#plotting will at least help me motivate to do things lmao

[serabellyms]

Gonna be working on transferring muse pages this evening, so if anyone's up to plot, feel free to fire me a message!

[andypantsx3]

do you have any tips or advice for being more confident about your writing / avoiding the comparison trap on here? /gen

Hello my love!! Oh my gosh, I have a zillion and one thoughts on this subject. Please excuse how disorganized this is but I am so happy to word vom at you lmao.

I think to start with, it depends on what you're comparing: whether it's the work itself or the metrics surrounding it! I will start with the work itself, and move on to talking about metrics if that's cool.

Your Story

In terms of the quality of your work, there are a couple key things to remember!! Firstly, think it's easy to feel like so many tropes and story lines have already been done, why would anyone want to read mine? But you can circumvent this quite intentionally in your writing by thinking about what new thing you can bring to that trope or story line. And make no mistake, there is always something new, whether it's a plot twist, a unique motivator, a different character's perspective, etc.

For example, I've read and loved several merman Shouto fics, and I also wanted to write a merman Shouto fic. In the development of something in the water, I sat down and thought about what things I'd read about merman Shouto before, and how could I add to that, outside of rehashing what I'd already read. I discovered I wanted to expand on mating rituals, spend some time on the cultural differences a human and merman would inevitably have, and linger in the feeling of a tropical island because at the time of the fic's conception it was like, the dead of my winter LOL. And I do think that something in the water has turned out pretty distinct for that effort; as far as I am aware no one has written merman Shouto being wheeled into a tropical bungalow in a wheelbarrow to watch The Little Mermaid lol.

So you can always bring something new to the table! And it will make your work feel standout to you, as well, as you will be very aware of all the things you did that were unique!! You will not feel like you're just rehashing something that has already been done, you will feel like you're adding!

Also in terms of quality, I think it's helpful to look at fic writing like a growth opportunity rather than a permanent, established skill set. The "quality" of your style is not fixed, it something you actively develop by reading, digging into other people's styles, seeing how they make their writing work, and trying out some of those elements for yourself. Maybe someone has a really rich descriptive style that you find beautiful, maybe someone writes dark psychological fics that thrill you; if you spend time looking at the words they are using and how they use them, you can replicate those techniques in your own writing. You can quite literally make your own writing look more like the writing you admire by reverse engineering authors' techniques.

Conversely, writing as a growth opportunity mean you do not have to be perfect. The process of writing is the process of figuring out what works, mechanically. It's not a reflection on you at all. You don't have to write anything "good," you can publish something you had fun with, see what people react positively to in it, and turn around and take those elements forward in your next story, while abandoning the things people maybe did not love or had questions on. And rinse and repeat over and over until you do end up with something you'd term "quality."

To me at least, that thought is a huge relief. Because I can just have fun, let people say what they say, and do something different in my next story if needs must. It's like any skill set, I think. It takes time to hone but no one would call, like, Van Gogh untalented because he once started with rough and heavy pencil sketches, right?

It's the knowledge that I'm building up my future self's skill set that gives me confidence to publish, even if I'm not quite where I want to be currently! And I really hope this helps you the way it does me; the knowledge that you can do anything, write like anyone, but that it's all part of an overarching process to learn to enjoy writing like you!

Which brings me to:

The Metrics

I am just going to say flat out that you should try to ignore metrics as best you can. In my experience, metrics are absolutely no indicator of a work's quality. Some of the work I am proudest of is what anyone would consider a "flop" by note count, whereas I think some of my most trite & banal works would be considered by some metric quite "popular." And I think that way about some of my favorite fics too, one of my absolute fave fics of all time only recently broke 100 kudos on ao3 after being up for years!!

I especially think this is true on tumblr, where a work's packaging and digestibility seem to be the key elements in gaining notes (ao3 does not allow the same level of customization). Fics with elaborate headers, cute & small fonts (I am guilty of loving these), and eye-catching graphics all naturally draw attention more easily in the sea of other fics, so it makes sense why more people would tend to look at those, and subsequently like or reblog them. I also think bullet-pointed headcanons or single/short paragraph works tend to skyrocket in notes here because they're quick and easy; and that makes sense too, right? If it's easier to read of course it's likelier to be read more!

But those things mean absolutely nothing about the quality of the work within. And you can take reassurance from the fact that you too can replicate those elements if note count is what you are truly after here! You can make a video header with any of the premades on Canva! You can try different font arrangements or cool graphics. You can even write a paragraph and tag it with a bunch of different characters for maximum exposure. There is no reason to get jealous, I think, if you can do it too!!

I also think you have to be conscious of different factors at play with authors. Some authors have been around since the inception of the fandom you're in, and naturally will have had more visibility for longer than you, but that also says nothing about the quality of their work. I've been around in the BNHA fandom for four years, and by a mixture of luck and timing ended up getting to publish a lot of my work during the pandemic when more people than ever were getting into BNHA. But does that make me better than some of the newer authors joining the fandom just now? HELL no lol, if anything maybe I could be getting complacent!

And this goes for the size of fandoms and the popularity of certain characters as well!! A Shouto fic is not going to do as well as a Bakugou fic because Bakugou has like, three times the stans. A Shinsou fic is not going to do as well as a Shouto fic because Shouto has like, five times the stans lol. And a Kaiju no. 8 fic is not going to do as well as a JJK fic because the fandom size (and therefore potential audience pool) has a significant discrepancy! Don't gauge your fic's success against someone else's in a different fandom or for a different character (or honestly even at a different point in the source material's storyline because sometimes a character has a moment where they are most popular but that drops off - think BNHA Hawks in 2020/2021 vs now lol).

There is a huge variety of external factors at play that determine your exposure and audience, but absolutely none of those can ever say anything about the quality of your work. So I hope you can try to distance yourself from the need to compare your metrics to anyone else's, because quite frankly they do not mean shit.

TLDR, think the best way to overcome the comparison trap is to write a story you love and feel is unique, something you are proud of. Because no one is ever going to tell a story quite how you would, and therefore no one can ever be compared. & I hope this was helpful and addressed whatever specific area of concern you have!! But let me know if not and I'm happy to discuss more!!

[sage-nebula]

I'm about to start episode 15 of the Horizons anime (I was really behind), and I'd just like to say once again that the PokéAni fans that refused to watch it just because it didn't have Ash and/or the TRio in it are really, really missing out.

Aside from having gorgeous animation, music, and a fresh premise, the cast of characters in Horizons is really solid. The adults of the Rising Volt Tacklers crew (Friede, Orla, Mollie, Murdock, and Landau) are all interesting and are around just enough so that the kids are safe, but that the stakes are still raised high enough so that it's believable when the kids are in danger. Because the stakes in Horizons are genuine stakes; we are shown from the get-go that the primary antagonists, the Explorers, are not just goofy guys that can be trifled with, and they haven't come up with something they want to steal on the spot after a chance encounter, either. They are genuine threats that, at least at the point I'm watching, really are too strong for Liko and Roy to handle on their own, and so they need Friede and the rest of the RVT to help them train and become stronger. This doesn't mean that Liko and Roy are helpless and can't do anything -- they do quite a lot on their own! -- but there are stakes in the ongoing plot in this anime (and there is an ongoing, narrative plot!), and the adult crew are around just enough to help out when things get dicey for the kids, who are newbie trainers.

Liko is a really refreshing protagonist; she has a lot to learn about the world still and so is curious and ready to see and experience new things, but she's also cautious and unsure of herself and her place at first, which leads to her getting lost in her own thoughts and tripped up by her own anxiety at times. But we get to see her grow; she comes out of her shell a little more episode by episode, and seeing that marked character growth is wonderful to watch. Plus, as the primary protagonist, she's central to the ongoing narrative plot; the pendant that she inherited from her grandmother is what the Explorers are after, and she takes an active role in wanting to solve its mystery, taking the step herself to not be just a damsel needing to be protected by the RVT, but instead being the heroine of her own story (something she lampshades in an early episode lmao). She has a concrete motivation for being on this journey and stake in the plot. Liko is great!

And for everyone I've seen who says, "I miss Ash," well . . . Roy's your boy! Don't get me wrong, Roy is very much his own character and person; but Roy has a lot of the same personality beats that Ash did in the later sagas (you know, when they'd truly decided to throw out all semblance of who Ash was when he was originally conceived as a character to instead be who they wanted him to be vis-a-vis what type of shounen protagonist is popular nowadays). He's extremely energetic, loves pokémon and gets along with them readily, and is enthusiastic about seeing new places. Except this wasn't just an Ash copy-paste, because we're given concrete reasons for this, too; Roy grew up on a remote island near-ish Kanto, and never left that island for his entire life. He was always told fantastical stories about faraway adventures, but never got to experience them for himself, instead attending remote schools and spending his days otherwise playing with wild pokémon in the forests on his island. In fact, Roy grew up on one story in particular: the story of an ancient adventure who journeyed with six pokémon known as the Six Heroes, including a shiny Rayquaza, to the ends of the world. And then Roy finds an ancient pokéball containing that very Rayquaza, releases it on accident, and that gives him the motivation to join the RVT so that he can chase the Rayquaza and finally set off on a journey of his own, to solve the mystery of the ancient pokéballs and shiny Rayquaza. So again, it's a unique motivation and stake in the plot! While still, also, being a character type you're likely to enjoy, if you enjoyed the Ash who acted like a rockruff in order to train his rockruff. (Because Roy? Jumped off a rock over and over to try to teach a wattrel how to fly.)

The Horizons anime has an ongoing narrative plot that the main characters are actively engaged in and have a reason to pursue. (Because I forgot to mention, but Liko's pendant responds to Roy's ancient pokéball.) They're brand new, unique characters whose personalities are informed by their background and who grow as the episodes progress, because even the episodes that are a bit more slice of life are still informing them as characters and are progressing their characters forward. The ongoing plot is never forgotten, nor is the threat; in an episode where the crew is shopping, a merchant off-handedly mentions Amethio and his sidekicks (they're the main three Explorers that the RVT have faced so far), and Friede picked up the reference and pounced on the potential lead on what their enemies are up to, and so on. You fully believe that the adult crew of the RVT has known each other forever, and they're so warm and kind to Liko and Roy when they join the crew. Not to mention Dot, Murdock's niece, who is also absolutely delightful and I can't wait to see more of her.

All in all, I cannot stress this enough, if there are any fans of the Ash anime that still haven't checked out Horizons because they feel it won't be the same . . . well, it's not the same. But it's really, really, REALLY good. And you're really missing out on something great if you continue to pass it up.

[adhd-languages]

how do you actually like. learn languages with adhd? like in terms of "how do you stay focused" and "how do you stay invested/motivated for extended periods of time" and "how do you actually like. sit down to do* a study session?"

i know that immersion's good and all, but i find it really hard to just. sit there and watch [language] content when there's so much other stuff in my native language that's so much better and understandable.

with talking to ppl, i always feel like i gotta know enough to have a conversation in order to have a conversation, y'know? so i never end up having any conversations lol

when i've tried learning languages before i've almost always lost interest in it after a few weeks, and that kinda sucks. esp because half the time my interest shifts to a different language lmao

so yeah. advice?

*"to sit down to do" is a curious construction in my ideolect that means like. "to try to start doing"? it doesn't nesesserily mean physically sitting down, but does come from when i sit down to do maths homework or whatever and then actually start it two hours later, y'know? having the distinction between that and "to start" is useful lol

Immersion is really tough -- it's hard to feel invested in plot and characters if you hardly understand what people are saying...so here's a secret. Rewatch a show you love in English, in your target language dub. I'm listening to a fandub of "Welcome to Night Vale". It's really fun for me. I know that people go on about how it's better to learn from Original Native Content, but anything that keeps your interest is always better than nothing. And besides, there's a lot you can notice about the way they chose to translate things - it's fascinating!

Here's my super embarrassing language advice - I just daydream in Spanish. And a lot of the time, the spark of motivation to figure out a new bit of sentence structure is just me trying to figure out how to say a sentence in my internal monologue. I got hyperfixated on languages and sprinkled multilingualism into my mind soup. It sticks with me better when I learn grammar because I want to use it, rather than just sitting down to try and study something that's completely abstract. This actually works from pretty much any level. I think the sooner you use your target language like your native one, the better. Not sure if this would help but it might?

It's ok to learn in bursts. It's supposed to be fun, and a hobby. It's worth trying to fit your target language into your daily routine. I am a Duolingo guy, and I know it's not the best way to learn, but doing a little lesson everyday to keep up my stupid little streak can jumpstart me into studying properly. Or at least have me do a little bit of practice if nothing else, remind my brain that these languages exist, yknow.

Also, I have gained and lost interest in a LOT of languages - Korean, Swedish, Toki Poni, Dutch, I've gone on and off with Japanese a few times, and so many languages I just tried to learn for one day. And that's okay too! You don't need to become fluent just to enjoy learning a little bit about a language. :-)

I hope at least one part of this was helpful? I'm going to be honest, I wasn't sure how to answer this ask because even though you would assume it with me running a language blog and all, I'm not always a great student. At all. The amount I'm studying fluctuates a lot, and it's just something I've accepted. There's no rush, so just do whatever works for you, even if it's not "the most effective" way of doing it. Everything is progress, anyhow.

(also, the "sit down to do" thing makes perfect sense to me. And for the conversations thing.... yeah, I don't talk to people much either. I'm shy. So, I'm not sure how to help with that one.)

[tenpintsof-sundrop]

if you have any, would you be willing to share writing tips? I feel like you’re the best person to ask, not just because I love your work, but also because of how well composed your explanations are and the detail you put into them and your dedication to whatever topic it is that you’re talking about which is all reflected in your fics

maybe I just lack the motivation? i really do enjoy writing though, so when I get stumped it upsets me 😕

my head is overflowing with ideas, but I can’t get more than 1k words in before my brain just shuts off, even if it’s a fic I’m very excited about. even what I do get down isn’t always the best, it’s mediocre at best.

i understand the concept of trying and failing, that you won’t start out as a pro, and so i continue to try and make the effort, but lately i feel like I’ve just been failing lmao

just looking for some genuine advice, and no pressure to answer 😭💕 thank youu x

I do have lots of writing advice. In the future, if you struggle specifically with dialogue or narration or themes or plotting, we can talk about those, but this is my most general advice for the things you have spoken about there.

First of all - this is the thing I tell everybody and it is a pit of a harsh pull to swallow: it takes time. It takes time to develop skill, it takes time to fully love your fics and be fully confident in your skills and what you have written. It takes time to get to a point where you can get an idea in your head and execute it on paper well. Writing is one of those things where if you don't practice it insistently, you don't become better at it.

I have been doing some form of creative writing as a hobby daily for the past fifteen years - literally fifteen years. And I have been writing at least two thousand words a day (aside from days when I am very sick, which is maybe like 2 or 3 days a month) - for the past five or six years. So I have been practising my writing a lot. And it's only within the last two years solidly that I would say I am very consistently confident in my writing and the skills I have built up. But even now, I still sometimes stumble and I write some things that I am unsure about at times.

However, while you are practising and developing your skills, I always recommend faking that confidence to a certain extent - tell yourself that your writing is good even if you think it's not. And appreciate what you have done. Writing something at all is impressive. Appreciate how far you have come. Even if you don't finish a piece of writing, it is still worth appreciating.

Getting stressed out and telling yourself that your writing is bad is not productive. Saying that your writing doesn't live up to what you want it to be will chip away at your motivation. You need to reduce that stress and bring more positive emotions to the writing experience - that is an important first step. (And there is a difference between allowing yourself room for improvement and just straight up shitting on yourself and telling yourself that your writing is bad.)

That being said, here are some major points that might help you out:

Helping With Motivation

Though this is not as much of a problem for me today (sometimes I struggle with forcing myself to finish longer fics, and this is where these tips come in) - I have picked up a lot of tips over the years to help kick motivation back in if you fizzle out partway through a fic.

Go back to the source material. This is a huge one for me. Especially with fanfiction. Put the fan back in fanfiction. You have to remember what inspired you to write that fic in the first place. Whether it's your personal affection and love for a character as a love interest or the spark of a ship between two characters - let it re-inspire you by going back to the material at hand.

Watch edits of the character to get bite-sized pieces of them to focus your mind, or go back and rewatch the show again. Watch a compilation of that character's greatest moments, or even listen to songs that you personally associate with them and take some time to imagine music videos with them in your mind. But take some time to get re-inspired and pump-up your motivation.

Often, when I am writing fics, my computer is in a splitscreen of the fic I am writing and then a youtube video showing edits of that character, so I am getting inspiration as I write. It's a very important technique of mine.

You said that you struggle to write anything that is over 1k, so - how about writing intentionally shorter fics?

This is something I have only been doing in the past two years or so, and I find it so fucking freeing! There was a point when I became known for writing fics that were 10k or longer because I got really excited about the source material and I really wanted to write long fics due to enthusiasm, but then I felt like - if I didn't write oneshots that were 10k, 15k, 20k, 25k - I would be disappointing everyone. I felt like I was trapped in such a box.

And I know that fandom seems to have so many unspoken rules - but short fics can do so well. For a long time last year and at the beginning of this year, my most popular fic on Tumblr was 800 words long. You can do a lot in fics with a little. So you should definitely experiment with writing intentionally shorter fics.

This really helps with motivation, because (in my personal experience) when writing a fic that is only supposed to be 1k or 2k, when you have written 1k and you end up writing 2.5k, you feel so accomplished. And it helps you to write more when your brain feels like the finish line is closer. And often, you get more done in the long run, because you may end up writing 10 different fics that are 1k each and end up writing 10k overall - which means you have written 10k words that you can gain experience from, and that you and others can gain fanfiction enjoyment from.

But if you want to write longer fics (or if your ideas can't be contained in shorter fics, which I know is the case a lot of times with me) - then: give yourself homework. I know it sounds weird, but it is a technique that I use a lot.

I know there's a lot of other stuff going on in life and likely a lot of other stuff that you need to get done, but seriously - start assigning yourself a specific amount of work that you need to get done on your wips, and that is how they get done.

And yes, there is something to be said for having fun (because fanfiction is a hobby and it should be fun) vs the soulsucking lack of motivation and writing just to do it - but I find that every single wip I have ever written ever, always has the "oh my god I just want this done" stage, where it feels like horrible work and I resent the story so fucking much and I just want it over, and I have to force myself to finish it.

Sometimes that comes in the last few paragraphs, sometimes it comes halfway through - and depending on how far along I am in the story is when I decide if I should cut my losses and move on to another story to just have fun instead of going through the soulsucking dread to get it finished. Because after the soulsucking, comes the 'omg I am so proud of this, I got it done' part. Sometimes, you just have to force yourself to finish something in order to get it done. It's that whole 'genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration' thing.

Anyway - if you are going to assign yourself homework, be realistic. If a fic is going to be 10k in total, tell yourself that you should write 2k per day. That's a nice, realistic number - or even start off saying that you want to write 500 words a day if that's more realistic for you. I always tell myself that whole thing: 'how do you eat an elephant? one bite at a time.' - because bigger fics get done by writing them one small bit at a time.

Hopefully this helps???

[kourota]

i’d just like to say that i’m currently reading your shinbaku fic and thoroughly LOVING it!!

do you have any tips on staying motivated and coming up with plot points for long fics? i really wanna write a mha fic but always struggle with ideas after the first few chapters

oh man, thank you so much!!! it makes me so happy to know that you're enjoying the story! (i think i read some of your comments in my inbox but i just got back from a study trip so i haven't had the time to check it yet aksjnskj)

honestly, my shinbaku fic just spiralled out of control because i got possessed by the plot, but i can totally give you the techniques i used to flesh it out and write it all down!

coming up with plot points

sometimes all you have is a vibe, or like one hyper-specific scene you want to write, and you want to turn it into a long-fic, or at least a decent story with a start, an end, and a middle.

what i like to do is answer three very important questions:

where is my character in the beginning?

where are they in the ending?

how long do they need to get there?

like with tcuyeh (the fic i wrote), this would be the answer to those questions:

shinsou is a stranger to bakugou

shinsou and bakugou become lovers

since they're both introverts who take time to open up to each other, and since their lives are structured around tight circles, it's gonna take a LONG time for them to go from strangers, to friends, and then to lovers. therefore, the story needs a LOT of situations to be written

and that's how you create the necessity for the plot. when you understand WHY you need to write the story, it'll give you an approximate idea of the length of the story, along with the number of plot points you might want to come up with!

coming to the plot points: it's never easy to figure out how many of them the story needs. some stories are nice to read because there's just one thing going on (sets a calmer, more relaxed pace) and others are interesting because of the chaos of so many things happening at once (a breakneck pace can be thrilling and exciting). so it's up to you to decide what kind of a pace/vibe you want going for your story!!

anyways, there's a couple of ways to increase the number of plot points in your story! (ik, it took me so long to get here aksjdnksj sorry but i felt the need to explain everything first haha) hopefully, these will help you get started!!!

introducing characters: great way to create plots, because you'll have to determine three things: the relationship with the protagonist; the type of character (foil, static, stock, etc); and their significance to the plot (what are they doing?). and answering those questions can give you ideas like:

a character who helps the oblivious protagonist realize things

a character who hurts the protagonist and serves as a catalyst for character development

a character who influences the protagonist so profoundly that their entire perspective is changed

a character who exists for the sole purpose of chaos (a MUST for comedy stories imo lmao)

background relationships: platonic, romantic, w/e you want it to be, it's always fun to include background relationships! they may not be the main focus of the story, but writing situations for them or thinking about that pairing can help you find ideas to write your main story, like:

who is your MC's best friend? any other childhood friends they had? what about friends they had a falling out with?

a random stranger who interacts with your MC only once, but that encounter changes the way your MC thinks

family relationships can go the wholesome route or the drama route, and it's a great way to explore characters

mentor/mentee relationships are just top tier in every media but ESPECIALLY bnha

when you establish relationships like these, you'll get ideas for various situations you might want to include! and then you can take your time to work these into the plot!!!

character building: honestly, this is my favourite way to get plot points, because it helps me break down my characters, find their dreams, try and get a sense of their "voice" (narration style + thoughts). and when you understand your character, you can get ideas (from both canon and headcanons) for what kind of situations you want to write them into.

determining what kind of a conflict you want your character to have can go a long way into coming up with plot points.

for example, in tcuyeh, i gave shinsou the conflict of wanting to be a hero, but his past keeps stopping him from helping someone out. throughout the story, he slowly unlearns those behaviours, and finally overcomes his past in the climax, where he "achieves" his character development.

of course, every story doesn't need character development, but if it's your jam, you should definitely explore your character by finding out their: likes, dislikes, motivations, obsessions, outlook on life, etc etc, because you'll be surprised by the amount of ideas you'll get by asking yourself these questions!!

tropes lists: tumblr has a TON of tropes for almost every possible dynamic, and those prompts DEFINITELY help you get ideas of your own, or take a popular trope and give it a twist! it doesn't matter, because sometimes you KNOW those tropes and ideas, but you just can't remember them. or maybe what you do remember doesn't fit into the story you want to write

no worries, though! tropes can help you get ideas for certain scenarios you want to write, and trying to fit those scenarios into your story will definitely give you ideas for the plot!

for example: maybe you want the characters to share a bed. why are they doing it? how did they end up in the same room? how will the bed-sharing impact their relationship? will it change anything? why is there only one bed? are they close enough to warrant bed sharing? etc etc haha

x

one thing to remember, though, is that no matter how many plot points you come up with, what matters most is whether YOU want to write those scenes or not!!! you don't HAVE to include mind-boggling, revolutionary plotlines for a story to be good! it can just be a collage of things you wanted to write/read, all arranged in a somewhat coherent manner!

and that is how you'll actually stay motivated for long fics!!

staying motivated

take it from the slowest writer alive, writing longfic can be EXHAUSTING, especially if you have a lot going on in life. motivation can be so hard, even more so if you don't have an end in sight,,, which is why i find it extremely important to figure out the end of the story even before i start writing

having an end is good. it's a realistic goal, and it'll help you plan accordingly. doesn't matter if you write sequentially, or if you're like me, writing random ass scenes and then trying to fit them into the plot. when you know how your story ends, you won't feel so lost and overwhelmed. and the end doesn't have to be anything COOL, you know? it could just be something simple like "and they got together" or "and they all survived" or "and they became a family" etc etc.

now, once you've figured out the end, and then the beginning, you can do all the plotting in the middle however you want. bullet points, mood boards, playlists,,, there's no wrong tool to use to help you write your story. so here's a couple of tips to stay motivated:

getting an audience: posting can be counterproductive since engagement on unfinished fics depends on luck, but you could also find someone, maybe a friend, who is willing to read through your stories as you write. it honestly helped me finish my longfics, knowing that even if nobody reads it, at least my bestie (or future me) will enjoy it. the comments and feedback are LIFESAVERS when it comes to motivation. honestly if you can't find a reader, just find someone who will ramble along with you about the characters/plot! it's super helpful i swear

writing things you like: while this may seem obvious, it's also very, very true. honestly, i've had times where i only got through writing a chapter because there's a silly little joke in there that got me excited to write it out. so, include a smol treat in each chapter/scene, which is completely self indulgent and makes you kick your feet and roll around the floor in giddiness!!!

setting targets: this may not work for everyone, but i tried to give myself realistic goals like,,, finishing this chapter in 2 weeks, and stuff like that. it keeps me from forgetting about my story, which means i end up thinking about it and writing it more often!!! ofc, life often got in the way, but i always got back to my story no matter what, so yeah!!

overcoming the 4 chapter limit: i've always found it difficult to continue a story after the 4 chapter mark. like, nothing feels right anymore, and i wonder, why tf am i even writing this story. DO NOT LISTEN TO THAT VOICE!!! even if you end up writing bullet points for the 5th chapter, just do it!! push through!!! do not think about anything, just write! and then after pushing through 2 chapters of hell, suddenly it becomes easier. idk if this is universal or just me, but yeah akjnskdjfnkj

no more blank pages: sometimes an empty page can make you freeze up, or feel like you have to write the most perfect thing ever, so i like to drop a list of bullet points onto the page, detailing a brief summary of what's going to happen (could just be a line lmao, like "midoriya breaks his bones,,, again,,," ) or just straight up make memes about the chapter (i have done it before and i swear it is so fun lmfao) so it helps you get started on the writing part sooner!!!

daydreaming to music: no, seriously, when you can't write at all, just listen to music and imagine your characters doing something that couldn't possibly be a part of the story (like an epic boss fight or like a dance battle lmao). take a break from the plot, and just explore things creatively!!! it'll definitely help reset your brain, and then you'll be fresh to continue writing.

and remember!! if all you focus on is trying to get the story done, you won't be able to enjoy the process of creating it! you're not just a reader here: you're actively writing the story, and planning a whole lot of things, which takes time and energy! so don't push yourself too much, and let yourself have fun! throw in some inside jokes! make it as self indulgent as possible! there's no need to be coherent either, just write whatever nonsense sparks joy!!!

aaaaaaaahhhh i hope that's gonna be helpful lmao. if you still have any doubts, feel free to ask away! and thank you once again for reading my silly little story and loving it!!! i hope you have a wonderful day <3 <3 <3

[nephblrus]

without spoiling anything what does mr big splatoon think of side order

i cannot possibly give my proper thoughts WITHOUT spoiling anything so this is your warning

spoilers for splatoon 3 side order dlc

gonna be kinda going through multiple aspects and analyzing them, this is just my opinion don’t punt me into the sun please

starting off, im overall not a fan of rougelike games. so that has definitely biased my opinion. i didn’t like all the repetition and i got frustrated at it a lot, its just not for everyone! i found it became a lot easier once i figured out which colour chips and hacks helped me the most (drone boosts were big).

it took me a bit to actually finish my first run because the palettes i kept getting were weapons i’m awful at (brella, splatting, charger, BRO CMON) but i cleared my first run with the brush surprisingly. i understand how rougelikes work but it still felt kinda short and underwhelming.

the gameplay itself wasn’t terrible, the levels were interesting and i liked how you could choose the difficulty and rewards and such. colour chips and the drone were a really neat addition and i had fun getting used to it.

the lore was meh. kinda disappointed. i’m glad we got to see more of ahato/acht, just wish they got a bit more spotlight and development aside from the diary entries (they got lots, i’m just a diehard fan lmao).

the storyline in general was… a little lame to me? it felt like it didn’t really build off of much and it doesn’t give much room to expand from it (at least personally). felt a little predictable imo.

REWARDS! not bad! inkopolis square was expected, and it’s not my preferred area so it won’t be my default but i think it’s really neat and i’m excited to see it again for splatfests. really liked how we got the exact gear from the dlc as well, and the replica weapons (no tri slosh </3)

the final boss was COOL. very fun to play and much easier than i thought! (why was F28 harder than the final boss lmfao) the cut scenes were awesome, esp before the final phase. music went hard.

also. where is agent 4. cmon. cmon bro.

overall, meh. didn’t hate it, didn’t love it.

the main letdown i had was how the game actually played out vs. the concept art and how it was teased. it seemed like it was going to go in a much different direction, which is fine, just a little bit of a bummer. thought it would be a little darker like OE. side order was really hyped up and for me it just, wasn’t all that!

for me there was a lot of comparison to OE, i kinda expected/hoped for it to have the same hype. with that comparison it felt a little boring and short, ESPECIALLY in terms of rewards. it’s pretty hard to top unlocking PLAYABLE OCTOLINGS. OE had a LOT of brand spankin new stuff, levels characters plots all of it was so fresh and exciting, because before we only had basically 2 copies of the same story mode.

another thing i was talking about with sem was how in OE, since you didn’t need to beat every level right away to beat it, there was lots of new to go back and finish, AND most had multiple weapon options to 100%. SO has something similar, but again, feels repetitive to me. don’t have any motivation to do another run.

my ranking for story campaigns go:

Octo Expansion, Splatoon 3, Splatoon 1, Side Order, Splatoon 2.

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

"He has never done anything wrong" is simply false. Just because his actions have reasonings and actually understandable intentions along with more personal and evil ones doesn't absolve him of his actions. The whole thing with that darkling guy was that he had no intentions except evil ones and that is the guy with more nuance? don't make me laugh. its not just about morality, even the worst to worst characters need to have more motivations than power and revenge on repeat.

I think you might want to reread what I said and try again:

I really wouldn’t call Grim (lame ass name ugh) a villain in like how the plot trajectory goes. Like Aster kept calling him a villain in her promo stuff but he… doesn’t do anything to narratively justify that. There’s a big third act betrayal (that makes ZERO SENSE) so he is like objectively fucking awful but he’s also not really framed as such. Like I’m fully waiting for Nightbane to be like “no actually he’s never done anything wrong in his life, in fact he single handedly invented feminism” à la ACOMAF

Anyway, I really should not indulge this anon further, as hilarious as this is. But for general context, one big twist in Lightlark is that pre canon Grim (the Rhysand/obligatory morally grey love interest with the exact same description in every romantasy ever) was convinced that the only way to win their stupid ass tournament thing is for the protagonist Isla to fall in love with Oro (Tamlin). But oh teh noes Isla already loved him! So his plan, framed as a huge sacrifice, was to… wipe all of her memories of him and their relationship without consulting her about it… so that uh.. hopefully? maybe? she’ll fall in love with Oro when the tournament begins. It’s just so precarious and flimsy to begin with!

Meanwhile he completely undercuts his own goals by showing up and immediately diving into terrible banter with her. And taking her out on a date through not!Velaris and randomly… hand feeding her chocolate. The entire book is just cartoonish but he basically takes every single opportunity to flirt with her and there’s at least one make out scene randomly set in an abbey (there is zero established religion in this book!!!!!) that I am glad to have mostly blocked out of my memory. Like he is NOT doing anything to further his own goals of pushing Isla towards Oro.

Isla ends the first book (lmao understandably) furious with Grim and randomly deciding she’s in love with Oro. But the narrative framing is obviously one where Grim made a tragic mistake and/or that his actions are justified if misguided. He’s just so blatantly a Rhysand! I haven’t read the sequel yet but just from the sheer ACOTAR of it all, I’m certain the second book is going to be speedrunning the ACOMAF trajectory where the narrative justifies all of his actions and conveniently forgets anything wrong he may have done.

He’s frankly barely a character, he’s just speedrunning Rhysand tropes. His motivations make no sense and his reasoning is so bizarre! The reason I was saying making him more evil could be more interesting is that, in the completely alien other world where Lightlark is remotely competently written, a scenario that acknowledges what an insane violation it is to like unilaterally decide all this for someone he supposedly loves could be genuinely compelling. If it’s acknowledged as cruelty and having no consideration for the protagonist’s desires and ability to make choices for herself. Also like damn literally all his screen time is just shitty banter and embarrassing angsting about being a monster like please just give me some variety— let alone actual genuine character work.

I don’t even like Rhysand. But his trajectory from ACOTAR to ACOMAF is at least appropriately drawn out. He’s actually framed as genuinely antagonistic and dangerous on introduction, and the points where he does help Feyre in the first book do a good job of very gradually shifting her perspective on him. And when she hates him the narrative at least mostly tries to lean into it. I already felt like ACOMAF was too annoying with its banter and the obvious foregone conclusion of their romance from very early on, where the reader isn’t allowed to come to their own opinions about him. But it’s way more competently done than anything in Lightlark. The relationship has way more time to breathe.

The Darkling meanwhile is a traditional villain who masquerades as the morally ambiguous sad boy love interest for like half of the first book. (But his fandom has never been able to let go of that initial framing rip). His motivations are pretty simple— at the heart of it, he just wants control. There’s depth to how he tries to achieve it. How he tries to present his motivations as much more reasonable and just than they are. He often undercuts himself too, but it comes from a point of deliberate characterization. His arc is one where he’s spiraling due to his waning control of the situation— and the protagonist— and becoming far more volatile and vicious for it. He’s horrible, but like that’s the point lmao

[abstractlantern]

Devlog 7 MASSIVE UPDATE!

ALRIGHT, IT'S BEEN A WHILE SINCE I UPDATED, HUH? My apologies! As I said in my earlier update post, my family has been crazy busy. I'll be a lot busier in the future, too, since I'm gonna start my job in a few weeks.

But to make up for all that time I spent silent/time I may spend silent in the future, here's everything I've worked on thus far! This is going to be a VERY long post, so I'll put most of it under a read more!

I do mean everything. Or at least most of it lol. This here is the title screen! If you have trouble reading the text, the title says Star Flesh, and the choice box says "ATTUNE, RESUME, and END". Since I'm showing the stuff I've done so far, I'll make a new game using the "ATTUNE" option.

Spooky. There's more dialogue than just this, but a lot of it is kinda janky and weird. I'm gonna rewrite it later, but for now just enjoy the cool stuff lol.

I bet your first instinct is to make him sound British, but you would be wrong! For some reason when I was writing him, the first thing that came to mind was a deep South preacher. Like, a Protestant pastor quoting the Bible and stuff. My sister was deeply displeased when I told her Ozymandias has a Southern accent. Tbh, I'm deeply displeased with myself. Moving on!

Here's the fancy name input screen :D

Omg the first appearance of the babey (also please don't mind the placeholder sprites lmao)

Crushed it lmao

Here's the main inside area! It's kind of empty for now, and I still have placeholder sprites and tiles everywhere. As for the doors behind Pawn, one is supposed to lead down to the basement, and the other is supposed to lead up. Not suuuper clear, but it's fine for now.

Outside the building! Lookin a little weird, but it's still kinda cute.

Talking to Ozymandias to move the plot forward! He talks a L O T so I'm not gonna put it all here.

This scene is pretty tho

So there's a lot of stuff he says, but I'm running out of room for pictures lol. Essentially he just tells the player that the world is going down the trash hole and their only shot at redemption is to murdalize the Queen of the Board. And on our quest, we should bring someone along to help. Let's go get him now!

Oh there he is

Hooray! Drama!

Alright! There's not enough room for me to post more pictures, so I might extend this post into a part 2? Depends if people are interested/if I have the time and motivation.

See y'all later! ^.^

[strldertan]

Hi there! I'm currently having commissions open on writing! I'm new to this bear with me... Here are some ground things though!

If you want to commission me, feel free to lore drop me all the things you want in the writing. I mean everything, send that giant essay you have saved. Characters, lore, plot twists, relationships, tropes, all of it

I am a fictional writer and I most am open for hero/villain, medieval, Greek mythology and overall fantasy. I will do other topics but understand it might take a little longer than what I listed. Unless I'm REALLY autistic about it.

--

PLEASE understand that I am not very likely to accept NSFW related ideas so in the case that I do. Be respectful about it. I don't write in that sort of way often to be good at it.

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I have an Ao3!! I need to update my stories but what I have out AT LEAST has one chapter. Only is a one...or three years old. But it will get a rough idea what kind of writer I am!

--

NSFW for me is smut and heavy gore/explicit media. So I will happily write out violence

--

I use Cashapp and Paypal if needed I can be flexible and use another app

---USD---

THERE IS NO LIMIT TO THE AMOUNT OF WORDS REQUESTED, I LOVE TO WRITE, JUST NEED MOTIVATION LMAO.

--One chapter is 5k+ words if book based.--

$0.10 per word

$5 for just a writing prompt as well

$2 per 100 words ($3 for NSFW inclusion)

$20 per 1,000 words (If nsfw accepted it's $25)

+$10 if you want it , per chapter based like a story. (4 chapters = $40)

10% pre-pay required due to the amount of people that try to get a free writing or cancel after the effort put into it.

--

There will be no set timeframe meaning no accurate end-date. I get burned out easily if given a due date/deadline UNLESS it is needed asap.

-

You can asked how often to be updated.

Updates when it's started and finished (plus breaks, no price)

Updates when it's started, halfway, and finished (+$5)

Updates every 500 words (+$10 per 500 words)

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You may ask for visual check-ins/review current status on work to see for edits and sudden changes (+$2)

At the end, if not satisfied with the end product can ask to be changed and add special requests (+5)

--

I have no max slots right now but subject to change at any given moment so If I don't get to you quickly, you'll be queued up I promise!

-

The best way to contact me is via Discord at

stridertan

I'm most often on there, but DMs and anons are open! (I will answer questions and anything via Anons when I see it.)

Just note that I've also three, YES THREE, works in the brewing for Ao3, keep an eye out for them.

For shits and giggles you can even commission me to add chapters to works I have on Ao3 to help beat the writers block for the most reasonable price. Free.

-

Guys I'm struggling money wise.. This would be a HUGE. damn help

*head in hands*

-

Also follow my photography acc I intend on updating it after a year

[applesaucesims]

Hi, what are some ways that you recommend to keep my decades challenge interesting as well as historically accurate??

Heyyy! That's a good question! I'll put my answer under the cut because it ended up a little bit longer. Sorry in advance lmao.

How to keep it interesting:

As for many legacy type gameplays and stories, one thing I find that helps is to shift the focus for every generation. I personally like to at least have an outline of what I like to focus on each generation. As an example, for my 1930s gen I knew I wanted to focus more on Emma and her friends, since I usually just focus on the family. Doing something "new" every now and then can help not getting bored, since otherwise legacies might feel repetitive (no matter if it's just gameplay or a story).

Another thing that keeps me wanting to play, is that I already have storylines in my head up to the 70s. Some are just vague plot points, some are basically a complete story, but it makes me excited for all of the future generations. This might just be a me thing though lol.

You might also get inspirations from all kinds of other stories, even if it's just small aspects. Not much more to that, but it's a good way to come up with new things.

Also, I know this sounds cheesy, but don't force yourself to just do anything when it doesn't feel right. If you feel stuck, you can do things like time skips. I did something like that at the end of the 1920s, speeding through the rest of the days by having Emma report important events in her diary. And, of course, taking breaks can always help restoring some motivation.

I personally also make Pinterest boards for my characters and stuff like that. It's fun and leads me to my next point: Making up personalities and aesthetics for your sims. Obviously, you would do that for main characters in a story, but I like to give a basic personality outline to side characters, too. It helps flesh everything out a bit. Also, I like to have certain "main colours" for my sims (yellow for Emma, teal/blue for Niall, rosy red for Ken, etc.). Idk how much this does for the story, but it makes dressing them and stuff more interesting to me personally.

TL;DR: Switch things up, take inspiration anywhere, don't stress yourself, and do what makes you happy.

Historical accuracy:

I'm personally a fashion history fiend, so this part is one of my favourite things about the challenge. I have a few books about this, too, but ofc internet research is a must. It's good to look up the fashion for the type of person you're dressing (age, class, job, etc.). The same counts for architecture and interiors. You can also make things like Pinterest boards for inspiration.

Honestly, you can get into as much detail as you want with the accuracy. Obviously, there are the basics like what technology exists, which are more important for immersion (ofc you wouldn't put a computer in a 1900s home lol). But sometimes small details like what pet breeds or plants are a thing at the time can be fun, too. For my ultimate decades challenge, I even made a sheet of what plants arrived in Germany at what time. But such things might not be seen in your story, so it's more about your own immersion.

Then, there is the thing with laws. If you base your story in a real country, it's good to research its laws throughout history. However, it's still your story, so you can adjust it as much as you feel comfortable with. I personally don't feel comfortable including racist laws in my story because I don't have any personal experience with that and don't think I could do it justice, even though I have done research in that field.

I do feel more comfortable including stuff about women's rights and lgbtq+ rights, since I'm a queer woman myself, with mostly queer friends, and have also studied those fields. But even then, I like to be a bit more lenient because I'm not gonna make a bunch of homophobic sims lmao. They're still like my babies.

Additionally, there were real people, too, that had achievements that would have been against the law (interracial marriages, successful working women, etc.), so it's not technically historically inaccurate. Your characters are still individuals, so they don't have to represent everything.

TL;DR: Do your research, adjust details to your liking, handle issues respectfully, and keep in mind that it's a fictional story in the end.

[alkalinefrog]

Just had the chance to read Lights of Avalon while writing my own HiJack fic, and its so apparent how much you GET Jack as a character. It's amazing to see the life you breathe not only into this different incarnation of Jack, but the Guardians and side characters like Jack's family. As someone who is more new to the HiJack fandom (Only been writing it for a year now) how do you get the characters this fleshed out and believable? I always struggle trying to balance out elements like that without it dragging to much. What is your technique for this writing wise?

Well, technically I've only been here for a year too--I think we're coming up on the anniversary of when I read OTNWAS and got trapped here, wow, time sure flies LMAO

This is my first ever ask for writing advice, dude I'm so stoked! I'll do my best to give you a clear answer, but sorry in advance if it's a little jumbled, I'm still fairly new to fic writing and this is only my second one asldfjlasdjf

For Jack specifically, I owe a large part of my understanding of him to talking about him with @jjackfrost! I feel like I had a good grasp on his general vibes from rotg, but talking with Robin and how he approached writing Jack in OTNWAS really helped flesh him out in my mind!

EDIT: I finished typing everything out and this answer is long af, I'm so sorry LMAO. TL;DR:

Focus on who Jack is as a person, and demonstrate who other people are through how exactly they interact--and more importantly, react--to him in his POV

9 times out of 10 people won't info dump their tragic backstories to each other, so give info about them in their actions as you move the plot forward. Come up with situations that can best showcase who they are as people. Show don't tell!

How much you learn about each character will all depend on who your POV character is (Jack) and what his relationship to them is like (the closer they are, the more heart to hearts he'll be inclined to share)

Details under the cut!

EDIT 2: ALSO THANK YOU SO MUCH, I'm so glad you like my characterization of everyone!! That's super high praise!!

Things are a bit different because this version of him never lost his memories and stayed human after falling through the ice, so I focused on who he is at his core--his centre, if you will hehehe--and what kind of person he was to begin with that would make the moon choose him. He's a really specific balance of mischievous but never malicious, immature but still responsible, and very very brave and compassionate and protective and HUHHHHHH my son 😭😭😭 His strength is in how he focuses on finding joy even in the darkest times, you know? And he's very self-sacrificing in order to bring that same joy for others.

When fleshing out the other characters in the story, for me it was important to remember that Jack is the POV character, so any info we learn about others has to come from their relationship with him and what he observes in them.

For example, his heart to heart with Bunny is way more guarded than the ones he has with his mother and Emily since they're still strangers to each other at that point. Neither of them are going to info dump about their tragic backstories to the other LMAO, especially since Bunny's not a wears-their-heart-on-their-sleeve character, but that's exactly why I thought that he'd be the best choice out of the three to have the initial real talk with Jack. He'd be the least likely to pry, which would let Jack relax a bit about dropping his guard.

In their conversation, I needed to give enough info to 1) get to understand Bunny's motivations a bit more, since he definitely sticks out next to Tooth and Sandy as a bard, 2) establish trust between him and Jack that can develop into a believable friendship later, and 3) give Jack more of a reason to think that joining the Guardians is actually an emotionally healthy idea too.

So then I thought about what exactly they'd share with each other, since conversations are always about listening instead of talking. Bunny doesn't divulge into the details of his past, but you get a sense that he's been through a lot given what he does share, and that he's already had his own character arc. Jack learns that Bunny is also deeply protective of his family, and that's something he can relate to. Jack's questions in turn show how lost he is, and that prompts Bunny to give only the relevant info that he thinks would help Jack.

But then for all that to happen, they needed to have another moment of bonding before it felt believable that they'd open this conversation in the first place, hence them being forced to team up in the snowball fight lol. Plus it wouldn't be a RotG fic without one good snowball fight LMAO. Pacing-wise, it also just so happened that I needed another more light-hearted scene to brighten the mood before things went to shit again since chapter 2 was so angst-heavy, and I needed to bring the Guardians back in to give Jack the option to leave, and you see how things are falling into place now lol

Writing the Guardians is suuuuuuper fun because they all have such fun and distinct personalities from each other! I get to be a bit less grounded when it comes to them too, since they bring a lot of comedic relief and are more whimsical in nature from the movie.

For Jack's family, it was easier to flesh them out through how much Jack cares about them, and how much he pays attention to what qualities in Emily and his mother that he loves most. In turn, you get to see how much they love him too.

Obviously you spend the most time with him and Emily, so I wanted to make their dynamic as siblings really cute (I drew a lot of inspo from my own relationship with my younger brother, which helped me relate to Jack more too). You see how much she takes after him with the tree climbing and how she follows his lead in all the mischief he pulls. She's self-sacrificing in her own way, with the scene where she pretends not to be interested in the pink dress when Jack catches her looking at it, and more importantly later when she tries to stop him from leaving and finally shows how much the accident and the guilt from it has been affecting her too.

Pacing-wise, they needed to spend the most time together in order to make Jack's sacrifice for her more impactful, and how much it hurts him to leave her, so I came up with a bunch of ideas for things to best showcase the different layers of their relationship--1) clowning the bards and each other for the humour, 2) stargazing for the intimacy, 3) snowball fight for the mischief, 4) their goodbye for the FEELS, plus that whole montage about winter before Jack saves her.

You only get one real scene with his mother, and I wanted to give her more character than just "mom," so I gave her an injured little boy to help take care of so you can see how warm she is as a person when she calms him down, in contrast to how Jack can reassure the kid in his own way by entertaining him and making him laugh. Then she gets some banter with Jack so you see her sense of humour. You get a hint of where Jack and Emily get their playfulness when she mentions that she's better at climbing trees to tease him lol.

Exposition-wise, Jack already knows that she's the town doctor, so instead of having him like, turn to the camera to say it lol, the scene with her stitching up the boy's cut demonstrates that. I gave Jack and Emily tasks that showed other aspects of her role without having to explain it, ie: shopping for supplies at the apothecary for her, and delivering medication orders she made for people in town. Idk if it was too subtle, but another reason I had Jack mention that they're short on cash was meant to show that she's not in the medical field for profit (SIDE-EYES AMERICA), so she's very selfless as well.

Aaaaaaaand that's about it so far without talking about what's going to happen next in the story. I hope that was helpful!

[dairy-farmer]

So I've recently made a new AO3 account (completely separate from my main one, different email and everything lmao) bc I want to start writing porn, and I was wondering if I could have your permission to use some of your asks as like, prompts or ideas? Especially ones that were my own (this is PP!Tim Anon btw, and I've sent in. A lot of asks without signing them off as that, like I could make an entire list and it would probably hit double digits of which asks you've gotten that were mine lmao)!! I would ofc credit you and your blog! I don't know how to imbed links to the individual asks (I'll still try but I can't promise anything lmao), but I'll at least mention your Tumblr name and AO3 account!

I really wanna try my hand at some random, filthy oneshots without a bunch of world building or context, bc that's something I tend to get hung up on in my writing, and I wanna stick to some short and sweet smut oneshots about Tim being a pregnant, underage nympho slut, or a puppy factory, or a cocksleeve for the rogues of Gotham and their goons, all that good stuff!!

On that thought tho, do you have any pieces of advice for like, consistent writing, or motivation to write? Bc that's my biggest struggle tbh is sitting down to start writing. Usually once I start I can churn out a couple thousand words in one sitting, but I gotta start first, ya know? Any words of wisdom would mean a lot ❤️❤️❤️

answered out of order:

yes of course❤️❤️❤️!!!!!!!!!!!! you don't believe how happy that makes me to hear!!!! so many of the asks i get sent are just so brilliant and well done and it would make me so beyond happy to know people started writing or got inspired to write out their ideas!!! and i'm sure that people who submitted other posts you get inspiration from would love to see others expand further on their asks ❤️❤️❤️❤️!!!

one shots are a really great way to really get back into a sort of groove of writing because it can be shorter, the plot may be not as dense or complex as something from a multichap (though you can also write VERY long one shots that are incredibly detailed too), and it can be mainly composed of "fun" writing in the sense that you don't have to do buildup for bigger things like you would in longer multichaps or those that are heavily plot driven. i totally get struggling to get motivation to write, for me it was always like i had to wait for my brain to be turned "on" or in a working mode for me to get any writing for my fics done which meant it usually only happened when i was studying for exams or doing projects for school. however for me that meant when i was in the 'off season' like breaks from school it meant that even though i had time, i no longer had motivation to write. that's something i'm still working to break myself out of and i think one think that is pretty effective is thinking of a scene or piece of dialogue i'm excited to write and look forward to getting to so it motivates to write to reach it. that works sometimes, other times i think of a reward i'll get myself once i finally finish. something like candy or some snack or food i don't often get or go out of my way to get. and another thing that works for me sometimes is basically planning the fic, for a short one shot the major bullet points of what happen would be a short list and so it would pretty much trick your brain into thinking 'wow a short task list i can do all of these pretty quickly/complete them without too much hassel or procrastination!'.

ultimately i think writing one shots takes a lot of pressure off since as a single chapter there's basically no further commitment needed like it would during a multi chapter fic which can be very relieving for people who get easily stressed or pressured by commitments with no hard deadline.

im very happy to hear you'll be expanding on your tim ideas and look forward to them!!!!!! also if you need any help with embedding on aow the reference collection on ao3 is really helpful and its where i learned to embed links with this tutorial ❤️❤️❤️❤️

[heartfeltletters-written]

20 questions for writers tag game!

tagged by @widebrimmedhatsblog (thank you so much!!)

Total number of AO3 works

Six 

Total AO3 word count

150,968

Fandoms I’ve written in

Empyrean, Harry Potter and One direction

Top 5 fics by kudos

we never knew peace; here at your doorway; the ghost scar; when the flames burned green the dragons danced; between me and louis (this fic is a fever dream I do not remember it lmao)

Do I respond to comments? 

I always do !! or at least i try my best. I absolutely love receiving comments it's my motivation to keep sharing my writing tbh the least I can do is answer my readers !! i reread the comments an obscene amount of times so yeah I always answer

What has the angstiest ending? 

when the flames burned green the dragons danced. i mean it is inspired by blood & cheese of hotd so obviously its very very angsty and sad and just tragic.

What has the happiest ending? 

idk about happy fics, since i haven't finished my big fics but maybe here at your doorway has the happiest ending.

Have I received hate? 

Yes both in HP fandom and in the Empyrean (although I have to say this fandom is much more chill) and it's awful lmao. stopped me from writing for a few months and it was just so ??? because it's always hate about how I handle my characters and my plot and just ... omg go write your own fic then ?? But yeah if you have nothing nice to say then don't say it

Do I write smut? And what kind? 

I have written smut but most of it isn't published lmao. I write all kinds of smut like idk what u mean by that lmao. kinky, soft like idk

Do I write crossovers? 

I haven't written any !!

Have I ever had a fic stolen? 

Nope! and thank god for that

Have I ever had a fic translated?

Nope! My fics are not worthy of a translation lmao

Have I ever co written a fic? 

Yes I have !! but tbh we were both on the verge of sleep when we did it it was like 3am and I remember almost nothing of the process except it was so much fun. 

What is my all time favorite ship? 

According to Ao3 its Daemyra and Riorgail but i will always have a very special place in my heart for both hinny and jily. like those are my first loves fr and what got me into fanfiction

A WIP I’ll never finish?

I have a few thousand words of a riorgail canon divergence au where violet figures out venin are real after reading the note from her dad and confronts xaden about it. i started writing it before iron flame came out but at this point I don't think I'll ever finish it lmao.

Writing strengths? 

I get a lot of comments saying I write trauma responses really well (what does that say about me lmao) and also characterizations which is baffling bc I've always thought that was one of my weaknesses so I'm really happy.

Writing weaknesses?

I really struggle with writing dialogue i overthink it too much sometimes trying really hard to not sound cringy, Sally Rooney has helped a lot with that btw !! and I would also say I sometimes forget what I wrote in previous chapters so it can be hard to follow along some plots I introduced. I think I have the same problem as GRRM I want to create so many storylines and lore that I sometimes lose myself and idk what to do with so much information but oh well

Do I like foreign language dialogue? 

I do! Especially when i speak the language the character is speaking lmao. but one thing that annoys me is pronunciations, like for example hangrid and fleur like omg just write it in English or make her speak french !! but other than that I do love it. i don't think I'll ever write it tho

First fandom I wrote for? 

One direction (i was 15 guys and deep into the larry lore)

Favorite fic I’ve written? 

We never knew peace definitely. That's my baby, i work so hard on it and I think it's coming together much better than I expected. My writing has improved a lot and I think that fic is the prime example of that. I also really like what I've done with both violet and xaden in there.

I'd like to tag: @creative-girl; (and i feel like every other writer i know has done this already so yeah if u haven't feel free to)

[arminsumi]

@ your latest reblog about smut being fast food.. I'm not a follower for long BUT I happen to be on here for 10+ years and let me tell you: there's nothing more boring than a fic that's simply about smut. If I read a fic and the writer doesn't even put in the effort to make it at least sound as if that certain character would say xyz then I'll just skip lmao.

I appreciate thoroughly checked works.. characters being spot on and some good worldbuilding. I'm so sick of boring fics that you can literally apply to ANY character and it "works".

If a writer is able to really indulge into a character, their past, what they've been through and so on.. that's what makes me interested in a fic. It should fit the character and you shouldn't be able to copy paste the same work with a different character. I really like your fics that don't include smut at all such as "photograph" that made my heart sink let me tell you. The way it was so innocent and it all came down to Satoru crying and sobbing I can totally see him being heartbroken bc of something like this and he'd totally do it in silence too.

I know I'm just one of a few but please don't be discouraged by clown fics that are full of notes but don't even contain a proper plot. It seems unfair and it is bc most readers are just horny and who am I to blame lol. I also love smut but you know what's even better? If you can imagine that character saying these things, if the scenery makes sense if their relationship makes sense..

I appreciate writers that still care about the little things. Please don't stop putting in the effort because it seems like nobody is truly liking your fluffy fics.. I do and I also love heart wrenching angst and other fics.

I hope you're feeling a lil better now.. had to get that off my chest 🩷

omg 😭💗

thank u so much for taking the time to write this, it's rlly reassuring and so sweet of u!!

i've been a bit self-conscious of my works lately because i see paragraph smut getting great feedback and then thought-out plots being lost in the tumblr void.

so i start scrutinizing my own work like ok maybe this wasn't as good as i thought?? did i structure it wrong?? is the flow bad??

i rlly try hard to ensure quality and do thorough editing and carefully write dialogues.

because i personally hate reading stuff and thinking "yeahhhh they'd never say that lol" bc it just breaks the immersion.

fanfic is a special type of reading experience, because the reader is usually self-inserting into the world and daydreaming about the scenario.

and also regarding smut, sometimes i hate writing full smut scenes or writing extremely satisfying sex. because in real life it's not like that, and i'd like to show relationship development like maybe character A says ok let's stop for now or maybe they don't go too far or maybe they're dissatisfied.

but i fear that writing about realistic, emotional sexual interactions with angst and (fluffy ones with short smut and long aftercare/after scenes) will not be well-received or enjoyed. it would greatly help plotlines of some of my angst fics, like the one where satoru loves the reader but she absolutely doesn't, but they "try" make it work and it falls apart because she feels emotionless during intimacy with him (but not with suguru, and she can't fall for him bc yk... tight-knit friend group problems 😔)

idk but it's alright bc i have my own personal rules of writing that i try to stick to, and i'm trying not to let notes or feedback deter me. i always hide in Kerouac's books when i lose sight of truthful writing lol

anyways thank u for ur motivational words they are stored in my heart hehe 💗👍

[cookinguptales]

capribornio said: From my own personal perspective? Write it. Lots of people have complicated feelings about the end of s5, and it might help others to process them. And it would definitely help you, I think.

--------

Complicated is a good word for it... Like there are parts that I find interesting and parts that I enjoyed and parts I would like to explore more but like. Let's just say I wrote a very long rant here and then deleted all of it.

(but the rant did come out in the end, so I'm putting this under a cut)

But I guess, fic-wise... It's hard for me to write something in direct opposition to what canon has said re: Guillermo's desires and motivations, but I also find that reveal to be completely unsatisfying when paired with... literally every event of the series thus far. I found the ending of the season to be so deeply unsatisfying that it... honestly kind of killed my love for the show a little. Even the past seasons. I haven't been able to bring myself to watch a single episode since the finale aired. It doesn't feel fun anymore. I know I'll bounce back eventually, but right now I still feel so frustrated. I worry that I might feel that way until I see how s6 shakes out, at this point.

So... when I think about writing a fic, all I can do is feel that sense of... things not being finished, I guess. That sense of dissatisfaction. Like I can write a version of nandermo that is still largely canon compliant, but that version of nandermo will be just as dissatisfying as the show has been. I can't build to catharsis that doesn't exist. I can't bring together all the things the characters have done thus far to a satisfying and logical conclusion because the show didn't do that. This last season pretty much said that all of the character motivations we've had thus far didn't amount to a hill of shit, so like... how do I write something satisfying using stuff from the entire series when the writers completely ignored a lot of that early canon in s5?

So whenever I think about writing for them now... the end of the fic is not cathartic. It feels like things are okay for now but are doomed to failure eventually.

I guess... as far as the show goes, I'm not at the point where like. I have lost all hope in it. I'm really, really hoping that they fix some of this in s6, as much as is possible. Like... some things I'm pretty sure I'll never be able to move past, but I'm hoping they at least find some other way to make Guillermo truly supernatural and comfortable in his own (deadly!!!) power. Like at least give me fucking that, otherwise what the fuck are we even doing here.

At least give me confirmation that Guillermo de la Cruz does not actually see vampiric life as being worth less than human life, because it's starting to feel an awful lot like he thinks murdering vampires is fine but murdering humans isn't because vampiric life is intrinsically less valuable than human life. And therefore his human friends and family matter more than the family they keep telling us he's been building with the vampires.

At least!!! Understand that after using the vampiric world as a very thinly veiled metaphor for queerness and being socially othered for four and a half seasons! It feels awful for your queer and/or socially othered audience to see the only protagonist with a choice actively choose the mainstream world instead! Because he understands now that the vampiric world is just too ~gross and terrible~ for him!

Like we can never get back s5 and have a version of it without massive plot holes and character decisions that make no fucking sense (especially Laszlo, christ) but the writers still have the ability to give me those things, I guess, if they actually! want to!

I'm sorry I literally cannot talk about this without ranting lmao. It's frustrating because a lot of Nandor's thoughts and feelings about Guillermo's changing are fascinating and I'd love to explore them. I think they're generally pretty IC. I like thinking about him believing that Guillermo could never be a vampire because he's too sweet, and him believing that he morally can't turn Guillermo because Guillermo would hate it, and him believing that he can never truly be with Guillermo because Guillermo's not actually cut out for their world -- and will thus die probably centuries before Nandor will.

But god, the fact that s5 tells us that Nandor's right when everything in the first few seasons shows us that he's wrong is so fucking frustrating. It's like they forgot that Guillermo de la Cruz was one of the most interesting and complicated and downright vicious characters on television while simultaneously being adorably endearing. The flattening of his characterization that we've seen happen steadily over the past few seasons has culminated in this, us being told with a straight face that Guillermo de la Cruz can't handle killing humans and has somehow never realized that he'd have to do that in order to be a vampire. He's too?? Nice?????? Guillermo de la Cruz, whom we've seen mock humans for being sad and lonely as he leads them to their deaths and then dismembers their bodies. Too empathetic to feed on a human!

Fucking! okay!

I actually always kind of suspected that he wouldn't become a vampire with the others, at least not exactly the same kind. I'm not actually upset about that. I'm upset that he actively rejected that world, not because he could be something better and more interesting on his own, but because he didn't have the stomach for it. I always thought he'd realize that he's too strong to be just a basic-ass vampire, not that he'd realize he's too weak.

Seeing Guillermo build his own strength for several seasons only for them to tell us at the last minute that no, he is actually too weak just like they'd always mocked him as being, feels fucking insulting. Guillermo, after stubbornly wresting his power from the jaws of mediocrity with his own two hands, willingly giving it up--! Because he couldn't handle the life.

fuck, man.

This wasn't Guillermo realizing that he's stronger without vampirism. This is him just... being defanged again, both literally and metaphorically, just like they've been systematically doing for... honestly, since the showrunner change, really. S3 was fun and I enjoyed it, but now I can see the fucking writing on the wall. They never intended to let that man kill indiscriminately again, and I hate that. They're just going to keep taking away his power and his backbone and have him get kicked around again and again Freddie-style until we all die I guess. Because I guess they think that's funnier and easier to write.

I don't even know what to make of it all. It's so diametrically opposed to everything I found interesting about the character. The first few seasons were all about weirdos living in a normal human world. The humor was mostly derived from, like, a vampire trying to figure out the DMV. And Guillermo was finding that he was much less of a "straight man" to their weirdness as he thought. That he was being thrust into a wild and powerful world that he couldn't control, until he could. Until he found his own power and used it to devastating effect. He killed so many people in s2.

But as the show has progressed, as they swapped showrunners, as the focus has changed to exploring a much more supernatural world, Guillermo has been getting more and more "normal". He really is becoming more of the straight man. He almost never kills anymore, and when he does, it's solely out of direct protection that he can find no other way out of. He keeps trying to be responsible, to be caring, to be fair, and nothing else. Who gives a shit about that? Let the man kill a room full of people again. Let him throw a fit because the vampires didn't kill a victim he brought to them. Let him manipulate innocents into an early grave solely because it suits his own selfish needs.

Like damn, where's the man I remember who could be feral and selfish and sweet and caring all at once? What is this "too kind to be a vampire" bullshit? Was it just too hard for them to keep writing a character who was so complex and had so many contradictions? Did they think they had to make him suddenly feel conflicted about killing so they could justify his sweetness? Like Guillermo hasn't always managed to do both? What's even the point of giving him these powers, of having an arc where he comes to accept these powers, if you never let him truly use them anymore?

fuck

The entire time I was watching s5, I wanted to write a fic where they all get dosed with some kind of sex potion and Nandor and Guillermo have a lot of sex while thinking they have no choice for ages before finding out that it wore off weeks ago. And Guillermo finding out the truth and, like... I wanted to use him having that terrible knowledge that could destroy the relationship they'd been building to mirror the other secrets Guillermo is keeping. And I didn't know how I wanted to end it because I didn't know how the season would end. What Nandor knew and what he didn't and what his response would be.

And now I know how I want to end that fic, and it's with them together but not in a fully open and meaningful way. Guillermo is still retreating into humanity because he can't figure out that he lost that a long time ago, and Nandor has come to terms with the fact that he'll probably never truly have Guillermo. There's still anger and hurt feelings and a sense of dissatisfaction, like they'll never have an honest, truthful, and fully emotionally satisfying relationship if things stay as they are then. But they both love each other too much to give up the pale substitute for a relationship that they have. They both know what they have now isn't as good as what they could have had, but the alternative, living without each other, is too awful to contemplate.

And I know, I know that's just mirroring the way I feel about the actual series but...

damn, man. I guess I do still have a lot of feelings. lmao

SORRY I may be too exhausted right now to hold back. I'm just. Frustrated. idk.