#writer's meme

[silvysartfulness]

writing pattern tag game

thank you to @ameliarating for tagging me!

Rules: List the first line of your last 10 posted fics and see if there’s a pattern.

1. It was still dark when he woke up, but this dark had stars in it. (Heaven Has A Road chapter 56)

2. It's a sad thing to die alone far from home, Xiao Xingchen had told the old villager earlier, because he knew it was. (Heaven Has A Road chapter 55)

3. Bleeding out, chopped up like some badly butchered animal, Xue Yang dies in the dirt. (Under The Wheel)

4. “It's not a ghost,” Xue Yang said, sounding bored. (Heaven Has A Road chapter 54)

5. It could almost have been amusing, the way Xue Yang's moods swung wildly between almost ingratiating friendliness one moment, to glaring sullen murder at him again the next. (Heaven Has A Road chapter 53)

6. He surfaced from sleep completely ensnared in a tangle of limbs, confused for several long moments until the memories of last night clicked into place, and a wave of aching fondness made his breath catch. (Heaven Has A Road chapter 52)

7. The day had gone from crazy to something beyond surreal, and it felt like his mind had just given up and shut down halfway through, unable to really keep up anymore. (Heaven Has A Road chapter 51)

8. It was funny, in a way that actually really wasn't, how much easier flirting up a willing stranger to burn off some excess energy had been before - younger, brighter, sporting ostentatious Jin gold.... Having two arms. (Heaven Has A Road chapter 50)

9. Even in half-sleep Xue Yang could tell that the day would be unpleasantly hot and humid, and he was still a bit sore after last night's Night Hunt, but Xiao Xingchen was a comfortable enough pillow and so everything was as it should be. (Heaven Has A Road chapter 49)

10. “Jiangzai is here to see you.” (Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea)

I really appreciate Amelia asking me to do this with chapters as well as fics! Many Heaven chapters are 10k+ long, so could almost count as fics in their own right length-wise if you squint? 🤔😭

I think a pattern for opening lines for me is instantly establishing a mood, often by juxtapositioning concepts or words that clash or contradict, or just give a bit of emotional slap!

Xiao Xingchen knows firsthand what it’s like to die far from home. Xue Yang talks about something as extraordinary as ghosts and sounds bored. Xue Yang talking about sexy flirting and bringing up his mutilated arm in a single sentence, Song Lan wearily finding Xue Yang being friendly vs. murderous almost ‘amusing’.

Also throwing in stark phrasing like “butchered” or "dies in the dirt" or “ensnared” or other loaded words or subjects to grab the reader’s attention! Though I also really like more quietly poetic phrasing like the “this dark had stars in it”. 💚

Apparently I also like opening on a Xue Yang pov? At least looking back at these, though I do try to make a conscious effort to mix it up a bit!

Thank you so much for tagging me! I’m asking @fromaliminalspace @ebonykain @heretherebebookdragons and anyone else who wants to to join in on the fun! And if you don’t have enough/any published fics, just go with your wips! 😁

#asksilvy #sort of #tag game #writer's meme

[syrma-sensei]

Looking at my old WIPs in the abandoned drafts be like:

#i want to write #writers block #writing #writers #fanfic writers #writers on tumblr #writerslife #fanfic writer #writer problems #women writers #fanfiction writer #ao3 writer #writer's struggle #writer's problems #writer's meme

[avianscribe]

😈, 🎯, 🧠(Gladio) ?

😈 Has there been a point in a story where you did something just to be playfully mean to your readers?

Yes, mwahahaha. 😈

I mean, I love cliffhanger endings and all the screaming they cause, and there have been a couple points in Thirst and a couple of my other fics where I deliberately planted cliffhangers just for the reaction -- but I think the meanest thing I did was in the Kingslayer chapter of Cracked, when Ignis kills Noctis.

I was in the middle of writing a completely different chapter for that scenario -- Noctis still died, but the killer was someone else -- when I got the idea that it would be WAY BETTER and a MUCH MORE EXCITING chapter beginning if Ignis dropped into the world in the middle of killing Noctis himself. >:)

There was so much screaming in the comments, and I loved it so much. But also, it's probably my favorite chapter of the whole fic.

🎯 Have any of your readers accurately guessed major plot points? Care to share which?

There were a couple points in Cracked where readers guessed things...! I can't remember exactly who, and there's 1500 comments to sort through to find it, but a reader guessed that Ignis would be able to use Noct's hammerspace to drag things with him from world to world, and that ended up being a key point.

There were a lot of guesses (suggestions, really) about the different AUs that would be included in Cracked, but I don't really count those. I asked for suggestions, and actually used some of them.

🧠 Pick a character, and I'll tell you my favorite headcanon for them.

Ahhh, Gladio...!

Gladio's the big brother I wish I'd had. Seriously. (I'm an oldest child, so it's not like I'm dissing anyone to say this.) I have all these headcanons about him and his sister, and their relationship that is mostly practical jokes and fun teasing, but also he just can't say no to her EVER.

And I like to think that, after his Brotherhood episode, his relationship with Noctis transforms at least a little, and he sees and treats him less as an annoying, spoiled prince and more like a little brother.

Events on the train notwithstanding. (Honestly, I don't think Gladio's train explosion and him treating Noctis like a brother are mutually exclusive.)

Thanks for the ask, Sanity! 💞

#writer's meme #ask me!

[starvels]

3, 13, 14, 25, 45, 46?

hi aspen! thanks for asking. 🤠✨

answering asks from this fic writer’s meme!

03. name three favorite writers

i'll go with fic writers and say:

dirigibleplumbing: who is a powerhouse of textured prose and crafts very compelling narrative windows

phenomenal_snowman: who writes such a realistic, bittersweet specific s/t it makes me wanna CHOMP HHHGHH

welcoming_disaster: who has such a deft way of conveying the luminosity of feelings and plays with a lot of Cool Concepts

13. hardest character to write

616 logan howlett or stephen strange. the reason being that i find characters that have extreme longevity or complex magical perception and skills mmmm complicated to use in stories to their best abilities.

for s/t: ults tony is difficult bc he's a very shiny, man-at-his-end amalgamation of everyone in text and out of text's expectations and social preconceptions and isms. does he have this very specific type of flamboyant internalized homophobia, or was he just written in the 2000s? how many licks does it take to get to the center, etc.

14. easiest character to write

3490 nat/tony stark. she is my open book, empty sandbox trans bisexual disaster blorbo ty.

616 tony: what can i say. i fell in love with him whilst writing AWS, i think. and that was that. i do think 616 tony characterizations very much depend on who you surround yourself with in fandom and what they talk about, so its fun to see that reflected in my tony, too, i think.

tentative third place to ults steve? wildly, he has fast become very vocal and accessible to me. we love to see it (it = delightful, asshole pigeon man)

25. favorite line you’ve ever written

god this is such a hard question. i don't know about favorite and i will not say the entirety of AWS, tho i am very proud of that. instead i'll say i rly remember these

from we were meant for this:

He believes in good hands. He believes in safety nets. He believes that fairytales are what children make adults tell them – because children know the truth, that magic comes from your own voice and the myth you read is the story you conceive.

and syntax of bones:

He touches your scaffolding, the hinges of your becoming, fingers the sockets where you enter but do not exit and you know everything of his face, everything of the scar on his left ear and the freckle in his right eye and the way his shoulders relax the moment before he kisses someone because you have been made to watch with eyes that don’t exist, made to long with a heart that recycles upon itself.

45. share the synopsis of a story you're working on that you haven’t published yet

this is actuallyyyy a huddling for warmth fic that i actually started a while ago after seeing @phyrrhicvictory ‘s listed likes for the ygmah server stockings haha.😅 sorry it is still sooo WIP.

Steve and Tony crash land on an icy planet on a routine mission. While they wait for rescue, they share a blanket, some tentative conversation and Steve picks at the threads of something that's been bothering him about Tony's behavior lately.

As Steve tugs, what spills out between their bodies is their shared bloody past and a secret or two about Tony's relationship with Earth-616's visitor from Earth-1610.

here’s a spoiler, the 1610 visitor is not steve 😈

46. share a scene of a story that you haven’t published yet

here’s a scene from the huddling for warmth:

“C’mon,” Tony mutters “hold it together, Iron Man.” “I think you’re doing fine,” Steve’s voice rising from the huddle of blankets below. Tony jolts against the bulkhead and glances down. Steve stays wrapped tight around Tony. When Tony goes to pull away, Steve’s arm solidifies into an oak plank, keeping them locked together. “Hey,” Tony says, swallowing, “didn’t mean to wake you, sorry.” “Nah,” Steve breathes out, shuddering a bit, “you didn’t.” “Well.” “It’s fine, Tony.” “Okay.” Then, biting their lip, Tony rubs at Steve’s back. Friendly-like. Teammate-like. Allowed in a huddling for warmth mission code-like. “You doing alright?” “Well, it’s cold.” Steve says, and it’s tempered with his always hot temper.

hopefully those answers were fun for ya. i enjoyed answering them a lot hehe

#it is late to post these but i'm done and i wanna do it so! here we go. i will reblog at another time #fun fun fun these were great questions. great choices aspen #our talk #writer's meme #fic talk #my fic #stevetony talk

[theoriginalladya]

Writer tag chat

I was tagged by @screwyouflightlieutenant - thank you!

What is your total posted wordcount on ao3?

2,628,016 at the moment.

Do you have a routine for writing?

I used to, more or less. These days, it's been more of whenever the muses decide to show up. It's been a crazy year, to say the least! lol

Whats your favorite tropes/pairing

Pairings: Alistair Theirin/my OC (not a Warden), Nathaniel Howe/Female Cousland, mShenko, femShenko, mClone Shenko, Kaidan Alenko/Gianna Parasini, Reyes Vidal/Kaidan Alenko, Abby Williams/Major Coats, Major Coats/Kaidan Alenko, Scott Ryder/Kaidan Alenko (I may have a bit of a theme...)

Tropes: Found Family is definitely on the list

Do you have a favorite fic of yours?

Oh gosh, can I get away with ALL of them??? No? Well then, No Rest for the Wicked will always be a favorite as is As Luck Would Have It, if I have to pick.

Your fic with the most kudos?

Ever Constant, my femCousland/Nathaniel Howe fic for Dragon Age and (mostly) Caleb's drabbles in Dribbles & Drabs for Mass Effect.

Anything you don't like about your writing?

Depends on the day. I can't name one specific thing, though there are times when I just want to chuck a piece against the far wall and let it sit for six months until it learns to behave itself.

Now something you do like?

Hmm... Each and every one of my OCs. Each has a unique story all their own which helps in keeping them separate in my head. They might seem similar when you see their backgrounds based on the game information, but no, each one is unique and I love plotting their stories. That's something I know I'm good at: plotting.

Tagging anyone who wants to share who hasn't!

#writer's meme #ladya writes #about me

[rosebud1773]

Writer's Meme

Tagged by @crackinglamb, thanks!

Tagging anybody who wants to play. I haven't been here in awhile so no idea who's still active.

What is your total posted word count on AO3?

As of right now... that count is 1180143.

How often do you write?

I used to write a little every day. Not so much lately, unless you count a little snippet here and there on discord. Life tends to yeet whatever you want to do for what it demands of you.

Do you have a routine for writing?

I did for a couple of years. Now I write whenever I get the chance. The same is true for the artwork. I might write a couple of lines here and there one day and nothing for the rest of the week.

What’s your favorite tropes/pairing?

Couples with a strong connection. They don't have to be established to get into that groove. Sometimes it's fun to write a couple just beginning to catch feels for each other and see how they get together. Bonus: favorite pairing - Goliath/Elisa from Gargoyles, Shepard/Garrus from Mass Effect, Ryder/Jaal from Andromeda.

Do you have a favorite fic of yours?

A favorite fic of my own, you say? I wrote them... I guess that makes them all my favorites. The best way to answer this really would be to answer it with the most successful of my fics.

Your fic with the most kudos?

That would be Archangel Unbound with 351 kudos.

Anything you don’t like about your writing?

Sometimes I use certain phrases or words too often, but I think every writer does that at some point. Other times I might rush through a plot just to get the idea down.

Now something you do like?

I always go back and hammer that plot out. It has to be fleshed out to sound and feel right. The work is always better for it.

#tagged #writer's meme

[crackinglamb]

Writer's Meme

Tagged by @bogunicorn, thank you!

Tagging @ir0n-angel, @fogsblue, @shretl, @pikapeppa, @maculategiraffe, @rosebud1773 and @thefinalpotoo. No pressure!

What is your total posted word count on AO3? As of this morning it stands at 1,498,149. This week's chapter of WG will push it over 1.5 million. ...How did I get here?

How often do you write? It used to be daily. Life has consistently interfered with that of late, one way or another. Not the least of which is some major burnout. I'm satisfied if I spend at least a portion of each week getting some words down now. Don't let my posting schedule fool you. I rely on a big backlog of completed chapters for that.

Do you have a routine for writing? Not really. When the Muse hits, I go with it until it stops. Sometimes that's three chapters in a single day. Sometimes it's 20 words. I do always write in the same place (at my desktop computer in the nook under the stairs), often do it alone and only have music on if I need to inspire a mood I'm not currently feeling. That's about as routine as I get.

What’s your favorite tropes/pairing? Established, happy, healthy, power couples. There is just something about the dynamic between two people who have chosen each other to be ride or die with. Bonus points if they had to really fight for it (against the world, not each other). And pretty much everything I write has a happy/hopeful ending.

Do you have a favorite fic of yours? Okay, see, the thing with favorites is that I don't play them. Now, if you want a rundown of fics I've written that I personally have gone back to read more than once? I can do that. I'll keep it short.

Unexpected - This was my first true AU. Written for Fallout 4, with F!SoSu/Kellogg as the pairing. I'm still immensely proud of turning 'redeeming the villain' on its ear. Rated E, ~ 30K words.

Unrepentant - Dragon Age: Inquisition. F!Lavellan/Solas. I wrote this in a fit of...some kind of Mood. It ticked all the boxes for me for things I wasn't finding already published. So I wrote it myself. Rated E, ~ 3100 words.

A Fallow Season - DA:I, F!Cadash/Solas. Sometimes you just need something melancholy and poignant. And sexy, let's not forget that. Written as a standalone for Lark Cadash because she fit the prompt that sparked this oneshot so perfectly. Rated E, ~ 4600 words.

Like a Slingshot Around the Sun - DA:I, The Iron Bull/OFC. Imogen McLean got to have a little AU of an AU, as a treat. I love my girl, and I love Bull and if WG hadn't gone the way it did, this would be the pairing of it. Rated E (no, I'm not ashamed of that trend), ~5400 words.

(I do also reread portions of WG fairly regularly, but that's mostly because it's still the main WIP and I need to remind myself of where I'm at and where I'm going with it. I do love it though. Wouldn't be writing it if I didn't.)

Your fic with the most kudos? Twist, with 1250. WG is not far behind now and will probably overtake it at some point in the near future.

Anything you don’t like about your writing? I can get myself bogged down in the meta sometimes. And then I have plotline ideas that don't fit. Or would fit, if I had the mental energy to really explore them. I'm also terrible about concluding things. I always end up feeling like I don't do the end justice and just slapdash something together so I can mark it finished after procrastinating for up to a year.

Now something you do like? I like the way I write smut, ngl. In fact, last year I wrote a tutorial essay on my process for it for an event in one of the Discord servers I'm in. I like to think I blend realism and not-too-obscenely-biological together quite well.

#tagged #writer's meme

[ad-wills]

#writing #writing memes #writers #writers on tumblr #writing humor #meme #art meme #artists on tumblr

[thesefallenembers]

the problem with reading and writing leading to a strong vocabulary is that you tend to know the vibe of words instead of their meanings.

if I used this word in a sentence, would it make sense? absolutely. if you asked me what it meant, could I tell you? absolutely not.

#someone send this to my english teacher because vocab tests are hard #writing memes #reading #writers #writers of tumblr #writers of instagram #writing #writer #reader #writer memes #readers of tumblr

[midnights-dragon]

#found this gem on twitter #ao3 #archive of our own #ao3 memes #ao3 writer #fanfic #fanfiction

[jellymellydraws]

#meme #artist #writer #artist struggle #writer struggle #me rn #alt text #image text

[silvysartfulness]

Xue Yang 💬♥️

Yay, finally someone picked Xue Yang! 😂

“Once or twice, much to a-Yao's chagrin,” Xue Yang said, throwing himself down next to him. “He did his best to keep his public persona and his unpalatable private business separate, and I decidedly belonged with the latter. Always great to see the look on his face when I popped into to visit a banquet or conference, though! If you knew him well enough, you could measure how furious he was by the depth of his dimples.”

Thank you so much for asking! ♥

#asksilvy #writer's meme #the happy songxuexiao roadtrip story

[i-will-write]

#writers #writing #ao3 #writer #writers woes #fanfiction #writers meme #fanfic #writer memes #daydreaming #daydreaming in front of my open laptop

[avianscribe]

@fallintosanity replied to your post “For the ask meme: #23: Have you ever stopped...”

okay but that body-swap one especially just has me sitting here going TWO CAKES TWO CAKES <3

[takes note of this for later] 

Seriously, I have so many starts in my WIPs that I won’t get rid of because I might at some point figure out what to do with them! XD It’s the “never get rid of your old art or writing” habit!

#writer's meme #avianscribe answers

[starvels]

5, 16, 27, 38, 49 <3

hi sweet ev! thanks for asking 💖

answering asks from this fic writer's meme!

5. how long have you been writing?

i would say i've been writing since i was a kid ! i've always loved poems and prose and i made up two whole fantasy verses and started writing them and character designing when i was like, 10. so longer fiction has always appealed to me. i was the annoying kid that always wanted an essay in school instead of multiple choice, haha.

but yeah, for fandom: i started writing naruto fic when i was in my early teens too, that never saw the light of day. then i was in og spn fandom for a bit and marvel and a:tla and fma and then one direction and then all the way back to naruto and marvel to publish a shit ton of words. life's a circle is the answer!

16. easiest verse to write

mm interesting question!

i feel like i go through phases. for me at this moment, 1872 is real easy to slide into, but in general, we were meant as a verse is very easy to write (and does still have two sequels on my drive awaiting my attention span long enough to finish) and respiraro, si te videro, which uh, i guess its a secret but i have...already started writing...more for...dkjnbkd

27. best review you ever got

oooh difficult! i won't say reviews are best or worst type things, so here are two (relatively) recent ones that i hold p dear:

on rstv:

I'm losing my mind, this is so good. The way you wove the requested elements in, and gave them narrative purpose and emotional weight and coherence within the universe as written. The way you didn't handwave stuff away, physical or emotional, and let revelations and character development be messy and imperfect for both of them.

which felt rly good bc rstv is actually a much heavier plot than i usually do and it is such a complex one to boot, that i was worried about conveying everything well. really affirmed that i am capable of doing this level of intricacy in plot crafting, to me!

and someone in my dune discord server shared with me what they said to a friend of theirs abt my writing in general:

do you ever read something in a style you could probably never write in and just feel this feeling that's like half awe and half burning jealousy? like I this isn't even how I write, but I wish I could write like this, because I like it so much

which felt very uplifting and delightful, coming from a person who is as technically skilled and well read as they are. i've had some worries about how purple my prose is and how meandering my plots are and when i hear things that say my style in particular is enjoyable, it really makes me arthur_clench_fist.gif feel a lot!

38. do you reread your own stories?

oh absolutely, lol. i love what i write, it's catered to my niche interests. i have rstv open on my phone right now for pre-bed reading. and i do reread fics a lot in totality when i'm working on writing them, so i keep everything tidy and structured proper in my head, so i've been reading stop bath and devils in the canyon a lot lately.

will also say - i do read some of my own fics more than others. the ones i've written in massive marathon sprints of 10k a day (rstv, aws, wwm verse, wwwg, etc.) are in some ways more fun to read than ones i spent a long time writing, because they still feel a little mmmm shiny and i haven't worried so much about one line or another that it gives me stress to recall.

49. writing advice

identify what it is that you actually love about writing, and cultivate a relationship with the craft through that. hold onto the good feeling it inspires within you. don't worry so much about process or plot structure. take risks. take inspiration and organize it so you can actually look through it when you need inspiration. read people's work who write what you wanna write and how you wanna write and publish where you wanna write. find your community and be vocal in it; ask about your insecurities if you decide that improving on the craft is what you wanna do.

writing is a bit like carefully preparing meticulous slices of your heart for people to slurp down in a second. learn to meter out how much labor and expectation you want to extend to that cooking. don't take it to heart when people leave without a word to the chef. they still ate it.

find your community and be vocal in it!! nothing replaces a comforting voice in the middle of a vortex of self doubt, calling out to you to go the fuck to sleep because none of the demons roaming your work page at 4AM care about your delicate feelings.

#our talk #writing talk #writer's meme #fic talk #my fic

[allthingswhumpyandangsty]

feeling called out today

credit: _ADWills

#writing #writeblr #writer #ao3 #archive of our own #writing memes #writers #writing community #writing challenge #fanfic #fanfiction #blorbo #whump #angst #fluff #bookblr #writing tropes #writing trope #writing prompt #writing prompts #writing inspo #writing inspiration #tropes #trope #prompts #prompt #whump tropes #whump trope #whump prompts #whump prompt