#val’s advice

[soullessseraphim]

Move, Lucio. It's their turn with the fur

Testing things out oouhouhououwowooowhhohw

[yanderedrabbles]

congrats! Ur work has rlly paid off

If ur not uncomfortable(if u r pls ignore), how'd u do it? I've started out at the same time and dont even have quarter the amount u have which rlly bums me out and makes me want to stop posting

One totally simple secret- I post a TON. Like almost every day.

The only month I didn't post almost every day was January, and while I don't have a screenshot of my activity, my notes absolutely plummeted. From about 2000/day to about 400/day. It took the whole of February and most of March to get them back to my pre-hiatus levels.

Let's look at the stats:

I didn't post a new fic yesterday or today and you can see how my notes tanked from around 2000 to about 1000 in just a day.

POSTING FREQUENTLY IS THE BEST WAY TO GROW!

I'm sorry to yell at you gorgeous, but it's true. While I put a ton of work into variety and into improving my craft, the biggest factor has been posting frequency. It keeps me on top of common tags and recommendations, so new readers are a lot more likely to stumble on my stuff. It keeps my current readers engaged. It's the main way I've gained followers.

Okay, we got that out of the way? Let's get into some of the more nuanced practices that boost reach.

You can see that my fic length varies a lot. There are plenty of posts under a thousand words, but also a few topping ten thousand.

I think that having variety keeps things interesting for my readers. Most of us don't have time to sit down and read a 10k word fic every day, but we still want to have our yandere fix. That's where my shorter stuff comes in.

I think having variety in length also draws in new readers. You might be skeptical about reading a 12k word smut if it pops up on your dash and you have no clue who the author is, but you're probably down to read the quick 600 to a 1000 word drabble. And if you like it, you might just check out more of my stuff! Yippee!

I also aim for variety in style. Let's look at some of my more popular posts:

Yandere Best Friend

Yandere Greek Champion

Yandere Yakuza

Yandere Fairytale

Did ya notice anything? All four are pretty popular fics on my blog, and they're all VERY different. In length, in formatting, in the approach to storytelling.

Variety is the spice of life! Have fun with your writing, experiment, take risks. If it doesn't work, then at least you took the chance and learnt something. Your readers are not going to complain, I promise.

Editing is also a must. You're almost always going to miss a typo or two - they're like mosquitoes in summer, they somehow always manage to slip through the cracks - but a fic should be pleasant to read. If I see five typos in the first paragraph, it's a bit of a turn-off. Most apps have a built-in spell check, and I've recently been experimenting with Grammarly. Even just doing a final comb-over before you post makes a huge difference.

Tag your stuff too! I have my go-to set of tags that I usually use on my posts, but I'm always on the lookout for new tags that are applicable to my posts. How else are people going to see your stuff? How else will Tumblr know to recommend you? Use tags babe, I promise they don't bite.

Oh, and don't forget to ask for feedback either. Beta readers and writing groups are the backbone behind so many famous real-world authors. Your Tumblr moots will be happy to skim over your stuff and give you some pointers. We're all in this together, and that means striving to get better together.

And finally, I'm always trying to learn more about writing. All the tips and tricks behind it. All the ways I can make my stuff just a little better - my dialogue a bit more snappy, my prose a bit easier to read.

My go-to writing guy is James Scott Bell. Especially Voice - the secret power behind great writing. James is funny and easy to read, so I HIGHLY recommend his books on writing. Currently, I'm reading How to Write Pulp Fiction and it's soooo helpful. Am I actually getting better as a writer? That's debatable, but I'm constantly putting in the effort and I think my readers can sense that.

"But Val, I can't write every day! I've got obligations, work, school, a hundred different things to get done! Hitting 2k words daily just isn't possible for me!"

I hear ya kid. But guess what? I couldn't clock 2000 words a day at the beginning either. But I forced myself to sit down and write as much as I could between all my other obligations. Over time, you'll learn to write faster. You'll learn to push through all the small worries holding you back. You'll learn to optimise your workflow so that you clock an easy 1k in an hour.

Every little bit counts. Even if all you can spare is 300 words a day or half an hour of editing, it adds up. By the end of the week, that's already a 2.1k fic ready to go.

I used to think writers were just insanely talented and naturally creative. And I have no doubt so many are. But it takes practice and patience to improve.

We all get those moments when we ask ourselves if we should even bother. What if I'm a total hack? What if I'm the worst person to put paper to pen since the author of My Immortal? What if what if what if -

Stop. Just keep writing.

Don't listen to those voices. If you do, you won't write anything at all, and how are supposed to improve if there's nothing to improve upon?

Sometimes, it's like a kick to the jaw to see another writer doing well. Why isn't that me? What are they doing that I'm not? I deserve it just as much as they do, so why am I not getting the same amount of notes?

Don't even bother entertaining thoughts like those. Take a deep breath and then keep writing. You have your own voice and style that your fans love. Your only competition is with yourself.

There you have it. Simple as it gets.

I promise you, you're an author worth reading. You have fans who love you, who can't help but scream when you post a new fic. Just keep putting in the hours and it WILL pay off.

[the-cooler-tb2]

Whenever Alan hides from you, just take a walk around the villa. If you listen close enough, you’ll hear a bag of chips crinkling from where he’s hiding. That’s how you find him.

[inkesse]

For the first time ever, I used tarot as a method to try and contact Lord Apollo. I've been anxious about it for a while, but today the sun shone brightly and I saw some beautiful art of him, so I just.. felt compelled to give it a try. It went better than I ever could have expected and I truly do feel cared for, and that what I do in devotion to him is enough.

[maryasmorevna]

if only i could pull off a convincing harrowhark nonagesimus cosplay for the next lucca comics.....

[orphix-venom]

So does anyone know if it's like. normal. if your Lavos starts shedding?

[judesstfrancis]

see the thing is it's hard to make friends in your 20s but also if u don't do that how are u supposed to like. Find Someone right but then also in your 20s is when people start pairing off For Real so by the time you DO make friends they already have someone or are like making the steps TO have someone but it's also like well if I meet people for the specific purpose to date them I will never feel comfortable enough to actually Like them on a romantic level bc now I feel pressured to feel that way about them bc we entered some sort of weird social contract when we said hey let's see each other for the sole purpose to date instead of just hanging out and seeing what happens. but then like once again if u are just hanging out and seeing what happens then like okay neither of u are connected in any which way except that u like to watch movies on weekends and get dinner with the rest of your friends twice a month and then like okay maybe they find someone that they DO get together with for the express purpose to date bc once again u two are just hanging out so there's no obligation there and u cannot even get mad bc like. yeah you're just pals what are u gonna do say they can't have fun on a date so then you're just like. chilling. by yourself. which is FINE but you'd like to not be by yourself once or twice so like. lather rinse repeat u know. anyway what was I saying

[high-pot-in-noose]

Formal Titles for Noblemen Who Aren't Noblemen YET

In my past post here, where I discussed titles and forms of address of the aristocracy and gentry, I mentioned right off the bat that the term 'heir' (popular pseudo-title in fanfiction) is not a title and also will never be one since there is currently no method of retroactively adding a definition to a lexicon.

In this post here, I suggested a potential alternative to the favored but incorrect 'Heir' that could be used in a historical fantasy setting, but in truth there are already historical titles/terms of address that fulfill this role — they are simple rather archaic.

Childe

The strict definition of this word is 'a nobleman's son who has yet to attain knighthood;' essentially, an aristocratic squire. A young man might be called 'Childe Tristan.' It's a rank within chivalry rather than strictly aristocracy, so the person's forename is used rather than their surname.

However, in recent decades, the term has also been popular in vampire fiction to mean an offspring vampire (while the creating vampire is called a 'sire'). In this case, 'childe' is entirely gender-neutral, albeit not a title nor term of address but just a descriptive noun.

Combining these two definitions, it would be very easy to use 'Childe' within a historical fantasy setting or even an urban fantasy setting where an aristocracy and/or gentry is involved.

Ætheling

This can also be written as aetheling, atheling, or etheling. This word is pre-Norman Conquest. During most of the Anglo-Saxon rule of England, it meant 'a prince of the royal dynasty eligible for the kingship.' However, it should be noted that kingships weren't usually hereditary during that era but dependant on election or competition, so it doesn't quite mean 'prince' in the way we know it now.

It should also be noted that in the earliest years of that era, 'aetheling' originally meant any person of noble birth, royal or otherwise. It was often later used in a poetic sense to mean 'a good and noble (of character) man.'

If the setting you're writing can be argued to be using a language where the word continued to be used as the original Anglo-Saxon rather than evolved the way it did and then died out, I'd say 'aetheling' is a banger alternative to the incorrect 'Heir.'

There's even a Latinized Germanic form — 'Adelin' — which can can suit a modern fantasy setting. (Ignore how it's also the name of a village in Poland lol)

[yanderedrabbles]

I’m a new writer, can you tell me about your writing process? Are you a planner or a pantster?

welcome to the fold child, here be much editing and rewriting and possibly also dragons.

I'm DEFINITELY a planner. Usually I'll start my stories off with whatever inspired me but as soon as I get a handle on the idea, I jot down plot points to direct the story.

I'm also all over the place when I write. For example, I'm currently working on a Wild West noncon with multiple characters. I've been bouncing around from one section to the other as the ideas come. The trick is to try and neaten it all up in post lmao

Since you're asking a bit more about the writing process, here's where I'd recommend starting:

My favourite books on writing:

Voice by James Scott Bell. It's pretty short but there are so many exercises to practice voice and style. It's that little extra thing that really pushes a piece from good to great. For example, Stephen King has one of the most distinctive styles I've read and I gobble it up every. Single. Time.

Save the Cat Writes A Novel by Jessica Brody. This one is THE guide to novel and plot writing. It's fun to read, easy to reference and it breaks different genre tropes down into much more digestible tips. It's also the best guide for plotting, and really runs you through how to structure a story. Even if you aren't working on long, multi-chapter stories, knowing the different story structures is a must. If you take away one recommendation from this list, let it be this one.

My favourite writing YouTubers:

Jenna Moreci. She's funny and no nonsense. She's also got a writing book out called Shut Up and Write The Book that's on my tbr. She dives into common tropes, discusses when they work and when they're cliche, and some of the best ways to subvert them.

Alexa Donne. A romance and YA author, she's absolutely incredible when it comes to newbie writing mistakes. She's also really great at helping you edit and plot your stuff. She weighs in quite a bit on the plotters vs pantsers debate too.

Obviously, the creative process is going to look different for everybody. The key is to just try different approaches and see what works best for you. Some authors like to have all their background info down pat before they start and others can't write well unless its all happening in the moment. Some people like to do huge writing sprints while others aim for a little every day. It's all trial and error to find what works for you.

My biggest trick as a writer is to literally jot down my ideas as soon as they pop up. Sometimes they'll be little snippets, little pieces of dialogue that sound good, scenes that just pop into my head. I have so many notes just dedicated to compiling these ideas. It doesn't matter that I might not use them in my current fic, I always hold onto them for later.

I'd recommend looking at some famous author writing routines and pulling ideas from there too. Personally, I try and write a little everyday and then do at least two rounds of editing before I post.

I've still got a TON of room for improvement, but those are kind of the seminal works that got me to this point.

That's all. Have fun babe! May the words always come easy, may the editing be ruthless and may the readers be cool as hell. 💕

[the-cooler-tb2]

Hey um Val..i'm making something in the kitchen- please don't don't inform the brothers nor Scott, also do you think they will like any pie of sorts? - 🤗

Apple pie. Scott is a fiend for apple pie. It’s the old reliable for him. Big brother is mad? Bring him apple pie. As for the rest of the rabble, any kind of pie just works. Anything not to suffer Grandma’s cooking.

Good luck with them not finding out. I hate to break it to you, but this is the internet. My lips are sealed, but they miiiight see this.

[lucy-frostblades]

okay pls if anyone has done animatics before i need help how do you make it look like the camera is moving without the characters moving?

[valentinerose529]

Looking for advice on restorative bookbinding!

I recently learned about fanbinding and custom bookbinding, and I've decided it would be a super neat thing to learn how to do. Since i've never done anything like it before besides like, those little books we'd make in elementary school with folded printer paper and a staple gun, I'm looking for outside advice!

I got a very nice sci-fi book from my dad, but calling it well-loved is an understatement.

It's torn completely in half, but in my (limited) experience it's still salvageable. Like, as a book, it's still usable, i can and do read it i'm just careful with the outermost pages of each chunk.

I'd like to try my hand at rebinding this book, just as a beginner side project, since it's here and I already own it and nobody will read it except me, so who cares if the binding job is sloppy or crooked?

Each half is mostly solid, although the cover pieces and outer pages are only hanging on by threads.

The paper of the spine is pretty cracked, but the two cover pieces are in pretty good condition except for nicks and fraying around the edges.

the second chunk has a hole in the top page, but it only takes out like two words and i'm ninety percent sure i can extrapolate the blanks from the context if/when i patch that page.

It's about 860 pages long not counting the non-story ones like title pages, about the author, etc. I know there's a limit for how many pages certain binding styles can handle.

it's also printed on like, i don't know the name for it but it's that really thin yellowish paper that a ton of those old paperbacks are printed in (is pulp fiction the right word?)

Since it's a paperback, it doesn't have endpapers per se. Whatever cover I made and attached, would I need endpapers to glue to the inner cover? Would it be better to sacrifice the existing first and last pages to be endpapers (which i don't mind doing since the first has a story snippet and the last is blank), or better to glue dedicated endpapers to the text block at the same time I glue the two chunks together?

I don't really have a preference on hardback or paperback cover, I think hardbacks are easier for beginners to make?

I'd like to preserve the cover or at least the design of it somehow, so one of my ideas is to scan the cover and spine and print them out bigger onto a larger piece of paper if I decide to go with a hardback cover.

The second chunk has the paper of the spine on it (also hanging on by a thread). I'm not sure if I should scrape off the leftover spine paper/glue that's on the spines of the text blocks before I glue on a cover, or if it'll be fine to glue a fresh cover on top of it (after separating the graphic paper of the spine).

In terms of materials, I actually own a bottle of acid free archival quality book glue (I bought it ages ago in hopes of patching another book that tore in half from use), I have plenty of scrapbooking paper and cotton fabric left over from other projects, and I think my local makerspace has a dedicated bookbinding press!

It's a neat story, but the physical book itself has no sentimental value to me or my dad, so if I can't fix it I'll just buy a fresh copy and sacrifice this one as material for other paper crafts. I just thought it'd be a fun place to start learning how to bookbind, rather than trying to format and print and shape a fresh text block from scratch.

If you need more info about this project, please ask and I'm happy to share it. Any advice is appreciated, and thank you in advance!

[inkesse]

What do other worshippers of Apollo think/feel about having their altar somewhere that isn't in sunlight? It's probably not a big deal, but part of me feels a little bad and disappointed about it.

My current plans are on a shelf of a bookcase in my room, but it's kinda in a corner so it's always a little dark over there even if my light is on and the window is open with the sun shining through. There's not any other place with enough space for the things I'd like to have for an altar, and I just feel a little bad about the only spot I can put it being kinda dark and gloomy-feeling. Any suggestions, advice or input?

[maryasmorevna]

i can't write action/fight scenes for shit 😭😭

[rosemariecawkwell]

TBR Pile Review: Spec Fic for Newbies Vol. 2, by Tiffani Angus and Val Nolan

Beam aboard your own Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror classroom with the next volume of the BSFA-shortlisted writing-guide series! Join Tiffani Angus (Ph.D.) and Val Nolan (Ph.D.) for a whirlwind introduction to the storytelling basics of 30 more subgenres and major tropes from across the limitless realms of Speculative Fiction. Learn about Space Opera, Folk Horror, Climate Fiction,…

[kittykatkatelol]

fucking hell i'm losing it :3

(guys i'm fine /srs i think-)