#need writing advice

[alnaperera]

I got a few friends to read my writing, and something that came up was the tonal inconsistency. They only read 3 chapters, but by their reactions, well, it doesn't quite fit what the story will become.

The problem is, I don't want to change this? Yes, there's characters dealing with complex trauma or politics in some chapters, and in some, they're complaining about boring work, resolving petty arguments, or rescuing random animals (or people. You could argue that MC was rescued the same way).

Should I be worried about this, or should I keep it its weird self? Or is there an answer in between these?

[sminny-wew]

Genuine question for any aromantic or asexual folks reading this (ESPECIALLY aro/ace writers)

Is there a way to write a horror story as an allegory for being aspec (like how I Saw The TV Glow is an allegory for being transgender) in a way that doesn't fully demonize attraction?

I'm really drawn to the concept of "zombie outbreak as a metaphor for limerence/lovesickness" and I want to write about how a girl who knows she's asexual and falls somewhere on the aro spectrum would navigate something like that. But as cool as that sounds, I can't help but feel like it lacks nuance. I know I don't need to cater to alloromantic or allosexual readers, but I'm still worried about my writing being misinterpreted as "attraction is bad".

Admittedly I don't have much experience with horror material. What I have read/seen tends to fall into supernatural and psychological territory (I've read Edgar Allan Poe, I love Gravity Falls and Over the Garden Wall, and currently I'm enjoying Welcome Home). The reason I want to write a horror story in the first place, despite my lack of familiarity with the genre, is because I think the fears and insecurities I feel as an asexual somewhere on the aro spectrum could be relatable to others; like even if the reader themself isn't aro or ace, maybe they could still relate to feeling pressured by society/culture over things like dating, marriage, virginity, etc.

Right now I suspect that the only way I can resolve this problem might be to write multiple stories on different aspects of being aro and/or ace, but I don't know if I have the bandwidth for that right now

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

[loyal-house-of-lupin]

I wrote a fluff one shot for flufftober and now I feel like it isn't fluff enough 😭

[katha-angel]

Okay, "Hypothetical" question:

IF you had to write a bit to transition from an interview with two characters and a manager to another pair of characters seeing behind the curtain of the Dinocross Park, how would you do it?

[ejsuperstar]

Anyone got any advice for writing a low empathy character that doesn't fall into offensive stereotypes? More info on the character below cut.

I'm wanting to make an oc of mine, Dust, have low empathy without making him an irredeemable asshole (both cos that'd be bad representation and also because I think that'd be a bad character for him). He's probably going to be untrusting of Past Chip at first, and a bit of a jerk, but that's because the present version of Chip litterally harvested him for meat. You'd be untrusting as well.

The reason he's low empathy is because he's a clone of the present Chip, made when Chip was starting out genetically engineering his clones to be more "efficient", and that was one of his "efficiencies". (This will later expand to visible physical differences, but as of Dust's cloning is just slight pushes in behaviour) It's easier to send clones off to make their own cookie empire if they have less qualms about it after all.

Of course all of this can be changed if needed, but a lot of it is based in canon (like the MC of cookie clicker DOES canonically edit his clones to be more efficient, this is just an extrapolation of that (also yes these are my cookie clicker ocs if you aren't aware))

As well, Dust is probably the Chip variant with the strongest individual identity. Past and Present Chip are literally the same person, Chxp is a loyal clone sent to work in another Idleverse, and Miner Chip is also Chip, just a different Idleverse's version (I also don't talk about Miner Chip very often, he's for the idle game More Ore :3). While Dust is probably the only Chip variant who isn't defined by being Chip. He is Chip yes, but he's also Dust, unlike Present Chip he's a good person, he resists against the capitalistic dictatorship the Present Chip has over the universe, he looks the most different from the other variants because he is his own person.

I have the broad strokes of a personality that I want to write for him down, but its the nuances l need help with.

[ellierenae]

write unpublishable things. it's good for you.

[fleshcatalyst]

Do you need to fully plan out a story before you start writing it. Like should i have an ending to work towards when i start something?

[demonanastasi]

Ship ponderings in my Sindemon comic revamp

For a wee bit, I have been wondering if I should make Satan and Leviathan a couple in the revamp of my comic. They're the only Sindemons who aren't aromantic, and I envision a convo (after Asmodeus's rejection of Leviathan's romantic feelings iirc) between them of Leviathan venting about the strength of their romantic love and the equal pain of its nonreciprocation, crying their eyeballs out, and Satan empathizing because he has felt the same before. A bonding thing between them that could lay foundations for these feelings to develop between them. My concept is that Satan is homosexual, but possibly panromantic -- Leviathan is genderfluid and therefore not always male. Maybe they could be more invested in each other as romantic partners than sexual partners; plus I've heard that romantic connections to individuals can cause the individual to be an exception to one's orientation. Romance ain't my forte so it will take much pondering and second opinions.

Sweet pictures of Satan (left) and Leviathan (right) below, note that Leviathan is dressed up in a captain costume for the story this dialoguebit is for.

[neon-crow]

How did yall dip your toes into writing?

I wanna try and get into doing writing, fanficts, poems and the like. But ive no idea how to start cuz its been ages sense I last did any sort of creative writing of any kind. Im open to any kind of suggestions or thoughts cuz I freeze when I try to even being to type ANYTHING up ;w;

Also what tools do yall use so I can kinda get an idea at what im looking at?

[letthemusicmoveyou28]

This is a question for fic writers (or honestly anyone who wants to indulge me lol).

I always feel like I HAVE to write my stories in order start to finish or it won’t work. But often I find myself getting hung up on one specific part even if I know where I want the rest of the story to go.

Does anyone have any tips to get my brain to stop doing that??

Thanks in advance!! 🙏🏻

[worldweaverofmediocrity]

Heroes Rewrite progress:I need help.

So I decicded to rewrite chapters 10-14 of this story: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29716569?view_full_work=true

because i did not have enough detailing, but i got stuck on making the chimera boss actually threatening, specifically a loop of the veterans attacking and the chimera dodging.

completed bit of the rewrite below:

An: what’s this, what’s this? Subchapters everywhere! pre(insert post rewrite day here) this and the 2 or 3 subchapters were one big chapter that ended the chimera fight when Kazuma blew its back out which went into Ainz unlocking his spells into Subaru dealing with the KIC. As you can see, I have expanded this. So that’s why the comments are all off from this point onwards.

All prompted by a comment chain on ch14 (the one I numbered). That and a partial reread of early canon, inclusion. I forgot to do several essential things (such as giving them portal weapons from the hourglass sand/giving chimera weapons out) and I've decided to enter rewrite hell for that. This subchapter is dedicated to making the chimera feel dangerous. As it’s due for being part of a world ending calamity.

===

Last time on Isekai Heroes:

Ainz walked up to the corpse and touched it, his left index finger sank up to his first knuckle/finger joint, the corpse felt insanely fluffy even to Ainz’s reduced sense of touch. Alas, the corpse shattered into blue glitter. 

“What?” Ainz asked as he leapt back.

Just in the nick of time as well, for the Chimera reappeared mid swipe and bite from all three heads on his former position. All wounds healed save for the Ram Head’s left horn. Which was reforming out of blue glitter.

“OH COME ON!” Kazuma yelled.

Tanya snapped back into action, pushing herself to cut off the other horn before its revival or heal could trigger. The chimera however blurred out of sight. and spewed another poison cloud.

Today’s Chapter:

Tanya compressed/twisted her spine as she twirled to a halt right before the poison cloud. Tanya held up her arms and a green spherical barrier formed around the poison cloud, which swiftly compressed itself into a small marble.

“Hm?” Tanya narrowed her eyes.

The insides of her calculator-based barrier were dissolving under the touch of the poison. Tanya’s eyes followed an unseen bouncing ball as she mentally scrambled to reinforce her calculations.

“[Shooting Star Bow]!” Kazuma called out.

Past a hill stood the Chimera, the Viper’s tail shook off scales which radiated blue glitter and transformed into several giant wasps. A yellow-white arrow reached its arch’s zenith and shattered into dozens of copies. The newly formed wasps disintegrated under Kazuma’s wrath but the Chimera’s Lion head spat out an explosive fireball to push its body out of the way. The viper molted and its shed skin transformed into several serpents.

“Triplet Maximize Boosted Magic: Reality Slash!” Ainz clawed at the air and towards the Chimera’s current position.

Alas the translucent blades of raw Space failed to materialize, thus Ainz growled as he twirled to slice his Sword at the Chimera. His blade coated with water that detached itself and soared through the air, bisecting zombies, locusts, and wasps before it was vaporized into steam by the Lion’s head.

“I still find it ridiculous that I have to do those chants to get the full power of spells.” Ainz thought as he sent another chantless-Aqua Slash towards the Chimera.

Tanya meanwhile had lined up the bubble of poison with the Chimera and minions position. Green circles appeared around her arm, mana converted to electricity, and the decaying orb passed through the pseudo-railgun. The orb hit the Lion’s head right in the snout and billowed outwards, covering the chimera and it’s minions in purple smoke. One of the prior-casted fire-type spells deto-harmlessly slipped through the smoke and impacted the Chimera inside.

Though the updraft from the fire did push the cloud above the combat area.

“Of course we can’t do a fuel-air bomb with the poison!” Kazuma shouted at Tanya. “If we could, then the Chimera would have used it against us!”

Tanya blushed as she sent a [Chaos Javelin] towards the Chimera, the initial gold spear of energy broke into dozens of smaller copies at the top of its projectile arc, shattering against the Chimera’s pelt.

[afrogirl3005]

Hey Y'all, I'm just letting you guys know that I'm taking requests now so if you have any thing y'all want me to write lmk because I have huge writers block.

[coyote-nebula]

To everyone who has lush fields ripe with story ideas but is struggling to go out and actually harvest them with your writer’s scythe: that’s alright. There’s a reason.

I see writers despairing or making self-deprecating jokes about how many wips they have, as if the ability to come up with the idea is equal to the ability to finish it out into an end product.

It isn’t.

A lot of our ideas come about, not because we were determined to be productive writers, but because daydreaming is an internal escape from life’s demands.

Writing is a demand, too.

Resting and relaxing are basic needs, unlike the high level, abstract satisfaction of being creatively productive. That’s why you might daydream (which is a mild and normal form of dissociation) ideas that you feel good about, and then struggle to research, write the words, fill plotholes, check grammar, revise— all the critical thinking and executive function things involved in creation. Your basic needs must be satisfied before your higher needs can be met effectively.

So, if you’re daydreaming about your stories extensively to mitigate stress, it’s expecting a lot of your stressed self to return from fantasy land, sit down in the cold hard real world and do the hard work to write masterpieces of literature. Those operations are at opposite ends of the spectrum.

Writing is hard. Making yourself feel guilty is only going to make it harder. You don’t have to atone for entertaining or distracting your mind by making that available to other people. Daydreaming is a valid end in itself.

Don’t feel bad about having ideas but not being able to write them. Scribble some notes if you can, if you want, but above all enjoy the escapism and take care of yourself first. The words will come after.

[littlefankingdom]

It's funny how in fanfics, people write Clark giving parenting advices to Bruce, when in the comics (see: World's Finest: Batman and Superman) and other media (see: Young Justice), Bruce is the one giving parenting advices to Clark, and he is always very serious about it.

After all, Bruce has been a father figure and mentor for longer and more kids than Clark. Of course he doesn't need to call Clark for help to learn how to take care of his kids, Clark is the one calling Bruce for help when he has an issue and Ma Kent is busy.

[whybirdinspace]

Alright I started writing a bit but one issue

How do I make adding a silent protagonist to a story interesting

Hey y'all did I cook with this idea I got while daydreaming or nah

[writingwithfolklore]

Backstory is Revealed When You Need It, Not Before

                Recently I shared my first 30 pages with my writing mentor, and now I'm sharing her advice with all of you (This is part 2! Find part 1 here). She told me my beginning read very slowly because I was giving backstory before it was relevant in the story, rather than intertwining it with the action.

                What I mean by that is, I was giving a lot of exposition on my world just through my character noting it to herself. I worried that if I didn’t lay down the basics right away, when I did mention it later it would come as a bad shock to readers.

While that might have a logic to it, it's very slow to read just exposition on the world. To get these details through naturally and when they're relevant, while still conveying them in the beginning, we needed to create a conflict for my main character to react to right away.

This way, I could spend the first couple pages revealing the essentials of my world and main character without halting the pacing to a stop.

                Okay, consider these two examples:

Character A avoided the alleyways as they travelled to the store. The city was overrun by gangs who liked to lurk in their dark corners, jumping out at unaware passerby’s for coin or favours.

                Vs.

The back of Character A’s neck prickled as they passed an alleyway that swallowed all light. They were steps away when they heard a raspy voice, “don’t you know you gotta pay the fee to pass through our turf?”

                How this character resolves this conflict will betray who they are as a person. Do they cower? Do they fight back? Do they reveal they have connections to another gang, or the police?

                This little conflict, as well as establishing a vital part of your world and character, should in some small way connect to the bigger conflict up ahead, aka the inciting incident.

                In this example, this specific gang would probably be where the main antagonist is from—or the consequences of how they deal with this follow them into the inciting incident in some way.

                Backstory only when it’s most relevant, not to anticipate when it will be important later.

                Good luck!