#m’s writing advice

[m1ckeyb3rry]

HOW DO U GET THE MOTIVATION TO WRITE SM 🙏🙏🙏

i wish i had an answer for this but you are talking to the d1 fic abandoner LMAOAOAOA i think usually what happens is i’ll have an idea and a vague sense of what i want to happen in a plot and then i just kinda fill in the blanks as i go?? and i’m very verbose i suppose so even small silly ideas end up being close to 10k words apiece atp 😭 actually i think number one tip for writing a lot volume wise is when you get bored of a wip just start a new one or work on a diff one instead of quitting writing entirely JFKSSJ that’s why i always have so many random series in progress at a time i just work on them whenever i’m trying to procrastinate working on something ELSE…something i’ve learned is motivation is kinda fickle so if you beat yourself up for not being motivated you’ll never get anywhere 🤷‍♀️ i take random hiatuses and don’t update shit for months it just looks like i’m active because i’m always posting random bs or intermediary one shots HAHAAH it’s diff for everyone but write when you can/feel like it and ignore people who are demanding because at the end of the day it’s just a fun hobby you’re doing on the side!!

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Notes: The Snowflake Method

As a snowflake grows from its center core, it expands in all directions, breaking off into additional branches that give it greater volume and spatial scope.

The snowflake method of fiction writing applies this concept to the craft of storytelling.

The Snowflake Method

Created by author and writing instructor Randy Ingermanson.

A technique for crafting a novel from scratch by starting with a basic story summary and adding elements from there.

How to Use the Snowflake Method

To begin using the snowflake method, think of a story idea and describe it with a one-sentence summary.

Example: “Two teenagers discover a secret cave that contains treasures that a group of criminals has been hunting for.”

The snowflake method then requires you to build that sentence into a paragraph, using that paragraph to create various character descriptions.

From there, you use those descriptions to create a series of storylines that involve those characters. This process of outlining a novel spans outward until you have a fully outlined novel, just as a snowflake expands from a single drop of water.

The 5 Steps of the Snowflake Method

Choose a premise and write it up in a one-sentence summary.

This single sentence will be the foundation for your entire novel’s outline.

Expand that one-sentence summary into a full paragraph.

Use that sentence to write a one-paragraph summary to explain the main story of the novel. It should also identify core characters, and break their narrative into a structure with a beginning, a middle, and an end.

If you wish to conceive of your story with a three-act structure, think about the primary exposition, the inciting action and development, and the climax.

Note that a story can have more than three plot points.

No matter how many you choose, each of these plot points will be a spoke stemming off from the central hub that is your premise.

Create character summaries.

Rooting yourself in the narrative you’ve just written out in a single paragraph, begin to explore the major characters who will populate your story.

What are their core characteristics?

What is each character’s point of view?

What roles will they serve in relation to the main premise?

Build your character summaries into full profiles.

Now it’s time to add a few more extensions to your snowflake by creating full characterizations from those summaries.

Consider the characters you’ve just roughly sketched and ask:

What is each character’s name?

Which of these will be the main character?

What are their biographies and backstories?

How will each character’s goal, each character’s conflicts, and each character’s epiphanies help them overcome those conflicts?

What do they look like?

What are their affectations?

Expand to a multi-page synopsis.

By this point, the snowflake method has generated a core story, a multi-part plot structure, character names, & multiple character profiles (or character synopses).

You are now ready to expand these elements into a brief 4-page synopsis.

As you encapsulate the whole story in full pages, focus on a list of scenes, who is in them, and what events will occur in them.

Are there any major disasters?

Remember that every event is building toward the end: the story’s climax.

A great story with a weak ending will quickly be forgotten.

Once you have these elements drafted, your literary snowflake is complete, and you’re ready to dive into the first draft of your novel and start writing fiction!

Source ⚜ Writing Notes & References Writing References: Worldbuilding ⚜ Plot ⚜ Character

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Hello! I wanted to ask something.

You see, before knowing your page, I was thinking about making a TWST OC based on the same poem from Alice in Wonderland as Miss Raven. Then I stumbled upon your account, and I felt low-key bad in continuing with it, since I really like your take on a “twisted” version of the raven at the writing desk.

I know you don't own the concept or anything, but just in case, I wanted to ask if you would be uncomfortable by another OC being made with the same concept. My idea is nothing like Miss Raven though, I can assure that! No Crowley family relationship, and their personality would be different too. Again, I know you don't own the concept, but since I really like Miss Raven I just don't want to risk making you uncomfortable, so I figured it was better to ask.

I think you’re talking about the riddle (“Why is a raven like a writing desk?”) from Alice in Wonderland? The Raven poem is a separate piece by Edgar Allen Poe.

As you’ve mentioned in the ask, no one person owns the concept of a character. There are many OCs in the fandom that take inspiration from the same thing and still result in very different interpretations. For example, many people have their own OCs based on the Disney princesses. TWST has its own canonical twisted Disney princesses too (hi, Neige).

It’s perfectly fine to make an OC with the same initial inspiration. There may be some overlap in traits due to the nature of coming from the same starting point, but the end point usually ends up being varied due to the the unique life experiences and perspectives that each creator brings to the table. Honestly, I think there’s really no real issue (especially since, in this instance, there’s no intent to copy or desire to take elements from Miss Raven in particular). Maybe I’d be more skeptical if there was an oddly specific amount of similarities, but that’s not the case here so it’s all good ^^

[crossbackpoke-check]

it’s all the rest of what i want with you

connor dewar/brandon duhaime :: 8k

Summary:

“Brandon,” Connor says with a sigh. “There’s no baby in there.”

“Not yet,” Brandon says. Connor feels his stomach twist, almost like what he would imagine a baby kicking to feel like.

in these trying times of dewvorce, may i offer you 8k of pwp inspired by @stillfertile’s wonderful art which i had. several breakdowns about 🫶 anyway please enjoy!!!

[stevie-petey]

hi!!! i adore your come home fic, i can’t get enough of it! i was wondering, what does your writing process look like for you? do you ever write certain scenes you want to write ahead of time? struggle with writers block? i think it’s so interesting to know what everyone’s writing process looks like!

hi dear !! first, thank you for reading <3 and secondly, i think my writing process is pretty straightforward n nothin too crazy.

i do an outline of every episode/season, which is basically the skeleton of what i actually want to write. my outline is usually just lines i think of, general flow of the episode, and anything i want to touch on. heres an example !

the outline and actual scene i wrote later on have coinciding lines and phrases, but the outline is very very bare. its basically just details i want without being expanded upon !!

and heres what my doc looks like for outlines:

i have the dates so i dont mix up timelines and i outline the entire season before i start writing. every episode is outlined, every theme is plotted and i make sure it flows nicely.

i dont necessarily write future scenes, i write chronologically, BUT i did start come home to get to the come home scene at lovers lake !!! that scene, the phone call between bug and jon, and the camera scene in season 1 were all in my head and i wanted to make a story out of these characters and their interactions/how they came to be <333

however, i didnt write those scenes first. i never want to limit myself into what i think of while writing. while i stick to my outline pretty heavily, sometimes things just dont feel right or i add a conversation to make things more clear or i even just rewrite the entire scene. so to avoid mixing things up, i just write as i go with the help of a guided outline lmao.

for writers block, it depends. i get it, but i think its more being burnt out or feeling tired of come home. while i adore the series, sometimes i just wanna write happy steve and reader. so when that happens: i do. i write cute stevie fics, answer blurb requests, plan a new series. i take mini breaks and thankfully it works for me !!

hope this was a fun insight into my lil brain. i also have playlists for come home and pinterest boards to really immerse myself, but i also have just been writing for years and can crank out 10k words in a day for funzies (i dont recommend btw)

[ahb-writes]

"Beautiful, sir." --Marcie

[deathwishdaydream]

PETITION TO...

label the gender the reader is in your fic beforehand?!?!? why is it when i go on a fic that says "x reader", the characters refer to me as a woman and with she/her pronouns. Since when are women readers the default? PLEASE tag/write like "x male!reader" "x female!reader" and if its gender neutral you can do plain old "x reader" cause theres no label or just "gn!reader"

make more gender neutral reader fics if the gender doesnt matter in the fic. its not that hard to use they/them pronouns and use the word person or spouse or partner. unless the gender is a really important role, please make it gender neutral <3 <3 you can do ctrl+f or find in page and look to see if you accidentally used a diff pronoun. its a good revising/double checking method

Tips (sort of):

Here are sum tips you can use to write a gender neutral reader fic :)

use they/them pronouns for us if its in a pov other than ours

instead of using wife/husband: spouse

instead of using girl/boyfriend: partner

instead of using girl/boy: person

avoid using dresses/skirts as reader's clothing

try not to go to in detail with clothing to make sure it stays very gender neutral

family/gender-neutral restrooms exist and can exist in your fanfic world!

It's actually really easy and self explanatory that I don't even know what else to list.

Now of course this only applies to fics where gender identity DOESNT affect storyline or plot too much. For example I will be reading this fic and it would definitely pass off as a male reader as well or a nonbinary one therefore it could definitely be a gn!reader fic! no one would have known it was a female reader if you didnt put x female reader or used she and her. you have a chance to be inclusive--more readers and higher morality--please take it!

I know what some people are thinking: why can't you just ignore the pronouns and the gender mention?

It's kinda hard for me at least to ignore and replace. Its some kind of ick for me that makes me scroll away quickly. I see an unlabeled gender reader fic (a fic that just says [character] x reader) and then it says something like "woman" and uses she/her i just get a bad ick and scroll out very quickly. Its 2023 and i think its important to be inclusive these days, especially when you can. If you need help at all with making your oneshots gender neutral then you can always ask me or anyone you know that can :) hope this helped

[thedelicatearcher]

working on my drafts at one in the morning because it seems that’s when the inspiration comes to me

[sarahowritesostucky]

Imagine you've bought a book: it's a M/F/M genre romance. What POV style would you most prefer?

Be awesome and reblog so I can get a good sample size please!💗

[m1ckeyb3rry]

okay so basically my life has been changed and I need to know how tf you write so well Waht is your process and are you writing anything else currently……..

HEYYY KIRA omg your comments on the instrument/the compass fr had me giggling KFHDJS i’m glad you liked reading them!! i have a tag (#m’s writing advice) where i’ve answered a couple of asks about how i write but i’ll link the two most relevant ones here!! hehe i’m so flattered by this though i really am giggling and kicking my feet etc etc

this is like my mega post in terms of how i go about writing fics and sums up my process in more words than necessary tbh 😭 i wrote it with long fics in mind (pre-bllk almost every fic i wrote was at or above 100k words) but i think it’s applicable to one shots too!!

this is how i approached writing kaiser in the instrument keep in mind i wrote the first part of the instrument in like june and this post is from july 4th so a LOT of info we know about him now wasn’t even out then!! that said i think it holds up pretty well…this does predate the second part of the instrument which was written much later but i kinda did the same thing there as i did in the first part so it works 😭 not QUITE as applicable to my one fic where he’s a (literal) angel because as a specific au there were adjustments that needed to be made but at the end of the day kaiser is kaiser so yeah (also ignore the part at the end where i say he’s growing on me that was a lie i still don’t fw him)

err as for current writing…i’m finishing up with a silly crack piece that’s a spinoff of another one of my more lighthearted fics so i’m hoping to have that out soon 🤔 and then i have a carnivorous pegasi racing au one shot for sae that i’ve been working on for my 1k event as well as a few other requests that have been rotting in my inbox which i should probs get to (as well as the rest of the stuff for my 1k event 😭)…not sure what will be out next but i’m hoping SOMETHING 😫 i haven’t posted any writing since november with my nagi-found-by-aiku au and any xreader stuff since my kaiser angel au request for my 1k event which was back in mid october 😰

[nelehjr]

Fanfiction Is Real Writing

Fanfiction is real writing. As long as you’re not selling it, I don’t care what you do.             Hi, I’m Helen. Thrice published author. Purveyor of lost fruit. I don’t do much fan fiction, but I’ve had tons of people meet me, get excited, say “I write too!” and then naturally I ask “Oh, what do you write!?” Because I really do want to know! Then they get embarrassed and say “Oh well, it’s…

[ladyfogg]

I have a pretty, fancy new website! And by fancy, I mean professional-looking lol. 

[jadwiga-abremovic]

This fiction and my extremely dark novel excerpt are this person's only two AO3 bookmarks. They've been on AO3 since 2011.

[danbensen]

How to write nonhumans?

I got a question from a reader about writing nonhuman characters and cultures. Some of my answer was private, but here's the part that's fit for the public:

My first advice is write a little bit every day, like working out, and allow practice to drag you toward perfection. Also, read. Cast a wide net, read outside of science fiction, and read "with a pen in your hand." That is, take notes. Finally, go out and talk to people. As many and as different from you as possible. Write about your conversations and travels in a diary, and reflect on what you wrote. Just keep spinning that wheel, and enjoy what comes out.

You probably want more specific guidance than the above, and here it is: For the nonhumans of Fellow Tetrapod, I considered what pressures selected for intelligence and what sort of intelligence resulted. What behavioral tendencies were rewarded? How can people with those tendencies build civilizations complex enough to invent particle accelerators? What sort of individuals would those societies send on inter-species diplomatic missions? I let those questions spin around, influencing each other, a process that is much accelerated when I discussed ideas with other people (for example Tim Morris, the illustrator of Fellow Tetrapod). I paid special attention to the ideas that made me laugh.

My specific advice might be totally worthless - everyone is different. But I stand by the universality of my general advice. Write, read, and talk every day. Good luck!

[leanimlopez]

Slip of the Hand, Available NOW KU and in paperback!

When Alice is hired to gather information on a group of thieves called the Collectors, she immediately finds herself working with the crew against her boss. Along with the crew’s handsome, ex-marine, James, Alice enjoys her time as a double-agent. Until her boss comes looking for her, and she realizes she’s in way over her head.

⭐ Instalove

⭐ Mafia-type

⭐ Alpha Male

⭐ Femme Fatale

⭐ Spicy

⭐ HEA

Signed paperbacks available on my website www.leanilopez.com

[dreamescapeswriting]

Hellooo!! I've been reading your fics for a while and you inspired me to start writing! I wanna continue and maybe even post some stuff on Tumblr! (not really mentally stable enough to post on AO3 and or Wattpad atm) I've been thinking of starting a new Tumblr blog just based for fics! I'm unsure how to start it or how to really have it play through or what I should do.. like the formatting or the wording and stuff... I'm still fairly new to making fics so I haven't posted anything, I do have a few fics I've made but I just haven't posted it since I'm still really unsure.

I really do love your writing and your fics and I want to try it out! You make great fics and I just seriously love it UGH! Anwys sorry bout that..

Any advice or help?

(ps: can I be 🎹 or 📜 anon?)

Hiya darling, Oh my gosh you're so sweet! Honestly feel you about posting on AO3, Wattpad isn't the best place tbf as a lot of plagiarism happens there but I get your apprehension!! asdfghjkl; I'm not sure if I'm the best help but I'll gladly try and help (or even if I cant I'll post it for other writers to be able to give advice)

Thank you so so much!!!

Formatting wise I have some videos on how to make masterlists and linebreakers/page breakers if those are of any use to you?!

Writing/wording wise I would go with whatever is best for you? Sometimes I find that writing in third person is easier but other days it's easier for me to write in first POV and I can change it up when I've finished the piece. I use grammarly a lot as it catches my grammar mistakes but after I place it in a google doc just to change the font and reread it (as I have dyslexia so seeing it in another font helps me pick up on small or big mistakes I make)

My biggest advice to give. Don't pressure yourself about it, take your time and remember why you're doing it in the first place. For example. I love writing as it helps me escape my reality and I really enjoy being able to do what I love on a day to day basis. I remind myself I'm mostly doing it because it makes me happy.

Find a routine that it's great for you. I used to write ALLLLLLLLL the time. When I first started I was post 7 days a week and twice daily (how the fuck I did that I'll never even know) but it wasn't good, I burnt out within about 6 months of doing that and ended up changing it all up. I have a schedule now.

Posting on set days and having it written on your account somewhere can really help too. I do Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and then I have a time I post to as well to help people keep track of everything.

When writing, try and take regular breaks, don't stare at your screen for too long. I try and use the Pomodoro methods. Working for 20 having a 5 minute break, or 30 minutes and a 10 minute break. There are some cool videos out there to help. I've been using a lot of different streamers recently as it helps me focus more.

If I (or anyone else) can help let us know!