#pls feel free to ask more q's or for elaboration if anything is unclear!

[skiecas]

so glad i found you had social media so i could let you know how much i LOVE your writing for iwaoi! i had read one of your older works we shine like diamonds a while back and didn’t realize you’re the same author as skiecas, but to see the growth in your writing was also really inspiring. if you don’t mind me asking but do you have any suggestions for other writers on how to improve and to avoid portraying characters as ooc? bc i think you characterize iwaoi perfectly. also how does one learn or get better at the more teen+ scenes if you know what i mean lol i am very shy (yes even as someone in their twenties ha) and can never bring myself to write things with the slightest hint of anything more than a hs romance if you catch my drift…but any tips would be greatly appreciated!! i usually don’t read things besides gen/teen, except for a few…like your works and i think you do it really well, iwaoi’s love for each other and intensity of it is portrayed really well in your stories. pls feel free to address/share as much as you like :)

goshh, this msg meant a whole lot to me ;;o;; i had a period in 2016-2017 when i was really unhappy with everything i wrote, and i even left fandom for a bit bc it just wasn’t putting me in a good headspace (which is around the time i moved over to this blog). but now, i see some growth in my own writing as well, and i’m super happy with where my writing is now! and this might be the first time anyone besides myself has commented on it, which is so special to me!! so thank you!!❤️

i’m going to ramble a whole bunch about writing & everything you asked of me, so i’ll place it under the cut!! ^.^

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let me just start by saying that as much as i’m happier with my current writing, i think writing is a craft that’s constantly evolving and always has room for improvement! i still hope to get better and better the more i write!

e.g. back when i posted ‘diamonds,’ i was SUPER happy with it! but now i have a hard time looking back on it, since my writing has changed sm ^^; so maybe i’ll feel the same way about my current fics a few years from now, haha. and i don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. nothing wrong with appreciating where you began, but loving where you are currently more, and striving to get even better.

ok!! with that said,

this might be sort of a “cliche” answer, but i personally think the best way to get better at writing is to read more!! read lots of books, read lots of fics, look closely at the things you enjoyed reading the most, pick apart writing styles, adopt the things you like. the things that i like writing also tend to be the things that i like reading, and vice versa. i also just get REALLY inspired when i read good books, or good fics, or hear good song lyrics. that’s the kind of thing that kickstarts my inspiration, so it’s no wonder my writing tends to reflect that, too!

another thing i would say is to practice lots!! WRITE more!!

this is true for writing style, but also true for “ooc-ness.”

do i think the first time i ever wrote iwaoi, that it was the most beautiful, most in-character, or the most “correct” way to write them? absolutely not! ((i probs can’t go back and looks at those fics either, urkk)).

but i kept writing them!! lots and lots! there was a point when i was writing iwaoi every single day. and over time, i began to see what i like about them, or what about them matters most to me. i asked myself questions, like, do i think oikawa is an easy crier? do i think iwa gets insecure? as much as iwa delivers words of affirmation to oikawa, do i think he would spout poetry right to his face?

((the answer to all those is no, though to different degrees. but those are discussions for another day))

e.g. to tie my two points together, i remember back in 2017, i read a couple fics in which i REALLY enjoyed the seijoh4 dynamic. i was super inspired and wanted to try writing their bantering + their easygoing relationship for myself, which is how ‘galaxies’ came about. and i had sm FUN writing that fic!! and it ended up setting the tone for how i write ALL my iwaois and seijoh4s now. it was as simple as just experimenting and practicing.

also, i straight up just ask myself, “is this smth i think teenage boys would say?” bc as much as the haikyuu boys are passionate and say some v poetic things, they’re all just dumb, teenage boys at the end of the day. and i like my characterizations to reflect that! like, i want them to feel “real” rather than just characters who just say whatever i wanted them to say, if that makes sense. reading dialogue aloud can help with that, too!

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my writing process has also changed quite a bit since my earlier days in the fandom!

i stopped jumping headfirst into fics. now, i like to sit down and do at least a little planning. create scenes. bridge gaps. think about the overall themes or parallels i want present throughout the fic. i do A LOT of research now as i write, too, even if it might not be outright obvious in my fics; i like things to feel authentic, and real, even things as simple as high school schedules or what drinks you can find in a jpn vending machine, hehe.

and i go back to the source material a lot too. when i wrote ’the walk home,’ i had a 3-page spreadsheet on kuroken, and everything they like, dislike, the scenes they have together, their childhood. and i had a bunch of their manga panels open too ((rip my computer)). this helps sm with knowing charas, esp those you’re not familiar with writing.

also, if good dialogue pops into your head, WRITE IT DOWN!!! as detailed as possible!! this is my saving grace :”D

that’s kind of the basics, but you can read a more in-depth look into my process here if you’d like!

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some more technical things i’ve learned or changed in my writing over the past few years:

— vary sentence structure! it’s not fun to read big blocks of writing, or long run-on sentences, at least for me. no matter how poetic they might be. long and short sentences are both equally good! sometimes the best fics are simple but still full of impact.

— a balance between dialogue and prose is important! this, i struggled with, since i was never very confident in my dialogues. but i’ve been working hard at it! i’m trying to inject more wit into my charas, at least, lol.

— i LOVE “say/said” and “replied” sm!!! i try not to be scared to use them lots, bc honestly, sometimes they’re the perfect words.

— write what you like!!!! seriously!! i think when you’re having fun writing, your fics reflect that. i have a BLAST writing seijoh4 or national team shenanigans, and i will try to include them wherever i can in my fics. and i’m v lucky that other people seem to enjoy those scenes, too :”)

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lastly, as for explicit scenes,

that’s not exactly my forte either, i’m sorry ^^;

do i consider myself the casanova of explicit fics? absolutely not. i even have a hard time looking back over my own explicit scenes. that’s bc i myself am in that “practicing” phase when it comes to writing those scenes! i don’t write them often, unless i think a fic would benefit from it (which was the case with ‘chasing gold’)).

though i WILL say, it helps to have a friend whose more comfortable with explicit-rated things to look over things and ask for advice!

but i also don’t think a fic NEEDS anything nsfw to be good. really, truly. if you’re not comfortable writing it, no need to push yourself. i try sometimes when i genuinely want to, but i’ve also written 40k+ word fics in which the pair didn’t even KISS at the end, and i WOULD do it again, lolol

i wish i could be more help in this area, nonnie. but alas, i must admit to my own weakness😔