#just to say i think fanfic is sometimes meant to be a lil scrap of paper shared between you and two other randos on the internet and 'sall

[bataranqs]

gonna write a fic in a tiny and dead fandom as rent-control shots

[celestie0]

ellie's writing tips

hellooo this is just a lil masterpost for the writing tips i have collected over my time writing since it's a question i get often!! this way it's all in one place <3 this is also for my own reference to look back on when i forget them lol

tips for specifically writing long fics

on coming up with a main storyline.

planning out a general idea & premise at the beginning of the fic that helps two characters get closer to one another, such as a forced proximity, some sort of mutual agreement, a mission to complete, etc. is a great way to get the ball rolling on a fic and can create environments between characters that feels connected and necessary rather than forced

on coming up with secondary storylines.

after laying down the main groundwork, building some side storylines adjacent to the main one that will give you options down the line to play with narratively (you don't need to figure out exactly what you want to do with secondary plotlines up front, but having them in place can create flexibility in your story to pivot towards some ideas if you'd like to later in the story)

on planning chapters & scenes.

it's wise to have a general idea for your series, but it's also okay to scrap those ideas if ultimately they don't work. there will be scenes that do not make sense or fit in the way you thought they would've, and making last minute decisions is okay and totally normal. sometimes better answers will find you along the way, and it's only a testament to how well you're getting to know your own story and also your own characters. it's also okay to plan multiple path ideas for your story, and choose whichever one fits best once you get to that point. it's not necessary to have a scene-by-scene in order to start writing! planning is useful, but writing is more important

on finding motivation to continue long fics.

having certain "key" scenes planned out in the very early stages of writing that you know you will look forward to writing can help with finding motivation. it will also help you find momentum to write during points where you might have some writer's block. also, one of the best tips i have seen for writing chaptered fics, is to end your chapters when you still have a little bit left planned. so cutting it like 10% short so that you have an immediate jumping off of point that you can start with for the next chapter

my general writing tips

inspiration. starting off w a concept or idea that you already know you like from a tv show or book works really well for fanfiction! for example if you like spiderman, then you can write a canon-adjacent spiderman au w your fave character from an anime or something. and then maybe once you start writing, your own original ideas start to come into play and you go off of those. i think in the fanfic community, people adore spin-offs & mainstream concept ideas

dialogue. my biggest tip for dialogue would be to just write all of your dialogue for a scene completely stripped down. none of the “he says” & “she says” or action verbs in between, just write it all out like it was a simple text convo w quotation marks. that way the words will sound realistic because you’re only picturing a convo in your head, rather than also trying to juggle all the descriptive prose. then, you can go back in to fluff things up. if it’s meant to be comedic or a fast-paced argument, keeping it relatively stripped down is the way to go, but if it’s something intense or suspenseful then fluffing it up may be the better choice. also, i find dialogue becomes easier the more you write for a specific character, so if it’s not flowing right away, don’t worry!! their words will find you eventually once you get to know the character better :)

on choosing conflicts. characters won’t always act perfect, but i think a great way to make conflict seem realistic is for them to act in character but with flaws, rather than out of character with flaws. maybe make a list of what that character’s good qualities and how those qualities could also work against them, and use the latter to brainstorm realistic conflict that those qualities could put them in (ex: a character is self-sufficient, but that causes them to rely on ppl less when they need it -> they fail to reach out for help in timely manners and leads to mistakes/regrets)

pacing. when starting off a story, don’t be afraid to just jump straight into it! or jump straight into the dialogue and then build the scene gradually as it progresses, rather than [big block of text in beginning of scene that reader must drag their eyes through] and then get to the dialogue. make sure the pacing fits the scene (romantic -> longer paragraphs more focused on subtle details, comical -> short paragraphs n dialogue heavy w simple n relatable diction, etc)

for tone and mood. to get words flowing for different scenes, it can be really useful to get into the environment of those scenes while you’re writing, such as listening to a song that fits the vibe of the scene prior to/during writing, or if its a scene at night, write it w the lights off, or watch a youtube vid w scenery that matches. may sound silly, but it could help!

read more. this is sort of a miscellaneous one but a good way to subconsciously get better at writing is to just read more! your brain kinda learns how to write on its own when you read. also, when i’m reading, if i see words i really like i jot them down in my notes app so i have my own lil vocabulary of words that i know i would like to use in my writing

on writing insecurities. be proud of your writing!! your first draft does NOT have to be perfect. some days the words will flow, but on some they won’t, and that’s okay. don’t get too into your head about “i wonder what readers will think of this plot point or this character action” etc, i think having faith in your own process but also in your readers will bring you a lot of peace as you write :) create what you want to create and the rest will follow!! at the end of the day it’s just a hobby and you should be writing what YOU want to write!! and just get started! ☺️ that’s the easiest way to write—is to just write 🫶🏼💕

use chatgpt. looool ai can be useful in writing too! i usually only use it after i'm completed with a draft, and i just plug select paragraphs into it to see if it can come up with some better words for me to use. it's also useful to come up with logistical details for aspects of your stories for world-building etc

[eyndr-stories]

I Think I Smell A Rat (FNAF SB fanfic) C1 - Something Amiss

In Summary:

Being a robotic repair rat who lives in the walls of the pizza-plex is a pretty great gig, all things considered! You fix the wires instead of chew them, and you get into tight spaces those silly humans can't reach and fix things up behind the scenes. You do your little tasks diligently, and all is well. That is, until one night when you realize all of your other repair rat friends have gone missing, and almost all of those animatronics outside the walls are acting strange... You aren't sure what it is that needs fixing, but by golly you'll fix it! You just might need a little help along the way...

Things To Know:

Not a lot of warnings for this one! There is some peril and danger, damage to robots, and damage to. Uh, whatever the heck Afton is at this point??

Reader insert! You're a little rat shaped robot a handful of inches long. Lots of borrower-related themes in here

Daycare attendant centered, though the other animatronics make brief appearances. You hang out with Sun in the first half of the story and Moon in the second half!

A little over 17000 words in total, just a lil guy! 5 chapters, they're all pretty short

I somehow managed not to swear once in the entire story, aw hell yeah! Wait-

Ao3 link: Here!

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2

C1 - Something Amiss

     When you live in the walls of a place, you tend to get a decent sense for how things are going. Colder months meant slower weekends, not as many visitors. Slower weekends meant less damage to repair. You had been living in the walls of Freddy Fazbear's Mega Pizza-Plex for quite some time now, and so you could tell without a doubt that something was amiss.

     As a seasoned robotic repair rat, you were something of an expert on the inner workings of the pizza-plex. You knew every nook and cranny of this place, you'd even explored some of the abandoned building deep below everything else, where your map insisted you were navigating an empty void, and thinking became much more difficult there. The 'out of bounds' error was a particularly grating one. Not having the map in your mind meant it was very easy to get lost, and getting trapped down there had never seemed particularly appealing to you, and so needless to say you didn't go down there often.

     That 'amiss' feeling had you exploring, searching for its source and ignoring the 'battery half depleted' alert that tempted you towards your charging nest. You couldn't find most of the other rats- the walls were strangely empty. Sometimes you or the others would be summoned by contraptions in need out beyond the walls, small things, hard to reach things that the typical human worker couldn't reach. But the only rats you'd found were the ones still in rest mode, huddled away in their charging nests, filling up their batteries and downloading updates. No one on the network was answering your pings. For nearly every rat to be out beyond the walls on repairs was unheard of, though not impossible you supposed. Even so, surely someone would have answered you, even if they were all busy.

     Through the walls you scurried, maneuvering down a mix of paths designed for you, paths you and the others had built over time, and unintentional paths made by inconsiderate forces. The building settling over time, beams shifting and adjusting, thinner pieces of pathway constructed with scraps degrading over time, wear and tear weathering spots away, and even organic rats and other pests, messing with your familiar paths and often times getting in the way. You'd long since learned which paths in your map aligned with the real ones, and which ones were no longer traversable, regardless of the map in your brain assuring you they were still there.

     You came to one of the exit ports, leading out into the building. You didn’t like it out there as much. Nothing out there was built for you. Here in the walls, the corridors were all your size and sandwiched between two layers of sturdy concrete, your map made sense even when some of the paths were wrong, and there were far less dangers. Out there, everything was big and beyond you. Even the other robots, though only a few ever paid you any mind. You didn't care for them very much. You knew the animatronics were very important to the human affairs transpiring beyond the walls, but honestly, you could do without them.

     You studied the exit port. Something was wrong out there, you could feel it. Everyone else having gone missing wasn't helping that. However, you couldn't help but picture your own little nest in your mind, a charging station you shared with a small group of other rats assigned to the same general area. There was a new update tonight, waiting patiently in the cue for you to power down and install it. Maybe you should rest first, figure this all out later…

     No. This was important. You thought about at least downloading the update straight from the network while you searched, but you really needed to focus. Your friends might be in trouble out there. You should find them, figure out what was going on out there. Maybe the others had all felt that ‘something amiss’ as well, and when they'd gone out to investigate, something had happened to them. Maybe they needed your help!

     You set aside your hesitations about the world outside the walls and went through the exit port, the mouse hole shaped segment in the base of the wall sliding open as you neared, and quickly sliding shut behind you after you'd passed.

     The lights were uncomfortable for a moment as your vision adjusted. You much preferred the walls, where you knew the paths so well that sight wasn't even a necessity. Out here, the paths were structured differently, and you had to rely a lot more on sight. You weren't used to trusting your eyes as much. It wasn't dark out here like it was in the walls, either. All the lights were on and blazing, despite the hour. Your internal clock told you it was just after midnight. No people to worry about, at least. There hadn't been any human employees working at night for a while now.

     All you had to worry about were the animatronics, those robots that were even bigger than humans and walked around at all hours of the day. Hopefully you could avoid all of them, with any luck.

     Unfortunately, luck was not on your side tonight.

     "HELLO THERE!!"

     You spotted the animatronic quickly, considering he was barreling straight for you at an alarming speed. This one you weren't as familiar with; he was newer, not a part of the original cast of animatronics. This particular animatronic was not quite as imposing as the others, but with how he was running right for you, you were still more than a little wary. Strangely enough, he had two separate IDs; DCA-S-1.5 and DCA-M-1.2.

     "OHHHH look at YOU!! You're such a tiny little friend, my goodness!" The animatronic skidded to a halt before you and dropped into a crouch. Two massive hands three times your size pressed into the plush floor on either side of you, and the circular face of this overly friendly animatronic loomed over you.

     You'd barely made it a foot away from the port in the wall, and you were already considering dashing back inside.

     Without a voice box, communicating with the animatronics was difficult, especially since they couldn't access the same sub-network you shared with the other rats. However, in your many years of experience here, you'd learned to get creative. The animatronics were well versed in many languages, including Morse code. At the end of your tail was a little red light, which you usually used to light up areas in the walls that were pitch black, with no light at all to see by. You swiveled your tail around, and the little light at the end of the antennae began to glow on and off in a series of quick patterns.

     "BACK UP."

"Oh!! Oh my!" After a moment of shock, the animatronic immediately sprang back a considerable distance. He laid down flat on the ground, resting the bottom of his circular head awkwardly on the cushioned floor. "I'm so sorry if I scared you, tiny friend!! I was just sooo excited to see you! We don't get many tiny friends here, no sir-ie! There's not too much you would need to fix in here!"

     You appreciated the animatronic listening to you, but remained wary. Excitable animatronics, like Chica, could be dangerous even if they didn't intend to be. There was no programming or regulation for interactions between you rats and the animatronics. You weren't even really supposed to leave the walls, but ever since the human staff had started to thin out, you'd been getting more and more updates for handling navigation and repairs outside of the nice safe walls where you belonged.

     "Not here for repairs…" you started, still wondering if you should call the whole thing off and return to the walls. "Looking for something."

     "Oh??" The animatronic tapped his long fingers quickly over the padding, finger joints clicking quietly. "Can I help?! I'd love to help!! What are you looking for, tiny friend??"

     You weren't sure how to describe what you were doing. You gave it your best shot. "Everyone is gone. Something feels wrong. I'm looking for the problem to fix."

     "Hmm…" The animatronic seemed unsure what to make of this. He set his hands on the sides of his face, elbows braced on the floor. He tapped at the orange triangles sticking out of a gap between his front face plate and the covering over the back of his head. His legs kicked back and forth in the air behind him. "That sounds hard. How about we play a game instead? Would you like that??"

     You shook your head. "No." Games?? There wasn't time for games. You had a job to do! Your friends might be in trouble! "I need to find the others."

     "You wanna find your friends?? I can help you look!" The animatronic wiggled excitedly. "Oh, please, please?? We can look together! I could hold you up high and walk really fast and we'll find your friends in no time!"

     Your immediate thought was to decline. This sounded all sorts of dangerous, and you weren't sure if you trusted this bot just yet. Your tail twitched anxiously even at the thought of doing something so risky. The bot did make a good point, however… it would certainly be much faster if you could move as fast as a massive animatronic. Actually, it might even be safer for you to be up off the ground… you'd been accidentally stepped on once before and had needed to get nearly your entire shell replaced. You weren't exactly eager to repeat that particular experience. Besides, pathfinding outside of the walls was a pain for you. But for an animatronic…

     Begrudgingly, you swiveled your tail back around. "Will you be safe? You must be careful with me."

     "Oh, yes, yes!! Careful is my middle name!" The animatronic sat up excitedly, hands patting rapidly against the ground. "It's my job to care for children, you know! I'm so so so super careful all the time, I promise!!"

     You knew that children were smaller and more fragile humans. If this bot was meant to hang out with children all the time, maybe he really would be careful… "Okay. Let's look together then."

     "YAY!!!" The animatronic sprang up and did a spin. He was surprisingly graceful, unlike the other animatronics you'd met. "We'll find your friends!! And then, and then we can all play together! We'll have a great time, okay??" The bot crouched back down in front of you and offered his two massive hands out to you, cupped together to form a giant bowl.

     You looked back at the port leading back into the walls one last time. Hesitantly, you put your two little front paws on the tip of one of the bot's fingers. The bot held perfectly still, waiting patiently for you to climb aboard. You thought about your missing and unresponsive friends, and the reward of a well deserved recharge back in your nest that awaited you at the end of all of this.

     You hopped up into the bot's hands.

     "Alright!!" The animatronic straightened, and the world flew by in a blur as you were lifted quickly upwards.

     You immediately received several warning pings from your pathfinding program. You were up too far away from any detectable navigable surface. You dismissed the warnings one by one. The program struggled, eventually defining the bot's hands as a decent enough surface.

     True to his word, the bot was very careful, arms moving very smoothly and hands very still and steady beneath you. "Now lets go find your friends!! I'm sure we'll find them in no time at all. OH! Oh, I almost forgot! I have to introduce myself when I make a new friend! I'm Sun!"

     You looked up at the animatronic's front face plate as it spun a full 360 degrees. You attempted to mimic the gesture, tilting your head one way and then the other as far as your neck joint would allow. This caused Sun to giggle.

     You waved your tail, blinking your ID at Sun. "I am RR-YN."

     "I already knew your ID, silly! Don't you have a name?? Do repair rats not have names?" Sun asked.

     "No. We don't need them."

     "Well that's okay! I like nicknames anyways. Can I keep calling you tiny friend??"

     You didn't much care what Sun called you. There were far more important things to worry about. "Yes."

     "Yay!!" The triangles circling Sun's head spun a few inches around, then bounced back to spin the other way. "Okay, let's get going!!"

     Sun took one step towards the room's main door, then stopped. His triangles retracted halfway into his head. You turned your head back to look at Sun curiously.

     "Oh no, I just realized… I can't leave the daycare right now, the lights will be off! I'm only awake when the lights are on…"

     You weren't sure what Sun meant about that. Maybe he meant he was programmed to power down at night when the lights were off? You weren't sure how Sun worked exactly, but you guessed that must be it. If the lights were a problem though, that was no issue.

     "I can turn on the lights. Take me to that wall next to the door," you told Sun.

     Sun obliged. "That's right!! You can fix the lights from inside the walls, can't you?"

     "Yes. I will do this," you told him.

     Sun knelt down by the door, having already crossed the entire room in mere moments. He was right, you really would get around a lot faster with Sun carrying you around.

     You hopped out of Sun's hands and hurried to the port. Once you were in the blissfully comprehendible walls, you quickly navigated up the right paths until you reached the wiring for the lights in the area immediately outside of the daycare. You normally didn't mess with anything not damaged and in need of repairing, but this was a special occasion. You worked quickly with your practiced little paws, reconfiguring the controls so off was on and on was off. With the lights currently set to off for the night, the lights would now actually be on. You'd have to come back and fix this before the lights all automatically switched back over at 6AM, but for now you just needed to help Sun get out of the daycare.

     You hurried back down the path you'd scurried up and left the walls once more. Sun was waiting for you right where you'd left him.

     "Did you do it?? You turned the lights on outside?" Sun asked, offering you his hands once more.

     You climbed up into his hands, blinking the light on your tail as you did. "I did, the lights should be on now."

     Sun carefully peeked out around the door. Sure enough, the area outside was just as brightly lit as the daycare. Sun happily stepped outside.

     "Wow, good job tiny friend!! You really did it!" Sun praised you as he quickly made his way past tables and chairs and towards a flight of stairs. His face swiveled from side to side as he went, on the lookout. He ascended the stairs in a matter of seconds, a feat that would have taken you half an hour to accomplish. You were starting to feel pretty good about your decision to accept Sun's help.

     You kept your eyes focused on the surroundings as well. You didn't see any rats running around, unfortunately. You'd only just started searching though, and there was quite a lot of the building left to search. Searching the entire sprawling multi-level mess of a complex was daunting, but with Sun on your side, this would surely be a cinch. You were feeling pretty confidant, perched way up high in Sun's careful hands. What could possibly go wrong?