#writing ramble

[obstinaterixatrix]

the reason miscommunication gets a bad reputation is because examples that stick out to most folks end up being the really frustrating shallow narrative device engineered to extend unnecessary conflict, that is—a miscommunication that could be solved with a one-minute conversation. miscommunication is such a good tool for conflict as long as the writer knows what they’re doing though.

one of my favorite versions of miscommunication is when Character A knows that Character B has jumped to Wrong Conclusions but is either unwilling to clarify or unable to convince B otherwise. I actually really liked The Cat Across The Hall for this because the love interest is convinced the main character’s in love with the main character’s best friend, and the main character wants to hide that he actually has a crush on the love interest, so a lot of the tension between them builds as the love interest tries to help, catches feelings for the main character, and starts feeling miserable and jealous about the main character’s (nonexistent) romance with his best friend (lol).

another really good one is when the characters have such fundamentally different experiences that they really can’t understand each other without a lot more development. in Failed Princesses, the main character is a very popular girl and the love interest is a gloomy nerd, but the love interest sees the main character get brutally dumped. When the main character is basically like ‘yeah I bet you’re having a great time, you probably love seeing your bully eat shit’ the love interest says ‘no actually, you’re not allowed to stop sparkling because that would be unforgivable.’ what the love interest MEANS is: ‘I’ve always wanted the role of a princess, but I can’t have it because that role is monopolized by pretty, extroverted, arrogant girls like you, so as someone who took the role of the princess from me you are not allowed to be miserable’. what the main character thinks is: ‘wow! even though I bullied this gloomy nerd, she’s nice enough to want me to be happy!’ and that kickstarts their friendship, but also ensures that the love interest (initially) rejects the main character when the main character confesses, since this pretty fundamental misunderstanding/one-sided conflict was never addressed or resolved.

there’s also miscommunication because of past history (we’re assuming each other’s feelings/actions/intentions because of past baggage) and miscommunication because of personality/ideology differences (I thought you were condescending/abrasive towards me but it turns out we have similar priorities, just different ways of going about things) etc.

the thing is, if miscommunication can’t be solved in one minute, then either it has to be because of character-specific reasons (fun) or because the miscommunication has spiraled out of control and is too convoluted to unpack in a minute (also fun). sometimes both. the anatomy of a resolvable conflict is just so interesting!

#writing ramble #can’t have conflict resolution without the conflict

[shawtysdelirium]

I'm actually writing a gayass skk fanfic where Dante's Divine Comedy is like the protagonist and where later on Dazai's gonna claim how he's a Dante x Virgil shipper. I'm also making him say all my ideas regarding Dante's idea of love for Beatrice.

#bsd #skk #writing ramble

[otaku6337]

WIP expectations are (often) unrealistic

okay so i’ve posted about this general topic before

but posting once a month is not “an update limbo”, it’s not an “abandoned fic” - it’s normal

it is fine to have an irregular or infrequent update schedule (using the word schedule here loosely lol)

I have a fic that I refer to as 28, and I update it on the 28th of every month (the chars went through 28 timeloops, are you sensing the theme here yet?), and have been doing so for... around a year now, actually - I refer to this updating schedule several times in author notes, in the series notes etc, because I deliberately chose the theme after I counted how many loops I’d put them through

yet, on the 26th or so of this month (i’m not getting the bookmark back up but it’s from a few days ago) someone tagged it as “update limbo”

it’s been less than four weeks since it was last updated

like, even if I hadn’t made it super clear on multiple occasions that this fic gets updated on the same day every single month, a few weeks is *nothing* like limbo. sure if it’s been a few years, maybe even down to six months, but anything under three or four months, to me, just means that the author is a busy person and-or has some sort of writer’s block/other ideas they’re focusing on/any other myriad of factors that means that they aren’t posting for that specific fic right now and, unless they’ve said it’s going on hiatus or the like, it’s not abandoned or in limbo or really anything at all except a WIP

i’m not making this to specifically call out this person (i’d be including a screenshot in that case lol), and I’m not saying they or others have bad intentions, not at all, but to me it was just the epitome of so much of this consumerism, WIP-negative, high-expectations sort of culture that seems to be developing around fic writing/fandom creation as a whole

it’s been less than a month, and it feels like people will write off fics entirely for not having been updated in the last fortnight at most. some writers will, perfectly validly, go months between updates, and if anything that just makes it more exciting when a chapter is posted

so, again, this isn’t targeted at any specific person, and I’m not saying people have to read wips if they prefer completed stuff ‘cause that’s valid, but I felt like it needed reiterating that taking time between updates is realistic, not selfish or abandonment - take your time creating, make it something you’re as happy with as possible, and readers please be patient with us, we’re doing the best we can even when you can’t see that directly

#fic writing #update schedule #wip #please don't assume wips are abandoned or in limbo just because it's been more than a week #writers are doing things that you aren't aware of #both real life and likely fandom things #we're artists not just your content creators #and we want you to enjoy but sometimes that takes time #writing ramble #fandom etiquette #fandom manners #ao3 #ao3 manners #expectations in fandom are wild nowadays

[voidlingduck]

NaNo Update again!

Finished Act 1 and my kitties are off on their journey, alongside an unexpected guest! This is the part of the story I am least certain about but I’m cracking on regardless and making steady progress day by day. Just reached 8,000 words which is pretty solid for me! Certainly more than I’ve ever written for a single project before, and we’re approaching the 10k milestone, which is very exciting.

Soon our protagonists will be arriving at an observatory and I get to introduce some new characters, so that will be fun to explore and get to know them all better.

I also think I may be writing some tragedy into this tale… our old wise mentor may well pass peacefully while our younguns are off checking out the observatory. We shall see!

I’m glad that I’ve been able to keep up consistent daily writing through November thus far, and I’m feeling confident about that continuing. Certainly I’m doing better than any NaNo I’ve participated in before. I think not being strict on myself meeting the 1,667 daily words is helping, one less pressure to drive me away. Writing anything is an accomplishment!

I’ve also amusingly rewarded some of my writing with more writing, as I have a short story with some of my other characters that’s been bugging my brain. If I do enough novel writing in a day, I’ll allow myself to indulge that project hehe

#nanowrimo #nanowrimo 2023 #nanowrimo wip #starfall #writeblr #nanowrimo update #writing ramble #writing update #writers on tumblr #writerscommunity

[fogsy-feel]

Debating on whether or not I should just post the Sterek Fic. It's at 20k and not even remotely done (was supposed to be a oneshot) but now it's looking like I might have to post it in chapters.... which would put ANOTHER wip on my ao3

#ao3 #Sterek #idk #should I just continue working on it until it's done or post it now and hope I have enough stamina to finish? #This is the old money fic #supposed to be about a shotgun wedding and it's taken 20k to not even get to the wedding #or the werewolf reveal #writing ramble #feel free to ignore this

[attenaeus]

was reminded of a short gothic piece i wrote ages ago for a school assignment (got full marks on it and i am very proud of that), and i've decided i'm gonna rewrite it entirely from memory because i don't have a copy of it now LMAO

no clue when it'll be done because uni is starting up again, but knowing a lot more about myself now it is making a lot more sense as to why i wrote things in the ways i did. i reckon i could make it a lot better now knowing where those ideas come from

#writeblr #writing community #writing ramble

[cottageatlas]

i literally dreamt about a reaincarnation au for avatrice i need to write this shit once my shift ends

#avatrice #writing #writing ramble #warrior nun #warrior nun s2

[tresdem]

Guys, guys, this chapter would go a lot faster and have a lot fewer words if you stopped bantering and get on with it.

Oh but it's so nice that a happier Edward low key torments Jack. Nature is returning /wipes tear

Until...well...

#ofmd #never shall we die #edward teach #calico jack #being very much 20somethings #though they're technically teens #and their weird dynamic #writing ramble

[obstinaterixatrix]

NEW YEAR NEW YURI. NEW YEAR NEW OLD YURI. WRITE FEMSLASH

#this is a demand #writing ramble

[penelopwgarcia]

people who can keep up with writing challenges puts the fear of God in the devil himself

#writing #writing ramble

[shawtysdelirium]

I was made to write angst. Tragedy is my fertile ground. [me after overdramatizing a silly story my oomfie wrote for funsies about some animals that eat a roof and then a goat and I continuing the story by making them all die at the end as some sort of chain of events set in motion by the goat’s self-sacrifice bcuz she digested cyanide pills in order to go against nature’s unjust system of the survival of the fittest]

#wrote 600 words of pure humorous BULLSHIT #AND I LOVE IT #bruh i went crazy with somehow tf??? #gave the giraffe a panic attack #the story still unfinished #i only wrote 2 chapters #i wrote the first one like 2 years ago #in fact u can see the style change clearly #think of it like Animal Farm except that back when I started this I had no clue who tf Orwell was #writing ramble #who knew giving human problems and flaws to animals would have been so fun

[chemicalalice]

I wrote day 10 of Kinktober for Rhett. I have it rough finished. Maybe I will have enough time after work to get it edited and posted so it can be released on the right day?!? Who knows….

Annnnd I am back on the Tillerson train for day 12. I just love Luke Tillerson so much. Him and Rhett are my main muses right now I think lol hmmmmmm I need to get them into a threesome 😜

I better gets lots of both boys in season 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

#outer range #rhett abbott #rhett abbott x reader #luke tillerson #luke tillerson x reader #writing ramble

[dallina17]

By this point I am sure the second most fun character of RWBY to write is Cinder. Is like, yes, she is complex, but once you understand her (really understand her), you really can do whatever you want with her? Take her to any plot you desire relatively easy? (Well, almost whatever you want)

I don't know, when I am doing a Cinder's POVS the words just come. I came with new ideas, references and twists. I love being in her head. What she does? What she thinks? Why she is the way she is?

Plus, alongside Neo, she is the only I have given a new backstory depending on the universe. Because is fun! How very different events can form one singular mentality that looks the same on the surface but each one has some specific details that made them unique. Is crazy!

And her interactions with Neo are pure gold. You end up laughing or crying or screaming, there is no middle ground and I love that.

#rwby #cinder fall #some rambles #writing ramble #I just love to write about her #it is akfkakdkskkds #I dont know how to explain it

[voidlingduck]

Slow couple of writing days as I juggle my last uni assignment, work, and brainrot for another project, but progress is being made! I am at least keeping to writing consistently even if I am not writing a lot. Just about 200 extra words tonight but it is better than zero and I have some notes for next writing session! Hopefully I can break out of act 1/the intro by the end of this week and get my kitties on their journey. I reckon that’s a pretty achievable goal. We will see what happens though haha.

#nanowrimo #nanowrimo 2023 #nanowrimo wip #starfall #nanowrimo update #writeblr #writing update #writing ramble #writers on tumblr

[fogsy-feel]

Trying to figure out a way to make them so ostensibly rich and also not be demonically unlikable. An impossible task. Unfortunately no one has ever gotten ‘old money’ rich without a path of blood paved behind them 

#writing ramble #teen wolf #I probably should just leave it ambiguous

[dragonbleps]

what artists dont tell you is that every compliment is actually 100 compliments because they'll go back to re-read it 100 times and it'll make them feel fuzzy all over again every single time

#missy rambles #edit: and art includes writing <3