#(check the next ask i post bc it is advice from an anon)

[scifiphan]

☀️ i'm in the humanities boat, i wanna do a ba (or maybe b of languages and linguistics if i go to griffith) and i'm actually in reedy creek so my closest griffith is the gc one haha (also it's suprisingly simple to get to uq st lucia from the varsity lakes train station). and yes ugh uq's art majors just like i wanna do most of them they sound amazing, im finding picking majors fairly difficult

omg yeah ur pretty close to the gc campus. as someone who did a ba at griffith for 1 year,,, i must say it’s good but the majors are limited compared to uq. the arts professors are super super lovely and the people who do it are a lot friendlier than people in my ir degree lmaoooo. the creative writing major sucks (idk if the Worst Professor is still teaching but if he is 🔪🔪🔪) but the islam major is fantastic!!!!!!, also my friends who did history, sociology, international politics, and english lit all seemed to enjoy their classes. the first year compulsory classes are boring but you make a lot of friends in them out of mutual suffering so dhdfhsjsdj that’s a plus.

one of my best friends does languages and linguistics (up at nathan tho) and her classes seem so interesting! she showed me her assignment for a translation class and i was like,,,, so interested in it. she said that first year was the hardest bc a lot of basic to cover. 

(+ if you choose to learn a language as a major (possible in either degree) i gotta say the languages staff are so !!!!! friendly !!!!!!!!!! gc campus only offers 4 languages (spanish, japanese, chinese, italian) but nathan offers double that or u can go up to uq for v specific languages like greek and stuff. i took spanish for 2 years and i love victoria,,, she’s such a good teacher and the way language classes are organised you end up really friendly with other students. i had to drop spanish bc a diploma on top of my bachelor was Too Much but !!! yeah!!!! languages at griffith is rly good!!!

but if u do go to uq, moving up would probs end up being something u do. another best friend of mine does chem eng up there and he took the train from varsity every day but after 2 years he was like lmao fuck this i’m moving to bris (he is so glad he did that). uq majors look so cool like,,,, archaeology,,,, if i had the op to get into uq i would have done that and my life would’ve been different.

[writtenwhalien]

Do you have advice for new fan fic writers wanting to start posting?

hello love! 🥰 absolutely! tbh I still feel like a new writer myself considering I only started writing when I made this tumblr which is a year ago, and especially because my blog hasn’t grown as much as others, I feel like I’m still learning all this stuff myself too! 😊

this might be a little bit long bc I’ll be relating to my own experiences and what I’ve learned :) any writers please add on if you feel I’ve missed something! 😋

firstly, write what you want to write! don’t force ideas/requests.

your best work will come when you’re writing something that you’re excited to write. if someone sends a request, it’s okay to say that nothing is coming to mind, or think on it and come back at a later time (I still have requests in my inbox from like 7 months ago and they’re developing into full length fics (think 20k+) because I liked the idea and wanted to give time to it and now I’m really excited to write them too! that said, sometimes forcing ideas has worked for me (talk slow for example), but it’s how you feel in the moment. (now see how I linked my work just there, that is shameless self promo bc u might decide to check it out — remember this for my last point ;)

take your time! if you’re stuck, come back to it a few hours/days/weeks/more later.

following on from the first point, taking your time can be one of the most valuable things to do. sometimes all you need is a little break to figure out the missing piece from your work. if you’ve got writers block, work on a different wip/take requests, whatever works for you.

if you’re struggling to stay motivated, try: making a playlist/moodboard/banner for your fic or read something instead of writing!

pretty self explanatory, but sometimes we need visual creativity to come into play and help us craft our world so we can write it in words. and reading other fics can help you when you see the way another writer writes — their style/format, and I’ve noticed that almost every writer on this app has something unique in their writing that I can’t always put a finger on, but when I read it, it literally makes me go “yeah, I wanna go and work on my fic now.” — that I can’t explain 😂

make your blog pretty!

this is more to attract followers but it’s also very pleasing for you to see yourself! :) have links in your bio, a header, a theme for desktop tumblr, and most importantly, a masterlist!!!! I wish I’d done this earlier lol, my tumblr was trash for a while 😔

make friends! join networks!

this is a social app — use it to “network”. I can guarantee you’ll meet some amazing people and they can be a great motivation/support when it comes to your writing, whether that’s boosting your fics by reblogging, or encouraging you while you write, or even beta-reading for you. also, discord is always filled with wild conversations lmao.

space out your content!

say you get two fics written in two weeks and you don’t know when your next one will be/it’ll be at least a few weeks until the next one, whatever it is, I’d recommend spacing it out. post one fic first, and when the exposure on that starts going down, then post the second one. and queue your rb’s — remember we’re all on different time/schedules so at 2pm on wednesday you might be asleep while I’m awake, or one week you might be busy on a saturday but another saturday you’re scrolling through tumblr, so, my last point….

reblog your own work without shame! it’s yours, be proud of it! I’m still learning to do this myself but rb’s are important so do it :) + self promo!!! if someone is asking for recs, send your own fic! I have and I’ve been embarrassed to do it but they asked! but don’t do it if they’re not asking bc some authors don’t like it, it can feel forceful/ uncomfortable for them to say no.

I hope this helps somewhat!!!! have a lovely day anon and good luck with your writing! ❤️

[honeyymistt]

[1/2] hey, okay, it's me again. i feel like i'm treating you like an unpaid therapist but idk where to share this and how to get help (this is kinda lengthy, and i do apologise for that)

i think i'm running out of patience for myself on how to live with myself; all my favourite artists and fictional characters experience this same hollow loneliness but they just— keep going..... despite it all. i'm trying to keep busy with studying but that quickly led to an all-nighter and now i can't fall asleep despite my exhaustion. i think the goals i've had in mind for myself are too high, so i'm just going to spend the next week reading without shame or guilt and try to finally start learning russian. i don't really take care of my physical fitness bc i'm always tired and i feel like all my energy is spent on keeping in check with eating and taking care of my physical hygiene. i have so much time each day and yet at the end of the day i still feel like i did nothing even though i read and studied a lot. i just feel like i'm stagnated, still in my 16-year-old teenage mind bc i spent my youth numbing myself bc i couldn't stand my own thoughts. i havent talked to anyone really, besides my famil, in weeks, and i know loneliness is a common feeling most of us carry with us, but since i'm not very smart and don't know about a lot of things that matter, like history and art, i just feel so inadequate because all these people i look up to, and secretly aspire to be, are fundamentally different from me. they have rich inner lives even in times of despair, they know how to build their own lives in the rubble and just keep on going despite it all. i just feel like a shell of a human being (dramatic i know). i'm also aware that i'm highly privileged and don't have to worry about money and housing, etc. and i'm grateful for that but despite that I just hate myself and I wish I could be someone else and change; I've tried to over the past years but i never make any actual changes in my life? I don't want to die per se, I just don't want to keep on living like this.

[2/2] also, with the looming climate desaster and our world being ruled by capitalism i know a lot of worries and problems stem from that;;;; also i've had this very embarrassing conversation with my family a month ago; i was very drunk and ofc started talking about capitalism, etc. and lgbtq rights. they're very conservative, smart and well-read and i'm just the complete opposite— my point being, bc i feel so desperately lonely i'm trying to have these conversations with the people around me that are obviously only really meant to be had with close pals and not with 60 year olds who only care about the bootstrap theory etc. anyway my grandmother called me out on my bs and said "so what have you done in your life so far?" nothing. i shouldn't complain about other people, politics etc. and the patriarchal, white supremacist strucures around us bc i've never worked a day in my life...... it's just. i know she's right. but like i literally don't know how to hold conversations anymore and can never recall stuff i read accurately so i'm just talking shit the whole time. i'm so desperately trying to get their approval but i'm just not well-read and smart enough. i know being dumb is not the worst thing to be, i'm alive and living in a well-situated area, but it's the only thing i used to define myself with. my parents expected a lot of us as children and i couldn't deliver. so i pretty much forced them to stop pressuring me but i wish they did now. bc then i would be smart, worldly and have a bright future. i'm sorry for the long rambling. i also don't want to ruin your feed by my long asks...... anyway, if you have any advice i would be so glad to hear it. bc i feel like i'm going slightly insane. -💌 sorry for doing this <33 🤠 feel free to just delete this;;;

hi 💌-anon!!!

don't feel bad for sending this in. your long post is going to have a long answer and it ruining my feed is literally the last thing on my mind. if it bothers people, that's on them ;) similarly to the last ask you sent in, i kind of just pulled out a few things that you wrote and decided to give my perspective on it. i hope that reading some of my (very scrambled) thoughts will relax your mind and heart just a little bit. everything will be okay, i promise.

so the first thing that stood out to me was when you mentioned how all of your favorite fictional characters just keep on going when they feel lonely and i know how frustrating that can be because it's so glorified. they just keep going and then boom! things are better, right? i want you to remember that this is fiction and not an accurate representation of how hard the feeling of loneliness actually hits. so try not to compare yourself to your favorite character and beat yourself up if you're not dealing with loneliness as well as they did because everything in fiction is better and easier.

as for feeling exhausted because of the goals you've made for yourself, i know what you mean. i'm such a perfectionist and workaholic (i suffered from such bad burn out this year). i'm learning how to lower them as well. it's good to be ambitious. it's amazing to have big dreams and goals but you have to prepare yourself for setbacks and failure. so from now on, it's decided that you and me, are going to be accountability buddies. no more unrealistic goals and deadlines. i will hold you accountable, you will hold me accountable and we'll improve together 🤍

so you don't know about things like history and art and you claim that these are things that matter. but matter to who? are you genuinely intrigued by these things? if you are, then study it. read about it. ask questions. but if they just matter to your family, then i really don't think you need to know about these things extensively. it's always good to know things generally but if you aren't interested, then don't waste your time learning about it just to please others.

i could be completely wrong, but from what i understood from your message, you feel really lonely and you're starting to feel a bit stuck. you're surrounded by people who are different from you and that sometimes makes you feel suffocated because the conversations you want to have aren't wanted by others. the first thing i noticed in your message is that you repeatedly call yourself stupid or dumb. you need to stop that, okay? if you keep telling that to yourself, it will destroy a lot of opportunities for you. trust me, i know. you will turn down opportunities thinking that you're not smart enough for it but it's not true. you don't need to be smart to have a bright future. you can be creative, you can athletic, you can be selfless, you can be funny. maybe you just need to embrace who you are and trust that you will have a bright future by just being you. i'll tell you something: you don't need to be exactly like your family to have their success. you need a determination and a good work ethic. where do you start? stop underselling your intelligence. believe in yourself!!!

P.S i can tell that you're smart because your vocabulary is out of this world!!! and oh my god, can we talk about your punctuation? like bestie, you're ahead of the game. i also had to google what the bootstrap theory is. you are smarter than you give yourself credit for!!

another thing i would encourage you to do is to avoid "deep" conversations with your family. if your family is very conservative, there are going to be certain topics that they just won't understand and it might make you frustrated or feel misunderstood; it might make you feel more lonely. i would advise you to just stick to more lighthearted conversations with them. it's not that you don't know how to hold conversations, it's just that the people you're talking to aren't the right listeners.

my sweet 💌-anon, times like these are normal! we all feel lonely at times and i know it's tough and it's frustrating and you feel like nothing in your life is going to work out but i promise you, it will. the universe has it's way of doing that. if i could, i would give you the chance to see yourself the way i see you - full of potential, warm-hearted, and so so deserving of a good life filled with love, caring people and success. times are tough, but so are you. you haven't made it this far to only come this far!! remember that i'm here for you every step of the way and you can message me any time you need to. i will never delete it or ignore you. i love talking to you <3

[yume-fanfare]

hi i am that anon from like 29th Dec (last dang year) who said i read ur tsuki no hime and loved it and that u understand Aizou. i have read more of ur stuff since then and now i NEED to ask you for writing advice, on both characterization and general writing tips since I didnt mention it before. Sorry about that! i just forgot i sent an ask and i do not get notifs at all (or does anon asks not get notifs?) Also, ART STUDENT! That's why the nice art and art leaning!! I feel smart for sensing it

oh yup, tumblr doesn't send notifs for anon asks! but i'm glad you did see the answer anyway

this post is hideously long, so answer under the cut!

so, on characterization: it is mostly a matter of what would they say, rather than what you want them to say. the joke about "the characters do what they want to" instead of what the writer wants is pretty much true if you want them to be in character lol (that's why sometimes a little bit of OoC isn't too bad)

checking the source material is the most important thing: look at prior similar interactions the characters have had and how they reacted

this is kind of hard with LIPxLIP, as there aren't that many translated texts about them but with honeyworks the most canon and reliable thing to use as reference are the mvs. the mvs are drawn in a way that can pretty much be understood even if you don't have the lyrics, and sometimes it's even better if you can't read them, to properly focus on the images better

look at their expressions closely: while aizou is always explosive in his anger, yuujirou often has a more indifferent expression. so, when they fight, aizou is probably the one to blow up first while yuujirou maintains his composure better. it's kind of the classic "this was only a brief passing panel but i am going to expand on it" www

but the thing about fanfiction is that it's always a bit of a character analysis in itself. you don't start writing having already a color-coded folder of possible situations and reactions a character would have for each setting. you just throw the characters in a scenario and then think from there onwards, and eventually you'll be able to have the folder of situations and what you think their reactions would be like. (though, this links back to the prior point, if the characters have gone through a similar situation in canon, use that as guide! plus, finding little references to canon when reading is always fun)

for general writing, i'm going to mostly talk about my own experiences and process! i'm in no way a professional though

the basic is reading a lot. not just books but also fanfic. in fact, since you're writing fanfic, i Encourage you to read fanfic. even if your story ends up novel length, the way of treating the story is different from that of an actual novel. for example, because you're working under the premise that everyone knows the characters already. the general style of fics is different as well.

in fact, the style is the main reason i'm saying this slfkslfkslkf

read a lot of stuff and find a style you like. think of it as sewing together pieces from here and there to make a frankenstein amalgamation: this person's metaphors, the comparisons from here, the descriptions from there

personally, i adore the "long one-shot with a long title formatted (like this)" fics that are mostly feelings and descriptions and as little dialogue as possible, and some that occasionally play with the "show don't tell" rule, and some months ago i read a book whose descriptions amazed me because you could feel what the character was focusing on the most, rather than being general descriptions of the situation (i actually have a lot of thoughts about descriptions but that's a post for another day). but also i really like dialogue and plot-driven stories, descriptions can get boring and before trying to break rules, you have to be really good at following them

but, let's go step by step: developing an idea

for this i'm going to mostly reference the multichap i finished a while ago as an example

i started with just a few vague concepts in mind: non-idol au with aizou who does some sport and likes music but is insecure about his singing and yuujirou who does some music related thing and encourages him to sing in a way that's somehow related to the hozier song to noisemaking (sing), because it's what inspired me to write in the first place

then, from then onwards i wrote down what would happen in the first chapter of the story bullet-point-list-style, including things like the roommates part or the clubs the boys were in (at first yuujirou was in the choir club lol the change was a last second decision that idk why i took) and then bits of dialogue here and there that would be The Turning Points. those first dialogues were for the fight at the end of ch 1, the apology-date in ch 3 and then some vaguely unused ones for the "yuujirou encourages aizou" part, as those were the first key moments i thought of

because, since it's enemies to friends to lovers, an important aspect was character development

not all fics have character development bc not all of them are long enough (if you're aiming for short and sweet then there's no need). but if they do, i recommend you write down how the character was at the beginning of the story and then how they were at the end and then fill in the middle later, think of what those key turning points that made the character change were (the more little things you add, the more gradual it'll be)

samishigariya illustrates this very nicely: the song starts and finishes with the same lines, but the ending ones feel more light-hearted. the beginning has pre-arisa ken and pre-getting-along-with-yuujirou aizou, when they were the lonely people the title mentioned, and the ending, when they're not lonely anymore. the in between can be seen in depth during the other songs: ken before arisa was a playboy who didn't take love seriously, but after meeting her he realized that games were not all there was to love; and aizou used to be quite cranky and high-key a loner, but then he "meets precious things and knows of love". i will not elaborate on that because this isn't an aiyuu post but Oh You Know

for the fic, aizou would go through that same process, more or less: someone who doesn't really form meaningful connections with people but who, in the end, would end up having quite a bunch of people who care about him as his relationship with yuujirou advances too

since the relationship was the main focus, i wrote a very simple outline for how it would develop throughout 5 hypothetical chapters that was just: 1. civil w each other but mostly bad > 2. bad > 3. half friends > 4. pining > 5. date

and then with that in mind and the bullet point list, the final basic outline ended up like this:

there were scraped ideas and ideas that made it in later, but i believe having a simple outline, a bare skeleton to add things to, is important. stories need continuity, development requires a prior buildup

it's especially important in multichapter fics where you post as you write, you need to have a more or less clear idea of what's going to happen because you can't ignore scenes you've already posted

shorter stories don't need it as much, you can think as you go, but it's still helpful to know where you're going with things to avoid getting stuck

and, on getting stuck: don't be afraid of deleting things. if you can't figure out how to continue things, then delete the situation and start again. it might feel like you'd be wasting time but in the end, it is so much better than being stuck on the same scene for weeks

in fact, you don't have to write in order. jump to the next scene and you'll figure it out later. you Can write the scene you want to write and then build everything else around it

it's normal to write a scene and then realize it would make more sense later in the story, or that it would be better if you added another scene earlier, or sometimes you just find it easier to jump from one part of the story to another. rely on your outline to keep track of what you've written, what you have left to write and what's the best way to arrange your story. make your story understandable

which bring us to editing

there's a lot of much better posts on editing stories, but yeah ctrl+f is your best friend: don't repeat yourself too much. and be sure to vary sentence and paragraph length, as well as sentence structure, to give dynamism to the writing

now, i've mentioned before the show, don't tell rule, but i'm going to talk a bit more about it because it's quite important

once again there's a lot of posts that explain more in depth what it is, so i'm not going to expand too much on that, but, very basically, try to avoid things like "then some time passed and they became friends". explain it: what happened exactly? how did they become friends? if it's important, show it to us, instead of summarizing

since things like these make the story longer, it also gives room for more development and proper explanation for things that happen

for example, the fic was originally going to start with them already in the room, and the whole situation would have been explained in a single paragraph somewhere, but by actually adding the scene where they first arrive to the dorms and argue with the lady at the main desk, the story flows better and it let me actually describe their first meeting

and uuuhhh i think that's all? this took super long to write i hope i didn't forget any super basic stuff lol

i want to add that for enemies to lovers i greatly recommend this post bc it's super good but yeah i think that's basically it, if you have any more specific questions just shoot me an ask

[racxnteur]

re: ’#superstitious posts’ tagging [part 1.]

Q: If the problem is having to reblog a post because of compulsion, what about [ ...just doing it and feeling better / ...sharing to a private sideblog / ...seeing posts you don’t have to reblog ] ?

@justeasing Why is it an issue to reblog this stuff? I know the initial stress doesnt help, but I thought it was relieved by the reblog? 🤔 Idk, I guess I'm confused and need more context. I just don't see the harm in just reblogging it anyways...

Anonymous Idle question, since I don't have a brain that's susceptible to superstitious posts--I've seen variations on immunity posts that say something like "you don't have to interact with this at all, just seeing it once grants immunity." obviously I think that should be tagged as well since it can interact poorly with a lot of forms of magical thinking, but do disclaimers like that help at all with any compulsions to reblog or is the superstitious element enough to override any specific instructions?

@standfortheangels​ What about the posts that don't require you to do anything? I've seen ones with like a picture of a cute dog saying stuff like 'seeing this post means you're immune to chain posts, you can now scroll past them and they can't do anything bc this dog is protecting you'. So I'm asking A- should those still be tagged as superstitious posts? (I'm assuming yes for now) and B- do they actually help or do they give people the same uneasy feelings? (Any/all replies are welcome~)

@tania-grey just to check and make sure, are the immunity posts designed to bring relief from these superstitious posts exempt from the tag itself? Should they maybe have their own tag of #immunity post for extra peace of mind for those who need it?

I already responded to some of these, so I will copy/paste my answers to those here first:

re: anon ask

“It honestly just varies. Some people would find it helpful, others wouldn’t.

Personally, I have about the same instinctive reaction whether it has a reassurance like that or not, because the overall format / established concept in general evokes the response. I’m trying to think how to explain it, and the best I can come up with is… it’s like the disclaimer affirms the rule? Like, to say ‘immunity is granted just by seeing it once’ is still saying ‘x effect is granted by witnessing this post,’ which just kind of… reinforces the general idea of ‘the things said in these posts have the results they state.’ If it didn’t accept the premise, then it wouldn’t be able to offer the immunity it does, if that makes sense.

So, for me, it doesn’t fit into my little brain rules for one statement of the same type to overrule other statements, since they’re all the same form of compulsion. Again, that’s just one example, though – it’s always going to depend on the function provoked in each particular viewer.”

re: standfortheangels

“A- yes! B- [link to above answer] (: hope this helps”

re: tania-grey

“I personally would suggest that immunity posts are included under the tag. [link to above answer] <— I explain why a bit here. Each person will react differently; some people are helped by the immunity posts, so if that’s strongly the case for your personal sphere of blog connections, maybe you will choose to leave them untagged or tag them differently/additionally. But for accessibility for the greatest variation of people, my rule of thumb advice would be that the option to remove all such posts (positive, negative, reblog-necessary, view-only, immunity, etc) is of greater benefit than to cover only some kinds.”

I’m going to break up my FAQ responses for accessibility, so see the next post for the rest of my explanation.

[continue to part 2.] :: [all answers]

[theaspers]

I HAVE RISEN! MUHAHA Hai ish me again! R u okay bb? Here my virtual tissues and a hug to u 💞💖💝 u can vent to me if u want to. I can come off of anon if that would help. Hopefully I've scrolled thru everything so I'm up to date. Also I think I don't have a word limit anymore wowwwwww. I moved from iPhone to android (but like barely... I haven't properly transfered anything except my sim card 😂). Wow it's a whole new world here.

For periods u can lay on ur back and prop ur legs up against a wall or door (so u make an L shape) that's a lifesaver I got from another Tumblr user. A blanket over ur upper body when u lay like that is always noice too. Can try period yoga. I do yoga with Adriene videos but I haven't tried that specific one out. Also if u don't eat a lot of red meat n chilli u can probably have ginger tea with brown sugar. That one always helps me out. So long as ur body isn't naturally considered hot then it should work well.

ALSO I read ur new fic!!!!! Congrats on getting it out (and am happily waiting for anything Zhongli even tho I know literally nothing about the man haha). I'm usually not a huge fan of Dia and luci in a romantic way but for u Zara I WILL READ THE GREAT WORKS PROCURED BY OH MAGNIFICENT ONE! It made me so soft. Silly luci trying to put up a fight with the relationship. He's such a Lil doof hahaha. And the touches n lap sitting ughhhhhh I wanna be there man 😭 that would feel so divine~~ The demon language but was a v appreciated touch (I never really thought about something like that lol mind u I still don't play the game!). It was v well written! I totally think u have maintained ur touch! Please give credit to ur self!

I've been really busy. Had to suddenly get gifts for peeps and then now doing birthday stuff for two of my besties (cuz covid cockblocked us before) n jobs man. Had a few breakdowns about it but I expected it tbh. Proud of myself tho n Im planning to get back to driving! Sorry I'm like dumping my life on u cuz I haven't interacted in soooo longgggg! I promise I'll check out the Achilles song after I wake up (cuz I should be sleeping rn) but in the meantime I Hope Luci Comes Home For You! Have fun tag teaming with ur siblings (I think?) in genshin and a HUGE ✨CONGRATULATIONS✨for making it thru uni! I'm proud of u hehe. Much love until next time 😊 - lurker anon

under the cut bc i dont wanna clog ppl’s dash 🥺🙏🏻

HI! i have to thank you for taking ur time to write this ask, especially since you mentioned you’ve been busy!! i’m so glad you could drop by and we could catch up a little!! this made me very happy, if you could believe it. kinda like we’re friends and we’re catching up 😭 so thank you so much for this message!! very thoughtful of you, and i really appreciate it!! you don’t need to come off anon if you’re more comfortable on anon, okay? 🥺😭💖

i’m fine, actually! it’s nothing terrible!! just one of those random bouts of sadness, yknow? ones you can’t really explain so you just gotta ride it out. but i think i’ll be okay. and even if not, well, that’s okay too hehe and thank you so much for the advice! i’ll definitely have to try those out.

AAAAA you definitely did not have to scroll through my blog. i post so much crap, why would you put yourself through that 😭 still, i’m very happy that you enjoyed the dia/reader/luci fic! i really am attached to that au tbh, have lots of feelings and thoughts about those three shdjd i think they mentioned briefly that the demons have a different language? and that’s been living in my brain rent free for the longest time bc i love it SO MUCH.

and ZHONGLI aaaaa i have so many thoughts and feelings for him too and i really wanna try writing a full fic for him. hopefully i’ll be able to do that soon 😭

it seems like your life has been a little tough and a little hectic~ i can’t offer much but pls remember to take breaks, and drink some water! i’m proud of you too for getting through everything!!! hope you enjoy achilles come down, honestly i’m obsessed with it. i hope lucifer comes home too bc i will be Upset if he doesn’t 😤 also i don’t mind the long messages tbh they really make my day tbh shdjs i’ll be here if you ever need to talk! aaa much love, and thanks again!! 💖💖💖

[plague-of-insomnia]

How do you make writing goals for yourself? I can't get anything done in time!!!!

Hi, anon! Tysm for sending this writing ask 💕!

Before I answer your question I’m going to take a quick diversion, but I promise it’s relevant, so bear with me.

Many writers focus on word count for goals— and events like Nanowrimo are focused on them.

But the advice I always give people who are either new(ish) to creative writing or are struggling with motivation/procrastination is IGNORE WORDCOUNT.

Throw it out of your mind. Ignore it. Pretend it doesn’t exist.

I have a few reasons for this:

Focusing on wordcount can cause anxiety and guilt. You become fixated on meeting an arbitrary word goal, instead of focusing on just writing. And if you don’t meet your goal, you feel like a failure. I have seen many writers quit bc of this cycle of anxiety and guilt.

Depending on how much you draft, your word count will change dramatically when you revise/edit. For example, the original chapter 8 of Where Demons Hide was ~4000 words, and the second draft I’m finishing up now is almost double that. I expect that the final draft that I post will have yet another shift in wordcount, possibly shrinking a little as I tighten things up. So if you stress yourself out during the first draft, when you go to revise you may realize all that stress was for nothing anyway.

Wordcount is only important if you have an assignment or submission that requires a set number of words, and even then, I would say look at #2, because wordcount should really only play into things in the last draft and be more of a general guideline you look toward as you’re drafting rather than something you use as a roadmap. Do you think the average reader has any context of the number of words in a scene? No. All they care about is flow. Some scenes may flow great with 3000 words, while others only need 300 or they feel dragged out. So I’ll reiterate: word count doesn’t matter.

So now that you’ve tossed word count in your mental wastebasket, we can get to your question about goals.

I always set my goals in two stages: immediate and overall. And I always set these goals in terms of scenes or chapters.

So my immediate goal might be “finish the scene with Sieglinde and Sebastian” while my overall goal is “finish the revision of chapter 8 of WDH.” Immediate goals are one that I will attempt to finish in a single writing session and are comparable to a wordcount goal.

If you have a particularly big scene, it’s fine to break it down into even smaller pieces, so you could say, “write the fight with the boss” as a sub-goal rather than “write the final confrontation scene.” Breaking things up like this can be especially helpful if you have a scene with different aspects, like a dialog moment and an action moment, or a long sex scene that has a foreplay and main sex component, etc.

The important thing is to break your goals into meaningful pieces that you can realistically achieve in one writing session. Everyone works at different speeds, some scenes/aspects take longer to write than others, and it can take a little time for you to find exactly what breakdowns work for you. (And that’s OK!)

You can even set your immediate goals out of the order in which those scenes happen if you feel you need to, or skip a scene you’re struggling with. It’s better to end up with 90% of your goals achieved and then tackling that last one then getting stuck when you’re only 10% in and grinding to a total halt.

I almost always have several goals at once, which I rank in terms of what I want to accomplish first. However, I give myself the flexibility to work on another goal if I’m stuck/not feeling a particular project on that day. This system allows me to “triage” and tackle the most important things first, and helps keep me organized.

Don’t forget to forgive yourself if you don’t meet your goal. Maybe you had a headache and couldn’t think as well as normal. Maybe the scene was more complicated than you’d expected, or you didn’t have quite enough research done for it. Maybe the dog next door was barking and you couldn’t concentrate.

It’s OK! Instead of focusing on the negative: “I didn’t finish the scene,” focus on the positive: “I got a good chunk of the dialog hammered out.”

Remember that this is a draft. Even if it’s a revision you’re doing, it doesn’t have to be perfect. The important thing is laying down a foundation that you can tweak later.

Even the worst paragraph can be fixed or expanded upon later, but you can’t work from nothing. So any progress is progress.

Part of the reason I break my goals into bite-sized chunks within a larger piece is because it gives you a sense of progress.

For example, if you’re working on a long chapter, if you tackle it scene by scene it won’t feel as daunting as it may have otherwise. Plus, you can see your progress building as you finish scene after scene! Before you know it, you’ll have met your overall goal.

But now maybe you’re wondering how do you even figure out what a “writing session is”?

This depends on a lot of things and it’s not something I can set for you. Some people only have a limited amount of time to write, while others have more flexible schedules.

My suggestion is to set yourself an alotment of time to write on a regular basis. Maybe this means writing an hour before bed. Maybe it means writing during your lunch break. Or maybe you can only write on the weekends.

But the important thing is to set your schedule during a realistic time—if you know you’ll be too tired to write before bed then find another time—and stick to it as much as you can.

It doesn’t have to be every single day, if your health/schedule doesn’t allow for that. But it has to be regular or you will struggle to meet even the smallest of goals. So even if it’s only one day a week, you need to only skip a day if you really absolutely have to, and get in that habit, create that self discipline.

For example, ideally I write every week day for maybe ~5 hours total. I usually take the weekends off bc having down time is important.

I can’t do keep that schedule all the time because of my health, and it’s frustrating, but that’s part of it. As long as you put your butt in your chair and work when you can, that’s what matters. Decide what you’re going to tackle for that session and go for it. Don’t edit. Don’t check your word count and limit your distractions.

I put my dogs away, go to my computer, with a beverage, and write. I do take breaks. In fact, I’ll sometimes even set a time goal for myself (“I’ll write for two hours or until I finish my scene”). Timed goals can work really well for some people, though I’m not a big fan of them myself for a lot of reasons. I use them less as a goal and more as a way to make sure I don’t overwork myself.

I didn’t mention it, but you can also set goals for what I call “writing adjacent” things, like research, coming up with titles, etc. I sometimes do this, and those work themselves into my goal sheet along with my scene and chapter goals.

I really hope that helped you a bit, anon, and wasn’t too rambling! If you have other questions about this or anything else, feel free to send another ask. Good luck and happy writing 💕!

[couch-house]

Wow people like that anon are why we need to be more educated about manipulation via self-destruction. We all need to understand and know that if we constantly, repeatedly "make" someone feel bad enough to consider harmful actions just through TINY contradictions it might just not be us and we don't have to put up with all the stress, discomfort, depression, etc. that comes from it. And sometimes it's really obvious when it's manipulation, it's not NEVER an option.

exactly bro. i’m gonna do something real fun and talk about my abuser, who did this for years! under the cut

so im just gonna come right out and say it so i dont gotta give him an epithet every time, but his name was dibby/dib. he goes by a different name now i think but from what ive heard it seems like ppl r familiar with him by that name as well. w/e for his privacy i guess ill just leave his current name out of it. anyway i knew and was friends with/dated dib for about 7 years before we cut each other out.

ANYWAY dib had/has legitimate mental health problems, yes, but he also chose to use those problems as excuses for his manipulative and abusive behavior. dib had bipolar and would experience dramatic mood swings. unfortunate but normal and okay! if you experience mood swings and suddenly feel overwhelmed by sadness or anger, you probably know that, if you recognize this as a disorder, you should let the people around you know, tell them how you’re feeling, and do what you can to manage the situation.  dib would instead say “oh no i feel a mood swing coming. :( quick, distract me!” which, again is a clumsy but fair way to handle that, EXCEPT when it inevitably failed to cheer him up, he would blame us for failing, call us bad friends, insist we didn’t care about him, and isolate to only talking with his favorite person (for a while that was me). 

when dib got upset he would blow up, block me for days or weeks, and then later when he calmed down and felt lonely he’d add me back with some half-apology and assume everything was fine again. here’s a list i kept of things that upset him and had this result! it was called “things not to do”

tell dib when [his gf] is streaming

fail to tell dib when [his gf] is streaming

ask dib if it’s okay to do things

talk to him when he’s feeling antisocial

offer critique when it isn’t asked for

ask dib not to do something

talk to him in the tags (when not friends)

spam things he doesn’t like/isn’t involved in ((the relevant examples are bug blogs, bunnies, and the pbs kids show arthur. not because they trigger him, just because he doesn’t like them))

talk about/mention people that are my friends that he doesn’t like

offer solutions when he just needs confirmation

make it about you

yeah. keep in mind every one of those bullet points corresponds to at least one time he either faked his own death or blew up and blocked me for a week.

the bigger problem though was his suicide ideation. dib had a pretty shit life and pretty shit mental health and unfortunately was legitimately depressed and suicidal. he needed help but, living in america, really couldnt afford it most of the time. this is okay. if you or someone you know is unable to get medical health for depression or suicide ideation you know how hard it is to live with. sometimes there’s not a lot you can do and that person will Just Be Depressed an just Want To Die and theres not a lot you can do to help, even if you try your best. that of course, is not the problem with dib. 

the problem was repeatedly, starting i think when i criticized him for pushing everyone away by insisting no one cares about him and not putting any effort towards others, would make some vague allusion to feeling suicidal and abruptly log off and stop answering messages. this can be an okay way to deal with yourself if you’re upset BUT. THE NEXT DAY, after i frantically thought he was going to Attempt and repeatedly messaged him to try to deter him, check on him, ask if he was okay (he really just went to sleep, which again is fine), he decided to PRETEND TO BE DEAD.  he told his gf and maybe one other person he was alive but threatened them to stay quiet and pretend he was dead or he WOULD commit. so his gf at the time had to play along and all of us then-kids were freaking out that our friend had died, only for him to decide later that he’d had his fun and he could now announce “no i just logged off for a little bit :)”

he did this. many times. make some allusion to wanting to attempt then abruptly stop answering messages, knowing what people would assume. (this was one of the pieces of testimony i did not include verbatim in that rk post: i was told rk would do very similar things; part of why i thought the post was necessary. ive lived through the other side of that and i dont want ANYONE else to). i think two separate times that he did this, i was sent home from school early because i was crying so hard (my best friend let me think i was responsible for his death. he did this on purpose. he did this repeatedly. thats fucked up)

one time he posted a supposedly queued suicide note post! and all my friends were terrified he’d died! so i remember someone anonymously messaged kylee henke asking for advice, and i (who at the time he was mad at and had already blocked) got fed up with it (again because he’d done this so many times and i knew by now that there was no point in getting upset, he was just doing it for sympathy or attention or w/e) and messaged his mom on facebook asking her to check on him. he was fine, just like. crying in his room. also sidenote he got BIG MAD that someone told his mom and was posting when he was found out liek WHO TOLD >:( n i was like :)). bc bro if ur really abt to attempt i have an Obligation to get someone irl to check on you and protect you. but obviously you werent since this was like the 20th fucking time youve done this 🙃

he was a huge pizza shit for other reasons too but the main relevant one was that he would use his mental illness as an excuse for his deplorable behavior and blame others for things literally no one can reasonably do anythign about and then constantly and i DO MEAN CONSTANTLY use his own life and suicide ideation as a trump card.

anyway if you know someone who repeatedly threatens suicide or pretends to commit suicide by purposefully alluding to it before ghosting you, or posting a suicide note meant to blame others, you need to get out of there right now. that is not okay and you should not be dealing with that. ive taken years to get used to the idea that if i criticize my friends, they won’t kill themselves

[teawiththegods]

kinda having a faith crisis/in lost mode rn because just got diagnosed with OCD & it makes so much sense now why I have random O’s/C’s that are religion-centric, and I was thinking about it, kinda worried, wondering if the gods would understand why I struggle so hard with being committed. Went to Marshall’s earlier this evening, walked around, and in the pictures area is a giant canvas with “HERMES” and a smaller canvas w/ “YOUR GOD” right next to it. It made me happy like YAS THANK U 💯❤️🙌🏼

Hermes anon again — as a side note, I’ve never worshiped Hermes before, sooooo... any advice? Things he likes? I’m legit The Worst ™️ Hellenic polytheist ever and I suck at being a reliable source of worship even though I’m doing my best. My OCD makes me constantly fear the wrath of divinity and I used to hop from pantheon to pantheon because I worried a deity didn’t want to “talk” to me anymore.

Omgs, Hermes just straight up took a page out Apollo’s no sublty book for that sign! Lol! Although it doesn’t surprise me because Hermes is FANTASTIC with knowing exactly what you need from him. He knew that because of how you were feeling and because of your OCD that you needed a very direct and clear sign from him! And so he delivered! That’s what he does! Gods, I love that curly haired fella! 

Listen, I don’t have OCD but I do have anxiety so I understand the feeling of your mind working against you. It fucking sucks. So much! But the thing is that now you know you have OCD you can make more sense of the thoughts running through your head and hopefully stop allowing them to control your actions and decisions. Like now when I find myself catastrophizing something I can take a step back and say “That’s your anxiety talking not the reality of the situation” 

As for Hermes, he’s my dream boy! You’ll find him very eager and willing to help you out. He’s also ready at a moments notice to make you laugh and smile. He likes strawberries, money, letters, fun pranks, dancing, cuddles, magic, burritos, wings, adventures, comedies, Dionysus, games, libraries, pissing off Apollo, rollerblading, candy, mischief, activism, jokes, smiles, anime, horror movies, cryptozoology, astrology, astronomy, technology, blues and jazz music, old cars, divination, learning languages, and a lot of other things!

Hermes is SUPER laid back so i think he’s the perfect deity for you. He’s very understanding and patient when it comes to his followers (and even non followers bc he was hanging out with me and helping me out without me even worshiping him). 

I’m devoted to him so I’ve talked about him a lot on my blog. You can check out my #hermes and #hermesdeity tags to see all the posts and asks i’ve answered! 

And here’s his page on Theoi.com

If you have any questions about him pls feel free to ask! 

[edwardsvirginity]

At least your doing your grad school application I’m still struggling to write out my personal statement and I haven’t even mentioned the idea of recommendations to my professors

ok my personal statement was a fucking disaster and it only got written bc one of my reccomenders asked me for it, then i didn’t respond for like a week, and then they straight up emailed me again to be like ??? and it shamed me into finally writing it. but it was HARD. and honestly it’s just. not good.

my friends are baller and 2 of them have won fulbrights, and of those 2 one of them ALSO just got a rhodes scholarship, and then my BEST friend is doing peace corps, and another friend of mine is straight up employed as an editor. i mention this not just to brag on my friends (who are gr8) but also to say that my personal statement was bad enough that i sent it to ALL of them and was like “dear god please save me from myself and tell me how to make this presentable”. so now i’m just sititng here twiddling my thumbs (after sending the rough draft to my reccomender lol) waiting for them to get back to me bc i can’t bear to look at what i have and spend MORE hours struggling over it

i would definitely say u gotta talk to ur professors asap if the deadline for the application is within the next month. like, you have to give them AT LEAST 2 weeks notice to write something. i was hella nervous abt talking to my professors (both when i thought i was gonna apply my senior year of college, and now, 2 years later) but they were honestly super chill about it. writing reccomendations is part of their job so as long as you tell them far enough in advance i’m sure it won’t be a problem. i feel u tho. it’s terrifying. 

my deadline is the 15th (sunday) and honestly i’ve been internally screaming for the last 2 weeks (when i started the application-- i’m THAT MUCH trash) but at least after sunday it’s out of my hands. but i also know that if i don’t have rapidly approaching deadlines for things, shit doesn’t get done. so hopefully if your deadline is still pretty far out that could be a reason you’re struggling-- bc it’s not a tight enough time frame to be motivating

i wish i could give u advice on ur personal statement, but i’m applying to grad school in france and it’s a significantly different format. american grad schools want all this weird creative shit from you and it’s kinda overwhelming. i’m not dealing with any of that bullshit and i’m still like 2 minutes away from an anxiety attack at any moment. so. i do not envy you. stay strong

best of luck anon. we gonna get this bread. we gonna get into grad school and go be successful in our chosen career fields. i believe in us. 

but also anon: i will say, i tried to apply to grad school my senior year of college because i was terrified of entering the workforce and didn’t feel qualified for anything with my degree. that was a bad move. i put too much pressure on myself and straight up had multiple breakdowns. it was waaayyyy too overwhelming for me to try and do a bunch of research, apply to like 5 different places, AND do all my senior year of college stuff like write my dissertation and do well in my classes. it just was not possible for me and i should not have pretended it was. i’m really glad i waited until now (~1.5 years post-graduation) to apply, because it allowed me to get an (unglamorous) job that to my legitimate shock actually counts as really good, relevant experience on my grad school application, made me think really seriously about grad school so i don’t feel like i’m doing it just to avoid a shitty economy and workforce, proved to me that i can get a job even with just my undergrad degree, and now i know when i graduate grad school i will have ~work experience~ as well. (plus, it’s been great to be able to make some headway in paying off my undergrad loans, and save some money). and while i’m still an anxious mess about this grad school app, it’s 10x easier to apply now while i have a job than when i was in school. there’s a lot less pressure, i have more free time, i feel less overwhelmed by things generally. i know even if i don’t get in things will be ok, bc i already have a job! and i’m just applying to one grad school right now, bc i have more clarity abt what i actually want out of grad school and where i wanna be. and if i decide in the spring to apply to more grad schools, i have that option (yay for european deadlines). so i would just encourage you to think really seriously about why you’re applying now and if that’s really what you want, or if you’re just doing what me and many of my friends did and trying to avoid entering the workforce/being a real adult because you feel unprepared and scared (which is understandable!! but not a good reason to spend a bunch more money to go to grad school). even my friends who intend to pursue phds took time off between undergrad and grad school. don’t put too much pressure on yourself to have things perfectly figured out right now. if you’re struggling with your application it could be a sign. it’s always good to check in with yourself. 

[cancerbiophd]

Hi Julia! Sorry if this seems like a lot, but I hope you don't mind me asking. To contextualize: I’m about to graduate with a BA in Bio! I was initially pre-med for ~3 years of undergrad, but I realized I didn't have a strong interest in being an MD. Bc of multiple reasons (in part, a lot of anxiety), I hadn't gotten much extracurricular/lab experience in that time. After tons of (painful :() introspection, I want to go for a grad program after my gap year - (1/3)

but I wasn’t able to get into a lab this year (bc 4th yr, yk? :(). The most “lab” experience I’d gotten was taking some upper level Bio classes. I’m worried about my chances of even landing a lab tech (or related) position to get experience before the next application cycle. I could take multiple gap years, but I’m not sure if I’ll have stable housing or be able to find a job in my hometown. If it’s worth mentioning, I’ve been a TA for a lab course, done some work as a grader, and have GREATLY improved my grades, but compared to my peers it feels like… not much. The profs I’m close with seem to think I’ll still be just fine, but people advise doing much more than I did (which is completely understandable). I guess I’m just stuck and frustrated w/ myself that I hadn’t done anything sooner. Do you have any advice on how to move from here? Thank you so much! 

Hi anon!!! 

Firstly, I want to congratulate you on graduating!!! (they really should just combine the words and make it “Congraduations!” lol anyway) no but seriously, you got a BA to your name now!! Feels good yall. 

Secondly, I was in the same! exact! boat! omg. you sure you’re not me from like 8 years ago? Because I also went into undergrad focused on pre-med, decided nope not for me, realized I wanted to go into grad school, but didn’t have a lot of lab experience (bc I had no idea where to start or what to do). I managed to squeeze in 1 semester of volunteering in a lab before graduating, but I knew that really wasn’t enough. It then took me 5 tedious months of searching before I landed a lab tech job that gave me the experience I needed (and also guided me towards my current field of cancer bio). 

Just like you I was super bummed that I didn’t discover sooner in my college career what the right path was, but I was elated that I at least did discover the right path. What’s that one saying... the best time to plant a tree was 10 years ago; the next best time to plant a tree is today. So take a deep breath, get back up, and tell that little voice in your head that you don’t have the time and energy to feel frustrated because this is the beginning of a new chapter, and you are gonna work hard for it, starting today! 

Keep up the search for an entry-level position at a research lab (such as a lab tech). Along with checking the regular job posting sites (like Craigslist and Monster), also look for temp agencies, and seek out newly established labs (eg. PIs who just moved to your local research univ– they’ll be needing a lab tech real bad and they probably have boat-loads of money as a new recruit. That’s how I found my lab tech job). 

Here’s a post I made regarding cold-emailing PIs to see if they’re hiring (and not all of them post positions online; sometimes they find the person they want to hire first, and then post the position to make it official with the university. Something to keep in mind!)

Here’s a masterpost of links to job websites specifically for scientists (hopefully the links still work; I haven’t checked in a while)

Another option, if you’re up for it, could be to move to a different location that would have more job opportunities for your field. For example, Seattle and California are some hotspots for biotech. Recently there was one cancer immunotherapy start-up in Seattle that was hiring 50 scientist positions at once. Check out Boston University’s Biomedical Workforce Data Report to see where the potential hotspots are in the US.

You can also acquire other related non-lab (but still paid) experiences, such as becoming a biology tutor and freelance science writer. 

Utilize your network. Ask your friends, family, past professors, college alumni, etc if they know of anyone working at a place that could hire you. Someone could know someone who knows someone! Before I landed my lab tech job, a friend of a friend of my mom’s had offered me an internship position at her research institution in Florida. 

If your goal is a PhD, you can consider doing a Masters first to gain more experience. I know many colleagues in the life sciences who did a Masters first as a “stepping stone” towards their PhD, and typically Masters programs are more lenient on requiring lots of lab experience. I have a post here about the pros and cons of doing a Masters before a PhD (US centric). 

Other things that can ramp up your application include acing the GRE (general) and GRE Biology Subject Test (if that’s the grad field you want to pursue). I know of one student in our pharmacology/toxicology PhD program who had very little lab experience but still got in because one PI in particular was super impressed with his perfect GRE score. Some really amazing letters of rec and a killer personal statement will also help.

I hope that helps a bit. I’m always here to chat if you have other questions or just need someone :) I’ve definitely been in your same exact boat, so I know what you’re going through. It wasn’t easy or fun in the slightest bit, but I got through it, and I know you can too

[elsaclack]

Hi :) This might sound weird haha but I adore reading you talk about your writing, it's really inspiring and I feel like I learn a lot of things every time I read you talk about it (you know I'm a fan of your style haha). And anyways while I was reading your answer to your last anon, this struck me: "when i was outlining that chapter i think the only line i dedicated to the actual fight itself was “and then they have a crazy knife fight (good luck future me)”" and I wanted to ask you (1/2?)

(2/3?) do you have like any tips for writing a multichapters fic? I guess from what you wrote here you outline the whole thing before you start with it? Or it depends or the story and sometimes you just go with the flow and see where it goes haha? Do you mind sharing some of your writing process of multichapter fics? :3 Bc I tend to get "bored" really easily and if I don't finish something in one sitting I usually never ever finish it. But also I'd like to learn how to take my time sometimes

(3/3) and idk maybe learning how to properly "get ready" to write something long would help haha. I'm sorry if this doesn't make sense at all but yeah in any case just thank you for blessing my nights with your fics and killing me over and over with feels, I'm sure I said it before but you (and all of the amazing writers this fandom is blessed with) are a true inspiration!!!

you are SO sweet to me i die fhflkdsjf

i’m gonna go ahead and throw 100% of my answer under the cut because i haven’t even started yet and i know this is about to be. So Long. i am sorry in advance lmao

there are a couple of different aspects to this ask that i want to touch on so i will be as brief as possible but as i have proven twice over tonight alone, i am really not capable of that lmfao

i’d say first and foremost, the biggest thing you can do to help yourself in this arena is figure out how to best discipline yourself. which SUCKS it’s like the worst most mom answer ever but in all honesty, developing discipline in writing is what separates the “i could write a book” people from the people who actually do write books. everyone is capable of writing, but not everyone has the discipline or patience to do so. long-form narrative requires even MORE discipline than a one-shot (or even a long one-shot) because it’s like you said, it requires the author to come back over and over and over again to write new material and edit existing material and figure out a way to cohesively connect everything they’ve written into one consistent narrative, and some people have a much harder time with that than others do. there’s nothing wrong with that either way!! the world needs short stories just as much as it needs longer stories. but if you’re wanting to work on writing longer-form narratives, working out a way to best discipline yourself should probably be your number-one goal.

that kind of brings me to my next point (and also ties in part of what i was talking about in that other ask) - comparing your writing style, your progress, your everything to other writers will only lead to heartache for you. when i first started reading and writing for b99 i came across a specific author (who is now one of my dear friends) whose fics were just. next-level works of art. and while i read through just about everything she’d written for b99 and LOVED every single one of them, i found myself getting more and more down on my own writing, because i knew i’d never be able to write like her. but the more comfortable and confident i got in my own writing, the more i realized that it’s less about writing more like That Person and more about developing my own style (my favorite comparison to make between my writing and hers now is that hers are like beautiful and intricate fairy tales, and mine are more of a smokey back room at a bar where a guy is sitting alone at a table and he says “come here and listen to this story.” they’re both Very Different, and perhaps have varying audiences, but one is not inherently Better Or Worse than the other). all of this to say, if you’re working as hard as you can and being really disciplined but still find yourself struggling with writing a multichap, THAT’S OKAY!!! there’s NOTHING wrong with that!!! your writing, however short or long, serves an INCREDIBLY important purpose within the fandom as a whole and no matter what, there will ALWAYS be an audience for your writing.

so okay as for the actual Advice!!! i actually have a couple of steps that i usually follow prior to actually Writing the first chapter of any long fic i’ve written (or am in the process of writing...@king and lionheart yikes). i have yet to really find any consistency in how i think of ideas for multichaps - so far the idea every multichap i’ve written has come from a different source (which is actually kind of Frustrating for reasons i won’t get into). but basically once i actually have An Idea, i’ll take a day or two to kind of think it over and flesh it out as much as possible. if it really starts expanding in detail and an actual Story constructs itself around the idea, i’ll move on to the next step, which is to find a few trusted mutuals here on tungle.corn and say “heyyYYY CAN I YELL ABOUT AN IDEA I HAVE FOR A SECOND” and then spill everything i’ve thought of so far. usually i can tell if an idea will live or die based on these conversations - if the other person is Into It and we start sort of developing the world within the chat, i know it’s time to really sit down and make an effort to pursue the fic. in that case, i will go and copy&paste that part of our chat into a google doc and i’ll build an outline in a separate doc. i used to despise outlines and i would refuse to do them in high school, but once i got into writing as a hobby and i started pursuing longer narrative forms, i tried once or twice to write a multichap without an outline and i just forgot a lot of the details i originally wanted to include, which left me feeling really frustrated with myself and with my writing. i came to realize that outlines kind of a necessary evil, so in writing them i made them as fun for me as possible (i.e. the “good luck future me” line from the king and lionheart outline i mentioned lmao). now i love them and i have them open at all times while i’m working on writing a new chapter.

so i know that i started this off by saying that writing multichaps requires a special kind of discipline, and i stand by that, but also...writer’s block and real life responsibility and just plain exhaustion are all Very Real Things, and they take precedent over keeping up with a publishing schedule (if you’re so inclined to make one of those for yourself). when i started writing king and lionheart, i didn’t know at that point that i would be headed back to school in the spring, and thought that i would have all the time in the world to write. right around november, i realized that i would be going back to school - that’s about the time i took an unofficial hiatus from writing king and lionheart, because i knew trying to keep up with writing that fic the way that i want it to be written and all of the intensive and demanding coursework was going to kill me. taking a step back from posting and coming back to it later is okay. i know i talk a lot about feeling guilty for not having an update for king and lionheart (and the cancer au before it) but in all honesty i know that it’s okay for me to take some time and deal with my real life. and, you know, it’s also okay to lose inspiration for a while and to take a step back until that inspiration comes back. i think it’s that fear of not being able to take longer breaks between updates that scares a lot of people off from even trying to write a multichap - as the queen of procrastination, i am here to tell you that it is 100% okay to start a multichap and to take a break and come back to it when necessary!

writing a multichap is very much like running a marathon - it requires a different kind of energy than a 400 meter sprint or a 1k fluffy oneshot. it’s gonna hurt and it’s gonna suck and there are gonna be times when you’re ready to just quit writing altogether. but there will be parts that are really fun and really easy and you’re gonna get some really great views along the way - and at the end when you cross that finish line and you’re able to check that “complete” box on ao3 before you post the last chapter, you won’t remember the parts that sucked. trust me!! i wouldn’t write as many as i do if the actual shitty parts of the writing process negated the good things that come from writing it and sharing it with other people!

it’s also worth noting that just because you get bored with an idea doesn’t mean that you can’t pick it up again later!!! honestly the first 2 or 3 paragraphs of on your heart like a tattoo sat in my google docs for MONTHS before i randomly decided one day to open it and take a crack at finishing it, and to this DAY i’m still getting people regularly commenting on it. every idea has its purpose and its place, even if it doesn’t always immediately seem like it.

i really hope this helps and i’m sorry if it doesn’t!!! you are such a kind and wonderful person and i absolutely adore you

[antistudyblr]

anon asked:

hey there! so from "things i learned during my first year of college" that u posted,it said that you took a double major and i wanna know is it difficult to manage time for study? do u have maybe some advice for those who want to take double major? bc im planning to take a double major next year😊

As someone debating a double major in English and Latinx studies (or a major and a minor: we’ll see), I personally haven’t had too much difficulty in managing my time for studying! Generally, life isn’t too different from someone only majoring in one subject. You just have a make a schedule and do your best to follow it.

Of course, the difficulty of making that schedule highly depends on what majors you’re planning on taking. A double major in English and History tends to be easier than a double major in Statistics and Creative Writing, as there’s more overlap between the fields and you’ll be more likely to be able to double-count classes and, as such, take fewer. But people every day make double majors that have nothing to do with each other work!

If you’re planning on pursuing a double major, remember that you have to consider scheduling on two metrics: study time during the semester during your individual classes and making sure you finish all requirements in order to graduate in 8 semesters (or whatever length you plan to be in school).

semesterly (these apply to basically everyone, regardless of number of majors)

Develop good habits: No matter how many majors you have, make sure you develop and maintain good study habits. You may be taking more classes than some others (maybe not, really it depends) so it becomes more important to get sleep, study for tests and write papers ahead of time, and all that.

Know your limits and stick to them: Set your time to study, your time to do extracurriculars, your time to hang out with friends without stressing and so on and do your best to respect them. Stuff happens, but you need to take care of yourself. 

Don’t overload on one type of class: In my experience, having 3 or 4 writing-intensive classes or labs or math classes all at once can be incredibly stressful because there’s no way to switch gears. Trying to diversify what you’re taking in a given semester by throwing in one of your mandated history classes in with all the science can do wonders.

Don’t overload, period: Especially if double majoring, you might have a heavy semester or two in there while working to get everything done. But if you’re petitioning the credit limit every semester or constantly stressed and not sleeping (no matter how many majors you’re taking tbh), make sure that what you are doing is working for you mentally, physically, financially, and emotionally. You don’t have to double major to be successful and an extra line on your resume isn’t worth working yourself to burnout.

The add/drop period is your friend: Use this to balance your schedule into something you can manage. Get the syllabi and a feel for a class and professor, and decide if that’s going to be manageable combined with everything else you’re doing. If you do drop a class, go back to your master schedule (discussed below) and adjust accordingly.

macro-scheduling (aka making your 4-year plan)

Know the policies: This is everything from how many credits you need to graduate to how many classes you can take a semester. I would suggest reading the websites for both your departments, as well as the registrar’s office, and maybe the advising office in order to answer these questions (at least)

Can I double major at my university?  (If you’re asking, I assume this is a yes, but it’s always a good idea to check) Are there any university-wide rules or limits to double-majoring?

What are the general education requirements that I need to complete aside from my majors?

What is the credit limit/semester? How do I petition to raise the credit limit if I need to? How many credits do I need to graduate?

What are the policies on double-counting classes for the university? For my major departments?

What classes do I need to take to complete these majors? Do I have to take them in a certain sequence? (It’s also a good idea to see if these departments offer minors and what those requirements are, just in case.)

Can I place out of any classes in my major? Gen-eds?

Make a plan and write it down: Jotting down a rough idea of when you plan to take classes is a good idea for anyone going to college but if you’re planning on doing anything like a double major, it’s basically necessary. Lay out your gen eds, your major requirements, classes you want to take for fun and make yourself a schedule that lays out what you should be taking every semester to get out on time. I find using a spreadsheet easiest, because you can easily color-code, calculate how many credits you have toward graduation, and make edits (you will need to make edits). This is mine via Google Sheets:

Be supported by your adviser: You should go in with an understanding of the policies discussed above, because a lot of the time, your adviser won’t be familiar with the specifics. However, they should be willing to help you figure out how to make your schedule work if you’re having trouble or help find answers to remaining questions: giving you people to contact, websites to visit, etc. If they keep trying to talk you out of double majoring or not helping you figure out the best way to go about it, try to switch advisers as soon as possible. You’ll need solid institutional support.

Try to double-count where possible: You don’t want to do more work than necessary. Cut down wherever possible in number of classes you have to take you don’t have to take a summer class or an extra semester.

Be flexible: You might get a great internship or job offer one fall that leaves you unable to take as many classes as you like, or you might have a rough semester that requires you to retake a class. As your schedule changes, you might find it makes more sense to do a major and a minor or take classes over the summer. Be prepared for things to change and take it as it comes.

if you have any further questions, comments, concerns, coup d’etats let me know

[countryole]

Bc the wait for the new episode is so long, some more Q&A. Do you think they will introduce any mutant villains, and not just people who are brainwashed by the Sentinel Services? What characters are you dying to see in scenes together? I'm excited for more Lorna interactions with everyone, but Blink especially. And Caitlin. I would love to see a fic where she offers Lorna parenting/pregnancy advice. Would also be cool to see Caitlin reading up about human variant OB/Labor research.

I am probably the saddest human being on the planet. I have to work all day and go home to no new episodes? This is a crime against fangirls everywhere mkay. WHERE IS MY LEGAL COUNCIL, I HAVE RIGHTS. *famous last words of Reed Strucker*

I think that’s a great question, as far as mutant villains. I am trying to think of what kind of Mutant that would take. They’d have to have some kind of traumatic back story for them to turn against their own kind, which isn’t impossible, but I’m not sure what that would entail. Someone mentioned/hypothesized on a previous post that Esme could be another plant of some sort, but I would hate that because I feel like she could be a super valuable character.

Characters I am dying to see in more scenes together: agreed on the Cait and Lorna front. They are such different people, I feel like Cait would want to reach other and be the supportive mother figure, and while at some point I think Lorna will really appreciate that, I also think she’ll be resistant at first. Lorna’s not very trusting outside her immediate circle, but she does respect Caitlin as we have seen in a few of their scenes. On another note I wonder if Reed has said anything to Caitlin, or if it’s just him, Lorna and Marcos that know. Have Marcos or Lorna told anyone else, either? And then of course there’s the fact that SS knows, which is still kinda YIKES because they could still try to use that against Lorna and the rest of the MU at some point. I think I would like to see John and Marcos have a great bromance scene where Marcos tells him about the kid, because we all know uncle T Bird is going to be the best mutant uncle ever.

Caitlin, no doubt, will definitely study up to help Lorna in anyway she can though, that’s just her nature. I can envision Lorna accidentally stumbling upon Cait late one night, reading alone in HQ after a long day of helping refugees or something. Maybe Lorna had even snapped at her earlier in the day for something dumb, like Lorna does, and so she sits down to apologize and they end up having a great hear to heart and talking about how terrified Lorna actually is to have this kid hahahaha. MY BBS.

Also if it’s not super obvious: more Marcos and Lorna scenes. Just give me a spinoff ok, give me ALL THE ECLARIS ALL THE TIME.

Another thing I would like to see happen is them resolve the awkward love triangle between Clarice, John and Sonia. Don’t get me wrong, I am all about angst, but love triangles usually end badly and merely serve as a super contrived way to create drama. All three of those characters deserve to have more time being independent badasses separate from a “relationship” that defines them. I love all three of them, and while John gets plenty of screen time where he’s functioning on his own, I feel like Sonia and Clarice have become “the girls fighting over Johnny” in a way. The writers have managed to do this pretty tastefully all things considered, but Blink is so great, and I feel like they’re making her way too “mean girls” the last few episodes with her being Salty over what Sonia did to her, when really, if she had been in Sonia’s place, she probably would’ve done the same thing.

Speaking of Sonia, I want more Lorna/Sonia scenes because they are supposed to be the best of friends and I just think it would be hysterical to watch them talking over everyday mundane stuff because they are so different.

AND, I think it would be neat to have a Lorna/Esme scene. DUDES. What if later into the pregnancy Esme is like, randomly sitting next to Lorna, and can hear the baby’s thoughts manifesting for the first time. Don’t mind while I go stand in the corner and CRY. MY HEART.

I could go on and on honestly, but I will check myself now because this is getting OUT OF CONTROL. Thanks for the great asks anon, this def made my monday better. xo

[franeridart]

hey fran, i really love you & your art!! i fell in love w your bokuroteru tattoo au after reading it through, and then i found your bakushimas and i love them so much! you're actually the reason i found the motivation to start bnha lol and i'm really glad i did, so thx!

Thank you!!!!!! So much!!!!!!!!!! For liking my stuff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *O* and you’re most welcome, I’m super happy you’re liking it!!!!!

Anon said:I love dragons and I love kiri and I love your art so that post is like all three of my favourite things rolled into one, B L E S S.

I’M GLAD YOU LIKED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anon said:your traditional sketches are so cool!!! i feel like it kinda adds like depth to it or something but like those are so neat what if you lined some

Thanks!! And I’ve actually thought about that, but I’m not much a fan of going back on stuff I already posted... it’s more probably I’ll just go back to the concept and draw more instead of lining those haha

Anon said:FRAN UR TRADITIONAL ART IS SO CUTE OMG ITS SO GOOD (also DRAGONSSSS)

GAH I’M SO DAMN HAPPY YOU GUYS ACTUALLY LIKED THOSE OH MY G O D S

Anon said:voltron third season is cOMING SOON AS IN TWO DAYS AAAAAA ARE U EXCITED?

Anon... my pal... my dear friend... I don’t know how to break this to you but... I haven’t even properly watched s2 yet...

Anon said:i started reading bnha bc i wanted to understand your art better, and I gotta say it's a really great series. thanks for inspiring me to read it. finished the manga today and my favs are definitely kirishima, tamaki, toshinori and fatgum. actually I knew kiri would be my fave anyway bc 75% of why i got interested in your bnha drawings was bc of him...he's just?? so good?? that aside your art is incredible and your characterizations of the bakusquad are perfect. you're super cool, keep doing you!

I’m!!!!!!!!!!!! aaahhh!!!!!!!!!!!!! thank you so much oh my god ;A; I’m happy you decided to try it, I’m super happy you ended up liking it, and I’m indecently happy you actually do like Kirishima!!!!! BOI!!!!!!!!!!!! He needs all the love he can get, the pure son ;A;

Anon said:your art is so good wth!! everytime i get the notif that you posted i get so excited!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!

Anon said:The fuck is shitty ab these traditional art pics. They're good, everything u do is good, don't play blind u perfect shit

Tough love! Sometimes this comes around my inbox too haha it’s fine anon, the reason why I rarely draw traditionally is that I never feel like I’m done with a drawing when I do, feel incomplete for however much details I put in because tbh there’s always more I can do on them, so with shitty I mostly meant “incomplete” lol going okay this is finished is something I don’t know how to do with traditional doodles hah

Anon said:yo what happened to your hand bro?

Therapy with my dermatologist that ends up giving me blisters on one of my fingers! It’s nothing serious, but makes arting sorta hard haha

Anon said:You should draw more kiribaku kids it had me really interested and brought out my happy

Should I 👀👀👀 an ugly word, let’s try with could next time shall we - that said, seems like yall really did like something that for me was a one time thing! I might get back on them in the near future, just because that post seems to have blown up way more than I had anticipated haha

Anon said:ahhhhhhh i absolutely love your art. i've been feeling very irritated lately and your kiribaku / kiribakushima art really helps calm me down.

This makes me super happy to know!!!! Oh my gods!!!!!! I hope life has stopped getting on your nerves in the couple days it took me to answer, anon!!!

Anon said:Headcanon: kirishima plays dream daddy

To be honest I don’t know anything about that game aside from “it’s a dating sim” and “it’s gay”, but either way to me it sounds more like something Kaminari would play hahaha

Anon said:Hey Fran! I recently caught up with the BNHA anime thanks to you (still have to get around to the manga) and I loveeee itt so much (pretty much adopted like 20 kids😂) have a lil question tho, in your AU/bnha comic thingy are Bakugo and Midoriya finally like... "okay" friends? Or is Bakugo still acting like he hates the poor boy? Thanks in advance and also absolutely love your art~😍

WEEEEHHHHYYYYYY I’m glad you decided to check it out, anon!!!!! But, I’m sorry I’m gonna need you to be more specific here since I don’t have any “ongoing” AU for that fandom atm - exactly which comic are you referring to?

Anon said:I've been restraining myself from going on Tumblr to once a month max for like a year or so now because it was exams and then I had a new year (MY LAST YEAR) of high school to worry about, and I know me. When I go on Tumblr, I stay on Tumblr for literally an entire day. Or more. And then I accidentally stumbled upon your stuff today and wasted (thoroughly enjoyed) a day of scrolling through your art and asks. I never knew I shipped bakushima so hard until today. Thank you for your beautiful art.

AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I’m so happy you decided to use your one day for my blog omfg !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you so so much for this ask, it made me really super happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anon said:do you know the song that is playing when endeavor is fight the winged nomu? ive tried looking for it but I can't seem to find it. thanks if you know it. its fine if you don't. btw you're amazing

Eeep sorry anon this ask is so old omfg I hope you found your answer somewhere else - also because I’m actually the worst person in the world to ask about soundtracks orz so, like, double sorry o

Anon said:A cute kirikamibaku thought to hopefully help cheer you as you wait for your hand to heal again: the three of them going out to a restaurant and Denki trying to subtly convince the other two to order something he wants to try when he can't decide what he wants to eat. Whenever he succeeds, he ends up eating just as much off their plates as his own.

This has actually been cheering me up for days now so thank you !!!!!!! Also because I’ve been thinking about Bakugou giving in but making it super spicy out of spite and honestly that’s the funniest thing hahahaha

Anon said:MATSUHANA🌸🌸🌸🌸

IT’S INDEED A SHIP THAT EXISTS! A GREAT ONE TOO!!

Anon said:I can't stop thinking abt that one anon that sent you "Batsuki Katsuki" and I'm losing my fuckin mind over it oh my god but anyway hello I love ur art I hope you have a good day ( ˘ ³˘)♥

THANK YOU!!!! I hope you’ll have a great month, anon!!!! *O* and also tbh same I randomly remember it and laugh by myself thank you anon for that gem I’m never getting over it haha

Anon said:I live for your bakukirikami art. I never had an ot3 until these boys, and they're just so so good. Do you think any of them ever gets insecure/jealous about the other two's bond in the relationship? I feel like if anyone would it might be Denki? But I dunno, because the way you portray them I like to think that they all actually just love watching each other be cute and bond and stuff.

Yeah that’s how I see them!  You know how, like... when you’re friends with two people and they’re friends with each other and you look at them being silly together and you’re like boy I’m so glad I have both of you in my life and that I can have you both at the same time and that you can be silly and adorable and happy together too - that’s exactly how I portray the bkk, only it’s romantic instead of platonic haha

Anon said:Your art has inspired me to write some BakuKiri / KiriBaku bless!!!! I'm also writing KiriBakuKami as well, thank you so much for the gorgeous art!

THIS IS THE BEST SORT OF ASK!!! THE BEST!!!!!

Anon said:Hello! It's the anon that asked about posting your art online for the first time. Thank you so much for answering my questions! That means a lot to me. I'll definitely take your advice. You made me feel a lot better about posting my stuff online. I'm gonna go ahead and draw the things that make me happy and,, hopefully I'll find people that like it like me!

AAAAHHHHHH I’m happy I could help!!! And I’m sure you will, anon!!!!! I hope you’ll be able to have a great time in whatever community you decide to be part of *O*

Anon said:I was feeling slightly uck but then I was like "you know what would make you feel better" and I just started scrolling through your blog and HONESTLY you are a blessing I feel a lot better and lighter and looking at your blog is literal self care for me now I love you and I hope you have a fantastic day

Sob thank you so much for this ask ;A; aaahhhhhhhh!!!! I’m so happy I can help you like that and this made me feel great back when I first read it (and also now that I’m rereading it, honestly!!!) so thank you for making my days better too, anon!!!!

[7goodangel]

Hi, I know this is gonna bother you and I apologize for it (much so bc I'm using anonymous), but I really need help... I've known you're a college student yourself, so am'I, don't get me wrong, college is fun despite the difficulty, expenses and professors, but I just can't find time to do what I love most anymore (doodle, draw, write a story, etc) bc I can't just leave my studies alone...I take medicine as my course and I just can't concentrate with drawing ideas booming in my head. Any advice?

Ok! First - no need to feel like you are bothering me! You are not and I always want to help out others when I can!

But gosh - I understand that fully. While I have now graduated from college (twice) and not going back again any time soon, all of my experience is still fresh in my head. But I get it - That’s why I was having a harder and harder time to upload things to this blog as things got harder. 

However - this is what I did in order to keep focus. I typically set a whole day devoted to homework. I would do one, then do a 15-30 minute break, then move to the next, do a break, and keep going. And this was usually a Saturday cause I was the college student that had no life outside of college. 

But this? That was able to motivate me to the next break - which although short, allowed me to sketch, to check tumblr, and more. And what I also tried to do was to finish my work as soon as I can. This is so then things don’t pile up and a chance to do nothing is higher. I also try to not do homework past a time each day. Like after supper I don’t do homework if I can avoid it. (If it’s like - due the next day then I have no choice but to do it then but that’s what I tried). Then after then I wind down with drawing and doing things I like. 

Still did it like that even when I had a part time job consuming a chunk of my week. 

Doing things early allowed me to ask questions in class (which then I proceeded to do homework in class - don’t do that. That was a dumb move for me) or after class so then I could get it done a few days to even a week plus prior to the due date. 

Another thing I did is around Midterms and Finals - I go on hiatus from all of my social media accounts. This eliminated one thing I felt like I needed to keep updated and active and your followers/watchers/etc will understand! It helped me to keep focus. This didn’t mean I didn’t look at them to check what was going on - just eliminated that urge and stress of “oh gosh I didn’t post anything today!”. 

I think the best thing to do is to experiment on what could work for you. It took me a bit to finally figure out this was the best for me. Maybe you rather like to do homework slowly over the week - and that’s fine! Then if you could, try to do the homework of the class you just had if there is time. And just do it like that. If it’s a larger project - I highly recommend starting that asap - I didn’t do that and gosh I felt so stressed by the end of the semester. So yeah - just go through and figure out what’s the best for you - ask others who are/were in college what their strategies are! 

Hopefully this helped you out somewhat. Just - make sure you do keep up with medication and other daily needs. I have skipped some needs before due to lack of motivation and trust me it’s not a good feeling. Shower every day/night, Brush your teeth, take medication, eat, drink, sleep - all of those are necessary. My biggest thing to say about college is to NOT skip on any of those things - not even for one night! You will fall out of a rhythm quicker than you think. I’m still trying to get back into using my retainer after A YEAR PLUS OF NOT USING IT due to lack of motivation and stress within my area. 

((Also for those idea bursts - ALWAYS have a pen/pencil and paper with you. Always! When you think of something - jot it down quick. Don’t try to focus on that writing down for more than 15 minutes. At least then you have the idea written/quickly sketched down for later. Another thing I did was if I had time between classes (like an hour or less) I took it as a challenge to finish a sketch idea prior to the next class.))

But yeah - while this was a long thing to read (sorry about that) I hope that this helps you out in some fashion Anon!!!