#fan fic tips

[auraee]

ㅤ 𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊 𝕎𝕣𝕚𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕥𝕚𝕡𝕤 𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊

I've seen some blogs (whether it be fan fiction writers or blogs dedicated to giving tips) offer advice and resources when writing and I thought to try doing a little bit of that because why not? I'm not by any means a professional on the matter (though I'd like to be one day) but I'd like to share some of things that help me get started when I write!

🌷First, when I have an idea and I'm struggling to start it— I once had a friend tell me to thoroughly describe the scenery around me, or in this case the MC's when I first imagined the idea. I've found describing the world: whether it be a bedroom or a in forest really grounding! Having a clear picture in your mind of where you want the reader to start their journey helps fill gaps in their surroundings and makes it more immersive, if that makes sense.

🌷Second, use pictures! I feel like this one is pretty obvious (I'm not shaming those who don't, in fact I think it's awesome that you can describe things well without a reference), but I've found using a picture that more or less accurately depicts how I want the sky to look for example, a lot easier to talk about when writing!

🌷It's kind of like how artists also use references for their own art but instead of a drawing I'm writing my scenery! Also, have a colour palette present when describing colours! Shades matter! At least I've found that they do. I feel like that can bring about diffident emotions depending one which you use and what thing you're attaching that colour to! I also like using one look thesaurus: Link! To change the words I use to describe things.

So yeah, these were just the things that have helped me develop my writing so far 👉🏽👈🏽 I hope that this was somewhat helpful to you!

[lefemmerougewriter]

Some users are targeting two of my recent fics:

- You only told me lies, only phony alibies

- Love is Pain

I talked about the last one yesterday.

I feel like these must either be bots or deluded people. I will soon be changing the settings so only registered users can comment on both fics. This is the crap fan fic writers have to deal with in the "AI era." Here's what it looks like when you change the settings:

Read both of these fics and show those people wrong, here:

and here:

[pja-party]

I just wanna reply to the anon who asked for the angsty fanfic advice LOL

Usually, I start to write the outline, first. Like, what is the main cause of Mugman's stress and what was his breaking point? How would Cuphead react, then how will he try to comfort him? It's just a matter of asking yourself how you want the story to progress, and when you thought of an idea, write it down before you make it into a full, completed fanfiction.

I basically chop it down to at least 3 questions: how it happens, when it will be resolved, and how will I end it? When I get those three down in the bag, I can make it :D

-a fanfic angst writer/lover ♡

Thank you for giving us advice!

[crazywolf828]

To all my writers who have a tough time with smut terms and not knowing which ones to use, I have found the holy grail for us.

This reddit user, who I've recently found out is @kjscottwrites here on tumblr, took a poll of 3,500 people and went really in depth with asking their favorite terminology, along with actual pie charts on what the readers preferred to see in their smut.

Check out their post with the link to the Google doc here!

[3typical3]

Tip for non Hispanic ppl writing Spanglish

*I initially wrote this at 1 am so like, keep that in mind as you decipher this lol

*context is key when speaking Spanglish, if your character is in a professional setting they probably won’t speak Spanglish unless it’s to a fellow co worker who also speaks Spanglish. It’s more of a casual way a speaking yk?

Also parents, I avoid Spanglish with my parents unless we’re switching from just speaking Spanish to just speaking English. But that’s depends from family to family.

It’s typically like switching sentences and not dropping in random words.

Example “ es Que fui a la tienda, and they were out of milk”

Example “ te ves cansada, did you sleep last night?”

“La neta” is and extremely common Mexican slang term, typically means, honestly. It can also be used to mean ‘really?’

Honestly example:

“La neta, Im tired”

Or “La neta, estoy cansada. Im going to bed”

In the case it means “really?”:

ex.) “Neta?! They said that?!”

I personally say “ de que” which is basically saying “like”, it’s a filled term, before saying a sentence in either English or Spanish

example “ de que idk it won’t work”

I’m Mexican so I use “ósea” a lot in both languages. Another substitute for words like:

“I mean,” “it'd be,” ”like,” “so,” “that is,” “therefore,” and “or.”

Ex. “ ósea, it looks weird idk”

The famous “ pero like” I personally don’t use a lot but an example of how it’s used in Spanglish is “ pero like, how did it happen?”

Sometimes I Just say “ fuck” but like in my Mexican accent or in a sentence.

“ fuck, perdí mi pulsera”

When I get startled I cuss in both English and Spanish but a Spanglish example would be

*insert random startling noise

“ ala verga! That scared me” or “ hijo de tu puta madre!” when something REALLY scared the shit out of me lol

“Chingada madre, where did that come from”

Rlly insert any cuss word in there and it probably works in Spanglish.

Edit bc I thought of this the morning after

In Mexican Spanish for whatever reason the word “madre” can be used like kinda like a cuss word lol.

Example “ Me vale madres”

Which in English would translate to “I don’t value mothers” but in practice means “I don’t give a shit” or “I don’t care”.

Another Mexican deep cut is the word “pedo” which yes, means fart but we’ve really given the word so many alternative meanings like

“ no es mi pedo “ = “not my problem”

“Estoy bien pedo” = “in rlly drunk”

“Vas a la peda?” = “ are you going to the party/kickback”

There’s more but that’s like the basics lol.

Also another Mexican term is “Aguas”… which literally translates to “waters” but it’s used as a warning.

“Aguas, there’s car coming”

The most famous of Mexican slang has to be “wey” or “guey” depends on how you spell it. But it just means dude. Another term that goes in hand is, “no mames” which basically means “are you kidding me”.

*men for whatever reason hate when the girl they’re dating or are into calls them wey. I think it’s because it’s seen as either improper or as like friend zoning.

“Wey, you’re not gonna believe this”

“No mames wey, look at this”

Another term is “equis” which basically means whatever

“How was the party?”

“Estuvo equis”

Another example

“ now was she dressed?”

“Equis, nothing crazy nothing wow”

*I recommend for Mexican characters looking into the words, or you can just ask me I just don’t wanna make this longer than I already have lol, “mamar”/“mamo”/“mamon”, each you would think is the same but no, no they are not and using one in the wrong context could be catastrophic lol. They are vital words to our vocab

If you’re writing to a character from a specific country, take the time to learn some slang. Sometimes slang crosses over, sometimes even we use slang we learn from each others dialects. Personally I love “joder”/“no jodas” because of the shows from Spain.

But take the time because if you write a Colombian character using most of the slang I’ve used above, you’d get a lot of hate from Colombians lol.

Some bad Spanglish examples would be

“ why didnt you eat your comida?”

Like no. Just no. Inserting a random Spanish word doesn’t equate to Spanglish, at least not in most Latin peoples lives

“ you look cansada” also just no.

*Edit I saw someone post abt this and I felt like adding it in

If you do insert a random Spanish word or vice versa it’s because you forgot the word but that involves a lot of blanking and being annoyed you can’t dig the simplest word out of you sub conscience lol

Example: “ you look, FUCK what’s the word! You know when you’re cansada…TIRED. You look tired”

Another commenter addition I’ll be adding is using “eh” as a filler instead of “um”. I use both but even in English I default to using “eh” or “ehmmmm”

The worst is when you don’t remember the word, only to have it appear in your subconscious hours later lol

Another fav filler word is “deste” which equates to another more Central American term “vaina” but a less refined way of saying it. Essentially they mean “thing” but that thing can be anything. It’s kinda a word when you’re to lazy to say the actual word.

“Pásame el deste”

*passes them x ítem

“No I meant the remote”

*trying not to kill the person because they could’ve said remote the whole time but chose not to

Sometimes we use bad Spanglish on purpose just to be funny

“Que sad” “Que cute”

* i personally love inserting the word cute into my vocab in Spanish just cuz so to each their own

Something I do is like say something in English and immediately say the exact same thing in Spanish. Or like I’ll say an exclamation in one language then end in the other.

“ GO GO GO, VÁMONOS APÚRATE”

“Que asco, gross”

“WOW, que bueno”

Also if you’re writing like couples tbh nicknames in Spanish would be reserved for when you’re speaking in Spanish and same for English, but each couple is different so if you rlly want to leave a nickname in Spanish in go for it. If you rlly want the endearment to be “ mi amor” please remember that after like the first or second time the Spanish speaker would probably just refer to their S/O as “ amor” or switch between the two.

Which brings me to the terms “mami/mamita” and “papi/papito”. Now, while they Can and are by some used in a sexual manner, they can also be used as general terms of endearment. My mom will sometimes call me mamita or my brother papito.

Amongst couples though it’s just kinda said, I saw someone describe it was you just give motherly energy so “mami” is said lol which I get oddly enough.

Once a couple is well established or just comfortable the woman can refer to her S/O as “ viejo” which is old man lol, but it’s like cute. On the flip side idk it’s typically seen as offensive when a man calls his S/O “vieja” but that depends on culture to culture.

Again mami and papi don’t have to be sexual but can be.

Another simple thing you can do is look up nicknames for certain names.

Examples:

“Mike” pronounced “Mique” for Miguel. Some people like to use “Mickey”, that gained popularity from an old Mexican singer lol.

“Ponchó” For Alfonso

“Ale” Can be used for Alejandro/Alexandra/Alejandra

Another thing I thought of is amongst siblings when referring to our parents we will say like

“Haz visto a mi mamá”

Which means have you seen “my mom” even though she’s both our mom… idk it’s weird but a nice little touch you could add to your writing lol

I get rlly annoyed reading bad Spanglish, sometimes it’s just painfully cringe and just obvious a non Spanish speaker wrote it, and I realize it’s bc most of y’all didnt grow up with it so like this is just what is typical Spanglish most Hispanic ppl grow up speaking, obviously not everyone speaks like this but figured I’d give tips from someone who actually speaks English and Spanish and switches between.

If I missed anything feel free to add on or if you disagree add examples

[luvmeanyway]

hi there dan and phil tumblr

i'm iovecanglan on dnptwt, but that community has fostered a terribly toxic environment so i wanted to try my hand at tumblr for a bit :)

my name is jay and i'm a 23-year-old lesbian from texas :3 i will be at tit austin as well as london (friday + saturday) !! i have been watching dnp since 2013 and i am the #1 enjoyer of the dan and phil's traumatic golf incident video :P

even though dnp are my biggest interest atm i am also technically a multifandom account on every platform, so i will post about other things i enjoy too (like chappell roan, atla, studio ghibli, cdramas, books, etc.)

i also write!! i'm ivylakes on ao3 and i have an ongoing one-shot series where i write about canon events that have happened post-hiatus (such as what i believe dan's immediate reaction was to phil dyeing his hair blonde) <3 i have something really special in the works rn so stay tuned!

i don't want to make this too long lol so i think that covers everything for now... it's nice to meet you all and i'm super excited to be here ♥

[mrghostrat]

some tips for writing flow

i've had a lot of comments complimenting my writing style, most of which don't know how to explain or describe what they like about it. i never really knew either, but i've been paying more attention to the way i write things lately, in the hope of being able to understand and explain it.

a lot of this is "based on feel" with no hard and fast rules, but there's also very tangible techniques you can hopefully work into your own writing, if that makes sense? idk is this anything—

1 - sentence beats, and alternating them.

this is probably the biggest thing in my writing. i've realised my sentences can be measured in beats, based on their length and how many sections they can be broken into. the pattern changes often, and i don't have a concrete rule in how i fill a paragraph (again, i've only just put words to any of this), but it's probably the most important part of my flow. let's have a look:

1 beat: • this is probably the biggest thing in my writing.

2 beats: • i've realised my sentences can be measured in beats • based on their length and how many sections they can be broken into.

3 beats: • the pattern changes often • and i don't have a concrete rule in how i fill a paragraph • but it's probably the most important part of my flow.

it looks like a favour certain patterns, the only real "rule" i use is to construct a paragraph with various beats, and never put two side by side. whenever i'm struggling with my flow, it's usually because i've put two of the same beats next to each other and everything feels either stiff or crowded. i rarely put two side by side, unless it's for specific emphasis.

the other exception are paragraph breaks: these are a pause for breath, and allow us to reset the pattern. i often start and end my paragraphs with single beat sentences, and it doesn't feel like they're running on because there's that lovely breath between them.

2 - short paragraphs

the rule we learn in school is that new paragraphs are for new ideas. convert this to prose, and we can consider "ideas" to include the character's thoughts, new narrative tangents, and physical movement around a scene.

one of my biggest struggles reading "bad" fanfic is when paragraphs are too lumped together. crowley will walk into the bookshop, see aziraphale across the way, wander over to a shelf, select a book, then pour himself a drink all in one big chunk. i can't parse that. there doesn't have to be a new line break for every new action, but grouping the relevant ones together and breaking in between broad motions (i.e. walking across a room, acknowledging a character) can help ease readers through the scene.

paragraphs are a breath, not only for sentence flow, but for processing the action within a story. similarly, purposefully keeping multiple actions confined to a single paragraph can make them feel quicker, while breaking them up into multiple paragraphs will slow down the pacing (even if the amount of detail describing each action is the same). included some examples because i'm struggling to explain this one

3 - mixing metaphors

this might sound less flow related, but i used to struggle with it a lot as a young writer, and paying more attention to it has definitely helped clean up my flow and writing overall.

i love a good analogy, but it can be easy to get carried away, and this can bog down the prose. my personal rule is that i can get silly with my metaphors (see: the mon chéri magnet), but i can only use one at a time. no talking about the magnet in aziraphale's chest and the angel and demon on his shoulder within the same scene.

if i'm getting silly and long winded with a metaphor, i also try to limit the length of it to one or two paragraphs. paragraph 1: set up the metaphor, establish the analogy. paragraph 2: come back to the reality of the scene, then mention the metaphor once more to link it all together. if i'm feeling cheeky, then i mention the metaphor again ONCE in passing, a couple of paragraphs or even chapters later

the magnet was a fun one, because i kind of flipped how i would usually present a metaphor, with the long winded tangent coming last instead of being the set up. and even though i used the metaphor 3 times, it felt like 2 because the set up was really just a planted seed for what i'd be mentioning later in the theatre. referencing the "whispered curse in the dark" also helped tie the scenes together and keep the analogies neat and tidy in our heads

meanwhile i got a little more carried away with the space metaphor in postcards (i feel like there's probably a 4th and maybe even 5th mention during the bookshop scene), but each one was blink-and-you'll-miss-it brief that didn't slog down the prose.

4 - avoiding repetitive pronouns

we're all going to struggle with this, and i don't have a secret hack for avoiding a wall of "he this, he that, he then," and i honestly try not to beat myself up over it too much. but there are two things i check to make sure it's not getting too repetitive:

1. looking within a paragraph

apparently everything revolves around paragraphs and the breath between them lmao. i don't have a strict rule like "use the character's name once per paragraph, then 'he' for the rest" or anything like that, but it's in that kind of vein. i simply pay attention to one paragraph at a time to watch for too much repetition, and if i notice it's been one or two whole blocks without switching from 'he' to a name, i'll chuck one in to break it up.

2. paragraph starters

this is so picky. and i don't know if it does ANYTHING, but it bugs me when i'm writing and i notice every paragraph starts the same way. maybe it has no effect on the flow at all. but i like to make sure my paragraphs aren't starting with the same "he" "he" "he", and that forces me to go back and switch around the pronouns in recent sentences, so the next paragraph can flow on more smoothly.

5 - use interruptions appropriately

edit: sneaking this one in here as a final thought! i just want to mention the use of em-dashes, semicolons, footnotes, and parenthesis mid-sentence. it's common to favour one in particular, but each have spectacular uses and can add miles to the pacing and flow of your prose.

em-dash (—) interruptions, cutting off dialogue— pausing to make a point — like this — in the middle of a sentence.

semicolon (;) helps with making lists and continuing a compound sentence that doesn't really link with 'and' or 'but'; when you want to pause, but a new sentence would break the flow of things.

footnotes (¹) these should be optional additions to the text imo. you should be able to keep reading without looking at the footnotes and not lose an ounce of story. they're additive, not necessary.

parenthesis ( () ) a great way to interrupt yourself (less sharply) than with em-dashes, include longer pieces of information (like what you might put in a footnote, except more crucial to the narrative that you don't want people to miss!) and adding sass (lol) and tone to your prose.

[writingwithfolklore]

"We're all imposters and we all don't know what to do except write the next sentence." - Taffy Brodesser-Akner

[quotidian-oblivion]

You do not know. You really do not know just how fucking much long comments bring me joy.

I've recently gotten two long comments on a fic and I've been shaking the whole while till I had a chance to sit down and read them. My periods have been insufferable cuz pcos, cramps that have literally not stopped since yesterday fucking morning, now I can barely feel it.

You do not know. You do not fucking know how much long positive comments bring joy to an author.

[ya-boi-haru]

Hey writers/fanfic writers...

How do you get information on medical and crime stuffs...

Like detailed medical knowledge and the ways of crimes?

Or are y'all just nerds like that? /pos

[patchworkpiratebear]

I made these info sheets explaining the basics of searching for fanfic, for someone on twitter who didn't know where to start.

Sharing here too, in case anyone else might find it useful (either for themselves / for passing on to someone who wants help) 💕

If anything is unclear / missing / mistaken, please do let me know - and then I can improve these ❤️

[pluto-rainstorm]

Ya'know that one tiktok trend "do you think you would've dated me when you were in high-school?" or "younger" or something like that, but think about it with BuckTommy

Buck would post it thinking it's hilarious, it would be a cute photo of them now with the caption and then you swipe to a picture of Tommy looking like this muscular army lad, with stubble, looking very mature...

And then you swipe again to a picture of a baby faced Buck, maybe he has a few pimples, he's a lot shorter and has lighter blonde, shaggy hair and he's holding a skateboard

He'd show Tommy and he would just stare at it like "oh my god..."

[tismrot]

(Sexy) writing tip of the day!

Pondering whether or not to post writing tips on here. Mostly because I’ve made (and corrected) so many mistakes since I started writing again a year ago. Looking back through my older works is harrowing, and if I can help anyone avoid making the same silly whoopsies, then… you know, maybe the silly whoopsies were the friends I made along the way?

Okay, I’m just gonna do it. What am I, if not gung-ho?

Here’s the first tip, based on my first attempts at ❤️✨smut✨❤️

When two characters with the same pronouns interact, don’t be shy with their names. Every new sentence should have a name in it, unless it’s extremely obvious who’s who (and it might be obvious to the writer, but not at all to the reader). This is ESPECIALLY important when writing sex scenes.

[blkkizzat]

Do you have any tips for writing fanfics? Like I wanna make my own but I’m scared people aren’t gonna like them 😭 Also how do you usually end a story? I’ve written before for school and stuff but it’s just kinda hard when I come to the end of the story…😓

-🪼

hey 🪼 babes! sorry i wrote alot so it took a min lol. take with a grain of salt though as what works for me may not work for you!

writing tips:

so first off: write for yourself. i know it's been said a million times and a worn out cliche but to break it down a bit— i feel like if you like your fic than other people will too. that is to say, we are all in the same fandom and are dorks/nerds, and like similar things even outside the fandom. i know people have their preferences on content but if you write it for your particular tastes and preferences, i promise there's other people in the fandom that will share in that too.

also even though my adhd works against me, i at least try to be organized and i always make an outline for a fic.

its super helpful to break everything up into small pieces. because then you arent staring at a blank page expecting a story to materialize from thin air LOL.

heres some things to include in your outline.

set the scene/world. where are we? what time is it? what are we initially feeling? which all Setting these things up from jump hooks in a reader as they want to feel like like are immersing yourselves in the world. especially x reader stories. i feel like x reader is so much easier to write then for two seperate characters, because if all else fails you can always call on how you personally felt or would feel in a situation then elaborate on it.

characterization. don't be afraid to make your characters a bit unlikeable, highlight their faults as you do their good parts. ex. my plug!choso fic, reader is a bitch lmfao. she takes choso for granted even though she's the happiest with him. the thing is—she knows that and it starts to eat her up. if a character can have self awareness and grow, then they have more depth than a character written with no faults.

conflict/goal. whats the conflict or what are we working towards? like even for a short pwp for ex: the goal is cum without getting interrupted/walked-in on because we are in a public bathroom. then from there you can work backwards and think. okay so what conflicts/problems would arise? where is this bathroom? what time of day is it and how many people are around? is anyone waiting on us/did we leave others to run off/will they come looking for us? you can make a conflicts out of any of those. conflicts drive the story forward and help you reach your end as its your beacon for how you progress.

ending. your ending only needs to tie the immediate conflict up. there could be an overarching conflict but you dont need to solve everything in your story. ex, continuing from the previous, y'all could be in the bathroom fucking and although the immediate conflict concerns no one interrupting you, the overarching conflict is that you both have significant others already and have yet to break this affair off. of course a pwp so you arent going to dive deep and explain the aftermath or the breakups, etc, but you can leave the story on a cliffhanger and lead the audience to guess whats next.

other tips.

don't write linearly: that is you dont have to write your story in the order of beginning, middle and end. start from wherever you want. skip around. its easier to write out the parts you do know you want then connect it together. even if its just a random piece of dialogue thats a sentence you know you want 2 scenes later, just write it down. writing is a messy process, not neat at all. which leads into... just write: even if you arent sure if you liking the idea 100% just yet write it down! you cant get to the next idea if you are stuck on why the current idea you are thinking of isn't good enough. lol this is why i say i get to a point in the process where i hate everything because ill be stuck with these meh-ideas but i know i have to get them out to get to the good idea.

edit: i edit my fics until l its something im having fun with. if you like it on first go around then thats great but just saying that to say its better to rework it or come back later to it (move on to something else in the meantime) than to put out something you aren't happy with. if you are proud of something you did that will definitely be reflected in your fic!

meditate to tap into characters: idk if you meditate often but i like to try to visualize myself in the character's shoes. what am i feeling? physically or emotionally? are there any distractions? how would i react to this? it helps with conveying character emotion, motives and makes the scene be more immersive. but in at same note, you don't have to give everything. focus on the most important aspect or two and the audience imagination will fill in the rest. some of the best compliments ppl have given me is they felt like they were watching a movie reading my fic (ty y'all the best) and i feel like its because of the immersive aspects in my fics which i take from my own reactions/experience. this also circles back to the point of liking your writing. because if you can convey what you are feeling well enough that you personally feel it re-reading your work, others will too. I hope these tips helped! 💕

[anulight]

I am pleased to announce that I am officially a voter and donar to ao3!!!

I'm very happy to play a role in helping this amazing website stay up and save all our work!

[revnah1406]

To all my dear call of duty (or other fandoms) writers I hope this helps.