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What people think writing is like: careful planning and thought out plotlines

What writing is actually like: being possessed by an idea that you are constantly arguing with

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Yesterday was a bad writing day. I spent a lot of time staring at a screen. Lots of Tumblr replies. Lots of Twitter (the Netflix Sandman trailer going out didn’t help). Lots of being grumpy at myself and convinced I couldn’t do it any more. The script was a mess. I was doomed. This morning I printed out what I had to fix, picked up a pen, made a few notes and started typing. It was fun and easy and straightforward. I finished it and sent it to the people who needed to see it, and just got an amazed call from our script editor saying she was laughing while crying and couldn’t work out how I’d done everything in a day.

And I hadn’t done it all in a day. All of the being miserable yesterday was necessary for it to fly today. All of the knowing it was insoluble and awful made the work today relatively easy. I had to get out of my own way, and had to read it freshly, without being attached to anything. And then I just did the notes. And to make the thing that worked today, a lot of stuff that didn’t quite work or sort of worked had to be written too. It’s always easier to fix stuff that exists.

Anyway. Yesterday = bad writing day. Today = good writing day. I thought it was worth telling people, in case there was anyone else out there who was having a bad writing day too.

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Writing at 6pm, fed, watered, no distractions

Me at 3am

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The Enthusiast’s Guide to Birdhouse Restoration - Chapter 5

Fandom: 스타트업 | Start-up (K-drama)

Relationship: Han Ji-Pyeong/Seo Dal-mi

Chapters: 5/7

Chapter Summary: Dalmi makes a high risk, high reward decision.

Episode 16 compliant, Jidal fix-it fic.

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Read on AO3.

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some of the best writing advice I’ve ever received: always put the punch line at the end of the sentence.

it doesn’t have to be a “punch line” as in the end of a joke. It could be the part that punches you in the gut. The most exciting, juicy, shocking info goes at the end of the sentence. Two different examples that show the difference it makes:

doing it wrong:

She saw her brother’s dead body when she caught the smell of something rotting, thought it was coming from the fridge, and followed it into the kitchen.

doing it right:

Catching the smell of something rotten wafting from the kitchen—probably from the fridge, she thought—she followed the smell into the kitchen, and saw her brother’s dead body.

Periods are where you stop to process the sentence. Put the dead body at the start of the sentence and by the time you reach the end of the sentence, you’ve piled a whole kitchen and a weird fridge smell on top of it, and THEN you have to process the body, and it’s buried so much it barely has an impact. Put the dead body at the end, and it’s like an emotional exclamation point. Everything’s normal and then BAM, her brother’s dead.

This rule doesn’t just apply to sentences: structuring lists or paragraphs like this, by putting the important info at the end, increases their punch too. It’s why in tropes like Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking or Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick, the odd item out comes at the end of the list.

Subverting this rule can also be used to manipulate reader’s emotional reactions or tell them how shocking they SHOULD find a piece of information in the context of a story. For example, a more conventional sentence that follows this rule:

She opened the pantry door, looking for a jar of grape jelly, but the view of the shelves was blocked by a ghost.

Oh! There’s a ghost! That’s shocking! Probably the character in our sentence doesn’t even care about the jelly anymore because the spirit of a dead person has suddenly appeared inside her pantry, and that’s obviously a much higher priority. But, subvert the rule:

She opened the pantry door, found a ghost blocking her view of the shelves, and couldn’t see past it to where the grape jelly was supposed to be.

Because the ghost is in the middle of the sentence, it’s presented like it’s a mere shelf-blocking pest, and thus less important than the REAL goal of this sentence: the grape jelly. The ghost is diminished, and now you get the impression that the character is probably not too surprised by ghosts in her pantry. Maybe it lives there. Maybe she sees a dozen ghosts a day. In any case, it’s not a big deal. Even though both sentences convey the exact same information, they set up the reader to regard the presence of ghosts very differently in this story.

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The Enthusiast's Guide to Birdhouse Restoration - Chapter 4

Fandom: 스타트업 | Start-up (K-drama)

Relationship: Han Ji-Pyeong/Seo Dal-mi

Chapters: 4/7

Episode 16 compliant, Jidal fix-it fic.

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“I regret some things.  First.  I wrote in a letter that it was enough that you existed.  There was more going on in the letter, but it was objectively a silly thing to say to a person.  I’m sorry.”

Jipyeong half-smiled.  “I remember some poetry around that,” he said, “and you were thirteen.  But alright.”

“Second.  I am not the Dosan of the Letters.  Remember that lie, at the rooftop?"

The mood shifted instantly, from mildly playful to mildly grim.  Here goes, Dalmi.  Breathe.

Read on AO3.

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In the Mood for Love | chapter nine

🌸Summary: Jidal meet-cute/slow burn AU romance set in Boston, MA.

Han Jipyeong is a lonely and unhappy investor who willingly travels overseas to work for an undetermined amount of time. In a new city, he meets Seo Dalmi, a charming and hardworking MIT student determined to secure a better future for herself and her grandmother. Drawn to her, and the warmth he feels around her grandmother, Han Jipyeong spends more time with Dalmi.

The only problem is what he is running from back in Seoul: a chaebol fiancée by the name of Won Injae.

🌸A/N: Safe to say I’m too busy to commit to weekly updates so it’s just whenever Aaliz got time updates on this 😭 I literally remember I’m still writing this fic anytime Red Velvet’s Future comes on Spotify 🥲 happy reading! ✨🧚🏿‍♀️

🌸Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30666053/chapters/79639729

Dalmi stands outside, waiting. “You’re here,” she calls out to him.

“Hey.” Jipyeong gets out of his car. “Did you wait long?”

“No, I just stepped out a minute ago.”

“Ah. Hmm.” Jipyeong looks her over, forgetting about having wanted to say hello to Halmoni if he could. Dalmi looks gorgeous. Her hair is up in a stylish bun. As far as he can tell, the blue of her outfit looks just like that of his striped shirt.

“Wow. Your suit looks great,” Dalmi says, seeming equally impressed by his appearance. “You really dressed up a lot.”

“I hope I play the suave investor well,” Jipyeong replies, as gets the car door. “You look very nice as well.”

“I know, right?~” As Dalmi lowers into the passenger seat, she casts his hand — the one he’s outstretched so she doesn’t accidentally hit her head — a quick glance. “You always do that.”

“Do I?”

“Yeah. It’s cute.”

“It’s for your safety,” he replies, stupidly keeping a straight face. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”

He smiles the entire time he walks back to the driver’s seat. He feels optimistic during the ride, about the night ahead, inspired by the way city lights reflect in Dalmi’s eyes. She chats more than usual, seeming excited, or maybe it’s nerves; whatever the case, it makes her face him the entire drive and she competes with the road for his attention.

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Behold, A Writer

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y'know sometimes fanfiction is just an increasingly convoluted series of setups to make characters sit around and talk about their feelings, and that's ok

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How do you develop the ability to tell a good story? Is it something innate, or does it only come through years of hard work and practice? Should you remain conscious of every word you write, or is it better to just let go and allow the story to tell itself? How valuable is others’ advice? What’s the best way to handle unsolicited harsh criticism? Most importantly, what do you do if you’re a Type A perfectionist who crumbles into a state of quivering anxiety at the mere thought of producing something that isn’t Good™?

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The Enthusiast's Guide to Birdhouse Restoration - Chapter 3

Fandom: 스타트업 | Start-up (K-drama)

Relationship: Han Ji-Pyeong/Seo Dal-mi

Chapters: 3/7

Episode 16 compliant, Jidal fix-it fic.

Chapter Summary: Dalmi reacquaints herself with the art of being nosy.

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Yongsil was chirping at full, unrepentant volume.

“It's just a prototype for a reason,” Jipyeong quipped with humor.  Then amended: “Reasons.”

No need to be an investment genius to know that, Dalmi thought.

Read on AO3.

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