#Writing Styles

[writerpolls]

*In writing terms, an architect is someone who plots out, plans, and outlines things before drafting. A gardener is someone who takes an initial idea and then just writes, seeing how the idea grows without specific plans.

Some people use the terms “plotter” and “pantser” (as in, going by the seat of their pants) for these writing styles, but I prefer architect and gardener.

[adinelleggreeo]

I realise now why I don't like reading first person POV fanfics.

Nobody ever writes them correctly. Instead of writing with the personality of the character, the character ends up sounding so detached from the events. It's like they're the faceless narrator recording the events and then jump in to interact when it's their turn to talk.

Just saw someone try to write Danny in the first person POV. The writing was fine, but the POV wasn't POVing.

Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief is an excellent example of a successful first person POV.

I remember reading the book for the first time at 13. I've never read a book with a first person POV until then and for a while I wrote a lot of my stories with that POV.

I suck at writing first person POV these days. Unfortunately knowing why I suck doesn't help me suck any less 🥲

[moltenwrites]

Hi! I read the bit of Paintings that’s out and I’m a fan. I really like how relaxingly told it is, it’s very flow-y and easy. When my attention span is more cooperative I’m interested to see what else you’ve got up as well, but that day is evidently not today haha.

On a lark, asking your thoughts on a technical question, just me nerding out, I’m curious if you have thoughts on writing serialized versus… is it just non-serialized? Less serialized? Fiction.

I’m of the opinion that a lot of, for my experience, manga suffer a lot from the lack of ability to edit their structure and continuity, however it gets me out of my head and onto the page. Even on ao3 I don’t like going back and editing continuity mistakes as I think it’s unfair to anyone who’s read the old chapters to suddenly say “hey, that name I forgot to add in chapter one?(this happened ~w~) Yeah, you know that now!”

Instead it forced me to get creative and add an element that didn’t clash with established world building and future plans, which was fun and challenging. So like, it’s better for me psychologically? Especially in terms of motivating me by having people actually see it while I’m moving forward.

Idk, it’s an art, not a science, just newish to the site and wanted to reach out and talk writing.

Happy New Year!

Heya, firstly I wanted to say this 100% made my day thank you SO SO much.

As for the question, I’m still honestly figuring that out! I’ve never really posted publicly, so I’m not sure if my stance on serilazation of this stuff will change, but here’s what I currently think for my writing. I personally don’t plan on changing anything ( except for maybe like a grammar/spelling error I didn’t catch ) after stuff is posted! Unless I feel like I made a mistake so great that it needs to be fixed, I’ll just try to work it into the story.

As for other people, I can 100% see both arguments. Even outside of the more niche communities here, some series would KILL for the ability to be able to change some old stuff.

I personally wouldn’t mind if a series in following were to change something, as long as it’s communicated to the reader in some way. Like in the unlikely event I WOULD make a major change, I’d make a blog post and put an addendum on whatever chapter would be posted next.

On the other hand, I always commend it when people find ways to write themselves out of corners. I think the ability to work around your continuity, especially in fantasy settings, is an important skill so that there aren’t constant retcons.

I hope I answered the question well enough haha, thanks again for reading, I’ll try to put up the next part soon ™️

Oh, and happy new year :)

[pandorasopenedbox3]

I once had a girl tell me I write with a fanfiction style and idk if that was supposed to be a compliment or not? What is fanfiction style??? I thought we just each had our own??? Like thank you??? Maybe??? Anyway I think I’ll think about that forever.

[writer-of-various]

okay wait, i have another question

how are you able to write so many fics? what is your process for writing? do you outline, do you edit, or do you just rawdog it (as the kids say)? do you have moodboards, or do you look up pictures as you write? do you listen to music or podcasts when you're writing, or do are you more productive with silence?

My process for writing is...a mess, to put it simply. I do rawdog (is that what they're really calling it? It paints a completely different picture–) my stories, usually because I can just be listening to a song or about to go to sleep or even eating, and an idea pops in my head. I try writing it out, completely in one go because I'm crazy and love torturing myself, and I have been successful in writing fics within two hours at most. There have been a few times I have written something, tried ignoring it, and went back to it and began re-editing the whole damn thing because I get angry that I start something and just abandon it. I'm not a quitter, and while I am quite hard on myself and try being a perfectionist at times, y'all will find some fics of mine that just look I copy and pasted three different stories together and called it a day. (I did that like...once. Maybe three times.) Honestly whatever comes to my head I just write it down and pray that I actually finish it one day.

Listening to music helps me a lot when writing, especially when I am struggling with a bad case of writer's block. And as we mentioned before when talking about my OCs, it helps to pick out certain songs or using a certain playlist to really get me going.

Depending on what I'm writing about, and if I need a little visual, I do look up some pictures, either of landscapes, cities, buildings, or just looking through different shades of colors to really put together an idea of how I'm describing my characters.

Being a bit open here, the job I have right now is...demanding, for better words. I know I went dead for around three months, and an additional three months of me just barely popping in. The last month in a half I have managed to start focusing on writing again and since this job is a career and a bit (why am I lying, it's a lot) stressful, I am making time in my schedule to continue writing because it has always been a coping mechanism, hobby, and passion of mine. I am actually impressed at the amount of fics I've written or started in like two months.

So hopefully that answers you're question, and also gives you another insight in my lovely (chaotic) life. I love these questions, they're like little interviews, never hesitate to send more.

Love you all, you wonderful writers and readers!

[deathsmallcaps]

Weird question: how do you write your letter X’s?

I encountered the first method drawn a couple days ago and I’ve never seen it before, so I’m curious. Please feel free to explain where you’re from/why you write it this way in the tags! I’m wondering if it’s a regional thing.

Black is first stroke, red is the second.if you do one of these, but ‘backwards’, doing what I call , please still choose the ‘frontwards’

1. Is what I call the parentheses method, which I’ve never seen before last week. Basically, you draw one parenthesis, open left, then another parenthesis open right, and their backs touch.

2. The cursive method, which I basically never do, where you do a squiggly first line, going from top left to bottom right, and then another diagonal going the other way

3. The print method, which I usually do, where you draw two diagonal lines perpendicular to each other. Should look like a plus sign on its side.

I’m hiding the poll under the cut so there’s less accidental voting before reading this whole thing.

@amaros-system I feel like this would interest you

[katriniac]

Pantser VS. Plotter

Gardener VS. Architect

These are different ways to describe your own writing style. I had heard about the pantser/plotter a while ago.

I write fanfics as well as do RPs with writing partners.

When I'm RPing I find that I'm mostly a pantser because that's what works naturally with my partners. But we do take time to workshop a path, but not nearly enough to call us plotters. However there is always a blend of the two.

When I'm writing my stories, though, I stop thinking in terms of the first two. Instead I prefer the gardener/architect concepts.

If you're not familiar with them, AO3's Tumblr account described them really well here:

Snippet from that post:

When I have a story idea, I find that I'm firmly in one camp or another. I don't cross over or mix them AT ALL.

And you know what? Once it's all done and I re-read after editing, I honestly can't say one way is better than the other. Both methods produce good stories. Both work for my weird writing habits.

What makes all the difference are these two things: How the fanfic idea was first inspired; Who I am writing this for (me VS a specific audience).

Are you a Pantser? Plotter? Gardener? Architect?

Do you have other terms or concepts you divide your writing styles into? I'd love to hear about them!

[kingsonne-zedecks]

I think its so interesting how differently people approach worldbuilding and prompts. Sometimes you get incredibly specific and rational prompts like

"Think about a city in your world. Name two different merchant factions, what they deal in, who their founders are, and how they rival each other. "

And sometimes you get prompts that are nothing more than.

"There is an alley. People don't like it. Why?"

And different writers thrive under each style dramatically differently.

Like, I can't do the first one at all, my brain just doesn't work like that. But give me a name for a superhero and I can come up with their powers and life story. Give me a vaguely bad alley and I can write about the unsettling magical phenomena that plague people who pass to closely by.

[apathmakerstale]

I’m curious since I use a nonstandard way to name my fic chapters and I see a fair amount of other styles.

Personally I do something like this for multi-chapter works.

"K.S/ The Old Roads Below III"

The initials 'K' and 'S' to signify POV order and a switch, in this case Kars is first and then it switches to Sherry. 'K' by itself signifies its only Kars's POV.

Then ‘ / ' to show that they are the ones involved with that arc.

Then 'The Old Roads Below' which is the arc name, and a Roman numeral, in this case the 3rd chapter of it.

[ahb-writes]

Misleading modifiers...

(from Disenchantment S1E18: "In Her Own Write")

[anulithots]

How I write: Overdramatic prose where water fell to the clouds, pooled between the fluffs, trickled to the stars beyond, washed out their glow, casting the sky in a dull light. Those stars where everywhere, and nowhere at all.

What I'm writing about: So character has been on "tumblr" for too long and is getting under-stimulated and is spiraling because there's not any dopamine in that brain.

[rateatingraccoon]

Writing process

Alright, it's ramble time, though I would be curious to hear feedback from other writers.

I had a bit of a realization recently.

For context, I'm a fanfic writer and I have an irl friend that also writes when the mood strikes them. Occasionally they'll enlist me to sort of be their editor and give them feedback, fix grammar, etc. in exchange for feedback on my work.

The thing is, we write very differently.

I tend to write my first draft like it's my final one (and it usually is). When words come out of my mind, they're usually already thought through and prepared. If you've read my work on ao3, you probably know that I don't beta read. My fanfics are edited very minimally. And yet, there's usually only a few errors, if any at all, even on the longer fics.

This applies to school, too. I don't use graphic organizers or drafts, really. I write, I go back and fix minor mistakes, I turn it in. It usually gets me a fine grade. When teachers would give use extra time to go back and revise, I would very rarely find anything I felt the need to fix.

Now, my friend, despite also being a writer, writes very differently. Their first drafts are often littered with mistakes, from punctuation to spelling. They are by no means a bad writer, but they often have to spend nearly as much time fixing things as they spent writing them.

The gist is that they write by word vomit, then go back and clean up the vomit. My words come out clean. It may take me an hour to write 1k words and them half an hour, but I can immediately publish those words without much error while they would have to go back and fix much of what they wrote.

I have a theory it may be thanks to my ADHD. When I finish things, I can't wait to post them, which leads to me usually not wanting to go back and edit - but if the writing is bad, I feel self-conscious. I theorize this might mean I just... evolved to write everything well on the first try. I've seen other people talk about writing like this, but also see many people, especially non-writers, feel more comfortable using drafts or even organizers.

So, I am curious. If you bothered to read this far, how do you write? Do your words come out, as my friend put it, “already elegant”, or do you have to edit often?

[fan-dweeb]

I am making my rapid rounds through different fandom’s fanfics to have a semblance of purpose in life, and isn’t it interesting that there’s a subtle difference in the general writing style of particular fandoms?

Like:

PJO fandom has a certain air of a teen recounting some story/ trying to sound professional

spiderman (mcu) feels like watching a movie as in focusing a lot on dialogue and the movements between

haikyuu is surprisingly literature (?? sorta like, long prose about small moments???)

hp has a lot of introspection

Idk these r just the ones I’ve been binging recently, lmk if u find anymore interesting ones

(PS *sighs in broken self-induced fanfic abstinence*)

[weshallflyaway]

What's your favorite piece you've written to date, and is there a link to read it?

What would you describe your writing style as?

If someone happened upon your writing, and knew nothing about you or the piece, what things do you think they would infer/imagine about you as a person?

Happy Writing Saturday

I'm sorry this has taken me so long to reply to, I recently returned from a long visit to my family and have been getting over jetlag and catching up on work!

My favourite piece that I've written to date is my novel, Border Crossings. I love writing fanfic, but there was always a desire to see if I could develop my own characters and write my own original work. I'm incredibly proud of it, and Lise and Michael still hold very special places in my heart. You can find it on amazon here and there is a kindle version.

For my favourite fanfic I've written it's difficult to choose just one, but I think it might be Higher Than Words.

If I had to describe my writing style I would say it's both to the point, and introspective. I don't tend to use a lot of descriptive paragraphs when it comes to the surroundings, clothes, weather etc and that can be something that readers either like or don't. For the introspective part, I enjoy focusing on feelings, change and growth when it comes to my characters. While they might go on physical journeys in some of my works, it's usually the personal journey of growth that is more important.

That last question is an interesting one and it's one that I would love to know from someone who has read my writing, just how do I come across as a person when you read my stories? Would people assume I'm older or younger than I am? I think I could possibly come across as a quiet person, but I'm not certain of more than that and I would love to hear what people do assume about me one day!

Thank you for these asks, it was fun to respond!

[arynneva]

wait do people read first person stories and think they're the ones in the story???

Saw people talking about not liking first person, which is fair, but their reasoning was like "I would not do that" and I don't understand that mindset.

First person stories are still about a character. A character making their own decisions. First person isn't about you???? At least I thought it wasn't. What am I missing? I've always seen first person as just a more in-depth look into a character's mind and stricter POV. Not as a reader stand-in.