As I Write

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[thememedaddy]

[faelanvance]

if you're struggling with your writing right now, I just want to say, now more than ever, it's needed, and I mean it.

It doesn't have to be a big think piece novel, an elaborate examination of a certain subject or opinion, your poetry doesn't have to have an obvious political angle, but yes, it also absolutely can.

It doesn't have to be light hearted escapism to heal our collective wounds for a while, but it can.

It doesn't have to be anything other than authentic to you.

We're nearing, or already in, an era where everything feels like it is becoming less and less authentic, further and further detached from people's true experiences, genuine voices, algorithms feeding us the most shallow, trend-following, manufactured by big-bucks, AI spouted, sterile material and no matter what you're writing, be it a mind-blowing, life-shattering profound novel, or a casual piece of fun entertainment (maybe both!) so long as you're writing and creating from the heart, out of passion for writing it, it's needed out here right now 💗

[ahsoka-in-a-hood]

Apparently some people still need to hear this so: using an 'ai checker' is still using ai. If you are feeding someone's fic to one of these checkers, you will still not be sure their fic is ai because they are not 100% accurate, but you can be 100% sure that you are using ai. For fic. Furthermore you are doing the work of an ai scraper for them. You are, personally, feeding the machine. There is no actual excuse for using an ai checker on fanfic as a hobby. YOU are the problem.

If you think a fic is ai, mute it and move on. That's it. That's all you do.

[sasheneskywalker]

i made a guide to help with ao3 tagging :)

[brainstreams]

Underused Ways to Write Nonverbal Characters (Without Making Them Silent and Forgettable)

• They answer questions with timing instead of words

• They tap or gesture toward objects instead of explaining

• Their expressions react a beat before everyone else processes something

• They repeat small gestures that the people close to them learn to read

• They tilt their head instead of asking a question

• Withdraws into focused work when emotional rather than seeking conversation

• Their body language is emphasized

• They communicate urgency through movement, not sound

• They might use sign language, texting/notes, gestures, or expressions with basic sound

• Keeps track of details about people (favorite food, routines, habits) and uses those details to show that they care)

• A sarcastic nonverbal character might rely heavily on eye rolls, slow claps, and deadpan stares

• A shy one might use tiny gestures, hesitant touches, and lots of eye contact avoidance.

• Solves problems immediately instead of discussing them

• A confident one might use bold gestures, direct eye contact, and very confident physical language

• They interrupt conversations physically instead of verbally

• They point things out others missed because they’re always observing

• They respond to tone, mood, and tension faster than dialogue

• They use eye contact very deliberately

• They hand people objects instead of explaining what they mean

• They create their own small signals with people they trust

• They pay attention to things everyone else misses

Follow for more! <3

[pangur-and-grim]

I won't publish the ask (they asked me not to), but I thought I'd still answer it publicly!

no, royalties are not a significant source of income for most authors. if you wrote something like Project Hail Mary, then absolutely, the royalties would be substantial! but that's like winning the lottery. Ryan Gosling is not starring in the movie adaption of most books.

when you sell a book to a publisher, you get what's called 'an advance against royalties'. it's usually split into multiple parts, so you might get one third for the initial sale, one third for the final revised manuscript, and one third on the publishing date.

an advance against royalties is the publisher saying "we believe you will eventually make X amount in royalties, so here it is ahead of time." and then you don't actually see any money from royalties until the advance is paid off. most books do not make enough in royalties to pay off the advance (I have two children's books and one fiction book, and have yet to see royalties for any of them).

advances are still great, but you need to make them stretch! for instance, last year my net income was about 30k Canadian (21k USD), which is fantastic when you consider that I mostly made it through writing. but I'm definitely not a millionaire. I can live off my writing (not trying to undersell that!) but I'll probably remain in a low income bracket for the foreseeable future.

this isn't meant to discourage anyone from seeking out writing as a career! however, there is a reason that many authors have alternate jobs with writing on the side. or, you know, rich spouses.

[pangur-and-grim]

this isn't me making a fuss about pirating (I've pirated way too many shows to run my mouth on that lmao), but there IS actually a financial incentive to having people buy your books!

buying books shows the publisher that they can make money off you, which means they're more likely to give you advances for future books. and advances are what authors live off (if they don't have a side job). that's why I always push pre-orders so hard! you have to be a racehorse worth betting on, or else they send you to the glue factory....

if I can offer one alternative to pirating: asking your library to stock the book also helps authors, and doesn't cost anything. the only downside is the patience required.

[pangur-and-grim]

OOPS yes, @stjohnstarling makes a good point! everything I'm saying is from the perspective of traditional publishing, but it's a very different game if you're a self-published author

[gollancz]

I will also add that this is why pre-orders can make a HUGE difference to authors - because if there's enough hype, publishers can pull more levers to build that momentum and reach more readers to help authors earn out their advance faster.

[edw-lugh]

Daily affirmations:

No one will find the picture in your attic.

It's not your fault the person made of cadavers you sew together and you revived killed your family.

It's perfectly normal to enter your house climbing like a lizard.

The fact that you killed a man doesn't make you guilty, it was just your silly alter ego.

That raven who won't stop saying "nevermore" is an asshole, don't listen to it.

Your fiancé is definitely NOT hiding his mad spouse in his attic.

The big ass dog that killed members of your family isn't real, dw.

You deserve revenge for having been abused as a child, go back to moors and show them!

Go and kidnap that singer!

[frogandtoadpdf]

the best way i can think to describe the experience of reading moby dick is you’re in line at the dmv and this guy behind you very loudly says “well who HASN’T had a gay experience” and then proceeds to tell you every detail about his life in between anecdotes about how great sperm is and how ropes work and sometimes he’ll say the most poetic shit you’ve ever heard in your life and them jump RIGHT back into explaining how a whale is a fish because 1) it swims in water and you’re still only like halfway through the dmv line

[lakevida]

[darlingofdots]

been stewing on an analytical approach to fiction which I call "is this book afraid of me?" and in order to answer this question you determine how hard the book is trying to make sure you don't come after the writer on twitter

[playwrongs]

Tags via @deadpanwalking, editor and ass-kicker extraordinaire

[gingisnap]

Please keep making art. Please make it for yourself. Please don’t let everything become even more of the same flat general appeal nonsense that doesn’t seem to have anything to say

[pjharvey]

my best tip for anyone trying to get back into reading is to remember that you can read books to avoid other responsibilities in ur life and it can become a vice if you play your cards right

[thesinlesssinner]

My therapist always says “reading is a healthy hobby” and every time I’m like “girl not how I do it.”

[luthienne]

“…I am half afraid to hope for what I long for.”

— Emily Dickinson, from a letter to Mrs. A.P Strong, August 1851

[allthingswhumpyandangsty]

Sorry, but I'm just trying to comprehend things here. Does being a proship means you normalize dark, taboo, incest etc. in fics?

no. proship literally just means anti censorship and anti harassment. proship does not necessarily mean liking every taboo ship. it does not necessarily mean normalizing any taboo ship.

you can be proship even if you hate every single ship that is taboo. as long as you don’t harass or shame real people over fiction, then by the definition, you are proship.

almost every person who is proship has something they dislike, hate, or even find disgusting. the point is not to normalize any of these taboo things. the point is literally to not shame, harass or censor people who enjoy the things they enjoy as long as it’s fiction and no one in real life is harmed.

so when someone who is proship finds a taboo ship they think is disgusting, they either scroll past, mute, or block the source. that’s all. they don’t harass or shame the person who enjoys it. they don’t try to normalize it. they just curate their own internet experience. scroll past, mute or block what they don’t want to see, mind their own business and let others enjoy whatever fictional things they enjoy.

[innerchildabortionclinic]

Do you threaten murder on everyone who gives you book recommendations?

it was ayn rand...

[briannyssey]

some people read an awful lot, but don't read very well. deep reading is itself a skill. being able to untangle the threads of theme, subtext, characterization, narrative style, and more are all things that it takes time and intentional engagement to learn.

if you've ever watched a movie with your film buff friend and chatted about it afterwards, that friend might have pulled hours more of conversation out of the same 90 minutes of screentime, and wondered how the fuck they did that - it's not raw intelligence, it's a skill that's been honed. And I learned a lot about film from talking to friends who knew about film, and reading critique by film scholars

literature works exactly the same. so if you want to get more out of your reading, there are things you can do to train that. Find a book or short story you think you've got a pretty good grasp on, preferably from a widely read & respected author like Ursula K Le Guin or Ray Bradbury (if you're new at this don't swing for the Toni Morrison or the Samuel Beckett yet unless you feel very comfortable with the complexity of the text - the point is to develop a complicated new skill on good foundations). Then go to JSTOR, create a free account, and look up criticism on the story you've chosen. Find something that looks readable to you and at least somewhat interesting. Read that article, and look at what that writer got out of the same story you've read that you didn't get. Do you see the critic's points? Did they teach you something about the text? Go reread that story and see if the criticism has changed how you read it. Are you seeing more? Are you thinking about the implications of a line that you hadn't noticed before? Does the story feel richer now?

there are other more involved ways of finding criticism. Learning to use academic databases, going to your local library to do interlibrary loans, finding critical voices you appreciate; these are all useful subskills. Literacy isn't just being able to read words, it's being able to read words in context and think about what they tell you about the text, the author, or the time and culture in which the text was produced. Literacy is the skill of being able to look at the world with open eyes and think clearly about how its parts are connected. It'll change your life

[briannyssey]

this keeps getting shared around and ive seen some different tags responding differently so i just want to make some important clarifications and distillations

you don't have to read more deeply if you don't want to (but i'd recommend it, i genuinely think it makes you a better person)

if you want to learn to read more deeply, the resources are out there. try to find critical literature (that is, academic writing that analyzes the text) on works your familiar with so you can get a sense for how to do that analysis too

learning to deep read literature can help you deep read many areas of your life

writers tend to put a lot of work into their stories. if you learn to read that work you'll (probably) appreciate the stories you love even more. And if not, then you'll have developed your taste. This too is worth doing

[amandapostman]

my dad told me that your best piece of work is always going to be supremely embarrassing to you. so if you’re cringing and apologizing when someone is reading/viewing your piece, that’s a fantastic sign

[veggiesforpresident]

honestly one of my favorite things about fanfic is when you can see the canon influences come out in really subtle ways. like a canon line thats mentioned once as a throwaway is suddenly the entire premise for a fic or it influences the characterization or something. its just so cool to see how people weave their ideas around a source material, especially if its not a detail i'd thought about before

[justsomeguycore]

i think everyone in the whole world forgot that mystery doesn’t have to equal crime

[justsomeguycore]

sometimes it’s just like. what happent ?