilpapercut]

Oh boy New Moon! I've got some Thoughts a brewin' babey:

1. Smeyer: you do not need to remind your audience what happened last book, they aren't stupid. Imagine if SC started catching fire with ANOTHER explanation of what the hunger games are and that's the vibe of the first chapters of new moon. We remember james, we know what vampires are, we know that Bella is white, stop reminding us!

2. Bella has the worst self esteem of all time. Every bad thing that has happened to her since the Van Incident has been Edward's fault but she still blames herself and idk if this is Intentional Insecurity or if smeyer is protecting edward's "character" or both but gdamn it's depressing.

3. The reason I said Jasper was Inconsistently Written jumped out at me again. Smeyer dedicated a whole paragraph to pointing out how terrible jasper is at the diet or whatever but in the guide, smeyer tells us jasper actively tried to starve himself in the past because of how difficult his gift made feeding. He was one of only two Cullens to show bella empathy, he smelled her blood before, why does he attack her? The weakness of this decision is pointed out in the exposition: if it really were likely that Jasper would attack Bella, she wouldn't have needed a superfluous paragraph dedicated to telling us how bad he is at self control. If the story had convinced us of that beforehand, we would have believed the attack without the addendum.

4. The party is my least favorite part of the whole series and I will die on this hill: edward should have attacked bella. Bella should have tripped into something glass and edward should have lost it because he tasted her blood before and couldn't help himself. That way: edwards self loathing makes sense and he's forced to recon with his superiority complex from the ending chapters of twilight AND bella's self blame makes sense. A vamp who was able to starve himself before he even heard of the cullens should not have lost it around someone he spent days in close quarters with, building rapport and friendship. Edward got too high and mighty after he fed from Bella in Twilight, that should have had real consequence.

5. The writing is getting a little better as we near Edward leaving. "Better" isn't a good word actually but it's getting closer to the prose in twilight (which was flowery and annoying but at least it didn't constantly feel like being spoonfed exposition every paragraph). Hm wrote this blurb while I was still on chapter 3 and the vibe of being spoonfed reminders has not really dissipated lmfao.

We remember Sam Uley, smeyer, you introduced him four chapters ago. Just quick question: did anyone proofread this?? I think it's fair to say: when she isn't reminding us of things that we remember the prose is more similar to twilight. A little annoying but interesting enough to forgive the errors (or at least move past them easily enough lol).

6. I'm on chapter 8 now (I'm gonna break this up into three parts so I don't forget stuff like I did during the twilight reread) and there's a very heavy Vibe that smeyer is setting Jake up to be a parallel for twilight-era Bella. This line here is a pretty clear parallel for Bella telling Edward not to hold his breath in Twilight when he tells her she might get tired of him.

7. This line here "almost happy in a shallow kind of way" really jumped out. What Bella's narration says about Jacob versus her conversations with him (and her one paragraph about his happiness being effortlessly contagious) are at odds. It doesn't read like shallow happiness when she's with Jake. However, Smeyer is also a bad writer, she thinks the story she's telling us is literally what the narration says and not what the action shows and I think she realizes this in Eclipse (but obviously I'm not there yet so I can't say for sure).

8. I really can't get over the drop in writing quality. I know that she had already mostly finished Forever Dawn by the time Twilight was published (or was halfway done, I think her website said she had over 300 pages of forever dawn complete when she found out Twilight was getting published). I think the writing quality really reveals that she was not prepared to write New Moon. It's sloppier than Twilight in a way I'm not able to articulate (by that I mean I personally have a more intuitive than technical understanding of grammar and syntax so I don't have the language to break down the differences). Twilight itself is ripe with technical errors and plot errors and awkward exposition so it's not an overt drop in quality but I think it very much reads like a rushed writing job. She was committed to forever dawn, her publishers wanted New Moon, it shows.

9. I think New Moon was when I first started physically editing my copies of the saga lol. Even reading it now I'm so tempted to open up a word document and cut half of the useless shit out and fix all the grammatical mistakes. I can't even talk shit because I am also a comma-abuser but I hoped an editor would at least catch the errors before publishing. Guess not! Brevity is very clearly not meyers strong suit and this would have been a much stronger sequel if she had been able to reign herself in a bit. New Moon isn't supposed to be as narration heavy as twilight, there's already more action in the first seven chapters than the there was in the first 19 of twilight but she always delivers exposition via awkward dialogue or Bella's narration. Again, we already got a lot of the exposition in twilight, we know how vampires work et cetera. You can show us how bella feels instead of making her tell us and the story would run a lot more smoothly.

10. I'll end on a nice note! Little treat!

This is my favorite part of the book so far. I whited-out the useless dialogue tag because the line reads better without it ( line originally ends with "I emphasized" but she could have been brief and just ended the dialogue with an exclamation point for the same effect). The dialogue is natural and shows the J/B relationship that lives in my head way better than anything else I've seen on the page at this point. Like, I literally love this line more than any dialogue that preceded it (including twilight) lol.

[helenazbmrskai]

Hello Authortnim! I'm a new writer on tumblr and I was wondering if you have any tips for newbies like me?

I’m just a small blog but I’ll try to help you anon to the best of my abilities! I came up with a few things to share as I tried to put myself in my old-selfs shoes when I first started writing.

First and foremost I want to encourage newbie writers and those who think about becoming one to not be afraid to share your content with the world as you never know who will use your wonderful imagination as an escape from the outside world.

Just like writing makes us writers disconnect from work/school and other means of drama in our lives it helps us relax by typing out new ideas and share our work. It’s a two-way street! As a reader, you feel the same way when you discover a work that makes you forget your problems. Those who write often started with reading first.

Check out my tips under the cut!

TIP 1, FORMAT

It’s mostly networks (we’ll talk about them later!) that require you to make sure you place warnings, pairings, word count etc before the beginning of your fics but it helps the readers greatly to identify your work and see if she/he is interested in reading your story based on these things.

I noticed that new writers just copy-paste the story and click post which often results in having few likes and reblogs because the readers get intimidated by the raw text offering no insight into what they should be looking forward to. If I just think about an everyday example to point out why it’s important let me ask you what you look at first when you pick up a book in a bookstore? The summary right? You get a glimpse of the storyline the characters, the genre. You make your pick based on that.

I’ll create a list down below and explain shortly why it is important to tell these things.

Title – It’s optional, I sometimes do this and other times I just place the title of my fic on my banners. It helps the readers identify your work by name so make sure to always put a name next to your fics/series.

Genre – There’s a lot of genres you can choose from, the popular three is (angst, smut and fluff)

Angst: when a fic is angsty it means that there’s a conflict, a misunderstanding etc that will make the reader feel sad for the characters or sympathise with them. The technical definition of the word is the concept of feelings of great anxiety or dread.

Fluff: the opposite of angst, it comforts the readers and makes them coo it’s often cute scenarios or sweet little gestures, love stories etc that can be considered fluffy.

Smut: Mature content (+18) which means the fic contains sexual natured acts.

The most popular other genres are: strangers to lovers (S2L), friends to lovers (F2L), enemies to lovers E2L) and AUs like Supernatural AU, Vampire AU, Arranged Marriage AU, (AU – stands for Alternative Universe) basically anything could be an AU so don’t be afraid to play with concepts and create your own tags and AUs.

Summary – The summary is important to catch the attention of the readers, It could vary from long paragraphs to one-line summaries. Whatever floats your boat! A small #tip if you have difficulty coming up with a summary: make it a sneak peek. Choose a few lines from any part of your fic and let that speak for you!

Warnings – If your writing contains triggering or sexual content make sure you let your readers know! It’s very important. The more detailed description the better. It’s common just to state ’smut’ and leave it at that but I think it’s important to let the audience know what they should expect in that scene, what kind of kink is involved, if it’s protected or unprotected sex, even if it’s vanilla. Use. Your. Tags.

Word Count – This is just as important as the rest. It makes a huge difference to know if it’s 1k or 30k+. If you use word documents for your writing at the bottom you could always check the word count so it’s not taking you too much time to figure it out.

Masterlist – It’s optional as well. If you have a masterlist then link it before your fic and after your formatting so the reader can check out other stories that you’ve written. (Masterlist is a list of your fics that’s normally broken down to members of the band that you’re writing for, you can check out mine for an example if you’re confused.)

Credit – Never forget to credit who helped you! If you requested a banner make sure to name and link where it’s from. If you’re not confident in your banner making skills you can always opt for a moodboard, it’s easy to make but gives a little character to your post. (I use this online editor for my moodboards.)

Author Note – It could be anything you would like to add. I personally like to read the authors thoughts before the fic, it’s often funny that puts a smile on my face. You can talk about anything story related or not but make sure to not write too too much because that would result in the readers skip it if you make it too long. It’s an optional point as well.

TIP 2, READ MORE

It’s another pet peeve that I’m sure a lot of us have here. It’s tiring to scroll through 3k+ words so use your read mores if it’s longer than 500-800 words! I use ’read more’ when my word count is over 1k. Believe me, if someone is interested in your story she/he will click that read more. Next, let’s talk about the placement.

It’s a common place for read more to be at the end of your formatting. If you use a browser to post a fic then all you have to do is click on the last option that appears as soon as you click into the white space to start your text post.

#tip If you want to use read more while you make a post on your mobile all you have to do is: type :readmore: in a new paragraph and then click enter it should appear right after!

TIP 3, NETWORKS

Let’s talk about networks now! They are dedicated to writers and other content creators to get more recognised by sharing their content. There are ones with open tags but most networks are sharing the content of their members. To become a member you need to fill out applications but make sure to check if they’re looking for new members or not at the moment!

There are networks dedicated to different groups (or members) so apply for those that you’re writing for. There are multi networks too that reblog content from different bands as well.

After you’re accepted all you have to do is use their tags and wait for them to reblog your fic, #tip use the first three tags for networks because it’s more likely that they see your post and reblog it sooner!

TIP 4, FOLLOWERS

It takes time to gather your followers, all you need to do is share your content and cherish those who like it.

Don’t worry about how many likes or reblogs are on your posts. Unfortunately, there are more silent readers on Tumblr than those who reblog and leave nice comments but there will be always readers who share how much they like your stories. So don’t get discouraged things will come to you eventually.

TIP 5, ASKS

It’s a form when your readers can engage with you. What I want to say in this paragraph is that there will be nice and not so nice comments but hopefully, all nice people will come to you. Don’t feel obligated to reply to everyone, reply to those that you’re comfortable with and share what you’re comfortable with.

Don’t share personal information like your address or your full name. The internet can be scary so always be cautious!

This is what I could come up with from the top of my head so if you have (or anyone else) more questions feel free to send them to me and I’ll try my best to answer them and help, my ask box is always open! I might make more posts like this if you’re interested.

[alieinthemorning]

(Taken from @/cozyvaquita on Twitter)

1. Something new you tired? Something you wish you did?

This year I started writing for a new fandom! I wish I wrote for any of the other ones I rambled about.

2. The fic with your best writing? What about your favorite? No. They're not the same.

I think Slip of His Mask has some of my best writing. I'm not too sure though. Can the audience please vote now?

More Than A Tool is one of my favorites. Anything that sticks in my head for a long time and evokes so much emotions from me gets to sit on the top shelf.

3. A line/paragraph (or even three) you wrote that absolutely bangs?

“You’re more than a weapon. More than a tool.” Your grip on him tightened. “You are Ajax. A son, a brother and the man that I love.”

- More Than A Tool

“There’s only one other person who shares in this pain and that’s you Diluc.” You made your way to him, placing your hands on his clenched fists.

“Please help Kaeya.”

He looked up at you. Eyes that burned with no flame, now hazed by tears.

“Please save your brother.”

- Slip of His Mask

“Which means,” She took your hands into her own, “each and every one of these scars is a star. Something that was meant to be.” She kissed them.

- Stars Within Scars

4. Pick a fic you've written. Now distill it into a single color. Why does it look that way to you?

A color? This is more so of a swirl. Its very dark with reds, blues and purples. A bit like a galaxy if you will. There's something that's not said in the fic but I've thought a lot about. It has to do with Kaeya's eyes, stigmata and Khaenri'ah. The fic I'm talking about is Slip of His Mask.

5. Three tracks you've listen to a totally normal amount while writing?

I'm not big on listening to music when writing since I usually zone all the way out and a song ends up playing like five times.

I'd say a lot of Friday Night Funkin' songs were played though.

6. The fic you spent the most time on?

Whispers on the Wind . I fretted so hard over it and I still don't think it's all that good. I always want to go back and work on it.

7. The fic that made you want to quit writing?

See above.

8. The fic you had the most fun with?

Sheer Cold Cryo. Reader mocking Kaeya was a highlight for me. Oh! and just pocking fun at him with Albedo!

9. The fic that should've gotten more attention. You know you're right. Tell everyone why.

All of them. Read them, they're a treat.

10. Favorite thing someone's said about your writing. In a fic comment or otherwise?

my first comment bc i love ur ficlet series omg heart eyes awooga

ittos lovely on Homie of an Oni (AO3)

Itto picks us up bridal style? Oh???

I love this collection so far! Well done!

Anon Itto Enjoyer on Homie of an Oni (AO3)

11. Your biggest writing grievance? Complain to your heart's content. You've earned the right.

The whole writing part. Why can't the ideas just go from my head onto the document?

12. The wip you're most enthused about? Show us a snippet.

I ain't got no tea sis.

13. The project you're happiest about finishing?

Smiles in yet another deleted fic. Once again, wasn't a genshin fic. But I spent a very long time on it! And it all didn't even get published! But I'm happy I finished it!

14. Your best oddly specific tag(s) you've used for you fics?

Arataki Itto Being The Best Character In Genshin Impact

15. Your writing process moodboard? Pick 4 images.

16. A fic you did the absolute most with, the one you wrote for you? You didn't have to go that far, but you wanted to. Brag about it.

[REDACTED] because it's deleted! Here's a comment I got on the fic though!

i yell-laughed at the idea of riku saying "lets rock and roll" a la embarrasing dad style, this was so cute heLLLP

17. Finally, writing is often a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad experience. What made you keep at it anyway in this bizarre year?

Me. There were things that I wanted to read that weren't written, so I had to write it.

I did my MHA fics under the cut!

I started writing for more female characters! I wish I finished that one fic! Too late for that now!

2. The fic with your best writing? What about your favorite? No. They're not the same.

I'm definitely gonna need an audience vote on this one. I have no idea.

I'm definitely gonna need an audience vote on this one. I have no idea.

3. A line/paragraph (or even three) you wrote that absolutely bangs?

SHIGARAKI TOMURA WAGES WAR ON HEROES

You shut off the tv.

And think back to simpler times.

When Shimura Tenko held your heart.

- Shigaraki Tomura | Shimura Tenko [one]

A red feather slid underneath the door and up toward the lock, but you snatched it out the air. “No!” Then shoved it back under. “Please, please—  Just leave me alone!”

There was a solid thump on the other side. “What happened? Is it something I did? I can’t stand to see you like this.” His voice was calm but you could still hear the undertones of pain and fear.

“No. You didn’t do anything wrong, Keigo.”

“Then why would you ask me if I hated you.”

“I—” The message flashed across your lids. “I can’t —” You pulled at your hair.

“Then… can I at least stay?” You wanted him to stay but you also wanted him to leave. He didn’t need to be here while you wallowed in self pity. It wasn’t even all that important anyway. Just you being over reactive as usual.

- Hawks | Takami Keigo [three]

“I gotta admit, it would’ve been easier to get rid of you if you weren’t so beautiful.”

You swallowed the lump in your throat, choosing to ignore his compliment . “The worst part was that I saw it coming, I knew you’d hurt me, hurt us, but I still kept you around.” You shook your head. “We were never in love, we were simply caught up in a nightmare that felt like a dream.”

- Dabi [Winter Wonderland]

4. Pick a fic you've written. Now distill it into a single color. Why does it look that way to you?

Cinderella Blue. For the Cinderella Series I did. Well, not a series per say, but I wrote 3 fics using songs from Cinderella (1997)

Do I Love You Because You're Beautiful?, Ten Minutes Ago, Dabi | Todoroki Touya [one]

5. Three tracks you've listen to a totally normal amount while writing?

I'm not big on listening to music when writing since I usually zone all the way out and a song ends up playing like five times. I'd say a lot of Friday Night Funkin' songs were played though.

6. The fic you spent the most time on?

I don't know... if it was anything it was a request though.

7. The fic that made you want to quit writing?

[Redacted]

Nah, I'll actually namedrop this one.

Quirkmates.

I'm not really a fan of Midoriya, but a few people were wondering if I was every gonna make it into a full fic.

The concept with good but I didn't have the motivation to properly executive it.

8. The fic you had the most fun with?

Foxy Mama, but like all the fun was behind the scene and are trapped in my head.

9. The fic that should've gotten more attention. You know you're right. Tell everyone why.

All of them. Read them, they're a treat.

10. Favorite thing someone's said about your writing. In a fic comment or otherwise?

OK this is really weird but all the nicknames Hawks uses just... makes me melt.

My_Little_Epona on Hawks | Takami Keigo [three] (AO3)

Something else completely relatable. I friggin' love angst, ngl. It's also really nice seeing Hawks being there for the reader, it makes my heart melt. I obviously don't know what the reader read, but I definitely can understand where she's coming from. Now, while I do hope nothing else ends up hurting you, I do love to read your angst fics! <3

MsPyromaniac on Hawks | Takami Keigo [three] (AO3)

Its nearly a year later vut i hope you feel better! ;u; also djdodndjdodndj i love me some hurt/comfort. its... very comforting xD

Summoner_Jay on Hawks | Takami Keigo [three] (AO3)

Thank y'all for the comments on my self-indulgent vent fics.

11. Your biggest writing grievance? Complain to your heart's content. You've earned the right.

The whole writing part. Why can't the ideas just go from my head onto the document?

12. The wip you're most enthused about? Show us a snippet.

I ain't got no tea sis.

13. The project you're happiest about finishing?

Smiles in yet another deleted fic. Once again, wasn't a genshin fic. But I spent a very long time on it! And it all didn't even get published! But I'm happy I finished it!

14. Your best oddly specific tag(s) you've used for you fics?

Reader has a Fox Quirk !

15. Your writing process moodboard? Pick 4 images.

16. A fic you did the absolute most with, the one you wrote for you? You didn't have to go that far, but you wanted to. Brag about it.

I'd say the Check In Series. I was going through it when I wrote those. Very dark times, read at your own risk.

17. Finally, writing is often a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad experience. What made you keep at it anyway in this bizarre year?

Me. There were things that I wanted to read that weren't written, so I had to write it.

[geometricalien]

oh dear i'm super duper late but I have a lot of questions about your wips!! I wanna know more about sick Akashi, nekoma pirate crew, BoKuroo/BokuAka midsommer, Pining + Jacket, The truth burns and destroys, feeling good, Punk Noya, Strawberry Blonde, sunspot and the merman au!!! Thanks babe <333

Hi Vee!!! This is it, I spent wayyyyy too long on this, I think my finger is cramping from typing. But thank you for asking, I love sharing my ideas, sorry if it’s incorherent.

This is super long so it’s under the cut, saving people room

Sick Akashi 

So, it’s based off of a line prompt “I’d like it if you’d stay” and as the title suggests, 3rd year Akashi gets sick, sorry Vee it’s not fatal, Furihata comes to Rakuzan to check on his friend after he doesn’t answer his phone. The entire premise is Akashi works himself sick with his various responsibilities he takes on as “perfectionist who can’t show any cracks at all”. I don’t want Bokushi Akashi showing up so it’s minus the mental break elements. (also technically in canon terms it's after they have merged so yeah) I feel like they deserve a cute little “nurse” the other from a sickness ficlet. And… maybe… sick Akashi confesses…….. It’s almost a writing challenge for me because Akashi has a more polite sophisticated way of thinking and speaking, so cough yep

The rest are Haikyuu aus so buckle in

NEKOMA PIRATE CREW 

Admittedly this is more loose, less of a solid idea. It’s Yaku centric, and how he went from a merchant from his grandfather’s company searching for lost merchandise and became the first mate who keeps track of the ship's finances and keeps their captain Kuroo on track. Other things of note, he meets Kuroo first as a pirate on another ship who stole his merchandise, Kenma is a sea witch (is that science or magic? That's always the question), and about halfway through the adventure they get Lev on board as a new member. So yeah! Kinda a fetch quest but on of my favorite fanfics is legitimately a fetch quest so it's okay fjdkaljf

BoKuroo/BokuAka Midsommer

This is based off of a fanart by desdelasombra my friend Shayla showed it to me and we threw this idea around together, we really don’t want to write it but it's also spectacular. So it's the movie Midsommar, right? Bokuto is a “gatherer” bringing his friends to come join in his village’s rituals. But we didn’t want anyone to die (except for Kenma sorry he’s dead as the substitute for the main character’s sister), so a grieving Kuroo comes with his boyfriend Bokuto, joined by their friends the smart studious and jaded Oikawa and bright bubbly Hinata. Obviously the three react badly to the first ritual and Bokuto doesn’t understand because for him it’s always been a joyful experience and he wanted to share it with his friends. A Lot of things happen, but most important is Akaashi and Kuroo dancing under the may pole together. BokuAka was in the past when Bokuto was home so part of this is them coming together as poly and escaping the final scene of the movie. Again this is very painful but that art is beautiful and the world is better for it being created

Pining + Jacket (KuroLev)

Again this is a line prompt about lending a jacket because it’s cold and it had so much potential for pining and who is the most pining bastard that I know? LEV and Shayla told me about KuroLev and somehow this happened. It’s currently going to be a sequence of drabbles of Lev pining after Kuroo, what else could you ask for? Uh? Lev confessing to Kuroo and them going out??? Sorry I can’t hear you over the exquisite angst and pain of one sided love that I want to explore

The truth burns and destroys

GOOD CHOICE, I began this on saturday night and it has earned a very special place in my heart. Sometimes I fear that my writing is like a lazy pool, sure it's nice and easy and smooth but there isn’t an intensity or raw emotions, BUT THIS this accomplishes what I want. And I’m really glad, its metaphor and imagery heavy but it really captures their emotions and thoughts without it sounding like I’m a 7th grader writing my first fanfiction glances to my abandoned wips from that time. Okay, Vee, I am a glutton for punishment and angst and I choose to pursue cheating fics. But specifically where and how they build the relationship up again after finding out. So, I was reading a KageHina cheating fic and how the character’s reacted felt off somehow so at midnight I wrote this snippet to fullfill my craving, you know what they say the best fanfiction is self indulgence. Here is a short excerpt,

He wants to brush this aside and continue their lives. He wants to wake up next to Tobio and still be seen the same way. He doesn't want anything to change. 

Tobio is his favorite book. He has read it time and time again. Highlighting, underlining, cherishing. So Shouyou is able to read the silent begging in his eyes. The right clenched fist. 

"Shouyou," a deafening pause "What is this?"

Please lie to me.

…

It stretches on. The eternity of silence. They sit together holding on to the last hope they have. Shouyou memorizes those beautiful hands, each crease and bump. Hands that helped shape him become who he is and that reached out unwaveringly. 

Tobio sighs a world ending sigh. 

Shouyou was the one who created their world, it's only fitting that Tobio is the one who destroys it.

In summary I like angst, I want to feel something 

Feeling good

AAA, okay uh, This is a BokuAka pop star au. Akaashi sings “feeling good” at a big charity event hosted by Akashi (... yes I am AkaFuri trash and I can and will sneak them in anything and everything I write) while he is singing he walks down a big staircase remembering moments in his relationship with Bokuto, how much they have grown and how much he loves him. I love the concept! But I tried to write smut in the beginning of it and OOF THATS A NO. I actually have the majority of it written but I do want to add more emotions and thoughts (the lazy pool writing) and make it Ao3 friendly because I have all of the lyrics for feeling good in it as “post signs” for what he sings and that’s against their rules. 1 major aspect of this fic is it's all leading up to the point where Akaashi says “I love you” for the first time to Bokuto after finishing the song, on stage, in front of everyone and on every screen broadcasting it.

Punk Noya

I have a love for feral boys, especially feral alternative punk boys (and girls and humans) so this whole idea is that Noya goes to another school for high school, embraces more punk aethsetics, and on the first day of the preliminary tournaments he hears the rumors about a high schooler in a gang, getting up to nasty things, and he decides to confront them. He finds Asahi, rants him out and leaves. The plot then follows canon, at the winter tournament Karasuno faces Dateko, Karasuno loses even more badly because Noya isn’t there. Asahi quits volleyball, BUT Asahi and Noya run into each other at the store and talk leading to friendship which leads to romance. Idk man, I want more punk haikyuu characters, it gives me life. Alt Yamaguchi is my favorite but onwards we go

Strawberry Blonde

!!!! So this is Mitski’s song and to give a vague idea this is a pining Kageyama fic where he tries to pull away from Hinata and that back fires. (I  do have more to say but I’ve been typing this for over an hour and I’m getting really tired fjkdaljl) There is one paragraph that I love, so here it is! Kageyama and Hinata are practicing by themselves outside of school and they are playing pepper (its a volleyball warm up practice routine where you partner up with someone pass, set, and spike the ball to each other sesquentially) Hinata goes to spike the ball and for a moment Kageyama sees it, 

They are at nationals and they made it to finals. The crowds are screaming, but everything except the court is thrown into shadows. They are at match point of the final set. Everything is at peak intensity and at the center is him. Flying in the air. Orange hair waving with the momentum. His loud take off echoing in the gym. Arm poised for the kill. Eyes sparking with ferocity and passion as he aims. And finally, tipping the world over is the loud slap of his hand, sending the ball to the far side of the court-

This was actually going to be finished and posted in time for Haikyuu season 4 coming out and the manga wrapping up.... clearly I failed my goal fjdaklfj

Sunspot

You don’t know this about me but I love royalty aus, and this is BokuAka Prince Akaashi and Knight Bokuto. This was a short snippet of this grand idea I have for them where they run away from Akaashi’s inherited destiny together. It has potential to be really wide and expansive with the differnet teams as different kingdoms (AGAIN ILLUSION OF CHOICE, that fic really influences me doesn’t it fjdskalj) But this was a short glance at Akaashi taking a break from studying and watching Bokuto and the other knights practice duel. The title comes from the fact that Bokuto is a sunspot in Akaashi’s life, and his day is substantially better basking in his golden shining light.

Merman au

I’m so glad you asked about this and its technically the one I’ve written the most for since it's actually the one I posted on my haikyuu writing side blog. But brief recap, long term it’s a BokuAka little mermaid au but instead of a sea witch it’s an underwater deity who makes “wishes” (it's a deal) with every royal who is born. And Akaashi has a lot of siblings: Ushijima, Oikawa, Suga, Terushima, and Hinata, and its in that order. So I have information on every sibling’s deal, what they wish for, what they give for it, what happens to them in the future, romantically and otherwise. But, this is the one I haven’t updated in over a year, I am working on it!! I’m currently on Koushi’s (suga’s) wish/deal, its just taking forever. If you want to learn more about it I’ll link it in parts  1  2  3  4

BUT I will work on Suga’s part and then Terushima’s and then to the meat of the idea with Akaashi. 

If you have made it this far, thanks, you are cool as always. My brain and fingers is ded. 

[toast-the-unknowing]

hi! I just wanted to say that I really, really love your writing, and I was wondering if you ever outline? And if so, how do you go about doing that? And I'm curious about your writing process in general (if that's a good way of putting it?). in any case, thanks so much for sharing what you write. It's really an absolute joy to read! :)

Hi and thank you! The short answer to this question is no, I don't outline. I've tried three-act structure and flashcards and Scrivener and whiteboards and a dozen other things and it just doesn't work for me. It forces me into making decisions I'm not ready to make yet, while delaying me from working on the parts that I am excited about, which 1. kills my desire to actually do any work and 2. delays my learning the things that I really do need to know about the story. But I also don't just write beginning to middle to end (honestly I can't believe anyone on earth does that besides, like, Spiders Georg). To the extent that I have a process it can be summed up as "I write the parts of the story that I know at the time that I know them, and they teach me what the next part of the story is."

The extremely long answer to this question is behind the cut, because like any good self-centered world-destroying Millennial I love talking about myself, and I love hearing people talk about writing, so maybe someone else does, too.

The beginning of a story tends to be like a cartoon character running off the edge of a cliff and building a bridge under them as they go. I open up a document and just start typing thoughts out as fast as I can. Some of the words that come out at this point make it all the way through the process to the final draft, but a lot of them don't, and I never commit myself at this point to typing usable words. I mostly end up with stuff like this:

flashforward: comes across opal somehow -- hunting or otherwise in the woods/wilds -- and she's this half-feral child, slowly builds up trust with her -- convinces her to come live in his house -- she's clearly cautious, but over the day settles in, and crawls into bed at night and falls right asleep, like she's not afraid of anything -- the next morning, dawn, wakes up and knows there's someone in the house, moving about, goes for opal's room and she's not there, runs out to the main rooms and there's a strange man standing there -- you won't find the girl -- what the fuck did you do to her -- I've taken her. as we agreed I would -- ronan finally recognizes him as the strange witch boy from so many years ago -- give her back -- I'm afraid that isn't possible. goodbye -- leaves and when Ronan follows him out the door he's nowhere in sight

Sometimes at this stage I'm jumping around in the document --  I'll have a thought about something I want to happen later in the story, so I'll put that in and then jump back to the earlier part -- but sometimes it's coming at me more or less in order, or there's so much I'm trying to get down at once I might as well just go in order. Also, a lot of the stuff I know about a story at this stage is related to the set up/concept/inciting incident/premise. So, in Careful the Tale You Tell, I jotted out about 800 words of Ronan making the deal with Adam, and meeting Opal, and Adam taking Opal, and Ronan trying to take Opal back, and then literally the only thing I had after that for the entire rest of the story was:

the two of them start living together, taking care of opal together, etc.

During/after/immediately before the "get down initial thoughts as fast as possible" stage, I write either the first scene or one near the beginning (if the opening moment is eluding me, which it sometimes does). The very early stuff, being a lot clearer in my head, tends to be a lot easier to write in full actual real paragraphs with real sentences and punctuation and dialogue tags and a minimum of placeholders. I find it helpful going forward to have that springboard -- a scene, or even just part of a scene, that looks like what I want the story to look like.

And then the process is "the same but more". Read back over what I have already. Admire how clever I am. Despair of what a hack I am. Realize an additional detail about a scene I only have two sentences for. Realize that that scene needs to happen in an entirely different part of the story. Move it. Think of one thing that's going to happen in one scene I didn't know existed yet. Come up with a funny bit of dialogue for the end of the fic.

With a lot of stories I hit a point, about a quarter to a third of the way through, where I realize what the story is actually about. That's tremendously helpful in knowing what to put in those nebulous holes in between "X happens and then Y happens." So with Careful, the key was realizing the story was about two things: it was about three sad loners who all choose each other, but also specifically it was about the way that two of those loners were profoundly misunderstanding each other, and how they had to stop telling themselves fake stories about each other and see what was really happening. That cleared up a lot of things about the story for me. For one thing, that's what told me I needed a four-part story from two POVs. And it let me fill in a bunch of scenes in answer to that dreaded question of "ugh what do I PUT on this BLANK WHITE PAGE with its CRUEL MOCKING CURSOR." I needed scenes of Adam thinking Ronan was a bad father, and I needed scenes that could be taken as justification of that opinion, and I needed scenes of him realizing Ronan isn't like his own parents. And I needed scenes of Ronan thinking of Adam as this uncaring vengeful other, and then I needed scenes that totally destroyed that image. And then because Adam is just the saddest sad loner ever I needed scenes where he's telling himself this new fake story where he denies the extent to which Ronan and Opal have already chosen him, and then I needed scenes that would make it impossible for him to continue in that denial.

This is maybe an example of why all the traditional outlining I was shamed into doing in film school fails me. None of this points to the shit with Ronan's mom being cursed and his dad being killed by an evil witch (except that I had notes to myself about a scene where Ronan finds out Niall tried to sell Declan to the witch -- but that was a product of one of those "I DON'T KNOW WHERE I'M GOING WITH THIS EXACTLY BUT IT'S AWESOME AND I WANT TO WRITE IT SO I'M GOING TO JOT IT DOWN IN AN EMPTY SPACE IN THE DOCUMENT" moments). In as much as those are "plot" elements they might be the sort of thing you're supposed to decide while you're still at the "write one sentence on one flashcard" stage. For me that entire aspect of the plot only came to me when I had something like 50% of the story written, and the specific details and beats of it I figured out and incorporated gradually along the way, because that wasn't the important or interesting part of the story to me. It sure wasn't the thing I wanted to shape my entire story around. I don't think I could have shaped the story around that.

At this stage of a story I sometimes write in nice beautiful paragraphs, particularly if it's a scene that develops really quickly from "hm maybe something like X happens" to "oh FUCK YEAH I'm going to make X happen." The storm scene in Careful came on like that -- I left the occasional placeholder and it needed edits and I rewrote some stuff, but if I had live-streamed my screen while I was writing it, you would have gone "yeah, that looks like a story."

More often, though, my writing looks like that flash-forward paragraph above. A mix of dialogue, and action that I'm sure of, and action that I only have a vague idea of, and shit that I don't know yet but I know that stopping to figure it out is only going to keep me from writing the parts that I do know. This is because 1. I can get stuff out faster writing these pseudo-paragraphs, and I really just want to get as much stuff on the page as possible in any given writing session; 2. weird messy half-written paragraphs are easier to edit, move, change, rewrite, or make my peace with deleting entirely, than big beautiful paragraphs with clever turns of phrase that I spent hours on.

Often those moments that I skip, I either know enough about them to be getting on with, or they're trivial in the scheme of things. Sometimes I skip a detail and find out later that I was wrong about what it was going to be or how important it was going to be, and now I have to change parts of the story that I thought I knew. But that's often a gift, because the new version is more detailed, or more interesting, or more relevant to what the story is actually about.

I also leave myself notes like this:

[ronan starting to notice his feelings and be really stupid about it??? or leave that more for part 4]

These can function as "I know I need a scene here that does X but that's all I know" or it can literally be "I need a scene here and I don't know what it has to do but there needs to be SOMETHING". Sometimes these comments are just character/tone/theme notes to remind me of how a scene is supposed to function within the larger story, so I don’t write a really cute wonderful scene and then realize it makes no sense for the characters at this point in their arc to be behaving that way.

At this point writing a story is a mix of four things:

come up with things to fill the gaps in the story, even if it's just [A SHORT SCENE OF THEM ALL DOING SOMETHING TOGETHER -- AT ONE POINT RONAN TOUCHES ADAM WHEN HE DOESN'T REALLY HAVE TO

take those one sentence scene descriptors and turn them into those big blocky ugly nonsense paragraphs with no capitalization and too many em-dashes

take those big blocky ugly nonsense paragraphs and turn them into readable paragraphs -- this is a really great thing to do on days when I feel tired/sick/stuck/depressed/like a fraud/hungover/uncreative, because I can tell myself "all you have to do is turn half-sentences into complete sentences, this is basically seventh-grade English homework, you can do that." Sometimes doing that gets gears turning in my brain and I can do a LOT of this kind of writing, or I can move up to doing writing that involves more decision-making and connection-building and character-understanding. Sometimes it doesn't, and all I achieve for the entire day is turning one fake paragraph into one real paragraph. Which still means I have a real paragraph where I didn't before.

reread and refine and tweak the readable paragraphs to get to a place where I'm happy with them

Then there comes another milestone moment -- about 90% of the way through a story, I become thoroughly convinced that it's disgusting irredeemable garbage. This step sucks, and the only real cure for it is to go "yup, but I'm writing it anyway, so let's at least make it finished, complete garbage." The alternative isn't "realize the story ISN'T garbage and then keep writing with a renewed sense of self-worth!" The alternative is that the story dies, and that's how I end up with a hundred unfinished WIPs that quietly pass into obscurity. I think this might be the real reason that Raven Cycle is the fandom I've posted the most complete fics in, despite having been in other fandoms longer -- sure, these characters spark a lot of ideas for me, and I'm a better writer than I used to be, and I understand my process better (instead of trying to write the way I think I SHOULD write), but honestly the most important thing is that I figured out how to go "maybe this does suck, but I'm still going to finish it."

The thing that I've found the most helpful with making that push is to find the one thing in the story that I really, really like, and remind myself that if I don't finish the story then no one gets to see that one scene, that one moment, that one PHRASE that's actually good, and wouldn't that be sad? With Careful that was the storm scene -- I would tell myself, "okay you keep saying that the pacing is awful and the first chapter is boring and this story is a waste of everyone's time, buuuuuut if you don't finish it, then no one will ever read the storm scene." Sometimes the story's existence is sufficient motivation. The Pokemon AU gave me the worst case of writerly-self-loathing I've had in years, but I just kept telling myself "yeah but don't you want to make people laugh in disbelief about the fact that you wrote a Pokemon AU?" And that makes my insecurities go pout in the corner like a sulky child where they shut up long enough for me to sneak the last 10% of the story in there.

(Once a story is done and posted, I'm able to look at it with more compassion, perspective, and nuance.)

"The last 10% of the story" doesn't necessarily mean "the last ten pages of the story". The last bit that gets finished is usually somewhere in the middle, although occasionally I do just write until I don't know what else to write and then slap some kind of closing line on it. (Usually that happens with stories I write very quickly; the florist!Henry fic was like that.) There's generally a lot of places spread throughout the fic where I left things unfinished -- sometimes as little as one detail, sometimes as much as an entire scene. I think with Careful the last scene I finished was the one where Adam tells the guy how to find his lost money. When I'd first drafted that bit it felt like homework -- I knew the story needed examples of people doing business with the witch, but, ugh, I couldn't make myself care about them. But I had managed to eke out some of those weird blocky [bracketed] paragraphs, so I kept building on those bit by bit. It also helped to keep in mind the real purpose of the scene. It's not about someone doing business with the witch, or even about Adam's habit of casually tossing out details he has no way of knowing (though I was happy to add that in to presage the conversation about how he knows Opal's name and age). The scene is about Ronan seeing Adam as otherworldly. So I got to add in those little details about Adam smashing the glass, and Opal and the visitor being surprised, and Ronan not being surprised -- which is really the most interesting part of that scene.

Then I do a word search for brackets, "Shine" and/or "Toast", and any other placeholder characters I use, to make sure every detail is filled in and none of my notes to myself like [nb shine check this is true] make it to publishing. I upload to AO3, save as draft, replace all my single asterisks with italics html, realize I've used too much italics, take half my italics out, proofread, publish, catch three-or-thirty typos I didn't catch before I published, fix those, catch another three-or-thirty typos, and decide to leave them in for authenticity/because perfect is the enemy of good/because I'm too damn lazy.

That's essentially the longest version of my process. Sometimes I write a story very quickly and so it skips some of these stages.

"A story I write very quickly" is not the same thing as "a short story." see you somewhere, some place, some time was gestating, in one form or another, for about sixteen months, and it put me through aaaaaaall the same heartache as its longer brethren.

[jooheongif]

it's theory anon,hi!!how are YOU?i'm really good rn thanks:)) thank you for your kindness again,i'm really happy i could somehow help to help you feel even a tiny bit better and hope you're doing well now,too(and it's ok to not rest on your day off but it's also ok to do so if that's what you feel is right for you atm!).about the mf(ilm), i thought the same thing, it felt like a parallel universe type of story!i also really love plotlines about friendship, (again cont.i'll try to be briefer!)

(i’m so sorry i wrote a rly long reply so i’m gonna put this under read more !!)

2. friendship is beautiful and i feel oftentimes underappreciated(but not mx!there they go again being amazing) so i love the concept. personally i like not knowing what exactly the producers were thinking because having my own interpretation of something and seeing other ppl have their own fills me with wonder,like,that's art!so many people think so many different things and no one's wrong i love it!!your thoughts about them appreciating everything they've done so far,you're absolutely right(cont) 3. i hope they are able to bc everything's so hectic for the.i get lost just looking at their official schedule,i don't know how they do it but i also hope they are aware of all these things bc those are all mindblowingly huge accomplishments in my opinion and i just want them to feel like their hard work is worth it,yknow?(is this comprehensible?)and i know they feel pressure because as you said the business is nasty but yea i hope at the end of the day they can feel like (cont.???again 4. everything they've put so much of themselves into is worth it,i love their energy and fierce determination and i just don't want them to lose it but maybe as you said feel less pressured..but then the only way would realistically be to make sure they get awarded in the Real World so we're all doing our best in the system&hating it as you said:/ they just mean so much to so many people i want them to feel that too!i try to contain myself but here i go again! sorry it's so long AND i have more(con 5. also!thank you for your big reply and sharing your thoughts i mostly just agreed with (but you're right so what else can i do),i don't have mbb friends to vent to and fanperson(is there a gender neutral term for fanboy/fangirl?) over mx with and this is really nice and fulfilling(again,if i'm boring you,you can just delete the messages and not reply!) so THANKS!it's great to strive to be a better person but i feel like one(you) should also acknowledge the good things they're already doing(cont?) 6. you showed such pure kindness and really melted someone's(my) heart and that's a Big Deal!djkghddgwe can agree that we both inspired each other :') also please i feel like you're such a wonderful soul and you really deserve every bit of gratitude and appreciation i managed to express(i feel a lot moreprobably) so!yeah!reminder that you're lovely and deserve to be appreciated and i'm also very,very happy you're here!you made my day brighter for the 2nd time now wow!thanks! i hope you and(cont.:() 7. your gorgeous heart are taking good care and enjoying your day/night! and this cb!i really like it i haven't had time to listen to the entire album but jealousy!is a bop honestly it's my type of jam and the choreo is stunning and so are their voices!iwas so skeptical about the lyrics(they could've been like hero or stuck and those made me a bit >:/ honestly) but i really should've known they wouldn't fail me in any way ever!i can't wait to hear the rest of the songs i hope you enjoy them too!bye

hi theory anon, it's nice to hear from u again ! firstly, i am so sorry for the slow reply to this ! but im rly glad to know that u are doing good :-) i'm doing ok too thank u !! how are u ? kfjjfdsjfdf sorry that u had to read my tags but thank u for saying that !! i just feel so guilty when i do nothing bc im absolutely terrified of time passing too quickly ? just the thought of letting a few minutes go to waste is overwhelming ? even though i know it's not rational to think like this but ??? theres just this constant feeling that im running out of time so i try to get rid of it by always doing smth ?? and feel bad when i dont ? idk ?? but anyway im working on it and ill be ok ! sorry..not to be dramatic and tmi and all that kjdfdj istg this blog gives me too much freedom to say...too much :( (hope the internet folks that collect metadata never read the garbage i write bc..yikes they aren't gonna hav the best time) anyway..yea. what a paragraph to start off this reply :( sorry for the honesty and saying so much all the time btw :( not that being honest is necessarily a bad thing but ! idk every time i write smth i suddenly feel extra self conscious and feel like deleting it bc im rly embarrassed and always end up having big regret later when i reread anything ive typed up !! but i just keep writing them anyway bc...idk ?? i'd rly hate it if someone got discouraged from sharing their thoughts/worries/feelings which i think is a rly important human thing :( so  yea im rly embarrassed w anything i write but i'll keep doing it anyway bc i'm all for that kind of stuff and sometimes i know its not easy and it takes someone a lot to share that and its a good thing and i dont ever want anyone to feel discouraged from doing that ! anyway i just felt like i rly needed to say all of this..but pls dont feel obliged to reply to this mess !! anyway back to mx ! you are right :( i also hope mx feel like what they've done is worth smth w/e their definition or standard of that is :( like.. all of the hard work they've put into being mx it certainly means so much to fans but i hope all the hard work they've put into being mx also means smth to them at the end of the day and they are happy w what they're doing and what they've achieved so far :( and yes we'd love mx to always be rewarded in the real world :( though we love them and we want to get them a win, i know that everyone has their commitments, means and different circumstances and we can only do so much :( but even if u think its just a small contribution, everything adds up and counts and i know that all mbb hav contributed in some way in helping them get another win for this cb ! there are some mbb who can't buy albums or streaming passes and things and i hope they don't feel bad for this :( even if all you can do is watch the mv once or twice, even if you could only vote, i hope you know that it all counts and matters !! abt mx's schedule, i get tired just by looking at their weekly one idk how they can even put up w it all ?? after this they'll hav their japanese album and things and then they'll have their concerts and on top of all that apparently [some of them are also studying] ????? they are so hardworking :( HOW do they do it !! just..thinking abt their schedule is overwhelming !!! also pls dont think that you're boring me or anything like that :( im so thankful for any msg i receive and the fact that u actually took the time to type out smth to send to me ?? im so grateful ?? u are never boring !! honestly even if u sent me a stainless steel dishwasher manual w the page length of like..23 bibles, i'd still love u for it and i'd prob read all of it :( btw thank u sm for saying all those kind things !!! receiving kindness for the 3rd time is rly !!!!!!! and once again i've done nothing to deserve it :( i dont even know what i can say to you that will ever be enough to thank u again or to top what u hav already said ! if there was like a...maslows hierarchy of kindness of smth, ur at the very top of that triangle and anything i say will never be as kind as what you have said !! for you, i can agree that we both inspired each other :-) but really thank u so much from the bottom of my heart :( i hope you know how kind and lovely u are too ! if nobody told u this today, i wanted to say that im rly grateful to know u and i'm happy that you're here !! thank u again for being so kind and thoughtful and for making me smile !! :( same, i havent properly listened to the whole album either bc ive just been letting it stream in the background (but i dont count that as a proper listen unless i listen w headphones tbh) ill give it a good listen one day ! also im a repeat 1 kind of garbage person until i feel the need to listen to a new song ?? and rn jealousy to me is a song that gets better w every listen ??? shes too powerful atm :( one day ill listen to another song but today is not that day ! Actually.....I think jealousy is my fav mx song ???? before this cb i didnt hav a fav bc i couldnt pick the song i liked most out of blue moon/blind/fighter/incomparable. i was just gonna base it off the one w the most play count out of those 4 but now i know its jealousy ! what are ur fav mx songs ?? btw i know im always saying that anything mx releases is always a masterpiece no matter what, but in all seriousness its ok if u didn't like smth they released. i don't think it makes u any less of a mbb if u didn't enjoy a certain release or if u only liked one aspect of a thing but not so much the rest of the thing. anyway not to sound so...stale and commonplace but for lack of a better word/sentence, at the end of the day your own reactions and feelings to a piece of art like music...it's all just subjective isnt it ?? not liking that thing doesnt mean that its not a masterpiece or its any less of a masterpiece to someone else either so !! it's ok !! anyway this is rly....ive written a lot and its all over the place and incoherent probably :( i'm sorry !! feel free to reply whenever u feel like it, or no pressure on never replying at all btw ! also feel free to disagree w anything i say ! thank u sm for talking to me abt mx bc ive also got no mbb friends so !!! thank you :( theres so many times where i rly want to start a conversation w someone but im too scared and also i've got no clue abt how to initiate conversation ! and the times when i do manage to...i get stuck on how to keep the conversation going ? but when i figure smth out then im coming for u @ friendship !! i hope u had a good weekend and that you got some rest and that ur doing ok wherever u are !! until next time, take care ❤️❤️❤️