#for everyone else who decides they might tyr to read this...... bless ur hearts

[partyinthemysterymachine]

you've probably been asked this before, but what advice would you give to someone who's thinking of getting into writing? love ur stuff btw

[three months later]

hello!! THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH!!!!!! i super appreciate that!! it fills me with mountainous joy and it's SUCH a high honor!!!! i actually haven’t been asked that before (iirc, that is….. and my memory is a pot of fried and boiled milk steak). that means a lot that you’d ask me for advice 😭😭🥚🙏❤️❤️❤️ thank you so much for that compliment, that really means the world to me. 

this is what gets me through, what i’ve learned and what works for me; and i hope it’ll do the same for you. 

when it comes to approaching writing (and drawing), i have some rules, and they are as follows:

do whatever the fuck you want.

do it FOR YOU.  

do whatever the fuck you want - this time, with feeling!

be kind to yourself. 

be messy. write messily. be unpoetic and frivolous, use the same word 6 times in a sentence. who curr. when inspiration hits, grab it by the tit and honk. you can edit later. 

and finally: do whatever the FUCK you want, FOR YOU, and BE KIND TO YOURSELF. (and then do it once more, with EXTRA feeling!)

and of course one of the hardest things to do:

don’t give a SINGLE SHIT - not even ONE. FUCK. EVER.

(and do it with a smile!)

NOW LET'S GET INTO IT:

DEADLINES & WORD COUNT & WRITING EVERY DAY, OH MY!

in the beginning of GOOMT, i used to set a deadline for myself; get a chapter out every 7 - 10 days (my best friend and editor’s schedule permitting lmao hiiii Ren <3 she’s gonna murder me one day bless her). 

setting a deadline isn’t viable for me anymore. GOOMT will get out when it does; especially right now, while i’m in an important arc that’s setting up some plot points and future. 

i also tend to write on average 3000 - 4500 words per chapter, with a page average of about 8 - 12. (current library arc not included. Yikes. sorry everyone!!) it’s not an intentional thing either; it’s whatever the chapter comes out to be. dialogue fluffs up the page count a lot too (and dialogue is my strength lmao, but sometimes, god shut UP, Harry!!!!! i’m so with James on that one lmaooo) (jk i love u baby, u make my world go ‘round in a blender) i feel that setting a goal or bracket for x amount of words or page count per chapter is stifling for me, so i don’t do it. 

same, again, with deadlines. this arc is gonna take a hot minute and i’ve written a lot for it already and so i can’t force myself to adhere to anything. if that works for you, peachy; it’s all about trial and error, and, u guessed it - BEING KIND TO YOURSELF. 

beating yourself up for not getting something done just does harm in the end and lord have mercy it happens anyway - but that there is a muscle to build.

you won’t always be perfect, so make the most of what you do at the moment, then come back to it later. 

a popular piece of advice for writers is to write x amount of words a day, or to write ANYTHING every. single. day..... and that might be great for some, but for me, it doesn’t work so well. i don’t like to force myself to write. or edit. sometimes, i do - when i’m frustrated with a chapter or a part, i’ll pluck at it or reread it when i’m >:(((( the entire time or am impatient, or just straight up am NOT in the mood or headspace. sometimes i can power through and get inspiration!! other times, i just get more upset and frustrated. mixed bag. overall, tho, i try not to press my luck. 

figure out what works for you. what works for me in what i write, or when i write..... is vibes.

wish i was joking, but. can't make some shit up, mates.

that said.... trial and error. i don't believe in the write every day advice. i don't believe in setting a writing schedule because my brain doesn't operate like that. might work for you or someone else though and oh my god i wish that were me, LOL. i salute your shorts.

===

TAKE A BREAK ONCE IN A WHILE WOULDJA/[SALLY NMBC VOICE] BUT I DON'T WANNA BEEEE PATIENT

no seriously.

take your breaks. try not to feel guilty; cope with feeling guilty and learn how to get over those hurdles; and press on when you can.

your health and wellbeing comes first and foremost. the story will not thrive when you aren't. take your breaks; take six months to get out the next chapter. your readers will still be there when you do, and new readers will be excited to read something that just cropped up on their feeds.

this isn't a race. this isn't your job. this is fun. be patient with yourself. you'll get there when you get there.

be patient, mfer. or else 🔪

===

WRITE SIMPLY AKA OH MY GOD DON’T BE LIKE ME AND ABUSE ONLINE THESAURUSES OR KEEP 50+ GOOGLE DOCUMENTS OF WORDS I’D LIKE TO USE OH GOD BRO DON’T DO IT

WRITE SIMPLY.

this might be big talk and side-eyeing coming from me lmao and you know what?: fair.

but i mean it. purple prose can be too much of a good (or bad) thing, and never you mind my 5 google documents of words and definitions i’ve saved for future use that average about 45 pages do NOT do as i do—

however wordhippo is my favorite thesaurus site and use it - but use it well, and use it WISELY. lord knows i’ve got a few chapters where i went HAYWIRE on the thesaurus and synonyms— and god, i’ll come back to it much later when i re-edit everything!!!! but don’t be like me. be intentional; be precise. it’s a hard act to juggle and don’t get down on yourself. it takes time, and it takes a lot of work and practice. it’s a constant struggle. 

that’s the beauty of art. 

just word barf onto the page. fuckin'. stream-of-conscioussness that shit. you can fix it later. 

===

WRITING OUT OF ORDER

one of the things i like to do when i write is write out future scenes. i’ll get a bout of inspiration and just go for it, no edits - even if it’s just inane blather. get the idea out!! consider it a skeleton for beefing later. (yummy.)

GOOMT has a folder called SCENES NOTES wherein there are, you guessed it, notes for future scenes - and i’ve written a metric fuckload of these.

they're separated into categories, such as "general" and "romantic". i know i'll want to use in the future somewhere. many of them date as far back as 2019 and 2020 and haven't yet seen the light of day, while others have already been published. some are still waiting for their time.

99% of these scenes are going to need heavy editing and tweaking because they are all written without knowing where the hell they're actually going to go, or if they'll ever get used. the "prom stories" scene in ch48 was one of these random ass scenes notes that i KNEW i wanted included somewhere, but where? how?

i had no idea. i just knew i did NOT want to shoe-horn it in (and there's more about that later in this post). there's another coming after the library arc (ho ho ho!!) that has been sitting waiting for its time probably since 2020 or maybe early 2021. i do hoard a lot of random scenes and writing though i do understand i MIGHT never use it; but if anything..

consider it as character development.

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HEHE WHAT A FUNNY LIL GUY WITH A FUNNY LIL PERSONALITY

character development.................

rubs face. what can i even say about this LOL. pull shit out of your ass.

again: no, really.

believe it or not i used to create a LOT of OCs and while i still have a pet project and OCs lurking in the background, there is one thing i learned to do in regards to creating/developing them, and this one neat trick that i'm still very good at it to this day:

pulling shit out of my ass.

whenever i get a character question (what do you think x feels about y) or response to a hc meme or w/e, there is a very, very high chance (about 80-90%, depending) that i haven't thought about this (or the character in terms of personal ideas) before. most of the time it's actual just stream of consciousness.

tbh. i recommend that as a writing exercise. taking a character question meme and answering it yourself. go into details if you can. it doesn't matter how "cringe" or whatever it is. write. cook that lil mfer in your head. spin 'em around like a salad spinner. just. write.

i can't get enough of detail. i fucking love and THRIVE on the mundane. slice of life is my entire soul. i have found that in writing, the most mundane and "boring" pieces of a character's slice of life becomes so crucial to what they become in my writing. i'm constantly picking up and deciding new tidbits/factoids. those really help set foundation and building blocks for the character (and story)'s future.

however, as with the advice above with writing out of order: it's incredible what happens in character development when just dotting down those notes.

and don't be afraid to let the characters do it themselves, too. the sentiment is super real about you as the writer having zero will sometimes over what a character does lmfao. that's just how it be.

also remember: people are extremely diverse and surprising. i dont' think it's fair to you or your writing or the characters to hold back purely because you fear something you may have discovered about them (or backlash for writing it).

for example: James "no fat chicks" Sunderland, re: ch61.

i've joked about it before; but since it's actually published GOOMT canon that James is an Actual Asshole about fat people (Harry), i was actually pretty damn worried that i could get some flack for it, LOL, despite knowing this piece about him for quite some time. it, while rather :\, is important to James's characterization and development throughout GOOMT.

not even Harry is safe from the ":\ seriously bro?" disappointment moments. and it's going to be nail biting for me to write and publish them because i of course don't want to face flack for it; but i would consider it a disservice to me and my writing and my storytelling if i didn't. people are disappointing; people are surprising. they're flawed and weird and fantastical. they progress and regress.

so let your characters do that, too.

===

PLANNING & OUTLINING & ORGANIZING LORE

this is a tough one for me. with GOOMT, its lore is in constant development and it’s massive. here’s what my organization looks like for GOOMT (with redacted folders bc Spoilers - and i’m a VERY superstitious writer lmao):

PLOT folder i have:

and within character ref:

may look like i have my shit together, but looks are deceiving LOL. it is a bit of a mess but hey at least i’ve got the heart, right? 

i recommend setting up something like this if you’re gonna be doing something even small and medium sized, and do THIS ONE NEAT TRICK (that i didn’t do in the beginning because i had no idea what i was doing, nor thinking GOOMT would get this far):

SAVE. YOUR DETAILS. AS. YOU. GO. ALONG. 

!!!!

really mate. superstition, unfortunately, doesn’t allow me to show you GOOMT’s versions exactly, but here are some examples, with [REDACTED]s in effect LOL 

PLOT:

CHARACTER REF:

MONSTERS:

it’s imperative!!! that you keep your shit together as best as possible.. and perhaps even MOREso that you actually LOOK at it more than twice a year ansishdhdjfhfjsbf good god i can forget it’s there so often and then i’m like. well WHO BETRAYED ME. WHO DID THAT. WHO FORGOT TO TELL AND/OR REMIND ME OF THAT. looking at everything else but the mirror i’m standing in front of, lmao

but remember: do only what you need to, and what works for you..... and remember too that all this is because GOOMT is ENORMOUS, and it's always, ALWAYS growing. so my apologies if this is kinda overwhelming, but... gestures.

GOOMT.

===

EDITING & EDIT HELL

a lot of what i write never makes it to see the light of day. i cannot stress how much i’ve written and cut. sometimes.. you're going to have to cut that thing you really really like about the chapter/piece. sorry. it's going to be a bummer to cut it but you're gonna have to cut it.

for example: ch60 had more than seven iterations or more in total.

no, seriously. and one of the things that sucks about it is that i cut a lot that i was very proud of, thought was important, but ultimately was not the right place or time: and very frankly, it may never have a place or time in the story. i still have them, though.

while they can definitely be discouraging, but in my mind, what they really are/were, were character development exercises. i’m not interested in shoe-horning them in either, even if they were genius, tho retooling is always a possibility. but in those moments, considering what you’ve written as character development exercises for YOU to understand them, and where you want to take the character and build their dynamic potential and future, is GREATLY beneficial in the long term for you as the writer, and those reading.  

i tend to write all i can in one go and then go back and edit and tweak. then when i say i'm in "edit hell", i'm talking about taking an entire week for purely editing. what editing means to me may not mean to you, either; so i'm not really sure how to advise.

i do recommend grabbing a friend who makes the mistake of offering to edit a chapter for you 52 chapters ago and is still editing for you to this day and very likely for the many mountains of months to follow tho :) (hi ren <3)

===

PACING & AH SHIT I REGRET PUTTING THAT THERE

shit happens! and sometimes you want shit to happen like. NOW. well..

you sure about that?

i’ve mentioned before how many times i’ve rearranged parts of GOOMT, and even regretted already revealing things. take some good keen time and CONSIDER what you’re writing; WHERE you're writing it; WHY you're writing it; and how the story is supposed to be going.

i think it’s also important to remember that not everything needs to ever be revealed, or revealed at once. you can allude to a lot of things. GOOMT and POTF have a LOT of lore stacked up (and always more being developed) and there’s a whole lot of it that’s not MEANT to see the light of day (tho, of course, that may change, and i’m willing to let that happen as needed). 

that said: ALWAYS make sure that revealing any big details or lore is necessary in what you’re writing. it’s very tempting to bring something into the chapter that you’ve been just itching to get out, but is it necessary? does it actually fit? and those questions aren't always easy to answer at the time, or simply can't be answered until 20/20 hindsight.

for example: revealing the Memory of Harry monster in GOOMT.

MoH originally was going to be debuted back in ch21, when they returned to the alley first seen in SH1. i had his whole scene written and ready to go but i cut him out just about before i handed the chapter to Ren for editing. instead, he made his appearance in Balkan in ch27.

looking back on it now, i wish i had waited until they were in Midwich.

i got a little too eager to introduce him. i didn't know where else to slap him down and at the same time too, the first Midwich arc wasn't yet much of a thought (and it began ch31). so at THAT time, i thought it was a good place to put him.

to be fair on myself: it was. it was a good place. but it would have made more sense and been more impactful, i realize in hindsight, to have dropped him into Midwich. still, it was a damn good reveal if i do say so myself, and pretty impactful too!!!

so there are always going to be regrets or even mistakes in pacing and placement. it’s a good learning experience and learning curve to take in and work on.

just.. whatever you do: DON’T. SHOEHORN. IN. if it's not time for it, it's not time. it's absolutely not worth it imo. take the piece that isn't working and set it to the side. you can use it later if the time/need arises.

pacing is super fucking hard to me and i gnaw at my hands about my arcs and how long they can take, and i have worry about things moving too slowly for readers. on the flip, i have a shitload to go through. and i'm going to make mistakes about reveals. and pacing is going to get wonky and GOOMT is going to get boring or drag on in parts and the reality is, is that that's just normal for it to happen.

i'm not sure what advice i have about pacing really. just be sure to sit down and give your story a great big think and re-read every now and then.

===

CONSISTENCY & WRITING STYLE & ACCEPTING ITS WEIRD JOURNEY

oh lord, have mercy; oh how the times do change, and ebb and flow through every fucking chapter, LOL

this is just natural. let it happen. of course your style is gonna change over time - especially if you’re writing long form. it could be disappointing; i know i look back at some chapters and go, shit, i LOVED the way i wrote here! how can i get that back?

and then you might also feel like your quality declined. i’m kind of in that phase right now; it sort of feels like my writing took a nosedive. for that, what i’m doing, and therefore i suggest it, is read back over old work you wrote and liked a lot. and even better?

read a book. read an old favorite or a new one. get some inspiration and mojo. take down notes of phrases you liked, or mark pages. just to have on hand. take a breather. remember: you're here to have fun.

===

JUST WRITE THE CRINGE, BRO

seriously: who. te fuck. cares. all the wrong people, that’s who! self-indulgence is the name of the game, babey. your world, your oyster. you don’t have to post it. just write it. remember:

if it makes you happy, then write - and draw - whatever the FUCK YOU WANT.

and if anyone tries to make you feel bad about it, just come back to me, or send the haters to my door. 🔪 i gotchu, bro. 

:3c 

===

CONSIDER A PET PROJECT

i’ve got a slew of personal work (-adjacent being one) that won’t see the light of day (ok so i’ve talked a little about it/posted one or two things, but that’ll be the extent). i love looking back at it or tinkering with new scenes bc it makes me happy and keep me sane LOL and i refuse to deny myself!!! MY HOUSE MY TRASH WE ROLL IN IT

however!! when GOOMT is being a right wanker about things, i’ve taken to writing pet projects - either working on my personal stuff, OR things i actually intend to publish. 

they aren’t always one-offs either; i’ve got two other series i work on and publish (Heya, Neighbor! and Puttin’ On The Fritz) and a few things that won’t see the light of day (.. or some pornographies..) and LIGHTLY edit. BIG STRESS ON LIGHTLY. EDIT. i go through Edit Hell enough with GOOMT; i don’t need or WANT the stress of doing that with these things i’m doing for shiggles. they’re just my palate cleansers for when GOOMT is being an asshole and so is being put in the “time-out corner”. 

the side projects are for my need to refresh myself and write freely. they’re a little cringey and maybe OOC for some, but it’s MY cringe and OOC and i LOVE IT because…… oh wait that’s right, it’s FOR ME and MY shits and giggles - but all y’all can read it too if it tickles your navel, LMAO. they get updated very, very slowly, and that’s fine. that might be a bit too much for some people to juggle and/or balance and that’s fine too. 

===

REMEMBER ALWAYS: you are writing FOR YOU. yes - absolutely you CAN write for the intent to gain popularity (and here’s a good article by @javert on how to approach that), but that’s not my style or intent. i just want to write fun stories and fling them out into the world and maybe someone will get a kick out of it, too. that’s what keeps me going. 

not giving a fuck about what you write or create is probably, definitely, at the very top of the highest peak, super hard; but not giving a fuck either about whether or not you receive validation? the HARDEST. (but today is not the day we get into that).

the moral of this story is:

if you write it, they will come.

your passion and your love will bring them in. somebody wants to read what you're writing. i promise it.

i started GOOMT, and i write it, and WILL keep writing it because i LOVE what i’m doing. i’m writing for ME, and i’m posting it so that anyone else who might be interested to share it with me can take the journey alongside. i never, EVER expected it to gain traction or the amount of attention it’s gotten and i’m truly, madly, DEEPLY grateful for everyone who has joined me and my boys through the story i have to tell. i’m straight up blown away that people like, or even love it as much as i do. i’m THRILLED. and for everyone who reads my older stuff (you nasties (loving), i see you digging around in my Batman trash, yeah you like that shit huh??? well i’ll do more….. Sometime In The Future™️), THANK YOU so MUCH. it keeps my ego inflated as well, as humble. 

all in all my advice is: write. just fuckin' write.

write cringe.

write the AU you dream about in the messiest way.

just barf out all the words as they come, let them fly through your fingers.

write shit you’ll never post.

write it because it gives you a giggle or warms the cockles of your heart (or the sub-cockle area; maybe even your kidneys; i don’t know). 

just write it. someone’s gonna fucking love it to the ends of the earth and thank you for writing it. they may never say anything, and you may never know how your work affected them - gave them confidence to create their own content; to interact with the fandom; to pursue another day, etc - but someone is always reading. someone is interested.

love yourself, love your work; they will see you, they will see how much you love what you do, and they will love you, and your creations, for it, too.

🥚🙏❤️