#I'm not very good at giving advice

[isnt-it-pretty]

any advice for someone who never wrote a fanfic before?

Writing is a skill like any other. You wouldn't expect to pick up a flute and know how to play, would you? So no matter what, just keep writing.

Beyond that, here's a few pieces of general writing advice:

- Make sure your dialogue formatting is correct. A new paragraph every time a new person speaks, proper quotation marks, etc.

- Remember your tense. If you're writing in past tense, make sure everything is in past tense. The same applies if you're writing in present tense. It's an easy mistake to make, but people will notice.

- Don't use physical descriptors in place of nouns. Like this:

"Dialogue dialogue," the raven haired man said.

It's one of the quickest ways to turn people off your work. Use pronouns or the character's name unless the reader doesn't know the character's name. Sometimes you can get away with character relationships, ("blah blah," his father said), but use them sparingly.

- In a similar vein, just use 'said.' Words like whispered, shouted, etc., should be used for emphasis, not for regular dialogue.

- Don't learn to write from reading fics. You can tell when somebody does because they use all the tropes common to fanfiction, but honestly, those aren't very good (we've had passionate debates in my discord server about whether "golden orbs" or "the bluette said" is a greater sin. There is still no agreement.)

- Run your work through Grammarly. Copy and paste it into Grammarly's word processor since that works better than their google docs extension. Even the free Grammarly will help you a lot with little grammar things you don't notice. I know it picks up typos and such for me all the time.

- Personally, I suggest checking out some nonfiction writing books too. I'm fond of Stein on Writing by Sol Stein, and The Story Graph by Shawn Coney, but most people never do that, and they write fic just fine.

- Depending on the topic you plan on writing, research. I'm serious; the number of stories I've read that just toss in a deaf character because the author likes the headcanon is insane. If you want to deal with topics like disability or social issues, you need to research.

- If you post on ao3, learn the tagging system and use it properly. For example, "/" is romantic, and "&" is platonic. In general, don't use both for the same two characters.

- This is an excellent master list of writing advice by tumblr user she-who-fights-and-writes. Not all of it will apply to fic writing, but the basics are the same.

None writing but still important things:

- You'll never be happy if you compare your work to others. You can look at your pieces all day and wonder why they don't sound right or feel right or why it isn't like your favourite fic author, and it won't to make a difference.

- Coming off that, jealousy is a natural part of being involved in a skill-based community, but don't let it sour your friendships or make you bitter. I've seen it happen, and it makes everybody involved feel shitty. Meet people with kindness and move on, even if you think they don't deserve their popularity.

- Make friends! Fandom is a community. Authors should make friends with each other and with their readers. They should participate in the community by leaving comments on fics, reblogging art on social media, etc. This is supposed to be fun, so let it be.

- It is illegal to earn money off fan works. Don't mention anything to do with money on ao3. Don't link a kofi, paypal, say a work was a commission, etc. It breaks the terms of service.

- Just be kind and have fun.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

There's nothing he can't do. Yet.

(Thank you to everyone who participated in the poll!)

[sqarletsworldlesswandering]

Bold of you to assume I have any clue what I'm doing-

I don't know how much help I can be, but I can 100% info-dump about my various processes:

First things first, armor often does look the same - it serves the function of protection, so it often covers the same areas, and certain shapes and designs are most effective for that. Having armor that looks kinda same-y is normal and fine, especially for characters that operate in the same culture or region. That said, here's some different things I consider when designing (not necessarily all at once all the time though).

Vitals:

What needs protection? How badly? - E.g. chest and gut both need it, but the chest might need it more. This helps inform where I put armor.

Metals provide more protection, leathers provide some, cloth provides a little.

Context:

What environment are they in? What are they doing?

Things like temperature, plant life, and weather often inform the material and color. E.g. if it's hot out all the time, they might have lighter colored fabric and leather, rather than plating.

What they're doing impacts how much armor they need - someone who's on the front lines might need plating, chain mail, a gambeson, etc., Someone who's mostly exploring and gets into an occasional scuffle might only have leather coverage. A stealthy character might have more padding and minimal reflective surfaces.

Movement:

How flexible and fast do they need to be?

You can still move pretty well in plate, but for shorter times. If the character relies on speed and agility, they might stick to minimal plating - consider the weight of the armor.

Worldbuilding:

Are there any rules of their world that make something irrelevant? That introduce a limitation on material?

E.g. a mage being unable to wear leather or plate because it interferes with magic, or a warrior only having minimal plate armor because metal is scarce and expensive.

Shape language:

This is my favorite. What shapes is the character made of? Are they rounder with lots of circles? Pointy and angular with diamonds or triangles? Broad or hefty? Willowy?

I like to find the shape language of the character, then mimic it in the armor. A slender character might have very elegant armor, on a broader character I might exaggerate the thickness of the plating to match the character's vibe. A pointy character I'll give pointy armor, for a round character I soften the edges.

Characterization and ornaments:

What's the character's temperament? How does that translate to how they decorate their armor?

For a particularly prickly character, maybe their armor has spikes or spines. A pragmatic character might have minimal flourishes on their armor. A dramatic character might have lots of somewhat impractical detailing and more colors. A wealthy character might have more expensive materials. A classic example is the dramatic villain with lots of sharp, pointy, and slightly ridiculous spikes on his armor.

Example breakdown with Edda and Aven:

For Edda, her shape language is much more rounded and circular, so I wanted to reflect that with the edges on her armor. She also uses a sword and shield, so I wanted to run with the knight motif and lean into some fuller plate armor. However, I also wanted to keep her mobility fairly free, since she's the faster of the two characters, so the plating is segmented and a little more minimal, as well as being out of the way of her legs.

For Aven, he's more of a martial artist and is very flexible, as well as launching through the air, so I wanted his ensemble to be much lighter-weight looking. He guards with his arms a lot, so I gave him bracers, but everything else is cloth to allow for that tuck-and-roll mobility. Shape-wise, he's got points and angles, so a lot of his clothes come to points as well.

For both characters, vital organs and weight are something of a moot point, so I don't have to worry about that as much, and can go more on what look I want and how much flexibility the materials grant.

Aven be upon ye.

[tj-crochets]

Went to the doctor just for a check up and he basically just told me "your body just processes sugar very well! :) :) :) It's a good thing! :) :) :) It can't possibly be the source of your symptoms even though eating fixes it :) :) :)" But there was also a moment when talking about my iron deficiency that is possibly one of the funniest things a doctor has ever said to me, up with the cardiologist who said "you're a medical mystery": He was going over my blood test results, and said "Your iron levels haven't gone up at all, they are still extremely low, but you're not anemic anymore" And I was like how am I not anemic anymore??? And he said "Your hemoglobin levels have gone up...somehow..." while frowning at the blood test results on his computer. It was very "somehow, palpatine has returned" lol

[sharknark]

⬇️rant about a really good hengren (reverse renheng) fic i read. link at the bottom give it a whirl

i've never read a fic so well-catered to my tastes before in my life and the best part is that i was so caught off guard by how good it was cuz the tags and summary had me like "right this is some omegaverse-esque, rawr XD mating shit"

but from the very first paragraph i realized it wasn't just ao3-typical possessive mating shit it was (dare i say) IN CHARACTER possessive mating shit. underappreciated dan feng lore is the two hearts shit, duty expects him to smother his own empathy and perform cruelty obediently (and that being in his dragon form literally numbs his empathy towards mortals) but then it's flipped around and he's criticized for being too heartless

there aren't a great many english fics that take advantage of the 'numbed empathy' thing, so this fic using that to explore the toxic codependency that drove dan feng to making yingxing immortal in the first place is so!

dan feng's dragon heart prioritizing it's own indulgence and power, his human heart screaming against it for empathy and restraint, but both hearts united in this possessive adoration of yingxing... dan feng is possessive to the point of harming his partner, forcing them to take his affection, inherently contradictive to the protective impulse to see the other unhurt.

dan feng makes yingxing immortal in a really sketchy operation, despite knowing that yingxing is literally defined by his pride in being a short-life. he wants yingxing to be with him so badly that he does the one thing that would hurt yingxing the most, too blinded by possession, this sickly overbearing affection, to empathetically respect yingxing's death.

yingxing lived cramming every second he could into his craft and his goals precisely because he has so much less time than all the immortal species around him, but when he's forced into immortality, his hands are scarred and ruined past the point of ever crafting again. he suddenly has so much time, all this time he would've cherished as a mortal, but is totally useless to him now that his purpose for living and passion is gone.

so there being a scene in this fic where dan feng is moping "yingxing doesn't wanna fuck because he's glued to his workshop", being followed up with a scene of dan heng fucking blade while kissing his scarred hand and crying that he's "so sorry", yeah no shit asshole, his dragon heart got what it wanted, blade has all the time in the world to fuck and nothing competing for his now limitless attention and no one's happy about it.

as arrogant about being a short-life as yingxing was, it really is compensation for the discrimination he faced for it. other immortals looked down on him, so having dan feng, THE top dog, be so deeply enamored with him stirred his own toxic codependent urges. he was so desperate to have dan feng's eternal regard that he's willing to die for him (as in the sedition), his death being the force cementing his place in dan feng's heart forever.

so the fic having yingxing ruminate on this, that he had hoped for dan feng to love him even centuries after he inevitably died, only for the fic to end with:

yeah yingxing... you left an impression... he made you immortal.... everyone's upset by this

(that's what makes dan heng forgetting blade was ever yingxing to begin with all the more painful because, you went and turned him immortal and when it backfired horrifically you went on and fucking forgot, bitch i'd be pissed to the point of centuries long bloody pursuit of vengeance too.)

here's the fic go read it and leave kudos and a comment, technically porn but i got so invested in the character study that part barely registered. also yeah if you hadn't realized already super dead-dove:

blah blah "renheng is toxic" sorry that's why i like it

[hood-ex]

I have seen you talking about Dick & Dami's relationship and Dick & Tim as well,but what are your takes on Dick and Jason actually?

Like how you wish their relationship should be portrayed today and where are them missing when it comes to making those two acting like siblings?

Do you think in the past their dynamic was better?

How Dick views Jason and how Jason views Dick?

This is difficult to answer because there are like 8 different stages to Dick and Jason's relationship with various dynamics. They also view each other a bit differently depending on which stage we're talking about.

The way I would like their relationship to be portrayed today isn’t necessarily possible thanks to Jason’s integration into the family and acceptance of the no killing moral code. For me, their ideal dynamic is portrayed in Outsiders #44-46. And I know people are gonna find that regressive as hell but, tbh, that dynamic is far more interesting than the kinda awkward thing they have going on now.

Although, I don't mind that they acknowledge their brotherhood in a serious manner now. Like before they'd kinda be like, "Eh... I mean... we were adopted from the same guy but... brothers? Eh..." And now they're more firmly in the, "We're brothers," camp. So that development is interesting.

Character progression wise, it wouldn't feel right for for them to be super close in the way that, say, Dick and Tim are (unless we saw a lot of trust and relationship building between them), but at the same time, there is part of me that kind of wants them to have that older sibling bond (except Jason is closer in age to Tim than he is to Dick sooo actually let's just leave older sibling things to Dick and Cass... not that Cass is much older than Jason though so LOL this is why Dick has to lone the oldest sibling thing by himself... which is funny because Dick is technically no longer the oldest sibling, he's a baby brother now... except Dick and Melinda's relationship really hasn't progressed much sooo you could say they share blood but don't consider each other family yet, in which case, Dick is still the oldest... I mean, regardless, Dick is the oldest sibling of the Waynes... god why did they have to make all of this so difficult 😫).

[sysig]

Some scribbles :) (Patreon)

[zareleonis]

bro i'm so serious if we don't get the final installment in the nufu cat's tail gathering art trilogy where fu wins the rematch like the cyn0 trilogy last year i'll cry 😭😭😭

[letbuckfuck]

spiraling time

[maddy-ferguson]

talking to new people again is making me realize that (this is gonna sound dramatic) i haven't lived in five years but what i have done is watch a lot of movies and read a bunch of books and believe it or not that actually makes me an interesting conversationalist in some ways (?)

[wholesome-cryptid]

Prints this photo out and puts it inside my wallet so i may dramatically turn to them for guidance when im lost.

[mariocki]

New Scotland Yard: And When You're Wrong (1.13, LWT, 1972)

"You sent for me."

"I sent for you four days ago."

"I didn't get the message till yesterday."

"Right, you can put your diary down. Where have you been?"

"Busy."

"Doing what?"

"You know what I'm doing."

"I know what you're supposed to be doing, nobody seems to know what you're actually doing."

"You'll have my report when it's all wrapped up."

"I'll have it now. Whatever you were playing at before, you're now a witness in a murder case."

[roaringroa]

they should make a life where you don't have appointments, work, school and scheduled events every single day for months on end

[astramachina]

if there is one piece of advice that i could offer writers that aspire to get traditionally published, is that when people say the industry is wholly subjective, they are 100% correct and coming to terms with this is the difference between continuing on and just breaking.

whenever i'm not getting automated rejection messages, agents who actually take the time to explain why they're passing on the manuscript (a HUGE rarity but i've been lucky this round) makes you realize real quick that it really does boil down to "actually, i just didn't vibe with it".

i keep seesawing between wanting to scrap or keep my opening chapters, and so far it's been pretty 50/50 between there's too much going on, and, there's not enough going on on most of these rejections.

the most bewildering comment i've gotten so far was that there wasn't enough worldbuilding in the opening chapters. not enough worldbuilding. in a horror novel. a contemporary horror novel. something that goes against every standard regardless of genre.

like, zoinks scoob. it's all good. i'm confused, but we're chill about it.

[frankensteinmutual]

for real though how do I stop crushing so bad on the most inappropriate of people 😔

[ddddd-pixels]

To that one person that sent me an ask looking for advice on character sprite art...

I swear I'm not ignoring you I just genuinely don't know what advice I could give, sorry!! I've been doing this stuff for a while, but I don't really feel like I'm good enough to tell other people how to do it yet...

I'll still keep your ask in my drafts, in case I come up with anything, but I hope you can find the advice you're looking for eventually!!