#the writing life

[sylphidine]

Comments please. Thoughtful comments, even better.

I crave that mineral.

[anexperimentallife]

[shealwaysreads]

Saw my first post with someone admitting they used chatGPT to ‘write a fic’ which they then shared here on tumblr and on Ao3.

To be clear, using AI to churn out a piece of fiction is not writing.

Using a bot (possibly one that was trained using a scrape of Ao3, that is to say, the theft of work from every writer who has posted their work on Ao3) is NOT WRITING.

It is theft. It isn’t creation. It’s a regurgitation of the consumed collective work and effort and heart and time of every writer who has shared their work on Ao3.

‘I’m not a good writer’ is no excuse.

Want to be a writer? Put in the time everyone else does to practice.

Don’t feel confident in your work? Open yourself up to the same vulnerability and risk that the rest of us do.

You don’t get to use a fucking bot to vomit out an approximation of a story and pretend you’ve got skin in the game.

The sad thing? This bot-assembled fic wasn’t bad. It was bland, but it had internal logic, some passing context to character and canon. It wasn’t like those early AI art pieces that had surreal compositions and extra fingers. It wasn’t immediately obvious it was made by a bot.

In this instance the person who posted it admitted they had used a bot. Which, actually, I have some respect for. But it probably isn’t the first and it won’t be the last.

I don’t know that there’s a solution to this, but it is both hurting my heart and enraging me.

[zannolin]

every time

[naomilibicki]

When you're writing a cute bit of character interaction/worldbuilding exposition that is also foreshadowing tragic events that you have planned for later

[beaconfeels]

I’m so grateful to @nickcharleswife for getting me started on a “100 words a day” goal. Before that, I always thought a low goal would be maybe 300-500 words a day, and that’s usually the lowest I would set it.

However, it turns out that it often still created too big of a hurdle for my brain to get over. 100 words makes it much easier for me to pick up my phone and just add at least 100 words to a WIP on any given day. I still miss days and I still don’t always want to do it, but knowing it will only take a few minutes makes a huge difference.

I often go a decent amount over 100 words even on my least productive days, and that’s also motivating. It makes me feel like I’m not just hitting my goal, but blowing it out of the water. That’s a real treat for my brain which is, frankly, way too used to me failing to reach creative goals. 🧠🎉

So far this month my word count looks like this:

Those are really low word counts, right? And yet it means in the first five days of this month I added over a thousand words to my WIP! As someone who sometimes goes whole months without adding anything to my projects, it feels really good to be moving forward.

It’s also really surprising to me how much even 100 words can move a story forward. When I’m feeling stuck, it helps to just get those few words out. Little by little the story moves forward, and I get through those sticky places that tended to stall me out for weeks before.

Anyway, I just wanted to share about this in case it helps someone else. I know so many of us have stories in us that we want to get out, and it can be frustrating to go long stretches of time without making progress. Happy writing to you, and good luck!

[frinsstudios]

When you badly want to write that one scene now but you're still in this one boring scene that has to happen in order for that one scene to make sense

[junemermaid]

1, 3, and 17 for ao3 wrapped!

1) How many words have you written this year?

AO3 says 88,494 words, but about 16,000 of those were posted last year. I can't be arsed to do the exact math, so the ballpark is about 72,000 words. Which is pretty respectable, after years and years of writing being like pulling teeth. Finding some new fandoms last/this year really helped.

3) What work are you most proud of (regardless of kudos/hits)?

Uhhh there's kind of two answers. I think the taste of pomegranates is the most ambitious thing I've started this year, but it's not done yet so it exists in a flux state, half real, half in my head only.

So, I'm gonna say A Guest in the House of Dreams (Nirvana in Fire, that happy ending you sometimes need for your doomed ot3), because it slotted together slowly but pretty much exactly as I had envisioned. It does contain that one infamous paragraph where I accidentally plagiarised Little Women and then spent an entire day honing one piece of dialogue to avoid said plagiarism, but even so. Maybe all the more so for all that trouble.

17) Your favorite character to write this year?

Di Feisheng from Mysterious Lotus Casebook. Perfect case of a character you think you have down in the first third of the show, and then the show simply starts unravelling him and recontextualising everything you know, until by the final episode you look at him and go, well, that was a misleading first impression.

Frustrating emotionally locked-up onion man. I'm still weeping as I peel back his layers.

(On that note, shout-out to Lucanis Dellamorte for also fitting this same general type, which is apparently now catnip to me.)

ao3 wrapped

[aconflagrationofmyown]

Writing Captain Presley nudging his boat into a tributary from the main river has become shockingly…suggestive.

I was not prepared for this, they don’t teach you this in fanfic school, y’all.

[space-blue]

Peeping at the process...

So I've been *struggling* with my current fic chapter, and I wanted to show readers and people at large [waves at my adoring mob of followers, yes, you] an insight into the writing process on such painful fics, and also the amount of crap my friend @spicedrobot deals with (angelic levels of patience + reciprocity in bitching opportunities)

Presenting, in no particular order: "I only have 3 commenters so I can make it weird and fun, but I hope they enjoy it. Anyway, no need for this to be complicated or anything—"

You have a void of a couple of weeks, then an email ping the weird fic updated... this is what was happening during that time.

Also it's about the 2nd chapter of this fic, and it's currently 2x longer than chapter 1 and please someone send a rescue team before I die

[irish-urn]

tagged: @2mad4plaid tagging: @venturismcdonald, @ironduke10, @cacophonous-noise

number of stories posted to ao3 for 2024: 7. I'm so disappointed in myself.

word counted posted for last year: 109,586, which is pretty decent... But I was hoping for 200k. Alas.

fandoms i wrote for: Teen Titans and Life with Derek

pairings: RobStar and Dasey. Also I think we could call McTuri Mercenaries gen-ish...

stories with the most

KUDOS: To Have and To Hold (122) BOOKMARKS: To Have and To Hold (52) COMMENT THREADS: To Have and To Hold (45)

work i’m most proud of (and why): "What a Good Boy, What a Smart Boy". I called it the 'therapy fic' while I was working on it, and it's almost 30k of Derek hurt/comfort. I spent a lot of time in my blorbo's mind and POV and I really think I did a good job showing his growth.

share or describe a favorite review you received: I actually am super lucky and get lovely reviews a lot???? BUT, there was one from "There Must be 50 Ways to Become Consort" where someone told me they usually didn't like established relationships because they found them boring, but they really loved how I wrote this couple and played with it, so that was VERY flattering.

a time when writing was really, really hard: I actually struggled a LOT this year with writing. Especially this summer -- work was a pain and very stressful and I was just too exhausted to write. I've tried a couple different ways to encourage myself to write consistently, but I still haven't figured it out. Alas.

a scene or character you wrote that surprised you: There's a small scene in To Have and To Hold where Casey calls Derek "baby" out of nowhere, and I was NOT expecting it. Neither was Derek. Neither was Casey. But we went with it.

a favorite excerpt of your writing: From "What a Good Boy, What a Smart Boy"

“Uh, because she was a prissy little brat who was trying to take over my territory?” Duh. Wasn’t it obvious? “She just, like, barged into my life and tried to take over my space. As if it wasn’t my house and my school and my life.” Mae raised her eyebrows. “Truly, how unforgivable.” “And,” Derek stressed, leaning forward a little. “She was fucking cute about it all too! And, like, hot sometimes. She took dance classes — she would exercise in the backyard sometimes and get all snippy if you interrupted her like her stupid music wasn’t making my ears bleed. And she liked my best friend, and then the captain of the football team — she had no loyalty. Zero. And she kept, like, demanding equal treatment and wanted to make schedules for everything, and she’d just storm into my room and scold me for living my life, and then would give me those goddamn eyes whenever I did something nice.” He rolled his eyes and dropped his head against the back of the couch again. “It was exhausting.” There was nearly a minute of silence and then: “You’re the kind of person that feels things very strongly, aren’t you?” He raised a finger into the air, but closed his eyes, because he really was very tired. “She’s still a pain, let me be clear.”

how did you grow as a writer last year: Did I???? I don't think I did???? I mean, I'm probably 100k worth of words better than I was last year, but... Eh????

who was your greatest positive influence this year as a writer (could be another writer, beta, cheerleader, etc.): @2mad4plaid and @rubberchknpurseee. The former was a truly EXCELLENT sounding board for the vast majority of my fics and always willing to listen; and the latter was a truly excellent prompter. Literally half of the words I wrote this year were fics for her.

anything from your real life show up in your writing last year: ...I don't think so? Except maybe that my friend was suffering from migraines, so I gave Derek a migraine in one fic...

any new wisdom you can share with other writers: If you can, find a friend who is really excited about your writing. They don't have to know the fandom or the characters, but find someone that you can talk to about your projects. Not only will they help you figure out plot holes and outlines, but they will encourage you and help you reach the finish line. It's so easy to say "Well, I know how this ends, so why bother writing it?"; but if you have ONE person who wants to read it... Then you have one person to write it for.

any projects you’re looking to starting (or finishing) this year: NOTHING IN 2024. I GIVE UP. But in 2025, I wanna finish my two LWL series, my Teen Titans story, and two other LWD fics -- a sequel to one of my other monsters, and hopefully an AU. If I could manage that? I'd be satisfied (especially since I'm pretty sure that's gonna be a LOT of words...)

[bettsfic]

Can’t seem to write without considering what I would want my author career to be like or what readers are looking for and I feel like to a certain extent this crippled creativity. I’m in no way saying there things should never be considered but sometimes, especially in the beginning it can feel like too much. Thoughts?

it is definitely too much. i used to feel it too. but once i started getting some wins, once i started really listening to the kind things people were telling me over the criticisms, i started to take myself more seriously. and then once i was on the other side of the mentor/mentee divide, when i realized i had been lifted up by writers who believed in me and my work and that i could lift others by believing in them and theirs, i started to see myself as one link in a long chain. and when you're part of a chain, nobody can move faster than you or slower than you; you all move together.

it's natural to consider your audience when writing. it's also natural to consider your market. every artist in history has experienced to some degree this same anxiety. it's the anxiety of creating something that you want to be see welcomed into the world. that fear abates but it never goes away entirely, so you've got to build up defenses against it. mine was 1 part hope, 1 part blind (possibly unearned) faith in myself, and 7 parts spite. hope, faith, and spite can take you a long way. "i hope this will happen," then "i have faith this will happen," then "fuck you, this is going to happen."

an audience isn't something that already exists. you're not a performer walking on stage for a theater of people waiting for you. you're a busker, or a mime, or one of those human statue guys. you're on the street trying to grab the attention of people who don't want to acknowledge you. you're saying, "hey, look at me, i've got something worth seeing," and you wave it around in front of them until they're finally forced to look at you. you're not just a creator of your work, you're also a salesman of it. success is all about the footwork.

and lastly, although novels are made from inspiration and skill, author careers are made of boring administrative tasks. sending your work out, receiving rejections, tracking rejections, finding more places to send your work out, replying to emails, applying for funding, querying agents, filling boxes of text labeled "please describe your current project" but only give you 250 characters to do so. the sooner you separate the ideas of "careers" and "audience," i think the happier you'll be. stories take creativity; careers take tenacity. writing is about words; publishing is about numbers. if you can't have hope for your work, or faith in yourself, or a simmering pool of spite, you can always rely on organizational tedium. you never have to learn how to Be A Writer. you only have to learn how to attach a PDF to a form and hit "submit."

[anexperimentallife]

[calliopeos]

The worst thing about having original characters is that all the material is up to you and you alone

[northernnoir]

tagged by: @ironduke10 tagging: @flowersfortheghost

number of stories posted to ao3 for 2024: 9

word counted posted for last year: Hard to say. A lot of fics carried over from 2024

fandoms I wrote for: Spider-Verse

pairings: Miles Morales and Gwen Stacy

stories with the most

KUDOS: You Held Your Breath (933) BOOKMARKS(including private): Mother Knows Best (134) COMMENT THREADS: You Held Your Breath (162)

work I’m most proud of (and why): Mother Knows Best. It's the fic I can say I wrote purely for myself and felt very therapeutic.

share or describe a favourite review you received: From ironduke10 on "Mother Knows Best" who said "You TERRIBLE person!" (you know I love you mate) and I wrote a no powers AU that he read, so I consider that quite the personal achievement.

a time when writing was really, really hard: From December of 2024 to right now lol

a scene or character you wrote that surprised you: Pretty much everything I wrote in my fic called "Mirror Mirror". Iykyk

a favourite excerpt of your writing: Gwen messing with Miles who is pretending to only know Spanish

"Hola, Miles.” Gwen drops her bag and takes the seat next to him. She doesn’t build up to it. She just comes right out and says it. “I think I have a crush on Spider-Man.” “I - ¡¿qué?!” He looks like he’s just glitched in real life. Gwen grins.

how did you grow as a writer last year: I don't think I did

who was your greatest positive influence this year as a writer (could be another writer, beta, cheerleader, etc.): All the people I'm glad to call my friends.

anything from your real life show up in your writing last year: Yes, but I won't say what.

any new wisdom you can share with other writers: Write what makes you happy, don't feel pressure to appeal to anyone else in what you write or how often you update, always try to have fun.

any projects you’re looking to starting (or finishing) this year: So many! I hope to get something done on my pirates AU (I'm delusional), the FWB fic I only have one chapter of, the Office AU, YHYB is just going to go on forever, and I want to try writing for some pairings other than Miles and Gwen. So far just Hiccstrid and Percabeth. I have a few ideas there which should be fun.