#think of this like a big sister helping and not a teacher pls and thanku

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im absolutely in love with your fics and the overall story building in them!!!

im pretty new on marauders tumblr (ao3 has been my safe haven since, what?) and wanted to ask if you had any tips for writers, especially those who have no clue on how to make interesting plots work in their favour 😭🙏🏻

hi darling 🤍 a big welcome to tumblr and thank you so much for saying that! ao3 safe haven is so real, but we’re happy to have you here too<33

hmmmm, i feel like i both have a lot of advice and nothing at all? i want to be sure not to overstate my approach to writing as the “correct one” too, even though i really appreciate you considering me worthy of asking advice from.

since you're asking, these are my main general pieces of advice that i’ve felt work best for me and that i hope might be helpful for you:

i feel like most people know this by now, but just in case — write fics you want to read. don't just choose a plot because you think it's interesting or others will like it, choose it because it's something you genuinely wish to see come to life. it will be so much more motivating!

while it may sound counterproductive, try not to focus too much on making the plot "work" for you – for your first draft, it's better to just write something than to get caught up on semantics. you can go back and edit as much as you please later to properly communicate what you want, but you do need to have something written down at least. make a plan (if that strategy works for you), but then just write freely and come back once you're done to make your fic more true to the original plan.

on that note, test and try out various methods to find out what works best for you! i find that approach is highly individual. whether you work best when planning or going off of impulses, if you're an outline or a mindmap person, etc etc. same with finding a style – maybe you thrive more when there's less dialogue or vice versa, and that's affecting your writing experience.

one of my favourites: try to be mindful of the perspective the fic is written from and let that influence how it’s written. choose a character, whether that is the reader or someone else, and let their inner thoughts and feelings influence how the narrative develops. you can probably see this the most in my remus fics if you need examples, with how he overthinks and beats himself up. it doesn’t have to be extreme, but i find that small phrasings can make a big difference in how you view the fic and drive it forward. it adds depth and characterisation in a very flavourful way.

be aware of your pacing. often when people struggle with making "interesting plots work" they are either trying to push too much into too short of a time frame and/or too few words or they're stretching an event out unnaturally. of course there are a hundred ways to do pacing and nothing is right or wrong per say, but if something is kind of... off? about your fic, then it might just be a disproportionate pacing!

don't worry too much about it<33 very very few people ever criticise fics, most are just happy to read and enjoy themselves. at the end of the day, you're doing this because it's fun, so follow your instincts and enjoy yourself 🫂 sometimes if you need to transition a scene, it's enough to just write "the next day..." or something "basic" – no need to be shakespeare in every single line.

again, welcome so much, i hope some of this resonates with you in some regard<33 big hugs!