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thehoneyedhufflepuff · 4 years

Note

hey! you're one of (if not my favorite) fanfic writers, and i just love your writing style. do you have any tips? i'm struggling with writing fanfiction, and i'm currently trying to write and original novel but am having a hard time sorting out certain aspects of the plot and putting events in chronological order.

Hi there!

Apologies for taking a minute to answer this! It’s been on my mind since you sent it though. And I have to say that this is so kind of you. I think I speak for many creatives when I say that hearing your work & style is someone’s favorite is...hell, I don’t even know what to say. It means SO much, because I think we tend to be our own worst critics & beat ourselves up for the things we feel we’re lacking instead of seeing the good sometimes. So thank you so much. 💜

As far as advice...I don’t know if I’m in a position to give very good advice at the moment (I’ve just come out of a bit of a writing hiatus myself) but I will try! I actually just stopped writing for the night to come answer this ask, because words are just not working for me tonight.

So...I finished one original novel about 12 years ago (& no, it will never see the light of day LOL) (though I did get a small scene of it published in my community college’s anthology, so maybe it’s not as awful as I remember) & have considered another over the years, but I’ve gotten caught up in the hows before too. I guess the first thing I’d like to say is that getting caught up or having a hard time sorting things out is normal. (I used to think it just meant I wasn’t cut out to be a writer, that this stuff came easy to everyone else. It doesn’t mean either of those things at all.) I think that sometimes we forget how other writers struggle when all we see is their finished product, right? In reality I feel like we’re all screaming internally. Or at least most of us are. It’s not always hard, but a lot of the time it is! And that’s okay!

The closest I’ve got to writing something “original” lately is with my characterization of Dev & Niall in Between the Lines, & once BTL is done I might tinker with it to see about adapting it into a novel. We’ll see. I use this fic as an example primarily because it’s gotten so long, & I often struggle with it in terms of “what happens between this point & this one,” & because it’s challenged me a lot. I’m going to try to think up some things that have helped me as I’ve written it, & maybe they’ll be helpful for you too?

Something I think about often is how GRR Martin talks about writers in terms of architects & gardeners, which is the idea that some writers know everything that’ll happen from the start & stick to their outline (architects) while others sort of just wing it & the story grows as they write (gardener). IDK that anyone is only one vs the other, but if I had to pick I’d say I’m a gardener type. (Which is how I’ve ended up with a fic that’s nearly 200k lmao god.) I feel like sometimes not knowing what happens next keeps me from writing. Trying to “figure it out” can almost become a form of procrastination for me. So if that’s relatable to you, I’d say the best thing to do is just write. You don’t have to know everything. I’d argue that you don’t even have to know all that much. Sometimes once you start writing—& they don’t have to be good words, just words!—the story starts to weave itself. In the case of BTL, I’ve had some basic things I want to happen. We’ll call them points A — D. And while I’m trying to get from one point to the next, some stuff will happen on the side, or something wild will happen between points C & D that I wasn’t expecting, so now I have other things I need to address before moving on. Which brings me to my next point:

One of the best pieces of advice I ever saw on this site was this: a plot is a problem for the characters to solve. I’m paraphrasing. But the gist is that these solvable problems drive the story. Something I struggled with a lot when I was first starting BTL was plot. And then I realized I already had one. The plot centers around Baz’s mental health & how that affects his relationships. End goal is him & Simon living “realistically ever after” (& Dev & Niall, too!), but there are a lot of problems to solve on their way to that ending. And each problem solved leads to a new problem. (Which reminds me of that Simon quote from CO when they’re having their first kiss, lol.)

My point here is that you don’t need a big sweeping plot (unless of course that’s what you want). Everyday stuff can serve as a plot & guide you.

I hate to say this because I’m not sure it’s actually helpful, but the remedy here is just to write. I work a LOT more out by writing than I do by sitting around thinking about what to write. Sometimes the words come easy. A lot of the time it’s like pulling teeth. But they do come, & you’ll find that you’re figuring things out as you go.

Also, be kind to yourself. There was a while there where writing was ALL I was focused on. I’m currently trying to compartmentalize, because it’s almost like this story became my life. And while I do love it & want to write it & share it, I ended up overlooking other important things in my life in the name of worrying about writing. And so I am on a little journey to find balance now.

Also, it’s okay to write words that suck. Something I’ve experienced the last few days is feeling like the words I’m putting down are awful & out of character & this that or the other, BUT that’s what editing is for. It’s better to have mediocre first draft words down than no words at all. And a lot of the time, it turns out that the words I’ve written aren’t mediocre at all. I just wasn’t trusting the process while I was writing them. I was being too judgmental. Sometimes (a lot of the time) that judgment is really unnecessary. And sometimes our subconscious knows a lot more than we give it credit for.

...I feel like I’ve been rambling & I’m very unsure any of this is helpful at all, but I hope it is!

I went trolling through my blog because I know I’ve gotten asks similar to this before, but I only found one before I got tired lol (I should really put stuff like this under its own tag, whoops). I might’ve said something useful here. Also @vkelleyart shared some tips the other day that you might find helpful!

thanks so much again for the kind words!!! they really mean a lot. & i hope my answer here helps a bit. good luck with your stories!!! 💜

#writing advice #there that’s my new fancy tag for asks like this #that i’ll probs forget by the time i get another ask like this teehee.#writing schtuff #is my tag where i put a lot of writing stuff & was the tag i trolled to find my other answer #there’s...a lot under that tag because i put all my fic ask memes under it #rip #ANYWAY!#asks #THANK YOU 💜💜💜#hope some of this is helpful #as niall’s dad would say:#godspeed.

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sibilantly · 7 years

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hi, sib. i just read your fic persistence, and it was so beautifully done that i wanted to drop you a note. your writing has seriously been such an influence on mine, but lately i've been having so much trouble because of my ocd. now i can't read anything without nitpicking the grammar, much less write. it's been this way for months now and i feel like i'm losing my mind. all i ever wanted was to write something good but... well, at least i still get to read something by you. i shall be content.

I’m sorry for the delay in replying, anon. Your message was so thoughtful, but also struck this… almost painfully bittersweet, personal note with me, and I had to take a couple days to reflect.

I’m so happy you enjoyed Persistence - it was a lil 500 word labour of love, but it’s somewhat different from my usual body of work, and I was a bit nervous putting it out there. So I’m delighted you enjoyed it. And it’s quite flattering to hear I’m an influence on your writing, since I feel I’m still learning the craft of writing, in many, many ways. Thank you!

Now, as for the latter half of your message…

Oh, anon.

Nonny non anon, I feel you. I’ve been… well, perhaps not right in your shoes, as I have never had OCD. But I’ve been in the same vicinity, most definitely.

Up until half a year ago, or thereabouts, my writing process was: write out a few paragraphs (if that - sometimes it was barely a paragraph) and then rework them. I would rework them over and over and over, until I felt they were just right. Only then did I feel I could move on. I felt like I was laying the foundations for a house, you know? If I didn’t get the first things laid down just right, then everything that came after would be on shaky ground, might even come tumbling down.

Thing is, writing is more like sculpting. You dig up some clay (your discovery draft or your outline, whatever), you mould it (your first draft), and then you carve and add little bits, over and over (editing. and more editing. and more. fucking editing >.>)

Anyway.

Eventually, I started slowing down, and the threshold of what I could stand before I needed to edit got smaller. It became ‘write a few lines. stop. edit those lines over and over’. And then it became ‘write one line. stop. edit that line over and over’. Rinse, repeat.

It got to the point where I stopped writing completely, for almost half a year, because everything I wrote down was so far from what I envisioned in my head, it was crushing. I had the exact same despairing thought you did: ‘All I want is to write something good’. And if I didn’t write it down, if I kept it in my head, it was good. It was perfect, in fact. Surely that was better (I thought to myself).

I feel you, I feel you, I do.

I wish there was some magic bullet that I could use to erase all those thoughts from you, to divide writing from editing in your mind, because they’re two very different processes. I would… well, I would use it on myself first, because I am human and selfish, but then I would turn it on you, and everyone else who is plagued by this period ;)

But the horrid thing (which I was very, very displeased to realise), is that if you want to write, the only thing you can do in this period is just… push… through it.

It’s the worst fucking epiphany ever. If I got that in a fortune cookie, I’d be fucking pissed. But it’s seriously all there is.

There’s nothing wrong with not wanting to write, if you ultimately decide it’s not for you.

BUT.

If you do want to write, or if there comes a time when you’re not content with reading, and… y'know, you’re willing to indulge me, random fanfic lady on the internet, I want you to do this:

Pick up the pen (or put your fingers to the keyboard, but if you can, I recommend pen because you can’t backspace pen and paper) and eke out some words every day.

It doesn’t have to be a lot. It might just be a sentence.

Whiskyrunner, who we all generally acknowledge to be amazeballs, went through a period where her goal was 10 words a day because she knew she could achieve that.

That’s important. Pick a word count that you know you can achieve, not one you have to push yourself to achieve, because if you fail, you will self-flagellate. Trust me, I have been there. I hated every son of a bitch who recommended ‘write every day’, because for every day I failed to write a page, I’d hate myself a little more, and the joy I found in writing would shrink. (And they’d always recommend a page, or pages, and I’d be like, ‘What, motherfucker? There are some days when I can’t summon up the energy to get out of bed, and you want me to write a page? Pages?’ There should be some script that edits ‘write every day’ to ‘write an amount that’s achievable for you every day, even if it’s one sentence’, I think.)

Write until you hit your word goal or until you’re satisfied, whichever you have the mental energy and fortitude for that day. If there’s a day where you do the latter, don’t fall into the trap of thinking you have to match that the next day. Don’t move the goal posts. Your goal is still (X) words. Everything beyond that is like the stretch goal on a Kickstarter. Nice, but not the main aim.

Next (and this is the hard part - or, at least, it was for me: do nothing.

Don’t tweak them. Don’t delete them. Don’t touch them.

The second you hit your goal, close the doc, close your notebook - whatever you write in. You did it, you achieved the goal, which is ‘(X) number of words’.

Do whatever you need to do to remind yourself of that.

Your goal is not '100 (or 50 or 25 or 10) good words a day’. Your goal is words.

Just words.

To paraphrase Bane: now is not the time for qualitative judgement, only quantitative. Right now, you’re at the 'digging up the clay’ stage of the writing process. You’re just trying to get enough clay to sculpt into some lumpy-looking motherfucker which you will eventually carve down into your nice sculpture.

(Don’t think about the sculpture right now. Think about (X) number of words, and digging up clay.)

There was a point where I did all sorts of objectively bizarre things to remind myself of this, and to outfox my anxiety-ridden brain and its need to edit, including, but not limited to:

- writing on a fresh page each day, even if it meant 90% of the preceding page was still blank

- opening new docs each day to write my daily goal (which I would then have to piece together later, haha)

- using that program - ilys? - that only lets you see the last letter of what you typed

- muttering to myself ‘the goal is (X) words. the goal is (X) words. the goal is (X) words. only the number of words matters. only the number.’

If you’re anything like me (and, hey, I felt your message on a deep level, so I think we’re at least a little alike), you will hate every word you write with this process. You will hate this process, period. You will want to go back and retool the words because holy fuck, what if someone, somehow, gets access to your notes and sees this mess you just eked out? What if you die, and all that’s left to show of yourself as a writer is this half-written piece of shit?

(Okay, maybe that last fear is just me.)

Still. This is normal.

But how you feel about your writing immediately after writing it is not an objective, accurate measure of how good it is. You’ll be tired, you’ll be stressed, you’ll be comparing it to the image you have in your head and thinking about how far apart they are and despairing.

Stop there.

Close the doc (or the notepad, or the notebook, or turn over the post-it note (I did that at one stage, too - writing on post-it notes, haha)). You did it, you wrote the words. You dug up some clay. No one will see them but you, and whoever you choose to show them to. You can edit them later. You can make them better, or throw out whole paragraphs or whole pages if you need to. But later. Only after you finish the draft, however many new pages or new docs (or post-it notes) it takes.

Try to be kind to yourself. It’s so damn hard, I know it is, but try to remind yourself that what you wrote for the day does not define you as a writer. Even the finished, edited work does not define you. It just shows what you were capable of writing in that moment, on that day, at that point in time.

I can’t guarantee this will work for you. But there is something to be said for habit, for retraining one’s brain (to a certain extent). If you do want to try writing again, and you try this, anon, know that I’ll be proud of you, and I’ll salute you for the very act of trying.

Much love,

Sib

(P.S.: Here, I recovered a partial copy of the very first draft I wrote of Persistence. I don’t know where the rest is (on paper, probably), but hopefully it’s enough for you to see the difference between draft and finished work, and to… idk, have a good chuckle, maybe, but hopefully feel reassured, too ;). We all write shitty first drafts. They’re the clay that you mould into something better.)

They’re two levels down, in a sunny, light-filled build meant to evoke the mark’s childhood home and favourite holiday spot, when the windows and the door and the fucking walls blow in, and a SWAT team swarms in like a tide of gun-toting ants.

(DUST, STUFF FLYING EVERYWHERE. YELLING. CHUNK OF PLASTER GOES FLYING TOWARDS EAMES.)

Eames ducks, which means the chunk of plaster misses him, but, unfortunately, takes out Cixin, their extractor, with a wet crunch. They’ll have to work on Cixin’s spatial awareness later, Eames thinks.

The SWAT team levels their guns at the remainder of Eames’ team. Even a few years ago, Eames might’ve considered running. Now, he just raises his hands, gets down on the ground when ordered to.

Everyone else runs.

There’s sporadic gunfire, the sound of running footsteps, truncated screams and cut off swearing as Eames’ team is violently kicked out, one by one.

Eames stays where he is until silence reigns.

(FOOTSTEPS, A GUN MUZZLE AGAINST EAMES’ BACK, BUT NO SHOT COMES.)

Eames peeks upward, just in time to see the leader of the SWAT team yanks his mask off, revealing Arthur’s exasperated, sweaty face.

“I can’t believe you’re working today, of all days,” Arthur says. “I should probably shoot you just for that.”

“But you won’t.” Eames rolls over onto his back, smiles his most charming smile as he gets to his feet. “And you have to admit it’s somewhat fitting, me working today.”

Arthur smiles fondly, diluting the exasperation. “Maybe.” He looks Eames up and down. “You look good.”

“You’re lying, but thank you,” Eames says. He nods at Arthur’s outfit. “That looks good on you.”

Arthur is inspecting his outfit. “You know, this wouldn’t be a bad disguise, if you were working on an opposing team. Make the other team think you’re the mark’s militarisation–”

“Stop right there.”

“What?” Arthur says. “Worried you’ll be tempted away from the side of the angels?”

“Worried I’ll be tempted away from my regular paycheck, anyway,” Eames says, sniffing.

Arthur chuckles, then nods upward. “Are they going to give you the kick soon?”

“Not just yet. They’re probably debating whether or not I’ve gotten to the safe or not.”

“You need to get on top of that,” Arthur says. “You can’t have your team hesitating over what to do next on live jobs.”

#anon #anon reply #long post #text post #very very long post #navel gazing #writing #writing is hard #do it anyway

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