#yes that adverb was intentional

[apollosbirthdayplaylist]

藤井風 (Fujii Kaze) - 死ぬのがいいわ (Shinunoga ii-wa, lit. 'I would rather die')

[writingwithfolklore]

5 Writing Rules I Like to Break

                Listen, I am firmly of the belief that writing doesn’t have rules. There’s no one way to do it—no one schedule or technique or tip that’s going to work for everyone and produce perfect narratives. Which is a good thing! I think if we all had to write exactly the same way, our stories would end up looking very similar.

                So while in general I tend to say throw out any and all rules (and yes, even including the advice I give on this blog if you so desire), here’s 5 common writing rules I specifically and intentionally break, and why:

1. Write what you know

I already talked all about how I tend to ignore this advice here if you’re interested. The TLDR version of it is that you can absolutely write things beyond your scope of knowledge (in fact, I’d guess that’s where the majority of fiction comes from) as long as you write it genuinely—this rule should be instead ‘write what you feel’.

2. Don’t edit as you write

Booo!! Okay maybe it works for some of you—if so, by all means continue (this applies to all the rules I’m about to mention, so just keep that in mind). Editing as I go is how I get back into the swing of things in a new writing session, and also allows me to try a scene a few different times to get the most I can out of it. I tend to believe that words are words even if they’re edited, rewritten, or even deleted.

If your goal is to finish your project as fast as possible, I imagine going back to edit before you’re finished your draft might slow you down. However, I also imagine editing as you go might save you an entire draft. Whatever works for you here is what you should do, but I personally love to edit as I write.

3. Avoid ‘said’

At least I think a lot of you guys are with me when I say that ‘said’ is sometimes just the best word to use. Using lots of descriptive words like, ‘yelled’, ‘begged’, ‘exclaimed’ can be distracting. When the dialogue speaks for itself, the ‘said’ disappears into the background of the scene, while necessary for grammar, it’s a formality for the actual storytelling. As well, I like to experiment with said by adding a descriptor afterwards. ‘Said quietly’ ‘said through a laugh’ ‘said without taking a breath’ etc.

4. Avoid adverbs

Here’s what I’ll say about word usage in general, as long as you pick your words with thought and care, you may use whatever words you want. Words have different specific connotations, and not always will avoiding the adverb have the same impact. For example, changing “he laughed lightly” to “he giggled.” We may have removed the adverb ‘lightly’, but ‘giggled’ holds a completely different connotation. It evokes a sort of immaturity, not unlike the ‘schoolgirl’ stereotype. If we don’t want that connotation, in this case, laughed lightly may be better.

                So don’t count out adverbs for the sake of it. As long as you’re choosing your words with intention and you understand the meaning behind them, you can experiment with a world of adverbs!

5. Never use passive voice

This one I didn’t realize was important to break until quite recently. We tend to be taught that passive voice automatically equals bad and I’m here to tell you that isn’t true. Passive voice should equal focus on action. Active voice equals focus on character. There may be certain sentences in which focusing on either the character or the action is more beneficial.

For example, “the alarm was pulled by Alice” (passive) kind of sounds clunky and wrong, whereas “Alice pulled the alarm” (active) is much more effective.

BUT “Alice was dragged out of the way” (passive) focuses on the action of Alice being dragged, rather than “Something dragged Alice out of the way” (active) focuses on the something that is doing the dragging, which in a moment of action, may take away from the pacing.

As long as you choose your voice with intention, both passive and active voice can be used to create strong, effective sentences.

                What are some typical writing rules you tend to ignore?

[physalian]

Incorporating weather elements into your narrative

*Picture me in shock over 11 new followers in 6 days after a 3 week dry spell: Thanks everybody!

Short this time! Weather and climate as worldbuilding are kind of like adverbs. Adverbs, as a concept, are not book kryptonite (despite what all the people screaming about how using better verbs is always the answer want you to believe). Adverbs should just be used with intent and not be redundant, which I’ve said before.

Basically, why use an adverb that doesn’t actually tell us any helpful information about the verb that the reader can’t already presume? “She smiled happily,” well, yeah, as you do. “She smiled sorrowfully,” okay, now that’s an expression I can work with. Why is she smiling sorrowfully? Why does she think she must smile through her sadness? Clearly it’s failing, otherwise the narrator wouldn’t note that the smile is sorrowful at all.

There’s a reason “talking about the weather” is the butt of the joke. It’s generally seen as boring and inconsequential to either party and used to just fill otherwise awkward silence. A quick sentence for sensory details is great. Repeat details that don’t dig into those sensory elements are not.

Your weather is no different. Why are you describing it if it serves no purpose to the scene? Everyone’s default unobtrusive day is different, but unless stated otherwise, people are going to assume it’s either day or night with mildly clear skies and tolerable heat and humidity. Talking at length about average weather that doesn’t impact your character’s emotions or choices, or the tone of the narrative, is a waste of effort in my opinion.

As in, describing the perfect day while a charcater is stuck in an office and unable to enjoy it? Yes. A character getting groceries and it's 72 and sunny and look at all the boring shapes of the clouds and planes flying over head while I get zero input on how the character feels about any of it or why this detail matters? Fluff and filler.

If your book is chock full of poetic fluff, go ham, everybody's ideal narrative is different. I like mine lean, otherwise I get bored by all the fluff while I wait for the book to remember it has a plot.

Weather fits into one of those little buzzword bingo cards where, if the author is taking an aside to describe it, you know it’s going to be important later (or at least it should be important later if the author didn’t just forget about it). Weather tends to be used as foreshadowing and is used as metaphorical shorthand everywhere.

If I write about a character going off on a quest and I tell the reader that clouds are growing in the distance, there’s a 70/30 chance I’m not just talking about actual clouds, but the threat of the enemy, some sinister plot our plucky heroes are ignorant of. Stuff like:

A red sunrise

Black/grey stormclouds

The ambiguous “rain/storm” that’s coming

A chilly wind picks up

An oppressive heat wave settles over the land

Fictional weather is so entrenched in metaphor and allegory that no matter how cliché it gets, watching or reading a funeral scene where it’s not grey and rainy feels insincere and not somber enough for the tragedy unfolding. You can avoid this by having your characters hate that it’s not raining for their funeral, as if even God doesn’t mourn their dead friend and the rest of the world moves on uncaring.

Same vibe as Halloween decorations in broad daylight. Or Christmas decorations in the Florida 80 degree December. Fall without the changing colors of the leaves. The mood is completely wrong.

“It was a dark and stormy night” sets the reader up for something serious, perhaps mysterious and dramatic, not a cheesy Hallmark romance. Weather as tone is extremely helpful. Not describing it is better than picking the wrong weather for your scene, unless you're trying to be ironic. Weather is practically its own character, depending on how much it matters to your story.

Fantasy and abnormal weather should be treated like any other scene descriptor element. It’s not enough to just drop in a detail about how there’s a 20% chance of blood rain at noon. If this is meant to be metaphorical or foreshadowing, despite being “blood rain” maybe it’s not an ill omen. Maybe it’s a magical fertilizer and a farming boon that graces the land, you gotta clarify.

Personally I’d fixate on the blood rain and want to know much more about it, just as much as I’d want to know about the rest of the town. I don’t need you to explain why it exists, it can exist just for funsies without serving any plot purposes, but I definitely want some more detail about the blood rain, it sounds cool.

—

TLDR; Weather cannot be untethered from its metaphorical and tonal implications, it’s just too entrenched in fictional associations. With that said, if weather in your book isn’t important at all to the story, randomly describing the sunny day at length is like describing the grass of a random lawn—we all know what random grass looks like. Unless the state of the lawn matters, it’s fluff. If it doesn’t service the character’s arc, the themes of the story, the tone of the scene, or the plot in any way, it can be skipped beyond relaying to your readers on the time of day and some sensory details like if it’s hot or windy or humid.

[scentedpepper]

Oranges

EDDIE MUNSON X MALE READER

Summary: This HAS to be Eddie's year.

Content Warnings: (Spolier) Character Death

Other Pairings: Billy Hargrove x Male Reader

AUTHOR NOTE(S):

Fuck ya'll for making it cringe to like eddie

On other, more important notes, some background info and sincere warnings for ya:

This scene takes place s4 era. Reader graduated last year (s3) currently 18 going on 19. Felt like this was important to note given that our dear little failure here is a grown ass man and it'd be a tad bit strange to pair the little fucker with a highschool student.

Reader works as an intern at the school, hence, Eddie Munson.

Could possibly turn into a series (I have big dreams and not enough energy)

For those of you who have NOT seen s3, you will get spoiled by the end of this little thang so yk proceed with caution or wtv

Ummmmm

Oh right so, I know it says x Reader but this scene was in fact written with the intentions of putting an OC into the series. So for now, you're Joey.

That's it 🫶

_________________________________________

"No- No! See? This is- 'and it is'. Use an adverb to explain the connection and create... emotion. "

Eddie sinks in his own posture and slides a hand over his face, knocking his fringe sideways and out of the way. They have been at this for a while, and he's had enough. "You're not connecting the dots like I'm connecting the dots. "

"Those are literally dots. " Joey gestured towards the piece of paper that sat between them, littered with penmarks, of Eddie's choosing. He couldn't quite decphier why the man was lazily scratching the paper with color in certain areas. He peered closer at the margin on the left, words written across the blank surface that seemed made up. "How are you gonna connect something that wasn't written... this is an argumentative essay, Eddie. You're not allowed to just make up facts. " He wants to jab those pens underneath his eyelids. "What're all these marks for?"

"Alright, say, say this little orange, " Joey watches Eddie move his pen towards the tiny round doodle with squinted eyes, "what if it was in an orange?"

He's going to fail this.

Joey stares at the man unimpressed. "I've been sitting here trying to teach you how to write an arugmentative analysis on an article for the last hour, and you're drawing oranges on your paper?"

"With faces!" Eddie counters, pointing his orange pen– Joey's orange pen in the opposites face.

Joey snatches the pen from his hand abruptly and drops it, clattering down and across the wooden floor.

The pair of them have only gotten so far in this session of teaching. 'This session' being 1.5 hours, and Eddie had yet to pick up on the technique Joey had used to teach himself the tricks and secrets to these things years ago. Though, maybe he was giving him too much credit. The way the doe eyed mans head tilts to the side when he goes to the page and scans the lines for his answer seemed too much to bear.

They're in his trailer, surrounded by textbooks on the table that once belonged to Joey. This place, now that their studying system wasn't some figment of Joey's imagination brought to life, was a lot messier than he'd have liked it. But Munson came first.

Eddie wasn't dumb. Far from it, really. But in this moment he was. Maybe not, if you don't count the fact he wasn't listening. For the last hour. Or two. Joey definitely couldn't count because that sounded too depressing and he really did need to rethink his strategy.

"Sometimes doing homework is like sticking a fork in an electric socket. "

Nancy's words, not his, but either way he believes that now as well.

Joey stared at the older man's frame as he lay with his back against the rug on the carpet, eyes closed, another pen, teal, or at least the closests thing to it, hanging out of his mouth and some paper resting next to the upper half of his body.

"Eddie. "

"Yes, kind sir?" He quickly gets up, the second he hears his voice. He rests his arms on top of the surface of the round coffee table. "I'm totally paying attention, go on. "

Joey manages a breath before he rips the pen from Eddie's mouth and places it aside. Eddie gaped like a fish for a few moments too long and then took his pen back.

"You can't draw oranges in an analysis essay, please pay attention. "

Joey can feel his hair stand on end when he turns back to the English work.

"Yeah but hear me out, everyone is an orange. "

Joey's eyes flee back up to the man. "Eddie–" He protests.

"Just..." The man's mouth opens and a hint of an apology graces his soft facial structure but is soon replaced by his stubborn stance, his leg jolts slightly with his arms as he pushes his palms forward to the table. "C'mon. I'm smart, right?"

"...Yes?"

Eddie smiles triumphantly. His hair, resting in beautiful knots beside his ears. "Think about it. " He puts a finger up to his temple, tapping it twice. "People are oranges, and each orange is unique. Alike, but totally different. Maybe the ones with the nugget are rotten, or they taste more bitter or whatever. But someone likes 'em–"

"For their orange flavour?"

"Orange flavour. " Eddie grins at him. Joey has his suspicions about that grin.

"Sure, Ed. " He picks up his pencil and twists it around. "Now sit down. " He deadpans, eyes scanning the book passage in front of him.

Nonetheless, Eddie prevales. "You're my favorite orange. "

Joey gives him a look, his features remaining blank but there's a strange– almost longing tension to his jaw.

"You know why?" He drags out the last word while simultaneously circling the others nose with the orange pen he'd reterived without notice before giving the tip of the mans nose a prompt 'boop!'. "Because. "

A pause. Longer than Joey would have liked.

"..What?"

His eyes trace down his face.

"You're bigger. "

"Bigger?" He stares down the man incredulously. "What the fuck does that mean?"

"It means–!" Eddie's eyes turn back into his and he smiles coyly, "that you give me bigger... biggaaa— heart boners. Every time we are alone. Y'know? Just us. " He pauses to watch the anger burning in the others eyes, "You... bein' all tall and broad and... strong. "

The end of his sentence is like a purr but it lacked the proper 'o' sound to make the word seductive. –The ridiculous flexing didn't do much to help him either.

"Heart boners?" Joey cracks a smile, unable to keep his face muscles strewn tight. "Jesus. Shut up. "

"We could play house. I wouldn't mind being a house wife. " Eddie tucks his hair behind his ear, sitting pretty. His eyes reflect a perverse joy.

In turn, Joey rolls his eyes, teeth peaking out from beneath his lips. "Analysis first –then you can cook and clean for me all you want. "

Not a minute later does Eddie get on his knees before lunging forward, throwing his arm around his shoulder and ruffling the brunettes hair. Joey struggles, laughter spilling out in unsteady puffs of air. "Hey, what the hell is your problem?!"

Eddie let's him loose after a few more moments of struggle and the sight Joey offers makes him beam. "It's nice to see you smile. " He admits. "You've been all, edgy, lately. "

Once again, it's always so very easy to lose this man's train of thought with simple distractions such as putting his hair up in a high bun and pushing stray strands behind his ears.

"Used to be all kind smiles and doe eyes. "

Somethings got to give.

"Ever since the mall fi–"

"Didn't realize you paid so much attention to me, Eddie. " He interrupts.

"Well, you just make it so hard not to. " Eddie grins widely at him, his eyes practically twinkling.

Eddie tries not to get too sore over things. Least of all with Joey. Especially since he's got a knack for tip toeing his way out of things himself. Today isn't the day for that, apparently. Because Eddie isn't having it. Which is annoying.

"Look, " he tries again, "I'm not saying you have to –ya know? Say anything. You've just been different...than before. "

That much he knows, Eddie's always noticed things. Because that's who he is and all the time he spent to by himself over the course of his many highschool years has taught him to be an observer, and it just so happened that he had the knowledge to tell when and how things were off.

But there was always something about the way the brunette carried himself, stiff on his feet and jittery like a trapped mouse, no one gave it much thought.

Not even Eddie really.

"You didn't even know me before, Eddie. " Joey's looking at the man with tired eyes, he wonders where his reasoning is coming from. Had they talked more? And how did he manage to create this image of him into a person he had no inkling of a memory towards?

"Hey, I beg to differ. " Eddie counters, "I've known you for like..." He counts on his fingers, recalling he was supposed to garduate two years before Joey. "Six years!"

Joey scoffs. "And out of all those years, we've only had a real conversation in these past few months. "

Eddie goes a little quiet after that.

"So you can wipe that memory of... whatever you have in your head. " His chest swells with an unwelcome pain and he holds his breath.

The man doesn't waver. "Thats not how this works. " His brows furrow, etching serious lines into his forehead. "I've seen you. You've changed since then. "

"No I haven't. " Joey's gaze flickers towards the man, eyes stern but deep within them stir the turbulent anger Eddie had become quite familiar with his whole life.

"You have. " Eddie continues. "Your laughs not as loud, " He gestures vaguely towards the brunettes chest. "You seem more sad than, -than you usually are? Is what I mean..."

Eddie draws his bottom lip between his teeth and bites down nervously.

"Eddie, just drop it. " He's turning in his place, pulling one foot beneath him on the floor as his butt brushes the fabric beneath his thighs.

Eddie goes silent but for only a few minutes because without much reluctance he's lifting the forgotten orange pen from the wooden floorboard again and twirling it between his fingers.

"...Joey. " He says softly after a few long moments. "This town's shitty. "

And if he'd said this to the man about a year ago, he wouldn't have agreed. But now, he feels like he's being stabbed in the chest at the mere sight of it.

Eddie, himself, makes him forget sometimes. The bad and all it's misery.

He's not all that happy about that.

Not as much as he should be. Would've been.

"You know, I'm here. " Eddie leans in a bit, in hopes his friends words along with his guts may spill right out from him, "As much as you are for me with these–" He lifts one from the table before promptly letting it fall from his fingertips. "shitty textbooks. "

Joey swallows roughly, the lump in his throat straining but after a few seconds, he can't help it.

He lets out a long sigh, containing himself all in one breath. "I knew someone..." He starts slow and doesn't seem keen on finishing.

"In the mall fire?"

A huff this time. "Yes– the mall fire. " It felt funny to adress it as such. A false statement.

He feels tense all over, skin rubbing against the denim pants he wore like sandpaper against dry wood.

"My friend–" He pauses to scoff. "If you could even call the asshole that. " And of course, he's still trying to conceal it, the fact that those months apart had been the worst months of his life.

Billy. Fucking, Hargrove. Who would've thought he'd end up on his mind so often?

"He– passed. " The words come out heavy, sitting cold on his tongue and tasting bitter when the admission leaves him. "In the fire. "

Bullshit. Fucking fire. Really?

...

[beatrice1979a]

Fav fics I've written - self-love <3

@hartwign asked:

Fic authors self-rec! When you get this, reply with your favourite five fics you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love! <3<3

***

Ok ghost of the past... ffnet

Soooo In my late 20s I discovered a small (but extremely cozy, inspiring and talented) fandom... it felt like a community, almost like family... they were very encouraging... so I ended up dabbling in fanfic writing for about 20 months to help me improve my english while i was planning to immigrate to an english speaking country.

My favs:

The Chance - my very first fic. (spanish: La Oportunidad) Wrote it like a last century latinamerican short novel which was my style back then before I discovered fanfics. So tons of long descriptions, adverbs and head hopping and switching POVs . But i still like it. It's still my most popular work in ffnet. I'm planning to piss off my 28yo self and write an alt. ending. bwahahaha

Breakdown - my last fic. I wanted to try creating a quick 3-chapter agatha christie murder mystery fic and ended up writing a full 60k multichapter with twists, and romance and cliffhangers. Got a few fans mad. but I LOVE IT. Every time I read it... just puts a smile on my face. I want to try and write and read another murder mystery. Maybe in the Miraculous fandom ****looking at you sentitwins detective agency***. I really had fun writing it. I like that style a lot.

An Unexpected Customer - slice of life and natural dialogue. I love writing guy's POVs more than heroines. I still like it. Only fools fall in love like that <3

Just any other night: the final chapter - yay my first mature (smuttish?) fic. Anyway, the challenge for me was that there were about 5-10 words in the english sex vocab that I totally HATED to read/write back then. so i challenged myself to NOT use them at all. It's still a nice read.

Forever yours - Headhopping at my worst but it was intentional. I don't like writing heroines much. I end up adding too much of myself and my own personal experiences in them. But I still love this fic. Its still one of my favs.

**

Dear Future B...

please write again and revisit this list a year from now...

but finish those drawing sketches first... you slacker...

But I still love you!

sincerely,

B of the present.

ps. find a Beta and fix those grammar mistakes....

(laughs at myself... yeah right... *runs the other way*)

@fandomofone @kuromori4 @artemonh @ducky4eva tagging you. You actually have been writing in the last 15 years....

these are Gio and Betty and the Suarez family... if you are curious

yes... i have a thing for guys in leather jackets. sue me

[jameswrites]

So I have noticed something and I checked out with my non-autistic, non-"chameleon" friends if they do this and they unilaterally do not.

I will talk with people who are non-native English speakers and I will be having a nice time talking to them, and they will be having a nice time talking to me. Then one of us asks, (usually them but not always) if English is the native language.

And I am like "yeah it is!" and it is not for them.

But I talk just like them. I mirror the method of communicating.

They usually are very shocked, not because I speak poorly, but because I am mirroring their manner of speaking so that whatever verb, noun, pronoun, adverb etc formula they use in the sentences they make, I do the same thing in mine.

Does anyone else do this? Am I alone in this?

I also do this when speaking, I will take on accents and it's not intentional, but the moment I hear an accent recognizable enough for me to repeat, I do so if I am in a one-on-one conversation. Texans. Brits. Canadians. Oregonians. Floridians. It doesn't matter, if I am speaking alone, I will start to slide into that accent.

[ladyhindsight]

Two Shadowhunters are dead and a tracksuit gang is intent on taking Simon somewhere, but otherwise the plot refuses to appear. It isn’t important, even quarter into the story. These people have wedding to plan and relationship troubles to attend to, for god’s sake.

Simon is now bunking with “Kyle” and is introduced to his rather ascetic room. And oh, boy, this also isn’t the last time we get to read about “Kyle’s” hazel eyes.

The only reason I can give for the need to have that “honestly” there is because Simon has been nothing short of a sourpuss the whole book so far and his tone, without the adverb, would be snide. But let’s not pretend for a moment it couldn’t be replaced with

→ Simon replied with a relieved sigh.

→ Simon replied and gave Kyle a small smile.

Yes, very ordinary. He seems just like normal person. No Ulterior Motives detected here. He’s a normal guy.

Because this compound sentence has two subjects, both having male pronouns, “his room” is ambiguous and could be interpreted as either one of theirs. I read it like Simon went into Jordan’s room.

→ Simon went to his own room.

The feeling of tightening in one’s chest could be a physiological manifestation of emotion. It doesn’t necessarily have to do anything with breathing itself. Having to explain (i.e. justify) every emotional response Simon feels in his body and always note that he is, in fact, a vampire who despite (insert a reason) can still feel things physiologically gets tiresome and redundant quickly. It already has. 

Simon falls asleep after more lamenting on his current life. He wakes up and goes to the kitchen where Jordan is cooking.

Clare’s writing, as usual, is filled with filter words. There should be a tally on how many times someone “could see” something in this book. Anyway:

→ The gold medal at his throat had a pattern of leaves and the words Beati Bellicosi on it. “Beati” had something to do with saints...”

And I don’t know if he must be. Didn’t Jordan just yesterday show Simon his tattoos that are mantras from the Upanishads? That didn’t warrant any interpretation on Jordan’s religious leanings, so why does this?

Maia then calls Simon and asks if he was still attending the  dress fitting at Karyn’s Bridal Shop at three o’clock.

Clary’s characters is the only one making a fuss about looking like girly-girls or anything remote feminine, though later in the story she wears red stockings and a hot pink dress.

Simon then falls into narrating how on earth he ended up finding himself in this grievous predicament of dating two girls.

There wasn’t a chance because you never took one. Inexcusable.

Jordan inquires whether it was one of Simon’s girlfriends that called. Simon then explains his dating life in painfully dull detail. Jordan isn’t happy to hear about it:

Because he is just A Normal Guy. Nothing to see here, right Simon? Jordan then leaves for work and Simon skips off to the dress fitting. Clary is showing off a dress and Simon thinks it’s nice but it is not enough for Clary. Clary turns to Maia in this dire crisis:

Maia’s words are authentic because that is what is shown throughout the books. Clary, on the other hand, is wrapped up in the Not Like Other Girls narrative that outright had her acting hostile to any other girl, had her outright dissing femininity.

Clary doesn’t write in a diary about Jace, she draws and paints him. She needs to buy comic books not to feel “frilled up girly girl.” Maia wears a dress and then goes back to her jeans. She does her own thing whereas Clary’s character is all over the place with this shit.

Jocelyn and Luke arrive at the bridal shop and are disgustingly in love.

It’s Simon’s point of view, but he doesn’t need to be there to constantly remind that hey, these are his thoughts.

→ Clary had told him they were disgustingly in love. He didn’t find it disgusting, though that was probably because they weren’t his parents. They both seemed happy, and it was actually rather nice.

They then discuss how they will be wed in a mundane ceremony and how the Nephilim do not recognize unions between them and Downworlders.

But nothing in the story indicate this. Whenever Simon makes a note of the Shadowhunters’ attitude towards him, it’s always, in some way, negative. 

Maia then prepares to leave and Simon smells her.

Which begs the question, why doesn’t Simon smell Jordan?

Maia calls Simon “baby” and Clary demands Simon to make up his mind before the next Saturday.

Because it is brought to such an attention, it’s supposedly important for Clare that the readers take note and be amused with Simon. Nothing about Clary’s chosen footwear is this interesting or amusing if Clare didn’t think to point such mundane and boring thing out if she didn’t find it so. Look how Clary, despite in her girly-girl dress, wears sneakers! Isn’t she not like any other?

→ She was wearing green sneakers underneath them.

Then Jace arrives and we get this:

And I am so tired already. And the whole book is filled with this bullshit. But this is especially bullshit because it’s Simon who narrates their now troubled love. And I couldn’t care for less, but apparently Clary and Jace’s relationship is right in the front center of everyone else’s.

People discuss the current events of Shadowhunters dying. Jace takes his jacket back from Clary and is suddenly distant. Jace flings himself out of the bridal shop because nothing can be done discreetly during deep emotional turmoil. Later the others leave for dinner:

They are walking down the street. They talk about Simon staying at Jordan’s, and Simon asks Clary to maybe come over. When they arrive at the diner:

So Luke and Jocelyn just pranced in without holding a door open for them?? Not cool.

Oh, for fuck’s sake, it’s just people working out. Stop being so dramatic.

Polite parents don’t sit hours on end supporting your hobbies just to be polite so maybe, just maybe, Jocelyn actually cares? A wild idea, I know.

Simon then talks about Jordan and his pot plants that are not pot. They are first mentioned in the beginning of the chapter:

And then, Simon tells about these weird plants when they have been unmentioned since the initial introduction to Jordan’s hobbies in horticulture.

Just a pet peeve, again. Though the only time Simon could’ve checked the plants out was after Jordan left for work after the breakfast and before Simon’s appointment at the bridal shop, a mention of it would’ve been nice. Now it comes out of nowhere.

Then the only plot relevant thing we get from the diner scene are the abandoned demon babies. After the Not So Fantastic dinner, Simon walks home when the tracksuit gang ambushes him again.

→ Simon leaped back with a force that surprised him; his vampire strength was still so new.

Clearly.

Jace then swoops in, saves half of the day but not really, sees the Mark of Cain in action, throws a bible quote at Simon, and boom. We’re done. What a fucking awful and boring chapter.

[eleri-writes]

A word from your friendly neighborhood editor

I hate seeing other editors insist that all writers conform to arbitrary style rules. And I see it all the time in the form of terrible advice, presented as absolute truth handed down from on high.

So, here's my take:

All writing "rules" are made up. Blanket bans on entire categories of punctuation and words are absurd. Editors who indiscriminately rely on personal stylistic preference instead of elevating and honoring the individual writer's voice are bad editors.

Yes, you can use an unusual adjective if it fits.

Yes, you can use adverbs.

Yes, you can use dialogue tags other than "said."

Yes, you can use italics, em dashes, all those stylistic quirks you've been told have no place in "good writing."

There is a time and a place for all of these things. If you don't ever find a use for them in your writing, that's okay too! But you don't have to take them out of your toolbox entirely just because someone on the internet said so.

Real, good, published authors do all of these things. All the time. If you don't believe me, you can just...pull down a few books from your bookshelf and flip through them. I guarantee that in no time, you'll find dozens of examples of those "rules" being broken.

The uniqueness of an author's voice is precisely what makes them worth reading. Which means that you, too, can do whatever you want, as long as you're intentional about serving a purpose with your choices.

I feel strongly that if you want to understand the rules for good writing, rather than looking to style guides or books on craft, you should look to authors who actually did the damn thing. Read novels. Study them. Decide what works and what doesn't. Learn from that.

And do not believe anyone, especially editors, who claims that there's only one right way to tell your story.

[phynali]

I struggle with this one a lot.

As someone with ADHD I write with short paragraphs and almost certainly overuse paragraph breaks. Not because I don't know where a break is more technically correct, but because it's more intuitive to me.

And as a reader I struggle with long block paragraphs quite a bit, and can end up skipping parts of them or skipping them entirely. Overly dense paragraphs can even make me drop a work because it feels like too much of a slog even if I'm enjoying the story; the longer paragraphs overtax my working memory capacity and I can't continue without a pen or highlighter.

(Oddly I find this different in full screen browsers like on AO3 vs reading in other formats? It's not near as much of a struggle when I'm reading a physical book or an e-reader, maybe because I can use my finger to keep my place? Although it's still a problem if the paragraphs are quite long or don't vary much in length. For my day job, I literally have to print and use a highlighter on the articles I need to read, and want to weep when they write with long ass paragraphs.)

That's not a grammar thing or a guide to good writing though, it's an ADHD issue. It's my problem and I don't expect writing to conform to my unique needs, but it definitely influences how I write and what I enjoy as a reader.

That being said, I don't find the example above with each sentence on its own line to necessarily be a more pleasing reading experience. An easier one, definitely, and not dissimilar to how I write sometimes. But each line here doesn't need to stand on its own. Making them each a separate paragraph implies they're separate ideas and actions and/or that each requires unique emphasis. That can be disruptive too.

To a fair extent, though, it comes down to style and preference, and down to what you want to convey with the breaks. Not to diminish that there are grammatical rules you can learn for this, but the intended audience, the genre, the medium, the writer's style and intended tone, etc, will all have their influence on paragraphs length, the same as they might influence any other aspect of the writing. Meaning it isn't and can't be one size fits all, either.

I'm possibly overly wedded to the flexibility and versatility of personal style, admittedly, and I'm sure it's an issue for some people who try to read my stuff. I break a lot of rules when I write, including with diction and spelling (made up words, shortened words or contractions and slang to create tone), with syntax or grammar (I replace a lot of adverbs with adjectives and it is grammatically incogent if intentional), with sentence structure (subject and preposition? never heard of her. also I will write a paragraph length breathless run-on and you can't stop me), and yeah, with paragraph length.

But while I think writing can be for fun and you don't need to take the rules too seriously or strictly -- especially if they're getting in the way of you writing or enjoying the process of writing -- I do think it's often worth learning the rules of your craft. Not only can it help you develop your skill, but it affords you insight into what effect it'll have when you break those rules. Getting lost or paralyzed by the rules isn't good, you should have space to experiment and have fun and not worry too much about finding the one right way to do things. But learning can help you find new ways of doing things too, which can make writing even more enjoyable if you let it.

And if and when you do want to improve, like Z said above, one of the most essential things to do is to read. Read widely. Fic, yes, but necessarily original fiction, as in published books, ones in different genres, short stories and longer novels and other things besides. No matter what level of writing you're at, you will always benefit from reading others' writing and gaining new perspectives. Even if you don't or haven't learned rules in a classroom setting and don't want to get hemmed in by rigid structures, reading allows you to see how others do things. You can learn from or be inspired (or dissatisfied) by their approach. This is especially true if you stop and consider the things you enjoy reading and examine what they do to get that reaction out of you.

Anyway, bringing this back to paragraph breaks. For me, if I'm ever unsure, step one is asking myself why I'm putting that particular break in that particular spot? What is it accomplishing?

Thinking of it as a camera angle is one approach but you don't want a jittery camera lens either, and written fiction isn't the same as film or TV, so is that what you're going for? Another thing to consider is whether you're emphasizing what you want to draw the reader's attention to. Is it buried in the middle of a paragraph or does it stand out, at the beginning or end or on its own? If every paragraph is just a sentence or two then none of them stand out. If every paragraph is long and dense then the story has an even flow but you may be missing opportunities to build tension or humour or irony.

Mostly, are you carrying the reader through the story in the manner you intend? And if not, what can change to improve that?

Whole-heartedly BEGGING writers to unlearn everything schools taught you about how long a paragraph is. If theres a new subject, INCLUDING ACTIONS, theres a new paragraph. A paragraph can be a single word too btw stop making things unreadable

[translations-dark-matter]

Living as an Extra in an Omegaverse novel

Side story Chapter 6

Teong.

[TL note: “텅 an adverb that modifies verbs meaning 비다 (empty) or that describes the sound of hitting an empty metal drum.” Bro this translated into Tongue the first time I translated lol]

Thud!

The sound of the dart thrown by Shin Tae-oh hitting the body followed by the sound of it hitting the hard wooden board continued to ring out. The more it happened, the more salty and cold Se-hyeon's eyes became.

Simple calculations can be calculated quickly. It was a waste of time to throw darts at someone who knew the answer.

“I heard it’s been a while since you played darts.”

“It’s been a while since I did this. If I played darts every day, I would have done well, right?”

Oh, I see.

It made some sense. Se-hyeon, who had held a basketball in his hands for the first time in a long time, did well, but Shin Tae-oh is usually right.

“You are eliminated.”

Se-hyeon, who experienced failure in Shin Tae-oh's first mission, tapped him on the shoulder as if to comfort him.

"It's okay. It’s just a game.”

If you do everything well, it won't be fun.

Se-hyeon, who comforted Shin Tae-oh with that feeling, added another word.

“I’ll do the next one.”

Since trust in Shin Tae-oh had slightly declined, I expressed my intention to become the starting player. Shin Tae-oh kept his mouth shut.

I've done three missions so far, and it wasn't awkward talking to Shin Tae-oh in front of everyone at the company. Even though it’s not business-related.

“Is Se-hyeon going to get a stamp?”

“I have to try it to find out. Boss, how many seconds does it take to walk 100 metres?”

Shin Tae-oh thought for a moment and said roughly what came to mind when asked by Se-hyeon, who had immediately decided on a target.

“Twelve seconds?”

That's a pretty good score.

“Then do you want to do that together?”

Se-hyeon pointed to the first mission they did as a team.

Shin Tae-oh's eyes followed Se-hyeon's fingers and read what he saw.

“Team round trip?”

"Yes."

Two people run round trip. If you press the buzzer at both ends and run to the other side, other people also press the buzzer and run.

The faster the better, and the better you get along with the other person.

Shin Tae-oh's gaze, which confirmed once more the rules he already knew, glowed with a different meaning than Se-hyeon's. Meanwhile, Se-hyeon went ahead of Shin Tae-o and returned after completing the application for participation. Shin Tae-oh's eyes caught the sight of Se-hyeon's body movements, which seemed clearly lighter than before.

Se-hyeon stood at the starting line and turned his ankle while waiting for Shin Tae-oh to be ready.

“I’m ready.”

“Then let’s begin.”

Before we knew it, a crowd of people were watching Shin Tae-oh and Se-hyeon, and the host pressed the start button. The team round-trip run begins with a beep sound.

***

Se-hyeon was a person who had no desire to win.

No, if I had to be honest, I was closer to being strong than not having the will to win. However, it was so tiring to react to each one, so I chose to give up my desire to compete.

Although he has lived well up until now, each mission today is a testament to Se-hyeon's strong will to win.

It started to stimulate. Once, grab me.

It seemed like he was opening his mouth wide to say something.

'That's fun.'

Repeating the process of running a short distance at full speed, pressing the buzzer and changing direction made Se-hyeon's muscles bulge with tension.

Right now, Se-hyeon was only thinking about pressing the buzzer quickly within the time limit. He, who used to hear compliments about his broad vision until his ears wore out.

“Is it true that there is something going on between Secretary Ahn and the CEO?”

Deputy Director Lee Seung-hee of Planning Team 2, who was watching, muttered. Then Assistant Manager Park Eun-jung, who was closest to her, gave her a suspicious look.

"I know. The boss’s eyes when he looks at Secretary Ahn are unusual.”

“Isn’t that what Assistant Manager Park sees? Earlier, I thought they were just friends because they worked together. I’m just shaking right now.”

She saw two men running fast. He has a handsome face that doesn't collapse even when exposed to air resistance, and his speed is also impressive.

If he had caught the eye of a track and field teacher when he was young, he would have been scouted at least once.

Watching Se-hyeon run well made me compare him to the president even more. Unlike Secretary Ahn, who was frantically running to press the buzzer, President Shin Tae-oh's eyes did not fall from Secretary Ahn. Then, when Secretary Ahn passed by, he not only deliberately avoided it, but also held out his hand to catch Secretary Ahn when he stumbled slightly.

Do you usually run like that?

“It’s so strange to see the sorrowful look in your eyes as if you were about to fall.”

“Even when I see it.”

The two women decided that there was something there.

A man who was watching Shin Tae-oh next to them shook his head.

‘It's because I made it thinking about my boyfriend.’

Yoo Jin-ha, who was selected for this IC event, looked into the transparent heart of Shin Tae-oh.

“Se-hyeon played basketball in the past.”

“Se-hyeon likes games like this. You figure out most things right away.”

“A round trip? What if Se-hyeon falls while doing this? Ah, I’ll just accept it then.”

The conversation that took place with only Shin Tae-oh, Yoo Jin-ha, and Chief Secretary Lee was full of Ahn Se-hyeon. Should I tell people at work that I increased my workload to have fun with my lover?

Although he had that urge for a moment, Yoo Jin-ha chose to keep his mouth shut. Although it is a project for couples, everyone at the company is enjoying it as a result.

Since Se-hyeon is also enjoying himself with a very serious expression, wouldn't Shin Tae-oh have achieved the 80 percent he wanted?

The remaining twenty percent...

'An expression of affection disguised as a coincidence and a natural announcement that two people are dating.'

It seems so easy yet difficult.

“Secretary Ahn, I…”

“Run!”

The moment the two almost collided, Shin Tae-oh opened his arms and tried to hug him, but Se-hyeon mercilessly slapped Shin Tae-oh's arm away. I don't think Shin Tae-oh will be able to touch Se-hyeon's body until the run is over.

“Seeing as you just pushed the boss away, I guess we’re not dating, right?”

“Secretary Ahn has quite the competitive spirit.”

The two women also seemed confused and could not make a decision.

***

Gradually, the number of teams participating in the mission decreased. Since all you had to do was receive drawing sheets equal to the number of stamps, there weren't many teams that tried to complete the challenge.

Instead, they enjoyed snacks and drinks at a separate booth, and some went to Media Art and had a leisurely time.

Shin Tae-oh looked at Se-hyeon, flapping his sweat-soaked front hair. It was amazing to see that he had obviously run more than me, and other than his face being a little flushed, he looked the same as usual.

“Shall we have coffee too?”

Even though I was on a three-hour mission, I couldn't get more than a sip of water. So Shin Tae-oh tempted Se-hyeon by asking him if he wanted an iced Americano, but the answer he got back was completely different from what he expected.

“Is it possible to try again?”

Shin Tae-oh kept looking in that direction, as if he was feeling disappointed about his failed dart. Thanks to this, Shin Tae-oh could not mention Americano again and nodded.

“It will work.”

I didn't really think about trying again, but whatever. Since there was no previous precedent in the first episode, anything was bound to be made.

“Um... no. Let’s just do the last one. I guess it’s curling.”

[TL note: Curling is a sport in which players slide stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area which is segmented into four concentric circles.]

Instead of giving up on trying again, Se-hyeon started team curling.

When one person enters the basin, the other person pushes it. Teams can compete against each other, or if there is no opponent, just enter the circle and see if you are successful.

Se-hyeon walked towards the curling without getting tired. Shin Tae-oh thought he wasn't sweating, but when he saw that the back of Se-hyeon’s head was wet, he chuckled.

It was definitely what I wanted from today’s event. There is, but it's better now.

Because Ahn Se-hyeon likes it.

Even if he doesn't smile brightly, you can see his eyes sparkling because it's fun.

So today, just looking at Tae-oh’s favourite face is enough...

“What are you doing?”

Se-hyeon, who went far away, has already returned.

Se-hyeon looked up at Shin Tae-oh.

“We have to do this as a team, so we have to go together.”

“Uh, okay.”

Shin Tae-oh could not hide his embarrassment. The reason is... Not only did Se-hyeon come back, he was holding my hand.

Shin Tae-oh, who was walking with Se-hyeon, who was walking again, holding hands, had no intention of tearing his gaze away from the other person.

It was different from when I put my arm around Se-hyeon's arm earlier.

“But it would be nice to do this as a couple in the second episode.”

"Huh?"

While Shin Tae-oh was belatedly trying to interpret what Se-hyeon meant, a kind explanation came out.

“It would be fun to do it as a team, but I think it would be more fun to take on the challenge as a couple like us.”

Se-hyeon didn't even lower his voice, perhaps because he knew others were listening.

“It can be a unique date for couples dating within the company.”

Shin Tae-oh stopped in place at Se-hyeon’s decisive words.

“Do you think we’re dating?”

Shin Tae-oh looked at Se-hyeon with a half-dazed expression and asked.

When Se-hyeon looked somewhere else and turned his head back to Shin Tae-oh, their eyes met.

“Um... yes.”

Shin Tae-oh smiled brightly in response.

Prev / Next

[reedreadsgreek]

John 4:35–38

35 οὐχ ὑμεῖς λέγετε ὅτι ἔτι τετράμηνός ἐστιν καὶ ὁ θερισμὸς ἔρχεται; ἰδοὺ λέγω ὑμῖν, ἐπάρατε τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ὑμῶν καὶ θεάσασθε τὰς χώρας ὅτι λευκαί εἰσιν πρὸς θερισμόν. ἤδη 36 ὁ θερίζων μισθὸν λαμβάνει καὶ συνάγει καρπὸν εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον, ἵνα ὁ σπείρων ὁμοῦ χαίρῃ καὶ ὁ θερίζων. 37 ἐν γὰρ τούτῳ ὁ λόγος ἐστὶν ἀληθινὸς ὅτι ἄλλος ἐστὶν ὁ σπείρων καὶ ἄλλος ὁ θερίζων. 38 ἐγὼ ἀπέστειλα ὑμᾶς θερίζειν ὃ οὐχ ὑμεῖς κεκοπιάκατε· ἄλλοι κεκοπιάκασιν καὶ ὑμεῖς εἰς τὸν κόπον αὐτῶν εἰσεληλύθατε. 

My translation: 

35 “You yourselves say that yet it is four months and the harvest comes, do you not? Look, I say to you, lift up your eyes and observe the fields, that they are white for harvest. Already 36 the one harvesting receives wages and gathers fruit unto life unto the next age, in order that the one sowing and the one harvesting might rejoice together. 37 For in this the word is genuine, that other is the one sowing and other is the one harvesting. 38 I sent you to harvest that which you yourselves have labored not; others have labored and you have entered into their labor.” 

Notes:

4:35 

οὐχ introduces a question expecting a “Yes” answer (“You have a saying, do you not?”). 

ὑμεῖς is the emphatic subject of the present λέγετε (from λέγω).  

ὅτι introduces direct discourse, here a proverbial saying. 

The hapax legomenon adjective τετράμηνος is, “lasting four months”, from τέσσαρες “four” + ὁ μήν “month”. Here it is substantival, “a period of our months” (BDAG); χρόνος is implied (McHugh). τετράμηνός is the subject of the present ἐστιν (from εἰμί). The adverb ἔτι (“yet, still”), when used to refer to time not yet come, can be rendered, “more” (NRSV, HCSB, NET). 

ὁ θερισμός (13x) is, “a harvest”, from θερίζω “I harvest”. ὁ θερισμὸς is the subject of the futuristic present ἔρχεται (from ἔρχομαι). καὶ here is not coordinating (“and”) but subordinating (“before”; NASB, NET: “and then”; NRSV, HCSB: “then”): “It is four months more before harvest comes.” 

ἰδοὺ is, in form, the 2s 2nd aorist middle imperative from ὁράω, but in the NT functions as an interjection marking emphasis or calling attention to something (equivalent to ἴδε; see note on 1:29). Here, the particle indicates contrast, ‘almost equivalent to “but”’ (ICC). 

λέγω ὑμῖν is a favorite phrase of Jesus in all four gospels to call attention to what follows; here is a rare instance in John where is it not preceded by ἀμὴν ἀμὴν. 

ἐπαίρω (19x), from ἐπί + αἴρω, is “I lift up, hold up” (BDAG). The direct object of the aorist imperative ἐπάρατε is τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς; ὑμῶν is a possessive genitive. The phrase suggests ‘careful and deliberate gaze’ (ICC). 

The direct object of the aorist imperative θεάσασθε (from θεάομαι “I look at [intently], observe”) is τὰς χώρας (in the plural: “fields”). 

ὅτι introduces the content of what is to be observed. In Greek idiom the thing to be observed often precedes ὅτι as the direct object of the verb of perception (lit. “Observe the fields, that they are white ...”). English idiom puts the noun after “that” (“Observe that the fields ...”). 

λευκαί (“white”) is the predicate adjective of εἰσιν (from εἰμί), and “the fields” are the unexpressed subject. The prepositional phrase πρὸς θερισμόν indicates goal or purpose (“ready to be harvested”, sim. HCSB; NASB, NET, ESV: “white for harvest”; NIV: “ripe for harvest”, sim. NRSV). 

The temporal adverb ἤδη could modify εἰσιν above (“are already white”; so ICC, NLT), but the UBS 5 punctuation puts ἤδη with verse 36 (so most translations); ‘in this context it does not make too much difference’ (McHugh). 

4:36 

The articular present participle ὁ θερίζων (from θερίζω) is substantival (“the one who reaps”, NIV, NET, ESV; “the reaper”, NRSV, HCSB; “the harvesters”, NLT) and the subject of the present λαμβάνει (from λαμβάνω); μισθὸν (“wages”) is the direct object. If ἤδη (v. 35) belongs with this sentence, it modifies λαμβάνω (“the harvester is already receiving his wages”). The phrase seems to mean that the workers have already been hired to set about the harvesting, even though the planting has only just now been done. 

ὁ θερίζων above is also the subject of the present συνάγει (from συνάγω), and καρπὸν is the direct object. The preposition εἰς with ζωὴν αἰώνιον may indicate goal (“for eternal life”, most translations); but if it is souls which are being harvested, then εἰς may simply be spatial (in a temporal sense), “into eternal life”. 

ἵνα + subjunctive indicates not purpose but result (“so that”, most translations). 

The adverb ὁμοῦ (4x, 3 of which in John) is, “together” (either in place or, as here, in time), from the genitive case of ὅμος, “same” (only found as a prefix in the NT). ὁμοῦ modifies the present subjunctive χαίρῃ (from χαίρω), whose subject is the articular present participle ὁ σπείρων (from σπείρω). καὶ expands the scope to also include the substantival present participle ὁ θερίζων (from θερίζω), although the verb remains in the singular to match the first mentioned subject. 

4:37 

The prepositional phrase ἐν τούτῳ refers to the current circumstances; NASB, HCSB: “in this case”; NET: “in this instance”. 

ὁ λόγος (here, “the saying”) is the subject of the present ἐστὶν (from εἰμί), and the adjective ἀληθινὸς (“genuine”; see note on 1:9) is predicate. 

ὅτι introduces another proverbial saying. 

The two instances of adjective ἄλλος in this verse are substantival, the subject of the present ἐστὶν and an implied ἐστὶν, respectively. The substantival present participles ὁ σπείρων (from σπείρω) and ὁ θερίζων (from θερίζω) are predicate nominatives; literally, “Another one is the one sowing, another one is the one reaping”; most translations: “One sows and another reaps”. 

4:38 

ἐγὼ is the emphatic subject of the aorist ἀπέστειλα (from ἀποστέλλω), and ὑμᾶς is the direct object. The present infinitive θερίζειν (from θερίζω) indicates purpose. The present-tense of the infinitive indicates an ongoing task. 

The relative pronoun ὃ is its own antecedent (“that which”). ὃ is an accusative of respect with the negated perfect οὐχ κεκοπιάκατε (from κοπιάω “I toil, labor”), of which ὑμεῖς is the emphatic subject (“that for which you did not labor”, NRSV). 

ἄλλοι is substantival and the subject of the perfect κεκοπιάκασιν (from κοπιάω “I toil, labor”). 

ὁ κόπος (18x) is, “work, labor, toil” (BDAG), from κοπιάω (see above). αὐτῶν, referring to ἄλλοι above, is subjective with τὸν κόπον. The prepositional phrase εἰς τὸν κόπον αὐτῶν modifies the perfect εἰσεληλύθατε (from εἰσέρχομαι), whose subject is the emphatic ὑμεῖς (“you have entered into their labor”, NASB). The noun here is not subjective, referring to the act of laboring, but objective, referring to the results of the labor (“you have reaped the benefits of their labor”, NIV; “you will get to gather the harvest”, NLT).

[yourbookcouldbegayer]

I'm writing one of my first wlw smut and getting entangled with all of the 'she' and 'hers', especially with all the body parts moving around. Who's doing what to who, exactly??

Example: A touched B's hair. She purred as she worked through a particularly gnarly knot in her hair. Her face scrunched as she focused on her work.

And if I change to names it feels stilted.

Example: A touched B's hair. B purred as A worked through a particularly gnarly knot in B's hair. A's face scrunched as A focused on A's work.

And epithets... "the blonde", "the tall one"... Feels worse. (We don't talk about epithets?)

Do you have any advice on how to layer two characters with the same pronouns together when both are taking action in a scene? (Smutty action is still action 😉) or anywhere you've seen this handled exceptionally well?

Apologies if this has been answered - I tried to search first but came up empty. 🙏

TIA!

Hi, anon!

I wanted to answer this because I come across this issue A Lot, and honestly, it's just a balancing game of dialogue and hopping the names in and out with the pronouns. And yeah—unless you have a REALLY good reason to do it, try and avoid epithets. Although a "the other girl" sprinkled in once or twice a chapter doesn't hurt.

First of all, the names thing—it's not quite as stilted as you might think, so long as you've still got pronouns in between. Let's take a look at your example (I've given them names to make it easier):

Ali touched Bea's hair. Bea purred as Ali worked through a particularly gnarly knot in Bea's hair. Ali's face scrunched in concentration as Ali focused on Ali's work.

The first and foremost rule I can give you is this:

The pronouns correspond to the object of the sentence.

So let's take that second sentence and remove a name, stick in a pronoun:

Bea purred as Ali worked through a particularly gnarly knot in her hair.

So this can be confusing. Are we talking about Bea or Ali's hair? Granted, thanks to context from the first sentence we know it's Bea's hair, but it still feels a little off. We can use our second rule to fix this, though:

Focus verbs, adjectives, and actions toward the object of the sentence.

(Also a little sub-rule: The one that said the dialogue is almost always the object of the sentence.)

We can put that into effect by humanizing Bea to the reader, focusing their attentions on the person whose pronouns you're using. Let's stick a few words in for an example:

Bea purred, pleased, as Ali worked through a particularly stubborn knot in her hair.

If you help the sentence flow conversationally in the reader's mind, two important things are going to happen:

They're not going to get stuck on the pronouns, and

They're not going to notice how often you use the names.

It's like "said." You can only use so many synonyms for it before your work starts to feel like you're writing a thesaurus, not a story. And sometimes it's just embarrassing (see: '"Snape!" ejaculated Slughorn.' Yes, that's a real quote.)

But now we've run into a problem: in our next sentence, Ali is the active object, not Bea. If we use "she" to start it off, it's gonna sound like we're talking about Bea, not Ali, and then it's just gonna get confusing. So here's my third and final rule:

Don't always start with people.

What does that mean? Well, in every sentence in this example, we've started the sentence with a name or pronoun. But what happens if we switch it around, start our sentences with an adverb, adjective, or a noun? We could even embed dialogue (but remember to always start a new paragraph for dialogue said by a different person).

I'll use the third example sentence to show what I mean:

Intently focused on her work, Ali's face scrunched in concentration.

You could also try:

Face scrunched in concentration, Ali applied an intense focus to her work.

(Of course, that one sounds like you're leading into a commentary about Ali's focus.) Remember: as much as I've been saying "object of the sentence," they're not objects, they're people! If your reader is relating to them, if they're engaging in a back-and-forth with another character, if they're observing the world around them—the frequency of names vs. pronouns isn't going to matter as much as the story itself.

Prioritize the characters and the narration (from whoever's perspective you're writing it from). That delicate balance between names and pronouns will come a lot easier if you're writing about people, not whatever (or whomever) they're doing.

Because I'm extra, here's an example I've expounded upon for funsies. There's also a bit of sexual subtext to it, because, well, you asked about smut, didn't you?

Ali was staring at her.

Right. That was fine. Bea met her gaze for a few seconds, before lifting a brow questioningly. "Ah—"

"Can I touch your hair?" Ali blurted, then blushed, giving her a sheepish grin. Privately, Bea thought that was the cutest shit she'd ever seen.

"Sure. If you give me a style as pretty as yours." Bea winked, then grinned as the blush on Ali's cheeks only increased in intensity.

Not trusting herself to speak without stammering, Ali gestured to the chair in front of her, settling it so that its back was to her chest. She pulled another chair over and set it facing towards her, straddling the seat and leaning against its back. Bea raised a single brow, but acquiesced, sitting normally on the other chair to give Ali access to her hair.

Tentatively at first, then more confidently when Bea voiced no complaint, Ali began coaxing apart the knots in the curls before her. As she worked through a particularly stubborn tangle, she heard an unusual sound—Bea was purring, she realized, lips parting in shock. That was...

Well, it was kind of hot, actually, wasn't it?

They settled into a relaxed rhythm, Bea's purrs a gentle staccato against Ali's fingers, her own face scrunched in concentration as she focused on her work. She began to hum softly, just to give her voice something to do. In response, Bea slumped further in her chair, the volume of her purrs increasing. Just to see what would happen, Ali paused, smirking when she received a quiet grumble of displeasure.

I'm cutting it there because otherwise I'm just going to write a full-on scene about emotional development and vulnerability for guarded, snarky Bea and patient, blushing Ali. (Can you tell that I project onto my OCs?) If you reread it, you'll note a few times where the point of view changes, as well as the object of the she/her pronouns.

Both the reader and (more importantly!) you as the writer will feel more comfortable with the flow of your writing if you're connecting with the characters. Humanize them. Describe them. Help them feel, grow, and learn, and they'll do the same for you.

— Mod Ziva

(PS: As an afterthought, my AO3—upon which there is one (1) explicit work with two lovers of the same gender (sukka)—is Zivqa, if you're interested. It isn't my best work, but in my defense I wrote it four years ago at three in the morning. Anyway, the pronouns are easy enough to understand inamongst all the, ah, action.)

[shewhowas39]

gonna add a few thoughts tot his. like kitten, i've had a lot of writing experience, including as a writing teacher. and dialogue is easily my favorite thing to write.

1.) "Read out loud" is hands down the best advice for this topic. there's an old clip of Harrison Ford talking about telling George Lucas that just because he can write things doesn't mean they're easy to say. sometimes something you write down doesn't actually sound natural coming out of someone's mouth. to this day, I tend to speak my dialogue out loud as I write it. It makes a big difference.

2.) Re: Dialogue Tags: so let me clarify the reason you're supposed to use them sparingly. it isn't that the dialouge should speak for itself. it's more that words like "said/says" and "asked/asks" become invisible to the reader in a way. where as more elaborate tags like "exclaim" or "mumble" or "shouted" etc stand out. too many of these stand out words can become distracting. i once read a novel where it seemed like every other dialogue tag was "screamed," "exclaimed," or "shouted." i don't remember anything about this book except that i felt like the characters were constnatly yelling and it took me out of the story. that does NOT mean to never use specific tags. it just means to be intentional about it, as kitten said. do it knowing it's going to have an impact and will stand out ot your reader. do it specifically in places where the words and punctuation don't make it obvious.

2b.) Adverbs: everything i said above can also be applied to the use of adverbs in dialogue tags. so things like "says quietly" or "asks gently" etc. sometimes you'll see the advice to never use adverbs in your work. this is again an over generalization. is it true that most of the time you can go into your draft and cut about 50% or more adverbs (not just in dialogue tags) and it will read better? yes, but that's often because there's a better, more concise verb that works better. even then, though, sometimes an adverb is still the best choice. you can use them in your dialogue tags, just be sure you are doing it with intnet because, much like the stand out tags from above, they will catch a reader's attention. too many can be distracting.

3.) Dialogue In Fiction Isn't Actually Realistic: next time you have a conversation, take note of how long it takes. people tend to circle around their point, go off on tangeants, etc. a five minute conversation in ral life is pretty brief, right? in fiction, that's about 5 pages to get to what is likely a very simple point. the trick with writing dialogue is to destill the essence of it so that it *feels* real to a reader, but without all the meandering that a real conversation would have. you can do this by incorporating a lot of kitten's advice. one exercise i give my students sometimes is to eavesdrop on a conversation. afterward determine what the point behind that conversation was and try to rewrite it. Not word-for-word but the essence of the conversation, working in all the verbal ticks and such that you heard. good dialogue has the illusion of realism, because a real word for word conversation might take 10 pages to just get to the point of "what is for dinner?" (note: reading screenplays is a great way to think about this as well. these rules apply for movie dialogue because films are between 90-120 pages of script usually, with each page being 1 minute of screentime. so screenwriters have to be very concise while still writing dialogue that feels natural.)

anyway tl;dr kitten has a lot of great points here. i'm just an asshole who wanted to add my 2 cents even tho no one asked me lol

I've had a fair few people ask me how I write dialogue, and other than touting the sort-of-dismissive-feeling "I've had a lot of practice and have been doing this a long time" comment I usually make, here are a few quick tips for improving dialogue writing.

1) Listen to people talk. Like. This sounds very "no fuckin duh." But I don't mean casually overhearing conversations. I mean if you have a character with a specific background, then get some headphones and find video/audio of someone you envision them speaking like, close your eyes, and simply listen. Full immersion. Let the cadence of their voice and the vocabulary they use wash over you. Absorb it.

2) Read some screenplays and start listening to dialogue like a writer. Screenplays are a good source because film/television often relies heavily on dialogue to communicate character. The lines are intentional, they're economic, they convey ideas in a way that most of us wouldn't be able to come up with off the cuff. Consider the different ways lines can be delivered and how that can change their entire meaning.

3) Everyone has vocal tics. We all have certain ways of speaking. It's where regional accents and slang come from and it's how we express a specific image of ourselves. People SPEAK differently. Uptalk, vocal fry, pauses for emphasis, laughing to lighten the heaviness of the words, certain turns of phrase, mumbling, showmanship, whatever. Train your ear to clock those things and figure out how to use them to bring out character personality.

4) Check out some improv. If you have an improv group in your area, check them out! There's also tons of improv content online. If you're ever like "how did someone come up with that absolute fucking BANGER of a line just off the top of their head???" The answer is 1) they probably didn't just think of it, and 2) they've practiced rapid-fire back and forth, often with a comedic bent.

5) Read out loud. If you're ever like "what would a real person sound like saying this," you have the answer. Say it yourself, in the way you envision them saying it, and see where it sounds clunky and can be smoothed out. Is there a way for you to convey emphasis where it's needed?

6) Dialogue tags do in fact matter. Every once in a while you'll see the advice that you should NEVER use dialogue tags besides "says/said" because "the dialogue should speak for itself." It's mostly bullshit. Don't use them for the sake of adding a different tag to every line of dialogue, but the WAY people say things can change the meaning of the words. So use them intentionally.

7) PRACTICE. Look. I fuckin know lol. But this advice always stands. Any creative expression requires practice to improve. It's incredibly rare to have a "natural" talent for anything. So just keep on keeping on. You're doing great. And you will continue to improve.

[lifblogs]

blow me, dean

2644 words, read on ao3, inspired by this post

Dean could hardly remember what he’d just been about to say or what he and Cas were even arguing about because Cas had said three little words that had his brain melting out his ears. Three little words he never thought he’d hear from an angel, and especially this one in particular. It was unthinkable! Maybe he’d learned it from Dean? Either way, Dean was just staring now, mouth slightly open. And in his head rang the words, “Blow me, Dean.”

Sam let out a shocked laugh that was probably more of a guffaw, and Dean was actually wishing his brother wasn’t there because the things his head was doing, and coming up with….

Dean looked at Sam, not sure what to do. Then he looked back at Cas, the speaker of the absolutely impossible, incongruous words.

“Guess he’s got you there,” Sam said.

Dean turned on him, pointing a finger. “You know what?”

Sam was grinning and Dean thought maybe he needed a reminder that this was an argument.

“What?” his brother asked.

Dean turned his gaze on Cas, glowering. The angel was just leaning against the wall, arms crossed, looking down at Dean. No, no, no. He wasn’t going to have that.

Dean stood, and got in his space despite the fact that the way Cas’ gaze fell on him made him swallow roughly.

“So you think I’m talking crap?” Dean asked, trying to get back to the matter at hand and ignore that this admittedly gorgeous man-whatever-he-was had said, Blow me, Dean.

Cas raised an eyebrow and his chin. Dean wanted to grab onto him because he was suddenly weak in the knees. A pleasurable, throbbing burn was starting up in between his legs.

Fuck, fuck, fuck!

Not in front of fucking Sam. Cas, why the hell did you say that? 

“The plan is crap,” Castiel responded.

“Oh, thanks, can you come up with a better one?” Dean snapped.

“I think it’s all we got,” Sam interjected.

Dean favored Sam with grateful look. “See? Thank you!”

“Hold on,” Sam said, hand out. “I’m still stuck on the fact that Cas said blow me.”

Cas shrugged. “You two are vulgar. It felt natural to say.”

The angry energy left Dean, but he was still a bit… turned on. Son of a bitch!

His anger was a shield though, one he tried to rise back up. He grabbed Cas, and it wasn’t till they were halfway to Bobby’s kitchen that Dean realized the angel was letting himself be manhandled.

“What the hell, Cas?” he growled, pushing Cas up against the sink.

It seemed some of Cas’ frustration simmered out (otherwise he probably wouldn’t have let himself be manhandled), and he just squinted his eyes at Dean, as if he was studying a bug under a microscope.

“What?”

“What do you mean what? Do you even know what that means?”

“Yes, though human language is so odd. What is an interrogative word that can be used as an adverb, a pronoun, an interjection—”

Did he read a damn dictionary in his free time? Do angels think dictionaries are fun?

“No, not that,” Dean interrupted. “What you said before.”

A light sparked in Cas’ clear blue eyes.

“Ah. Blow me, Dean. That?”

“Yes, that.”

“Okay, so what does it mean?”

Dean turned back and leaned over to peek into Bobby’s living room. Sam poked his head out and waved, widening his eyes and giving a wry smile as if to say, Hi, I’m still here.

Please get lost, Dean begged, but with the most polite intention possible.

“Look, let’s uh…. Let’s go for a walk.”

Which was how the two of them ended up in the junkyard—Sam hopefully fine on his own and reading a book—with Dean on his knees before Cas. He didn’t know what the hell he was doing. Well, he did to some extent. Knew how to get Cas out of his pants, how to make him feel good, but why, why, why! He shouldn’t be doing this.

You’re basically molesting an angel.

Okay, not true since he was going to explain everything and ask for permission, but to want an angel in such a way? And one in a man’s body at that?

You’re sick, Dean. You’re so sick.

In a shaky voice he said, “So, uh, remember what I said a few minutes ago—what those words actually mean.”

Cas seemed confused of all things, but there was a heat in his eyes, a drive that Dean wasn’t sure he understood.

“Of course.”

Cas put a hand on Dean’s head and instantly Dean was faced with Cas’ crotch. 

Son of a bitch, his heart nearly stopped!

The fighter trained into Dean till he bled reacted before the desperate lover could, and he slammed his hands against Cas’ hips and pushed. No use.

“Cas, too much too soon!” he informed him with his lips practically able to feel the outline of his surprisingly-large cock.

Cas shifted back, but still ran his fingers through Dean’s hair. Dean shivered at the possibilities living in that touch.

“Just… let me….” Dean said.

He started to undo the button and zipper on Cas’ pants.

Oh god.

Sick, sick, sick.

Dean swallowed back his shame, his nerves, but couldn’t swallow back his want.

“This okay?” he asked, voice gruff, yet weak, barely wanting to come out.

“Of course, Dean.”

Dean sat back on his feet, but found himself caressing Cas’ hips as he talked. “Actually, no, no, no. Do you… Do you want me? Do you want this? Because Cas, I…. I want this, and… and I don’t know why.”

Castiel observed him, this beautiful angel currently Dean’s God in this aching moment.

“Since I saw you in Hell,” Castiel began, “I’ve been… drawn to you. I know all of you; I pieced you back together. And knowing you, in this vessel, I think…. I think it’s your turn to get to know me too.”

That was all Dean needed to reach for the button and zipper on Castiel’s pants.

“Would it help if I said it again?” Castiel asked.

Dean just looked up at him, quaking beneath those blue eyes.

That seemed answer enough for Castiel, and he said, “Blow me, Dean.”

“No, no, you gotta be angry.”

Cas held Dean’s face in his hands, and he pulled him close, forceful to the point of hurting.

“Blow me, Dean,” he repeated, voice lower, and much angrier than before.

It was a command, and even something that made Dean want to act out of spite. He sure as fucking hell was going to suck this angel’s dick. Fuck him!

But he wasn’t just an angel.

He was Cas.

Dean lowered Cas’ pants and boxers, and dear lord, he was impressed with what he saw. His gut throbbed at the sight of Cas’ half-hard dick, precum dribbling from the reddened head. Was he intimidated? Maybe a little bit, but god, Cas was packing.

As Dean took hold of him, started stroking him to hardness, Cas hissed, one hand trailing over Dean’s shoulder, down his arm to his wrist. He ended up leaning back against the junk car, and Dean eagerly followed.

“Bodies are so… strange,” Cas panted out as Dean got him hard—holy shit, an angel was hard for him—and quickened his pumping.

A growl left Cas, and pressure started building in Dean’s pelvis. His damn jeans were too tight. He wanted to palm himself, but instead he let out a frustrated groan and cradled Castiel’s balls. He tugged at them gently, and what might have been a whimper left Cas.

“Oh, buddy, I haven’t even gotten to the good part yet,” Dean moaned out.

He licked Cas’ slit, licked up the salty precum, amazed that an angel even had precum, and then he was taking Cas’ thickness into his mouth.

Cas did what pretty much every dude did when overcome with pleasure: he thrusted. Dean choked as Cas’ cock hit the back of his throat, and Cas suddenly pulled away.

“I’m sorry, Dean. Are you—”

Dean pulled him back into his mouth, taking him deeper, deeper. He felt the line of his vein on the underside of his cock with his tongue. He was full of him, and he wanted more.

Cas cried out, and Dean wanted to tell him to quiet down, but he was a little busy with his mouth at the moment.

He slicked Cas up, bobbing his head.

Fuck, just knowing how big he was, and feeling him against his lips, against his tongue, his cheeks, in his throat…. The intimacy had his own cock throbbing in his pants, and he worried he was going to cum without even being touched.

He drove down the instant disgust that rose with the pleasure and the want in him, and focused on Cas.

He was heavy, hard, the weight of him so perfect.

Dean pulled back to breathe, and he pumped Cas roughly, thoroughly coating him in his saliva. Cas was gripping Dean’s head, fingers trembling as if he was holding back his strength. Thank god for that. He didn’t really want his head crushed by the dude he was giving a blowjob to.

Castiel’s other hand was on the car door, where the window had been, and metal was bending and whining. His fingers were leaving indents in the rusted steel.

Dean moaned at that, taking Cas in again. When he looked up at him he didn’t meet Cas’ eyes. Cas’ eyes were closed, head tilted back, mouth open, moans and pants coming from him.

The car door screeched, bending even more. Dean took that as a good sign, and squeezed Cas’ balls, taking him in deep, deep. Oh fuck, he was in his throat, and Cas was starting to thrust, battering it. Dean reached around, grabbing at Cas’ ass, wanting more, and more.

A strangled grunt left Cas, and he straight-up broke off the car door, nearly falling. He tossed it aside, the door bouncing and skidding in the gravel before crashing down. Cas braced himself, and he was cumming down Dean’s throat, all hot and burning.

There was a bright light, and Dean had to close his eyes as he worshipfully choked him down.

When Cas finished, he pulled free, and he idly stroked him as he began to slowly soften. Cas was panting hard, looking down at Dean with something close to admiration. Just that look, his cheeks all red, his eyes blown wide, was nearly enough to make Dean lose it. He was hard between his legs, aching. Son of a bitch!

Dean was panting, wiping his mouth off on the sleeve of his shirt.

“So that was….” Cas panted.

Dean nodded, sitting back, “Yeah.”

He groaned with the urge to resist palming himself, and Castiel’s eyes went in between his legs. Dean nearly melted through the ground having that ancient gaze locked on such a vulnerable part of his body.

Was it just his imagination or was Cas getting a little hard again?

Cas got on his knees, cupping Dean’s cheek in one hand, the other going to lay in between his legs. Dean rolled his hips on pure instinct, grunting.

“Do you want me to—”

“You don’t have to,” Dean panted.

“I want to.”

Cas grabbed Dean roughly, stood him up, and walked him backwards until he could slam him up against a car that was more intact than the one they’d just left behind. He ground up against his thigh. Fuck, he was hard again.

How many times could an angel cum?

The way Dean’s gut rolled over and over pleasantly let him know that he kind of wanted to find out the answer to that.

Cas started to lower himself, but Dean grabbed his coat, bringing his face near his.

“No. We can both feel good.”

“How?”

Dean started to undo the button and zipper on his jeans, and Cas pulled his jeans down roughly. God, Dean was glad he was leaning against something because he felt close to passing out. He thrusted, grinding against Cas unthinkingly.

“Okay, just… take—take hold of both of us, okay?”

“What do you mean?”

Dean showed Cas, and he bit back a whimper as he felt his cock against his, slick with his saliva. He swore his cum was still burning in his throat, branding him as surely as the brand on his bicep.

Cas’ hand slowly replaced Dean’s. Fuck! His hands were big.

“Just stroke,” Dean said.

Cas went to with an aggressive fascination, and Dean had his fingers in his mouth, biting them, to keep himself from crying out.

Castiel eyed him, even as he was panting and moaning, and he pulled Dean’s fingers from his mouth, only to replace them with his.

Dean did what he knew to do: he pleased.

He licked and sucked on Cas’ fingers, and in a way, it seemed to ground him against the earth-shattering fire taking hold of his cock. Dean was thrusting his hips, faster and faster, and Cas’ magnificent grip tightened till it nearly hurt.

Cas accidentally put his fingers deep in Dean’s mouth, which was enough to have his whole body shudder, pleasure twining through him. He was wound tight, about to break, feeling like he couldn’t be contained in his own body.

Cas’ thrusting was what did Dean in. Biting Cas’ fingers, Cas seeming to not even notice any pain, he cried out around him, and he came. He came so hard he was seeing white, and he was shuddering, his cock throbbing and twitching. The sensation pushed up all the way from his toes, and was a relentless shoving at the base of his heavy balls.

Thick, white spurts came from Dean, landing on them, burning, burning, and then Cas was joining him, thrusting hard, head tilted back as he cried out.

Cas pulled away from Dean, and Dean all but collapsed against the car, trying to catch his breath.

Hell, what did I just do?

I didn’t kiss him, so it doesn’t count. But oh, how he wanted to kiss him. You’re sick, Dean.

His disgust and shame easily had his cock softening, and Dean was wondering how the hell he’d be able to get cleaned up without Sam knowing.

Cas suddenly seemed cleaned up, and was righting his clothes, and then he went over and put two now-dry fingers to Dean’s forehead.

Dean was clean! Clean of Cas’ cum, clean of his own sweat, his own end.

Dean just stared at Cas, amazed, and starting to feel very conflicted about the whole experience.

“I think you should fix your pants,” Cas said in that lovely, low voice.

Dean nodded.

“Yeah. Yeah.”

Feeling like he was going to fall apart, either from that insane orgasm, or the mix of shame, he fumbled as he put himself back in his pants, and zipped up his jeans again.

Dean straightened, feeling at his mouth. Were his lips still swollen? Was he bruised in the back of his throat? He hoped so, yet….

“Cas, we can’t do that again.”

Cas tilted his head at him.

“Why not?”

Dean put an arm around him and started walking him back to the house. “You know what, I’ll explain later.”

How on earth can I explain to an angel just how sick I am?

Even as he thought that, he wanted Cas again. Dean buried it as best he could, even as he felt Cas’ body against him as they walked.

Just friends. That’s all. Is that even what we are?

I’m not…. I’m not….

Dean couldn’t even think the word, because he wasn’t. He just wasn’t.

Dean glanced at Cas, saw him smiling, and even though he felt dark inside, felt wrong, that was enough to get him smiling just a little bit too.

[fanficwritersinterviewed]

ITWW, aurevell

<<This post is a part of a longer conversation about fanfic writers, how they view fanfic, and their writing process. All views are the fanfic writers’ own, and whatever fanfic they choose to write is entirely their own decision. No judgment value will be placed on fic content. These conversations are meant to provide insight for other fanfic writers in whatever stage they are at in their writing life>>

In the Weeds Wednesday (with aurevell, @aurevell​)

Walk me through your writing process. It's so different for every fic, but recently I've been getting into more of a familiar groove for it. Usually, once I have the idea for a fic, I'll do the thing where I do not write anything at all for a while. But I'll think about the story when I'm doing other stuff - walking, housework, etc. - and it's not traditional "writing" but it really helps. For some reason, some of my best plot and character "eureka" moments happen when I'm not actively writing just yet.

When I kind of have a vague idea of where I want to go (though often without knowing the exact ending yet), that's when I'll sit down and make a general outline. For short fics, I'll start writing as soon as I've done a quick outline, but for longer fics I have to do wayyy more work.

I'm a big fan of the snowflake writing method, although a lot of the stuff about it online is MUCH too in-depth and intimidating for my needs. Basically, my method is to start with a quick summary, and then expand on it little by little until I have a 1-pg outline. Then I take each sentence of that outline and expand on it a little more. Then I'll take each piece of the larger outline and expand more, and so on. (I think it's kind of like painting? You aren't laying down all the details in one area all at once, you're jumping to add more details to each area in cycles.) An added bonus with it is that it means I'm going back to different parts of the story a lot, which is helpful so I remember to do foreshadowing AND because I have the memory of a goldfish and will otherwise forget continuity details in two seconds.

When do you find the ending? Is that a crucial thing to know before you start to write or does it sneak up on you later? It depends! I don't think of it as crucial at all though. Sometimes I know it right away, and sometimes it comes up later, after I've wrestled with the plot and developed the characters enough to go "oh, this ending would make the most sense."

Is it the same with beginnings? Oh the beginning is always the first thing I know. I've never had an issue (knock on wood, now that I'm saying it) with the beginning of a story - that part's always really fun for me. Maybe just because making a "hook" is so interesting, though.

Yes, hooks, let's talk about them, because that's something I haven’t touched on yet in any of these interviews. What sorts of things make for the best beginnings? Do you subscribe to common writing wisdom of starting in medias res? Hmm, I think some of the most fun hooks happen when you ask, "What's the most interesting thing about this situation/this character?" It's not about coming up with something wild for the sake of grabbing attention, so sometimes it can be a bit of a challenge. But there's always something you can work with.

As for in medias res, I do subscribe to it - but I'm realizing I don't always do it with my fics! I usually like to start at the moment of the action starting, the big change, the first meeting, the arrival, etc. I mean, I honestly think it depends on the story, so yeah a few steps before the big change works well if that's what is called for by the story you're telling, you know? But I tend to be suspicious of any writing advice that deals in absolutes.

Do you wanna talk about that? Writing advice and how to navigate other people's good intentions? Oof, that's a big question! I actually love trying new writing advice, but I have to remind myself to take things with a grain of salt. Otherwise you end up doing something crazy like taking all the adverbs out of your fic because someone said they're weak crutch words, and who wants to read something like that? (Coincidentally, you can pry adverbs out of my cold, dead fingers lmao) I think like you said, you have to assume people have good intentions, but that doesn't mean their advice is what your fic needs.

Where do you go when you want to find writing advice or new perspectives on honing craft, etc? Okay I'm gonna be honest and say that I actually get a lot of writing advice by going to the library vs. online! Don't get me wrong, I do like the occasional blog or video about writing from professional writers (shout out to Patrick Rothfuss who has great tips...though I'd love it if he put those tips toward finishing the last book in his trilogy lmao), but I've gotten some good tips from books! Probably my all-time fave is “Save the Cat,” which is technically a screenwriting book but a great read for general  "how do stories work" info.

Oh yeah, “Save the Cat” is great! Right? The only downside is it changed how I look at movies, haha!

Any others you like? Trying to think off the top of my head - I also liked “Bird by Bird” by Anne Lamott and “Steal Like an Artist” by Austin Kleom. And I've been recommended “The Artist's Way” by Julia Cameron SO many times but haven't gotten around to it

Okay, so. Tell me about these outlines of yours. I know they’re epic. Ok sooo full disclosure that I DO use Scrivener (shout out to NaNo for that sweet discount), which makes this stuff a lot easier. I don't even understand half of the planning features in the program, but I run with what I know. And I do need to be kind of Extra even with my basic-ass plots, because (again) I have the memory of a goldfish and cannot remember plot details for more than five seconds.

One of the best things about Scrivener is that it lets you separate different scenes of your outline with color-coded labels. In the fics I've already published, I've been using different colors for different drafts to help me figure out where I am in the revision cycle. BUT going forward for fics I'm in the process of writing, I'm assigning colors according to subplots. Which is a minor shift, but it's been a HUGE game-changer because I really struggled to keep up with that stuff in the past. It helps me make sure I'm actually tying up all the loose ends!

How do you structure time to write in your day? Is it every day? I was JUST talking to someone about this actually! I try to set aside time for writing a few times during the week around work, but it's unfortunately the first thing that gets dropped from my to-do list if anything unexpected comes up. But in the past, when I was writing early in the morning before anything had a chance to "pop up," it felt much easier to make progress. So I might try that again.

Where does reading fanfic fit into your process? What do you admire that other writers do that you want to include in your writing? How is that going? Oh man, reading fanfic is everything! It's super inspiring to read a great fic and think, I wish I could craft something with a plot like this, or create this perfect phrasing, or juggle character arcs in this effortless way! A good fic gets me really excited to practice writing until I can get on their level. Which CAN be kind of daunting, but I like to think of it as more of a long-term challenge.

What's the hardest thing you've ever attempted with a fic, and why was it difficult? Soooo it's possibly because it's my most recent fic and therefore freshest in my mind, but I'm currently doing a Steter longfic that has felt like the single biggest writing challenge of my life for two reasons. It's a time-loop story, which means I have to stay on top of little continuity things that can be tough for me. Worse, one of the POV characters (Stiles) doesn't fully remember the previous loops. Which means I've had to figure out how to keep things interesting for readers while a character is literally repeating the same sequence of events that just happened. So it's been challenging but also super fun - I've had to get creative in ways I've never thought about before!

I think it’s taught me better ways of building tension. One of my favorite story vibes is when you know something is off, and maybe the POV character does too, but you can't put your finger on why. So I started finding ways to add little moments of "wrongness" into the mix. (Plus the cliffhangers. Plenty of cliffhangers.)

Coming to the end I promise. Here’s something I ask of everyone: say something nice about your own writing. Oh my god, you're winding down with the toughest question of all??? Well I guess the thing I like about my own fics, at least my longer ones, are the ideas. I'm always writing stories I really want to read, and I like doing imaginative stuff. Even though I'll probably always be working to hone my wording, or the pacing, or the character arcs, I really like the ideas and themes at the core of my fics. I feel like I have a good foundation to practice building on.

Any advice to the newbie writers out there, or the ones that are struggling with it? My only advice to ANY writers, including myself, is to jump in and do it. Unfortunately (in spite of my best efforts to do otherwise) writing appears to be the only way to get better at writing. That's true for everything from your first story to the scary idea you're not sure how to tackle. The sooner you jump in, the sooner "Can I do this" becomes "I guess I'm doing this" becomes "I've done this!" It may not always be pretty, but you can bet you'll feel good about it - and practice is the only thing that can make your stuff better in the future!

[speeed-and-power]

last night at like 3 am I decided I Hated Adverbs and went through my entire fic and highlighted every adverb I used with the intent of changing them when I woke up (it took me like an hour lol)

and now I’m awake and rereading them I’m, yes, editing a couple of them here and there, but the vast majority are ok so I’ve very quickly (oops, adverb) gone from #FuckAdverbs2022 to #ActuallyMaybeAdverbsAreOk2022