#self reblog bc I love this ficlet sm

[gravelyhumerus]

I’m trying to get more into writing fanfic, jemily of course. But I’m having a hard time being like confident about it. Idk. Any tips? :)

to be confident one must pretend to be confident and let the confidence come from there. gas yourself up!!! if you like what you make, others will like your enthusiasm. i talk about my fic a lot bc a) im excited about it b) people will then talk to me about it!!

here are my writing tips:

write something that you would like to read. something that gets you excited. something that makes you want to write it. this can come from something you know well or something you wished you knew about

use prompts! my college au started with me scanning a billion “college au idea” masterlists for ideas

write out ur plan in bullet points first, it really helps

try doing some ficlets or headcanon posts first to get you used to writing your ideas out

write with proper grammar please. i will exit out of fics that are hard to read due to major grammar and punctuation issues. this is mostly for the people who dont do dialogue right. dialogue needs to be written like this: “Hello,” she said. Anything else and I wont read it. Sorry lol 

proofread. read it out loud after u write. 

(i say this acknowledging that many young writers and ESL folks are writing fic, which is immensely commendable this is just a personal preference!!! you do you and keep writing & learning!)

avoid giant walls of text. its really hard to read sometimes. please keep in mind that many are reading on tiny phones

post the full fic on tumblr in addition to posting on ao3. this is a new thing. we never used to do this but the folks seem to like this. put most of the fic under the cut

interact with ur readers!! make friends!! talk to your friends about it! i love my friends sm and also my beta @bees-teas-and-cheese who edits my fic out of the kindness of her heart

ive never had an beta before really and its lovely if u can find a kind soul like el

you may suck at first. my first fic i wrote at 14 and it was a self-insert published under a different username. its so embarrassing. you will not start off good. i have only a small bit of  fic writing under my belt but also a college degree and a significant amount of writing for publications and all of that helps my writing. it will not be perfect at first but dont fret!!! you’ll figure out what works & learn over time

READ!! read more fic than you write. fandom is a collective thing. support one another

reblog your fellow writers work. they will love you and do the same for you