what's your process for writing fic? and do you have any tips for someone who's looking to start writing?
I’d love to answer this all inspirational and magically and jazz, but I fear I must be honest, especially since at the moment I am in a writing slump.
I have two modes of writing. I’ll present the ‘good’/’healthy’ one first:
Get a general idea of what you fancy writing/a prompt someone has given you in your head.
Go on a dog walk / do something physical (that can be just having a bath if you want, or yoga, or sprinting, anything that doesn’t require too much concentration) and keep that idea in mind. You don’t have to actively scrounge for ideas on it, but just keep it in the back of your head. Maybe listen to music, or a podcast. I personally love listening to podcasts about fanfic, or podfic - during the lulls in those, I tend to find my mind wonders from them to planning my fic, or even gets inspired by whatever I’m listening too. This may work better for some people in silence, but it gives your idea a chance to stew or develop.
Whatever you first idea is, consider how you can change it and reshape it to make it a stronger story, or one you’d prefer to read/write. Often our first ideas are the most generic/boring, (although this is not always the case) or just not that refined, so it’s a good idea to just take a look to see where you might improve it.
Once you’re done thinking, and maybe have a couple of lines of dialogue/narration in your head that you like, sit down and write. You do not have to include ANY of your pre-existing ideas, don’t worry about it. So long as you have that initial idea of where you’re going, even if you end up somewhere completely other, it’s having something that I find gives me the confidence and muse to write.
Do not worry too much about editing. This is fanfiction - it’s not meant to be perfect, there’s no Board of Quality Control etc. If you’re inclined to have a very good technical piece of work, go back after you’ve finished and edit. Rewrite if you feel like you want to, but whilst writing the first draft, write something you enjoy. That’s the joy of fanfiction to me. If you’re trying to do a critical/meta/intellectual commentary piece this may vary, but for smut and fluff and shit, if you enjoy it, chances are someone else will too.
If you’re stuck for ideas, consider what elements of your favorite movies/stories/fanfics you like, then apply them to your ships/characters. Come up with ways to subvert expectations and play around with character traits/preconceptions. Honestly, it’s wicked fun.
The second method is much more unreliable and yet I fall so hard into it so often:
Get randomly really obsessed with a concept that just seems to have been pooped out by your brain cells
Try to write other requested fic and fail because all you can think about is cam boy!Lucien, or something like that.
Eventually promise yourself you’ll start writing your to do list fic once you’ve just snuck out a couple hundred words of your brain-demon-baby fic.
Accidentally fail upwards and write 5k+ of a really fandom fic that you love but that the fandom does not give a flying crap about nor want.
ellievsbear
dailybridgerton
tangentwithtanner
turnnoffyourmind
areudirty
