Suddenly a writer! @thesuddenwriter - Tumblr Blog

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You know, I think it’s been like 6 months since I was last here. Been awhile. Hope everyone has been doing well. I’ve been writing on and off. It’s been tricky. Thinking about moving to Twitter instead of Tumblr. Not entirely sure yet. Changes to the site as well as some other factors make me want to move. Eh. Anyway I sure hope everyone’s stories are coming along good. Thank you to the folks still following me. I appreciate it. Perhaps I should get back to posting.

#writeblr #writing

traveling-spartan

If you ever tagged me to do one of those tag game thingies and I never did it:

1) Thank you, seriously. Those are fun and being included shows that my followers care enough to want to learn more about me.

2) Very sorry about that, it’s extremely likely that I said to myself “Cool! But I’m busy at the moment, I’ll have to do this later today or tomorrow” before proceeding to just straight-up forget, now it’s too far back in my notifications and/or your blog to find again.

#this is me

teacupwriter

archer - oc intro (historical-fantasy YA)

“the spy”

the lost country wip page | wip tag | archer’s tag

name - Victoria Archer | nicknames - Archer, Archie | age - 20 | gender & sexuality - cis female, lesbian grey-asexual | nationality - British

Victoria; name origins - Latin; meaning - victory

The last thing Archer expected to find upon crash-landing a stolen plane in the Pyrenees was an entire country. She has the world atlas more or less memorized. How could it be that she’s never once heard of Amnexia?

Quite frankly, it’s the last on her list of concerns. At the top would be the fact that she’s wanted by at least two governments, and that she was chased out of war-torn Spain in the middle of a very delicate investigation.

All she wants is to get back there, but her rescuer, Sorospen Osta, insists on Archer’s help with finding some boy, in exchange for her knowledge of the terrain. Archer has little choice but to accept. And she soon discovers there may be more to this tiny, forgotten country than first meets the eye.

[tag list under the cut - let me know if you’d like to be added or removed at any time, no questions asked]

Keep reading

thesuddenwriter

Archer leads quite the life. She sounds like an interesting character!

#other people's writing #other people's ocs #writing

jedhaboy

Writer’s Resource - Wound Care

It’s probably one of the most common scenarios in a novel, comic, roleplay, script, or otherwise. Character B gets injured, and Character A knows wound care and takes care of it for them. But the old fashioned style of thinking runs rampant, especially with ‘classic wound treatment’ being educated generations down, leaving plenty of people unaware of more realistic and recent modern advances in traditional first aid.

Things To Remember:

Wash your hands.

It’s all too common for this step to be missed in writing. When wound care comes up, remember that the purpose of it is, underlying everything emotional, to get the wound clean. Hands not very recently disinfected and sterilized are more likely to cause infection, undermining everything else that Character A hopes to do. Even if it’s just a sentence or a footnote, remember to add in washing hands – with soap!

Clear the wound.

There are multiple options here, but they all come back to the same thing. Character A should always clean out the wound with hydrotherapy, which is fancy speak for running water for a very long time. Flushing a wound can be done with a non iodized salt solution, a dilution of very mild soap, or even plain but it must always come back to WATER. Run the wound under water for a few minutes to clean out dirt, bacteria, and loosen any debris stuck inside. Character A can and should use clean, sterile tweezers to remove this debris if the water is unable, then pat the wound dry with gauze.

Keep the wound clean.

Antibiotics are a necessity with any and all wound care. From petroleum jelly, a store bought antibiotic like neosporin or polysporin, or any other ointment. However for a lesser known and just as realistic option, remember you can also use ( with or alone ) sugar. On burns, deep gashes, cuts, or just about anything, packing the wound with sugar would let Character B’s body begin to heal without fear of bacteria, because the highly concentrated medium of sugar will not allow bacteria to survive.

If stitches are necessary.

Is the wound is deep enough to go to fat, muscle, bone, or other structures? Does it go right over a joint? Is it on the hands, fingers, or around the mouth or eyes? Have minutes passed without the bleeding slowing? These are prime locations that will medically require stitches – be it to assist the wound in closing, or stop natural motions from ripping left alone gouges wider. Stitches, or sutures, traditionally use thread made of silk or nylon and a curved needle with suture scissors to assist in the special kind of stitch that specially holds wounds together.

If Character A needs to stitch a wound together, their knowledge may vary, and they may not have the correct tools. But here are some things you can make sure they know. Make a knot on each stitch, to better hold it in place. Hold the skin together while stitching, don’t trust the thread to pull both sides in by itself. If the flesh is ragged on each side, they may need to cut clean edges, mostly to insure that the stitches don’t tear out and the wound is even. Removal comes days later, with cutting each stitch besides the knot and pulling it out – it should tug, but be painless.

Wrap the wound.

That old belief that a wound should see fresh air is an absolute lie, as proven by many doctors over the years. Wounds should be kept constantly covered, and damp. Studies show that a covered, damp wound healed in 12-15 days while an air exposed, dry wound healed in over thirty. Not only this, but covering and dampening the wound brings less chance of scarring. Use wound dressings like wet to dry gauze ( which is just as common as traditional ), then wrap in a bandage, even two if necessary.

For long term wound treatment.

Whether Character A keeps a constant eye on B, or if Character B is on their own, they should both keep up wound treatment for realism. Each day change the bandage and gauze, or more, if found to be constantly wet. Use daily hydrotherapy to clean out dead cells and drainage from the wound. Pack with more sugar or antibiotic ointment. Lack of doing this would cause Character B an infected wound, likely turning to an abscess, and undo all the previous work.

Things to Avoid:

Put the alcohol down.

Since we’re not in the wild west and Hollywood is a liar, NEVER use strong antiseptics, vinegars, or alcohol to clean a wound. All things such as white vinegar, hydrogen peroxide, vodka, rubbing alcohol or iodine can burn and cause irreparable damage to the skin and flesh, increasing the healing time substantially.

Never applying pressure.

Between each stage of wound treatment, Character B should be applying pressure with a sterilized hand and clean towel or gauze to the wound, preferably with it above their head. This lessens the chance of bleeding out and allows the blood to slow, but not halt.

Don’t be afraid of pink.

A wound a doctor would be satisfied with seeing is the kind that scares most people: pink, red, and just on the right side of bloody. Any other colors, too little, or too much blood are all red flags for wound treatment.

Don’t be afraid of the doctor.

Unless Character A is a doctor, there may come a time where they have to admit their skills aren’t enough. If you can see bone, then the wound may need muscle stitches as well as skin. If it’s extremely swollen, the inflammation has gone from healthy to concerning. If it’s hot or has a stench, there’s a serious infection. Draw the line at a smart place, and let a doctor take over. Even in the fictional world.

#writing #wounds #injuries

fragmentedink-archived

WRITING HELP SITES 1. NaNoWriMo

The National Novel Writing Month blog provides inspirational posts for when you’re stuck with writer’s block and offers guidelines for everything from the publishing process to finding feedback.

2. Write It Sideways

The articles for writers on Write It Sideways outline real-life advice, like writing grants, author branding, and gift buying, as well as writing tips and tricks, like dialogue mistakes and how to build tension.

3. Helping Writers Become Authors

K.M. Weiland, the writer of Helping Writers Become Authors, is an award-winning author who shares creative writing advice on story structure, character arcs, common writing mistakes, and much more!

4. Inklyo.com

This website offers great advice for authors, bloggers, businesspeople, and students. Not only will you find writing advice and inspiration, but the site also offers a wealth of practical tips for honing your writing skills, finding work, and staying productive. If you’re looking for in-depth instruction, Inklyo.com also provides a range of courses and ebooks aimed at helping you learn how to write anything well.

5. Warrior Writers

Warrior Writers is run by best-selling author Kristen Lamb, who guides writers with comprehensive and detailed posts that have a humorous and easy-to-read tone.

6. Fantasy Author’s Handbook

Although this is technically a genre-specific writing blog, New York Times best-selling author Philip Athans has great advice for writers of all types, guaranteed.

7. Abidemi.tv

Abidemi is an accomplished author who has decided to share her insight and knowledge of the writing and publishing world to help others become better writers. In addition to offering free resources in her blog, she also creates and sells writing courses.

Writer’s Lifestyle

The following writing websites are great for writers who have some extra time or need to take a quick break and want to spend it productively.

8. Write to Done

Write to Done clearly outlines useful topics for writers, like imposter syndrome, recovering from destructive criticism, and finding a pen name.

9. Brain PickingsMaria Popova’s writings on culture, books, and other eclectic subjects are always extremely interesting reading for any writer with some spare time.

10. Novelicious

While this might be more of a book website than a writing website, Novelicious also has advice for writers on retreats and for writing serialized novels—not to mention post about which books are being turned into movies this year (and reading that is time well spent for any writer, really).

11. Opinionator

The exclusive online commentary from the Draft section of Opinionator covers essays by journalists, novelists, linguists, and grammarians on the art of writing.

12. The Authors’ Nook

The Authors’ Nook houses relatable posts for writers along with advice on being a writer, allowing for a blend of good fun and useful advice for writing breaks.

Marketing/Blogging

These blogs help writers market their books and create blogging personas to engage an audience more effectively.

13. The Write Life

This writing website offers solid ideas for blogging, including working from home, pitching ideas, guest posting, and much more.

14. Goins, Writer

National best-selling author Jeff Goins shares real-life experiences and reflections about building an audience, shortcuts to success, and engaging a community in the age of Internet fame.

15. The Book Designer

As stated in its tagline, The Book Designer gives “practical advice to help build better books,” which includes writing creative disclaimers, choosing the right platforms, and using social media efficiently.16. Angela BoothAngela Booth, a copywriter, ghostwriter, author, marketer, and writing coach, write ample posts to help authors improve book sales and ensure a book will be a financial success.

17. Carly Watters

Carly Watters is a literary agent who provides advice on getting published in the 21st century. Her useful “Things I Wish I Knew” posts provide true accounts and tell how other writers can learn from them.

Publishing

The writing blogs below aid writers in the publishing process, from behind-the-scenes intel to publishing tips and tricks.

18. Jane Friedman

Jane Friedman has more than 20 years of experience in the book publishing industry. She provides informative articles on both the writing process and the publishing process.

19. The Creative Penn

Run by New York Times and USA Today best-selling author Joanna Penn, this site offers articles and other resources related to writing, publishing, and marketing books.

20. Alan Rinzler

The articles of Alan Rinzler, a consulting editor, help writers understand what goes on behind the scenes of the publishing process.

21. Publetariat

Publetariat gives practical information on networking, author websites, and the publishing process. It also shares links to big news stories in the world of publishing.

22. The Independent Publishing Magazine

The Independent Publishing Magazine hosts posts about many different parts of the publishing process, such as growing a following, avoiding authorship problems, and finding the right editor.

Writing Inspiration/Prompts

These sites are excellent for writers who are stuck in a rut and need some inspiration or even concrete prompts to get them writing again.

23. WritingPrompts.com

Writing prompts are posted here daily, offering inspiration for writers in all genres. Some of the prompts focus on breaking through writer’s block, while others focus on building characters or refining your dialogue-writing skills. If you’re feeling as though you’re in a writing rut, the site also posts inspirational quotes from famous authors.

24. Positive Writer

Positive Writer was created for writers with doubt—like the website’s author, Bryan Hutchinson—and to provide inspirational posts that help writers keep writing.

25. Blots and Plots

The Blots and Plots blog instructs writers to stay in the habit of writing, targeting specific problems and demonstrating how it’s possible to write a novel even with a full-time job.

26. Writer’s Digest

This well-known and comprehensive site offers all manner of advice and resources for authors. Of particular interest are the site’s many creative writing prompts. New prompts are published weekly, and writers post their results in the comments section.

27. Qwiklit

Qwiklit offers fun and accessible articles about reading and writing. It also has a bunch of writing prompts for writers who might feel stuck.

28. Writing Prompts That Don’t Suck

This one’s pretty self-explanatory, but Writing Prompts That Don’t Suck tries to avoid boring and familiar writing prompts to provide fun and interesting ones instead.

Have at it!

Source

#writing #resource #long post

tlbodine

A Quick Tip for Controlling Pacing

Short sentences speed up the action. They pack punch. They also draw focus to each event. Subject. Verb. Like a camera zoomed in close. Slow-motion shots. Good for fights and epic chase scenes. Don’t fear using sentence fragments. But don’t use it for everything. It can get exhausting for the reader.

Long, complex sentences slow down the action and can create suspense and tension. Imagine them like twisting corridors and long, slow camera pans following the action from beginning to end, moving smoothly from one image to the next without lingering too long over anything in particular. Whole years can pass in the duration of a long sentence; imagine them like those panoramic establishing shots where one season fades slowly into the next. Embrace semicolons; do not shy away from complicated sentence structure from time to time as necessary. But, like all things, practice them in moderation. Long sentences can slow the reader down too much, leading to boredom; they may wander away from the page.

#writing #pacing

maramahan

Literally THE most useful thing you can learn as a writer is how to pitch a story

A good pitch can turn strangers into readers—who might then become fans

incandescent-creativity

Allow me!

Five Elements of a Good Novel Pitch

Common Problems in Pitches (ie what to avoid)

How to Pitch Your Novel in Under a Minute (there’s even more links at the end of this one, too!)

#writing #pitching #writing advice

brynwrites

Some hard to swallow truths of reading:

Not every book is written for you.

Just because you don’t enjoy a story doesn’t make it bad or worthless.

Just because you don’t enjoy a certain writing style does not make it bad or worthless.

It is not your duty to directly tell a writer you didn’t enjoy their work if they didn’t ask you for your feedback.

It is your duty to do you best to understand whether or not a story has been written for you and review it appropriately.

#writing #good advice #and so true

heywriters

I am so happy about my new story that I’ve written, and I’ve posted it on Wattpad! Bad news is, I don’t have many followers on there, and it’s just not getting any recognition (good or bad) at all. I’d really like it to at least be seen by a fair amount of people and not just be another flunk. I really like this one. How can I get it recognized?

Might be too late, but don’t post it all at once. Updates attract followers because it shows them you’re actively writing. First couple chapters and maybe an introduction is best to start out with. If you’ve already posted it all, it doesn’t hurt to unpublish those later chapters and republish them once you have readers.

Other Wattpad Advice

Have a great COVER. It really depends on the genre and demographic you’re aiming at, but popular Wattpad covers range from practically professional to “how many celebrities can I cram on here?” to downright steamy. Check here for tips on cover-making, and visit the Multimedia Club’s resource list for graphic design (I particularly reccommend the “cover comparison” or “coveroffs” thread as it’s helped me in past).

Have a great TITLE. Keep it shortish and have it either sound super simplistic and provocative (“Bad Boy Likes Nerdy Girl!”) or edgy and vague (“Rebel Fire”). In the end though, the font and image you choose for the cover are the bigger selling points.

F O L L O W other people! This is the #1 thing I see Wattpadders mess up with. Some think it’s dignified or honest to only follow people they like. Forget that, it’s not smart, and it’s how you stay a nobody. Find anyone who shows an interest in reading your genre and follow them. Do this either by going to the Clubs and following members of your genre, or following the followers of authors with popular titles in your genre. Your maximum follow allowance is 1k, but keep it a little below that.

VOTE and COMMENT on other works, especially ones in the genre you write. Even if you don’t think they did a very good job, vote to be polite. Votes are easy and there’s almost no way to keep track of them. A reader who never votes and comes back to me later to say “I loved your book!” is dishonest. If you loved it then you should’ve voted. If you voted a lot and commented just once then the author will die for you on a battlefield.

Reading lists are important because they prove you support other writers and tell people what genres you enjoy. Give them clever titles and people might follow you just for that.

Thank readers on their profiles for voting/adding your story. If you thank people on your account it looks like self-congratulations and they can’t personally delete it if they’re uncomfortable with it.

My next advice is for further down the line, but once you have what you feel is a decent follower count, keep a modest following count. The best comment I saw about this was “They have that many followers they can spread the love a little and follow others too.” I don’t disagree. Always try to be generous with your follows.

Get involved in forumns and clubs if you want to. This generally has nothing to do with writing, but helps you meet other users and learn how Wattpad works/thinks.

Definitely share, mention, and post about your story on social media. Leave links to your writing on your profiles, and show an interest in other writers outside of Wattpad.

On a bizarre sidenote, I keep seeing these users on Wattpad who have 100k followers, but no works and no reading lists. I made a test account to see if I could replicate this and got 1.5k followers in a couple months. The trick seemed to be to have a pretty model as the profile pic, a cute statement in the bio, and have a profile name that’s aesthetic. I also followed a thousand people at a time, unfollowed after about a week, and did it again. It’s a shoddy trick, but more people follow you back than unfollow you, and if they’re willing to follow someone with no works who’s clearly just a follow-spammer, idk what to tell you. I didn’t enjoy it, but it worked.

There are other tips and tricks to getting noticed on Wattpad, and the site itself even publishes advice on this. Even if you get featured by Wattpad, you need to work at getting noticed. This is how real-life works too, so consider it training wheels for real self-marketing.

I wish you the best!

+ HEY, Writers! other social media: Wattpad - Pinterest - Goodreads

+ If you benefit from my updates and replies, please consider sending a little thank you and Buy Me A Coffee!

#writing #wattpad #to remember #promotion #advice

thewritershandbook

imawriterhelp

Ooh I’ve never seen civilizations being characterized as this! We were always taught the 5 components

1. Tech: Aka do they farm? Do they do something besides hurl a big ass rock at the mammoth for food?

2. Specialization: Aka is there some nerd that slaps shiny rocks on chains and trades it for food, and that leads us to our next point.

3. Trade/currency: kind of like the grapes thing, but it asks really if they trade with others and one another

4. Goverment: aka do you have a monarchy that is thrown in chaos when a man with no ears takes he place of king who was in Egypt during the time claiming to be his dead brother? ( this happened, funnily enough)

5. Culture: aka does your civilization have a special like food they eat when the moon is big as shit because they believe that some fertility goddess is about to get it on with a maternity goddess?

And that’s my crash course in what I was taught about civilizations.

#writing #civilizations #civilization

fozmeadows

on fanfic & emotional continuity

Writing and reading fanfic is a masterclass in characterisation.

Consider: in order to successfully write two different “versions” of the same character - let alone ten, or fifty, or a hundred - you have to make an informed judgement about their core personality traits, distinguishing between the results of nature and nurture, and decide how best to replicate those conditions in a new narrative context. The character you produce has to be recognisably congruent with the canonical version, yet distinct enough to fit within a different - perhaps wildly so - story. And you physically can’t accomplish this if the character in question is poorly understood, or viewed as a stereotype, or one-dimensional. Yes, you can still produce the fic, but chances are, if your interest in or knowledge of the character(s) is that shallow, you’re not going to bother in the first place.

Because ficwriters care about nuance, and they especially care about continuity - not just literal continuity, in the sense of corroborating established facts, but the far more important (and yet more frequently neglected) emotional continuity. Too often in film and TV canons in particular, emotional continuity is mistakenly viewed as a synonym for static characterisation, and therefore held anathema: if the character(s) don’t change, then where’s the story? But emotional continuity isn’t anti-change; it’s pro-context. It means showing how the character gets from Point A to Point B as an actual journey, not just dumping them in a new location and yelling Because Reasons! while moving on to the next development. Emotional continuity requires a close reading, not just of the letter of the canon, but its spirit - the beats between the dialogue; the implications never overtly stated, but which must logically occur off-screen. As such, emotional continuity is often the first casualty of canonical forward momentum: when each new TV season demands the creation of a new challenge for the protagonists, regardless of where and how we left them last, then dealing with the consequences of what’s already happened is automatically put on the backburner.

Fanfic does not do this.

Fanfic embraces the gaps in the narrative, the gracenotes in characterisation that the original story glosses, forgets or simply doesn’t find time for. That’s not all it does, of course, but in the context of learning how to write characters, it’s vital, because it teaches ficwriters - and fic readers - the difference between rich and cardboard characters. A rich character is one whose original incarnation is detailed enough that, in order to put them in fanfic, the writer has to consider which elements of their personality are integral to their existence, which clash irreparably with the new setting, and which can be modified to fit, to say nothing of how this adapted version works with other similarly adapted characters. A cardboard character, by contrast, boasts so few original or distinct attributes that the ficwriter has to invent them almost out of whole cloth. Note, please, that attributes are not necessarily synonymous with details in this context: we might know a character’s favourite song and their number of siblings, but if this information gives us no actual insight into them as a person, then it’s only window-dressing. By the same token, we might know very few concrete facts about a character, but still have an incredibly well-developed sense of their personhood on the basis of their actions.

The fact that ficwriters en masse - or even the same ficwriter in different AUs - can produce multiple contradictory yet still fundamentally believable incarnations of the same person is a testament to their understanding of characterisation, emotional continuity and narrative.

earlgreytea68

So I was reading this rumination on fanfic and I was thinking about something @involuntaryorange once talked to me about, about fanfic being its own genre, and something about this way of thinking really rocked my world? Because for a long time I have thought like a lawyer, and I have defined fanfiction as “fiction using characters that originated elsewhere,” or something like that. And now I feel like…fanfiction has nothing to do with using other people’s characters, it’s just a character-driven *genre* that is so character-driven that it can be more effective to use other people’s characters because then we can really get the impact of the storyteller’s message but I feel like it could also be not using other people’s characters, just a more character-driven story. Like, I feel like my original stuff–the novellas I have up on AO3, the draft I just finished–are probably really fanfiction, even though they’re original, because they’re hitting fanfic beats. And my frustration with getting original stuff published has been, all along, that I’m calling it a genre it really isn’t.

And this is why many people who discover fic stop reading other stuff. Once you find the genre you prefer, you tend to read a lot in that genre. Some people love mysteries, some people love high-fantasy. Saying you love “fic” really means you love this character-driven genre.

So when I hear people be dismissive of fic I used to think, Are they just not reading the good fic? Maybe I need to put the good fic in front of them? But I think it turns out that fanfiction is a genre that is so entirely character-focused that it actually feels weird and different, because most of our fiction is not that character-focused.

It turns out, when I think about it, I am simply a character-based consumer of pop culture. I will read and watch almost anything but the stuff that’s going to stick with me is because I fall for a particular character. This is why once a show falters and disagrees with my view of the character, I can’t just, like, push past it, because the show *was* the character for me.

Right now my big thing is the Juno Steel stories, and I know that they’re doing all this genre stuff and they have mysteries and there’s sci-fi and meanwhile I’m just like, “Okay, whatever, I don’t care about that, JUNO STEEL IS THE BEST AND I WANT TO JUST ROLL AROUND IN HIS SARCASTIC, HILARIOUS, EMOTIONALLY PINING HEAD.” That is the fanfiction-genre fan in me coming out. Someone looking for sci-fi might not care about that, but I’m the type of consumer (and I think most fic-people are) who will spend a week focusing on what one throwaway line might reveal about a character’s state of mind. That’s why so many fics *focus* on those one throwaway lines. That’s what we’re thinking about.

And this is what makes coffee shop AUs so amazing. Like, you take some characters and you stick them in a coffee shop. That’s it. And yet I love every single one of them. Because the focus is entirely on the characters. There is no plot. The plot is they get coffee every day and fall in love. That’s the entire plot. And that’s the perfect fanfic plot. Fanfic plots are almost always like that. Almost always references to other things that clue you in to where the story is going. Think of “friends to lovers” or “enemies to lovers” or “fake relationship,” and you’re like, “Yes. I love those. Give me those,” and you know it’s going to be the same plot, but that’s okay, you’re not reading for the plot. It’s like that Tumblr post that goes around that’s like, “Me starting a fake relationship fic: Ooooh, do you think they’ll fall in love for real????” But you’re not reading for the suspense. Fic frees you up from having to spend effort thinking about the plot. Fic gives your brain space to focus entirely on the characters. And, especially in an age of plot-twist-heavy pop culture, that almost feels like a luxury. “Come in. Spend a little time in this character’s head. SPEND HOURS OF YOUR LIFE READING SO MANY STORIES ABOUT THIS CHARACTER’S HEAD. Until you know them like a friend. Until you know them so well that you miss them when you’re not hanging out with them.”

When that is your story, when the characters become like your friends, it makes sense that you’re freed from plot. It’s like how many people don’t really have a “plot” to hanging out with their friends. There’s this huge obsession with plot, but lives don’t have plots. Lives just happen. We try to shape them into plots later, but that’s just this organizational fiction we’re imposing. Plot doesn’t have to be the raison d’etre of all story-telling, and fic reminds us of that.

Idk, this was a lot of random rambling but I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately.

nianeyna

“fanfiction has nothing to do with using other people’s characters, it’s just a character-driven *genre* that is so character-driven that it can be more effective to use other people’s characters”

yes!!!! I feel like I knew this on some level but I’ve never explicitly thought about it that way. this feels right, yep. Mainstream fiction often seems very dry to me and I think this is why - it tends to skip right over stuff that would be a huge plot arc in a fanfic, if not an entire fanfic in itself. And I’m like, “hey, wait, go back to that. Why are you skipping that? Where’s the story?” But now I think maybe people who don’t like fanfiction are going like, “why is there an entire fanfic about something that could have happened offscreen? Is anything interesting ever going to happen here? Where’s the story?”

earlgreytea68

Yes! Exactly! This!!!

This crystallized for me when I taught my first class of fanfiction to non-fic-readers and they just kept being like, “But nothing happens. What’s the plot?” and I was so confused, like, “What are you talking about? They fall in love. That’s the plot.” But we were, I think, talking past each other. They kept waiting for some big moment to happen, but for me the point was that the little moments were the big moments.

meanderings0ul

This is such an awesome conversation, but I think there’s even another layer here that makes ‘fic’ its own genre. And it is the plot.

Everyone who’s experienced in reading fic has their little ‘trope plots’ we are willing to read or even prefer in order to spend time with our favorite characters. We know how it’s gonna end and we genuinely don’t care, because the character is the whole point of why we’re reading. And that is unique. That’s just not how mainstream media publication does things.

But there are also hundreds of thousands of fics people might call ‘plot driven’ and they have wonderful, intricate plots that thrill their readers.

But they’re not at all ‘plot driven’ in the same way as other mainstream genres.

The thing about ‘plot’ in fic is that it tends to ebb and flow naturally. There’s not the same high speed, race to the finish you’d get from a good action movie. There’s no stop and start of side plots you get in TV genre shows. The best fic plot slides from big event to restful evening to frantic activity to shared meals and squabbles and back, and it gives equal time and attention and detail to each of these things.

Like @earlgreytea68 said, “There’s this huge obsession with plot, but lives don’t have plots. Lives just happen. We try to shape them into plots later, but that’s just this organizational fiction we’re imposing. Plot doesn’t have to be the raison d’etre of all story-telling, and fic reminds us of that.”

Fic plot moves at a pace similar to the life of whatever character it’s about. Not the other way around. There’s a fundamental difference in prioritization in fic.

I think this only adds to the case of ‘fic’ as its own, distinctive genre. Stylistic choices of writing that would never work in traditional, mainstream fiction novels work for novel-length fic. Fic adventures spend as much time fleshing out the little moments between romances and friendships as they do on that plot twist. The sleepy campground conversations are as important to the plot as the kidnapped princess, because that’s how the characters are going to grow together by the end of the story. It’s not a grace note, it’s not a side episode or an addition or a mention - it’s integral and equal.

That’s just accepted as fact by fic writers and readers. It’s expected without any particular mention. And it gives a very unique flavor and pace to fic that makes a lot of mainstream stories feel like stale, off-brand wonderbread. They are missing something regular fic readers take for granted (and it isn’t just the representational differences, because we all know that’s a whole different conversation). There’s a fundamental difference in how ‘fic’ is written, detailed, and paced that is built on its foundations as a ‘character driven’ genre.

And it isn’t only action/adventure/mystery plots that have this difference in fic. Those ‘everybody’s human in today’s world’ AUs, those ‘friends to lovers’ slow burn stories have it too. They have a plot, but it’s the life - the grocery shopping, the dumb fights and sudden inescapable emotional blows, those moments of joy with that person you click with, managing work and family and seasons - that’s the whole plot on its own.

And that’s almost impossible to explain to someone who hasn’t really experienced fic as a genre, who’s used to traditional person A and person B work together/overcome differences/bond to accomplish X. In fic accomplishing X might be the beginning or the middle, not the end result of the story, and A & B continue to exist separate from X entirely. X is only relevant because of how it relates to A & B, not the other way around.

Fic is absolutely its own genre and it has a lot to do with plot. I’ve been calling this ‘organic plot’ in my head for months, because I knew something felt different about writing this way, how long fic plot ebbs and grows seemingly on its own sometimes. ‘Dual plot’ could be another option, maybe, though the character plot and life experience plots aren’t really separate. Inverted plot? Hm. I’m sure a good term will develop over time.

earlgreytea68

OH MY GOODNESS I LOVE THIS.

I was always fond of saying, about my own fics, that my plots show up about two-thirds of the way through, because it takes me that long to figure out where I’m going, and then I would lol about it, because, ha, wouldn’t it be great if I organized it better.

And now I read this and I’m like, WAIT. YES. THAT’S WHAT’S HAPPENING. IT’S BEEN HAPPENING ALL ALONG. I NEVER REALIZED IT. The idea that the primary importance is the throughline of the characters, and that’s what we’re following, and the plot is what’s dangling off the side of their story, that is SO IMPORTANT. You’re right, that usually we’re told as writers to construct stories from the plot outward. “Here are the beats your plot needs to hit, here’s the rising action to the climax to the falling action, now make sure your Character A makes this realization by Point X in order to get your plot into shape for Point Y to click in.” It’s *such* a plot-centric way to write and I am *terrible* at it. And I’ve always said, whenever I sit down to “outline” a story, like, How do you this? How do you know where the characters are going until they tell you where they’re going???

But it’s not that I’m “bad” at this, which is what I’ve always thought, it’s just that I’m coming at it from the opposite angle. I can’t plan the plot before the characters because I’m sticking close to the characters, and the traditional “plot” is secondary to whatever’s going to happen to them. And that’s not a wrong way of writing, it’s just a different way of writing. And it’s wrong of me to be thinking that my stories don’t get a “point” until they’re almost over. THEY’VE HAD THE POINT ALL ALONG. What happens when they’re almost over is that the characters come to where they’ve been going, and then the traditional “plot” is what helps shape the ending. The traditional “plot” becomes, to me, like that epilogue scene after the biggest explosion in an action movie, where you’re told the characters are going to be okay. I spend the entire movie telling you the characters are going to be okay, and then my epilogue scene is tacked on “oh, p.s., also they saved the day.”

conversationswithjohnlock

Oh my. Yes.

“Like @earlgreytea68 said, ‘There’s this huge obsession with plot, but lives don’t have plots. Lives just happen. We try to shape them into plots later, but that’s just this organizational fiction we’re imposing. Plot doesn’t have to be the raison d’etre of all story-telling, and fic reminds us of that.’”

“I was always fond of saying, about my own fics, that my plots show up about two-thirds of the way through, because it takes me that long to figure out where I’m going, and then I would lol about it, because, ha, wouldn’t it be great if I organized it better.”

I’ve always identified with authors who say, “… so I thought I knew what I was doing, and then he made me write this whole other thing, and I was like, no, that’s not the story, but he kept saying YES, THIS IS WHAT I’M DOING NOW!”

Maybe these are character-driven authors, as opposed to, for example, Anne Patchett, who I heard speak once, and when an audience member asked her if her characters change things as she’s writing, she said, “Hell, no. I have a plot and I make my characters do those things, because I’m the author.”

Of course, she also said that she based Easter (in State of Wonder) on a dog because she neither knows nor likes children, but I digress. She’s a plot-driven author.

I am not. None of my stories have been outlined or plotted in advance. I am constantly swinging by the seat of my characters’ pants (or tail feathers). I though it meant I wasn’t following the rules, or that I hadn’t really learned how to write the right way yet, but maybe it just means I’m a different kind of writer.

And I see this is my life, too. I want to hear about my friends’ feelings, about their friendships and relationships and love interests and how they fell in love or what it felt like when they broke up, and I’ll cry with them when they’re sad and be thrilled with them when they’re happy. I don’t really usually care about who got a promotion at work, you know?

What a fascinating, important conversation.

#long post #writing #fan fiction #i love characters #characters are the best and most important parts of a story imo

dededddddd

You bored, or feeling artsy but don’t have any inspiration...? *updated!*

Do you need to distract yourself? Or are you simply bored? Here are some great websites to make the time pass.

create pixel art

Awesome photo editor and art program, all free…!

Totally free transparent textures

make a cute chibi

draw some cool generative art

be a graffiti creator

create a picassohead (you don’t need to be a picasso to do so)

paint online

another awsome site to create pixel art on

and another one

create your own mandala

or color one

create an avatar

or you can try creating your own superhero

here you can interact with organisms in different environments to see how to music changes

here’s a website that translates the time into hexidecimal colours,

Here is a website where you can travel along a 3D line into the infinite unkown

here is a website where you can listen to rain with or without music

Need a model in a certain pose for drawing? here

Want to build your own planet

here is a website where you can create your own galaxies

make your own pattern (very useful if you need a new background)

create next hit comic

make a city which looks like something from 90′s games

draw a mandala like design

jig saw puzzles

more jig saw puzzles to solve

create a stunning HTML5 animation - no coding!

make a movie

create and dress up dolls

play a piano

you can also play a guitar

create sounds

another sound creator

create a logo

design your dream home

sketch rooms

explore fashion trends and create your own sets

build a website

try this app for building a website

Or maybe start learning how to code!

design your own t-shirt or a beanie or sweatpants and order them

design your own phone case

pretend to be a graphic designer with this cool online tool

Make your own Glitch art

Here’s another glitch art maker

And another!

Holy hell, here’s a third!

make an image look like it was created by a commodore 64

freaking cool text generator!

Easy to use word processor

Make up really cool patterns or run your photos through it :)

Write an essay on anything with no hassle

Wanna see how something you write would look like if it was on JacksFilms YGS((Your Grammar Sucks videos on YouTube))?

Make pictures out of text

ASCII word generator

Need an idea for some fanart-here :D

Still haven’t found something that would float your boat? Try these:

watch a documentary

learn to code

do something yourself

workout with the help of this great youtube channels

learn things

play pokemon or zelda or other awesome old school games

waste your time on miniclip

play games at additing games

or try games at agame

calm your thoughts

the quiet place

it will be okay

vent or listen to someone

pour out your soul

explore the sky

look at art from around the world

virtually visit museum of iraq

explore world with arounder

create a music playlist

list through rare books

scroll useful science website

create sand art

brain games

try out tastekid and discover new favorite band or movie or book

interactive 3D anatomy

random street view

post a secret

create a family tree

find our what’s the difference between x and y

help scientists and become volunteer researcher

create your own font

read a classic short story

In the mood to read, but not sure exactly what book to go for?

scribble on maps

listen to letters

play with acrobots

listen to podcasts

make a bucket list

Ever want to see the most truly useless websites in creation?

Prank a friend with this blue screen of death!

Zone out watching the colors drip down

Maybe none of these peeked your interest-maybe you’ve been wanting to create an o.c, but never really knew how to start-or you just enjoy making O.C’s….

This masterlist is to help you in making your own OCs….it can also apply to developing RP characters i suppose! (´ヮ`)!

How to Write Better OCs:

basic tips on how to make your oc even better

tragic backstory? learn how to write one/make yours great

writing specific characters

a wordier, great guide on how to develop your character

kick out those vague descriptions and make them AWESOME

Character Development:

how to actually make an OC

Q&A (to develop characters)

more Q&As

giving your character a backstory

how to write an attractive character

Need an Appearance idea?

Humanoid generator? check

Here’s another one

and maybe if you didn’t like those this’ll work

Need Monsterpeople?

Well, then here ya’ go

Maybe you need Cats?

Diversity

adding more racial diversity

avoiding tokenism, AKA, how to add diversity to your cast not just because you “need” it

writing sexuality and gender expression (doesnt include non binary, if you have a good ref to that, please add on!)

masterpost on writing more diversity into your story

cultures of the world

guides to drawing different ethnicities (not just a great art reference, but also really helpful in appearance descriptions!)

Mary Sue/Gary Stu

Test to see if your character is a Sue

Explains subdivisions of Sues/Stus

Powerful Characters Don’t Have to Be Sues

Villains

villain generator

need an evil sounding name for your evil character? bam

villain archetypes

what’s your villain’s motive for being a villain?

Relationships

character perceptions (What your character thinks of themselves and what others think of them)

how to write strong relationships between two characters

8 ways to write better characters and develop their relationships with others

OCxLove Interest Handbook

develop your couple with good ol’ Q&A!

how to write realistic relationships

how to write relatives for your characters (this is more OC related to a canon character, but will help in writing family members in general)

ARCHETYPES

12 common archetypes

8 archetypes for male/female characters

female archetypes (goes pretty indepth from two main categories)

a list of archetypes

NAMES

how to name your character

random name generator

most common surnames

surnames by ethnicity

APPEARANCE

tips for better design

basic appearance generator

pinterest board for character design (includes NSFW and images of skeletons/exposed muscle (?) so tread carefully!)

clothing ref masterpost

Clothing generator

Another clothing generator

More clothing generator

Aaaand even more

Steam punk clothing

Char Style preference

Dress Generator

DETAILS

give your character better powers

a list of professions

proactive vs reactive characters

positive and negative traits

interest generator

skills generator

motivation generator

123 ideas for character flaws

list of phobias

Oh shit someone died

Backgrounds and stuff? yep

Quirks

Personality. you need that shit

Need something fandom related?

City generator hell yeah

location? got ya

World-building?

make your own god damn laws

Landscape.

Need Item names?

Fantasy/sci-fi/etc. medicine names

Stuff to make things more interesting.Weapons, clothes, treasures… whatever your characters need.

Item & Artifact Generators

Other stuffs!

Genre, Plot, & Story Prompt Generators

How did your characters meet?

Fanfic plots. you bet your ass.

#not writing #but also writing #long post #master post

To my followers: Thank you all for sticking with me even though I have a bad habit of disappearing for a week or so at a time. Y’all are the MVPs!

#writeblr #where do i go #the answer #the void

max-gillespie

Y’all Realize Publishers Aren’t Out To Get You, Right?

One of the most frequently asked questions I get is “What will make a publisher/agent/editor reject me?” And you don’t want to say it to their face like it is but I’ve grown so tired of the variations on the question that I do just reply “Submitting a bad book.” If your book is ready to be submitted, you will know in the response to your queries. It’s obvious, if you get back individualized rejections instead of form letters, you’re probably on the right track.

That being said, let’s look at what makes publishers reject a well-written book

(actual percentages are completely made up but these are the most common reasons)

We treat publishing like a fort to break into, but that automatically makes publishers seem like some enemy to be defeated. Like at every point there is a big burly PUBLISHING BOUNCER ready to throw us out the moment we slip up.

In reality, people who work in the publishing industry just really like books. We want to see MORE books, and we want to help people bring their books into the world, and if we happen to profit a little from that, that’s dinner on the table. I feel like as aspiring authors we can get so caught up in the business aggregation and the sales numbers and the marketing, that getting published is akin to a civil war battle-of-shiloh re-enactment. When people ask me “What makes publishers reject me?” the question almost doesn’t make sense. I get what they mean, but on a more fundamental level what they’re really asking is “How do I get past all of the big bad publishing people who hate me and don’t want to publish my book?”

It’s not like that. It’s more like Ella from XX Literary sent over a manuscript she’s super confident will make a splash and Jim from acquisitions is like GUYS LOOK THIS IS COOL and the head of the house at the next board meeting goes “Yeah but do we really have another slot for this.” and everyone that the editor has riled up on the marketing team is like YES! and then your book gets a contract and everyone at the house is like :DDDD!!!!!

Like, we care about your writing. We want to see those cool books succeed. We’re not the enemy here, guys.