#it didn't really click until recently to me that i am actually a writer and i have written A Lot and that does mean i have experience lol

[umihoshi]

God, that was so much more difficult than I thought it would;;; but here's my anime 3x3!

shows that formed me to be the person I am, the type of writer, the type of artist, the type of thinker. I am as surprised as you that JoJo didn't make the cut ???? but these are the core series from my life and JoJo has been..... very very recent...

They're not in any particular order, just ended up random cuz I kept accidently forgetting to click an empty box, lol

Nobody's boy Remi - I used to cry when I missed an episode on tv TAT I was like 4 or 5 years old, hahah... no clue what anime was yet, but it stuck so strongly with me. the beautiful art, the emotional storytelling. my very first step towards being a fucking weeb =v=

Prince of Tennis - I've done so much art, so much writing, so much meta for Prince of Tennis x_x nothing to awaken the analytical mind than a sport anime. also, the first thing I really got to enjoy without my toxic ex-bestie

Ashita no Nadja - I originally only found like 3 episodes on a German website with no subtitles;; it's so horribly cringy and disney princess vibe, but it brings such warm feelings and memories in my heart. the classic 'orphan girl meets a mysterious masked man who is actually a prince', masked balls, traveling circus, history and culture. these are the type of corny things I want in my oc stories, yes, thank you.

Good witch of the West - a bit overlapping with Ashita no Nadja, but this one strikes a very special cord with me. It's probably the most obscure anime I have in my entire list and I've watched it so so many times.

Hunter x Hunter - it's from a period where I met a lot of my first non-school friends. having cosplayed Leorio and Kuroro more than I can count, and I am very normal about Illumi. I just feel very comfortable and nostalgic with it. and on like the day where I finished the original, the remake was announced, hohohoh~ Also, Hisoka helped along to reel in this clownfucker bestie of mine~~ ;))

D. Gray-Man - this show was an experience for me, man. I've spend like 5 years stuck in OC hell, but I'm still very fond of my little arrogant idiot noah oc, Chrome =3= the Noahs are the best villains in the entire wide world and I will not take criticism.

Glass Mask - relatively less old than the other 8, but it was there in a very important moment of my life. Glass Mask will forever mark the period where I started living on my own. I was so proud of myself how well I was doing without having my parents around all the time. watching a complete anime on full screen in the living room for the first time, what a blessing.

DNAngel - I still see certain resemblances in my artstyle to where I started drawing anime with DNAngel. the soft eyes and the shading is still one of my favorites. and Hiwatari Satoshi is my very first Megane boy~<3

Magic Knight Rayearth - not so much the anime, but the SNES game changed my life forever. My oldest brother had installed an emulator and some roms and MKR was among it. It was my first introduction with 'anime' where I actually learned what anime was, that it was Japanese and that there were MORE series like this wooooow! Until this very day, even after 25 years, I still listen to the name Umi.

series that JUST didn't make the cut: JoJo - Golden Wind Ouran Highschool Host Club Detective Conan Final Fantasy Unlimited Dangan Ronpa Interstella 5555 Pretear

make your own 3x3 here: https://gqgs.github.io/3x3-generator/

[donnerpartyofone]

i find you unimaginably cool and ive expressed to you before on anon the sentiment that i feel a deep kinship towards you for how you speak so candidly abt your own stupidity (pls dont take that as me calling you stupid) bcuz i feel exactly the same way abt my own stupidity and hate when ppl try to talk me out of it but ANYways i just saw your post abt writing a novelization of splice and i am literally reeling. i love that weird ass movie so much and i think writing a novelization of it is one of the most off the wall and amazing things ive ever heard of. i hope that you will share when it is published bcuz i cannot wait to read it. pls know that someone out there understands you (or at least understands you as best as someone can thru this parasocial lens of tumblr and how you choose to share yourself there) and that someone out there thinks you are basically what i hope i can be when i grow up. thank you for sharing. thank you for articulating yourself as well as you do (i too have the itch to tell you you are not stupid but bcuz i know how it is i wont do it but besides that, i think you are one of the clearest and most well articulated writers ive ever encountered online or elsewhere). sorry, this all feels insane to type. im off two tallboy ipas and i just think youre great.

Dearest Correspondent,

Oddly enough, just the other day somebody liked an older post of mine, and when I clicked on it to remind myself of what it was, the next post down was your last message. Anyway, thanks! The whole novelization business is really funny. Do people even know what they are anymore? I didn't know anybody still made them until I was hired to do SPLICE. I used to get them from the drugstore sometimes when I was a kid because my parents were very uptight about what I watched, but they wouldn't be caught dead restricting anyone's reading habits. During my initial conversation with the SPLICE publisher, we kind of bonded over our memories of the CHILD'S PLAY 2 novelization, of all things, that seemed to help me a lot in addition to my ideas about what SPLICE should be like on paper. I tend to think of novelizations as just another piece of merch, but when you write them, I don't know, like you really have to live out the movie in your mind over and over again to figure out what the characters are experiencing physically, environmentally, how their emotional experiences affect their bodies, etc. You have to fill in the blanks of what they think and sense just enough to make your transcription convincing, while staying within certain bounds to honor what the filmmaker meant to say. SPLICE started as kind of a lark for me, and then almost immediately it became extremely personal; when I was nearing the end of my first draft I thought, "OK, well, I guess everyone is about to find out how insane I am." I was afraid it just sounded "crazy" and wouldn't be what the publisher was expecting. But after I turned it in, the surprise encouragement I got from actual-Vincenzo Natali was pretty amazing, so maybe it's good! Maybe you really CAN'T tell how crazy I am, and it's just very entertaining. You'll have to wait and see.

Parasocial relationships are tricky, huh, especially here on tumblr dot com. The best thing you can do for yourself is just be very aware that they are happening within you, a test you seem to have passed. I think a lot of us come here seeking understanding of our weirdest parts, but the more you put out there to find the people who get what you're saying, you simultaneously get a lot of reminders that most people have no idea what you're talking about. There will be people who seem to hate you because they've misunderstood you, and there will also be people who love you but whose interactions prove that they have absolutely no idea what you're communicating. I recently culled a bunch of followers because they were just creating a lot of noise, even though they may have meant well, and I was losing the clarity I needed to keep doing this. I started to see every post as a worrisome opportunity to find out how poorly people can possibly read me, and suppressing the urge to re-explain myself every day was becoming exhausting. And ironically, around the same time, I was briefly mutuals with one of my favorite bloggers ever, and just as I thought we were becoming chummy, they unfollowed me. I didn't freak out, actually I just unfollowed them back because I was concerned about being annoying, but I did have all kinds of Thoughts about this event. I have spent a lot of time reviewing what my projections were about that person, and what my personal investment in their narrative says about me. I think there could be something good to get out of this audit, even though the whole episode is sort of embarrassing. But Tumblr definitely gives you a lot of opportunities to examine your own filters, clean them out once in a while, and get to know yourself a little better--even if other people seem to be getting to know you a little worse! You just have to stick to your own course and see what comes of it.

Uh. What the hell was I saying. I don't know! But I appreciate your messages, I feel "gotten" by them. Some of the follower upheaval recently did involve the way that I process my experience of my own stupidity out loud on here--like I know that sometimes folks are trying to be helpful by contradicting me whenever I sound "negative" (read: realistic), but being told (by strangers) how to feel about yourself and that you're wrong about your own experiences is actually really awful, confusing, frustrating, and undermining. So I don't mind being reminded that my signal is coming through for at least some people. I hope you're doing good this holiday season. I wonder what beers you had, they sound fun!

Good tidings to you,

C

PS Isn't "on here" a weird phrase? I always feel like a primate when I say it, but I have yet to find a different phrase that conveys the same thing as accurately.

[writernopal]

Happy STS! Hope you’re doing well this week 💕 Tell us about the exact moment you realized you wanted to be a writer! How long had you been writing, and what happened that made it click that this was something you enjoyed and wanted to pursue?

Happy STS, Ella! It's been another busy but good week!

I talked a little about my writing journey here, but I think this is a bit of a different question from that one, so I will add more detail!

I think for me, the moment I realized I wanted to be a writer actually happened very recently. Like a few months ago, kind of recent. Like after I'd written the original telling of AASOAF, all of its short stories, and finished working on AASOAF 1, kind of recent. And the reason why was pretty simple: up until a few months ago, I did not believe I was a writer.

I didn't believe that I deserved the title even though I'd been doing and had done in the past the thing that makes you a writer, which is very plainly, writing. I really just feel like a kid making macaroni art and putting it on the figurative fridge for everyone to see and that's it. So it's still a little weird for me when I call myself a writer or an author, despite having written novels. My novels (even just putting that down feels odd).

And what made it click in my head that I was, or rather am, a writer, wasn't putting my name on my books, it wasn't naming them, it wasn't even having written them or any of the other stories I'd written up to that point. It was my friends and sisters telling me I'd gotten them back into reading and that they were finding joy in it again.

To remind someone of the joy or love they had for something long forgotten is so, so special. It takes skill, it takes instinct, it takes talent, it takes someone loving what they do so much that the love floats off the page and pulls the reader into something that feels real even if it isn't. It's NOT an easy thing to do, I'm sure all of us here can attest to that. So, in the end, I came to terms with it because it takes a writer to do something like that.

[jurisffiction]

what do you use for journaling?

answering this from my phone which means it's probably gonna fuck up especially as i am now realising how much i want to say. as always

what i USE rn is an app called iA Writer, but technically i don't really use it/its features for journaling so much as just a .txt file organiser. the actual files are synced in a google drive folder, so i could also just open them in any notes app and start writing, but ia writer lets me see all my files at a glance (i make a new .txt file for each month, start each new entry with a big "NEW ENTRY MONDAY 9 JANUARY") and looks nice enough and recognises markdown syntax for basic formatting. i think it's a paid app but i really don't remember.

i used to use Day One (of deeply weird recent tumblr ad fame) when i was 17 or so, which helped me get started because it 1) had daily prompts and 2) had a header image input which made me feel better about just taking one photo each day and counting that as an "entry" without sitting down to write. that was also the big shift i needed to actually become a regular journaler (journalist? diarist.): i was always given cute notebooks as a kid, and even now you can open up tens of them that just have "IM SO TIIIIIIIRED" over the first page followed by reams of blanks. meanwhile i learnt to type 100wpm on msn messenger when i was 11 or whatever, but it somehow didn't click until glossy apps started dropping that i could just type journal entries and even though it wasn't the pen to paper aesthetic fantasy people usually think of, it does what i need it to (and better than paper). all journaling really is (for my purposes! there's a lot of reasons to journal, i guess) is a form of externalising thought processes and emotion to cut down on rumination, pause before impulsive actions, improve my memory and get to know myself better, so the closer i can make that activity frictionless the better — and i already spend all dang day typing anyway, so it's easy.

on that note, i also have a solo discord server i use to keep links and notes to myself, and i've got a channel in there for journaling, because ia writer on my phone WORKS but sometimes the sync overlaps and glitches, and it's just faster to dump quick thoughts into discord, especially if i'm literally just panicking at a party and want to write down something someone said to me so i can remember later.

there is an opposite mode of thinking, which is that journaling/externalising should be very distinct, and separate, and analogue, and physical, etc, to the extent that the frictive challenges of handwriting and paper and sitting at a desk rather than texting at a party etc is the point and helps with recall and the whole process of it all, but, god. i just can't do that at all. i go walking in nature each morning to ground myself in all that and i tumble out every thought and stressor and hypothetical i can wring dry from my mind into a .txt file for 5 minutes (that can turn into an hour) before i sleep each night so that i CAN sleep. but if i forget or im too busy i don't beat myself up about missing it. i stopped journaling for like 3 years then just started up again one day. i skip months sometimes. sometimes my entries are still just "TIRED". but it being a folder of text files helps me know i can start again whenever, and that if i ever want to go check something i can do it easily.

sorry this is insanely long; i've not journaled properly for weeks and it shows 😭

[sharkneto]

hi! youre one of my favorite authors and i was hoping I could get some writing advice from you. i felt inspired by tua s3 and plotted out some ideas for a fic i would like to write (ive never written one before) and im stuck on how to start writing. how did you begin writing multichapter fics? is there any advice or tips you could share?

First of all, thank you! Very kind of you to say and I'm so glad you enjoy my fics so much! And how great you're inspired! Writing came out of left-field for me, to become a hobby, but it's been a great ride and I have a lot of fun doing it.

Advice, though... The main thing I'm going to say is a cliche, which is Just Do It. The hardest step is starting, when you're just staring at that blank page. Any words at all to start breaking that up. Throw 'em up there. They don't have to be good, you can make them good later. Especially if you haven't written before, you don't really know what you're looking for, what your flow is, what your style is, and you do not and should not know right when you start. That's what editing is for. Right now, your only goal is to be trying to turn whatever is in your head into words you can read, and then come back and tweak to shape more into that thing in your head. Just throw words on a page and see what sticks. That's all that writing really is, anyway.

Along with that, though, I think it's important to be writing For You. I won't say it isn't a lot of fun to post works, to get kudos and comments and reader interactions (because it IS, it is so much fun), but you are going to burn out if that's the only thing you're writing for. For me, my first... Four? Five? fics were just fun little for-me projects to fill time. Now, 3/5 of those have been shared (Joining Together, Holding It Together, and the first Christmas fic), but those all started as things that were never going to see the light of AO3 (the other two still aren't - they just aren't projects I'm interested in editing up or finishing to share, and that's ok). You are your target audience, though, so write what it is you want to read, what you enjoy, and then if you happen to share them, odds are there are people who would also enjoy them. If you aren't enjoying what you're writing then what's even the fucking point. And if you stop enjoying while in the middle of a long project, that's ok - step back, take a break and come back to it, poke at some other plot bunnies, and return when you're excited and ready for it again. And if you never come back to it, that's fine, too. No writing is ever wasted because you had fun doing it and you got practice and got better because of it.

Last, how did I get into multichapter fics... Ngl, my first for-me projects were all multichapter, mostly for convenience because they were slice-of-life moments and had POV changes (JT, HIT). But the first things I actually shared were one-shots. Crueler to Remember was my first actual multi-chapter fic, and that was more because it was a one-shot that ran away from me and I retroactively cut it into chapters. I mentioned it in another ask I answered earlier that I'm on mobile so I can't link (but check the #entertain shark on his train trip tag to find it) about how I cut up chapters, and for the most part I don't really think in terms of chapters when I'm planning out a longer fic. It's more of a Long One Shot until I get in and feel out where natural breaks feel, where the natural ebb and flow of the action and such is happening for when a good spot to cut is. I'm sure that's not true for all writers, and that people who actually outline probably do have chapter numbers and contents planned out, but I am not one of those people. Don't worry too much about if you're writing is too short or too long for how long you thought it was going to be - it will be exactly as long as it needs to be and the end word count does not matter.

Where this is all coming to, I think, is do what feels good. Read other people's things to see what you like/don't like, read writing tips and rules if you want for technical prowess, but at the end of the day, just do what sounds good to you, what feels good to you. You're the one who's going to be reading it a million times as you work on and edit it, so if it's not a thing you enjoy, not a thing that sounds good to you, why are you doing that to yourself. The first words you put on the page you do not have to be married to - as you keep writing, you can go back and edit them or throw them out to write different ones because you got a better idea four pages later on how to start that but anyway. It's all a big experiment and the only way to do it wrong is to not do it.

[ashilrak]

Do you have some top pjo authors? 👀👀👀👀👀

To be honest, I haven't been reading that much fic lately so I may not be the best person to ask, but I'll give it a go :)

People who I am clicking the link before asking any questions about the fic:

anxious_tofu (@anxioustofu) - she has some really great one-shots. So many of them are just fun. Mostly perpollo adjacent.

mrthology (@mrthology) - I've loved her fics from when I first started reading in the fandom. You can't go wrong with the sea fam, the outsider POV, and she's my favorite percabeth writer for sure. She's recently started writing for perpollo and perpollobeth and let me tell you, I could NOT be happier with this decision.

stardustupinlights (@stardustupinlights) - literally the person who got me to start writing fanfic for PJO. Queen of perpollo. as if you were a mythical thing is incredible and I was genuinely obsessed with it for a while. She has a wide variety of one-shots and multi-chapter fics, ranging from God!Percy to her take on a high school AU (which is the only high school AU I've read in my life).

Specific fics I can't Not mention:

I love the Imperator series by combattombat so much. One of the few fics I've searched out to reread. And believe it or not, I actually didn't read this until after outlining the emperor AU because someone mentioned it to me. Very different vibes. But. Good. It's Preyna, but honestly the ship is like the least important thing here.

Nothing Is Ever Set In Stone by fanamaniac is another series I ADORE.

[capri-ramblings]

Okay so, I'm sure it's been kinda obvious I've been down with writer's block due to the lack of actual content on my blog recently, but somehow while scrolling through Tumblr I came upon @tsuisute 's art of Lilia wearing a rather risque bat lingerie and somehow something in my self-doubting brain clicked and I came up with this short fic. It starts off pretty angsty and I'm not sure when part two is going to come out but basically it's Lilia coping with his young s/o going through a really low point in their lives but yeah, I'm sorry if this turned out kinda flat cause my writing gears are still pretty rustic but I couldn't get it out of my head until I started writing it down. So, hopefully it's good enough! 💖💖

Safe and Sound

Summary: A slight rise in detachment and tension has been visible in you lately and being the ever observant Fae he is,Lilia has a hunch it has to do with your work as a medical mage working in devastating war fractions. He tries to reach out to you, but you keep your distance. At the end of it all, will this cause a bigger gap in your relationship or will it bring the two of you closer?

Part One: To push away one's heart.

The door to the age old manor, closed heavily behind you. The after echo of your footsteps shuffling inside softly whispering into the ancestral walls.

It was odd to have come home to such a quiet place after staying a whole day at a warring border. You felt out of place,detached even. As if this house you grew up in felt horribly unfamiliar. Sometimes it scared you, and sometimes it made you sad. Either way, you tended to avoid anyone in the household from interacting with you after your working hours.

Well,you tried your best to avoid everyone at least. Lilia would always be an exception, and not because you didn't have the heart to ignore him but instead you couldn't ignore him. He'd flock right over to you the moment he'd know you were home and then anything you said to make him leave failed.

He'd always had a mind of his own after all. Things people said went through his head but it didn't necessarily mean he'd take them into consideration. It all came down to the fact that Lilia was always the one with wisdom and truth, he's lived long enough to write books on it, so maybe in a way him interrupting your Isolation was a good omen in disguise, but still, it had you gritting your teeth each time he came up to pull you in an embrace or pat your head.

Today seemed to be no different, as you made your way to the staircase and saw Lilia waiting at the top of it with his usual beaming grin.

You didn't want to meet his gaze then. Something inside of you churned and boiled at seeing someone be so comfortable and gleeful.

"Welcome back,little lantern!" Lilia greeted,his deep red eyes sharing the smile he wore on his lips.

You felt your brows furrowed, but answered him with a slight nod. "Where's Silver and Malleus?", you asked as your bristled pass him at the top stairs and headed for the hallways that lead to the rows of bedrooms. Lilia followed behind you.

"They've gone off, somewhere,well, Malleus went off somewhere then Silver went to go look for him"

"Sebek?", You glanced over your shoulder. Lilia lent a smile your way.

"Training, as always. He wanted to tag along with Silver, but he has a competition later this month, Silver told him to stay and practice"

You let out a small hum, your pace absent as you walked right pass your bedroom door and Lilia had to tell you you had missed it. And as he went to push open your door, your limbs felt forlorn and worn out. There was such a strong urge to simply just fall flat onto your bedroom floor and pass out, but Lilia kept his careful gaze on you and ushered you inside the room, with your bag already in his grip.

Years living with him, and you still couldn't fathom how he did certain things without being noticed.

"A whole day and you've already forgotten where you sleep. Tsk,tsk,tsk...my little lantern has lost their touch of home"

With your back to him as you took off your jacket, Lilia came and wrapped his arms around your waist,the sudden warmth of his body pressing up against you causing you to go stiff.

"Lilia–"

"You should stay home for the week". He murmured,soft and low it sounded almost as if he was pleading.

You placed your hands over his on your waist.

"I can't. They're already short handed over at the border, and even if I am just a medic, it'd be too chaotic to just leave them like that"

"You need your rest, lantern"

"Then leave me alone."

The words left you bitter and taut. A string of unsaid wounds lingering at the back of each enunciation you gritted your teeth on. Your hands clenched over his and the way your chest heaved gave the impression that you could hardly take in another breath.

Lilia released you, and you walked over to your desk and sat down. Your head hurt, and your heart didn't seem to know why it was aching.

"I just need to be alone is all. I don't need you to dote over me,Lilia,I just..."

What did you want? Peace maybe. After seeing all that bloodshed in a single land while its people dropped dead like flies, two years working as a medical mage felt like an eternity of attempting to save people who had half of their bodies blown off as they cried and begged and sputtered out blood.

You wished you'd gone blind, but then again the screaming would have haunted you all the same.

Warring fractions were just a few in the Fae Kingdom, mostly because the lands and people involved in it would've died out before help could even reach them, but still, those that remained became cursed and bloody. A sight you wished you could burn out from your very thoughts.

You never had talent like Silver or Sebek, let alone Malleus himself, but Lilia said you always had a knack for healing, always being the caretaker even amongst your peers. Thus, you dedicated yourself to the one thing you were good at and became an active medical mage. From in-house check ups to risking your neck at war borders, you did what you could and suffered from what you couldn't.

You wanted to save everyone on the field, dying or not,but too many times you saw that hope of yours crushed right before your eyes, and it took its toll on you. At night, you hear the warning sirens and in the morning when you wake up, you dreaded to see the smiling faces of your companions, because you've started to wonder if by horrible fate itself, they laid dying in front of you, could you actually help them?

Vehemently, you pushed back the cry burning in your throat and shut your eyes tight.

'Forget it' . You told yourself. 'You don't have to remember. Just forget.'

It hurt for Lilia to watch you then. Something other than paternal grief overwhelming him. He'd known you've been dragging your own spirit down for a while now, but you were so adamant on avoiding the topic, he hesitated on confronting you about it. After all, it was your pain, your own sorrows, who was he to demand you to show him the scars and wounds you hid away?

He wanted to help you, to do anything he could to soothe your ache. But he couldn't do a single thing if you wouldn't let him.

"I'll leave you be then" Lilia said,soft and endearing, almost as if he was cooing to a child. "Rest well,my little lantern"

[galaxythreads]

Suggestions on how to improve fanfic writing:

I was talking with @angelfishofthelord recently (not that recent, time is a concept that escapes our collective grasp) and I jokingly suggested that I make this post. I am in the middle of an insomnia night, so. Here be us.

Characters use the same nicknames and phrases inside their head as speaking. This doesn’t necessarily mean they’re sharing the humor they’re speaking. I.g.: For SPN, I see a lot of people write Dean as a little careless in his POVs, because that’s just how he portrays himself, but Dean, I think, while having a dark sense of humor, isn’t actually very funny in his head. Same goes for MCU and Tony Stark. Funny characters does not always equal happy head space. :)

Nicknames--this used to bother me to no end, because nicknames were never something in my family, and people shortening down the names felt wrong. But you nickname what you love. If someone has given a nickname (and not in mockery) to a character, chances are, they call them that in their head. Like in MCU Clint calling Natasha "Nat", or SPN Dean and Sam calling Cas "Cas" however, with that said, unless the nickname is self chosen, most people will use their full name when narrating. Castiel, Natasha, etc.

Headcanons! This is going to sound a little backwards, but headcanons have always helped me sort between characters. I know that some fic authors are very against headcanons, but to me, you HAVE to make these characters and their world your own, at least a little. You need to understand how their brain functions, and headcanons are a wonderful, wonderful way to do that. So long as you can conceivably fit them into canon, I think you’re good. One of the ones I have about SPN Cas is that he doesn’t actually give off body heat, so he’s constantly room temperature. It’s a detail for people that’s not Cas’s POV to notice. So getting some headcanons like that will help differentiate between POVs because it’s different things for characters to acknowledge.

Mimic writing that you admire. (And ask yourself WHY you like it) I really, really love the way that TFW/avengers team is portrayed in some stories, in others, I’m like “meh.” Write to please yourself, first and foremost, on how to read these characters thoughts. Those who agree with you will flock to be your audience, and they’re who matter.

Language/word choice is really important for POV change. Again, people talk like how they think.

POV change? Treat the character whose POV it is like they are THE most important person in existence. Their reactions get a front seat. Their five senses are your concern. What they notice about a character may not be true, but it's what they notice. They are human, not omniscient, ergo, they'll get things wrong. Even if the story is written with a completely different character in mind, this character is still the most important. POV's time to think, talk, panic, angst, express, etc. That chapter was about how they felt. That’s why sometimes, even if I really do want them to talk or something, a character might think “please don’t say xyz” because THEY don’t want that, and how I feel as an author isn’t relevant here. Remembering that they’re human, and need time to process/react to things is huge.

Practice, practice, practice. It does get easier with time, and effort. I promise. All of you would laugh at my first few weeks of diving into fandoms. That stuff is garbage.

Conscious stream of thought is generally the best way to engage readers, and the most enjoyable. This is how we immerse ourselves into the story. We become a part of it because we follow their thinking. It is always ideal to start where you are the most comfortable, whether that's 3rd omniscient, 2nd person, etc, but, in my opinion, you don't get that true "click" with the characters until you've conscious stream of thought them.

Research. Lots of research. Don't know how long battieres could last in 2002? Look it up. Don't know how to do stitches? Google it. Try to avoid making things up.

Look guys. Everyone understands that you are most likely NOT a doctor or have any semblance of a medical degree. This is fiction. Research what you can, and move forward carefully or vague it out with the rest. The worst that can happen is someone correcting information you got wrong.

Please, please, please stay within the range of human limitation. (Or whatever creature/being you are writing for) You can't lose more than five pints of blood. You CAN die from pain. Infection spreads quickly. I'm sorry. I just. Have read so many fics from newbie writers who push their characters past extremes that is almost impossible. You want to hurt them that bad, break a bone or something. Just. Please try to be realistic. (Don't misunderstand here, I love me some well-done whump.)

Again with the "you are not a professional thing." Those diagnosed with mental illnesses know that you may not be writing from true experience. This is okay. But please, please do not avoid using any words or phrases common with the illness as you try to "vaguely" write it. The more authentic you are, the less likely you will offend someone. Look. I would be so frustrated if someone tried to write about an ED and just... Avoided words like "starve" "binge" and "hungry" because they didn't want to trigger me. Like. Sweeties, I appreciate the thought, I do, but it's more frustrating that you can't even SAY it than actually putting it into your writing. So. Please just. If you're going to write about a mental illness, do so with the intent to WRITE it, not skirt around the bush.

With that, if you are not diagnosed with the mental illness your writing for (or suspect that you have some form of it) that's okay! Google symptoms to get a basic idea, and search for first hand accounts. People's experience is a lot different than the definition. For example, some of the most hilarious people I know are severally depressed, and Google will just tell you they are sad.

Write write and write. You are building a skill. You have to practice that skill frequently.

Do not be afraid to ask for feedback. Betas are wonderful. Asking for advice is wonderful. Being too shy and afraid of criticism for asking for help is perfectly okay. (Hello fellow traveler)

If your search history doesn't have you being watched by government organizations in the next few months, you aren't researching enough. ;)

Take your time. Quality over quantity. Do NOT conform to the update fairy that demands updates frequently. Look. I love my readers. I do. But you HAVE to take your time to finish things in order for them to be worth reading. If this is six hours or six years, that's that.

Do not give everything away. Stop answering questions. We keep reading because we have unanswered questions. Anticipation = good. Knowing everything at once: bad.

Do not put in funny for the sake of funny.

Insults should be insulting, not make people want to cringe and duck their heads.

Dialog should serve as people communicating... Like actual people.

Siblings (unless otherwise said so by canon) DO NOT address each other as "bro" and "sis"

Not a native English speaker? Cool. Natives would love to help you learn their language. :) English grammar sucks.

Analogies should make sense. They should flow smoothly into the writing. If they pop out, you've lost the attention of your writers.

please, please don't glorify rape, racism, homophobia, mental illness shaming/glorification, abuse, sexism, and other crappy things. Thanks. People came for a story, not to get their souls crushed.

[xx-obliviousfantasy-xx]

Roasting Myself

Quick note:

Okay so bc I'm writing this on my phone, I can't take a photo of the document history to show you the stupidness. I apologise for that, but just try to imagine the fricken like... Stupidness.

Edit: The original version is on Wattpad still so nvm I'll be adding both Wattpad and Google Doc screenshots, but I did not have as many dates on Wattpad so only for some sections will I use Wattpad.

Edit: My photos keep going to the bottom. Idfk what to do whatever I hate Tumblr with a burning passion.

~~~~

So, I gotta vent about my stupidity.

Okay so the time frame I set back in 7th grade for this book idea I have is completely stupid. What I wrote didn't make any actual sense because I contradicted it. Which makes sense, because I was stupid. But doesn't, because now that I'm older, I should've caught it.

The story is called 3044(Destined Stars). I definitely stole that last part from something. I thought it was the game Mystic Messenger but it's not. The more I think about it, the more it seem like it though.

The problem is that with how far away 3044 is, it doesn't even make sense for humans to be how they are then, or even be alive tbh. I'm pretty sure they'll be extinct by then. I don't even know big we'll last 200 more years tbh. Or even 50.

Another problem, is I still do that thing where I fucking forget there's a bunch of numbers in between and skip up. So basically, with how I write the dates, I made the years really far apart with the dates and shit. Like REAAALLLLY. Like from being 10-ish years apart to skipping ahead nearly 1,000. Because I am a dumbass and didn't think "Wow this doesn't make any effing sense. This makes some of your events very insignificant because of evolution, and your characters old as dinosaurs."

(But I'm just now remembering I did day Humans live longer, which, could be taken to interpretation but besides the point.)

To better understand:

I literally had the dates like 2070, 2080, 2090, to then, 3000, 3010, 3015, 3025.

Like... That jump was so fucking huge but I didn't realise.

But because I was attached to the makeshift title I gave it, because it came from my friend's favorite number (but because I have issues with flipping numbers I found out was wrong later in after naming the story. I have still kept it that number though even years after),

Instead of doing the easy thing, I wrote in the stupidest, most confusing, complicated thing ever.

And then, after reading through my dates again and actually doing the math, it was like "Wait a second, this doesn't make any sense because this event started before this character (Hyacinth) was born, but after this one (Aleya) was two years old" or something like that. Idk. Like... It's wonky because my characters are certain ages in the story, but, by the date I set things, they happen waaaay too before they were born which would mean they'd stop mattering so much.

But thankfully, I thought recently, why don't I just f-ing make the dates that date? What's the reason for all of the complicated stuff?

(Also, I think I was gonna change the date again which is why it still makes no sense.)

( But then something happened. Idk. I honestly might bring the ages down again bc it makes sense. Because... The time still doesn't make sense because I'd have to age Hyacinth up.)

Generally, I just placed some events out of sequence. Like, I said space cities finished construction before they even started building them. Idk, it was a fucking mess and one of the first things I wrote confused me a lot because I was like "Did I delete something?"

It also made Aleya reaaaally older than Hyacinth because I set a significant date in her birth 15 years before the date of the story so it either

Aleya is 24 and Hyacinth is 20. It was 18 and 21 before,

I just- Oh my God. So, I'm deleting that, and going to make it better. Also I accidentally made the Earth 3044 years old, when, that's absurd. I said the Earth aged faster in that Universe, but that's too fast. Like- I just- wtf?

But the year is also 3044.7b2? Is that for the universe? See it just doesn't make sense. Idk how it made sense in my head. The Earth is 3044 years old but the Earth is not the age of the universe right now so why would the Earth be the age of the universe unless the Universe reset itself entirely and made everything come back at the same time?

And then I said that after that war, the first alien race I talked about plus some other planets, created a treated together.

I think I remember that at first a lot of planets were sucked into a black hole but spit out and made again but faster? Idk. It's so confusing.

(That's when I wrote it on Wattpad and how it was before the rewrite below)

Then there is this dumb contradictory mistake I made again because I said a certain race of aliens with a very awful name was first to contact the Earth at a certain time and helped them and create a treaty,

It's just so messed up and it's because I:

1) Didn't check some of my SEVENTH GRADE WRITING EVEN THOUGH IM IN NINTH NOW,

However I then wrote a different one with a less awful name did before that and went to war with them. As seen above and below.

2) Didn't check my Math, and-

Also apparently the whole story is being told but a space child who created Earth by accident and has grown find if her creation. Also one of the things I changed that made it complicated was saying that 3044 was the number of times Earth restarted. But I forgot that part because I constantly skim over that part.

3) Am still writing it in a bad Tumblr/Wattpad fanfic manner instead of a genuinely good writer pov.

Like... It's genuinely so bad that idk how it didn't click in until now. Maybe it's because after watching a nearly 2hr video about how bad Yandere Simulator and Yandere Dev is, and then two reviews of Onision's books I've already seen, I began to be very afraid of being on the same level as them in terrible production of anything.

I'm going to to fix this and re-plot it and then re-writes it because this is horrible, even for a first draft.

My incompetence a m a z e s me.

My understanding of math scares me.

[arcadefloorvibes]

Wow this did post okay my phone must have glitched out really bad last night

Also thank you cubed for answering my song problem

Okay so where were we? Oh the hat

I still can't believe that actually happened

So yeah

I wore that hat for an hour

Okay

BUS DRIVE (home)

I handed him Illuminae about five minutes into the drive

"Which page was I on?" He says to himself

"69, three texts in."

Head: WHAT THE FUCK? HOW DID YOU REMEMBER THAT AND HOW DID YOU KNOW THAT?

He just thanked me and found the page while I'm silently stressing

Then silently planning on how was I going to give him both his Compliment Card and the book

Give him the book with the card as a book mark

Plan activate

About half an hour from the bus station, he makes a comment about how he's kind of going through the same thing Kady and Ezra are going through, but with less anger.

Kady and Ezra are a couple who have recently broken up

Suddenly a few things click into place

Taking a step forward for "have experienced heartbreak"

Writing heartbreak into an "I am" poem

Drawing and impossible heart, then drawing fractures in it

I have decided that this may not be a good time to confess crushes for him, and will not even attempt to try until after a year or two because right now it seems like he needs a friend, not a relationship

Eventually, he closes the book and hands it back to me

"I feel like I'm being anti-social, I'll find something else to do. Thank you for the book though."

And every single smooth word dies

JUST FREAKING SAY IT, VIOLA COME ON!

But I don't

He pulls out his unfinished Compliment Card and starts writing

I subtly avert my eyes as I have no business reading it

Head: Okay, here's what we're going to do. Slip the card inside the book so when he opens it up later when you give it to him it--

"I wrote this for you."

I WAS REALLY HOPING BUT I DID NOT THINK IT WOULD HAPPEN

"Thanks! Oh, hold up," *pulls his card out of my bag* "This is yours."

I

Have

Never

Gotten

That amazing a card

We do kind of the same thing at writers club but...

He wrote this, minus the personal and private stuff

"Viola

When I first met you, it was plain to see that you weren't the kind of person to hang around with large groups of people for fun.

It didn't take long for me to find a friend in you and from that I learnt that you are similar to me in many ways.

Knowing that has made me realise how brave you are for participating in this program. And even considering that, you've taken massive steps

If that isnt courage then I don't know what is

-Laurence =D"

It is on my wall and I have almost fully memorised it

friends friends friends friends friends

"Thank you."

"No, thank you, Viola."

"Also, did you know that those can function as bookmarks?

Confused look

Pulls out book

"You can borrow it, its fine, I've read it a hundred times"

"Thank you"

Five minutes of silence before he starts up the conversation

"It's going to be weird, going home I mean."

"Yeah, in a way I'll kind of miss the noise."

And talking to you and seeing your smile every morning

But I'm not saying that out loud

"Wait a second."

He pulls out his phone. "Contacts"

So yeah

I have his number

We message each other pretty much every day from 7:45 til 8:30 because that's when I'm supposed to be asleep

I probably could but I've mentioned it that much

I don't know

I have found out how it feels to be awkward around your crush by the way

This feels horrible, but we both use grammar properly in text so I don't feel weird

Much

So yeah

My dad has met him now(ish)

He knows I talk to him a lot that's all

My grandmother is doing her thing again where if I mention I have a friend that is of the opposite gender to me, its like the fucking bells are ringing already

Or if she actually believes the friends thing "Do you have a photo? I need to approve of him."

*sigh*

So yeah

Thats it

No more mass text posts

Just little updates

I'll miss camp, but I'm seeing Laurie in person on Wednesday so YAY!

Maze Girl out.

(NO MORE CAMP 😭😭😭😭)

Dear tumblr

For some of you (I hope not) this a dream come true, because this is the last ever leadership camp post about camp

For some of you this is a living nightmare

Because it’s the last post about being on a leadership camp for three days with my crush

That’s right

Leadership camp day 3 (End)

This story does have a happy ending, I swear!

@cubedtriangle I hope you enjoy the final massive detailed text post about my three day camp, skipping the survey filling out though because that was boring

Okay, here we go

Wake up early because I didn’t sleep well due to shock that we had decided to exchange details, begin packing my sleeping bag that never wants to get packed up, give up after fifteen minutes and meet Laurie in the hall

Walk to dining area and look at the chess set

“The second we have a moment, we should try to play again.” I say

“Absolutely.”

Also to everyone out there

This is where I can’t tell if we’re being playfully friendly or flirty

Serious I can’t tell

Breakfast. Literally just toast because I’m not fond of cereal (don’t judge me)

Tai chi leadership camp style

“Before we begin,” The leader with the massive spiderman onesie said “for some of you this is the best day ever, because it’s the last Tai chi leadership camp style ever, for some of you this is your worst nightmare, because this is the last Tai chi leadership camp style ever.”

It finally sunk in that I would never spend so much time with anyone in this group like this ever again

No more Tai chi leadership camp style

No more noisy dinners

No more sitting in a football match with Laurence drawing imposdible shapes and reading Illuminae

I yelled everything loud enough to make me feel good but not so loud I drown out everyone else

Also we lost Hour of Power Embarrassing Yourself To Earn Points For The Glory Of Being The Best Team

We scored 1460 points

The winner scored 5380 points

No, I don’t know how

Break time to pack but we already finished packing so chill time

Fucking sleeping bag took forever though

Graduation planning

I don’t have to do a speech but I’m in charge of slideshows

*grumbling* which would be done really soon if people actually gave me the fucking photos and legit song suggestions

To anyone out there, there was a song recommendation that I am suspicious about because of both the person and the text itself

The text is exactly “Deffo famous by mason Ramsey 🤣”

One this person is a massive joker and two I’ve listened to the song and I don’t find it funny so why is there the emoji on the end

Please someone explain I’m confused

Most song recommendations have come from Laurie and I trust his song choices

Livin’ on a Prayer (song that was playing on the bus)

Viva la vida (which I originally thought was a Ricky Martin song but I messed up the name and it’s not it’s Livin la vida loca for the Ricky Martin

And of course

Some

BODY ONCE TOLD ME

It would be Laurie if that didn’t come up at some point

That was the first song he ever sang comfortably in front of me even though he hates singing in pub—

HOLD THE FUCK UP

But the important part of the day which you should remember for later

Compliment cards

They are exactly what they sound like except that person has to have one or more of these four traits(?)

Spirit

Courage

Unity

Commitment to Learning

I gave one girl a commitment to learning because she wasn’t on the first camp and has had to work hard to keep up with us

And I wrote on for Laurence

I wrote him a Spirit because he does bring a lot of energy into everything he does and makes me and everyone else smile without being one of the noisy ones and I also wanted to give him one I had been planning this since the last camp

He wrote two one which he gave to another girl and ran out of time before he could finish the other

First things first, is the chess board free?

“YO GUYS THERE’S MUFFINS!”

Fuck the chess board then

We walk over to the dining halk and I am no longer hungry when I see the huge crowd of people

I don’t like having to push past people or go into huge rooms of people for food

This is bad because I will actually sacrifice food instead of going through a huge crowd

Laurie clearly does not care though

Coming out a few minutes later triumphantly carrying his muffin, he hands me a muffin

Choc chip by the way, which I did mention to him is my favourite

“Here, I got you one.” “Thank you!”

A million things are going through my head

“Did he get this specific muffin for me because he knows I like it? Or was it a coincidence? Is this a friendly thing or does he like me back AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA”

This does solidify my idea to lend him Illuminae book one

Now to any bookworm out there and to anyone who has a bookworm friend, hardcovers are the freaking greatest

My mom and I have been trying to make the village library from “beauty and the beast” moving ladders and all with hardcovers for years so I am very protective over them

I have Illuminae which is equal favourite to Maze Runner in HARDCOVER

I dont give those to just anyone

We sit down with our muffins and watch the chess game

That’s right

There were two other people who actually play chess on camp!

YAY

There were also the two girls who didn’t know and referred to pawns as “prawns”

I get it, you’ve never played buT WHEN IT’S READ STRAIGHT OFF THE INSTRUCTIONS

breathe

*inhale* say it correctly please

We both did the GIF above at those two

Also we saw them say it while looking at the instructions

Now back to the story

I have the special glasses that activate sunglasses if they sense sunlight

Which is annoying when you walk inside a dark room after being outside for a while because it’s not instantaneous

Laurie has noticed this and pointed it out a few times

During this particular viewing of chess, I had sat in a spot that had sunlight directly hitting my glasses making it kind of hard to see when your whole word has gotten six shades darker than it’s supposed to be

When he offered me his hat.

You know, the one that he pretty much never takes off unless we’re doing loads of running or jumping

That hat seems to have the exact same value as my books to him

And he’s offering it to me

I said yes because it would be rude not to

He probably would never had asked for it back unless I offered it back because I wore that hat for a solid hour

Again, friendly or flirty? I DIDN’T KNOW WHAT TO THINK

AAAAAH REBLOG TIME!