#writing problems 101

[dlthedescent]

With the Beast dlc coming up and with the hints so far, I could see myself take a different writing in Descent from here on out (thankfully the large time gap between DL1 and DL2 gives that leeway). That said, I have gotten some comments and yeah it's a whole different take than my Freakazoid take.

And to be frank, I'm not too concerned about potential changes. Fanfics/fanarts are meant to be fluid and adaptive, and surprisingly, Dying Light is one of several that has a lot of potential for creativity freedom and character exploration. So I'm open to whatever Techland gives for this DLC and I don't mind at all adapting to the new content for Descent because who knows, it might open more ideas! Moreover, I'm happy with what I have so far is good enough that there doesn't need to be any severe changes to past chapters. Concept art, most likely (something I need to go back).

With that said, it's a good thing this happened. Because 1. the art for Freakazoid was still concept drafts so I don't mind refining the design based on new info (which means I CAN DRAW CLOTHES ON A HUMAN-ISH BODY AND NOT A FULL-MONSTER-ISH BODY YIPPEE!). And 2. it made me remember my damn timeline in Descent was that it has been four months since the Following in Descent.

I'm pretty sure NOW thinking of it, four months of infection and mutation is not gonna be as drastic as a full-fledged volatile or hunter....

[morningstargirl666]

3, 4 and 5 for the fic asks :)

Oh hi Yokan!!! Lovely to talk to you, as always, thanks for the ask ✨

3. What's your favourite fic you've written?

The Red Wedding. Idk, I'm just really proud of that one, even though it's not my most popular. I feel it's written really well and in a unique way, mirroring the past and the present. Caroline is totally badass in it too, seeking one of my favourite things - revenge 😈

4. How many WIPs do you have right now?

Call me out, why don't you 😅 I've got quite a few, some that aren't even posted. There's obviously my biggest fic, The Big Bad Wolf, then there's Falling For You and Divided We Fall, which I haven't updated in over a year, along with Songs of the Sea, my Mermaid!Caroline AU (I'm sorry, I will eventually come back to them guys, I'm terrible I know). I also started writing a ghost fic for halloween last year, but haven't finished that yet (I'll probably try and get it done with this year's halloween instead). I've picked up a rhythm with TBBW, so I decided to solely focus on that for now. So that's 5 WIPs? Not including all the various one-shot ideas and other fics I'd like to one day write.

5. What's a fic idea you've had that you'll never write?

There's kinda two? First one would be a six-part Peaky Blinders AU idea I had after I binge watched the show. I worked out which Mikaelsons would be which Shelbys and everything, they and Caroline fit so well into the story, and it'd be great, but I don't think I could do anything original with it, just kind of follow the show's plot line and perhaps end it a bit differently. I believe a Peaky Blinders one-shot AU is also already out there somewhere. The second one is dark. And I mean DARK. Like I'm kinda scared of my own head for coming up with it. But it would essentially be a Bluebeard AU and if anyone is familiar with that fairytale... yeah. You understand. But eh, there's something interesting about the idea of Klaus keeping his previous wives in a dark, bloody dungeon after he killed them (I'm thinking Camille, Hayley and Aurora heheheheh) while he dotes on his new wife, the ever beautiful Caroline Forbes. I don't know if I'd end it really twisted, on a cliffhanger, not making it clear if he kills Caroline too, letting the readers decide the outcome, or as a happily ever after, where Caroline is the only wife he doesn't kill and maybe they go on murder sprees together as a date. Lmao. Idk, I told you, it's dark.

[savage-rhi]

"We're trying to subvert expectations!"

😤🙏🏻👁👁

Okay. Plots with that are awesome, when taken into proper context, fits characterizations, and when you step back after the shock, it fits into the story. Throwing it in with no context and for shock value, is just fucking lazy okay?

I think audience members would rather have a predictive plot than this torture porn trope being thrown at them with every major franchise as of late.

It's good to have shock. It's good to keep your audience on their feet and guessing, but if you can't do it in good taste within the boundaries of the story, it's no good. Especially if IT RUINS EVERYTHING YOU BUILT UP. Then what was the point of the investment?

This trope CAN be good, but use sparingly and it needs to make sense for the work being presented. Most of these franchises and series lately, they've been footing it out their arse cause they want to be edgy or just don't give a shit about putting heart into the writing.

[morningstargirl666]

Me over here in my little corner writing a spooky chapter with werewolf ghosts while it’s the height of the Christmas period, 3 months late to October.

[savage-rhi]

Hi I love your writing 💖 I'm new to the Death Stranding fandom and since you write a lot for it do you have tips on how to write higgs or other characters?

First off, thank you honey bunches of oats and warm welcomes! Second, my opinion on your next question is probably going to be unpopular as fuck, but here I go anyway ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

Write the character however you want to portray them. 

Seems pretty straightforward yet complex right? Here’s my thinking on this: at the end of the day, the characters we all write about are fictional. They aren’t real. They are meant to be played with and meant to explore different aspects of the human condition and all the negatives and positives that come with it. 

I very much despise the notion that “if you don’t write character A as so and so and if they are ooc in any way you’re writing wrong”. No, no, no, fuck that mentality into the next plane of existence. THIS is what stops people from pursuing fanfiction and exploring writing as a whole: feeling pressured to conform to certain guidelines (usually set by elitists in a fandom) and to keep characters in character the whole time. What’s the point in playing around with fandom characters if you can’t explore different personalities, what-if scenarios, and by god even make characters different than how they are in canon? It is in my opinion, that if you go into this restricting yourself, you’re gonna have a bad time and you’re not going to have fun. 

Sure, there are people that are going to be judgy and if you don’t get a certain character down to a T, they’ll think your work is trash, but hon you gotta write for you. There’s always going to be an audience for your work no matter how small, and we all gotta start someplace so just dive in and do the thing!

If you want to write Sam as a terrorist and Higgs as the protagonist in a what-if scenario, go for it! If you want to make Deadman super serious just to see what it would be like, go for it! If you want to write an AU where Cliff and Diehardman get together and escape with baby Sam, by all means! Don’t limit yourself to the scope of one’s expectations. Fandom is about play. Get in the sandbox, and start writing what you want to see. -Insert mic drop here-

[thedivinereverie]

do u ever have like… major plot points in your story that you know you want to get to but don’t really know wtf to write in between to get to that point? and anything you write just feels like gibberish? or is that just me being critical of myself and my writing and over analyzing everything lol

[morningstargirl666]

When you open your WIP intending to get some writing done but decide to do a read through to refresh your brain and then end up editing the scenes you’ve already written, maybe even rewriting them completely, and suddenly you’re an additional 2k in on the scenes that were supposed to be already finished and hours later you’re too tired to write new scenes, technically no closer to the end than when you first started, and you’re just sat there staring at the word document like:

You motherfu-

[judgementale-moved]

Me, trying to write my chapters:

Me: Oh hey, here is this really important character that I can't forget to put in!

Me: *forgets them*

Me, while writing the chapter: ugh.... Why is it so hard to figure out what to do? Anyways, I should probably put in this really important character early on so that it's not too out of the blue later.

Me:

Me:

Me: actually, this character helps move along the plot in a way that I don't think was possible without them. Huh.