#my plan now is - finish detailed outlines -> finish first 5 chapter drafts -> finish character and environment refs ->

[styxxsyringe]

muahaha..... after like 3 months of running in circles i finally have (probably) every chapter of reassass figured out with a good deal of them having outlined their own synopsis..... now to just fucking write them 😭😭😭😭😭

[secret-third-thing]

17! tell me everything 👀

God fears me for my process is fucking biblical.

Also link to post if people want to play <3

Please note this is for fanfic. My original fiction process has EVEN MORE STEPS AHAAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHA.

Step 1: Be absolutely overwhelmed with an idea. I know an idea is worth writing when it pesters me enough that it intrudes when I'm doing other things or writing other stories. If it doesn't, I send it to the plot bunny graveyard. Get fucked.

Step 2: Let it cook. That's right. Every idea has to cook a little bit. It decides when it's time for plotting. Sometimes it's an immediate plotting situation, sometimes it cooks for a year or two.

Step 3: Write down some key points. What do I wanna have happen? This is to help me figure out scope. I am much better at looking at an idea and sussing out how long it's gonna be. I categorize it into one of the following categories

Baby (under 3k)

Big Baby (3-5k)

Solid Oneshot (5-10k)

We're pretending this is a one shot (10-17k)

Normal Mult-chap (17k-50k)

Danger zone (50-80k)

Chonky Monster (80k+)

Absolute Unit (150k+)*

Someone help me I've fallen (200+)*

*my pet peeve is fics that go on forever when they should have just ended. YOU NEED TO PLOT BETTER. jk it's fanfic do whatever you want.

This step is done partially for fun and partially because it helps me figure out how many beats and scenes I need.

Step 4: I decide on a target word count (I'm good at guessing. I'm usually within 15% of my est wc when I finish) and then I fill out my math sheet that I made while I was bored and unemployed last year. It basically estimates how many scenes I need assuming scenes average at 1200-1500. And then it divides those scenes into acts and then it tells me how many scenes per point in the save the cat outline. 😂 If people want it they have to slide into my dms and ask me nicely + compliment eris and/or beron. Ideally both.

Step 5: Time to fill out the main beats of the outline! Yay! This takes X days, which is to say it takes the time it needs.

Step 5b: If I have multi povs, I do this process for every pov

Step 5c: Then I weave the povs together - which beats can be shared? etc

Step 6: Write out every scene I plan on writing 🫡 I know exactly what's happening and the intended outcome. Yay!

Step 7: Work on something else. This story needs to cook a bit.

Step 8: Come back and see how I feel about the story. Then I do this scene analysis thing where I ensure that my scenes are covering different elements of craft so we are as efficient as possible. If a scene does not accomplish a goal, I yeet it. This is KEY. I'm not gonna type it all out here partially because it's long/complicated and partially cause the mentor who taught me it, asked me to keep it vague since she's worked hard to cultivate her mentorship guidance and process.

Step 9: I make scene tweaks. If my outline has gaps, I cry about it and then radically accept it'll come to me later.

Step 9b: Sometimes I shop the outline around and make revisions based on feedback.

Step 10: Draft. But only when I want to. I don't brute force shit anymore. (I've been writing the full fic first before posting this time around) But yes. Write the full damn first draft. This takes however long it takes.

Step 11: Set it aside and do anything else, ideally not writing related. Watch movies, play games, go to an art museum.

Step 12: Revision time!!! YAY! Read through the entire fic. Write down allllll my horrible little thoughts about it. teehee.

Step 13: Re-outline. Really see what the story actually is. Decide if I need to rewrite anything.

Step 13b: do any necessary rewrites. cry about it1!!

Step 14: Revise POV/ Voice

Step 15: Revise Character

Step 16: Revise Plot again if needed

Step 17: Scene level edits (world building, descriptions, dialogue, details whatever)

Step 18: Now it's time for beta!!! Please cry clap. Depending on the posting situation (event week vs whenever) I may just do one chapter instead of the full fic.

Step 19: NOW do the edits! Again!

Step 19b: Send to betas again for feedback. Edit again. Repeat indefinitely.

Step 20: Grammar pass!!!

Step 21: Beta pass 2 (usually just a sign off that im not insane)

Step 22: Dark Night of the Soul. I grieve. I wonder if this is any good. And then by the end of brooding, I'm feeling a little evil.

Step 23: Post and give very little shits about kudos etc because they mean nothing and I know I'm fucking awesome. (you are too btw.)

Step 24: Kill God.*

Step 25: Become God.*

*Sorry these last two steps are for me only.

Hope this helps!

[undertalerainbow]

Comic Update

Current page count is 14 and everything's going smoothly, and part one of chapter 1 should be released before the end of the month at the most and in a week at least. We do have a few updates on how it's going to be posted, though. Part one was supposed to be one post with 30 pages, which is what we had planned for part 1; however, thanks to something weird with pc version of tumblr I can't add more of the pages via pc, see my issue here (yes, it's still doing that). I've been using my phone to upload the images on the draft post, but as some know here, the mobile version only allows 10 images :(((( So that means instead of one post for part one, its going to be around 3-maybe 4-posts for part one chapter one. So instead of three posts for the total of chapter 1, it may be upwards to 9 or above posts for chapter 1 alone. I seriously don't know the issue with my pc version, but I hope these many posts will be ok with y'all. This also means there will probably be posts released in bursts, as while I'm in the boss fight right now and thus going much faster than before (doing almost a page a day), when I'm doing full color it may take longer as I've been nonstop drawing this since around march (minus that break in late april to finish finals). The goal is to finish chapter 1 before Underevent applications in December, maybe even get to chapter 2. All of volume one is outlined, planned to be 3-5 chapters in length, and each following volume being longer afterwards. Nick's volume (volume 2) is overall conceptialized, and some familiar characters will take either center stage or comeos. Stella's volume is being conceptized with a clear goal in mind, and overall plot beats are thought up. The overall story was the first thought of, having a beginning, middle major plot points, and an ending which is fully thought out. Overall, ideas for Percy's, Rosemary's, Clover's, and Asriel's volumes have been thought of, but have not been as detailed as the other three as we do want to write as we go along. Point A and Point B of the story is thought of and will not change, but the landmarks we have to go through to get there has to be detailed as we go along so the story flows well. There's so far a total of 12 planned new areas (this includes areas within areas like snowdin village is to snowdin forest), and we are thinking up more when needed in the story. We have a lot of new main characters tied to the past of these fallen children, both alive and dusted. There is planned new background NPCS that we hope our current concept and possible new concept artists will help out with. We also have the idea that when chapter 1 is done, we'll also post them on places like Webtoon, Bluesky, and maybe Reddit, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there. Music is still being made, now having over 10 tracks total! Those songs may be posted as a way to keep our account alive, we also have pride month drawings being done as relaxers on the side (though they may be late as we want to work hard to release the comic). And here's the biggest thing....ahem....

We have a Discord now

Yep! We have an official discord where you can come in, ask questions with more immediate responses (as the answers to any questions provided on Tumblr, I'd like to draw it, which I never have time for). You can also audition for different positions if you'd like, which would also add you to the development team, able to see the comic as it progresses. If you don't know if you can provide anything product wise, then you can apply to be a beta reader; however, those who apply to that must be at least 16 or above. I just want more constructive feedback when it comes to beta readers unless I know you personally which than I may make exceptions; otherwise, no younger than that. If you don't want to be on the dev team at all, that's also ok! There are other channels to share your own products, promote your own projects, and just generally make friends. Please read the rules before proceeding, but otherwise have fun! The link is riiiiight here! https://discord.gg/XZAVctaE (this link will be updated if it expires)

The need we have right now is voice actors, as we do plan that when the first chapter is completed, we want to make an official dub for the people following the YouTube channel. We already have a Flowey, we just need the following characters: Frisk (gender neutral, feminine leaning) Chara (gender neutral, tomboy leaning) Toriel (Female, warm but slightly gruff) Napsablook (gender neutral, whispy and quiet) Miscellaneous Ruin Monsters (Froggit, whimson, vegatoid, etc) Southern Rock (southern voice gender neutral for the scolding rock)

But we do have other roles such as: Concept artists (for background characters or major side characters who do not have designs yet), Comic artists (to help with coloring, backgrounds, etc so things can be streamlined better), video editors (for things like trailers or animations), animators (promo stuff), artists (promo stuff and answering the ask souls questions), and story editors (to help TheEverManiac with the paneling script).

Hope to see y'all join and meet us there! (only if you want to though haha)

Cya later!

[macawritesupdates]

Updates 5/28/2024

A Well Executed Failure has been completed <3 A short to the point fic that was rattling about in my head and glad to get it out to the world and hope people enjoyed the ride!

CURRENTLY WORKING ON THE FOLLOWING FICS!

Careful What you Joke About: Next chapter is the Shibuya arc and it is a really big chapter and going to really lean into psychological horror for sure! Lessons in Accidental Seduction: Sukuna and Yuuji are getting married and Yuuji is going to get emotional at his own wedding and embarrass his feral bride. Enough said :b

Historically Accurate: FINALLY gearing up to flesh out the outline into the chapter proper! The story is starting to speak up about how it wants the chapter to go and feeling good about starting progress! OTHER LONG FICS Malevolence of Love: I'm in the ZONE with this fic, so you might see it update more than the others as getting to parts I've been eager to write for a long while! Mirrored Lives: Going to lock in and work on more chapters of this fic and get it more caught up and developed as I feel it got neglected. Yuuji Files: This fic is being put on the backburner to my other fics for a bit. Just having a bit of a block on it, so letting it sit in the long cooker for a bit. Feel the last chapter was a bit of a flop/maybe too ambitious, so going to hash out how I'm handling the chapters until the end.

COMING SOON! Two new fics are rattling around my head that are starting to be planned out and put down on paper and the first chapter of both should be coming out soon from the oven <3 Modern Sukita Fic Detective Yuuji Story: This story is being outlined and the story mapped out and plot nailed down! Working out the details, but so far, I am satisfied with the direction it is going! Final count on the chapters is still TBA as I finish drafting out the story map, but I've started to work on the first chapter! Modern Sukita short fic: This idea slapped me over the head and was inspired by a request... as I wrote the one-shot, I wanted to tell a longer, more emotional and touching story and it would NOT leave me alone. This is going to be heavy on the hurt/comfort and Sukuna is going to be taking the brunt of the hurt.... and Yuuji is going to be a complete sunshine child ; w ;

REQUESTS!! Working on them still! Hoping to get a few out soon! I've got 70+ requests right now and want to make sure I give each one some care XD going to focus on clearing out the ones from April first 83;; With a few more recent ones thrown in to mix up the vibes!

[flyingwargle]

clara's writing notes: we'll make it work (we always do)

it's difficult for writers to share their progress beyond the final, completed product, and i want to make a post (and hopefully future posts) sharing my process from idea to fic. i hope that other writers would find this helpful, or at least you can see how chaotic i can get haha. more under the cut!

part i. planning

i got my assignment in june, with my giftee requesting a road trip. some tags included angst with a happy ending, idiots to lovers, and confessions, among others, but these are ones that i focused on.

initially, i wanted to do something similar to paper towns by john green, where suna sends osamu on a roadtrip across japan and suna confesses to him at the end, but it didn't quite fit their prompt. i also thought about something with magical realism (another tag requested) but i couldn't think of anything either. this is when i started working backwards.

so, now i know that sunaosa will confess and get a happy ending, but there needs angst. boom - suna going overseas for volleyball. the prompt asked to include komori, atsumu, and aran, and komori and atsumu, who likely have front row seats to their pining, would orchestrate a road trip to force them to confess. aran ends up becoming the guy with a car.

with that foundation in place, the next question becomes: where should they go, and how should i plan this?

i did some research on common road trip routes in japan that started either in hyogo / osaka or tokyo. eventually, i found the romance road that could take anywhere between 3 - 5 days. using different itineraries and maps, i devised a route, what attractions would be fun for the boys, as well as tropes that'd work with komori and atsumu's plan for a confession.

(my sis inspired me to use some reverse romance tropes that was circulating on twitter at the time. i used two for the first 2 days but stopped afterwards since they didn't fit)

after making a rough structure outline to determine the plot arc and chapter count, it was time to make the chapter outlines.

part ii. outlining

i always make outlines, no matter if it's a oneshot or longfic. sometimes i wing it, but most of the time, i need some kind of structure. plus, it's fun to outline the larger events and then insert small snippets of dialogue for each, whenever i come up with it.

it was during this phase that i used locations and timestamps to serve as scene breaks, and show forward progression.

the amount of detail for my outlines vary from simple sentences to long descriptions with lots of details. this is because i brainrot some scenes and think about lines of dialogue or prose, while for other scenes, i'm like, eh. they're there because they're there.

once the outline is complete, it's time to start drafting.

part iii. drafting

all my fics go through at least two drafts before posting. not saying that posting first drafts is bad practice, i just prefer to give my readers something polished, and since this is a longfic, the process takes much longer.

i started the first chapter while on vacation because i wanted to get ahead, knowing that in september, i'd be busy with school and work again. i hadn't thought about how to start, so i just went with the first thing that came to mind. (this introduction was cut because it didn't feel relevant to the overall fic, but here is a snippet of it)

the first draft clocked in at 31k, which is about the same count for the final draft. there weren't too many differences, aside from the introduction and some minor details, like the rings at the end and some conversation points. before starting the second draft, i always give it shelf time (i.e. stepping away from the work completely) before doing a complete readthrough and taking notes of what to change or include for the second draft.

shelf time varies depending on how much time i have and what other projects i need to work on. i finished the first draft in september and since the due date wasn't until next month, i waited until the first week of october before coming back and doing the second draft. some parts, i copy and pasted some passages since they fine as is, and for some, i rewrote completely to be more succinct.

hopefully that gives you a bit of insight of how my drafting process works. i hope to do this again with origami hearts (my next thing that i'll definitely publish) and future works!

[heytheredeann]

20 questions for fic writers

I was tagged by @cha-melodius, thank you! <3<3

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

439! The plan is posting two more tonight so hopefull that will soon be 441 LOL.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

939,623! Almost a million yay!

3. What fandoms do you write for?

At the moment mostly TMFU, I have been getting into writing Banana Fish fic too, and I write for The Witcher, though less frequently than TMFU.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Stretch (Buck/Eddie+Christopher, 911, 3x02 AU)

Everywhere I'm looking now, I'm surrounded by your embrace (Harvey/Mike, Suits, soulmates AU)

I held your hand as you shook in the middle of the night (Geralt/Jaskier, The Witcher, 1x06 fix-it)

Leave it unspoken (Harvey/Mike, Suits, a serial killer on the loose AU looool I had forgotten about this one)

Concession (Geralt/Jaskier, The Witcher, Geralt likes being the little spoon fic)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yesssss, I'm like constantly behind and sometimes I answer months late, but I love answering because 1) comments make me so happy and I want the readers who took the time to let me know they enjoyed the fic to KNOW THAT, 2) talking about fics is SO much fun, I think that discussing things in the comments is the best part of posting.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

LOOOOOOOOOOOL filter for MCD on my Ao3 and take your pick. But I'd go with either Forever is the sweetest con (Napoleon/Illya/Gaby, TMFU) because the story is told backwards, so you start with post-MCD and end pre-MCD, so the ending is happy but. well. the happiness is gone already and you know it LOL, or maybe Meaner than my demons, colder than this home (Napoleon/Illya/Gaby, TMFU), purely because generally speaking when I play with MCD I kill just one of them off and leave the other two to pick up the pieces, but here there's just Napoleon left, so. probably worse than the others LOL.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Sooo, I tend to write one-shots, and I HAVE written fluffy fics, but I think I'll go with Something gets lost from a safe distance (Napoleon/Illya, TMFU) because it's part of a three-part series that's all emotional hurt/comfort, and then it ends with fluffy kissing so.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Eh, it has happened, I think it's inevitable if you have been doing this for long enough LOL.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Nope.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Not usually, I did write a TMFU/Supernatural crossover though LOL.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I’m aware of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yesss, more than once and it's always extremely flattering that someone would want to go through all that effort <3

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Nope.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

Right now I feel particularly strongly about the TMFU OT3 but like. I love so many.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I HAVE MULTIPLE LONGFICS SITTING IN MY DRAFTS DAMMIT. I just never want to post longfics unless I have either a first draft for every chapter or at the very least an extremely detailed outline for every chapter, which means that I end up always posting one-shots LOL. Two notable mentions among these longfics are a "Napoleon gets amnesia and bullshits his way through it to avoid telling anyone because he has trust issues" fic and an AU with Illya as a ghost that's a whole angsty mess. help me.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Eeeeeeeh the emotions I'd say. Or I HOPE so, since that's pretty much 80% of my writing loooool Also there a lot of lines of dialogue that I come up with that I unironically like.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Plots for one, I just tend to write snapshots with no real plot most of the time, and action. I don't LIKE writing it, which means I can never tell if it's boring or if I'm just projecting, and I tend to avoid it. ...also romance/attraction/getting-together. My aroace ass never knows what is believable romance and what are just tv show tropes that are not actually real LOL.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I generally don't do it and keep to the language of the narration, just clarifying "X says in German" if there's a change of language. I write limited third POV, so I just see it as "filtering" everything through the lens of the person that we are seeing the perspective of. If I'm writing from Gaby's POV, for instance (she's German but fluent in English), I feel like TECHNICALLY the narration should be in German, so by writing in English I have already chosen a filter that is not 100% accurate. But that's the filter I'm going with, so English is the language that Gaby is communicating to the reader in, so everything should be communicated through English lens: if she's talking to someone in English, I will just write the lines with no specifications, if she's talking in German I still write in English and write "in German" in the narration, and if someone speaks a language she doesn't know I don't write the actual dialogue because she doesn't understand it, so the reader doesn't get to see it either.

I hope this makes some sort of sense LOOOOOL, I don't really mind any way I've seen this done, but this is how I prefer to go about it.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

The Fallen book series. LOL.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

Evil question, go directly to jail, do not collect 100$. This answer will absolutely change every five minutes, but right now I'm particularly feeling Souvenir from a life left behind (Napoleon/Illya, TMFU), just a tiny dissolution of UNCLE fic with Napoleon angsting.

.

Tagging: @imgoingtofreakoutnow @ikeepwatchinghelicopters @thetamehistorian @huggiebird @deducitetemporacarmen @set-phasers-to-whump @cherryjuicegf @geralt-of-vengerberg and anyone else who hasn't done this yet and wants to play <3

[tapir-boy]

back by no demand: a wip update

lila & ari's first meeting with the iron bull (goes wrong) (not clickbait) (dont watch after midnight) (etc etc youtube clickbait titles) (pending editing)

now posted! https://archiveofourown.org/works/64560886

oc & oc relationship where my commander lavellan (pre-being the commander) brings his niece to skyhold and establishing her connection to solas & bull bull/lavellan/felassan where two of them become step-uncles to the lavellan niece and also felassan gets cured of tranquility and has to live life afterwards. (not even outlined this is just a thing i keep thinking about. theres maybe a scene where the lavellan niece finds out about felassan's secret dead daughter and they have meltdowns together. who knows)

this has now spiralled wildly out of control and combined with the felassan/lavellan/bull ideas i had which is why they're now grouped together. shout out to my partner for enabling me RNSDKJGLD

as a treat, these are the WIP titles

the tapir-boy legally mandated Gender Fic TM CR where sof gets to reflect on gender after the convo w taash (includes trans neve bc its canon 2 Me)

no progress whatsoever. at some point im going to give up and just post it OR completely rewrite it. but that point is NOT TODAYYYYY

taash/laidir fic going over their history and how they end up getting together (will end in smut. this is a threat)

halfway done ish! the smut is potentially on the cutting room floor, im discovering via this fucking emmrook first time fic that i HATE writing like detailed smut, so its more just a fade to black at this point. IF i want to i might go back and do the smut. but for now its a fade to black. but i have about half my planned scenes done, i just need to finish the other half

sof & lucanis talking together after the titan reveal & sof picking a fight with solas over it

now written! yippeee https://archiveofourown.org/works/64880545

emmsof first time (wip. its almost at 3k now. im fighting for my life w this thing)

we've made it to 4k 🎉theres like one or two more sections i still need to write, and then its going to Steep for a while, and then im going to have to HEAVILY edit it since its kind of all over the place. such is the way of writing one fic over the course of, uh, six months

sofcanis first time (ends w them snuggling w emmrich to Cope with the Horrors.)

this may also spiral out into a much larger WIP at this point, i talked about it for too long and now its like 3 chapters that are outlined of the whole Thing of sof coming home, not all of it is smut now

and now for the new ones (because god help me i cant sTOP-)

a small series of interludes about the veilguard and their allies during the time that sof is missing in gay baby jail

mostly outlined, but i have like 500 words for the first scene i was thinking of

pre-canon series of vignettes about sof, varric, and harding during the year they travel before dav

tbh this is largely just an excuse to actually write out some canon about the war of the banners in my verse and establishing why sof is so secretive at the start of dav regarding their identity. its like half a wip and half a glorified outline

5+1 fic about connor hawke hiding lila's existence from the party in act 1, and the first time he intentionally introduced them

this was kind of spur of the moment, blasted it out in two days, possessed me until i had it done type of fic. its pending editing but ive already done one round, its honestly probably on its final draft at this point, but i wanted to get that fic about sof and their reaction to the titans out first since its been sitting longer. this is probably whats getting posted next

[roublardise]

1, 8 & 11 for the writer asks 🐈

THANK YOU 💕💖

this is about The Way Home which is my destiel fic that everyone should read imo

1- Start to finish, how long did it take to plan and write? Did you take breaks during the process?

I had pinpoint May 2nd 2021 as a starting date, as in when I wrote down the first notes about the story. and I posted the last chapter on ao3 on Feburary 26th 2024 so.... almost three years!! this is just like my master thesis except I'm actually more proud of this story somehow

I did take breaks, that's the main reason I write so slow. summer 2022 was the first break, I know I barely worked on it. and then it went through periods depending on my free time.. but basically everytime i was on days off/unemployed that's when the writing was going. let's bless my winter 2023-2024 unemployment era for getting the fic out there finally!!

.

8- Did you cut something out of the outline or an early draft? What was it and why did you decide to cut it?

yeh.... i work with both outlines & drafts, and let me tell you there are times the first draft is smth else entirely 😭 chap 1 stayed pretty solid and just got polished with each draft, but chap 3-4 is nothing alike and well, chap 5 simply barely existed in the first draft as i knew it was gonna change. the ending would have be SO different it wasn't even worth getting into it in rough details

little break down of things that got cut:

most of what was cut is jokes & little scenes of Cas at Jody's... big rip ngl!!! i had notes of a whole thing of when Cas basically brought Meg into Jody's uninvited, like "here's my demon bestie :)" and Meg getting stuck at the doormat (in parallel to chap 4 wink wink).

again at Jody's: they used to play board games..... but it wasn't fitting with Cas's development anymore, and also didn't quite fit with the place I wanted the women to have in the story. Claire got a bit too close to the destiel drama when I wanted her OUT like what does she care she has daddy issues to work on!!! big disservice to every character involved so. they can play board games post-chap 5 :)

the side characters also lost a Meg/Claire (& Alex & Patience) convo in the car in chap 4 (a bi to lesbian communication with Meg mentioning Bela that was SO cute) but turned out they were both too in their own head for this to happen

destiel wise I don't think anything was cut, except a moment where Dean was sharing pictures of Amara in chap 3........ everything to me. you also had the awkward "ahah fuck there's my ex on this pic ignore that 👍" moment that i love. again, the characters weren't there yet so bye bye. we still got exes in that scene anyway <3

voilà!!! besides that it was details here and there, or well maybe i forgot smth major honestly sometimes i don't even remember which lines actually make the finale cut. there's a throwaway canon trans dean line somewhere i could NOT tell you 1/ if it's actually still there 2/ in what shape it would be i rewrote it like ten times

.

11- What was the most challenging aspect of writing it?

bringing the plot home!!!! i am NOT used to write actual plot and tho it is a pretty simple one, well, there are dynamics at play to make it interesting that is not my usual thing. making it all click into place with a good ending when it's 55k was quite challenging, i've never written anything that long before!

i'm gonna cheat and say two things: getting the characters right and do them all justice. i wanted to have all three: cas is actually cas / get dean (that boy is self-aware!!) / women are respected 🙏

.

this was quite long but i hope it was interesting!! i love talking about my fic so at least i had fun, thank you for the questions 💖💕

now eveyone stream THE WAY HOME, there's a little cardd with more info and little fun things 😊

[midnightstargazer]

Updates on my WIPs

Currently Posting

Reborn from the Ashes

post-first war Regulus lives AU, 18/40 chapters posted. I have an outline for the rest of it, but with so much left to go, it's still pretty loose, and the total chapter count is still a rough estimate. No set update schedule, but I do have one more chapter almost ready to go (probably this weekend or early next week), and I can tell you that the new school year and Sirius's trial will both be starting soon.

With All My Heart and Soul

Harry/Regulus time travel fic, 6/16 chapters posted. The rest is planned out in detail, but only one more chapter is written. Since this one is much closer to the end, I'm trying to get several chapters drafted quickly so that I can get to a place where I'm just editing and posting one a week, as I've done for some of my other multi-chapter fics. Not sure what the timeline is for that, though.

Not Yet Posting

Becoming Andromeda Tonks

Tedromeda & Belladolphus, the Black sisters during Andromeda's final year at Hogwarts. I have 5/20 chapters drafted and the rest outlined in detail. I'm planning to start posting either when I get to 10/20 or when I finish a complete first draft of With All My Heart and Soul, whichever comes first.

Pandora's Box

Pandora Lovegood-centric Doctor Who crossover. No outline, no plot, just vibes. I have no idea when this one will be ready tbh

Fest Fics

I have fics in two anonymous fests that are currently posting or just finished (HP Bard Fest and Remus Lupin Fest), but of course I can't say which ones yet. I'm working on WIPs for the Abandon Ship Fest, Regulus Black Fest, and Ladies of HP Fest.

For Ladies of HP, I'm planning on doing as many of the themes as I can manage, and I've already finished three short oneshots. Right now, I'm focusing mostly on what I expect to be my two longest fics for the fest, one exploring my version of Emmeline Vance and what she was doing during the first war, the other with a very different take on Dorlene from how I usually write them, loosely based on this post I made last fall.

[chayscribbles]

chayscribbles’ monthly writing update ☆ december 2022

posting this one a little early as i'll be posting my writing year in review post on the 31st!

☆ STATISTICS.

words written: 11 936

projects worked on: Andromeda Rogue; The Gemini Heist (or, The WIP Formerly Known As "Secret Space WIP")

proudest accomplishment: idk i feel like this has been one of my best writing months in a while. i just feel it in my heart of hearts

books read: Discordia by Kristyn Merbeth

☆ GENERAL COMMENTS.

so i've been pretty MIA these past few weeks :/ i just started a new full time job which is quite physical and while i am enjoying it immensely, i'm usually tired at the end of the day to come on writeblr.

BUT somehow i've still been finding time to write! lots of fun things are happening in the chaynematic universe.

i've also been drawing quite a bit too! i'm really challenging myself to draw out of my comfort zone (which really just means drawing backgrounds that are more than a shape or a gradient, welp). currently working on a piece for my new wip which is... taking way longer than i would like 😅

reading comments: Discordia (which is the final book in this space opera trilogy i've been reading over the last few months) was good, not great, and the ending felt a little anticlimatic, but i can understand why it ended the way it did. a solid 4/5 stars because i still had a good time. anyways if you like Chay Stories, i recommend this trilogy! it's far from perfect and a little rough around the edge but it's still fun and enjoyable and hits all the right elements i personally love! (sibling drama in space! funky alien tech! bisexuals, plural!!!!!)

more specific wip-related comments + featured excerpt below.

☆ COMMENTS: ANDROMEDA ROGUE (draft 2)

i tend to work on this one when i don't have the brainpower to think too much, as a lot of it is just polishing or expanding on things that are already written.

i did add some new scenes that i hope will add more meat to the story. one is a phone call Azami witnesses between her father and some other politician, which is meant to add some political backdrop to the conflict between the planets. the other is a scene where Azami tries to run away before being placed on the expedition, but gets caught by her brother Ansel, as i wanted Azami to be more active in trying to shape her fate from the very get-go, and also give her and Ansel more scenes together. i haven't quite finished the latter one yet though because i haven't had the braincells to write any completely new scenes for this wip lately.

i also really reworked an exposition-heavy chapter where Petra gets the rundown of the expedition, and the scene right before they leave when they're given a tour of the ship to make it less clunky, sprinkling description of the ship into the team's actions as they get settled in instead of throwing a big wall of description at you.

so as of now a good chunk of act 1 is already rewritten!

however i do think in the second half of the month the steam for AR (which was all momentum from finishing AR3) has cooled down a bit and my mind has shifted elsewhere. which brings me to my next section...

☆ COMMENTS: THE GEMINI HEIST (outlining / draft... 0.5?)

in case you missed it: i have a new wip !!! (technically it's not new because i've been secretly working on it sporadically since spring, but it's new to most of you.) i'm having a ball writing about these awful gay women doing crime in space!!! i really missed that New WIP High haha. i feel like a kid in a sandbox.

i realized partway through the first act that the way i was writing AR wouldn't work for GH. because it's a heist i'll have to plan thigns more than i did with AR... but having a too-detailed outline feels too restricting. so instead i'm attempting to fast draft this thing so i can get a fuller picture of where i'm going, but still be able to plants this draft which seems to be the way that works best for me. (probably because you can't spell plantsing without plants.)

except that i'm really bad at not getting caught up in details while drafting, especially when writing dialogue-- these guys always end up talking and talking way more than i intend lmao. so i'm calling this more of a draft 0.5, where some parts will be more detailed but others will... not. i've pretty much skipped all description or non-essential worldbuilding. that's a problem for Future Chay.

☆ FEATURED EXCERPT.

this is from gemini heist chapter 4, where Leo is trying to convince Illiana to help them, and Euna and Gabi are... not exactly helping.

Illiana’s chest tightened. She took a deep breath. “How do I even know I can trust you? You’re a criminal, aren’t you? Why wouldn’t you take the money and leave once I’ve given you what you want?”

Leo leaned back in her chair. “I’m an honest criminal, Heir,” she began.

The shorter, chubbier of the two minions spoke for the first time, muttering under her breath, “I’m pretty sure ‘honest criminal’ is an oxymoron, actually.”

The taller, muscular one reached over and gave the short one a little smack on the arm. “I don’t think the Captain appreciates you calling her a moron, Gabi,” she scolded.

Leo’s overall expression didn’t change, but Illiana didn’t miss the exasperation briefly flashing through her eyes.

Leo, to Euna and Gabi: i have total faith in you guys

Leo, to herself: there's like a 30% chance they both die

☆ TAGLISTS. let me know if you want to be added/removed to any of them.

general taglist:

@nicola-writes @dgwriteblr @the-orangeauthor @retrogayyde @quilloftheclouds @ashen-crest @writeblrfantasy @celestepens @stardustspiral @pepperdee @extra-magichours @avi-why @lefttigerobservation @chazzawrites @bardolatrycore @innocentlymacabre

andromeda taglist:

@bebewrites @nicola-writes @dgwriteblr @the-orangeauthor @retrogayyde @akindofmagictoo @quilloftheclouds @nora-theteawriter @ashen-crest @corpsepng @writeblrfantasy @chaylattes @toboldlywrite @celestepens @stardustspiral @pepperdee @cheerfulmelancholies @extra-magichours @writeouswriter @cilly-the-writer @lefttigerobservation @rose-bookblood @drowsy-quill @chazzawrites @cynic-and-chief @enchanted-lightning-aes @aesa

gemini heist taglist:

@florraisons @akindofmagictoo @cream-and-tea @nicola-writes @memento-morri-writes @antique-symbolism @rose-bookblood @afoolandathief @pepperdee @avi-why @zonnemaagd @chazzawrites @analogued @enchanted-lightning-aes @innocentlymacabre @kahvilahuhut @celestepens @cilly-the-writer

[wordsnstuff]

Guide to Drafting

Patreon || Ko-Fi || Masterlist || Work In Progress

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Planning v. Discovery

The first thing you must decide when you embark on the journey of drafting a story is how you’re going to get it done. Typically, there are two groups you can fit into, though most writers are somewhere in between. There are writers who plan meticulously before they begin writing to create a very clean first draft, or there are discovery writers (otherwise known as “pantsers”) who find more success in choosing a premise and then using a zero draft to explore the idea before gluing down any details. You are most likely someone who falls between those two methods. Some initial planning to feel familiar with your idea before you do some of the planning through the writing itself. Having some semblance of a method will help you narrow down your own process, which is immensely important if you want to get any substantial project near completion.

Consistency

Drafting is a difficult process because it’s either the revisitation of ideas you’ve already had, or the generations of ideas in quick succession. If you want to have a draft in a reasonable amount of time, you must develop a consistency in your writing. I won’t say that it must be a strict routine because time management can be a luxury, but you must make the consistent effort to write, and keep it in the forefront of your mind. Even if you don’t write every day, it should be something you try to make time for every day.

Know What You’re Trying to Accomplish

To get a draft done, you need to set expectations for yourself and they must be realistic. That doesn’t mean they have to be easy, or an amount of work you’ve been able to accomplish in the past. Considering how much time you dedicate to writing and your skillset, it should be a goal within reality. In addition, you must accept that you cannot create a masterpiece in one draft. For each version of your story that you write, you must have a focused goal, such as maintaining consistent characterization, making the plot concise and engaging, or making the prose more fluid and efficient. If you have a specific and attainable goal that you can accomplish in a reasonable amount of time with a fair amount of precision, each draft will be better than the last.  

Designate Work to Phases

As mentioned in the last section, it maximizes your time and effort to have specific and attainable goals for each draft. This doesn’t mean that you rewrite the draft each time (though that is very common amongst writers), but that you designate tasks to draft versions. I find it very helpful in clearing my mind and soothing my perfectionist anxiety to make a “schedule”, outlining what I’ll accomplish in each version following the zero draft. For example, my draft schedules usually end up something like this:

Zero Draft: Main plot line, basic characterization, key world building

First Draft: Finalize Timeline, research for world building, structure

Second Draft: (Rewrite) Plot Development Fine Tuning

Subplot development

Foreshadowing

Build up to climaxes

Tone & Pace

Third Draft: (Intermittent Rewrites) Character Development Fine Tuning

Backstory

Subtextual Development

Making sure motivations are clear

Relationships between characters

Reinforcing character arcs

Checking dialogue

Fourth Draft: (Give to Beta Readers) World Building & Prose

Descriptions & Flow

Finalize settings

Checking grammar & punctuation

Reader Immersion

Fifth Draft: Incorporate Beta Reader Feedback

Write for Yourself First

In what some call the “zero-draft”, there are no rules. This draft is purely for your eyes. It’s you telling yourself the story for the first time. So, you don’t have to write in chronological order, or know the right word you’re looking for, or take a break every time you run into a problem. The purpose of the zero draft is to get a rough idea of as much of the story as you can and avoid getting snagged on minor details. This part is important. A lot of writers like to outline meticulously before they begin drafting and if that works for you, that’s great, but the majority of writers who attempt that get stuck in the planning phase, or burnt out on their story before a word of it exists. The easiest way to avoid those two situations is to do a zero draft, which can be as long or short as you want if it provides a skeleton for you to add meat to later.

Common Struggles

~ How do you estimate the number of words/chapters?... That depends on the genre, mostly. However, that’s usually something you decide in the second draft and beyond, and it can vary because of factors you haven’t got locked down until the plot and character arcs are firm or final. This is also something you’ll probably do a lot of tinkering with, and receive feedback on, especially from beta-readers, who can advise you on where natural breaks could occur from their perspective.

~ Why, after planning everything out, do I always struggle to write the draft?... 99% of the time, it’s because you’ve either burned yourself out, or accumulated too much pressure. When you put that much effort and time into a story, you can either slip into a headspace where you feel little excitement about it because you’ve already done all of the problem solving and had all of the revelations. It’s usually beneficial at this stage to take a step back (even if you’re not burnt out) and give your story some space, so that once you come back to it, you’re enthusiastic enough to fully realize your vision. If instead you’re struggling to write because you feel a lot of pressure to do justice for a story you’ve put so much love into already, take a step back, remember that the first draft is just for you, and work on letting go of the idea that the zero draft is meant to serve any purpose beside simply existing. 

~ How do I come up with the necessary scenes to move the story forward between major plot points?... Most writing problems can be solved by asking yourself the right questions. When you’re trying to figure out what your reader needs to see next in order to effectively set up the next major event, ask yourself “What would happen between event A and event B that would add context or make event B more impactful?”. Treat it like a real situation and try to map out all of the tiny, notable moments that would take place between the major plot points, and then assess those moments on the basis of how impactful they would be to the coming scenes, and whether they can add context, set the tone, or aide in the rising action.

~ How do I balance sticking to the draft and following my own creative instinct in the moment?... This is a judgement call. Sometimes you’ll realize that maybe you should have just stuck to the outline, but remember that you can always go back, rewrite, test things out, etc. Always save every version of every scene, just in case, and go wild. Don’t be afraid to take detours just to explore. The writing process is anything but linear. 

~ How do I maintain momentum in my writing progress when I constantly have distractions or other responsibilities that take priority?... Work at it. There’s no magic trick or piece of advice I could say that gets rid of your personal responsibilities. Write when you can, don’t make excuses on top of the reasons you have no control over, and remember that you create your own deadlines and expectations. Be kind to yourself, do what you can, and don’t spend potential writing time punishing yourself because there isn’t as much as you’d like. 

~ How should I designate space (words/pages) to specific scenes/description/conversations, etc?... Trust your instinct and remember you can always cut/add later. In the earlier drafts, I’d advise you try to create as much material as possible to work with, and in the later drafts, be ruthless when determining what is necessary and adds value, and what doesn’t.

~ How do I finish a draft if I regularly lose motivation or interest in my projects?... Accept the fact that motivation is fickle, and that no writer in history has ever maintained “inspiration” for any project from the beginning to the end. There are going to be days where you’re like “ugh this is not what I want to do right now”, probably more than there are days where you’re stoked to work on your project, but that’s reality. If your goal is to finish a draft, you must recognize that writing is work, and nobody wants to work all the time. Try to supplement the lack of motivation by setting a positive and enjoyable routine so that, even when you’re not particularly motivated, you still know that your writing time will be peaceful and comfortable. 

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Masterlist | WIP Blog

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[nanowrimo]

5 Tips for Fast Drafting from a New York Times Bestselling Author

NaNoWriMo is basically an exercise in fast drafting: getting as much of the first draft of the story as you can on the page as quickly as possible. Today, bestselling author J. Elle is here to share some pro tips for fast drafting: My first middle grade novel took me nine days to write. 

The first draft was about 40,000 words or so. And yes, it needed to be revised before it sold to a publisher. But the meat of the story was on the page in just over a week’s time. I’d never drafted anything quite that fast before. Within a single month I’d written an entire novel, revised it a couple times and readied it for sale. A few months later that novel sold at auction and will be on shelves May 2022. 

I still look back on this feat with a bit of shock and awe. To date I’ve sold five novels to major publishers, two young adult, two middle grade and one non fiction and my experience fast drafting has forever altered the way I approach writing. I should mention, fast drafting isn’t for everyone. Writing is such a personal thing and each storyteller has their own process, but in the event getting the first draft out is the biggest hurdle for you, like it is for me, I’m going to share five tips for knocking out that first draft in record time. 

1. Start with a SHORT story pitch.

Pitching a story in a few words is tough. But it’s a worthy effort and the best use of your time before you get any words on the page. Why? Because it helps you hone in on the core of your story and its hook. A good short pitch involves the character, their dilemma, and a hint of the stakes. In October of 2018 I pitched my YA debut novel in a tweet which then blew up. Not many words can fit in a tweet, but by choosing the right set of words, I was able to convey the heart of my story and it really resonated. (From that tweet, I signed with a literary agent and sold my debut novel to a Big 5 publisher in a six-figure-deal.) The biggest favor you can do for yourself is understand the story—its essence, its core—you’re trying to tell before you start drafting. And that’s hard. But the more you play around with creating a short pitch, you��ll begin to see a clear snapshot of what your book is going to be about. That’s your jumping off point. 

2. Expand your pitch into tent pole beats.

From your short pitch, spend some time deciding on what your major beats are. Now, yes this is a bit like outlining. And for you pantsers out there, I empathize with you. I was a pantser and still am in many ways. But I still do this step because this step ultimately saves me time. The beauty of fast drafting is that you know what you need to do when you sit down to type. So a lot of these steps are about doing pre-work so that when you sit down to type you’re not spinning your wheels to figure out what to type. Instead you’ll have a clear goal and you’ll be ready to execute it. Also, note that the goal isn’t to perfect each of these steps, but instead to try to do each step, to the best of your ability, and in a way that makes sense. 

I could write an entire piece on beat sheeting novels (which I love and do for all my books), but for the purposes here, I’ve organized the main things you want to know below in a series of questions. Simply answer each, make a chart if you like that sort of thing, and once you have each question filled out in a way that logically makes sense, move on to the next step. (NOTE: It’s a good idea to get feedback on this step if you have critique partners and fellow writers you trust.)  

Opening Scene - Who is the character before the world changes?

Inciting Incident - What happens that forces them to make a choice, changing their lives forever? What are they choosing between? 

“A” Plot - What is that choice they make? What are they pursuing or working toward? Finding information? Going on a quest? Uncovering the truth behind a murder?

Stakes - What are the stakes of the “A” plot? What’s at risk if they fail to accomplish whatever they’re pursuing? It should be something that personally affects them or someone / something they care about. 

“B” Plot / Character - Who or what is the theme of the story? What character in your story is going to embody that theme and play a key role in helping the main character change?

Midpoint - what happens in the middle of the book to change the character’s direction. Usually it’s some bit of new information or they realize things are not as they seem. 

Stakes Raise - How do the stakes (what’s at risk if they fail) raise after the middle of the book? 

Character Arc - what does your character believe about the world in the beginning of the book that by the book’s end they will no longer believe? (An extension of this question is: what things can happen in this character’s life to facilitate them incrementally learning this big truth? If you don’t know this question right off, that’s okay. But this is a question you want to go back to every now and again, even after you finish the first draft, to ensure your character is actively involved in a plot that is resulting in their change.)

Failure - How will your character fail big? This happens at about the 75% point of the book and it's the final moment of failure, usually, before they pick themselves up off the ground (figuratively or literally) and learn the lesson they’ve needed to learn. There forward they act on their new belief to the end of the book, demonstrating how they’re changed. 

If you’d like a more in depth look at how to beat sheet a novel, I strongly suggest reading Jessica Brody’s Save The Cat Writes A Novel. 

3. Flesh out your beats into a detailed synopsis. 

Now the fun part! This step is the most helpful thing you can do to enable yourself to fast draft. 

Write a mini version of your story, also known as a detailed synopsis. The key to writing synopses is not to worry about the voice, but instead what happens. Try to convey what happens and its impact on the character to show how the story moves from tent pole moment to tent pole moment (per the step above). This takes some trial and error and you may get annoyed with yourself because it’s not as easy as it seems. But, I’ve seen that if you can write a compelling and cohesive synopsis, the draft that you execute will be far stronger and more efficiently executed. 

Definitely get beta feedback on your synopsis from writing friends you trust. It’s worth going over this a few times to get it right. In terms of length, aim for 3-4 pages for a middle grade novel and 5-10 pages for a young adult or adult novel. These are just general guidelines. My latest YA novel required a fifteen page synopsis and I am very glad I did it because it conveys the tone, arc, and plot of the novel and the main plot threads quite well, which allowed me to draft the first 23,000 words of the story in five days. 

4. Summarize each scene. 

(Note: a chapter can have more than one scene.)

Okay, we’re getting really close to writing! Now that you have a mini version of your story, consider how you will break it up into scenes. This doesn't need to be perfect, but spend some time figuring how to stretch your synopsis into a full novel. Give each scene a short summary. Aim for a few sentences, no more than a paragraph, just so you know what needs to happen in that scene (or scenes). Do not skip this step. I repeat, do not skip this step. This step allows you to sit down and execute the scene without figuring out what to write. The “figuring out” part is where a lot of writers slow down. Do that in the summaries so when it’s time to draft you are ready to execute, not sort out details. 

5. Write with a goal in mind.

Plan your writing days. I’m not talking anything extensive here. Just grab your phone calendar or a post-it note and write down which days you want to do which scenes. Then on writing day re-read that summary and execute it. If you’ve done all the pre-work the words will fly from your fingers. Don’t worry about grammar, typos, reading back what you did. Insert fillers such as, “TITLE” or “NAME” for details you haven’t worked out yet. Just get the scene that you’ve summarized out. The goal is to finish the draft. After that is when you make sure it all works together through revisions and fill in the details. Right now the goal is finishing the draft. It literally just needs to exist! 

If you’ve done all five steps, pat yourself on the back because congrats, you’re ready to fast draft! Don’t hesitate to tag me on socials if you try this method out and it works for you. I’d love to hear how it goes!

J.Elle is the New York Times bestselling author of Wings of Ebony. Elle has a Bachelor’s of journalism and an MA in educational administration and human development.  She grew up in Texas, but has lived all over, from coast to coast which she credits as inspiration for her writing. These days the former educator can be found mentoring aspiring authors, binging reality TV, loving on her three littles, or cooking up something true to her Louisiana roots.

Website: WingsOfEbony.com

Twitter: @AuthorJ_Elle

Instagram: @AuthorJ.Elle

TikTok: @authorjelle

[a-d--a-s-t-r-a]

Until2022′s Guide to Catching Up When You’re Drastically Behind in Study:

I. Assess the damage

The first step in the plan is to confront how bad the situation is and then make some calls about what you can realistically achieve in the time you have left. 

List everything you have to do, down to exact detail - don’t write ‘catch up on readings for Virology’, but instead note down every chapter. This will make it a lot easier to gauge how much time and energy you need for each assignment or exam, and will help to motivate you as you work through. 

Use an Eisenhower matrix to sort these tasks:

Important and Urgent: Any and all compulsory assignments, exams, tests, etc. 

Important but Not Urgent: Lectures for upcoming exams, compulsory readings or labs, etc.

Urgent but Not Important: Additional homework or tasks that are due soon but aren’t worth much, like logbooks or small quizzes

Not Important and Not Urgent: Additional readings, nice lecture notes, and other ‘good-to-haves’

Now cross out everything that you can afford not to do. That’s going to be everything in your ‘Not Important and Not Urgent’ zone, and probably all of the things in your ‘Urgent but Not Important’ zone. I know that it’s annoying not to get everything done, or to sacrifice the 5% that you could have gotten, but unless you can do it in 10 minutes and it’s really worth it you simply don’t have the time to spare here. 

Having said that, if a class has lots of small assignments due, don’t overlook them because they’re not worth much on their own - make sure you take a look at the overall percentage left to go in that subject. If you can dedicate a whole day to just that subject and smash through all those assignments in one, you’re crossing a lot of work off your list. For example, I have weekly quizzes and 2% labs in my Pathology course - if I’m behind, I’ll dedicate a whole day and do all of those assessments. That’s 20% out of the way and a big leap towards catching up. 

II. Tackle the low-hanging fruit

Seeing the product of countless days of procrastination is probably pretty daunting right now. I could offer you platitudes here but it’s a lot easier for you to actually take some action and feel better about it yourself, so:

Do everything that will take you less than 10 minutes to complete. Reply to those emails, the messages in the assignment group chat, upload your peer assessment, do all the little things you need to do for someone else. That should cross out a big chunk of things from your list, and you’ll be left with the important stuff like finishing assignments and studying for exams. 

If you’re panicking (seeing the huge list of stuff which you have to finish in an impossibly short time will often do this!) then try an easy square breathing exercise. Breathe in for a count of 4, hold for a count of 4, exhale for a count of 4, hold for a count of 4, repeat. Splashing cold water on your face is helpful too, as is having a glass of water. Do not use this time to procrastinate! It might sound like a good idea to relax by watching Youtube or Netflix, scrolling through Instagram or playing a video game, but you’re going to be sucked back into the procrastination game that got you here in the first place. 

III. Create your plan of attack 

You’ve left it too late to be regularly revising, so our plan of attack is basically going to be: cram every subject consecutively. This is the best way to get everything done when you’re pressed for time like this - don’t switch tasks or subjects. Interleaving subjects is great when you’re on schedule, but right now you don’t want to spend quarter of an hour getting into the groove of a certain subject and then switching before an hour has passed. 

University is just one assignment after another, no breathing space in between, especially towards the end of the semester. All you need to do is work out what’s due first and what’s worth most, order everything according to those criteria and then focus on the first assessment until you’re done. Once the assignment is handed in or you’ve sat the exam, then you can move onto the next task.

If you have two different assignments due for different classes on the same day, plan ahead so you can dedicate a full day to each subject instead of working on both at the same time. 

Plan out every single day - make sure you’re scheduling in time to eat, shower, sleep, and take breaks as well as to study. Be specific when planning your time out each day as to what tasks you’re hoping to achieve - don’t allocate too much time to any single lecture, but at the same time, be realistic about how much you can cover in one hour. 

Choose wisely based on what you do or don’t know. There isn’t much point in spending this precious time revising the things you already know you’re good at, so suck it up and schedule in the hard stuff first up, but be prepared to move on if you can’t get it down. You’re far better off going into the exam knowing 10 things badly, than 1 thing really well, so focus on the basics and if you have time to learn the more complex details then go back and do that later. 

You also need to be flexible and prepared to adjust - sometimes an assignment will take longer than expected or a day just won’t be as productive as you thought it might be. Don’t panic, just re-plan and shift things around so you keep moving in the right direction. 

IV. Grind it out 

Now that you have a clear idea of what you need to achieve and when, it’s time to get it done.  

For once, you shouldn’t need to worry about simple procrastination. You’re  probably already panicking, so turn that anxiety into motivation which will fuel you and let you focus for long time periods. Fear can be a great driver - when the threat of the exam is looming over you, it’s amazing how well you can knuckle down, assuming you don’t want to fail. 

Pack a bag with everything you need - your laptop or tablet, your charger, headphones, a water bottle and a travel mug, snacks and meals for the day, and anything else you like to have with you when you’re studying. Then take yourself to the library, the local coffee shop, the office - wherever you like to study, but don’t sit at home. There’s too many opportunities for distraction and you cannot afford that right now. Being in an environment where other people are working will motivate you to do the same. 

If you’re working on an assignment, the best way to get things done quickly is to let go of any preconceptions of doing a great job, or having a perfect draft, and instead just focusing on having a draft. Bash out the worst draft you’ve ever written, fill it with run-on sentences and spelling mistakes. But make sure you finish a draft. Then all you have to do is edit it, and it’s a lot quicker to do it this way than it is getting bogged down in the details before you’ve even begun. 

When you’re studying for exams, the number one way to learn is through active recall. There is no point in wasting time writing out a full set of notes if you’re two days out from the test. Even if you feel like you don’t know a single thing, start off straight away by testing yourself - do past exams, drill flashcards, try and write outlines or mind maps and then check your notes or textbooks and fill in what you’ve missed. If you don’t know the answer or you get it wrong, look it up and try to understand it, and then test yourself again in twenty minutes. 

It’s important to strike a balance here: don’t overextend yourself, but don’t continually take breaks. If you think you need a break, you probably don’t. Take two minutes to stretch your legs and drink some water, but do not pick up your phone. If you’re starting to feel mentally fatigued, especially after a few hours, it can be helpful to switch locations - go outside and study on a park bench, or shift to the dining hall. Sometimes the change of scenery is all you need to feel refreshed. 

V. Rinse and repeat

This is your life now. Make sure you stick to a regular sleep schedule - aim for at least six hours a night - because otherwise your fatigue levels will seriously impact your memory, retention and critical thinking abilities. It’s not worth the few extra hours you might get in, and you probably won’t be productive anyway. 

Remember that the advice I’ve given you here is based on what I do when I am severely behind, not how I study on a daily basis when I’m on top of everything. These tips aren’t all great for long-term learning, but are the most efficient way to cram when you’re behind and under pressure. 

You’ve got this. 

[babycharmander]

Things I have learned in my 20+ years of writing fanfic

I’d been thinking about this for a while and figured I’d compile a list, in case other people find it helpful. Keep in mind that what I say here is only my own experiences and tastes and I’ve no intentions of telling you how to write your own stories. So uhhh... let’s go!

1) Different stories require different planning methods. When I was younger, I used to think that I had to use the exact same method for planning each of my stories. Strict outlines on everything! Except... that's not how writing works. Stories are like wild beasts--you can try to tame them, certainly, but as each one is an individual, it may require different methods. Or you may discover that the stories that come to you are ones you can all write in the same way!

But for me personally, I find it best to plan out stories in different ways depending on which one seems to work at the time. One story may require a strict outline, while another may need a very loose roadmap. Other times I can fly from the seat of my pants and finish a story that way, or even use things readers have brought up to help me figure out parts of my story. The point is, don't try to confine yourself to one method of planning. Do what suits your story.

2) When working on a longfic, look for ways to include other characters. This one doesn't apply to every fandom or fic situation (for example, if there's only two main characters in your fandom, or if your characters have a very very very good reason to be isolated), but it's honestly a little bit of a pet peeve of mine when it comes to other stories, though I was guilty of it too when I was younger. I remember writing fics in fandoms where you'd have a large group of characters, but... the fic would only focus on two or three of them. They seemed to exist in a bubble, where no one else outside of that bubble really reacted to what was going on, even if there was no reason why they SHOULDN'T react to this.

For example, say you're working on a longfic for a fandom where there's a group of 5-10 characters (maybe a family, a neighborhood, a team, whatever). In this fic, character A nearly dies, leaving character B devastated at their terrible state and doing everything in their power to take care of A. And then... the rest of the characters don't really do anything, or just avoid the situation for no apparent reason. Once again, it feels like the whole story is taking place in a bubble. I totally get that sometimes you want to just focus on A and B's relationship, but consider how you approach this sort of thing for a longfic. Why not look for ways to include the others?

I'm not saying that means the entire story has to focus on all of those characters if your main intention is to focus on the relationship between A and B. But look for ways to include the others in the group/team/family/neighborhood/town/whatever--show how they're reacting to the situation or what they're actively doing to help or hinder it. Even if you only show one or two scenes per character, it burst the "bubble" effect of your longfic and makes the story richer and the world fuller. Heck, you may even find that you actually enjoy writing those other characters more than you initially thought. Give it a try!

3) In longfics, have specific details in your story that you can potentially bring back later. I'm not entirely sure how to explain this one, but... give your story specific details. Stuff like characters briefly talking about an event from the past, or a character having an item in their possession, or a character happening to know another, or just... anything. Obviously don't fill your stories with unnecessary detail, but sprinkle interesting, specific things in there every so often. You don't have to linger on them or hang a bright flashing arrow next to them to tell the reader "LOOK AT THIS!!!" In fact, you don't even have to come back to them later.

So... why am I telling you to do this?

Because sometimes those specific details will surprise you.

Sometimes you'll be writing part of your story, and then get stuck, and go back and reread something... and then you'll run across one of those details, and it will be the answer to your problem. Sometimes readers will pick up on those details, and voice their own thoughts on them, which might give you an idea for a plot point to bring up later. Sometimes those details wind up being the link between two plot points that you couldn't figure out how to tie together.

Even if they don't wind up doing any of those things, they can just be something to add more life to your story, and make it more memorable for your readers.

4) If your source material has voice acting, keep videos/sound files featuring characters' voices handy. Something I've found that helps me get into a character's head and voice is to just listen to them. In video game fandoms, you're likely to find videos that consist of a character's entire library of voice lines. For show/movie/podcast fandoms, you can of course find videos or sound files in which the characters are talking. If I'm about to write a character for the first time, I'll listen to them talk for a while before I start writing them. Other times, if I'm not certain a line of dialogue sounds like something the character would say, I'll listen to some of their canon dialogue for a bit in order to "refresh" their voice in my head, and see if I can clearly hear them saying the line I wrote.

Sometimes if I'm writing quickly and don't want to stop to listen to their lines, I'll add in a phrase they usually say to the dialogue I'm currently writing--that way I can immediately hear the way they say it in my head, and that will carry to the rest of the dialogue. 

In general, it's just a useful thing for making sure you're getting a character's voice right. (Plus, listening to the dialogue is fun just by itself!)

5) Before posting a longfic, make ABSOLUTELY sure you want to finish it. So, I've written... a lot of longfics. And as a kid, I had a problem where I would get this FANTASTIC IDEA for a longfic, and I would immediately start writing, and immediately start posting, because feedback! Excitement! Gratification! ... and then a few days later I would lose interest and move on to something else. Oops.

When I was in my late teens/early twenties, I decided that sort of behavior wouldn't do, so for a while I would not start posting fics until the entire rough draft of them was complete, and then I would post one chapter a week. And while that worked for a while, it, uh... could only last for so long, because my stories kept getting longer and longer and man you can only go so long writing on your own without really, really wanting some of that sweet sweet feedback.

So... I figured out a compromise.

I would start my longfics. Maybe write out the first few chapters, or write out the notes, however I decided to do it. For some, I would determine that the longfic would be "short" enough that I could finish it before any excitement I had for it burned out. For all the others, I would continue to write them without posting for a while, seeing how long they kept my interest, and maybe show them to some friends. If I started to get really invested in it, then I would (attempt to) create a buffer of chapters, and start posting on a schedule. That schedule... did not always last, but by that point I was usually able to determine that yes, I absolutely did want to see this fic through to the end. Otherwise, the WIP would stay unfinished and unposted until the end of time.

Naturally most of my finished longfics are the epitome of self-indulgence, but hey, that's what fic is for, isn't it?

Speaking of...

6) Always remember that writing fic is FOR FUN. My previous point there? Completely disregard it if you are not having fun writing a story anymore. I've had fic series I started out with full plans to complete them, but after a few years, I lost steam, moved onto different fandoms, and really could not go back. But... that's okay. This is for fun. If I'm not having fun anymore, why should I push myself to keep writing?

Not to say that you should quit writing at the first sign of trouble! Wracking your mind trying to figure out the next part of the story isn't the same thing as losing all enjoyment writing it (unless it is). Usually once you figure out what to write next, you feel that much happier, and can keep going.

Regardless, never lose sight of what you're doing. Writing fanfiction is a hobby, and hobbies should be fun. If you're not having fun, move onto something else. Your readers may whine, but they'll get over it. Sometimes even the feedback isn't enough to keep you going, and that's okay. This is not your job (unless you're actually getting paid for it). This is a hobby. Write what you enjoy.

Well... that's all I've got for now. I may add more stuff to this list later as I remember other things. But there you have it! 

Again, you absolutely don't have to take any of my advice if you don't want to. There's no single right way to write a fanfic! Do what works for you. If you find this stuff helpful, I'm glad. If not, that's okay! Either way, good luck with wherever your pen or keyboard leads you, and have fun writing!

[twdsunshine]

Hiiii 🖤 I hope you don't mind me asking (I'm not trying to be pushy or anything, just curious), do you have a plan for like, what's posting when or what order you're going to be working on things? Just wondering what's coming up that I need to watch out for 😂😂 I hope that's not rude to ask.

Heyyy, sweet Anon! Not rude at all, I promise 🖤 And, yes, I do have a rough plan of when I'm gonna be working on things, so I'll give you a quick run through it if that helps.

So, Blood & Magicks is obviously ongoing. I'm halfway through writing chapter 21 at the moment, so I'm well ahead, and just kinda dipping in and out of it as I get flashes of inspiration. It's such a long project that it's currently scheduled to finish on 7th May next year which is a little insane, so that will just keep posting on Sundays for the foreseeable future.

I've been working on Broken, which I have now decided will run to 12 parts instead of 10 because I have no self-control and it keeps getting away from me. I've just finished writing part 8 of that, so I have 4 parts left to go, and I'm pretty determined to get that finished over the next week or so. That series will wrap up on 18th April.

I then have 6 drabble requests waiting: 5 Daryl x Reader; 1 Rick x OFC. I'll probably crack on with those as soon I've finished writing Broken cos I don't like feeling like people are waiting on me. Luckily, they never take too long as they can be as long or short as I like really, and they don't require much of a plot or anything. Those will just be posted as I get them done.

After that, I have two main projects I want to start on - I'm currently not sure which I want to work on first. Whichever I choose will begin posting on 25th April, most likely.

- One is the third and final mini-series in my Prison AU trilogy (following on from In Dark Corners and Wide Open Spaces). It will be called The World At Our Feet. It's been years since I wrote about Lexi and Daryl, so I'm hoping people still care enough to want to know how their story ends.

- The other is a Negan mini-series called Little Miss, which will be based on the song Little Miss by Sugarland. I haven't really done much for Negan since I've reopened this blog, and I feel like there are a lot of followers here mainly for Negan content, but I'm just finding it a little hard to write him at the moment. I'm currently doing a series rewatch, so I'm hoping when I get to Season 7 I'll find my way with him again.

There's also a Supernatural mini-series idea that I've started to write called Along For The Ride, but that's taken a back seat at the moment cos I need to rewatch a couple of episodes before I feel confident to press on with it. So, that will be coming at some point, but I'm not sure when just yet.

Aaaaand I'll be working on one-shots as and when too. I finished one earlier this week called Choices, a Daryl x Reader which will be posting on 9th March. I have another Daryl one in the works called Ghost Of You which may well be the next one I finish so will post towards the end of March. Any others will depend on what sort of inspiration strikes or possibly new episodes from season 11 because I am loving that so far.

I mean, honestly, I have a document called Fic Ideas which has 9 ideas for series and/or mini-series outlined right now. One of them is an AU which I'm particularly excited about, but I think it may be a little out there for some people. Then I have 3 other WIPs outlined in more detail, or even started, that have been sitting in my drafts for a while or have been inspired by drabbles that I want to build into full stories.

So, yeah. That got a little long, but I am always so, so happy and excited to talk about what I'm working on and what's coming up. If anyone ever wants more info about my WIPs, just holler, cos it gives me so much motivation 😊 Thank you so much for asking!!

[gimblegamble]

You guys wanna see a project I've poured a lot into but abandoned because it got way too complicated and burnt me out really badly?

Take a peek into the Hermitland series!

It was supposed to be a Alice in Wonderland/Are You Alice? inspired, choose your own adventure type thing!

...

Yep, those are all words.

The main thing I was excited to try was the choose your own adventure bit. The plan was, I'd post the first chapter (a more introductory thing) then present choices by the end with maybe a link to a poll of somesort? Then give myself 5 days to write the next chapter.

If you've seen my current post "schedule" you'd kinda know one of the larger reasons I burnt out of the whole planning stage (• ▽ •;)

Oh! and you might ask what the choose your own adventure type deal was about, long story short, it was supposed to determine the story progression and the main ship (≧▽≦)

While all this was going on, I was also testing this story app so there are a bit more details on it than usual, I have a characters list and diagrams, and a story outline.

Basic plot time! So our main character would be Mumbo (because I'm me) living his life until he gets invited by a pesky bir rabbit into wonderland (which is either an alternate world or straight up just underground, I'm still torn about it lol). There would be 5 bachelors (mainly anyway who knows where the tides would've brought us) and the very first choice would be to: go to area A, area B, or to turn around.

The two areas would lead to a meeting with a hermit (a possible ship candidate more likely) but the last one would literally end the whole thing (≧▽≦). So it had the possibility to run for ten plus chapters or two (the turn around choice also had a ship in it though so no worries lol).

This is the farthest I've gotten character-wise. I ended up using AIW characters as titles for hermits (also why I cited Are you Alice? as an inspiration) and it did feel more like a mob story now that I'm thinking about it. 🤔

Now ship wise, these were how their dynamics were supposed to go. Just... don't mind the... everything since I never really thought It'd see the light of day

As for why I'm sharing this... even I'm not sure why ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Despite the burnout, I really did like the concept. I was looking forward to building the world with input from people reading, developing the story, the ships, heck I don't even know how long it would run or how it would end.

But ah, maybe it was too big of a project, a little too intimidating, a bit aimless? I did have a draft of the first chapter that I never could finish.