chrism02

[chrism02]

What they don't tell you about writing is that as you write, you discover scenes and entire plots that you hadn't accounted for that need to be written. So you can spend two hours writing and editing only to realise you're further away from the finish line than you thought you were when you started

[chrism02]

[chrism02]

[chrism02]

It's such an amazing feeling when someone picks up on something in your writing that you 100% intended but didn't think people would notice. Like, YES!! My writing properly conveyed the thing it was supposed to!!! You are so awesome for noticing that!!! I am so awesome for writing that!!! I feel so good about my story now!!!!

[chrism02]

can i just say, I LOVE SLOWLY BUT SURELY. THANK YOU FOR CREATING A MASTERPIECE.

I am happy that you like my fic 😊

The next chapter is up. Happy reading 😁

[chrism02]

[chrism02]

[chrism02]

AO3 easy trick: sometimes when I want to leave a comment on a fic but I dont know what to say specifically I'll just paste my favorite line(s)/little paragraph and then write something like "I loved this so much/this fic is amazing" or even just a string of hearts.

writers love knowing what lines stuck the most and this way you don't need to elaborate too much of your own

[chrism02]

funniest tumblr experience is waking up to 20+ notifications all from ONE person who has obviously just found my account and they then proceed to like and reblog my last dozen or so posts which is then followed by a mysterious anonymous ask. brother who are you trying to fool

[chrism02]

When you're writing and you suddenly realize you don't know what happens next

[chrism02]

A writer friend told me something that broke my heart a little bit today; they're going to quit publishing their fanfic.

My instant thought was that they had been trolled or attacked or that something terrible had happened in their life because this person is so passionate about their writing. It wasn't any of that. Engagement with their works has been going down, as it has for many of us. Comments are like gold dust a lot of the time, and just looking through the historical comment counts on old fics on ao3 demonstrates this trend very clearly. It was not simply the comments dropping off which caused them to decide to stop posting, however.

My friend came across a discord server for their fandom (I should point out here that their fandom interest and mine diverged a couple of years ago, we stay in touch but don't currently read each other's posts because I'm not into their fandom and they would rather gouge their eyes out with a wooden spoon than read anything Star Wars) and specifically to share fic in that fandom. They joined, because we all love a good fic rec, only to discover that their latest multichapter fic, which has almost no comments and very few kudos, is being hotly discussed in this server as one of the best stories ever. Not one of these people has bothered to say this to them on the fic. When they asked, none of participants could see the point in telling the author of the fic they apparently loved so much that they love it.

This discovery has absolutely destroyed my friend's love of sharing fic. They share because they love seeing other people's enjoyment, and fic writers do that through comments and kudos/reblogs/likes because we don't get paid. There is no literary critic writing a blog post/article about how amazing the story is for us to copy and keep/frame. There is no money from royalties. All we have are the words of the people reading our works.

Those people on that server could have taken five minutes of the time they spent gushing about how amazing my friend's story was to other people and used it to tell the one person guaranteed to want to hear that praise how much they loved it. They could have taken a moment to express their opinion to the person who spent hours upon hours plotting, writing, editing, and posting those chapters. Instead, they deprived my friend of thing that keeps them sharing their writing, and in the process have killed their love of it. My friend now feels used and unmotivated.

I won't be sharing a link to their fic, they said I could share their experience but not their identity. I know they plan to post one final chapter. I know they intend to express their hurt at being excluded from the praise for the thing they created, and I know they intend to announce that as a consequence they will not be posting for a long while, if at all.

So please, I beg you, don't hide your love of a story from the writer. It's just about the only thing we have.

[chrism02]

Thank you for the tag @mysticbookowl

🧠 Fiction

📖 Standalone

🌅 Night owl

📱 Print

📚 Pristine pages

Tagging: @iobsessoverfictionalmen @overlookedfile @plush4bunny @omgbrainstorming

📚✨ Let’s play “This or That: Bookworm Edition!”

Comment your picks! 👇 🧠 Fiction or Nonfiction? 📖 Standalone or Series? 🌅 Morning reader or Night owl? 📱 E-book or Print? 📚 Annotate or Pristine pages?

Tag a fellow book lover to compare answers! 🔄💬

#ThisOrThatBooks #BookwormFun #ReadersChoice #BookishGame

[chrism02]

There are two types of writers:

1. 'It's fiction, it doesn't need to make sense!'

2. 'I didn't account for the rotation of the planet and how that affects the constalations while my characters stargazed at different times of year, I have failed as a writer, and this entire thing is trash'

[chrism02]

[chrism02]

[chrism02]

This phrase in my language 'to be kissed by a muse' is so accurate and helpful in explaining my inspiration. Because most of the time it's just like a kiss on the cheek, a quick peck on the lips, and I'll write a small scene. And then sometimes my muse is just french kissing me and I'll write a whole novel.

[chrism02]

my drafts keep growing…