#I mean sure my novels will exist as long as google docs exists but nobody will ever see them :D

[danisnotofire]

Do you have any advice for writing? I used to do it all the time but then I just didnt have time for it anymore. And now I want to get back into it and I keep trying to write, but Im hit with this overwhelming doubt/anxiety that it sucks. And I dont plan on posting my writing anywhere so I dont understand why Im so nervous about writing to the point where I want to cry and cant do it. And I really want to work through it but its just so difficult. Any advice? -🌳

i’m not sure how good i’ll be at giving advice on this, because i often feel the same way!!! 

but ig that leads me to my first point, anon, and that is, you have to understand that that anxious feeling never really goes away. sometimes you feel better about it, sure, and sometimes you’ll write something and know you were meant to write it, but 98.7% of the time you will be screaming and crying into ur document and thinking you’ve been a failure and faking any ability to write this whole time. you have to understand that that’s all part of it. but you have to understand: it doesn’t mean you’re a bad writer. i really think you have to internalize that if u ever wanna write anything. 

the best thing to get over feeling awkward and robotic is to separate yourself from what you’re writing. when i got back into writing fic (it’d been like, legit 4 years lmaooo) it was hard to put myself aside and stop feeling weird about writing it. i felt that same stiffness/awkwardness when i started journaling too. the best thing you can do for it is just understand that nobody is going to read it unless you want them to. it’s not going anywhere. the only person who’s gonna judge it is you. 

once you get over that, write as much as fucking possible. it doesn’t need to be a lot. it can be a sentence. it can be a few hundred words. it can be a fuckin novel. just write something. the only reason i’m VAGUELY good is because i’ve been doing it for a longass time. 

i’ve been writing creatively on and off since like,,, third grade. i’m now a sophomore in college. you just gotta churn out as much content as possible. i promise you, eventually it will be good. 

if you can, i think writing classes are actually super helpful for this. i used to kind of shun them and look down on them because i thought somebody teaching me how to write would take away my own style. it actually helped me refine it, mostly because it got me into writing again after going so long without it. i was forced to write every week for a whole semester, and it kind of became a habit that i continued all through the summer.

fun fact: i don’t think no such mirrors would exist in the form it does now if i hadn’t taken that class!!

BUT: I get that classes aren’t always available to you. there are definitely ways u can get urself in that habit!!! you can do nanowrimo (which i did my freshman and sophomore years of high school, where you write 50k in 30 days just to pretty much see if you can. i CANNOT recommend nanowrimo enough. up until no such mirrors, that was my proudest artistic accomplishment)

FIND TIME TO WRITE WHENEVER, WHEREVER YOU CAN. you are going to have to sacrifice certain things to find time to write, but that’s all part of it. i struggled in doing this when i started school this semester because i went from having mostly my entire week free to having like, zero time to write, which is why it took a month for no such mirrors to update. it also sucked because writing makes me feel better about myself, because it helps me be a more productive member of society or something, and so, although it was hard, it became super important to me to find a time to fit that back into my schedule (i ended up carving out a few hours after my last class of the day on MWF, which happened to be my english class with a prof whomst i ADORE, so i always left feeling super inspired. and now i usually go to the silent floor of the library for a few hours and pound out a few thousand words. it’s not ideal, and ofc i’d rather be taking a nap or decompressing from class, but at least it’s something!) 

i know this is harder to do, but i really do think posting your work helps!! i love writing fic because you get INSTANTANEOUS feedback on your skills, and it helps you develop them in a (largely) positive and supportive atmosphere. the people who are reading fic are the people who WANT to like it, who are just desperate for any content they can get. it’s such a good space to learn and grow as a writer (i started writing and posting fic when i was like, 12 years old. my percy jackson days. pre-tumblr. lmao #neverforget) 

i know this is SUPER FUCKING CHEESY, but another thing that helps you become a better writer is to read as much as possible. read anything. read fanfiction from authors you admire. read YA novels. read children’s books. read the classics. 

and then, (and this is something i will shamelessly do lol), pick your favorites, and try and mimic their style as an exercise!!! i recently read james joyce’s “a portrait of the artist as a young man” for class. it’s now one of my favorite books. and so what i did was go to google docs and pound out a few hundred words just trying to mimic the style. it ended up being a weird 1500-word-wip. most of it is garbage, but i wrote lines i’m really fucking proud of. 

obviously don’t like, plagiarize. but what i’ve come to understand is that you can learn something from everything you read. whether it’s a certain type of metaphor, or a kind of characterization, or the art of simplicity, or a way of writing dialogue, or a stylistic thing. and by mimicking that style as a writing exercise or using their style as inspiration for your own work, you help refine what you like, and what your style is. 

i will never be james joyce. that’s pretty obvious. but my version of james joyce is its own style of writing altogether, and it’s not necessarily bad! it’s its own style that i can then learn bits and pieces from later on. to me, writing is this weird ungodly mix of natural ability/learned style and compiling what you like about other authors into your own work. it’s a messy process, but eventually you will churn out something you like. and that’s what matters: producing content that you enjoy. everything else will come in time. (did i think anybody would read engagement sequence? uh, no. i hoped they would, and honestly i do wish that fic was recognized more than it was (bc any author who says they don’t care about feedback is LYING) but mostly i was writing it because i had SO MUCH FUN writing that fic. i’m probably most proud of that piece of writing out of everything i’ve ever written. it came from me combining poetry and prose into this weird pseudo mix of both) 

another thing that’s easier said than done: DO NOT COMPARE YOURSELF TO OTHER AUTHORS. this is something i CONSTANTLY struggle with (to the point where i get SUPER down on myself if i’m not getting the same amount of anons asking about my work or comments or kudos or fuckin’ whatever). it’s something i CONSTANTLY have to work on, but it’s so so important, and the sooner you start working away from this habit the better off you’ll be. 

if anything, USE these authors as people to learn from!! ask them questions about their process!! read their works and take note of what worked really well and how they executed it, so maybe you can incorporate that into things that you write later on. 

IMPORTANT: COMMENT ON WORKS. COMMENTING ON WORKS DOESN’T ONLY BENEFIT THE AUTHOR, BUT IT ALSO BENEFITS YOU AS A WRITER. commenting helps you specify and work out EXACTLY what you liked about a certain piece. even if you don’t think it does anything, it actually puts words to specific things that you like, which then helps you incorporate it into your own writing. also?? long, thoughtful comments make an author’s fuckin DAY. someone once left like an 8 paragraph review on my fic, and i could. not. stop. rereading. it. for the better part of a week. TRULY. 

take yourself less seriously. honestly. as much as it kind of sucks, writing is supposed to be fun and ultimately, it’s supposed to be rewarding. let yourself experiment with style and dialogue and characterization. who fucking cares? i wrote 300 words about spaghetti steam as a metaphor for jeremy’s parents’ divorce the other day. it doesn’t matter! nobody will read it!! that’s what editing is for.  

it also might help to talk about your writing process!! i know i love doing this, and i see loads of other authors do it too. it’s so, so, so fun to complain about writing, because writing is really fucking hard. even the pieces that come easiest to me are still a pain in the ass to write. 99.99% of the time i write, i would rather be doing something, anything else. who wants to sit and cry into a computer screen? nobody in their right mind. ya do it because you love it, and you love the final product and you love seeing what you’re able to do, what you’re capable of creating. 

if you’re having trouble starting, pick literally the first thing that comes to mind and write as much or as little as you fuckin’ want. remember, you’re in control! you can do as much or as little as you want. when i started writing no such mirrors, i had NO IDEA it was gonna become what it was. i started the fic with jeremy throwing a baseball up in the air and some random dialogue. i didn’t know what role everybody else was gonna play. i didn’t know it was gonna turn into an actual fucking novel. i had no idea! i just had the idea of jeremy laying on his back and tossing a baseball into the air repeatedly. why? i legitimately could not tell you! but it worked. it felt right and natural and easy, and here we are 72k later. 

that being said, IT’S NOT ALWAYS GOING TO FEEL RIGHT AND NATURAL AND EASY! you’re just gonna have to write through that! it’s gonna fucking suck a lot of the time, especially with longer works! i fucking hate certain chunks of no such mirrors, to the point where i can’t even bear to look at them. 

this leads into another point, which is….

you’re going to feel like you’re faking it. that’s okay. keep writing. i doubt in my abilities every. goddamn. day. i reread my fics probably daily and can’t understand why anybody would like them, half the time. i feel like the characters’ interactions are forced and awkward and unnatural, i think the dialogue is boring, i think their feelings don’t feel real and i don’t feel like their motivations have depth. i feel like the plot is hanging on with masking tape and thread. every author will feel this way at some point or another. i know that sounds fake, because i’ll read posts like that from my favorite authors and can’t believe they would write anything except perfection. so you have to remember, it’s in your head most of the time. 

however, that’s not to say you’re perfect. you aren’t. there’s no such thing as a perfect writer. sometimes it’s healthy to listen to that voice in your head to try and improve. you just can’t let it become the loudest part of your writing process. 

so yeah! those are my writing tips!! that was a lot and im really sorry if it was all cliche and cheesy bullshit, but i promise they work, or at least help a little bit!! 

i hope you can get out of ur slump, because i love writing so much and hope i never stop doing it (even if i say i hate it l o l) and i really hope you can get to the point where you feel comfortable saying the same

#writing advice #writing tips #writing #Anonymous #I'M SO SORRY TO MOBILE USERS #long post //

[likeaguardianangel-archive-blog]

send an ask: get to know your author: Answer them all please :D

omg xD honestly. why this? i can’t haha.

1) is there a story you’re holding off on writing for some reason?

Not that I know of? I feel like I get the urges to write certain subjects and then I look around eagerly and hope that someone will like it enough to write it with me. I haven’t purposely held off on too much. Although I guess I do hold of on M/F couples with Barry sometimes, though it’s not really about the story and more about what I’ve said in #2.

2) what work of yours, if any, are you the most embarrassed about existing?

Oh god. I get embarrassed so easily. I’m probably most embarrassed by any smut I’ve written. Because I always feel like such an impostor. I know so little about it in truth, haha. I’m always like ‘oh god, I am this virgin over here who really doesn’t know how that shit feels’ and then like dramatically flop on my bed or something. So I guess those types of things I get embarrassed by easiest, as I am the kind of person who can write words like dick or cock or whatever, but saying it aloud gets me all flustered. It’s truly embarrassing.

3) what order do you write in? front of book to back? chronological? favorite scenes first? something else?

Usually I just write from what I read first, the first paragraph and go from there. Sometimes though, if my rp partner said such a good line that my muse was like ‘omg I have to say /this/’ then I start from there and work my way through the post backwards. But that doesn’t happen super often. Usually it’s just the first to last strategy.

4) favorite character you’ve written

I think that’s a tough choice. Like, I’ve written so many characters, and I’ve loved them all for very different reasons. But since I’ve been missing this one particular character lately, I’m going to say him: Jacques Crevette. He was originally a character from a Disney RPG, a personified version of the shrimp from finding nemo. I know, you’re probably looking at me right now like: why such an obscure character?? The thing is, they had an awesome skeleton for this character, featuring the ability to heal via touch, and I thought that was so so fascinating. It’s really funny, because the skeleton originally said this character would be aloof etc., but my muse sort of became its own thing. A bouncy, energetic, people loving character that liked to sing when he was happy, but also sing when he was having a tough time. He was an interesting muse. I think the fact is he was so weird, and to me it feels I developed that character from the ground up and I am incredibly proud of him. I miss him something fierce.

5) character you were most surprised to end up writing

Well, I was surprised that I ended up writing Barry. For a while there I really didn’t think I would be doing that. But I also think...okay so there was this intense character in this fandom I was in (les mis), and i would have the desire to write him (Enjolras), but I was so so so incredibly intimidated by the idea of writing him. Like, I was sure that my take on him would be so terrible and it would end up being this horrible disaster. Honestly, a lot of muses I took up from the les mis fandom were like that. I lack confidence sometimes. It’s how I am.

6) something you would go back and change in your writing that it’s too late/complicated to change now

I’m not sure. I try not to go back and look too often because I tend to be pretty self-conscious about what I’ve written. I have anxiety so it’s not very productive for me to take a look at what flaws I can find. I know what I want to do better with (description), and for me that is more than enough.

7) when asked, are you embarrassed or enthusiastic to tell people that you write?

Wellll. I say I write, but I can never say what I write or really who I write with. My mom used to put down my rping a lot when I was growing up, so I’ve learned to just...keep what I write to myself, even when I’m really excited about what I’ve been writing. No one really knows that I rp and that’s kind of how I think it’ll stay tbh.

8) favorite genre to write

Oh man. I love a little bit of the romantic comedy sorts of elements, but also angst/drama. Fantasy is always fun (dragons guys. Dragons are the fucking best). Really anything that is missing a bit of realism is great. I mean come on guys, I write The Flash. I love the superpowers and the ridiculousness in some ways.

9) what, if anything, do you do for inspiration?

Sometimes I go to Netflix and I do a rewatch of the Flash. Usually it’s like the sad episodes where Barry cries (admit it: he’s beautiful when he cries), but sometimes it’s episodes like the Duet one which is just fun. So fun. And then other times if it doesn’t need that much of a push, just my own motivation, I pull up my spotify playlist for Barry and I listen and let the words that I think fit him wash over me and help me get writing.

10) write in silence or with background noise? with people or alone?

I can do either one. Honestly I write with my family in the living room at times, and others I write while I’m in my room alone. Really that doesn’t matter to me as long as no one invades my personal space with it.

11) what aspect of your writing do you think has most improved since you started writing?

I think I’ve improved some of my writing of dialogue? Honestly, Barry is such a talkative character, it’s really been a focus for me to work on intonation and emphasizing certain words based on how he’s feeling. So I think that I’ve gotten a bit better with that? I don’t know, that’s the best I can come up with.

12) your weaknesses as an author

Dear god I mean....I think I write too much in my character’s thoughts and not enough of actions or what’s going on at that same time. Honestly that’s what’s been bothering me the most. I’ve been trying to improve that but we’ll see how that goes.

13) your strengths as an author

Ummm....that I’m willing to go in so many different directions? Idk that I can write decent dialogue, and I think that the characters I do choose to actually put out there have such strong personalities. I might struggle in description, but I do make up for it with their thoughts and what I think would impact them the most. Is that a strength? I feel like it is.

14) do you make playlists for your current wips?

I make playlists for muses as a whole. So I have a Barry Allen playlist, a Steve Rogers playlist, etc. And then I have a couple of ship playlists and that kind of thing. I don’t ever base it on a thread, but I do on characters and their relationships.

15) why did you start writing?

Well my friend introduced me to an rp thing when I was like...11? at the time I was god awful, but I really enjoyed it and I would see some talented writers who were doing so much more at the time, more in depth, paragraphs and all and I wanted to be able to get to that point. I am, perhaps on occasion competitive for the weirdest reasons. The first few things of writing were like horse based or hp based, but I think when I got to HP stuff, I wanted to be able to write things that the books or movies just didn’t cover. I wanted to be able to put voice to things that could have happened but didn’t.

16) are there any characters who haunt you?

Haunt me? Oh god yes. I did a horrible, truly horrible take on Lucifer from SPN. I just...the directions I went make me really mad at myself. Like just...no. no no no no no. I’m scarred just thinking about this. Ugh god help me but I was so fixated on a thing back then. I refuse to be like that. Yikes. Just. Yeah. Lucifer. Even thinking it is embarrassing, so I just don’t want to go any further in detail there.

17) if you could give your fledgling author self any advice, what would it be?

I would tell myself not to push myself before I was ready. Not to throw myself in the adult world before I really knew what I was doing. When I was thirteen I was already writing smut and stuff which is just...I shouldn’t have. You see the stuff about illegal and all now, but nobody was making a big deal out of it at the time. But I think I could have benefited just...not doing that until I for sure was ready.

18) were there any works you read that affected you so much that it influenced your writing style? what were they?

Ummm. I’m not sure? I think maybe the Percy Jackson books a little bit in terms of the snarky little thought process of the character and the way that’s done. Ummm....I don’t really know how to describe my writing style so I’m not sure if certain works did influence me like that. There’s that novel the Things They Carried which has a unique way of describing things and thinking. Maybe something from there, Harry Potter without a doubt as that is a huge influence. Maybe some Tolkien? Eragon? I don’t know man.

19) when it comes to more complicated narratives, how do you keep track of outlines, characters, development, timeline, ect.?

Well, if it’s really complex I end up opening a word doc, as I have a super organized rp partner who did it long before I did. And since they influenced me there, I now write up timelines if I feel like I need to remember/mark it down. I honestly haven’t done that with anything on here yet. I probably should. But you know. Whatever. The point is yes. Google docs if I need to organize things.

20) do you write in long sit-down sessions or in little spurts?

It depends on the day and the mood. Sometimes I can just sit down and whack out multiple replies and keep at it. Other times I write one or two and then say ‘good job Lena, you done enough today’ and go read. It really depends.

21) what do you think when you read over your older work?

I cringe. Honestly that’s just the way I am. I can’t look back on stuff too often for that reason.

22) are there any subjects that make you uncomfortable to write?

Yeah. I can’t write anything about space/outer space or throw any of my muses in that sort of setting. I also can’t handle other people writing excessively detailed gore? It’s like, if I don’t have the control on what gore it is and how it’s done I just...I feel sick and I can’t do it and I overthink about it. Like one time another writer killed off my muse’s husband, and the way they did it (without consulting me on that particular way of dying) well it had my nauseous for weeks. I think most anything else I can write if we talk about it, but those two things are iffy for me.

23) any obscure life experiences that you feel have helped your writing?

I feel like my brief tenure in an apartment has helped me a little in context of thinking of how some of my muses would live etc. Before that I only had the vaguest idea of how people handle apartment living. Haha. I know, it’s helpful to experience shit. I can’t think of much else.

24) have you ever become an expert on something you previously knew nothing about, in order to better a scene or a story?

Yes. Actually for a thread me and @keeperoftheliars were doing, or are still doing I think technically. I like...look. The reason I originally wasn’t going to do Barry is cause I don’t science. I feel kind of bad for leaving the science out a lot of times but so does the show. They often forget to demonstrate Smart Barry who is in fact a CSI etc. Anyway, I’m digressing, but Barry had to talk about fingerprinting criminals, and to my immense displeasure, I did research what would happen if people damaged their fingerprints in often gruesome ways and what would be done about that. Unpleasant. For my writing of Steve Rogers, I read up a lot on the different illnesses that he had, on how he would have lived in the past, in order to understand what things he might still do today, out of habit, or out of respect for that time period. Yeah, I definitely research where I can on subjects I don’t fully grasp.

25) copy/paste a few sentences or a short paragraph that you’re particularly proud of

(okay so this is a few paragraphs, but i really really enjoyed this starter)

As was becoming the frustrating norm, Barry just wasn’t fast enough. Zoom had an insane strength to him, only bolstered by Barry’s own speed. The loss of his father had caused something in him to shatter. The hatred towards the other speedster fueled Barry, but as he chased the other through his city, he knew that that hatred alone wouldn’t help him stop the guy. But it pushed him forward anyway.

Barry had shut off his coms half an hour into this ridiculous race with Zoom. He knew what his friends and family wanted. They wanted to work together to handle him. But Barry had lost enough in this fight to want them to have nothing to do with it. The man had been monstrous enough to kill Barry’s father right in front of him. He likely wouldn’t stop to think about his feelings with anyone else important to him.

He couldn’t watch another person he loved die. And, admittedly, he was still slightly bitter about the fact that his friends had locked him in the pipeline to keep him from going after Zoom. He kept running, twisting past cars and trees and chasing after Zoom, always chasing. He had never had a moment where he had come close to equaling the other’s speed.

At some point though, it seemed Zoom tired of simply having Barry chase him around, and before Barry knew it, the other darted out towards the speedster. catching him completely by surprise, the other speedster’s punch hitting him in the stomach and sending him flying backwards. The lucky thing: he didn’t crash into any cars or civilians. The unlucky: he collided with a very solid wall, not having had the time to ready himself to phase through it as he could have.

Everything ached. And Zoom was there a moment later, grabbing him by his throat and lifting him up, seemingly delighted by the power he held over Barry. Barry managed to get a few hits in, and found them running again, though this time it barely went another block before he was sprawled on the ground in the park. He groaned, forcing himself to his feet as he tried to prepare himself for the next blow.

#ooc #about the mun #this took a while xP #keeperoftheliars

[rongasm]

hiiii idk why i'm so nervous but i really really wanna start writing fanfiction. ljke full out "woah this makes me feel stuff" fanfiction and i thought you'd be the best place to come for pointers because you're literally amazing but anyways do ylu have any suggestions as to 1. where to write it 2. starting tips 3. what not to do?? thanks!! i really really want to but i'm little scared to

OOOH, I WAS RECENTLY GIVING THE SAME ADVICE TO MEG BONNEY ON TWITTER. Okay, here we go. Let’s do this. 

How To Start Writing Fanfic for Beginners: 

Okay, so, the first thing we usually do is have a beta reader-- someone who looks over stories and checks for writing flow, typos, and, most importantly in the case of fanfiction, characterization. You find one before you start writing so that you have a cheerleader who can talk about ideas with you and push you through when you feel like you wanna quit. This is a formality, though, and can be skipped. My one-shots usually are in the 20k+ range so I like to have three or four people look over them, but if I'm writing a 6k one shot, for example, I only have one beta reader.

I’m actually pretty sure that the origination of this practice actually came from everyone trying to figure out how to make friends in fandom. If you're the beta reader on someone's story, you're automatically buddies. Google docs has made this way easier, though-- it used to be long email chains. *shudders*

Step two, decide which host sites you're going to post your fic on. Different fandoms are more popular on different fic sites. The most popular fanfic sites are http://fanfiction.net , http://archiveofourown.org (AO3, we call it), and sometimes tumblr, depending on the length of the fic! 

So, for example, the Percy Jackson fandom is really really into http://fanfiction.net (or at least was when I was writing for it?) That's where you get the most reviews/comments and the most hits for that fandom. In the case of Teen Wolf/Stydia the most popular site is AO3, easily. But if the piece you wrote is a drabble (in the 1k range), you can also plop it on tumblr. If it's in the 2k range, it's acceptable to put it on tumblr under a "read more."

For all these sites, you need an account, but AO3 is technically in beta mode (idk why; it's been like that for multiple years?) and therefore you sign up and then have to wait for an invite. But it's worth it because once you have an account, you can view the history of the fics you've read, bookmark faves, leave comments, and, of course, publish fics.

Unlike ffnet, AO3 also categorizes fics into fandoms, which is really really helpful if you write for multiple fandoms. Their sorting system is really good and really specific, which is why people use it. I think that, at this point, AO3 is undoubtedly the most diversely enjoyed site.

Here's some things you definitely need to know about posting on AO3: 

(This is SUPER important), it's considered REAL bad manners to tag characters/ships that aren't the centric pairing. So, the fic is gonna ask you for characters and the ship. If you're writing a fic where Stiles and Lydia are the centric pairing, you're gonna fill in Lydia Martin, Stiles Stilinski, and then Lydia Martin/Stiles Stilinski. But say your story also has a few scenes with Scott? Either don't mention Scott, or do "Scott McCall- Side.”

The reader should be able to clearly tell what type of fic it is by your tags. (Unless you don’t want them to know). You can create your own tags or you can use the site's already established ones. AO3 tags can get slightly obnoxious but nobody’s going to call you out for that so enjoy. 

If your fic takes place within the bounds of the series, you tag it "Canon Compliant." If it not only fits with the plot of the series but also takes place literally during the series, tag it "Missing Moments." If it diverges from the plot line of the series, you tag it "Canon Divergent." If it is after the series is over, tag it "Post-Canon." 

If it’s AU, tag the kind of AU it is. “Coffee Shop AU” “AU-- The Hunger Games” “AU-- Everyone Lives” “AU-- Stiles is Olaf from Frozen and gets it on with Anna who is Lydia.” (Spoilers for my next fic.) (Just kidding.) 

ALSO when you're posting, it's a huge struggle because AO3 either requires HTML coded stuff (for italics, etc) or rich text. My suggestion would be either putting your fic on tumblr and copy and pasting the rich text from the finished post, or getting an account on ffnet and using their document uploader to c+p your fic into, then save it and copy and paste it into the rich text part of the fic loader on AO3

So now, ratings. 

Here's what you've got: G,T, M, E. 

 G is like... no swearing, no mention of sex, you could read it as a bed time story to a 6 year old.

T is swearing, acknowledgment that sex exists, maybe some kissing (but you're getting to shaky territory as soon as you venture anywhere remotely past second base) light, non-descriptive violence (there's also a tag for violence under "archive warnings" because some people get triggered by it.)

M is lighter sex scenes (I would say anything that doesn't describe genitalia? Idk, this is a real fine line. I think you’ll feel it in your bones. Or, bone, in the case of smut. 

Nailed that joke. 

HA GEDDIT. I did it again.

E is like, you're going to hell for writing this, enjoy hanging out with satan in the fiery pits, I hope it's worth it.

If you post on tumblr, tag appropriately. Tumblr tagging is different from ao3-- you just tag to sort things, and so that the right people see your work. So, like, if you wrote a Stydia fic, obviously don't tag it Sterek or Sciles because you'll get hate, lmao. You can tag character names, but I would suggest you don't tag "Stiles Stilinski" or "Lydia Martin" because the Sterk/Mrrish/Stlia shippers tend to attack you. Also, only the first five tags count.

And now, the Don’ts of fanfiction***

Make sure your spacing doesn’t look awful. 

It makes people not wanna read it 

You should know what regular spacing looks like. If you’re able to correct it so that there’s not eons of space between paragraphs, I would do that. 

Don’t say “Sorry for the bad summary I promise it’s better than it sounds” in your summary. 

“Their tongues battle for dominance” or other equally cliche dialogue

Original characters as main characters

Fandom crossovers are almost always rolled their eyes at in the fic community. Like, you can thrust your characters into a different universe, but normally, you can’t use the original characters. So by all means, write a Percy Jackson AU, but don’t make Fitzwilliam Darcy best friends with Annabeth Chase. 

POV SWITCHING IN YOUR FIC

Okay this is really delicate because some people can do it really well and some people can’t

Switching back and forth between character point of view within one section of your fic is really hard for the reader to keep up with and it tends to look clumsy. It’s a no-no. 

If you have divides between sections, that’s where you can switch POV. 

However, I tend to write almost all of my fics with just one POV. I pick Character 1 or Character 2 no matter how long it is. It’s cleaner that way. 

NEVER USE FIRST PERSON IN FANFICTION, IT IS UNIVERSALLY LOATHED. 

I need to remember this one-- don’t describe clothes too much. You’ll sound like a cheesy YA novel. (I’m a hypocrite, okay?) 

Titles matter. Work hard on picking a title. I s2g it actually makes a big difference. Idk why. Titles. 

***Side note: All writing rules are all allowed to be broken. There is truly no such thing as a steadfast writing rule. The more comfortable you get with writing, the more comfortable you could be with breaking these rules. Does that make sense?

#answered #rongasm writes #Anonymous