#bc the commenters don't always know the whole story before making judgment

[andallthatmishigas]

pls may i ask two for the fanfic ask? bc i am still stuck on them ♡♡♡

walking the wire & a new genesis ♡♡♡

(you have no idea how much your writing helps me through things and i feel weird leaving a comment every time but maybe i should start so you know)

Oh my goodness bless you. I love these questions, and I love those stories so so so so much. And you can comment 10000 times and I'll love it 10000+ times. Because I genuinely do go back and reread reviews all the time. It makes me so happy!

Anyway onto this. Walking the Wire and A New Genesis for each question:

2. What scene did you first put down?

WtW: I had the first scene written for a long time before I actually wrote anything more or even thought of any plot beyond that one moment. The idea of Lucien asking Jean out on a date and being all nervous about it and adorable. I had that saved in my notes and then the more I listened to the Imagine Dragons song (of the same name as the story), it sort of came together in my head.

ANG: First chapter. I had the plot and concept in my mind for a while and then sat down and just wrote that first chapter in one go while at my parents' house for some reason. In case it wasn't obvious, I am the kind of writer who starts at the beginning and goes from there. I can't skip around. I'm way too Type A for it lol.

4. What’s your favorite line of dialogue?

WtW:

Lucien continued, "And now, being here together, I can't help thinking that us being together, hopefully marrying one day soon…I know it won't be an easy road, Jean. For you much moreso than for me. But I just hope that if we can cling to each other, we can stay up here always. Holding each other and walk the wire together. There's no limit to how high we can go. And if anyone else has a problem with it, well…"

"Look out down below," she interjected softly.

ANG:

Lucien paused right in front of the altar table, placed his hands down flat on it, and leaned forward. Jean could not see is face, but from the tone of his voice she could hear him sneer, "What did I ever do to You? How did I offend You so brutally that You subject me to this? I was arrogant, I was oblivious, sometimes uncaring. I know that. I won't deny it. I've lived a far from perfect life. But wasn't the camp punishment enough? Wasn't losing my family in front of my eyes enough penance for my sins?" He pushed off the table and started shouting. "I have served you faithfully! I have led your flocks! Why have You tempted me with love and happiness that You have forbidden me to possess? Is it a test? Well, surely I've failed. Surely I would fail any test because of her."

11. What do you like best about this fic?

WtW: The first half, I think, is really good. It falters a bit towards the end. But I love the exploration I got to do with Jean's judgmental attitude towards Lucien and divorce and her lust and herself and how she overcomes all of that. I think that struggle is the thing I like best. I've got to reread this one soon.

ANG: This story combines one of my favorite things which is sexualizing and blaspheming the Catholic Church. Protestants? Nothing sexy there. Catholics? That's my shit. And I just get such a thrill over blasphemy tbh. Nice Jewish girl vibes, thank you very much. (The scene where Lucien fucks Jean on the altar in the church is what I was entirely building up for the whole entire story and I'm super proud of it.)

13. What music did you listen to, if any, to get in the mood for writing this story? Or if you didn’t listen to anything, what do you think readers should listen to to accompany us while reading?

WtW: So I was making playlists for each of my major stories for a little while, but I didn't start doing that until after I'd finished each of these two stories, BUT this story is 100% inspired by THIS SONG which I was just captivated by and needed to write something for it.

ANG: This was tough for me to answer. I don't think I have a specific song or artist or vibe for this one. I looked through my other story playlists for some Blake fics (Forever in Your Arms, Ivy) and the closest I could really think of to apply to this story was THIS SONG which is less blasphemy, my favorite theme of the story, and more the sort of obsessive sacrifice that Lucien goes through so I suppose it works.

#malfuria #I LOVED THIS THANK YOU

[crispyliza]

Dad: *spents every moment he can with me as a baby constantly repeating the word μπαμπάς (dad in greek) over and over*

Me: *says "μπαμπας" as my first word*

Dad:

Mom:

#my second word was παπουκια which is greek (and baby) for shoes #sorry mom #ok to reblog though idk if anyone will want to #anyways my dad was pretty absent while i was growing up bc of work even when he didn't have to and he was and is very judgmental #especially about mental health issues or my adhd and many other things that i don't wanna blast him about on the internet #bc i still love him a lot despite the psychological issues i have bc of him #and I'm terrified to one day come out as bi to him bc he's homophobic and i already feel as if i failed him daily #but i love to reminisce about moments like this (though this one i obviously don't remember lmao) and remember that he loves me #and most of his mistakes misguided manifestations of his worry and care #and he's slowly understanding that i think #I'm saying all this bc whenever someone posts something wholesome that happened with their family everyone is always depressed and envious #and traumadumpimg about their own horrible experiences with their parents #and i just wanted to show that my relationship with my dad is anything but perfect #bc the commenters don't always know the whole story before making judgment #anyways i made this on a whim and might delete it later #i just wanted to share this cute family moment #text #crispy talks #whenever my dad brags about my first word my mom immediately provides the context bitterly #it's so funny

[trilliath]

I could use fic commenting advice, if you don't mind. I always hold my tongue over errors in fic (bc IT'S FREE, I have no right to say shit) but occasionally I run into things like using 'exercise' instead of 'exorcise'; a super simple mistake to make, and programs like Word would miss it. I like it when readers point out small errors like that in my own work bc I like improving it. But, even if I phrase it in that context, do I even go there in a comment? I feel no, but I could be wrong?

Yeah it’s a tough one, because even though it’s literally not even a critique - just a proofreader’s catch, not any value judgment - it can hit an author the wrong way if they’re not having a great day so I tend to be cautious about correcting people. As an author most of the time I’m like - “oh thanks for helping me catch that”, but lbr I’m a pretty sensitive person and if that’s the only comment they’ve left it tends to rub me the wrong way. A friend of mine once had a well-meaning reader just… reading all their stuff one day and the reader kept pointing out typos (without really commenting in gratitude about anything else) and it drove them so nuts I had to go politely ask the reader to stop because they didn’t realize they were stressing my introverted friend out with every new Ao3 notification.

How I handle typos as a reader;

Usually if the typo is just one that’s obviously just a tiny typo that half the time I might not even notice, I ignore it. Life’s too short to worry about those as both reader and author. If it’s one where it seems to change the meaning of the sentence or make something confusing, then I consider leaving a note about it.

If I do think I want to leave a copyediting note, I never, ever, ever leave a comment with a proofreading correction without also taking the time to thank the author for the fic and tell them something I liked about it first. I make sure that I add the proofreading correction in a post script like it’s just a side note that has nothing to do with how I enjoyed the story.

I also make sure to take into account who the author is before deciding to make any proofreading notes.

If I know the author - as in we’re mutuals somewhere, I’ll frequently note a typo for them. I usually just comment however I normally do and add a p.s. “caught a typo [quote the full line with the typo so it’s easy to search for and correct]”

If I don’t know them, especially if I don’t know their other writing if they have any, or no knowledge of their experience level or english proficiency, I typically just let it slide (unless they’ve explicitly asked for typo-checking in a/n obviously). I think it’s important to remember that a lot of fans are writing in their non-native language and even the most well-meaning someone correcting them can be disheartening after they worked so hard to do as well as they already did everywhere else. I know that when I try and form sentences in the other languages I’m studying, I can feel MASSIVELY shut down by even the nicest correction if I haven’t requested it.

The grey area is where it’s someone who seems like they’re an experienced writer and not someone who’s new or tentative in their author-notes but is not someone I’m already friends with. Mostly if I’m not sure I’m doing more good than harm, I don’t risk it.

The other type of issue that gets to me is when it seems as though the author may not realize they’re consistently using a word wrong - which can be very embarrassing to have pointed out to you (more than a typo), but I often feel like it’s a bit like having your zipper undone. It’s more embarrassing if someone could’ve told you sooner and didn’t and now a whole room full of people saw you with your fly down. Although I’m a huge fan of fanfic and this cutting-edge fiction we write, I do sometimes worry about the bad grammar patterns that people learn by not spending more time reading professionally-copy-edited works enough to know when there are errors in the fic they’re reading (e.g. people thinking “would of” is correct instead of knowing it’s “would’ve” and then going on to use that in their school/professional life and looking bad).

But if that’s the case, I’ll often leave a normal comment on the story, then try and find out if the author has a tumblr, or whatever, where they could be contacted in a way separate from the story itself so it hopefully feels like less of an indictment of their artwork and instead just a friendly discussion about writing. If I don’t have another way to reach them I might still comment on the fic if it really seems like a consistent mistake. I try to take care not to assume I know better than them even if it seems obvious. After all, who am I to assume anything? You seem thoughtful also, so please don’t think I’m implying you would be high-handed either by using the perfectly reasonable example you gave, but it illustrates my thought nicely; an author using exercise when it seems like they meant exorcise - they might have also meant to use excise so if I went off assuming I knew better and “corrected” them to tell them to use exorcise I might not actually be right either!

I try my best to keep a humble attitude when offering any support to another author. Or any person on any subject, tbh. A lot of the time that just means holding my thoughts since nobody asked for my opinion on it. So yeah, that’s the really long way of saying I agree with you. Generally, I just let it go!

#replies #nonnerpants #thoughts on writing