#(I LONG SIGH IN 'rarepair ship' INTO MY VOID.....)

[izzyizumi]

Dear ANYONE going to Toei's AnimeNYC panel (tonight?!??!) -

(I'd much rather everyone stay safe and NOT go to cons but) on the off chance someone is going to be there either way --

PLEASE report back with news on 2020!Koushiro's possible Voice Actor (or Impressions of them) + the Taishiro in Ep01+02

The Entire Taishiro Fandom Will Thank You Immensely

{Gif by Me} {DO NOT re-post} (Please ASK to Use) {Post marked 'no re-blog' because we'll have news by tonight maybe?!? idek I'm just throwing this out there}

[squirenonny]

How you even get people interested your fics, asking for a friend thanks

Aw, man, isn’t that a question for the ages?

So I’m gonna preface this by saying that there’s no magic quick-fix to attract more readers (however much we all wish there were.) Writing for the big ships or posting a fic featuring a popular trope/AU when it’s popular is going to get you more readers than writing niche fics, but chasing trends isn’t going to make you happy and it might even hurt the quality of your work. When you post and whether there was some big fandom or IRL event that drew attention away from the newly published pages (or flooded them, burying your fic under ten pages of Klance week ficlets or whatever) can also play a big role.

Secondly, and I know you’re probably not going to like hearing this, try not to worry too much about numbers like hits/kudos/bookmarks/reviews. They don’t mean as much as you think, and they aren’t a reflection on your skill as a writer or the value of your story. The best thing to do is to find some other way to measure success–maybe it’s how many words you’ve written, maybe it’s whether you stick to a consistent update schedule. Maybe it’s reaching that scene you’ve been dying to write for forever. But make sure it’s something that’s in your control, because depending on the faceless masses for validation sucks, and you deserve better.

Okay, on to some advice for attracting readers.

1. Rework your summary. Confession time: I hate writing summaries. Hate it. I’m already not good with short form and trying to sum up a story in a hundred words or less is even worse. But it’s one of the most important skills for a writer to learn, since it’s your one shot to get people interested enough to click that link. If you’re stuck, here are some suggestions, with examples of how I’ve used them for my own stories.

Pick a (short!) excerpt from your piece. Maybe a brief exchange of dialogue, maybe the opening line, maybe something else. It should be something that doesn’t require context to understand and that makes people want to find out what happens next (or what led up to this moment.) Example:

This psychic—Lance the Lucid, according to the posters, and Keith wasn’t even going to comment on that—was a charlatan, plain and simple, and Keith kind of wanted to punch him. Sure, Lance knew how to put on a show, but Keith doubted there was anything more to the act than charm and dramatic flair.

Pidge sighed, catching Keith’s eyes. “At this point, they’re pretty much our only hope.”

If you’re writing an AU, especially a canon divergence AU, put the focus on what you’re changing. Example:

Shiro used to dream of Earth. That was before the Arena, before Haggar, before he joined the Galra army. At least he has an ally, a Galra officer named Keith. Together they plan to bring down Zarkon’s empire from the inside.

Matt never thought he’d see his family again. Then he crash-lands on Earth and Pidge rescues him from Garrison custody. But his homecoming is short-lived. Now the Holt siblings, along with Lance and Hunk, must find the Voltron lions and free the universe from Galra control.

Or: Galra!Keith, double agent!Shiro, red paladin!Matt, black paladin!Allura, full series AU.

If you’re writing something tropey, or a twist on a cliche, maybe highlight that. Example:

[following a short description of plot] Canonverse Soulmate AU with romantic and platonic soulmates (and some gray areas in between)

Sometimes the simplest thing to do, especially for shorter stories, is to do a one-two punch in your summary. The set-up and the punchline. The scenario and the twist. The status quo and the catastrophe. Think “Long ago, the four nations lived in harmony. Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked.” Or better yet, the next part of that intro–defining the Avatar and then hitting us with “and then he vanished for a hundred years whoops.” Whatever you do, keep it short. Example:

When Keith was seven years old, he spent a year in La Quinta with a boy named Lance, the best friend he ever had. Ten years later, Lance and Keith reunite at the Garrison–only Keith doesn’t remember who Lance is.

The most important thing to keep in mind is that shorter is (usually) better, but you want to include enough to hook readers’ attention. It’s hard, I know, but keep working at it and it’ll get easier. Seriously–write five completely different summaries for your fic, all under 100 words. Give yourself a 5 or 10 minute limit for each so you don’t agonize too much. Set them aside for a while, then come back and see what works. Or write a list of all the things you’re most excited about in a given piece, cut out any major spoilers, and try to work one or two of the others into your summary.

2. Be strategic about your tags. If you’re posting on AO3, use tags people are going to search. Angst, hurt/comfort, fluff, any tropes that feature prominently, any relationships (especially gen ones) that are a major focus. Be wary of overtagging–Shatt shippers, for example, know all too well how common it is to search for Shatt and turn up only Klance fics with a passing mention of Shiro and Matt going on a date. But plenty of people search for specific tags in trying to find new stories. Use that.

Similarly, if you post on Tumblr, use your tags efficiently. The first five tags on a post are the ones that the post will show up in (i.e. if you have a tag tracker or go to tumblr.com/tagged/____) Tumblr’s search looks at the first twenty tags, I believe. So use your first five tags for either the most popular or the most niche aspects of your fic. (i.e. tagging it “klance” will have a larger potential audience, though it’ll get buried pretty quickly; tagging “matt holt” or “shatt” gives you a much smaller potential audience, but one that’s more starved for content so will probably click your link at a higher rate.) Prioritize, and leave your organization tags/tag commentary for after.

3. Your first chapter should pack a punch. This one may be a little harder to put into practice if you have an existing fic you’re trying to drum up interest in, but it’s worth keeping in mind. If your summary and tags get people through the door, your first chapter (in a multichapter fic)/your first few paragraphs (for any fic) is where people decide whether or not this is worth reading. Goals to strive for:

Your first line, or at most your first paragraph, should hook reader’s interest. It should ask an implicit question–what’s happening? How did we get here?

(the equivalent of) Your first page (a couple hundred words, tops) should establish the situation and forward momentum. Diving straight into action with no context can be confusing, but lingering too long on exposition can make people tune out before they get to the good part. I’ve heard it said that the first 250 words should establish three things: character, context, and motive. Who are we focused on, what’s happening right now, and why does it matter? There are exceptions to every rule, of course, but make sure you know why you’re deviating if you decide to do so.

Your first chapter (assuming you have more than one) should leave people wanting more. Don’t leave them in the middle of the set-up, or they may not be motivated to continue. But don’t give them everything they need to see where this is going, or they won’t bother waiting to find out.

**Update: There’s now a follow-up post talking a little bit more about how to start a story, with examples!**

4. Persistence is key. Out of all the advice I can give you, this one’s going to be the hardest to follow, I’m sure. It can feel like you’re throwing words at a void and getting nothing back. Sometimes you have a real slow start. Sometimes you’re writing self-induldgent rarepare stuff, and it seems like you and two other people are the only ones who ship it–and those other two never comment.

The thing is, writing fic (especially as a newcomer or writing niche fic) is like playing Marco Polo at a death metal concert. Not only are you shouting into a sea of noise, but you’re also trying to find the relative handful of people who are going to answer. But here’s the thing: if you yell “Marco” once and get no response, then go home, you’ll never find those other people. If you keep yelling–maybe stay in one spot and yell over and over, maybe wander around calling out every so often–you’ll find someone, and then you’ll find someone else, and then maybe someone else will start shouting with you and find three more people. It starts slow, but it builds momentum.

In terms of fic, though, what does that mean? It means keep writing. Maybe keep hammering away at this one fic–excellent if it’s something you’re excited about, something you need to write no matter what. You keep putting it out there and you’ll start to beat back the wave of random chance that conspires to bury your fic because of weird posting times or an onslaught from a fandom event.

Maybe write a bunch of shorter fics, participate in bangs and exchanges and other events. You might hook readers with your Klance soulmate AU that you did for a secret santa, then tempt them into trying your other stuff (true story.) You might make friends by chatting in a big bang’s discord, and they can help you write more attention-grabbing summaries, or can signal boost on Tumblr. (Or just be that one person who stans your writing and keeps you motivated through low hit counts on AO3.) Or you might just hit a whole bunch of people’s rarepair/nich buttons and start building a following that way.

Or maybe it means going a little more off the rails. Try a different fandom. Write original fiction. Write an 80k Marauders-at-Hogwarts fic for yourself, edit it, and only then start posting a chapter a week so you can grow your reader base without the low number of comments chipping away at your motivation because joke’s on you, hit counter. I already have the next chapter done. And the one after that, and all of them, so they’re still coming even if no one’s reading. ha-ha! (Also a true story.)

Look, the point is, building a reader base is hard, and it’s frustrating, and a lot if it is based on luck and fandom trends, and you’re always going to want to get caught up in the numbers. Even once you have readers, you might get frustrated because the tropey shipfic with a shoddy plot that you BS’d your way through has ten times as much love as the lovingly crafted, well-plotted AU that you’ve poured literally thousands of hours into. Because writers are all starved for feedback, and with the exception of people lucky enough (or unlucky enough) to hit a fandom sweet spot and get shot straight into the realms of That One Fic Everyone Knows About–with the exception of those freak accidents of fate, the people who have sizable followings are almost always people who just plain love to write and do it regardless of what anyone else says or does.

So don’t write for the readers. Write for yourself first, and love what you write. Write stories that need to be told. Stories you can’t bear not to tell–because when you care that much about a story, it shows, and when the right people find your story, they’re going to love that you love it. Trust me. The right people are out there. You just have to keep shouting until you find them.

[amillionsmiles]

end of year fic meme

tagged by @hailkuvira ; thanks so much, this was fun! (and inspired me to bust out the excel spreadsheets, LOL)

tagging @spacetravels , @sp4c3-0ddity , @anakkin , @leejinkih  + anyone else who would like to have fun w. this

STATS:

Fics posted:

Tumblr exclusives: just going to direct to my masterlists tag, tbh

FF.Net: like we’re made of starlight (TATBILB, 2148 words) are you having fun yet? (i’ll send you the sunset)  (Big Hero 6, 9302 words)

Archive of Our Own: just the lonely talking (The Last Jedi, 1521 words) dj got us falling in love again (Voltron, 5342 words) want your bad romance (Voltron, 2010 words) your hair was long when we first met (Voltron, 7339 words) quantum mechanics, smirks, and other complications of the universe (Voltron, 2501 words) is that a hermit crab in your pocket or are you just happy to see me? (Voltron, 1840 words) you’re deriving me crazy (Voltron, 6928 words) in the nook of a cousin universe (Voltron, 13441 words) head in the game (Voltron, 7804 words) The Future’s Open Wide (Voltron, 14500 words) you only live forever in the lights you make (Voltron, 1485 words) come out your way (Scarlet Heart Ryeo, 3446 words)

Total number: 14, plus tumblr Total word count: 89,174 

Ship/Character breakdown: Ship breakdown: for Voltron, 14 Plance, 6 Sheith, 1 Hance. Big Hero 6 was my usual Tomadashi, TATBILB was Covinsky, The Last Jedi was just Tico sisters feelings, so Gen. Character breakdown: Lots of Pidge, Keith, Lance, and Shiro POVs

Characters that had the main focus: My fave Pidge got a lot of spotlight this year, and I wrote more Lance POV than I thought I would, which was fun!  Besides that, Keith gets the narrator role for most of my Sheith fics, per usual.

Specifics:

Best/worst title? Best title: I’m not even ashamed to admit it because I have the humor of a teenage boy, but is that a hermit crab in your pocket or are you just happy to see me? was definitely my favorite, though it loses some points for being a mouthful, I guess. 2nd place would go to you’re deriving me crazy for the three-way pun. Worst title: come out your way is kind of nebulous I guess

Best/worst first line? Best: i am become blade     “A knife is a close-range weapon.  This is the first thing Keith learns, before the Garrison, before Voltron, before the Blade.”

Worst: welp, this is making me realize that almost all my fics start with just a single line of dialogue. I guess are you having fun yet? (i’ll send you the sunset) which just begins with: “I’m here! I’m here!” Best/worst last line? Best: you only live forever in the lights you make

“Sorry,” murmurs Shiro, but there’s little remorse in it, just a smile pressed against Keith’s temple, a buzzer going off in Keith’s head.  A knee between his legs, their bodies aligning, and Keith thinks of that moment of grace when he releases the ball from his hands, watching it arc away from him with a held breath—and when Shiro finally, finally kisses him, it’s bleachers full of people rising to their feet, the thunderous roar of a crowd, the sweetest of sighs as the ball tumbles, headlong, through the net. 

In case anyone hasn’t picked up on it yet, my heart will always beat for basketball and I think this paragraph really captures the feeling it gives, plus the Sheith kiss doesn’t hurt :’) 

Worst: come out your way       “And she smiles back.” I mean, it works for the two characters and where they are at this specific moment, but it’s not particularly insightful or creative, so I do wish I could have done a little more.

General questions:

Looking back, did you write more fics than you thought you would this year, less than you thought, or about what you predicted? I think more! I thought it would be much more slow-going because of college, but going through this reflection has made me realize that I still managed to squeeze stuff in when I got bitten by the writing bug. 

What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted last year? God, this was the year of the Plance Plance Revolution. I remember @flusteredkeith texting me about Plance in like May or something of this year and at the time I was still like “oh that sounds cute” but probs wouldn’t actively ship it myself but now.... here we are....  oh worm What’s your favorite story this year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you the happiest. My entire ball’s in your court verse, tbh, particularly the Pidge and Lance segments. More to come! :) 

Okay, NOW your most popular story. On tumblr, hold it against me got the most notes. On Ao3, in the nook of a cousin universe has the most hits and bookmarks, while hermit crab has the most kudos.

Story most underappreciated by the universe? My Hunk/Lance Sky High AU, tbh. I had so much fun writing it and was a little sad to see it sent off into the void, but Hance is a rarepair to begin with so I guess that was to be expected.

Story that could have been better? just the lonely talking; I really want to do more with the Tico sisters and their backstories but tbh I’m still not as informed about the Star Wars-verse as I’d like to be so a lot of the fic was just *waves hands*  Maybe another time I’ll take a different stab at it.

Sexiest story? I’m vanilla af but I guess things get semi-steamy at the end of hermit crab, if you ignore the fact that the entire fic reads like a shitpost  Saddest story? in the nook of a cousin universe. I mean, it’s a Kimi no na Wa AU, so that was kind of a given ;) Most fun? want your bad romance far and away. spin classes are something else, y’all Story with single sweetest moment? you’re deriving me crazy wins hands-down for best snuggles and cuddles all around. 

Raising an eyebrow, Lance smirks, moving to the edge of her bed.  Feet planted on the carpet, he pats his knee.

“C’mere.”

“What are you trying to do?” Pidge asks suspiciously, but she goes anyways.

“Nothing.” Feigning innocence, Lance hooks her by the belt loops, pulling her closer into the cradle of his hips.  His legs bracket her on either side, and she laces her fingers behind his neck, waiting.  It’s an old game between them, this process of making him come to her; Lance tilts his head back, smiling, and Pidge rolls her eyes, bending a little to meet him—

—only for him to snake an arm around her waist and tip her sideways onto the bed.

“Lance!” yelps Pidge, her bedsprings squeaking under their weight as they fall onto the mattress.  She means to say more—something about how he’s a dirty sneak, but that gets swallowed by laughter when he starts tickling her, going straight for her neck.

“I—hate—you,” she gasps, squirming as she tries to bat his hands away.  Eventually, she manages to get a leg around his middle and rolls them over, though Pidge suspects it only happens so easily because Lance is happy to yield.  She ends up sitting on his waist, his chest rising and falling gently under her hands.

Hardest story to write? in the nook of a cousin universe, bc plotting was hell, and then also by virtue of it being a commission I felt doubly self-conscious about everything. But it was worth it in the end :)

Easiest/most fun story to write? want your bad romance because half of it happened to me in real life

Did any stories shift your perceptions of the characters? My Hunk/Lance Sky High AU actually got me to see how the Hunk/Keith dynamic could play out, surprisingly, which was a fun revelation to have. And then writing Pidge/Lance has made me fall back in love with Lance as a character, just realizing how genuinely good and fun and sweet he is.  

Most overdue story? are you having fun yet? (i’ll send you the sunset)  This fic had literally been languishing in my drafts for over a year and a half, and that’s not counting the first seeds of inspiration for it, which had been around way before that. It felt really good to finally get it done. :)

Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them? This summer was the first time I opened myself up to commissions, and I was pleasantly surprised and honored by the response, so maybe I’ll make it an every summer thing.  I think taking commissions definitely taught me to approach writing with more discipline, which was nice.  I also branched more into “crack” fic and found it extremely enjoyable, so here’s to more of those.

What are your fic writing goals for next year?

Take more writing prompts, and train myself to treat them as prompts instead of feeling the need to develop a whole full-length fic around it.

Finish your hair was long when we first met

Write more rarepairs for Voltron (heith and kidge are next on my list)

Start my Hogwarts series 

Basketball-verse Plance Part 3 B)

[chocochipbiscuit]

agenthill replied to your post “Rare ship problem: shipping the thing, then realizing I am too much of...”

whats the pairing ��

acc0rdion replied to your post

“Rare ship problem: shipping the thing, then realizing I am too much of...”

Yeah what's the pairing, I can try indulging u

....I realized I probably should have actually mentioned the pairings because I made it sound far more Mysterious than it really is!!!!

(also like seriously gosh that’s a sweet offer but don’t worry about it because I seriously need to just get over myself!!!!)

like I have absolutely zilch zero nada shame about any of my favorite ladies (other than the borderline terrified realization that I was so hard up for DH1 femslash that I was considering shipping Granny Rags of all people, but that realization has come and gone with the realization of Damn Good Delilah/Breanna content for my fill of Hot Villainous Ladies) or my F/F ships, so I don’t mind squeeing or commissioning or writing about them

I have absolutely zilch zero nada shame about writing any of my own kinky smutty super self-indulgent mutie porn

I have absolutely zilch zero nada shame about yelling into the void about my fave muties and monster dudes

but like. when it comes to actually telling an artist I would like to commission art for the huge lumpy caricatures of masculinity that most mutants are, I just

I feel like the universe is giving a cosmic sigh like “really? really? all the great ladies, all the more conventionally handsome dudes, and you want the ones who in-game look like they got hit in the face with a shovel?”

which really just makes me curl up and whisper “but I loff them”

look Them Big and I am extremely weak

Okay now the actual weird rarepair ship listing that I am 99% sure are just me in my tiny kayak are basically almost any character combo involving my fave muties from Fallout.

(note: Dog is always post-synthesis God/Dog for me )

Boone/Marcus: LOOK I see this as a post-Wild Card ending with Boone just needing to get away from it all, go to Jacobstown and try settling down with some of the other vets and there’s some huddling and some smooching and some kissing and a rubbing and a hugging and checkers on long cold nights before Boone tries that Jacobstown Challenge again

Keene/Marcus: I deffos hc that they were a Thing before FO:NV, and still have an on/off tense friends with benefits thing because while they genuinely like and respect one another they have fundamentally different perspectives on the future of Jacobstown and clash too often for their relationship to ever be easy

Dog/Keene: Keene’s big and mean, Dog can be pretty damn mean when he wants, there’s a lot of rough affection and heated arguments and maybe it wouldn’t be a very long relationship but GOSH they’d be fun

Dog/Erickson: LOOK Dog is Dog, Erickson’s used to dealing with wild animals that have reasons to be wary of strangers, it’s a thematic match in heaven and I want them to kiss.

Dog/Fawkes: Fawkes is afraid of giving in to his primal side, Dog is all about that primal side. Odd couple and battle-buddies and I originally had a F!LW/Dog/Fawkes love triangle thing that was meant to resolve into a surprisingly functional and loving poly ship but I don’t think I’m ever going to finish that because it got too dang long and plotty. Plus I’ve lost most of my interest in writing any LW fics

Mean SOB/Pretty Sarah/Sweetie: MY FAVE BABES OF FREESIDE!!!!

Madison Li/Preston Garvey/Virgil: though tbh I ship any of the dyads in this trio too, I just think they offer more to each other as a group!!! Virgil absolutely wants to show love and care and affection to the most kind and beautiful man he ever met, Virgil also wants to show respect and admiration to the scientific peer he holds in the highest esteem, and I just imagine Preston and Madison approaching each other trying to give The Speech to be careful with Virgil’s heart before realizing they’re trying to give each other the same speech.

honorable mention to Beatrix/Calamity/Keene (which I already wrote!) but as I hc them, none of them are inclined to super-soppy displays of affection and any of the ‘oh look, they’re all actually pretty sweet together and interacting!’ pics I might request of them would get scandalously into NSFW territory

Again, it’s just. I keep telling myself to write the super-indulgent mutie ship fic but 1) I need to straighten out my own headspace with that fandom, and 2) I think ‘oh yeah, I can ask someone to draw this’ and then I remember that it involves telling an artist, someone who may not actually know me personally and smile indulgently at my dorky foibles and predictable tastes, that yes, yes, I do want ship fic of the big green (and purple) lumpy dudes