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allastoredeer · 4 months ago

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Hello!

I just wanted to stop by to say how much I love your fics, especially "Beyond the Eight Ball" and "Deepest Desires", they're really good. And one of the things I really like about your writing style is your world-building and how you explain how that world works in each AU. You pull the reader into the story without overdoing it, so they can really imagine what you're describing without feeling like a student in a boring lecture.

Do you have any writing advice? Or, if it's not too personal, what would you say is the most difficult thing for you when writing? In my case, when I want to write an important scene that I've already imagined, I find it especially difficult when there's a particular character involved, either because I don't know them well or because I don't like them, but they're important to the story, so I can't change them.

I hope you're having and continue to have a good day. And like I said, your fics are great. I'm really interested to see what Vox (and Lucifer) and Adam do with Alastor in their respective fics.

Thank you so much (;´༎ຶД༎ຶ`) I reaaalllly love world-building haha XD it's one of my favorite parts of writing new fics/au's.

Oh, I have tons of writing advice! (Been accumlating it for years now XD) You said you like how I explain the world without over-doing it in the story, so I'll start with that!

Here's you're warning now: This is gonna be a looooong post XD

Let's begin!

When it comes to world-building, it's hard to not dump everything you've brainstormed and written into the first chapter--whether it's because you love your world-building and and you're super proud of it, or because you want to make sure the reader understands the world you're introducing them to.

So the advice I'd give about introducing the world to the reader is this: don't be afraid to keep your audience guessing.

By that I mean, introduce the world to your audience slowly. You don't have to rush getting all the details and rules out immediately. In fact, sprinkling them in throughout the chapter will make your writing a lot more engaging and fun to read.

Don't worry about your audience not knowing how the world works, because that's what's going to keep them intrigued.

That doesn't mean to keep them in the dark and never explain anything, but give them pieces of it. Let them form questions about the world. Let them ponder and guess. That's what's going to keep them reading because they're going to want to stick around and find out.

Using "Deepest Desires" (<- fic link for anyone interested) as an example, in the first chapter I didn't have Alastor immediately or outright tell the audience anything about his secondary or any of the other secondaries in the room, because info-dumping all of that outright feels--like you said--being a student sitting through to a boring lecture. It's not engaging. It's a wall of information that's not only getting blasted at you at once, but it's not usually integrated in a natural way.

No character is thinking about all of the exact rules and details of their world while their getting dressed or going to breakfast. They're probably thinking about the things they have planned that day, or if they feel eating cereal or eggs.

In fact, there are times when purposefully leaving information out is better, especially when you're writing fanfic.

I didn't go deep into alphas/betas/omegas right away, because I already tagged my fic as "omegaverse" and anyone who's been in fandom for a while will know exactly what that means. Most omegaverse's follow the same general formula:

alpha's are dominant and aggressive.

omega's are submissive and desirable.

Beta's are...well, I guess they're kinda just the middle-men. The center of a spectrum with the alpha's and omegas on opposite ends of each other.

These are details my audience already assumes will be in the fic, so it's not something I need to highlight.

Here's the first paragraph of "Deepest Desires"

Alastor didn’t realize he was going into heat until he complimented Charlie’s battle plan. He blamed his lack of awareness on the scents slowly filling the old, dusty study Vaggie had refurbished as a war room. They hung in the air as thick and sticky as swamp fog, clinging to his skin like a balmy film. He distracted himself from physically shaking off their pheromones by inhaling the earthy aroma of his tea.

Even if I didn't have Alastor tagged as an omega, the audience can easily assume he is one given that he has heats.

I also bring up scents and pheromones without Alastor outright stating that scents and pheromones can be distracting because they're potent, are based on people's emotions, and he's highly sensitive to them because of his heat (the latter being something you find out later on in the fic).

You're not reading it out of a textbook. You're given this information in a natural way that doesn't feel like you're being spoon-fed. Alastor blames his unawareness on how thick the scents in the air are, to the point it feels like they're clinging to him, which he immediately tries to rectify off by breathing in the smell of his tea.

The signs of Alastor's incoming heat isn't brought up again until 9-10 paragraphs later. And then again after another 9 paragraphs. The details of this omegaverse AU are sprinkled throughout the story. It's woven into the fic through the characters thoughts, interactions, and emotions.

Alastor's not explaining the world, he's living in it.

We're not being told how it works, we're experiencing it through him.

The audience isn't told that Alastor's heat makes him act on the desires of other's, instead they see him interacting with character's in ways he normally wouldn't and then immediately trying to distance himself from them.

The audience isn't outright told that Alastor prioritizes his privacy to an obsessive degree because he can't allow anyone to pick up his scent, they're shown that he only pretends to use the hotel room he was given, that he actually lives in a secret pocket-dimension that's impossible for anyone to find but him, that the only scent in that pocket-dimension is his own, and a vague emphasizes that it needs to be that way.

All in all, it comes down to the tried and true: Show, don't tell.

Don't tell us about the world you've created, show us through the actions, interactions, behaviors, thoughts, and emotions of the characters. It makes the world fill lived in, and not like the author is just ticking off a bunch of works for a world-building/AU checklist.

Of course, there are times when telling works better, like in "Beyond the Eight Ball." (<- fic link)

Normally, I'd use a character interacting with their environment to describe the setting, and their emotions and interactions with other characters to build the world, but in the case of "BtEB" laying out how different Pentagram City had changed, all at once, worked better for the narrative because the audience was supposed to be just as surprised as Alastor was.

Here's an excerpt of that scene:

Pentagram City was gone. Or, the Pentagram City Alastor lived in was gone. The haggard buildings and barbed-wire fences that once made up the Downtown District were overtaken by an agglomeration of tall, irradiating skyscrapers. Some were high enough to disappear into a canopy of clouds so heavy and bloated they looked in danger of popping themselves on the closest spire. But where they’d usually be a mixture of yellow, brown, and maroon, they were a melting pot of blacks, purples, and pinks, stirred by the myriad of lights pulsing beneath them. The streets, while normally teeming with sinners, were now completely swollen with thick, milling crowds. Cars were stuck bumper to bumper on the road, horns bellowing while their drivers leaned out of their windows to yell at the people in front of them. Billboards and jumbotrons flashed in every direction, stuck to the sides of buildings, above stop-lights, and on giant, metal structures that lined the edge of the district in a wall of advertisements, newscasts, talks-shows, and logos. There was so much overlapping Alastor couldn’t even tell what they were saying.

In this case, you're getting a barrage of description, but that's because Alastor (the character we're following) is the one who'd been plopped into a Pentagram City that is so massively different that all he can do is stare.

Later, the story goes into more detail about how changed the world is as Alastor explores the new city. We're seeing it all through his eyes, and not being told by an outside force (the author).

It all comes down to the scene and how the character acts/reacts during it, and what it is you--the author--is trying to convey.

TLDR: The best way to introduce your world/world-building is by having your characters interact with it, and don't be scared to sprinkle it in. Allow your readers to form questions. Give them room to be curious, because that curiosity is what keeps them interested.

I'd say the most difficult thing for me while writing is descriptions.

Specifically, describing enviroments.

Ugh, it kills me every time. I have such a hard time describing the way a room looks without it feeling info-dumpy.

But I've found that having the character interact with the room is a great way to help describe it. Instead of saying that the room was dusty, I have the character drag their finger through a layer of dust coating the dresser. Instead of saying the room smelled, I say the character's nose curled when they passed a pile of dirty laundry, or that they fanned the air to get rid of the stench of uneaten, moldy food sitting on the desk. Instead of saying the room is cold, I describe the character shivering and rubbing their arms up and down before walking across the room to shut the window.

Having the characters interact with the room also makes it more engaging to read. And, of course, don't forget to use the 5 senses! Taste, touch, sight, smell, and sound.

And, yeah, I totally get having a hard time writing characters I'm not especially interested in, or know much about.

For that I'd say, make them interesting. Give them flair! They're part of the story for a reason, so their presence has to mean something.

One of the best ways I flesh out characters is by asking questions:

What is the role in the story? Antagonist? Protagonist? Love interest? Side-character?

How important are they to the story? Do they have a huge impact on the events of the story? Or are the a character that just pops in here and there?

What's their backstory? What do they think of themselves? Do they think they're hot shit? Are they insecure? Do they over-compensate? Are they shy? Arrogant? Brash? Timid? And how does all of that impact how they interact with other people?

And, most importantly, the 3Q's (especially in regards to their role in the story):

What does the character want?

Why does the character want this?

What's getting in the way of them getting it?

Using "Just Kiss Already" as an example.

What does Alastor want?

To get rid of the holy energy infecting his body.

2. Why does Alastor want this?

Because the holy energy puts him in constant pain and it's preventing him from using his demonic abilities, which leaves him in a very exposed, and very vulnerable position.

3. What's getting in the way of Alastor achieving this?

Lucifer is the only one who can heal him, but Alastor doesn't trust him, is insecure by just how powerful Lucifer is compared to him (especially due to his current injury) and it too stubborn to ask for help, and thus would rather figure out how to heal himself on his own. But, despite not trusting Lucifer, he's still the only person who can keep Alastor's enemies away, so he concocts a fake-dating plan with Lucifer to keep them off his back, despite having a lot of baggage around relationships, and underestimating how much that might bleed into his latest scheme.

On the flip side, Lucifer:

What does Lucifer want?

To reconnect with Charlie and heal their broken relationship.

2. Why does Lucifer want this?

Because he's lonely, he loves Charlie and wants to be close with her again.

3. What's getting in the way of Lucifer achieving this?

He overcompensates and can't stop seeing Charlie as his "little girl" rather than the full-grown adult that she is. He's awkward and overcompensates when he's with her, which makes Charlie uncomfortable, but gets very jealous and insecure when Alastor fills one of his "fatherly roles," especially when Alastor's advice/help is well received by Charlie. The Charlie he remembers is a framed picture of a little girl hanging in his work-room, and he doesn't know how to connect with this new, grown Charlie who doesn't need her problems solved, just wants his support for her dream to rehabilitate sinners that he doesn't even think highly of--all the while agreeing to a fake-dating scheme with Alastor, his biggest pain in the ass, out of a sense of obligation for Alastor getting hurt on behalf of Charlie's hotel-but also keep an eye on Alastor and make sure he doesn't do anything to hurt Charlie.

I also recommend rewatching the character's scenes to get a feel for their mannerisms and how they interact with the other characters. Sometimes the hardest part of writing a character and hashing out their personality is figuring out how they mesh with the rest of the characters.

Don't shy away from their flaws or insecurities either, even for your fav character (especially when it comes to your fav character). Let them be raw and real. Let them fail. Give them consequences to their actions. Let them get hurt.

Then pick them back up again and let them heal. Let them achieve their goal. And let them grow as a character.

I hope this helped!

Haha I have a lot of writing advice tumbling around in my head--whether it works or not is up to you LMAO. If you have any other questions, let me know! I enjoy talking about my writing process, and it reminds me of certain things I still need to work on too.

If there are a bunch of grammar or spelling mistakes in this, I'm sorry. I was going to read through it, but I wanna go draw now, so I'm gonna do that instead.

Thank you for the ask! I'm so happy you're enjoying my fics >.<

If anyone has their own writing advice they want to share, drop it below!

And, of course, I do have a handful of writing resources in my Masterpost <- right here! From using the 5 senses (like how to describe a smile in different ways), general writing help (writing action scenes and describing environments), and miscellaneous topics (like the burning points of different fabrics and why casinos are designed to make people spend more!) Anything new and helpful I find, I add to my Masterpost--especially when it comes to writing Hazbin fics!

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