#i am never writing a longfic as i post it again i have learned my lesson amen

[softodettes]

just did the math and i have to write approximately 42k words in six weeks to finish AR when i originally intended to 🫠

[kiwinatorwaffles]

I found This is About a Stuffed Bird bc of you and its one of my favorite fics ever. Do you by chance have more suggestions?

hermitcraft/mcyt fic recs? :0 let's go!!

i get a lot of my fic recs from other friends since i don't really go out and search on my own all too much for this fandom. but there are lots of great works out here! i will be listing out some of my favorites :3 mostly hc but a couple general mcyt ones that i think are an excellent read no matter what. all of the fics i'm listing will be genfic without ships!

also i just realized a lot of my bookmarks are grian-centric which is funny i guess because i am admittedly quite picky about content of my other favorites and grian just tends to have the most content in the fanbase. hope that'll be alright

(i hope some of my friends and mutuals don't mind me tagging them for their works)

hermitcraft longfics:

the last days of the free angel of carrows by @theminecraftbee - loved stuffed bird? here's another great longfic by second! this one is about joe and cleo in an urban fantasy mystery setting. again, second writes our beloved hermits into an captivating au!

leaping and hopping on a moonshadow by @lunarblazes - a fantasy au by luna my beloved! pearl suddenly gains magical powers and goes on a quest to find her long-lost friend grian who might know what's happening to her. she meets a lot of familiar faces along the way!

Recall by @redwinterroses - hey, i was the artist for this one! :D mumbo goes missing, so grian and scar search for him. they find that grumbot has been up to some... things along the way. the fic isn't finished but i think the chapters red put out is worth a read if you don't mind leaving off on a cliffhanger because it really is super interesting

dramaturgy by wormcity - a universe where gem and pearl join in a season 7 that was never finished. mumbo became the mayor, but the turf war went so very wrong afterwards. admittedly i have not finished reading this yet because ummm short on time xD but it's super interesting with a lot of layers of drama(turgy hahaha)!

hermitcraft short fics/oneshots:

for trying. by @autistic-evil-xisuma - a stuffed bird universe oneshot of x and xisuma during their lab days. great if you want to be sad over the doomed brothers again :D

the wheels on the bus by sparxwrites - a hilarious post-s8 oneshot about grian being a little shit towards the watchers. one of the first fics i've read from this fandom and i still love it

a body is an object by ruffboi - grian is a mimic, and pearl's arrival in s8 shakes him up. she hasn't seen him in a while and is quite upset to learn that the grian she knew died a long time ago. a great read for familial connections and conflict of friendships!

Goatman and the Rift by TheDepressedCanary - doc's eldritch powers start acting up when the rift appears. what shenanigans will ensue?

other mcyt fics/crossovers:

late at night, when the stars don't look quite right by @lunarblazes - an excellent empires s1 and hermitcraft crossover longfic, where grian lands into the server and is discovered by pearl! very great worldbuilding and relationships, i especially love the dynamic between gri and pearl and pearl and gem :D

every new discovery is just a reminder by amaranthinecanicular - grian begins pulling alternate versions of the hermits from the life series into the server. he does save a lot of them, but at what cost? it does end on a cliffhanger but this is genuinely one of the most captivating oneshots i've ever read... argghhh

The Fair and the Brave and the Good by @slashmagpie - an afterlife smp longfic centered around the shelby, scott, and sausage. i have never watched afterlife smp before in my LIFE and this is still one of my favorite pieces of literature ever. the characters and worldbuilding is impeccable and perfect if you like something dark with themes of hope and renewal.

Two Can Keep a Secret (If One of Them is Red) by anonymous secretmcblog - a 3L oneshot! ren suspects grian has stockholm syndrome with his pact to stay with scar, but his expectations are wrong. a truly excellent read and one of them first fics i've read! i still go back to reread it from time to time

dog at the door by fluffy_papaya & iamsolarflare - a longfic where doc and ren take a trip on a van on their way to s8. ren, however, is not quite himself, and doc has to learn to befriend the red king.

devil town is colder in the summertime by @bananasofthorns - a oneshot from a 100hsmp/life series d&d au! team BEST ventures into a cursed evil fucked up forest. uh oh.

Interview with the Aftermath by @ranchersrevenge (wanderlasts) - the last life contestants are invited for an interview. the responses vary greatly.

stars, smoke, and stolen car keys by wormcity - a 100hsmp modern au oneshot where grian, scar, and joel go on a hike. it doesn't go quite as they expected.

the beehive state by amaranthinecanicular - a dsmp oneshot after wilbur moves to utah. tommy visits him, and the two reconnect. i have to say i stopped following dsmp a long time ago but this fic made me BAWL. i don't even think you need to know any of the characters that well to really enjoy just how amazing the writing itself is

Can't Go Back (This Time) by @duckmumbo (musicaltvbooks) - soup group goes end raiding and accientally finds themselves in afterlife smp. nothing goes wrong, surely! also admittedly i havent finished reading this either but roy i swear i will. this is a great read nevertheless and the soup group dynamic is impeccable!

TommyInnit's unbeatable method of avoiding sudden death by eneliii - on the train of dsmp fics, this is the superhero au longfic that inspired my own hc superhero au, vdhau. it's a lot of funny shenanigans with tommy and his friends. the fic does take a dark turn at the end, but that can be skipped entirely (as said by eneli herself) if you just want the wholesome aspects.

if you don't mind a little self promo, here are some of my fics!

it takes two to play (the game of mutual secrecy) - the aforementioned hermitcraft hero au. this installment is centered around xisuma and evil x as brothers resolving their issues through hero work and solving the mystery of welsknight's disappearance :D there are other works that are set in the same universe if you're interested for more!

how to form the ultimate besties dynamic: an unreliable tutorial by hypnotizd - a oneshot! hypno is a warlock who goes treasure hunting under the sea. he meets a guardian who later becomes his unlikely friend.

smoke and mirrors, the hunt perseveres - grian's arrival in empires s2 unwittingly brings the watchers' suspicions with him. cue jimmy freaking out and a lot of shenanigans.

ballad of etho’s lab - my newest installment! a oneshot about etho's storied life as the redstone god.

i'm also currently working on the sequel to the game of mutual secrecy and a new (well not exactly new since i made concept art for it) au called private detective gem tasey! these will likely be released sometime late january or february. have fun with these fic recs! i haven't been reading as much lately but i hope ill be able to find more if anyone else asks in the future. cheers!

edit: the fics are out! here they are!

hiding in plain sight (the meaning of trust) - sequel to the hermitcraft hero au! it follows an escaped lab rat trying to acquaint themselves with human society while avoiding suspicion and making friends with familiar faces from tgms ;D

private detective gem tasey: a rotten mystery in london - a hermitcraft detective au where gem gets hired for a case that spirals completely into drama and politics!

[just-prime]

I don’t want you to feel pressured or anything of the sort; I understand that fics are written by real people with real lives beyond what I read on the screen. (As someone who is notorious for never doing anything on time, I don’t want to make you feel pressured in that way.)

I am very grateful that, despite this full life I assume you already lead, you, and other writers, have chosen to not only create, but also share your work with the greater community! Thank you!

however

I have literally been on the edge of my seat waiting to read the Horror of Dream House

I assume this is how other people feel when they are waiting for a cake to finish baking, although, as a terrible baker and voracious eater of cake batter, I have rarely, if ever, felt this excitement in the literal sense

so

Are we cooking? Cooling? Burning?

Boiling? Pickling? Fermenting?

Popping? Locking? Polka-dotting?

Inquiring minds (and bad bakers) want to know :)

So I was in class when I received this ask, which is the only reason it didn't get answered immediately.

This ask absolutely made my day!!!

It's incredible to know that there are people out there who are interested in my work, and nothing gets the creative juices flowing like people expressing said interest.

That being said, baking-wise, I apologize in advance because it is probably going to be a long wait. I am very much the sort of person who likes a chunk of fic done, and given that this will be my first longfic, I want it to have a consistant posting schedule.

I took a pretty big writing break over March, so April is where I am easing myself back into the process. However the fic is still nowhere near done. Currently, I'm shaping up to *hopefully* hit 100K words by the end of the month, but again, this is going to end up massive, since the full end is not in sight.

My current plan is to try and finish up Part 1 and then start posting (I am putting it in writing here so I can't back out of it later), because that will give me a lot of leeway to work on what will probably end up being a shorter Part 2. The epilogue and a short connecter story are already written, and there are tentative plans for at least a sequel and threquel fic...however I'm not letting myself think about those all too much lest I become distracted from the task at hand.

It's been a slow but steady process and I am learning when I need to take breaks so I don't burn myself out too often, but honestly I've very much kept the spark of the idea, and it is definitely still in the works.

If we want to continue the cake metaphor, for this fic, you'll be getting two cakes, Part 1 and Part 2. Currently, there are some cooling tiers across the board, some that still need the batter mixed, and some that are cooking. However, Part 1 is definitely getting closer and closer to being finished, and I certainly am able to roughly count how many tiers it will be before it's done.

All in all, keep an eye out here, I will definitely let you all know when Part 1 has hit the editing stage. I am so deeply excited to share it with you.

[fitzrove]

💙 - what inspires you to finish writing a fanfic, and what makes you quit writing one at any stage in the process?

🤎 - how did you decide to write (or why are you writing) a certain fanfic?

💙 -

Usually what inspires me to finish is what inspires me to start - ie. I am the chosen one, if I don't write this who will 😂😌 I've learned my lesson though and will never post unfinished multichapter fic again... It's way too much pressure if I lose steam with the idea + the expectation of future delayed gratification is also a good motivator for finishing fic, like, you have to finish it to be able to publish it and get attention 😌 (I largely don't write fic for myself, I write stuff I would want to read in the hopes that it will be found by people it resonates with and that I can talk to them about it!! It really is just the more artistic version of metaposting, I want to communicate an idea and to prove it I need to write it.)

Things that make me quit: if there's no interest (ie. started plotting while talking to a friend but we lost interest in the idea and idk how to continue, or I think that absolutely nobody will care to read it), if the writing process drags on and I myself lose interest or faith in the idea, if I feel like it's not going anywhere/the idea isn't strong enough to carry even a short story with some kind of a plot or arc. That's the most common ones :'D

🤎 -

Flights of Angels - my longest todolf fic - was actually born from my dissatisfaction with existing todesengel fics and specifically todesengel rudolf fics 🙈 It was also an attempt to do my personal "definitive" version of Tod as an independent entity. I usually/almost always prefer to think of him as a metaphor or a manifestation of depression or suicidal ideation because it's the most fun and interesting interpretation psychologically, but since it's so common to characterise him as a supernatural entity of some kind, I wanted to do a version of that that made sense to me. Like, if it must be, it should be like this. It's also because I wanted to write character development for two characters, a longfic with a plot, and to kinda philosophically look at death and/or immortality a bit ajdjdk. Also with one chapter I literally wanted to push the rudolf x lucheni agenda while also tying to the other themes of course xD. Also I wanted to write at length about máté tod and think of a backstory for him, like he's crazy what is his deal jakskd 😂 I think I did pretty well on those fronts! >:]

So yess a lot of the time the way I get fic ideas is that I feel like it should exist, because I have a thought about the show that I want to communicate to people, or I notice something in it that I want to flip or expand upon. To me personally, fic that doesn't have anything relevant to say about the source material isn't really worth it in the long run, because then it could just be original fiction. People read fanfic to feel emotionally fulfilled and usually they gravitate towards a specific character or fandom because something in the canonical starting point appeals to them! So expanding on that, or commenting on or subverting ideas presented there, feels important and is interesting to me

[captainskyson]

Fic Writer

Wanted to do ficwip's year in review questions for my own sort of journaling :-) I answered a couple of these over on Twitter/X, but wanted to track for myself all 30 questions. So, I've put my answers below a cut to keep everyone's feed a little more tidy:

1. What’s something new that you tried in a fic this year? How did it turn out and would you do it again? Explored writing a true narcissist and not redeeming him or the relationship with the main character by the end of the fic. I would do it again - and in fact am, though this 2nd one may never be public. It was/is very cathartic though.

2. How many fics did you work on this year? (They don’t have to be finished or published!) I'm only counting what was published in 2023, because I've dabbled on probably 50 others. I added 6 or so chapters (~90.000 words) to my longfic (Guesstimation judging from emails...I should start keeping better stats of that process, maybe), of which I only include the word count because there were only 4 other fics, 1 drabble, & 1 drabble set. For me, that's a big drop as far as amount of completely separate fics, compared to past years.

3. What’s something you learned about yourself as a writer? Alongside question #2 - When I can't post as often on my longfic, I put more time into posting longer chapters. Too long. And I need to stop that. (One of my biggest chapters last year was over 25.000 words. I'm so sorry to my readers, especially those using phones.😶‍🌫️)

4. What piece of media inspired you the most? Music in general. Also notable Buffy's perpetually wandering eyes, and Giles' ruggedly handsome face and his hearteyes.

5. What fandom(s) did you write for this year? Mostly Buffy, and I've only posted Buffy (and one Ted Lasso fic), but I did feel nostalgic at times and opened up a few of my old Daisy x Mace Agents of SHIELD fics and dabbled a little bit.

6. What ship(s) captured your heart? Nothing new, but Buffy/Giles always. ❤️

7. What character(s) captured your heart? I was never a Dawn-hater, more indifferent really, but watching her scenes with a more thoughtful eye and writing her has caused her to grow on me quite a bit.

8. Did you write for a new fandom or ship this year? Yes, my fic mentioned in #1 was Rupert/Rebecca from Ted Lasso. Definitely a new type of fic for me in nearly every way, especially considering it's a "ship" I don't "ship" canonically at all.

9. What fic meant the most to you to write? Our Souls, They Blend. A hurt/comfort fic brainstormed with one of my best mates the last time I was in England, and I finally finished it satisfied for posting this year.

10. What fic made you feel the happiest to work on? Bad Idea; I've reached the point where I've diverted from canon timeline quite a bit, so it's always so satisfying when a canon quote or scene ends up weaving into my story really well.

11. What fic was the most satisfying to finish writing? The Trouble With Wanting; it was a wip for a couple of years due to just one or two scenes that wouldn't quite find themselves, and the song itself was in my "inspiration playlist" for even longer prior to that.

12. What fic was the most difficult to write? Did you finish it? Out of all my wip's I dabbled on, overall I'd pick Bad Idea. By the end of the year I started getting into my stride again, but it's been incredibly difficult working out the plot where I want it to go, and try to keep everything "logical" with as few holes as possible as I near the climax and end of the story.

13. What fic was the easiest to write? Wips: I'm surprised to say my Tabula Rasa rewrite (to be published soon 😉). I had a general idea but once I saw a specific image the fic just flowed. Published fics: my Kinktober drabble series, despite my normal struggle to keep anything short. I found myself able to knock out each drabble almost every morning before I even went into work.

14. What were your shortest and longest fics this year? Longest: additions to Bad Idea, previously mentioned. Shortest: a single drabble added into my "Laughter drabbles" series.

15. Rec a fic you wrote or posted in 2023 The only 2023 one I haven't mentioned yet, a collab with another dear friend! A fluffy, funny, first-dates exploration that ended up including a lot of real life inspiration.

16. What were you go-to writing songs? Too many to list, but some notables: The Devil You Know by Kovacs, The Trouble With Wanting by Joy Williams, Dirty Little Secret by Alex Who?, Can't Pretend by Tom Odell, and pretty much everything Dermot Kennedy does.

17. What were your go-to writing snacks? Snacks? I usually forget to eat at all.

18. What was the hardest fic to title? The collab mentioned in #15 Third Time's the Charm, which wasn't really that difficult but it was one of the few that wasn't inspired by music. 😂 I often make it too easy on myself for titling when I've got song lyrics to pick and choose from.

19. Share your favorite opening line Out of what I've posted, Bad Idea Chapter 41 (Blood Ties, All the Way): “Have you noticed that every time we talk about moving past the honeymoon phase, we end up finding ourselves in situations like this?” Buffy commented, slightly breathless.

20. Share your favorite ending line “There won’t be another test.” Giles assured her firmly. [iykyk hahaha]

21. Share your favorite piece of dialogue "Santa can bugger off and have the mince pie." [unashamedly stolen from a convo w/ my friend: thank you, dear, for that]

22. Share an excerpt from your favorite scene Classic American vs. Brit tea scene: “You don’t trust my tea-making skills!” Buffy exclaimed, even more indignant than he had been, and he gave her a look. “And what in our most recent history should make me assume otherwise?” “Don’t be snarky.” She huffed, and straightened. “I’ve been watching you make it for years. It’s not that complicated.” “Oh, God,” He mumbled in sure dismay, resting his arm across his eyes.

23. Share the final version of a sentence or paragraph you struggled with. What about it was challenging? Are you happy with how it turned out? Not so much a single paragraph as it was an idea - how to create and then solve Buffy's problems in Bad Idea's version of "Life Serial", as the Trio and their dumb curses don't exist in the fic. Luckily (and humorously, to me anyway) an ol' song came on the radio and gave me inspiration... sometimes the simplest solution works. And in this case, it was parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme.

24. What's something that surprised you while you were working on a fic? Did it change the story? Buffy's third "time test" in the Life Serial chapter being another run through the Cruciamentum. I didn't originally plan that and it sort of just happened organically. It didn't change the end outcome of the chapter, but it did provide me a little moment to do an almost AU of my AU, which was interesting.

25. What did you use to write? (e.g. writing programs, paper & pen, etc.) Paper & felt-tip pen for notetaking, Google Docs for my meatier fics, Apple Pages for the rest.

26. If you had to choose one, what was THE most satisfying writing moment of your year? When I had Rebecca tell Rupert to his face: "I warned you that I was going to make you crawl."

27. Did you do anything special to celebrate finishing a fic? Started the next one.

28. How did you recharge between fics? I read fic, or I watch something completely non-Buffy related. (As it's most often only Buffy, these days.) Spend some time walking or kayaking. Go see a show. Something creatively filling, because I long ago learned the hard way about not being able to pour from an empty cup.

29. If this were an awards show, who would you thank? Tony Head's parents. 😄 Really though, my two sisters. ("What have you been reading?!" 😉) The orchestra would play me off the stage before I finished talking about all the ways I'm grateful for them.

30. What’s something that you want to write in 2024? I never ever thought the day would come, but I've actually got a couple of different ideas involving a little bit of that silly de-aged comic plot with Giles. (Both fix-its in their own ways, of course.) I've been having a lot of fun with both of them; one for the research, and the other for... the fun. Haha. x

[kleiner-ghost]

20 Q's for Fic Writers

Thank you @spacejammie-eimmajecaps for the tag!

1. How many works do you have on Ao3?

27! But I do have a few original works that I post on a different website.

2. What's your total Ao3 word count?

You can tell I mostly write one-shots haha

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Quite a few, but Deathloop and Fallout 4 are my top ones ^^

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? 

The stars in your eyes - Kleiner_Ghost - Fallout 4 [Archive of Our Own]

Follow the Black and Gold Rabbit - Chapter 1 - Kleiner_Ghost - Deus Ex (Video Games) [Archive of Our Own]

December in Dunwall - Chapter 1 - Kleiner_Ghost - Prey (Video Game 2017) [Archive of Our Own] - which I haven't touched in years, and honestly needs a rewrite ^^;

Mirror, Mirror, on the Ceiling - Kleiner_Ghost - Original Work [Archive of Our Own]

Your Value to Me - Chapter 1 - Kleiner_Ghost - Fallout 4 [Archive of Our Own] - which was my main before kinktober and then Nano hit ^^

5. Do you respond to comments?

Yep, as a rule of thumb. Sometimes I don't know what to say though ^^;

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Oh, oh, the working title for this one before I posted it was 'Frank Angst'!

Consistently Hangover and Automatically Assuming the Worst - Kleiner_Ghost - Deathloop (Video Game) [Archive of Our Own]

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Urgh. Happy endings are for happy people. The best I can give you in bittersweet?

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Nope. But then again, I don't get much comments either because of how small my fandoms are.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yep! Recently I have been messing around with it as well, for kinktober, and now I'm a bit ashamed to look my beta in the eyes.

I will admit, I usually post my kinky smut on an alt for that excat reason. Too many people I know irl know my main AO3 handle ^^;

But yeah, I love writing smut! But sometimes I want to play around with themes or settings too, and it doesn't always belong in those stories.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

Yep! My fave is this fic, which I consider to be one of my best works:

Two Pieces of Nine - Chapter 1 - Kleiner_Ghost - Deathloop (Video Game) [Archive of Our Own]

I am also working on a few side projects that are crossovers. Since they're both longfics, I'm waiting to have over half of them done before releasing them (I've learned my lesson about those XD).

One is a Bablyon 5 and Star Wars crossover, where droids invade the world of B5, and a clone battalion is sent through to stop them.

The other is about the bad batch waking up on Blackreef.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not stolen, but I have had elements of a story plagiarized. I never called the other author on it, because it was one of their first fics, and because of the fandom and tags we had in common I don't think it was malicious.

12. There was no question 12 so I'll make one up myself: How many WIPs do you have?

18, not counting all the unfished kinktober one-shots. Some of those are original stories that won't go on AO3 though.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Nope, but I would love to!

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

How bad would it wound if i name something from a fandom I never wrote for? Winterfrost is my favourite ship. I would die for some Bucky x Loki.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

December in Dunwall - Chapter 1 - Kleiner_Ghost - Prey (Video Game 2017) [Archive of Our Own]

I just keep forgetting it exists tbh ^^; I've changed and grew a lot as a writer since I started it, and as I've said it would need a full rewrite. Maybe one day I will get to it (It is my second most popular fic as well), because the two fandoms it's from deserve that, but I have like 3 longfics to get through before that.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Characters. Funnily enough it's also one of my greatest weaknesses because if I can't write a character, I never will, but for those that I do write well, well, they're great.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Dyslexia and writing on mobile. Sometimes my autocorrect does things, and I don't notice them, and then my beta goes "???" on stuff that any 4 year old would have caught XD

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I did it once, I'll do it again! But readers did drop it after those chapters (and that fic is no longer on AO3). I think it adds a lot of realism to a scene.

On that note, one of my favourite Outer Worlds fics had Welsh text in it. The author went to great lengths to make it readable to peeps who didn't speak it, with hyperlinks and stuff. But I was reading on mobile, so it never worked for me XD I had google translate open in the background, and was missing half the dialogue, but i was sooo into it that I didn't care.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Soul Eater. But that fic will never see the light of day. I'm even more embarrassed by it than I am from showing my experimental kinky smut to my irl friends. (Yes it involved a shinigami self-insert smooching Death the Kid). I was 14...

20. Favourite fic you've written?

Tough pick. I'd say overall this one :

Two Pieces of Nine - Chapter 1 - Kleiner_Ghost - Deathloop (Video Game) [Archive of Our Own]

But I love how weird this one got (it was inspired by irl sleep deprived shenanigans) :

The orange thing in the tree - Kleiner_Ghost - Control (Video Game) [Archive of Our Own]

And this one is the one I'm most emmotionally invested in :

Your Value to Me - Chapter 1 - Kleiner_Ghost - Fallout 4 [Archive of Our Own]

Thank you once again for the ask, I'm passing the questions down the line to @rowanisawriter, @the-lastcall-main, and Rieha (whose Tmblr I can't find ^^;), oh, and anyone who wants to join ^^

[greyennui]

3 and 15 for the ask game!!

oooh good ones—

3. What work are you most proud of (regardless of kudos/hits)?

I don't think this will come as a surprise to most of my readers, but I'm most proud of Don't Commit '^^ It's the fic that got me back into writing after so many years of being too burnt out to do anything creative, and I've never actually written this much for any work before. It's absolutely wild to think about how much I've written for this fic (over 300k words!), and I've learned so much in the last 2+ years I've been working on it. Not just that, but I for some reason created a new language for it?? What really gets me is that several of my readers have pointed out/praised the things I'm proud of in it (e.g. how I write dialogue, my worldbuilding, the aro/ace dynamics I incorporated, etc.), and every comment I receive like that fills me with so much joy. So thanks to everyone who's commented on DC and given me the fuel to keep going. 🩶

15. What WIP are you taking into next year with you?

As we all know, I have so many WIPs, including fics I've started posting and have left hanging (we're getting there, Bowuigi readers, I promise), but for the purpose of this question, I'll answer with a WIP I haven't started posting yet. And it's so hard to choose! I have several I'd like to post and finish in 2025, but the one I'm most excited to work on is a SephiCloud longfic. It won't be anywhere near the size of Don't Commit (I just don't have it in me to do that much again lmao), but similar in themes of trauma, family, and finding love in unexpected places. The plot revolves around time travel (I know, it's been done) but in an unusual way I haven't seen in other fics yet. I'll leave it there to avoid giving too much away, but I hope y'all look forward to it as much as I am.

[spookyvalentine]

Kasumi, Thane, Shiala for the character ask meme

OHHHHHHHHH i do be too in love

FIRST IMPRESSION

K: a THIEF??? you give me HEIST??? i studied art history in college, and got very focused on art crime and museum security and made several professors quite anxious, so the first time I played 2 and recruited her, she immediately soared to the top of my fave list

T: oh ho oh HO tiddy window. he is... ooh. him pretty. then he talked. HE'S HOT!!!! uh oh weren't you gonna romance garrus?

S: when she feel out of the thorian i was like wat. i am getting my ass kicked by a plant booger. why are you HERE. WHO ARE YOU

IMPRESSION NOW

K: i will die for you. i wanted to see more of her in 3. i wanted to heist the casino with her. extremely in love, forever and always, and if i wanted to punish myself and make another shepard it'd be to romance her

T: shattered. one of the most deeply romantic LIs out there imo. watching him come alive again. unrecoverable. i'll forever love him. also hes hot as fuck lemme lick him. he didn't die, he blasted kai leng in the face the second he leveled his pistol. i will also go to my grave foaming at the mouth what they did to him

S: wife. omg please benchpress me. the first time i played and had that conversation post-thorian and its like oh. you're badass as fuck. a commando and studied for centuries w benezia? AND THEN SHE FLIRTS W YOU IN 2 AND THERE IS NO OPTION FOR FOLLOW UP???? i thought about that scene all the time. and with the next couple playthroughs, every time i got to see her i was like. oh no youre even prettier. oh no you're even cooler. and now its just terminal brainrot. god i wish we couldve recruited her/romanced her. that would have been mad dope. thank god i am sometimes capable of writing fic

FAVORITE MOMENT

K: ohhhh a toughie. it feels like a cop out to say all of them, but her VA does such a damn good job bringing so much personality into her lines so like even going and checking in on her between missions was a delight to hear her comment on squadmates. that heist was so good tho. hoot every time she jumps on the jet and gives hock that jaunty wave. WHAT A BABE!!! i also love when she goes HAha while in combat

T: when he finally talks about irikah and kolyat. it felt so special and intimate to learn about them. and when he cries before kissing shepard. yes.

S: when shE FLIRTS IN 2 OASIFHLJISUDH but seriously when shes free of the thorian and says she wants to help the colony in recompense. that. meant a lot to me. also i watched the renegade version on yt and the fact that she'll just. let shepard kill her without a fight.... that...... ow

IDEA FOR A STORY

K: well. i've got several fics in the works for her w mercy shepard

- new orleans heist

- vinny (the first man kasumi kills)

- ANDERSON NEVER ARRESTS MERCY AU: CRIMELORD MERCY SHEPARD where kasumi is their right hand, and eventually they end up on the trail of saren. alternate recruitment of squadmates >:)

T: i've got a google doc titled cleaning supplies which um. has been the filth i've been posting in chunks. the other fic for him that i just have a barebones bit is hurt/comfort after mercy visits alchera, beginnings of a romance between them. and of course, sports coach au that i will absolutely start actively writing once i've gotten a couple more "essential" mercy fics done

S: i am working on stellan and shiala's first in-person date after the war, inspired by you, the powerful @yellingaboutmasseffect, where they do the floating howl/sophie walk. and then i like to play around with a full-on howl's moving castle shepala au, that i'd probably post scenes from, rather than any sort of longfic. and im still writing very married sleepy fucking. um. yeah. that's almost complete

UNPOPULAR OPINION

K: i will never regret she's there because she makes my life worthwhile, but why was kasumi recruited in the first place?? she's a thief, not a murder powerhouse

T: can't be considered a dilf til kolyat forgives him and even then, hun, you've got a lot of work to do for your kid (which, he does, of course. but it can't be ignored that thane just. abandoned his child)

S: i think she would've made a more fun companion than liara

FAVORITE RELATIONSHIP

(ignoring shepard)

K: i thought the one she had with the spectre jondam bau was fun. i'd write them going on an interrupted heist-turned-date. or a slow burn enemies to lovers thing. if i had time. i also love that kasumi and samara hang out, referenced in 2

T: thane/irikah, of course! what a powerful couple.

S: i would love to read about shiala studying under benezia, and then the curdling relationship has soverign's indoctrination worms between them. to her being sacrificed to the thorian. and then her learning the death of her teacher. like. there's a lot there and it hurts my feelings when i think about it. love that for me :)

FAVORITE HEADCANON

K: her grandmama. i have her as a badass cat burglar that raised kasumi as not only a beloved grandchild, but also her protege. powerful woman. also cared for mercy, but she dies when kasumi is seventeen

T: that he's got a dick like a vodka tampon

S: she's absolutely ripped. i know it. you know it. we all know it. i like the idea that she's both beefy and intellectual. and in my shepala-rotted brain, she's got a real talent for growing flowers :')

[anneapocalypse]

2, 3, 20, and 28 please? :D

chocochipbiscuit asked:

...I meant to ask 38, not 28, but do both if you like!

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

I am definitely both! If you actually break it down by hours, I probably spend more time writing fic, since I try to split my reading time between fanfic and original fiction, and I'm still mostly writing fanfic at the moment. But I definitely do both. I couldn't really imagine writing fic and not also reading fic; I might be selective about what I read, but being an active reader is important to me.

3. Are there any fics that inspired you to write what you do?

I have been inspired by so many longfic writers, the dedication they put into writing novel-length (and longer) works of fiction just out of love and enjoyment, and sharing them with the rest of us. There have been plenty that I've loved and been inspired by over the years, but one of the earliest ones that I'll always remember fondly is Trouble (Fallout 3, Butch/Harkness) by @rustypinhead, one of the first fics that made me want to write longfic myself.

It's been a while since I had an up-to-date "all time favorites" rec list... maybe I should do that again.

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

Man... there are so many things I love about writing fanfic, but I think one of my favorite things is learning a character's voice, and getting inside their head, understanding their motivations, seeing the world they way they see it. Especially for characters who have a distinct voice and point of view. (There is a reason I've been having so much fun with Sera.)

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

I'll go ahead and answer this one anyway. ;)

I do very well with deadlines. Deadlines are my friend. However, I do prefer to focus on one thing at a time, so I generally won't commit to more than one external deadline (like an exchange) at a time. I just work better and happier that way. But as I've gotten into the exchange scene a bit over the past few years, I've loved the structure of it, and ended up writing some thing I've loved that I probably would never have written otherwise.

As far as updating... I prefer to have the whole fic written before I start posting. I still post serially, because it's fun, and good for visibility, but I don't do well writing serially, and it's not a coincidence that the only longfics in my catalog that I've repeatedly stalled out on are the ones I tried to write and post chapter by chapter. Just doesn't work for me. (I have had a couple questions about whether I will ever update those, but they've always been nice about it, and I really don't have a problem with that.)

I have been lucky to receive very few negative comments on my fics. (I mean outright mean comments, not concrit.) On the rare occasion I've gotten an actually nasty and unconstructive comment, I've just deleted it without reply, because why give those people attention? I didn't write it for them, clearly.

38. What does your writing process look like? How chaotic is it on a scale of 1 (very tame) to 10 (you can’t handle this kind of chaos)?

My process is a very organized sort of chaos. I'm a Planner through and through; I brainstorm, I outline, I canon review, I take loads of notes. I live in Scrivener because being able to see all my notes for a fic at once makes my brain very happy.

...Here, I'll just show you what the binder for the Sera backstory fic looks like! (This is for a fic about 40K total, with not a lot of external research required but a lot of canon details to fit together.)

[ellstersmash]

fic writer ao3 questionnaire thingy

tagged by @bearlytolerant and @ejunkiet for this 💙 thx buddies

1. How many works do you have on Ao3?

37

2. What's your total Ao3 word count?

79,572

3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

these are all solavellan which I guess is not surprising... but to be fair, my mass effect fics just missed the cut

three (modern!au WIP that could technically be finished where I left it but needs a rewrite bc i started it before i learned how to make more thoughtful choices)

nothing on my tongue (collection of playlist-inspired <500 word vignettes that sort of work as a whole story)

awake, alive (two-shot ? about not-kissing in the rain. *smacks the roof* this bad boy can fit so much romantic and sexual tension in it)

the naughty list (a very smutty christmas fic, and another two-shot)

waking up (post-trespasser prompt fill about kissin your not-ex-boyfriend to help him see how dumb he's being)

4. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

yes, I do. commenting can be intimidating when you don't know the writer, so in that case it feels disrespectful not to even acknowledge the effort. same with extensive comments. and oftentimes the commenter brings up questions or points out interesting moments that you can then have mo re of a conversation about.

honestly comments aren't about the compliments (though those are always nice to hear), they're about the connection. I wrote this, you read it. we both want to feel seen. consider my response an acknowledgement of our connection.

5. What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

principles, which is just a one-shot so the whole thing is angsty, but it definitely ends even less happily than nomt...

6. What's the fic you've written with the happiest ending?

probably three, but since the last chapter is technically not the ending... I think to the water (smutty dragon age OCxOC indulgence) takes it! it is also, coincidentally, some of my tightest writing.

7. Do you write crossovers? If so, what's the craziest one you've written?

i do not. i don't generally love reading or writing them tbh

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

nope, but there's always tomorrow!

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

i sure do, but uh what kind? the um... the quick and snappy kind where you hope to squeeze at least a little heat out of those 600 words? idfk

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

not that i am aware of

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

not that i am aware of

12. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

not that i am awa- wait, yes! i collaborated with my past self on not to keep, a shenko fake-dating one-shot that I wrote most of in 2017!! lol ok but like with other people, no.

13. What's your all-time favorite ship?

well that's not a fair question to ask. how about top three: mayo, solathi, and bethistair

14. What's a WIP that you want to finish, but don't think you ever will?

i mean there's always some hope, but.. arlathan!au. 🥀rip

15. What are your writing strengths?

being concise: i try to be efficient with my word choice, and cram a lot of characterization/meaning into a handful of words

i think i hit a decent balance of description, action, dialogue, and interiority?

giving certain sentences that satisfying cadence

im good at beginnings. fuck endings tho

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

dialogue. im a lot better than i used to be, but still struggle with it

i don't understand smut and it doesn't understand me

my stamina is shit!!! which is why i write small things and that works fine but when i occasionally want to write something long (beach fic my love) i get overwhelmed and discouraged.

im just.. not that creative lmao this head is empty

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

i do not do it, but all the best to ppl who do ig. hopefully someone knows how to do it well... once i read a longfic that did this sort of a lot and the translations were all in the chapter end notes on ao3 and it was such a PAIN to scroll down then find my place again

but i just don't do it bc im lazy :}

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

newsies lmao (which came out when i was 3! never been on time to a fandom in my life ✌🏻😌)

19. What's your favorite fic you've ever written?

uhhhhh well right now i am most satisfied with anybody's hands (pre-relationship mayo), but like the writing of be gentle with me (also mayo), but am most proud of nothing on my tongue. idk which would be considered my favorite.

-

idk who hasn't been tagged yet but @thevikingwoman, @boshtet-juggler, @kittlesandbugs, @ladymdc, and @writer-ish, if you've done this will you pls tag me in it so i can see?? and the rest of yall if you got this far and have stuff on ao3 i am BEGGING you to say i tagged you pls i do not even care if we're mutuals or not

[princip1914]

A few thoughts on writing longfic

I’ve had this post brewing for a while and I figured since today is a Friday I might as well let it out into the wild. 

First off, this is not writing advice. I don’t feel qualified to give writing advice. This is a few observations I’ve made over the course of trying to write something that feels, well, long. Fandom is full of excellent authors writing long chaptered fic, but I don’t see a lot of people talking about how they go about producing such fics. I remember feeling like long fic was really out of reach for me when I started writing again in the summer of 2019 after not writing for years and years and I wanted to talk a bit about how that changed for me. Of course, this post comes with all the caveats that there is no need to ever write long fic if you’re not feeling it. Some of my favorite authors write mostly or only oneshots! But, if you are interested, here’s my lengthy, self indulgent, and entirely personal take on ~the longfic process~ below the cut. 

First, to get this out of the way: long fic is anything that feels long or complicated to you, the author. “I’m working on my long fic” can mean that you’re branching out from microfiction to write something that’s 2k long, or it can mean you’ve got a multi-part 800k epic. There’s no objective measure of if something is “long fic,” Your own personal definitions can also change as you grow in confidence or change your focus as a writer (a little over a year ago when I finished Doubt Thou the Stars are Fire topping out at 31k, that felt very very long to me. Now it feels….still long, but not very very long.) 

Here are a few specific things that helped me write something long. I don’t know if they will be interesting for anyone else, but at the very least writing these down has been a fun way for me to reflect on my own process. 

Practice exercises. Ok, this is going to sound exceedingly obvious, but writing one shots prepares you for writing chaptered fic. Here’s what I mean more specifically: if you know you want to write (as a totally hypothetical example) a chaptered fic set in America in the summer that relies heavily on a nature metaphors, is written out of chronological order, and features a melancholy tone--it helps to write a few one shots like that before you embark on the Big Fic. Just like artists tend to do sketches before starting a big piece, it’s very helpful to write something small that gives you a feel for the ~vibe~ of what you’re trying to do in the long fic. It’s helpful for all the usual reasons--you get to know a specific version of the characters which helps plan out a character driven plot for the long fic--but it’s also helpful because you will learn if the tone and mood of the fic has enough staying power to capture your interest for the long haul. For instance, I have a few unfinished chaptered fics that have a humorous tone. I wish I had done more short humorous fics before starting them, because I would have realized that I don’t currently have the mental stamina to hold up a humorous tone for the length of a chaptered fic (hopefully that will change and I will finish Last Days some time this century!). 

Plan it out ahead of time. I used google sheets for The False and the Fair. I do not think God intended google sheets to be used for fiction, but that was not going to stop me. On a more serious note, I think the best tool for planning fiction is the one you’re the most comfortable with--the notes app in your phone, handwriting, word, google drive, sheets, chalk board, summoning circle, the blood of your enemies, etc. The reason I chose to use sheets is that I knew from the very beginning that I wanted certain things to happen at specific places in the story--for instance, I wanted the first kiss to happen at the end of the first third of the story and I wanted the “reveal” about the mine accident to happen at the end of the second third of the story. But, I didn’t know what was supposed to go in between those elements. A traditional outline for a story at this point in development might have looked like: 

Meet cute

Kiss

Reveal 

Ending 

But, what my brain needed was to preserve the blank spaces in between these story elements, and specifically to preserve the right amount of blank space between these story elements so that it didn’t end up, for instance, that the first kiss was halfway through rather than a third of the way through. In this way, I found google sheets an invaluable tool for pacing in the early parts of the planning process. I simply made 30 rows assuming 30 chapters, and started plugging in the elements I knew I wanted in the locations I wanted them. Then I filled in the blank spaces by asking myself “how do we get from X plot element to Y plot element in Z amount of chapters.” I’m not a mountain climber, but I’ve often thought about the first things that go into the spreadsheet in terms of mountain climbing terminology.  In climbing, a crux move, which can be anywhere along the route, is the most difficult move of the route: if you can’t do it, you can’t do the route. I think of the first things that go into the planning spreadsheet as the crux moves of the story, the most important pieces around which everything else turns. It was not an accident that those were also all the first scenes of the fic that I wrote; if I couldn’t do those scenes, I couldn’t do the story the way I planned it so I wanted to know early on if I needed to make changes.

Make changes if you have to: even though it helps to have things planned in advance, don’t resist the story if it tries to change on you while you’re writing it. Usually the feeling that you have to make changes stems from having a plot that is not entirely character driven. As you write the story, the characters reveal themselves and sometimes the plot has to change to change with the characters’ motivations. Here’s an area where fanfic writers have a leg up on everyone else: if you write fic, you already know the characters really well. That means, (in my experience anyway) it’s less likely that you’ll have a surprise character development which leads to a rethinking of the whole plot. Less likely, but not completely unlikely, unfortunately.

Lie to yourself: The False and the Fair was supposed to be 90k words. I thought that sounded reasonable, a little less than 3x the longest fic I had ever written. Now it's 161k and will probably top out a little over 170k. Ooops. But I never would have set out to write something that long. I wouldn’t have thought I could do it, even though anyone more experienced looking at my plans for the fic probably would have laughed at the idea I could cover all those plot points in 90k. Ignorance is bliss. Protect your ignorance.

Scrivener: Long fic for me means “fic that is long enough you can’t hold all the parts of it in your head at once.” That’s where Scrivener comes in (or another app if you’d rather, but I really like Scrivener for the ability to see the project either linearly or as condensed notecards). You can put together an organizational scaffold in Scrivener that allows you to move back and forth between the forest and the trees. So, for instance, you might be going for a jog and come up with the perfect line of dialogue for chapter 27 when you’re only up to chapter 5 in terms of writing progress. With Scrivener, you can go home, and put that dialogue in the “bucket”/index card/whatever for chapter 27 without compromising your ability to see chapter 5 clearly or muddying up your google doc. You can then use the fact that you’ve started writing bits and pieces of the later chapters in conjunction with the tool of lying to yourself that, actually, you’ve written a lot more of the fic than you realize and that when you get to chapter 27 it won’t be as hard as chapter 5 because you’ve put in the groundwork already. In my experience, this lie turns out to be true about 50% of the time, which is better than 0% of the time.

Digestible mini arcs: The False and the Fair was originally broken up into thirds. I thought it would be 90k and 30k was the longest I had written, so thirds seemed to make sense. Also, 3 is a nice, time honored storytelling number. I think it’s good to give yourself seemingly achievable milestones along the way to completion. These milestones (for me anyway) lined up well with the “crux moments” I’ve described. If you’re someone who likes to write out of order, writing your way to an already written milestone can feel like sailing to an island where you get to rest for a bit from the stormy seas before setting out for the next island in the archipelago.

“It's all part of the process”: I’m categorically incapable of describing things without resorting to running metaphors, and so I apologize in advance, but I am now going to do the insufferable thing of comparing writing a long fic to running a marathon. Here’s the thing with a marathon. You are not going to feel good every step of the way. We all know this. It’s a marathon, it’s supposed to hurt a little bit, especially at the end. In the same way you literally cannot write something novel length or even novella or long short story length without, at least at some point, feeling bad about yourself and your writing. But you also can’t run a marathon if the whole thing is agony, and for most people, it’s not--your meat sack shuffling along the course is subjected to the slings and arrows of all sorts of weird body chemistry that only happens when you push it to its limits. So, you’ll be in agony and then the endorphins will kick in for a while and you’ll be thinking “this isn’t nearly as bad as everyone said,” and then you’ll drink some water at a rest stop and feel like a God for half a mile before you crash and you’re in agony again until that one perfect song comes up on the playlist...and you get the idea. Writing something long, for me at least, is a bit like that. There are massive ups and downs. The key for me is to just understand it’s all part of the process, a necessary step on the way to the finish line. If the fic is 10 chapters long, at some point you have to write chapter 5. Just like you have to write chapter 5, at some point you also have to go through a bit of despair before reaching the end. It is unfortunately non-optional. In fact, despairing is something you can check off your list each time you’ve done it. Cut dialogue tags, check. Feel awful about my writing for thirty minutes, check. Write ending section, check. Often I feel that the stress and shame and fear that come with bad emotions while writing are worse than the bad emotions themselves. It really helps me to remember these emotions are all part of the process and nothing to worry about. If I didn’t have them, then I would worry! 

I certainly have plenty more to say about writing, but this ramble has gone on long enough. If you’re interested in any of this stuff, please feel free to send me an ask. 

I would also love to know more about everyone else’s writing processes, so feel free to pop into my ask box to talk about your own approach too! I am very interested in this stuff! 

[babycharmander]

Things I have learned in my 20+ years of writing fanfic

I’d been thinking about this for a while and figured I’d compile a list, in case other people find it helpful. Keep in mind that what I say here is only my own experiences and tastes and I’ve no intentions of telling you how to write your own stories. So uhhh... let’s go!

1) Different stories require different planning methods. When I was younger, I used to think that I had to use the exact same method for planning each of my stories. Strict outlines on everything! Except... that's not how writing works. Stories are like wild beasts--you can try to tame them, certainly, but as each one is an individual, it may require different methods. Or you may discover that the stories that come to you are ones you can all write in the same way!

But for me personally, I find it best to plan out stories in different ways depending on which one seems to work at the time. One story may require a strict outline, while another may need a very loose roadmap. Other times I can fly from the seat of my pants and finish a story that way, or even use things readers have brought up to help me figure out parts of my story. The point is, don't try to confine yourself to one method of planning. Do what suits your story.

2) When working on a longfic, look for ways to include other characters. This one doesn't apply to every fandom or fic situation (for example, if there's only two main characters in your fandom, or if your characters have a very very very good reason to be isolated), but it's honestly a little bit of a pet peeve of mine when it comes to other stories, though I was guilty of it too when I was younger. I remember writing fics in fandoms where you'd have a large group of characters, but... the fic would only focus on two or three of them. They seemed to exist in a bubble, where no one else outside of that bubble really reacted to what was going on, even if there was no reason why they SHOULDN'T react to this.

For example, say you're working on a longfic for a fandom where there's a group of 5-10 characters (maybe a family, a neighborhood, a team, whatever). In this fic, character A nearly dies, leaving character B devastated at their terrible state and doing everything in their power to take care of A. And then... the rest of the characters don't really do anything, or just avoid the situation for no apparent reason. Once again, it feels like the whole story is taking place in a bubble. I totally get that sometimes you want to just focus on A and B's relationship, but consider how you approach this sort of thing for a longfic. Why not look for ways to include the others?

I'm not saying that means the entire story has to focus on all of those characters if your main intention is to focus on the relationship between A and B. But look for ways to include the others in the group/team/family/neighborhood/town/whatever--show how they're reacting to the situation or what they're actively doing to help or hinder it. Even if you only show one or two scenes per character, it burst the "bubble" effect of your longfic and makes the story richer and the world fuller. Heck, you may even find that you actually enjoy writing those other characters more than you initially thought. Give it a try!

3) In longfics, have specific details in your story that you can potentially bring back later. I'm not entirely sure how to explain this one, but... give your story specific details. Stuff like characters briefly talking about an event from the past, or a character having an item in their possession, or a character happening to know another, or just... anything. Obviously don't fill your stories with unnecessary detail, but sprinkle interesting, specific things in there every so often. You don't have to linger on them or hang a bright flashing arrow next to them to tell the reader "LOOK AT THIS!!!" In fact, you don't even have to come back to them later.

So... why am I telling you to do this?

Because sometimes those specific details will surprise you.

Sometimes you'll be writing part of your story, and then get stuck, and go back and reread something... and then you'll run across one of those details, and it will be the answer to your problem. Sometimes readers will pick up on those details, and voice their own thoughts on them, which might give you an idea for a plot point to bring up later. Sometimes those details wind up being the link between two plot points that you couldn't figure out how to tie together.

Even if they don't wind up doing any of those things, they can just be something to add more life to your story, and make it more memorable for your readers.

4) If your source material has voice acting, keep videos/sound files featuring characters' voices handy. Something I've found that helps me get into a character's head and voice is to just listen to them. In video game fandoms, you're likely to find videos that consist of a character's entire library of voice lines. For show/movie/podcast fandoms, you can of course find videos or sound files in which the characters are talking. If I'm about to write a character for the first time, I'll listen to them talk for a while before I start writing them. Other times, if I'm not certain a line of dialogue sounds like something the character would say, I'll listen to some of their canon dialogue for a bit in order to "refresh" their voice in my head, and see if I can clearly hear them saying the line I wrote.

Sometimes if I'm writing quickly and don't want to stop to listen to their lines, I'll add in a phrase they usually say to the dialogue I'm currently writing--that way I can immediately hear the way they say it in my head, and that will carry to the rest of the dialogue. 

In general, it's just a useful thing for making sure you're getting a character's voice right. (Plus, listening to the dialogue is fun just by itself!)

5) Before posting a longfic, make ABSOLUTELY sure you want to finish it. So, I've written... a lot of longfics. And as a kid, I had a problem where I would get this FANTASTIC IDEA for a longfic, and I would immediately start writing, and immediately start posting, because feedback! Excitement! Gratification! ... and then a few days later I would lose interest and move on to something else. Oops.

When I was in my late teens/early twenties, I decided that sort of behavior wouldn't do, so for a while I would not start posting fics until the entire rough draft of them was complete, and then I would post one chapter a week. And while that worked for a while, it, uh... could only last for so long, because my stories kept getting longer and longer and man you can only go so long writing on your own without really, really wanting some of that sweet sweet feedback.

So... I figured out a compromise.

I would start my longfics. Maybe write out the first few chapters, or write out the notes, however I decided to do it. For some, I would determine that the longfic would be "short" enough that I could finish it before any excitement I had for it burned out. For all the others, I would continue to write them without posting for a while, seeing how long they kept my interest, and maybe show them to some friends. If I started to get really invested in it, then I would (attempt to) create a buffer of chapters, and start posting on a schedule. That schedule... did not always last, but by that point I was usually able to determine that yes, I absolutely did want to see this fic through to the end. Otherwise, the WIP would stay unfinished and unposted until the end of time.

Naturally most of my finished longfics are the epitome of self-indulgence, but hey, that's what fic is for, isn't it?

Speaking of...

6) Always remember that writing fic is FOR FUN. My previous point there? Completely disregard it if you are not having fun writing a story anymore. I've had fic series I started out with full plans to complete them, but after a few years, I lost steam, moved onto different fandoms, and really could not go back. But... that's okay. This is for fun. If I'm not having fun anymore, why should I push myself to keep writing?

Not to say that you should quit writing at the first sign of trouble! Wracking your mind trying to figure out the next part of the story isn't the same thing as losing all enjoyment writing it (unless it is). Usually once you figure out what to write next, you feel that much happier, and can keep going.

Regardless, never lose sight of what you're doing. Writing fanfiction is a hobby, and hobbies should be fun. If you're not having fun, move onto something else. Your readers may whine, but they'll get over it. Sometimes even the feedback isn't enough to keep you going, and that's okay. This is not your job (unless you're actually getting paid for it). This is a hobby. Write what you enjoy.

Well... that's all I've got for now. I may add more stuff to this list later as I remember other things. But there you have it! 

Again, you absolutely don't have to take any of my advice if you don't want to. There's no single right way to write a fanfic! Do what works for you. If you find this stuff helpful, I'm glad. If not, that's okay! Either way, good luck with wherever your pen or keyboard leads you, and have fun writing!

[bonvoyagenoona]

sorry for sounding rude, but im curious as to how you’re able to consistently write and post such long chapters/long one shots? like, how do you even find the time to do it in between your schedules, on top of all of the research and planning/outlining that goes into each story? (because your detail and accuracy is incredible)

Not rude at all! I'm so touched and grateful that you reached out! I ended up having a lot of really fun thoughts and shared them below! I could talk about writing all day. I just love it so much! Thanks again for prompting the conversation!

Consistency...?

I’m kinda floored that you think I’m consistent? I don’t think I am. I’m always blown away by writers who keep to a consistent writing and posting schedule, and they’re so great at cultivating collective excitement for new installments! I experimented with this for Like Butter, challenging myself to write a chapter a day leading up to Butter’s release. Experimenting with this for Kittenfishing, so we’ll see how it goes (and apologies in advance for the inevitable delays lol)! Otherwise, I kind of just write and post whenever I feel like it.

Structure

@mochilatae (hi Roomie!) and I talk about structure a ton! And it’s making me remember some things I thought about when answering this ask about how I started writing. I tend to read standalone novels, memoirs, and movie/TV/play scripts. I learned about writing within those structures. Novels certainly influenced my wordiness. Memoirs and scripts probably explain my approach to detail, as well as my dialogue- and internal monologue-heavy style. I imagine my preferences and tendencies would look quite different if I gravitated more toward poetry, short stories, or series. And now I’m curious! Are you a writer? What are your influences? Do you think their structures as well as their content have impacted your style?

I also did a LOT of academic writing in grad school. Publish or perish. My research training was in cognitive psychology, which follows APA formatting. Every psychology paper has the same core sections: Intro, Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion. That, along with the A/B/C-plot script structure, are foundational to each of my stories, though I am trying to experiment with switching that up! Also, scientific writing hinges upon creating an argument based on a mix of theory and evidence (vs. pure philosophy or emotional persuasion). I think that’s impacted my style; I feel like I need to pepper in details like “data” throughout my stories so that by the time you get to the “conclusion”, you can see whether the “hypotheses” created in the premise hold up or not.

But I also want to say long and detailed aren’t always better! Regardless of the style, my favorite works are written in a way that best serves the story that is being told. Knowing my proclivities for wordiness and a quick pace, @mochilatae gave me some great nudges on staying present within a scene and fulfilling its potential. If you haven’t already, check her out! She’s an absolute QUEEN at this! I’m always aiming to stay honest in every moment that is created, and I’ve taken that particular feedback to heart whether I’m writing a drabble or a longfic! 

And I think that’s another strong point. Talking about writing with fellow writers and readers has given me the most joy. Being in this kind of creative communal space has sent me to places I never thought I’d travel to, so naturally, my writing has evolved because of it. Even this conversation is making me think about my structure, and in such a fun way!

Time

Ah, that definitely ebbs and flows. Sometimes, I feel like I’m super productive. Other times, I’m busy or just not feeling it. During the worst times, I get burned out. I definitely got burned out a couple of times over the past year. But with the help of all the positive people in this fanfic community, I’ve been kinder to myself. I’ve actually come to accept and appreciate the burn out! Sometimes I use that time to catch up on things I’m naturally interested in, and in more than a few instances, that has ended up being accidental research for my stories! It’s hard to see it when we’re in it, but slowing down often does wonders for us. After resting and taking care of myself, even indulging myself in other ways, I come out the other end of it bursting with new ideas for you! 

And I don’t know if you had this in mind when you asked, but as far as the speed of getting the ideas on the page, I have a purely anecdotal theory: I think knowing how to play a musical instrument helps? I play piano and a number of other instruments. I was taught how to channel thoughts and emotions into a physical medium that translated them into an auditory medium that then presented those thoughts and emotions to others for interpretation. I think about that process often, and I hope that comes across in my writing. I’ve also noticed that manual dexterity helps my fingers work quickly and fluidly. (I mean, this is why Yoongi’s hand kink is a thing, right??) So I feel like that skill has helped me build quite a natural connection between my brain and my hands. I communicate better through the written words; I type the way I think. 

Now, I wonder if my theory has been studied. It would be cool to run an experiment to see if seasoned musicians vs. non-musicians differ in typing speed and accuracy, communicativeness, or maybe even idea generation. You could even have musical subgroups, like piano vs. percussion vs. strings vs. winds to see if type of musical training and required muscle movements influences those possible relationships! It’s times like this I miss my lab lol.

I swear I’m done lol

Anyway, thank you so much for the ask! It wasn’t rude by any means. In fact, it was incredibly kind! I sometimes worry I'm too long-winded, too detailed, much like in real life and as evidenced by this post lol. And I worry that those traits make me inaccessible. But I guess this just goes to show you that the things that you think are flaws are just differences that others will appreciate. It’s a vast world; there are so many people out here who are waiting and excited to connect with you, and I’m one of them! 💜

[argylepiratewd]

2020 (Fanfiction) In Review

Tagged by @vegetarianvampireduck and @branwyn-says

Fics written this year: I, uh...AO3 says I somehow posted 38 fics? 160,990 words. JFC. 34 of those were for Person of Interest, 3 Forever, 2 original work

The ones over 1k words were:

Building Safer Houses - POI, Finch/Reese, 67k. Harold gets stabbed, and John stays with him as he recovers. There’s lots of pining and lots of h/c.

The first fic in the series, Resilience of Birds, is just over 1k, and features the immediate aftermath of the stabbing, where Harold collapses in John’s arms.

in a world that isn’t hers - POI, Finch/Reese/Grace, 26k. Grace gets shot during Beta, and Harold and John whisk her away to a safehouse in the middle of nowhere to heal. I somehow wrote this thing in a week.

Signs of Life - POI, Finch/Reese, 15k. John survives the finale, and lies around in a hospital bed miserably, until Harold shows up. Then he lies around in a hospital bed less miserably. I started this one in 2019 and had a hell of a time getting it to come together properly.

Satisfactory Conclusions, POI, Finch/Reese, 5.9k. A/B/O mpreg. Harold gets pregnant by an OC, and the pregnancy is a bit rocky. John loves him very much. Another fic I started back in 2019 and had trouble with.

Set the World Down, POI, Finch/Reese, 4.7k. Harold overworks himself. John gives him a nice, brain-melting back rub.

the science of touch, POI, Finch/Reese, 3.8k. NSFW. Harold is not used to being touched. John loves touching him. Harold loves John, so it works out.

Abundance, Original Work, Chubby Male Librarian/Male Book-lover Who Turns Out to be a Belly-Lover Too, 3k. NSFW-ish. Fluffy original chubby/belly kink fic.

potential energy, POI, Finch/Reese, 3k. Literal tech wizard Harold is very very sleepy. John knows the best place for him to be is a nice, comfy bed.

Just Hold on Tighter, POI, Finch/Reese, 3k. Five times John and Harold hugged, and one time they did more. We were CHEATED. They should’ve HUGGED.

heart to heart and hand in hand, POI, Finch/Reese, background Root/Shaw, 2.9k. Post-finale Christmas. Everyone is nursing wounds but is alive. Fluff.

Make a Guy Feel Special, POI, Fusco/Reese, 2.5k. John breaks into Lionel’s apartment and cooks dinner for him. (Writing Fusco is always so much fun. He’s so grumpy. It’s great.)

romance of the maybe undeserving, POI, Finch/Reese, 2k. Harold confesses his feelings. John claims he doesn’t feel the same.

A Worthy Buyer, POI/Forever, Finch/Henry, 1.7k. Harold and Henry meet and like each other immediately. Another fic I started in 2019.

A Snow Globe Life, POI, Finch/Reese, 1.5k. Over a year after Samaritan’s fall, Harold and John celebrate Christmas.

like a complicated line of code, POI, Finch/Reese, 1k. John accidentally reveals his attraction to Harold’s belly. I think this might be another I started in 2019.

and if that hacking bird won’t sing, POI, Finch/Reese, 1k. John can’t sleep. Harold hums him a tune. It’s a bit unconventional.

home for the new year, POI, Finch/Reese, 1k. Harold and John ring in a new year together. Last fic of 2020!

The rest are here!

Takeaways from reflecting on your kick-ass writing, or kick-ass lack of writing, during a year more focused on survival than perhaps any other: Biggest takeaway is that I need to take better care of my wrists. Some of that lesson was learned at work, when I had to type up a ton of subscriber information, but some of it was from unwise writing decisions. Breaks are good. I must take more of them as I write.

Another? I really like hurt/comfort. And fluff. I wrote a lot of fluff and h/c and fluffy h/c in 2020. It felt Necessary.

And fanfic is a really great place to escape to when the world is shitty in a bunch of different ways. I already knew that, but it was reemphasized again and again and again throughout the year. The fact that my escape brought some joy to other people who needed it was an excellent bonus. I really love it when my words bring people happiness. It blows my mind, but I love it.

Most surprising fic you wrote this year: Building Safer Houses. I did not expect to write a fic that long, especially during a trash fire of a year. 67k, wtf? It was not supposed to be that long! I had a lot of fun writing it, though, and I’m really happy with how it turned out.

How you’ve grown as a writer this year: I think I’ve started to figure out what it takes for me to write longfic a bit better, and I’m hoping to change that from writing an ungodly amount of words in a short amount of time to writing an ungodly amount of words in a period of time that does not cause wrist pain in the future.

I’ve also made a lot of progress in the being happy with my own writing department. I’m getting better at writing. I can tell I’m getting better at writing. And I’m getting better at enjoying my own writing. There’s still some “I’m not the right writer for that” going on, still some areas I know I need to improve in, but it’s not as bad as it once was.

What’s coming in 2021: I don’t know! More of the same? I’ve been having a blast writing POI fic. I see no reason not to keep it up. Other than that, I don’t know! I’ve got a few WIPs in my files that I’d like to finish, a few ideas I still want to explore, a prompt in my inbox that I still want to fill, a few exchanges I really want to sign up for...

I’d kind of like to experiment with more pairings, but I also really, really love writing Rinch...so many options!

Also, after rewatching Forever, I really want to revisit the WIP I call The Het Mpreg From Hell or The Het Mpreg of Doom at some point in 2021. I got 150k into that thing. It’d be ridiculous if I never finished it. Will this be the year? Even I don’t know.

And I think I need to, at the very least, seriously consider experimenting with writing using speech-to-text. I’m a really private person and hate the idea of writing my stories out loud, but I need to give it some very serious thought. Eventually.

But I have one more exchange deadline on the horizon, and then I am free to do whatever I want for a while.

Not tagging anyone--feel free to do this if you want!

[blarrghe]

Some Kind of Fic Organization Post

Been meaning to make sense of my collection of writings for a bit. It turns out I’ve written a ton of fic in the short time I’ve been here, and this way it is all a bit more organized. I really like writing DA stuff and am also always in the market for more DA fic pals, so if you feel like reading any of my stuff uhhhhh here it is! my AO3 Origins Stuff Lonely Survivors rated: NSFW/E Pairing: Zevran x Alistair x Female Cousland Wordcount: 8367 (4/4 chapters - complete)  Summary: A short fluffy thing about overcoming trauma and learning to love. Describes the growth of the relationship between Violet Cousland, Alistair, and Zevran. Told in parts from all three perspectives, as each deals with figuring out how to love and survive. If you like stories about characters learning that they deserve love, this is the story for you. Read it on AO3

Warden Stories Rated: G Pairing: F!Cousland x Alistiar x Zevran, F!Brosca x Zevran, F!Surana x Alistair Wordcount: 5894 (3/3 chapters - complete) Summary: Exactly what it sounds like. Brief summaries of my three canon-ish Origins games, with a bit of backstory stuff for my Wardens. Two happy endings, one sad. Read it on AO3 ~~Tumblr Miscellany~~ Short stuff done for various writing prompts. This is a kissing book.

Leather Gloves - Zevran x F!Brosca I Don’t Care if the World Knows My Name - Zevran x F!Brosca Tell Me Again - done for the lovely @saraheliza95 ‘s OC Neria, who makes art that is so so pretty go look at her art. Neria Surana x Zevran Coming Out Chats - a series of dumb posts about my wardens coming out.  Kali Brosca, Violet Cousland, Talani Surana Dragon Age 2 Apparently I am sorely lacking in DA2 stuff and I’ll have to work on that, but I did fill a writing prompt that one time.

Watch Me - F!Hawke x Fenris Dragon Age: Inquisition

Shall We Not Revenge? Rated: NSFW/E - specifically, chapters 6, 10 and 15. Pairing: M!Lavellan x Dorian, likely some others eventually. Word Count: 94959 (lol) (25/??????) Summary: The longfic that will not leave me alone! The reason I started writing fanfic at all! Features my Inquisitor Taren Lavellan, my companion OC Leila, and (soon!) @serphena​ ‘s OC Theo Lavellan. A mostly true-to-canon retelling of Inquisition, but with an added companion OC. Very much about the relationships in the in-betweens, but with a fair bit of action too. Lots of character backstory. Not so much plot? what plot! as the relationships are the plot. Leila escapes slavery at the hands of a disgraced Tevinter magister to join the Inquisition, and some of her past comes back to haunt her. Taren Lavellan reckons with his role as Inquisitor, and falls head-over-heels in love while he’s at it. The fight to stop Corypheus changes everyone, scars everyone, but it also brings them together. Angst then fluff then angst then more angst then fluff, and so on. Join me on my emotional rollercoaster daydream. Read it on AO3

Lavellan Bros Rated: G Pairing: none it is about being bros Word Count: 8053 on AO3 (4 works) and some writing prompts on the tumblog. Summary: Started out as excitement over having a floofy hair bro in @serphena​ ‘s Theo Lavellan and somehow spiralled into this. Theo Lavellan is gorgeous and cool and all hers, I just love him a lot. Em’s art is great and you should go look at it. Lavellan Bros stories happen in either my Inquisition universe (see above) or in hers. Either way, their backstories overlap. Theo and Taren grew up in the same clan, with Taren acting as an older brother figure. Some stories are about Clan Lavellan backstory stuff and others feature these two dorks being bros during Inquisition. Lavellan Bros AO3 Lavellan Bros tag ~~Tumblr Miscellany~~ Writing prompts and other small fluffs. A Simple Fantasy - Fits in the SWNR universe somewhere. Pavellan fluff. A Letter  - teeny tiny Pavellan writing prompt fill that I just like a lot. He Braids His Hair Without A Mirror - another teeny tiny pavellan fluff for somewhere in the SWNR timeline, but with Varric. You Never Cared  - random shot at a Solavellan thing for an angsty prompt. Spoilers! The Gift is Love - Very adorable kiss prompt for @princessofthebirds​ ‘s very adorable inquisitor. As Long as You’re Safe - Theo Lavellan daydreams about kissing Cassandra, for a prompt. I Trust You With My Life - also a stupidly adorable kiss prompt, for @lesbianarcana​ ‘s Nyssa, from their own excellent fic(s) and comic, their art is seriously amazing. Don’t Look at Me Like I’m a Hero - another prompt ft. some Other Peple’s OCs, for @midnightprelude‘s badass inquisitor. Ft. Theo Lavellan as well. Part of my “let all the elves be friends” agenda ;) That One Headcanon Post that People Seem to Like - If you couldn’t tell, I love me some Found Family. Accurately describes Taren Lavellan, is apparently relatable. Ok so that’s me, all in one place. Big shout out to anyone who has ever read any of my stuff and an especially big shout out to those people who let me write about their OCs! Hoping to make some more fic friends out here, and I am always taking prompts!

[allisondraste]

on writing kiddos

Hi, hello there, it’s me again back with the first bit of meta in a really long time. I’ve been incredibly distracted with school as well as my longfic, which was actually the inspiration for this post.  Just to provide some context, I write a story that spans the lives of my two protagonists from the time they are young children, all the way to their mid twenties, highlighting pivotal moments in their childhood that have had some lasting impact on their present day selves, and as such, I have spent quite a lot of time writing from the perspective of precocious kids and moody teens.  

Fortunately, I love kids, and I’ve had years of experience in both being a big sister and working professionally with kids as both a childcare worker and a therapist.  I’ve gotten to spend a lot of time around kiddos and learn the inner workings of their amazing, rapidly developing brains, and so I’m here to share some of the things I’ve learned AND how it can be applied in a writing situation.  I know that lots of people have apprehensions when writing kids, and so I hope that my anecdotal tips will be helpful to someone out there.

I’ll drop the rest behind a handy dandy read more to spare your all’s feeds. ;D

Age and Cognitive Development

When we write adult characters, part of getting their characterization pinned down is understanding how they think, and the same thing applies to kiddos! Cognitive and socio-emotional development are long-researched topics, so there are a multitude of varying theories, and it can be quite complex to break down into neat categories that apply to all kids.  In fact, all kids develop at different rates, despite following the same general trajectory.

Generally speaking, children start out understanding the world primarily through their senses, reflexes, and movements (interactions with the environment), and end with a fairly complex system of abstraction and understanding of hypotheticals.  (Note that these development ranges are based upon those who are neurotypical and neurodiverse characters would not necessarily have the same markers, so if anyone has any specific tips for writing neurodiverse kids and would like to chime in, please feel free to do so!)

0-2 years - highly sensory/motor based, lots of reflexes; learn the difference between self and environment and differences between objects.  Emotions develop more rapidly, beginning with anger, disgust, fear, surprise, happiness, and gradually developing more and more complicated feelings.  Even at 2 years old, they are likely to not have a solid grasp on labeling the ways they are feeling, and things are mostly behavioral and reflexive. 

2-7 years - children begin to understand symbols and develop language, beginning with the basics and progressing to fairly complex thoughts.  Children between these ages think in a very concrete fashion and are highly reliant upon objects, but they do begin to pretend and roleplay. Children around these ages are egocentric and usually struggle to take the perspective of others. However, they begin to develop the ability to identify and express their feelings and thoughts simply, but struggle to understand the thoughts and feelings of others. 

Mommy had a scrunched up face when she looked a the mess in the house. Billy didn’t really know why her face did that sometimes. (approx 4ish)

7 - 11(ish) - Development of perspective-taking and concrete problem-solving. Thoughts gradually become more complex and holistic, though children at this stage of development take things literally, and at face-value. They typically can understand their own feelings and infer the feelings of others from facial expressions, body language, etc., although they may be inaccurate in their assumptions. 

Mommy’s face scrunched up when she looked at the mess Billy made in the floor.  It was the same face she made when Daddy didn’t take his shoes off before stepping on the carpet.  It usually meant mommy was annoyed  (Approx. 7-8)

Mom’s face wrinkled when she looked at the mess Billy had left in the floor.  He began to pick his things up so she wouldn’t fuss at him. (Approx 10 or 11)

11+ - The ability to think in the abstract and understand hypotheticals begins to develop around age 11, however, it’s different for everyone.  Children and teens usually start to have rather complex thoughts and make inferences based on subtle cues.  They’re able to manipulate information mentally and come to develop their own opinions and conclusions. 

Billy’s mother wasn’t even home yet, and he could already see the look on her face she would have when she saw the mess on the floor.  He hurredly began to scrub the stain from the rug.  He was going to be in so much trouble. He knew it.  

Teenagerdom - Most teens have all the complex thoughts and emotions that adults have, but often have less experience and/or ability to cope with and regulate those thoughts and feelings. Many teens are stuck in this place of being expected to behave in an adult way, while still being treated as a child.  It’s a rough time.  Not to mention, teenagers experience a re-emergence of  egocentrism that takes the form of “Everyone is watching and judging me all the time,” and also “Nobody has ever experienced what I am experiencing and if they have experienced it, then they haven’t experienced it to this degree.”  That all settles down with cognitive maturation and experiences; however, the experiences of teenagers often extend well into the 20s. 

Examining the mess on the floor, Billy knew that his mother was going to kill him.  Murder.  She’d chew him up and spit him back out, never to see the light of day again.  It was the end.  Unless of course he could scrub the stubborn stain from the rug.  This had to be the worst thing that could have possibly happened. 

Personal Experience and Intelligence

As I mentioned above, those age ranges are broad, general “this is sort of what should be happening when,” but they’re more guidelines rather than hard and fast rules.  When writing children, it is helpful to consider the personal experiences a child has had in their lives up to that point as well as their intelligence.  Those are not the measure of a person (even a little one), but they make a huge difference in the rate at which a child matures and interacts with the world.  Generally kids who have more difficult upbringings and those who end up parenting themselves and/or caring for siblings, often seem older than they really are, particularly in regard to their behavior. 

Just to provide some examples for reference, the children that I write in my story are mostly nobles who have relatively comfortable, safe, and happy childhoods.  My Cousland, Liss, is generally a carefree, impulsive, emotional, messy, privileged child, and so I modeled her development more closely in line with the “guidelines.”  Nathaniel is also a noble, but he’s more thoughtful, and has kind of been placed into a parental role in that his dad is emotionally abusive at the very least, and after his mother dies, he is the rock that his siblings stand on, and at that point in time, he is only 10.  He has to grow up a lot faster than he may have had to otherwise. As a very strong counterpoint, there are other characters who do not have any environmental privileges during their childhood.  A very good portrayal of this sort of thing is this comparison of Isabela and Hawke’s respective upbringings.

Both intelligence and life experiences can lead to a quicker rate of cognitive development and maturation in some cases, that does not mean that they are “grown up” or in anyway done developing.  Even the brightest kids, even the kids who have faced unbelievable adversity are still kids and they often still experience impulsivity, emotion dysregulation, and other things that one might not see in adults with the same experiences.  Furthermore, some kids may not even experience advanced development, instead regressing from the lack of social support and modeling from attachment figures. 

Basically, nothing is hard and fast. 

Personality

The next thing I wanted to touch upon is personality.  I think there is a tendency to portray all kids as Standard Kids (which I have endearingly coined Standard Kid Syndrome).  It is all well and good if the intention is just to show a Standard Kid; however, if you really want to dig deep into a character, into who that child is, it’s so important to consider personality traits.  From birth, children have dispositions, and as they grow and learn more about themselves and the world, those dispositions become personality.  Personality traits should shine through very early on!  Kids can be open to experience or rigid and anxious, they can be introverted or extroverted, they can be impulsive or restrained, they can be aggressive, meek, funny, serious, meticulous, silly, cool, gruff, grumpy, snarky, sassy, nerdy, quirky, shy, friendly, withdrawn, and so on and so forth.  Children are new humans; they are not incomplete humans. 

The Kid Voice

When writing from the point of view of a child, all of the things discussed above factor into word choice.  Just like writing adult characters, the way a kid talks in dialogue, or narrates even, is influenced by a blend of so many different things.  Young kids’ descriptions are going to have simpler sentence structures and words.  They may introspect less and observe more.  They may express themselves through their bodies and actions more.  They may have trouble describing what they’re feeling, or understanding what they’re seeing.  Teens may describe things more dramatically and intensely than similar adults would.  They may not.  What is important is considering the mix of traits and experiences they have in relation to cognitive development.  It’s really no different from writing any other character.  It just takes research and planning to get in The Zone.

TL;DR

- Understanding how kids think is a good starting point to writing kids

- Personal experiences, intelligence, and the interaction of qualities can influence how a child thinks in a multitude of ways

- Kids have personalities!  They’re not blank slates that have yet to be filled.  They are whole people, and it’s good to give proper care to show those unique, wonderful little minds that they have

- It’s not so much different than writing adults! It just takes some time spent looking through a different lens!

- This is not a comprehensive reference by any means, so please feel free to chime in!