I write. Or, I try to.

Welcome! This blog is a humble attempt at motivating myself to write. JeanMarco fics on my AO3 See tags #wip #onao3 #masterpost

[leonardospoetry]

It’s common for us to get afraid of the dark parts of ourselves, but if we look at them with love and kindness, they can be our guide towards the light.

[writing-prompt-s]

Before receiving the serum that unlocks latent powers, subjects take a battery of tests (physical exam, DNA analysis, a VERY intrusive questionnaire, etc.) to determine their likely abilities. Your testing process drags on and on as you are sent to higher-ranking (and increasingly tense) staff.

[mademoiseli]

The notes are broken. This is what tumblr is all about apparently.

[atonau]

THE NOTES ARE BROKEN!  This has been reblogged so many times, Tumblr just shrugged and said “infinity”

[thesaddestchorusgirlintheworld]

Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am (2019)

[m-l-rio]

The good plot twists aren't the ones that are wild left turns out of nowhere, they're the ones that make all the other little things that didn't quite add up before suddenly click

[justwannabeoutthere]

check out my ao3

haven’t written anything but my bookmarks are pretty extensive

[today-only-happens-once]

To Tired Writers. To the people out there whose hearts very, very much want to write and work on WIPs, but who are just mentally and physically exhausted right now. It’s okay. It is okay to rest sometimes. Allow yourself time to rest. 

[thewalkingnerd]

If you heard of writer's block, get ready for reader's block. You want to read. You have time. You know what to read; how have a pile of books ready to be read. You cannot sit still and focus enough to do so or you can't even open the book.

[ao3commentoftheday]

Why I wrote it BINGO (transcript under the cut)

Lees verder

[blockmind]

tumblr: stop liking–

no because I am a responsible functioning adult with a healthy disassociation between fiction and reality

[ao3commentoftheday]

You are allowed to be proud of what you make (inspired by @referencehole )

[ao3commentoftheday]

Pro tip: insulting your work makes it really awkward for someone to compliment it. Even if they really like it, they'll be embarrassed to say so because you'll probably think they're an idiot. They'll worry that they only like it because they can't see the problems with it- and they can't see the problems because of some kind of ignorance on their part.

Insulting your work ends up insulting the audience who loves your work. Be kind to yourself so that you can be kind to them ❤

[thewickling]

I understand the urge to insult your own work or to comment that you're not good at X, Y, and Z. It's a self-defense response or nervous tick. That if you point out your own faults first then whatever negative comments you get lose their edge because hey you warned them. Reader beware and all that.

So, there's really only a few responses a reader can have when reading an author's negative statement about their own work. One, if it is at that start of a a work, they take it a face value and do not read. Two, it subconsciously primes the reader to notice that mistake pointed out by the author more than usually would. Three, the reader does not care and/or is now prepared to assure you that you're a good writer. Four, the reader now feels self-conscious if they enjoyed your work because if you think it is bad what does it say about them if they enjoyed it.

In most of these cases, in writing that comment, you've already implicitly decided for the reader how they should read the work - to view it in the light of something bad. Isn't that awfully convenient to the awful voice in your head? To help it color the world in a unflattering light?

Quitting a habit like this cold turkey can be very hard. Instead of adding that negative comment you can reframe it into something more positive. "I can't write smut" rephrased as "I'm experimenting with smut". "Bad attempt at humor" can just be "attempting humor". Because working on something new or you're not confident in is an admirable quality! This still gives your audience an idea that the contents isn't as polished as you liked without punching yourself down.

[cdelphiki]

THIS IS SUCH IMPORTANT INFORMATION! Do not say negative things about your work! Don’t do it! 

A guy at church once told me, after I’d set a plate of cookies down on a table and said, ‘I used too much salt and the chocolate is a little bitter,’ “Why do you always insult your baking? You just make me afraid to eat it, even though your baking is always great. Set the cookies down and let me make up my own mind.”

So, set your cookies down and let your readers make up their own minds.  If you truly have concerns about your writing, find a beta! Raise those issues with your beta and have an open and honest conversation with them first, and then release your work into the world. But otherwise, do as thewickling suggested, and rephrase your comments, or simply don’t say anything negative at all! Probably 99% of the time, literally no one is going to notice the thing you noticed, because they don’t see that perfect picture in your head you think you failed to create on paper. They see the amazing thing you did create and love it dearly.  

[notdeadjack]

and, on the other opposite side of the spectrum, when an author writes something like "I'm so proud of this chapter! / I'm so excited to share this with you guys! / I had so much fun with the dialogue in this you guy have no idea!" it makes me, the reader, go like "oh HELL YEAH this is gonna be good!" and 100% more excited to read it in turn. even if the writing/plot/characterizations isn't top notch (if I even notice that), it's still gonna be a super enjoyable read.

because you, the author, presented it to me with positivity and excitement.

(hell, even if you can't say anything good about your own writing, just adding an exclamation point to a neutral statement makes it more positive. like, "next chapter." vs "next chapter!")

[godzilla-reads]

Classic Author Asks

Mary Shelley: Were you a goth, prep, nerd, or jock in school?

Zora Neale Hurston: Do you write in your free time? If so, then what do you write?

J.D. Salinger: What was the last movie you watched?

Alice Walker: What was the first “adult” book you ever read?

Bram Stoker: Do you prefer suspenseful horror movies, gore, or jump scares?

Oscar Wilde: What book have you read more than once?

Beatrix Potter: Do you like reading inside or outside?

Ann Radcliffe: What’s something you’re known for among your friends or family?

Lord Byron: What’s a negative quality that you can admit to having?

Edna St. Vincent Millay: Do you have a favorite poem or one you can recite?

Jane Austen: Have you ever fallen in love?

Langston Hughes: If you could be part of a literary era, which one?

Emily Dickinson: What’s the last book you were reading?

John William Polidori: What was the last book you finished?

Stendhal: Have you ever hid a book you were reading because you were embarrassed? 

Charles Dickens: What book are you currently reading?

Thomas Hardy: Are you a city or country person?

Virginia Woolf: What book has been on your TBR longer than a year?

Edith Wharton: What’s your favorite season for reading?

[mylittleredgirl]

my dad–also a writer–came to visit, and i mentioned that the best thing to come out of the layoff is that i’m writing again. he asked what i was writing about, and i said what i always do: “oh, just fanfic,” which is code for “let’s not look at this too deeply because i’m basically just making action figures kiss in text form” and “this awkward follow-up question is exactly why i don’t call myself a writer in public.”

he said, “you have to stop doing that.”

“i know, i know,” because it’s even more embarrassing to be embarrassed about writing fanfic, considering how many posts i’ve reblogged in its defense.

but i misunderstood his original question: “fanfic is just the genre. i asked what you’re writing about.” 

i did the conversational equivalent of a spinning wheel cursor for at least a minute. i started peeling back the setting and the characters, the fic challenge and the specific episode the story jumps off from, and it was one of those slow-dawning light bulb moments. “i’m writing about loneliness, and who we are in the absence of purpose.”

as, i imagine, are a lot of people right now, who probably also don’t realize they’re writing an existential diary in the guise of getting television characters to fuck. 

“that’s what you’re writing. the rest is just how you get there, and how you get it out into the world. was richard iii really about richard the third? would shakespeare have gotten as many people to see it if it wasn’t a story they knew?”

so, my friends: what are you writing about?

[dear-ao3]

[suninks-moved]

YOUR WRITING IS GREAT

your writing is great

your writing is great

YOUR WRITING IS GREAT

your writing is great

YOUR WRITING IS GREAT

YOUR WRITING IS GREAT

and don’t you forget it

[ao3commentoftheday]

Thanks for giving me a chance ❤