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boxwinebaddie · 6 months

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Hey Uncle Nina, I was wondering if you had any writing tips for new writers? ((Also side note but I am really inspired by you deciding to take breaks, (not in a mean way, i'm so, so, sorry if it sounded mean!!) I'm also just inspired by you in general your like my idol. :33))

hello my precious peach! before i begin, i would just like to start off by saying that you could, never, ever be mean, darling! you are so kind and wonderful!!! this message made me smile a rare kyle pile smile of over-large, lopsided stanley marsh proportions at my computer screen <33 and i admired it for many, many moons. :')

-- but i can't believe i'm your idol, possibly?! awww!!!! wowowow! i am extremely honored that you'd consider me as your idol given that i am constantly being a bumbling buffoon and am the ceo of girlfailuring.

behind 16k of nonsense and bold-space-italics, i swear i am just deranged writer college student, cat mom, box wine enthusiast.

i will say, however, that it means a lot to me that you find me inspirational or that you look up to me in someway because...

sigh. okay. please be cool guys. i debated mentioning this for a long time because i am scared it will punish me in some way, but...

i am studying to become a teacher. :')

woAh! new uncle nina lore just dropped! shdkahldk

so if i seem exhausted all the time, that is why, and if i preach at you guys a little bit, its just what i am constantly doing haha. i also specialize specifically in the area of social emotional learning, aka the part of teaching that focuses on mental health, creating a safe environment in your classroom, advocating/addressing student social needs, making sure students feel loved/validated/heard, etc.

with that said! i would love to give you some tips! anything i can do to support you on your writing journey means so much to me! i'll drop some things i have found helpful under the cut! xx

THIS ASK IS VERY LONG AND MAKES NO SENSE AT ALL BUT I HOPE THAT IT HELPS EVEN A LITTLE BIT! <3

i thought i would begin by playing off the part of your ask where you felt inspired by willingness to take breaks and!!!! i love that actually because...it took me a very long time to get there.

and if anyone has followed me from the very beginning, you watched me learn how to become kind to myself and go from rushing and stressing and feeling horrible about myself to...letting myself relax.

so, my darling, i want to start by saying...

fanfic is funfic.

writing is not always easy, no, sometimes it is very hard, but it should always, always, always be fun.

writing is a hobby. it's something that we do to unwind, to make us happy, to share stories through a creative media, to capture thoughts, feelings and speak without using our physical voices.

it should never, ever feel like work. ever. ever, ever, EVER!

if it starts to feel like work or a chore, it's time to step away.

one of the worst crimes i fell victim to as a writer was...rushing. i was obsessed with getting out my updates fast and not falling 'behind' ( which was some invisible and impossible standard i set for myself ), so i started rushing my updates and found they got really...forced.

forcing out writing feels horrible and even if it is good writing ( which i'm sure yours will be regardless ) it takes the fun out of everything. like, i forced out OG chapters 11-12 of peppermint and literally deleted them because of how much i hated them BECAUSE i rushed! forced!

and the reason i was doing that, unfortunately, was because i was trying to keep you all engaged! i wanted to satisfy you all, i was scared of letting you down, that you would be upset with me etc.

and unfortunately, along the way, i stopped...writing for me.

now, it's easier said than done but...

Write. For. You.

this is your story. you are writing it because it means something to you. you are writing it because you are passionate about it. and yes, it is fun to share your stories online ( i have never felt blessed in my life than to have had my stories read by all of you ), you are not writing it for the people who are reading it/to satisfy the masses/get notoriety, you are writing it because it's something you love.

if people read it and like it too, that is an added bonus.

and those people, i have found, are some of the loveliest in the world and they will...wait for your content. however long that will take. be it tomorrow or never. you are under no obligation to post within a certain time frame or please other people. post when you want. post when you feel good. write when you feel good.

with that said...take your time, will you darling?

however much time that is. take it. be greedy with it.

take so, so many breaks. come back with fresh eyes.

learn from my mistakes. i got so holed up writing this summer that...quite frankly, it almost killed me. do not do that. see your friends, touch grass, make meaningful experiences outside of fanfiction and then come back in healthy shifts. do not marry your work or your computer. do not chain yourself to your desk, lovely.

another thing is that writing is rewriting.

always write a first draft. and a first draft is anything past a blank document. i like to write all my drafts in google docs first and then transfer them when i am ready to format. it just keeps them secure and i really just prefer the format and the fonts and stuff, haha.

you may be writing something and being like, yikes! this is foul! i should delete this whole thing!

doooooo not do that.

leave it alone. just write your weird little thing and when you come back later you might be like...woah, i was kind of being a dickhead? this is actually pretty good, wtf? ooooorr...you may still not like it but you can always salvage parts you do like...or be like hm i like the direction that this was going in, lets follow that.

when i was an english major, i specialized in editing, so my favorite thing is looking at my horrible draft and sentence by sentence just fixing every sentence until i like it. <3 its tedious, but i swear its fun when you're done and you're like wow this is neat!

also, be kind to yourself, yeah? you might think what you've written is 'bad'...never use that word, by the way. nothing you write is 'bad' its just not the way you want it to look...Yet. you might need to rework it or, honestly, you are probably just holding yourself to an impossible standard. take pride in the things that you write! you worked hard!

i. am. proud. of. you. <3

one of my favorite things to do is...really understand my characters.

my favorite comments about my fanfics are that people think that my characterizations of the boys are really good which, means a lot to me because characterization and detail is very important to me.

i think its fun to flesh your characters out!

to do this, i have a notebook dedicated to my fanfics! i take notes about character backstories, headcanons, write myself notes when i have random ideas! it helps keep me organized!

i also like to do these character forms...it helps me have a solid feeling about my characters, how they look, walk, talk, etc. i love, love, love detail so i fill those out pretty thoroughly

( which!!!! if you guys want to see me fill one out! just ask me and specify which character to do it for! i could totally do pep!stan or pep!kyle or rm!jerseykyle or...ok actually, if i do raven i have to be Very Careful because of the plot...so...maybe ask me in a couple chapters before i do one on him...which pains me because THATS THE ONE I WANT TO DO!!! LIKE MAN!!!...i can also do side chars

***also maybe let me know what sections you want just because they are long as fuck lmaoooo help haha )

answer as many questions about your characters as you can! think about what they smell like! what types of food gross them out! celebrity crushes! one thing they could change about themselves? hidden talents? ideal man/woman/person? birthmarks/scars, etc.

i think ones about character motivations/dreams/fears/insecurities are reaaaallly good ones to look at.

also just putting your characters in situations is fun ( its why i like when you guys ask me about headcanons or give me one shot requests because it helps me flesh my characters out! )

( also if you aren't sure! that's okay! go with your gut! you can always edit! or change stuff! like...i learned about marj while writing pep and i used chapter five as a way to transition butters into marj...i also...fml found out something very annoying that impacts a large part of the rm lore i wrote BEFORE IT RECENTLY HAPPENED and had to painstakingly readapt my fanfic...around this info...but! thats on Being Flexible, my friends! writing...is rewriting )

also for inspiration! idk play dress up! hit your closet or the thrift store and wear something your character might! method act. ( if you are writing stan do not drink like him, i have done enough of that in my life for all of you, you're welcome it fucking sucks )

i am cringe but i do run the clove essential oil writing ravenstan/i did make a fireball apple cider ( yes they are gross, yes im gross ), i washed my face with an aggressive peppermint face wash writing stan season, i write a lot of my kyle chapters in large sweaters and frown often haha...

ok...uh personal cringey sidebar convo...weirdly sometimes writing stan i wear a lot of big hoodies, flannels and i am like...boy...nina? boyfriend? nina? why do i kinda? like him? skhdsldhd help if u dont get a little confused about ur gender for a second writing your boy fanfics are u really in character or what lmaooo

( off topic, but to respond to that, i think i am very comfortable in my femininity and girlhood, i just occasionally have a slightly more masc fuckboy backwards hat, ahah then what ;) frat boy moment that i lean into, mostly in a gay girl way...does that make sense? help sdjs the best way i can describe it is this meme lmaoo )

anywaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaays! moving on!

also reading your writing out loud! while weird! is very cathartic and it helps you check if dialogue sounds the way you want it! or if there is an accent you need to hear ( yall heard me do the jersey kyle accent to check pronounciation ) it helps you get more attuned with your writing and really get the feel for it. if you do not want to be a clown like me another thing you can do is highlight your whole piece an have your phone 'speak' it back to you...that way you can check spelling errors.

which...btw...spell with your heart. spell with a stanley marsh level of loveliness and possible illiteracy. it's ok. don't beat yourself up.

but more on characters! make pinterest boards! make playlists!!!! make them on piccrew! don't get obsessed but have fun!!!

( seriously though...do not worry about being too detailed. please be so detailed be so fucking insane. i love reading so much and your readers will too. but maybe i am a maximalist. i want to eat ur chars )

another thing i like a lot about writing is dialogue!!!! i LOOOOOVE dialogue so so so much!

i always write all my dialogue first and try not to write it on the fly because i like to use it as a way to mark my progress, keep me on track, help me remember what goes next, etc.

then fill in the blanks later! its good for plot pacing.

i get asked about believable dialogue sometimes and you really just have to look at how your character presents themselves and how they interact with your world...on a base level.

like i.e. you're new at school and you run into pep!style

stan is sweet and kind and popular and immediately very likable. he'll probably tell you your shirt looks cool/that he likes your hair, probably offer to carry your books and babble on and on about football, video games, marvel movies, cool dogs, nature etc. he's senior class president and gods angel so he'll look after you. he might hug you. he will also probably talk your ear off about kyle and how cool he is.

"woah! sick shirt dude! i love the smiths! i'm listening to them right now! but --ooooof. that's alooooot of books, man. oh god, is that -- ap...history? yiiiiikes, bro. i mean, no offense! it's cool you like learning stuff. kyle's like that. oh...kyle? ha, he's my super best friend! uh-huh, since kindergarten! you know, since you're smart you're probably in a ton of his classes. lucky. speaking of, you'll know him when you see him. he's really tall, he's got big curly red hair, lots of freckles, pr..pretty, s-soft hands and his eyes are really green, like, really, r-really green i mean wowz...ah-hah? my boyfriend? aaaaa, hahaa....no-no he's not my b-boyfriend, why would you--i sound like i'm in love with him? i-i well i do love him, just not like that...i mean, maybe a little mayb--let's get you to class, okay smart guy?"

HEEEEELP

kyle...rip. kyle would probably be like watch where the FUCK you're going new kid! fucking idiot! and then be like i...how do you know my name??? and be like ah, i see you met stan. if he likes you, you're probably alright...y-you have a CRUSH on him??? i mean, i get it...he is captain of the football team, has really big blue eyes, nice eyelashes, broad shoulders and is like smoooooking ho--IS HE MY BOYFRIEND???? UM! NO! he is--he is NOT my boyfriend! were JUST super best friends! pfft you...you asked because he talked about me...like i was his boyfriend? like he was in love with m--ah-hah...you-yknow! we're just close were just....whatdidhesayaboutme askhdlad

important to think about where they might use words like, uh, um, like etc. also things that might be specific to them. i have pep stan say wowza a lot because i think its cute. and that the boys say hyh all the time to eachother. making a lingo is a great way to form chats.

( for accents and stuff, i would just watch videos of people with those accents speaking...even using tiktok as a resource for slang people might use...saying stuff out loud...etc )

uhhhh what else?

BE WEIRD!!!! be so fucking strange and weird!!!!!! be so odd! if you're looking at your story and you're like oof...is this too weird? NO! make it weirder! make it so so mindboggling haha.

i remember i was writing rm and i was scared to post it because i was literally like...this is too weird. people are gonna think this is weird and too ooc and not like it but...

who are we writing for my friend?

YOURSELF!

who cares if its weird! who cares if one person or one hundred million people like your fic! we are publishing stories on the internet! that is already weird, so who cares????

write your truth. write whatever you want. if people dont like it. i seriously dont care. I LIKE IT. i like what you write.

but that does matter.

it matters that you like what you write. write for yourself. write because you love it. everything else is background noise.

do not be afraid to be selfish, to take care of yourself and write only when and what feels right to you.

you guys can also ask me more specific questions or have me beta read anything -- ask me about concepts you might want to write! my dms are open, i have a discord, my twitter...even on ao3! im happy to help and i hope any of this was feasible.

-teacher uncle nina

#this is such a mess #i hope any of this makes sense #basically #write for yourself and no one else #take risks and have confidence in what you write #take breaks and write without a schedule #do character forms make playlists pinterest boards hcs #method act if you need to #read your work back to yourself use voices if you want #its good for checking spelling and vibing with your writing #be cringe #write your stuff in a google doc then transfer to save your work #try dialogue first and then fill in the gaps #put your characters in diff situations #and see how they would talk and interact #see how that might differ character to character #and idk be weird #please be weird #do not be afraid to be strange or cringe or intense #i love and support yall being as insane as u want #also yeah uh please dont dox me that makes me seriously nervous i need a job u guys #i get paid actually zero dollars to write i write because i love it lmao #i get paid not that much more to teach but u know...box wine is not free and neither is therapy which i need often #but yeah whew teacher nina nation nina lore haha #ALSO NOT ME HAVING A GENDER MOMENT U GUYS #i luv being hyper fem y2k princess nina but also in bi girlie way i like being boyfriend nina who will carry u over puddles & wins beer pon #i think its funny when people run into me and they think im cute bc of my fit like oh my godddd #and then i roll up w my dead ass man voice and start being like shaka brah!!! bet!!! bet dude!!! you wont dude! no balls bro? ashdlkha #frat boy girl failure uncle nina nation who is up

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