#i tend to write in a manner of i think of a sentence when i'm doing something else

[bellaxgiornata]

This may seem a little but out of left field on my part, but I don't have many writer friends who I can ask, and there's no obligation to reply or indulge me 💜

I've recently got back into writing (not marvel, unfortunately, but I really admire the way you write) and was wondering if you maybe had any tips? I struggle a bit with, well, dialog and lack confidence - and your works are always so stunningly spot-on and evocative that I kinda just had to ask. Again, no worries if you dont want/have time to answer!

(Also I hope you are well!)

That is so wonderful! I absolutely love hearing that someone has decided to return to writing or is trying it out! I've been passionate about writing since I was 5, so I will always encourage other writers! And I feel so honored that you would even ask and that you feel that way about my writing! ❤ Thank you!! 😭

I will start out by saying I am not going to claim that I am by any means a writing expert, but I will say I did study it (I have an M.A. in Literature, Rhetoric, & Composition) and I've been writing fanfic for a long time, which comes into play with my writing (obviously). But believe me, I am always learning new things and growing myself. Writing truly is a skill and you can absolutely improve it with practice--I've noticed a change in mine over the past year even. Also, what works for me isn't necessarily what might work for you or others, but I can share some things I do myself, or that I enjoy seeing in fanfics/books, or what I think tends to be beneficial. I will say I know my writing style tends to be sparse and dialogue driven/heavy, which isn't necessarily how you or anyone else reading this might write.

And since this will probably be long and not something everyone cares to read, I'll put it below the cut. But as a note, I'm also writing these tips not knowing what you already know or do, so please do not take offense if they're obvious to you and nothing new!

I think the first and most important thing is to know your characters well, especially when it comes to dialogue. So if you're writing fanfic, I'd say study the source material a bit, see how someone speaks, pick up on any mannerisms or particular phrases they might typically use and when they use it if you don't already feel like you have them down. As for any original characters, Readers, or side characters, I'd say make sure you know them, too. Obviously an anxious character for example isn't going to speak boldly--unless there's a reason for it. So you always want to make sure it seems realistic (at least to you and how you perceive your characters) that they would say whatever they're saying in the situation that they're saying it.

I also find it helps to read dialogue aloud once you've written it. Does it sound like something someone would say in real life? Generally people in conversation don't always respond in full or proper sentences, for example. And I personally do this when it comes to writing Michael Kinsella or Frank Castle sometimes (I feel like I've written for Matt long enough that I literally can hear him in my head just fine 😅). They all have a sort of rhythm to the way they speak and I tend to go back and edit dialogue if it sounds too wordy or unlike the cadence of their speech (but that's also me being super particular 😅). But sometimes reading it aloud might help you realize if it sounds awkward or long winded or too clipped. Or maybe even too heavy of a reaction to what was said before someone's response.

Don't forget to change up your dialogue tags!! You can easily search up a list of dialogue tags (sometimes I do because my brain can't remember the correct one I want), but just make sure you're not trying to use them to add 'flair' to your writing, they have to make sense. Good ol' 'said' is truly just fine sometimes, but sometimes a particular dialogue tag makes a HUGE difference.

Sort of going along with that, it really makes a difference if writers have interrupters in their dialogue when it feels right. Don't overdo it, but definitely don't forget about it if you're comfortable using it. So if your characters are having a conversation, sometimes they won't just be standing there speaking, right? They might be doing something--like making coffee or folding laundry--and adding that in as they're speaking really helps set a scene. It's also incredibly great to add in minute details about facial expressions, tone change, body language shifts in the middle of sentences or between them. Because maybe the character speaking is getting angry, or the one doing the listening is having some sort of reaction to what is being said.

Dialogue should also generally always serve a purpose, which should help give you an idea of what to write and when. Is someone confiding something in someone? Having an awkward first meet? Calling to set up a date? Someone says something and it sparks a fight? Two characters are just being silly? There should always be a reason characters are conversing (which is sometimes just helping readers understand a personality trait about someone or learning a key detail about something), even if you have to throw in pleasantries or other things first that make sense before you can get the conversation to that point. And sometimes that's actually a fun challenge to figure out how to get there 😆

Off the top of my head, that's what I can think of for tips on dialogue at the moment. Hopefully at least some were helpful and not just old news to you. Obviously I also recommend editing a fic and giving it a reread at least once before posting, too. I'm insanely particular so I might edit something like 5 times before it goes up (and then still miss things). I just think that's a good way to catch errors or repeat words or ideas that might throw a reader out of the story.

As for the confidence to share your writing (or so it seems you meant, correct me if I'm wrong), honestly you just have to put it out there if that's what you want to do. I mean, don't feel obligated because you can certainly just write for yourself, but I'm not really sure what other advice to give on that unfortunately. I think any writer just takes the plunge. Sometimes a story flops, sometimes it gets a good reaction. Just try your best to not let it get to you if it doesn't go the way you hope (though whoever says it doesn't is lying because it is still rough to put so much effort into something and feel like it fell flat). But know you're not alone on that because there isn't a fic writer I know who doesn't get that feeling. Famous published authors even feel that way. We can't please everyone, but just try to have fun with it and don't take it too seriously at the end of the day. Do your best to ignore the negative feedback because for every one rude reader there will be multiple others who enjoy what you're doing. Try to focus on that!

But obviously, just have fun. Tell the story you want to read ❤

#bella answers #dialogue writing tips #im no expert though #just writing is your best way to practice and grow your skill

[olderthannetfic]

https://olderthannetfic.tumblr.com/post/738837493190934529/httpsolderthannetfictumblrcompost73871242031#notes Oh it's definitely not. Otherwise I wouldn't be looking for a word for it. That's why I explained what I meant, because I kinda knew that author's voice would probably be wrong.

Interesting to find out more about it though. Heard it thrown around here and there, but was never sure what it actually refers to.

Though I wouldn't even say it's an OOC issue, because it happens in original works too, so technically it could be considered "in character." I have encountered it in both fics and original works, and an additional quirk of that writing is that the character/s will have mindsets that don't match the world they're in, or it will be so over the top that it comes across as an unwanted parody just by the tone of the story.

Weird meme speech, pop culture references, dialogue/monologues that sound like the author just copy-pasted from their twitter/facebook rants, and a lot of that superficial knowledge on topics/issues/problems that is key for all that mouth frothing.

There's also often this weird poorly blended mix between ideas they like and the world, that makes it even more obvious. Like if they write a story where they want to show a the backdrop to be this super oppressive world where everyone has base level education to not have an uprising. Our main lead though, for some reason is the one unique individual with all the knowledge of a modern internet user, and has seen right through everything, but the story never explains why. This is super popular with both further on the edge sides of the political spectrum, and it screams mouth piece to the max and a lack of reflection.

Why does this character know everything when the Government is apparently so effective that no one questions anything? Fuck you, I'm the author and I wanted to show how smart I am and how stupid everyone else is. Here's my facebook/twitter rant!

I know it technically is bad writing, but it's such a specific type of bad writing, and it happens so frequently I would love a simple name for it.

--

Interesting to find out more about it though. Heard it thrown around here and there, but was never sure what it actually refers to.

Re "voice", it's the set of things that make you go "Ah, this sounds like X wrote it", basically. The actual POV might be a specific character, in which case, X is trying to sound like that character, but they still have a particular way of writing that's a little different from other authors trying to write a similar character. It's even more obvious in nonfiction.

Like... on tumblr, I sound like me. Sure, some of it is my actual personality or views, but there's also just the manner in which I write. I could have the same personality but communicate it differently or more poorly. How often do I use big words? How often do I use slang? How many clauses are in my sentences? In my case, I do kind of sound like this out loud too, but that's never a guarantee either. A lot of it is about the writing craft the person has consciously cultivated over time.

I think subject matter can be relevant to voice, like authors who love to describe food in every work or something, but a lot of it has to do with whether the person is funny overall or what kind of sentence structure they tend to go for. It's a broad vibe thing.

(Certainly, horrid PSAs are part of some authors' voices, but you can use the term to describe any general "Sounds like so-and-so" vibe.)

Honestly, the thing where only the protagonist is ~So Special~ that they alone have twitter brain see through the evil government is one of the obnoxious traits readers often brand as a Mary Sue. That's certainly not the term for this whole phenomenon though.

[okthatsgreat]

🧠✏️

I'm obsessed with Sae I would ask every question if I coule I lov themn

AAAA this means so much to me bc IM OBSESSED WITH HIM TOO i am very very glad people like her ............................... 😁

oc ask game! (plus some art at the bottom lol)

🧠 - what do you like most about the oc?

answered HERE but alsoooooo i can definitely think of something else :)

i LOVE writing her dialogue LMAOO. her whole gimmick is that she acts wayyyyy older than she actually is, and when i say that i mean she truly acts like an old man. she is a very slow talker a mover and figuring out how to write for her has been lots and lots of fun !!!!

she uses a lot of ellipses... and always drags on a sentence if it is possible. she never uses exclamation points if she can help it... because she tries not to raise her voice... and typically doesn't get excited or emotive about many things. she trails off a lot, either on a tangent about a sailing story or simply because she has lost focus... and includes a quote from her afi or from a writer that can shed wisdom on the situation. everything is a lesson to be learned, you see... she also tends to repeat herself at the end of the sentence, she does. it's either "you see" or some variation of "i do/i am", depending on what was said... and of course she always refers to her boats and the ocean using she/her. laughs like an old man too, eheheh... always keeps the mood light

but, uh, when she gets flustered she uses "um" and "uh" a lot. especially when backed into a corner. sounds a lot less wise. her sentences get shorter when she's upset. real short. she tends-- you see, she tends to stutter a lot more when she is stressed, or in a tense mood. corrects herself, or-- sometimes, she cuts herself off before she says anything too harsh. her tone grows a lot more "childish", and she wants to sound like she knows what she is doing. won't raise her tone. just gets rather blunt with you.

unless she gets very irritated. because then she starts to emphasize certain words to you in an almost condescending manner, and-- and she still might stutter over her words because she is thinking less about them, but they are all flowing out of her mouth at this point. and if you push her too far she'll start yelling! exclamation point! it is rare to get an exclamation point from her! if you push her hard enough she'll scream! she'll fucking yell!!

but yea anyways she's been fun GHFDJKG

✏️ - how often do you draw/write about the oc?

grins. the grinner

SOOOOOOOOO sae as of right now is being used in a killing game rp which means i get to write for her pretty oftennnnn :) she gets to hang out with a whole cast of awesome characters that are both amazing and stressing her out so badly. as hell. it is chapter 2 currently (we're at the motive!!) and literally every single thing is going wrong (the motive concerns her family and of course her afi was threatened bc thats all shes got, her plan to escape failed miserably and shes starting to resent people with very little reason, somebody in the killing game knows JUST WHAT TO SAY to seriously push her buttons) but she'll persevere 😍 she'll persevere and get so much worse

i loveee the rp server bc the people there love to write fics and draw art of their own AND each others characters and i eat it up every single time. me included i love creating for these rps :) which MEANS i actually do draw and write for her a bit often!! now a lot of it is practice and/or doesn't get sent to the server lmfaooo i think the last fic i wrote for her (and finished-- i keep starting things and stopping 😔) was a backstory fic for her about that one bad memory i mentioned in the last ask :) a single person has read it and that is the person running the rp in the first place ghfdjkg

UM UM here's some old art that i sent to the server and didnt post here !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and here's a chart of literally ALL of her siblings LMFAOOOO

#THANK YOU AGAIN <33 #ask lee #anonymous #ask game #oc: sae #lee art

[scarrletmoon]

WHAT'S THIS, AN ASK MEME?! AND IT'S NOT EVEN MY BIRTHDAY, IT'S YOURS?!!!?!?!!

okay for the "get to know your fic writer": 1, 7, 10, 20, 37, (OH MY GOD THERE ARE SO MANY OF THESE I WANT TO KNOW YOUR ANSWER TO, I AM TRYING TO APPEAR NORMAL AND NOT ASK YOU A MILLION OF THESE) 46, 54, and if you want me to come back and ask you more I absolutely will but I'm being GOOD and not obnoxiously makign this answer a million words long i love you happy birthday my dearest darling friend YOU'RE THE BEST <3

omg katherine 😭💖💖💖 you can ask me as many as you want, it's never annoying (there's just no guarantee that i'll ever get to it in a timely manner)

1. Do you prefer writing one-shots or multi-chaptered fics?

i like the challenge of writing multi chapter fics but also i think if i write another one i'll actually explode

7. How do you choose which POV to write from?

literally just vibes. i think i tend to write from stede's perspective a lot bc it's fun when he's clueless until the point where he realizes that ed actually likes him back and then doms that man so hard his head spins

10. Cltr+f "blinks" on your WIP & copy paste the first sentence/paragraph that comes up

He reaches for Stede’s waist, urges him closer as he blinks up from the floor. Whatever Stede’s planning, Ed knows he can’t resist those eyes, not if Ed gets the angle right.

20. Have you noticed any patterns in your fics? Words/expressions that appear a lot, themes, common settings, etc?

uuuhhhh i think i tend to accidentally trip over ed or stede's trauma whenever i write them -- i cant help a sentence or two that alludes to some deeper story, even in a one shot

pretty much all of my descriptions come in threes -- i have a certain cadence which is very annoying and means i rely on a thesaurus a lot, to varying degrees of success

37. How do you choose where to end a chapter?

it's vibes, it's just all vibes

sometimes i'll come back and decide a chapter actually ends in the middle of the next one, and i'll move things around but. it's just vibes!!

46. How would you describe your style? (Character/emotion/action-driven, etc)

definitely character driven. whenever i pause, i put myself in that character's shoes and try to see what they're seeing, feeling, hearing, etc. i should really focus on this more for plot bc i think i often end up describing or mentioning shit that a character wouldn't really be aware of

54. What’s your favorite part about the fanfiction writing process?

sending snippets to my favourite people so they can yell at me 🥰

get to know your fic writer ask game

#scarrlet answers

[veliseraptor]

15 🫂

old ask!!! I'm not looking at how old but whatever, I answer asks as the spirit moves me

Are there words, phrases, mannerisms or scenes you tend to use a lot?

My first answer is "if there are I don't know that I want to know about it!" but unfortunately I kind of do know. I have a weakness for adverbs, for sure. I have this tic where I, she said, breaks sentences in the middle in sometimes unusual places. I like a good run-on to indicate anxiety spirals. I have people cock their heads and narrow their eyes a lot, I think.

I like punctuating scenes with short, staccato lines on their own.

I'm sure I have others. I know I have a recognizable style because people more often than not are able to peg me when I write in anonymous exchanges, and I imagine that it's these kinds of writing tics that make that easier, at least in part. If I'm feeling kind to myself I have a distinct voice. If I'm feeling less kind I have stylistic things that I repeat ad nauseam. Depends on my mood.

#conversating #shockingheaven #lise memes #answering some stuff in my drafts

[hopetorun]

3, 4, 15!

3. What’s a fic idea that you have but haven’t written yet?

i am still looking sidelong at a deaging fic!! i gotta play around with being in someone else's head other than matthew's for a while but. i am looking at it out of the corner of my eye. matthew and leon's little sexcation interrupted by leon suddenly being 19 years old and looking Like That and being desperately horny at all times. matthew is trying to have standards and he has a teenager (barely! leon says, with an accent that's thicker than matthew's used to) practically crawling all over him, begging for his dick

4. Do you prefer writing multi-chapter or oneshot fanfictions?

with the caveat that i tend to post even multi-chapter stuff all in one go, i really enjoy the challenge and the scope of longer stories. for all that i complain about the amount of time they take, i love the depth of character work you can do and how much people can grow and learn over the course of a novel-length story. and those really do need to split into at least a few chapters, just for readability imo.

15. Are there words, phrases, mannerisms or scenes you tend to use a lot?

oh absolutely. i deleted words from the list of things to find and replace in preference as i dealt with them but i'm guilty of plenty of the standard filler words, especially ones that let me hedge around emotions and thought process. almost, feels like, sort of, a bit, that kind of thing. phrases and sentence structures also tend to show up a lot; i'm more ruthless about editing out the phrases but i do let myself pretend the sentence structures are "voice" or whatever

tbh mannerisms i feel like i'm more intentional about. i can't think of any that i've tended to use over and over, especially in hockey where i can't just default to giving people my own tics (playing with my hair) all the time. scenes ... well, i'm more intentional than the filler words but i have caught myself with some stand-bys. i love it when people talk stuff through in the kitchen, you know? or in the car together.

#ask meme

[erisenyo]

13 and/or 14 for the ask game!!

For this fic writers ask game!

13. What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever come across?

Something that hit me at the right time and was phrased in the right way to unlock like 18 other simultaneous pieces of understanding was some advice I stumbled across a few years ago around epithets and when to use them.

It talked about how a lot of times new writers can go overboard trying to avoid the usage of someone's name because they don't want to be repetitive, but then you end up with like, "Zuko" and "the Prince" and "the ravenette", and sentences like "Azula wondered what the other ravenette was up to." And it talked about how things like that stand out to a reader, which doesn't mean not to do them but to do them intentionally.

Why would Azula be thinking of her brother and herself as black-haired in a moment, vs just using his name? Why might Iroh address Zuko as 'Zuko' vs 'Prince Zuko' vs 'the Prince,' and what does it tell us about their relationship or Iroh's emotional state in a given moment for him to choose one vs the other?

It seems relatively obvious in retrospect, but it really got me thinking about the little ways perspective can be built into a narration, and the ways someone's dialogue could convey their state of mind even if they aren't our POV character, and how to build in description and exposition in ways that felt more natural to the way someone would actually think. And then I did a lot of fun deliberate editing in my draft of These Things Written for when Sokka uses 'the Fire Prince' or 'the Prince' vs when he uses 'Zuko' in his thoughts haha

14. What’s the worst writing advice you’ve ever come across?

Generally anything that is like totally absolute annoys me haha, because there's always a reason to break any rule as long as you know why you're doing it.

The thing I see the most that I tend to side-eye the most is the suggestion that writers eliminate adverbs and the word 'said' from their vocabulary.

I don't think it's ever meant to be like a blanket statement, but it's often written as such, and I'm a big believer that readers need space to breathe in a story. Some lines just need to be rest lines, and not every word needs to wallop you in the face.

Particularly with dialogue, I find that the dialogue tags can draw attention away from the words and toward the manner of saying them. Which isn't *bad*, but again, its better if its an intentional choice than out of an externally-born need to eliminate 'repetition' and ending up changing a perfectly good 'he said quickly' to a deeply jarring 'he ejaculated' (which...I have seen. More than once.)

#asks and answers #ask games #korrasamibottles #Truly the number of times I've read 'he ejaculated' meaning words meaning not sex is just... #If I had a nickel I'd have at least fifty cents lol

[vase]

Writing Tip #2: Getting Started, Part Two - The Fourth Pillar

Hello again! I want to thank everyone for the phenomenal amount of support my last post received. I'm really hoping to keep this momentum up, and I'm very thankful that so many people are having as much fun as I am.

As always, it's time for our next venture into the wonderful world of writing. Last time, we discussed character, plot, and setting. Next, I'd like to delve into what I personally consider the fourth important pillar alongside these. This fourth pillar is prose!

In writing, prose is meant to describe the manner of which a writer writes. Think of it as the writer's own personal style. Prose is specific to what is literally on the page. Prose dictates specifically the word choice, sentence length variation, grammar choices, and diction of the author. While communities around this are virile, an author need not worry if their prose is strictly "good", rather that it is consistent and fitting.

Typically, when a person (mostly literature students, because no one else gives a shit about prose) refers to "good prose", they will refer to the works of classic authors like Austen or Melville. "Good prose" tends to be filed under the same vein of books that non-literature students complain about, the ones that harp on about descriptions of a tree for an hour. This prose is praised because it excels in imagery--these hour long tree descriptions use excessive verbiage to paint an excessively clear picture of the surroundings. Often, the word choice of the author is what lends it its praise. Our average author, again, need not worry. One does not need to harp on about a tree for an hour to be good at prose. It is better, instead, to be fitting.

[ ID: MOTHER died today. Or, maybe, yesterday; I can't be sure. The telegram from the Home says: YOUR MOTHER PASSED AWAY. FUNERAL TOMORROW. DEEP SYMPATHY. Which leaves the matter doubtful; it could have been yesterday. ]

What precedes is an excerpt from Albert Camus's ever iconic 'The Stranger', in one of its many translations. While the original word choice is lost in translation (from dastardly French), the intent and prose of Camus is obediently transcribed by loyal translators. The main character of The Stranger, Meursault, is a man who thinks in a very objective and brisk sense. This bleeds into the prose of the book itself. Here, it would only kneecap Camus and The Stranger if the book indulged in the flowery, purple prose (term used to describe prose that is syrupy and poetic) of other notable classics, because it would go against the main character's worldview.

It's not necessarily important that your prose uses amazing words and the perfect Austenian writing, but rather that it matches the story. If your narrator character is a preteen girl, she's not going to describe things as 'Kafkaesque' (unless she's the coolest teen girl ever). Experimenting with prose is especially fun in multiple POV stories, with the possibility of different characters speaking or recounting things differently. Just as I recommended writing exercises previously when building characters, writing multiple POVs with different prose on purpose is a good way to build skill in prose. Everyone has their own specific 'prose', but developing your prose is an excellent idea, especially before writing the first draft of your project. Just like a drawing style, whereas everyone has their own style, it's better to learn to draw motion, backgrounds, and shadows before starting drawing your webcomic.

In a first person perspective novel, the prose of the book should be close to the way the narrator character speaks in dialogue, unless there's a specific reason otherwise (ie. the character is a spy and speaks differently to the people around them than they would regularly, or something along that vein). Multiple POV third person novels may also see a shift in prose depending on who is being followed, but they don't always need one. In fact, a dramatic shift may be a bit jarring for readers in these instances. Third person omniscient books need not a prose specific to the central character per se, but this brings in the topic of audience. A book with a story aimed at preteen audiences probably shouldn't use advanced prose, as it may be difficult for the preteen audiences to follow. A writer's prose, however, should be flexible enough to shift from genre-to-genre, reading level to reading level.

Don't believe me? Try it! A great way to practice prose, especially in this sense, would be to write the same general passage for different audiences: first as a children's book, then as a YA book, then as an adult book, and maybe even as an Austenian classic. A great way to practice prose and strengthen characters would be to write the same scene from many different character's perspectives, and incorporating the character's quirks into the prose. Personally, as well, I'm going to recommend writing poetry, especially rhyming poetry. Poetry challenges writers to use thinner perimeters to build word choice and intent.

Thanks everyone for reading once again! I know prose isn't a topic many find super interesting, and I'm sorry to disappoint those who were looking for a character writing or a worldbuilding tip. I promise, next time. Happy writing, prose apprentices, and thanks again for being along for the ride.

#prose #point of view #reading level

[grandhotelabyss]

What (if anything) do you think of Ben Myers's "A Reader's Manifesto"? I have to assume you disagree with it, given your love of DeLillo and (to a lesser extent) McCarthy--two of his biggest targets, alongside Annie Proulx. (E.g., what do you make of Myers's claim that DeLillo merely reiterates the same tired, ubiquitous pieties about the vulgarity of suburban bourgeois existence?)

I'm more sympathetic to Myers's argument than you might imagine. First, it's a very entertaining and amusing piece of writing in itself. Second, the argument is correct in general: literary fiction as a (sociological) category encourages writers toward a mannered and artificial style signifying "literariness." Unskilled writers who adopt this style tend toward gaseous imprecision and somnolent over-writing. I can understand Myers's nostalgia for the unfussy midcentury clarity of a Maugham or an Isherwood in the face of someone like the already forgotten David Guterson.

Furthermore, in his book-length expansion of the article, Myers persuasively responded to critics who accused him of disliking any stylized or elevated prose. There he examined passages from Conrad and Joyce and showed that their complexity represents a hyper-precise and thoughtful use of language rather than the contemporary literary novelist's portentous use of vague or mixed metaphors straining after an absent significance.

You're right that he goes after writers I admire: DeLillo and McCarthy in the article and Morrison in the book. I think he totally misinterprets DeLillo. He doesn't get DeLillo's humor at all, and he misses the romanticism and mysticism in White Noise and Underworld, the transcendence DeLillo finds in the consumer culture alongside its tawdriness and shallowness. As for McCarthy and Morrison, their styles do make them vulnerable to writing "purple," and Myers expertly identified the resulting purple patches for criticism ("a gorgon in an autumn pool"). But I believe the totality of their vision subsumes any sentence-level flaws. Nitpicking can be its own lapse in taste, even when there are nits to pick.

In sum, I disagree with many of Myers's local judgments but agree with his broad indictment. It's a manifesto well worth reading: funny, sharp, and usefully provocative.

#b. r. myers #literary criticism #creative writing

[bitletsanddrabbles]

Do You Like How I Write YOUR Character?

I really want to be working on…well, anything, really…but my brain has decided we're going to think about anything except writing, so I'm going to try and appease it in hopes of at least getting a couple of sentences on…anything. Preferably the Fan Novel, but I will take literally anything!

So.

One of the biggest bugbears of my writing is that in order to know how I'm doing, I need to rely on people's comments, and while that works wonderfully for some things, it doesn't always tell me how I'm doing with characterization. Getting the characters as close to canon as physically possible and writing them in a manner that appeals to their fans, whether I personally like them or not, is very important to me, and it's not easy to do, especially when I'm writing from the PoV of a character who doesn't like them.

For example - I personally like Carson and the Batses, but I write almost exclusively from Thomas's point of view, and let's be honest: Thomas has issues there. So while I'm generally writing those characters at perhaps their most human, I'm not writing them at their best. Does this come across as an honest portrayal of canon relationships or as authorial bias? It's really hard to tell.

For starters, I don't know how many other fans of these characters are even reading, because so many Thomas fans openly hate them and will cheerfully bash the hell out of them in their fiction! That's a turn off. I don't care how many people want to lecture me about how 'everyone does stuff like that' and 'it's not disrespectful as long as you announce you're doing it' (which most people don't) and how 'it's just our interpretation of canon', I have straight up set otherwise lovely stories down and walked away because of character bastardization. I tend to shy away particularly from Anna/Bates (and since the second movie Thomas/Richard) fanfiction because of it, and I know I'm not alone in that. That automatically means I'm not reaching people who are technically part of my intended audience 'cause other people have been disrespectful and nasty (and that there are Anna/Bates/Carson fans who aren't reaching me for the same reason).

It also increases the likelihood that people I am reaching aren't reading the story as intended, because they see me as a 'Thomas fan' and therefore read all of the Carson/Bates parts in the worst possible light. I could write them being nothing but reasonable and people would assume they're supposed to be read as out of line. I know for fact that other Thomas fans who don't like Carson and the Batses read it that way, because they leave comments that make it clear that they're reading it that way! But are the actual Carson and Bates fans reading it that way? Are they reading at all? I don't know.

One of my biggest regrets with the Downton Court Christmas Special is that no one seems to have noticed that the account of 'the gag gift' changes depending on who's PoV we're in. I really was quite careful with that.

Ironically the character I do know about is Jimmy. Why is this ironic? Because he's one of the few Downton residents I dislike. It's not that he's a terrible, drunken rapist who kicks puppies and eats babies on toast for breakfast. He's not like that at all! He's a basically good insecure, overly sexed twenty something raised in a homophobic society that says that men his age should be trying to get it on with any person his class or lower who is moderately attractive, has breasts and a pulse! There's nothing inherently wrong with it, it just happens to clash with my personality and leave me wanting to bonk him over the head with a two-by-four. Repeatedly. That's all. And it's certainly doesn't reflect poorly on his fans that they can love him despite the inherit flaws of being him. The boy's well written, well acted, and deserves fans! And those fans deserve my respect and having me try to write him as true to character as I can when I write him. So I do, and those fans read and tell me that I've done a good job, and boy howdy are those some of the best comments I get! Ever! Nothing says 'you've done your job and done it well and we appreciate it' as one of my friendly Jimmy loving mutuals popping by and going 'Yup! That's our boy!' Because I love you guys and I want to write things that appeal to you and that do Your Character justice, even if I want to biff him over the head.

So if you've not been reading my stuff because I'm clearly a Thomas fan and that must mean my work is full of your favorite character being bashed, please, know that I'm not that kind of writer and, if you like Thomas but generally not his fans, if you could swing by and tell me how you think I've done with your characters, well. I'd appreciate it is all.

…I would also advise maybe not reading the comments. That can get dicey.

#downton abbey #downton abbey fanfiction #characterization #writer issues #thomas barrow #anna bates #john bates #charles carson #elsie hughes #jimmie kent #robert crawley #mary crawley #edith crawley #...i think those are the most contentious characters #most of whom i love #although maybe not their fans #it depends

[beafocal]

5, 14, 15!

5. What rating do most of your fics fall under? Uhhhh without looking, I think I probably have the most Ms, and that's mostly because I prefer to be cautious and there's frequently some level of violence. I have a decent amount of G running around tho I think.

14. Have you ever co-written a fic? delicately clears throat and gestures to thy word is a lamp

in all fairness, Pur and I trade off fics rather than like, chapters? But it's still a moderately joint creative process and I go to her when I'm stuck, etc.

15. Are there words, phrases, mannerisms or scenes you tend to use a lot? Yeah. I think other people can probably point them out better than me, but I have some pretty reliable quirks. i split sentences in dialogue a lot, and frequently use the speech tag to give the sense of a rest in the sentence. ie, "Well," she said, "that's that, I guess."

also I will use the word 'elide' at any opportunity, and those are not many. and I have spent enough time writing "haha i don't feel human emotions :)" man that I tend to go for the physical feeling of an emotion before what it actually is. There's a lot of like... sensations inside ribcages, that kind of thing.

#vague bea ramblings #asked and answered o ye who crave knowledge #bea writes sometimes

[scorchedhearth]

Please do a commentary on Insurmountable, I’ve been thinking about it all week

u have no idea how happy it makes me to hear that, thank u <33

ask for my director's commentary of a fic

i mentioned it here already but it all started by randomly having the vivid idea of jason at kyle’s feet massaging his leg for some reason with the sentence ‘kneeling at his feet jesus style’ blaring in my mind, it pretty much all started from here. im really into the idea of the body as an extension of the mind, both in how it touches/interacts the world and how we built our understanding of what’s around us with it, by perceiving it thru our senses and experiences (and thus the body), but also how it gives away things unconsciously, and by extension of that i'm interested in touch as a conversation between people, like how tension and stress can’t be hidden when the body is starting to crack

this time i wrote the fic from start to end, i didn’t jump around scenes, although i did tweak the initial conversation and how kyle finally accepted jason’s help. i wanted to showcase how jason is smart and educated but in a subtle way, that he’s perceptive by nature and in addition to that taught himself to be better at it, which is why i went into detail about how he watches kyle and draws conclusions from it about his state, that he collects information about him (like how long he’s spent in space, or if he’s going out meeting people) in a barely concealed attempt at caring about him, pretending it’s for information’s sake and not because he has an interest in kyle.

for kyle, my goal here was to show he still deals with negative things even when he’s in a later stage of his hero career, that he is burdened in some way by his status as lantern and hero, that he doesn’t show himself to others when he’s not able to hold up that title, and that he tends to retreat on his own to lick his wound in peace before going out again, this tendency to care for others before himself, acting as a knight, a mindset that forces him to not show weakness especially when he’s not in the best mood (it’s vague in the fic on purpose but something unpleasant happened in space which is why he’s back on such a low key manner and not in the best of shape). that’s why he’s on the defensive when jason mentions something is wrong, and why he hesitates before accepting the help

from there on out, it was describe the massage itself, the act of touching to help another, how this rough handling hidden beneath disinterest is jason’s way of caring and helping even if he doesn’t admit it to himself or openly (giving reason like further injury he could prevent when really, he experienced what intimacy tastes like with kyle and he wants more, he wants to touch and be close), and how he matters to kyle at least in some way for him to trust jason and that what he offers will help with his pain

i also like writing about physical touch and interaction between bodies so this was just perfect for me, writing the massage in detail, every action jason does and the reaction it elicits in kyle, but also having some fun with it like the slight banter between them, the massage not being enjoyable all the time and even hurting or kyle pulling back and jason being unimpressed with it

it was also the opportunity for me to write jk from jason’s perspective because i tend to go with kyle’s pov, since he’s way more open with his feeling and to the world around him u get to be more flowery and describe more of his emotions and more implicit details from both party, so it was fun to try and get jason’s obtuse voice right. that’s why u have those bits about how doomed their relationship is from the start, somewhere i wont go if i write kyle, because jason despite his actions is a rather cynical individual now as red hood, with a negative mindset from the get-go even if he still does what he plans (like the suicide as back up to bruce’s choice, no hopeful person plans that beforehand if they dont expect failure)

if the fic ended so abruptly, it was on purpose. i wanted to expose jason’s sudden reaction and how he clamps down and builds the walls back up as soon as he feels this is going somewhere he didn’t plan to (kyle’s gentle gesture of his hand to his face, something he wasn’t prepared to, and thus closed himself to). that's what the title refers to, jason's insurmountable obstacle to intimacy and a genuine relationship with someone else

#asks #anon

[plothooksinc]

7 and 15 for the ask meme! Also you've already said it for yourself, but I want you to know the shaft scene of Underdark lives in my head rent-free. Everything from the moment the train lights pass overhead to the moment Mikey has to climb back out of the shaft with Leo tied to his back. That's like a chapter and a half, I'm sure 50% sure, but I remember like it's been painted on my memory.

me, the author, typing away: oh god this is so STRESSFUL I wonder what happens next

Glad that's someone else's favourite ♥

7. What’s a trope you love to write?

Too many to count. I know I definitely round back to the same ones a lot, but I think the one I love to write (because now that I think about it I do this a lot lmao) it's > take hero and handicap in some way (whether literally or he's just out of his depth) > hero gets underestimated > hero proceeds to think outside the box and kick your ass with whatever improvised tactic comes to hand Because I LOVE ME SOME INTELLIGENT CHARACTERS and I do this in just about everything, and it may be a direct response to being tired of watching otherwise competent characters get damselled and lie around helpless when they really shouldn't be. (The flip side is if I actually do damsel someone they are fucked up to a level where they Literally Cannot and they will probably fight all the way down to that level because it's the only way to stop my brain from going "but they could do this and--")

I first did that with Kenshin in Tanabata Jasmine, where the bad guys broke his collarbone and took his sword away and he proceeded to have a fight with first a chair leg and then a bowl of rice, so. Kaoru was thinking outside the box the entire time when she was being a small time hacker sliding her way into one of the Top 5 Scariest Zaibatsu In Existence in Zaibatsu Project. That was fun. The list continues from there. I guarantee you this is coming in No Rest For The Weary. A lot. I like underdog fights and impossible odds with inspired badassery. (I also do this in RP a lot, boy Nami did a lot of improv fighting in Luceti.)

15. Are there words, phrases, mannerisms or scenes you tend to use a lot?

OH I SEE HOW IT IS, MY BETA CALLING ME OUT-- jkjk. Um, yes. Mostly Said-Bookisms, which I keep a tight eye on these days because I want to describe tone for every piece of dialogue someone writes and it's Not Necessary. But I'm fond of people speaking mildly and dryly and I like injecting life into conversations but boy it's sure easy to go Too Far with that, so. I also abuse the em dash like many authors and because my usual MO is to switch between Third Person Limited, the passages often have a lot of disconnected thoughts as they start thinking about something else or something happens, so. There are a lot of paragraphs that end with -- and then they sidetrack.

I bet there are phrases that I use a lot. One is 'white-knuckled' which is unfortunate because I'm currently talking about a bunch of kids with green skin and I already noticed I just absently used that in the very first chapter of NRFTW whoops. Also, hilariously, I'm pretty sure I've used the sentence 'He Slept' on its own a few times lately, irony of that story title. I often finish chapters/sections with a very short tl;dr sentence, lmao.

And scenes-- I try my best not to repeat on these, but apparently Mikey and Leo snoozing in bed together is gonna be a repeat theme. Characters waking up confused b/c of concussions and/or drugs and/or Bits of Black Ice Programs Trapped In Their Heads. Bizarrely, I have also written two boardroom scenes in which the protag has to face a bunch of murderous capitalists and outwit them on a verbal scale. The fact that that one occurred twice was not intentional and is a source of great amusement to me.

Thank you!

Fanfic Writer Ask game here.

#ask meme #nekotsuki #rottmnt #rurouni kenshin #tmnt #@shadowbends

[last-hourglass]

For the ask meme, #7 and #15 please 😊

7. What’s a trope you love to write?

Hurt/Comfort, probably more than anything else (as should be abundantly obvious from my past works xD), but also Found Family, Angst With A Happy Ending, Mind Control (apparently?? this is a thing I keep doing I guess????), Platonic Cuddling.... Horror...

15. Are there words, phrases, mannerisms or scenes you tend to use a lot?

OH BOY I think my biggest Thing is that I CHRONICALLY overuse the mechanic of sharply cutting off sentences or paragraphs with hyphens-

-like so.

And I tend to POV hop a lot when writing fics, I've discovered. I treat POV like a camera angle, swapping to the character who moves the story along in an interesting way, or specifically NOT swapping to a certain character in order to obscure information.

For mannerisms, my characters just tend to be very... stimmy, I guess. People always be bouncing their legs or clenching their jaws or gritting their teeth or fidgeting or scratching or making funky noises. I write very tactile characters and situations, I think.

Phrases... I'm a chronic eye-narrower. A forever brow-furrower. Everyone is a Thing, like how This Thing is Another Thing. As something is to something else. I like my descriptions rhythmic, cinematic, punchy. A quick drop. A sudden stop. And then the winding buildup that surges and overflows until it floods the entire scene with feeling.

Words... again, I like tactile and vocal words. Hiss, choke, whimper, snarl, growl. Flex, twitch, shudder. The ones that bring you into a character's mannerisms and sensations. I think 'bristle' might the one I use the most. Everyone is bristling with hostility and tension over here (though I'm not sure this has been the case much in Last Hourglass.)

#answered asks #minumi-chan

[handicappedbuenchico]

Name: Caitlin-Ashley

Pronouns: She/Her

Preference of communication: Tumblr IM's. Those are 10x more reliable in terms of me seeing them, in comparison to Discord, for some reason.

Most active muse: Spencer.

Experience / how many years: I've been roleplaying for about 8 years now! It's been an on-and-off thing really.

Platforms you use: I use both Tumblr and Discord!  

Best experience: Meeting @petpsycho for the very first time, roleplaying John and Carlos's first interaction based off of a meme I sent in, and having Carlos and John fuck at damn near 100 notes in. Truly the best experience because it was not only one of my first, but Mina has been an amazing person to talk to and write with.

Rp pet peeves:

Those group/town/app/appless Discord rp types, that don't even do it on Tumblr from what I can tell, spamming their promo so much in the rp tags to the point where they drown out literally anyone else's. I'm not looking to join a fucking off-platform group to rp in a generic town, I'm looking for singular people to write with ON TUMBLR. STOP SPAMMING YOUR SHIT FOR FUCK'S SAKE! That's what bumping on Disboard is for.

Personal blogs that aren't connected to roleplay ones in any way spam liking my roleplay related shit. Like, I can understand if it's like a meta or a headcanon, but personals (that aren't connected to a roleplay blog) liking my starter calls and my promos are a completely different story. PLEASE DON'T FUCKING DO THAT IF YOU ARE NOT A ROLEPLAYER IN ANY CAPACITY. That goes for reblogging too honestly, like don't reblog my roleplaying material/threads either if you aren't actively involved with it/didn't get my permission to do so.

Formatting that is hard to read. Now, I'm not talking about colored text or small text or anything like that. I'm talking about the formatting that looks like either a pure wall of text, or there are so many paragraph breaks that I have to physically drag a reply into Google Docs to "fix it" for my brain. Full disclosure, I am autistic (an Aspie to be specific), and sometimes my brain has trouble with reading comprehension on normal formatted text. Now imagine my brain when trying to read something with either NO paragraph breaks, OR paragraph breaks after every single sentence. It's not fun, and it makes me want to write with you less and less.

I apologize in advance if anyone feels called out by these, as I'm sure you didn't want to hear this from me in this manner. I am polite and nice to a fault, and I fear judgement/being reprimanded due to my own RL trauma, so I was too anxious to tell you personally.

Fluff, angst, or smut: I would like some Fluff with a side of Smut, you can also put a dash of angst on that if it will enhance the thread's flavor.

Plots or memes: Oh I am mostly a meme person, but if I find/think of a plot that our muses can do, you best believe I'm coming into your DM's and tell you about it.

Long or short replies: Depends on my muse, the time that I have at any given moment, my need to stim, and sometimes the thread itself. On a day where I have a lot of muse and a full day to myself, I can do longer replies, like a couple of long paragraphs. On days where I have little muse and or not a lot of time to spare, I tend to write smaller replies.

Best time to write: If I said any other time of day than between 8 PM - 12 AM I would be lying to you all. Writing at night right before you crash just hits different.

Are you like your muses: Y E S.

Carlos has my fear of punishment/being judged. Along with that, he and I sharing being a people-pleaser/peacemaker type of person, due to having it forced upon us by the adults around us that should fucking know how to act right. We both also grew up poor due to circumstances we couldn't control.

Now, Spencer, you wouldn't think I'd share any similarities with, but you would be very wrong. Spencer and I share a sensitivity to touch, but we both also like to touch anything/anyone we see (not in a creepy/perverted way, I'm talking like hugs and shoulder pats or something like that.) We're both also gay as fuck, and we're neuro-divergent (I'm autistic with an anxiety disorder and he has ADHD with Generalized Anxiety Disorder). We both also got daddy issues, so uh, there's that too.

Ted Lockwood is just my experiences as an autistic person incarnate LMFAO. Bro like, we're both nice to everyone, including people who probably don't deserve it. He and I both are socially awkward sometimes, and we can't read a room sometimes to save our damn lives (literally in Ted's case). We both have our own little special interests, his is engineering and space and mine is art and writing.

Crybaby as a character was someone I could relate to on an emotional level. I was saying for many years that my dysfunctional family almost fit Dollhouse to A FUCKING TEE! I also related the song Crybaby because I too was a very emotional little girl who got made fun and taken advantage of for it. I related to all of Crybaby's failed attempts at love in songs such as Carousel, Soap, and Training Wheels. Out of all my muses, Crybaby is the most like me because I already related to her long before I would even take her up as a muse.

Tagged by: @kurtzbergsiblings

Tagging: @bctclgevse @betterto-die-thanto-crawl @bamsidsuperbitch @scribedhorror @depictedblue @depictedmorada and anyone else who wants to!

#ooc 💭i'm awake now💭 #dashboard games

[bittermachine]

AO3 wrapped questions: 10, 11, 27 (if any!), 28, and 29? Also since you tend to work in Chinese and translate, I've got a bonus question: are there any particular lines you've written that you feel work significantly better in the original Chinese due to linguistic/cultural nuance or connotations?

What work was the quickest to write?

Arrivals (ZhongChiBai) and just a bit of rain (Chaeya) was definitely the quickest to write, because both of them had only one scene that needs to be written, and I had a clear image of what I wanted to write for them. I usually start off with one key moment or dialogue that I want to highlight in single scene fics, so most of the work is just building up to that and then wrapping it up. I do always feel like I'm cheating my readers a little when I put out something that's only about 1k words in total.

What work took you the longest to write?

sink, or learn to swim (Luckae) was emotionally hard to get through even while I was plotting it, so it was harder still to put it down in words! There's a lot going on in the story as a whole, with Kaeya and Diluc individually as well as together, and I had a really hard time deciding what parts to keep and what parts to show without sidetracking too hard. There were a lot of changes to plot as well too: the only solid plan I had when coming up with it was really just the opening line and the ending, so bridging these two parts (especially after Diluc burned that all up) was really tough. Not to mention that the manner in which gender as a subject is treated is rather personal to me as well, and then I had a bit of a panic because it was meant for an exchange and I have no idea how it would be received, or if I should just scrap the whole thing and write something fluffy instead. All in all, I'm glad that turned out well. I read the fic now and have no idea how I managed all that lol.

What do you listen to while writing?

I generally listen to videos on cafe music BGM channel on YT, or guqin music. Sometimes I also listen to the entry plug sound for hours. But if I'm working through a particularly difficult scene, I prefer silence because I want to hear how the sentence sounds in my head.

If I'm really lucky, I might find a couple of songs that fit the mood of the fic! When I feel like I'm going off on the wrong tangent, I might listen to that to get back into the mood of things.

As a huge fan of Ghostly Kisses and X Ambassadors, their songs do show up regularly on the roster as well.

Favorite work you wrote this year?

I want to say sink, or learn to swim, but it's probably going to be bind (rezhong/zhongxiao). The EGGS. I really thought I was completely in over my head when working on it... I kept thinking oh my god how do I even approach... the eggs... without cracking up. How do I write it so it reads less like a chicken giving birth to my breakfast and more sexy connotations... I lost so much hair to this fic. T H T I'm extremely pleased with how it turned out in the end though. I actually enjoy reading through it myself... after I got over my embarrassment of the whole oviposition thing.

Favorite line/passage you wrote this year?

Now, there’s nowhere left for Morax to run.

The fic this line is from will be published sometime next year, so I'm looking forward to when that happens. I'm just tickled by the idea of bullying Morax. Otherwise, I'm really fond of this one as well:

“You’ve been staying for far too long within the harbour,” Zhongli murmurs, catching him by the chin and not letting him pull away. Even now, he can pick up on the ebb and flow of Baizhu’s own waning power, severed at the roots from his original place of birth, a haemorrhaging wound that will bleed for the rest of his life. “Drink, or we will leave for Mt. Aocang tomorrow.”

Baizhu my beloved.

Are there any particular lines you've written that you feel work significantly better in the original Chinese due to linguistic/cultural nuance or connotations?

Lots of them! Off the top of my head, 小哥哥 is always a hard one to translate and I often have to substitute with something else completely because there's simply no word for it in English. There are also sayings that are elegantly succinct in Chinese but ends up too long winded when translated into English.

Once I've tried to write a dialogue line where they say 撒嬌也沒用, but there's no translation for 撒嬌, and acting spoiled carries the wrong nuance, so I'll end up rewording it. So where 撒嬌 is an action, and the original is doing (action) won't work on me, I have to work the previous line to show what their intentions are, and to change the dialogue to be a response to that (e.g you know that's not going to work on me).

In the latest bit that I've posted on tumblr for ZhongChiBai, there's a line that I used where Baizhu complains about Zhongli always spoiling/indulging Childe in his habits (就你慣著他) and he says it back to Baizhu (我一樣慣著你). 慣 comes from 習慣 (habit), and essentially 慣著 means to allow someone to continually get away with something that they're making a habit of. In this scenario, words like indulge and coddle wouldn't really be the right vibe. Spoil cuts close but I'm still iffy about it.

Sometimes, inclusion of certain words / synonyms in Chinese can bring across tone that hints at character personality, such as the differences in how Zhongli VS an NPC speaks where the NPC tends to use 白話 (vernacular). A lot of this is lost when lines are transferred into English, so I end up leaning on physical actions to make up for it.

I'm not sure if it's obvious, but 春月宫 (ZhongChiBai) and all its related pieces have this problem. A lot of their dialogue simply wouldn't work... there's this riddle too:

“ A month and a day, but not today . Guess a word .” Oblivious to their exchange, Baizhu held the slip of paper up to the flickering candle light and read the riddle written on it aloud to Zhongli. “Interesting. What do you think, Tartaglia?”

“Uh. Yesterday?” Tartaglia flushed pink when Zhongli began to laugh. “The day before? I’m sorry. Please pardon my ignorance.”

The original riddle would be: 一月一日非今天 So based on 非今天 (not today), Tartaglia's follow up would be 呃......不是今天的話, 那就是昨天？前天？, and instead of "I’m sorry. Please pardon my ignorance.", the original line is 是臣妾無知，讓陛下見笑了. (This concubine is ignorant, I've made a fool of myself.) but it doesn't sound natural at all and the sudden switch into third person reference is going to give everyone whiplash.

There are also several nsfw fics where I originally intended for Childe to tell Zhongli or some other 我怕疼. (directly translated to I'm scared of pain), which comes off as half-confession and half-plea, but uh it's definitely not the same line as "I'm scared of pain". Might just end up reworking it to "I... what if it hurts?". I can't even use the 怕疼的孩子 phrase smh because it'll end up losing the fond affection meaning when translated. T H T

I really enjoyed answering these questions, especially the last one (sorry for making it so long though I think I've just been too cooped up about it). Thank you for sending this in!

#writing asks