Hello! I love the way you write! Do you have any tips for someone who's just started writing?
Well, thank you so much forthe message (*screams and tries not to grow a massive ego but probably fails miserable*); I’ve let it stew in my inbox for a few days because I wanted to thinkabout it. To give some advice that is more practical than “write what you love”or “enjoy yourself” which, while great words of wisdom aren’t all that….helpfullol.
-Firstly, instead of “writewhat you love” I would say write what you like to read. For me this involved readinga lot and then identifying what itis I like about the stories that I’ve enjoyed reading and identifying what I don’tlike. I like clever stories, complicated and intricate stories, small detailsthat while not easily noticed the first time around would stick out like a sorethumb on the second read through. I like realistic stories, and, since this isin regards to fan fiction (I assume since that is all i’ve ever posted :P), I prefer romances that aren’t “we met and it’sa week later but love you” or “you got the magic dick all my problems aresolved” because, no offense to anyone else, I find such stories to be…naïve ina way. And while I once enjoyed them, I’ve sort of moved on. That could be anage thing though, the first time I read twilight I thought it was pretty good,(this was pre-movie when I was like, 15 in 2005)
-Notes. Write notes. Especiallyif it’s a long story. Write notes about what you put in the story that will berelevant to the story later on or are relevant to a character/location, writenotes about things you want to put in the story later. When I wrote my notes I colourcoordinated them (it made it easier to locate the information I wanted), I wrotequirks down for certain characters, and I added to those lists as I wrote the storyso I had something to reference before editing. (I legit had a list of justabout everything and everyone in my Steps Universe. I have a single section devotedto what Kylo Ren likes during sex and what Hux likes during sex. Ridiculous. Lol.I have at least 10k of notes for my stupid Steps Universe) lists man. Listseverywhere. Christ.—oh, I used to keep a postit note pad by my bed, and when I was trying to fall asleep I would write downideas and slap a post it note on the wall.
-Don’t over–describe locations,or people. Especially in fandom. Unless it’s an original character (OC) thenthe people reading your story know what they look like. And location or roomdescriptions are…boring, when they drag on too long (pretty sure I’ve brokenthis rule a million times myself, but i do try not to). That being said, basing your OC onreal people or drawing floor plans to keep for yourself to remind yourself whatthe character or room looks like is not a bad idea – it will help you keep yourroom and character descriptions from contradicting themselves.It doesn’t matter howclearly you define a character or room I promise five different people can readthe same paragraph and come out with different interpretations.
- This is, to me, very importantfor fan fiction. Even if u think your story sucks, or is garbage, or yournervous because you wrote it in a language that isn’t your first language iwould suggest not mentioning that in the tags, summary, or notes at thebeginning of the chapter/story. It can be off putting and may change how thereader views your work, or may prevent them from reading it at all. If you tellsomeone something sucks they are more likely to go into reading your storyexpecting it to suck – don’t preemptively lower your readers expectations.—My suggestion, ultimately,is to just not mention anything that may be negative about your own works. Andas for language, if u want people to know English isn’t your first language iwould think putting it in your profile should be good enough; if not maybe atthe end of your work. There are several different levels of “English isn’t myfirst language” and many times it’s not noticeable. But I’ve been reading fan fictionfor long enough now that when I hear that it’s a secondary or tertiary languageI become almost more…critical. I pay more attention to mistakes than I do instories I don’t know aren’t the writer’s first language. That could just be me;I might be a douche-canoe, if that’s the case, sorry.
I could probably come up with more things, but ultimately it would become nit-picky. My first suggestions about reading and recognizing what you like and dislike about reading is probably what has helped me the most with improving my writing.
And lastly - try as hard as you can not to get discouraged. Fandom and A03 and tumblr can make feeling recognized and appreciated a messy process. Popularity on tumblr will get you very, very far in kudos and hits on Ao3 but kudos and hits doesn’t mean you’ll get very far on tumblr. A tough lesson to learn is that quantity does not equal quality, In the Kylux fandom Steps doesn’t sit very high at all. And i’ve struggled with what that meant about my talent but ultimately the people that have liked my works have loved my work and even if i have works with only 30 kudos on some works i tell myself that that is 30 people that read my words and thought “yes, this is good, i approve” and i have to tell myself that is better than nothing and that we all start somewhere.
Edit:
ANOTHER TIP THAT FOUND VERY HELPFUL!!!@!12
If you are your own beta, or are simply re-reading your work, change the font size, or the window size! As you write you will become accustomed to seeing certain words in certain places, till you stop noticing them. Changing the font size will make the page you are reading from look different and you will see more errors.