#dedicated to that one fic where this method totally works

[wreckedhoney]

yeah, i think i've done my due diligence

#killer frequency #dedicated to that one fic where this method totally works #FUCK THEYRE FACING THE WRONG WAY now theyll never work against intruders oyoboyo

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

have you ever had any of your fanfics copied without permission, what do you do in this case, lots of authors struggle with this, is there any solution

Yes, though not as flagrantly as some people's have been and it's never been personally targeted.

My stuff's been picked up by fanfiction scrapers (generally sites dedicated to backing up fanfiction archives, still traumatized by the great collapse of LiveJournal).

So, I suppose let's break this down with what you can do.

The General Scraping Sites

Depends which one, obviously, but usually the people running these are really just traumatized by the LiveJournal collapse. They're not looking for your fic specifically, probably never even read it, and are usually willing to take things down if you contact them and note that it was taken without your permission.

Look for a contact information and tell them that you didn't give permission for the story to be uploaded there and give the stories specifically.

Sometimes this isn't the case, in that whoever's running it doesn't give a fuck what you think, and in that case read on a bit for things you can do to mitigate the problem.

Some Jackass Copied Your Fic to Wattpad/Ao3/Wherever

Here the rules are generally the same.

Contact the admins/help and note that the story was uploaded without your permission to this alternate site. They'll generally take it down (especially in that you have the proof that your original version is clearly older).

Obviously depends on the platform (Ao3's very responsive, I don't know much about Wattpad so can't say, Fanfiction is uh dying. I would expect 0 response from Fanfiction.net)

Someone Plagiarized Your Work

They changed the title, maybe even the OTP, but it is word for word your story. Here, I think you're out of luck unless you're on Ao3. Ao3 allows the reporting of plagiarism and will put someone on the case.

You're going to have to deal with a lot of bullshit drama from the person that stole your work and is claiming it's totally different because your fic is about Steve Rogers and theirs is about Tony Stark, but you'll probably see some movement.

If not some fandom bitterness depending how big each respective fic was.

Some Other Things You Can Do

Most scrapers target fanfiction.net as there's no means of blocking the fic behind a login screen. If you get off ffnet and put your fics behind the "login users only" you'll cut down on 90% of bots scraping your fic (they still can, of course, but it's generally not worth the scripter's effort and the more altruistic ones will take it as a sign that you don't want it copied to another site).

This is the easiest solution to most of these things.

The other is, if you find out about it, and you don't get any traction through the above methods, make a fuss. Leave a comment noting that hey, this is actually X fic that I wrote months before this existed. The wrath of Thor will come down upon you, depending how rabid their fanbase you will be slandered left and right, but it will make a ridiculous commotion, an internal fandom war, and will draw attention to the plagiarist in a way they probably do not want (being called out as a plagiarist who actually didn't come up with any of their material).

In the event that that doesn't work...

The atomic bomb/pyrrhic victory is you hold your fics hostage. No updates until the plagiarized fic is taken down. Now, they're in a very tough situation where they have to come up with new material themselves (and they know it's going to not be any good). Their own readers will probably call them out on the lapse in quality, it will make things very very uncomfortable, and may be enough to prompt them to take it down.

However, they may just stop updating as you stop updating and then there's no updates for anybody.

Though it takes a truly trollish person to have gotten to this point already and most people are not that skeezy.

#writing #advice #fanfiction

[insecateur]

I have a silly question, but do you have any advice to get more people to read your fic?

first of all i don't think this is a silly question at all!! and (perhaps this is presomptuous but indulge me) for the record it is totally okay and normal to want eyes on your fic. it's natural to want people to read what you wrote and there's nothing wrong with wanting to connect with people who might enjoy your writing 👍

with that said, i'm not sure i'm the best person to ask when it comes to this, but i'll try my best. there are a few ways that can help, though there are of course no guarantees:

interacting with other fans and reading and commenting their works: imo this is especially a good method if what you crave is community above all, but it can be kind of hit and miss. some people might check out your works in the process, but there are also fan creators who only make things and don't seek out other people's creations. with that said, this is probably the best way to get more readers "organically."

advertising your fic on other platforms: this is the classic way. however, it can be kind of discouraging to have to hype yourself up regularly, especially if you get no response. you could make it more involved by making graphics etc, or extremely casual by just dropping a link and a screenshot. (this is mostly what i try to do, although i don't think i'm very good at it, admittedly...)

joining discord servers or other communities dedicated to fic writing: obviously, this isn't an option if you're not super into the more social aspects of fandom, but i've had good experiences with those. i've only ever been in multifandom ones (mostly bc i'm not in large enough fandoms to justify single-fandom ones existing, i think) and it can also just help with fic writing in general as a bonus.

participating in fandom events: i mostly do AO3-based exchanges, and there are definitely fandoms where you can get more eyes on your fic that way. things like ship weeks can be good also, i think. this isn't the way to get eyes on a specific fic, of course, but people might check out the rest of your work if they like your writing.

that covers most of it, i believe... i'm very laid-back personally because i don't like putting too much pressure on myself (it backfires on me more than anything else) so i don't even share everything i post on AO3 here for example. which is a shame bc i really enjoy this reverse chronology ficlet i posted earlier this month and it didn't get much attention at all. 😔

good luck on your fanfiction journey, dearest anonymous!!

#la réponse d #did not include things like 'write about popular pairings and tropes' bc i figured this wasn't the kind of advice you were after lol

[tiamat-zx]

2022 AO3 Wrapped

Tagged by @blorbologist (You asked for it, I might as well do it!)

And keep in mind, I might not be able to link to any of the stories, but I WILL post their titles so you can look them up.

AND BE WARNED. A lot of these fics contain spoilers.

Works published: 73 (And I intend to leave it at that, save some ideas for next year which is literally right around the corner.)

Word Count: 134,670. Not bad.

Bookmarks: 190. Wow.

Shortest Fic: “Necessity, the Mother of Invention” at a paltry 100 words, published 2022-03-10. It was just a little post-C2 Drabble where Beau gets to ask the Brenattos for a little bit of magic training. Just to expand her kit. Nothing big, just something nice and fluffy.

Longest Fic: “Traveler’s Eve”, published for the final day of Whumptober 2022 at a decent 6,600 words. Basically what it says on the tin: a revisiting of the events of the first half of C2’s Traveler Con episode, from Beau’s point of view. Namely, it’s her coming to a resolution regarding Jester and Yasha, along with her moments with Caleb and Fjord in said episode. Also, I had art commissioned for it that was done by “undeadharlequin” on IG, and now it’s my Tumblr banner. Thanks again, Jas!

Sadly it’s quite lacking in kudos… and more importantly in comments. Please go read it.

Gift Fics for Me: 7 this year. 6 by @warriorbard2012…

“Moonlight Possibilities”

“Say Goodbye to the Yesterdays that Owned Us”

“Nicodranas Family Vacation”

“The Surprise Party”

“Lone Wolf No More”

“The Second Time Around”

…and one by @jtr-99.

“Remnant”

Thanks again Mari and Jill! Back to the list!

Gift Fics for Others: Quite a few. Twenty-three in total.

“‘Cause it’ll never go away (Until the fear that you are runnin’ from is finally embraced, face to face)” for @january3693

“Ice Breaker to Remake Her” for @warriorbard2012

“What Could Have Been” for @idragonspyro

“Halfling Love” for @flyingraven

“Phantom Pain” for @ss117

“One Lucky Kitty” for @grayintogreen (Because she loves Cree so much)

“Taurs R Us” for @sylvanfreckles

“Nowhere To Go But Down” for @cole-lynid

“The Big Day(s)” for @jtr-99 @cole-lynid @warriorbard2012 @grayintogreen (My finale fic for Beauyasha Week 2022, and I just had to not only dedicate it to them, but also to make it a wedding fic!)

“A Memento” for @warriorbard2012 and @jtr-99 (Post-Iron Shepherds, going along with the now popular headcanon that Beau got her eye scar from Lorenzo and thus doesn’t want it healed and gone. So that she never forgets.)

“Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow (But Also Sweet Payback)” for @grayintogreen (Because Lucien. ‘Nuff said.)

“Cobalt Soul Searching” for @jtr-99 (Quite possibly one of the darkest fics I’ve written as it IS about that lingering trauma after Cognouza. Because there’s no way that Beau and Caleb didn’t get out of that mess without some PTSD. Also, it’s to address the fact that they never quite told the Soul about the eyes. This is about Beau finding the courage to open up about it.)

“Marigold” for @grayintogreen (Because she loves Jayne, and I had to do a fic with her in it.)

“Scientific Method” for humandisaster1313 and @grayintogreen (Okay… THIS one is VERY DARK. Very much hurt no comfort. And Whumptober 2022 gave me an outlet and a reason to finally write it. But THANKFULLY it’s balanced out by…)

“Treading Lightly” for humandisaster1313 (…a story about Veth being a badass on a boat.)

“‘I was flying past the stars on silver wings. It was wonderful.’” This one was for @ghostofwhitestone as another Whumptober fic, and sure enough, while the ending may be divergent NOW, it DOES tackle what poor Laudna was going through in limbo before Bells Hells sundered her free. And yes, the title is a reference to the novel “Matilda”. For obvious reasons.

“Reflection” for @jtr-99 @warriorbard2012 and @grayintogreen (I had never really done an “origin story for Dairon before. This was my opportunity to do so. Especially as a ‘first meeting’ between her and Yudala Fon, and how they would end up meeting Beau in Zadash on that fateful Sydenstar day in Trostenwald.)

“Chill Touch” for @svartalfhild (Yay, a fic about Ashton and Laudna and how she would be the sole exception to Ashton always feeling pain just from touch. Happens post-C3E38.)

“Family Resemblance” for humandisaster1313 (My final gift fic tied to Whumptober 2022. One in which mother and daughter team up to take down some ne’er-do-wells.)

“Forget-me-not” for @grayintogreen (Okay, this one’s a rather somber one because I wrote this on November 5th, to mark the 11th anniversary of the day my mother lost her life. As such, it’s a story of grief and mourning. And in this case, it’s Beau at Molly’s (empty) grave.)

“Mother Knows Best” for @warriorbard2012 (I will never stop loving “Worth Fighting For” from C2, and as such, I just had to write a story about the moment between Veth and Beau from the former’s POV, in which she decides to forego her usual trolling and do what mothers do: be supportive.)

“Like You’ve Seen A Ghost” for @blorbologist (Because Percy and Vex and all their trauma. Also Laudna’s.)

“Fresh Start” for @cole-lynid and @khalliys (This fic is twofold: it’s for Lynid’s birthday, and the ending came about due to Khal’s art of Beau being super casual and Yasha having a, well, justified reaction. It is also my most recent fic, and thus my last fic of 2022.)

PHEW! That’s all of them!

Collabs: Sadly no real collabs this year. I flew solo.

Events: Febuwhump 2022, Beauyasha Week 2022, and Whumptober 2022.

Most popular by kudos AND hits: Funnily enough, I have two.

The aforementioned “Phantom Pain” with 765 hits and 87 kudos.

“The Lion’s Snare” with 500 hits and 112 kudos.

Actually, I have a third, one that’s more consistent with a better kudos/hit balance: “The Dream or the Dreamer” with 595 hits and 103 kudos.

Most popular by comments: “Eyes on the Prize” with only 10 comments. (Of course, that could change before the end of the year.)

It’s honestly rather depressing because I feel like I’ve been getting less and less comments. It’s more kudos than anything else.

But I like reading feedback. It makes me smile knowing how much you liked it.

Hopefully I’ll see more feedback down the road.

Fic that made me smile: The aforementioned “The Second Time Around”. I’m looking forward to seeing how Mari ends that story. Also, there are so many other stories that made me smile this year, too many for me to list lol

Fic that made me cry: Aside from some of my own pieces… CURRENTLY I’m being emotionally compromised by @waltwhitmansbeard and her Vaxleth Medieval AU story “My Fair Lady”.

Also, what absolutely broke me early on in 2022 was Jill’s “Shadows of Rancor”. Because that one goes into some dark places… and there is death. They do get better, but… ouch. It hurt in the best way, and I eagerly await the next installment whenever that may be.

Okay… I think that does it! As for whom I’m tagging…

Well, aside from the ones I’ve already tagged, there’s also @viciousmollymaukery @professor-rye @pryingblackbird .

See you all in 2023!

#tag game #ao3 #ao3 wrapped

[amrv-5]

sorry this is out of curiousity and you totally can not answer it but what is the long fic you’re writing about

ahh hello!! no problem I’m happy to answer (i love.... talking about writing....i will ALWAYS love talking about writing. it fills me with absolute joy to talk at length about themes ideas motifs etc in my writing. even if they’re just ‘what in god’s name were you thinking’ i will ALWAYS love questions!!)! 

in general terms, the as-yet untitled Long Fic is just another post-war fic about Hawk and Beej trying to adjust back to life in the States on their own, and eventually finding their way back to each other again. extremely down-the-line, absolutely no supernatural twists, high realism. It’s only stupid long because I’m trying to give that the space it needs to feel real to me, and that amount of space is turning out to be: A Lot.

a broader series of themes & questions (so far lol) are below the cut for mild thematic spoilers, length, and (sorry) minimizing exposure to pretentiousness purposes:

So You Want to Know What the Long Fic is About: A Condensed Thematic Overview of 158K (For Now) of Straight-Up Realist Historical Fiction Where, No Joke, a Significant Portion of That Length is Dedicated Solely to Guys Thinkin’ Real Hard About Stuff, Guaranteed to Make You Say ‘Holy Fuck, I’m Sorry I Asked, Please Just Shut Up’ With Parker, Your Resident Guy Who is Normal About TV

1. Mis- and non-communication.

What happens when you go from sleeping three feet away from your best friend in the world to living so far away a letter takes two weeks on a round trip? How do your methods of understanding each other (and misunderstanding each other…) change? How does or can one maintain closeness when literal proximity is denied? How does somebody handle abandonment when the abandonment in question was unavoidable (i.e. nobody to blame--the death of a mother, maybe, or the end of a shared living situation)?

2. Justice, suffering, and recompense.

This is where the pretentiousness comes in, I know this makes me sound like an asshole I just care about American case law a lot and it infects all of my writing, etc. etc. Anyway. How do we approach ideas of suffering and justice when they fall outside the jurisdiction of an American view of legal culpability? How does one go about trying to seek justice when they are provably, demonstrably hurt, but there is nowhere to direct the blame? These questions are kind of slippery and weird, so I’ll try to frame it more directly: somebody in this story is going to struggle (as they always do in my work) with despair. It is a serious and life-long struggle. How does a person in that situation move beyond ideas like fairness, justice, and being owed relief, to accepting that ‘fairness’ doesn’t really exist in terms of things like personal neurochemistry? And how, then, does that acceptance hold itself in relation to larger forms of human injustice--how does somebody accept their own ‘unfair’ situation as a reality they must bear while continuing to maintain ideological opposition to injustices that can be changed?

3. Empathy and invisible strife.

A little bit of an overlap with the previous set of ideas, but this one flows out of one of my favorite poems in the world, “Musee des Beaux Arts” by Auden (check it out, if you haven’t read it!). The narrator states:

About suffering they were never wrong, The old Masters: how well they understood Its human position: how it takes place While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along;

And then, later: 

In Breughel's Icarus, for instance: how everything turns away Quite leisurely from the disaster; the ploughman may Have heard the splash, the forsaken cry, But for him it was not an important failure; the sun shone As it had to on the white legs disappearing into the green Water, and the expensive delicate ship that must have seen Something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky, Had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on.

I am compelled by how frequently awareness of strife is set aside in day to day life, especially in American life, and that comes through big time in the Long Fic. 

At a psychological level, there’s a certain idea, I think, that it is very evident when people are doing badly; that you will always be able to tell; that the solution is as simple as reaching out, or asking for help. Unfortunately, that is often not the case. Somebody can be having the worst day of their life, be absolutely at the end of their rope, be seconds away from losing it completely, and five feet to the left there could be somebody else making a ham sandwich. So that comes through a lot in the work--this borderline absurdist, tragicomic idea that nobody’s ever really going to know exactly how you feel, and even if they did, they might be too busy doing the crossword to notice.

And at a less granular level, you can apply this (and will see it applied) to the American cultural response to the Korean War, which was incredibly muted. Even though millions of people died, even though the daily suffering of people, especially local civilians, involved was immense, because it was so (to an American domestic point of view) far-off, most people just went on with their lives. People celebrated birthdays, TV shows were produced, city council meetings dragged gaily on.

These things seem inevitable, and the ideas behind them kind of obvious: of course the world keeps turning when bad things happen. People just aren’t built to maintain ceaseless fear, anger, outrage, etc. at tragedy that is not directly affecting them, because they are concerned with the business of being alive. The people that do manage to maintain constant attention to large-scale but abstract or not immediately visible tragedies tend to go crazy, self-immolate, and/or quit their fancy math professorships at Berkeley in order to start direct mail marketing campaigns. Everybody else tends to feel bad about an issue, maybe they’ll see if they can do something small to help, and then they forget about it and keep managing the minutiae of their own lives. Yes, of course this or that issue is tragic--but I’ve got to do my taxes, or I’ve got to hit a deadline, or I’ve got to go to the store. The ploughman keeps working, too busy to investigate the splash. The ship sails on with somewhere to get to. 

But then again, even if the logic is sound, from Icarus’s point of view the world has got to seem awfully cold and mean.

#fuck this got long #sorry! hope that explains vaguely what to expect! #and again to clarify: I LOVE QUASTION #never apologize for talking to me about writing i am a little literature freak and i WILL write you an essay about literally anything #in conclusion: it's going to be a weird one but I hope it connects to people #but if you don't have time to read like probably 200K #(and who could blame you) #just read that auden poem and it'll say everything i'm trying to say 10000x faster and better and more beautifully #meta #the long fic #The LitFic Cometh

[jellielover]

it is so funny to me you knew i would ask these. 1, 3, 19, 22

1. What font do you write in? Do you care or is that just the default setting?

I usually write in cambria size 11, although the size is more of an "idc" thing. I just like it :)

3. What is your favorite writing ritual and why is it cursed?

My favorite writing ritual is the Sprint Gang in a discord server that I'm in. I'm about one of three people left that's still dedicated to the sprint bot, but I will do 15 sprints in a row if that is what it takes. I should also explain that a writing sprint is timed chunks (I do 20 minute ones) where you write as much as possible.

It's also why my personal wpm record is this much

19. Tell me a story about your writing journey. When did you start? Why did you start? Were there bumps along the way? Where are you now and where are you going?

I started writing when I was in elementary school, just some fantasy stuff that was very anticlimactic because I rushed to the good part and it ended up being too short. I've always been an avid reader, and fantasy is my lover, so it's not that difficult to make up your own universe in your head. It's not really about a "why" I started, more about an inevitable when *would* I start.

I still write small original works, but I also write a decent about of fanfic. I had a really popular MCU fic that I wrote when I was 14 and it was 3 am, and then I moved to crossovers like KNY X BNHA, and then onto minecraft my beloved. I wouldn't really call my older works bumps so much as learning experiences. For example, I've learned that it's better to take my time on writing something than to force myself into a panic about having something out every week. I've learned I should have an idea of a goal for my writing. I've learned to not make meme references because memes from 2015 are not as funny anymore!

Right now I'm working on Allerseelen, my hermitcraft fic for tango's big moon escapades, as well as outlining my original book. Allerseelen is great you should totally read it haha jk unless???

22. How organized are you with your writing? Describe to me your organization method, if it exists. What tools do you use? Notebooks? Binders? Apps? The cloud?

I write down ideas as they pop into my head in my notes app, as well as in little journals and things. When I outline a fic I usually write a small blurb for each chapter to remind myself of what it needs to accomplish in the narrative. A lot of writing is problem solving for me. "Why can't Tango have HSMB yet to make other people realize he has moon trauma?" "Because HSMB is stuck in Tommy's inventory and we have to dive into his code to get them out." Problem solving can be used for organization. What problem does this chapter solve in the narrative? Why did you write this in this order? These are all things I ask myself when I do something.

If I split each chapter into sections, I can also focus on other characters and establish a place in the story for them. Each split of a chapter can be used to make a timeline of events.

Also, for organization I have 3 docs for Allerseelen. One is for the whole thing (oh god), one is for the current chapter (so I can get the word count properly), and one is for when I write something that doesn't quite fit and I use it later (the snippets doc). I used to use the whole doc for sprints, but it's starting to get slow and I usually also use it for the outlining blurbs and it's not accurate wordcount-wise. The snippets doc is really useful because I can write short scenes and copy paste them in when the time comes!

#writer's ask game

[logicgunn]

8, 13, 18 for the New Year ask <3

I've answered 8 and 18 already, I hope you don't mind a copy-paste!

8. Is there a story idea in your mental vault that you’ve never been brave enough to try writing? Is this the year? Can you tell us about it?

Not really, everything I want to write I give a go. But I am going to dedicate a lot of mental energy to my Serial Killer AU WIP because I want to get it finished this year. It's very much a Dead Dove: Do Not Eat fic, and it's a far cry from my usual fluff, H/C stuff.

13. Aside from fanfic, are there any other fan works you’d like to try creating? Fanart, or fanvids, gifsets, or podfic?

Oooh, this is a good one.

I'm a bit mumbly and when I enunciate I turn a bit posh so I really don't have the voice for a podfic!

I also don't have much skill at art outside of mindfulness colouring, so that's out.

I'd love to do a fanvid. I have a couple of songs I'd like to make McSheppy. But I don't have the software or the money for that kind of expense.

So gifset? I'd like to do that. I feel like the SGA fandom is well-served gifset wise, but maybe another fandom? Hmmmmm.

I do love a good mood board though!

18. Do you typically post multi-chapters as you write, or finish it all and then start posting? Would you like to change your posting method?

Nooooooooo. I did a proper WIP a grand total of once, where I posted each chapter as I went. I'm glad I did it, but I figured out really fast that it wasn't for me. I like to be able to go back to earlier chapters and change things when events inevitably take an unexpected turn later on. I can't commit even my first chapter to readers until the last one is at least in its second draft.

#ask #cassiope25 #thank you!

[statusquoergo]

Hi! I was wondering if I might ask for some advice? A few days ago, this idea for a Marvey fic came to me randomly and it's been running circles in my mind ever since. It's gotten to the point where I even started to rewatch the show after three years. I've got certain scenes in my head too! The problem is that I'm quite terrible at seeing projects through. I don't really have the time lately to put a lot of my effort into this story unfortunately, but I also have a track record of giving up on stories I'm super passionate about halfway through. I was wondering if you had any tips or advice? You're one of my favorite writers and I hoped you might be able to help. Thank you!

Hi! Wow, am I really? Wow. I never think of myself as being one of anyone's favorite anything, that's really sweet of you to say, thank you so much! And of course you're more than welcome to ask, I'll do my best to be helpful!

Oh boy, I've been there... Having scenes already playing out in your head sounds like a good start, though! Better than having a vague premise with no concrete ideas, anyway. But seeing projects through can be tough, for sure, and the inherently fickle nature of fanfiction's feedback loop doesn't make it easier. So! Tips and advice!

A lot of people, especially those with little free time, benefit from a schedule, blocking out time in the day to dedicate to writing without distractions. If that works for you, great! But if it doesn't, that's cool too. It doesn't for me. Forcing myself to sit down and write at any given moment is one thing, but making it an appointment is something else entirely, and it messes really badly with my productivity. I guess the point of this is, don't feel bad if you don't stick to a strict schedule, but also don't let yourself totally off the hook; if you want your story to get written, you'll probably occasionally have to make yourself write it, even if you don't think you want to. Moments of vivid inspiration are amazing, yeah, but they aren't all that common; sometimes you've just gotta sit down and crank out a few paragraphs. A shitty first draft is better than no draft at all, and you can always go back and edit it into something you love!

When I'm not actively writing, I do my best conceptualizing while I'm doing other fairly low-energy things, like going for a walk or watching television or something, and then writing down parts of scenes, or even just thematic ideas I want to include somewhere in the piece, as they come to me. (I have also been known to force myself out of bed as I'm trying to fall asleep to write down snatches of dialogue that have just occurred to me... I recommend keeping a notepad and pen close by, it's much less hassle.) Whenever I can find the time, I'll turn them into a chapter, or part of one, but this method allows me to keep engaged with the story even when I'm not actually drafting it.

Lack of inspiration strikes us all, though, and in that case, it's totally fine to leave a story alone for a little while. The key there being "a little while"; give it a good night's sleep or a day off, but then, even if you don't get right back into writing, at least start thinking about it again until you're ready. Or maybe do get back to writing first thing! Sitting at your computer and making progress, even if it's progress you ultimately delete, at least puts you back in the writing mindset and gets you back into the world you're creating.

This is partially specific to the world of fanfiction, but don't be afraid to vary your chapter length. If you like to get your chapters up to 5000 words before you post, great, that's a fine baseline, but if you've managed to put together a few scenes that only get to 1500 words and still tell a cohesive story, or part of one, it's perfectly okay to post that, too. Getting feedback on new material can be a great motivator, but it can also be really motivating just to have that sense of accomplishment of putting more of your writing out into the world and seeing that word counter go up. Not to mention, updating the Last Updated date can make a fic seem more current, and maybe help get it back to the front of your mind!

I think the main theme here is, do what you can to keep yourself immersed in the story you're working on, even when you're not working on it. And I know this sucks to hear and nobody wants to think about it, but sometimes you do have to force yourself to write. If you haven't worked on your story at all for the past two weeks, ask yourself what's holding you back. Did you lose your passion for the material, or are you just frustrated? Did you even realize it had been that long? What made you want to write the story in the first place? What's the ending you want to get to, and what's keeping you from getting there? Remember that even writing a little bit is better than writing nothing! It's fine to take a break, but don't give up!

These tips aren't universal, of course, no advice works for everybody, but I hope at least one thing I've said can be helpful to you! Best of luck!

#writing #fanfiction #anonymous

[canadian-riddler]

I know I'm talking in circles when I say this but your frustration with fic writers who have a different work ethic is frustrating. I know this is your blog and you should be able to vague post all you want but I sometimes wish you'd write a full-on post criticizing that type of fanfic writer. Like I said, I sound like I'm talking in circles, but I actually would love to read that as opposed to the little huffs of frustration in the tags. Yes, I'm a hypocrite and am venting myself in your inbox, so I get why you'd ignore this.

I'm going to have to guess this is about the Stephen King post?

The reason I said I think like everyone should write like Stephen King is because he actually sits down and does it. Over my years on the fanfic sub I have seen hundreds of people complain that they rarely finish their stories or that they haven't written in months because they have writer's block or that they can't write a single word unless they're inspired. And they ask for solutions to these problems. But the actual real solution to not being able to write is discipline. I talk about Stephen King now and again because he sits down and does it every single day. I don't know his current goals but it used to be two thousand words every day and as he got older he lowered it to one thousand. But he still sits down and writes those words every single day, even if he doesn't want to. Compare this to George RR Martin, who responded with absolute bafflement that someone would write every single day. As though writing is a chore you need to force yourself through and as though writing is - should be! - suffering.

Stephen King also doesn't publish everything he writes. I've seen so many people over the year say they gave up because they posted their first or second fanfic and they didn't get the response they wanted or expected. When Stephen King was starting out, he used to send in stories to magazines. He hung the rejection slips on a nail on the wall and when he had so many rejection slips the nail fell out? He got a bigger nail. That's discipline and I will always advocate for discipline in writing.

Is all of this unfair to apply to a hobby people do this in their spare time for fun? Maybe. But that's part of a separate conversation about how a massive amount of fanfic writers seem to think writing isn't worth it unless they're being told how good they are at it and how many think the response they get should be equal to the amount of effort they put in. This is a growing thing in art in general these days and not just fanfic but since I don't make videos or draw anymore I can't really comment on that.

In any case it seems you want me to criticise people who criticise other peoples' writing method? But the reason I get frustrated about it is that giving up isn't a method? Work ethic means having dedication in achieving your goals. If a pantser actually finishes their fics, good. Good for them. I'm glad that's working for them. I actually used to write like that until one fic where, over the course of a few months where I got concrit, I realised that not knowing what was going to happen next was actually detrimental to my stories. If people regularly pants fics and actually finish them, good. But that's totally different from someone who abandons fics because they were hoping the reader would help them figure out the rest or because they never learned how to write the second act of a story and always just move on to another one instead.

#so says Indy #under a readmore because it got long #writing angst #anon #asks #I mean I can try to do whatever it is you’re talking about but it’s not clear to me what that is

[lovethestars1966]

STEREK FBI/FALSELY ACCUSED FIC

Chapter three is up from unforgettable!! The one where the Sheriff arrests and charges Derek with multiple murders.  Also I have a competition going on the person who can guess the murderer first!! First and second prize. It’s to pay for some ART by a very talented Tumblr artist who we all know and love. Just a bit of fun. Give it a go if you're interested and who knows. Maybe you’ll be the winner. Can’t hurt.

Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/31853854/chapters/79642657#workskin

Excerpt: (Big one today...)

“So you guys work with Stiles?” Isaac asked conversationally as he led Allison and Jackson along the track to where the body had been discovered.

“For a few years now,” Allison answered, assuming she would be the only helpful person for Isaac today. Jackson was forthcoming but anything he had to say seemed less than useful. “You knew him from school?” She asked.

“Yeah, but if you’re from Beacon Hills you pretty much know everyone from school.”

Jackson speaks up, “was he just as annoying back then?”

“Probably more.” Isaac laughs genuinely and it causes Allison to giggle alongside him. “Didn’t stop me from being madly in love with him though.” he admits sadly.

Allison isn’t afraid to admit she stumbled then. Freezing right alongside Jackson at the sudden bombshell Isaac had just dropped. Isaac himself didn’t notice he was walking alone for a few moments but when he did he looked back to find them both standing there gobsmacked.

“Guess Stiles doesn’t talk about me much huh?” he asked just a little bit embarrassed. Allison made a small choking noise while Jackson threw his hands skyward in disbelief.

“Seriously, how did that little weasel get two guys to fall in love with him?” He asked but Isaac skilfully ignored him in favour of Allison.

“Did he know?” She queried.

“Whole town knew.” the deputy answered, shrugging his shoulders and continuing towards their intended destination, “Although I would hope Stiles knew anyway since we dated.”

Allison had just started walking again.

“What the fuck is happening?” Jackson whispered, mostly to himself.

“Wait,” Allison threw a hand out to stop Isaac once more. “I thought Derek was the first and only person Stiles ever dated.” Isaac nodded and hurried them along once more.

“Well yes and no,” He relented to her enquiring eyebrow, “Derek was certainly the first person he dated and I assume he thinks he’ll be Stiles last. Stiles and myself dated for a few months when he and Derek broke up.”

“Stiles and Derek never broke up.” The conflicted agent to Isaac’s right argued which caused the young cop himself to huff quietly with laughter.

“Guess Stiles doesn’t talk about anything from his past much.” he states, “I gotta tell you, that does make me feel a bit better.”

“I’m starting to feel like none of us really know Stiles.” Allison muttered.

“Yeah, well I just learnt two people have actually seen Stiles naked and enjoyed it so now I’m questioning everything I know.” Jackson countered inciting another round of laughter from Isaac.

“Now that I can’t claim,” he admitted, “me and Stiles never had sex, though not from a lack of trying on my part.”

“Surprisingly that didn’t help.” Jackson grumbled and then wheezed out an annoyed breath after having a hand thrown across his chest. “Problem?”

“Not at all, we've just arrived.”

It was like flicking a switch. Allison and Jackson went from confused, and a little sickened in Jackson case, to professional in the blink of an eye. From the corner of her eye she saw Isaac looking mildly impressed.

“You got the file?” Jackson asked Allison who was already nose deep in said paperwork.

“Looks like she was found underneath that tree over there,” she pointed towards a large imposing trunk, and after a quick inspection they discovered specks of remaining blood confirming the assumption.

“wide space,” Jackson noted out loud, “no clear trails, lots of obstacles.”

“What does that mean?” Isaac asked genuinely interested.

“Means whoever did it has to be an experienced hiker.” Allison answered as Jackson wondered off a little. “Probably have an intimate knowledge of the area.”

“A local?”

“Not necessarily, could be anyone who travels here often enough to learn the terrain. Although statistically speaking a local is more likely.” She mumbled examining a photograph.

“Any tire tracks?” Jackson yelled, still out of view, startling the young deputy.

“None that our technicians could find.” He answered anyway as the male agent came stumbling back into the clearing.

“How wide were your search parameters?” he questioned further.

“Had a team of about six go about two miles in all directions.”

“Only two miles?” Allison asked shocked at the same time Jackson screwed up his face.

“Only six people?”

“We’re a small town,” Isaac huffed a little offended, “that’s actually a lot for us,”

Allison had the moral conscience to at least look sheepish while Jackson merely shook his head in judgement.

“Two miles is still pretty far to drag a body.” Isaac moved on smoothly. “At least it is for any normal  human being.”

“Well you’re not wrong there, Kolchak.” Jackson retorted unforgivingly. “Maybe she was flown here on a magic carpet.” Isaac was becoming increasingly more put out the longer Jackson was allowed to talk and showed so in the narrowing of his eyes.  Allison was going to have to watch that. Her best friends fiancé had a way of pissing people off that was unmatched by others.

“Obscure references to seventies si-fi-crime shows aside,” the deputy forged on, “the point still remains, this guy must be ripped… if it is a guy? Do we know that?” He directed the last part towards her.

“I highly doubt it’s a woman.” She responded, and Isaac looked extremely grateful. “the facts don't add up.”

“Meaning?”

“Statistics show that ninety two percent of all female serial killers know their victims personally. While it is extremely likely, almost definite even, that the unsub in this case knew at least one or two of their victims, considering the fact that they were spread across three states and share extremely similar aesthetics, knowing all thirteen on a personal level is virtually impossible.” Allison explained calmly only for Jackson to tag on the end.

“Pair that with the fact that most female motives are to do with money, and that we just ruled out magic carpet to the dumpsite, seems a bit ridiculous to suggest women doesn't it?” he asked with no small amount of mockery.

“Boy are you going to be sorry if it does turn out to be a woman.” Isaac replied shaking his head in judgment. Jackson’s only response was to roll his eyes.

“Okay,” Allison spoke up completely ignoring the boys little competition, “So if he didn’t drive here, and he didn’t carry her here then how did she get here?” she pondered aloud. Jackson furrowed his own forehead in concentration.

“Maybe she was killed here?” Isaac offered only to receive a scoff from his favourite agent.

“She died from blood loss Deputy,” Allison stepped in before Jackson could mock, “There was nowhere near enough blood near here for it to have been the kill site.”

“I know how she died, I saw her,” Isaac began then paused, looking like he regretted his short tone. He tired again. “Look Doc Deaton told us she had ligature marks around her ankles.”

“she was hung upside down.” Allison confirmed.

“Yeah but I watched this documentary on like war zones and militant extremist and stuff. It said that sometimes they have to take their victims to remote places to, you know, ‘question them’. Often  they do it by cutting them and letting them bleed to death slowly hung upside down. To avoid attracting animals with the sent of blood they like, dig a hole, or place them over a bucket or something.”

By the time Isaac had finished he looked a little embarrassed, at his suggestion, but obviously couldn’t bring himself to tame the smirk he sent Jacksons way. Jackson however was just looking back with a seemingly bewildered look on his face.

“You are an idiot.” he stated and Isaac deflated a little. “You think this guy just so happened to watch the same documentary you did? You realise the chances of this are like five million to o-“

“Shut up Jackson!” Allison interrupted suddenly.

“What?”

“Shush, I think Isaac might be right,” she waved off his distress distractedly and Isaacs smile grew back tenfold. “Think about it. This guy is meticulous, methodical, dedicated. All things that can be easily explained with a military background.” She grinned back at the young officer before heading over to the tree and squatting down. She pulled out a glove from her pocket and began fitting it over her hand while continuing her thoughts aloud.

“What if he served overseas. He could have learnt everything he needed from the locals and simply applied it to some of his victims.”

She placed her covered hand to the ground where the body had been discovered and started to dig.

“Now considering he would’ve had to walk her here, tie her to the tree, kill her, get her down, and get the hell out of dodge, I doubt he had time to bring several buckets along with him and then carry them all the way back to wherever he came from without dropping any. No he is way to organised for that. However digging a hole would only require a small shovel. Military grade ones can be attached to a belt, which leaves only his faith that the local sheriffs department would never think to dig…”

Suddenly she stopped pulling up the dirt when she was almost elbow deep. The two boys froze in anticipation as she slowly lifted her gloved hand into view. There was dirt, soft and wet from the damp ground as well as small bits of leaf and bark but in-between all of soil, saturating the no longer white glove was deep red blood.

“To bad he didn’t know we would have a deputy as quick as you hey Isaac,” she spoke smugly looking over to him with an approving nod.

Isaac totally preened.

Jackson merely growled at being proven wrong.

“‘Pretend inferiority and encourage his arrogance’.” Isaac quotes smugly. She wasn’t sure is he was talking about Jackson or the unsub. Probably both. Either way it sounded familiar.

Allison scrunches her nose up. “What is that? Shakespeare?” She asks curiously. Isaac goes to answer but is cut off by Jackson.

“Call a CSI team already,” he spat before turning around and muttering, “If this backwater town even has one.”

#Sterek #Team Sterek #sterek fanfiction #sterek fic rec #stiles stilinski #derek hale #Stiles/Derek #derek and scott are brothers

[amyscascadingtabs]

fic tag ✏️

tagged by @feeisamarshmallow, @dolston17 and @amydancepants-peralta! 💕

name: johanna!

fandoms: i only write for b99 right now, but I had my start in harry potter fan fiction and it is very dear to me still.. i’ve also tried some skam, carmilla, glee and whatnot, but harry potter and b99 is where i’ve actually produced a significant amount of work, haha.

where do you post your fanfiction? ao3 and usually tumblr, though not always. sometimes if i don’t love a one shot i’ll just throw it in a collection on ao3 and go without posting it on here so i don’t have to think about notes or new kudos.

by kudos most popular one-shot: i’ll take your hand when thunder roars, at 521 kudos as we speak

by kudos most popular multichapter: i just care about being with you at 1032 kudos, but that is really a one shot collection.. i only have one real multichapter (at least if you want more than two, haha) and that’s i’ll walk through hell with you with 262 kudos

personal favourite: i have several, i can’t, haha. but i’ll walk through hell with you was my passion project, my great love, i really did pour my heart and soul into that one

method for titling fics: usually always song titles.. i have a document where i save good ones, but i haven’t really used it in a long time, so now sometimes i come up with one as i go.

work I am nervous about posting: i’m always nervous, haha. i have a one shot that’s almost ready to go, but i’m worried it’s too simple and sounds stupid and people won’t care about it, and it’s always a little harder when i’ve been ”gone” for a while!

do you outline your works or just wing it? outline in probably 19 out of 20 cases because otherwise i’ll just drop the entire thing haha. can’t forget my ideas!!! to which degree varies though; with i’ll walk through hell with you i had an entire document dedicated to research about ivf, sometimes i’ll just have bullet points below in the document.

are you excited about any of your upcoming works? i have an idea that i’m thinking about as we speak that i’m really nervous to write but also sort of excited!! it’s delving deeper in something i’ve touched on before and it’ll be quite heavy and i always said i would never write it but now.. i really think i might, haha, i just need to bounce ideas with someone first

so I was really hesitant about whether i should do this because sharing statistics is something i think is quite hard and when i see that someone has more X and Y than me i’ll instantly look down on and judge myself for something i can’t actually control (like bookmarks and subscriptions), and i worry people think i’m stupid or doing things wrong and it’s just very very sensitive to me. i’m not going to tag anyone else for the same reason. but some people said that they were interested so here goes i guess, below cut!

ao3 statistics:

works: 46 (but some are collections, in total it’s 99)

user subscriptions: 105

kudos: 9195

comment threads: 952

bookmarks: 1483

subscriptions: 453

word count: 310 752

hits: 152 995

#johanna talks writing #thanks for the tags! #tag games

[winchester-with-wings]

I Saw You First

“An Angel & Her Assassin” sequel

Patron Benefit Fanfic for @softdudebro​!

Pairing:  College AU - Bucky Barnes x Reader

Author's Notes:  People have asked for sequels to this fic and I gave it a shot. I thought I'd dedicate this to Tomorrow since they like Bucky :) hopefully this is a good continuation and elicits some college feels cuz it definitely did for me! Hope ya'll like it!

Summary/Request:   The story of the first time you and Bucky saw each other but didn't actually meet. Then a flash forward to the present. smut.

**inspired by that one video of Seb working out** gif post

Word Count: 1700ish

Wanna get previews, early access and make exclusive requests? Become a Patron! You can follow my Patreon for free too as some stuff becomes public after a while. I’ll be adding a discord server benefit soon too!

Can’t become a patron? please consider a donation to my Ko-Fi (Tips are appreciated!)

Mobile Masterlist  /  Patreon & Commissions Masterlist

---------------------------------------------------

Bucky noticed you before he ever encountered you in the laundry room or the elevator of your dorm building. It figures that it would be at the gym, likely one of the regular places he frequented. Of course, you never knew this until after that fateful night at the Halloween party when you finally, truly connected.

When you asked him to tell you the story, he was playfully vague. But you know. You were there. You’d checked him out too.

Here’s how it really happened.

-----

The summer after your freshman year, you created another reading list to focus on. One of your methods to read these had been to take a book with you to the gym. You figured getting a little exercise at the same time would only help you develop better habits.

It worked, at first. The beginning of the new semester, you went to the gym for maybe two weeks? You enjoyed the ellipticals and recumbent bikes--the things that kept your legs busy but your hands and eyes free to read. It also distracted you from feeling self-conscious about the fact that you didn’t look like the other girls that came to the gym to socialize and work on their already-perfect bodies.

With the addition of classes, going to the gym became a harder habit to keep. You could just stay in your dorm room and read all you want, right? But by now, Rachel, your roommate needed a work-out buddy. Someone to motivate her to continue to go to the gym, as well. She claimed she wanted to get in shape for all the boys she’d scoped out at the floor meeting for the dorm during the first week of the semester.

“Let’s try the classes!” she suggested, pointing at the schedule on the wall. Step Aerobics, Yoga, Zumba, etc. They sounded alright, and maybe a change to your routine would be good.

So you started with the step aerobics class. You didn’t last long. You were breathing hard, face flushed and dripping with sweat. The blood was pounding in your ears, harder than the beats of music and every step on the hardwood floor and plastic steps.

You took a break, heading to the back of the class to get your water bottle. The back of the room was floor to ceiling windows and doors that faced the main area of the gym where all other equipment was. It took you only a second to realize why you disliked this set up. Everyone in the class, mostly other female students were in a fishbowl, on display for all the guys passing by or just blatantly standing at the windows. One guy winked at you and you scowled at him, effectively directing his eyes elsewhere.

What was so sexy about a sweaty step aerobics class? You thought to yourself as you turned to look at Rachel, killing it on the routine.

Oh, the butts, getting toned by the steps...Ugh!

You left after that, picking a leg press machine instead.

“Hey! Why you’d you leave?” Rachel asked after the class was over.

“Did you not see all the guys window shopping?”

“Uh, yeah, I got a number or two,” Rachel giggled, swinging her ponytail over her shoulder. You laughed as you got off the machine, offering it to your friend. She sat down and lowered the weight, significantly.

“I don’t come here to pick up guys.”

“You could if you wanted to,” she said, exhaling on the release. You just rolled your eyes. You told yourself it was because you didn’t have time for a man but really, how could you possibly expect to attract the interest of some jock? The guy that winked at you doesn’t count. He was disqualified the moment he decided to drool over a step aerobics class rather than work out. Your standards weren’t that low, seriously…

You and Rachel tried out a few more machines in the circuit, trying your own hands at strength training. But you realized quickly that you’d left the quieter space of the cardio equipment, too close to the weight lifting benches. Young men of all sizes were pushing themselves to the brink, breathing hard, grunting, exhaling, chanting, and egging each other on.

“Come on, Sam, you can do it! Just two more!” You knew that voice. Everyone on your floor knew Steve Rogers, quarterback, certified hunk and sweetheart. Or at least that’s what you had heard.

“He can’t do it.”

“Shut up, Buck!” a football player shouted as he pushed himself.

Too much testosterone. Intense. Stressful. Intimidating. That’s not what you wanted out of going to the gym. Quite the opposite really.

As you two left the gym, you made a mental note to avoid that area again.

-

The next class you attended was Zumba and not only did you keep up with it but you enjoyed it! The music was awesome and the choreography wasn’t too difficult. You could totally see yourself doing this again. But of course, boys… not men… boys…they ruin all the fun.

If step aerobics could catch the attention of onlookers, then zumba was like blood in the water for sharks.

Then again, you did feel sexy, swaying your hips, waving your hands, rolling your body. You decided to put the spectators out of your mind, losing yourself to a Shakira song.

When you left the class, having stayed for the entire thing and deciding to return tomorrow, you felt so good, so confident, that you didn’t care about who was looking. You were just in Nike leggings and a tie-dye shirt, hair up in a messy bun, nothing special, but you felt great.

“Hey, Rach!” someone called out for your friend, inviting her back over to the weight lifting area. The guy who called out for her looked familiar, someone that was likely found hanging out with Steve Rogers.

“Hey Sam,” she greeted him. You stayed by her side, holding onto that Zumba confidence with a steely grip.

You didn’t really listen to what happened between your friend and the football player. You saw Steve a few feet away with another friend. The man was on his back, legs bent and giant dumbbell weights in each hand. Your eyes went wide as you watched him push them up and hold them there. The way his arms were bulging in that gray t-shirt, he was straining himself and you were tempted to tell him to be careful.

“Give me one more!” Steve encouraged him. His friend winced as that last push was almost too much for him.

“Ah, fuck,” he hissed, exhaling and grinding his teeth. He pushed those dumbbells into the air once more and even a second time, then put them down with a loud thud as rubber met the concrete floor.

You didn’t have the best view of his face from his position on the ground and your standing position over 6 feet away, but that sound...like a growl, and his bared white teeth against that strong jaw covered in stubble…it’s a sound that stirred something deep in your belly.

He jumped to his feet and did a few quick squats in those black basketball shorts. You averted your eyes from his perfect ass just as he turned around.

You wouldn’t mind if he’d been watching you dance.

-------

“Ah, fuck.”

It’s the same sound that he made now as you sit on top of him, his hips thrusting up. His fingers were digging into your hips and would likely leave a bruise, but you didn’t mind. You were Bucky’s and he was yours. You’d staked your claim with that hickey on his chest just the other night.

“Mmph, fuck, damn it. I love it when you move like that,” he grunted. You rolled your hips, earning another moan from his lips before you leaned forward and pressed your chest to his, kissing him. He wrapped his arms around you and pinned you to him as he sat up and rolled over. The grunts and squeaks coming from the two of you as Bucky repositioned himself on top were ridiculous.

“Quit giggling,” he half-laughed. “M’gonna pull a muscle in this bed, I swear.” Your head hit the pillow with a ‘oof’ and another giggle. “Dammit, babe, you make it hard to fuck you when you sound that cute.”

“Then don’t fuck me…” Bucky’s hips froze, his cock buried deep inside you. His sharp features softened with outright confusion and a slight insecurity. You reached up to caress the side of his face, the stubble on his cheek itching your palm. “Make love to me.” Bucky released a heavy sigh, rolled his eyes and collapsed on top of you.

“Don’t mess with me like that, Doll,” he whispered into your hair, using your new favorite pet name. His slow thrusts picked up again while he kept his face next to yours. You held onto him for dear life as the tension inside you continued to build until your arched back signaled your release. Bucky kept pumping until the lasting effects of your orgasm sent him over the edge. Rather than stopping completely, he slowed down until the only movement was a twitch of pleasure every now and then. “Oh my god,” he whispered, peppering kisses on your shoulder. “I’m taking you to dinner.”

“Why?” you laughed.

“I’m sorry, darlin, are you turning down a free meal? Is it the company? Do you just use me for my body?” Bucky climbed off of you but you reached out for him; He stumbled as he fully ejected himself from the bed.

“Nonono, that’s not what I said!” you said, as you continued to laugh. “I’m just wondering...if that’s your way of paying me for my services,” you wiggled your eyebrows, a hint at your teasing. Bucky snapped a finger and pointed at you, putting on his own mock serious face.

“Hooker, I’m taking you to dinner because I want to.” Having cleaned himself up, Bucky tugged on his basketball shorts and a t-shirt he’d left in your dorm room the other day. The boy considered your floor his own personal closet. “We’ve stayed in, ordered food and watched movies and you’ve even helped me with my papers. You deserve to go out to an actual restaurant.”

“Okay, well, we should probably shower before we go out.”

“Oh, I agree but I can’t share that shower with you. It was too dangerous the first time. Never again.”

You picked up your towel and toiletries as Bucky sat in a bean bag chair on your floor. You tapped him on the nose.

“Never say never, Buck,” you said with a wink.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tagging: @abbessolute​ @book-loving--anime-chick​ @faithtrustandpixiedust95​ @fabinapercabeth4179​ @thinkwritexpress-official​ @autoblocked​ @therealcap​ @mathle0matle​ @whoopxd​ @bookworm4ever99​ @geeksareunique​ @bucky-plums-barnes​ @pottxrwolff​ @ravenhaviland​ @melaninspice11​ @feelmyroarrrr​ @fvckingavengers​ @officialcaptain-marvel​ @sebbytrash​

#bucky barnes #bucky barnes x reader #bucky x reader #bucky barnes smut #my writing #marvel #college au #college au bucky barnes #sebastian stan #bucky barnes fic

[pebblysand]

[writing rant - on the monetisation of fanfiction]

a couple of months ago, when i updated my long fic, one of the people on the comments wrote to me the nicest possible review (one of the ones that you keep in your feel-good 'saved' emails - you know the ones), which, amongst other things also said: 'If I could pay you for this...believe me, I would.'

in the moment, i kind of smiled and laughed, and thanked the person for their kind words before moving on with my life. yet, since then, i have to admit that this sentence has kind of been living rent-free in my head. i think it is also because since diving back into fandom a few months ago, i've noticed something that kind of shocked me at first: more and more fanfiction writers seem to be monetising (or attempting to monetise) their craft.

now, back when i started writing fanfic, we wrote fanfic on ffnet and livejournal. it was accepted that thou shalt never (ever) charge money for your writing or else the author and their mean, angry lawyers will come after you for damages and you will die a slow and painful death. we wrote disclaimers at the start of all of our posts and thanked the gods every day when we did not get sued.

i have seen this change gradually over the years. first, in the mid 2010s, the disclaimers went. then, i noticed that people were getting 'tipped' for fanart, sometimes even charging commission. from what i understand (though, don't quote me on this, i'm not an ip lawyer and this post is not intended as legal advice), this is because the way the concept of fair use is framed under us law makes it easier to monetise fanart than it does fanfiction. maybe this is why visual artists came first on this trend. later still (and more recently) i've noticed fanfic writers, doing the same thing.

to be fully honest, the first thought i had when i saw this trend, considering the fear of god (and his lawyers) that was instilled in me in the past, was: how on earth is this even possible? (i'll come back to that in a bit). the second, though, was: fuck, i wish i had the guts to do that, lol.

because, yeah, i will admit, the idea of getting paid for writing what i love to write does appeal, to a certain extent. i won't lie. dear fanfiction writers who've tried to do that recently: i one hundred per cent get it.

looking back at the last fifteen years, i would say that for me, writing fanfiction has been (in terms of time commitment and energy consumed) the equivalent of having an on-and-off part time job. a job that i have held for one or two years at a time, then quit for a while, before coming back to it when i needed (wanted) it again. i obviously can't realistically give you a number re:the actual total of hours i have spent at this since i started out, but i can give you an idea. recently, i started clocking my hours out of interest and calculated that a chapter of my current long fic takes roughly between one hundred to two hundred hours to produce (and they're around 10,000 words). at that rate, i'm probably working 20 hours a week-ish? sometimes more, sometimes less? something as small as a three-sentence fic (like this for instance), takes roughly two/three hours. i'll be honest, i have cancelled plans to write fic. when i'm working on a long project, i do tend to organise my life to give myself the time to write, so i opt for socialising after work during the week rather than on weekends, as i've found this is when i write best. i won't lie: it is - for me (i know some people write quicker, bless them) - a huge time suck.

so, yeah, i understand, in the capitalist society we live in, wanting to make that time count. our world has unfortunately, repeatedly taught us that time is money and getting more does seem like a nice bonus (as long as you have an audience for your art that's willing to pay, obviously). after all, year after year, i've seen a lot of my friends try and monetise their passions as side hustles, with varying success. at first, glance, i look at the time i spend on writing fanfiction and think: man, i wish i could get a bit back from that too. i couldn't even draw a stick figure to save my life but i assume that the time commitment and energy put into that kind of work is roughly similar for visual fanartists as well. i thus very much understand the sentiment, both with fanart and fanfiction.

additionally, though i appreciate this is a bit tangential, the fact that fanfiction is free, i would argue, hinders its potential to be as representative as it could be. it's a bit sad because on the one hand, the fact that it is free makes it completely accessible to the masses but on the other, it makes fanfiction quite exclusive to rich, privileged people who can afford to spend the time and energy putting content out for free. if i spend this much time writing fanfiction, just because i like it and it makes me happy, it's because my full time job pays me enough to cover my bills. if it didn't, i probably would have to forgo writing and get a proper side gig. if you look at my periods of inactivity on ao3, those also kind of coincide with the times in my life when i had to have more things going on to put food on the table.

so, now, assuming that monetisation is a thing that, as a fic writer, one might want to look at, the next question is: how do you go about monetising it? obviously, the law hasn't changed since the days where we were all terrified of getting sued (although enforcement has been quite lax over the years) so it's more about finding workarounds around the law as it is, rather than actively seeking payment for fanart.

from what i've seen: two main solutions seem to exist.

first, there's the tipping/buy-me-coffee technique. as i understand it, this involves either setting up a page on one of the dedicated websites or just putting up your paypal account link on your tumblr posts. with these links, people can then send you however much money they want (however much money they can afford/think you deserve?) on a one-off basis. they're not actually paying for fanfic because there is no actual exchange of services, it's basically like them giving money to charity, except that charity is a fanfic writer/ fan artist whose work they enjoy.

there are two main issues i see with this: one, legally, i'm not sure how much ground this actually holds. assuming you're quite prolific/successful, if every time you're producing new content, you receive dozens of tips, although you're not actively charging for your fanart, making the argument that your content isn't what these people are actively paying for seems hard. imo, the fact that this method sort of holds is that realistically, you're going to make very little out of this. even if you're really good, you might make what? a couple hundred dollars. now, sure, that's a lot of money for a lot of people but in the grand scheme of things, no one sues anyone for such a low amount. as long as you're not making 'proper' money from it, it is highly unlikely that anyone would come after you.

this being said, the second issue, from my perspective, is that this is not in any way, shape or form, a reliable income. it also does not represent, at all, the cost of the time and investment actually put into said fanfiction (or fanart, i assume). for example: if you're going to tip someone who's worked on something for, say, fifty hours, ten dollars, that's very good of you, but that isn't going to be 'worth' their time. it is only worth their time if tipping is done at as scale, which imo is quite unlikely considering you're putting your content out for free anyway. there are kind souls who will tip you, but not that many, meaning that ultimately, you're not working for free anymore, but you're still working at a huge loss.

additionally, because this income is not even reliable on a monthly/weekly basis, it isn't something that anyone can actually rely on, even if only to fund their coffee habit. it's nice to have, don't get me wrong, but from my perspective, is the legal risk outlined above worth the trouble for the $20/30 tips i'd get every once in a while - not really. such low amounts also don't help diminish the class issue that i talked about earlier. again, if you're going to spend fifty hours on something, you might as well work a minimum wage job - even that will pay you more and will be dependable.

second, there's patreon (and patreon-like sites). here, the income is monthly, people pledge on a subscription basis, which does solve the last point above. it might not be much, but at least it's regular.

the main issue i see with patreon is that it is contingent on the author providing more services on top of what they already provide. in most cases, the author will keep putting their usual content out for free + provide their patreons (depending on tiers) with more content, specifically for them. this, to me, makes this scheme even less appealing than the previous one because a) if i can't provide fanfic to potential patreons (again, you can't sell fanfic), i'm not sure what on earth i could give them (original content? that's not really the same market) and b) that's even more work on my plate. honestly, considering the amount of time i already spend writing fanfic, i have neither the energy nor the willpower to provide extra content for an amount that, regardless, will probably pay me less than a part-time job would. again, you'd have to scale this (i.e. have enough patreons) to make it all worth your while, and even in very big fandoms, even for someone waaaaay more successful than me, i doubt it would be likely.

lastly, as a side note, both of these "methods" are solely accepted if they occur on tumblr/writer's own website, rather than on the writer's ao3 page/fic. there was a post going around explaining why that is (nutshell: it endangers ao3's status as a non-profit archive) but as with all things, i seem to have lost it. [if you do have the link to that post/know what i'm talking about, hit me up and i'll rectify this]. this, regardless, supposes driving traffic from wherever you post your fics towards tumblr/your own website which, again, decreases your chances of scaling this.

so, in the end, where does that leave us?

i think, at this point, we've kind of reached a crossroad. ultimately, i see two ways to look at this:

option one: if you believe that fanfiction writers should be paid for their art, you also probably agree that the methods outlined above, while they do offer some sort of solution, are less than ideal. the ideal solution (for this option) would obviously be to allow fanfiction authors to be properly paid for the publication of their work through 'normal' publishing/self-publishing deals, without the need for a licence from the author (bar - perhaps - the payment of royalties). that would create a proper 'market' for fanfiction, treating it as any other form of writing/art form. it would mean a complete overhaul of the laws currently in place, but why not? ultimately, in a democracy, laws are meant to be changeable.

this being said, though, while my personal knee jerk reaction would be to shout 'hurray!' at this solution, i do not actually think i want this. or, maybe, only part of me does. the part of me who has been writing fanfiction for free for fifteen years is like 'hey, yay, maybe i could get paid!'. but then, there is another part of me that would like, maybe, one day, to write more original fiction (i already do a bit, but not much). that part of me is feels frankly a bit icky about giving up her ip rights.

would i be comfortable with people writing fanfiction of my original work? hell yes. that would be the dream. imagine having your own ao3 fandom, omg. however, would i be comfortable with people profiting from writing fanfiction of my work? honestly, i'm not sure. to me, the answer to that is: it depends (how much time investment was put in? how original the concept is? etc.) which, in fact, kind of brings us back to the current concept of licensing. and yes, maybe the current frame imposed by copyright law has also shaped the way i view the concept of property, and maybe i should be more of a communist, free-for-all kind of person, but unfortunately, i'm not that revolutionary.

also, and slightly tangentially, i find it interesting how profiting from fanficition/fanart is seen as more acceptable i certain fandoms rather than in others. taking the hp fandom for instance, even prior to jkr expressing her views on transgender rights, i often read things like: 'ah, she's so rich anyway, she doesn't need the money.' now, that argument has not only gained traction but is also reinforced by: 'ah, she's the devil and i don't want to fund her. it'd rather give my money to fanfic authors/buy things on etsy.'

while i completely understand the sentiment and do not, in any way, shape or form, support jkr's views, i do find that argument quite problematic. if you set the precedent that because someone is too rich, or because they've expressed views you disagree with, you don't believe that they should be entitled to their own intellectual property rights, i do wonder: where does this stop? this being justified for jkr could lead to all sorts of small artists seeing other people stealing/profiting from their original work without authorisation. 'i don't pay you 'cause i disagree with you,' would then act as a justification, with i find highly unfair. the fact of the matter is: jkr created hp. knowing that, the choice of buying hp products, regardless of her opinions is completely and entirely yours, but buying the same stuff unlicensed, from people who are infringing on her copyrights seems, to me, very problematic as this could potentially be scaled to all artists. either we overhaul the entire copyright system or we don't, but making special cases is dangerous, in my humble opinion.

option two: we choose to preserve copyright law as it is, for the reasons outlined above. this means that most people will not get paid for the content they put out and that the few that do will operate on a very tight, legal rope, and work for tips that are a 'nice bonus' but not a proper pay. this sort of perpetuates the idea that fanfiction is 'less than' other art forms, because in our capitalist society, things that don't generate money (things often made by women, may i add) are not seen as being as valuable as things that do.

for me, personally, while getting paid to write fanfiction sounds lovely (and makes my bank account purr) in theory, i think i side to preserve the current system. as an artist, i think that intellectual property protects us and our concepts from being ripped off by others, including by big companies who might find it handy to steal a design, a quote, anything, without proper remuneration. this is even more important for smaller artists who wouldn't necessarily have the means to defend their craft otherwise.

this being said, i do appreciate that it depends on why you're writing fanfiction. i think that topic probably deserves a whole different post in its own right but ultimately, most people write fanfic because it's fun. we know it's for fun, and not for profit. and if that's the case, then we're okay to receive compliments, reblogs and sometimes, for some people a little bit of an awkward tip for our work. for me, fanfic has been a space to make friends, to get feedback, to learn and to experiment without the pressure of money being involved. that's why i don't particularly mind doing it for free, and wouldn't even bother setting up a patreon or tip-me jar. i love being able to do it just for the enjoyment of myself and my five followers (lol), without worrying about scaling it, or making it profitable. not every part of our lives, not every passion has to be profitable. as we say in ireland, you do it 'for the craic' and nothing else.

this, though, as i already said, also depends on your means and level of privilege. to me, writing for free is fantastic and a bloody relief - it means being able to do exactly what i want. original fiction writing is full of rules, and editors, and publishers. in fanfic, i can write whatever i feel like, and i'm willing to forgo a salary in exchange of that freedom. again, i have a full time job that covers my bills. this does mean, though, that i don't have as much time to dedicate to writing as i would like to.

and also, the thing is: i'm a small author. i happily write in my own little niche. bar that one comment, it is highly unlikely that anyone would actually want to pay me (or even tip me) for my content. but when you look at very successful people, like the author of all the young dudes, i could see how they'd want to get paid for their art, and why they'd feel differently.

bottom line for me is: the flaws of the current systems of remuneration combined with my strong belief in copyright law as a means to protect small, original creators, means that i don't really think it would be right for me to get paid for fanfic, even if i was the kind of person who had the market for it. whilst it would be nice, this very long rant has, hopefully, explained why.

#fanfiction #writing #archive of our own #monetisation of fanfiction #fanfiction theory #this post is waaaay too long and the author regrets everything #pebblysand rants

[bereft-of-frogs]

2020 Fic Year in Review

I was tagged by @aurorawest ! I’d been planning on doing something similar eventually and I like the directed questions here, so it worked out well.

Total number of completed stories: 27

Total word count: (I’m terrible about keeping track of word counts so this is total posted word count, thank you ao3 statistics) 189,970

Fandoms written in: MCU, the very tiny fandom of the Netflix series Into the Night, and I got one very, very short Les Misérables fic done

Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you’d expected? I guess about what I expected? Maybe a bit more, actually, I only ended up being about 40k short of my word count from last year, I didn’t think I’d actually get anywhere close. So that’s good!

What’s your own favorite story of the year? For the tiny airplane fandom, I really liked ‘we are the sleepers, we bite our tongues’. And I’m just going to keep saying ‘where is your sting’ for the MCU lol.

Even though also, I mean, ‘alone amidst the ruins’ is definitely the one I’m most proud of. I worked so hard on it. I just don’t revisit it as much because I spent so much time working on it, whereas I do occasionally reread ‘where is your sting’. XD

Did you take any writing risks this year? Hm. Striking out in a new, very different fandom was a bit of a risk. One that resulted in multiple nights looking up things like ‘how to fly a plane’. :) And also it was really the first time I started writing for a fandom that I had 0 other input other than canon. Before I start writing for a new fandom, I’ve usually read a whole lot of fic and gotten a sense of the audience and what else is out there. But...there was nothing else out there when I started writing. This was all me and it was a little intimidating, especially with some of the technical stuff.

Do you have any fanfic or profic goals for the new year? Several! 2021 New Year’s Writing Resolutions:

- Not have such a damned complex about writing. Look. I had a whole time this year, I think we all did, and I just want myself to chill tf out about this one thing. Just chill out a little bit, self. Chill.

- Write about more space ghosts. And by that I mean more episodic space adventure plus magic and/or ghosts (bonus points for ghosts) style fics. Sort of along the lines of some of my older whumptober prompts (like ‘1. stabbed’ ‘5. poisoned’ and ‘7. kidnapped’ from ‘pain and other human sensations’ or ‘hurts like ghosts’). I didn’t really do any this year, had a lot more short, angsty fics. The closest I think I got was the whumptober prompt ‘enemy to caretaker’ or maybe ‘withdrawal’. But I have some ideas and even though those fics are a lot of work because of worldbuilding stuff, I want to do that work because they’re really my favorite type of fics.

- Make progress on series. I’d really like to get my next fic in ‘the nine in the tree’ finished before the next Doctor Strange movie is released, and make some progress on the third fic in ‘the dead reign there alone’ considering it’s been like...a long time and I think if I make any progress on it, I’ll feel better.

- Write more second drafts. Oof. Like, this is the most obvious advice that I should have absorbed a lot time ago, but like...writing a second draft makes the writing better. I get that now. I probably won’t do full second drafts for everything, but yeah. More focus on editing/rewriting in the new year.

Most popular story of the year? ‘like a tear on a cheek’ got the most kudos, by quite a bit. I’m happy for it, it was really sappy and indulgent, and kind of a mouthpiece for my own thoughts about forgiveness and redemption. I think that probably struck a chord XD

Story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion: I logically know why this is the case, but tbh my two more extreme AUs I think were slightly underappreciated, if I do say so myself. I did my first actual all-human AU with ‘panic room’ in January, and then my ‘medieval-ish’ fantasy AU ‘a keen scourge through the wintry air’. Like, I get why these didn’t get as much attention as others I wrote this year, I still think they’re a little underappreciated. XD

Most fun story to write: Obviously, I found ‘where is your sting’ to be the most fun. ghosts in space!. It was pure Sakaar Trash Party with ghosts and overwrought dialogue, I had a lot of fun.

Most unintentionally telling story: in a chapter of ‘alone amidst the ruins’, I included a line about the WHO advising on the wearing of masks.

a line that I swear to God, I wrote last year. got to it during the rewrite and had to go lie down for a bit.

Biggest disappointment: Even if I knew I probably wasn’t going to get all the way through the whumptober prompts this year (2018 was a - somewhat scary in hindsight - lightning strike of dedication and inspiration. I don’t know how I did Fall 2018 and I’m not sure it will ever happen again), but I would have liked to finish the ones I had started. Coming up on the end of the year and I’ve left one multichapter fic hanging, and still haven’t finished the ‘possession’ one which should be easy to finish.

This is also more a regret than a disappointment but I do sort of now regret my choice to publish all the whumptober prompts separately. Urgh, I think I would just be happier if they were organized into collections by fandom, they just bury everything else and some of them are so short and I really, really wish I had stuck with my method of organizing them in one document. Errrrr, regret. Like there are definitely benefits to doing it this way, but...still. Wish I had done it the other way.

Biggest surprise: Honestly, getting any comments and kudos from the tiny airplane fandom was an absolutely delightful surprise. Thank you, anyone who kudosed any of those works <3

- - -

So, 2020. What the fuck was that, am I right? It honestly feels like another world already. Like I’ll remember doing something and be like...hm not sure that actually happened to me, sort of feels like that happened to someone else and I just watched. I know I’m supposed to tag people, but also #SocialAnxiety (even in fandom). but please please please if you are a fic writer and want to take a moment to reflect on your writing experience this year, consider this an open tag!!!

#thank you for tagging me!

[kirikamibang]

FAQ

What is the KiriKami Mini Bang?

The KiriKami Mini Bang is a fan event dedicated to sweet rarepair of Kirishima Eijirou and Kaminari Denki from My Hero Academia! Writers who join will create a never-been-published fanfiction that is at least 3k words in length. Each writer will be paired with an artist, who will create at least one (1) full piece for their fic.

How does the pairing process work?

At the first check in, each writer will provide a title, summary, list of tags and content warnings, and a short excerpt of their fic. This information is kept secret, to make sure the claims process is totally anonymous. The mods will take this information provided by the writers and put it in an anonymous document for all the artists to read through. Artists will pick five (5) stories they would like to work on, based on the information provided by the writers. From there, the mods will do their best to match every writer with an artist. From there, they will work as a team to create content together!

How is a Bang different from a Zine?

Zines are an anthology of fanworks compiled into one PDF or bound into a physical book, that are then sold for profit or charity, and distributed to consumers. They are exclusive in nature, because printing costs require they only take a small number of contributors to fill a small number of pages with a limited number of pieces. Bangs, on the other hand, are free fandom events that anyone and everyone can participate in! We encourage everyone who believes they can create a fanwork that meets the requirements in the scheduled time-frame to join and participate. Bangs are all about community, and content creation. The heart and soul of a Bang is the love content creators have for their chosen ship, or trope, or fandom. You strive to meet a minimum word count, or a minimum art piece count, and can go above and beyond if you want to! You and your event partners get to decide what and how much you make, with no rejection emails in sight!

What is a Mini Bang? How is it different from a normal Big Bang?

Mini Bangs have a lower minimum word count than a Big Bang! Artists are also required to create a lower number of art pieces. So, while a Big Bang might require somewhere between 15k or 40k minimum words and 2-3 fully rendered art pieces, we only require a minimum of 3k and 1 fully rendered art piece. However, much like a Big Bang, there is no maximum word count or limit on the number of illustrations. We encourage our participants to have fun and get as creative as possible during the creation period! Mini Bangs are an excellent low-stress event for content creators, because the only requirements are to hit the minimum word/art count and finish a piece before the posting period begins. They're also a lot of fun!

How do beta readers fit into this?

If we have enough beta readers sign up, we will set up a separate claims document with all of the anonymous info from writers who indicated they would like to work with a beta. Betas will claim fics the same way the artists do, and will work with their writers to polish the fanfics up and make them shine before posting!

Does this Bang have a theme?

Nope! All content should focus on KiriKami, but other than that, content creators are free to create for any AU, trope, or plotline they want! We want you to be able to have fun and create something you and your partner can enjoy!

Does that mean there will be NSFW content?

Yes! However, it will be separated out from the SFW content during claims. We request that all participants provide their age (18+/-18) upon sign up. Anyone over the age of 18 will be free to create NSFW content. NSFW pitches from adult writers will be placed on an 18+ claims list with all relevant tags and warnings, and will only be available to 18+ artists and betas. Anyone who is caught lying about their age to access the NSFW claims list will be let go from the event.

How do I participate?

Once sign-ups open, fill out the appropriate Writer/Artist/Beta sign-up form, and you’re in! There is no application process, no acceptance or rejection, no limit on skill or ability. If you are passionate about KiriKami and join during the sign-up window, you are in! Once you’re in, Discord will be our primary method of contact with participants, but we will send out emails for all major deadlines. Please ensure your provided email is accurate and up to date!

Do I need Discord to participate?

While it is not absolutely mandatory, we strongly suggest you join the KiriKami Bang discord to keep on top of the deadlines and keep in touch with the mods. We will send out emails to all participants regarding all important information and deadlines, however there is always the risk that an email will be caught in a spam filter. Discord is also the fastest and easiest way to get in contact with your event partners. Your partner information will be provided via email, but it is the participant's responsibility to reach out to their teammates and begin collaborating.

Can I apply for more than one role?

As long as you are capable of handling the workload and agree to respect the anonymity of the claims process, we will be allowing participants to take a maximum of two (2) roles. For example, you could participate as a Writer and a Beta, or a Writer and an Artist, but not all three.

Why is it so important that claims are anonymous and the fanfiction is unpublished?

One of the most important (and most fun!) parts of a Bang event is the fact participants are paired based on the fic premise alone. Keeping the fic ideas a secret ensures everyone gets a fair chance at getting picked, without follower count or hits or kudos or likes factoring into the equation. Once claims have ended, some teams can choose to share small hints about their WIPs, but we discourage the sharing of snippets, screenshots, and excerpts on social media. When content creation teams choose to keep the fic and art a secret during the entire event, it also means that the people following along with the event get a wonderful surprise flood of art and fanfic during the posting period!

What’s a pinch hitter?

Should a creator drop from the project during the creation period, we will call in a pinch hitter to fill that content creator’s spot. This might mean an artist or beta will take on another fic, or it might mean a writer steps up to create a second piece with an unpartnered artist.

My question wasn’t answered here, where can I contact you?

You can contact us in a number of ways! Please feel free to DM us on Twitter or on CuriousCat! Our email is also linked in this carrd. If you are a member of the KiriKami discord server, please ask in a mod-contact channel or DM one of the mods! We will answer your question as quickly as possible!

#kirikami.bang.faq #kirikami.bang #faq #mini bang #fanevent

[vannahfanfics]

I was wondering how you do your writing. Do you make a plot line then add characters, vice versa, some other way? I'm trying to write a book but it's not going well... Hoping for some encouragement and tips if you dont mind! Love your work! - GaLucy

Something I have found is that writing works differently for everyone. For my oneshots, I basically make them from scratch; I may have a prompt from a request or, in the rare instances when I decide to write something for myself, just a basic concept or even a title, but I basically pull up a blank document and go to town. Sometimes I sit there for twenty minutes just thinking of how to start. Starting is definitely the most difficult part, but after I get going it basically writes itself. 

My long writings, however, are planned. I have a very wild imagination and so all of my shower time, daydreaming time, and even the time before I fall asleep is just me planning scenes. I have an app on my phone called Novelist (totally recommend) in which I store all my notes about random ideas. Each one has a dedicated section and I plan out every single chapter of my fics from start to finish to form a basic plotline. I don’t get too fancy with it, just mostly build the major scene, but I at least have an idea setting out. But I am very much someone whose ideas come to life as I am writing; many, many times have I started writing a certain premise and it just derails, or in my long fics I later get an idea for a scene that I have to incorporate into the timeline. My characters come to life as I actively mold them, rather me defining every inch of their personality beforehand. 

That is my methodology. It may or may not work for you. I know people who plan their chapters in meticulous detail, scene by scene, and have folders of character files and world details and that is the best method for them. It’s really a lot of experimentation, much like writing style is an experimentation. I will say for my own original works, I start with only the main characters and the first major landmark and minimally fleshing them out, then start plotline, and as more characters or places came up, then I pause to flesh them out. It’s more for reference purposes than anything. 

Pretty much I am chaos incarnate and it’s no wonder I get bogged down and procrastinate XD But it makes me less stressed than having to plan everything first, because by the time I get to the plot I’m burned out. 

As far as advice goes, the best thing I can tell you is have fun with it. It’s cheesy and cliche, but, remember that you are doing this for yourself! Take your time. Shove down that imposter syndrome. This is your creation for you to mold and it will be beautiful and amazing no matter what. Experiment with writing methods that people talk about and if they don’t work out, that’s fine. There are plenty of others. Finding your own rhythm takes time and patience; not even the best authors found it immediately. And, most importantly, if you get burned out, it’s okay to step away. Your best work that you will be most proud of comes when you are inspired, and it’s okay to take some time to clear your head. It’s like getting to a level on a videogame you JUST cannot beat, so you drop it for a week or a month or even six months to do other things. You come back to it and beat it first try and wonder why the hell it was so hard in the first place!

Build a good support system, too. Find friends that can beta for you or let you bounce ideas off of them. It makes it feel less like this herculean task you are undertaking alone. If you ever want to talk to me about your book, I’d love to help you out! ^.^ It’s gonna be a long road, sure, and a ton of work. But chip away at a mountain a little at a time, it’ll still crumble eventually. It’s all about perseverance and self-confidence. These things can be hard to hold on to, but that’s where your support system and breaks come in!

I hope this was helpful, and I wish you all the best with your endeavors! Please let me know if I can ever be of more use! ^u^

#vannah talk #vannah answers things #vannah answers stuff #vannah talks writing