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saintobio · 3 years

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hi saint you absolute bodacious goddess, thank you for another beautiful chapter

i have some questions pertaining to your writing habits and whatnot, idk if you’ve ever answered an ask about this but if you did then disregard lmao

as a fellow writer myself, i have trouble finding time and motivation to update my stories and i noticed that you literally update sn/sy chapters in what could be like 7 chapters worth in a short amount of time

so i’m curious what your writing schedule looks like, for instance if you go to school, have a job, other priorities, then how do you balance out everything since i know writing/editing takes a huge chunk of time

and oh my god what motivates you to write ‘cause i try to come back to a chapter to edit and after a paragraph i ditch the app HAHA, anyway thank you luv

- 🍟

the intro pls 😭 yes, i did answer something like this before but i’ve searched through my whole blog and still couldn’t find it, so i guess i’ll just redo.

but before that, i’m just gonna say that sy currently has 25k words with only 2 chapters out and i was actually so shocked when i added the revised chapter to my docs lmao it’s basically half the total wc for wastelands! i think the reason why i can write this much is bc i also have many side stories for sn/sy, so i wanted to capture as much of those backstories as i can.

anyway, here’s what my daily schedule looks like (i’m not proud of this schedule though, very unhealthy and mentally draining). i do have a 9-5 corporate job, but i only go to the office like twice a week, then the rest of my days i work at home.

a day in saint’s life !

weekdays

5:00 AM-7:00 AM — i wake up and spend some time in bed scrolling through tumblr, answering asks, etc

7:00 AM-9:00 AM — i prepare for my day, eat breakfast, check emails, go to work (or start work at home)

9:00 AM-3:00 PM — work, work, work i usually am not online around this time

3:00 PM-5:00 PM — around this time work gets less hectic, i chat with my colleagues, go to a nearby café, walk around, sometimes i go online on tumblr, basically anything to kill time

5:00 PM-7:00 PM — i go home, relax and take a nap, or i usually spend this time catching up on my fav manhwas, watching movies, etc. it’s my personal time

8:00 PM-12:00 AM — i write 2-3k words for my current series, research data, edit

weekends

FULL DAY — self care lol i go shopping, do some errands, go to my appointments if i have one, then for the rest of the evening i either go home to write the fic or meet up with my friends to have a drink

to be honest, i don’t know how i can manage to squeeze a 10-14k word chapter with this schedule but it’s kinda what drained me the hell out for the duration of sn 😭 on the other hand, i just naturally crave writing and i don’t feel fulfilled if i don’t at least get to write like 300 words a day.

how to stay motivated — well, first of all, ask yourself: how willing are you to commit yourself in writing this series? if your answer is something between 60-80% then i’ll be frank and say that you’re not gonna manage finishing this series consistently, if at all. you should have a full 100% when it comes to both ‘dedication and inspiration’ in order to have that motivation to update regularly. because otherwise, having little motivation will make writing feel like a job and it’s eventually gonna make you lose interest in accomplishing a chapter or two.

find all the right inspos that make you wanna write — watch movies related to ur series, read stories related to ur series, listen to a playlist that remind you of ur series (ie. reading tre was half the reason why i’d been so inspired to finish sn). find what brings that spark of inspiration in you. maybe read ur old chapters and get inspired to do better than the last. also, just wanna share that a writing habit of mine is to take a nap before i actually start writing. i don’t write without enough rest, bc once i do wake up from a nap and then i open my laptop, that’s when i feel the most inspired to write. my brain’s usually full of ideas after a good nap (kinda like recharging 😹) i’m sorry if my advice won’t work on you, but this is basically how i find the motivation to write + dealing with a hectic schedule :)

wish u the best, my love! you can do this. don’t give up on writing but don’t force yourself either. if you really don’t feel motivated, then that’s okay. take enough time gathering your energy into something else first, then try coming back a few hours or even a day later and see if you feel like writing again. the quality of ur writing will be affected if you force yourself. so instead, take the time to have that momentum back by indulging urself on various forms of media. we all work in different ways so don’t feel pressured to have the same work ethic as another writer <3

#saint ♱ asks #saint’s schedule #saint ♱ writes

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lululawrence · 3 years

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Can u please be nicer on ao3? Maybe you should try answering people's comments

when i read the first line i was honestly flabbergasted and wracking my brain trying to figure out when in the world i wasn't nice on ao3 ever. because i honestly truly try to be nice to everyone always, even when i'm angry or frustrated or people are going after those i love and want to protect. if there was a time i WASN'T nice on ao3, i wondered if it was maybe because my comment had been misunderstood or someone saw me razzing an author i'm good friends with and they didn't get that we are close and i said what i did with so much love and appreciation, you know? like what??? did i do???

but then i read your second line. and please forgive me if i come off as rude in my response to this, because honestly i'm in a pretty bad spot mentally and emotionally in general right now, but PARTICULARLY today, and this ask triggered an anxiety response in me. so. i'm trying really hard to word this in a way to educate without being condescending or mean, but i might not succeed.

firstly, thank you for your comments i'm assuming you've left. i'm also assuming they were nice comments, in which case extra thanks. i'm sure i'll send you effusive responses on ao3 when the time comes.

secondly, please understand that sending an ask like this, on anonymous no less, is incredibly entitled. writing is not my profession, i receive no compensation for my works that i post for free online, and as a part of that it is not required of me to respond. i do my very best to reply to every comment i receive, but it is not always in a timely manner, because i have other priorities in my life. all of which leads us to my third point, which is:

writers do not owe you a reply to your comments. end of. there are no other qualifications or quantifying modifiers to be added to the statement. is it nice to be acknowledged and know your comment was seen? sure. but do they OWE you one? hell no.

in fact, i'd like to offer you a suggestion. a way of tweaking your thinking about the comments you leave on fics. instead of looking at comments you leave as being something that deserves a reply from the author, think of your comments as your way of paying the author for the gift of their time and talents that they have shared with you by posting their fic. that's how i think of the comments i leave for authors. i'm giving them my thanks for the words they've shared! i want to help THEM feel as amazing as they have made ME feel when i read their fic. in fact, my hope isn't necessarily a response from them, but instead my hope is THE GIFT OF THEM SHARING MORE FIC WITH ME. i'm a selfish bitch in that way and i always want all the fic to read. i never want that well to go dry. one way i can ensure that doesn't happen is by supporting authors and being kind to them and spreading all the love and excitement i can about their writing in the hopes that my words will inspire them to share more.

because whether they reply or not, i GUARANTEE they are seeing your comments. i PROMISE they are. and for all you know, your comment might be the one that keeps them writing even when their words aren't coming easily or when they are tempted to give up.

but, again, please remember that no matter what, these authors (including me) don't actually owe you anything.

the rest of this is going under a cut, because honestly my reply is already far too long and i have a LOT more to say now that you've gotten me started.

now, all of this in mind, i'll explain to you why i'm not great with keeping up with comments made on my fics the last couple of years. i don't owe you this explanation any more than i owe you a response to your comments, and i'm honestly not sure you deserve this explanation either, but i'll still offer it anyway. it'll help me feel better knowing i at least put this out there, whether you care or not, mainly because if i don't do that it will cause me greater anxiety having you possibly think i am not responding to people because i feel all high and mighty or that i think i'm better than the comments or whatever the fuck kind of motivation you're attributing to me to see my lack of a response as something "not nice" towards the commenters.

i'm not sure if you've noticed, but i put out a lot of fic. like a lot. a lot of words and shit. i love writing, it's often my therapy and a way for me to help keep my anxiety and depression and ptsd at bay.

now, more personal shit for you, i've got three kids ages 9 and under. the oldest has adhd which we have yet to find a med for that helps to the extent she needs without side effects that aren't healthy for her to continue with, she also has anxiety, AND she's extremely gifted and starting a new program at a new school, all in the midst of a pandemic. and all of those situations exacerbate her anxiety! huzzah! she's also dealing with the beginning of her tween growing up shit, which is great fun because it means where she used to be pretty damn understanding of her younger brother, she is finding it much more difficult to. because the second oldest? he's autistic with some pretty significant gross motor, speech, and socialization delays that have only been exacerbated because of the previously mentioned pandemic. PLUS he transitioned from his special needs preschool to a fully integrated elementary school for kindergarten last year and then had to deal with all the ups and downs of the switch from e-learning to hybrid to all in schooling when everything in him screams for a normal schedule he can rely on to keep his own anxieties and fears and struggles at their minimum. and that youngest child? he was born in january of last year. he STILL barely leaves the house and has only met other children in close range a couple of times because, once again, pandemic!

add onto all of this my own mental health issues, the fact that my husband ALSO battles major clinical depression, adhd, and anxiety, AND we live with my parents who have their own health issues, both mental and physical. i run the home for our house of seven. i keep this place functioning, fed, clothed, clean, and everywhere we need to be for all of our five million appointments every. fucking. day. there is a REASON i've been borderline burnt out for the last fucking year and a half.

now, for fun, i have fandom shit. i love it here, even if it is a dumpster fire on the best of days, and getting to be a part of the writing community is so very lovely. i adore it. honestly, it's because of those friendships i've built with other writers that i have been able to keep writing and have found just how helpful it can be for my mental health. but i'm REALLY. INCREDIBLY. BUSY. i hardly have time to get on tumblr for just a quick swipe through my dash most days. i put off asks so long i forget i have them. i don't have the mental and emotional capacity to talk to people on here or interact fully a lot of the time. but i do my best to do so and be kind while i'm at it even when i don't want to be.

then, on top of that? i also run fic fests like @wordplayfics and help friends run their own. because not only am i a writer, i'm a reader. i LOVE fic. fic has saved me soooooo many times over the past seven years that i've been here. i want to do what i can to support other writers the best way i can, which is to provide a space for them to create their works that welcomes and helps promote them, but also by doing my monthly fic lists and pocast highlighting what i've been able to read, reblogging their fic posts, and then commenting and kudosing their fics too.

sometimes i get really fucking down on myself because i'm so behind on replying to comments, but my brain is very much a "if you start this, you have to finish it" kind of a brain, and i feel even WORSE sometimes if i reply to comments on some fics and not all of them. but i do my best and reply when i can. i was actually really fucking proud of myself because i had a couple days to myself in june, and i spent hours replying to comments on 20 of my fics. when you have almost 150 fics (i think? i don't even know how many fics i've posted by now), that is only scratching the surface. but i tried and i was so so happy i did that many fics at once. it's exhausting, though, and takes a lot of spoons for me to reply to them in mass like that plus time consuming. so i tried to be happy with those 20 fics and the comments i responded to there and told myself that when i ha a moment to breathe, i'd go and work on replying to some more.

but see, that again causes anxiety and guilt. because i haven't replied to all of them. and that anxiety and guilt can cause me to put it off further OR to put off important things like feeding my children or getting sleep in order to finish it, so i have to make myself put things into perspective and ensure i'm doing the important things, like taking care of myself and my family, first.

and then, i have a moment where i CAN go ahead and reply to comments... but i also have MANY fics that are on deadline and i actually have a schedule. a SCHEDULE. for when i'm going to focus on which fics. i can spell it out for you if you really want. i made it back in APRIL to make sure i didn't sign up for too many fic fests because there are so many going on right now that i want to participate in, but i know i can't do all of them so i had to pick and choose. and when you are SO overscheduled and busy that back in APRIL you had to figure out what fics you would focus on at what time to ensure you got everything written when you wanted to through THE END OF THE YEAR, more choices have to be made.

for example. my writing time and time for myself came down to only one evening a week for ALL fandom things i'm doing and a part of right now once the kids were out of school for the summer. it quickly became apparent that for my own self care i needed more time, so i worked with my husband to find two other days i could carve out at least 30-60 minutes to myself to write every week. and i did. but if i'm already only getting that much time and have committed to those fics and fests and things that you're running etc, you have to choose am i going to use this time to try to squeeze in some comment replies? or am i going to write? and i choose to write. simple as that.

so yeah. see it as selfish if you want. see it as mean. you can honestly see it as whatever the fuck you want, but for me? i know that as soon as i possibly can and i can breathe freely for once and not feel like i am constantly drowning in my day to day life and am doing pretty well when it comes to my fic deadlines and getting started on those christmas cards i'm once again going to be making by hand for everyone on tumblr who chooses to sign up for one this year out of the KINDNESS of my heart and the love i really do feel for so many of you, then i promise i'll be on ao3 catching up and commenting. my friends laugh and make fun of me for it sometimes, because they will sometimes get 10-12 replies to their comments in a single day. they know that's how i work. i WILL reply to every single comment i get, no matter how old it is. but for the love of all that is holy, do NOT add to the anxiety and guilt i already feel over it. the only place that will get you is the ask/comment getting deleted if it's a good day, a fucking long rant like this one if it's not, and a block if it's a REALLY bad day.

if you're asking me to be nice on ao3, then i ask in return that you also be nice by not demanding things of people that they are not in any way obligated to give.

#long post #rant #i almost deleted this #but you sent it on just the right day and instead i let loose #this is unedited and unbetaed lmao but ENJOY #or don't #whatever #writing stuff #i should tag it #writing SHIT #but that's not really a tag i keep cause who wants to keep track of the negatives #not me

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foxymoxynoona · 2 years

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FAQ

Questions I get a lot!

When will you update? Do you have a set update schedule? I don’t. I used to but it became unrealistic once chapters started being 10k+ words. Now I try to update 2 things a week. You can see what the status is on any of my writing on my trello.

Can I request a story? Sorry, I don't write requests except I do occasionally write drabbles as requested. I also sometimes solicit guidance from my patreon on which longer stories I start next so if you want in on that process feel free to join my patreon!

Are you still taking drabble requests? For now, yes! Feel free to send me your drabble request (whether it's related to one of my stories or a totally new idea, either is welcome!) but please understand that I just jump around and get to them when the fancy strikes me, so I won't be able to tell you when it'll actually get written. You'll see them on my trello once I start working on it. Please understand too I write as my discretion and there may be times I choose not to fulfill a drabble request if I'm uncomfortable with the topic or feel like it's not within my wheelhouse to write, but so far it hasn't come up.

How do you write so much? A mixture of committment, practice, priority, and the inability to stop thinking about my stories haha. I have a couple posts on here that talk about my process and style. You can find them with the tag mywritingadvice or writing tips.

Can I be an emoji anon? Yes! I’ll keep a list below of the ones already claimed. If you don’t interact with me for a few months, the emoji might get freed up if it’s one in high demand.

Claimed (deleted ones I haven’t heard from in forever 6-12)

🌸🎉🍰🧚🏻👀🛸🍊🧩🌚🍿🐮🦐🐋

Have you ever considered writing _____? The answer is probably yes, haha, but there just aren’t enough hours in the day for me to write all that I want to write, and I make no promises about what comes next after my current stories. I just go where inspiration takes me! There aren't many things I wouldn't try to write, because I like exploring genre, character, odd situations, morality, etc. Just depends on my motivation and comfort at that particular time.

Can you recommend other stories to read? You can check out my fic rec blog here

I don’t like reader insert, will you add an OC to this story? OR I don’t like OCs, will you rewrite this as a reader insert? Probably not! Usually I have a reason I chose to write the story in that particular style. It’s often significant work to change and I’d rather spend writing something new! I understand if this means you don’t read all of my works, that’s ok! I never expected all of my stories to appeal to everyone because this is my opportunity to explore different genres, styles, etc.

Will you ever write a character like _______? Maybe yes! I am thoughtful about every aspect of a characters’ background in each story and what life experiences have shaped them to be who they are in that place and time, and what I feel like suits that particular story, and what I felt comfortable writing about. I hope to continue expanding my character roster in every direction –race, weight, height, culture, sexuality, interests, etc.– beyond my own personal lived experiences.

You write a lot about children and parenthood. Can you write something else? Not every story I write includes these themes but many do because it's what I feel like writing. I am writing during a time in my life in which I have felt very lonely and isolated as a parent of young children and because one of my goals for writing was to explore and better represent the experiences of motherhood. I almost always have tags identifying these stories from the very beginning so they should be easy to avoid if you are uninterested in those plots and themes.

Why do you only write about Jungkook? This is becoming less true over time. I find Jungkook the easiest to write and often ideas for him come to me more easily, but I’m excited to be writing more stories for the other members

Have you considered publishing a book? I am highly flattered this has been asked enough to put on this list. Yes, I have thought about this many times in the past. I had a brief and unpleasant experience with self publishing many years ago, as well as with trying to get some short works published. Someday I will want to give it another go! But for right now, my writing is a protected space of joy and exploration for me. I love writing whatever I want, however I want, sharing it with others and getting to talk about it as I go. Right now I don’t want to do anything that interferes with this really wonderful part of my life. At the point I do decide to write an original work or attempt to de-fanfic any of my works for publication, I will for sure let you all know. 😉

***** STORY SPECIFIC *****

Will you include (unofficial, rumored, or private information) in your Secret Song Series? No, I won’t. I don’t follow anything unofficial from BTS. I’m not on Twitter. Every character (other than BTS, and I take a lot of creative license even with them), storyline, private event, scandal, etc. in that story comes from my own brain and any similarity to anything in real life is pure coincidence. The "true" things I use are many public performances, awards, and official BTS content but even there I take creative license to use, create new, or cut as I see fit. This is as much a work of fiction as any of my other fanfiction. Please do not send me private photos or personal info about the guys, I don’t want to see it. 😄

Will you write a Secret Song Series book about the other members? Probably not an entire book, but I have started one shots/drabbles/short stories for the other members. I hope to have a collection of these for each member.

How many books will the Secret Song Series be? I don't know for sure. I'd written about 2million words of the story before I started posting, and the timeline of that stretches across about 5 books, but I hadn't written an ending or final chapter yet, so it kind of depends how we're feeling once we get there.

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andypantsx3 · 2 years

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hii andy! how are you? i hope you’re doing fine :)))

i have a question and its quite simple (but you still don’t have to feel obligated to answer hehe), but how do you deal with writers block and feeling inadequate because of said writers block?? ? its ruining my life (im half serious but 🙁 ugh crying sobbing and regurgitating)

anyways, i hope you have a good day!

This one is so tough!! In my opinion it's just one of those things you kind of have to go through and weather out the best you can, and circle back to your writing when you're ready! And dealing with it probably depends on how you personally work best--either you can 1) power through it and write hot garbo and come back and edit later, or you can 2) wait it out and try to address other aspects of your life in the interim.

If I try and power through writer's block by carrying on writing, it honestly often makes it worse? Because I end up pooping out like, the hottest shit sandwich ever and it's horrible and unreadable and it absolutely tanks my self-esteem. So then I don't even like what I'm working on and I have less motivation to finish it, and it draws out the block even longer.

But if you're someone to whom the productivity matters in that kind of period more than the quality, then maybe it would be worth continuing to just write whatever, with the knowledge that you can always circle back and clean it up later! Whatever is going to make you feel better about it at the end of the day is what you should do!

What I personally prefer to do is just let the block win and stop writing. I'll do a whole host of other things to try and keep cool while I wait it out. I'll read a book, to take a break from my own headspace and hopefully get inspired again. Sometimes, if it's bad, that turns into like, three or four books. I'll go out with friends for the weekend and forget all about my fic, watch a TV show I've been meaning to get into just to change up the media I'm interacting with.

Usually I'll also get really into my other hobbies to keep up my self-esteem while my writing is trying to tank it lol. I'll cook a bunch, or exercise more or like, plonk around on my piano a little. I'll talk to people who are supportive about me & my work, ask them questions and let them gas me up lol.

TLDR; I think it really depends on your personal priorities and preferences! But please know that it WILL end sometime, and it all very much is just part of the process and no reflection of any shortcomings you think you have.

Please take very good care of yourself during this time, and to the best of your ability, please try not to feel guilty! Enjoy this time for what it is, and let yourself be open to what it means for the other areas of your life!!

I'm rooting for you!!

#ask andie

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elentiyawhitethorn · 3 years

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Update

I’ve spent the past month working on rowaelin month stuff so I haven’t answered any prompts or updated any multi-chapters so we are all going to pretend the entire month of september did not happen 🤓

And here are some updates on where I am concerning my writing. I’m sure no one really cares but this is more for me to collect my thoughts and motivate myself so here we go:

———

Love Is Near, but Danger Is Nearer

I have absolutely nothing written for the next chapter but these chapters are so short that they only take a couple hours at most to get through, so whenever I’m next motivated for this fic I’ll have something out. No clue when that will be

———

You’re a Mystery to Me

This one is the exact opposite. I have roughly 14k for the first chapter and I’ve gotten through a good portion of the mystery, though there still is a little ways left to go. I’m making this one a priority so hopefully sometime soon

———

You Give Me All I Need

I’ve had a few people ask about this one. I am definitely not abandoning it, but it is a little bit father down on the priory list and will probably take a while for an update

———

Getaway Car

I Dare You to Love Me

Both of these were written during Rowaelin Month. I have a good idea of what’s going to happen in part two of both of them, but I haven’t written anything for either yet. I’ll try to get to them in my free time, not really sure about a solid estimate of posting time but I can say that they’re on the priority list below YaMtM and above a few others

———

Asks in my inbox

If you’ve left me a prompt, sorry it’s taking so long to get to it! Again, Rowaelin Month has been a bit consuming. I’ll try to get through them whenever I have time in whichever order inspires me. There are only maybe 6-10 (I’m too lazy to count) prompts in my inbox so even if you end up being the last one answered, at least you’re not in a long line lol

———

And that’s it! Again, this was more for my own benefit but if this satisfies any questions that’s great! Weekdays are really busy with classes so any updates are much more likely to happen on weekends, but that’s not definite. So next posted anything will likely be in several days since this weekend just ended

#update #love is near but danger is nearer #you’re a mystery to me #you give me all i need #getaway car #i dare you to love me

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figjelly · 3 years

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Feb. 26th, 2022

Hello, hello. As alluded to, I’m trying to make more of an effort keeping this blog active as an actual blog and not just a place to reblog trash (still a great place to do that though). I’ve had a lot going on in my life since November. The biggest development is me spending some time reassessing my priorities. I had a really distressing thing happen with one of my partners; it shook me badly. I feel like I handled and am handling the situation well. Much better than if I’d encountered it when I was younger.

Back to my priorities. One of my top tens was to nurture and cultivate spaces that I care for with things that are important to me. I’ve realized that I don’t have a large presence online, especially when it comes to social media. Tumblr IS sort of my main social place for me to be another part of myself that is separate from my real life. I’ve been a part of it for over a decade. It’s been a pivotal part of my growth as a person. I’ve made life-changing connections here. Not only that, but Tumblr was probably the biggest inspiration for me to keep up with my art independently throughout my life AND provided me a way to share my writing when I picked up that past time.

So, maybe I should think more about how I’m using this space and the people who are watching it and listening to me. I feel like I’m pretty genuine on here (i.e. I don’t really lie or embellish about my life). But I don’t really take the time to share more about myself. I have an instagram and I used to be more diligent about posting art on tumblr as well. As for my writing, ugh. Life. I’m just not sitting down and doing the work. I’ve got so many fics that need updating and so many that I wanna start and so many things that are original I wanna start sharing!

But also, I’m bad at reminding myself that I’m a human who needs to rest (I work two steady jobs a week, sometimes three if I teach my painting lessons) and I’m in the middle of starting weekly group therapy on top of my weekly individual sessions. Oh, and I guess also I’m trying to study to get my teaching license so I can teach middle and high school math. Which only requires me reteaching myself calculus and some other things :/

Yeah. There’s just a lot and then there’s more on top of that. I am looking forward to updating this blog more. Hopefully, it’ll motivate and inspire me.

As always, <3 Ash

#dear diary

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lovee-infected · 4 years

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I'm about to start my own (twst) writing blog and I'm going around writers that I follow for some advice q*q could you give me any wisdom on what I should do when starting a writing blog? thank you!! I love your works and you're one of the writers that inspire me

Aa thank you baby I'm so happy to hear that I inspire you!! First off, good luck with the new writing blog! I'm glad that more authors are joining the fandom and wish you all the best with your works! 💞💖💞 Other than trying to keep your blog organized by creating a proper masterlist, choosing a suitable aesthetic, having a set of rules and making sure to tag all of the warnings and necessary mentions (gender of reader, n/sfw or trigger warning), I tried to come up with some useful advises that might help!

1) Keep up the great confidence!

First and the most important thing about a writing blog, is to be confident and strong. Look, you shouldn't be afraid of posting your works and sharing with the redt of the fandom, even as they're not as perfect as you want them to be. The more you write, the more you learn! And you'd grow to be better and better as you continue to share your works! Not even the greatest authors had been any perfect on their first days!

2) If you're accepting requests, try to set a limit

Being overwhelmed with asks is never pleasant, if you just open your inbox to face 500 requests you'd be to be terrified and confused and even lose your passion to work on any of them because of the stress and not knowing where to begin from. Try to set a limit based on your personal limits, how many requests do you think you can have at the time without stressing out because of how much they are? 10? 20? 50? 100? 200? Doesn't matter! If you feel like you're fine with huge numbers like 200 and 150, it's totally fine! If not, remember that setting a character limit would not only reduce the possible chance of stressing out and overwhelming anxiety but it'll also help you manage your inbox better and easier! You can start taking requests again just as soon as your inbox in cleared!

3) Try to treat yourself every once in a while!

Working on requests can be tiring and sometimes, boring. It's great if you enjoy working on requests no matter what they are but remember to write for your own pleasure every once in a while too!

Even if you have like 100 requests laying in your inbox, feel free to write self indulgent fics or something that you'd like to write even if it's super odd an irrelevant to your normal writings! Remember that you deserve to read something you enjoy just as much as the others do, so don't forget to bless yourself with that beautiful writing of yours ;) Remember that it's your blog, you are free to do everything that makes you happy or anything that you simply enjoy doing ^^

4) Remember that no matter what, toxicity always exists and it's not your fault

Look toxicity is very common to be found social medias, especially platforms like tumblr in which anonymous function exists. Even celebrities and world-famous artists might get attacked over pretty silly stuff every once in a while so it's something usual to happen! I wish you never receive any potentially harmful or rude asks or messages but if you ever do, best would be to block or simply ignore them! People in this platform can be ridiculous sometimes lol, there are people who DM creators just to spam hate and block the creator whom they spammed after wards lol, so don't even bother t waste your time with such people!

If anyone comes to your inbox/DMs/comments to say something harsh or leave a sharp critique, best would be to ignore them. Even if you like to answer or respond to reply to them tey to be chill and not take them seriously. Remember, even if they didn't like your content they could've just scrolled down without bothering to read your work, so if they had the guts to come and spam you with nonsense just because they didn't like your work, it's their fault! They didn't have to read, and it doesn't even matter if they liked your work or not! It's their problem and all, so remember not to let these kind of people get to you at all!

5) Take it easy with writing

Don't push yourself too hard, remember that not everything you write is supposed to be *perfect. This is even more serious when it comes to requests, thousands of unexpected ideas might pop up in your inbox and it makes it quite confusing to choose what to write or do!

First off, don't be any shy or anxious about rejecting the requests which don't follow your rules or come when you aren't accepting requests. Those who violate your rules aren't worthy of your time and work!

Secondly, keep this is mind that you aren't expected to be able to write everything! Sometimes the requests are hard to write, the idea seems odd or hard to understand, or sometimes you just don't feel comfortable or don't want to write it all, which is okay!

You always have the right to take/drop whichever of your requests and you don't owe anyone anything for this, it's your own blog, your work, and your content. Don't ever force yourself to write something which you don't like to write!

6) Your health is always the top priority

Remember that no matter how popular you are, how many followers you have, how many requests are left in your inbox or how much people are wishing to get more of your content, you're free to stop writing and put this wrong at a temporarily (or even permanent) hiatus.

Sometimes you just don't feel like writing, then don't write. If you feel like you're being too busy with work/family/school and anything please don't force yourself to write! Remember that your real life matters always come first!

Also, you might even need a break from writing without necessarily being really busy or sad, sometimes you just need to take a break from everything, and it's totally fine to do! Take as much time as you need and stay healthy during your breaks. It'd be even better if you don't even think of any new ideas/Aus while you're taking a break from writing so you can fully set your mind off stuff! Doesn't even matter if followers/readers are going to appreciate this or not, it's not about them, it's about you. Remember that your good readers/follwers who understand that authors are normal humans and not writing machines would surely understand if you need to take a break too!

7)Keep yourself motivated!

There might be days when you can and have the time to write, but something's holding you back. You feel like procrastinating over and over at some point lose the motivation to write. First off, that's a really normal matter to see as many of us have to struggle with laziness sometimes lol, but there are some useful tips to keep yourself Motamedi and hyped while you're planning to write! A bit of challenge would not only make it a lot more fun, but is also a good way to keep yourself motivated and inspired!

First, try prompt lists! They've always got plenty of useful ideas and inspirational quotes to use and are absolutely amazing to give you new ideas for a writing!

Second, try to challenge yourself by simple stuff like setting yourself word limits, trying to see how much you can write in an hour, use some suggested words in your stories (ex: Banana, train, knife, turkey) as a small challenge! You can also try small events (like milestone or holiday events) to celebrate on your blog with stuff like: Prompt list requests, CYOAs, character interaction and other new stuff that gives you a better motivation tp write instead of just having to work on the same, usual writing requests over and over.

Also, I suggest putting an specific hour for writing/ checking on your blog in your daily schedule as this is also a way of avoiding procrastination, instead of writing 10 requests a day and not writing anything for two weeks, try to set an schedule like writing 1-2 writings everyday! Remember to put your real life activities in the schedule too so you won't have to go through any trouble to find a balance between your real life and running a writing blog!

8) Remember the crediting/copyrights

I'm just adding this here because I can see quite a few of writers using uncredited art for their stories and it's been much and less of an issue lately ^^;

First off, the arts/headers used in your writing. Make sure not to use any uncredited card or anyone else's edit without their permission, otherwise it's nothing different from stealing the work from the original artst!

If you're going to leave a link to the artist, make sure to check on them and check if they allow reposts with credit or not. If they don't, don't use their art. If they do, make sure to give them a proper credit with a link to them! (:

Editors too on the other hand spend a very long time making their edits and and aesthetics, so not copying their work is just as important as not stealing art from the artsits!

Pinterest is filled with uncredited art and if there's a pinterest art who is not linked to the original artist, putting the empty pinterest pin link would be useless and steal counted as stealing art.

9) Stick with your own writing style!

Writing style is like signature, everyone's got their very own and unique writing style. From the way you portray characters to what elements you use as the story develops, you're totally different from each and every of other authors in this fandom!

You may sometimes wonder if your writing style is any good at all while you look at other creators writings and feel the difference, and I gotta say: It doesn't even matter what others are doing! All that is important, is you.

Don't try to change your style to become close another writer's style, your own style is great as it already is! Even if you aren't yet that experienced with writing and feel like your writing could be better, remember that your writing skills will indeed improve as you continue to write and read newer and newer stuff, so don't worry about it!

Each and every writing style has got its own beauty, not everyone may totally enjoy your style at first but and as you continue to write, you'd get to learn what makes people enjoy your writing even more or how you can attract new readers with your writings, your style will change for the better as you write!

Though it's totally fine if you feel like there are writers who inspire and motivate you, remember that you won't have to be them in order to improve! You don't need to be just like them to be great! Even if you do have some issues like being a non-native speaker which can make it quite hard for you to write, you'd automatically learn and have most of your errors fixed as the time passes. I made LOTS of mistakes in my first writings but I hardly ever make any mistakes now because I'm used to it! Though it was a bit late I finally recognized my mistakes and corrected them! And I'd continue to correct more of my mistakes as I continue to write!

10) It's very good to have different writer mutuals

This one is rather optional, just a small recommendation! Though there are many writers who might recommend this as a rather important factor for running a writing blog, I'd say that this isn't necessary as there are still well-known tumblr authors and even twst authors who gained attention to themselves on their own and not with the help and support of any mutuals or writer friends, so it isn't impossible to be successful even without having any mutuals!

The thing with having mutuals is that it makes everything easier. A totally new twst blog can gain around 100 followers on its first without even posting anything more than a writing and a list of rules only because of being supported and boosted by well-known blogs while a for normal blog without any support or boosting, it may take up to 2-3 weeks or even an entire month to gain that 100!

Also, getting to talk with different authors (especially those who are more experienced than you) is motivational and heartwarming, you can feel like you have a team to belong to. You can discuss different writing ideas/issues/blog chores with them and see what they may think. You can even have their support with new ideas if you feel stuck/unmotivated while writing a piece!

I didn't have any mutuals on my first days either and I admit that this made things a bit hard, but it didn't hold me back from continuing to write! Yet I admit that it's surely very useful to have a couple of writer friends around you whom you can share your ideas with! Mutuals support each other, reblog each other's works and give each other a better chance of having their works read by more users, which is quite amazing and helpful!

11) Go for it and don't give up!

Remember that no one, not even the greatest writing blogs have been perfect on their first days. They weren't well-known back then either! And they wouldn't have been any successful today without being hard-working and strong. Leaving up to the previous 10 rules is the hardest part of having a blog, and it's all about not giving up!

Do not try to judge your writing and talents based on the amount of notes your posts get or how many followers you have, because these aren't ever going to show your true worth and talents! But I assure you, if you continue to write even through your hard days, your unmotivated days and your sad days no matter how hard it's supposed to be, everything will change. The more you write, the higher the chance of having new people find and read your works would be! Keeping up the hard work and believing in yourself is the key to achieving anything you may wish for, even having a successful writing blog!

As you continue to write, you'll get more readers, more notes on your posts, more followers and more people who enjoy your content!

Hope that these are helpful, wish you all the greatest and good luck with your writing blog!!💞💕💞💕💞💕💞💕💞💕💞💕💞💕💞💕💞💕💞💕💞

#answered #twst #twisted wonderland #twst x reader #twisted Wonderland x reader #writing #writing tips #writing blog tips

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val-aquenta · 3 years

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1,2,15,and 22 for the writer asks?

Ooh Yay! Thanks for the ask! Maybe I’m procrastinating writing??? but whatever, this is fun!

1. Is there a favorite character or title you enjoy writing for the most?

heh this is easy. I’m perpetually stuck between Mace, Obi-Wan, Yoda, or Luminara. Yoda I prefer to write as a side character tbh mainly because I want him to be extra grandpa to his fellow Jedi lmao. But yeah, I love writing Obi-Wan because I feel like we’re pretty similar and I can sink into his thought process quite easily which is a plus. Mace is a really fun character to write because I like to balance his emotional/soft side with his more rational, I have to do what is necessary side. Personally I also empathise with Mace a whole bunch because I also have quite a large rational side, which is a plus. I tend to think that he usually knows what he needs to do and he might dislike it, but he will still do it. I just love Mace, okay, and of course I’m overwriting shitty fanon Mace Windu because no he doesn’t hate Anakin, and yes he loves Depa so much that when she didn’t give him a hug he was super depresso. He’s just so sweet, but he knows that sometimes shit has to be done and moping around complaining won’t make anything better. Luminara is just sweet. I want to write so much more for her, but I tend to have her as a side character in my fics (a tragedy I know) but I am working on making her more of a main character is some fics. She’s very much like Mace in that she understands that sometimes to do the right thing, you must sacrifice stuff that you love which is commendable imo. She also loves Barriss very much and I headcanon that she and Obi-Wan are best buds. She and Obi-Wan definitely geek out about the stupidest shit, you can’t change my mind.

2. Is there a least favorite character or title you dislike writing for?

Uhh... typically I tend to avoid characters who I don’t want to write because i find it difficult to write them and not enjoyable. But I’ll share a few for this sake. Palpatine kinda makes me feel slimy when I write him. It can be fun to write crack Palpatine, but realistic trying to write him can be a nightmare for me. I don’t really know how to write manipulative sheev well, so I feel it ends up very much crackfic feelings.

Anakin is also difficult, but sometimes I enjoy the challenge. He can be pretty complex to some, but for me the pain is trying to write his priorities because christ he can’t get them straight at all. Post!aotc Anakin is obviously placing Padmè VERY high (at the top lmao) but not really because if it were that he’d leave the order to be with her. Idk I get very confused writing him. I also feel very apprehensive posting stuff with Anakin because I know a lot of people love him and have somewhat specific (typically fanon) ideas about him and also have very strong feelings about those. I’m not saying you can’t have them, but sometimes I worry that I’ll be attacked because my view on Anakin is far from friendly lmao. Tbh Padmè suffers similarly because I don’t know how to write her without being mean xD. I don’t really understand many of her motivations surrounding the secret marriage and shit and her prioritisation is also strange. I mean the whole ignoring the Tusken massacre basically and only turning from Anakin after Anakin tells his part in breaking the Republic (not listening to Obi-Wan say he killed Jedi) makes it ahrd to sympathise. Fandom has a typically positive view of her and I don’t want to anger anyone with my views, so I try to keep a somewhat ambivalent take with her. I haven’t written anything starring her/them together much so yeah.

I actually like writing Ahsoka because she’s pretty cool, but I’m very nervous posting stuff about her post wrong Jedi arc because I think my views on it are pretty unpopular, and some of her fans are very... vehement about their views which is fine as logn as you’re not trying to invalidate my interpretation you know? Kind of makes me sad since I do love her character, but sometimes her fans put me off.

Idk if this counts but also romance. Personally never really had a great one, so I don’t understand how to properly write it which makes it hard, and I don’t see the draw of it. I tend to both read and write platonic stuff. Lots of gen for me :)

15. What made you start to write fanfiction/stories?

I think @jedimasterbailey said she started writing Luminara stuff/fanfic in general because of the amount of Luminara slander and I kind of do the same but for jedi hate in general. Also, more specifically, Mace Windu hate. It just grinds on my nerves, but I’m not going to sit here and say people can’t write what they do, so yeah I just started writing my own to hopefully inspire others to do the same, or to just shove more pro Jedi shit out there ahaha. I’ve actually gotten a few comments of people saying that my fics have made them like/appreciate Mace a bit more which means a lot since he’s one of my favourite characters.

More than that, thought, I just enjoy fanfic. I had loads of ideas for stories from multiple fandoms and I thought I might start posting some of them because they’re doing nothing just chilling in my drive. Also all the lovely writers of fic in multiple fandoms inspired me, so thanks to you I kind of got the courage to actually upload anything :)

22. Care to share any future WIP ideas you have lined up?

Ooh boy I got loads heheh. But I’ll talk of a few. So I had this idea about a time travel au (I know so original xD) and it was supposed to be Obi-Wan going back in time, but I actually wanted to kind of combine two different ideas, one being Ahsoka as Obi-Wan’s padawan, and a time travel au to one. So yeah... I have a fic in the works about an Ahsoka who travels back right after Vader kills her on Malachor (no Ezra saving her) and who becomes Obi-Wan’s padawan. This one’s a bit in the begining so it will probably be a while before anything’s posted, but if you want to send some kind of help for it I would appreciate a lot. This will probs be my first really longer fic, so I’m worried I’ll lose motivation which is why I’m going to plan it a bit more than most of my other stuff. I’m so excited because the idea has been bouncing around my head for so long!!!

I have another that is much closer to finishing which is a little 5+1 fic about Obi-Wan and the name Ben. I want to change a few things before posting but it should be coming around soon. It’s a little angsty, but mostly fluff.

Last one I’ll talk about, I promise haha. This one is a little uncertain of when I’ll finish because it’s somewhat written out, but the last bit is KILLING me. It’s an essay style writing up of order 66 and the empires rise. Kind of examining public opinion and stuff about it. Basically exploring how the genocide has affected the universe. It is written after the empire falls, so it talks a bit about the shitty Empire and propoganda and is just a pro jedi love letter xD

#long post #ask game

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whattodowithace · 3 years

Text

Hello everyone! :D Awhile back LiJu decided to do a “Get to know LiJu post” today we’re doing a writing tips 101 post. We would like to make this a series for the future with more writing tips and get to know us interview questions. But until then, we hope you enjoy this 5 question writing 101 interview! 💚💜 -Lio & Ju

* Where do you get inspiration to write?

Lio- I get inspiration from a lot of things. Songs, movies, dreams, pictures, I even get inspiration from my own personal experiences. Any of these things bring me inspiration. The place I often get most of my story ideas is when I drive. I listen to music as I drive and different songs evoke different emotions, so I get story ideas based on how the music makes me feel.

~~~~~

Ju- From many places- But mostly from music or books I’ve read. Even other fanfic writers I’ve got idea’s from and based my own work off of their original idea. Lio and I often bounce off each other with things. I also get ideas when I’m driving. It sets a certain headspace for me and I start thinking of stories while going somewhere.

*For writers just starting out, what’s a good place to start their writing journey?

Lio-I think the most important place to start is with your outlook. Writing is like any skill, you have to work to cultivate it. Even if someone is born with the talent of writing, they still cultivate it to make it better. When you first start writing, a lot of your stories may not be the best and that’s okay. Old works will always make you cringe, but they were the start of your journey and they show how much you’ve grown into the writer you become in the future. So start with the outlook that your writing may not be so great at the beginning, that just means you have a lot of growing to go. After that, just dive in the deep end, you will learn to swim and it may be a small doggy paddle but it will get better.

~~~~~~

Ju-Start small. I can’t stress that enough. Start small. I know you’re excited and want to share things and grow you’re skill. And I know you are going to do fantastic and have fans of your works someday. But you don’t need to write a big fanfic that’s 3,000 plus words with every member of the group involved. Take just one member and do a small one shot with them. Maybe 300 or 400 words, and go from there. Get your feet under you first. Don’t go flying off a cliff yet.

*Tips for improving writing?

Lio- I think one way to improve writing is by reading. When you read you find role models that write the way you want to write. By studying their sentences and breaking down their writing you gain a knowledge as to why you like their writing style and then find a way to incorporate it into your writing. Do you like their writing cause they use big words? Study up on some complicated words. Do you like their writing for their metaphors? Spend a day with your parents or grandparents, they use them a lot XD. Just study writing you like already, dissecting it, then implementing it into your own writing.

~~~~~~~

Ju- Listen, and watch. You know those moments when you want to know how to do something so you type it up on YouTube or google it? Do that but with writing. Listen to music that tells a story and drives you. Read a book and pay attention to how the writer convey’s feelings and emotions. Don’t just look at the plot. Pay attention to other fanfic writers and how they use words and describe the world. Even listening to an audio book is so helpful.

* How do you handle writers block?

Lio-Sometimes writers block can only be healed with time. You may be burned out on writing and need a couple days or weeks to recoup, that’s okay. If I just don’t have any ideas for a story I try to work on something new. When I have writers block it’s because I want to avoid the WIP’s I have piled up. I try to write a quick drabble or short one shot to get the creative juices flowing again. After a couple quick works I feel more motivated to tackle a chapter in a chapter fic or defeat a paragraph in a long one shot.

~~~~~

Ju-It’s okay to take a break. Sometimes when you’re stuck you just need a few weeks off. But talking with someone helps. I bounce things off Lio all the time, and her with me. It’s okay to be stumped and to have other priorities. Just take a step back and let it roll around in your head awhile. It comes back quickly. Looking at photos helps too. Sometimes I look at photos on Pinterest when there’s a certain spot in a fanfic I need inspiration on. The photos trigger ideas a lot of times.

~~~~~~

* What are common mistakes you see other writers make?

Lio- It depends on what fandom/genre of writing I’m looking at. A lot of times punctuation and spelling are the biggest things that make reading certain stories difficult. I’m not great in grammar and struggle with punctuation so it doesn’t have to be perfect, but writing something easy to read starts with punctuation and spelling.

~~~~

Ju- I am saying this… in the humblest of places I can. Because lord only knows how much growing I have to do as a writer. But explanation points do not convey emotions. They just don’t. Try to use your words. Limit the explanation points for when it’s really, really needed.

Thank you for your support and for read this far. 🥺 -Lio & Ju

#Lio admin #Ju admin #writers ask #get to know LiJu

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writingpuddle · 4 years

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“Don’t you ever get lonely?” Nicky asked, digging in his pack for a chocolate bar. To their left, the cliff dropped away precipitously, sheer granite cliffs like sentinels at the end of the world.

Neil stared at Nicky. “No,” he said.

“What, never?”

Neil looked out across the sweeping vista of mountains before them. A speck that could have been a hawk or a raven or a sparrow spun against the sky, too small and distant to judge. He’d stood in the middle of busy cities; he’d gone to school with hundreds; he’d even tried out for a track and field team once. He’d been surrounded by people, and he had been so ferociously lonely it had been like a knife in his chest.

“No,” he said, because he didn’t know how to explain—didn’t even want to, really. He’d felt more alone back in the so-called real world than he’d ever felt in the wilderness, miles from any other person. When there was no one around, there was no one to miss.

~~~The Long-Distance Hiker AU (A Bullet Point Fic)~~~

So after Neil’s mom died he kinda of ghosted around for a while and eventually ended up in a small hiking town in California

He met a bunch of thru hikers and figured, hey, my dad probably won’t find me if I’ve fucked off into the wilderness

So he starts hiking

And pretty soon he realizes it’s the best thing he could imagine

He spends all summer in the mountains and when winter rolls around he finds a temporary job in a skiing town working in a second hand gear shop

He’s an ultralighter in the most accidental sense possible

His gear is weird and cobbled together and his shoes are held together with dental floss

He sleeps under a tarp with a down blanket and a thin foam mat and he’ll eat the same shit day in day out without even registering it while he covers frankly obscene distances every single day

It basically gives Kevin an ulcer

Kevin’s an ultralighter, but in the stuck up, rich bitch way; his gear is probably worth thousands of dollars and he’ll lecture anyone who listens about ripstop nylon and is super snobby and elitist about who is a so-called “real” thru hiker (hint: anyone who doesn’t do it his way isn’t a real thru hiker)

(don’t worry he’ll get smacked around a little by people like Dan and stop being such a little bitch about it but he grew up rich so even though it might’ve been shit living with Riko he really doesn’t always take into consideration the context of how much fucking money gear costs when he’s preaching about ultralighting)

(yes I’m taking out my dislike for pretentious rich ultralighters on him, okay, but the difference is he’ll have character growth versus the people I met are probably still being preachy and self-important to this day)

Andrew’s like the exact opposite

His pack weighs like seventy pounds and he’ll pull a six-inch knife (a gross misuse of smart gear weight management) at anyone who comments

He has a completely contained single person tent that’s big enough to sit up in and a four-inch inflatable mattress

His sleeping bag is rated to like -20 even when he’s hiking in the summer

Nicky swears he once saw him pull a full-sized chocolate cake out of his backpack three days down the trail and everyone says that’s stupid and made up but secretly think its totally true

Andrew likes to hike alone but somehow he’s never more than a day away from Aaron and Nicky and when he keeps showing up near them it gets harder and harder to pretend like he doesn’t actually care about them

Nobody says anything, obviously, but Nicky gets a little teary when he starts to notice the pattern

It was Nicky’s idea; in this universe Erik got him into hiking when he was in Germany so he got the cousins into it as a bonding exercise and then it turned out it was the best family activity they had ever found

This is several years after they graduated and they’ve scrounged together enough time and money to hike the Pacific Crest Trail

Now the upperclassmen:

So Stephanie Walker is a trail angel: one of those people who lives near a long trail and provides snacks and rides and somewhere to stay and basically helps out anyone who comes by with whatever’s going on; she’s pulled a lot of people out of frankly dangerous situations and she’s not afraid of anything the trail has to offer

So Renee finds herself and her faith while living this life of meeting new hikers every day and it’s almost inevitable that she starts to hike and find solace in the wilderness

Allison is one of those Wild types: she’s done some hiking (much to her parents’ chagrin) but she’s never done a thru trail or even much overnighting before, but she’s ready to throw herself into it and doesn’t care how dirty she gets

She totally carries a tiny spa package though

The other women are very skeptical because they take pride in being free from societies expectations and make up and shaving but they come around after Allison pulls it out one time when they’re seven days into a ten day section and gives them face masks and they all have a little pedicure pampering session (so, so needed when your feet are being beaten and bruised by hard terrain all day)

She has a lot of new, expensive gear and is super touchy about people trying to help her (because a beautiful woman absolutely gets people trying to “help” all the time and it’s infuriating and condescending) but she learns to accept help from her closest friends

She was showing off near the beginning of the trail drinking with a bunch of guys and probably got too sloshed trying to act tough (alcohol hits you waaaay harder at high elevations dude, if you’re not expecting it you can get Fucked Up really fast)

It’s Seth who realizes things are getting out of control and pulls her out before the guys can do anything shitty which is how their friendship and eventually their relationship gets started

They piss everyone off with their constant breaking up and getting back together on the trail, sometimes hiking together for days and then splitting up and going to hike with other people but they find a lot of healing out there in the woods

Seth’s mom is totally dismissive and condescending of his hiking, she thinks it’s a stupid waste of time, but she thinks everything he does is a stupid waste of time so at least when he’s out there without cell service he has an excuse to not respond to her

Now Dan

Dan’s trailer trash, right

She’s got no fucking cash but she has this dream in her head to hike the PCT and she’s going to fucking well do it

Her gear is probably most similar to Neil’s except where his is a mess of weird priorities and held together by spit and twine

Hers is meticulously planned

It’s cheap, some of it’s over forty years old, but it’s hers

It’s probably the only stuff in the world that’s actually hers

She accumulated it over about four years, hitting all the second-hand gear events, saving up every penny, packing and repacking and writing everything out in great detail until David Wymack got wind of her plans at a gear event

He’s one of those guys who hiked the PCT thirty years ago back before anyone knew what it was except instead of feeling superior about that it means he knows exactly how much impact experiencing the wilderness can have for disenfranchised people

He approaches Dan and offers to sponsor her hike

She’s resistant at first; she planned this hike, she got all the stuff together, she was going to do it without anyone’s help

But he comes back and says he just wants her to write about her experiences and publish it on his website

He’ll pay her for the work, of course

And she wavers and finally caves because this will move her plans up by about two years if she can make money while she’s hiking instead of having to hoard up enough cash to take six whole months off

Her blog posts are a huge hit

She doesn’t preach about how the mountains saved her, or get too metaphorical about hiking or anything like that

She just talks about the real, raw experience of hiking

The friendships, the trials, the triumphs

The infuriating people whose mental image of the hiking community doesn’t include poor black girls who grew up in a trailer park, who say she’s an inspiration like they actually mean something else

She talks about the days that she flies up the mountains and the days that she can barely drag herself out of her tent and the day she realizes that Allison and Renee, these women she thought could not be more different from her, are the best friends she’s ever had in the world

And she’s takes fucking amazing pictures

She’s also very determined not to have a trail romance

That’s stupid and cliché

Look that guy Matt might be hot but she’s not interested

He’s clearly working through some stuff and she’s not here to be some guys savior or whatever

So Matt then

His mom helped him get sober a couple years ago and he’s been struggling with it ever since

She got him into hiking as an outlet and a healthy hobby and he took to it like a fish to water

He’s got legs for days and he doesn’t mind carrying a heavy pack, he can hike for hours without stopping

(The fact that he’s faster than her pisses Dan off a bit, but sometimes you gotta accept that you’ve got short legs and just hike your own hike, there aren’t any prizes for speed)

He relapsed again a couple months before his hike started and he and Randy weren’t even sure if he was going to be able to do it but he’s damned well going to try

So anyway

Pretty much everyone is trying to actually hike the PCT except Neil

He drives everyone bonkers

His motivation isn’t really about the trail so much as staying out in the wilderness where there are no gangsters to murder you

So he just does whatever he wants and keeps showing up at random points

He’s technically got one of the thru hiker permits but he frequently goes off on side trails not on the PCT and ends up hiding out in the woods so rangers won’t find him

He’ll just hitchhike straight through boring sections or anywhere that you pass through too many towns where he’d rather not be remembered

He keeps coming back to the PCT but it’s more like it’s a rough guideline of where to go than an actual route he’s taking

He’s got his natural colouring back because who’s dying their hair or wearing fucking contacts on the trail?

But also

Who would ever associate a runaway mafia kid with a guy with overgrown hair and a stained t-shirt who’s sitting serenely on a mountain pass in a photo on David Wymack’s website?

Nobody

That’s right kids, Nathan doesn’t have a role in this one because he doesn’t find Neil

Maybe he gets killed in a shoot out or something and some other gangster steps up and takes over, and in the shuffle Neil’s just kinda forgotten

Maybe he finds out months later and he just stares at the computer in shock because he should have known, shouldn’t he? He should have felt it when his father died

He should have realized that he was free

That happens later though

Who fucking cares what Riko’s doing honestly

Kevin has somehow attached himself to Andrew and is driving him up the wall with advice to improve his hiking/base weight/distance/etc and he sees this guy (Neil) who regularly covers like thirty or forty miles a day (obscene!) and is like YES this guy is my people!

Except when he starts talking to Neil he realizes he’s this total weirdo who doesn’t even have a cook set he just eats cold food (a common enough thing among ultralighters, but not like this. Oh god, not like this)

Neil’s just sitting there gnawing on a pack of uncooked ramen like a fucking animal

And he’s not! Even! Hiking! Properly!

You’ll never finish the trail if you hike like this!

Neil just gives him a blank look

He’s got no interest on getting on some “verified” list of people who hiked the PCT, he just likes hiking

Andrew likes him

I mean obviously he despises him what the hell is with that janky ass setup but also he’s so unconventional and unapologetic how could Andrew not be into that?

They’re the kind of people who give wilderness rescue personnel grey hair, but for completely opposite reasons

Neil keeps running into them because even though he covers so much ground every day, his meandering route means he doesn’t actually move down the trail very fast

They’ll be like wait weren’t you like a week ahead of us and he’s like oh yeah I heard about this cool waterfall and took a sixty mile side trail to visit it and nearly ran into a momma bear with two cubs, it was awesome

And they all start to grow on him, and each other, almost accidentally

Look none of them are out there romanticizing the trail as some kind of magical place where the problems of the real world disappear and the people are somehow more pure and true or whatever

People are people and they bring their issues wherever they go

But there is a paring down

When your daily concerns are just mileage and shoes and food and weather, a lot of other stuff fades into the background

And well the truth is a lot of people are on those trails to work through stuff

And they find each other

Gradually, without even really noticing

They team up in June, groups of three or four with crampons and ice axes to get over the Sierra’s.

Neil was planning to just do side hikes and wait for the snow to melt—he isn’t so reckless he wants to go over the ice alone, but Kevin insists he join them and for the first time he hikes in a group with Kevin and the cousins all together.

It’s weird

He’s not used to people talking to him when he’s hiking and he frequently doesn’t respond and it’s not because he’s being rude he’s just so focussed on what he’s doing and what’s around him that he literally doesn’t hear them

And then

Nicky slips

It’s not his fault, they did nearly everything right (Kevin may be a pretentious ass, but he does know his shit) but sometimes shit just happens for no reason

And they’re at the edge of the ice sheet so Nicky’s just untying himself from the rope that links them together, he’s not even moving, and the snow beneath him shifts and he doesn’t even have time to scream before he’s hurtling down the snow below the trail towards the cliff at the bottom of the ice sheet

Neil doesn’t even hesitate

He dives after him, ice axe in one hand like a fucking gladiator and gets his arm wrapped around Nicky’s waist

He slams the ice axe into the snow and it drags behind them, and it looks like it’s not going to catch, and the edge is getting closer and closer—

Until the axe catches something, and Nicky and Neil lurch to a halt, clinging to each other, hanging off of Neil’s one arm and the axe.

Neil looks up and sees Andrew, Aaron and Kevin in various places on the slope above them, their axes dug in and long gouge marks in the snow beneath their heels, strung together by a ropeline that’s still attached to Neil’s waist

That rope is probably the only thing that slowed them down enough that Neil could stop them without ripping his arm clean off

It’s hardly a by-the-book rescue, and in fact it was pretty stupid, but they’re okay, they’re okay, that’s all that matters

That night they light a fire down by a lake and Nicky cries on Aaron’s shoulder and Andrew keeps clenching his fists because he’s never felt so helpless in his life and it was Neil that jumped, not him

He knows that he was at the far end of the line and he would’ve made it worse if he had, but doing nothing while Neil risked his life to save Nicky

They don’t really talk about it

But you kind of can’t help being friends after that

And even after they’re out of the high mountains and back on solid trails Neil keeps tabs on them

And Nicky befriends the others and without even meaning to they start to develop a sort of loose trail family vibe

They’re not hiking together all the time like some of the groups they meet, but they check on each other all the time and wait up in resupply villages and bond over firepits and shitty hot chocolate mixes and swap tips on how to keep the butt-chafing at bay

Neil sticks to the outskirts, mostly, but he starts to open up a little, in fits and spurts, tiny non-specific things that wouldn’t even register to most people but that this particular group knows means more than that

He’s slowing down, too, sometimes hiking entire days with people and covering half his usual distance even when there’s no cliffs or glaciers threatening him

He likes hiking with Andrew the most, though

Because neither of them are big talkers when they’re hiking and Andrew’s pack might be absurdly heavy but he’s got legs the size of tree trunks and endurance to match, so he might not be fast but he can outwalk half the people on the trail by sheer relentlessness

They both like to camp up high, near treeline (so Neil can set up his tarp) and in the places that it’s legal they’ll start a small fire and Andrew will loan Neil his pot so he can actually cook his fucking ramen for once and sometimes they’ll watch the Milky Way rise and share secrets under the open sky, not looking at each other so they don’t break the illusion, and sometimes they won’t say anything at all but it’s okay, because they’re saying nothing together.

It’s nice

It’s maybe more than nice

The summer draws to a close and Neil is starting to realize that he doesn’t want it to

He never wants the hiking season to end but this time it’s different

This summer has been perfect

And he knows deep in his bones that once they leave the trail things will change

The others have lives to return to, and Neil…

The trail is all he has

And if he’s barely hiking alone at all these days, well, who’s going to call him out on it?

The others like having him around because he stops them from getting too fixated on the Trail to see the trail

He still takes side trips but now sometimes people will come along and he’ll stand at the base of a canyon staring up at the glossy white walls and Dan will snap a photo for her blog and smile, because the PCT is just a line on a map, but the hike is all of them; together

He’s hiking with Andrew in September when a storm hits, this time vicious

Neil huddles under his tarp in resignation

Storms suck, he always gets wet, no matter how much he lowers the tarp, but he’s used to it; he just waits it out

But it’s just getting worse

Hail lashing at the tarp and pummelling the ground and maybe for once he regrets camping so high up

And Andrew has to shout to be heard but finally Neil realizes he’s offering to let Neil come into his tent

You’re going fucking freeze, just get in here

Neil goes

It’s weird

It’s instantly weird

The tent is not built for two people, so they’re both sitting cross legged with their heads ducked to not press against the roof

The storms probably not going to let up soon, Andrew says

Yeah, Neil says.

Andrew sighs

Lie down, he says, and Neil does, and Andrew lies down next to him, shoulder to shoulder

It barely works, only because neither of them are very big people

Neil’s pack is outside wrapped in his tarp and all he has is his damp down blanket but he’s not cold anymore, not with Andrew bundled up in his ridiculous sleeping bag right next to him

The storm rages for nearly two days and what passes between them in that tent, nobody knows

If they’re barely ever seen apart after it, well. You only see people so often on the trail. It could easily be a coincidence

And if Neil doesn’t even set his tarp up on rainy nights anymore, well. They never camp near other people anyway, so who’s to know?

In early October the snow blows in, blocking the route to the finish.

They drift around a resupply village for almost two weeks, waiting for the trail to reopen, but finally even Kevin accepts that it isn’t going to

After all of that, none of them are going to finish the trail

It’s a disappointment—of course it is. For most of them, the end of their trip is now a nondescript exit into a village, no fanfare, no closure; they didn’t even know they were done for days

Still, it’s not so bad

They’re all together

Allison suggests Vegas, but they all laugh it down; they wouldn’t even know how right now, bearded and hairy and ravenous as they are

They go to South Carolina instead

It’s not really even discussed that they’ll stay together, they just all go; Allison hosts them at her resort and they laugh at the incongruous weirdness of seeing each other in real clothes, and it’s different, but it’s also okay

They stay for another two weeks, and they don’t hike another fucking inch

We should try the Continental Divide Trail sometime, Dan says

Her blog is so popular now that she’s got sponsorships from more than just Wymack waiting for her

She could make a career out of hiking and blogging and doing gear reviews and it’s a dream she’d never even realized she wanted until she had it

And if she accidentally fucked up and ended up with a hot trail boyfriend? Well, nobody’s perfect

And he has a great butt

(she has photos of it on her blog, from when they jumped into a glacier lake naked back in August)

Everyone is jealous

How about that trek in Iceland? Matt suggests

Or the whats-it-called in New Zealand, Allison says

Oh, I bet there’s some good ones in Europe! Nicky says. You guys can all meet Erik!

And it’s going to be different, but it’s not going away, and Neil feels calm in a way he never has at the end of a hiking season before

Eventually everyone has to start making plans to return to their lives, and jobs, and Neil sneaks out to the back of the house to sit in crisp fall air and watch leaves spiral down out of the trees

Andrew follows him

They sit together, watching the moon rise over the hills, and when Andrew asks Neil to come home, Neil says yes

#me? coping with my inability to go hiking by writing headcanons? its more likely than you think!#aftg headcanons #aftg au #andreil #bulletpoint fic #my writing #hiker au #gratuitous descriptions of hiker life #found family #this is like 3.5k idk man #this is very self indulgent lol

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