Musings of a Writer Gone Mad

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[zerozerozio]

bring back tumblr ask culture let me. bother you with questions and statements

[boimann]

reblog to let people know it's ok to bother you with questions and statements

[redrobin-detective]

I love when you find an author who just has a good flavor to their writing. It could be the way they handle characters, the way they use certain tropes or themes, even the specific lilt of their words. Its familiar and comforting and carries across different stories, like coming back to a place of comfort and recognizing the furniture.

[nomettesbizzareadventure]

Fanfic Writers: Director’s Cut

Reblog this if you want readers to come into your ask box and ask for the “director’s commentary” on a particular story, section of a story, or set of lines. 

Or, send in a ⭐star⭐  to have the author select a section they’ve been dying to talk about!

[luna-azzurra]

10 Writing Things That Have Saved My Creative Soul (and Sanity)

↳ If your character’s arc isn’t making you slightly emotional or existential, it’s probably not finished. If they start and end the story the same person, that’s not a character arc—it’s a flatline. Make them squirm, learn, lose, grow. Bonus points if they make you question your own moral compass in the process.

↳ Worldbuilding is not a license to drown your reader in lore like it’s Game of Thrones on steroids. If you have to write a wiki page to understand your own plot, fine...but that doesn’t mean your reader has to read it. Give us breadcrumbs, not a 12-course feast on page one.

↳ If the theme of your story can’t be summed up in one slightly aggressive sticky note, you’re probably overcomplicating it. (“This book is about choosing yourself even when no one else does”—boom, theme. Now go make your characters suffer for it.)

↳ You will hate your manuscript somewhere between 30k and 50k words. That’s your cue to keep going, not quit. It’s like the literary version of hitting mile 18 in a marathon. Everything hurts, but that means you're doing it right.

↳ That “genius idea” you had at 2 a.m.? Save it. Write it down. But don’t drop everything for it. New ideas are seductive chaos demons. Your current project deserves monogamy… at least until the second draft.

↳ A character’s greatest fear is a shortcut to their heart. Forget favorite color or coffee order...what keeps them up at night? What would destroy them if it came true?

↳ If you don’t know how to end your story, figure out what question it’s been asking the whole time. Once you know the question, the ending becomes the answer. Maybe not a happy answer, but a satisfying one.

↳ No one’s going to write your weird little story the way you will. That’s your superpower. So go ahead and write the morally gray necromancer love triangle in space. Your people are out there. And they’re hungry for it.

↳ You are allowed to be a slow writer. You are allowed to be a fast writer. You are not allowed to be a cruel writer—to yourself. The world will criticize your art for free. Don’t do their job for them inside your own head.

↳ Some stories just aren’t meant to be novels. And that’s okay. Maybe it's a short story. A play. A fever dream disguised as a poem. The shape doesn’t matter. The story does. Let it tell you what it wants to be.

[the-real-nikki19]

a writing competition i was going to participate in again this year has announced that they now allow AI generated content to be submitted

their reasoning being that "we couldn't ban it even if we wanted to, every writer already uses it anyway"

"Every writer"?

come on

[rose-of-pollux]

Reblog if you're a writer who doesn't use AI.

[crashstanding]

Reblog to give the person you reblogged from the ability to finish their WIPs

[thefringeperson]

[sigrid-of-solstheim]

Fanfiction writers be like:

"here's the immensely time consuming 100K word novel-length passion project I'm working on between my real life job and family! It eats up hundreds of hours of my one and only life, causes me emotional harm, and I gain basically nothing from it! Also I put it on the internet for free so anyone can read if they want. Hope you love it!" :)

[motherofclones]

Bless each and every one of you💙

[allthingswhumpyandangsty]

reblog if you have skilled writer friends and you're damn proud of them

[blushedfemmes]

i love ppl who talk in the tags bc it satisfies my deep desire to know ppl’s opinions on everything without needing to have a conversation with them and ask. even better when it’s a side tangent that barely has anything to do with the post, or a personal anecdote, or a joke. tag talker mutuals you’re my favorite. tag talkers rise up

[allthingswhumpyandangsty]

writers are creatures that feed on comments by the way. if you want more of your blorbo from them, give them lovely comments. they love that and will most likely give you more fics about your blorbo

[and-fishing-equipment]

"i don't comment on ao3 because i don't wanna be annoying or weird" skill issue + you greatly underestimate the power dynamic here, writing multi paragraph comments is like feeding a bunch of deeply insane and possibly starved ducks at the park and watch them go completely mad over having received a piece of bread

[nottheweirdest]

Fanfic Writer Emoji Ask

😅 What's a story or scene you've created that you're a smidge embarrassed exists?

🥺 Is there a certain type of moment or common interaction between your characters that never fails to put you in your feels?

🤡 What's a line, scene, or exchange you've written that made you laugh?

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

✍ Do you have a beta reader?

🛒 What are some common things you incorporate in your fics? Themes, feels, scenes, imagery, etc.

🎢 Which of your fics would you call your wildest ride?

✨ Give you and your writing a compliment. Go on now. You know you deserve it. 😉

💋 First kiss fics. Love em or hate em?

🎶 Do you listen to music while you write? What song have you been playing on loop lately?

🛠What tools/programs/apps do you use to write?

⛔ Do you have a fic you started, but scrapped?

🙋‍♀️ Do any irl people know you write fanfic?

🍦 What's the sweetest fic you've created so far?

🍷 Do you drink and write?

🍆 Do you write the spicy stuffs? If so, what's your most popular nsfw fic?

🌞 Do you have a preferred time of day to write?

💖 What made you start writing?

💌 How do you feel about comments and feedback?

❌ What's a trope you will never write?

💲 Would you ever open commissions?

🧐 Do you spend much time researching for your stories?

🏆 What's your most popular fic?

🎃 Do you write fics for certain holidays? Which is your favorite holiday inspired fic?

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

🎨 How do you feel about fan art of your stories?

📈 How many fics do you have?

🦅 Do you outline fics or fly by the seat of your pants?

👀 Tell me about an up and coming wip please!

🤗 What advice would you give to new fanfic writers that are just getting started?

💞 Who's your comfort character?

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

🤩 Who is your favorite character to write?

🤲 Would you please share a snippet of a wip?

😬 Which of your fics would you be most horrified for friends, family, or coworkers to stumble upon?

🎉 What leads you to consider a fic a success?

✅ What's something that appears in your fics over and over and over again, even if you don't mean to?

📚 Would you ever want to turn writing into a career?

⌛ How long does it take you to write a fic, or a chapter?

🤯 What's a genre you struggle with as a writer (ex. romance, action, etc.)?

💔 Is there a fic of yours that broke your heart?

💥 How do you feel about criticism?

🤭 Do you have a favorite tag to use when posting your works?

🥰 How do you feel about reader interaction? Are you open to receiving questions about your fics?

[nomettesbizzareadventure]

Fanfic Writers: Director’s Cut

Reblog this if you want readers to come into your ask box and ask for the “director’s commentary” on a particular story, section of a story, or set of lines. 

Or, send in a ⭐star⭐  to have the author select a section they’ve been dying to talk about!

[andromeda40002019]

i love you im glad you exist im so happy you’re alive

[shatnerihardlyknowher]

Rb to tell prev you love them ur glad they exist and you’re so happy they’re alive

[kairakara101]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types Rating: Mature Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death Characters: Original Clone Trooper Character(s) (Star Wars), Original Jedi Character(s) (Star Wars), CC-1010 | Fox, CC-6454 | Ponds, CC-5052 | Bly, CC-3636 | Wolffe, CC-2224 | Cody, Clone Commander Thorn (Star Wars), Coruscant Guard Clone Troopers (Star Wars), Mace Windu, Quinlan Vos, Vokara Che Additional Tags: Memory Loss, Body Horror, Body Modification, Non-Consensual Body Modification, That's Not How The Force Works (Star Wars), Time Travel, Hurt/Comfort, Assassination Attempt(s), Mentioned Sheev Palpatine | Darth Sidious, Sheev Palpatine Dies, Eagle Vision (Assassin's Creed), Digital World Series: Part 2 of Vrisni Sect - Jetii'mando'ade, Part 5 of Coruscant Guard Central Database Summary:

Black metal digits. Prosthetics? No… not prosthetics. He wasn’t flesh… droid then? No that wasn’t right either. He was flesh. He was sure he was flesh but these hands…. They’re not fully metal not fully flesh either a hybrid. He could feel his blood pumping….

[exuberantocean]

When reading fanfic keep in mind that for professional literature: 

Short story: under 7,500

Novelette: between 7,500 and 17,500

Novella: between 17,500 and 40,000

Novel: over 40,000

Fics over 40k are literally a novel written and shared for free.  If you have written a 40k+ fic, you have literally written a novel.

[fake-starwars-fan]

Yep. In addition, chapters in published novels are generally around 3,000 words in length.

Fanfic writers go hard.

[kairakara101]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence Characters: CC-1010 | Fox, Clone Commander Thorn (Star Wars), CC-4477 | Thire, CC-5869 | Stone, Coruscant Guard Clone Troopers (Star Wars), Coruscant Guard Trooper Hound (Star Wars), Original Clone Trooper Character(s) (Star Wars), Mouse Droid Characters (Star Wars), CC-2224 | Cody, CC-3636 | Wolffe, CC-5052 | Bly, CC-6454 | Ponds, CC-1004 | Gree, Clone Commander Monnk (Star Wars), Obi-Wan Kenobi, Mace Windu, Plo Koon Additional Tags: Haunting, Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Manipulation, Angst, Temporary Character Death, Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies, Ghosts, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Twins, Sith Magic & Rituals (Star Wars), CC-1010 | Fox-centric, Protective CC-1010 | Fox, CC-1010 | Fox Whump, CC-1010 | Fox Needs A Hug, Coruscant Guard Troopers as Family (Star Wars), Protective Coruscant Guard Troopers (Star Wars), That's Not How The Force Works (Star Wars), Planet Coruscant (Star Wars), Supernatural Elements Series: Part 4 of Coruscant Guard Central Database Summary:

There was something Dark on Coruscant. Something Dark snatched Commander Fox right from underneath everyone's noses and that same Dark was festering and becoming a bigger and bigger blanket enveloping the entire planet. No one is safe on Coruscant. You merely believe you are.