#I have some really fun plans for this save!

[revelboo]

Creeping in with a spice request..what other bots might use restraints in the berthroom? We definitely know tfp soundwave does.

But I was also having a wandering mind with other possibilities. Prowl..tfp megs...maybe jazz...def Es soundwave I definitely remember his tie job with those extension cables 👀

Oooh shibari/restraint fun…

Restraint Headcanons/Scenarios

18+ Mass displaced mechs 🌶️

Prowl

• “Don’t you dare!” Laughing despite yourself as you struggle against the weird harness he’s wrapped you up in, your arms and torso bound, loops hooking around your thighs and crisscrossing you. And your eyes drift up to the length of chain dangling from the ceiling and the hook at the end. Wiggling when he hauls you up and there’s a moment of discomfort as he adjusts the harness. “Prowl,” you protest, giggling as you spin in a lazy circle, snarled in the loops and knots of soft rope. “What if I changed my mind?”

• “Have you?” He asks, head tipping as he moves around you and checks the harness. Making sure you’re comfortably suspended. Circling back in front of you, his servos slide against your inner thigh, the harness keeping you pinned and spread wide for him. “All you have to do is ask.” And he’ll let you down eventually, servos stroking you and watching you arch and wiggle what little bit you can. Bound and helpless. “Do you want me to stop?” Pressing a servo inside you, he growls. Despite your protests, you’re slick already.

• And he’s leaning forward to vent against you as he thrusts that servo deep, curling it. “Don’t stop. Please, don’t stop.” Moaning a protest when he slips his servo free and releases his spike. Figuring out exactly why he’d called this a punishment for you being a brat when he grips your hips and slowly pulls you forward, his spike stretching you. And you can’t really move, arms bound and thighs spread wide. Watch his optics shutter as he groans and begins to use the harness, swinging you to meet his thrusts. Toes curling and head thrown back as his hips snap against yours. Completely at his mercy.

ES Soundwave

• In hindsight, provoking him on purpose might not have been your best plan, but you love the repercussions. Wriggling as he hooks an arm around you and ties your wrists with some of the stupid extension cord he’d apparently saved just for this, your breath wheezes out of when he bends your hips up trying to grab your bound wrists when you yank them over your head. Making you realize one of your legs is over his hip, the other against his shoulder. And his spike is right there against you. Hear his snarl, feel the way he shudders as he comes to the same realization.

• Gripping your hips, he buries himself inside you, stretching you in a deep drive and you moan, squirming. “Wait,” you gasp when he begins to move, hips pumping against you. Making a note that you’re so tight this way, hips curled up and unable to get any leverage to move. Curling himself move over you, he pins your wrists with a hand and listens to your ragged cries. Begging him for more even as you squirm and try to escape him. “Soundwave.” Moving faster against you, hips pumping as you tighten even more. Lost in the wet sound of you taking his spikes and your moans.

TFP Megs

• Optics hooded as he tugs on your glittering leash just to make those eyes flash up at him, warm mouth sliding on his spike to make him dig the clawed servos of his other hand into the throne he’d demanded the Vehicons fashion him for when he’s mass displaced. Sprawled back on it, thighs spread, he watches your head bob on his spike, tongue sliding on him and he growls. That wet heat and suction, the feel of you palm on his thigh, the other gripping his spike too much, snarling as he comes apart and you jerk your head back, his release on your chin and body. And those indignant eyes, narrowing because he’d not warned you how close he was. Tugging gently on your leash until you stand so he can pull you into his lap across his thigh, he wipes your bottom lip clean and snarls when your tongue darts out to lick him. Servos sliding against your skin, gathering his wasted release and grinning at you as he presses that slick servo inside you, stroking to make you squirm.

ES Tarantulas

• “Dammit, Tarantulas,” you groan as you realize he’d webbed you again. Your arms and legs bound and spread as you hang facedown. And you can hear his chittering laughter before he moves into view under you, mandibles flexing. “You could just ask.” Not just do it while you’re asleep so you wake up dangling and helpless like prey.

• “Part of the allure is capturing you,” he murmurs, clawed servos tipping your face as his mandibles brushes your cheek and neck. His sharp denta grazing your skin as his glossa chases your pulse. “A side effect of this altmode.” Legs plucking at the web you’re trapped in, he shifts against you and you make a noise when he flips himself, nuzzling between your thighs, glossa stroking inside you. Feeling you bucking and wiggling what little you can as he settles in. Has no intention of letting you loose for a while, keeping you helpless and trapped whole he breeds you.

Jazz

• Laughing as you squirm, his hands grip your hips and move you on his spike. Sprawled back against the wall, with your wrists bound and hooked around his neck, his lips brush your sweat slicked neck. Feeling you begin to tremble and tighten on him again as he lazily rolls his hips. You’d stopped being able to do much besides whimpering incoherently after the third or fourth round. Those little noises coiling him tight as he groans. Hearing your little ragged cries as he shakily vents. Loves you like this, so messy and needy and at his mercy as he fills you again and again. Thinking about sparking you as you press your face into his neck and come apart on him, fisting his spike. Every round making it harder to resist that need.

[kirbybecomesastarwarrior]

Shadowy Heart~

For those of you who were curious about Shadow Kirby's deal and what made him agree to it, it was the promise that he could start anew somewhere else and forget about who he was. No longer able to feel anything...

~

Now let's go over Kirby & Shadow Kirby. While they both get along fine, there's one key element that stops them from being "friends." A key thing that Dark Meta Knight and Shadow Kirby have in common is envy for their real-world counterpart.

While Kirby does have the weighing responsibilities of guarding Dreamland... He has an incredible support system. Powerful & great friends he can rely on... and most of all a great father figure he can lean on... While Shadow does not...

I know I'm still writing "The Knightmare's End" (sorry guys, it's still a WIP some world-building & plot points I gotta chisel out)After the events of the story (and things do get really messy), Kirby and Meta Knight growing together, addressing each other's issues, healing on another... forging such a deep bond father-son bond with each other.

Especially seeing that his Meta Knight would do anything for him.

During the events "Amazing Mirror/Triple Deluxe" (those plotlines are fused). Meta Knight being trapped in the Mirror Dimension. When he sees SK, he is exposed to a different Meta Knight and was surprised by how starkly different they were.

This Meta Knight was panicked by the fact of being separated from his Kirby, and he was missing. (Kirby House was already missing due to the Dream Stalk... and was planning to look up the Dreamstalk but was confronted by Dark first... he wasn't aware that the Dimension Mirror was right near where Kirby was.)

This is only driven further (when Kirby saves Dedede during his fight with Taranza, to be precise). Meta Knight manages to trick him back into the Mirror world! And this happens... And epic butt-kicking ensues... Oh yeah, fun fact: after this, MK calls Dark Meta Knight Discount Meta Knight.

While Dark Meta Knight was planning to abandon the Mirror World and him! This only deepened when Dark Meta Knight decided to ignore Shadow for helping Kirby & Meta Knight.

Oh, poor Shadow, if only he had someone to turn to. Oh, Goodie Morgans here. (While Planet Robots's happening... Shadow meeting her during his hour of need.) Very quickly to gain his trust, and when the time was right

Shadow's plot line is (actually) a revival of the Gawain HC I cooked last year. Which I loved but had no idea where to put it, that is, until I started writing Shadow Kirby's character. And realised they hit the same character elements as each other (Gawain & Shadow).

(Specifics of the deal I will reveal later due to spoilers; But, his deal very much hits the same beats as his Gawians deal. )

Loneliness and neglect cause both to make a bad decision. Allowing Morgan to play on their insecurities...Shadow very much becoming Morgan's pawn... believing that she created him (well technically she did) completely forgetting that he was ever a part of the Mirror World. And very much uses the constructs of Shadow Kirby to plan on how to take out the real Kirby. And the very first thing Morgan orders Shadow Kirby to do... destroy Shadow Dedede.

Yeah, I foreshadowed it in this last post, but Shadow Dedede is dead as a doornail... Let's hope no one else dies by Shadow's hands; that'd be awful~ And one more thing he does this in front of Dark. >:D

Well, it finally revealed that plot element. I'm trying to drop as much lore until I can make the announcement (I know I've been alluding to it since January. There's one more piece of lore that I AM DYING TO SHARE WITH YOU! I promise I saved the best for last; almost ready!

Hope you guys stick around to see what happens next. I hope you all have a wonderful day.

[askror]

Alright that's it, the lot of y'all need a day off! Mandatory vacation day starts now, what's the game plan?

"But I c-"

Lanolin's vision filled entirely with the face of Director Jewel's, the normally sunny-demeanored beetle looking dead serious for a change.

"No can'ts. No buts. You have three-hundred-fifty-two hours of paid leave saved up. Tangle and Whisper have already agreed. Kit has already agreed. You. Are. Taking. A. Day. Off."

The way Jewel's wide eyes wobbled and flickered as they stare into her own like twin abysses instilled a deep and primal terror in the sheep, who was immediately twitching and shifting nervously as she started to nod: "O-Okay. Okay! I'll go! Just, I don't know what I'm going to be doing yet, so." Like a switch had been flipped, Jewel's demeanor changes entirely back to the easygoing little office lady, beaming at Lanolin: "Oh, that's already been decided." Lanolin, cautiously: "It, uh... it has?" "You guys are going to have a beach episode!"

---

Emerald Coast was generally pretty placid as far as beaches go. A relatively gentle, easygoing tide rocked Tangle the Lemur as she floated on her back, adrift just a little off of shore. Lanolin watched her, terribly sweaty. The heat of beaches didn't really sit well with Lanolin. Too much wool, plus unrestrained sun and hot sand, plus the coastline humidity? She'd tied most of it up and back even more than usual, and traded out her very functional clothes for a two piece swimsuit that she'd bought a couple years back and never had any real reason to use, and even then she was feeling the heat. But she had to admit, the place was gorgeous. The water was so blue! "Why are you two being so boring? The water's nice and relaxing today!" Tangle called out to her from a distance. It was the... Sixth? Time she'd done so since Whisper wandered off to go find them some chili dogs, and left the hyperactive girl without a playmate. "I'll come out there in a bit, Tangle. Lemme stretch out and relax a little!" She called, finally giving in to the demand but putting it off just a little longer. Water and wool didn't mix well, but she'd worry about that later. She glanced over to her side at Kit, who had of course not responded. The fennec was dealing with the heat admirably in comparison to her; he looked entirely at home lying on a beach towel in those baggy swim trunks she'd bought him on the way here, hands behind his head with cool shades over his eyes (She had no idea where he'd gotten those, to be fair). "Sure you don't want to go out there and play?" "I don't really like swimming. " Although it was the usual turning down of fun and excitement, he didn't sound dull or unhappy. Actually, he sounded remarkably relaxed. Like he belonged by the sea. She could tell he liked it despite his attempts to the contrary. Maybe he was just hot-natured? She could only imagine how miserable staying in Winterburg must have been for him. She was about to interrogate him further, but Tangle interrupted her with another call.

"If y'all don't wanna come out in the water... I'm gonna bring the water to you!" The lemur had gotten out of the water far enough to be standing not far from them. It was close enough for Lanolin to see what she was doing and react with horror as she watched the lemur shift her thick tail to rest beside her and then PUSH! The sproingly appendage raked across the surface of the water and then burst out of it, and with it came an enormous mass of sea water in a huge crescent, directly at them. "TANGLE, YOU-!" She put her hands up, but the inevitable drenching never came. After a few seconds she closed her eyes, and they widened with surprise: the huge splash had turned into a big globe, hovering in midair above them. Kit had one of his arms extended, still completely neutral-faced in those sunglasses as he drew lazy patterns in the air with his fingers. Inevitably, that giant mass of water began to levitate towards the awestruck lemur now standing on the shoreline watching it with her mouth open. "Ah! K-Kit! Buddy, old pal! Can't we talk about this?" She stammered, slowly beginning to take step backwards as the huge mass followed her. "No talking. Now is Lemur Destruction Time," he said with a yawn. Tangle began to sprint down the beach away from them, wailing, her impending doom hovering behind her faster and faster. "Food's here. I'll, um. Hold onto Tangle's for now." A quiet voice came from behind them. Lanolin and Kit turned to find a familiar wolf in a sporty blue swimsuit behind them, smiling with a small platter of chili dogs. Somewhere off in the distance, there was a massive splash sound and a vocalization that sounded something like "blrrrrghbblglglglbl".

"Thank you," Lanolin said with a little smile, accepting a veggie dog and an Icee from the wolf. She handed over a teriyaki-jalapeno dog to Kit not long after, the fennec immediately beginning to dig in. Neither of them mentioned the strange faces he was making as he was eating it, as they understood why he got it well enough.

The day would proceed rather swimmingly; and not just because more swimming followed once they finally got Tangle toweled off! Food by the beach, a stop at the arcade where Kit blew them all away clearing Golden Axe with a single credit, some shopping in Station Square... All in all, a very relaxing day. You need one of those now and then, or you'll start going crazy.

[cicerfics]

YESSSSSS.

Okay, listen. I do think Bond (a man who doesn't really know to be a person) is really bad at knowing how to fill up his hours in between missions. All he knows is drink too much, exercise too much, have too much impersonal self-destructive anonymous sex, and lie!!

So he hangs out in Q-branch a li'l bit, and Q is fine with this, but of course he expects Bond to make himself useful if he's going to be loitering about!

Here, 007. Help the interns replace these cables. Solder that SATA connector into place. Look through that bin of old hardcopies and tell me if anything in there needs to be scanned and saved or if we can shred it all. Etc.

He just makes use of Bond as a second pair of hands and eyes! And Bond is (much to everyone else's surprise) very content to go along with this. Oh, he complains sometimes, and pretends he won't do what Q says, and so on, and so forth. But then he does help out and perform the tasks Q assigns him, and then actually goes looking for more.

These are Things He Can Do, and they fill up his spare hours, and sometimes Q says nice things about his work, and sometimes Q tuts over his work, and scolds him, and bullies him a lil bit, and that's fun, too. :)

And at some point, Q is off for three consecutive days (probably Tanner has put his foot down about the overtime Q has been working) and Q is like. Hm. Bond is currently in London. He will not be on a mission during the next 72 hours. Who knows what havoc he will cause for himself and others if he is left to his own guardianship with all this spare time on his hands!! Can't have THAT.

So, as he packs up for his three days of leave, he peremptorily tells Bond to gather his things and come along. Q has many errands and chores to catch up on. Bond can help. Q can use him to carry the sacks of cat litter! Also, Q wants to do some cooking but he detests chopping onions, so Bond can do that for him. Come along, Bond! Off we go! It will be a MUCH more productive and wholesome use of your time than whatever else you were planning to do over the next three days!

Bond complains and pretends to drag his feet. He says he's not Q's dogsbody, and clearly all this power is going to Q's head, and Bond is going to file a complaint with Tanner, etc. But he's also gathering his coat and Q's as he says all this, and holding the door for Q so they can leave together.

And then Bond simply proceeds to shadow Q All The Time when he's not on a mission, and it rapidly reaches a point where Q feels odd and uncomfortable when Bond IS on a mission because. Where is Bond. Where is the duckling that's supposed to be following me. 😟

Accidental codependent work husbands ooopppppps.

Q is very competent (fact), and is generally regarded as one of the cleverest people in the local area (at least Bond thinks so), and so when he says/ does something, people do it. he's a leader, right?

so when he goes up to Bond as is just like "we're going here" or "we're doing this" or "you should do this", he listens (outside of missions, of course). he doesn't even know what's going on- and he doesn't want to, because surely Q knows what hes doing. like, yeah, I'll follow you to the end of the earth, because youd be going for a good reason, and youd know how to get back.

i just think that outside of missions Q would be doing stuff and Bond would just follow along like a little baby duck, because where else is he going? and he of course would trust Q to drag him around, Q's the one who knows everything (ie how to function as a normal person) so yeah, he's in good hands.

is this- somewhat accidental- top Q propaganda? you interpret that

I'll tell you what this has become accidental propaganda for: Bond's massive abandonment issues. hes been abandoned by basically everyone at some point, so hes definitely like ' hi (: hello (: will you let me stay within 6ft of you forever (:' and Q at first might be a bit wary of being tailed in his own workplace, but is soon all like, ' come along lets do this, lets do that.' aaaaaaaaaaand now they're codependent, aren't they? oopsie

TLDR: Q is mumma duck, Bond is baby duck. this may cause problems, but it is 00q.

[oatberrytea]

🧹Auburn's kitchen witch outfit + details 🧹

[reksink]

This October Feels a Bit...OFF

Promplist by @/mothscotch 💚

[danielnelsen]

well that's just a lie

[kirisclangen]

Larchpaw

She/her, 8 moons, cis molly

[petricorah]

baldur's gate is going great

[lordsardine]

[lichposting]

Everything’s going so normal and okay for Zxar lately btw :) she’s back where she’s meant to be ❤️ she’s happy it’s so good it’s great

[rearranging-deck-chairs]

bad wolf soda <3

[hlvrai-stuck-together]

((OOC))

Sorry I keep updating at like. midnight. I honestly dont have an excuse besides i go to work and i get home and i'm tired fghsdajk

Gonna take me a little while to get into the swing of this. I've never done an askblog like this before (though I have hosted... technically 3 in the past? (EDIT: no, 4 actually.) But never like this, and none of them went anywhere), so trying to get into the swing of it has been weird.

Glad people seem to be enjoying it, though! I had no idea it'd take off like this, aha. Hopefully I can get a bit more consistent and stop uploading at 2 AM, lol.

That said, I don't know what my schedule's gonna be (if I even start one). So if there's a couple days where I don't upload, it's not because I abandoned the AU or anything, it's probably just because I'm busy IRL.

Feel free to keep sending in asks even if I'm not online! I've already got a lot of really good ones sitting there that I'm gonna hold onto for a bit (for. reasons).

This has been really fun so far, and I hope everyone's having fun, too! Just bear with me while I figure this out. I'm hoping to get out a ref of [ERROR] soon, and also stop calling him that soon, but getting into character is proving to be a challenge when you do it on and off like this. But that's never stopped me before and it won't now. Like I said, this has been fun so far!

That said, if anyone has any suggestions on a meta level, I'm all ears. I realize now that I've run into this basically blind, so even though I did a couple week's worth of preparation in advance for this blog, I'm also still floundering a bit. Learning more every day, though! And I'm hoping I can pick up the pace soon as well. After Day 1's rapidfire replies, going at a more leisurely pace feels really slow, and I both wanna fix that but also don't know how because, like I said, I keep uploading at midnight gfdshjk

TL;DR I'm working on it dw lol

-Mod Dimonds

[kordbot]

oh yea i forgot to tell my tumblr girlies that i finished rod's route today which means i'm officially done with playing lisa for now ! i dont really feel like doing joyed route variants [too much branching for me. also i beat hardest rider on pain mode first try so it would be. so easy] and i got all 5 joyless endings so that's satisfying enough for me :]

[archaeren]

How I learned to write smarter, not harder

(aka, how to write when you're hella ADHD lol)

A reader commented on my current long fic asking how I write so well. I replied with an essay of my honestly pretty non-standard writing advice (that they probably didn't actually want lol) Now I'm gonna share it with you guys and hopefully there's a few of you out there who will benefit from my past mistakes and find some useful advice in here. XD Since I started doing this stuff, which are all pretty easy changes to absorb into your process if you want to try them, I now almost never get writer's block.

The text of the original reply is indented, and I've added some additional commentary to expand upon and clarify some of the concepts.

As for writing well, I usually attribute it to the fact that I spent roughly four years in my late teens/early 20s writing text roleplay with a friend for hours every single day. Aside from the constant practice that provided, having a live audience immediately reacting to everything I wrote made me think a lot about how to make as many sentences as possible have maximum impact so that I could get that kind of fun reaction. (Which is another reason why comments like yours are so valuable to fanfic writers! <3) The other factors that have improved my writing are thus: 1. Writing nonlinearly. I used to write a whole story in order, from the first sentence onward. If there was a part I was excited to write, I slogged through everything to get there, thinking that it would be my reward once I finished everything that led up to that. It never worked. XD It was miserable. By the time I got to the part I wanted to write, I had beaten the scene to death in my head imagining all the ways I could write it, and it a) no longer interested me and b) could not live up to my expectations because I couldn't remember all my ideas I'd had for writing it. The scene came out mediocre and so did everything leading up to it. Since then, I learned through working on VN writing (I co-own a game studio and we have some visual novels that I write for) that I don't have to write linearly. If I'm inspired to write a scene, I just write it immediately. It usually comes out pretty good even in a first draft! But then I also have it for if I get more ideas for that scene later, and I can just edit them in. The scenes come out MUCH stronger because of this. And you know what else I discovered? Those scenes I slogged through before weren't scenes I had no inspiration for, I just didn't have any inspiration for them in that moment! I can't tell you how many times there was a scene I had no interest in writing, and then a week later I'd get struck by the perfect inspiration for it! Those are scenes I would have done a very mediocre job on, and now they can be some of the most powerful scenes because I gave them time to marinate. Inspiration isn't always linear, so writing doesn't have to be either!

Some people are the type that joyfully write linearly. I have a friend like this--she picks up the characters and just continues playing out the next scene. Her story progresses through the entire day-by-day lives of the characters; it never timeskips more than a few hours. She started writing and posting just eight months ago, she's about an eighth of the way through her planned fic timeline, and the content she has so far posted to AO3 for it is already 450,000 words long. But most of us are normal humans. We're not, for the most part, wired to create linearly. We consume linearly, we experience linearly, so we assume we must also create linearly. But actually, a lot of us really suffer from trying to force ourselves to create this way, and we might not even realize it. If you're the kind of person who thinks you need to carrot-on-a-stick yourself into writing by saving the fun part for when you finally write everything that happens before it: Stop. You're probably not a linear writer. You're making yourself suffer for no reason and your writing is probably suffering for it. At least give nonlinear writing a try before you assume you can't write if you're not baiting or forcing yourself into it!! Remember: Writing is fun. You do this because it's fun, because it's your hobby. If you're miserable 80% of the time you're doing it, you're probably doing it wrong!

2. Rereading my own work. I used to hate reading my own work. I wouldn't even edit it usually. I would write it and slap it online and try not to look at it again. XD Writing nonlinearly forced me to start rereading because I needed to make sure scenes connected together naturally and it also made it easier to get into the headspace of the story to keep writing and fill in the blanks and get new inspiration. Doing this built the editing process into my writing process--I would read a scene to get back in the headspace, dislike what I had written, and just clean it up on the fly. I still never ever sit down to 'edit' my work. I just reread it to prep for writing and it ends up editing itself. Many many scenes in this fic I have read probably a dozen times or more! (And now, I can actually reread my own work for enjoyment!) Another thing I found from doing this that it became easy to see patterns and themes in my work and strengthen them. Foreshadowing became easy. Setting up for jokes or plot points became easy. I didn't have to plan out my story in advance or write an outline, because the scenes themselves because a sort of living outline on their own. (Yes, despite all the foreshadowing and recurring thematic elements and secret hidden meanings sprinkled throughout this story, it actually never had an outline or a plan for any of that. It's all a natural byproduct of writing nonlinearly and rereading.)

Unpopular writing opinion time: You don't need to make a detailed outline.

Some people thrive on having an outline and planning out every detail before they sit down to write. But I know for a lot of us, we don't know how to write an outline or how to use it once we've written it. The idea of making one is daunting, and the advice that it's the only way to write or beat writer's block is demoralizing. So let me explain how I approach "outlining" which isn't really outlining at all.

I write in a Notion table, where every scene is a separate table entry and the scene is written in the page inside that entry. I do this because it makes writing nonlinearly VASTLY more intuitive and straightforward than writing in a single document. (If you're familiar with Notion, this probably makes perfect sense to you. If you're not, imagine something a little like a more contained Google Sheets, but every row has a title cell that opens into a unique Google Doc when you click on it. And it's not as slow and clunky as the Google suite lol) (Edit from the future: I answered an ask with more explanation on how I use Notion for non-linear writing here.) When I sit down to begin a new fic idea, I make a quick entry in the table for every scene I already know I'll want or need, with the entries titled with a couple words or a sentence that describes what will be in that scene so I'll remember it later. Basically, it's the most absolute bare-bones skeleton of what I vaguely know will probably happen in the story.

Then I start writing, wherever I want in the list. As I write, ideas for new scenes and new connections and themes will emerge over time, and I'll just slot them in between the original entries wherever they naturally fit, rearranging as necessary, so that I won't forget about them later when I'm ready to write them. As an example, my current long fic started with a list of roughly 35 scenes that I knew I wanted or needed, for a fic that will probably be around 100k words (which I didn't know at the time haha). As of this writing, it has expanded to 129 scenes. And since I write them directly in the page entries for the table, the fic is actually its own outline, without any additional effort on my part. As I said in the comment reply--a living outline!

This also made it easier to let go of the notion that I had to write something exactly right the first time. (People always say you should do this, but how many of us do? It's harder than it sounds! I didn't want to commit to editing later! I didn't want to reread my work! XD) I know I'm going to edit it naturally anyway, so I can feel okay giving myself permission to just write it approximately right and I can fix it later. And what I found from that was that sometimes what I believed was kind of meh when I wrote it was actually totally fine when I read it later! Sometimes the internal critic is actually wrong. 3. Marinating in the headspace of the story. For the first two months I worked on [fic], I did not consume any media other than [fandom the fic is in]. I didn't watch, read, or play anything else. Not even mobile games. (And there wasn't really much fan content for [fandom] to consume either. Still isn't, really. XD) This basically forced me to treat writing my story as my only source of entertainment, and kept me from getting distracted or inspired to write other ideas and abandon this one.

As an aside, I don't think this is a necessary step for writing, but if you really want to be productive in a short burst, I do highly recommend going on a media consumption hiatus. Not forever, obviously! Consuming media is a valuable tool for new inspiration, and reading other's work (both good and bad, as long as you think critically to identify the differences!) is an invaluable resource for improving your writing.

When I write, I usually lay down, close my eyes, and play the scene I'm interested in writing in my head. I even take a ten-minute nap now and then during this process. (I find being in a state of partial drowsiness, but not outright sleepiness, makes writing easier and better. Sleep helps the brain process and make connections!) Then I roll over to the laptop next to me and type up whatever I felt like worked for the scene. This may mean I write half a sentence at a time between intervals of closed-eye-time XD

People always say if you're stuck, you need to outline.

What they actually mean by that (whether they realize it or not) is that if you're stuck, you need to brainstorm. You need to marinate. You don't need to plan what you're doing, you just need to give yourself time to think about it!

What's another framing for brainstorming for your fic? Fantasizing about it! Planning is work, but fantasizing isn't.

You're already fantasizing about it, right? That's why you're writing it. Just direct that effort toward the scenes you're trying to write next! Close your eyes, lay back, and fantasize what the characters do and how they react.

And then quickly note down your inspirations so you don't forget, haha.

And if a scene is so boring to you that even fantasizing about it sucks--it's probably a bad scene.

If it's boring to write, it's going to be boring to read. Ask yourself why you wanted that scene. Is it even necessary? Can you cut it? Can you replace it with a different scene that serves the same purpose but approaches the problem from a different angle? If you can't remove the troublesome scene, what can you change about it that would make it interesting or exciting for you to write?

And I can't write sitting up to save my damn life. It's like my brain just stops working if I have to sit in a chair and stare at a computer screen. I need to be able to lie down, even if I don't use it! Talking walks and swinging in a hammock are also fantastic places to get scene ideas worked out, because the rhythmic motion also helps our brain process. It's just a little harder to work on a laptop in those scenarios. XD

In conclusion: Writing nonlinearly is an amazing tool for kicking writer's block to the curb. There's almost always some scene you'll want to write. If there isn't, you need to re-read or marinate.

Or you need to use the bathroom, eat something, or sleep. XD Seriously, if you're that stuck, assess your current physical condition. You might just be unable to focus because you're uncomfortable and you haven't realized it yet.

Anyway! I hope that was helpful, or at least interesting! XD Sorry again for the text wall. (I think this is the longest comment reply I've ever written!)

And same to you guys on tumblr--I hope this was helpful or at least interesting. XD Reblogs appreciated if so! (Maybe it'll help someone else!)

[wraithsoutlaws]

man. u.u