#im an idiot tho please take any advice i ever give with a grain of salt genuinely

[ghost-proofbaby]

I would love to know your process/how you plan stories. I'm gonna take a shot in the dark and say in 24 hours "this changes nothing" going to "this changes everything" was planned out? Would love to know, I've been trying to learn how to plan ahead in my own fics!!

oh gosh okay. i’ve let this one sit in the inbox for a while, because my honest answer is: chaos.

most of the time, when i have a fic idea, i begin with picturing very vivid scenes that happen about halfway through the stories. with shire, it began with the confessional scene between eddie and willow that ended up being all the way in chapter 40 something i believe. like, well over the halfway point. (also the just general want to have the background story on a fix it fic but i digress). and with twenty four, you’re absolutely right — the entire “this changes nothing” becoming “this changes everything” was one of the things i started off with. from there, i just sort of… brainstorm? drive myself insane? trying to flesh out what the actual story premise can be.

i could go on and on, but essentially, it’s a whole lot of me screaming to the void about what i want would happen, and also a whole lot of getting to know my characters. it’s always been a messy process for me, and even as i’ve changed casting in this last year and become more of a “planner” (simply because certain wips called for it), i’ve found what works best for me is to just… go for it. sometimes, i find planning actually causes me a lot more struggle than it’s worth. breaking things down chapter by chapter just isn’t what works best for my creative process. i much prefer taking the extensive time getting to know my characters and their backgrounds/motives, and maybe just having one or two core scenes i know i need to get to (that’s another thing: i rarely write outside of chronological order! i know some people can, but i can’t </3)

i think, at the end of the day, the best advice i can give to anyone dipping their toes into writing, whether it be fanfic or more, is to remember you’ll probably spend your entire life and writing career figuring out what works best for you. not for your favorite writers, not for what teachers or professors will suggest, but for you.

some people plan ahead. some people just vibe it. if you need to go into every chapter not knowing what happens next? that’s fine. you know your characters and you know where they’re heading, don’t put too much pressure on the whole planning aspect unless that’s what you find is needed for your creative process. 🖤

this is such a long winded response so my deepest apologies 😭 i hope this all makes sense haha