#also yes my drafts are written in comic sans don't come for me

[sagechan]

i’ve never written any fanfic for Star Wars before (which is wild considering it’s like. one of my longest running obsessions) but ever since finishing Rebels i have been itching to write for it, and @tobytost​ was saying something the other day about Ezra coming back wrong, like juuust a little fucked up, and I gotta say, I really really like that idea. so idk my current draft is like 1300 words that I’ve just vommed all over the page, maybe I’ll figure out a nice cohesive little “Ezra comes back wrong! Really really wrong!” story for yall lol

[ghoulphile]

I absolutely love ur fics!! And I want to write fics of my own soon (not for fallout yet..) can u give me any advice/tips? How do u try to write down the characters as accurate as possible?

Aww thank you so much!!

That's awesome, I'm glad you're getting into writing ❤️

I'm more than happy to talk about what works for me; however, no two writers are alike so some things might resonate and some might not.

Take what does, and leave what doesn't.

Read - a lot. Published works, fanfic, poetry, novellas, series, oneshots, longfic; read it all. Explore different genres and storylines. Find what you like about them, and what you dislike. What makes them good or bad in your opinion. Play around with what you'd do differently if it was your story. All of this will help you figure out a few things: one being what you personally like in storytelling, and two the basic structure of storytelling/what makes it compelling.

Find your voice. We all have a unique tone when telling a story, verbally or otherwise. Figuring out what your personal voice is will help you write authentically but also I can guarantee you're going to be 10,000x more happy with what you come up with.

Showing vs telling is a delicate balance. Sometimes things need to be written out plainly, and other times it works better if you add more meat to the sentence. An example would be: she's angry vs her heart rate pulsed in her temples, her fists shaking at her sides as a wave of heat rolled through her body. While they both convey the same thing, one can be more engaging to read over another.

Sometimes you have to write the boring bits - and write them plainly - to further the plot.

Most people are not a walking thesaurus, and using big fancy words like you're writing a dissertation can be very off putting. Absolutely use stronger words if you can, but you don't need to be using furfuraceous to replace scaly.

Additionally, forward momentum: one action should always lead into another which leads into another and so on.

A first draft is never pretty (if you decide to do multiple drafts) and that's okay.

If you get stuck, go back several sentences. Sometimes we write ourselves into a corner without realizing. OR add what you want in brackets and move on if you're getting hung up on certain parts. An example being something like: He was [find word for mix of angry and sad] but had to stiffen his upper lip and move about his day as if [insert phrase mentioning what happened earlier]. Worse case, put it down for a day or so and come back to it later with fresh eyes.

As mad as it makes me, and as hilarious as it is... writing in Comic Sans helps. RIP.

Saying your sentence out loud can help you figure out if something is off, and saying your dialogue out loud can help determine if it's something an actual person would say.

Taking your time and being patient is the best thing you can do for your creativity otherwise you might burn yourself out.

I find music helpful so I create playlists for every fic I write that matches the vibe I'm going for. Additionally, I have pre-writing rituals that help me get into the headspace.

Yes, cryofreeze your darlings - put them somewhere safe for later. You can use those sentences for something else, they don't need to be completely deleted.

As for keeping characters... well, in character, it depends. Watching/listening to/reading whatever media they're in and paying close attention to the words they say + how they say them + if they have any specific phrases, the way they move + their actions + how they react to things helps a lot. Personally, I keep little lists of things I've noticed that I can refer to if I need them. And sometimes, you just have to suspend your disbelief a little and determine how someone might react to the particular situation you've put the character in. When it comes to that, I tend to think back on when I've been in similar situations or have felt the way they should in that scene, and use how I've reacted as a touchstone.

Write what YOU'D want to read.

And most importantly, HAVE FUN.

I hope this helped, nonnie~!!

Happy writing, you've got this 🥰

[liesmyth]

Do you have any tips/resources on writing smut? I've never really written it, but I need to include a little in a fic I'm writing rn and yours is very good.

Anon! Thank you so much, this is Extremely flattering ❤️ Honestly, my #1 rule to Writing Smut is that actually anything can be hot if a scene is written to be arousing. It's all about the setup.

Some things that work for me:

EMOTIONS. ime, smut scenes should cause some level of emotional response in the reader. It can be the POV character experiencing strong feelings and that coming through in the narration; it can be a taboo or hard kink that’s enough to guarantee some kind of reaction; it can be an emotionally cathartic scene or character study through sex. It doesn’t have to be a lot! But there has to be Something that makes the reader invested, a takeaway that you couldn’t get from a purely objective description or looking at a picture.

FLOW. You’re either trying to make the reader horny and/or you’re trying to make them interested in what the characters are doing and feeling. Lean into that when crafting a scene! I find that varying the length of sentences in a paragraph helps (building up to a crescendo) and so does the deliberate use of terminology to set up a specific mood (more descriptive euphemisms vs. crude slang as the POV gets more overwhelmed, alternating lush prose and crass descriptors to create some contrast.)

CHARACTER-APPROPIATE VERBIAGE. This is a big one! There are NO forbidden smut words, actually. I have read super hot smut that hinged on the repeated use of some deeply unsexy terms. It’s ALL about the narrative voice. Try to construct a scene that’s immersive, with a narrative voice that suits the characters and the story, and the type of vocabulary that suits the POV and setting. Ime, anything and everything can be sexy if the mood is right. Yes, even the word “penis.” YES even funky euphemisms.

PURPOSE AND PACING. Why is the scene there? Try to strike a good balance between descriptions, feelings, and words. If the characters stop mid-sex to talk, it’d be harder to get back into a sexy mood (why I’ve been stuck on this one WIP for months. RIP) On the other hand, sometimes it’s fine to skip moments / descriptions, or even end the scene mid-sex.

(This is especially important in chaptered fics, in my experience. Sometimes there’s a long elaborate build-up to a get together and then all the emotions fizzle out during The Sex Chapter, or a plot-heavy story, and then the story slows down to fit in 3 orgasms per character. It’s fine, often better, to just stick to one orgasm, make it extra hot, and skim over the others)

WRITE DRUNK EDIT SOBER or any variant thereof. Write in comic sans and edit in times new roman. Write horny edits in public. It’s really easy to overthink smut and in my opinion, it Really helps to fully commit to a shitty first draft—no quibbling over word choices or positions; just don’t look at the screen and bang out 500 words. (Ah-ah, bang.) Write on your phone if you want! Put it away for a while then edit.

SMUT IS NOT SEX ED. Realism matters less than feelings do. I don't need to know every detail unless it's relevant to the development of the scene. Unless it’s something glaring like someone is suddenly naked or used soap as lube, no one is going to nitpick how realistic it is to hold X position for Y minutes or how many spankings a human being can endure. The scene works narratively >>> the scene can be recreated by random non-athletes having sex. It’s fic! If someone is taking it as a Guide To Sex that’s not on you.

Other resources: This is a good essay directly from 2005 era livejournal. Some posts about vocabulary: on kissing, smut thesaurus, more words! (use with caution, don't take anything as a hard rule etc.)

Also I just think I'm funny:

GOOD LUCK WRITING IT LMK HOW IT GOES

[distortedclouds]

for the fanfic writer emoji ask:

🥺⛔️🌞🦅👀⌛️🛠

i could ask about all of them really but do we have that kind of time

Hello there!!

🥺 Is there a certain type of moment or common interaction between your characters that never fails to put you in your feels?

This questions is kinda vague, bc are we talking canon moments or something I like to write... so I'll do both!

Canon-wise I'm excited to see them meet again, yeah on Annie's titan hand, but also after it's all over, because then they'd be sure they actually made it out and have each other. The relief on their faces is what I'm anticipating to kill me

Fanon-wise, I like aurani hugs. Just big warm bear hugs because even super early on in their relationship, I think those would be Annie's weakpoint and she'd always relax into them

⛔ Do you have a fic you started, but scrapped?

I answered it here previously, but if I were to think of something else... I may or may not have seriously considered (and planned to some extent) a modern AU following the plot of the k-drama: Healer. Annie would be the notorious night courier, while Armin is the aspiring journalist who eventually joins the Survey Corps newspaper (Someday News) started by renowned senior Journalist Erwin Smith, so they can expose political corruption without being silenced.

On a side note I'd 10/10 recommend it! It's only 20 episodes long and the characters are a blast!

On a second side note: why did I scrap this, it sounds so good :|

🌞 Do you have a preferred time of day to write?

Preferably as soon as I wake up, early in the morning. I had my best writing days preparing the word document while eating my breakfast. But on occasion, I'll stay up late writing or put down something real quick in the afternoon

but yeah MORNING!

🦅 Do you outline fics or fly by the seat of your pants?

To various degrees of detail, yes! I do like keeping it minimal so I don't constrict myself, but even for oneshots, I like having a bullet points outline of just the events that'll happen in 1-2 lines each. (though I very rarely do a rough first draft unless I'm desperate and resorting to the Most Dangerous Writing App)

👀 Tell me about an up and coming wip please!

I'm looking to go back to Slow and Steady with more one-shots, and here are the prompts I've already planned on using:

⌛ How long does it take you to write a fic, or a chapter?

depends! oh my god does it depend! I've thrown together 4k one-shots and smut one-shots in one afternoon, but some chapters I have to force myself to just write around 400 words every day.

so:

🛠What tools/programs/apps do you use to write?

For writing: WPS Office docs, comic sans at size 12, 0.5 line spacing between paragraphs, page color set to dark gray. (I know this sounds hyperspecific, but I can't write in any other setting)

For notes: Google Keep on my phone on dark mode with the live widget so I can write something as soon as I get an idea for it. I've written thousands of words worth of scenes for BW and other fics just on this

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Hope this was good :D