#askoddly

[oddlydescriptive]

Can I ask how you plot? This is de-di-ca-tion 😭

YES!! Okay so roughly Dec 2023 this started as a single scene (roughly inspired chapter 18, the Christmas kiss). Over the course of the next year I started writing down my little headcanons and always always always answering questions I had- even if I wrote a scene that I knew was going to be trash, I still roughed it out because usually it was my brain trying to answer a question about a specific character or feeling.

Come to Dec 2024 and I have accumulated literal TONS of material and I sat down with it and really combed through all the plot points with a fine toothed comb- what in each characters past and present is making them act the way they are at this exact moment? Why don’t they say or act how they feel? Why do they perceive this event differently than it’s happening? What are their goals with this interaction?

The plot changed quite a bit in that phase- things rearranged, removed, or added to ensure the plot can be solid, but a lot of the original writing stayed.

Except… after 18 months of writing practice, the things I wrote in Day 1, or Month 1, or even Year 1 felt like trash 😂😭 Which brings us to present- the story is, honestly, rough finished. But each chapter I pull needs fluffed and edited and added to until it is nearly a different work entirely (which is why it takes me so long to update despite having everything written. Editing 20 pages just takes time, plain and simple.)

So, basically- Drabble dump——> High level plot——> refine and polish.

Ask SO many questions. Write SO many things. Know when to dump something and move on or circle back. The answers you seek are within you.

I am very much a “just do it” kind of person. I can’t explain how much better I have gotten at writing, editing, plotting and conceptualizing complex ideas and emotions on the fly.

[oddlydescriptive]

Hiii can I ask what are some driving aspects that you've noticed are often gotten wrong in fics and if you have any recs/places to start researching?

Yeah, absolutely!! Full disclosure I have a bit of an advantage because I am a recreational racer (some local amateur series) and work on my own cars.

But there’s two things that are important to get right as much as possible.

1) the technical aspect- the basic understanding of the car, the race, the sequence. The rules. The regulations. A LOT of this is accumulated information, and F1 is light years away from anything I’ve done, so I had to learn this too- if I was starting from scratch, I would read and watch several of the F1 intro videos and articles- they have very accessible and digestible content that explains technicals, like the rules, the tyres, aero, testing procedure, etc. Google whenever you can. It’s truly a snowball- your knowledge starts pretty small and over time you become a super-nerd. You will not get all of this right. There’s a few things I’ve put out that I have earmarked to fix.

2) the feeling!! The sensation of adrenaline, of compression, the physical thrills and discomforts of an F1 car. This is where I have some advantage, but if you have any experience with an adrenaline rush sport, it’s a super transferable sensation. I also watch a lot of interviews from drivers past and present who talk about what it’s like for them, physically, emotionally.

If you can dial in these aspects without making it feel corny or unrealistic, you can build a very descriptive and engaging race scene. It takes time to develop your writing, to grow your knowledge. The things I wrote two years ago are often SO rough compared to what I wrote today, and that’s totally okay.

[oddlydescriptive]

I forgot to ask but in chapter 25, Lando knows that Max and 66 don’t like each other. Is this common knowledge for people/other drivers in reset? Or is it a iykyk type of thing?

First of all, prize to whoever asked this, because I love when you guys make me think! I realize this is something I never addressed directly. My thought process is that at this point in time it wasn't unusual to see Max and Lando being friendly as they weren't direct competitors- Max even called Norris one of his close friends on the grid in 2023 if I recall correctly. I don't think the knowledge that her and Max weren't getting along was common knowledge on the grid, per se. Max is fairly private, and she's definitely not telling anyone, but it's my belief that max was 100% talking a little shit to his closer friends when she showed up in 2022 and he decided she was a pain in his ass.

[oddlydescriptive]

Hey! Sorry if this sounds a bit intrusive but I was just wondering - what do you do for a career and does it have anything to do with writing?? You have such a talent and are not only creative - but also very thorough. As in, your work is very well thought through and technically detailed. I'm just want to know how you find the time and motivation to do so much research and then write such long and high-quality stuff! I personally write and it takes me like minimum a week to put together a 3000 word chapter if I need to do research for it haha. (But then again I'm at uni studying maths so sometimes I feel like I've forgotten how to write in English altogether :)))) )

Hi!! My career is not related to writing, and it’s not particularly creative or even mentally taxing most of the time, so I definitely use writing as an outlet.

Also, it goes through periods where there’s TONS of work for a few days or weeks and then long periods of slack where I can dedicate nearly the entirety of my day to writing.

I have been writing in some capacity for almost thirteen years. When I was in school and working at the same time I was writing MAYBE 1,000-5,000 (on break or a rare easy week) words per week. Typically 1k-2k or less in that time period.

The nature of my hobbies and competitions also require large amounts of driving, so my partner typically drives (as they prefer) and I will get to write for those hours as well as in the evenings when we camp and there’s not much to do but hang out together and talk and write. My partner is super supportive and helps me think out loud and plot sometimes.

I would say I get a minimum of 40 hours of writing in per week, at least three of every four weeks or so. This is only now possible because I am not in school and my current schedule has allowed me to dedicate that kind of time for a few years and I have built up a massive library of scenes and situations that I can draw from and even, at times, straight up transplant into a new chapter or story, and that’s a HUGE advantage.

The idea is that I am working on creating a book out of the plot of RESET. (Obviously with changes to the characters and pov presentation.) Presenting it as fanfic allows me to drum up an audience and get interest and feedback that I probably wouldn’t be getting otherwise.

As for the research and realism aspect, a lot of that comes from me very much staying in my lane. I have a very diverse set of skills and experiences, but I try to write parallels to experiences that I can personally speak to. Obviously I have never been in F1, or professionally snowboarded, so there’s lots of research there on technicals, but the base of those experiences are related to things that myself or those close to me have done- especially that adrenaline, that competitiveness. It’s really about taking a small experience you’ve had and doing the research and taking the time to expand that in a way that feels both thoughtful and possible. Asking the questions that give you the how and why, because people can smell from a mile away if you’re pushing a narrative to advance the plot rather than because it’s natural.

[oddlydescriptive]

AHHHHHH I barely got onto tumblr but I’m so excited to see you back AND you updated😭😭 I’m so excited to read chapter 18 but I can’t until later tonight😢 but fr though happy to see you back❤️

Take your time and get comfy, it’s nearly 50 pages ❤️🫣

[oddlydescriptive]

I can’t stop thinking about your stray cat analogy, you just made me realize what my favorite trope to read is😭 I love when two characters find each other but don’t yet realize how they have tangled into each others lives just yet

The stray cat analogy was some of my finest cooking. I think I commented it somewhere but my childhood home neighbors a train yard and we would get a lot of strays. We would try to trap and neuter/spay them, fed the ones that hung around, and generally tried to tame the ones that we could and rehome them.

And technically, for most of my life, we “had no cats”- as in, this was a feral colony we looked after and we didn’t really claim them as pets, but to everyone else we had 20 cats 😭😂

[oddlydescriptive]

CHAPTER 26🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰 has me feeling so soft omfg. The way you wrote about Max’s apartment having missing pieces and then 66 in her feels wondering what that must be like where you share your life with someone like that and then she leaves some of her stuff at his place on accident and Max writes little notes alongside her notes. They are making room for each other without making it a Thing™️ which is what both of them need right now. Don’t even get me started on that last part where she knows what to expect from Max and it’s exactly what she needs😭😭 I love love love the way their relationship has grown. The part about her being okay with being tired and upset, as long as it didn’t affect her racing and now it is :( ooof she’s breaking my heart. Love this chapter!! Thank you❣️

There's been some major tender spots we've been touching on over the past few chapters, but I really do want to talk about her mental state- I feel like we've watched her degrade a little bit at a time over the past several chapters- she has these moments of joy or freedom but I hate to inform you it's going to get a little bit worse overall before it gets better :(

[oddlydescriptive]

I been reading reset as if it was a finished story and in chapter 24 I was like "Fuck this dude needs to do something out of this world to redeem himself to me and LeChriste"

I've been loving the series, though in the middle I hated Max more, like, he spent so much time and energy to someone to fuck someone up bc he was jealous and bc he couldn't control his obssesion with matching LeChriste style and work and diminish her value as a co worker.

I still feel like Max doesn't deserve her, like he has been proving he can be an acquaintance that can be a little too cheeky but not maliciuos in all their chats. SOmeone who undesrtands her but not someone to be free with yet

Danny in the other hand, is someone who she can be free with but who doesn't understand her inner struggle as a person who comes from nothing surviving in a place where there is no mercy

ANyways... I'm so invested and interested, idk the status of the work but is art

ALso, Jos... I need to know what he is planning, bc he can't be planning nothing

Jos is a FAN favorite around here. From my understanding and personal observation, there's not many fics currently that really flesh him out. He's either an evil Scooby-Doo villain or a background/facilitating character in most fics. I think he is an incredibly complex character, with a incredibly complex relationship with his family, and motorsport, and his own desires. In my mind, you can't write a Max fic without trying to crack Jos- don't worry, he's here to stay. _______________________________

I think opinions about Max will change a lot over the next few chapters, and I think the reason she falls that direction has to do with what is going on in her mind- the things she values and needs in a relationship (friendly or otherwise) that are unique to the extreme environments of her life. (Back on the psychological plotting piece i touched on a few posts ago.)