I know there are an uncomfortably high number of AI generated fics on AO3 and I personally can't imagine getting a computer to write for me when it comes to something I enjoy. But I do understand the desire to read a fic that's tailor made to you, and if you're not already a writer it's probably not easy to find tips on how to actually start from nothing. I've been trying to come up with some, and hopefully someone might find this useful.
1. I was telling stories before I was writing them. Ok, so people called that "lying" but look if you seriously believed that I was friends with time travellers and went on adventures before school, that's on you.
But even if you weren't letting your imagination get you into trouble, you've probably been telling stories most of your life. You told your parents what you did at school, and your class what you did over the summer break. You gossip with friends. Maybe you tell people about that weird dream you had.
If you're starting from nowhere, try writing down the story as if you were telling it to a friend like a weird dream. It might not be very good, but you're getting something down. You're starting practicing. It's like when artists talk about drawing shit and eventually you'll draw good. None of us came out the womb able to write.
2. Steal someone else's style. I was going through old writing exercises I did at school and a lot of them were like "write in the style of this book we're reading" or whatever. I wrote a Mr Men story and a Horrid Henry story and they were both awesome (they were not). You're probably not reading Mr Men or Horrid Henry stories, and I'm not saying "go write a whole story in the style of your current favourite author". But maybe write a scene or two in that style. Try some other styles. You'll gradually take bits and pieces from various writers as you develop your own style and you probably won't even notice.
3. You don't have to write full fics straight away. You don't even have to write full scenes. You can write a paragraph. That paragraph doesn't have to be attached to anything, you may never touch it again. But it's that process of starting slowly. Maybe keep the paragraphs stored somewhere, and when you're feeling like challenging yourself a little you can use it as a prompt?
4. Kind of connected to the last one but even if you do intend to write a full fic, you can start your story whenever. Start with the part you're most excited about. Start on chapter two. I once wrote a whole story backwards because I was struggling so much to get it done the right way round. This might be a little more advanced than a kind of beginner thing but if you're staring at a blank page trying to think of the first words, just skip them.
5. Everyone's always "show don't tell" but if you're struggling to do either, tell is fine. "He did this. He felt that."
With feelings, you can expand by going into details about how that physically manifests. When you are nervous, does your heart beat faster, do you bite your nails, do you think about what you have to say over and over again. You don't have to specify all the things your character does related to that emotion, but you can put some in there.
6. You've got five senses (well, ok I know there's more, but there's five we really talk about). You probably write about what the character sees and maybe hears. But what do they smell? Can they taste anything. Can they physically feel something. Reveal your character got punched in the face by talking about the taste of a caramel apple being replaced by blood.
7. Play some writing games. Kind of needs another person, but one of my favourite writing games was the one where you pass a piece of paper around and you each write the next sentence of a story. I remember doing this one in science class (when I was supposed to be doing science) and dildos started raining from the sky because of the Queen of Canada. It's silly but so fun.
I'm not a writing teacher and I haven't been taught writing since I was like 16 but I am a professional writer. I don't know how much this is going to help someone going from 0 to 1 but seeing as how most advice seems to be about going from 10 to 20 I hope this is something.
It's easy for people who are writers to go "don't use ChatGPT omg!" but I know writing isn't easy or natural for everyone and there's a reason people are using AI for something that should be fun.
Please share other writing advice for people going from 0 to 1. I hope this will help someone who might otherwise turn to AI.
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