#i sometimes wonder if people see the amount of kudos comments etc on it

[birlwrites]

do you ever recognize/except specific commenters or comments on your fics?

i do recognize people, but i try not to expect comments - i really don't know anything about various commenters' lives, and if someone vanishes or is inconsistent, it's probably nothing to do with me and more about their day-to-day life

but actually most comments on my fics are from the same relatively steady group of people! people come and go, and are more into some fics than others, but there's a handful of ao3 users who have been in and out of my inbox since stga, and more who have been in and out since i started posting ttdl

i think since, for example, ttdl has a lot of comments total, people might have the impression that it's just a swarm of random one-offs - but actually a lot of those comments are people going through chapter by chapter (aka my heroes AFJSLGHJKSDF). so yes i absolutely get to know people! i love seeing what pops out to them and what themes they follow through the fic, and i also love when comment threads develop into whole conversations - it's so much fun to hear people's reactions and speculation and 'what if's

[dracomeir]

I've been reading your series funkin adventures and I was wondering how you wrote something that long. Over 300k is an insane amount I can only dream of doing.

omg thank you for reading whatever you read so far. :D

tl;dr of how I did so is basically to not care about being judged by others. As long as you laugh, cry, get mad, or whatever other emotion is felt while reading what you write, then it's good enough. It doesn't have to be perfect, or on the same level as a best selling author. Just do you.

Long explanation below

For better context, I didn't start posting weekly for Funkin' Adventures until I was almost finished writing chapter 15 of the Hell's Dynasty arc. That's 34 chapters with no one besides me giggling, kicking my feet, crying, and laughing at my story. 135,289/347,522 words for the series at the time. (Yes, I checked the word count for that point. lmao) I wrote for myself, and no one else. That's the main reason why I was able to write such a long story with multiple arcs to it. I didn't let the fear of no one else enjoying the story prevent me from writing. As long as I loved reading it, then that was good enough. As long as I laughed and cried at the points where I hope others will too, then it's good enough. You have to settle with good enough because striving for perfection will only lead you to disappointment. Aiming for perfection will lead you to an endless cycle of this isn't good enough, I have to redo it, this is trash, no one will like it, etc, and you'll quickly find yourself unable to post anything at all.

Another reason I'm able to write so much is that I don't let others dictate what I should write. Every story I've written is me venting whether the reader realizes it or not. I write what I want to write, not what others wishes for me to write. It's my story after all, not theirs. I've seen writers take the neat idea of a commenter, work it into their story, and end up hating what the fic has become to the point they give up on their narrative. The story ends up something they no longer wanted it to be, and that's something I try to avoid. I love the ideas others have when it comes to my fics, and it's great if we end up having the same thoughts, but I never let their comments affect my narrative. It's my story to tell. Stories based on my life experiences that I want to tell others in the hopes that maybe they'll learn something from me.

Which brings me to my next point, use what you experienced so far in life to help you write your story. You don't have to create something entirely unique and original. That's impossible to do in this day and age with how many people there are in this world. The reader doesn't have to know if the story is based on your life somehow. I only say things like that in fics like Cyber Connection (based on my experiences as an autistic/selectively mute person), or Drowning in Ecstasy (based on my experience as a paranoid individual with trust issues) since I'm comfortable with others knowing that. The point of creating fanfiction for me is to make something for others to look forward to. As someone who's been dealing with Persistent Depressive Disorder for over a decade of my life, having that weekly or so chapter to look forward to can be enough to keep someone going. That's my purpose in life at this point. (Oh, look. One of the themes in my current on-going fic. Hahaha...)

This is getting long at this point, and it's probably not the answer you were seeking at all, so I'll end it with this. Try not to care so much about the numbers. Some people read something, and forget to hit kudos. (I do this sometimes, and I'm sorry. 😭) Some people don't have the courage to post a comment. Some people are simply lurkers enjoying their fandom, and that's perfectly fine. I used to be like that. Now I'm a part of the fandom I'm in, and I honestly don't see it changing anytime soon.

[incalculablepower]

two questions! 1. would you mind sharing a piece (or type) of feedback that makes you feel good about your work (and why), and 2. feedback that you wish you'd gotten on something but didn't? please be as specific or general as you'd like.

my favourite kind of feedback to get is when people tell me they've cried or laughed out loud or gasped or what have you... i love it when my writing can trigger a physical reaction in another human being somewhere else in the world. i also really like it when people write a comment that basically says like... "i get it!" the kind of fics i like to write aren't procedural or plot heavy, like, this happened and then this happened and then something else happened. i think about my writing very visually, sometimes i feel like i am drawing the edges of something and hoping the reader can fill in the negative space. it's tough and i always wonder if it's successful. so when someone writes a comment like "oh, i saw exactly what you did here" and can spell out the thing i refused to spell out in the fic, i really like that

i suppose this is par for the course, but i do notice that popular ships get more of a response than gen, rarepairs, minor characters, etc. it makes sense, i mean, it takes more for me to read something out of my comfort zone... but now as a writer i'm very aware that the amount of work i put into something, or how proud i am of it, or the risks i feel like i'm taking with it, don't map to that popularity either. (it's not like i phone in my less-popular stuff and put more work into something with juggernaut ships). so i guess the feedback i'm missing is just... more! lol. oh and this isn't about MY fic but sometimes when i rec a fic i will go back and check the kudos/comments to see if it's gotten anything new. and it kind of bums me out when it doesn't! when i rec something i feel is underrated i really want to know if someone else loved it as much as i did.

[suga4mycoffee]

I was gonna only reblog this with tags, but then I apparently hit the limit. RUDE. So, here:

I'm gonna start reblogging my own shit (when I remember).

Because this is completely true.

Likes and kudos are wonderful. Amazing. Stupendous!

But, hear me out.

I'm talking from my perspective, and solely about fanfiction here, because that's the only thing I put out, but this is going to apply to all fanworks.

I'm a fanfic writer. I do it because I enjoy it, because there are things I like to fix, ideas I like to explore, and because I can't get enough of my chosen fandoms.

That being said, it takes me a huge amount of time, energy, and regular prodding (thank you, @theonlydayiknow) to actually write, edit, and post anything, for a variety of reasons. It can take so much mental and emotional energy to do write, too, depending on what I'm writing. You're putting your blood, sweat, and (many) tears into creating something. And then you're firing it out into the void, for free, for everyone to see and enjoy.

My most popular work on AO3 currently has 8,775 hits, and 888 kudos. That means that roughly 10% of those hits ended in someone hitting the kudos button. There are 23 comments on it (actually double that, because I reply to every single comment eventually). What percentage is that? 0.2% That means that not even 1% of the hits ended up resulting in a comment.

And I'm not even a hugely popular writer! There are plenty of people in various fandoms who are enormously popular, and (as far as I've seen) their percentages are about the same, just from much higher numbers.

(Note: Yes, there'll be some people who don't finish your fics, but I feel like most people will, even if they don't enjoy it enough to like/kudos/comment/share/whatever. And yes, some hits will be re-reads, but still. The math ain't mathing.)

And y'know what? It's so disheartening to pour your heart and soul into something, and you can see that people are consuming it and (mostly, presumably) enjoying it, but only care enough to give one quick click or tap of the like/kudos button.

Again, not dragging people who 'only' leave a like/kudos, it's still amazing! I see you're there, I see you enjoyed it, I see you left a token of your appreciation. Have my eternal affection in return!

But some people don't even leave a like/kudos, even if they really enjoyed the fic.

And I also know and 100% respect that not everyone is comfortable leaving a comment. (Although even dropping a single emoji in the comments makes me froth at the mouth with joy, so that could be an option if you wanted to leave a comment on anyone's work with no pressure.) But if you personally don't feel comfortable commenting, that's totally fine!

In my opinion, sharing/reblogging a fic you liked (even if it's just dropping a link in Discord, or sending it to a friend, or something) is potentially one of the best things you can do to show your appreciation for that fic/author, and here's why.

Even if you 'only' like/kudos, or don't feel comfortable leaving a comment, someone who sees a share/reblog might feel comfortable leaving a comment/emoji, or dropping another like/kudos, or sharing it themselves, where it can reach more people who might like to do any of the above.

Personally, I reply to every single comment I get, because I'm just so fucking grateful someone enjoyed something I wrote enough to comment on it. (I should say I eventually reply to every single comment, sometimes I'm late as hell, but that doesn't mean I appreciate them any less.)

Thing is, I write for me. I write things I want to read. So I could easily write fanfic and keep it to myself. Hell, it'd be easier, because I wouldn't have to edit it, title it, tag it, etc. I don't need to post it. But I post it because I want people to be able to read it, if it's also what they want to read.

But, like OP said, if it seems like there are so few people that actually give a shit about the work you put in to the things you create, eventually you'll wonder if there's a point to creating things at all, let alone posting them. And that can kill a fandom so fucking quickly.

Imagine it. Think of your all-time favourite fanwork creators. Writers, artists, video editors, whatever. Now think of them all leaving their fandom(s), because they feel like hardly anyone cares about the work they do.

As I mentioned, I'm not big and popular. I don't expect I ever will be, and that's fine. I don't even expect to ever have people who count me as one of their favourite authors, and that's also fine.

But when someone likes my efforts enough to leave a comment, I feel fucking giddy. I have genuinely, literally, ended up face down on my bed, squealing and kicking my feet over comments some people have given me. (Again, thank you @theonlydayiknow. I'd ask you to marry me if the world wouldn't end at such an alliance.)

And the people that come back and leave comments telling me they're re-reading, or using the comments to leave extra kudos? They have my eternal love and devotion, I actually tear up when that happens!

And maybe writers/artists/editors whose work you like would feel the same about getting comments too. I don't know. Just something to think about.

TLDR; as OP said, I'm reblogging my own shit from now on, because someone might as well.

Why do you reblog your own fics so much?

Because someone might as well!? And look at this. Look. At. This.

Does this look right to you??

These are just the last three fics I wrote. I appreciate the likes, believe me I do, but you have to understand. Likes do nothing for content creators. It’s the reblogs. Because that’s how you find shit on your dashboard. Through reblogs. Not likes. This isn’t twitter or tiktok or instagram. This is a website that’s run by the reblog system.

Reblogging helps content creators put their stuff out there. Why do you think so many people stopped writing fanfic and creating beautiful fanart and edits? It’s because they put in hours of work and don’t get nearly enough notes for their masterpieces. Yes we do this because we enjoy it but like...some validation won’t hurt. A boost of confidence here and there might be all someone needs to finish whatever thing they started and left.

Anyway, I’m still going to reblog my shit...

[andorerso]

Wanting to spread some positivity among fic writers. 

When you get this ask, link your:

Favourite fic/series you’ve ever written

That one fic/series you poured your heart & soul into

One underrated fic/series of yours you’d recommend

You don’t have to link just *a* fic. Go ham! Even link your masterlist! This is all about all your hardwork.

Thank you for creating!

ooooh FUN

Favourite fic/series you’ve ever written

besides the vampire au, I'd say imaginary homelands

Summary: Two years after Jyn and Cassian separated, a chance encounter brings them back to each other again. Confronted with what she lost, Jyn wonders if it's too late to make it right. Canon-verse, post-war, exes to lovers, angst with a happy ending

I recently reread it because I got a new comment and although I'd change some things now (mostly world-building stuff, my SW-world knowldge is still shitty, but I've gotten better and I do see a few holes) but as far as the relationship and story goes, I really do love it. I was actually kinda surprised, I thought even my writing was pretty solid

but shoutout also to my beloved shadow preachers

Summary: Jyn doesn’t like other hunters, and there’s a good reason for that. She doesn't trust other people, preferring to work alone, a lone wolf by nature. Cassian Andor is no exception to that rule. But they keep running into each other - and he keeps surprising her.

Modern au, monster hunters, supernatural inspired, rivals to friends to lovers

I always love this one for the 100% self-indulgence. while there’s some angst, it was more lighthearted than usual and I enjoyed writing the banter and the humor a lot

That one fic/series you poured your heart & soul into

this is where I wanna use Blood Red Rose no question about it

Summary: 1920, London. An unknown creature dubbed 'the Beast' is terrorizing the streets at night. Vampire hunter Jyn Erso and recently turned vampire Cassian Andor might just be the city's only hope to catch the monster...

Vampire au, historical setting, enemies to lovers

I mean... there’s no doubt about this one. It’s been over a year and I’m still working on it, although we’re close to the end now. Before this one, the longest multichapter I wrote was around 4 chapters, so not that long at all. Writing this story, actually having a plot besides the relationship, trying to do worldbuilding, it was all very challenging but I learned a lot. I honestly used to think I wasn’t capable of writing such long stories (hell, we’re past 90k now) and I’m just very proud to prove myself wrong and keep trying

One underrated fic/series of yours you’d recommend

it’s hard to decide what I’d consider underrated so I took a look at my stats and I chose two fics based on comments and kudos (neither of them have the least amount of kudos and comments overall, but taking into consideration length, plot, my love for the story, date since published etc, I felt like these deserved the spot)

so comment wise I chose small rebellions

Summary: Imperial Jyn Erso finally seizes her freedom and escapes with undercover agent Cassian Andor. But the Krennics catch up to her.

Canon divergence, imperial Jyn, undercover Cassian, torture/violence

tbh I’m not 100% satisfied with this (and I think the plot/warnings themselves do turn some people off so it makes sense it did a bit worse than my usual stuff). I think I kinda chickened out in the end because I wanted to push it a bit further and make it even darker but didn’t in the end.... idk, maybe that’s what’s missing. but at the same time I always wanted to write something like this where one person is kinda in the position that they have to choose between hurting the person they love or possibly dooming them to death, and I think Rebelcaptain is the perfect ship for it, so I’m gonna advertise it anyway (although I kinda wish a writer more talented than me did this concept instead but sometimes you just have to write what you want to read)

and kudos wise I’m choosing i’ll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knife

Summary: Released from prison after three years, Jyn Erso is just trying to pick up the broken pieces of her life. But the man who catches her eye might not be exactly who he says he is.

Modern AU, thief Jyn, assassin Cassian, Good Behavior inspired

writing this felt a bit like writing shadow preachers, kinda self-indulgent, kinda humorous, kinda intentionally messy. I absolutely adore writing modern Jyn who’s just a mess and super snarky, it makes for fun internal monologues, so I think that’s why both this and shadow preachers have a huge place in my heart. also hitman Cassian is really fun too, and if I can ever finish Blood Red Rose, there’s definitely more to tell in this universe. if I had to choose just one, I’d definitely recommend this one over small rebellions 

[earlgreytea68]

Tagged by @setting-in-a-honeymoon​!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

An even 200!

2. What’s your total AO3 wordcount?

Um. 3,328,002

3. How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Six:

Inception in the lead with 67 fics

Sherlock with 56

Fall Out Boy with 36

Doctor Who with 14 (this number is incorrect, I have written waaaaay more than that, they just live on LJ and DW)

and then one each for Sports Night and The Office (UK)

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Nature and Nurture

Saving Sherlock Holmes

Working on the Edges

The Radovljica Apicultural Museum

John Watson’s Twelve Days of Christmas

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

I try to! Sometimes I get busy or depressed or sick, etc., and I fall behind, but I try to respond, for a number of reasons - they give me so much joy that I want to acknowledge that they have brought my joy; it is so wonderful to see what people to respond to and love and laugh at and cry over, it definitely makes me a better writer, and so I want to acknowledge that, too; and comments when I’m in the middle of posting a fic are especially helpful to me because they often result in me tweaking what’s coming next in response to questions I see people have that indicate I’m not being clear enough, or maybe I’m not hitting the tone I want, etc. And so I like to respond to be like, “Thank you! You have no idea how important and wonderful this is to me!”

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Oh, wow. While I actually think I can write good angst, when I do it I try to have it in the middle of the fic, so that it gets properly resolved to give you a nice, happy ending. I’m sure someone’s going to be like, YOU ARE FORGETTING THIS HEART-WRENCHING THING YOU WROTE, but all I’m coming up with right now is that, in my long Doctor Who ‘verse I wrote, I did a fic in which their family dog died. That was pretty angsty. (omg I just scrolled down to see how I ended this story and OH MY GOD ahahah I forgot that I wrote this after I’d broken up with the Tenth Doctor and so it ends with Brem being like, “Plus, my father is useless so I have to hold the entire family together all the time” hahahaha what an extra-angsty ending, Brem, my love lol)

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

I do sometimes! I feel like most of my crossovers make some amount of sense. Like, okay, maybe you wouldn’t think to cross Inception with Fall Out Boy (this was a special request) but I think the premise of the fic makes total sense. And I once crossed Oliver with Brem, but those were my first two beloved precocious fic songs, so that made some sense, too. And I still think Inception and Sherlock crossed together made SO much more sense than actual seasons of Sherlock lol. So I guess if I had to choose the craziest I would go with the Doctor Who/Gossip Girl crossover I wrote lol. But wait, that one actually also made sense as I wrote it, I think, so I’ll go with the Sherlock/Fall Out Boy crossover because that was just bonkers.

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Yes. I wrote a fic that was really horrible to Mary in “Sherlock.” I hate Mary. I feel like I can say that now. I haaaaaated Mary. But in those days “Sherlock” was an incredibly tense fandom to be part of and if you didn’t say that you loved Mary all the time forever and always then people were like !7@((!*(@(!& at you. I have a million massive warnings in all caps all over the fic, like, DON’T READ THIS IF YOU LIKE MARY, and people still would leave rude comments on it lololol. And then we wonder why I left that fandom lol. (I mean, many people in the fandom were wonderful, and I don’t always have REASONS why I leave fandoms, it’s not like anything is that logical or rational. But it wasn’t a very fun time to be in Sherlock fandom. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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

I do. My smut almost always has to be advancing some kind of emotional beat in the characters’ relationship. I’m never super-explicit because usually the whole point of the scene to me is what the characters are thinking and feeling, not really what they’re *doing.*

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Sometimes my fics show up somewhere without my knowledge. People are really good about letting me know when that happens.

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yup!

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

Yes!

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

This is like asking who my all-time favorite child is.

14. What’s a wip that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I have this high school Peterick AU that I started at the beginning of the pandemic. For some reason, when schools shut down, all I could think about was all these bands that wouldn’t get formed because the kids couldn’t go to each other’s houses, like Pete Wentz couldn’t just show up at Patrick Stump’s to hear him play. So I started this story where Pete and Patrick meet right before the pandemic hits, and then everything locks down and they’re stuck Facetiming each other and coming to the realization that their soulmate is on the other side of the screen.

Anyway, I actually think this fic is super-hot?? And I never think I write hot things, but it’s got a hot phone sex scene and I’m really happy with it and I would love to finish the story...except that the pandemic turned out to be...this. And in my head, Idk, I thought there’d be this triumphant moment where everyone would be like, “Yay! We can see each other now!” and Pete and Patrick would reunite, and instead everything petered out into, “Can we see each other now........????? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ “ and I didn’t know what to do with that in my fic, it made it not as neat as I was wanting it to be.

But I hate to lose that hot phone sex scene hahaha. And also after the hot phone sex scene Patrick adds “Hotline Bling” to his and Pete’s shared Spotify playlist they’ve been working on and I’M SORRY, I FOUND THAT SO CHARMING, PATRICK STOLE MY HEART WITH THAT MOVE, anyway, as you can see, I love so much about the fic and I really want to find a way to make it work and maybe someday I will the end.

15. What are your writing strengths?

My dialogue.

Also I think I write the same story over and over (person realizes that they’re deserving of being loved for exactly who they are), but I think I’m REALLY GOOD at that one story lol

Also I like to think that I write family relationship stuff fairly well, like, Idk, I love doing that stuff, whether found family or biological.

Oh, and I think I usually get the ratio of angst::happy ending pretty good (in my view for my personal preference lol).

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

I don’t think I’m especially good at smut. I’m terrible at paying attention to things like setting, what the characters are wearing, what the characters even look like, etc. As mentioned above, I tell the same story over and over and over, and I’m okay with that, but yeah, I’d be bad at telling a story where people aren’t, like, nice people who you’re rooting for.

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

I think I couldn’t do it, because I don’t speak any other language, but I’m always happy when people translate my fics!

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Doctor Who. Although maybe, like, New Kids on the Block self-insert stuff counts from junior high??? But Doctor Who was first published.

19. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

Please see above re: favorite child lol

I tag every writer who wants to do this and I hope every writer does this because I always think these are fascinating!!

[tinacentury]

20 Questions Writer’s Edition

Thanks, @kasienda! You know I’m a sucker for these types of games, and this was a good escape during what has been kind of a crappy week :).

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

13, although it’s more like 9 since four of those are in one collection before I knew how to organize stuff on Ao3.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

69,932.

3. How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Just the one, Sailor Moon from 2018 until now. I also wrote Sailor Moon fic in the early 2000s, but thankfully none of that is connected to my current accounts.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

I don’t super duper like looking at kudos as a measure of success (possibly because mine are relatively low, but here it is):

1. Familial Eyes (this surprised me a bit)

2. Belonging (this did not surprise me at all)

3. Contrition (yes, this checks out)

4. My Own Little Stage: A Collection of Prompts (super proud to see this one here)

5. Lemonade Stand (yes people like smut)

5. Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

On Ao3, yes, I try to (ff is a very different and clunky story). I do it for a few reasons: I made my first fandom friends that way, and, as much as I don’t have a ton of time at the moment, I do still think forming relationships, even small ones, with people across the world based on a niche shared interest is cool. Second, I know that it can sometimes feel like you’re taking a risk when you put yourself out there and get met by radio silence. I don’t think responses to comments are owed because I’m very big on everyone setting their own boundaries for participation in fandom, but I think they’re nice, so I try to do it when I can.

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

It’s probably a tie between

-Contrition

-Day 3/Memory from usamamo week 2019

-“I thought you knew” from My Own Little Stage

7. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

Probably Belonging. I was going for fluff with a happy ending, and it’s got probably the most traditional plot arc of anything I’ve written.

8. Do you write crossovers? If yes, what’s the craziest thing you’ve written?

Lol absolutely not.

9. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Nothing terrible, but occasionally something like “this is boring.” Which, ok? Don’t read it, then. I did get some meaner stuff on my old fics back in the day, which I probably why I, to this day, deflect by saying how bad those were up front. However, Kasienda once pointed out that I should probably be nicer to middle school me who was writing full-length stories in her spare time. Anyway, I’ve wondered before how I would react to hate on a fic. I did once get Tumblr hate about my family, and that really fucked with me for a few days where I withdrew and just didn’t engage in internet life. So, would I react that way? I’d like to think no, that I would definitely be upset, but not to that extent. I suspect that my initial response would be to snarkily straight-up feed the troll, which could possibly backfire but also be a fair amount of fun until it did. TBH I might also be so preoccupied with other stuff that I’d be like “Ok, mean internet stranger. Fuck off; I have more important things to worry about.” It probably helps that, given how I’ve seen the fandom respond to other hate, I think they’d have my back.

10. Do you write smut? If so what kind?

I don’t write a lot of it, but yes, occasionally. Lemonade Stand is my most explicit work, but there’s some light stuff in What Wasn’t Said and My Own Little Stage. I’m technically “working” on another smut piece right now, but it’s not a huge priority while I’m working to finish my dissertation.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don’t think so! 

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic?

Lol oh god, no. Control issues. Fic not being a priority, etc. I’d like to say that I’m not opposed, but I think it would be a recipe for a whole lot of extra unnecessary stress for this hobby.

14. What’s your all time favourite ship?

Usagi and Mamoru, Sailor Moon

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

Ha! I almost answered 5 Years out of habit, but then I remembered I actually did finish that one. Given my style, I don’t actually have any unfinished WIPs. Whether I write a Contrition sequel one day is a little touch and go, but I do still want to.

16. What’s your writing strengths?

I’d like to think describing emotions and dialogue, but you tell me?

17. What’s your writing weaknesses?

I’m sure others would say something like dedication here, but meh, hobby, so I’m not going to categorize that as a weakness. But here are some others:

-a compulsive need for reassurance. I swear part of my writing process used to be sending almost everyone I talked to in the fandom an “omg I’m so bad at this, I’m never going to write as well as XYZ big name author” message, but I think it was me crossing the line between “I’m venting to a friend” and “validate me because I’ve attached my self-worth to this”. This is an issue in my life, too, and I’ve noticed that, as I’ve worked through it there (team weekly therapy!), it’s been less of an issue here. I think it’s ok and probably still necessary to want reassurance sometimes, and definitely to talk about your writing with your friends and get advice when it’s needed, but there’s a line between that and what I feel is kind of a toxic pattern I was in that was doing me more harm in the long run. I will admit that I’ll still fall into this a little bit when I think about number of reviews/attention in the fandom. I’ve had multiple people mention before that I get fewer reviews or broadly less acclaim (that seems like a strong and arrogant word lol) than others in the fandom, and the explanations of “you don’t write as much” and “you don’t write enough multi-chapters” don’t always fully check out, so my brain will naturally go to “because you’re not as good at it as they are.” But when I’m feeling ok about myself, I can respond to that with something like “I am objectively somewhat confident in my ability to write, and if my style isn’t to someone’s taste, that’s not necessarily a knock on my skill.” I read a lot outside of the fandom, and thinking about things in that context helps, too — seeing it as a preference thing rather than a judgement of talent thing. There are a lot of popular, published authors that aren’t my taste, but that’s not me disparaging their skill/some of my favorite authors aren’t for everyone, and that’s ok, too.

-I sometimes struggle with connecting between scenes. Like I’ll have these two separate scenes in my head or even written, but it’s hard to connect them without them feeling clunky

-plot. There’s a reason a lot of my work is relatively short. I get a bit overwhelmed by multi-chapter planning and plotting. I wonder if part of it is a mental block because the one long multi chapter I wrote in middle school literally took me a few years (I think from 2000-2002 maybe?), and the idea of something like that hanging over my head stresses me out. It would probably be helpful to think about multi chapters like Belonging, which took maybe 2 months. But 1) one of those months was March 2020, so I’m not sure how valid any takeaways from that are and 2) I’m not entirely sure I like that story 😅

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

I’m ok with it when used sparingly and intentionally in a way that is relevant to the plot, tone, or conversation. I think, especially in the early 2000s, there was a lot of “let me show you how many random Japanese words I know” thrown around Sailor Moon fic, but that, thankfully, is less of a thing now. I do think now stuff can sometimes fall into “let me show you how much detail I know about Japanese culture”, which I have mixed feelings about. Like absolutely, I want to see and learn about Japanese culture from fic, and yes, putting things in the proper cultural context is critical. But, to be blunt, I’m just wary of white people being ambassadors/mouthpieces for other cultures without realizing how their own cultural biases seep into their work. At the same time, I certainly don’t want people to feel like they shouldn’t write and shouldn’t include elements of culture because they haven’t done a whole thesis on Japanese culture. Personally, my solution has been to work cultural aspects in where I can and especially where not doing so would be particularly egregious, but I’m certainly not going to pretend my work is the place to go to learn about Japanese culture or that my Western cultural perspective doesn’t color everything I do. I’m about to be an ambassador for my former career (as a study abroad advisor) here, but I love when an author who has studied/worked/lived in Japan seamlessly has elements or culture in their work. I can’t speak for them, but I suspect that it would be harder not to, having actually lived the culture. Anyway I digress. I like Japanese language in fic when used intentionally to enhance the story rather than to show off, and you can pry honorifics from my cold, dead hands because I’m a sucker for when those change between Usagi and Mamoru.

19. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

I’ve only ever written for Sailor Moon, and mostly only read for that, too (except for one side quest into a reading a Mandalorian fic because Pedro Pascal)

20. What’s your favourite fic you’ve written?

This is difficult. I’m really proud of some of the prompts in My Own Little Stage that I wrote this summer. Domino and Contrition are up there as favorites, too.

I tag @queenrisa14, @idesofnovember, @daikon1, @floraone, @moonlightusa, @angelmoongirl, @ninjettetwitch, @allyunabridged, and anyone else who wants to play :)

[lumilasi]

Hi, I love your fics so much!! They're amazing!!! I don't comment a whole lot bcs Im bad at it I wish I knew what to say ;;;

Do u have tips or something for comments? Like what authors would like? IDK if this is a weird question but I thought a writer would maybe know how dafaq to do this ahaha IDK sorry if Im bothering u or smth

Aww thank you! Glad you like them C: and no, you’re not being a bother at all!

Haha I don’t blame you, figuring out what to say in comments is kind of tricky! I know because I always try to leave comments when I read something; since I’m a writer too I get why not getting feedback can be incredibly demotivating. Kudos and hits are ultimately just numbers, whereas comments can make writers go ’yes, this thing is actually worth posting, actual people are enjoying it!’. At least the other writers I’ve spoken to have all shared this sentiment, so I’d figure it’s pretty universal feeling? Of course I can’t know how every writer thinks, but this would make sense to me haha!

Not saying non-writers wouldn’t realize this too btw, but I guess it might be the easiest to see when you are kinda ’in it’ so to say? I dunno how to put this sorry lmao OTL

(Side note; I wonder if I’ve seen a post about commenting tips or if this has been asked from me before? This feels vaguely familiar lmao.)

So, uhh yeah. I guess I could share some of the basic ’comment ideas’ or whatever I use when I myself comment on the few fics I still read? You can do whatever you want with how you comment, but maybe these could help coming up with what to say? They help me at least cuz yeah, commenting is hard sometimes!

You Could....

1. Bring up the parts you especially liked in the chapter you commented on, or the story so far in general; this gives the author a good idea what is working in the story. You can type this out freely or just basically quote the parts from the fic (latter is probs easier haha)

2. Maybe theorize a little where things might be going. You might either guess somewhat correctly - meaning the breadcrumbs we’ve left are working yes - or maybe even give the author something to think about they hadn’t thought of before. (The amount of times readers have pointed stuff out to me that kinda makes sense that I didn’t think of, is kinda funny.) This one can be hard to do I admit, but I figured I’d still throw this in there; these are just comment ideas like said, to maybe help you come up with what to say!

3. Express the emotion the chapter made you feel, whenever it made you sad/happy/etc. You can for example, express this humorously, like all those people shaking their fists at me for making them sad over AFO in FS lmao (sorry, I’m mainly using examples from my own fics because I don’t really go reading other people’s fic comments heh) or just go ’I’m crying in the club rn’ or something (a phrase I’ve also seen commenters use hehe)

4. Maybe you can comment about what you think of the character’s actions in the specific chapter/some overall part of the story? If you think they’re being a dumbass or if you’re glad they did what they did. This I guess can be tricky because you can’t know as the reader what the author’s intent fully is, but comments like these can still be fun/interesting to read! Sometimes it gives me an incline I need to clarify something if too many people are getting confused by it lmao (thankfully this is super rare, but it has happened. There was one extreme case of me deciding to rewrite an entire chapter because one comment from a reader made me alarmed enough that the vibes in that chapter were badly off. It was just this one person who seemed to notice it, but after they pointed it out I couldn’t unsee it so I rewrote the whole thing lmao)

5. Maybe lightheartedly roast a character who is doing something dumb in the story? I roast characters I write myself in author notes sometimes hehe

6. Just simple ’I love this,’ ’this is great,’ etc. Can be more than enough if you dunno what else to put there!

So yeah. Those are few things I can think of to maybe help you come up with what to say?

I know it can still be difficult to type anything down (especially if you are more of a shy/anxious person, it can be intimidating for sure!) but it is worth it! Not only are you brightening an authors day, but you are helping them to stay motivated to provide you the story you enjoy reading. Even if not every comment gets responded to (I try to respond to most of them personally, but even I don’t always do that, purely because I might not know what to say, ironically lmao) they all get read in all likeness.

This is all ofc written from my perspective, these are the kind of comments I feel are probably the most common kind out there.

[northerngoshawk]

Author Self Interview

Technically, no one tagged me. But I saw @thinkingisadangerouspastime‘s self interview on my dashboard, and she opened it up to anyone who wanted to do this. So here I am!

Name: Northern_Goshawk (sometimes with, sometimes without the underscore in between), but you can call me Northern or North, whatever variant works for you!

Fandoms: MSCM* (formerly), Bakugan* (formerly), Ninjago* (state of limbo), ATLA**, PJO & HoO (in revival), TKC (lowkey), Spirit Animals (in revival), Magisterium Series, Maze Runner, Minecraft: Songs of War* (formerly), Harry Potter, there’s probably a lot more but I can’t think of them all rn.

*Fandoms I’ve written for

**My main fandom so far

Where do you post: FF.Net is my main account, but lately I’ve also been posting on AO3. I do have a Wattpad, but it’s basically dead right now. Oh, and sometimes I post drabbles here, on Tumblr. Just drabbles, though.

Most popular multi-chapter fic: In terms of having an actual plot and being structured like a book? It’d probably be The Water Trials, my still-ongoing Maze Runner AU ATLA fic; it has 12 favs & 13 follows on FF.Net and 3 kudos & 2 subscriptions on AO3. Tallying that up, it’s the most popular. But if we were to look at the term literally, as in having multiple chapters, then my drabble series Too Late takes the cake, with 27 favs & 31 follows. I guess everyone likes the angst 🤷‍♀️

Favorite story you’ve written so far: Definitely my introspective Aang-centric fic the avatar’s fear! This 13.8k oneshot is my pride and joy, what I consider my crowning achievement; I like to say that if there is any fic you want to read from me, this is the fic. I really love it because when I set out to write it, my goal was to portray Aang as this complex, three-dimensional character (and subtly address a lot of the slander that goes around the internet about him), and from the feedback I got from a lot of the comments, I succeeded!

I want to take a moment to acknowledge @thinkingisadangerouspastime (yes, I tagged you twice, but this is important!), because it was her two fics, broken pieces still belong (a Katara-centric fic that focuses on the complexity of her grief and rage) and all i know is gone (but i am not alone) (an Aang-centric fic that focuses on his grief), that served as inspiration and even a guide for me while I was writing “the avatar's fear.” In fact, I even made a reference to “all i know is gone (but i am not alone)” in it:

iii. all I know is gone, but even when I had everything, no one wanted me around… I guess it's just a feeling I need to get used to (they see me as a weapon, but they forget I'm human too)

I highly recommend those two fics to anyone who is a Katara and/or Aang stan!

Anyways, this oneshot was well worth the effort of creating, and I’m so, so happy I was able to do Aang justice!

Fic you were nervous to post: Oh, definitely dragon blood, with several reasons why:

- I spent a total of 2 days on this fic, which is... a lot less than what I usually spend for anything that’s not a drabble. So I was nervous, wondering if I was rushing it, going back and editing it over and over and over again.

- It’s from Suki’s POV. Now, because we don’t see much of Suki in the actual series itself, I didn’t know if I managed to nail down her voice all that well. I was also worried that it focused too much on Aang, so I added in edits that intermingled Suki’s experiences in the war with the present.

I might’ve also been nervous in posting The Water Trials, since it’s a Maze Runner Future Dystopian AU ATLA fic, and I wasn’t sure how many people would actually enjoy something like this. But a surprisingly decent amount of people seem to like it, or even just the concept of it, so I’m happy about that.

How do you choose your titles: Most of the time, I like to look at the main “point” of the fic, the main topic/theme, and make up a title based off of that, but sometimes I make up the title based on the recurring motif in the fic.

Do you outline: Boy, do I! There are rare cases in which I don’t; “dragon blood” is one such rarity*. Otherwise, most of my fics have either a detailed outline or general idea blurb on what to include, how to structure it, etc. For multi-chapter fics, I tend to do a chapter-by-chapter outline, in which I figure out what I want to happen in each chapter (with ideas thrown under the chapters I want to include them in).

*The first draft had an idea blurb on how it would be structured, but it was scrapped entirely, and the final version was written without an outline.

Complete: It would be easier to list the fics I haven’t completed yet: The Water Trials and “Too Late.” I’m not counting my discontinued fics from MCSM and Bakugan (I was going through a weird phase) since I’m no longer in those fandoms.

Do you accept prompts: Sure. In fact, my entire Kataang: Kiss 22 (20) series is based upon @lanjunlazy’s Kiss 22 prompt artwork series (minus the ones that are NSFW); check out her artwork, btw. However, I will have to say that there are certain prompts I will not do if they don’t align with my own belief set, being a Christian. Don’t let that stop you from talking to me, though! Even if we might disagree, I want you to know that you are always welcome on my blog :)

Upcoming story you’re most excited to write about: The rest of The Avatar Experiment series, the series that The Water Trials is in! I can’t wait to share it with the rest of you guys.

And maaayyybe that Deathless One AU I was talking about 👀

Stories you’re most excited to read: The rest of Ogro’s/Baithin’s Distorted Reality! It’s such an awesome ATLA Role Swap AU because instead of the swapped characters being carbon copies of their canon counterparts, they still retain their own personality as in canon, and every character has their backstory or role reinvented so that the story is fresh while also being familiar!

Also any character death fics and/or introspective Aang-centric fics (recs? anyone?).

Tagging: @flameohotwife @shameaboutthedilettantism uhhhh I really, really don’t know that many fic writers. If you see this on your dashboard, then consider it as me tagging you to do this!

[soldouthaz]

I really want to start writing fics because writing has always been a passion of mine, and what better way to use it than to write about and interact with a fandom i'm passionate about as well, right? the problem is that i'm a 'gifted kid' with both adhd and depression, which makes for both lack of motivation and lack of attention span, even if I'm mentally obsessing over what I'm working on, I'll have a lot of trouble actually doing it. (1/2)

On top of that, I tend to back away or give up completely if I don't have an immediate knack for something or if I hit a roadblock of sorts. Do you have any tips for me, and, more specifically, for how to explore your passions even when your brain chemistry is kicking your ass? (2/2)

hi!! what a good question!!! I've always struggled with some of this myself so I'll do my best to give some good advice below the cut!!! 

- just a quick tw for anyone who may be sensitive to topics including depression or other similar mental health conditions! -

(i’ll talk about a few things regarding the adhd/depression and then I'll include some advice at the end for you!!! this got kind of long (sorry!) but if you read anything, make sure it’s the end!)

so this was something I struggled with big time for a while when I first started writing! I don’t have ADHD but I do have OCD, which is also quite the cocktail with depression so I feel your pain! i understand how frustrating it is because writing is very two sided in my experience, meaning on one hand it’s cathartic and eases anxiety, but on the other hand it can induce those negative feelings just as quickly as it got rid of them if you’re too overwhelmed while doing so.

depression is always the heavy hitter for me personally. I can have so many ideas and so much excitement for them and yet when I sit down to write everything seems so overwhelming that I end up backing out of it and leaving it for later for the millionth time. mine is mostly seasonal as well, so i go through periods of time (like these past few months) where i get very unmotivated and don’t write much at all. it’s an annoying cycle to then feel unproductive and know that you want to do it but you don’t do it but you feel like you should etc. etc..

the ADHD (or OCD in my case) seems to always be more of an environment issue for me. I really can only write more than a few sentences once I'm alone in the dead of night, when everyone else is asleep and I'm in control of my surroundings -- for example, the volume (music, fans, tv, etc), position (where I'm sitting, what’s around me), and being comfortable (comfy clothes, blankets, etc). I'm a big sensory person so if something’s even slightly brushing my arm in the wrong way, I can’t get into what I'm doing.

but i also understand what you mean strictly focus wise, when you’re trying to plan out your ideas and just keep jumping from one thing to another! (by the way i love that you mentioned when you're not good at something immediately you tend to give up - i do the same thing!) this is where i’ll try to give you some of the tips that helped me personally!

not too get too sappy, but to me the beauty of writing has always been that there is no right or wrong way to do it. the most difficult part of it is nailing down the fact that you should write for yourself and not simply to get hits or kudos or comments or anything. it should be fun and ultimately rewarding, and if it isn’t, don’t try to force yourself!

this is where the flip side of the adhd/depression + writing debate comes in -- finishing a piece of work can be one of the best feelings in the world, no matter how big or small or if other people enjoy it or not. because now you’ve got something that you can point to and say hey, i did that! i created this thing and put it into the world regardless of the challenges i might have encountered along the way or anyone else’s judgement! and that’s a wonderful feeling, especially if you’re like me when you feel lazy or unproductive half the time and the other half of you is constantly restless, full of energy with no other outlet for it.

so my advice to you would be to start small. it took me months to finish the first fic that i published because i split it up into portions and didn’t force myself if i truly didn’t want to write that day. to elaborate about ‘small’, there’s several different options!

before i got into fandom writing, poetry was the holy grail for me because it didn’t require much effort! i used my phone or the nearest notebook i had to just scribble down my feelings in just a few lines. it helped me feel better quickly just to get it off my chest, it wasn’t time consuming, and there was no planning required so it wasn’t overwhelming to me! poetry is fun to just play around with and you can kind of make up your own rules, so feel free to try that as a warm up or experiment as well!

but you mentioned specifically fics and fandom writing, so there are some options for that as well!

drabbles are a great idea as an intro to writing in my opinion! they’re wonderful practice for finding your ‘writing voice’ and learning which genres and topics you enjoy writing about before diving headfirst into a long fic! if you plan on publishing it, they’re also a great way to set the tone for readers of what your future works will be like! (another exercise similar to this is word prompts, where you choose a random word and just try to write and see what comes out!)

WIPs are fairly controversial, but who cares? if you’ve got something you want to write and you want to publish a chapter indefinitely throughout the year just when you feel like it, go for it! it’s still a creative outlet and it’s still you expressing yourself, which means it’s fully worth it.

that being said, my entire world changed after i started outlining. if you want to write a full fic to be published at once, the most helpful thing is to have a plan. it doesn’t have to be nailed down or perfect, but even just scribbling down some random scene ideas or plot points can help! from there, if you feel like it, you can go as detailed as you want and add things like goal word count, character bios, etc. until it begins to take the shape of a full story!

while keeping all of this in mind, i know i’m stressing it but it’s so important to remember that how you view this can be the change in how all of this pans out. writing for yourself is the goal here -- getting attached to hits or kudos or reblogs only provides temporary validation. it’s nice but it’s not going to give you that emotional payoff.

you mentioned that writing was a passion of yours and writing can be extremely cathartic, especially when you’re writing about an interest or something you love! no part of it should be extremely stressful or make you more anxious than when you started. i honestly can’t recommend it enough, even if you don’t share your first drafts or if you end up scrapping parts of it later on. no matter how long or short it is and no matter if it’s something you think people will read or not.

with depression and ADHD especially, writing is the perfect mix of pushing yourself and achieving goals without going too far, and it’s helped me in my own mental health journey immensely. (most of my works are just emotion-dumps where i use my characters and storylines to cope with whatever’s going on in my current life!) it’s a type of therapy in itself, and to be able to share it in a community of people that view it the same way is just an added bonus! 

speaking more generally regarding your point about trying to enjoy your interests while also dealing with mental health conditions that limit your ability to do so, my go-to method is always just to take it as it comes, or break it down into easier sections to deal with. if i’m doing something and i’m aware of and actively trying to fight an OCD tic (or in your case ADHD behavior), it’s only going to make me more anxious. so my advice would be to take a break and do something comforting to calm down, then return to what you were doing before. we have to remember to be kind to ourselves, especially in this weird time!

conversely, with depression, i try to push myself just slightly. my brain usually wants to give up and shut down and sometimes that’s okay too, but it usually pays off for me if i bargain with myself to keep going or keep trying, like promising myself a nap or some relaxing time if i can finish x amount of whatever i’m working on, if that makes sense. a little bit can go a long way!

ahh sorry, this one kind of got away from me! i’m sorry it’s so lengthy but i hope some part of it resonated with you! the ask touched on a lot of different things so if you need me to clarify anything or elaborate or if you have any more questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me again! i also made a post about my writing process a while ago if that’s something you’d be interested in, and this post from the other day has some other tips on dealing with grief/anxiety that may also be helpful for your situation! 

(also, I'd just like to point out that just from your ask alone I can tell you write really well! I would be very interested in reading something of yours in the future!) 

I'm wishing you the best of luck with your first venture into writing and fics, and I'd be more than happy to help you in any way that I can! I can’t wait to see what all you do <33333 

[not-poignant]

Hi Pia! I sometimes notice you reflecting on how well-received (or not) a new chapter of yours was and, as a fellow writer, I was wondering - How do you determine the success of a new chapter? Since Ao3 doesn't let you see how many people have viewed a new chapter, but only how many views your story has gotten as a whole, how do you usually gauge that? Keep up the amazing work, by the way!!

Hi anon!

Actually I don’t pay attention to hits at all, ever. That’s the least important metric to me, and I couldn’t tell you how many hits any of my fics have at any time, even as an average. It’s the easiest to falsely inflate, and it includes everyone who has ever hated or been bored by the fic, as well as bots, so it’s like...meaningless to me I guess.

As always, engagement is always subjective and personally negotiated when it comes to this stuff. I have a ‘general average of comments per chapter’ that changes on whether it’s fanfiction, the Fae Tales main story, and like, small oneshots and side things and AUs. Generally in terms of popularity:

1. Fanfiction - nearly always. Unless it’s for a niche fandom 2. Fae Tales main story3. side things and AUs (these are always the least popular)

For each, I sort of have my own internal metric of engagement that seems like ‘okay this is doing well’ or ‘shit this is doing poorly’ (which could be because of external factors - holidays, exams, etc. or story factors - the story is boring as shit or...it’s a sex scene).

And then on top of that, for me, I gauge it almost always on the number of comments received within the first 12 chapters. That’s the reason why you’ll almost always see me comment on whether a chapter was well-received when I do my reblog of the chapter announcement post on Tumblr (it’s pretty much only ever there, and only in the tags). Because that’s the 12 hour mark. If a side story gets 6 comments in 12 hours, I think of it as successful, and I’m really happy. If The Ice Plague gets 6 comments in 12 hours, and it’s not an explicit sex scene, I generally think I’ve done something wrong (or the US is having exams and I didn’t realise). On top of that, the tone of the comments can be really influential, but frankly, most people who take the time to comment on my stuff are amazing people.

There’s also another general rule where certain chapters I expect to get more comments (cliffhangers) and certain chapters I expect to get less (sex scenes, the last 3-5 chapters before the end of a serial, which is always saddening, but fairly normal and not something to generally be worried about even though I still worry about it).

I will also gauge interest/engagement on other factors: did the chapter inspire any Tumblr engagement? (This one has sadly dropped off a bit since the Tumblr Purge). And kudos I don’t often pay a huge amount of attention to after the first two chapters. I mean I always like notice it when I get the AO3 kudos digest, and I really like kudos, but tbh in a serial, most of the people who are enjoying it the most kudos’ed it during the first two-three chapters, and nothing will change much after that (unless it gets recced somewhere later, and that usually happens once it’s finished). 

I also really pay attention to my bookmarks-to-kudos ratio? Like, Stuck on the Puzzle is one of the most bookmarked things I’ve ever written in proportion to kudos, it’s incredible. On the other hand, The Ice Plague is one of the least bookmarked, this is partly because it’s a series, and people have probably bookmarked earlier stories, but...it’s just also really low on that metric.

Anyway! It’s like, a personal thing. Every AO3 author judges engagement differently. Some people actually do pay attention to hits (which is wild to me), some don’t give a shit about bookmarks, some care most about kudos, for me it’s comments. I suppose I care most about those because I enjoy those the most, and getting comments and responding to them is really motivational and inspiring to me as an author. 

And when you’ve been posting chapters almost every week for the past six years, you start to get a sense when something landed well, and when something didn’t?

In retrospect, I don’t even think some of those chapters are bad per se, they’re just sometimes not as interesting as other chapters, or they’re transitional etc. Or they’re a side story lmao.

[ofbuttsandbombs]

Creator Tag Meme 2019

Rules: It’s time to love yourselves! Choose your 5 favorite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought into the world in 2019. Tag as many writers/artists/etc. as you want (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works!

First of all, thank you so much to @feeisamarshmallow and @stolethekey for tagging me!

2019 was special for me, because this year was the first time EVER that I actually published the fics I wrote. I love writing, and have been writing fic since middle school, but I guess this year I felt brave enough to post my work online, and that was very exciting!

I really want to thank the Brooklyn Nine-Nine community on tumblr and ao3 for being so supportive! Thank you to all the creators and writers before me who have made such a wonderful space that encourages newer writers to showcase what they've got. This is where I drew my courage from, and I'm so grateful!

I especially want to thank everyone who interacted with me on tumblr and ao3 - be it via asks, comments, kudos or direct messages! Y'all made my days, sometimes, and I want you to know how happy you made this girl! :D

I wrote 7 fics in 2019 - oh god how do I pick favorites-

Here goes!

(In no particular order)

1. Gone

The first chapter fic I've ever written, that's why it'll always have a special place in my heart! Based on Marvel's Infinty War, do read if you enjoy pining, angst and dad! Jake. 😁

2. This Boy Will Be the Death of Me

A story I wrote about how I felt Jake and Amy really became friends. They're different people, and I think they struggled with understanding each other when they first met. This is what I think went down, and how they formed a lasting bond! P.S. I wrote this as a part of the Summer fic exchange by @b99fandomevents and I'm so grateful for the work they do and the fic exchanges they organize!❤

3. Do Not Disturb

Um. I tried to be funny. Please let me know if I succeeded, even a little bit! 🤣 I called it a 'smutling' because there is some smut but not enough, y'know what I mean?

4. It's A Funny Story

I'm in love with future Jake and Amy fics. They're my favorite kind, (apart from AUs which I think are the single best invention of the 21st century). Here's my first attempt at writing one. Very light-hearted and a tad bit TOO fluffy!

5. Scarlet Season

My entry for the Fall Fic Exchange, this is another future fic with wistfulness and a tiny amount of angst. But Jake and Amy are too cute.

Well, and here they are! This was my 2019, and here's hoping 2020 is just as productive, if not more.

I'm tagging: @amydancepants-peralta

@amyscascadingtabs

@kamekamelea

@vernonfielding

@mashikkara

@dancezwithwolvez

If you’d like to do this and haven't been tagged just do it! I want to see all the creators proudly display their work! You deserve it!

Wishing everyone a Happy 2020!

[undadasea]

Hello! I came a little late into the YOI fandom but i want to write stuff for it, the stories are so good! The thing is, i've never written for fun before, so i dont know how to like,, do it? (Also i'm kinda shy, and English is not my first language) Do u have any writing tips or any advice you could give me? I love your work!

hi!! first welcome to the fandom! it’s a little quiet right now, yea, but as soon as there’s any news again? i can’t wait to see the fandom rocking again. and second i’m so happy you like my work enough to ask me for advice??? TTwTT i’ll try my best to help!

-okay so aaaaaaaa first just remember that, regardless of what some people may say, there is no right or wrong way to write a character. when you write, you want to write what is genuine to you, what you think the characters would do or say. you think victor secretly swears a lot? cool! you think yurio is trans? dope! you think yuuri and phichit were lovers? awesome! there is so much liberty you can take when writing fanfiction while still staying true to the characters themselves.

for me, i like writing yurio so he is actually a sweetheart, and he just acts mean. is this 100% canon? who knows! who cares! because it’s my personal interpretation of him, it’s how i see his character.

so if it’s something you see the character doing, then have them do it!

-think your story idea is cliche or overused? do it anyway! 

listen, take it from someone who has probably read most of the mafia au victuuri fanfiction on ao3. readers don’t care if it’s been done before. sometimes, they look for a story because it’s been done before, and they enjoyed reading it so they want to again! your style is different from other authors, so naturally your story isn’t going to be the exact same.

at this point in history, there are a LOT of stories that have already been done and if you freak out constantly about having a 100% perfectly unique, never been done story, then you are going to scrap so many amazing ideas! your story will ALWAYS be unique because only you can write the story that’s in your head. 

please please please never stop writing a story because you don’t think it’s unique enough. 

-also, you don’t have to post everything you write. if you just want to mess around and write a few silly things just to get a feel for it, that’s totally ok! i have a lot of stuff that i’ve written and never published for various reasons. sometimes i was just messing around with ideas, or maybe i didn’t like how it was. i have so much really old hetalia fanfiction i wrote when i was younger that i would probably die if it ever got published.

and that’s fine! when i first started writing, i didn’t have the option to publish it, but i still wrote, and i shared it with my sisters. 

just try out new techniques, mess around with the way you can word things, play around with how you think a character would respond to something (it’s also a good way to get a feel for the characters) you can just play around and keep those little stories to yourself. 

-sometimes you see people who publish a lot of stuff in a short amount of time. good for them! but if you don’t write that fast, don’t worry about it. you don’t have to post something every day in order to gain loyal readers and followers. trust me, those who enjoy your stories will wait forever for you to update, and they will be there when you do post again, with the same amount of excitement. 

hell, i’ve waited 2-3 YEARS for an update from someone, and i’m STILL waiting, and i’m STILL checking to see if it’s happened yet. when it finally does? you bet i’m going to read that update with love and tell the author how much i’ve missed the story.

and if you DO write fast, and post lots, guess what? people are going to be so excited every time you post. i promise you that you will get followers who will read everything you write. 

-as for actually doing the writing? it can be hard to tell you exactly how to start, because i can’t even remember how i did myself. it just sort of.. happened. 

if you want to get into writing the characters out, then i’d recommend just writing small lines first, just to get your head working to learn how to write stories for fun. 

“Victor whistled while he walked.” “Yurio sighed as he pet his cat.” 

just write small things first, little actions. slowly that can make it’s way into a story.

“Victor whistled as he walked down the street, glancing from house to house. He wondered how everyone was doing. Since his skating accident, he hadn’t seen anyone in ages. Did they miss him?”

“Yurio sighed as he pet his cat, lowering his phone from where he had been scrolling instagram. Yakov had sent him home for ‘bad behavior’ and he was so bored.”

-and if you can’t think of anything to write about, writing prompts are the BEST THING EVER. just search them up on google, pinterest, instagram, or i like to search here on tumblr. sentence prompts, idea prompts, character prompts. the people who write them out are amazing and there are so many great ideas of things to write. actually a lot of i write comes from writing prompts. just take an idea and think “in this scenario, who would be who? what would they do to solve the issue? and how did they even end up in this situation??”

-another good place to get ideas is music, or at least in my case. i love listening to music when i write, too, because it can set the right mood. feel like writing something fun? boppy pop songs. angsty? emo songs. a little crazy? lord knows there are some weird songs out there. 

and then there are songs that have stories and you just want twist it just so, and write the characters there. the first song that comes to mind for me is “Whiskey Lullaby” which is a very sad song, with a very sad story. but hell if i haven’t considered writing a story based on it. 

-then of course, there’s writing a story based on another one. whether it be based on a shakespeare play, that movie you saw last week, your favorite show, a book you read as a kid, etc. that’s ok too! even writing a story based on a different fanfic. tho of course, you always want to cite your inspiration in this case. i’ve read stories that were based off of others, that they asked if they could write a story in the same world, even. and those stories stood on their own, and i loved them all.

(me, remembering that my biggest story was inspired by someone else-)

-finally, i tell you that numbers are just numbers. 

this is something that a lot of people are still trying to learn (me included, sometimes) but numbers are fake. 

no matter what number you are looking at, i promise you it’s not worth it to stress out over it. 

number of kudos? number a views? number of comments? number of words? number of chapters?

none of it matters. because numbers aren’t a reason to write. write for YOU, and share the gift you have created with others. 

-

ok i can’t really think of much else to tell you and this already got,,, a LOT longer than i meant it to so i’m gonna stop here ;;; what and when and if you write will be up to you. 

if there’s anything specific you want to ask me about, either you want me to elaborate on something here, or you want to know about something not mentioned, i will absolutely try my best to help you. if you want another 1,000+ word essay on writing, let me know bc i just looked at the word count for this and almost fainted- this goes for everyone, by the way! 

also, i will absolutely read your first story whenever you decide to publish it!! (if you do, ofc) just let me know and i will be your first reader-

[scribir]

Self Care for NSFW Artists - A Letter to Myself

As the title suggests, I’m writing this mostly for myself hence the term nsfw, but anyone can use this I suppose. It’s just some real life tips that I’ve learned through experience and wanted to write down. Maybe it can help someone.

Let’s go...

1- Get up! It is important to not be by your desk hunched over writing or drawing for extended periods of time. Not only is it unhealthy to be sedentary for that long, it is important for the mind that you walk away from your work and maybe get a little exercise by taking a walk or going for something to eat or drink.

2- Feed and hydrate yo’ body! This point ties in with the first as artists (whether you write, craft or draw) tend to restrict themselves to their work for hours. Personally, I am very guilty of this as I can sit at my desk working for up to 18 (or more) hours, moving only when it’s absolutely necessary, only to return promptly to continue working. Food and water is forgotten and at times, many hours later, I’d realize that I didn’t even have breakfast only when a gnawing hunger threatens to kill me or my heart is racing because it was a hot day and I didn’t drink any water.

3- Eat a balanced diet! So I did say that you should feed and hydrate your body, but I know you *points dramatically* you’ll choose the fastest option which most likely would be fast food for quick calories. But remember!!! Man cannot live by fast food and NSFW Art alone! You need calories from a range of diverse foods, including meat / meat substitute protein, vegetables and some fat and fiber.

Take a multivitamin too if you’re into that. Drink clean fresh water. Eat an assortment of fruits and vegetables everyday (local so it would be cheaper). Prepare your own meals to save money and give yourself healthier options. And if you don’t have the time to prepare meals everyday, do the preparation in advance on a day when you can spare some extra time. What I do is buy sandwich bags and prepare my breakfast, depending on what it is, in advance for the entire week or month. Lunches too I make in advance.

When you make your own meals, you know exactly what’s going into your body and can avoid all the nasties (processed stuff and artificial flavorings) that can be hiding in bought meals. But if you know a local company that makes packaged foods that are healthy, then go right ahead!

Remember that eating a balanced diet that includes a sufficient amount of pesticide-free fruits and vegetables is important to keep your body strong and healthy enough so that you can keep making content.

4- Wear your damn eyeglasses (if you use those)! Personally I suck at this *puts on glasses quickly then continues to type* I would be at the computer writing / drawing for hours and remember only when my eyes start hurting :/ Don’t do that.

5- Clean your damn glasses!! Another thing I’m very guilty of. Eye glasses tend to pick up all sorts of bacteria / other microbes when you rest them down or even by simply touching them. Then you put them on your face. See what I’m talking about?? Acne party.

6- Practise Self care / Have a Self-care Ritual! Eh, so this is something I believe that a lot of people fail at. Move away from the computer / desk and go wash your face, brush + floss your teeth! Take a bath / shower daily. Try to also exfoliate your face and body routinely. Shave / trim too if you’re into that, wash your hair when it’s dirty, moisturize it and keep it up and away from your face while you’re working. This not only makes working on your projects easier but helps prevent acne from dirty hair and keeps your scalp healthy.

If you can, (these tips are for whatever your gender id is), don’t go to sleep without a night cream that’s suitable for your skin type. Wear sunscreen. Keep your hair wrapped with a silk / satin scarf whenever you lie down to avoid split ends, dryness and breakage, wash your pillowcases regularly and use a silk / satin tie when putting your hair up. Also, get a routine trim to manage split ends and hair length. Oh and most importantly, use moisturizers, shower products and treatments FOR YOUR SKIN TYPE. You won’t believe the difference that makes.

Self care also involves mental health and that’s very critical for artists and everyone tbh. Remember to follow any protocol given to you by your healthcare provider and not to neglect it because you were busy cREatiNG ConTEnt *I’m looking at you* Get enough sleep, eat healthy, rest whenever necessary and try to include some meditation and light exercise in the form of yoga / walking/ stretching / pilates. All this is good for the mind. I can go on and on about self care but let’s stop here please.

7- Clean Your Room! Meh. I hate this one the most because I hate folding laundry, especially when I want to do something creative, but sometimes you just need to stop working and do it. Get up and do your chores. Doing them regularly, means  that your general environment where you work will always be healthy for your mind, body and spirit and will be conducive to you formulating plots for your art and writing projects! Please leave the vision of the artist (this includes writers) in a dark, dusty room piled high with books, dirty + clean unsorted laundry behind T_T

8- Socialize! EHHHHH....NANI?! Ugh I hate this, but socializing is important for your physical and mental health. I’m an introvert by nature (shoutout to my fellow introverts) and sometimes go to extreme lengths to avoid people but socializing doesn’t mean that you have to go to a big party (an introvert’s nightmare) but simply remembering to respond to your social messages, calling a friend or even taking your mom and or dad out / going to visit them can work.

I hate to admit it but human connection is important (unless you’re a hermit on a mountain or a misanthrope). And look at it this way...interacting with real people is important for your craft! You can read books, look at videos / tutorials to learn about human interaction, but nothing replaces the story a friend would tell you about their day while drunk at 2am or the hot date they had last night, a genuine smile from a loved one, a quirky laugh or the natural movement of people who are unaware that they’re being observed - all things that can help to spark ideas that you can use for the characters in your writing and art. By hanging out with real people and seeing how they move and talk, you tend to create more genuine, believable characters that the people who use your content can identify with.

I should say too that you don’t have to interact with people directly all the time but you can just sit in a coffee shop, walk around the city, sit in the library or travel on the bus (or other public transportation). Just listen and watch and you will be privy to all sorts of gems from real people with real lives, victories and problems that can be used for character study.

9- DON’T Take Yourself Too Seriously! / Stop doubting your talent! Okay, so this one is a work in progress for a lot of people. Feelings of insecurity when it comes to your craft can attack at anytime. You’re steadily progressing but then you look at other people’s work and think that you’re absolute crap. You think their prose and exposition is great, that their art / writing style is awesome and that you’d never be as good as they are within your lifetime because you don’t have as many kudos, favorites, bookmarks or likes / reblogs as they do.

I have one piece of advice for this problem and that’s to MIND YO’ DAMN BUSINESS. This may sound harsh but it’s critical for survival in the creative world. When you’re busy feeling shitty and insecure about someone else’s work, they’re busy practising hard and getting better while you’re busy hampering your own progress. Look at their work, admire it, send that fellow artist a like / comment then give a reblog and let awesome work of art MOTIVATE you to keep working hard on your craft. You can only get better through practice and and you’re only wasting time by doubting yourself / feeling insecure / feeling jealous because of other’s progress.

I should also say that you may see someone’s wonderful writing or art but you don’t know how many hours and effort they may be putting into their craft. Talent is a wonderful thing to have, but it is a tool that needs to be sharpened every single day. A lot of people don’t like to admit it, but getting to expert level with anything takes an insane amount of practice. When you’re sleeping, you have no idea what those talented people are doing in order to get better. You don’t see the moments where they’re falling asleep on themselves while they’re writing / drawing, you don’t see the amount of horrible drafts they churned out before they got “good” and you have no idea that they too feel like they still need to improve as they continue to work hard.

So be grateful for all the kudos, likes, reblogs or favorites you get but don’t let that define you. Keep moving forward. Keep grinding. I believe in you.

10- Make time for Reflection! This may seem biased (because...introvert...), but time spent alone is important. Sure, you spend a lot of time alone writing, drawing, creating, but how much of that time is truly alone and without you doing work?? I personally believe that sometimes one needs to just go off to a quiet place to just think. Thinking about life, sorting the past, the present and the future helps to condition and exercise the mind. And a healthy mind makes for a good, capable artist that doesn’t become consumed and destroyed by their craft.

In this respect, I should also say that having Affirmations and doing Meditation is very important. Personally, I have a pinterest board that I use for that purpose and also a book with meditative quotes, passages etc that I try to read every morning.

11- Make time for Recreation: Whether it is watching your favorite movie, playing a game, watching anime, reading a book or  comic, playing a board game or hanging out with friends, make sure to schedule recreational activities that take you away from your desk and work these into your routine. This, like Reflection, will help to keep your mind conditioned and also get you out of artist’s block. It also helps to generate ideas since personally I find that a good movie, action scene or well-crafted plot sends my mind into overdrive and I end up going back to write lol.

12- Organization! Having things organized, whether irl or just your WIPs (through journaling, properly saving / titling files etc) will keep you sane and save time. Believe me!

13 - Support Network! This is self explanatory but having at least one person who is genuine about liking your work and who is like your personal cheerleader is critical. Also, being your own cheer team is important! Don’t depend too heavily on others; love yourself and your work!

14 - Negative Environments: I can go on an on about this as well, but yeah...being in a toxic situation whether it is at home, school, the workplace, a relationship or even one of your own creation is very very bad for your mental health and if it’s bad for your mental health it is bad for your art. Personally, negative situations help push me forward with my writing as I create a lot of vent stuff as a result but over time it is not healthy. It can mess with your head.

Do whatever you can to get out of your situation or if you can’t, then lay the foundations (saving money etc) to get out eventually. And while you’re unable to get out, remember to practise all the tips I mentioned before. Also, talk to a professional or even someone you can trust.

I think I’ll stop here as this post is getting quite long ^^; Anyways, I hope that my blabbering has managed to help someone as I was somehow unconsciously motivated to write and post this. If anyone wants to add anything, please do!

[thesundaymorningpost]

The Sunday Morning Post

September 3, 2017                                                          10th Edition

Current News:

Yuri on Ice: ShitBang

On August 31st, if you love Yuri on Ice, your feed may have blown up with stories and artwork created as a means for writers and artists to come together and work on a project together.

What is the Shit Bang you ask? It is an amazing event for writers and artists to come together and write and draw about the amazing anime we all love: Yuri!!! On Ice! But a little more than that this is a direct - non-hateful - response to THAT blog. You know the one I’m talking about. Yup. THAT one. - @yoi-shit-bang

The amount of stories and artwork has been astounding. From one-shots, to multi-chapters, all written by amazing authors. Then there is all the amazing artwork that has come with it, by some amazing and very talented artists.

Please keep in mind that many subjects may trigger, please read all tags before reading a story. 

Story Recommendation: we have loved the stars too fondly by @thehandsingsweapon

“We live in a blue planet that circles around a ball of fire next to a moon that moves the sea, and you don’t believe in miracles?”

After an academic career at MIT and Oxford, Yuuri Katsuki eschews job offers at places like NASA and CERN to go work at the Very Large Array in what Phichit Chulanont lovingly calls The Actual Middle of Nowhere, New Mexico, monitoring radio frequencies from light-years away. He's loved the stars for as long as he can remember, and the universe feels so big sometimes that Yuuri is sure it would be a cruel mistake for humans to be all alone.

Enter the latest scientist to join the staff of the VLA, enigmatic Russian genius Victor Nikiforov, around whom Yuuri’s entire universe seems to bend to make room, and the strange, recurring dreams Yuuri keeps having, where something like love carries him across the stars.

Does love travel faster than light? Do souls?

“The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself.”

"Yuri, on Stars!!   This lovely short story will resonate with anyone that lives the heavens.  Dreamscapes thought to be a figment of Yuuri's imagination turn out to be a more real than tangible science, and Viktor is patient with all his insecurities.  With just the right amount of angst to give it depth, this vignette will take you into the endless cosmos!" - @darkrivertempest

Artist Spotlight:

we have loved the stars too fondly by @shadhahvar

Comic:

Good boy by @floccinaucinihilipilificationa  (Click title to reblog)

Support: 

This week’s Ko-Fi shout-out goes to Discoursemoth | @lowercasewrites  (Click to buy coffee)

im sei! im a non-passing trans boy with unsupportive parents, and im using this account primarily to pay for things that could help me pass better, such as a packer and binder. you obviously dont have to donate but i would really appreciate it!                                

Patreon: YukiPri | @yukipri  (Click name to become a patreon)

Hey there!! Thanks so much for visiting my Patreon. I'm Kazu, also YukiPri on Tumblr. I'm currently a freelance translator and illustrator who is HOPING to support myself primarily through art. My passion is telling my own unique stories through visual media, and I love world-building, costume design, and overall extensively over-thinking all of my stories. This patreon is a step towards hopefully better sustaining myself off of art so I can continue to grow as a professional artist and produce content that you can enjoy! I am unbelievably grateful to every patron who helps me continue to do what I love doing. My wish is for the majority of my work to remain public, but I also desperately need to support myself, and also have a variety of content that I'm not comfortable posting publicly for various reasons. As thanks for your support, my patrons will get access to exclusive content, including WIPs/sketches, previews, art progress/tutorials, higher resolution art, early access, and nsfw content!

Fun and Games:

10 Questions Every Fic Writer Secretly Wants to be Asked by @wyseink  (Click Title to reblog)

There are a lot of fic questions that float around online, but rarely do they ever ask specific questions about the fics themselves. Ask any writer one or more of these ten questions to learn more about the fic and show support.

1. Of the fics you’ve written, which is your favorite and why?

2. Which scene was your favorite to write in [title of fic]?

3. Which part of [title] was hardest to write?

4. If you could change anything in [title], what would it be?

5. Did you make an outline for [title]? Did you stick to it?

6. Which scenes did you cut, and which were added in [title]?

7. Who was your favorite character to write in [title]?

8. Which came first, the title or the fic?

9. Which idea came to you first in [title]?

10. What are some facts readers may not know about [title]?

Story Prompt:

Monochrome by @diamondwinters An AU where people who are sad, down, depressed cannot hide it. Whenever you get sad, you start to loose your color. Your skin turns pale, your eyes loose their color, and turn gray or white, and your hair turns gray. Like an old black and white tv show, you loose all your color when you’re very sad. A little bit of sadness might dim your natural colors, but you wouldn’t loose them. It’s during a time when you feel heart broken, or very depressed that you go Monochrome. Such as a big break up, a death of a loved one, deep depression, etc. Monochrome is the medical term used by the doctors in this AU to describe turning gray in a world of color.

Some people who are unable to get happy, may use make-up, contacts, and hair color to hide the fact that they’re depressed, but eventually even those things will loose their color and will need to be replaced.

The best thing to do is to find your happiness. Be with friends, and family who can help you bring your color back. The brighter you are, the more vivid your colors are, the happier you are.

Art Prompt:

Imagine your OTP by @bumble-beany

Person A: Are you awake?                                         

Person B: I am now                                         

Person A: I was just wondering...                                         

Person A: What do you think it'd be like to be a pregnant male seahorse?

Person B: Really?! You woke me up for that?

W.I.P. Motivation:

Liquor Stash by @severeminx​

I want him.

When the full realization hit him, Yuri felt as though he couldn’t breathe. Detached and fleeting thoughts that had passed through his mind finally took shape in these three words at that exact moment. The I being himself, Yuri Plisetsky, age 17, a Russian figure skater with a list of impressive accomplishments to his name that seemed pretty pointless right now given the context. The want being desire, the need to bury himself, the thought to consume, but never actually act out except behind locked doors in empty beds or shower stalls. The him being the person standing across from Yuri sipping coffee from a take-away cup with creased brows, the low sunlight hitting his face just so to light up his otherwise dark eyes. Someone he considered to be his best friend, who came all the way from Almaty just to spend a week with him and who was blissfully unaware of the fucking turmoil Yuri was feeling in the pit of his stomach. Or at least, Yuri hoped he was unaware.

In which Yuri Plisetsky invites Otabek Altin over to stay with him in Saint Petersburg, freaks out over his feelings and delves into Lilia's liquor stash.

Please go read and support this artist. They are looking for kudos and comments to get them back into finishing this fantastic story!

Fandom Week:  (Click each line to go to blog)

Zarkon Week! September 3rd - 9th.

Yuri on Ice Music Week! September 4th - 11th

NSFW Yuri Plisetsky Week! September 11th - 17th.

Guang-Hong Week! Voting will be Sept 15th - 21st

SeungChuchu Week! October 16th - 23rd.

Help Wanted:

Needed: Tumblr theme editor. Please contact Diamond Winters for details.

Story recommendations!! If you find a story that you absolutely love, and you want to see it get some recognition, please submit a link to it with a 2-3 sentence review of the story. This way it could get in the spotlight in a future edition of the SMP. Requirements are that it’s completed, or a one-shot.

Artist Spotlight!! If you find a piece of artwork that needs more love, please submit a link to it so it may be considered for future spotlights in the future.

WIP Motivation: Please send your support to these writers or artist to encourage them to continue their story or artwork. No good story or piece of art should be left unfinished. - If you know of a good story that hasn’t been updated in a while, and would like to offer encouragement to the author, please let me know, so that I can link to their story here.

If there is ever any section of the Sunday Morning Post that you feel you can contribute too, please send an Ask or Submit to either the SMP, or @d2diamond so that it has a chance at making in a future post. Thank you!  

@yoi-shit-bang | @thehandsingsweapon | @darkrivertempest | @shadhahvar | @floccinaucinihilipilificationa | @lowercasewrites | @yukipri | @wyseink | @diamondwinters | @bumble-beany | @severeminx

[sturlsons]

hello can i ask you for any word of advice? i've been writing fics and... i do it bc i love it but sometimes, it's really hard and upsetting when i feel like everything i write arent worth anything, esp with all the ao3 stat ratios. that feeling... that no one would ever wanna read my stories, much less like it ;_;

hi anon! ( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ under the cut for rambles!

okay, so first things first: i feel u. i’m someone who for the 90% part writes for the joy of it and not popularity. i love writing, and more importantly, i love making people happy/emotional with my writing, so the moment i see my work doing that, i’m satisfied. if anything, i get overwhelmed/anxious if any work of mine blows up and often consider shutting down shop and opening up somewhere else just to start from zero.

HOWEVER, this is where the remaining 10% comes in. let’s say that 5% is actually attributed to my Altruistic Write-For-The-Readers ass not wanting to give up my current established workshop since i know that i have a relatively loyal readership and i can be sure that i’m reaching at least that amount of people with anything new that i write. hence i want to keep whatever popularity i’ve earned over the years, in order to reach those people consistently -- and i also want to gain more exposure, to reach more people and make more people happy. 

DON’T BE FOOLED THOUGH. the remaining 5% is my vanity/pride, i wanna have popular fics too! i love the 12 or so hours before the “oh no people are actually commenting” anxiety kicks in, when everyone is like TEESTA DROPPED A FIC or JAYWALKERS UPDATE or whatever, u know? THEN i freak out about the comments and shut everything down for like 3 days, then i drag myself to answer the comments, and then i stumble upon comments that make my entire month. it’s a cycle. 

there’s no easy answer to your (our) problem. i have always known what kind of story i want to tell, what i can and cannot write, what i will refuse to write regardless of how popular it could end up making my work, etc. since i’m stubborn and prideful about the specific content i create, i never really budge these things unless it’s a natural inclination. i’ve never written explicit smut so far (well, Once but it was in 2012 we don’t talk about it) because i wasn’t comfortable at all. recently i’ve started to grow into it and hence leave openings for rated scenes in my stories where i previously wouldn’t even have thought of it. fade-out/pseudo-poetic copping-out was my jam. did i know at the time that writing rated fics could possibly boost their popularity? i sure did. could i bring myself to do it? i sure couldn’t. not for lack of trying, believe me. we’re all human!

it’s not an easy path to reaching the point where you tell yourself that even if your work ends up touching just one person, that’s still amazing. i still face that frustration! and sometimes it happens within my own fic. like, i wrote summer; blue and put my entire soul into it right, it took me TWO YEARS of vague plotting, then nearly 3 months of actual outlining work, of which 25 days were me writing furiously like i was possessed. it brought up 66k of fic. then in december, i wrote butterfingers which, don’t get me wrong, i adore it! but it’s also about 10k and took me all of 48 hours to churn out, in more or less one session. guess which one blew up.

that’s frustrating! they’re both my work but if summer; blue was like, an oil painting that took like, i don’t know, then butterfingers is like ur child’s doodle that u hang up on the fridge. IT’S HEARTFELT AND BEAUTIFUL. BUT THERE’S NOT A LOT OF ARTISTRY THAT GOES INTO IT. 

one of the things i always tell myself is something that someone told me once when i complained about this very thing -- the fact that it doesn’t seem like my writing is worth anything, that the AO3 stats are discouraging, that i wonder if i should just stick to writing the coffeeshop AU’s that i’ve been writing for two years since clearly that makes more people happy and might be better for everyone in the long run. my friend said:

20:06 [ 🔒  ] i think that's also why the less accessible but well written fics get such passionate fans and comments. because if a person who's willing to read/looking for fics like that actually finds one they're going to love it. kind of like. if you have a circle you can fit a square or a triangle or a circle in it, but if you have a complicated star shape you can only fit another star in, but that one is going to fit perfectly. u feel. and summer; blue is a star fic

maybe you’re writing star fics, anon! i promise you, there will always be someone in the world who wants to read your story, someone with whom your words will resonate so perfectly that their life will be shaken down. you know the starfish story? the one about two people on the beach, one of them picking up the starfish that had washed ashore and throwing them back into the ocean, one by one. and the other one goes, “why are you doing that? it won’t make any difference, you can’t save them all.” and the first one picks another starfish up, throws it in, and goes, “made a difference to that one.” 

BE THE STARFISH MAN ANON. it’s much easier said than done, i know. it involves all sorts of mental gymnastics -- learning to have confidence in your work without external validation. learning to accept that popularity depends on multiple factors: trends, interests, fandoms, your content, sensibilities, preferences, timing, length, marketability, quality, history, everything. realising that three heartfelt comments are just as gratifying and joyful to read as twenty kudos/compliments. if five people read your work and love it, that’s five more than zero. that’s five entire people, who smiled through breakfast, scrolled through their phone in the dark, clicked to leave a kudos, thought up some name like “holyblondcheerleaderbatman249″ to enter in the name field in order to leave a comment. after a lot of reflection and mental convincing -- because it’s natural to want popularity, want lots of comments and messages, because those are fantastic -- i think that’s just as fantastic. i think simply the fact that you are writing and putting art into this world is fantastic. it’s fulfilling in itself, even though you might not feel that way right now. you will! i promise you will. 

and in the meantime, HIT ME UP WITH YOUR FICS. don’t be shy! plug yourself! you asked me for advice about this, so now link your work to me while you’re at it! (ง'̀-'́)ง