#and it proves that i used to SUCCCK at writing

[mollymarymarie]

hi there i was wondering how did you get into writing? were you always a kid who liked writing or did you grow into it as you grew up?

ps. do u have any tips on how to write better for school purposes

oh gosh, hi friend! this is a QUESTION. i am definitely going to be wordy on this ask, too, so forgive me in advance. i love telling stories and i am also a narcissist, so i love telling stories about me.

i got into writing because i loved reading. as a kid, i would CONSTANTLY fall asleep reading books. i have an uncle who was an author and we always connected (even as i got older, he liked Harry Potter, he liked Futurama, he liked the NERDY KID stuff i liked). when i was nine-ish, i distinctly remember writing a short story about a kid and his dog on this ancient program on my mom's computer and printed it out ON A DOT MATRIX PRINTER (that's how old I am) so that I could show it to my uncle because i wanted to write like him.

BUT i didn't get into fanfic until i was fifteen or sixteen (this is a whole story and i'm proud of it so get ready). i was IN LOVE with the Lord of the Rings movies - knew all the cast members birthdays, could quote all the behind the scenes (I can still quote Galadriel's intro on the Extended Edition Fellowship). because of this, I was a member of a Dominic Monaghan fansite. the girls on this site wrote collective fanfic on the message boards. each girl would add their own chapters (one girl was obsessed with the band HIM and I picked up that obsession, still feel so nostalgic listening to Sweet Pandemonium, remembering how dial-up internet loaded Ville Valo's voice one note at a time and i was FUCKING SMITTEN friend).

i decided i wanted to do that. i started a fanfic (literally feel free to throw things at me) about JOHN MAYER and it was totally a self-insert fic with me and my friends as OCs. As my obsessions changed, so did the love interests (i ended up with Benji from Good Charlotte) and the whole thing was like a BAD SOAP OPERA

i continued writing stories about girls dating the boys in the bands I listened to. One about Sebastian LeFebvre from Simple Plan, one about Adam Lazzara from Taking Back Sunday, one about Tony Lovato from Mest. All with my own OCs (less self-insert now)

when i got married (at nineteen by the way, don't necessarily recommend it but it's sort of normal to do that in the south, plus he was my best friend from high school, and anyway we're still married thirteen years later), i stopped writing fic because i thought it was "childish" and because i was writing about boys i had crushes on and i thought it was ... idk disrespectful to my husband to have a crush on anyone else but him (i still have a crush on him, but i can also simultaneously have a crush on dev patel okay), so i moved to fiction. I completed my own novel in a few years but never published it.

THEN ALL HECK BROKE LOOSE WHEN THE AVENGERS MOVIE CAME OUT. I wrote a Loki fanfic (never finished, never published). but i realized writing about fictional characters was WAY more satisfying (and made me feel less creepy) than writing for actual human beings, so I started writing for Marvel characters (mostly just Bucky, which then became Stucky)

at this point, i had never read harry potter (i went to private school, they taught us it would turn us into satanists and it was banned lol), so when i became an adult, i was like I'M GONNA FUCKING WATCH HARRY POTTER YOU DUMB BITCHES (i have a lot of religious trauma because of my school so this was a big fuck you to them). I FELL IN LOVE WITH THIS DAMN STORY. i went in knowing who would die, but not when. And when Sirius died RIGHT AFTER SAYING TO HARRY "Good one, James!" I CRIIIIIED

anyway, around then, i found Ao3, had posted some Bucky fics, was reading a lot of other HP fics and stumbled across Wolfstar. at first, it was WHAT REMUS AND SIRIUS??? BUT DIDN'T REMUS MARRY TONKS??? but i read one. and then another. and then another. and read the books and rewatched the movies and thought WOW WHAT THE FUCK THOSE TWO DUDES OBVIOUSLY LOVE EACH OTHER

anyway, here we are, 28 wolfstar fics later because i discovered that i could keep writing stories about these same two dudes in different ways and different situations and different lives, and i also found a community of friends who are super supportive and equally as talented in writing those same two dudes (and their friends).

the only tips i have for writing better is just KEEP DOING IT. even if you think you have no talent (i certainly didn't, my first fics were HOT GARBAGE), even if you think other people write better than you (there will always be talented people out there who you compare yourself to, i still do this). AND WRITE FOR YOURSELF. i've said this so many times, but write the way YOU want, write in the style YOU want to read, write the stories YOU want to read. technically speaking, I'm probably NOT a good writer, but i like my stories. And there will always be other people who like your stories, too.

AND READ. read all the fanfic you want. take note of the styles you like, the authors you like, the plots you like, the twists you like. and WHY you like those things. figure out why that sentence hit you in your gut so hard, why this fic made you cry, why that character makes you angry. conveying emotion is what makes stories powerful.

And find your niche. find the thing you WANT to write for, and write for it. i don't give a shit if it's a Rick and Morty crossover with Powerpuff Girls. you do you. for example, my first fic was mostly canon-compliant but i MUCH prefer AUs now because i can write these characters in whatever way suits my story.

p.s. i knew i was gonna get wordy i'm so sorrryyyyyyy

p.s.s (or is it p.p.s??) i'm happy to talk one on one about this stuff! though i'm probably far from the best teacher, i am a good listener!