#tris responds

[atelierwriting]

idk if you do taglists, but i would LOVE to be on the taglist for both island of the sun and cranesong!!! also welcome back ~MJ

omg i do!! its been so long tho that my taglists may as well be empty now …. i’d love to add u!

[atelierwriting]

an opinion, you're either really brave or dumb to have all your wips on here for people to plaigirise

ok, then i dare you to tell me the entire summary of every single one of my wips.

[atelierwriting]

hi! i was wondering, do you have any tips for organizing a wip? im just starting one, and for now ive info dumped+ random scenes onto a gdoc lmao. do you have multiple documents? separate ones for research/ keeping tabs on the plot/characters etc? <3

omg i’m a whole mess when it comes to organizing wips 😭😭 it really depends on the mood i have for each story! in general though, i have so many documents that it makes me go ??? what are you doing

a few tips about organizing your wip

it’s all up to you! just because this is the way i do it (and it seems like you do something similar) doesn’t mean it’s the only way to do it.

one thing you might want to do is keep track of your thought process--this includes that gdoc you’re talking about. honestly, it might seem like a mess at first, but it’ll create a good atmosphere where you don’t feel like you have to write something perfect that fits right into the story

at some point, you’ll want to actually put everything in order, so you’d want to have a separate document for that

if you prefer a more structured type of style, you could probably follow a lot of the more popular outlining strategies to fill in the blanks for your wip.

if you prefer a more freeform style, literally just put things anywhere you want to--though you should be sure to remember where you put things!

in general, my wip documents usually follow the list below

important documents, absolutely necessary

the random snippet document. i use this one for the things that come out of nowhere, particularly the scenes i want to work towards (that i absolutely have to write at this moment) and the scenes that inspired me to begin with.

a vague outlining document. honestly i use these for part names and keeping track of characters. for the stories that have more going on than just the main plot, i note down the subplots as well.

the vague outlining document will also have my research on it! i link things and take notes there occasionally, but sometimes this document can go untouched for a long time.

the actual story document where things are hopefully in order. i also have about 200 different versions of this when i inevitably get stuck and try a different way of doing things

documents that are not necessary but i have for no reason

a prompt document. self explanatory, and usually i have a masterlist. i might put the actual snippets i write there in the random snippets document

quote document for edits. maybe they’ll make it in. maybe they won’t

the document i use to torment @herondalelucies. don’t ask questions please

[atelierwriting]

triss how do you write so much? u finished two projects so fast spare tips please!!!

hmm here are some tips that i’ve found work for me:

don’t compare how much you write to somebody else. what one person counts as acceptable progress is different than what’s acceptable progress for you. everyone writes at different paces. everyone’s at a different stage of their writing process. what matters is what works for you.

if you’re blocked, take a step away from your wip. i tend to rotate wips so i always have something to write. for me, if i stop writing for a while, then i stagnate and can’t start up again for another few months.

find a friend to encourage you. the only reason why i finished the drowned girl so quickly was @tsainami‘s drafting challenge (plus a few other friends yelling at me to finish the story), and the only reason why i finished sswip was because @sourrcandy and i were egging each other on in the dms (also another reason why i think collab wips are a rly great thing for my writing process).

find what motivates you! i like to read other books, either from a similar genre or from authors who inspire me. sometimes i write with an art stream open so i can kind of work at the same time. i’m always listening to music so having a good playlist doesn’t always work for me....but it might work for you!

just write. sit down every day (or every other day, or whatever works for you) and write. maybe set a wordcount goal, or a time goal. writing’s just like every other skill--if you just keep working at it, you’ll get better.

i hope this helps!

[atelierwriting]

idk if it's just me but as someone who's asian, the amount of "asian wips" by white creators rubs me the wrong way bc while representation is important, a lot of them tend to gravitate towards asian fetishization when it comes to their aesthetics and idk... it just doesn't feel as genuine.

i want to preface it by saying a few things. first: i am asian american, second/third generation, depending on who you ask. second: i am not gatekeeping asian wips. as i said in the conclusion, all i am asking is that you respect the culture, stay away from stereotypes, and don’t use it simply because it would have “interesting/pretty” vibes.

i have a lot of opinions about this, so let’s break it all down.

poc representation is important

fine line of fetishization

the big loud sentence i keep repeating about this issue is that YOU CANNOT PICK AND CHOOSE WHAT YOU LIKE FROM A CULTURE THAT IS NOT YOURS

an explanation about the big loud sentence i keep repeating

conclusion

more under the cut. warning: very long post. (another sidenote: this is all just applicable to writeblr wips, but i might have gotten carried away)

tagging @mitskism!

1. poc representation is important

this is a given. i’m sure you heard of how, when growing up, we couldn’t find people who looked like us in books, shows, and movies. we couldn’t find stories that really resonated with us and touched upon the same struggles we were facing within our own cultures. with all this said and done, poc representation is so incredibly important because media is what helps people understand and shape their identity. media teaches people because of how it proliferates. 

the feeling of finally seeing a character that you can relate to is unlike any other, but imagine that feeling when that is the only character who resembles you in any way. imagine seeing the characters that look like you, behave like you, and identify the same way as you being constantly used as a stepping stone for the main character--who, decidedly, does not look like you or behave like you or identify the same way as you. in fact, that main character looks like every other main character out there. 

that’s not the representation you want. you want stories about people like you. success stories, stories where they’re the ones who achieve their goals and get that happily ever after. but there is so little of that out there that it’s like searching for a needle in a haystack.

so yes, poc representation is important.

of course, poc representation isn’t the only important representation out there. but representation has to be done right. 

2. fine line of fetishization

what is fetishization? i think the anon here says it very well: gravitating towards a certain aesthetic without really acknowledging where it came from or the history that comes from it. all in all, though, fetishization of a culture is taking things at face value from a culture is not yours, without any real understanding of what those things are or if it’s even respectful of you to take.

i wrote a whole paper recently on colonialism, imperialism, and the idea of the white man’s burden and the problems of white saviors. there’s a recurring theme in history that i’ve noticed: taking things from other cultures and turning it into the next great thing, when it wasn’t even theirs to begin with.

but that’s a completely different topic.

the thing about fetishization in writeblr wips--particularly that of asian fetishization, since that’s the topic of the ask--is that it can be hard to pick out. you might get this vaguest feeling that something’s off about the wip, but not have any concrete proof to back it up. so where can the line be drawn? that’s hard to say. the line between giving representation and fetishization is incredibly thin, but i’d say answering the following question is a good point to start.

1. why is this character/setting/etc asian?

if the answer to this question is because it looks good, or because you like the aesthetics, that is fetishization. of course, you have to consider this as well: whether or not you are asian yourself and if you have done the proper research.

subtopic: the fetishization of asian culture

i’m sure you’ve seen this around: things that take on an asian-like aesthetic simply for the thrill of resembling something from an asian culture. it’s the stereotype of submissive asian women and yellow fever. it’s the usage of random asian-sounding character names in wips. i’m not going to delve too deep into this because i have discussion in 20 minutes.

asian culture hasn’t been seen as something “attractive” until recently. even now, people still look down at asian people as the Other, an unidentifiable other race--or maybe an entire other species--that is inferior to the western world. growing up in america, asian kids had to divorce themselves from their culture in order to assimilate. and now, suddenly, the culture that their classmates sneered at is aesthetic. it’s desired. it’s acceptable now.

asian culture is made out to be a hot commodity, and that’s not right. you can’t make an entire culture a commodity. this brings me to my next point.

3. the big loud sentence i keep repeating about this issue is that YOU CANNOT PICK AND CHOOSE WHAT YOU LIKE FROM A CULTURE THAT IS NOT YOURS

YOU CANNOT PICK AND CHOOSE WHAT YOU LIKE FROM A CULTURE THAT IS NOT YOURS.

4. an explanation about the big loud sentence i keep repeating

the culture isn’t yours. it never will be yours before it is ours. and i’m sorry about how heavy that sounds but it’s true. you cannot pick and choose what you want from a culture with such a long history of its own. you cannot put up an image of a rising red sun because it fits the aesthetic of a wip page, along with images of other commonly depicted asian symbols, without acknowledging that the rising red sun has been used as a symbol for japanese imperialism. 

(i’m bringing up this example because of this and also there’s. a lot to unpack in the history of japan and other asian countries)

5. conclusion

what i’m getting at is that you can do asian wips, if you respect the culture, stay away from stereotypes, and don’t use it simply because it would have “interesting/pretty” vibes.

[atelierwriting]

hi tris!! i was wondering if you had any tips for like ,,, finishing a wip? you seem to be good at it and i struggle immensely nfjskdnfksj thank you in advance!!!

hi there! i hope i’m answering this in a timely fashion because i have not opened tumblr in a hot minute (also i think the askbox looks different now and i spent 5 min staring at it wondering why)

honestly the best advice i can give is to just write. i work so much better when i already have something down to improve upon, so my draft ones are always the worst thing ever. i try my best not to go back to what i wrote previously until that draft is finished. for my newest wip, i already have 6k words down and i’m starting chapter three soon. i’m trying to hit 1k a day, if possible given that finals are coming up. if i get stuck, i usually just power through it by writing the worst sequence of words ever to summarize what’s supposed to be happening in that scene. it does give me a lot of problems when i’m actually going back to revise--but i’ve found that what i’ve written is a lot better than i originally thought it was.

if you’re struggling with motivation, get a critique partner or someone who can act as a sounding board! i’ve shared my early drafts with only a couple of people (thinking about cutting it down to just one person) who i can cry to about certain characters or plotlines. talking with people helps me stay hyped about a project.

but also, if i get really stuck and i feel like if i keep writing, i’ll burn myself out, that’s when i take a step back. i’ve really gotten into crocheting again recently (you can check out my twt if you want to see updates on how i’m not studying and instead crocheting @/triswrites AHAHA), as well as playing video games or whatnot. writing isn’t everything. but writing isn’t meant to be easy. you’re going to run into some trouble somewhere. it’s just up to you how you want to tackle it.

[atelierwriting]

I don’t understand why you had to go add poc to Peter Pan or the Little Mermaid. Get out of here

so sorry that the world you live in doesn’t understand why

[atelierwriting]

How do you come up with titles? Yours are always so cool and i only ever refer to mine as "mountain wip" or "the one with xaira in it". Any tips?

omg i just changed the title of island of the sun to no hallowed suns (but i’ll keep referring to it as iots because lol i’ve already made edits). 

titles are always pretty difficult to do so what i typically have are placeholder titles until something rly hits me. but for iots, i looked at quotes from the two stories that inspired it (peter pan and the little mermaid) and found one from hans christian andersen’s that rly stuck out to me. i used it as a basis for my own title.

for my other titles, i try to think about thematic meanings. does someone actually drown in the drowned girl? who knows? is that the important part? nope. thematically, drowning could mean many things--the atmosphere of the small town, the mysteries, or anything that could have someone figuratively drowning. 

sometimes, you could go with a title that has an important object in it (see warcross by marie lu, which is a video game but also the novel’s title). you could also consider an important event (return of the king by j. r. r. tolkien), literally what the story is about (how to train your dragon (2010)), etc. i think it all boils down to the type of feeling you want to evoke when someone sees your title. if it’s going to be some mystery, you probably don’t want to call it how to train your dragon. but maybe you want to opt for naming it after a mysterious group in your wip. 

i hope this helps!