#worked it in there

[powertaco]

How do you write so much? I'm like struggling man. My brain is just like...do the thing. What is your secret? What mines do you pick at to unveil the whiterose?

Howdy, and thanks for the ask. It's late so I'm probably gonna ramble. I promise to try and address the question at some point lol.

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So when I first started it took me months to write and try to perfect a single one shot. (One Good Turn/Maiden crack outtakes) (This was back in September of like 2021)

My next story after that (Pizza Au) it would take weeks to even a month between chapters.

I would get horrible anxiety (being a perfectionist is hell). Sometimes there would be days I would just not write. I couldn't handle it. I'd play wow, or just do anything else. Anything to NOT BE writing.

What didn't do was stop thinking of ideas. Even if I didn't write for the story I had a little notepad with ideas I would scribble on them. This didn't bother me because it was something that only I saw and it was quick notes. If they weren't perfect it didn't matter because, well I took 5 seconds to write them so who was gonna judge me on that?

My brain could process and handle that sort of thing.

The truth is writing, and telling stories has been one of those things I've always wanted to do, and over time I've built up a habit of writing, and making sure to take breaks on certain days, or if I'm just not in the mood. I would love to eventually write an actual fantasy book some day, but for now I write fan-fiction as practice.

The mindset I helped by realizing I wasn't really getting paid to write so if people didn't like it? Well I mean who cared? Yeah my screen name is out there, and yeah I get plenty of people who don't like it, or send me some 'interestingly' worded reviews.

As for what gets me into the headspace for goobers? The easiest thing is to think of some media you like, and are passionate about.

What book, game, tv show, movie, etc do you really like? Now since most of the story is already done for you. How can you insert two characters into it to make it your desired pairing.

This helps because you're already very passionate about it, and when you're passionate it makes it easier for words to flow onto the page.

For example, if you're doing a WR legend of Zelda Au, and you know everything about Zelda then it's easy for you to just get really into it, and before you know it you have a 10k first chapter, and you're wondering how it got there.

You're just like wow Weiss would be a great Midna, and Ruby a wonderful Link, and bam you're good to go. (Although you might change the ending a wee bit for more fluff but hey)

At first this might take some time to think on, but eventually if you do it enough you'll get the brainrot and every bit of media you consume you'll be like 'i can totally think of a X au for this.

It might also help to find a genre you find more easy to relate to, to start with.

If you like humor, then make a funny little one shot. If you like coffee shop au's? Well loads of people do.

If you're stuck at the end of a sentence? Delete the sentence you just wrote and try again.

If the word isn't coming to you, and you need a break? Take one. Sometimes I write a few sentences then watch a youtube video, then get back to writing.

Just to give my brain some time to think in the background.

I would also advise that once you do a few stories in a genre you're familiar with try a few in different ones.

This helps you not get pigeon holed and stuck in a rut down the line, and gets you to think about them differently and explore different facets of your characters.

Do some comedy, crack, and then do an angst, follow that up with video game au, and then romance, etc.

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Some early habits you can do are just set aside a set amount of time to try and write a day. Maybe even 30 minutes.

If you can't think of a story think of what you do know and make it all nice and written out for future you.

Like 'oh coffee shop au' Ruby is the barrista summer is alive in this au, and she's in college etc. Do it for characters you think will be important to the story, and even a background character you want to make an appearance. You're not writing the story, not really, but you are doing work that can help give your characters life, and a background/voice when you do write it.

All told I was in the same boat as you being told 'just write' and I would clam up.

You might try just writing random details for your au or something similar.

You can get prompt ideas from other people if you can't think of anything. You can bounce an idea back and forth on discord with a friend! Heck read a few books to get potential ideas!

You can and will make mistakes. It's inevitable. A sneaky comma you forgot, a word in the wrong tense, but you know what I learned?

Doesn't matter. The fact that you're writing and creating far outweighs any of that.

You don't even have to post or show it to anyone. I have a stack of notebooks with tons of notes in them (google docs is pretty easy to use too if you don't like writing in a notebook).

As trite as it might seem, as many times as it has been said really the secret is just writing.

One thing I will say is 'comparison is the thief of joy'. Do not compare your starting works, or even any of your work to someone else.

If you compare your writing to someone who's been writing for a lot longer then I mean /shrug.

If you do post on ao3 or another site my advice is to not look at stats at all.

What does it matter if your fic gets only 50 hits and 3 comments? Those are 3 people who looked at your story and loved it enough to say so, and 50 people who were drawn in to read it in the first place.

That's a loooot of people. Just write for fun, and not to look at the stats.

This one is more on me, but once a story has been finished? Don't go back and rewrite it to fix or update all the errors. They make valuable time capsules of your skill progression.

If all your work looks like your current work then it seems like you're not improving. (In maidens I can see many errors, and while there's still errors in my latest story I can tell you there are less of them).

You will at random points get hit with 'oh wow I'm not improving at all. This is actually a false feeling brought on by you getting better and realizing all the errors that are there. It actually means you're doing much better than you thought.

This is from auriee on tumblr

So I guess to sum it up.

1-Try to establish a habit of at least attempting to write each day. I find myself craving to write most days but it was a buildup to get there.

2-Use media you're passionate about to start with to get you into the creation mindset, and just make small tweaks to it to make it easier at the start.

3-Don't worry about it being perfect, or your stats. Just write for you.

4-It's less talent and more hard repetitive work to get good at writing just like any other skill. You will have to put in a fair/large amount of time.

5-If you skip some days because you aren't feeling it then that's fine. Take the time you need but just make sure to get back to it.

Tiny Samus believes in you.

And so do my goobers!

For real though feel free to drop an ask on here or discord if you have any specific questions, or if I totally screwed it up. (Sorry it's late so my IQ is currently room temp.

[astronnova]

that one scrapped episode

[omegaverse-anesthesiologist]

why is ao3 is blocked on the hospital wifi????

[theriverbeyond]

Ideal work schedule:

I show up and am given a list of cognitively engaging but achievable tasks

I complete the list

I leave immedietly

[baby-girl-aaron-dessner]

Art by: Henry James Garrett

[regina-cordium]

Guy just walked in with a shirt that said “I don’t question my wife’s choices because I’m one of them” and frankly I’m obsessed

[w1lmuttart]

The lake town

[epoxyconfetti]

[mostly-funnytwittertweets]

@magitekconveyor

[gaydelgard]

if you are the type of person to tell a girl to stop driving around with an adult sized plastic skeleton strapped into the backseat of her car do not imagine even for one second that you could ever score a girl who would drive around with an adult sized plastic skeleton in the backseat of her car

[inkskinned]

please i love you i'm begging you bring back suspension of disbelief bring back trusting the audience like. i cannot handle any more dialogue that sounds like a legal document. "hello, i am here to talk to you about the incident from a few minutes ago, because i feel you might be unwell, and i am invested in your personal wellbeing." "thank you, i am unwell because the incident was hurtful to me due to my childhood, which was bad." I CANT!!!!

do you know how many people are mad that authors use "growled" as a word for "said"? it's just poetics! they do not literally mean "growled," it's just a common replacement for "said with force but in a low tone." it's normal! do you hear me!! help me i love you please let me out of here!!!

[ivyblooms]

The funniest homophobia I ever experienced was a Mormon lady at my work telling me she would accept me being gay because we have to get along as coworkers but I really should consider not being gay because gay people have sex like animals (especially gay men) and she just couldn't stop thinking about it and how gross we are. She started really getting distressed, near tears, and saying 'I can't stop thinking about it. I can't stop." over and over and miming some kind of sex acts with her hands and I was like ?????? What is happening???? One of the other Mormon ladies had to come over and pat her on the back and help her sit down to help her calm down and our boss gave her the afternoon off due to being too upset to work.

[ilona-mushroom]

Not socialist in a “I won’t have to work” type of way but socialist in a “I’ll still be working but I won’t be worried I won’t make the rent” type of way. In a “billions won’t be hoarded by one person” type of way. In a “janitors, fast-food workers, child care workers, preschool teachers, hotel clerks, personal care and home health aides, and grocery store cashiers, will live comfortably” type of way. In a “the sick and elderly will be cared for” type of way. In a “no child should work” type of way.

[pirateprincessjess]

When I was a kid my family pretended to get raptured so I would think I was left behind on earth while they all went to heaven.

I was like 8 years old and my sister and mom had gotten really into the Left Behind novels (bible fan fic about the rapture). In the books when the rapture happened the clothes that people were wearing when they got raptured were left behind in neatly folded piles.

One day when I was getting home from school my family decided that they would leave piles of neatly folded clothes around the house, and then hide in the basement.

The intended effect was that I would get home and see the clothes then, think that my family had been raptured and that I wasn’t good enough to get into heaven… or something?

The problem was that I had never read these books, and didn’t really think about the rapture very often. There was no reason that I would see some laundry on the floor and think “The rapture happened and I’ve been abandoned by God! I’ll never see my family again!! Oh nooo!!!!”

I just sat down and watched cartoons and eventually my family got bored and revealed that they were all hiding in the basement.

It’s a good thing I didn’t understand the joke, otherwise that shit would have been traumatic.

[apollos-boyfriend]

i was cuddling with my boyfriend last night when his shoulder started tensing up (like he was readjusting or gently pushing me off) and when i asked him if he was okay or needed me to move or something he went “no you’re fine, i was just imagining myself pulling a large rope. i didn’t even realize my shoulder was doing that lmao” then refused to elaborate and i have never been as attracted to him as i was in that moment.