#delete this later 🗑️

[call-me-copycat]

Ahhh! Nauseous again, once more! (ㅠ︿ㅠ)

[thewriteadviceforwriters]

📉 The 5 Worst Writing Advice Bits You Might Still Believe

(Let’s Burn Them Together)

You’ve been lied to. Or at least, misled by well-meaning chaos goblins with strong opinions and a Twitter account.

Here’s a lovingly aggressive breakdown of writing “advice” you need to kick into a volcano immediately:

─────── ✦ ───────

“Write Every Day or You’re Not a Real Writer”

🗑️ Into the fire it goes.

This is advice built for guilt, not creativity. You’re a writer if you write. That includes:

Writing on weekends.

Writing in your Notes app once a week.

Writing one scene per month.

Thinking intensely about a story while doing literally anything else.

Consistency helps, sure. But daily output? Not the only path. And definitely not a moral obligation.

✨ Alternative: Write when you can, track what works, and let your process breathe.

─────── ✦ ───────

“If You’re Stuck, You Just Don’t Want It Bad Enough”

This is the kind of advice that sounds motivational until it destroys your relationship with writing.

Being stuck doesn’t mean you’re lazy or not passionate. It could mean: → You’re burnt out. → Your plot needs restructuring. → Your brain is full of static. → You’re scared to get it wrong.

✨ Alternative: Ask what your block is protecting you from. Then fix the problem, not your willpower.

─────── ✦ ───────

“Kill Your Darlings”

Yes, let’s just delete everything with emotional weight and pretend that makes it deep.

Look, editing matters. But this advice gets misused constantly. Killing your darlings doesn’t mean gutting every beautiful or weird or vulnerable thing in your prose. It means cutting what doesn’t serve the story.

✨ Alternative: Kill what doesn’t carry weight. Keep what resonates. Be ruthless with purpose, not performance.

─────── ✦ ───────

“Avoid Adverbs at All Costs”

This one was born in grammar hell.

Adverbs aren’t the enemy. Lazy adverbs are. But you know what else is lazy? Blanket bans. Adverbs can tighten a sentence, clarify emotion, or give rhythm when used intentionally.

✨ Alternative: Use adverbs when they do something specific. Don’t fear them, control them.

─────── ✦ ───────

“Your First Draft Has to Be Good or Don’t Bother”

This one? Evil.

It’s the fast track to perfectionism paralysis. First drafts aren’t supposed to be good. They’re supposed to exist. You can’t fix a blank page. You can fix a bad one.

✨ Alternative: Let your draft be messy. Be cringe. Be excessive. You’ll sculpt later. Right now? Just build the block of marble.

─────── ✦ ───────

Final thoughts from your local chaos scribe:

→ You don’t need to suffer to earn the title “writer.” → Your process is allowed to look different. → You are not broken because someone’s advice didn’t work for you. → Not everything that sounds “productive” is healthy. → Burn the rulebook. Build a toolkit instead.

—rin t. // writing advice that doesn’t suck™ // thewriteadviceforwriters

[pulim-v]

📓🤹‍♂️🗑️🤐

for the WIP ask game please?

Hi Pax! Thanks for the ask :]

📓 - the plot of a wip I haven't (and probably won't) write

Godddd I'm so sorry Via-Mal scene I'll love you forever but it will probably take ages until I actually write you.

Ok so basically at the point we're at in the story have Via at a but of a standstill about her crush on Dew, she's just realized she can't bring herself to act on it and Fern's words have not helped. She goes to her friends in the art club for help, and this is where we get the characterization, dynamics and Lore (tm) of the art kids (aka Hue Citrine and Tourmaline)

Unfortunately that requires me to write more Via (which is hard) and learn the character voices of three separate characters (which is harder). So this will take a bit lmao

🤹‍♂️ - plot points I'm juggling

Right now I'm mainly setting stuff up: in pt 1 of Rowan's Birthday, I show Mist's dissociation, Dew's crush on Via, a bit of Rowan's inner turmoil, and what Rowan wants to do when he turns 18 (which will later be a bit of development with his dynamic with Dew). On the general plot, I'm also trying to juggle the development of Dewtavia wrt Via, the future of Fern's crush on Spark, Dew and Via's character flaws and how they mess with their relationship later on, and Spark's insecurities. I have a lot of stuff to do I think this story is getting out of hand-

🗑 - deleted scenes

I haven't written that many scenes but one I have and will probably have to completely redo is where two side characters, Blizzard and Sprout, talk about Blizzard's beef with Spark during the Tournament arc, since their dynamics with the rest of the cast have changed a lot with time lol

🤐 - unpublished dialogue

I'm probably posting it today but eh fuck it a bit of Rowan's Birthday pt 1

""And that's why I always write my notes in purple!" Dew said, a faint blush being visible on their cheeks.

"I see. That's so cute, Dew! You and Octavia seem very close." Mist replied, a slight smile being visible on his face as he cut his steak. [...]

"We are!" Dew said before taking another sip of his glass of juice, "She's probably my best friend here, even though we only met last year." Dew added, his cheeks a very intense red; though they either didn't notice or didn't care."

[vexic929]

📓🤐🗑️✂️ please?

📓 the plot of a wip I haven't (and probably won't) write

oh man there's one that's been living in my head for weeks but I don't think I'll ever end up writing it because it's just not enough for its own story I think but it's one where in season 3 after Barry comes back from Flashpoint and realizes Dante is dead he does go back against his better judgment to try and save Dante for Cisco - which works but, unforeseen conses gonna quence, and it turns out he now has to work with a very pissed off Hartley Rathaway at S.T.A.R. whose life he completely ruined on accident (along with having to work with Julian at his day job, can't get away from people who hate him)

like there's an excellent scene in my head but that's it for this one which is quite tragic lol

🤐 unpublished dialogue

oh this is way in a future chapter of Earth-2 Etude but here lol

Hartley scoffed, but there was no real bite to it. His heart was still hammering in his chest and he hated how exposed he felt under David's gaze. "Don't psychoanalyze me."

🗑️ deleted scenes

I didn't end up saving it anywhere apparently but in Only With the Falling of The Dusk there was originally going to be a much longer scene of Ricki patrolling before she found out what happened to Lin, including a very fun interrogation that I may have to write again later on lol

✂️ cut dialogue

I don't know that I've ever cut dialogue if I didn't cut the whole scene honestly lol I struggle with dialogue it's usually the last thing I add to a scene unless I have specific lines I need to use XD

[melhyan]

[ACC: Quick update!! Will be deleted as soon as the situation is fixed!]

Quick update for anyone I’ve worked with on commissions or collaborations!

As you might have noticed, my old account, WackyArt, has been hit with a suspension on messages and comments. For reasons I’m still unclear about, I’ve been completely unable to receive or send messages there or even comment on my own post to reply to peeps. I’ve reached out to Tumblr Support multiple times, but so far, I haven’t received any answers or solutions. It’s been weeks now, I thought this was fixed but no, and I didn’t want to leave anyone hanging any longer.

So, I’m now reaching out to all clients and collaborators from this account, @melhyan!!If you’re waiting to hear from me about a commission, I’ll be messaging you here instead! Your patience means the world to me, and I sincerely apologize for the delays and any confusion this situation has caused. If you’re worried I missed a message or an update from you, feel free to DM me here directly!

This post will be up temporarily (I’ll delete it later 🗑️), but in the meantime, please feel free to reblog or share if you know someone who might be waiting on an update from me!! Thanks a lot!!

Thanks again for your understanding while I navigate this mess. I truly appreciate all of you, and I’m excited to share my work and connect with you from this fresh space!!💕✨

Much love, Mëlhyan

[marianna-mikusha]

Have a nice day! Today I drew Sonic.

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't draw it the way I wanted. 👀

And yes, I don't know how to draw hands, so I circled from the reference. (I'm so sorry 😅)

🛑I'll delete this post later if I can draw it better than it is now.🗑️

[writing-whump]

What an interesting set of questions! So maybe two last ones? 📚 & 🗑️?

Hey, nonny!

📚 Who's your favorite author (or a few of them)?

Rachel Neumeier hits the spot for me with her books. So much focus on friendship, caretaking, consideration and just people being nice and polite to each other? I love it. And her werewolf series is top notch. That's packs and world and siblings done right and complex.

Then fantasy authors like Michael J. Sullivan, Christopher Paolini, Annette Marie,...usually I like the book series more than a specific author tbh.

You know I gotta say @bellysoupset at this point, cause she is basically what I read the most these days lol. Hits all the spots. Writing, characters, conflict, comfort, everything.

🗑 How hard is it for you to delete writing that gets cut?

I trick my brain by putting the cut words into a new doc. That way it doesn't feel lost, I can return to it or get inspired later. I usually don't return to it lol, but it helps to let it go.

When something needs to be cut, it just needs to - as long as it improves the overall chapter/scene, then so be it.

Thank you for asking!💙✨️

[magpiefngrl]

Hi there!!! How about 🗑️ or ❓for the ask game? Have a wonderful day! ❤️

Hey! Thanks for the ask, babe!

🗑 What is one fic idea that you loved at first but then scrapped?

Back in the day I posted two fics (not at the same time) that I've since deleted. The first one was a Game of Thrones Harry Potter AU. The first scene was Bran getting Sorted, for example. I had fun putting them in Houses, added an escaped convict and Brienne as a sidelined Auror--and then I got deep into the Raven Cycle and pynch and abandoned it.

A few months later I began a pynch/TRC Sense8 AU fic, which actually worked SO WELL with these characters. But by that time I wasn't much in the fandom and I began writing original fic, and so the fic languished on AO3 for months until I deleted it.

In both cases, I really loved taking the characters from one setting to the other. The AUs worked really well (imo) and I was excited to explore more. However, I made the mistake of adding characters and story elements that meant both fics would need to be epic in length--and I hadn't quite considered a. where it all went, and b. the time commitment. Typical pantser behaviour, but in my defense back then (2014) I had only ever written short stories.

❓Write an alternate summary for a published fic without using names. (Points if your followers can guess the fic.)

This is so fun! I don't know if I can do a good one that no one can guess, because some elements will be a strong giveaway, like this one:

Losing your head over your nemesis's naked calendar pic? More likely than you think!

Idk why I can only think of joke ones. Anyhow, I came up with a more vague one for a lesser-read fic (and one of my faves):

How to get disowned and live your best life.

fanfic ask game

[icedteaandoldlace]

🗑️🌹

Deleted Scene

This is from one of the very earliest drafts of Nights That Never End. The first chapter was originally much lighter, because Kamilla had already found out about the Thawne-kills-Cisco timeline offscreen, and the focus was on Cisco realizing that giving up his powers has made him more vulnerable to Thawne should he pop up again. I went back and forth considering cutting this conversation even then (in part because I didn't think anyone would want to read the rest of the fic if I left it in). But then I decided it would be more interesting to actually explore Kamilla finding out about that erased timeline then, instead of just alluding to it in past tense, and that changed the tone of the whole chapter. And this exchange was way too calm to fit in it when I went that route, so it had to go. I still think it's a sweet moment, though.

“Do you think I made a mistake? Taking the cure?” “Do you feel like you made a mistake?” Cisco mulled it over for a moment and then shook his head. “No,” he answered honestly. “Sometimes I think it was a little insane—it’s a big risk for sure—but…no. I’m happy with my decision.” He gave Kamilla a quizzical look. “I want to know what you think, though.” Kamilla exhaled a little laugh. “Cisco, what I think isn’t important.” Cisco straightened up his posture a little at that and looked her straight in the eyes, his expression serious. “It is to me.” At that, Kamilla’s expression softened, and she gave him an understanding nod. “Okay,” she said. “Well, what I think is that you wouldn’t have made such a big decision that came with such big risks if you weren’t ready to make it. I can see the pros and cons of taking the cure versus keeping your powers, and I don’t think there’s an objective ‘right’ decision; I think it just depends entirely on what you want. Honestly, babe, it doesn’t matter to me whether you have powers or not. If you’re content with your decision, then I support that all the way. Just plain old non-metahuman Cisco is enough for me.” Cisco smiled, looking mollified by that answer. A moment later, he scooted closer to Kamilla, wrapping his arms around her shoulders, and she nestled comfortably into his side. “It’s okay to miss Vibe, though,” she said softly after a moment. Cisco hummed thoughtfully. “He was pretty cool.” “The coolest metahuman in Central City,” Kamilla agreed.

Most Recently Written Line From A WIP

“What else have you been thinking about me and my family that you’ve never said out loud?”

(From Preppy In Pink. Don't wanna give too much context yet, but trust me, this scene HURTS.)

[shrinkthisviolet]

🗑️

Barry scoffed. “Of course you did.”

“I was just trying to—!”

“When you’re on a Team,” he snapped, “especially one where we’re being targeted by a specific villain with a personal vendetta, you don’t hide stuff about that villain from your Team. You don’t steal important info from your own father to get that villain off our backs instead of telling someone—why the hell didn’t you tell any of us, Morgan?!”

“I thought I could handle it myself,” she whispered.

He scoffed. “Yeah, and look at how well that went.”

Tears welled in her eyes. “I’m sorry—”

“Morgan—”

“You have to believe m—”

“Morgan,” he repeated, his voice as hard as steel, “that’s enough.”

~part of a deleted/rewritten scene from “i still love you (i promise)”

Originally, Barry was gonna find out about Morgan working with (term applied loosely) Hartley from Morgan herself. I eventually changed this to him finding out a half-true version from Eowells because…well, a few reasons:

a.) Morgan would’ve told Barry everything, so him being mad after that doesn’t make a ton of sense. And if he is, then that doesn’t leave room for a convincing reconciliation later. Eowells telling him, and Barry not knowing the full truth, does leave room for that.

b.) Eowells telling Barry, and twisting the truth of Morgan’s reasons, once again cements his loathing of Barry & Morgan’s friendship. He doesn’t like his nemesis and his “daughter” being so close…especially with Barry’s influence on Morgan making her more rebellious towards him. And getting Barry to distrust Morgan, this breaking Morgan’s heart, is the quickest way to break them up…and, he hopes, the most permanent (he’s wrong!)

wip ask game!

[racingliners]

🥨 and 🗑️ for the ask game ☺️

🥨 - Do you snack while writing?

answered here!

🗑️ - How hard is it for you to delete writing that gets cut?

Very, very hard. More often then not I will try to re-write something or try and fit it in somewhere else as opposed to deleting it completely.

I actually have a 'chapter snippets' word doc for each multi-chapter work where I'll drop deleted stuff in case I can go back and use it later.

ask game for writers

[scarlettriot]

♡ R A N T ♡ I N C O M I N G ♡

I'm mad as fork that I cannot actually comment back to the person who decided to message me a grevance on one of my fics because they were a minor who apparently doesn't understand the meaning of 'do not interact' BUT I am still mad and would like to address this just in case anyone else shares this persons opinion:

I cannot and will not speak for every fan fic author out there but I will speak for myself. Sure, I've thrown together a couple thousand words in an hour or less before and posted it with not much thought going into it. Guilty. But most of my work, especially my chapter fics, I have put MONTHS (going on a full year now) of work into those fics.

I have pulled all-nighters writing, I have bugged the living hell out of my moots and friends with ideas far more than I probably should (you guys are the best and I love you so damn much). I have written thousands of words to highlight and delete it all because it didn't 'feel right' to me. I have scenes and plots that might never see the light of day because I just can't find a place to include them.

So, whatever work/thought you think I've put in, I assure you, it's actually SO MUCH MORE!

If you do not feel like you can relate to the Reader in my story for whatever reason, never you mind the fact that I overthink far more than I should to make my Readers as inclusive as possible, if you cannot picture yourself in the story and it ruins the experience for you then I invite you to not continue reading. Just move along. I cannot appease absolutely everyone and it's taken me a very long while to accept that. So, please, just click away, block me or the story if you must, I will not be offended. Just do not tell me I was careless and put no thought into someone's feelings.

Thank you and have a lovely day.

((as for what was said, I'll post it below if interested--will contain mild spoilers for my chapter fic, She Lit a Fire))

In this story specifically I made the Reader related to Tamaki. I made them cousins and gave no other physical descriptors of the Reader other than she has pointed ears and some scars on her body due to an accident in her past.

The person who messaged me had an issue because Tamaki is obviously Japanese. I am assuming the person who messaged me is a POC or trying to defend POCs because they said they could not relate to Reader because of the relation to Tamaki since that isn't what they look like and I should've clearly stated in the contents section that was the relation.

*deeply inhales*

I AM WRITING THE STORY & INSERT MYSELF INTO IT ALL THE DAMN TIME & I SURE AS HECK AM NOT JAPANESE EITHER!

Aside from being pale, I don't look like him. Then again, I don't even look like most of my IRL cousins!

I do feel bad that this took them so far out of the story that they couldn't enjoy it though.

As a writer, my most important goal is to create a story that my reader can feel immersed and enjoy the tale that I've created. As a fic writer though, writing mostly Y/N's and Readers, I cannot tailor them to every person's exact specifications. I wish I could. But it isn't possible unless someone wants to start sliding me a whole lotta money.

I just, I care a lot about these fics, like, way more than most people probably realize. This one specifically is just super close to my heart and I know I made Reader have more of a backstory and personality to grant the story more depth thus she has some OC qualities about her, but I still try to keep her appearance as vague as possible as well as provide summaries and warnings before each chapter so people are very aware of what they're getting into.

So, I apologize for the rant, especially since the person who needs to see it won't. I just kinda felt like they came after my child and I needed to defend them.

I'd also like to point out that I did state Reader was related to a canon, established character in the two chapters prior to the one it was reveled in. For the sake of the story though, I did not mention who the character was or the relation.

[watercolorfreckles]

This is several questions but for the ask game: 👁️, 📚, and 🗑️

👁️ - Do you have someone proofread for you?

Usually not! I do sometimes have friends take a look at my snippets ahead of time if I'm having trouble with it :)

📚 - Who's your favorite author (or a few of them?)

Irl, Bridgid Kemmer, Tricia Levenseller, Elise Kova, Alexandra Christo

On Tumblr, @the-modern-typewriter @yourheartonfire @gingerly-writing @writing-on-the-wahl you, and many others!

🗑️- How hard is it for you to delete writing that gets cut?

This is an interesting question because I realized I don't do much of this. I've realized that while writing mentor's/teachers are always saying let something be awful in the first draft and then rewrite or revise it and make it better, I can't seem to do that. I pretty much just write things once, and I don't really delete large chunks. Usually I'd just think it through more before putting it down. That's probably why a lot of my work is very unpolished because I don't heed that advise, but it seems so impossible to me 😂

That said, when I do have to delete something (the instance I can think of currently is a chunk of dialogue I took out of Deep Blue pt 2) I just copy and paste it into a draft and save it, I don't really delete it in case I can use pieces of it later.

Thanks for asking! 🥰

[scarlettriot]

If people would like to leave me fluffy things in my ask box, I’d really appreciate it 🥺 It’s been the Monday-like Monday in a long time and it’s not even 10 AM.