procrastinating-writing

[procrastinating-writing]

the true cycle of life

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top five tricks for avoiding having to write dialogue:

make it have no dialogue. call it stylistic

have it and blame the awkwardness on the characters. say it's just how they talk.

songfics. a great way to avoid writing dialogue. the lyrics express how they feel so you don't have to write their words yourself.

kill the characters. fucking kill them. who's gonna talk if they're all dead?

don't write. stare at your empty word doc and cry because your life has lost all meaning.

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Personally, I think it's a lot of fun to let your character change in response to negative experiences. It doesn't always have to be trauma either. Sometimes it's positive or neutral experience, and sometimes those experiences only last for a matter of seconds. But they keep processing those experiences and thinking about them, and they discover new feelings, perspectives, rationalizations, and so on.

Whenever a character gains new information or experiences, tramatic or not, there's a chance their morals, beliefs, perceptions, behaviors, minset, dreams, goals, feelings, and thought processes will change.

I often find these changes open new doors for the plot and relationships, rather than kill the story. And if the changes will disrupt your plot, and you don't want that, that's okay! Changes aren't permanent. Just give your character some time and new experiences to help them change again!

Here’s something I don’t see writers practicing enough: how big things can permanently change your character.

I see people putting their characters through war, abusive relationships, health disorders, and intense grief. Since popular writers often fail here, I hope you guys are also considering how these things will affect your character in the long run. I don’t mean “Oh, they have bad dreams now and are jerks to everyone, but only for a little while.” I mean has their entire outlook on life changed dramatically, and if so how? Does it show? Do they try to hide it and move on, or do they accept that this is who they are now? Does it take them a long time or a short time to realize things can never again be the way they were? How does that affect them? Do they choose to keep this new personality, or do they try to change it?

Not everyone wants to acknowledge this type of development in a character because it gets in the way of their plans or disrupts plot. Also, some characters are made of stern stuff or are just flexible enough to survive with their personality intact. Yet, major events in a story should leave a noticeable impact on a character, the more personal the event generally the bigger the personality change.

Just think about it if you haven’t already, y'know?

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tiktok is such an awful app, it's almost designed to feed you misinformation and expose you to insane discourse. unlike beloved tumblr, the app that feeds me misinformation and exposes me to insane discourse

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writing tip:

if you push buttons on a keyboard, letters will appear on the screen. and with that power you can do anything

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That’s it, the Professor is truly the King of Sass

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Whumptober has got me all...

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Me writing fanfiction

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new proposition: instead of going back to using ‘lemon’ again, let’s use a different fruit this time

I’m thinking… Apple

please remember to tag all your naughty posts with ‘Apple’ from now on

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Me: learning how to play shogi, how to pick up and put down the pieces the right way, what the symbols mean, the rules, some strategies, and a bunch of terms. Taking notes and playing against a computer for hours. Almost paying for a shogi set except it took too long to ship.

Also me: Character A picked up one of his gold generals and moves it. "I was thinking..." blah blah blah. Whole conversation. No mention of shogi until I write who won. Never mention it again. Never try to play it again. Forget everything.

half the time being a writer is like

“fuck all the little details, i’m doing this for fun and i don’t owe anyone anything! hell yeah!”

and then the other half is like

“okay so this character is a thief so i’m going to do hours of research on how professional thieves operate because otherwise maybe a real thief will read this and laugh at me for not knowing how thieving works and then they’ll show it to all their thief friends and i will be the laughingstock of the thief community and that would be so embarrassing for me!!!!!!!!”

[procrastinating-writing]

some very important info re: paid accounts~

I am not a lawyer, but I can decently interpret legalese and, being as I also suffer from tl;dr syndrome and assume others may as well, I took one for the team and went through the updated TOS for the post+ accounts and highlighted (what I understand to be) the most pertinent information, which ultimately comes down to this:

You cannot monetize copyrighted works (aka charge and earn money from fanfic, fanworks, etc) and if you do decide to put your fanworks behind a paywall via Tumblr, when you are inevitably sued, Tumblr will not protect you and will not defend you and you alone, personally, will be responsible for whatever monetary damages said lawsuit results in.

If anyone is a lawyer and knows I've gotten any of this wrong, please do not hesitate to correct me/this post.

Screenshots taken from Tumblr's TOS (updated 7-21-21), Stripe's Account Agreement, and the post+ FAQs.

1. Your paid account will not be hosted by tumblr; it is routed through a 3rd party.

2. By signing up for a paid account, you're entering into an agreement with Stripe, so in addition to Tumblr's TOS, you are also bound to Stripe's TOS.

3. Stripe, like Tumblr, will not defend you or protect you against any lawsuits.

4. Furthermore, you may end up owing Stripe money (indemnify = compensate)

5. Tumblr's TOS specifically states that you can't put any content on your post+ account that violates any laws, including laws that protect intellectual property rights of others. This is super important, because Tumblr's post+ FAQ also states that you can post anything that you would regularly post on tumblr, which I'm sure many will take to mean that gifsets, fanworks, etc are fair game, since all of that stuff can be posted on tumblr now. However, the difference is, you're not making money from the fanworks you're posting or reblogging now. Once money enters the equation, the game changes.

Tumblr is making it seem like any and all content goes for post+ accounts, knowing 90% of this site is fanworks. This is not true and you'll be opening yourself up for lawsuits if you charge for fanworks.

6. Tumblr further disclaims any and all liability in any legal issues.

tl;dr: Please do not make a post+ account, bc you will be opening yourself to lawsuits and if that happens, Tumblr's response will be not our problem, you agreed to all the terms which said you couldn't do that, sorry not sorry. Please protect yourself.

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Why do you say "do not repost" your art? Unless it's paysite material I mostly ignore that line. I mean, reblogs & re-tweets technically count as a art repost so that makes "do not repost" invalid. If you don't want your art out there don't post it to the internet. Not trying to come off as mean, that's just the mindset I have. Once you posts something to the internet... it's out there.

…… hm.

when i say “do not repost” i mean, do not: 

save my art to your computer

reupload it to your own social media site, especially without credit

exploit my my art so you can become more popular/get more attention/etc

reblogging/retweeting is not the same as reposting. those actually allow the artist to keep ownership of their own art as it gets spread around. they are different things.

it’s not that i don’t want my art to be on the internet. that’s why i post it. but i don’t want OTHER people taking credit for MY art and the hard work i put into it. i have a store where i sell my art. having people repost my art to their own sites literally takes money away from me. because people don’t know that I’M the artist who drew it, then they don’t know about my store, and instead consume my art mainly through websites that repost my art for their own amusement or profit.

do you know how many japanese artists have deleted their pixiv/twitter accounts because people kept reposting their art without permission, OR credit, and have even profited from stealing their work? so much art is floating out there without an owner because the japanese artists were harassed so much due to their art constantly being reposted without any credit to them, that they had to disappear from the internet just so they could keep ownership of the rest of their art. 

do you know how many people found my art through pinterest? i’ve gotten so many messages from people saying they found my art there, and it took them anywhere from days to WEEKS to find me and my blog, because most, if not all of it was posted 1. without credit, or 2, without a link back to the original, because the pinterest user reuploaded it from their own computer. 

do you know how many people try to apply for jobs with their art, but can’t seem to claim ownership of their own portfolio because it’s been so spread out and reposted everywhere on the internet, that companies can’t be sure that the person they’re interviewing is the actual artist themself?

i don’t think you understand just how detrimental reposting is to artists. and i don’t think you understand how important it is for people to respect artists’ wishes. my art is not yours to use for your own amusement. there is a reason why most websites have a dmca report option, to take down unauthorized use of their art. even the law recognizes it as a personal right.

i do want my art to be shown to the world, but under my own terms. i want my wishes in regards to my art to be respected. you are not doing me any favors by reposting my art onto other sites without permission or credit. just the opposite, in fact–your hurting me personally, financially, and possibly hurting my chances of earning a job with my art. 

so in conclusion, here are the dangers of reposting:

the artists loses ownership of their art

no one knows who made it anymore, and don’t care

the artists stop making art because all that happens is their art gets reposted without a source, and so they prefer to disappear off the internet entirely. the world has now just lost an amazing artist.

people make a profit off their art, literally stealing money and potential customers from them, because no one knows where the art originated from

they lose job opportunities because the reposting and art theft is so ubiquitous, that even if they are the original artist, no one can be sure of that.

etc.

reposting is detrimental. it’s not the same thing as reblogging/retweeting, it’s something that literally harms artists in the long run. 

at the end of the day, the biggest way to prevent this from happening is by respecting the artist’s wishes with some basic human decency. that’s literally it.

i hope i’ve cleared some things up for you.

[procrastinating-writing]

the inexplicably bizarre science of writing fan fiction. just me, or can anyone else relate?

this is the dumbest thing i’ve drawn with my bare minimum art skills but i am so mad right now, and i just… had a moment of insanity during my fanfic spiral.

edit: “time to get to work”. there’s a typo because of course there is.

[procrastinating-writing]

Is it just me and my really high standards or do other people feel the same way? When I post something? If it gets lesser than a 1:10 kudos ratio (when a story is still in the early hundreds, not the thousand views kind), I file it as a bad story (and feel really shitty about it) and remove it from my page.

A lot of authors have similar thoughts, although the ratio changes based on author and fandom. I certainly have a tendency to think that way myself. 

But then I wrote a one-shot that I thought sucked. A friend convinced me to post it anyway, and the kudos went (for me) through the roof. That was when I realized that 1) I really do not know what people want/like at all and 2) my judgement of what’s “good enough” is very different from my readers’ judgement of what’s “good enough”

I’ve been trying to revise my thinking lately. Instead of focusing on how many comments/kudos I didn’t get, I try to focus on how many I did get. Each one of them represents someone wanting to tell me they liked my fic, and that’s not nothing. 

Don’t be so hard on yourself. And please don’t remove the stories from your page. The people who did kudos liked that story, and they might want to read it again someday. Your call, but I think they’d appreciate having it stick around. 

[procrastinating-writing]

70 Encouragements/Tips For The Writer:

A/N: Rules don’t exist. These are real and personal and stem from a deteriorating, exhausted Writer who is here to tell you (and herself) that you are amazing and keep going. I hope you find some encouragement within.

Your mental health comes first and foremost.

Indulge and embrace your creative writing pieces when they come (and when they don’t). Especially when they don’t.

Suffering from Writer’s Block or fluctuating hyperfixation? Me too. So is your favorite author. Welcome to the Writer’s Block Party (all my uwus if you see the pun).

Did you spend five hours on this one segment, forget the last time you ate, develop chapped lips, dry eyes, and a stiff back (time to get up and move), bang your head on the wall, laugh, cry, fidget, take your ADHD meds, deviate to watch YouTube, have an epiphany, curse in frustration and wonder why the hell you do this to yourself? Congratulations, you’re a Writer.

Embrace all the not-so-glamorous sides of writing, and accept the fact they’re going to happen time over again.

When you say “just one more line” and it’s 2:00 AM, I’ll be here to remind you to “go to sleep” (because I’m also depriving myself lol).

Actually, sleeping helps your mind feel refreshed, and it’s good for your health. If you’re struggling with a particular segment, one of the best things you can do is just put a cap on it for the time being, put in a placeholder, and get some shut eye. I know you don’t want to. But you will feel so much better and have more clarity and energy to continue when you wake. Trust me.

More often than not, those words you “just didn’t write down fast enough and now forgot” end up revealing themselves to you later in a much more profound way. Give the words time to get ready. They’re just spiffing up before coming to visit. :)

Be proud of yourself and your prose. Writing is an amazing part of who you are.

That trope has been written 1000 times before? Make it 1001.

You’ve already written this scenario? Write it again.

You’ve just written a single sentence. Now sit back for moment and think: you just wrote something brand new, never before seen. Nobody out there will ever write that sentence or formulate those thoughts the exact same way. You are a unique, mind-blowing, awe-inspiring human being.

Bask in the excitement that comes with a completed piece. Reflect on what you learned throughout and celebrate the little victories.

Don’t be afraid to ask for feedback, but also understand that you might not always get it, and that is OK.

Please re-read your work. Be gentle with yourself. You had to write that very first piece to get to where you are now. Love the process.

Your personal writing success is not based off of kudos or likes or reblogs.

There is no right or wrong way to write.

There is no such thing as “good” writing.

Improvement is becoming of everyone so get comfy, strap in. The journey of a Writer is a lifelong one. Here’s to many more works ahead.

Don’t mourn the words you did or didn’t write. Celebrate the ones you will.

One day, you’ll read a piece that will blow you away—and it will be yours.

There is nothing “shameful” about reblogging your own writing works.

I promise you’ll find your “wow” piece—either in something you’ve already written, or something yet to come.

Baby. Please don’t write out of spite. You’re better than that.

You are just as valid/deserving as the next Writer. And you do belong.

If you feel sad/unworthy when sharing your works or interacting with others’, get to the root of why. Writing should be fun, rewarding, and relaxing. Not shameful, embarrassing, or a chore.

Writing (fanfiction, specifically) is labeled as “transformative works”. Self-explanatory, right? However, if you notice the transformative part begin to have a personal effect on you—a negative one—it’s time to take a step back.

Right now, I can name a single quality you possess: diligence. How do I know? Because you’re a Writer, and the two go hand-in-hand.

Got that single scene in your head but you haven’t completed or even began all the chapters preceding? Bruh. Jot that down right now. You don’t need 20k words beforehand.

Embrace your writing mood swings. The stray, sweet and condensed blurbie. The ideal, bridging drabble. The solid, substantial oneshot. The hefty, elaborate 10k word chapter. Appreciate everything in-between, and that you are capable of all of it.

Nobody remembers that extra word or typo or stray speech mark back all the way back in chapter 3. Tell the little monster in your head to go to hell.

You’re not a weirdo for making facial expressions and mulling through your dialogue aloud. You. Are. A. Writer.

It’s OK if the Readers can’t always see exactly what you envisioned in your head, or the full extent of the picture you painted. We all see colors differently.

Don’t be afraid to experiment with your writing.

In fact, challenge yourself to dabble into a new plot/trope/concept every day, even if only for a few minutes. You may discover you love writing it.

There’s no rush to finish/begin any written work. If you take your time, you will make your mark. You’re not falling behind or running late. Slow down and wait for it. :)

Three cheers for hiatus.

Listen to your body and mind, know your limits and when it’s time to take a break.

Actually take a break. :)

If you feel like you’re falling stagnant in creativity, looking to/revisiting other forms of creative media can help encourage the flow.

Ask for encouragement, and be at peace with asking.

Take shelter in fellow writers. Uplift each other always.

You are/will be someone’s favorite author. :)

You don’t have anything to prove. You have something to share.

Someone is thinking about your work right now.

Someone started a series because they drew inspiration from you.

Personal writing style can reflect a lot on the state of one’s mental health. Try to always be attentive to that of your own.

Self-validation must be cultivated early on or nothing will ever work.

Freestyle every once in a while. Write a snippet, timed, and go—without editing. Write the first thing that comes to mind and go from there. Do it all the way through the set time. When it stops, you’ll find yourself unable to. 3,800 words here we come. :)

Not everything needs an outline. :)

It is completely normal to write your story out of order.

Create guidelines for yourself. If they aren’t working, toss ‘em.

Word vomiting can help you feel better (it’s just how it sounds). By clearing all those jumbled thoughts and scattered concepts, you achieve a clearer objective. Try it sometime.

A rough draft is supposed to be rough.

Sometimes the words come to you quicker than others. Be patient. That is merely the construct of a Writer’s mind. You’re a beautiful enigma.

A sentence written is a story progressing.

Writing is an endurance sport. You must pace yourself and exercise it daily.

You are still a Writer even when the words aren’t on the actual page.

You’re not obligated to a writing/posting schedule.

As you progress in your journey and gain more awareness, don’t sacrifice your style. Those beginning works are what define you. Hold onto them and don’t ever let them go.

You’re the only one cringing—

Remember that sometimes words are elusive and you don’t always have control over them, and that is OK. Sometimes they write themselves. Sometimes your characters come to life and break out into dance across your page. Dance with them. You can wrangle them back when the music stops. :)

There is nothing condemning or embarrassing about asking for a beta. Allow someone to help carry the load.

Allow people to cheer you on—even if they don’t read your work.

It’s OK if your writing style isn’t someone else’s preference.

Be your biggest cheerleader. Sometimes you are all you have.

You don’t need anyone’s approval except your own.

You love that trope/concept/story you just wrote? That’s all that matters. The end.

You will never write good. You will write you. And that is good.

Above all else: remember to write for you.🤍

[procrastinating-writing]

A few other corrections for the American side

- Pantyhose/tights: Depends on who is talking. Tights are never pantyhose but some people call pantyhose tights sometimes. Usually people with a theater/dance background. But tights usually are more like leggings, ballet tights, or something in between. 

- Mobile/cellphone: We use the term mobile still. You buy a mobile phone. You’re using a mobile phone. Mobile phone service. The term is less common and, I think, it’s lost most popularity, but we do use it and you won’t seem too weird if you say it. At worst, you’ll sound old. Though, perhaps gen z and younger no longer do. 

- Spring onion/scallion: We also use the word green onion for these. Green onion can mean a slightly different plant with a slightly stronger taste but a lot of people use them interchangeably and don’t know there’s a difference. As far as cooking goes, it doesn’t really matter anyway.

- City center/downtown: We do use the term city center! It’s less common than downtown especially in cities. It’s unlikely anyone would call downtown New York “city center.” But I’ve heard it used in suburbs and small towns. It may depend one what part of the country you’re in or what the place is like. City center also seems more common when the downtown area is actually nice. If it’s trashy, it’s downtown.

- Public holiday/bank holiday: I’ve never heard anyone say public holiday tbh. We do use the terms bank holiday, government holiday, school holiday, and national holiday. Bank, government, or school holidays mean those things are closed. National holiday may close most things or nothing.

- Bill/check: I’m not 100% sure what they are referring to with the bill/check. If it means the paper you receive telling you how much you owe for a service you were provided, we say bill just as often as we say check, maybe more. If it means the small paper you write the amount of money you’d like to transfer to someone else’s account or to cash, then yes, we only say check.

- Faucet/tap: When referring to the device the water comes out of, we do say faucet most of the time. However, the water that comes out of it is still tap water. People will look at you funny if you say faucet water.

- Knapsack/rucksack: I’m honestly not sure ANYONE says either of these anymore. You see knapsack in item descriptions but people usually just call them a backpack or bag in conversation unless they are mentioning the specific type for a reason.

- Wash up/wash your hands:  We say both. Just depends on the person and possibly the area.

Granted, America is a big country with many regions that use different words. Grocery carts can be buggies or carriages or trolleys. Soda can be pop, coke, or soft drink. There’s quite a bit of variation. I can only speak for my area and areas I’ve been. 

For any of you who are writing ‘across the pond’-here is a little guide I put together of some common differences between British and American English!

[procrastinating-writing]

things that don’t belong on AO3

People out there who are new to AO3 might not realize that some of the things they are posting actually violate the Terms of Service. While these kinds of posts are great for social media sites like tumblr or Twitter, they are actually not allowed on AO3. AO3 isn’t a social media site. It’s a fanfiction archive. 

Since most people don’t read the Terms of Service for sites that they use (no shade - I’m including myself in that description), I thought I’d make a post about things that you should not post on AO3. This list is in no particular order:

requests to help find a fic

lists of prompts

requests for prompts

translations of someone else’s work, if you don’t have their permission (this includes published fiction as well as fanfic)

someone else’s work (either published or fannish)

liveblog reactions to watching episodes 

invitations to a discord server

songfics that include the full lyrics to a copyrighted song

a placeholder - no actual fic, just a work posted saying that a fic will eventually be there

class notes or homework (unless that homework is fic or fandom meta)

searches for role playing partners

rec lists

requests for recommendations

callout posts

fandom organizing (ex. let’s vote X for People’s Choice!)

requests for money 

fic planning/outlining

As new people join the site, works like these are bound to be posted to AO3. Give friends and fellow fans a heads up, and hopefully by letting people know ahead of time they can avoid posting these mistakes. 

Remember, it’s a group of volunteers who needs to deal with all of these posted works so if we can lighten the load they’re dealing with I’m sure they’d appreciate it. ❤