That Little Riff

Undergoing continuous change... I guess this blog has become a multifandom reblog blog. I'm into 1D, 5SOS, Dr Who, LOTR, Teen Wolf and myriad other things. I did try to keep this separate, but this is also becoming a book blog. I can't shut that part of my life out of my tumblr, it seems. It spills over everywhere. I'm Nicki, I'm a 'mature' fan, I'm Australian and to beta and nitpick is in my bones. I'm good, too. I am perpetually conflicted about the Oxford Comma, though.

[rainbowkisses31]

So because im feeling pretty crappy right now…. im gonna cheer myself up with some shirtless Sebastian! 💜 it’d be rude not to! Lol 💜

[aoifelaufeyson]

Ummm please may I have some more?

[hurleyquinnzel]

I love all the Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy. I mean there’s Tony Stark, Tony’s ex boyfriend, Tony’s cat boyfriend, Tony’s space boyfriend, Tony’s new sorcerer boyfriend, Tony’s green boyfriend, Tony’s thunder boyfriend, Tony’s mischief boyfriend, Tony’s metal arm boyfriend, Tony’s iron boyfriend, Tony’s bird boyfriend, Tony’s other bird boyfriend, Tony’s bug boyfriend, Tony’s girlfriend, Tony’s bug son, Tony’s android son, Tony’s daughter, Tree, sweet rabbit, blue guy, Tony’s space boyfriend’s girlfriend, and Tony’s space boyfriend’s girlfriend’s sister

[aoifelaufeyson]

I cannot argue with most of this

[snowydisco]

starker au // peter parker is a radio host and one of his crew members ask him if he’s dating forbes #5 on most richest men, tony stark. peter tries to deny it on LIVE radio, totally unaware tony confirmed it on a interview just moments earlier.

[winter-starker]

I just really wanted some spidershield stfu.

[thedailypayne]

Liam Payne answers your questions!

[iwantcupcakes]

LOL, “if I was Tony” (x).

[bangtanstyles-deactivated202604]

Why am I not surprised this happened to Tom out of all people

[arcarchivess]

hmygd ITSRBTDoWNYJUNR

[captainstudmuffin-deactivated20]

S C R E A M I N G

[noncommited-writer]

truly iconic

[mackievanstan]

[ao3commentoftheday]

I often see how writers will say when they look back at their earlier work they cringe or they can’t bring themselves to read it, but I don’t. I always read older stuff and I still like it. I mean I notice my spelling and grammatical errors, stuff like that but I always enjoy revisiting them. Does this mean I’m not progressing as a writer?

I don’t think so. I think you just have a healthy amount of self-esteem and a pretty good amount of perspective on yourself. 

The only time I cringe at my old writing is if I wrote something particularly ignorant that I’ve since learned is wrong. That’s just me feeling embarrassed that I was ever so naive/stupid/wrong etc. and it has nothing to do with my changing writing ability. I’m a better writer now than I was last year or five years ago or ten years before that. I can look back and feel proud of how far I’ve come without insulting an earlier version of myself for not having had as much practice yet. 

Ideas that were once enjoyable are often still enjoyable years later. Being kind to yourself is a good habit, and one you should feel good about employing. 

[lesbianstarker]

I strongly disagree. If it’s something you wrote like 5 years ago and you aren’t tearing apart in your head, then I’d say you’re not making progress as a writer. It really depends on how long you’ve been writing and how long ago the piece was. If it’s something from a year or two ago, then I can totally see why you’d still like it. But I’ve looked at stuff from when I was in highschool and it’s all unsalvageable. I’m not saying I hate my previous work, but I’m an adult now and know so much more than when I was 16.

[jameswrites]

Double disagree. Sometimes things I wrote in the past are in the past and exactly how I need them to be, even things from a decade ago. They served their purpose as growth for me and now I’m quite happy I learned what I learned from them and don’t feel the need to put on my editor glasses. I’m just happy with what I did.

I also work as a tutor and a huge huge thing is pointing out any important growth that I’ve seen in the students I see, complimenting what they do well, and encouraging them to hone their skills in both their strengths and weaknesses. I’m not here to tear their things to shreds when they’re not ready for that, and I don’t even read that way or I’d never get anywhere. If I put high standards I put on my current writing on everyone even if it’s above their level, no one would come back to me but those who are already fantastic writers that also have high self-esteem. So maybe 1.

So why should I declare any of my old writing unsalvageable when I never would that of students at a comparable level or lesser one? So why would I look back at my own work that way when I wouldn’t other people’s.

I like my work then for what it is, I learned my lessons in the moments, and I’m happy with it. I don’t even consider treating it savagely.

If you honestly feel happy with your work? Congratulations! You’re doing fine. Could you not be growing? Sure! But hating or being harsh on your work doesn’t create better writing, learning lessons from everything you can while reading and writing does. And practicing.

Harsh criticism never helped me grow when I was a child, I don’t imagine it would help me as a writer. In fact I know that it doesn’t, it’s caused me to stop writing multiple times.

[boyd-stevens]

(x)

[fyeahspiderman]

I’ve just never been this high before.

[shutyourmoustache]

[ao3commentoftheday]

I've been writing fanfiction for about a decade now, and I've noticed as time goes on my chapters seem to get longer and longer (used to be around 1k, now around 8k+). My most recent works have been falling around 15k-20k per chapter. Do you think there should be a word limit for chapters, or that a word count like that will turn readers off?

Some readers love a big word count per chapter. Others (like me) just don’t have the attention span for it. I’ve had similar questions like this one on the blog before, and anecdotally speaking the largest group of people prefer chapters in the 3-5K range. There are lots of us who prefer chapters shorter than that and there are plenty who like chapters that are longer, that’s just the statistical mode.

So yes, long chapters will turn some readers off. But short chapters turn readers off too. Too many tags turn some people off. Not enough tags turn other people off. Some people love a song lyrics title others see a song lyrics title and decide not to click. 

Write the story that you want to write in the way that makes sense to you. Your audience will find it. 

[robertpattisons]

short lived golden trio.

[ao3commentoftheday]

How do you write third person omniscient? I've only written third person limited up to this point, and am having trouble. I feel like I only focus on one character for a little while then switch over at random.

This video explains it better than I could:

But let’s see what advice the rest of the blog can offer!

[wintersmith-blog]

Struggling

OK, so I’ve posted this once before, but I figured it was still true and I still wanted to share it and I have a different bunch of followers now so, whatever.  My blog, I can do what I want.  Here goes:

I was pondering on the phrase “I’m struggling with…”

A lot of people that I know seem to use that phrase as if it is an indicator already of their defeat.  “Oh, I’m struggling with things in my life at the moment” seems to be some kind of admission that they have failed.  Just because they are no longer sitting comfortably where they were before.  Quite often through circumstances that are outside their control. 

And it hit me that, inherent in that statement is the belief that only the destination is important.  That the underlying logic is that, until they are no longer struggling, they are continuing to fail.

And then it also hit me what a load of rubbish that is.  Actually, the struggle is the important part.  Instead of ‘I’m struggling’ being a synonym for ‘I’m failing’, we should be viewing ‘I’m struggling’ as ‘I’m refusing to give in and I’m continuing to fight!’  It’s actually a mark of strength, not failure, and should be celebrated as such.  If we didn’t struggle, if we just gave in to the weight of everything building up on top of us, that would truly be defeat. 

For most of us, giving up like that would simply not be an option.  (Debilitating mental illnesses exempted, naturally.)  Much as we might want to, much as we might be desperate to do just that, we don’t.  And that, right there, is the victory.

So, for every time that you feel like you are failing because you are struggling, for every time that you want to lay your head down and quit the fight but don’t, stop for a moment, take a deep breath and instead quietly congratulate yourself on your victory.  You are still struggling, that is, you are continuing to struggle.  Therefore, you’ve already won.

[lexplex97]

Robert Downey Jr. and Carrie Fisher on the set of Soapdish in 1991.

“You have your own demons don’t you, Robert? You have some of mine, too, and I want them back by nightfall.”

[themanyfaceswewear]

Oh, good Lord.  Looking back at this from close to 30 years in the future is just mindblowing.