#ive had this scene in my head for a while

[honeyhotteoks]

do you have any advice on like getting better with writing?

hey! i definitely do!! i’ve talked about this before but i have a lot of new readers, so ill start off by saying i’ve been writing for my entire life, and im 30 so thats a lot of years. if you’re a new writer, trust me i used to be there and good god if you guys could see the stuff i published in old fandoms 💀 really, really bad haha

i only say that because i by no means consider myself a great writer, there are fic writers in this space alone that i’m always so floored by and look up to…. but people have been very kind about my writing style and it’s something that took time to develop it’s not something i just “had”. outside of fic, i was a literature and creative writing major, and got very used to writing and workshopping pieces.

now! onto some actual advice —

1. read a lot and read more, but read stuff you actually like and not stuff you feel pressured to read. i love high brow litfic as much as the next pretentious english major, but i started writing a ton after reading a bunch of kindle unlimited romance because it was fun and it got me inspired

2. watch well written television for dialogue and pacing. people do not talk in proper english, they don’t say things eloquently, and there’s a lot of filler and fluff. that’s good! that’s real, so i love well written tv to show me how it’s done

3. get comfortable writing in weird ways. for years i used to sit down and be like “ah okay so chapter one” and then i was stuck, stalled out, and just felt bad about the process. when i started writing both aurora and tnt, i started in the middle. i had an image of a scene in my mind (for tnt it was actually the claim attempt) and i just wrote it out and then bounced around later

4. outlines are your friend! sometimes i’ll get a random line of dialogue in my head or an image but that doesn’t mean i’m ready to write it. i throw it in one big outline so i don’t lose it.

5. if you’re wanting to write really good smut i have two suggestions but please only do this to your personal comfort level. this is what works for me but do not make yourself uncomfortable— for good smut, i watch porn for reference and for good dirty talk, i listen to nsfw audio. i like to really write the visuals for smut and make it immersive but lol i haven’t experienced everything ive written about and logistics of the body are hard!! i usually find a video or an audio and let that help guide the imagery im writing.

6. be comfortable with the editing process. i know the temptation to post something the minute you finish it is there, but sleep on it. come back and edit it, read the dialogue out loud if you have to. i swear you’ll make the piece better just by leaving it and coming back.

7. don’t be afraid to post. most people are kind, and the worst thing that will happen is you don’t get a lot of notes. that’s okay, it’s a process.

8. research! as i’m writing anything, even a silly little oneshot, im doing research on something. i am hyper aware that im not korean and have never spoken korean or lived in korea, so for my fic i try my hardest to ground elements of that in reality. i truly cannot tell you how many hours ive spent reading like korean case law on revenge porn just for like 3 lines of dialogue. and you don’t have to go that crazy, i’m arguably too intense, but i do think some of that helps the story and the dialogue feel real.

9. describe something real- every place in my writing is based on something real. every apartment, hotel, cafe, venue, etc., they’re all either something i’ve found online or drawn from my life and use that to my advantage. i use apartment listings and save photographs, i do google map walks to see what neighborhoods look like, anything to get the feel of a place or an experience. for the christmas chapters of aurora, i watched hours of gwangju walking tour videos on youtube while i was writing just to understand how to describe their walk in the snow. it really helps me to have a visual that i can put words to.

10. find your weak points and see what other writers do differently. if you want to improve, you should find a small place to start. is it dialogue? overall plot? smut? etc. - i’ll never forget being on a creative writing retreat, and a very important writing professor said to me “everything you write is very pretty but you haven’t said anything. you have to decide to say something.” that feedback hurt, but sent me down a much better writing path when i realized where i was falling short and not challenging myself.

okay i hope some of this was helpful and if it’s a mess im sorry im on mobile. i really just love writing so deeply and will always talk about it, so i hope this was helpful 💗

[hamburger-helper-official]

"Max, this is so fucked up…"

"Come now, Charlie, the faster we dig, the faster we get out of here. Take a shovel and a crowbar and get to work. You can take Wendy's grave, she should be less decomposed."

"Ewww, Maxy…! Why did I agree to do this with you…"

"Because 4 extra hands helping to rule the Constant is always welcome. Now shush and get digging. I don't want to be here holding up this shield all night."

[thetangibleghost]

dean, while driving: hey sam? all those times where dad got knocked out on hunts... did you ever almost wish he was dead? not really, obviously, but...

sam, looking up from his book wearing those liquid filled motion sickness glasses: I can't say I've ever had that experience, no.

[coulsart]

A really doodly rendition of a scene from @venomous-qwille GITM au, ch. 3! Legacy code :)

[marbleboa]

Little illustration I drew for the latest chapter of my fic catharsis! Sakurai, I think you've bitten off more than you can chew this time...

[cringefail-clown]

guilt

[goldrushzukka]

new aidays extra scene coming soon

[moonhuit]

it doesn’t always matter where we are but here I am and I say hello, sitting next to you this time, just pretend I’m sitting next to you this time. you would like it here. maybe you would like it here. I think that maybe you would like it here. so here we are again: me being here and you being off the map and me sending it out across the wires and being overheard. // the long and short of it by richard siken

[crystalkitty1220]

Man I wonder where the leader of the fear realm could've gone, it's alMOST LIKE NEVIN HAS AN

[savage-rhi]

Magenta 😟

[boygirlctommy]

ive decided that andoras almost always has crazy makeup and wigs on simply bcus its fun for him. and everin doesnt see him without any of it on until after the birthday party debacle and loses it slightly bcus she thought that was his real hair the whole time wdym youre BALD (hes not bald his hair is just short)

[tired-of-being-nice]

whumptober day 1: panic attack

hello hello! coming in hot with whumptober day one!

cw: panic attack. really nothing else to say here

Oh, god, she's in so much trouble. She's in so much trouble, fuck. Ray rocks back and forth, gnawing on his nails, pressed into a corner behind a vending machine where hopefully no one will find him, and thinks that he is maybe about to die. Her chest hurts and her head's spinning and she can't breathe and—

"Hey. You okay?"

Ohgodnopleasenononono. Ray curls into a tiny ball and wishes desperately he was invisible. 

"Hey. Look at me," the voice commands, and Ray, obedient as always, can't help but look over. 

It's Milo, which is even more embarassing—now they'll know, they'll know she's a hypocrite and a failure and no better than them, and—

"Breathe," Milo says. "In." They demonstrate. "Out." Ray makes a shaky, pathetic attempt to mimic them. "In. Out." They reach out and take Ray's hands. Ray is too startled to flinch away. Their hands are warm.

"I messed up," Ray gasps out. To his horror, tears are welling up in his eyes, but he's too panicked to try and stop it. Milo is already seeing his worst—and is looking at him with pity and what Ray dares to hope might be sympathy—so it's not like he can make a worse impression. "I– I was so focused on trying to get ahead on the work I have due later, I didn't think, and now there's work I have due tomorrow I haven't even started, and–"

"Breathe," Milo says, gently but firmly, squeezing Ray's hands, and Ray tries. "You'll be fine. You have time."

"But– but–" Yeah, there's no stopping it now, she's full-on crying. "I wanted to rest. I wanted to sleep."

"I know," Milo says, soft, sympathetic, so kind it hurts. "I know, I know."

"I– I can't–"

"I know. Shhh. Breathe. I know."

Ray's tears, miraculously, start to slow. His breathing has evened, somehow. He's still so, so fucking tired. He wants Milo to— no. no, he can't think that. It's bad enough he's let them hold his hands for long enough.

"You're doing a great job," Milo says, which is almost enough to make Ray start crying again. "You're doing so good."

"I'm sorry," Ray chokes out. "For– for being– like this, and–"

"No need to apologize," Milo says firmly. "I've been there."

"Thank you," Ray says, although that doesn't seem sufficient. "I- I owe you."

Milo's expression doesn't change. "I know."

[koushirouizumi]

{Shaman King} ~ Yoh Asakura & (Aspec!/Demiromantic Queer!) Manta Oyamada + "At the Beginning" {+{Minimal} Anna as Support) (near very End)}

By Me {Do Not Reproduce/Re-upload my AMVs/Video Edits Without my Permission Under Any Circumstances} Music (C) D o n n a L e w i s & R i c h a r d M a r x A N A S T A S I A (C) FOX/D O N B L U T H

[forever-unsure-self]

The Amazing Digital Circus captures perfectly the inside of my brain and I am flabbergasted by that. That pilot is exactly how I envision a new alter appearing in the innerworld must be like lol

[hershelchocolate]

I sure hope the mechs fans are fully prepared for all of the absolute bullshit I am about to pull with the Just Right Of An Evening followup because I just finished writing the base outline and HOO BOY

You guys BETTER vote for interesting stuff to happen to Lyf because the things I have lined up. 👀 they'd hate me so much if they knew I was doing this to them

[bunnyb34r]

I must have seen this ep like 5x by now but I just realized that when Annie says "I'm sorry, for everything" and Simon says "I'm not."

That they're saying what the other said at the mall 🥺 it's just reversed roles 😭😭😭😭