#hhh fniewofnwoi

[owlf45]

so,,, i have a few My Hero fanfic ideas that i'm quite fond of. but every time i try to sit down and write them, i just. cringe. like, physically cringe. although like i said, i'm quite fond of them and i would love to put them out there on ao3. this doesn't happen with my other fics from a diffrent fandom. did you go through this? any tips on how to conquer it? should i not write them at all? should i make up a new plot? thanks, sorry for being annoying lol.

youre not annoying anon! i also feel the same way at times too! firstly, though, you should always write them!! share your gifts with the world!! secondly, im not sure where the cringe lies, so there might be numerous reasons: 

lack of content 

phrasing of the first scenes 

framing the time period 

outlining

characterization 

plot

infodumping 

what about MHA is causing this? 

but also, im of the firm believer that all ideas, to some degree, sound cringey and stupid until theyre put down on paper effectively. so dont let the cringe hold you back too much. fic writing is the equivalent of “fake it until you make it” and i too always feel some amount of cringe over a certain phrase or scene in a chapter. anyway, going to ramble a lot under the cut, as i always do: 

so if im struggling with liking the writing, then i probably havent sat on the idea for long enough. if there’s not enough content for me to work with, i get caught in a corner and start writing an awkward mess. it’ll come out in a way i don’t like and i start to get frustrated. so maybe simmer on the ideas a bit more. brainstorm a bit. give yourself sort of an idea of where you’re going to go, but be flexible if you find out while writing it that something works better, feels better. your gut will treat you well. 

it also might be because of how the beginning/first chapters play out. beginnings are always the hardest hurdle to jump, imo, because i struggle to get the work done if the first few scenes aren’t incredibly strong. so i tend to do quite a few drafts until i finally find a route i can vibe with. so look at things like word choice, imagery, strength—are the first few scenes strong? do they represent your story? is it something that’d peak your interest while reading it? does it feel like a scene that could come to life? maybe it’s not the idea that’s the issue but the writing, and it’s simply not polished enough. should you consider pursuing a different writing style altogether? a good first few scenes can help propel me to writing the rest of the story. a weak first few scenes ruins the process for me. 

if it’s not the content or the phrasing you’re struggling with, maybe consider framing the story in a different way. instead of starting at the beginning of your character’s story when they’re a child, why not start where the important plot comes in when they’re older? about to go to UA or any other school, for example? instead of changing the plot, why not change what period in it you talk about? flashbacks or reflection exist for this very reason! and if not time, what about a different character or POV? 

also you might want to consider outlining more! its not for everyone, but maybe it’d help if you had a good idea of where your story is going. it’s absolutely wonderful to add heavy foreshadowing to the beginning of one’s work. you can also add a lot of details which seem ignorable at first but become important later. maybe that might help the progression of you writing your story. maybe it’ll add a bit of mystery. that can always help liven up a bit of work. 

(speaking of mystery: imo, mystery is a writer’s best friend. it helps spruce up the writing and make it tons more interesting, and detracts from any of the “cringeyness”. so consider that while youre writing, even if the mystery is as simple as “will character A and character B become friends?”) 

what about characterization? have you considered that, perhaps, while writing it the character(s) just comes off as awkward and stilted? when you’re writing the scenes, do the character interactions read as fake or forced? maybe the plot isn’t the problem, but instead the way the characters react and interact. maybe try working on those. would rewatching/rereading some canon mha help you better grasp the characterization? 

and if this still isn’t working, consider tweaking—not changing!—but tweaking the events of your plot here and there. rearrange a few events. maybe the progression doesn’t make as much sense as you thought it’d originally made. 

one of my biggest pitfalls that make me c r i n g e at my attempts at starting a new work are when i start explaining. its easy to start talking about the world and your characters and what your story is actually about, and i encourage you to avoid that. instead of explaining why your character is the way they are, or what they do, have a scene filled with action. your character robs a bank. or they’re running from the police. they stare down at an assignment dealing with a societal issue theyre painfully aware of. one of their friends set up a date with their crush and smugly staring down at them. 

so don’t explain how your character has faced societal issues all their lives, which they have never talked about to their class, and now has to do an assignment on said issue. describe how the character stares at the paper of their assignment blankly. don’t explain how the character’s life has been horrible ever since their parent passed away and they got hooked up with the league of villain’s bullshit, and now that’s led them to being chased by the cops. describe the character running for their life as the sirens sound behind them. 

ofc, you can still add those little details here and there. the character running from the cops curses out shigaraki. the student staring down at their assignment mentions briefly that they’d never had to talk about such a sensitive issue to their classmates. i find, however, that the more i attempt to explain rather than describe, the more cringey it gets. it feels like a stream of consciousness, or a deliberate telling of a story, rather than the story speaking for itself. 

interestingly enough, you said this whole thing only seems to happen with MHA and not other fandoms. so what do you think you’re doing differently? are you relying more heavily on canon in MHA than you would in your works with other fandoms? how do you begin your works in contrast? if youre not doing anything differently, then is it a problem with mha as a fandom? is it  because there’s a lot of huge creators in MHA, or that it harbors a surprisingly large amount of content of incredible quality? in that case, are you really doing anything “wrong” or “cringey”, or is it more of an expectations kind of thing? in which case, tell expectations to fuck off, because i promise you you’re doing better than you think you are.

finally: if you love the work or the ideas, then who gives a shit about cringeyness? just post it my dude, i promise you someone out there will love it. and if youre still concerned, there’s tons of nice people in this fandom who’d look at your work if you asked. reach out to some people, maybe join/look at a few servers, ask someone to read what you’ve written, as for their advice—after all, each fic is unique in the “why?” it might be causing you to feel these things, so i’m only so limited in my ability to help. 

anyway, it’s... ass-o’clock am, and usually i would spend the next hour or two cutting this down to a reasonable length but im too tired to do that. so here’s MY apologies for rambling once again. one of these days ill learn to be concise. 

#my asks #writing tips #hhh fniewofnwoi