#writing 101

[pasiphile]

Honestly, starting writers, if you just

use dialogue punctuation correctly ;

avoid epithets; and

only use adverbs when they radically change the meaning of the verbs;

your writing will improve 300%.

[sunshine-on-my-mind]

me: I HAVE SO MANY IDEAS FOR WRITING 🫶🏼

also me: *does not write anything* 😀

[write-to-tell-your-story]

One misconception I see making the rounds every so often is the idea that if you, say, publish a work of fiction, that you are then obligated to take any and all criticism aimed at your work as potentially valid criticism that deserves your time, attention, and thoughtful consideration.

This is, quite frankly, absolutely and unequivocably false.

Especially in the modern day of social media, the ability of fiction to attain unprecedented reach for a potential audience of unprecedented scope and diversity, and the simultaneous ability of any potential audience member to make their voice and criticisms heard.

In short: if you write something that gets any degree of fame, that thing will eventually be read by people who dislike it.

There will be people who you don't know and who don't know you, who dislike your work for entirely personal reasons that that will be neither your business nor your obligation to worry about. There will be people who will dislike your work for a multitude of contradictory reasons that you won't be able to please all at once no matter how you try to change your work. There will be people who went into your work ready to get mad, because they thrive off of negativey and paranoid readings of fiction, especially fiction that someone else likes. There will be people who will dislike a work because they dislike the genre it's based in, or any works with the themes you explored, or any number of other reasons that boil down to their problem, not yours, to appease. There will be people who flat-out lack the reading comprehension skills to provide meaningful critique.

In the modern day, all of these types of critique have the ability to reach an author - especially an author who goes looking for them.

It is not your job to go looking for criticism from strangers. It is not your obligation to give time and energy to every bit of criticism that makes it to your ears.

It is your job to be thoughtful about your work, to read it back over with a critical eye during the editing stage. It is your job to put forth reasonable effort to ensure that your work gets across the message(s) and idea(s) that you were trying to share, rather than a mess of Unfortunate Implications. It is your job to get a decent editor who can help with those things, before you get to the 'publishing for money' stage. It is your job to listen to comments from editor(s) being paid to help you work out any kinks in your story, and to be thoughtful in your decisions of whether and how to implement suggestions and respond to critiques.

It's a good idea to get a few trusted friends and/or fellow writers to read your work with an eye to constructive critique, because most of us need a little help sometimes to reach our best potential.

It's the job of decent publishers to select decent authors whose works are a good fit for the audience(s) they market to.

And once you've got a story published, it's probably going to be your job to keep writing the best work you can write. A job which is generally easier to do if you ignore the white noise of unqualified, rude, bad-faith, and just plain unhelpful 'critique' from a bunch of total strangers who should have exactly as much influence in your writing as you allow them. Including none whatsoever.

[sylviahubbard]

How to Start Writing a Book (and Finish It)

by Dave Chesson A lot of people want to write a book. Most never get to the end of one. I’ve watched it happen for years. Someone has an idea they’re excited about. They talk about it. They think about it. They read advice and look for the right moment to begin. Weeks pass. Then months. At some point, the idea starts to feel heavier than it did at the beginning. Writing stays on the to-do…

How to Start Writing a Book (and Finish It)

[averysaurus]

For everyone journeying here from the Fetch post, here is Mr. Shady demonstrating proper usage of slant rhyme.

[isisnicole]

[write-to-tell-your-story]

Start building good habits today - whether that's writing [x] number of words per day, sticking to a writing schedule in your free time, editing more regularly, or whatever you need!

The point is: Start building that habit today, and next week you'll be one week further along than you are right now.

[missmanlykink]

this prob isn’t something you aren’t used to seeing in your inbox, and i’d completely understand if you’d rather delete this-

but how did you become good at writing smut…? i’ve been wanting to get into smut writing because i have so many horny thoughts that i think would be good fics, but as soon as i open my laptop to write, i either tell myself it won’t be good or i have no where to start. idec if i’m absolutely terrible at it — i mean i do, but i know we all start from somewhere — but i just can never start it.

sincerely, a virg that wants to start writing smut but has no idea how anything works or feels beyond playing the dj on herself

missmanlykink’s guide on how to write smut with being ashamed of yourself and actually writing it.

i’m actually gagged that you came to me for smut advice like ??? i personally don’t think my smut is that good but i can definitely give you some pointers!! (this make have a lot of typos and grammar mistakes but it’s just bc i typed this up really fast)

so when i first started writing smut i was so embarrassed with myself like i was overly aware of was i was writing about and i was ashamed and couldn’t take myself seriously (even though i’ve been reading smut for years) but there’s many times to overcome that and get good in the process.

1. don’t take your serious—just don’t.

one thing i did that helped me so much was just pretending like i was writing smut as joke. like “no, this isn’t me actually writing about being dicked down by rafe cameron! it’s just a joke!” and i would be overly dramatic with how i wrote—if you get what i’m saying. i havent done that in a while bc it worked. and if that still doesn’t work, if you get cringed out by write vulgar words, you can replace them in google docs. so instead or say pussy or cock, you can made up an alternative fake word to replace it with until you’re done! and at the end of the day, it’s just dirty fiction, it’s not supposed to be taken seriously

2. actually getting started

so how i start my fics and little blurbs change from time to time but it works—most of the time. so when i have an idea i always write it down no matter what and as i write the idea down, more ideas pop up and then i’ll have a little outline.

so for example: if i want to write a fic about colin grey (from jennifer’s body), i usually have an idea. i’m gonna say that idea is about reader and colin don’t have sex yet, but they do other stuff. and then what other stuff? dry humping, oral, thigh riding. etc. maybe he sneaks into her room, or they do it in his car, he’s a little nervous because they’ve only made out, but reader reassures him, talks him through it. and then on and on and on.

sometimes i go in raw, no condom. (i mean not using an outline. not actual unprotected sex) and just go at it. sometimes my outline just turn into fics bc i’m in a flow and i don’t stop writing. i suggest whenever you get into that state. DONT STOP. just keep going until your brain can’t come up with anything else.

another way to get started it nsfw gifs, p!links and just filthy word post. some of the freaks on here have gave me so must inspo. and i shouldn’t tell your to go ahead a watch porn BUT when it comes to positions and thing like that, twitter is your friend. and i can’t believe i almost, movies. some sex scenes are so tea it’s like someone literally slinging their arm back and punching you with a big idea. (the other day i rewatched sharp stick. not because it was good movie—bc it’s not—but one of the scenes was super sexy if you looked past the weirdness. so you can just use the things you already know.) and obviously reading other work and books. that always helps.

here’s an example of the notes i took while i was sharp stick:

most of these are verbatim but paraphrasing is normal of course!

3. i am a virgin.

i fully believe most or a little a big chunk of smutty fic writers are virgins so it’s literally nothing to be ashamed about. i have not a clue about what i’m talking about most of the time so i just cross my fingers and hope that it’s accurate. if i’m really unsure i’ll research it. do penis’ actually pulsate? idk but google said they do, so i go with what they say. AND STOP DOUBTING YOURSELF. doubt with put you an everlasting battle with yourself. if you want to do, just do it. don’t listen to the stupid thoughts that say you can’t, because you can!

and another tip. this doesn’t make sense but when i write on a computer, sometimes it feels intimidating?? idk, but i start on my phone and then switch over.

this was probably way longer than you wanted but i hope it helps! and one extra thing you didn’t ask about, but if you ever have a niche person you wanna write smut about, DO IT. it may not get much likes or reblogs, but i promise, there’s gonna be one person out there who’s gonna love it. plus you can be one of the only persons who wrote about them, that’s pretty cool imo! anywaysss HAPPY SMUT WRITING !!