#average day of a fanfiction writer

[loki-cees-all]

Dramatized re-enactment of actual events.

[sapphia]

people who think that ai can replace writers in fields like literature, tv, film etc are commenting on how dull and shallow they think modern consumers and their mediums are rather than how possible it is to actually is to do

[ahdriking]

Get to know your fic writer!

Do you prefer writing one-shots or multi-chaptered fics?

Do you plan each chapter ahead or write as you go?

Describe the creative process of writing a chapter/fic

Where do you find inspiration for new ideas?

Do you like constructive criticism?

Do you have your work beta'd? How important is this to your process?

How do you choose which POV to write from?

Do you prefer the beginning, middle, or end of a story?

Do you comment on stories you read?

Cltr+f "blinks" on your WIP & copy paste the first sentence/paragraph that comes up

Link your three favorite fics right now

how does receiving or not receiving feedback/support impact you?

what’s a common writing tip that you almost always follow?

how do you write emotional scenes? Do you ever feel what the characters feel? Do you draw from personal experiences?

How do you write smut scenes? Do you get very visual or detailed? How important is it to be realistic?

How many fic ideas are you nurturing right now? Share one of them?

What do you do when writing becomes difficult? (maybe a lack of inspiration or writers block)

Do you title your fics before, during, or after the writing process? How do you come up with titles?

What is the most-used tag on your ao3?

Have you noticed any patterns in your fics? Words/expressions that appear a lot, themes, common settings, etc?

Would you ever collaborate with another writer for a story?

Are there certain types of writing you won’t do? (style, pov, genre, tropes, etc)

Best writing advice for other writers?

Worst writing advice anyone ever gave you?

What fic do you wish you got more of a response on?

Which of your fics would you call your wildest ride?

What is your most and least favorite part of writing?

On average, how much writing do you get done in a day?

What’s your revision or editing process like?

Do you share rough drafts or do you wait until it’s all polished?

Do you start with the characters or the plot when writing?

Name three of your favorite fanfic writers.

Do you want to be published some day?

Five years from now, where do you see yourself as a writer?

What is one essential thing to remember when writing a villain? 

How do you write kissing scenes?

How do you choose where to end a chapter?

Would you ever write commissions?

Share a snippet from a WIP

If someone were to make fanart of your work, what fic or scene would you hope to see?

Do you tend to reread fics or are you a one-and-done kind of person?

What’s the last fic you read? Do you recommend it?

Do you take a sadistic joy in whumping your characters, or are you more the "If you hurt them I would kill everyone and then myself" kind of person?

What mistakes do you keep making no matter how many times your beta corrects you?

Do you want to break your readers‘ heart or make them laugh?

How would you describe your style? (Character/emotion/action-driven, etc)

How many times do you usually revise your fic/chapter before posting?

What do you look for in a beta?

Do you ever get rude reviews and how do you deal with them?

How long is your longest fic?

What’s your total AO3 word count?

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

How do you spend your time when it comes to fanfiction? Are you primarily a fic reader, writer, or a perfect 50/50 split of both?

What’s your favorite part about the fanfiction writing process?

Of the characters you write for, which is your favorite? Has that choice been swayed at all by your followers/readers’ reactions to certain ones?

What’s something about your writing that you pride yourself on?

Do you prefer editing as you write, or waiting until it’s finished? 

What part of the writing process do you enjoy the most? (Brainstorming, outlining, writing, editing, etc) 

Does anyone in your personal life know you write fic? if not, would you tell anyone?

Have you had a writer you admire comment on your fic? What was that like?

Why do you continue writing fics?

Thoughts on cliffhangers?

Something you hate to see in smut.

Something you love to see in smut.

Tell us about what you’re most looking forward to writing – in your current project, or a future project

How do you deal with writing pressure (ie. pressure to update, negative comments, deadlines, etc.)?

Do you prefer prompts and challenges, or completely independent ideas?

What, if anything, do you do for inspiration?

What work of yours, if any, are you the most embarrassed about existing?

When asked, are you embarrassed or enthusiastic to tell people that you write?

When it comes to more complicated narratives, how do you keep track of outlines, characters, development, timeline, ect.?

What order do you write in? front of book to back? chronological? favorite scenes first? something else?

What do you think makes your writing stand out from other works?

You’ve posted a fic anonymously. How would someone be able to guess that you’d written it?

What scene in [Fanfic Name] took the longest to write? What was difficult about it? 

Did you have any ideas that didn’t make the final cut of [Fanfic Name]? 

Do you have a favorite scene you’ve written from [Fanfic Name] story/chapter? 

[physalian]

In Defense of Fanfiction (Or the perfect starting point for your original novel)

Fanfic gets a bad rap pretty much everywhere except Tumblr. It’s misunderstood and misrepresented by its average works, seen as juvenile and cringey, or a banal point of contention between a famous person or piece of media and its fans.

Outside of fanfic that writes about real people, especially smut fics of real people, I support the art wholeheartedly. Fictional characters are one thing, but personally, caricaturing a celebrity’s life for public consumption and writing or drawing them in compromising content without their consent is a little weird. You do you. Don’t like, don’t read, as they say.

Fanfic is the perfect starting point for a few reasons:

It places you in a creative box and forces you to work within those constraints

It does all the worldbuilding and character concepts for you

It lets you write way outside your comfort zone

When published and receiving feedback, it boosts your self-confidence

It's incredibly flexible

It’s practice. All practice is good practice

—

Behold your creative box

When I was little I had no idea the majority of fanfic was shipping fics. I always pictured and looked for canon-divergent alternate universes. Like, what if X happened in this episode instead of Y? What if this character never died?

Fanfic demands you work within someone else’s canon, whether it’s an OC in the canonical world, or the canonical characters in an AU. These are like little bowling bumpers saving you from the gutter, but also keeping you on a straight-ish path toward the pins.

The indecisiveness of too many choices can be too intimidating when you’re first starting out. You want to be a writer but you have no idea where to begin, what genre to pick, what characters you want to chronicle, what themes you want to explore.

Even if it sits on your computer never to see the light of day, you still got those creative juices flowing.

Pre-packaged worldbuilding

Sometimes all we want is to get to the good stuff. Maybe I want to write a story about elemental magicians but Last Airbender already exists and I just want to play in a pre-existing sandbox. So I write some OCs into that world and have a free-for-all.

I don’t have to come up with my own lore, world history, magic system rules and mechanics, politics, geography—any of it. I get to just focus on the characters.

Even if you’re writing an AU, like say a coffee shop AU, you don’t have to think about brand new characters, you can just think “What would M do?” and go from there. The trade-off is your readers will expect canonical characters to behave in-character, but I think it’s worth it.

Stretch beyond your comfort zone!

Do you hate writing action scenes? Go practice with a shonen anime fic. Need work on dialogue? Write some high-fantasy fic, or a courtroom drama. Practice a fistfight by watching fistfights and writing what you see, and do it over and over again until what you read makes you feel like you're watching what’s on screen.

But beyond that—practice genres that you aren’t super familiar with. If you’re new to fantasy, write fantasy fic. Or a mystery novel/show, thriller, comedy, satire, adventure, what have you. The nature of fanfic still gives you those “guardrails” and you can get some brutally honest feedback on how you’re doing.

And, of course, the realm of M-rated romance and smut fics. I haven’t because I think I would die of embarrassment if I tried and I never intend to include sex scenes in my works anyway, but if you do want to, use the internet as your test audience. Post it on a throwaway account if you’re nervous.

Build that self-confidence!

The fandoms I used to write for are super dead, so it’s insane how I still get email notifications that so-and-so liked my fic to this day. Comments are as elusive as ever, but random strangers on the internet telling me they liked my work is a magical reassurance that my writing isn’t actually awful.

Random strangers on the internet are, as we all know, beholden to no moral obligation to be kind to your little avatar face, or be kind to be polite. So a rando taking the time to like my work or even leave a positive comment can feel more honest than one of my friends telling me what they think I want to hear.

I tend to avoid the more present aspects of fandom like online communities, forums, social media, what have you, so I get a delayed and diluted aspect of any given fandom through completed works. Which means, in general, I get to avoid the worst and most toxic aspects of fandom and get to sift through positive feedback and critique.

Even if your fanfic isn’t written with stellar prose, it’s fanfic. We don’t expect Pulitzer-prize winning content. And if your work isn’t up to snuff, people are more likely to just ignore it than put you on blast (at least in my experience, I never got a bad comment or a “flame” in the old FFN days).

Fanfic doesn’t care about the rules of published literature

On the one hand, try not to practice bad habits, but with this point I mean that your layout, punctuation, formatting, paragraph styles, chapter length–all of it is beholden to no rules. I get as annoyed as the next reader with giant blocks of paragraphs, or the double-spacing between pages of single-sentence paragraphs, but if the story’s good enough I might ignore it.

There’s more than just straight narrative fics, though. People write “chat” fics, or long streams of text and group chat conversations. The scene breaks can come super rapidly–I’ve seen fics with a single sentence in between line breaks to show the passage of time. And without the polish of a traditionally published novel, I’ve never seen a purer distillation of author voice in any medium more than fanfic.

All practice is good practice

Even if it’s crack fiction, or a one-off one-shot, or something meant to be lighthearted and straightforward and free from complex worldbuilding and intricate plots. It really helps break writer’s block when you can shift gears and headspaces entirely and you can get relatively instant feedback to keep you motivated.

Beyond that, the “guardrails” help you stay consistent as far as character growth and personality if you struggle with designing rich characters.

The most recent fanfic I wrote was just a couple years ago, for a dead fandom I didn’t think would get any traffic whatsoever. It wasn’t my original works, but the feedback on that fic gave me the kick in the butt I needed to get back into writing more seriously.

—

In short, I support fanfic. I may not be proud of my earliest fics' prose now, but I am proud that they walked so I can now run.

[concerningwolves]

The Writing Tracker and Statistics spreadsheet for 2024 is here!

What is it?

The spreadsheet is a way for writers who like statistics to track their daily wordcounts and writing habits (and also, probably, don't want to or can't pay to use software for this purpose). The idea is, once you've got the workbook set up and customised to your tastes, all you need to do is input your daily wordcount per project into one sheet and let the rest of the workbook populate from there. I originally designed this in late 2022 because I wanted a way to track my writing habits while also comparing how much original fiction VS fanfiction I wrote. It has since expanded to be more flexible, with a comparison function that's easy to adjust or scrap entirely, and a variety of other neat statistics besides. Key features include:

Line graph that displays your daily writing across the whole year.

Total word counts for each month displayed in stacked columns so you can see which projects you worked on.

Counters for your current daily writing streak and longest daily writing streak.

Pie chart to show which projects were worked on the most overall.

Ability to separate projects into "types" – i.e., personal and academic – and compare type totals each month.

Words-over-time progress charts for specific projects, with the ability to help set and track writing goals.

Daily and monthly averages.

You don't need to be a genius (or even fairly confident in using) Excel/Google Sheets to make this work for you. I've written up a detailed set of instructions that walk through each sheet and explain how to make a variety of changes, as well as breaking down how certain aspects work.

If this is something that interests you, follow the link below to my Payhip. It's a free resource; Payhip just gives you the option to leave a tip, should you feel like it and have the cash to spare.

Want to know more? Keep reading below the cut for a closer look at the features.

Daily graph to see your writing habits across the whole year at a glance:

Your top statistics: monthly and daily averages, top writing days, longest writing streak, current writing streak, and daily averages by month.

Monthly writing totals displayed in a stacked column chart so you can see which projects you worked on each month:

Clustered column graph to show one type of project compared to another, and a pie chart to show which projects you worked on most across the year:

Project-specific progress charts that show words over time, similar to the NaNoWriMo graph. (Plus, there are instructions on how to add goal lines to make it even more like the NaNoWriMo graph!)

[the-golden-comet]

✨Thankful Thursday/Favorite Fiction Friday✨

Hi everyone! This week has been kind of crazy, but I haven’t forgotten. June’s a fantastic month for many different reasons: Pride, end of the fiscal year, for some it’s the end of the school year. But, there are many things to be thankful for.

I will start with, a MASSIVE thank you to @autism-purgatory , who made me fanart of Peter Hart that I am still gushing about and showing to my husband. You took time out of your day to draw my characters and make me smile, and I cannot thank you enough for that. I know how much joy it brings to see your characters come to life, and really inspire people. Thank you, G.J.

HUGE thank you to @thatuselesshuman who made me laugh from this meme about my stories, because it is entirely accurate and hilarious. Another one for my collection ✨

Gigantic thanks to @gioiaalbanoart, @wyked-ao3 and @sunglasses-in-the-bentley , who are reading Peter Hart for a second time (anyone else who is, please let me know too!) To read my works the first time is a gigantic honor; to go through the adventure again is one of the highest praises for an author, next to receiving fanart, fanworks, and fanfiction.

Thank you to this kind stranger, who made me beam all day from this comment. And thank you this community, who has shown so much kindness and support that I wonder why I’ve kept my talents hidden so long. Well, NO MORE. You will get art, you will get stories, you will get support, the best way I know how. I will do my best

Okay, enough gushing. Here are my favorite authors, and my favorite fiction from them:

@autism-purgatory — Loop Of The Hollow

@alinacapellabooks —The Tengu and the Angel

@gioiaalbanoart — Too Far Gone?

@justabigoldnerd — I Am Your Lover (I Am Your Jailor)

@fortunatetragedy — Doom Metal Love Story

@wyked-ao3 — Tuesday event or is it

@poorreputation — Dimples

@sunglasses-in-the-bentley — I Won’t Hurt You

@pippinoftheshire — Sing Me A Lullaby Before I Go

@lychhiker-writes — Snippet Dump

@brigidfromthecelts — The Devil’s Sonata

@dyrewrites — Before Deluca

@froggy-pposto — oblation

@deanwax — Cycle’s End

@far-cry-from-finality — The World’s Not Ending As Long As We’re In It

@theverumproject — The Verum Project

@snugglesquiggle — Hostile Takeover

@zackprincebooks — Dear Heart

@bookish-karina — Your Average Fangirl

@glasshouses-and-stones — The system’s breaking down

@thatuselesshuman — Bloody Hands are Kind

@piscesapplelady35 — As Lethal As Holy Water

@shards-things — Meant To Be

@sic-sempervirens — Taarasthari

@katenewmanwrites — Whispers In The Moonlight

@noblebs — Everything With Teeth

I’m most likely missing a few, but if YOU know of some amazing authors and literature, feel free to add to this list and spread the positivity!

For everyone reading this: Your fiction is fantastic, your stories are inspiring, and you are an amazing writer, artist, and human on this planet. Thank you for everything. 💫

[krsnaradhika]

Fanfictions and Hinduism.

Those who are active on Wattpad, might know that there are many many writers (including myself) who tend to write fiction over itihāsa or historical epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, purely for fun and our love for them. It seems very odd, yes, and we do get to see blasphemy there too. People love some characters, hate the others with a burning passion and there are hour long debates over human nature, characterisations, myths involved, folklores and the many versions both of them have.

We have OCs, we make graphics and video edits, we pair the said OCs with CCs and sometimes with other OCs. The comment sections are the most fun things because writers and their audience interact there. Some works are much more impressive than published paperbacks while some are simply atrocious. You know it, shades are everywhere.

Now, very recently did I come to know that in Tamil literature, a fictional tale that is weaved around a couple or more incidents or points coming from the purānas or itihāsas is called a prabandha. Fun, right?

We do get to see fanfictions in Hinduism by the name of Pancharātram by Bhāsa (the one who also penned Svapna Vāsavadattā) and Kalidāsa's Abhigyāna Shākuntalam. While the latter romanticises and adds non canon events to the canon event of Lady Shakuntala and King Dushyanta's love story, the former is about a "what-if" scenario based on the Mahabharata.

So, do we promote fiction writings on such stuff? Definitely. I got much into the Sanatana culture solely via such fictions. They promote higher thinking skills, brainstorming, even fun facts many a times if the author is literate enough. And is that different from disrespecting scriptures and our very own ancestors? Also yes. Because neither of these authors claim to strictly follow the canon events. You do not like something you see, click away. As easy as that.

Do I support all of them, tho? For sure not. There are some which whitewash the bad guys and blackwash even the divine figures. Some straight up induce cringe. But that's just my opinion. A debate is always based on facts, not personal opinions. So yes, you do you.

But are they also dangerous? Umhm. Look at the Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. One word : atrocious. Some modern day prabandha style novel which sat a little above average in my reading experience? Abhaya by Saiswaroopa Iyer is the one (she's also written Mauri, Avishi, Draupadi and a few more if I'm not wrong.) (Abhaya is an OC paired opposite Kanha and tbh their chemistry was chef's kiss jsjshdjsjd-)

Should you write such, if that is what you want? Yes! I'd love to read-

But do you have to be careful with the message you deliver via your work? Swayam vichar kijiye *wink wink*

Some fanfictions which I may recommend. Note : not all of them involve OCs. All of these are from Wattpad. The authors' usernames are in bold.

— To Love A Murderer, Hope Embodied, and Samsrishti ; ruhitherambler.

— Satata Haritam ; Ramayana_Lover.

— Hello Mahabharata and My Days In Mahabharata ; thewomanwhobleedsink.

— Sambhavāmi ; indeevara18ls.

— Mathuraraaj ; Shivran86.

— Ehi Murare ; kanakangi.

— The Diary Of A Gopika ; Thoughtshub.

[helenvader]

Get to know your fic writer!

I have emerged from my writing hiatus, but I'm horribly stuck, so this game might be refreshing. :) I am not the author, I stumbled across it and told myself why not.

Do you prefer writing one-shots or multi-chaptered fics?

Do you plan each chapter ahead or write as you go?

Describe the creative process of writing a chapter/fic

Where do you find inspiration for new ideas?

Do you like constructive criticism?

Do you have your work beta'd? How important is this to your process?

How do you choose which POV to write from?

Do you prefer the beginning, middle, or end of a story?

Do you comment on stories you read?

Cltr+f "blinks" on your WIP & copy paste the first sentence/paragraph that comes up

Link your three favorite fics right now

how does receiving or not receiving feedback/support impact you?

what’s a common writing tip that you almost always follow?

how do you write emotional scenes? Do you ever feel what the characters feel? Do you draw from personal experiences?

How do you write smut scenes? Do you get very visual or detailed? How important is it to be realistic?

How many fic ideas are you nurturing right now? Share one of them?

What do you do when writing becomes difficult? (maybe a lack of inspiration or writers block)

Do you title your fics before, during, or after the writing process? How do you come up with titles?

What is the most-used tag on your ao3?

Have you noticed any patterns in your fics? Words/expressions that appear a lot, themes, common settings, etc?

Would you ever collaborate with another writer for a story?

Are there certain types of writing you won’t do? (style, pov, genre, tropes, etc)

Best writing advice for other writers?

Worst writing advice anyone ever gave you?

What fic do you wish you got more of a response on?

Which of your fics would you call your wildest ride?

What is your most and least favorite part of writing?

On average, how much writing do you get done in a day?

What’s your revision or editing process like?

Do you share rough drafts or do you wait until it’s all polished?

Do you start with the characters or the plot when writing?

Name three of your favorite fanfic writers.

Do you want to be published some day?

Five years from now, where do you see yourself as a writer?

What is one essential thing to remember when writing a villain? 

How do you write kissing scenes?

How do you choose where to end a chapter?

Would you ever write commissions?

Share a snippet from a WIP

If someone were to make fanart of your work, what fic or scene would you hope to see?

Do you tend to reread fics or are you a one-and-done kind of person?

What’s the last fic you read? Do you recommend it?

Do you take a sadistic joy in whumping your characters, or are you more the "If you hurt them I would kill everyone and then myself" kind of person?

What mistakes do you keep making no matter how many times your beta corrects you?

Do you want to break your readers‘ heart or make them laugh?

How would you describe your style? (Character/emotion/action-driven, etc)

How many times do you usually revise your fic/chapter before posting?

What do you look for in a beta?

Do you ever get rude reviews and how do you deal with them?

How long is your longest fic?

What’s your total AO3 word count?

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

How do you spend your time when it comes to fanfiction? Are you primarily a fic reader, writer, or a perfect 50/50 split of both?

What’s your favorite part about the fanfiction writing process?

Of the characters you write for, which is your favorite? Has that choice been swayed at all by your followers/readers’ reactions to certain ones?

What’s something about your writing that you pride yourself on?

Do you prefer editing as you write, or waiting until it’s finished? 

What part of the writing process do you enjoy the most? (Brainstorming, outlining, writing, editing, etc) 

Does anyone in your personal life know you write fic? if not, would you tell anyone?

Have you had a writer you admire comment on your fic? What was that like?

Why do you continue writing fics?

Thoughts on cliffhangers?

Something you hate to see in smut.

Something you love to see in smut.

Tell us about what you’re most looking forward to writing – in your current project, or a future project

How do you deal with writing pressure (ie. pressure to update, negative comments, deadlines, etc.)?

Do you prefer prompts and challenges, or completely independent ideas?

What, if anything, do you do for inspiration?

What work of yours, if any, are you the most embarrassed about existing?

When asked, are you embarrassed or enthusiastic to tell people that you write?

When it comes to more complicated narratives, how do you keep track of outlines, characters, development, timeline, ect.?

What order do you write in? front of book to back? chronological? favorite scenes first? something else?

What do you think makes your writing stand out from other works?

You’ve posted a fic anonymously. How would someone be able to guess that you’d written it?

What scene in [Fanfic Name] took the longest to write? What was difficult about it? 

Did you have any ideas that didn’t make the final cut of [Fanfic Name]? 

Do you have a favorite scene you’ve written from [Fanfic Name] story/chapter? 

[peachesofteal]

*sighs pulling a chair over* Peach, I gotta sit down for this one. My lord. I just read all of Simple math, and I..I don’t even know how to process what you’ve written. It’s not my first fic I’ve read of yours, in fact it’s the 3rd I believe. But holy. Ever. Loving. Sh*t. I cannot put into words how beautifully written it is. Your writing makes me wanna be a a better writer. Makes me wanna crawl inside your brain and study the processes you use to create such masterpieces.

Most of my life I have been a writer, and when I say I STRIVE to be as good as you. Your writing is inspirational on so many levels. You have a way of connecting to someone’s soul, throwing them into a character, and making them live every moment. Feel every emotion. I sobbed reading this, I laughed and I smiled like an idiot. I’m excited to read more of your work, and for the updates to come.

Please never stop writing (but like I totally understand if you do) your writing is better than some published authors I’ve read. And as someone who averages 200 books a year, I have strong opinions on writers. If there wasn’t copywrite infringement with publishing fanfictions for money; you my lovely tumblr writer would be a best seller.

I’m flattered and flailing, thank you so much. I really do love writing and I’m thrilled to share it with everyone here and it’s so wonderful to feel like I’m connecting with you all through these stories! I’m very flattered and really appreciative that you took time out of your day to send me this 🥲 it’s so kind. Thank you so much 🩵

[skyfallscotland]

Hi! I'm Amy (She/Her)

I write fanfic, which you probably already know if you came here from my AO3 page (where I go by hurricane).

Currently I'm writing for Fourth Wing.

My favourite colour is green, I love Taylor Swift and Fall Out Boy, and I hate spicy food (but love spicy books).

Below you'll find links to my work/fandom masterposts & some FAQ

✧ Fandoms/Works

Fourth Wing

ACOTAR

✧ FAQ

Do you have an update schedule?

Not really. Sometimes it's once a week, sometimes twice, sometimes not for weeks (though I try to only do that in between projects), it really depends on the hyperfixation.

How do you write so much?

I get super anxious about starting things and not finishing them (and then having people asking me about them) so I try to write ahead before posting, so it isn't always in real time. I do however write on average (based on year to date) 2.5k words a day, which I guess is a lot for most people? The simple answer is I don't work full time and I try to write everyday.

What's your writing process?

I prefer writing either in the morning or later at night. I always write in bed, propped up against the headboard. Sometimes if I'm home alone I'll venture out to the kitchen and feel supremely uncomfortable for no reason, so I quickly return to my low-lit cave.

I just write what I'm inspired to write when I'm inspired to write it. I've learned not to force it, that just makes writer's block worse!

Do you have any writing advice?

I do! I get asked this a lot, so I wrote a masterpost: Part One—the advice & Part Two—the resources

Can I bind your fic?

At the moment my stance on fic binding is that it’s fine if it’s only for personal use and not for sale, profit, distribution or commission. Please don’t use commercial companies like print houses (due to legal issues). I feel very strongly about fanworks being and remaining free, and the way fic-binding has been commodified recently worries me 💖

Do you allow translations of your work?

You’re bilingual, that’s so cool! I appreciate you asking 💗 I believe in fanfiction being accessible to everyone. I would request however at this time that any translations of my work be kept on AO3—there’s a checkbox you can tick to link it as a translation.

Can I use a scenario in your fic for my own or write something inspired by your fic?

Mostly, yeah. See my in-depth answer/thoughts on this here.

Can I use your characters for a fic of my own?

I respectfully ask you not to at this time. All my original characters from my series' are very close to my heart, especially Remi (the one people ask about the most) and their stories are not yet finished! So there's more you guys don't know about them. At the moment, I'm a bit sensitive about it and I'd like to keep them close. If you do still write something inspired by them, it's also highly likely I won't read it, at least until I'm finished the series. Thanks for understanding.

What else are you working on?

I have a dozen fic ideas for Fourth Wing, at least four of which I've already written bits and pieces of while working on Basgiath (Remi's Version). I don't run on any kind of schedule though, they'll see the light of day when they do and if they don't, then they won't!

I also have two original novels I'm writing, one of which I hope to finish in the next couple of months (it's in the plotting stage!) 🥰

Will you ever come back to ACOTAR?

I plan to at some point, hopefully this year! I just want to get through some of these Fourth Wing ideas while I'm still inspired and eventually I'll come back to write Callie's story and maybe some Feysand, or an Eris fic. It's tough because I've been writing that series in third and my FW works have me in first person mode. I find it very hard to switch between them.

Do you have any fic recs?

I do! Only for Fourth Wing at the moment, you can see them all here. I'm slowly adding to the list/collection 🌟

[wyked-ao3]

Heyyy! Question for you: What's the best writing advice you have for other writers? Feel free to go in depth if you'd like!

- @adhdprincess

Thank you for the ask. @bluefiredesire

Okay so to be honest that's a complicated things to me as each person will react differently to any advice given...so I'll break it down a bit and people can pick and choose from the statements most of this is personal so will not work for everyone.

If you have trouble spotting errors change the font you might not find everything but you will catch more of it...my recommendation would honestly be comic sans but if it doesn't work for you try another.

Accept that your story may not be perfect but you tried your best and beta readers will help smooth it's out more....they are a life saver be it a fanfiction or an original story.

Write what it is you want to write...if you change it to much you will not enjoy the story nearly as much be it a fanfiction or original work.. although on original works you do have to keep publishing standards in mind if you intend to go that route...also not going that route so... don't know a ton besides always read the small print.

If you hit a roadblock and time doesn't fix it then perhaps go back a chapter you may have went the wrong direction.

Another thing to remember is that your story is just that yours...add some twist and turns you enjoy or s little Easter egg that only certain people would know...have fun with your writing and it will show in the work.

On the other side of that

Writing will not always be easy and will push you at times.. remember to take care of yourself while crafting your worlds.

You will not catch all your mistakes and while it's embarrassing it's a part of life and having autocorrect... unfortunately along with any other number or reasons...

While you shouldn't be to critical of your work you will not improve if your aren't critical at all...its a hard thing to balance

Take advice from others when it's applicable and don't be afraid to ask questions if you don't know something .. most people who know about the subject will be happy to talk about it with you to some degree and will be way better than google.. although it doesn't hurt to double check your sources.

Beta readers and alpha readers can help troubleshoot but at the end of the day the decision is yours to make...and no two people will see things the exact same way, which is why beta readers are usually an important step if you can handle it. Although I always recommend the person to do the first read through be someone you trust and who's opinion you value...it makes things flow easier for both parties usually... although if you don't feel comfortable with friends reading it than perhaps a stranger works better for you...(Not my area of expertise)

While it's is your story sometimes it doesn't hurt to keep the readers in mind as well as the genre's general rules or structures... Sometimes stories just don't pan out for one reason or another..don't judge all of a genre on a few.

And last but not least not everyone is going to like your work and that's okay because eventually your work be it original or a fanfiction will find a fandom even if it's a small one...

once you post/publish you never know who has read it and you don't know how it effected them...it could be the story that gets someone through a rough time or it be someone's comfort story ...it could be completely average and that is something you will rarely ever find out

I'm not sure who all wants to see this so I'm not going to tag many ... although I would like to include a special thank you for beta reading @gioiaalbanoart who has already helped smooth it out a lot already and I'm looking for to seeing what we end up tackling in the second reading.. and your opinion of the last few chapters lol 🫂

And thank you as well as the two I recently asked @leahnardo-da-veggie and @illarian-rambling 🫂 I'm looking forward to seeing your feedback and incorporating parts of it in.

[resident-rats]

Thanks for the tag @goodpointsandbadpoints !!

When did you start writing?

I started properly writing at the beginning of last year, though I did write some not so serious fanfics for my friends as a teenager lol. But I don’t count those hfhhf

Are there different themes or genres you enjoy reading than what you write?

I love to read horror, it’s probably 90% of books I’ve read. Though admittedly I’ve been in a reading slump recently, but I read a book over the past few days which was uhhh horror (using the term very loosely) and gay smut hdhdh, so it was a bit of a when worlds collide moment. BUT I have read a lot of horror over the years, and have lots of books that are on my list to read!! So if anyone ever wants horror book recommendations then I’m your guy

ANYWAY I have thought about writing a fic which leans more into the horror genre, but also trying new things is scary <33. Also I feel like most people who read my stuff want smut hchfh - which I’m more than happy to provide, but they are quite difficult genres to intertwine lol

Is there a writer you want to emulate or get compared to often?

I don’t think so?? Though usually when writing I kinda pretend I’m a narrator? Like the kind you get in RPGs. No specific one really, but that’s often what’s going on in my mind

Can you tell me a bit about your writing space?

Usually either my room or my living room. If it’s in my room then I will have colourful mood lighting and if it’s in my living room usually I have the lights off and candles

What's your most effective way to muster up a muse?

Music usually! In general I daydream a lot while listening to it, and often enough that includes scenes I can weave into a fic

Are there any recurring themes in your writing? Do they surprise you?

Usually mental health and self worth I think? In most of my fics Leon is depressed and doesn’t think very highly of himself, not really expecting to be shown kindness? He’s also often quite sexually repressed

What is your reason for writing?

When I started I was struggling quite a lot with a lot of things, and writing kinda offered a distraction/escape from that? Since it’s a very time consuming hobby. And I guess it still offers that? This year so far has been pretty rough in general, but it’s still one of the things which has kept me going. Plus it has brought comfort? Earlier this year I lost someone unexpectedly, and it got me thinking about my own life and mortality. But it kinda gives me a sense of security knowing that people will still be able to enjoy something I’ve created long after I’m gone (granted the internet doesn’t self destruct). Like little bits of me are forever interwoven into my fics

How do you want to be thought about by your readers?

Tbh as long as I don’t come across as arrogant or ungrateful then I’m happy lol

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

Smut hdhdh. Which again is maybe quite limiting as I’m scared to write something which contains no smut. But also it’s nice having a place to put my decrepit thoughts yippeee

How do you feel about your own writing?

I think it’s pretty average, like I don’t think it’s bad but I don’t think it’s flawless. It could probably use more refined plot points and better endings, and sometimes I feel like the pacing is a bit off. But I also think it’s fun, and thats usually why people read fanfiction above anything else. Nothing has to be perfect (trying to hammer that into my head anyway)

When you write, are you influenced by what others might enjoy reading, or do you write purely for yourself, or a mix of both?

A bit of both. Obviously it crosses my mind, I think it crosses everyone’s, but if I really want to write something then I will. Like the premise of my selkie fic was 100% just written for me lol, but also had elements in it which I thought others would enjoy

Tagging literally anyone who wants to do this!! And I genuinely mean that because I’m nosey <33

[kengan-daddies]

My Byzantine Romance: Ohma Tokita x (F) Reader

Chapter 1, Chapter2

MY BYZANTINE ROMANCE : OHMA TOKITA X (F) READER

Anime : Kengan Ashura

Pairing: Ohma Tokita x (F) Reader

Warnings: Mention of death, horror, Violence, Mental Heath, Toxic Parents

You were an average woman, living in the big world, the city was busy and as loud as usual. The peoples where hustling and bustling, going to and fro. It was cloudy, but it wasn't raining. A relaxing breeze in the air, the leaves slowly changing colors, matching the cooling weather. Men and women of all ages, all going to different places.

You walked along the crowd, your mind wondering yet focused as you just walked, a destination in mind yet also not. You were an average woman, nothing special stood out about you, you weren't pretty, you weren't ugly, your weren't smart, you weren't dumb, you weren't tall, you weren't short, you weren't strong, you weren't weak. You were just average.

Average everything, you lived with your family, never having enough money to own your own place, you just made enough to take care of your needs, your hobbies and to help your family with groceries and household products. You sighed as you stopped suddenly in the middle of the sidewalk, your mind processing before you shook your head and you continued on walking. 'Nope, got everything this time.'

You thought as you walked through the crowd, you passed by all kinds of people everyday, but nobody every really stood out that much, every now and then you'll see someone wearing your favorite anime as a shirt or hat, a favorite band or even have a similar aesthetic to yours. For a split second you'd think of walking over an talking to them about it, but then you'd loose your nerves. 'What fi they think I'm weird? What if they don't actually know the anime or band? What if they don't feel like talking? What if they're a bad person? A kidnapper? A murder? A rapist?... Never mind, I should keep to myself.'

You'd think, you wanted to make friends, but with how messed up the world was, you'd always second guess it. You were a scary cat, you'd rather stay inside then actually go out an adventure alone. You'd dream of going out, going to places at night, or to stores you never been in. You'd think of moving out, getting away from your toxic parents, you'd think of dating... but non of it would ever happen. You were too scared, too cautious, too aware of your reality.

'I need to get home, I'm ready to start on this new fanfiction, it looks good and I wanna read it. Not to mention I even found an amazing writer on Tumblr who has a pretty large masterlist. They write about my favorite character, he doesn't get enough love.' You thought, as you can see yourself now, laying in your bed, the room dark, the TV on low playing your favorite show/song in the back. You sighed blissfully.

"Woah!!" You said, as you came back into reality right before you ran into a person. You stared at them for a while. 'Man, this guy is huge.' You thought as you looked up at him. His skin was tan, and his hair was shaggy and wild, he wore a red and black jacket with blue jeans. "Sorry!!" You said with an awkward laugh and a little wave. He stared down at you, a strange fire in his fierce eyes before he seemed to relax. "It's fine." He said in a low voice. 'Wow, he's sexy with a sexy voice too?' You thought as you stepped around him with a small nod as you continued on your way. 'Man that guy was hot... Wonder what he would be like if he was my boyfriend....no,no,no... he probably already have a girlfriend, and knowing my luck he wouldn't even spare me a second glance.'

You thought in self pity as you walked on, slowly forgetting about your encounter with the man as you made your way on to your destination.

You sighed in happiness as you crawled into your bed, tossing your phone onto your pillow as you plopped down next to it, your aching legs tensing before relaxing. "HEHEHEHEHEEH!!!! I've been on my feet ALL DAY LONG!!!!" You giggled in glee as you pulled the blankets on you, snuggling into your cocoon. Your hand slipped up from the blanket to grab your phone, you turned it on, punched in the password, the screen lightening up to revealed your newly obtained fanfiction. "And it's 20 chapters long too? LETS GOOOO BABY!!!" You thought in glee as your began reading. 'Not to forget that it's a smut too? I must've hit the jackpot.' Was your last thought, before you got lost into your story.

5 hours later, you awoke up to your room was covered in a slightly orange hue, the TV was still on but nothing was playing, the sun was beginning to set. You sighed as you stretched before you went limp on the bed. Your sleepy mind slowly going back to sleep, but the sound of a large banging noise shook you awake. You laid there, still... BANG! BANG! BANG! You heard. Your lungs became tight and your body ran cold from slight fear. You seen the light come on from under your door, the sound of your family waking up and coming to the front to investigate.

You laid there, listening for a while to your parents and siblings complain about the crazy noise. "WHO THE HELL IS BEATING ON MY FUCKING DOOR LIKE THAT!?" Your mom shouted in anger and irritation. You could hear everyone speaking about it before the banging started again. BANG! BANG! BANG! "THIS BETTER BE THE FUCKING POLICE!! OR ELES I'M CALLING THE DAMN POLICE!!" Your father shouted as the sound of the front door unlocking and opening sounded out. You listened intensely, but everything went quite, the the sound of screaming and gun shots sounded throughout the house. You sat up quickly, your chest raising quickly as your breathing became labored, fear coursed through your cold body.

'Holy shit.....what the fuck..... why......I gotta go.' You mind thought, as you quickly reached for your phone, you tuned it on, checking your percentage. '55%... shit.' you thought. You looked at your door, seeing that it was locked. The sound of glass crashing to the ground made you jump, heavy furniture moving, small furniture being thrown carelessly. Every new noise made you jump as you shakily got up from your bed. You put on your sweat pants, before you shakily pulled on your hoodie, stuffing your phone and charger into your pockets. You walked over to the window, sliding the curtains to the side.

You looked out, checking your surroundings before you unlocked the window and you slowly slid it open. 'Never thought this shit would actually happen.' You thought, as you stepped on your bed, your body was so cold, but your mind was on auto pilot. You jumped up on the window seal, pushing your body up until you sat on the window seal. The sound of the robbers roaming about your home grew louder as they drew nearer to your room. You looked back at your room, one last time before you jumped out. You hissed in slight pain as you landed on the uneven dirt, but you forced yourself to move quickly. You reached back up to your window, sliding it back closed to the best of your ability, but you gave up half way when the sound of your doorknob began jiggling.

"Fuck it." You said as you made a mad dash for it. Your bare feet slapping on the ground as you ran down the street, you breath labored and your legs burned your lungs ached but you refused to stop until you made it to the park. 'If I make it to the park, I can blend in, and match the people.' You thought. Honestly, you probably could've just acted like a young woman walking past the house, but your adrenaline was pumping, your fear was guiding you.

You huffed and puffed, as you staggered over to the park bench, you plopped down on it, as you focused on your breathing. "Holy shit." You breathed out, you sat there a while longer before you began to chuckle to yourself, your laughter growing in volume as the people around you stared at you like you were crazy, but you didn't care. "I survived... I survived... I actually made it out... the one person in the family, who never been in any form of real life situation as extreme as that. The sheltered child of the family, the one who was 'lazy' and 'cuddled'.... actually survived.....all by myself... I'm actually alone now... no more annoying siblings... no more toxic parents... no more anything....everyone is dead... they're all gone... I'm the only one left... I'm the only one.... left." You said, your chuckling died down, as you were left sitting there, numb.

No emotions could explain how you felt, no words could describe how lost you felt, nothing mattered anymore, as you sat there, lost in the daze, as shock over came you. The people in the park, non the wiser of what you just experienced, of what you just went through. You felt small, you felt alone, as you sat there in the park, on the bench. You sat there for a long time, the crowd of people slowly getting smaller and smaller, as the area grew quiet, dark and empty... just like your home... You sat there for hours, you should've called the cops, you should've asked for help, but the adrenaline wore off, and the crushing weight of reality kicked in... making your mind go blank and empty.

Someone walked past you, their walking was confident, and strong, no worries, no insecurities, you looked up, your dull eyes seeing the familiar black and red jacket, the Tan skin and the shaggy hair. 'It's the man from before.' You thought, as you watched him walk past you, not giving you a second glance as he went on about his business, you stared at him for a moment. His back was straight, sharp, and strong. He didn't have any issues, he didn't have any weight, he was his own man. You stared at him, suddenly moved by his own confidence, as you reached into your pocket, and you pulled out your phone, unlocking it as you went and dialed 911.

"This is the local police department, what seems to be your emergency?" Asked the male operator... You sat there for a moment longer, watching the man walk into the dark, towards what seems to be a larger silhouette. "Hello, I'd like to report a murder robbery, sir." You spoke calmly. "Okay, and can you tell us where this took place at, ma'am?" He asked, not sounding as relaxed as he was at first. You gave them the address of your home as well as much information about the situation as you could. "6 family members. 2 sons, 2 daughters, a mother and father, all dead." You said. The operator was quiet for a moment before he spoke once more.

"How many robbers are in area?" He asked. "Not sure, but I'd say 4 to be safe." You said. He went quiet once more before he asked one last question. "Do you have any relations to this family?" He asked. You answered, without hesitation. "No, I never knew them, I just seen what happened, and I'm reporting it." You said, your eyes never leaving the two men's silhouettes as they seemed to be in an heated argument. The man spoke once more. "Your name, Miss, for records, and where is your current location?" He asked, a edge to his voice. You remained silent, as you hung up the phone.

You turned it on airplane mode, before you pocketed it. You stood up, pulling the hood over your head, making a move to follow the two men. You didn't know what made you want to follow. By right you shouldn't care, by right you should be grieving, you should be waiting for the cops to come find you, you should be a mess by now, you shouldn't be like this.... so numb.... So empathetic. But you were, and for some reason, you couldn't find it in you to be sad. In fact, you were starting to feel glee, happiness, joyous even.

"I'm free." You said, your feet feeling light, your shoulders not so heavy, your mind free. "I'm free to do whatever now... no more hiding behind my parents, who were oh so strict with my safety, keeping me chained home with their manipulative head games... no more getting told how much of a fuck up I am, just because I make one little mistake... no more... I'm free." You spoke, a smile stretching on your face, as you followed the men around the corner leading to the city. The sound of police sirens filled your ears, and you looked back, seeing swarms of cops getting out, as they searched the area for you.

You stared at them all for a second, before you waved them goodbye, as you walked around the corner. "I'm gonna need a job, I need a place to live, I need to make it out here... as a new person." You said as you followed the men for so long before you stopped, you watched as they dipped into an alleyway, before they were followed by a wry old man with a briefcase.... 'Hmm.'

[spaghettificationandpretzels]

Let's talk about the writing process.

One of the reasons why interaction is so important is the amount of work that goes into writing.

My average creative writing speed is 55 WMP (I'm much faster on typing tests and when writing from uni). I got this number by going to typing monkey and typing out a passage I had completed in my head, it is wholly inaccurate to the real amount of time a fic takes. If I break it down into the time it took me to write my last fic, not accounting for anything, and presuming I just typed for hours straight, it would have only taken me nine and a half hours to finish the fic, it took me six months to even begin to publish.

Writing isn't just the time it takes to type something out. It's researching and world-building, editing, creating art like banners and title cards and most importantly, forming the story. The math says a 4.5k word chapter takes eighty-one minutes to type out, but editing, refining, going back and rereading previous chapters for details and changing details throughout the story as better ideas come massively adds to the amount of time taken.

You may look at a 4k or 6k chapter, read it in ten minutes and move on, but that may represent hours upon hours of work, it could have taken the author three months to finish. A multi-chapter piece of fanfiction very well may be the length of a novel or more. If you're lucky, you have a beta who can help, most people are doing it completely on their own. That means someone is doing the work of a writer, an editor, a publisher (putting the story out there) and a publicist (promoting the story) all by themselves for free, in their free time.

If I am very lucky (or seriously sleep-deprived), I can knock out 4k in a day, it might then take me another day to go back and edit it. It should have only taken me just over an hour. Most of the time, a 4k chapter takes me multiple days, and that's when things are very good, there are times when it can take me a month. I wrote fic through near homelessness and housing issues, personal and familial health problems and a whole host of other shit on top of studying.

Commenting and reblogging takes a few minutes, and it's the least you can do to thank a writer for all their hard work. Creating comes with a great degree of vulnerability, it can be hard to keep going if hard work just ends up in the void. If you take a few minutes to say thank you, it will be appreciated.

[obsidianpen]

the fact that harry canonically is smart and magically powerful makes my mood improve several times a day, but i don’t get the overwhelming tendency to dumb him down in fanfiction, especially when paired with tom/voldemort. and when i say canonically, i really do mean that it’s written black on white in the books: his grades, which are a bit higher than even an average student, considering how little time harry actually spends studying; his brilliant memory, almost to the point of making me wonder whether it can be classified as eidetic (he remembers spells and wand movements he’s seen maybe once or twice before perfectly, not to mention remembering a spell hermione cast a whole year prior and successfully casting it himself on the first try; remembering specific placements of objects or random things he’s read in passing); continuing on from the previous examples, his ability to cast correctly and successfully a wide range of spells, some being quite advanced, on his first few tries; his ability to plan, strategise and then lead people into said course of action.

obviously, he is hotheaded and impulsive and stubborn and self doubting to a fault, distrustful in his own abilities when it costs him the most, but that doesn’t negate at all his intellect and magical proficiency. he’s not dumb, he’s not just interested in quidditch and he definitely isn’t a goody two shoes, who would tremble at the thought of manipulating, lying or using dark magic to get his own way, as long as the end goal aligns with his ideals.

i’m not referencing any of your specific work here, this is not the point of this ramble, rather i wanted to bring forth something i’ve noticed happening quite a lot and wondering what your opinion is, as a fanfic writer yourself?

i just feel like there is no need to sacrifice one character for the sake of another — in this case, building tom/voldemort’s character at the expense of harry. he doesn’t have to be stripped down of all the things that make him compelling and complex just so voldemort can seem grander on page. we already know he is intimidating and powerful and captivating. he already demands the attention of the reader when making an appearance.

but two characters can be as equally complex and intricately built, and still coexist on the same page. that’s the baseline of their great chemistry, i think: how well they bounce off of each other without even trying too hard.

well, I can’t really speak to whether or not this happens all the time with harrymort or not, as I don’t read a ton of fics, so I’m taking your word on that being true. And I don’t know if I put Harry on quite as high of a pedestal as you do - I do think he is above average in a lot of things and exceptional in a few, but I also think he’s relatively average in many respects, which is why I like him. All that being said, I’d guess it has to do with a few things.

first I’d say it’s that a lot of people like to write extremes, esp when it comes to villain/hero type pairings. They like Voldemort seeming extra big and bad and strong, and so yeah, they make Harry smaller and weaker in comparison. Maybe some do it in reasonable ways, and others do it in a, Harry’s a 5’0” omega male in heat or wtf ever (no shame there if that’s your thing!). It’s fun to write and really does something for a lot of people. I’d imagine this happens with all sorts of pairings.

I’d guess another reason is that, if you have been reading fanfiction for a long time and you come across this weaker/smaller/etc version of Harry a lot, you might start to forget what he was like in canon, and you’re being influenced by the content you are taking in and therefore writing Harry like this, too. Happens all the time in fandom.

lastly, I think this may happen because it’s a lot easier - and therefore fun - (imo ofc) to write extremes than it is to write two characters who are closer together, across the board. There’s a lot more nuance when the couple is much more evenly matched. It’s hard. It’s hard! So much simpler to figure out what’s going to happen next when the power dynamic is 10/90 instead of 50/50. A game of chess with a master versus a novice is over fast; a game with two evenly matched players who like to sit and stare at each other binge analytical can go on a looooong time!

[irisbleufic]

i’m so new to your dm fic and i can’t fathom the sheer volume of work you’ve put out! it’s amazing and i’ve so many questions for you!!! how was the writing process for caldera? did you have everything written before posting? was it ever daunting just how much you figured you could write for these two??? i see you’re a novelist so this may be light work for you, but as someone whose never written over 40k at once, would you have any advice for writers who want to write something as long as your series one day? thank you so much for sharing your fic! it’s wonderful :’3

Hi there, anon! Thanks for giving me a fantastic ask to focus on between fits of grading and writing on this rainy, rainy afternoon. I'd be glad to answer your questions here; I'm so happy to hear you're enjoying the stories across my Devil's Minion series. It's been an absolute thrill to write so far, and it continues to be.

The writing process for Caldera is ongoing. I didn't have everything written before posting; I never write that far ahead even if I have a mental outline or a running file where I dump broader series plot-related notes. Over the years, I've developed an incredibly compulsive average daily writing quota. The rule is that I can spend that time on whatever kind of writing I'd like, and when I'm between projects for publication? That is always, always fanfiction. So, I manage to clock about 2k words on low-output days and 4k-ish on high output days. In a fanfiction context, 2k-4k is, for me, the average length of a fic chapter. Between that and my baseline unusual hyperfocus for writing in particular, that's how I'm able to manage those daily updates (and, if not daily, certainly every other day or every couple; at the moment, the main reason for those rare gaps has been shaky health).

It used to be daunting to me, when I was a younger writer, when I started to realize how ambitious my plot arcs for fandom writing series were turning out to be. The first fandom series project that reached around 200,000 words was my last year as an undergrad, and that was almost 20 years ago. I'm right around 40 now, so to say that I've spent literally half my life working out what I can do and what I can't do is no understatement. Spend enough years persistently writing, fuck-ups and all, and you will eventually get to the point where you can say, all right, this pairing, this fandom, this is going to be a long-haul for me. I have a lot I'd like to do with it, so let's buckle in and see what happens. I realize that not all writers get to this point; it's different for everyone. But many writers who write daily for years on end will usually find that whatever once daunted them, whatever that happens to be, no longer daunts them. And that's when you can really, really start to have fun. It's still work, but it doesn't feel like work anymore, if that makes sense.

My advice to you would be: take a look at where you are right now. How many years have you been writing? If not years, then how many months? What are your writing patterns? Do you manage to write daily, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly? If so, start charting these finer details. Get a handle on how often you tend to write, or how often you can find the time to do so. How much do you manage to write in a session? How many sessions does it take you to reach a completed project of 40k? If you can start to understand what your patterns are (look, I'm deeply Autistic about this whole process, but I suspect you'd gathered that by now), then you can start to assess what you have the potential to accomplish. You can start setting concrete goals for what you'd like to accomplish. If you're not sure how to break an ambitious series arc for which you don't yet have all the details down into beats, maybe just start with the first quarter of it. Gauge how many stories you'll need to get that far. Then, once you've reached that point, do a continuity re-read and reassess. My method is a combination of organization and fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants, although I admit that I can get by on pantsing alone if I really want to. You start thinking on your feet; you start writing reactively to your own content. And experience will make this easier.

I hope that some of this resonates with you, and if it doesn't resonate, at bare minimum I hope it makes sense. I wasn't the kind of kid anybody ever expected to become a writer. Nobody thought it would be possible. A lot of things weren't supposed to be possible for me. But I stubbornly latched onto something I learned that I loved; stubbornness and love can get you farther than you'd think. Be stubborn, and just...love them. Love the characters and the worlds you find in your hands. That's why most of us end up in fandom in the first place. So many kinds of love in the world fail us, but loving the imaginary lets us create even when other forms of love do not. Sappy as it sounds, that's a literal miracle.