#i dont obsess so much about being perfect cus I just get the ideas down

[earl-grey-love]

I bought a blank book today and my goal is to fill it up with handwritten stories, ideas, analysis etc over the next while. I don't have a set deadline but it'd be nice if I could work on it a lil every day, even if its small.

Anyway I guess this is the part where I actually start manifesting things rather than just thinking about it but 😰 where do I start? Every single wip idea I've had in the last 6 months is flooding my brain all at once!

#theres time for it all but where do I start!? #i feel like maybe my office au with my f/os #since yknow Im obsessed with it and developed its loads even tho i never talked about it to anyone #but its so established that I wouldnt know how to start doing it justice #oh! its handwritten because I find it much easier to flow that way. #i dont obsess so much about being perfect cus I just get the ideas down #if I really like what I make I can put it onto pc or phone and refine it #but this is just for me to have fun and experiment #👉👈 #now Im nervous!! #this book has bees on it. #when I bought it the lady serving me talked me into getting a loyalty card #when she handed it to me she said ''you can use the rewards to buy even more things with bees on it!'' #that woman understood me. #sunny speaks

[theseerasures]

Ur really good at deep character diving. Got any advice at this and writing? Cus i feel like i dont know how characterize properly, or if i could i feel like i take things to extreme idk. How to know if im on the right track? Or how to write in general? Thanks 🙏🏼

well, first of all, thank you! i’m not really sure if i have any concrete advice to give about characterization and/or writing, but here are some things i thought about when i read your question:

i think a lot of advice from creatives boil down to something like: go out there! do as many things as possible! experience as much of *insert media of choice* as you can! i’ve always found this kind of suggestion extremely noble, even as i continue to blithely ignore it. i like to obsessively revisit my favorite stories over and over again. part of this might come from that for me, creation has ALWAYS been inextricable from critique–i love to understand WHY i love the things i love, and why i hate the things i hate, and to do that, you have to read and reread closely. it never feels like wasting time for me to go back to something i’m already familiar with, be it movie or book or fanfiction, because i always end up noticing different things and thinking about new concepts. reverse-engineering the things i like in other people’s work into my own work feels natural from there.

i spend a lot of time just kind of spacing out. i think this stems from being pretty susceptible to carsickness as a kid, and the fact that i didn’t get a smartphone until fairly late in the game, but it’s a non-activity that i still very much enjoy–i spend a lot of my commutes just staring out the window, i like to do things that require some kind of physical engagement like working out or cooking, and so on. my head is rarely silent, but the low volume static that happens when i’m spacing out is nice. a lot of times story/character ideas pop in my head when i’m like this–just letting myself free associate for a bit. like a few weeks ago when i was making spicy green beans my brain went “bing! after it sinks in for Elsa that she’s gonna have to cook for herself now she probably devours every recipe book she can find and the result is that whenever she cooks she makes something that tastes like it came out of the Nutro-Matic machine in Hitchhiker’s Guide–technically exactly perfect but also somehow the worst thing in the world” and then i started thinking about if other characters are good cooks and if Anna likes Northuldra cuisine and then Anna was saying “of course Kristoff likes this he’ll put anything in his mouth” while Honeymaren’s eyebrows Did the Dance of Sexual Innuendo, and that was a lot of fun! or the other day when i was in the shower my brain went “bing! for the first few years after Iduna left the Forest she didn’t really feel anything for Agnar except resentment and a weird sense of propriety” and i was like “thanks what am i supposed to do with this” and my brain was like “¯\_(ツ)_/¯ he was probably ~drawn to that tho” and that was also…fine. point is: this doesn’t ALWAYS happen, and i don’t zone out with the direct purpose of subconsciously finding The Character Headcanons™, but sometimes it does! the important thing i think is to let your brain have those moments.

i’m a pretty new but fervent convert to the Shitty First Draft. i even write my first drafts out in longhand now, with a fountain pen in a very nice notebook, which is just about the most insufferable thing anyone can do, but it does work. again, i think this is because of my very specific upbringing, but there is something about writing things out by hand that lets me be more imaginative (this might be connected to point #2–something about physical interfacing? who knows). i’ve also always been INCORRIGIBLE when it comes to editing as i write, and writing by hand tamps that urge down somewhat, because getting to the end feels much more important. shifting from pen and paper to laptop also frees me up to do more substantive edits on the second draft–if i have to type it all out anyway, then i might as well change more stuff.

i really don’t think there’s any way to KNOW if you’re on the right track when it comes to characterization, but it is important to let yourself be wrong before you throw in the towel. particularly if you write multiple drafts–don’t worry about if there’s some kind of OBJECTIVE truth to your characterization. if it’s something YOU’D like to see re: that character, then write it! worry about if it rings true/if it’s too extreme/if it can hold up under an imaginary audience’s scrutiny later. nowadays i try to write a little bit every day, which means that i write plenty of self-indulgent things that’ll never see the light of day. and that’s fine! that’s also productive, because i’m blowing off some steam, and because i’m doing more of it, which hopefully means i’m getting better, however infinitesimally. you don’t always have to write with an audience (who’s not you) in mind.

i’m gonna end with something that I’M still struggling with as a writer: a few years back i was at an event with Hua Hsu, and one of the things he said what helped him as a writer was knowing that “not every sentence has to be the most exciting one in the world.” i pretty much always come into whatever i’m writing (be it fic or essay) with a surplus of ideas, and learning to pare those down so i’m not trying to compact the entire universe into one thing is a skill i’m currently trying to learn. obsessively polishing and re-polishing every sentence is exhausting for the writer, and oftentimes it’s exhausting for the reader to read, too. it’s okay to let some words just be the exit ramp to the next exciting thing.

overall, i’d say: if writing is not your job, if you’re doing it as a hobby, then it shouldn’t feel like a chore. even if you ARE doing it for a job, there are ways to make the experience less miserable. give yourself the space to let ideas percolate, and give yourself the space to practice and improve.

#Anonymous