#why is my prose so lengthy

[thefandomlesbian]

Me interacting with any media: Sometimes things that are shorter... are better. Me writing a 100k+ fanfic, sobbing into my hands: Sometimes things that are shorter... are better!!!

[zorosdimples]

it’s so funny that you’re being a warrior for this lame ass opinion as if it doesn’t basically tattle to everyone you’re insecure about your own lacking talents 😂 anyone can summarize a story in a few paragraphs. that’s what it is, a summary !! a story being told does not automatically make it fic writing !! acting like your 300 words is a ‘fic’ is delusional. that’s hardly even a drabble and it’s okay to admit that honey 😂 no one said you didn’t have a place in fandom but acting like you can compare your work to actual lengthy, detailed, and time-committed content is so pathetic

this is the last of your asks that i’m going to answer as you are clearly talking to me in bad faith. but if my opinion is so lame, why are you engaging with it? you’re free to move on and block me if i’m so pathetic.

a lot of our personal opinions are formed by our own experiences, thoughts, and insecurities; this is part of being human. thank you for pointing out something so blatantly obvious.

i never claimed that my short fics are on par with long fics. but i also put hours of work into my prose, and it shows. i’ve read plenty of long-form writing that could’ve been told more concisely, is hard to follow, and is annoyingly repetitive as a result. quantity doesn’t equal quality—have you ever heard of that adage before? or are you truly as ignorant as you come across here?

[becauseanders]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Spread the self-love ❤️

ahhh hi thank you! (finally answering this!) 🖤

It Took the Night to Believe: chapterfic, complete, 100k. dragon age ii, anders/male hawke. pacific rim au. i am honestly really fucking proud of this fic, like i thought it was great even though it didn't do super well kudos-wise and i did notice that i definitely did lose readers as it went on. i truly have no idea why, this fic is fucking great. it's got angst, it's got comfort, it's got near death experiences, it's got fluff, it's got kaiju—what's not to love??

No Wound as Sharp as the Will of God: chapterfic, complete, 99k. dragon age ii, anders/female hawke. canonverse, post-da2. it took me seven years to post a second chapter of this and a total of eight years to finish it, and the whole time i was writing it after i picked it up again i was so unsure of it, but turns out i really like it. very heavy content, please do mind the tags. takes place while hawke is with the inquisition. anders positive, justice positive. a very intense, very deep, very affectionate friendship between anders and fenris is an extremely important part of the story. like, seriously, the platonic fenders is just as important as the romantic handers. a lot of angst, like so much angst, but the hurt/comfort is real. the b-plot pertains to my theory that justice cures anders of the taint. cole is there. the emotions are high and you can feel them strongly in the writing. again, be careful, but this is a good fic.

A Thing With Feathers Now, Elevate: one shot, 11k. dragon age: origins, alistair/female amell. canonverse, takes place over the course of da:o. this fic is a fucking masterpiece. another that didn't do well numbers-wise but this is easily one of the absolute best things i've ever written and is quite possibly one of the best fics on ao3. i am so fucking proud of this one. the prose, the metaphors, the handling of trauma, the found family—this one deserved way more love than it got. like, i'm serious, this fic is amazing.

It Means Tumult: chapterfic, wip, 349k (yes, you read that right). dragon age ii, anders/female hawke. modern au. okay, obviously i've got to mention this one. i have been working on this fic for eight years and i am very sorry to everyone who saw this go from updating multiple times a week and asking me how the fuck i write so fast to three years without a single update and then i think only one more in the past two years. i'm working on the penultimate chapter, i swear i am, i'm just super stuck right now. this fic is…this fic. i'm not going to lie, i don't really know if this is any longer some of my better writing, but the premise is fucking solid and i have been told more than once that it's clear this is a labor of love and that this is endearing. au where the obvious metaphors are made reality: the circles are psychiatric institutions and being mentally ill is a crime. a lot of angst, but a lot of love. pay no mind to how much better of a character and person aveline is when i write her. i also do admittedly use this fic to deal with my own demons frequently. an andrea gibson poem helped me write one chapter and i later got to tell them about it and they hugged me. this is also very heavily centered on music and has a lengthy soundtrack. please ignore the fact that when i first started writing this i used british english when i typed because i thought it looked better, as i had started doing as a teenager, which tbh i still kind of do but i also realized that's just fucking pretentious to do when you're american, and it was already so long by the time i stopped doing it that there was no way in hell i was going back to editing all of that (as i actually did do with nwasatwog). so that's just the way it is. but yeah, there's a lot of feelings happening here. also the only fic on this list that has an original title instead of song lyrics despite being the one with the most music involved, lol.

Through the Fall and the Feel: chapterfic, wip, 52k. dragon age ii, anders/male hawke. modern au. this is the one i'm working on most right because that's just where the brainworms are. hawke is a teddy bear doctor and anders goes to see him because instead of a pillow from his mother he has a stuffed cat, and she has seen much better days. this fic has a very wholesome premise but has gone into some pretty heavy angst already and i did not mean for eating disorders to be as important to the story as they have become, so be mindful of that. but this fic has a lot of heart and it's absolutely tanking, so if this piques your interest maybe go give it a look? this is also my second foray into m!handers and i am again having fun writing them. but yeah, i actually like this fic a lot and i do recommend it.

[eddiebabygirldiaz]

20 questions for fic writers

tagged by @captain-hen @anxieteandbiscuits @lemonzestywrites @forthewolves @king-buckley @hippolotamus @watchyourbuck @shitouttabuck @lover-of-mine @thewolvesof1998 @heartshapedvows @jesuisici33 @hoodie-buck @wikiangela @monsterrae1 @exhuastedpigeon

thank you all! sorry it took me so long to do this <3

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

13

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

582,638

3. What fandoms do you write for?

only 911 at first but now i have a fringe fic and a wolfsong fic in the works

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

there's always been a rainbow hangin' over your head (eddie comes out to buck and to be supportive buck buys eddie a very gay mug)

today i live for a single drop of you (5 times buck dreams about sucking eddie's cock and 1 time he actually gets to do it)

when the violence causes silence (set after 6x10, eddie dealing with the aftermath of the lightning strike and working out how to confess his feelings)

we live and breathe words (buck finds eddie's poetry and realizes eddie is in love with him and decides to do something about it)

slowly getting sober from the taste of your skin (pwp, threesome between buck, eddie, and evil doctor buck)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

i do! at least, i do my best, i know sometimes i get the notification and look away and completely forget asdfghjkll, but i love responding and weeping about my gratitude

6. What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

ummm all of my fics have happy endings sooooo i don't have an answer for this

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

ummm maybe red life might stream again because eddie and buck went through a lot of shit in that fic so i made it my mission to give them the happiest and sappiest ending possible

8. Do you get hate on fics?

i have been very lucky in that i haven't

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

oh yes i do. and i suppose it's very emotional and sappy smut. i do try to balance filthy and sweet

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

never written one

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

not to me knowledge

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

nope

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

me and @elvensorceress started writing a s2 rewrite where shannon lives that i absolutely adore, it's taken a bit of a backburner but it lives forever in my heart. also me and @spaceprincessem plan on writing one that im sure will be so very self-indulgent

14. What's your all time favorite ship?

gotta be buddie (though polivia from fringe is a close second)

15. What's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

im not sure. i plan on getting all of my wips done at some point and i don't really think there is one that i won't (at least not at this point)

16. What are your writing strengths?

descriptions i think. i can paint a pretty picture and definitely have flowery purple prose. and a lot of people have told me i am good at characterization which i always worry about but am glad to hear that's it's something im good at even if i doubt it

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

i cannot shut up. everything i write is so lengthy even when it doesn't need to be. being succinct definitely isn't my strong suit. and uhh i struggle with writing dialogue because i will get lost in the character's headspace and forget people are supposed to be talking

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

i absolutely love it though i don't do it often because i get nervous about it. thankfully i have friends that i can ask if i am unsure about something and im trying to get more comfortable doing it

19. First fandom you wrote for?

supernatural

20. Favourite fic you've written?

gotta be to you i'm just a man (to me you're all i am) because i put my heart and soul into that fic and i really loved delving into the 118's dynamic and everyone's relationship with buck and creating new circumstances for eddie and buck to fall in love

no pressure tagging (and sorry if you've already been tagged) @elvensorceress @spaceprincessem @bvckandeddie @colonoscopys @housewifebuck @prettyboybuckley @rogerzsteven @paranoidbean @911onabc @honestlydarkprincess @bigfootsmom @try-set-me-on-fire @bucks118 @devirnis @giddyupbuck @disasterbuckdiaz @transboybuckley @rewritetheending @eddiediaztho @callaplums

[snowandwolves]

tis i, lengthy ask anon! first, i am in fucking awe of your planning i can't outline for shit so i bow to your mastermindness

second on behalf of all your fans RELEASE THE BITS (only if you're comfortable of course but i for one will gladly eat whatever scraps from your writing table)(i'm not begging)(maybe i am)

more qs! if you choose, you never have to answer really truly madly:

re: your planning: did you create like character sheets for each of them..? what about outfits or location references?

every author seems to have an opinion about dialogue tags - do you actively try not to use "says"? (i love both approaches just curious your thoughts)

would Bea have given (I was going to write "custody of" lol) the bookstore to Lilith?

ok so we know Ava developed a ... sleeve? kink - what about Bea?

i'm slowly going thru other fics - what's been different about writing avatrice for you?

hello again, lengthy ask anon, i need you to know i’m about to develop a soft spot for you 😂 as for the bits, i’ll see which ones are mildly ok for public viewing and rb this ask with a screenshot if i find one 💀

on to the questions!

1. yes, i definitely had to have character sheets for them and the side characters too cos i thought that if i’m gonna write in ava’s pov alone, then i’m gonna need to make sure that everyone else has a clear perspective or purpose in the story that even ava doesn’t know. outfits nope 😂 but location yes! i have stared at v many photos and maps and weather forecasts of the location 😭 i may have a screw loose prolly

2. i’m not overly concerned about it, but i do try to space it out. also??? i didn’t actually know that there’s a thing about dialogue tags??? 😂 i was just actively trying not to make the prose too repetitive lmao

3. i think so, yes! lilith was already managing it while she was at the lighthouse and every other time she had to go away for it, so i thought it’d make sense for lilith to take over. with help from camila of course because lilith and customer service…

4. A SLEEVE KINK YES 😂 for bea, i think… ava and a hammer, ava and a saw, ava and just carpentry in general so an ava as jesus kink ig??? 💀 i’m of the opinion that ava can prolly make everything she does look silly-hot so RIP bea

5. definitely the depth of the characters. the show gave us so much material to work with for avatrice that i really couldn’t help but sink my teeth into everything. this is why sixth to the ninth hour exists 😂

hope that answers your questions this round! and again, thank you so much for this, anon 💙

[yurozo]

Hi! Hope you're having a good day :) 📥 + 🌙 + 👖 for the ask game! <3

hi babe!! i also hope you're having a wonderful day <3 i hope the sun is shining down on you and that your water is extra crispy. also i jusy realized that i did not follow ur writing blog after weeks of reading ur fics.... i am an idiot i fear....

📥 What is your fave fic to receive comments/messages on?

any of them i love nice comments and i love yall when you tell me how much you enjoy them 😭 but on a serious note it depends on the length of time i've invested-- monomyth and w&l took me the longest mostly from research and perfecting prose, so it feels more gratifying to see other people enjoy the effort i've put in

🌙  What time of day do you prefer to write? Why?

for fanfic, i prefer to write early afternoon/evening. academics, i like writing early morning. i'm pretty flexible just because i mostly write this stuff at work, and since i work long days i just take whatever i can get lol. evening is when i get my planning done, ill just randomly shoot out of bed and write a couple lines in a google doc and then pass back out

👖 Are you a planner, plantser, or pantser? Is it consistent?

honestly depends on the fic. oneshots or anything lighthearted i usually just start writing until i finish. anything else i put a lot of research into. multichapter fics, i plan everything from beginning to end before i even start writing. i do have lengthy google docs for characterization though, which reference for everything i write :) if theres one thing about me is i go hard on character/dialogue

[yvesdot]

I do a lot of book reviews, and so I am occasionally asked how I handle the discomfort of trying to be "objective" when evaluating art. The truth is, I don't; I aim for empathy: the understanding that someone can do something I don't like and don't get and it can be good; and self-confidence: assurance that I make my judgments lovingly and with sufficient thought.

With that said, here are my Grand Thrix ways of judging good art (my own and others'). Maybe they will help some other people! (Even if only to decide that they don't trust my taste. ^^)

1. WHAT IS THE GOAL?

2. IS IT A GOOD ONE?

3. DID THE ARTIST SUCCEED?

focus factors: intention, good-heartedness, and surprise.

WHAT IS THE GOAL?

It's useful to ask what an author appears to be trying to do-- does this author value lengthy description, for example, or are they trying to be as concise as possible? Do they want to surprise the reader with a plot element, or is this a case of intentional dramatic irony? Does the author want their work to move slowly or quickly? How do you know this, and how certainly do you know it?

Above all else I want to read a confident book: a book where the author could not only defend every choice, but speak passionately on why they chose it. Is the prose concise or long-winded? Does the plot meander or adhere to strict regularity? How does the book maintain conversation with its fellows? "Effort," "difficulty," or "originality" are smokescreens: any choice can be justified, and I want to see the author choosing with intention.

Examples: Most Romance genre books are purposefully using simple prose. A book's climax is almost certainly trying to be climactic. It can sometimes be hard to tell whether an author is intentionally or accidentally confusing the reader.

IS IT A GOOD ONE?

What makes a good artistic endeavor, to you? I generally prioritize good-heartedness (love, joy, kindness, etc.-- which can manifest in making your reader sob like a baby!) and surprise (doing something new with something old, showing me something unique, working around my expectations) above all else. You might prefer goals of genre-busting, progressive politics, pushing the boundaries of language, and so on. Frankly, there's no objective answer to whether you "should" or "should not" try to do a given thing with your art.

Examples: Most literary fiction is not concerned with the kind of plot structure I personally love. Books written with other minority groups in mind may purposefully alienate me in order to make a point about whose perspective ought to be catered to. Some books intentionally insult the reader in a way I don't feel is merited.

DID THE ARTIST SUCCEED?

We all know the feeling: the book is supposed to be sexy, and it is not. The scene is supposed to be serious, and it is not. The dialogue is supposed to be funny, and you wish you were being shot in the head rather than forced to read it. I try to ask myself how confident I am in what the author wanted and why they might have failed before railing against a book; there's a difference between a debut author struggling with plot and an established author being transphobic because nobody bothered to hire a sensitivity reader.

On the other side of the coin, you have the books that don't personally connect with you but are clearly well-written: filled with tropes you don't like, effective at elements that annoy you, ultimately not something you enjoy at all but clearly effortful and lovingly crafted pieces of art. Often I have to concede the author is doing something fascinating and doing it well, but good Lord if it doesn't personally bore me to tears. Oh well! Someone out there is reading the same book and gushing; it's just a matter of getting the right reader.

Examples: I was confused, but I see that the author wanted to confuse me, and though I didn't enjoy that confusion, I agree that it made sense and it worked; credit is due. When I'm reading YA I often give allowances for a novel which has a lot of silly unbelievable drama, because it's more than fair to write that way for teens. You won't find me knocking bara just because that's not my kind of man; clearly it works for its audience (whom I love).

To put it more broadly, did the artist go into their work hoping to do something (with intention)? Was the thing they were hoping to do something worth doing (something good-hearted and interesting)? Did they succeed? If so: 5/5! I hope this metric is useful to someone else, and that it brings infinitely more artistic joy into the world.

[folklorist-word-florist]

An Overlook on Pacing

SO, pacing! The element that can break or make your story! :D

As we are talking about writing here, we are talking about the speed of your story: the speed of the events unfolding, AND the speed of how the events are told to the reader. E.g. You can have a story that happens in a thousand years, told in the same number of pages of a story that takes place in ten minutes. The first speed is about pacing the plot, do you rely on exposition to world-build? On dialogue? On descriptions of setting or action? The latter is about the pacing of your prose, how you construct your sentences, where you place—and how frequently—action and dialogue, exposition and inflection.

Plot and structure

First we have to acknowledge pacing is interlinked with genre. Different genres have different conventions due to audience expectations. Pacing both depends and determines the genre. And as one writer might write a space opera today, and a contemporary character study tomorrow, so their pacing would change.

My opinion is that there's no good pacing, only the right pacing--for your story. Want to drag a kiss into two pages long? Do it, but with intention, which comes with due diligence on studying different types of story structure. The most useful writing advice I got on this is Ursula K. Le Guin's two-word wisdom:

Crowd, Leap; which event serves best in lengthy detail, which can and should be a sweeping impression. This requires some planning ahead of time, so all-panster might feel a bit 😬 here. I will put a post together on panster-planster-planner later. For now, I say for panster, write all the scenes the way they are coming to you right now, as much and as quickly as you can. You can sort the event pacing in editing.

A recommendation you might have heard ad nauseam: Blake Snyder's Save the Cat beat sheet. Like any plot structure studies, take a look, apply it to the story you love, see how they worked or not worked, and take notes on how that might serve your own writing. 

Save the Cat Beat Sheet Template  •  Infographic

Stories exist with a paradoxical preposition: what we read is past tense by the nature of writing and reading, yet many, especially genre fiction writers, strive to provide the sense that the unfolding of events occurs in front of the reader's eyes; there, the sense of wonder, suspense, or urgency. Even with in flashback of The Bad Thing Hundred Winters Ago, the story moves forward because we get a clue of why something is happening/going to happen now or why/how the characters are the way they are, etc..

(Note I did not say "plot," only "story." Because Story is more than just what happened, but how what happened and where what happened and why what happened.)

Everything you put on the page should be thoughtfully curated. Every scene and each word has your own reason for why it's exactly where it is—a process that takes time and practice and critique, but trust that it'll come:)

This leads to the other part of pacing: controlling the flow, thus (attempting to) control how your readers think and feel about the story.

Save the Cat! website has many beat sheet analysis of popular movies that can be helpful in understanding how to apply the principles.

Musicality

Stories work in forward motion, pulling readers along with them. Sometimes the motion is fast, action-packed and no breathing room, like what the story character is experiencing; sometimes the motion is slow, maybe to mimic a sense of conversational tone, writer to reader, or to create the agony of suspense.

The gradations of these motions are no accidents: again, intention. Be aware of how your placement of descriptive writing, dialogue, beats, the rhythm of your sentences might change the reader's perception of time. And rhythm is in every word in every language (multi-lingo people, like yours truly, might notice how this affect the way you like your sentence constructed and use it to create a style true to you).

In short, longer words/sentences/paragraphs=slowing down. shorter words/sentences/paragraphs=speed up. There should be a balanced combination of acceleration and deceleration. Usually this is combined with story beats (action scene is followed with reaction scene, give the readers breathing room and create anticipation for next action).

An advice to combat writer's block I got when I first started writing was "Read poetry out loud."

Read anything out loud. Books from writers you like, song lyrics, your own writing. Get a feel of the shape of how the words are put together. This great advice does have an obvious deficit, ofc, in requiring the advisee possessing hearing and speech ability (and a deeper connection to them both; some people are just more visual, then it can be the length of sentences and paragraph on paper that matters). Anyone here who are writing hearing-impaired would like to chime in, we would be very grateful.

[wellmetmat]

Idle chatter about a beloved webnovel below; cut just for length.

Unsong, which I love, is silent on one possible nexus of wordplay so near its thematic centre that now and then I wonder what the silence means. That it could mean nothing seems improbable.

We know what singers are, within the story. Aaron tells us plainly: a cantor is someone who works with infinity. A singer is someone who tries to be good.

("Those who speak the Names of God aloud are called cantors and singers. Like everything, these terms have both overt and kabbalistic meanings.")

They're called singers overtly because those who speak the functionally magical Names of God without regard to copyright had better get them right, and the Names are inconveniently unmemorable strings of syllables rather than semantic units, so those who learn and teach them illicitly set them to music and sing them. This is a sensible real-world technique for working with the human memory.

(It would probably work at least as well to use the Dominic system of memorisation: assign each Hebrew letter a character, an action and an object, and thus memorise the Names as silly stories. Aaron uses something like it on the fly when he's a prisoner of UNSONG-the-organisation. I practised a variant of it a couple of years ago, and found it helpful for remembering numbers; I worked up to being able to write out the first three hundred digits of pi from memory for a while, from a starting point where I often forgot four-digit passcodes, and after two years lapsed from practice it's still fairly easy to recall the first hundred. But if the singers did this they would be tellers instead; also a world-shaping vocation, but the shape of the world would be different and Aaron would lose his unique kabbalistic resonance.)

They're singers kabbalistically, in the terms of the story, because they pursue the ultimate utilitarian crusade, to end Hell.

But they're singers etymologically - a tremendous source of power in the Unsong universe! - because they work magic and singing used to be interchangeable with sorcery, that's what it meant, an incantation is a chant and a charm is also a chant and a cantor is an enchanter. And the narration doesn't even pun about it.

("A pragmatic account, utterly without reference to a two-thousand-year-old tradition of using the aleph to signify God." Yeah, Teller, a fanciful but persuasive account, utterly without reference to the several-thousand-year-old tradition of using words meaning 'sing' to signify the basic operations of magic!)

And - why not? I can't believe that it's too obvious. That underrates how interesting an interesting teller can make anything. Aaron uses the punchline to a time-worn folk story as his exit one-liner to an enemy, and it's cool because it's obvious (just slightly in advance) what he's about to do; he's a pattern-finder extraordinaire and he's found a pattern in the situation and when he completes it with a statement that fits there it's very satisfying. Aaron wrote a lengthy kabbalistic exegesis of the children's song 'There's a Hole in my Bucket', and we liked it. His interestingness credentials are solid. If he wanted to point out that in his world magicians have returned to their ancient roots as singers after an interlude roughly corresponding to the existence of civilisation during which people got sidetracked searching for power in the written word, cut off from its sound qualities (in older forms of English, a 'spell' is a prose story), nobody would scorn it as too simple.

Plus, the postulated PIE root meaning 'sing' is 'kan'. Singing converges at the phonetic level with ability itself, general ability to do anything at all! What greater indication could show up in the interconnected structure of everything that singing equals power?

(The word 'incentive' also derives from this root, which is striking and amusing. I had to look this one up. It seems like such a dry, modern word. But it comes from the Latin for 'setting the tune'. Those influenced by incentives are going along with the pitch set by an unseen singer. Aaron is choir director for his local chapter of secret magicians, who will go forth and teach others incantations, most likely at the pitch they were taught. He should be awed by the implications.)

So I haven't got much further with working out why the book about people altering the universe by playing with words doesn't play with such a fruitful cluster of words, resonant with a double meaning that's central to it. Is it to do with the implied equation: [someone who tries to be good] = [someone who acts, who wields power to change things]? That is, in fact, at the moral heart of the story, as the Comet King's ethos. But locally, wordplay around subjects of cosmic significance is generally held to be virtuous.

(Constraints of the author's chosen structure simply making it hard to fit every possible joke in is of course possible, too.) Other fans' theories would be welcome!

[anotherhumanpet]

NAME: Madmud, Muddy, or Mud. Most people are going with Mud these days and it suits me just fine.

PRONOUNS: She/Her please.

MOST ACTIVE MUSE(S): It goes back and forth between Dennis and Jaden. I actually kind of feel... bad? ashamed? that Jaden has been getting more of the spotlight than Dennis, especially since this is a blog meant to be focused on Dennis with Jaden as a supporting character, but what can ya do? I'm certainly not gonna make a blog meant for Jaden because the thought of moving all of his stuff somewhere else exhausts me.

RP PET PEEVES: Making up angst for the sake of it/to invoke feelings, replies that are written almost entirely within the character's head and give little to no external output what so ever, purple prose and novella styled writing for aesthetic rather than genuine exposition, any sort of scene where the human has to justify their existence/presence around non-humans for non-plot related reasons, characters being written as The Most Ever

EXPERIENCE/HOW MANY YEARS: I think I've hit roughly 12 years on Tumblr, and overall years like 15 or so.

FLUFF, ANGST, or SMUT: Adventure anyone...? :( Fluff is good, but gets dry on me fast. Angst is good fun too but I'm very particular about it, as stated in the peeves point. Smut's always good but it's honestly like a dessert piece. I love my sweets but it's important to have a balanced meal!

LONG OR SHORT REPLIES: I love them both to be honest. Although longer replies can take more energy out of me and thus take more time to do, I genuinely appreciate both! Short stuff is great for banter and figuring out how characters click together, while the lengthy stuff is good for really getting down into the details and dynamics of characters after the spark between them has been ignited.

TIME TO WRITE: Late morning or early afternoon, which sucks because I work from early morning to late afternoon. Hence why I'll try to get things out before work, during work breaks, or just struggle bus my way through it after work - assuming my muse doesn't completely deflate by then, anyway.

TAGGED BY: @ourcwnside, thank you very much ♥ TAGGING: @wardogxicarus, @ask-human-ratchet, @autobotmedic, @hirvenxsoturi

[scham-wcan]

KNOWLEDGE GATHERING TIME!

Let's go with....

3(star swoosh), 4, 6,9, 13,14,21 (podcast fic), 23,26

Thanks for the lengthy ask!

3(star swoosh), 4, 6,9, 13,14,21 (podcast fic), 23,26

3. what is your favourite kind of comment or feedback?

I enjoy when people enjoy or have an emotional response the chapter or work honestly, there isn’t much else better than seeing someone have some reaction to something in something you wrote in any regard

4. there a fic that you worked *really fucking hard on* that no one would ever know? maybe a scene/theme you struggled with?

I think the more expected answer is Elemental because that story has been planned and has been developed since volume 6 basically. From that whole story the themes of self acceptance and carving a space for yourself were both really special to me so they became core to that whole story.

6. what makes you want to give up on writing? what makes you keep going?

The thing that makes me not want to write anymore is just not thinking I have any skill, capability, originality and so on and so forth. Too many times have I thought about quitting when I couldn’t write a few thousand words in a day, haha. I think spite it probably the thing that most effectively keeps me going honestly, naturally every supporter around me helps but wanting to shut up that voice in the back or my head is equally helpful in keeping going.

9. give yourself a compliment about your own writing

no

13. what is a fic that got a different response than you were expecting?

My most recent one for Star Rail honestly, no idea why that got so much attention, haha

14. what one fic of yours you think people didn't get?

Stitches and CinWins honestly or Wandering Heat. One for being horribly written, the latter, and the former being that it was more for Rookie and I so some of the larger things and ideas in it didn’t really come across well.

21. what is your post-writing/sharing aftercare? How do you take care of yourself or celebrate yourself when you've finished a fic?

Honestly I don’t really have anything different that denotes celebration, most often I jump into the next thing or sleep or the rest of my day. When Ele finishes I will probably just make a new plan for a multiparter

23. What do YOU get out of writing?

I get to do my drabbles and nonsense in a socially acceptable fully made prose format.

26. how do you think engaging with each other through tumblr, twitter, comments, kudos, creates healthy fandom experiences? How do you deal with that if you're not a social person/ experience social anxiety?

Well I think it is important for creators to stick together and always look to one another to benefit out and one another’s works. If we all stay closed off there is just no way to think about expanding repertoires or anything like that. But it isn’t about comparing 1:1 because its ludicrous to compare your work to someone else’s because that isn’t you and the work they made is from a whole different world than your own.

So I am not typically very anti-social or anything like that, I do have issues of self esteem but that’s something I deal with closetedly. For the most part I participate in spaces where the upward trend is positive and uplifting and stray away from degradation or hitting down on others.

[harmonicabisexuals]

You rated Moby Dick 4/5 and I'm wondering why? I read it in 2022 and didn't love it although a lot of people do so I'm just looking for different perspectives. Maybe I got too caught up in the chapter on whaling 😅

lol I hear you! I thought the prose was absolutely gorgeous, some of the best I've ever read. I also love media that focuses on the eternal human conflict of fate vs. free will (see also my obsession w East of Eden and The X Files) and I really liked the philosophical message of how happiness is not found in abstract ideals but rather in the comforting mundane of every day life and being with the people you love. I also love how Ishmael comes to this epiphany during the chapter where he talks about being elbow-deep in whale sperm lol.

I do agree that the book drags in the middle with all the chapters on the taxonomy and physiology of whales and whaling though. There are only so many essays on whale tails and blowholes I can read in a row before my eyes start to glaze over. But if you push through it's totally worth it imo because the ending is mic-drop amazing.

I also think it helped to read Sparknotes analyses after every 5 chapters or so to help catch some of the more subtle themes and metaphors, especially bc I didn't have anyone to discuss it with at the time- so it was almost like a one-sided virtual book club. Overall I've found with 19th-century novels you have to adjust your perspective on what makes for "good" writing- obviously the language and style is different than modern authors but you also have to be okay with books taking a lot longer to get through. Moby Dick took me three months to finish (with some lengthy breaks) but I can't imagine getting the same experience out of it if I had read it in a week or so.

[vacantgodling]

❄, 🔥, 🌈, and ☀️ for the ask game !!!

thank you henrike i hope ur doing well 💛

☀️ Sun - What's your favorite part of your WIP?

ough since i’m writing paramour ig i’ll answer for that wip and it’s basically just the actual lengthy overly flowery and descriptive prose has actually been so much fun for me. i should write all my wips like this (i can’t bc it doesn’t fit the vibe of every story so i won’t but ough i love it)

❄️ Snow - Who is your coldest / most stoic character and how do they express themselves (if at all)?

i very much enjoy making stoic characters so i do have several of different varieties. the MOST stoic characters would probably be

jenna magboo (jenna the reaper): because she has flat affect and she has no intonation in her voice whatsoever (until yehna partially possesses her). she usually expresses herself through her actions and she’s very physically affectionate with people she likes. her and carlos hold hands and cuddle quite often and she tends to cling onto people’s clothing as a means of showing care.

rosmarin “red” (red death & the oracle’s favor): our lovely mc who has severe trauma and thus has an extremely difficult time expressing her emotions. she doesn’t tend to show her feelings because showing emotions makes her have physical panic attacks. she does grow a bit better at expressing them through getting closer to hel but she’ll always probably be awkward.

kalifia fandel (tcol): she doesn’t express emotions mostly because being [redacted] she is not familiar with the range of emotions that terraneans feel or can express. she comes across as cold and heartless but she’s honestly very, very neutral about most things. the only thing she expresses any emotion towards for a long time is flowers. she likes them and presses them in notebooks. but other than that she has no interest in being palatable to others because that would impede her mission regardless.

tomb (the graves we dug): similarly to kalifia, tomb is a man bound by duty. being a bounty hunter, attachments get you killed or the other party killed and it’s better to simply detach yourself from all things. he thinks graves and dove are in their predicament because they both care too much. this being said, he isn’t completely cut off from his emotions. he’s just very good at repression and restraint. in another life (his youth) he used to be very expressive and still could be if he chose to. so it’s less that he can’t express care or himself, he just doesn’t.

🔥 Wildfire - Who is your most emotional character and why?

oh god i have a Lot of emotional characters but let’s see if i can narrow it down to my beacons of emotional range:

marco azarola etxebarria (vdtrt): he just has a zest and zeal and love of life, literal ray of sunshine who can draw virtually anyone into his orbit. probably the biggest extrovert of all the vlad protection squad (runner ups being awilda and darren respectively). he’s one of those who doesn’t let his circumstances damper his vibe. +weed helps LMAO.

piper fairwind & san dearborn (tcol): yeah these two but in opposite directions. piper is similar to marco except it’s somewhat more internal. she feels everything intensely as she’s only had herself to rely on for much of her life and in turn she had to become her own advocate, her own cheerleader, her own parent etc. it’s an attitude born out of necessity perhaps. for san it’s the opposite because she was constantly spurned and pushed to the side so she had to fight for what little respect she could get. because of that they tend to run hot tempered and take things that may just be jokes too seriously;;; especially when either of them are with each other emotions are WILD and all over. i just know someone out there is going to ship them and lemme just say, i understand.

thei (god eater): it’s a bit of a cheat to put him here but it’s true. being the last god eater, thei has access to the entire combined consciousness of the singularity within him; so thats hundreds of thousands of emotional ranges potentially at any given moment. he’s kind of like an extreme empath LMAO. he actually tends to be more stoic to try and regulate these intense emotions, however when they get the better of him and he cries, his emotions literally can destroy the entire world basically. it’s why it’s a good thing he has taj to help him bc tbh he was barely holding on before taj came into his life.

🌈 Rainbow - What do you think makes your story unique / stand out?

round this out with paramour again but tbh i feel like the entire premise and the style i’m going for is sort of a slight modernization of types of gothic adjacent stories we haven’t really seen in books the past some odd years. also the fact that it’s got an all black cast for the subject matter and themes is definitely different!

[a-selkie-abroad]

books ive read recently and my thoughts about them

Scythe and it's sequels, Thunderhead, The Toll & Gleanings

makes me want to debate/disscuss alllll off the ethics & morality it touches on. interesting portrayal of AI and exploration of the morality of death. The ending of the series was logical, and I don't think I dislike it, it's just not my thing. Definitely something I wish we'd studied in highschool english back in the day instead of like, the great gatsby. worth a read if you want sci-fi that's not set in space

Raybearer and it's sequel, Redemptor

it was pretty good. felt like a breath of fresh air. enjoyed the portrayal of non-romantic love and the complicated feelings one can have towards terrible parents. good message, if a little heavy-handed. Wish the real world could fix its class divides and undo capitalism that easily. also wish we got to know more of the 12 better, though with only 2 books and a whole lot of stuff to get through, it's understandable they weren't explored much. read ella enchanted if you especially enjoyed the first book

Wizard of Earthsea trilogy

have never been so fucking validated for my run-on sentences by a book before. Excellent prose and imagery - i could eat those visual metaphors. I enjoyed the first book the most, the sequels slightly less so. have yet to read the side books. will definitely impact my writing style in the future. I <3 Usula Le Guinn

Spinning Silver (By Naomi Novik)

As good as my friend said it would be. Very fairytale-like, enjoyably lengthy, and sated my recent desire for jewish fiction. Could sometimes be hard to keep up with the POV changes sometimes, but that is my one and only criticism. Damn good book.

Uprooted (Also by naomi novik. actually the rest of the list is by her)

oughhh i loved the horror vibes. nice buildup, good tension, also fairytale-like, but in a different, twisted flavour. I liked that the 'big bad' being killed wasn't an instant fix in the ending: there was still work to be done. I really liked the interactions and chemistry between the three main characters, though I wish kasia and the POVcharacter had also gotten together (though i can't complain with the pairing the book did go with - the sex scene is really well done, even if it isn't as explicit as the erotica I usually frequent). I kept expecting them to get together, because frankly they both give off sapphic vibes. ah well

Scholomance trilogy

out of uprooted, spinning silver, and Scholomance, i'd rank scholomance as my favourite, then spinning silver, then uprooted. The storyline in this one is just especially well crafted: everything just comes together so satisfyingly, so neatly, with not a stray end in sight. I love the mystery aspect to it, and the relationship bewteen the main characters, and ESPECIALLY the school. It's like hogwarts but ten times as interesting and four times as dark and with 0 transphobic authors. THIS is how you design a magic school, people! I've always appreciated good setpieces (say, like in the Old Kingdom series and even the Inheritance Cycle) and the school for sure counts as one. Also did I mention the mystery aspect? This thing will have you hooked.

Temeraire series (up to halfway through Empire of Ivory)

Really love this!! I love dragons, especially ones that talk, and this has that in droves. Feels also very grounded, which is surprising for a dragon book: it's set in the 1790s during the napoleonic wars, and is, as far as I can tell, pretty faithful to the time period. except for, you know, the dragons. I enjoy seeing how the POV character grown as a person throughout the books, and how he interacts with others. Mans loves his dinner conversations. I enjoy Temeraire, the dragon, a lot, though for some reason I keep thinking he's a she/her??? for no reason?? it keeps throwing me off that he's not and i don't know why! you'd think 4 books in i'd have gotten the memo that hes a guy! anyways. manages to make me care about side characters that get like, at most, a page of content, which is impressive to me. very travelogue-esque. excited to see where the series goes!

[seerofmike]

ask meme: 5, 6, 7, 13, 14, 20

5. Share one of your strengths.

everyone has always told me that i write invidiual character voices very well. i try to make narration and dialogue distinct and i think i do a great job!

my vantage is completely different from my crypto who is completely different from my octane, and on the surface octane may look like he'd share the same narrative voice as leo from rise but my leo rise voice is different from octane's and ohg i just love writing how different characters would describe things or percieve situations.

i do want to give a special shout out to my vantage from my mad science fic. i don't care for her character that much but writing her was so fun and judging by the reception i got from it when posted people really enjoyed her character voice too.

6. Share one of your weaknesses.

scene-setting, environmental description, action. god this problem plagues me when reading, writing, AND drawing. i simply cannot picture where characters are or what they're doing or how they're having this conversation, sitting down or standing up. in my brain, everything takes place with characters standing around in a white void until something happens in the environment. visually it looks like that one scene in coraline. you know the one

here's how my fic writing process goes. dialogue, emotion and feelings and shit, basic plot action like going to the next necessary location, or maybe a super important event, or the set-up and punchline to a non-verbal joke. then i go back and add like 1k-2k words of just...setting. description. action. response. reaction. physical action. THEN i go over it again for like actual editing and proofreading

i can give you an example right now of what i mean

everything highlighted here was not what was originally written and was added later so the scene would be more than just "he said/he said" and maybe it's because i'm the one who wrote it but like...you can tell it was tacked on.

i'm trying to get better at this and started drawing a storyboard for my current rottmnt fic because that one relies on action more than introspection and dialogue, but if u ever ask me to describe a location...girl i would need 30 minutes to think about it

7. Share a snippet from one of your favorite pieces of prose you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

umm...this one is kind of hard actually i don't really remember specific pieces of prose i write outside of dialogue!! if i had to pick it would be maybe this specific bit from chapter five of my simulacrum Crypto AU, Four Oh Three:

this is way more than a snippet lmao but writing this entire chapter was super satisfying with everything i'd set up so far. crypto not knowing if he actually felt attraction to octane or if his feelings were just the lingering result of his programming, trying to figure out what he could feel, IF he could feel, octane touching him and inviting him to touch him in turn, all the conflicting emotions that came with that.

i really felt at the time that it all really came together in a very drawn-out but deserved scene of intimacy (nearly the whole chapter?) after the result of like uhhh 30,000+ words of tension that i don't think i've ever really written before or since. i usually like to get straight into the dick in hole action lmfao but i was very satisfied and proud of myself for this one

13. What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever come across?

so this isn't even writing advice it's programming advice LOL but several years ago i heard of rubber duck debugging in which programmers tell a rubber duck their code line by line until they realize what's causing them a problem. and ever since, for lengthy fics or things outside my comfort zone, i've described overarching plot details and invidiual chapters to either stuffed animals or my cat and if it sounds stupid being said out-loud then i usually decide it'd be stupid and nonsensical in a fic too and i change it up LOL

14. What’s the worst writing advice you’ve ever come across?

controversial opinion maybe but i think telling people that every scene in a book should only serve the narrative/plot is STUPID!!!!!!!!!!!! books aren't movies, you don't have a runtime limit!!! i think you lose out on so much character and introspection and world-building by forcing every scene in your book to only be plot-relevant stuff. sometimes characters interacting with each other and doimg stuff in their world is just fun or interesting and that's all it has to be

20.) Describe your perfect writing conditions.

i have my headphones plugged in and am listening to my music. the chair is comfy and i can lean back but my laptop is on a solid surface. i am supplied endlessly with coffee and fizzy drinks. all is well

[gluion]

i love u, mon nom nom hehe

1. my favorite fic of yours is probably a given: of linked arms and bruised hearts :] she lives in my brain as a measure of beautiful platonic relationships, and i hope you know just how much i adore that 70-something-k fic 🤧 i know i havent read all of your works thus far, but at some point, i swear i will, because your style of writing is just so lovely and i'm always so in awe of your prose.

2. a favorite part of linked arms and bruised hearts of mine is probably the moments when yn was realizing they were in love w changmin at his family house. i mean, the entire time they were there was so lovely too in general, but every time they had like,, a thought session (is that how i should describe it??) where they marinated on their friendship w changmin, i was just so so soooo soft and tender-feeling. like omg i was just thrashing around with the biggest pout cuz WTF I WANT THAT.

6. okay im gonna talk abt the same fic again, but i need u to know that the third part almpst had me crying. like i actually had tears welling up in my eyes and SNIFFLED. you have actually brpught me pain and tears—

8. i love that you dig deep with your writing. taking a step away from my beloved, but even in your brief jacob fics, you really take your time to explore relationships and establish a certain environment/ambience. its dazzling and enveloping and just .... ugh, sometimes i just have no words to describe /your words/ :'))

oh beam, i love you ☹️❤️‍🩹 i am genuinely so happy to know that a fic so personal to me means a lot to u!! it’s not easy to write 71k words in the span of two months probably? and before the writing process, i had to outline it (so i guessing this whole fic took 2 and a half months from ideation to writing phase tbh) and please dont feel pressured to read all my works!! admittedly, i havent read all of urs (and i think my other current works dont compare to of linked arms and bruised hearts imo) and as someone who was still figuring out their writing style, it really means the world u likes my writing style :]]

im so glad to know that u enjoyed those moments in jichang’s family home </3 IT WAS ACTUALLY SUPPOSED TO BE LONGER FYI!! there was going to be moments of them revisiting their old school, doing winter season traditions, really just more moments for them to reminisce abt their friendship after all these years. i feel like periods where u look back at ur friendships are just ones i love experiencing bc its a look back at not only ur relationship but even how u grew as people </3

PLEASE IM SO GLAD TO KNOW THE THIRD PART DID THAG TO YOU??? I FEEL LIKE REREADING AND EDITING IT HAD ME ACTUALLY SO SAD … i feel like it was closing a universe ive grown so attached to u know </3 but its okay i still have those oneshots lined up, and if i miss them i will def write them

beam :((( thank u for saying this. like it actually does mean the world that someone appreciates the fact i like to just explore dynamics </3 i think its why my fics end up being SOOO lengthy (and one can definitely argue that i do not need to be saying all this) but i feel like it’s needed, you know? it doesnt even have to be main pairing dynamics but even the side characters </3 it actually reveals so much abt the characters as well. and THANK U FOR SAYING THAT ABT AMBIENCE/ENVIRONMENT :’) admittedly, it’s still smth i def need to work on (and even finalizing my writing style really) but i am so glad that even at this state, someone likes what i do—i feel like im going in the right direction.

i love you always beam!! thank you always :’)