any advice for newbie fanfic writers or new writers in general? I always have trouble trying to "paint a picture/ describe a scene and happenings lol thanks :D
I feel like I say this every time, to the point that its like a cop-out answer, but, genuinely, you really do just gotta practice.
Its like with any type of art. You won't get better at drawing if you don't just draw. You won't get better at an instrument unless you play the instrument. I didn't really notice my writing getting "better," but looking back at the earlier chapters of Fractures and comparing them to my newer stuff, it's clear that I have.
Past that, I mean one thing I do is I read all of my stuff out loud. I try to see if the words that I've written put the right image in my head. "Painting a picture" is a hard thing to do with writing, and a lot of the time its less about the amount of words that you write and more about the way that you use a smaller amount of space.
Crack open a thesaurus. Don't use bigger, more obscure words just for the sake of using them, but find ones that might work better. At the same time, though, don't be afraid of common words. I use "said" quite a lot, even though a million English teachers will yell about how basic it is. Much of the time, though, the emotion comes from the actions the characters take outside of the dialogue tag.
There are a few things you can choose to focus on when it comes to "painting a picture" that will set an overall mood quite easily. One of the most simple and yet most effective is weather. Describing the sky, the time of day, what the sun looks like. It can add tension, or drama, or can even stand to emphasize the state the characters are in, like when its a nice day but they're going through something hard.
Everyone's going to have a different writing style, too. Sure, you can copy someone else's, but if you're just writing yourself without trying to emulate another author, you're going to have your own style.
Personally, I tend to do a lot of comparisons to describe things. I pinpoint a few details and call back to them throughout a chapter or a story. Oftentimes I like to get a lot deeper into the character's mindset and examine that for a good while before pushing the plot forward. One of my friends, on the other hand, is a lot more straightforward with her writing, sort of trying to tell it as it is. Both describe what needs to be described, just in different ways.
If you're really struggling with trying to figure out how to "paint a picture" in the reader's head, try thinking through the different aspects of the scene. Anything that you can describe. Then, pick what actually needs to be described to understand what is going on. The positions of the characters, the vague setting, things like that. You don't need to go super in depth, because the reader knows, even subconsciously, how to fill in a lot of the detail on their own. You really are just here to "set the scene."
As I said before, though, no matter what advice you take, the only true way to see solid improvement is through actively writing. It doesn't need to be stuff you publish, but I would encourage it, since feedback is an enormous help as well. Either way, though, just keep writing, and reading it back, and then writing again, and you'll see improvement, just as with any type of art.
(Also, and I mean this with my whole heart, for the love of god, Kill Your Darlings.)
(Thank you and goodnight.)
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skz + losing 3racha
(this is actually written by @keepswingin, who found out i was saving this for a nevermore oneshot and said 'not if i write it first' and kicked me out of my own house)
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The door creaks as he pushes it open, the room beyond dark and unwelcoming in a way it's never been before. Minho's not used to this - the quiet, the lack of unopened snacks sprawled throughout the room, the absence of clothes, of beanies, of half-finished verses scribbled hastily on scraps of paper or napkin or an old thank you card from a sponsor.
The room used to be alive with his memory. Now it just sits, a void of their own making, because attempting to do anything otherwise was something Minho couldn't bring himself to do. Not then, not after, and certainly not now, even if it was the company forcing him to be in here after threatening of doing it themselves. And Minho would never let them do something like this themselves. Not now, not ever, not when it was something that concerned Jisung of all people.
"Is this it?" she asks, attempting to peer over his shoulder. She's a ball of energy wrapped with anxiety, he could tell from the moment he met her, and he had hated it. Hated how it reminded him of Jisung, hated how it reminded him that the world around him would keep spinning even if his own had stopped still.
"Yes," he whispers, willing his voice to stay steady.
He takes a step inside, and can't stop his chest from hitching, the soft exhale that leaves him breathless. The bed is made, stripped of old sheets. The shelves are empty, the desk pushed into the biggest corner wiped clean and prepared with a brand new laptop sitting on top.
She brushes past him gently and comes to a stop in the middle of the room, eyes flickering across what awaits her. Her hands squeeze into fists beside her, and Minho hears her chest hitch too, but when she turns to him, there is nothing but excitement glittering in her eyes.
"Thank you," she says, even taking the time to bow. Minho can't bring himself to react, at least not when he's frozen like this, unable to form anything close to words as the odd feeling in his chest tightens more. "I'm so grateful your company is providing me with this opportunity, and that you guys are being so welcoming."
She watches him for a long moment, and if she's waiting for Minho to say something, he can't, he can't, not when he's in Jisung's room with someone else and Jisung hasn't been here in months, and the last thing Minho ever said to him was something he never should have said at all, and then he was gone, they were all gone, and Minho and the rest of them were -
"Minho-ssi?"
- left behind.
Minho blinks. He feels like he wants to scream, or cry, or not speak for a long while. "I'm sorry," he whispers, turning towards the door. "Please let us know if you need anything." He closes the door behind him just breathes a for a moment, before pressing his forehead to the wood and closing his eyes.
He can pretend that it's Jisung shuffling around inside if he closes his eyes.
o
The room is a mess of wires and cameras as he sits off to the side in a lonesome chair, allowing a crew member of the channel they're interviewing for to clip a microphone onto the collar of his shirt. The man doesn't say much as he does, and Minho doesn't really pay attention as he leaves, his mind beginning to drift as he watches someone else struggle with fixing Seungmin's shirt in front of him.
He gets lost in a mind a lot these days, and sometimes he doesn't even realize he's lost until one of the members is gently tugging his attention back to the present, a soft look here, a gentle touch there. Too nice, for someone like Minho, who is the barbed wire thrown over a fence long forgotten. Sharp edges and a sharper tounge, once upon a time. Now, he feels like something lost in the wind, far from home.
"Okay, we're ready to start!" The director announces, walking into the middle of the set and clapping his hands together. "I'd like to go over a few things before we begin."
And then he waits, eyes scanning the room, like he's looking for someone in particular. He is, because he wants the leader of the group, the one in charge of Stray Kids as a whole, and Minho doesn't realize that he's talking about him until Hyunjin is beside him and gently tugging him up from the chair.
Minho turns to him, something hot prickling in his throat. He would spit an insult, before. Now, he simply presses his lips together and allows Hyunjin to walk him over to the director with a stiff smile.
The director waits patiently as Hyunjin apologizes on Minho's behalf, and then the older man launches into what he expects from the shoot, among some other things. Minho doesn't really listen, simply nodding his head when needed.
He forgets to speak up, sometimes. When they're filming or out at an event that is mostly spoken in a different language he doesn't care about enough to learn. But he's had to learn, and he's had to lead, and none of it ever makes sense in his head because all he wants to do is lock himself in Jisung's room and never come back out.
Sometimes he even goes as far as pretending that Chan is still around, only for that cavern in his chest to grow wider when he turns and finds he was never there to begin with.
"What do you think?" the director asks, curious tone cutting through Minho's thoughts. "You know your group best."
This isn't my group, he nearly corrects, mouth forming Chan's name like second nature. But Chan isn't here, and Chan isn't the leader of Stray Kids anymore. Lee Minho is the one in charge of the five original members, and the three new ones.
("To keep the name relevant," a higher up had said to Minho as soon as he had asked about two girls joining with only one new boy, instead of keeping them as an all boy group. "Sales are down, and the media has finally stopped talking about the other three. We need to send a positive message of acceptance in these trying times.")
There's a rope cutting into his chest. He can't breathe. Hyunjin squeezes his shoulder, thumb pressing against his skin hard enough to hurt. It keeps him from crying. He's thankful he doesn't cry. He's not supposed to cry.
Chan was never supposed to leave.
"Whatever you think works best."
o
The studio is cold and bare of the energy it used to have when Changbin would be there alongside the other two, spitting curses or lyrics or swatting at whoever had decided to make fun of him in the moment. Now it's home to a revolving door of producers that Minho never likes.
Some bring lyrics that are too disconnected for singles. Others merely want to pander to the girls, offering them notes that Seungmin and Jeongin were more than capable of nailing themselves. The b-sides don't flow like they used to, and far too many of them are disjointed and heavy in rapping that's too heavy for songs meant to be light.
The chorography is the only thing that stays the same after all this time, the one thing Minho can still throw himself into without having to think. He's given Hyunjin and Felix more work to do in having to train two girls with left feet, though the new guy wasn't too bad, but they never complained.
"Good," this producer tells him, waving a hand with a small smile. "That's all your lines."
Minho wants to say something, anything. He wants to record the whole thing, strain his letters less, hit that note like how he should be able to. But the words well up in his throat, and nothing comes out.
He nods, and murmurs his thanks as he pulls the headset off.
The booth is too quiet. The producer is too quiet.
Everything is too quiet without a voice to tie all of it together.
o
He stands on the bridge and watches the boats as they pass underneath him, the wind stinging at his cheeks. Every breath fills his chest with cold air, and it keeps him here, and awake, and alive, as he watches the lights of the city blink and flicker in the distance.
Minho had brought Jisung here, years ago. They had talked for hours, standing on the edge of the universe, even if it was nothing more than the pathway of a bridge. He had smiled so much that his cheeks had hurt, and Jisung's laughter had been the sweetest thing he had ever heard. Minho had hugged him - pulled him close and buried his face in the crook of his neck, stayed there until forever was something he thought possible.
"I'll never forget you," he whispers against the next breeze, hoping it will carry his words to wherever they were, wherever Jisung was. "I don't think I ever could." An exhale that rattles his bones. "I don't want to."
He closes his eyes. Listens to the wind, and the waves, and the beat of his own heart.
Something warm wraps around him, squeezing him tight. It feels like someone he knows. He doesn't open his eyes, afraid to shatter whatever illusion his mind has created this time. And then a hitch of breath, and a small, raspy voice, whispering close to his ear.
"You don't have to."
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