#slow day at work = I'm thinking about my pirate blorbos

[lenskij]

another reason why my week is particularly shit: I've finished the one piece I have at home and there's a hold queue for the next volumes.

[bittercape]

2022 fanworks roundup

For a year where I, by all appearences, did nothing at all for the first half, quite a lot happened.

ART

I painted Bucky and Clint as pirates for the Winterhawk AU Bang, and was claimed by two amazing writers. The resulting fics are from the water thrown, discarded by veryrach and free as the wind that blows past me by flowerparrish, and they're both amazing <3

For the Winterhawk Big Bang, I made art for Hold Your Nerve by Inktastic1711 and for don’t care what you did (as long as you love me) by veryrach.

For the Rusty Quill Big Bang, I made art for The Haunting of Elias Bouchard by With_the_Wolves

FIC

I would have tried to sort this into fandoms or ships, but honestly they do get a little bit mixed up. So, chronologically:

Boris the Soviet Love Hammer

Bucky Barnes/Clint Barton, 11k, explicit

For the Winterhawk Big Bang I wrote a shenanigans-filled adventure featuring my favourite things to write: Competent Clint, Thirsty Bucky and Helpful Tony. Hopefully, one day, someone will see fit to draw mermicorn Clint like the world deserves. This fic is blessed with art from amoredition.

of people wrapped up tight in the things that will kill them

Bucky Barnes/Clint Barton/Jason Todd, 7k at 19/31 chapters, mature for violence

For whumptober, I haven't yet managed to finish Bucky, Clint and Jason's no good very bad day. Now that kinkmas is over (more on that later) I will hopefully have time to do it.

Raps at my window, waits at the gate

Jason Todd/Slade Wilson, 2865 words, explicit

At this point I had fallen into the DC hole courtesy of Jason Todd (new blorbo!) and the magnificent fic Give Thanks To Broken Bones by thepartyresponsible, who is one of the most brilliant writers out there and I recommend everything they've ever written. After this brief flailing break: My first adventure in DC features new OTP Jason Todd/Slade Wilson (because I absolutely cannot resist a grumpy old bastard) and my favourite type of Tim Drake, the slightly unhinged version. Regular readers might be able to see a pattern here.

What Spring Does With the Cherry Trees

Bucky Barnes/Clint Barton, 32k, explicit

The Winterhawk Olympic Big Bang made me finish this, which has been in progress for more than a year and the is the longest thing I've ever written. This is a bit different from my usual pace - it's a slow story that lets Clint and Bucky take their time to grow closer and fall in love. For this story I was lucky enough to collaborate with three artists: Dr. Girlfriend, VexedBeverage, and Call-Me-Kayyyyy. All their works are embedded in the story.

Baguettes At Dawn

Bucky Barnes/Clint Barton, 45k, explicit

Another labour of love on which veryrach and I have been collaborating on since February. It's a silly and fun bakery AU, spawned from a single pun I brutally eradicated from Rach's soft & delicate desires; hopefully, close to 45k of sourdough and madeleines later, the slaughter of a single pun was worth it.

American Thighs

Bucky Barnes/Clint Barton, 3k, teen and up

For the Winterhawk Wonderland Exchange, I got back on my bullshit and wrote fake dating, a meat market of a christmas party, and a devious Natasha.

For the Batfam Kinkmas Exchange I wrote a whole pile of works. That's what happens with new blorbos, I'm told.

The Seduction of Jason Todd

Jason Todd/Slade Wilson, 3565 words, explicit

Truth be told, I struggled a lot with this. I got my assigment, grasped the wish for fluff&smut like a baby koala, and then I realised fluff does not come naturally to Deathstroke the Terminator. Sincere apologies to the disproportionate amount of friends who had to suffer through my wailing about this for six weeks; but I do think it was worth it in the end.

Man of Milk and Honey

Michelin Man/Jason Todd, blessedly short at 1k, explicit

I don't know what to say about this. A comment about how the Michelin Man was made of ice cream combined with the prompt and the general vibes in the server planted a seed in my mind and I had no choice but to inflict it on everyone else. You have been warned.

Take Of Me What You Please

Jason Todd/Slade Wilson, 2667 words, explicit

I wanted to write a treat for Jack, who saw me hovering at the edge of the pit, and joyfully dragged me in. Incidentally, I also fullfilled my own Christmas wish, so no vicarious motives here.

Get Me A Taste Of Some Chaos

John Constantine/Jason Todd, 4k, explicit

I could not resist the detailed and varied request, and so we have 5+1 times John Constantine met Jason Todd, featuring swords, tentacles and various magic bullshit.

Get Into Your Slide

Bucky Barnes/Clint Barton/Jason Todd, 2476 words, explicit

Rach is, for all intents and purposes, my partner in crime, and my main cheerleader, my worst enabler. She deserves the world, but rather than that, I wrote her some porn for Christmas. Or rather, due to scheduling reasons, for New Year's.

Lay This Body Down

Jason Todd/Slade Wilson, 1621 words, explicit

There's a long and involved story about one word prompts and the Birdwatchers server, but the relevant part here is that I signed up for the word Bind at the very end of a long marathon, and decided to combine it with a kinkmas treat. Mostly to push myself to get it done. Shibari and kink discovery.

Total word count, excepting the works on which I am listed as co-creator but haven't written a single word:

117.267

My previous record was 61k in 2020, it's no wonder it feels like a lot this year.

[purrincess-chat]

Hi, same anon about the outline ask. I'm writing fanfic but it's an au so there's a lot of setting up I have to do before I get into the "fun stuff". I'm 20k in and I'm starting to feel like either I'm going too slow with how everything is happening or I'm not making sense as to what's going on. I WANT to write this story but I find myself thinking I'm not able to do it.

Going to assume this is also you.

I’ve compiled a few tips that might help you, but to avoid making this post any longer than it already is going to be, I’m going to just lightly touch on all of these, so if any of them seem helpful, let me know, and I can go into more detail. 

I’ve done a few AUs in my day, and even started to set up some bigger, more involved AUs (think pirates, fantasy, etc), but I ended up scrapping the more involved ones as fanfic because I felt they were too original, and I decided to just turn them into original stories with original characters instead. SO, I’m going to approach this from that standpoint because if you have this massive AU that diverges from the canon source material A LOT, then you’re basically writing something original with established characters. Since you’re writing fanfic, I’m going to skip talking about things like characterization and how to establish characters because theoretically, anyone reading your story is going to already be familiar with the characters. (I call this the fanfic shortcut)

That being said, in my first reply I talked about plot structure because even as a pantser, you need to have certain landmark points in your story to keep it moving and give yourself something to work towards. There are several other plot beats that I left out that you can read about here if you’re so inclined. You don’t necessarily have to plan out each of these beats since a big part of pantsing is not doing that, and I will say that fanfiction is pretty forgiving. People will read 200k of their blorbos running around like idiots and love every minute of it, so don’t feel like you have to come out here and write a masterpiece, which brings me to my first point:

1. Just do it. Have you ever heard of the shitty pot analogy? It’s one of my favorites that I’ve seen, and it has really helped me on my writing journey. Basically, there is a pottery class, and the teacher divides the students into two groups. Group 1 has the entire semester to make 1 pot, the perfect pot, all of their time is going to be devoted to this one pot. Group 2 can make as many shitty pots as they want and submit their best one at the end. At the end of the semester, people in Group 2 actually submitted better pots than Group 1. The moral of the story? You get better at things by practicing and doing it shittily. Especially because you’re writing fanfic, who cares if your prose isn’t perfect or if you miss some commas, or if your story is just 200k words of your blorbos building up the courage to hold hands. So make your shitty pot. You’ll learn a lot in the process, and the next pot that you make will be better. Accept that your story isn’t going to be perfect and just write whatever the hell you want. 

2. Read. No seriously. This is a legit writing tip. If you want to write a particular genre or type of story, you should absolutely read other people’s stories that accomplish what you are trying to do. That doesn’t mean copy other people’s work, but learning to read through a writer’s lens will help you improve your own craft. How does this person world build? What do they do successfully? What areas need work? What would I do differently?  How do they structure their plot? This sounds like you’re nitpicking their work, but the objective isn’t to critique someone else and determine if they’re good or bad. You’re studying and learning. If no one else out there has a story like yours in your fandom, branch out to other fandoms, or look for an actual published book that has a similar type of world/topic. Seeing how a story like yours is told successfully can help pull you out of places you are stuck. 

3. Build as you go. A big, big mistake I see people make in original works or AUs or even in fanfic in general is a thing called info-dumping. Info-dumping is exactly what it sounds like. You’re dumping all of this worldbuilding and information during the exposition portion of the story, and let me be the first to tell you: Your readers are bored. You’ll probably hear this a lot in writer spaces but it’s the age old debate of show vs tell. Info-dumping is very tell-y. Instead of setting up every little detail about your world and AU, put that shit into a food processor, and sprinkle it throughout your story instead. Let your readers explore the world with your characters and only bring up information as it becomes relevant. Find ways to integrate the information into the story naturally. 

Going back to the Hunger Games as an example, Suzanne Collins doesn't just tell us the Katniss is a skilled archer. She shows her going hunting and bringing back things that she killed with her skills. We aren't just told that her family is poor, we're shown by the sheer fact that she has to hunt for their food to survive. Find ways to show the information to the reader rather than just telling them that things are the way they are.

Also, be mindful of what information your readers actually need to understand the story. It’s unlikely that they need to know what type of money they use in your world or the detailed innerworkings of the political system (unless those things are extremely relevant to your plot). Think about what information your characters would know and what is relevant to them in the moment. I mean, how often do you walk around thinking about how the grass grows? Probably never unless you’re in a botany class or something. You shouldn’t reveal all of your world at once. Pick the few things that are absolutely necessary in the beginning, then sprinkle the rest throughout. It will be more rewarding and more interesting for the reader to be able to slowly explore the setting than if you dump it all on them at once. Let them sip it like a fine wine. 

4. Approach writing as if you were a reader. That sounds confusing, let me explain. The point of writing a story is for it to be read, correct? Oftentimes, we tend to separate the writer from the reader in ourselves. When you pick up a story or a book to read, you are usually doing so to be entertained. So, when you’re writing or editing, put on your reader glasses for a minute and ask yourself, if this was someone else’s story, how would I be feeling right now? Would I be bored? Would this make sense? Sometimes as writers we miss little things because we know exactly how the world works, so we may gloss over something because to us who created this world, it’s obvious, but to a reader it may be confusing. Asking yourself if you’ve sufficiently tied certain points together or explained things from a reader’s standpoint can be helpful. So, yes, branching off of a previous point. You should read other people's works as a writer (if you're specifically trying to learn and get better), and you should read back over your own work as a reader. Not all the time. Just every now and then to make sure everything still makes sense.

5. Find a beta. If you’re struggling to identify bits in your writing that don’t make sense, then it’s time for someone else to look at it. All great writers have betas. It’s just a fact. Every published novel you’ve ever read has had multiple eyes on it long before it ever hit the shelves. Writing is not as much of an individual thing as people might think. A lot of writers are part of a team because as the writer, it’s easy to miss things because you know everything. Having someone else that isn’t in your head that can tell you things like, this doesn’t make sense, this part is slow, I don’t think you explained this well enough, etc. is so helpful.

My beta usually picks up on things I never even thought about or points out things I completely missed. Betas can be hard to find, well, good betas that you work well with. Just as a word of caution, some people in fandom will say they are betas, but they may not work well for you. I’ve had betas give me straight up wrong or unhelpful advice in the past. Always know that at the end of the day, you are the one that gets to decide if their advice applies or is actually helpful. And once you do find a beta that works well for you, your writing will improve. Oftentimes now, I can usually pick up on things my betas have pointed out before while I’m writing, and I can correct them before I even send the piece off. Betas have a good way of opening our eyes to mistakes or habits that we have that we aren’t even aware of. 

Betas are also helpful if you get stuck. Lord knows I talk @avrilmaria​ to death in DMs about all of the ideas I have swimming around in my head. Sometimes when I get stuck, I can explain everything that I have to her, and either she can offer me suggestions that help get the creative juices flowing (even if I don’t end up using her suggestions, sometimes you need to think through why some ideas won’t work in order to find the one that does), and also, sometimes as I’m typing it out, I think of the solution in the moment. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been like, “Hey, I’m trying to figure out the ending to this part,” and then I start explaining what I’m considering and end up coming up with the solution as I’m typing it. Then my beta is like... What are you stuck on? You literally just told me what needs to happen. 

6. Identify the areas that are tripping you up. Pinpoint what exactly you’re stuck on. Is it worldbuilding? Is it characterization? Is it plot points? Is it lack of conflict? Is it just not knowing how to connect two points of the story? Knowing exactly where you’re stuck can help you find a solution to a specific problem.

If it’s characterization, go back to the source material. If it’s worldbuilding, maybe sit down and explore your world more and create an outline of important things you want to remember and explore. If plot is tripping you up, check out the beat sheet I included above and consider ways you can fix the structure of your plot to flow better. If you’ve written yourself into a corner that you don’t know how to get out of, back the truck up and try to figure out why this direction isn’t working. Scrap it if you need to. Keep in mind where you want your story to end and what your characters need to do to get there.

Again, fanfic is especially forgiving of this. You can run off on random tangents just for the hell of it, and so long as the blorbos are doing things, people will generally be okay with it, even if it doesn’t add to the plot or detours from a proper story structure. Seriously, fanfic is just here for a good time. 

7. Find some writer friends. This is so, so important! Writer friends will be able to help you so much because they will understand exactly what you are going through, and can usually offer encouragement, tips, and advice. If you don’t know how to make writer friends, I suggest joining discord servers for your fandoms, participate in events or zines or Big Bangs or whatever you can do to get yourself around other writers. Ask for advice. Exchange ideas. Hang out and talk about your favorite blorbos. Having other writers in your circle will be beneficial for everyone involved. We grow by supporting and helping each other. 

8. You need to plan at least a little bit. I know you don't like planning, but especially if you are getting stuck, having some concrete plans can help you. From what you described, if you change your mind a lot, that can contribute to why you are getting stuck. I know it seems like plotting will mess up your writing process, but as someone who used to be a pantser until I learned how to outline effectively, it really is game changing (for me). You might feel like you're taking a step backward, but once you figure out a way that works for you, you'll develop an even better writing method that prevents all of these stumbling blocks you're facing.

I used to do the same thing you did. I'd have a general idea for a story and maybe get a few chapters out, but eventually I'd hit a wall because I suddenly ran out of ideas and ways to keep going, or I'd write myself into a corner I didn't know how to get out of. Learning how to outline in a way that works for me completely changed all of that. My writing sessions go so smoothly now, I'm hardly ever stuck during the writing phase because I spent a lot of time on the planning phase. You don't have to be a meticulous planner and plan every single plot beat to a T, but even having a barebones outline can help you tremendously when you get stuck. Even during my pantsing days, I would do at least a barebones outline and write a single sentence for each chapter of what the most important events of the chapter were. But there is a reason I'm so pro outlines now because they have completely changed the game for me and eliminated writers block almost entirely.

To touch specifically on your situation, if you want to get into the action, just get into the action. As I said, you can worldbuild as you go, and I can tell you especially if you’re writing fanfic, people probably care less about the setup of your AU as they do about the characters they clicked to read about. Fanfiction readers are very character focused as far as what stories people are going to read. If your story follows two randos that appeared in the background of an episode, people probably aren’t going to read it no matter how interesting the plot is. That’s just the truth of fanfiction. 

People want to read about their favorites getting snowed in or having a meet cute at a coffeeshop or getting married or checking into a hotel to find out there’s only one bed or becoming roommates. It’s the wild west out there, and the world is your oyster. You’d be surprised how much readers can pick up on and how many blanks they can fill in themselves. Or what blanks they’ll even notice or care about. If they have questions, they'll ask in the comments. And most fanfic readers (unless they just have some ego they need to stroke) will be perfectly polite if you tell them you're still learning or trying to figure stuff out. Fanfic readers have seen it all, the good, the bad, the really bad. They know what they signed up for.

Don’t beat yourself up over your story. Writing fanfic should be fun, so don’t stress. Just cut to the fun stuff. Make a shitty pot. Have a good time. You’ll learn more about storytelling and your own writing when you look back on the finished product. Authors that write multiple books tend to improve more than those that take 20 years to write one single book.

If that AU is too daunting right now, write something else. Something shorter, something different, something more fun. Then go back to it. You’ll also build up a readership. Fanfic readers care less about quality (to an extent) and more about volume. The more works you put out, the more people will see your name and be intrigued to read. People will get familiar with your style and be more inclined to come back. Building a readership takes time, so don’t be discouraged if your early works don’t net as much attention as someone who’s been writing in the fandom for 4 years. And don’t let it inflate your ego if your first fic gets a lot of attention. Take it from someone whose most popular story has over 200k hits, but whose most recent story has less than 1000 hits. Wild, wild west, babe. 

I will leave you with a pep talk by one of my favorite Authortubers that I have personally learned a lot from. I recommend checking her and other authors out on Youtube, they are literally out here giving writing advice for free. Hopefully this all made sense to you. Again, if you have any more questions or want me to talk more specifically about any of these topics or if you have any other more specific questions about something I didn’t cover, hit me up again! Good luck!