#you have no idea hhow important they are to me

[goldengroovy]

[uriekukistan]

how do you … hhow do yiu start writjng. like how do you. opening paragraph…. how do you begin..

sksjdj sorry this took so long, i genuinely rewrote my answer 3-4 times 💀 took me a few hours to figure out how i wanted to answer this tbh bc usually i don't even know what im doing either

also im by no means a perfect writer, i’m still working to improve with every fic, so pls take this w a grain of salt, everyone writes their own way as well…hopefully this isnt too long or annoying or preachy or anything.

i always have an outline of my fic ready before i start writing, regardless of if it's super vague or highly detailed, i also try to think about what the character(s) want from the situation(s) and potential ways that could create conflict (not in an angsty way per se but in a plot moving way). knowing this is super helpful for deciding where to start because different types of openings are good for different stories.

ideas i use a lot!

-> character intro! this is my most commonly used way to start a new story. i like to make sure my MC is in the first sentence so the reader knows who the story is going to focus on. this does have a potential to go wrong, bc essentially, there's the good way and then there's my immortal 💀

when i say to use a character intro, i mean like their mindset/beliefs as they pertain to the plot, main conflict they're facing, or how they're feeling at that moment, rather than "basic info"

ex: megumi fushiguro is 15, has black hair and green eyes, and he's a jujutsu sorcerer and is in his first year at jujutsu tech. in his free time, he reads. he loves animals. he was abandoned by his parents at a young age, so he's wary of others <- boring, bland, sparks 0 interest

VS: Megumi was never a fan of love. Not in books, not in TV shows, not in movies, and certainly not in real life. He hadn’t so much as considered having romantic feelings for someone in fifteen years of living, and he wasn’t about to start now. Definitely not now. Not after what had happened. <- interesting, gives insight into how megumi thinks (and how strongly), sparks interest bc what happened??

hsiao doesn't want to date a coworker because she has a dangerous job, but has a crush on saiko. urie can't express his feelings because he's spent ages bottling them up, and now he needs to grieve someone he didn't realize he cared for until it's too late. establishing these things is really important, and should be done eventually either way.

i think this method works best for stories focusing on a conflict that's more internal because it sets up the characters psyche, but can still be used for external conflict effectively!

-> dialogue: another one that can be tricky, and gets a bad wrap sometimes, but it can very much be used well. it's good to use if the story is focusing on interpersonal conflict, especially if it involves a lot of arguing. usually, i throw the reader into a high tension, fast moving scene with dialogue, sometimes one with a confrontational start, sometimes in the middle of an already brewing interaction.

-> strong feelings: this works best with negative feelings, so i use it mostly for reeeeaaaallly angsty fics. physical pain, extreme sadness or guilt, grief, rage, or high stress work really well for this, because they're feelings that tend to consume everything else. you gotta be ready to dedicate a few paragraphs to really good descriptions that make readers feel. it's a bit intimidating to write and has the potential to overwhelm readers as well, so i tend to reserve it for fics that i intend to be really heavy and upsetting, no happy ending/comfort type fics

-> straight into action: gonna be honest, i try to avoid this one as much as possible unless it's in a multi-chapter fic where the characters/conflict have been firmly established. used outside of this, i think it works best with actions that are literal beginnings, or it feels like part of the story is missing. things like waking up, opening a door (staring at a blank page trying to write..........)

lil tips ig

★ shorter sentences: my usual writing style has a lot of lengthy sentences, but when it's the first thing a reader sees, it slows down the pace immediately. of course, there's a place for long sentences as well, but the average reader is going to go for something that grabs their attention quickly.

★ u don't have to start from the beginning!! honestly i get this from writing academic essays, but sometimes it's easier to write the beginning after you wrote the rest because even if u think u know where ur going, it can change as u write it. tbh once i wrote fic almost entirely backwards 💀

slfkjgnkjnsfglk i hope this was at least somewhat helpful, honestly i wasn't sure what to say, but i'm really excited to see ur fic!!! ik u have a lot of things planned, so i'm sure once you get the first words out there, the rest will start flowing !!!

[an-ordinary-roach]

d-d-disgusting​:

The quiet clack of Vincent’s teeth pauses, then begins again more in sync with whatever it is that Bor’s fidgeting with at their side of the table.  It’s not an entirely conscious decision, just a mindless stereotypy that keeps his senses occupied while the rest of him is still and his mind is racing.

“Trust a bush staring mmore than most things.” He answers about the peeper bush in a quiet half-joking prod, shifting his weight and giving a shudder, keeping his muscles ready to move should the demon, for any reason, burst back into unexpected violence like it sometimes does. “A bush is simple. Wants just to live.”

‘What is it?’

  At being prompted, a handful of questions spill immediately out of him, all things he’s already pondering to himself, all things he wants to understand.

“Your bodies.”  He starts, looking up and scanning every visible part of the body Bor’s wearing currently. Horns, floppy ears, the same hollowed eyes, the same corpse-like pallor now covered in that soft looking bristle. He can still almost feel the texture of it.  “You’ve grown them yourself then?.. “

That would make sense.

“And the healing. Does that remain in every body you grow after finished? Is that give a-wway of fakeness something always wanted by whoever the body will be for?  Trees. And vines, and bushes, yyou-you use the phrasing of plants. Are they growing on. plants? As plants? Their care requirements, are they so different from plants? From eachother? Are there leaves, photo-s-synthesis, or only flesh?  ..Is it water, light, and the rest they take from the soil, just needing sure it has nutrients? Or do they need fed different to that? And the blood, hhow is it grown? In some way similar? like a p-plant storing water, like within a fruit or is this an–exception..?”

   Like a pitcher plant’s phytotelmata? Like a coconut’s internal water?

“.. Is what is grown on these more limited than true bodies? Is there one f-for the nerve cells of the spine? The, hair ffollicles, the tubing that, connects each organ? Connective tissue? Or-or is the, healing of the shell of the body able to remember in its genetics what it is that it is meant to grow, filling in the spaces it misses when you are done putting organs in..?”

   Do these bodies KNOW how to fill the specialized cells that must be so difficult to place by hand?

..”Do you have more uses from the grown flesh this way? .. Or for dead, natural flesh.”

Yes, it seems he might be a little bit interested.

Their horizontal pupils kept low, silently bracing themselves for a onslaught of question of why’d they never show how they’re actually feeling. Bor was gonna griminess if Vincent took a second longer to ask his questions. And boy were they surprised about what came out- Their work- It was questions about their work!

Eyes locked on the hominid before them floppy ears perked and listening to him genuinely. Their face didn’t had any malice, none of the tired exhaustion of their mind zapping away at their mental energy, no- that melted away as they listened on like a teacher delighted to hear their student finally taking interest in what they’re teaching. A tiny smile even! Nodding attentively while he spoke on.

‘Safe for now, your cracked mask may heal... For now, but you know it’s got to go sooner or later Nathaniel-’ 

The tiny smile wavered slightly, they know... ‘Io so, Io so’... B-but for now lets settle with the now right? These are important questions he’s asking! The wavered small smile came back with the quieting of their tangle and a gentle, ‘pompf pompf pompf’ their tufted tail is making as it tapped against the floor. Opening their mouth to say something, where to start??

“Wow! uh ahaha! Um-” Their hands remove from the body’s cavity, thinking they should have a bit of a break for now to explain this to him. “How about we start for the top huh? The bodies you see is still me, just shapeshifted, I don’t make em! Which- Technically would be a good idea but... My kind’s are notoriously hard to work with when it comes to magic. So remember how ya damaged my finger back when we made that deal? Still was damaged across my forms until it healed properly!” They mentioned while wiggling their fingers.

“For the bodies, the healing factor don’t stay, it’ll be too energy consuming of the body to keep it ya know? It gotta focus that stuff on the brain and heart, so it’s sorta left on this... eh??? Autopilot mode until the owner can go into it. Much like being in the womb for the body the mother is taking care of it’s vitals until the baby out of it.”

Oh man that reminded them of something, they stood up from the chair and headed to a fish tank filled with something black and squirming... Picks up one of them, a leech as big as a man’s arm?? Looks pretty daunting. The demon comes back smiling, “Downs side to that is, any and all immunities would be gone by the time the host wakes up and this healing factor weans off. So while we’re a head we could infuse their blood back in with this blood pack leech.~”

Barbor bounced the leech creature in their arms like a pet cat, it trilled and burbled while looking around the world outside the tank. Looks plump and smell of blood. “For the fleshplant bit’s are ya alright with me showing it to ya while explaining? It’s hard to explain how they work unless I show em to you, and...” eyes shift back to Vincent, smirking a little “I can give ya a snack so you’d stop droolin over this body I’m makin.”