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dracothedeatheatingcupcake-ao3 · 3 years

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oooo ooooo my guess is sunset, sleepy, perfect, and picnic!

Ahh, I'm assuming this is for that WIP guessing game thing from a couple days ago?? Nice words, I can tell what you're trying to get information about ;-)

Standard TPWM and TPWP spoilers ahead! Some are fairly big, so be warned.

(Read more added for Mysterious Reasons ;-) )

TPWM:

Sunset: "Mondo watches as Taka takes a deep breath and nods shakily, the small smile he’s wearing so utterly incredible and heartbreakingly beautiful. Mondo honestly has no idea how Taka doesn’t have a girlfriend (or boyfriend, he refuses to judge) already. He’s literally the epitome of a perfect man. Beautiful, caring, kind, smart, considerate, surprisingly funny… like, damn. He’s the whole goddamn package and Mondo has no idea how he’s not taken. Anyone would be beyond lucky to have him. It’s all he can do to smile back at the kid, eyes roaming his features, before remembering his fast-approaching deadline. If they wait too much longer, Taka won’t be able to see the full extent of the sunset, and that would be a goddamn shame, honestly."

Sleepy: "Mondo remains laying like that for an unknown amount of time, too afraid to move and look at the time. He doesn’t want to wake the kid, after all. Not before it’s time to get up. He’s quickly coming to crave these sleepy moments, moments where he’s awake but the kid isn’t. Moments where he can allow his heart to feel all the shit he’s not allowed to feel during the day, his heart beating for one person and one person alone. Moments where the world outside doesn’t matter, and only the world he’s holding does."

Perfect: "Mondo’s face is on fire with mortification at the overly sappy words he’d said, but he can’t find it in him to regret them. Not when he means them fully. Taka... yeah. Yeah, he looks good like this. Looks /amazing/. So beautiful and sharp and shit. But... fuck. It’s not /him/, and Mondo can’t help but hate it a bit for that, too. Taka... Taka is amazing as he is. His personality, his looks... his /everything/. He doesn’t have to change a single thing about himself. He... he’s already perfect, even with his flaws. So... so perfect..."

(I'm adding 'perfectly' to this, since I like the paragraph the word showed up in and I really wanna share it, ha.)

Perfectly: “"Goddamn, kid. ‘M not tryin’ ta hassle ya, just... ‘m just tryin’ ta figure more out ‘bout this new life a’ yers. Ever since Daiya... shit. I know ya were super close ta him, kid. An’ I know you an’ I weren’t that close, but ya know I viewed you an’ Dai like family. Hearin’ what happened ta him... shit broke my fuckin’ heart. I kept tryin’ ta call ya, ta let ya know ya didn’t hafta be alone, but ya never fuckin’ answered. You can imagine my fuckin’ shock when I overheard the news that not only were ya in town, but that yer attendin’ that fuckin’ high-class school now. Wanted ta reach out again, see how ya were, but I just... didn’t fuckin’ know if ya’d want that shit. Made it perfectly fuckin’ clear ya didn’t wanna see me after the funeral. Thought maybe ya might a’ changed yer mind after ya called, but I guess fuckin’ not. Just... hope things work out well fer you an’ yer kid. Mean that. Ya deserve ta be happy, Mondo. An’... know y’ain’t gonna wanna hear me say this shit, but I know Dai would be proud as fuck if he could see ya today. Fuck, ya look so fuckin’ grown up... makes me feel like an old crone, goddamn. But... it really was nice seein’ ya today, kid. Real fuckin’ nice.”" (This is said by an OC not in TPWP, by the by, ha. Mondo needs more adults who care about him. <3)

Picnic: "He continues to tell himself this as he puts the shit from the picnic away. Trash in the trash can, helmet on his counter, wine bottle and glasses on the table… the kid watches him the entire time, his eyes intent as ever, and it makes him oddly nervous. Wanting to give his mind something to focus on other than his nerves, Mondo begins to babble about how much fun he’d had that day and how he wants to do it again sometime. Part of him is hoping that it will get Taka to start talking too, but he should have known better than that. All the kid does is /stare/, giving a small, almost dismissive nod when he finishes. He tries not to let it destroy him."

~~~~

TPWP:

Sunset: “Oh, so now it’s fucking all about you again, huh?! Like fucking always! What the fuck did ya think was gonna happen, saying that shit ta me?! What, that we’d just- just fucking... ride off inta the fucking sunset together?! Ha! Yer fucking /delusional/ if ya think that would ever /fucking/ happen! Y’ain’t... y’ain’t got no fucking clue who the fuck I am! Don’t even know the fucking /shit/ I’ve done! God /fucking/ dammit, Kiyo, how fucking dare ya say this absolute /shit/ ta me, when ya’ve got no fucking clue who the fuck I am! You-“" (Have fun guessing the context for this piece of dialogue... ha. It's the only paragraph that has sunset in it outside of the chapters I've already posted, though, so it's what I'm going with here!)

Sleepy: "Taka lets out a soft noise to indicate that he can do it himself, shifting heavily to sit up. Despite all the sleep he’s gotten, he still feels so very tired... he’s not sure if the medication causes drowsiness or not, but regardless, he feels very lethargic and sleepy. He doesn’t try and argue against Mondo, though. Mainly because he finds that— despite his still somewhat queasy stomach— he is actually hungry. And the soup does smell very good, when Mondo carefully opens the top of the soup container..."

Perfect: “"Y’ain’t. Y’ain’t gonna ever be alone, Kiyo, not with me here. Shit, man... I ain’t ever leavin’ ya, an’ I don’t care how many times I gotta fuckin’ say it ‘til it sinks in, fuckin’ a million times, don’t mean shit as long as ya... as ya know I /mean/ it, okay? Ain’t a single, fuckin’, goddamn thing that’ll make me hate you. Not... not anythin’, okay? I may get mad or upset, ‘cuz I ain’t fuckin’ perfect an’ I know I got my own issues ta deal with, but... but no matter how mad I may get, ain’t ever at you, okay? I’m just... mad. At myself. At the world. At just... all a’ it. But not you... not- not ever /you/. Okay? A-an’ I’ll tell ya this every fuckin’ day if ya need me ta, every goddamn minute. Ain’t goin’ nowhere, man. Not unless ya want me ta go. Yer kinda stuck with me, heh. So don’t... don’t worry, okay? I’m... I’m here, Kiyo. I’ll always /be/ here. If there’s one thing I want ya ta know... it’s that, okay? Ain’t ever leavin’ ya. /Never/. Okay?”"

(I'll do 'perfectly' here too, since... why not, ha.)

Perfectly: "And if Mondo- a-ah. /If/ Mondo works through his own issues and realizes that he does... does /want to be with him/, well. Then, Taka will do everything he can to make /them/ work. To make... to make them work. After all, he highly doubts he will ever love someone quite as much as he loves Mondo, even if he might be able to find some form of love again. If he believed in such fanciful nonsense as /soulmates/, well. He’d think that he and Mondo are it. Two pieces of the same puzzle, made perfectly to compliment the other, even if they’re not at all the same. Their similarities are just enough to make the differences all the more striking and beautiful, he feels. He doesn’t quite know if Mondo feels the same about him, can’t quite get a feel for that, but he doesn’t doubt that Mondo feels /something/ for him. Something more than just friendship. Something deeper than just that. Something decidedly not /familial/, too."

Picnic: “"Yeah, it sure fuckin’ is, Kiyo. We, uh... we should come back here one day. Have a picnic or some shit. Maybe when it ain’t fuckin’ freezin’, but uh... fuck, dude. Shit’d be nice, yeah?”" (This is legit the only other time I use the word "picnic" in this fic other than in chapter 16, ha.)

~~~~

(Link to the original post so everyone knows what this is about, ha)

Fanfic Work-In-Progress Guessing Game

#Ask Answers #wip guessing game

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dredshirtroberts · 3 years

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Tagged by @tumbleweedtech!!

What is your total word count on AO3?

Oh thank god you're asking me to look there where they calculate it for me so i don't have to try and figure it out across all eleventy-million of my fucking WIPs xD.

uhhhhh looks like...274,424 heh. that's lower than i thought but then again I post very little of what i actually write so...

How many fandoms have you written for?

On AO3? if I lump the related ones together (which i do) it's 4. If we're talking across the board in general? uh...f u c k. there's so much i haven't posted or thought about posting yet. just go ahead and like. add ten more on top of the four fandoms on AO3 i think that's about close if we're counting crossovers and inspired-bys

What were your top 5 fics by kudos?

Right Back to the Beginning

Constellations

Please, What?

Spearwort, Iris and Ash: Spearwort Yellow for Joy

Lia & Em's Adventure In Thedas Part I: The Wrath of Heaven

Do you respond to comments - why, why not?

I... want to? I try sometimes, if someone's comment touches me or came at a particularly bad time. It's overwhelming to respond to people - I'm a lurker by nature and never really grew out of the habit of teen-me knowing i wasn't supposed to be looking at the fics i was reading and so i wouldn't interact with them or the authors at all. So it can be hard to like. reconcile that I'm a fully grown adult person who is allowed to not only read and write what i enjoy but also that like. other adult people are reading and enjoying what i write? and that they'd want to tell me? I admit to also falling out of what little habit i'd started due to continued weirdly critical (yet not *negative*) comments that just. rub me the wrong way so I can't figure out how to respond? yeah.

What's your fic with the angsty-est ending?

Again I guess if we're going by what's actually posted, I'd probably have to say the Super Fucking Old fic I added from my FF.net days: A Late Summer Afternoon (hopefully that's the right link - sometimes copy and paste doesn't work the way i want). warnings for MCD. I...imagine you might be able to pick up on why that one's my angstiest ending xD I generally try to like. end my stories on a positive note? even if it's not all better yet - so the second angstiest would be Color of Your Eyes or Have This probably. Likely more Have This over Color of Your Eyes but they're both relatively tame as compared to my earliest writing xD

Do you write crossovers?

Uh...yes but i haven't posted any yet. Most of the reason nothing I write gets posted is because I am incapable of writing small projects and I get nervous about posting chapters before i know where i story is going yet because i feel like i can't edit if it's been posted? Anyway I'm going to try and get over that eventually. Not right now, though. I still have to edit some stuff.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Hate is a strong word. I...assume most people who have commented mean well, regardless of how their comments may come off to me on my end. Several have rubbed me the wrong way due to phrasing and an inability to read tone over text-based communication, but I refuse to believe they would have kept reading if they didn't like most of the story. Certainly it has been generally positive feedback across the board so I don't feel comfortable at all calling any negative comments i've received (intentional or not) "hate"

Have you ever had a story stolen?

As far as I'm aware, no. Thankfully I tend to write shit that people just don't care that much about so I'm pretty safe I think. Watch that come bite me in the ass xD

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nah. I hope one day to be proficient in my target language and will be able to translate my own fics myself but see aforementioned note about how no one really cares that much about what i write xD it won't happen unless i do it myself.

What is your all time favourite pairing?

You want me? to pick favorites? in THIS economy?

What is a fic you would like to finish but don't think you ever will?

currently none are looking like "never gonna finish"es which is good. RBttB sat unfinished for a long while and I probably won't polish the ending on that one, but it's technically done. I also don't want to finish that one either so. it wouldn't have fulfilled the requirements of the question.

Writing strengths?

You want me? to compliment myself? in THIS econo- alright alright i know, it's a terrible joke. Uh...I understand i'm pretty good at smut. and descriptions? i think? I feel like my humor is unparalleled but that's also because i'm pretty sure i'm the funniest person in my apartment (we'll just casually not mention i live alone...) Seamless integration of current and historical memes? Puns? i don't know. i am super confident about writing but i couldn't tell you for sure what i'm actually strong at.

Writing weaknesses?

uh. Getting anything finished. endings. d i a l o g u e. writing. flow. pacing. repetition. writing. see what i did there? i told you my humor was awesome. no but really i struggle with actually starting to write and then it ends up being a lot of me repeating myself a bunch until i find the sentence or four that work best. and like. my pacing is weird so it can be hard to...figure out what i'm trying to say? oh and commas. i use commas wrong.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages?

I enjoy the shit out of it. I know it's not everyone's cup of tea but I try really hard to get it right. if I'm not 100% positive it's correct I will change the whole sentence. mostly because i only know a handful of people who know languages other than English and I am bad at reaching out for help when I need it. mostly the second part though.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

YuYu Hakusho! A friend and I wrote this epic fucking self-insert not-quite-isekai style fanfic back and forth in notebooks back in the 6th grade (which was about...oh. nearly 20 years ago jesus i'm old). Only one of my notebooks survived when she decided anime was demons and the devil trying to tempt her away from Jesus so a lot of the story was lost. It was also in pencil so it's half worn out of the notebook as it is. then there was the phase i went through where i decided i could make my notebooks more interesting by cutting them into shapes which lost me a bit of text in the margins that i'd forgotten about... look we're mostly lucky i had it at all or that i've kept it all these years. Why do i still have it?...hm.

What's your favourite fic?

Of mine? So far it's probably a toss-up between Spearwort, Iris and Ash and Lia & Em's Adventure in Thedas. you know. My two biggest projects Oh...oh possibly also the Current-Reworking-The-Title fic I've started that I've not posted anything of yet in the Arcana fandom. Which is also a huge major project. I don't write small if I can help it, apparently.

of someone else's? You want me? to choose favorites? in THIS- yes i know that's the same joke three times. I think it changes based on what I need most out of my fic reading experience. I have an extensive bookmark collection on AO3. one of them in there's probably holding a spot as favorite, most likely.

Tagging: @concertconfetti, @daughterofdungeonbat, and anyone else who wants to do this! If you want a specific tag to do this, please LMK and i'll tag you <33

#about me #tag game #writing #the captain writes #tagged by

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tsfennec · 4 years

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1, 4, 8, 20, 23 for the meta asks?

:D Thanks so much for asking! (Heh, took me a bit longer than intended to finish replying because I had to stop and deal with some urgent family stuff.)

1. Tell us about your current project(s) – what’s it about, how’s progress, what do you love most about it?

Current active project is the one I’ve been referring to as “Jurassic Park with Faeries.” The day when I have to figure out an actual title for it is going to be tragic because I’ve gotten really used to calling it that now. XD

It’s swords and motorcycles and female friendships and faeries and a whooole lot of monsters and not-so-monstrous-but-still-dangerous critters. I really feel like it’s grown me a lot as a writer, helped me figure out how to really take the things I enjoy and infuse them into a story in a much more interesting and well-rounded way than I’ve known how to do before.

4. Share a sentence or paragraph from your writing that you’re really proud of (explain why, if you like)

Let’s see, I’ll just grab... this bit:

“Exactly, sir. Because it’s not allowed on Earth.” The man wasn’t even annoyed. Yet. His tone was flat, bored. “Whether or not your stated intention is to sell it is immaterial to the law.”

“But you don’t care if I bring a sword. Which is a lot more lethal to humans, in very small doses.”

“Do you intend to kill anyone while you’re here, sir?”

“No, I don’t. But I thought you just said intentions didn’t matter.”

Because I think it’s funny, and writing funny dialogue isn’t usually something I feel confident in my ability to do. :D

8. Is what you like to write the same as what you like to read?

Huh, you know, my first instinct was to say no, because I really, really love reading stuff that’s far more intensely clever than I can actually manage myself, and also love good dialogue, which is something I often struggle with/feel is a weak point.

But thinking about it, I realize that I love writing world building exposition, and in reading, if it’s the kind of world building I’m interested in, I will gladly read reams and reams of it. I’m looking at you, Natural History of Dragons series, in which I enjoyed the plot and characters, certainly, but found myself continually disappointed when the explanations of natural history and characters figuring out How Things Work Here were interrupted by actual, y’know, plot happening. XD And those are far from the only books where I’ve found myself feeling that way.

20. Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?)

Okay, given the fact that I’ve been referring it to the “Jurassic Park with Faeries WIP” I doubt the Jurassic Park tributes/references would come as a surprise, but I do often wonder how much of that people would pick up without knowing that before hand.

There’s also a reference to a George MacDonald short story (The name of which is escaping me at the moment. I want to say it was “The Golden Key”, but it may be a different title.). It’s subtle enough that I doubt anyone would notice, but the atmosphere of parts of the story really struck my imagination, and the flying fish-creatures in Faeryland are a nod to it.

23. What’s the story idea you’ve had in your head for the longest?

Mmm, I’ve got a first book written and a whole lot of world building for a story involving talking animals, shapeshifters, and a place that can be reached by sailing off the edge of the world. I first started poking away at it, wow, I guess it’s about 10 years ago? But it’s definitely been back burnered for some time, here. I’d still love to really do something with it, but yeah, I just haven’t figured out how yet, or haven’t gotten to the point I need to be as a writer, or something.

#hobbitsetal #replies #meme #writing #writers #writeblr

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elizabethhollowswriting-blog · 6 years

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Writing Process Questions!

So I was tagged by @gold-from-straw and this seemed like a fabulous, fun thing to so, thank you!

If you want to hear me answer questions about my writing process, please click the cut below :)

1. What are your favourite genres and/or styles to write in?

Fantasy and Science Fiction are my top two. I love being able to create the world, cultures, creatures, abilities and histories of different planets and the fantasy worlds a character lives in. It’s kind of “anything goes” and that allows me to be as creative as I want. It’s fabulous!

2. What was the last writing project you finished and felt successful with?

I always feel excited about finishing anything! I do love completing a story idea that’s been in my drafts for a long time or one that I’ve been working on for a number of months. I get so much satisfaction from knowing that it’s finally had it’s time to shine.

I did feel particularly excited when I finished my “Assorted Short Stories - Collection 2″ since I had struggled with it at the beginning of the year. I ended up switching out a number of short stories and just letting what inspired me take control. It meant only two of the original tales remained, but I’m really pleased with the success of finishing it :)

3. If you have a WiP how do you feel it’s going? What stage are you in?

The current story that I’m working on is a homosexual romance that is set in the 1920′s called “Courting Me Softly”. It’s on it’s fourth chapter of an estimated seven or eight. I’m really exited for this one since it’s been on my “closet writing list” for a number of months now.

I’m also looking to post this story to tumblr when it’s complete as a free OC story that will be update every week or so for you all to enjoy! It’s going well so far apart from some “meet the family” dynamics, oy vey.

I’ll let you know more about this story when it gets closer to finishing :)

4. What are your favourite places to write?

I only ever write on my computer and I prefer to be in a room in my home where it’s dark, quiet and isolated. While I will sometimes write when I’m at a cafe/out and about, it’s rare. I like solitude and comfort and I find that best in a cosy spot in my home.

5. Do you prefer to write with long hand or type? Or some other method?

Type.

I have the penmanship of a drunken chicken. The only time I can get my handwriting to be something legible is if I’ve typed the prose out first and can take my time copying it down. My writing can’t keep up with my brain and it becomes a smeared, scribbled mess I can’t always translate.

I love writing on a computer as my quick speed/touch-typing allows me to keep up with my brain as paragraphs are created. I also like the fact that everything I might need is readily accessible: internet for research, music for background noise, apps for friends who I can pester with questions and all my documents saved in one place. Typing and computers are the way for me!

6. Do you remember your first character? If so can we meet them?

Oh man. I was 12 and I started writing a novel called “The World of Green” it started with a young girl who was tending the garden with her dog Bongo and having difficultly finding those “whatcha-ma-call-it” tools. I can’t remember the girl’s name but I know her search was interrupted when she was asked to go pick some strawberries from down by the river in a nearby forest. She took a basket down there along with her dog. I think Bongo located something from another world and she ended up going to that world with him. But I... really can’t remember the rest and the document is long lost, heh.

7. Where do you get your inspiration?

Um, from everything? I can be watching a TV show, hearing a news report, see a picture, hear a song, think up a hypothetical question/scenario, talking to someone, hear a turn of phrase, see a bird fly past me - and suddenly, my brain asks a question or imagines a different scenario and bam, there’s a story idea. It’s why I have hundreds upon hundreds of story ideas just filling up dozens of folders on my computer.

I’m also really bad at coming up with a single idea and not making additional novels, series, etc from it. I’ll have a “short story” and it will become a novel because there’s just too many new pathways that form the more I look at the idea/character/world. I’m getting better at telling my brain “no” and not sequel-ing things, but it doesn’t always work ^^;

8. Do you outline a story before writing it, or does it all live in your head until the first draft gets put down?

It depends on the idea but most of the time when I come up with an idea I open a document and start rambling about it in this giant flow of free thought, just letting it go where it needs to go and pen what is in my head. The more I type it out, the more it can snowball and give me additional details on the story, character backgrounds and motivations.

Sometimes, an idea might only be a single sentence long other times it might be pages upon pages. Once my notes are complete and I’ve “got the story out of my head” I can usually save it and shelve it to be picked up at a later date.

When I start writing a story, I tend to expand on those notes as new things are developed through the prose and character interactions. Some stories will follow the original notes completely, others will end up completely different and disregard a lot of plans along the way.

So I suppose I do outline a story even if there’s little method and many holes. It develops as I go and I spend long periods lost in my head running scenarios and creating the characters as I go about my daily tasks (before rushing back to dump more information in the documents before I forget them).

9. Where do you go/ What do you do when you’re feeling stuck?

Depends on the level of “stuck”. I will usually either sit back and contemplate what the problem is and different scenarios I could take to find something to push the story forward. Sometimes I will go do housework or shower and spend the time picking at the problem and try to untangle it, other times I’ll message a friend and ramble at them about the story (this is usually a great way to unblock myself since I’m forced to explain the situation to them and that means articulated description).

Other times, I can open a document and try to work on a story only to just know that it’s not going to happen. Something in me just goes “nope”. I usually switch to a different task when that happens and go away from my laptop so I can come back refreshed and revitalized. I may also open a random, new document for some “fun writing” in a fresh new setting, depends on how encompassing that “nope” is :)

10. What got you starting writing/doing Art? (Because I always love origin stories)

When I was a child--I’m talking like six or seven--my mother used to read me stories at night. My Dad didn’t like reading stories so when it was his turn he used to “make one up” and since (as he claims) he was not very creative he used to prompt me for what happens next. I only have vague memories of this, but I would usually be the one taking over and telling the story. I also used to create large dramatic productions with my stuffed animals and get irritated when my friends used to get bored but I was in the middle of the tale and wanted to see what else happened!

I don’t know when I first started writing stories but I do remember writing a bunch around the time of “The World of Green” and then I just never stopped. I loved writing and did it during most of my free time. Then I realized that it could be a career in late primary school and well, that was me set. I can’t ever imagine doing anything else. I love it so much <3

Now, as for the tagging, I pick: @hardlyhalcyon, @staglynxspider @sentient-teapot @rmh8402 and anyone else who wants to participate!

And if you have any other writing (or general) questions, please feel free to send me an ask! I love asks :D

#writing #about me #author answers #author asks #tagging meme #courting me softly #my wips #author facts #writing tips and tricks

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jazzypizzaz · 6 years

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end of the year fic meme

This was an askbox-style meme, but like last year I'm just gonna answer them all without waiting for asks. I love when other writers talk about their stuff, so I may as well allow myself to. Self-indulgent reflection, hooray! Please join in if you so desire... Statistics: I wrote 11 fics this year (10 for DS9 and 1 for Discovery), ~51k words, which is almost exactly half of last year lol. 8 Quodo fics, 2 gen fics, 1 other pairing. I also have, collectively, 7k words of unfinished fics in drafts, oops. I think the relative lack of writing-juice this year meant it was easier to follow through only on the most immediately compelling ideas, which I guess means proportionately more Quodo. under the cut for length, ten questions:

1. What’s your personal favorite thing you wrote this year?

I’ve been staring at my list for a couple minutes and have decided that I hold them all dear within my heart, because really they all mean different things to me that are important (#moods ranging from feelsy angst to complete absurdity lmao, a good range).

Like... solid!Odo fic I think was my best work, the one I’m most proud of, but I spent so long muddling through that I’m tired of staring at it, so I can’t say it’s my *personal* favorite, whereas I really enjoy some of the shorter, simpler ones though I think they could be better executed in some ways so idk...

uuuhhhh I suppose the Kira&Jake fic was something I really needed to write, since my Jake feels don’t get enough resolution like ever, so it was good to have the fic exchange to make me write some of it out finally. And I really like the baseball metaphor, plus it was good to write characters I don’t give enough attention to in my writing. An unexpected favorite perhaps.

IDK I fail at this meme already...

2. What’s your least favorite thing you wrote this year?

WELL let's say the several WIPs that I haven't been able to complete yet, especially a) romantic dinner cruise quodo, which doesn't have the mood or depth I'm aiming for yet, b) sisko/quark which has gotten more involved and difficult to write than I meant it to be and therefore is lingering in my drafts months past I meant it to.

3. Which of your fics was most different from what you usually write?

The Michael Burnham and Tardigrade gen fic, in that it's: not a narrative, not shippy, not DS9, and is mostly bullshit philosophy/poetry.

It *is* still similar to my usual, in that it's about alien perspectives and the indulgent fake-deep tendencies I already have, but dialed up to eleven I guess.

4. Which of your fics this year was most successful?

The solid!Odo fic! I always expect the relative “success” of any fic wrt kudos/comments to be almost completely arbitrary and beyond common sense explanations, but this is a rare case where I feel like the response I got was proportional to what I put into it and how much I personally liked the story.

This was a fic that was a) a frustrating time-suck that the effort I put into it resulted in an improved output, b) something *I* regard as one of my best works overall, c) hits popular themes and tropes, or at least what I think captures fandom interests generally, d) is a long, meaty story! relative to my usual one-shots, the longest continuous work of mine, and e) has an actual plot beyond ~feelings~. 5. Which of your fics do you wish was more successful? hmm maybe the Fallen Heroes coda? I do think the emotions as written were a bit too easy surface-level in some regards -- didn’t quite have the depth and catharsis I was aiming for -- but still, I expect everyone to be as invested in Quark’s messy emotional fallouts as I am, even if there could have been better follow-through on my end. I mean, it’s still a pretty good fic I think, and I’m overall happy with it or I wouldn’t have posted, even if I am retrospectively critical. 6. What’s your favorite piece of dialogue you wrote this year? I think I got some funny, snappy, in-character dialogue in the quodo goes to couples counseling fic, has a good flow w the bickering.

also, I’m very fond of Quark’s little moment of truth in solid!Odo fic: “I thought I could finally be what you wanted.” it makes me melt???? hits exactly the note I wanted. also, Odo’s response several lines down: “A risk that I can always count on.” that whole scene, *kisses fingers like an italian chef* delicious delicious emotional climax!

7. What’s your favorite piece of description or narration? All the different pieces of Ezri’s painting in the Ezri/Ziyal fic!!! It really came together in a satisfying way for me, and it seems for Ezri as well heh. Also the art-philosophy, self-discovery thoughts within the fic as a whole I think turned out great. Feels good, feels like healing. 8. Which fic this year was most fun to write? definitely definitely both the Odo-pants and furry AU. both I wrote in a flurried craze of self-indulgence and cackling to myself the whole time about how silly they were in concept. OH WAIT and also the soulmates AU... anytime I’m a bit embarrassed by how much I love something that seems like it should be stupid or frivolous, but that instead I get accidentally invested in, I think is actually a good thing??? or like, that’s what’s fun about fandom. I embrace it when I can. 9. If you could go back and change something about one of the fics you wrote this year, what would it be? umm I would change more of my WIPs into being complete, does that count??? I have pieces written of too many fics I want to be a reality: romantic dinner cruise Quodo, Sisko/Quark empty nest, Quark angst underworld, Kira/Keiko first date... 10. What, if anything, are you going to try to do differently in your writing in the new year? really, just to keep writing anything. and finish those fics I just listed!

#jazzy liveblogs writing #end of the year fic meme

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fallxnprxnce · 7 years

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#54 xD

54. Any writing advice you want to share?

Oh my, yes. =) Here’s a meta comin’ at you! XD

So... I’ve been writing since I was in my senior year of high school (The Mummy came out in 1999 and that was my first fan fiction story hahaha). I wrote my first “book” in early college, inspired by the anime series Fushigi Yuugi, even though omg it was total crap haha. I mean, it was called Story. (rolls eyes) But even though I’ve been writing for 18 years, I would still consider myself to be a growing and learning writer and I admit that I have so much left to learn. My writing is a far cry from perfect (or even just, you know... not sucky XD), but I have learned several things over the years that either took me a long time to realize or that I actually resisted for the longest time because I thought I had to listen to everyone else telling me “the rules of writing.”

Guess what? There are no rules. Okay well, I mean... use good grammar and sentence structure and spell things correctly, yes, heh, but as far as the process, every writer is different. Lots of writers will taut their method and process as the one that works, but that’s just because it worked for them. But some methods will definitely not work for each type of writer, and if you try to mold yourself into what another writer has told you is the formula for success, you may actually be hurting your chances of growing as a writer.

So here are four tips that you can absolutely take or leave, because this is what worked for me. Some of these tips may be more universally helpful to all types of writers, but others may be specific to the type of writer I am. I will offer them anyway, in the hopes that they might help you out a bit with your writing journey.

Find out what type of writer you are and read authors with similar writing processes. The biggest thing to decide is if you are a pantser (plot as you go) or an architect (outline everything in advance). Some writers can be an even combination of both, but most will fall into one category or another. I am a panster. =) I outline only if I absolutely have to and I hate doing it. I prefer to just... see where my characters take me. First of all, learning which type of plotting you prefer to do can really help move the process along. If you’re an architect, get out those note cards or open that word doc and start making outlines and timelines and all of that. if you’re a panster, start learning what questions to ask yourself as you go along to draw out of yourself all the detail and important information in every scene. If you’re a panster and you’re trying to force yourself to outline because someone told you that you need to have your whole story worked out ahead of time, that’s going to not only be very tedious for you and suck all the love out of writing for you, but you will be going against your natural ability as a writer to gravitate toward a different process. Once you figure out what type of writer you are, accept it and play to your strengths when crafting a novel, short story, fan fiction story, etc. Then do some research on published authors to read some books by ones that share your process. This will expose you to the types of stories, characters, plots, and worlds that writers using your process can achieve. That is not to say that you are limited to what you see in other people’s books, but especially for writers that are just starting out, reading stories that have been crafted in a similar manner to the ones you want to write will help you learn how to do it on your own.

Push through writer’s block and keep writing no matter what! I know this sounds like one of those self-help tips as a writer that everyone throws out there. That’s why I didn’t believe it and resisted it for so many years, haha. I thought no, this is stupid, why am I going to continue to write after I feel my writing is crap? Shouldn’t I fix it first? Why am I going to leave a big blank space for this scene I can’t write right now and just keep going? Why am I going to call this character X because I can’t think of a name and just continue on like there’s no problem? Because it works. Seriously. Fight to keep writing through anything that is holding you back. I didn’t believe it worked until I gave myself 5 weeks to write a novel once (a movie was coming out and I didn’t want to be influenced by it too much after I saw it) and I had to finish it on time. That was the first time I was like welp, gotta keep going, don’t have time to think about all this stuff that’s bothering me. And the weirdest and best thing happened... I was able to get over my issues so much faster. Because there wasn’t this big dark cloud of “great, my writing sucks, it will always suck, I’ll never get better, I should just stop.” Instead, I forgave myself for whatever I was having trouble with, skipped it, and moved on. Or I continued to write using simple words and no description just to bang out the bare bones of a scene, intending to fill it in later. And you know what? I could fill it in later. Because I didn’t feel bad about myself or my writing and I had already moved on to write some things I was proud of. Fixing things later just... happened, heh. It was seriously like magic. I was amazed. Since that experience I always push through whatever I can as soon as I feel it’s blocking me. The more I learned to forgive myself and move past things that caused insecurity and frustration, the less emotional a thing it became and the more it became like a second nature habit. You can always go back and fix your writing, but if you allow road blocks to stop you now, you’ll have nothing to fix later on. ;)

Re-read your writing often, especially if you do not feel like writing new material. You’ve heard the whole, “You have to write every single day!” rule of being a writer? Yeah. So have I. And yeah, if you want to be a writer in any capacity, you can’t write once a month, heh. But every day? Eh... that’s flexible, especially if you really just aren’t feeling the creative juices flowing on a given day. You’ve also heard the, “Don’t edit until you finish the first draft!” rule? I found that that’s largely bullplop. There are some real advantages to re-reading your WIP, so long as you don’t do it so often that that’s all you’re doing, heh. If you don’t feel like writing, open up your file or notebook and re-read what you wrote. This will do a number of things: 1) it will keep you very familiar with what you’ve already written, so you will remember details a lot better, and if you need to go back to look something up, you’ll remember where it is a lot easier, 2) it will keep you immersed in the world and characters even though you’re not writing new material today, 3) it can stir up new inspiration for the WIP if you’re in a creative slump, 4) you may catch consistency errors you wouldn’t catch if you didn’t stay in touch with old writing, such as people’s eye color changing or a name spelling changing, etc., and finally 5) you will fix typos and small quick errors as you go, so when you finish your first draft, you’ll have a lot less technical work to do and can focus on the content of your piece. This is especially useful if you’re like me and your default length and genre of choice is epic fantasy. Epic fantasy novels are looooooong. If you’re writing an 800-page book, by the time you get to page 746, you will absolutely not remember what was on page 23 unless you re-read on a regular basis.

Outline all your thoughts for the direction of any WIP you are leaving for a time. I just got done saying I’m a panster and I don’t outline. Well, even pansters need to outline in certain cases and this is one of them. I hate.... to outline... so much. But if I have lost the muse for a WIP and feel I need to take a hiatus from it, I will outline as much as I had lingering in my head as far as ideas for plot direction, things I wanted to see from certain characters, major events that need to happen, things like that. Even if I’m just literally putting Chapter ##: someone is born, someone dies, this guy travels here, this girl should complete this by the time this happens, heh. It can be that simple and informal because they’re notes to yourself. Nobody’s gonna see them unless you want them to, heh. You may use all or none of these notes when you return to the project, but I found that nothing kills a project for me like two things: 1) the feeling that I have to finish it in one single attempt, and 2) the feeling that if I leave I probably am essentially saying this WIP is dead and I will never return to it. What jotting down as much as you can think of does for you is it takes a snapshot of your mind while you were immersed in the work. If you think “Oh, I’ll remember everything,” NO YOU WON'T, haha. You will lose details and depending upon how long you’re stepping away from the work, you may lose major events too. Write them all down before you step away. I have an epic novel that I got discouraged about for a personal reason. I wrote 95% of it and literally only had a few more chapters to write and then I was done. It’s over 600 pages long. But I just couldn’t finish it at the time. But I wrote down notes by chapter of everything that I wanted to have happen. It’s been years... and now I’m thinking I may return to the project. I opened up the file, and there are all my thoughts on where I wanted to go with the story (most of which I had forgotten completely). It encouraged me that I could remember where I was and could pick up where I left off, and reading the notes even got me excited again about the story. Trust me, it’s a good practice to do, especially for a panster writer. We pansters fly by the seat of our.... well, pants. XD And we function best and live for the process of being swept away by our stories and letting our characters reveal the story to us. If you lose that feeling and you stop riding that wave... you can lose momentum, inspiration, motivation, etc. Writing down that snapshot of your brain will help you return to that time in your mind when you were totally immersed in your work and lovin’ it. ;)

I hope this has helped, somewhat, and really as always feel free to come to me for writing advice. Like I said, my writing is far from perfect, but I do have a decent number of years of experience on my side. I can tell you pros and cons about most writing tips and methods because I’ve tried them all, haha. I always love helping other writers so feel free to pick my brain about this hobby we love! =D

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