mizutori-heiko

[mizutori-heiko]

Writing Advice: Getting Words on a Page

With the 75k word count in November and 90k in August, I have been asked questions like how do I keep focus and what do I do when I get stuck. I am going to compile all the advice I have.

Over the last few years, I have posted 700k+ words of fan fiction and have been posting 3 to 6 chapters every week for the last ten months. This is not how to make your writing better. This is how to get words on a page. 

This is not all my original ideas. This is just a collection of things that have worked for me.

I am not sure I am the person to tell you how to make your writing better, but if people want my thoughts on that. I can make that post too.

When inspiration strikes, write like wild. 

If you have the time and you are bitten by the writing bug, keep writing anything while you are in peak form. You will thank yourself later when you feel like you can’t write everything. I have done the extreme version of this where I have a month (four chapters) written ahead of almost everything on my post schedule (you don’t need this), but this was really nice after I brunt out after finishing out the 90k challenge I destroyed myself with in August.

Write in little pockets of time.

You don’t need to sit down and write for two hours. Write 100 words here and 500 there. It will all add up. When I was struggling at the end of the 75k, I would just open a doc every few hours and write half a page until I got distracted and tried again later.

Change your font.

If you are struggling to edit or even just find yourself drifting while writing, change your font. It helps trick your brain into paying attention. (I like doing a mono font like Courier when I need writing vibes. It looks typewriter-y)

Take a shower. 

Not just for shower thoughts, being clean and fresh helps with focus

Get dressed.

I love being comfy, but something about getting dressed makes me feel like I am working and should finish my task. Extra points for it being fun. (Maybe cosplay a pirate or something.)

Move Locations.

Desk, kitchen table, bed, outside: changing location helps move you out of a brain rut.

Handwrite notes.

I take most of my notes on notion, but when I am struggling with my plot, I write out notes by hand, starting with what happened last and continuing from there, writing even things I know will happen. Then I transfer this to my digital notes so they are easier to move around in order, AND a lot of time, I add details when revising them to digital. Double power.

Always, always write down your thoughts and keep them.

Some of my most popular stories came from me rediscovering a 2 am thought that I wrote down six years ago. Keep a notepad next to the bed if you have to.

Change POV

If something is not working in a scene, maybe it is who you have reacting to it. Try switching POV. It helps you think of the scene from another perspective.

Watch a show in your genre.

I watch a lot of the silliest KDrama’s and get lots of romance ideas. Maybe I didn’t think of sending my character to a park or trapping them in a sky lift. Maybe I should add a stalker that sounds fun.

Take your bathroom breaks.

You should always drink lots of fluids and remember to take your bathroom breaks because the brief moment of walking away always gives me an idea.

Skim through the story and make notes on what HAS happened, not just what will happen.

This helps more with my style of having next to no plot outline. Need your next plot point and don’t know where to go? Remember that time they did x? Let’s build off that. This helps intertwine the plot without losing things.

Just read the story back.

You don’t always need to make notes, but sometimes just reading from the beginning can make you pick up on a detail that was unimportant at the time, and you may not even have meant to put in that could have a lot more meaning now. Then, you can call it clever foreshadowing.  

Explain your problem or the scene you are struggling with out loud.

It doesn’t have to be to someone. It could be a glass of water. This is called ‘rubber ducking. It’s a programmer term (hello, that is my day job). Restructuring your problem in a way you have to articulate it most of the time makes the solution come to you.

Try focusing on the scenery.

If you can’t get a scene to work open with the weather or how the floor is creaking under step, give the world a new feeling. How does the person feel about the weather or the temperature of the room? 

Can’t figure out what is wrong? Rewrite the chapter from scratch. 

Open a new doc and rewrite the chapter from memory. I do this a lot in the beginning of a story that didn’t quite hit the way I wanted it to. I will start the chapter from memory and skim the old one to ensure I didn’t miss anything important. Can’t do it from memory? Read a paragraph and write that from memory. 

Take a left turn.

Sometimes, if you can’t go any further, go back a sentence, a paragraph, a scene, a chapter, and just make a different decision. Turn left instead of right. Change how someone reacts to an argument. It opens a whole new lane to go down.

Excited for a scene that is in the future?

Write it! You don’t have to use it word for word in the future. Sometimes, you can copy and paste it in, and sometimes, you can just rewrite it, and you lose none of those thoughts you originally had.  Writing it might remind you of something that needs to happen first to help you get there.

Have more than one story you are working on.

I don’t think you need to be working on four+ stories like I do, but having something to switch to when your brain really isn’t feeling your main is a great way to keep you writing. Call it productive procrastination. This is the REAL reason I have so many stories uploading.  (ᵕ—ᴗ—)

Other Somewhat Related Advice

Context Switching

I work on multiple projects at a time, and I tend not to mix them up because they have a different vibe to me. It feels like stepping into each world.  If you are struggling with context switching between stories, I suggest finding a song or making a playlist that gives you that story’s ‘vibe’ and keeping a link to it in your writing folder or snagging a section of your story that captures the vibe you are going for and keeping it off to the side to reread when you need to switch.

Don’t edit the same day you write.

You’re not going to catch errors. Your brain is too familiar with what you wrote. Also, I recommend Grammarly or another grammar checker for all your missing comma and period needs. (Word, Docs, and any other text editor simply won't bully you enough.)

If you hate editing, don’t leave yourself with a painful amount of editing.

When people ask me how I edit my work, how many passes I take, etc, I tend to disappoint them. The short answer is one read-through (after using a grammar checker).  I learned a LONG time ago that as much as it would be nice to write a bunch of dialog and then tell yourself you will go back to add all the actions or write without quotes because it takes time, you will save yourself a lot of time and pain if you learn to write it correctly the first time and then editing won’t be as much of a chore. I have been writing for years, and I am used to how I write and edit. If you are newer to writing, give it another pass or two, but try to shift some of that work to the writing process, not the editing process.

Make yourself an editing cheat sheet.

Make yourself a doc or a notion of words you notice you use too much or common words you misspell when writing.  I usually make one when I get back and do a post edit (when the story has been up for a while and I get back with fresh eyes and edit it). Reading through your old work and find things that you don’t like or don’t want to do anymore is a great way to build this list and improve your writing.

Now go write.

Got any advice for me? Reblog and tell me.

#writing advice #writers block #writing tips #writing #writing community #ao3 #fanfiction writing

[mizutori-heiko]

Showing my face here just to leave a quick update about Back to You:

I’m currently revising all chapters. I’m done with the first 2 (already updated) and hopefully in a week or so they’ll read much better than before. Christ, my dyslexia and ADHD is so real 😭

The fic’s been on a hiatus since I wasn’t too happy with my plot ideas and wanted to expand it even more. However, the upcoming chapter 8’s outline still remains the same, and I’ve been drafting it while I edit the published ones 🤍✨

I missed writing both my Izuku and Katsuki so much–though more than these dorks, I really, really missed my Touya 🥹 my favorite asshole in the world, my bratty baby. The eldest boy!

#bakudeku fanfiction #bkdk #mizutori’s personal post archive #back to you #midoriya izuku #bakugou katsuki #todoroki touya #fanfiction writing #writing update #ao3 #bnha #mha

[mizutori-heiko]

jus discovered your a Jonsa and bkdk shipper and I'm so happy this high is gonna carry me for the rest of the day!!!

Awww!! That’s such a lovely message, thank you hon 💖🫂 I’ve been MIA from all of my socials but this made my day!! Jonsa and Bkdk are fundamental to my life 🥹

#sweet anons #jonsa #bkdk #bakudeku #fandom #ao3

[mizutori-heiko]

This bitch be 30 on Friday October 13th 👻

[mizutori-heiko]

𝐊𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐢 & 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐚𝐤𝐢 𝐃𝐫𝐚𝐰𝐧 𝐛𝐲 𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐊𝐮𝐛𝐨 ☀️

#bleach #mamas

[mizutori-heiko]

WENCLAIR + TEXT POSTS

#wenclair

[mizutori-heiko]

Andrei, is time something we were gifted, or all we really have left?

#goncharov

[mizutori-heiko]

so sexy of gimli to try destroying the ring with his axe. my boi heard it's seductive whispers and was like fuCK NO na gettin seduced by a bloody ring!!

only to later be seduced by an elf lmao

[mizutori-heiko]

You know they

#wenclair

[mizutori-heiko]

some bkdk manga panels for the soul ✰⋆｡°✩

i love them so much they're so silly

#katsudeku #bakudeku #bkdk

[mizutori-heiko]

Fic Writer Problems

[mizutori-heiko]

“Why do people like a character who’s committed war crimes but hate this other character just because they’re annoying” because it’s fiction Susan, and being annoying in fiction is a greater sin than being a supervillain, because it won’t make me want to read about them. It isn’t difficult to understand

[mizutori-heiko]

@snsmonth22: sun and moon  (3.10) ft. that one eclipse ending

#like everyone would’ve been happier if these two gays had gotten together #sad marriages due to closeted gays #feel sorry for sakura and hinata

[mizutori-heiko]

#orihime

[mizutori-heiko]

Day 2

Domestic life or Honeymoon

#ichihime #domestic

[mizutori-heiko]

Goncharov (1973)

"I would say it was time well spent if the last I ever saw was you."

-Goncharov to Andrey Daddano, from the movie Goncharov (1973).

Little fanart I did of this incredible movie, go watch it!!

#I leave Tumblr for a week… #goncharov

[mizutori-heiko]

• Clingy

#katsudeku #bakudeku