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mayordea · 10 months

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Happy birthday to the number one princess in the world!! 💖

~from her biggest fans :)

ramble of my scattered thoughts on the piece under cut as usual cuz i love talking 😋

This has been an idea I've been cookin for a while, and it was so cluttered and unlike any other ensemble piece I've made... and I decided I oughta do it anyway. I love Miku, I love Vocaloid, and I wanted to do something really ambitious and crazy for her anniversary. Crazy that she's turning her "canon" age this year TwT

I had the idea floating around since like, May...? And then finally started acting on it around June 18. I'm terrible with deadlines, obvious with how I can never make a silly birthday post in time, so I started wayyyy ahead to make sure I have some room to be lazy lol, especially with an idea as ambitious as this.

This was finished on July 12! So I had to sit on this for an annoying amount of time. Very difficult for someone like me who just wants to talk about everything I'm working on to the masses. But at the very least, that gave me the time to work on the draft for this post.

~~~

Here's some ~behind the scenes~ scribbles leading up to the finished piece!

Left is the chicken scratch plan i made in my handy dandy notebook (whenever things are getting real and ambitious, i always made a rough ROUGH plan in there. Usually I'd do a rough pass of the full thing, but this was too complicated for me to do traditionally. I majorly benefited from digital tools to make this possible). CyberDiva and CyberSongman were considered, but I ended up cutting them cuz I just didn't feel like drawing them sorry-- (just pretend they're off to the side. They gave Ruby and Clara the pizza lol). Right is the "final" completed sketch (before I decided to include Chika mid-way through coloring and VY1 and VY2 near the finish line). I started by drawing the main "groups" separated on a different canvas so I can plop them into the main canvas for easy rearranging and transforming. However I got lazy and ended up drawing everyone in the bottom right corner directly on the canvas since I liked seeing the big picture of everyone's positions. Y'know.

Almost excluded Chika! But I like her design so much that I just felt like including her last-minute. You win this time, Chika fans. VY1 and VY2 were very close to being cut! I added them when I began doing the banner and thought "eh why not". I figured their non-human designs would be pretty easy to include pushed back in the bg. Ik VY1 is more commonly associated with the fan design, but I referenced the hairpin cuz it was simpler and the fan looked very annoying to draw 😭

Sorry to the fans of many Vocaloids I had to cut because this composition was insane enough as is. I promise I wanted to include fellas like CUL, LUMi and Sachiko 😭 I will admit I was a little biased on who I wanted to include over others. Like, I don't normally care for Bruno and Clara, but I wanted to get some more international 'loids in the mix. Also wanted to stick in the realm of official designs and not fan-designs since, as much as I can appreciate those, are just a whole "wait who is that guy supposed to be" situation I didn't wanna deal with. I also did wanna include even more character references through the balloons, but they ended up being kind of ugly and overcomplicated the BG :,) (Oh, and while this was originally planned to be a Vocaloid-only piece, I did end up including Teto, Neru, and Haku 'cuz those are Miku's besties dude!!! They may not be Officially in the club but they're her girls and it would be criminal to not invite them to her birthday).

Anyway, this project marks the first time I've drawn a lot of Vocaloids. Lily, Piko, Rana, Yuki, Yukari, Miki, Maika, and many more lol. All of 'em I've heard or seen in passing, but now I actually drew them, and some have really cool and fun designs!! I got into a habit of drawing Merli after this since I just love her design for example. And I'll probably be drawing more lol!!

Oh and the last thing I'll add for now!! The cake is indeed made up of various song references!! I wanted to reference the "big four" producers, just absolute icons in Vocaloid history. The pink/black checkerboard is "World is Mine" (Ryo), the crescents on the side is "Rolling Girl" (Wowaka), the smiley faces is "Matryoshka" (Hachi), and the three hearts on the side is "The Vampire" (DECO*27, which is sort of a symbol of his whole Mannequin album tbh). I know "The Vampire" is a bit modern but I couldn't think of anything else off the top of my head. I'm a fake DECO fan I know 😔 "Matryoshka" was originally going to be referenced in the colors of the candles but believe me it looked like shit so I just went for something else last minute 😭

That's all I have to say!!! Hope you didn't mind the text wall if you made it here. I hope you like it as much as I do!!!! Happy freakin' birthday Miku!!!!

I have to deal with tagging all these characters now for my page,,, in the drafts my tags got cut off after a certain point so I think I'm massively breaching the tag limit 😭 um... I'll figure that out later...

not losing sleep that i can't tag everyone, even for page organization purposes because some characters have pretty generic names and some are a little hard to see in full yknow. If you're one of those people who tag every character in the art piece you reblog... I am very sorry.

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fiveht · 3 months

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Proof of life (Adore pt 3)

Hello my sweet angel babies ♥️

I'm not going to be able to adequately express my gratitude for the steady stream of love (and concern, sorry) I've been receiving over the past couple of months. I'm so sorry I've been AWOL, it will definitely happen again. Because see, for me, I usually have to make a choice between social and creative fandom participation. My battery is small, and takes a long time to charge.

Thank you to everyone who's left comments and asks and DMs since I've been gone. I don't think I can respond to all of it, but rest assured those messages ping my cold, dead heart every time I see them.

So I'm gonna go out on a limb here. I did this same thing months and months ago, when I was working on Head Over Feet, and let me be clear: posting even a single word of a WIP goes against my every instinct and principle as an author. I am someone who likes to finish an entire story before I post any of it, and on top of that, I am NOT a fast writer, so the expectations that I'm setting up here might not be advisable. But I did it before and managed to finish the thing, and I want to give you guys something in exchange for being so unbelievably awesome, so here I am again.

This will probably be the only time I mention this story in public until it's finished and posted, and inquiries about my progress are unlikely to help with the writing process, I'm just saying. I reserve the right to change every last word of this before the final draft, and I also reserve the right to fall off the face of the planet and simply never finish it, as much as I will strive to prevent that from happening. Please be patient with me.

Anyway, here is my paltry offering to say thanks for the love: the (VERY rough) first ~1300 words of the third instalment of The Adventures of Soft Daddy and Danger Twink.

Sirius secures his handheld shower head to its holder at the edge of his clawfoot tub, and steps out carefully onto the bathmat. He shivers in the cool air outside the shower curtain; it's about twenty degrees below zero outside, so even if he could afford to run his ancient radiator at full blast, it probably wouldn't help much.

He dries himself off and checks his reflection in the mirror, turning his face this way and that as he tugs his hair out of the bun he'd piled it into to keep it dry during his shower. There's no need for makeup tonight, not when he's not even planning to put on clothes.

It's incrementally warmer when he steps out into the main room of his apartment. He gathers an array of splayed text books and notes from his bed and dumps them carelessly onto the couch, then closes his new laptop and places it delicately on the coffee table. It's the most expensive thing he owns, save for the Gucci backpack currently sitting in his wardrobe with a three-inch berth around it like his shoes and other bags might somehow contaminate it. It's weird owning rich-people stuff when you are still, objectively, broke as fuck.

He perches on the edge of his bed and sets his phone to charge, because his battery doesn't even last a day anymore, and he's going to need it this evening. He tucks it in next to his pillow and picks up his new toy.

The plug isn't much larger than the one he already has. A little longer, which is appealing, but no wider, so it shouldn't be a challenge to get it in comfortably. He disconnects it from its charger and hefts it in his hand, feeling the added weight from the electronics inside.

He picks up his phone, and hesitates when he sees the notification waiting for him.

Rieka: let's go out tomorrow

Rieka: the fact that we haven't been drunk since the term started is criminal

Rieka: we've had two chem labs and zero drinks

Sirius purses his lips, thumbs hovering over the keyboard. There's a fine line here, and he hasn't quite found it yet.

Me: got plans

Me: raincheck?

So complete avoidance is the best strategy, right?

Rieka: booooo 👎

He sighs, but at least she's not asking for an explanation. He opens a different conversation then, pushing all thoughts of Rieka Lupin into a tidy, sealed compartment, not to be opened during certain activities with a certain relative of hers.

Me: i'm ready

Me: are you in your office?

Daddy: Yup, I've got a few minutes

Daddy: Want me to call?

Instead of answering, Sirius hits the call button himself.

"Hey baby," Remus answers. His voice is already smooth and honey-sweet, and just from that, Sirius knows he's planning to lay it on thick tonight.

"Hi daddy," Sirius says with a smile. "Should I put it in now?"

There's a low chuckle over the line. "Are we feeling eager?"

"Always," Sirius says, laying back on his bed.

"Use the good lube I got you, it's gonna be in there a while."

He switches the call to speaker, and snags the bottle from his nightstand. "I threw out the old stuff, you've got me ruined for cheap lube."

"Only the best for that ass," Remus says, and Sirius can hear his smirk.

He gives the plug a liberal coating, running his fingers along its shape, his dick twitching just at the feel of the silky-smooth silicone, at the anticipation of what's about to happen. He spreads his legs wide, drawing one knee up to give himself easier access.

"Take it slow," Remus says, succinctly heading off Sirius' impulse to just shove the thing inside himself in one go. "Rub the tip against yourself, so you're nice and wet."

Sirius shuts his eyes as he obeys, sliding the slick end of the toy over his entrance. "Okay."

"Are you going to be a good boy for daddy tonight?"

"Uh-huh," Sirius says, teasing the very tip of the plug in and out of his hole.

"Tell me how."

"I'm not gonna touch."

"You're not gonna touch, and you're not gonna come."

"Yeah," Sirius says. His cock is starting to harden as his body tries to draw the plug inside. "Can I put it in, daddy?"

"Slow," Remus reminds him, "Slide it in nice and slow for me, baby."

Sirius catches his lip between his teeth and tries to push the plug in slowly, the way he knows Remus would do if he was here.

The shower has left him relaxed and more than ready, and it's hard not to take advantage, just press the toy in to its limit because he can. But he's working on his patience -- under Remus' careful tutelage -- so he shuts his eyes and tries to savour it, the tease of the plug's rubber tip at his entrance, the slow stretch as he eases it past the slight resistance before he sighs, and his body eagerly accepts the intrusion.

"Mmmm," Sirius sighs as he settles the base of the plug flush against his entrance, shifting his hips and feeling the constant, dull pressure against his prostate.

"How's it feel?"

"Good," Sirius says, splaying his legs out and just enjoying the pleasant fullness. It's been almost a week since Remus last fucked him, and that's just way too long. Christmas really spoiled him. He tugs the blankets up around him, because it's going to take some time before his body temperature is high enough to fight against the chill in his apartment.

"Have you tried out the settings at all?" Remus asks him, and Sirius picks up the phone, switching off speaker and holding it to his ear.

"No," he says, grinding his ass down against the bed to test the plug's reach inside him. "I thought you'd rather do the honours."

Remus hums, and Sirius hears the phone shifting in his grip. "I'm gonna turn it on, okay? Lowest setting."

"O--" Sirius stutters as the plug buzzes to life inside him, nestled snug against his prostate and sending little zings of pleasure down his legs. "Fuck that feels good. That's the lowest setting?"

"It is," Remus confirms. "Want to run through them all, see how high it goes? Or would you rather be surprised?"

"Mmmm, surprise me."

"Surprise it is," Remus says, and Sirius hears shuffling papers in the background as he prepares for his night class. Psychology 1001, Thursdays, 7-9:30PM. Two and a half hours of a lecture that Remus swears he's given so many times he could recite it in his sleep, so why not give himself something fun to focus on while he goes through the motions?

Being privy to all of this brilliant, upstanding man's secret perversions is a privilege Sirius does not take lightly.

"You can turn it off from the app if you need to," Remus is saying, "Or you can call me and I'll switch it off. My phone's on vibrate, so I'll see it right away."

Sirius smiles to himself. "Got it," he says, though this is a rehashing of the rules that Remus had laid out when he'd brought the plug over last weekend. He'd called it a "late Christmas gift", as if he hadn't already given Sirius several thousand dollars worth of presents on Christmas morning.

There's more rustling over the line, the squeak of a chair.

"Tell me again how you're going to be good tonight."

"I'm not gonna touch myself, and I'm not gonna come." The toy is still buzzing away inside him, making everything a little fuzzy at the edges.

"Tell me why."

"'Cause daddy's in charge, even when he's not here."

"Good boy."

Sirius squirms with pleasure, his cock smearing a little drop of fluid on his belly as the toy hums insistently at his prostate.

"I have to head out," Remus says. "How do you feel?"

"Good," Sirius says, his abs tensing as he shifts his legs and the angle of the toy changes. "Excited."

"Me too," Remus says softly. "I'll talk to you soon, beautiful. Send me some pictures." With a low beep, the call disconnects.

#and i disappear into the night once again #turned off anon asks for the time being #sorry i love you guys i'm just awkward

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writingquestionsanswered · 1 month

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I've got all the writing structure/craft books, watched tons of advice videos and have been checking out novels to learn by example. But just because I can write doesn't mean I can write a book. This is hard. At what point should any writer consider taking writing courses or hiring a book coach?

When to Consider a Course or Book Coach

Reading books, reading craft books, and watching advice videos isn't enough to teach you how to write a book. You also have to practice...

Imagine if you'd never sewn anything before, had never pieced together and hand sewn or machine sewn anything in your life. You could spend years reading books about sewing and garment construction and could watch hours upon hours of sewing videos on the internet, but that doesn't mean the first time you sit down to actually sew a garment, you're going to end up with a garment worthy of a ritzy department store...

Writing books IS hard, even if you've written a lot of them. I've written a dozen books (though they're not all published), and I still don't find writing a book to be a piece of cake. Part of that is just because different books present different challenges--and where you are in life can also play a big role--but the point is, no amount of learning or practice is going to make it easy.

There's an unfortunate myth among aspiring authors that being an author looks like this: spending some time learning to write, writing your book, and voila! You have a book to publish! The truth is very few authors publish the first book they ever wrote, and if they did, they probably have mountains of short stories and/or fan-fiction or other writing behind them. Most writers write two or three books before their skills are honed enough to write a publishable book. Which doesn't mean you can't write a publishable book on your first try, it just doesn't happen a lot.

So... writing courses... there's not a lot you're going to learn in a writing course that you haven't probably learned from reading, reading a lot of craft books, and watching a lot of advice videos. Certainly, anything you would learn in a writing course you can learn online for free. The main benefit of a writing course is the interaction with others, but even that is really dependent upon the teacher and your classmates. You really have to go into it with a thick skin, knowing that the opinions of your teacher and classmates are not the end all be all.

Writing coaches can be great but they're expensive, and you get more out of the experience if you go into it with a complete or near complete WIP that you want to query or publish, but can't quite get where you want it to be.

So, having said all of that, before pursuing either a writing course or coach, I would recommend trying to finish one or two WIPs to at least first draft stage, but preferably second draft stage, and see how you feel. They don't have to be good. In fact, if you haven't completed a WIP before, they're not going to be your best work (because that comes much later), but remember that part of the writing process is taking the "rough draft" and improving it, and revision is where you really start learning things.

Ultimately, though, follow your gut and follow the path that feels right to you. ♥

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

♦ Questions that violate my ask policies will be deleted! ♦ Please see my master list of top posts before asking ♦ Learn more about WQA here

#wqaadvice

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bellaxgiornata · 1 month

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Today I finally finished a rough draft for the first part of Jealousy, the Matt Murdock x Fem!Fitness Instructor!Reader and Frank Castle x Fem!Fitness Instructor!Reader smutty little gym series! I know I announced that one so long ago and it has taken me awhile to sit down and figure out a direction further than my initial idea. But now I've got it!

Not sure what fic I will release this week, I'm currently still frantically writing and hoarding rough drafts over here (the number is at 8 of them now 😅). There's still one more that I desperately want to have finished and ready before I give birth, though, so I haven't been editing too much lately. Thankfully it's about half written at least!

But I'm about to reach a milestone yet again and I've been contemplating a short little celebration since I've never done one before. It would be more game/chat centered with y'all since I definitely don't have time to take requests right now. But I thought about doing that as a lead up to maybe releasing an update so I had some more time to write and stockpile another rough draft. Not sure how y'all feel about that?

#bellas story updates #possible milestone celebration??#still deciding things over here #but i've been busy writing

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l-e-morgan-author · 3 months

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Draft cover for the on-newsletter-signup free stories which I haven't finished editing yet. (So you can't have them yet; I'll finish editing them to my satisfaction before I open up my email newsletter.)

Further ramble below; it got kind of long. First about what these stories are about, then more rambling about my current works-in-progress and specifically aspects of Patience, Changing that I'm enjoying. Might recycle some of this for the next newsletter tbh.

A quick and not-edited summary of each story:

Ever Changing, Ever Near - Hadassah is different to everyone else, but despite that finds great joy in the changing seasons.

A Fragile Solace - Hadassah and Nem are friends. Despite what happens after, she treasures the friendship that they have.

Both stories were entered to (different) local competitions and were highly commended. I can't give an estimated story length because at least A Fragile Solace requires a bunch of editing that may lengthen it. Since I no longer have a word count requirement because I'm not planning on submitting them to any other competitions, I can go ham on them.

In case you don't know who Hadassah is, Hadassah is from the 2022(? maybe '23) Inklings challenge, which I wrote about 8k of. I was Team Lewis, portal fantasy. A very rough summary is that Hadassah is an autistic girl in a neurotypical world, one of the peasants of that world and chosen to be sent through a portal. Nobody knows what lies beyond. For Hadassah, what lies beyond is found family such as she hasn't experienced her entire life.

I found getting into her head unreasonably hard at the time, which is why I wanted to write stories about her, and why I haven't finished drafting her story. With more understanding of autistic people and also myself than I had then, I expect that when I get back to that properly I'll find it a lot easier to write.

I also intend to edit The Patience of Hope to be another newsletter freebie - the edited version, I mean. I intend to leave the first draft up on my website indefinitely, even if an edited version is published as part of something else (such as A Quiet Patience, though with the number of novellas I've got planned, that might be quite long...). But that's for a little way down the road, not yet.

As for a general update on writing generally, I've written a little bit more of Hands Made for Gentleness, but not much. That will require a lot of working with it once the first draft is done, but I've written up a rough outline of the rest of the main story beats, and I have a clearer idea where I'm going. I'm ideally going to finish drafting Patience, Changing before I really get back to that, which is about 20k away (yay!). I'm thoroughly into the third act, figuring out I need to know my characters better so the third act will require a good deal of rewriting, even though the bones are good. I'm pleased with the balance of characters, and at times even though I'm going "Hmm this needs work", I can switch that off and just work on it. I've been writing drabbles every day for this month, and currently I'm one (1) day behind. The drabbles have been helpful, providing scene ideas I can flesh out into full scenes, so they might be a bit janky in context, but I can edit that later.

I've really enjoyed two characters I didn't intend to include in this manuscript: Hannah (Patience's aunt) and Connie (who Patience meets in hospital). Hannah is a symbol of the seriousness of anorexia, and I am not looking forward to writing her death. At present the scene I'm writing is set on the 19th of November, 2018, and Hannah dies on the 16th of December, 2018. She's already written the letter to Patience, as well as the anonymous letter Patience doesn't realise is from her and which needs rewriting. But she has to die and it will tear my heart out to write her, though I've got to read at least a good chunk of A Grief Observed (C. S. Lewis) before I write about that. At present her death is set for the third last chapter, but I expect to rearrange things - events that I thought would work for two chapters turned out I'll need to significantly rewrite to get to even one chapter, so I'll probably use those events to close the second act rather than close the second act and open the third act as well, and therefore rearrange things to give enough space for Hannah's death. If I go over my planned word count in these chapters that's fine; whatever works. I just don't want to go under.

Having the 3k aim has been really good, because some of the time it's forced me to write 'filler' that I reread and am convinced I'll keep in, and sometimes it's kept me to only that long which is good practise too.

Oh, and also! The other character I've enjoyed. Connie. Connie's in hospital following a suicide attempt, but the psych ward's full up and she's not considered at high risk so she's in a general paeds ward, which is where she meets Patience. She isn't particularly forthcoming about why she's in, and Patience respects that. She suspects but is only told right at the end:

“You make me brave,” she said to Patience, just before she was transferred. “I came in here with a suicide attempt and you have made me discover I want to live. Live! When living has been a slow death all this time. You make me want to live. I wasn’t going to make it and I was okay with that. Now I’m going to fight, because of you.”

They keep in touch afterwards, and probably when I edit The Patience of Hope I'll include a scene with Connie in it. Because just as Hannah has to die, Connie has to live. I love the way both of these characters add to Patience's journey, but without trivialising her own very real issues. That's definitely something I'll have to do an edit pass to make sure I'm not doing, because yes, in the grand scheme of things Patience's hangups are very small but to her they're huge. Which is why I held off on writing this story for a good five years, and I'm terribly glad I did, because this story is far better than it would have been years ago.

Anyway. I'm rambling. All this to say that while I'm struggling a bit with writing it, Patience is still going swimmingly. I anticipate finishing the draft either by end of this month (stretch goal) or next month (realistic goal). Then I can dive back into Hands Made for Gentleness and maybe plotting The Time Travelling Midwife and/or Hadassah's story on the side.

I'm also having a fantastic time with Patience and Nathan's interactions at thirteen/fourteen:

“You’ll get through it,” he said. “In Christ, Patience. In Christ.” She smiled at him. He was very dear to her, standing there awkwardly and smiling his dear awkward smile back.

#tw suicide #hadassah winter #patience changing #patience shepherd #hands made for gentleness #I forget any other tags I want for this xD taglist coming in reblog

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avelera · 1 year

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First off, may I begin with screaming loudly about the new chapter of GS because my god, it was lovely! Will leave a comment on ao3 later once I’ve found some words beyond mere key bashing

Second, if at all possible and not inconvenient, could you perhaps share some tips about your process and staying motivated while writing? Especially for such a long fic? Sincerely, a fic writer who can’t manage to get anything finished, let alone posted

Aah, thank you so much!

*Cracks knuckles* OK, to answer your question!

Build endurance. Writing long fic is a marathon in a very REAL sense. Runners who sprint and runners who run marathons are totally different (if perhaps complimentary) skillsets. Writing a really dense, well crafted short story is a unique skill. It is NOT the same thing, in my opinion, as being able to write a long-form novel. (That's why, IMO, a lot of people who get their start in short stories because of the way creative writing education & publishing work in the mainstream these days often struggle to jump to novels and their first novel (*cough* American Gods *cough*) are often densely beautiful but weirdly episodic and not always well connected internally.) Sorry, random soap box moment. TL;DR: Short vs. long fic writing are different skills. Be patient with yourself. Build endurance the same way a marathoner does: with practice.

Do not post before the fic is finished. This is a tip that is largely unique to me and one I've broken recently BUT absolutely nothing motivates me to push through the hard parts at the middle of the story like the realization that if I don't, no one will ever read the story. It'll all be wasted effort (except insofar as I got to practice writing). This doesn't work for everyone, but it is worth a shot!

Do not talk about your fic before it's written. Storytelling is sometimes the same centers in the brain, at least for me, as story writing. IE, by telling someone what I'm going to write, I've drained the enjoyment from writing it. That juicy pleasure is already sucked dry, leaving only the husk of the actual work. Now, this doesn't mean you can't talk at all about your work but one tip is to only talk about parts you've already written. You can say you just wrote a cool passage about XYZ! But stop at the moment where you're about to say what happens next. Talking about your work is a reward for writers who have already written. Set a rule that you don't get to talk about what isn't there yet. You don't get to have the dessert before you've done the actual work.

Bring in a small group of trusted alpha readers. An alpha reader is not a beta reader. Their job is to cheerlead, not to edit. I only bring in alpha readers for very long works (like, over 50k) where true endurance is needed. This is not sharing a rough draft with the world! This is not avoiding the rigors of having a beta reader, thou shalt still use a beta reader when the chapter is ready (if possible) and before it is released to a wider audience! (Because beta readers are about respecting the time of your audience and putting in as much effort for them as you expect them to put in for you at minimum, ie, reading over your own work and asking for a friendly second pair of eyes for anything you missed). Point is, when a long fic is shaping up to be a huge slog, it can indeed be hard to keep the momentum going. Inviting an alpha reader is asking, politely, for someone to give you a small taste of the rewards of sharing your story so you don't give in before it's done. However, it needs to remain a small circle so you don't give in to the temptation of never finishing or publishing the polished work. This is micro-dosing feedback to keep you going, not a replacement for doing the work!

Ok, I think that covers it!

#maggie rambles #writing advice #fanfiction #longfic

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toaster-selfships · 17 days

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really interested in number 12 from the prompt list u just reblogged!!

Thank you very much!!! I immediately knew what I was gonna write with this one!! All of them were soooo good to me but I've been endlessly juggling trying to write the stories between me and my F/Os so this is perfect, actually! A nice little excerpt of lore here. I'm actually so glad to decided to ask this one XD

I got super invested in this so it took a little bit to write haha

Dropping a rough draft of some major canonical Kane and Finn lore so eat up yall.

12- Write about your ship going somewhere new together for the first time.

------

They had just gotten done with a mission, and Kane was completely wiped. Having to have a mission at a place you love, like an aquarium, sounds like a fantastic opportunity on paper, but when the aquarium is really crowded and loud and you aren't given a chance to rest or even pause to look at any of the fun fishies, it gets quite overwhelming very quickly. Not to mention having to come out of it with some scuffs and scrapes.

Finn had nothing but concern on his face looking at Kane. He was quick to bundle Kane up in his arms and let Kane lean on him. At least they had finished what they needed to do and could leave now, and Finn wanted nothing more than to swaddle Kane in a bed and let him rest, even if it meant Kane was going to be stubborn about admitting his pain and needing rest the entire time. Though, Finn at least had a bit of some experience on him with it, having to have had taken care of Kane before, very willingly not to mention, and had some tricks of his sleeve for such a case.

Though, even in Kane's state of weariness and ache, Kane was still quite upset over having to not get a chance to actually look around the aquarium. He loved aquariums and yet he's probably only been to them about twice, both times when he was far too young to remember anything. He huffed in defeat, he was just going to have to come back at some other point to get a proper look at some fish and...whatever he didn't even know he was missing out on.

Without asking, knowing what the answer would be, Finn scooped Kane up in to his arms, who let out a small gasp at the sudden movement. Kane and Finn were the same height, so Kane was always worried over being carried that was in any style other than a cradle carry might be inconvenient in some form, not that Finn ever thought such a thing. Kane had his legs wrapped around Finn's waist, resting all his weight on Finn's arms which were folded under his thighs. Kane, flustered at everything, had to slouch and curl himself up so he could rest his head on Finn's shoulder and not have his chest in Finn's face.

Kane immediately felt his eyelids try to call it night-night, and he tightly squeezed his eyes shut, trying to knock himself out of the intensified drowsiness. It didn't help that Finn had a natural calming aura with Kane, and Kane was always completely melted around him. Something about Finn just always either had Kane bouncing off the walls or immediately asleep in seconds, never really ever an in-between.

It only took a second or two before Kane gave in to the soft breathing and enwrapturing feeling of being safe and protected to lull him off to sleep. Kane already wasn't very keen on being carried, so something about trusting someone to where he not only didn't mind but enjoyed it and was relaxed enough that he felt comfortable and safe enough to close his eyes and rest? That took a massive amount of trust from Kane, and there was a lot of weight behind Kane trusting someone. Finn respected it with every ounce of his being and couldn't even stand imagining doing anything to break Kane's trust. Kane was about the 1:1 equivalent of a stray alleyway street dog, and gaining that trust was a lengthy process, but it meant you were stuck with a soldier at your side for life, and Finn knew that just as well as Kane did.

Kane wrapped his arms around Finn's shoulders and interlocked his fingers so his arms wouldn't slide off, caving in to his tiredness and closing his eyes, deciding it was probably best he got some shut-eye, even if it was just the sleep taking over his brain and convincing him of anything that meant he would rest.

Finn, on the other hand, had gotten a second mission objective of his own to complete. As with most aquariums and such, there was a gift shop right at the entrance/exit area, and Finn was quite keen on using the opertunity to maybe get something for Kane that might make him feel a bit more chipper.

Finn was quick to catch the eye-contact of his close friend, Leland, who was quick to wanting to immediately start poking fun and teasing at the sight of Finn holding Kane, but it was quickly shut down by a subtle but sharp change in expression from Finn. Not the Leland was any less amused. A few quick glances in the direction of the gift shop from Finn and Leland immediately knew what was being asked of him, but Leland had rather enjoyed being a pain in the arse and decided to entertain himself by dragging it out. Finn knew though that Leland would follow through with his request, and he stepped outside with Kane still in his arms, and sat down at the bottom edge of the stairs that led to the aquarium, both separated by a big step landing platform. Kane slightly shifted, but was quickly lulled back to sleep once more by Finn rubbing his back with a just amount of pressure.

Leland sent Finn a message, asking what gift shop thing he could possibly want for his lover, which was quite the adjective for Leland to use for Kane, considering Finn and Kane weren't dating, not that the romantic feelings they both strongly felt for each other weren't there.

Leland snickered as he stepped by Finn and the completely tuckered out Kane in his arms, and lightly dropped the item in Finn's open hands, and made his leave.

Finn had immediately had his eyes caught by something that he was just the upmost positive that Kane would enjoy when he had walked by, and he didn't hesitate to brush over Leland’s comment and tell him what to get, saying that he'd pay Leland back for it later.

Finn rubbed Kane's shoulder, prompting him to wake up, and Kane groggily sat up, still trying to shake off his sleepiness. With one hand still behind Kane's back with the item in it, Finn used his free hand to slowly trace down Kane's arm and grab his hand, turning it so Kane's palm was facing up, and Kane curiously opened up his hand to Finn's, curious about where Finn was headed with all of this.

Finn revealed his other hand with the item in it, and at once broke out into a grand smile, seeing Kane's eyes right away light up and his mouth open and curl into a smile. Kane was already far too tired for words, and this had only pushed him further into speachlessness. Finn happily prodded the item into Kane's hands, and rested his hands on the ground behind him and leaned back. Kane, in his state of overwhelming joy, reached out his hands like he was going to cup Finn's cheeks, but just merely stopped himself from it, figuring maybe that was a bit too intimate of a gesture for someone he wasn't quite yet dating. Not having the ability to talk at the moment took away from the main outlet Kane used to get any energy out of his system, and he bit his fingers and stared eagerly at his new little prized possession. A small stuffed animal plushie of a lobster, one that fit very well into just one of Kane's hands. Kane grasped it and squeezed the daylights out of it, before giving an eager glance at Finn and throwing his arms around Finn, ecstatic to get all of his overbubbling excitement out in some form, and one of his favorite forms was by squeezing things in his arms, which Finn was often subjected to. Not that Finn minded, of course. Finn normally was quite fond of the gesture and it did things to his heart, so he always reciprocated it by softly squeezing Kane back in return, which just ignited Kane's overbubbling joy all over again and made him need to squeeze more things, which Finn was already in his arms and so...

It didn't need to be vocalized by Kane how happy he was, Finn was already an expert at reading people quite accurately, especially when it comes to reading Kane, and Kane was making it quite loud and clear how happy he was with his new item. Kane only snuggled deeper into Finn as he buried his face into Finn's neck and wrapped his legs around him tighter. If Finn was going to do things like this for Kane, then he needed to know and understand that it meant that he was just practically begging to have Kane wrapped around his finger. Not that Kane wasn't already ready to sacrifice anything for Finn since day one.

Finn was quite satisfied with how the night had turned out, and now all he had left to do was drag Kane back to bed, which he figured would be a rather willing process on both ends.

#kaneart #technically the ending of them going somewhere new togethrr #but i just could not write the begining in a way i liked for some reason #soo happy with how this turned out! i always wanna write our canonical stories together so im so glad i got to and do it in a way-#-that im satisfied with!#thank you so much for the ask!!!

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claudiajcregg · 4 months

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Tell Other People About Your WIPs

make a list of all your WIPs with a brief description of each and then people can ask you questions about them and then tag other people.

Tagged by both @onekisstotakewithme and @miabicicletta 💜💜💜 Thank you, guys <3 I don't know who to tag that hasn't been tagged already. Interested? Tag, you're it! :) (Please do know that there are no set sections. Pick whatever you want. I went the deranged route.)

I have an outdated WIP list, and many others unaccounted for. This is just a selection of stuff I could see myself posting or editing/retooling to write something new. I love talking about my WIPs, about as much as I hate being perceived because they are not remotely interesting. (I also love knowing which ones people are interested in! I have an incentive to work on them!) (Instead of snippets, part of my feedback loop is sending actual rough drafts to get a sense of whether it's worth working on more.)

Multichapters, different levels of completion.

S5 Pregnancy AU. My main WIP. Can you believe I’ve had this idea for a year… almost to the day? I’ve been stuck since November bc I don’t know how I want this one to end, beyond a birth. (As I’ve mentioned in the past, I feel like this has legs to become a fluffy universe. I have ideas! Timelines!) Gist of it: CJ gets pregnant circa Zooey's kidnapping. How does it change S5? It's less angsty than you think.

Campaign bars, aka campaign conversations sometimes happened at bars in the 1998 campaign. Fun stuff. I need to pick it right back.

What Once Was Ours or the IM AU (2021), aka IM ends with a breakup. Not a WIP. Not a UFO. A secret third thing. (“Finished” but not edited, and I’m doubtful people would be interested. Probably bc of some bittersweet ~memories~ attached to it. I mean, I shared a third of it to discord and people couldn’t care less, at least after a while. Now, better IM AUs are being posted these days; I'm not in a rush.) 33 chapters. 150k words. I do reread it every once in a while, and I cannot put it down. But its 'age' takes me aback. If things had been different, I'd have posted this in H2 2021/Q1 2022 (or even the planned Q2-3 2021). But alas.

The “Almost Ready, question mark” Category

Another SVD prompt meme claim: what if CJ has the crush first. The thing is, I tend to write her as having a relatively obvious crush on him at first until something makes her wise up. So this is just some ridiculous, post-first-meeting thoughts. Most of it was written in one sitting! It kinda fits with something in the campaign bars fic, too.

Post birth, hospital story: A couple of hours after their bb girl is born. Pure fluff. Recently reworked it to make it less wordy. Still failed, but it’s better focused now.

Many ficlets – the few I did post on Tumblr that haven’t been posted to the story I’m collecting them in, plus a couple more. I'm thinking the ice skating one, Jan 22, a few post-eps I wrote last year, etc.

Ambitious Projects I don't think are happening right away (or ever), but probably have a detailed outline somewhere

(I put this up instead of last, because the next category has faves, but it's also a long one.)

Danny is back a bit earlier on s7. Toby leaks (or tries to leak? I always wavered) the shuttle to him, as he and CJ are getting closer.

Simon lives. How does his relationship with CJ evolve post-honeymoon phase? What is it like when Danny returns?

You’ve got mail AU. This outline had two ways the climax could go. I had fun.

Epistolary collab (?) fic. Probably an X + 1 fic. The only one with nothing written; don’t rule out writing it individually at some point.

And because this is so long already (but not as long as it could be)… A few more under the cut – more "I just want to make sure I like them" and "this meme reminded me I meant to pick those back up." And they are still not all. (How do you summarize seven years of writing?? I've only posted 20-something of them, lol.)

“Almost Ready (but I feel like I want to make changes to them) (might just redo them altogether)”

Haunted by the Notion, 2007 edition. My beta Ruth suggested this when she edited the other story, and I wrote it around then. It’s another Christmas dinner at Filomena, and, eight years later, things are different. I feel like it hits expected beats, and is just missing some oomph. Maybe. (As much as I do like it, half tempted to make it 2009. Or later.)

Heaven’s here…: A interrupted proposal. I’ve written many proposals over the years, and I love toying with different ideas and setups. Danny takes the lead here, but I’ve been intrigued by the idea of having CJ do the final twist.

5 to 6 am 'me' time. Another story inspired by last year’s rewatch that I wrote right at the start of it (so Jan 2023?). It has five short parts with five different years of what CJ describes in the pilot as her “me time.” This is one when I think one per year would be fun, but I don’t want to repeat myself.

One bed, “sexy” edition. An AU to a sort of AU (one of the drabbles from this summer) and… it's what it says on the tin. The world does not need to read my attempts at smut. If I didn’t put it in the previous category, it’s because I am not sure that I want to post it. (All the previous attempts are locked somewhere; unfortunately, someone loves this one and noticed when I tried to do that, lol.)

First baby kick: I remember writing this while in grad school (so, late 2017? First half of 2018) but I lost it, along other fic, when my laptop had to be reset because I used Bear to write back then, but didn’t have sync across devices. I rewrote it, and I feel like it's not the same, but still. It's sweet! Includes: Danny talking to the baby, domestic fluff, and… baby kicks!

“This meme reminded me they exist and I love them, so don't be surprised if they are posted before anything in a previous category”

(Lbr, if I added something about them in this post at all, it’s because they sparked some memory.)

Mosaic broken hearts: CJ, circa S4, jealousy. Prompted by a former fandom friend, back in my productive era (first half of 2021; before that friend just ghosted me.)

I can’t believe I captured your heart (pancake breakfast, three words and eight letters). For a while there, I edited it so much but then I fell off. iirc, it was part of some morning-related prompts I saw around that I tried to fulfill in 2018? 2019? And they had like internal progression. But this one was the best of the 3-4, and I kept tweaking it.

Green light of forgiveness (IM-ish) — there are many other IM/IM-Tomorrow snippets I’ve written over the years. I’m not sure if this one makes much sense, but I liked it enough.

Distance — I recall liking this one! Might have to bump it up. CJ is in Africa, Danny is at the Farm and sulking because they left off on some sort of argument. There is some Danny-Abbey friendship goodness here. I even have a second file that is “Distance - shorter version (it’s not)”

Danny writes fiction, shows it to CJ during her pregnancy and she’s into it. Technically written. I would probably try to take another stab at it. Third time might be the charm?

San Andreo phone call/fallout from ID. I just had the idea of CJ reaching out once things calm down. This is one of those fics I’ve written a version of every year or so, but I think there was one I liked quite a bit.

Terrible taste in men — a run-in with an OC ex of CJ. It was so dumb.

Fka Impatience - actually beta’d three years ago (by that fandom friend I've mentioned twice before… actually, three times) and “done”. I just think I’d change so much about it these days. It started being something else but ended up being a CJ-Toby friendship story in which they have lunch and catch up. But I would want to rewrite most of it now, and not just because it’s from like… 2019 (but finished in 2021).

I forgot this one initially! he's passing by, rare as the comet in my sky - 2? 3? times CJ thinks she sees Danny somewhere, and one time she does. (Which tried to work in the 'I remember shunning you' line.) I even wrote some sort of sequel later! Probably useless.

I said I would post a lightning round with fics that are either also done but not ready for me to mention them, or just… not done at all. The length of this post and how much I've spent on it is embarrassing. To give a general overview: in line with the nonsense I've been mentioning, includes phone calls at the end of S7, also a few friendship-focused fics around that time, too; present-day stuff; anniversaries; Hollis fundraisers; weddings; many ficlets, introspective thoughts, a “yes day” fic that's super sweet but needs better dares, the third memoir idea (the original one!!!!) that I had three years ago… And those are mostly the ones I had preselected, lol.

If you're interested, I can screenshoot this part in the notes app if you message me!

Anyway, this is embarrassing, and the worst part is that it's not all. fml.

#tell other people about your wips #wip memes #my writing #should I even tag this with the show or the pairing?????#long post

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findafight · 1 year

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Just discovered ur post o66 au im literally so so obsessed have you got any other headcanons or notes?? I literally want to know everything about this au haha

Tbh this is possibly the most self indulgent of my aus. The other ones I'm like Woah wouldn't this be funny/interesting/neat? And this one I'm like. This is something I need in existence. I'm so glad it also makes other people mildly unhinged :)

So! I know I said in the tags of one post but here are the species for the characters I've figured out so far and mild backstories for them! I have a weird half-baked part in my drafts but ehhh that's for later.

Robin-- she's actually Zelosian, a human-passing sentient plant people. Essentially blind at night, chlorophyll for blood, and bright green eyes. She was the grand-padawan of the master Archivist Jocasta Nu (whom she bragged made far superior tea than Steve's great-Grandmaster, which could be said for nearly anyone in the temple), and enjoyed the anthropological media studies. During the Clone wars she and her as yet unnamed master assisted affected planets with knowledge and artifact preservation. They were not permanently assigned to a squadron of Clones as they were frequently in the temple etc. In her youth, she was assigned a mission to assist a planet's heir (Nancy) in documenting culturally significant places/artifacts that were under threat from extreme modernists. They ended up on the run and falling in love, a brief but passionate affair. With differing opinions on their responsibilities and duties to each other, themselves, and their peoples, they did not continue the romantic aspect of their relationship. At the time, Robin was figuring out where she wanted to be within the order, leaving her family and culture (and Steve) was never an option, while Nancy wanted to run away together, at least for a little while. They remained occasional penpals.

Steve-- he's Balosar (near-human with antennapalps on his head that assist in sensing vibrations(?) And can tuck into his scalp, as seen as the death-stick dealer in AotC) and was born on Corellia. (This is because I want him to have bloodstripes. I debated making Robin Corellian but she wasn't on the frontlines and would be unlikely to get bloodstripes) he was a bit of a rough and tumble Padawan, passionate and open with his affections. He'd been spoken to about his connection to Robin, but had proven himself able to let her go should it be necessary. During the war, Master Claudia was a general and he was her commander. Their Clone captain/commander was Clicks, who got his name from batch mates because of the tsk and clicking noses he made while thinking. He was playful and a smidge cocky, but cared deeply for his siblings and held a love for botany. Steve eventually decided that after the war, possibly after his knighthood trials he wanted to begin working in the creche.

Claudia -- she was a nautolan master Jedi, who was Steve's master. Her master was Mace Windu, either before or after Depa Bilaba. Steve was probably her second Padawan, but he threw unique challenges at her. She was actually the second master Steve had, the first, who had asked him to become his Padawan a bit young, at thirteen, had quickly grown frustrated with Steve and his affections for Robin, saying they were attached and very un-jedi, and attempted to forcefully remove the force bond that had formed between the two which distressed both Steve and Robin so much that other Jedi could feel it. Claudia had offered herself to finish Steve's training, and to work with him to understand the bonds he had with Robin and work on non-attachment. They were a formidable pair that tended to throw people off and were often underestimated with Steve's playboy charms and Claudia's motherly nature. She was killed when order 66 went out.

Dustin-- rodian (bald green guys with biiig black eyes that seem to have pinpricks of stars in them) he was a youngling at the time the Republic fell, but had already formed a bit of a bond with Steve and Claudia, and the force was nudging them together. Many suspected that Dustin would either be Claudia's Padawan after Steve or perhaps even Steve's first Padawan. I fortunately, after nightfall and escaping the Temple, Dustin blocked out many of the family he knew, including Steve and Claudia. When he escaped, Lucas' family helped him, having been long time friends with Claudia and knowing the Jedi would never betray the Republic.

El-- she is a human. she was kidnapped from the temple during Knightfall, and was in training to be an inquisitor until she decided to escape. She does not remember her birth name, but was going to be eleventh sister, so goes by El (admittedly my knowledge of the nth sister/brother is limited just go with this). At some point, she helps Hopper, a wookie who is just trying to get by after everything the empire did to Kashyyyk.

Eddie-- he is an Iridonian Zabrak, maybe one of his parents was human though because his hairline is much closer to his forehead than others. He was raised by his uncle Wayne, who was killed by the Empire for resisting. Eventually he was able to join the rebellion as a mechanic, which he quite likes. Somewhere along the way he met Chrissy, who quickly became his best friend.

Chrissy--a Twi'lek spy for the rebellion, her skin is a powdery pink. She assists the Freedom Trail, and often goes undercover. Her mother sold her into slavery, but she was taken under the wing of other enslaved twileks and was able to Free herself and began assisting others. One of her mentors helped her find the Rebellion where she is using her disarming personality to take down slavers and the Empire.

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sometimesraven · 9 months

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any writing advice for someone writing their first novel? (*cough, cough, aka me*)

Disclaimer: what works for me might not work for you, so feel free to take, twist and scrap whatever you need. I recommend asking/shopping around for ideas and other authors' processes, and it'll take some trial and error before you find what works best for you. But here's how I personally write.

Disclaimer disclaimer: this got real long while I was writing it and I realised how terrifying it must look to a first time writer. Take it step by step, at your own pace. It's not as scary as it looks xx

BEFORE YOU WRITE

(I'm going to be focusing on the story itself, but I'm sure it goes without saying that you should have your characters planned out first)

First things first: have a basic idea of the story beats. It doesn't have to be a Big Old Detailed Outline, just a basic compass to keep you going in the right direction so you're less likely to hit a roadblock. Personally I use the Plot Embryo! Here's my favourite video explaining it:

youtube

It's a nice simplified, easy to use tool for plotting. Here's a page from one of my journals breaking it down in a way I can personally come back to and understand:

hopefully you can read my shitty handwriting but I've put a little breakdown in the image description.

I then use these prompts to scribble down the basic idea of what journey I want my main character/s to go through, and use that as my blueprint for when I write.

WHILE WRITING

First things first: if you're like me, and seeing errors or plot holes in the stuff you've already written will bug you forever, do what I do and NEVER READ BACK OVER YOUR WORK WHILE IT'S STILL IN PROGRESS. Sometimes I have to skim back to remember where I am but as a rule, once something is written it's no longer my problem until the whole thing is done.

Don't worry about chapters and other such structure. I use the plot embryo to split things up so I know where I am, but otherwise chapters and scenes Do Not Exist until the editing process. Here's the "chapters" of a WIP as an example (this is a slightly different embryo adapted for romance but you get the idea)

Then just keep going until you're done. You don't even have to do it in order. If I'm stuck on a scene, I'll just put a big word in all caps that I can ctrl+f easily (usually either ELEPHANT or PENIS sklfsgskjf) and move on to the next bit I have ideas for, then come back to it later.

This first finished story will be bad. It'll be rough, patchy, full of holes. THAT'S OKAY. This is what we sometimes call the "Zero Draft". The draft that literally exists just to get the story out of your head to make the whole thing easier.

EDITING

Warning: editing is the longest, hardest part of writing a novel. Your book will go through several different versions, be scrapped and torn apart and put back together again. This is what makes the story great.

This is where every author differs, and there's a whole bunch of ways this can go. Personally, the first thing I do once the zero/first draft is done is put it down. Don't look at it, don't touch it, don't think about it. For at least a month. This allows you to come back to it with fresh eyes that haven't been staring at the same words for so long they just hate the whole thing regardless (and you WILL HATE IT. This is normal).

Then, the first thing I do is read back over the whole thing, adding notes and reactions as if I am a reader. If a part of what I've written makes me go 🥺🥺🥺, I'll write that down. If something could be worded better, I write that down. If you think a certain thing that you would put in the tags of a tumblr post, write it down. Treat it like you're someone else's beta reader, note down every negative, every positive, every ???? part. This will give you an idea of what is and isn't working. Here's some of my funniest notes from my zero draft of book 2 just to prove how literal I'm being here:

Then, and this is a controversial move that doesn't work for everyone but it works for my autistic adhd self-loathing brain: WRITE THE WHOLE THING AGAIN. FROM SCRATCH.

This sounds daunting and it is, but you've already written it once, so the second time is easier. Usually I don't worry about making this perfect because again, this is just another draft. I'll copy from my zero draft anything that I think is fine and write new bits or scrap bits as I go.

Sometimes, the story is fine. Sometimes this is an easy refining process. However, if you're anything like me, sometimes the whole thing is messy and you'll realise halfway through rewriting that the whole thing needs restructuring. Do not despair. This is normal.

I'm using book 2 of the Truth Saga as an example for this. I got 40k words into rewriting it before I realised that the reason it felt so 'off' was because the whole thing was sagging in the middle, characters were being left behind, and the whole thing needed restructuring.

It was a rough realisation, as Reckless Truth (book 1) was such a comparatively easy process. I only did three drafts and didn't have to restructure much. Book 2 is giving me so much grief and I'm gonna slap it when it's done.

If you hit this roadblock, it might be time to do what all mood writers hate. Detailed plotting. Go right back to basics. Write down every plot point in detail this time. Act like you're spoiling the whole entire story for someone. Have you ever watched a movie or book review where the reviewer does a full breakdown of the plot? Do that. In this you'll find out exactly where you're going wrong and be able to tweak and fix it. If you have more than one main character, I recommend doing a separate plot thing for each of them and one for the book as a whole so that you can make sure their emotional arc is getting the attention it deserves.

Then, when you're happy with the new plot you've written based on the draft of your story, go back and try to rewrite it again. If this sounds like a nightmare, it is. But it's worth the work, I promise.

From there it's a case of rinse and repeat, reread, rewrite, re-edit until you're mostly happy with what you've got. Then send it to beta readers and editors to tear apart even more and put it back together until you think it's ready! I also recommend joining some writing discords, watching streams or videos about writing, just research research research basically

Happy writing!

#writing advice #author advice #writeblr #authorblr #novel planning #writing process #authors of tumblr #answered #mine #writing #sagetheenbymage

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vellaphoria · 7 months

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Hi! For the writer's ask game: 25, 27, and 29 :) Also, I reread Midnight Elegy recently and it's even better then I remembered!

Hello!! :D as;lkdjfa;skldjls I'm glad you enjoyed it enough to reread it! I had such a good time writing that one. Thank you for the incredibly kind words! <3

Answers below the cut:

25. What fic do you wish you got more of a response on? Gethsemane in Winter, probably For context, at one point I wrote a DickTim Earth-3 series because there was a very specific interpretation of the concept that I desperately wanted to read but that didn't exist. So I set out to write it myself, knowing that it probably wouldn't get too much attention, given the number of (accurate) warning tags I slapped on it. I worked hard on it and am proud of the result, but there's still a bit of wistfulness about it because of the nature of incredibly niche things.

Though if anyone is curious enough to look at the part of the map labeled here be dragons, then the series is A Fact or a Weapon, which comes from a wonderfully haunting (and apt, for the fic) line from the poem "We are Hard" by Margaret Atwood:

A truth should exist, it should not be used like this. If I love you

is that a fact or a weapon?

27. What is your most and least favorite part of writing?

My most favorite part is writing descriptions! I tend to be a visual thinker, so I spend a fair amount of time thinking about where things are in a scene, how they would look, and how to describe things in a way that builds the sort of atmosphere I'm going for.

My least favorite part is writing transitions between scenes. I tend to over-write them and draw things out that aren't important to the plot (one reason why everything I write spirals out of control lol). Sometimes it's hard for me to know when it's best to put a scene break in vs. when to do an actual transition via text.

29. What’s your revision or editing process like?

I tend to go chapter by chapter for multi-chapter fics. My first goal is to get the thing written, so I try not to commit to serious revisions unless there's some sort of overarching problem with what I've got.

Revisions start once I have a mostly finished rough draft of a chapter. At that point, I read through it to make sure that I'm not missing anything and then send it to my beta reader so that they can give me a general vibe check (i.e. does it make sense, does it flow right, is the tone consistent/does it work for the fic, spelling and grammar, etc.). They also do a lot of cheerleading which really gets me through a lot of the tougher parts of writing <3 After I have the beta-approved version, I do another pass through for spelling and grammar and probably tweak some things. If it's a chapter, then it probably sits for a bit while I work on other parts of the fic. If it's a oneshot, then I format it for Ao3 and finalize the title and tags that I'm using before posting.

There's also a secret step where sometimes I don't like what I have, so I tear it up and recycle the parts into other things lol (questions are from this list)

#jagn answers #captain-ursula #ask games

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n7punk · 11 months

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The way you post here makes it sound like you post as you write, but you update so often I refuse to believe you don’t have an archive of half completed works you return to and end up finishing. So I guess the question is, what’s your structure for completing a fic? Do you have an idea and execute it entirely, or do you have works that you’ve started writing and then returned to after a few months of inactivity?

(This is basically me just being in awe of your talents and being nosey about how your creative process works)

oh once i start i CANNOT stop or i will not come back. i post everything as i write it, at least when it comes to long projects. i'm usually a chapter or two ahead in my rough drafts from what has been edited and posted, but otherwise yeah i'm writing these in real time. i mean i've been consistently updating for three years except for the few months i took off last year to work on novels instead so idk when i would have built up a backlog lol.

the one exception to this is short fics/one shots. rn i have ten "wips" (outside of CotC) that are all one shots except for two - a 3-4 chapter OotW fic i wrote halfway and... havent come back to but SWEAR i will because i love it, and a multi-chapter AU i wrote the first scene for, realized i wasn't in the headspace for based on the quality it turned out in lmao, and am waiting to come back around to. basically, i can write like... 5k and come back, but i wouldn't do it for longer fics. i started a novel last year, got 25k in, and have not touched it in the year since which is really frustrating because i love those characters.

for CotC specifically, i've just been fucking feral for this idea and written 93k for it just this month. I'm actually writing the 13th fic right now due to that, which is why im posting daily (and occasionally twice a day lol). in general ive just been really into my AUs lately and it has made it easier to write them fast.

it isn't unusual for me to get an au idea and outline a few scenes for it while working on something else, but we're talking like 1-3 and maybe writing a few sentence summary of the rest of the ideas i have for it, and then i can start writing with that once my current project is finished, but those outlines are usually just straight up dialogue with an occasional (crosses arms) or (turns away) thrown in for tone.

#ask #anon #writing process #<- i have a tag for this btw #im gonna edit CotC now! i've just been busy today

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somelazyassartist · 4 months

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I am having a very strange relationship with mental health currently and I need to talk about it or I feel like I'll explode!!! This is not all actually bad it's just like what is happening!!!!! Under cut bc I am just kinda rambling and don't know what I'm saying really and I'll probably delete this bc I will probably feel extremely weird about talking about it by the time I wake up tomorrow but!! Like j said I just feel like if I don't say anything I'm gonna explode!!!!!!

Like bad stuff out of the way first I guess there's like. Really traumatic realization about My ex-relationship where it's like. OH I was a literal child so I had no idea that was abusive but that was Really Fucking Abusive and I don't know how to deal with that?? I haven't even talked to that person in years and I'm in a much healthier and happier relationship now but like it is kinda fucking me up simply because I have no idea how I'm supposed to handle trauma that I didn't even know was trauma until after I'm far out of that situation. Also been having WAY more paranoia and weirdly vivid nightmares lately but I honestly have zero idea if those are related or not.

HOWEVER like literally don't worry about that at all ever BECAUSE despite those way lower lows than I usually have I have ALSO been having way higher highs in my mental health!!!!! And I don't know why!!!!! I knew moving would help with my depression a lot simply bc I'd be out of my shitty school and shitty cold garage bedroom and away from my shitty stepdad and away from the city (I do not handle loud and crowded and busy environments well) and now I live out in the middle of nowhere where it's quiet and I love it! But like for the last 4 years I've lived here I still felt like my depression had dulled like ALL my care about things down even if the depression itself kinda faded away. Like I got to the point where I wasn't crying myself to sleep every night, but I would read maybe 3 of my already-liked books a year and ignore my entire shelf of unread stuff, I had my favorite wizard outfit I'd wear on special occasions but every other day I'd just wear pajamas or a T-shirt and jeans because I couldn't be assed to do anything more, I'd have entire boxes of half-finished sketches because I would start drawing and lose interest halfway through the sketch, I have bins of art and decorations that I meant to put on my walls years ago and never did. But now!! Just in like the past few weeks specifically!!! I don't know why but I have had so much drive to DO THINGS!!!!! I WANT TO DO THINGS AGAIN!!!!! I've been reading!! Like, actually reading actual novels!!! Like I did when I was little where I was obsessed with making sure every book on my shelf got read at least once!!!!! I've been going through my closet and my accessory bins and makeup and pairing up what looks good!! I've actually been coordinating outfits and trying to make all my clothes have as much personality and fun as my one (1) special wizard outfit I wear!!! I had a bit of extra cash bc of holiday cards and I bought myself some armor despite knowing what it takes to maintain it and keep it nice because I actually have the motivation to upkeep it and find what clothes I have that will look good with a chestplate and pauldrons!!! (It also looks EXACTLY I mean EXACTLY like Laios Dunmeshi's armor so bonus autism win there)!!!!! I dug out my boxes of unfinished art and have been trying to finish old pieces!! I found my old half-filled notebooks and have been filling the blank pages that were leftover!!!!! I've been working on zines, I've been WRITING again (I fucking LOVED writing when I was a kid but grew to hate it eventually), I have multiple rough drafts for graphic novels and animations and in-universe 1st person perspective fantasy research journals!!!! I've been putting up art prints that've sat in boxes for years!!! I've been looking for where a shelf would go nicely to display my trinkets and nick knacks!!! I've been looking into 3D printing lightswitch covers with cool designs and figuring out what to paint on my bookshelves!!!!!!! I'm honestly extremely nervous and scared that this is temporary, and that soon I'm going to fade back into not caring about these things, and that if it goes away again it won't come back like what's happening now - but I am trying my best to keep caring and keep Loving life the way I haven't in years!!! And that is all anybody can do I think!!!!!!!

#I'M SORRY THIS IS LONG AND VERY PERSONAL I WILL PROBABLY END UP DELETING THIS #BUT I DO NOT KNOW WHAT ELSE TO DO AND I FEEL VERY UM. WHAT IS THE RIGHT WORD #ERRATIC????? IT FEELS LIKE MY MIND IS GOING A MILE A MINUTE I AM SORRY THIS IS PROBABLY A VERY BADLY WORDED POST #I CANNOT THINK STRAIGHT RIGHT NOW BUT I NEED TO GET THIS OFF MY CHEST OR IT'LL DRIVE ME MAD I THINK #OKAY I AM SORRY I WILL QUIT RAMBLING NOW THANK YOUUUU FOR LISTENING!!!!!!#abuse tw #abuse trigger warning #abuse mention

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astarkey · 9 months

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Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love ❤

Thank you so much for tagging me @chronic-ghost!!! 🤗💖

Do I Know You? (Alt link 'cause idk if the ao3 site is still a mess) [Fdtd] - This was for a secret Santa gift for my friend @lilmissuncreative, and I really thought the idea of a thief falling in love with a billionaire's daughter at an art museum was cute, and I still find it weird and creepy that DJ was at an art museum while I was almost done writing this lol.

Take a Picture (Fdtd) - This was also for my friend @yossariandawn based on one of the prompts she asked me to write. It was pretty sweet and cute, I thought, where Seth and Kate get to have their "honeymoon" haha (or much more like a very long, needed vacation 'cause they deserve it 😩)

I'm Out of My Head (Alt link) [Fdtd] - So... this was actually the first fic I've ever posted publicly, and it was also the first smut fic I've ever posted publicly, too lmfao! But I got this idea from watching an old show I used to watch in the 90's called Brotherly Love (that Lawrence brothers show), and then from rewatching Venom, like that movie pushed me to write it by that point instead of continuing to imagine it lmao.

Dirt (Fdtd) - So this is actually a fic I have never shown anyone and never posted, and it's still a rough draft (and I mean ROUGH), but it's like still one of my favorites because I liked writing Seth and Kate's dynamic, and Kate's feelings and what's going on through her mind from right after they left the Twister to the end of what I'm not going to spoil lol! But I really enjoyed seeing the highs and lows of their relationship, as messy as it was, and this fic was a hot mess honestly, which fits overall 🤣 But yeah, I wrote this years ago and I actually rushed in writing the ending paragraph just now because the story was already finished, but I needed a way to end it lol. But yeah, it's not really a polished story, but it's finished!

Lemonade (Fdtd) - So this was from two prompts someone asked me to do with a character kissing someone in secrecy and/or to shut them up, and I really do love the neighbor idea, and I also love how short and sweet it was. It was overall perfect and the only perfect fic I ever felt good writing honestly 😂 I have thought about expanding it for a while, but I already have 20 WIPs I haven't come remotely close to finishing either lmfao.

Tagging (no pressure!): @lilmissuncreative, @alwaysupatnight, @bonnielass23, @bensonstablers, @justjstuff, @fortysevenswrites, @blondiest, @virgosandpoison, @ambrosiaswhispers, @ladyculebras, @imaginedfables, @etgoddess, and anyone else who wishes to do this! 😁❤️

#chronic ghost #personal #could've added one fine week in there 'cause that one is my fav too and that one is actually done #but rereading it now omg it's a mess #like not messy in a cute way it's just grammatically messy and kate needs like a chill pill I wrote her soo out of character lol

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bellaxgiornata · 8 months

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I'm trying to figure out what all I will be updating this week, but I now have a rough draft for part five of Seeking Forgiveness, so it's safe to say y'all will get part three with Matt's POV sometime this week!

I promised some Mikey so y'all should be getting chapter two of She Lit a Fire...maybe Monday or Tuesday? I'm about to edit that up and see where it stands.

Most likely y'all will get the second part of Forbidden Love with vamp Henry for spooky season because its a short little thing and its almost written! So for my Eat Locals lovers--that should be coming soon!

I am hoping to finish Stranded for the Night for the few Daryl fans I've got here. I literally just have the smut left but I have not been in the smut writing mood and I don't want to force it (because then it'll suck). Though I'm going to look at it in a minute and see if I can get it finished up. If I do, maybe it'll go up this week or next?

I'm also almost finished with FFTDs next installment "The Ring." I've been steadily working on it for a bit and it's thankfully almost done, so that'll be coming...next week I hope!

I'm obviously not going to post all of these pieces this week, but I should be able to promise the first two fics at least! I know I need to give Frank some love soon, too. Maybe next week I can work on something for him again. There's just some things going on right now that might affect my ability to write as much as before (which I'll eventually share), especially with my son not napping anymore. So I appreciate y'all's patience!

#bellas story updates #ive got a lot of rough drafts and things almost finished #matt murdock #michael kinsella #daryl dixon #henry eat locals

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tridentqueen · 2 months

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https://www.tumblr.com/emilykaldwen/746022370680176640/ask-game-for-fanfic-writers?source=share

The answer to every single question would interest me, but i've picked some out if you are ready to answer them :)): question 2, 11, 17, 29, 49, 51, 52, 55, 62, 69, 70, 71, 73, 91

Still a lot but at least not 100!

Hi! Thank you for this ❤️ I’ve combined 2 & 29 at the end since the answer to 2 contains a spoiler.

I reblogged the linked post if anyone else wants to send in a number.

11. what’s something neat you’ve learned while doing research for something you were writing? also, how much do you worry about doing research in general?

I watched a few videos on how to ride a horse for research so I could (hopefully) describe it accurately in the fic, so that was pretty cool! In the process of doing that, I learned about the necessary equipment and their names (bridle, bit, tack, etc.). I wouldn’t say I worry about doing research, but I do like to include things from the universe to give it a more realistic feel, if that makes sense.

The rest under the cut 😊

17. what is your favorite line you’ve ever written?

This is more than one line, sorry. But they go together.

It was horrible. It was wonderful. It made her feel wicked. It made her feel alive.

49. do you want to be published some day?

Maybe one day! I think that would be really cool.

51. share the synopsis of a story you work on that you haven’t published yet

This is a rough synopsis based on an anon request I got that I’m slowly but surely making progress on (anon, I promise I’ll finish it one day!)

At ten, Aegon develops a small crush on the daughter of one of the castle maids. As they grow older, the crush morphs into a friendship. But maybe it could be something more.

52. how many unfinished ideas/stories are you working on at the same time?

I tend to bounce around 2-3, but mentally I work on every single one of them every day

55. do you have any abandoned WIP’s? What made you abandon them?

I don’t (at least not yet)

62. what’s the weirdest reason you’ve ever shipped something?

This isn't weird, but I am not immune to being persuaded based on content I see on the dash

69. how do you write emotional scenes? do you ever feel what the characters feel?

I try my best to put myself in the place of that character – what would they think in this moment, how would they feel, what would they do? Things like that. I haven’t felt it like it was happening to me, but I do carry the emotion with me while I’m writing.

70. are you very critical of your own writing? how much do you find yourself editing (either during the writing or after the fact)?

Yes. I edit a little bit while I’m writing, but I primarily do that after the chapter is drafted. My main goal when writing is to just get everything on the page and then go back and fix it.

71. how do you balance writing and life? do you ever feel overwhelmed by the amount of writing you have to do?

I don’t push myself too hard to write on weeknights if I’ve had a long day and just want to lay on the couch, but sometimes I use writing to unwind. I also tend to write more on the weekends since I have more time. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed, but I remind myself to just take it one word at a time.

73. how do you visualize scenes? do you see it like a movie in your head, or do the words just flow?

I do see it like a movie! Which is great, but then in editing I have to go back and add more detail because sometimes when I’m writing I’ll put something like “x does this, then this.”

91. how has your writing style changed over the years?

I’m still a pretty new writer, but I would say that in the course of the past year I have gotten more confident in my own style

2. talk about a notable time a narrative or character has looked you dead in the eyes and said “fuck your plan, here’s what we’re actually doing.” AND 29. give us a spoiler for one of your stories.

When Aly and Aegon got together! The ballooning word count is what made me first begin to rethink it, but I also think that it just seemed to make sense for it to happen when it did. Originally they didn’t get together until after Helaena was pregnant with Maelor (who will exist in this story).

#asks

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