#i've just about finished that one fic giving me troubles! at least the draft. i need to do edits to get to the right word count

[quilleth]

Well Loongsoul is having a sale, and I’ve been waffling about getting Bai Jue for shang dollhua, since it’d be a hassle to get Ringdoll Ozhu to work (even though I still think he’d be great...if he were the right size), and I can’t seem to find a lot of information about the measurements for Gouhai (looks like the head measurement might be 22cm, which is bigger than ying zhou, which feels weird, and I can’t find a neck measurement at all). Soo I guess this is my sign to go with Bai Jue xD

I still think the LS 62cm body is weirdly long and tubular, but he’ll be clothed and if it really bothers me, I could eventually buy a different one, either the v.5 62 cm from DF-H or the 60.5 cm one from Guu Doll.

I thought about Yan Ling too, but I think that’s mostly because i love his wig styling which i used for inspiration for my consort!SQH drawing lol and his full set isn’t available anymore anyway

[inkedroplets]

20 Questions More

A deeper and more detailed version of the 20 questions for AO3 fanfic writers. Thanks @eqt-95 for the tag

1) How do you keep getting ideas for your ship/fandom?

I always have too many ideas and not enough time to actually write.

2) Which authors inspire you in your fandom, and why are they so freakishly good?

There are way too many authors to list that I feel like would deserve a mention. I would love to give a huge thank you to all the gifmakers still in the fandom-sphere. I can probably thank gifsets for a lot of my ideas (even if I still haven't actually written them down).

3) Aside from the characters of your main ship, who are the characters you love to write?

Within the Supercorp-sphere, I love writing for Sam. I think because I would have loved to see her stick around longer in the show itself.

4) Are there pairings or tropes you know for sure you'd never write about? Which ones?

I don't want to say any trope is technically off the table but I don't think I'd ever write a true enemies to lovers fic. I slow burn enough as it is, if I tried to write that, I'd never finish it.

5) What is your writing process and why is it cursed?

My editing process is akin to pulling weeds. I like to reduce my word count by maybe 10% on the first edit. Add back maybe 5% more and repeat the process until I'm finally happy with it. Spoiler alert: I'm never happy

6) What is your favorite part of your writing process?

I'm much more a gardener when it comes to writing so I never know where the story will go exactly. So just writing the first draft is always the most fun for me. I sometimes think the characters will act a certain way and they kind of take a life of their own and I'm just along for the ride.

7) What’s the weirdest thing you’ve had to research for a fic?

I remember having to research art forgery for essentially a throwaway line but it really was interesting. E

8) Is there a particular writing rule you struggle with (grammar, spelling, tense, reality in general)?

None in particular, but that's not to say I don't make many many mistakes. I do tend to make tiny changes as I go which means that I've doubled up on some sentences in the past and I am always mortified when I find them after I've already posted the chapter.

9) What was your hardest scene to write so far and why?

Scenes with urgency give me trouble. You want the scene to breathe but you need to be aware that time is short so what the characters can say, what they want to say and what they actually get to say are so different. There was a scene like that in A Rich Girl With Issues that I kind of agonized over. How much should I let Kara and Lena speak to one another, what's important, what should be left unsaid?

10) Have your characters ever done something you didn’t expect, changing your plot completely?

All. The. Time. I never have a plan. I sometimes have scenes I want to write and hope the story veers in that direction so I can write it but it always turns out so different.

11) If you could converse with any of the characters, who would it be and why?

Probably Lena because she's the loml (Apologies to the actual loml)

12) What are some of the tropes or themes that you find yourself returning to in your writing?

I am addicted to pining. Not just pining, angsty pining. I love writing something that's so obvious to everyone else when the characters are so in love or so full of self-loathing that they can't let themselves even begin to imagine their feelings being returned.

13) What's your most important resource as a writer?

Reading. I read voraciously. I'm normally surrounded by books. Some that I pick up to just read anywhere. It's helped me find my voice and it's helped me grow as a writer (at least I think it has)

14) Can you share some of your strategies for editing and revising your work?

I do small edits as I go but nothing major. If a line sticks out that I really don't like then I usually tinker with it before I move on. I think that's not good advice in general but it bothers me too much to ignore. But if you do edit as you go, there's a lot less to polish in the final editing stages.

15) Which is worse: making the summary, picking the tags, or the anxiety when you post your fic?

I hate making the summary. I don't even know what the fic is about, how the hell am I supposed to tell other people?

16) How do you define success for your fanfic - hits? Kudos? Comments? Bookmarks? Or just if you like it?

I feel like my writing is very selfish in a way. They are stories that I want to read and I get enjoyment out of writing them. So every kind comment I get, there's always a sense of wonder because it's so strange that someone else is interested. I truly do cherish every comment and there are many I like to revisit when I'm not feeling so confident in my writing.

17) Do you have a playlist for your favorite character/ship?

I usually make a playlist for each multi-chapter fic. Some fic ideas get their start as a playlist. Please someone ask me about them, I have so many.

18) If fan art was going to be made from your work, which fic would you pick and which fan artist would you like to create it?

I have been very blessed that people have made fan art of my work and I'm still in awe. I could never even begin to describe how touched and honored I am that anybody did that. One of the pieces has been my computer background for ages. It's not an exaggeration that I cherish every single piece. I honestly don't think I could ever adequately describe how much it means to me.

19) How many WIPs do you currently have?

For Supercorp I have 15+ I do plan on actually posting them in the new year.

20) What's your advice to new fanfic writers?

I would say to write for yourself first and foremost. Sharing your art or your writing or even your head canons or ideas takes a lot of courage. It's scary to put something out there that means so much to you. I'd also advise not to get too hung up on hits/kudos/comments etc. I can't say don't look at them because I'd be a hypocrite but I would say to focus on the journey rather than the destination.

- - - - -

tagging (respectfully and without pressure) @fazedlight @autisticlenaluthor @rustingcat

[stinastar]

20 questions for fic writers

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 101! Wow! Keep in mind many are short, and one is an even shorter poem about eggs 🥚

2. What’s your total A03 word count? 188,209

3. What fandoms do you write for? I honestly don't know how to answer this properly haha. I still have drafts or thoughts for fics for Good Omens, The Witcher, James Bond, and Our Flag Means Death. I'm currently mainly into writing Jason Todd (Red Hood / Batman).

I just looked in my folder and I also have notes for a piece each for Lord of the Rings and Shadow and Bone, but it's unlikely those will ever be finished and posted lol.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos? Of Dragons and Heartbreak, we’ll rip up the map by the seams, Which Half?, Sweet Truth, The Dumb Brute and the Bardling. So all for The Witcher, unsurprisingly. I don't think this kind of metric means much, honestly. It just means it was a big popular fandom at the time, I was writing the most popular ship, and these had tropes people were after. I think, at least. I by no means think those are my best works, is all I'm saying.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? Of course! I love love love getting comments and so make an effort to always reply to them. If I missed one I promise it was by accident!

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? I think that has to be you’ve got a second chance, you could go home. I'm still quite pleased with it. But people really wanted it fixed, so I did write a follow up :)

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? I honestly don't know how to quantify that 😅 Maybe Fire Me Up? The fic as a whole is very soft and sappy.

8. Do you get hate on fics? No, not really. I had one nasty comment a few years back from a fan that clearly hated a character and wanted to make that my (and others') problem, lol, and have had a few iffy comments here and there, but.

9. Do you write smut? Not reallllly. But I used to only fade to black, and have started dabbling in writing sex scenes a bit, so we may get there. We'll see. I didn't think I would, lol.

10. Do you write crossovers? No (that one crackfic notwithstanding, lol), they don't really interest me.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I know of 🤞🏻

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Not that I know of, but what an honour!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? I don't think so, yet? I wrote a fic that went along with others, once, and I have a very neglected draft that I was working on with @ahh-fxck (sorry friend!), but I don't think I have a fic posted that I wrote with someone else...?

14. What’s your all-time favourite ship? You want me to pick between my precious babies?? lol. I honestly really don't know that I have one.

15. What’s the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? Pffft, sadly and honestly, so many.

16. What are your writing strengths? Dialogue comes quite easily for me, and I think I tend to do it well. The rest has been a WIP lol, but I think I've been improving!

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Everything else. Ha!! For real though. All the stuff in between dialogue lol. Longer stories. Patience (lack thereof). I'm getting tired because kiddo would not GTFTS, so apologies if I'm becoming less coherent...

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? Thoughts? I mean, I've done it, a tiny bit. I did a bit of researching as well as using online dictionaries etc, and I was lucky to find a native speaker to read things over and give their input before posting.

19. First fandom you wrote for? Good Omens. It honestly happened by accident.

20. Favourite fic you’ve ever written? Oooooh. Possibly Wintersong? I'm quite happy with it. What can I say, I love angst. That one isn't my most favourite kind, but I'm proud of it and love it.

Thank you for the tag @aniron48 💗 Tagging @major-trouble @cicerfics @brothebro @girls-and-honey @holycatsandrabbits and anyone who sees this and wants to tag on 😘

[freshlybakedspiderbread]

i usually keep to myself about hobby stuff but i feel like talking about curent-ish writing-related things with me. I had hoped that finishing those prompt-based stories earlier in the month would give me new momentum towards doing more, and it only sorta did for like, a few days :P But anyway, wip thoughts:

1 . for a long time since a little bit after th17 released, ive wanted to do a single story with the point being to just quickly play with and dig into the dynamics of the wbawc realm crew. Though that 'point' probably made more sense when th17 was still the newest game.. and also a lot of little things in th19 i feel like makes the ideas i've had look distinctly 'outdated' if that makes any sense?! ...well i try not to let that stuff give me trouble, but since that 'point' has become kinda moot in my own perspective, i think i'll probably end up just posting smaller standalone bits featuring the relevant characters? That's not really how i've ever published fics before aside from a few occasions, but it might be nice to start.

2 . since like, way early in the year, i had so many of these stray drafts regarding a story starring akyuu that's set in the human village. constant second guessing and flipflopping means i've thrown away a disgusting amount of typed words but. it's all progress! at least that's what im telling myself 🙃 One day... ideally before zun kills akyuu for real (or make her immortal, who knows)

3 to a 100 or so . so many other notepad summaries on my desktop that i think are fully formed ideas but i'm sure the second i ever start on any of them, i'm gonna rework all of them from the ground up :P include Another story about the eientei crew centering on reisen's apprenticeship under eirin, A longer story about the megumu's polycule having an adventure of sorts on youkai mountain, and a goofy idea i've had since like 2020 and abandoned half a dozen times which is about merry and renko meeting ran and then merry getting jealous?? It sounds even goofier when i say it aloud but maybe one day 😅

[flowerslut]

17, 22, 9 & 8? good luck with the exams hope they go well!

thank you so much! I can't wait for them to be done so I can focus on fic and other non-essential silliness 😭😭😭

17. What’s something you’ve learned about while doing research for a fic?

omfg when I tell you... I have never done so much random batshit research in my life for a fic... than I have for this current one... I MEAN it. i've gone to a southern california mission (and am planning a second trip for this or next month!), I've read The Art of War TWICE this week, I started studying tarot, and now I know WAY too much about human anatomy (tendons and ligaments, specifically). but one wild thing I've learned is that apparently when people got crucified back in ye olden times, the nails went into their WRISTS and not their PALMS??? so either I didn't pay attention in either of my catholic schools (likely), I forgot about this, (also likely) or they just never taught us that (most likely)

22. Do you know how your fic will end before you start writing?

if I start a fic knowing it's going to be a multi-chapter fic then I usually figure out the ending before I write a single word. so basically yes. I always know the ending. (the only fics that have ever gotten me in trouble with this are the ones that started as one shots and then whoops suddenly there's more chapters! and I never figured an ending out bc I thought I'd already written it! oopsies!)

but I am very good at developing a basically-complete story with anywhere between 2 hours and 2 weeks of brainstorming. I am very fast with it. it's the plot specifics (scenes, settings, b plots, etc) throughout the fic that I usually spend more time on, but fic usually comes to me all at once! idk! I thought for years that that was how everyone came up with fic! but I have learned from my darling friends over the past couple years that... that is absolutely not the case. idk it's a funny little ~party trick~ I have I guess

9. Do you write every day? If you wrote today, share a sentence of what you’ve written!

I WISH! if I had my preferred amount of time to sit down and write fic every day I would have an absolutely terrifying amount of fanfiction complete. (when focused I can easily spit out 30k+ words in a week and it makes me feel both insane and ALIVE) but usually I can't sit down to write unless I have at least five+ hours to write. once I get started writing I literally can not stop and it upsets me INTENSELY if I have to 💔💔💔

8. What project(s) are you currently working on?

I am currently only working on roots! when that first draft is finished I'm going to take a break and finish outlining cotn's novella this summer; this is so that when I finally fix-up roots and it's ready to post I'll be able to redirect my attention to that while roots is being posted (which will happen over the course of 1 year+)

so! very exciting stuff for the Jalice Appreciators out there who give a shit about my writing 🤠

fanfic writer asks!

[aadmelioraa]

Hey, Kat! For the ao3 wrapped asks, how about #3? Which work are you most proud of this year? Give me all the deets!

Hiii thank you friend!

What work are you most proud of (regardless of kudos/hits)?

Technically this work isn't finished yet (I have most of the last 2 chapters drafted, I just ran out of steam, engagement dropped off, and I got pulled into other projects--bad combo) BUT I'm really proud of The Trouble With Paper Houses! I feel like I pushed myself in terms of style and structure and the characterizations are really solid. I got to play around with a lot of things for Aldflaed that I'd been wanting to (a more toxic and complex take on their past than I've written before, how Aldhelm functions in a step-parent role, the mother/daughter dimensions to Aethelflaed's family dynamics), and I also worked out some stuff that ended up informing at least one ofic project haha. Honestly the fic would function pretty well outside of canon context, I feel like I developed their backstory in a pretty organic way that doesn't require much knowledge of the show relationship, so that was pretty fun and satisfying. I do want to finish it eventually, I am hoping to get back to it at some point next year.

[butdriampagliacci]

hi omg i really love "wildfire"!!! i'm so curious about the behind-the-scenes process behind it. what media inspired you to write it? what's the revision process like and how long does it usually take? what part did u find the most difficult to write? when did you start writing the outline + first draft? are you the type to finish a rough draft of an entire long fic before revising or do you take it chapter by chapter? i have so many questions pls infodump as much as u want about the behind the scenes of the fic i'm so hooked on the story i've been sharing it to all of my mutuals. thank you again for creating it <3

OMG first of all, thank you! I love talking about writing, so infodump I shall!

As far as inspiration goes, I love mysteries and detective stories in general. Some that stand out to me as influencing wildfire are the manga FAKE by Sanami Matoh and Beyond Evil, a kdrama that I highly recommend. Lots of twists and turns in that one. (And of course I like Knives Out and Glass Onion haha, there's a little bit of that too with how Diluc is helping Lumine.) I also have a playlist I made for the fic. If y'all ever want to see that, let me know~

I started writing the fic in September after rotating the idea in my brain for about a year. Initially I wasn't planning on posting it, since people can get pretty heated about kaeluc so it was just for my own amusement. But after talking to friends about it and realizing how much I was enjoying myself, I figured I should go ahead and make an AO3 account and publish it. Seeing other people enjoying it too makes me so happy it's unreal!

Re: the process--I tend to go chapter by chapter, usually with a bit of a buffer. In other words, I try to stay ahead of the most recent chapter, so if chapter 4 is ready to be posted, I'm already working on chapter 5 and so on. I actually started out with a substantial buffer and had about 5 chapters written before I posted the first one. I've got a document called "Misc" where I write scenes out of order or further along in the story to place later. Also, this is going to sound insane, but I don't really outline--at least not strictly. I have a document called "plot notes" to remind myself of certain important clues, the timeline, anything that I came up with while brainstorming. I know what's going to happen in the broad sense (like the solution to the mystery, I know where Aether is haha) but I like to give myself a little freedom to make creative decisions as I work. Sometimes I'll plan for something to happen, but then it doesn't really fit. For example, I had the flashback where Kaeya and Diluc almost kissed as teenagers completed for a while, but had trouble deciding which chapter it should go.

I'm often editing as I go. If I'm writing and the scene feels wrong or the dialogue is off, I'll cut and paste it into my "outtakes and deleted scenes" doc so I can still keep what I like or change my mind later. I re-read the previous chapter to try and keep things consistent and make sure to read my draft before I post to catch whatever I can. (I don't have a beta so any typos or other mistakes are on me TvT) The most difficult parts to write are anything involving actual procedure lmao I do my best to make it seem believable, but I take about as much artistic license as a detective show would. I prefer amateur/gentleman detective stories to police procedurals so that's the vibe I'm going for (despite Kaeya having access to actual law enforcement resources). That, and action scenes aksjdfosdjfoj If you can't already tell, I'm a dialogue/character writer.

As far as how long it takes to write and revise, I can usually finish a 3-4k chapter in roughly a week. That's thanks to my severe brainworms hahahaha I'm lucky to have a lot of free time right now and a slow paced job :> Although I know how the fic will end and the major twists, I'm not sure how long it will take to get there, but we've already crossed the 50k mark, so there's going to be plenty more content haha

Anyway, I've probably talked enough for now but I'm always down to chat fic and writing haha Thank you again for reading and sharing the story! I appreciate it so much~

[factorialsfandoms]

Hello! New to this tumblr, but I found your Downfall Timeline Fairy AU on AO3, and let me just say, it has become my new obsession. I’m a big fan of Fairy!Hyrule, and these fics you wrote just made me love him even more. Would it be possible to set up a possible wait time for the next part of the story? Because I can’t wait - I have so many questions and ideas of what will happen next. Will Hyrule’s fairy side be revealed to the Chain? What will Warriors think of that? Will the princesses provide insight for fixing the land and the Fairy Fountains? Maybe Legend can help with that, since I think there was an implication that he was an ancestor of Hyrule’s mother, who also used to be a Great Fairy. Does Legend end up marrying a Great Fairy and becoming a male one himself? Will the land ever actually get better, and become like the other Hyrule’s? I don’t mean to be rude, or put pressure on you, or anything like that, so you can take as long as you want. Thank you!

Hi hello lovely to meet you!

The next part of the story... I'm not entirely sure? I've got a fic in another fandom with a deadline this month which is causing me bother, so I'm not allowed to write any /new/ Zelda stuff until after that's done. ^^; I intend to then work on the fairy series, and maybe throw in some oneshots between so I don't burn out, at least up to the end of my definite plans, but I may need to do a non-series oneshot or three first to get my head back into it. Especially as the next bit is a chapterfic, which /always/ give me trouble, so I want the whole thing done before I start uploading it. Or at least be a couple of chapters ahead. The first chapter is /nearly/ finished, just needs a start, but I want at least half of it done before I upload anything. The end is the easiest bit to write, of course. xD

As for the other bits... I guess I can put some little hints towards spoilers under the cut

Can't have a fairy au without it getting revealed to everyone sooner or later! That's actually on the agenda in the chapter-fic! Which is Hyrule and Legend swapping the PoV stick, though /after/ that Warriors and time get to have some time. There's an earlier version where Warriors learnt it first half-finished in my drafts, though its been scrapped as it no longer fits with other things the series did. May finish it off sometime and throw it up not connected to the rest.

Legend and Hyrule's mother were acquainted, though its on Hyrule's /father/'s side they're blood related - his mother has been about since Time's era, but only been human enough to have kids for the last hundred years or so. The link in the hair thing is a wee bit more complicated. Try think about what actually causes Legend's hair to swap between blond and pink in LU, and a little on ALTTP. I do have some vague plans for it to come up if the heroes wander by the ranch any time soon, though the blood relation by his father's line likely never will just because the information has been lost.

I don't really have a whole ending in mind, but I have a few odds and ends. I will say though that Hyrule's hometime /is/ in a better state than it was when he ended his adventure (they just hit an especially awful part), and the improvement is continuing. Just. Starting from the more settled areas.

I'd love to drop the Princesses in on this one but we'll see. I'm currently fighting Time, Hyrule, and Warriors to try make them all talk again ^^;

[seekingseven]

this latest ask is literally the best thing to chance upon during a sever cold, i just hope I'm not asking too much thu 😅 ps: my asks aren't centered on any fandom so talk about any fandom as you'd like, i wanna just mooch off your writing wisdom 😉😘 my asks are: 6,7,8, 9,10,11,16, 20,21 i made it pretty long 😓 uh it's ok not to answer all of them! i got carried away after all 😂

My word, so many questions! I feel so, so honored--thank you so much for the lovely ask! And gosh, you flatter me bro; I'm not sure how much writing wisdom I have to give, but hopefully this will at least make for an interesting read! And hopefully you feel better soon, my friend!

6. Do you outline your fics? If so, how?

I do! When I'm sitting down to start a new piece, I go through a handful of outlining phases first: 1) I write down a list of the scenes I want the piece to have 2) I write a brief summary of each scene 3) I write a brief, chronological progression of the events in that scene 4) I go through each scene in-depth and describe it to myself--sensory details, dialogue, inner character monologues, everything! The only thing that sets apart the final outline from the first draft is that there's 0 grammar or transition words. Usually my first draft is elaborating, editing, and polishing the final outline.

Sort of a roundabout way of getting writing out, but it works for me!

7. How do you edit your fics? What do you look for in your edits?

I'm going to be frank, I don't spend nearly enough time editing my fics as I should. Usually once I finish the second draft I'm too eager to post and too tired to reread that I do the former and forgo the latter. However, when I do get my things together and actually sit down to edit, the main thing I look for is typos. I type pretty fast and because of that I make a genuinely impressive number of typos, so I always try to weed those out! Repetitive sentence structure and redundant descriptions are also another thing I try to cut out when I edit, but clearing out typos is always my main goal.

8. Do you take inspiration from real life? If so, how do you incorporate that into your fics?

Always! My stories are always inspired by something I've seen, read, heard, or experienced myself, and I never start a story unless I have something I think is worth saying. I try my best to capture internal monologue and motivation in a way that reflects the patterns of real people, and my characterizations of so many characters is based on real people I've seen act similarily to them.

9. Do you visualize scenes in your head before you write them? (Can you picture the setting, body language, etc)

I answered this in another ask but I'll reiterate it here; yes and always! This is the crux of my outlining process--I just describe what I imagine, whether that's the setting or the temperature or dialogue or body language, as it comes to me!

10. How do you feel about writing plot, setting/description, inner thoughts, dialogue?

Gosh, that's a great question! I think setting and description is one of my strengths, although I can always improve, and since I usually plan out key plot points before starting a story, plot isn't always a big trouble for me. Inner thoughts and dialogue are two things I'm striving to improve! I've been reading a lot of first-person stories recently, which has been helping with the first, and listening to real people just talk is helping with the latter. I can't wait to see where my writing will go as I get better at these things!

11. What perspective do you write from most and/or least and why?

I think I tend to gravitate towards third person limited, simply because I structure the scenes of any story around who the camera will be following most closely. Sometimes the limited-ness of that perspective can get a little blurred--I have scenes in fics where the perspective is more omniscent--but third person is my go-to! I think that's because it's well suited for fanfic; first person can occasionally feel strange (although I've written and read and loved many a first person fic), and third person limited is just plain fun to write! It's great to get inside a character's head.

16. Do you have a method for trying to get characters to sound/feel in character?

Gosh, I feel a little unqualified to answer this question! My characterization skills have a lot of room for improvement. I'd say my main method at the moment is trying to model the character after someone I know and understand in real life, and/or doing a brief character analysis before incorporating them into a story. But if anyone reading this has characterization advice, let me know! I'm always eager to improve.

20. What is your favorite thing about writing fanfic? About writing in general?

Fanfic? The community, hands down! It's such an experience to be able to write something others might read and enjoy and even leave kudos or comments on--any fanfic writer can testify that fic interaction is lifeblood, and I'm just so glad I picked up fanfic as a hobby!

For writing in general, it forces me to take life more and less seriously at the same time. Seriously, because in order to write characters that feel real, I have to understand real people. Less seriously, because writing puts into context how transient things can be. How many stories start with a character going from everything to nothing? Writing has really helped me to be more grateful for what I have; it might be taken away tomorrow, so I should enjoy it while I have it!

21. Writers choice -- pick any of these questions to answer! (I chose #13: Are you a fast or slow writer?)

Such a fun question!! Hm, I'm a little split on whether I'm a fast or slow writer. I can write a lot of words in a short amount of time, but that's only after weeks of brooding and thinking and mental construction of the scene/fic/chapter I'm writing.

I'd say I lie somewhere in the middle! I'm very, very slow when it comes to idea creation, but I write and edit at a reasonable pace. Hopefully that answers your question!

Thank you so, so much for the lovely asks! This was a BLAST to answer; thanks for taking time out of your day to send these prompts my way! You rock, and I hope you feel better soon!

[hunxi-guilai]

Hi! I love your detailed language talk! If I may ask a question, how would you advise I write LWJ in English? I'm still new to the fandom but I've seen many people have him drop subjects and talk to WWX in 3rd person in fics (ex. "Love Wei Ying. Will protect him."). I know omitting grammatical elements and using names as pronouns is somewhat common in some Asian languages, but in English I just feel like it sounds way too casual/childish for LWJ, so I'm having trouble getting used to it.

hi anon!!! I hope you don’t mind that I put this ask off for a few days; I looked at it and then looked at this stupid monster of a post I had in my drafts and I was like “......... yeah okay we’re going to finish that one first”

I also realize I just wrote like, several thousand words on linguistic register as incited by fanfiction writing style and then promptly didn’t address what my optimal consumption of Lan Wangji dialogue in fanfiction would be like. Whoops.

Honestly, I would try not to get too bogged down in trying to capture Lan Wangji’s linguistic register, because so much of it exists only pre-translation. I would just write him normally, like any other character, but try to keep his lines as laconic and efficient as possible. Word for word, Lan Wangji says the most with the least amount in the entire show. A great deal has been written about poetry being the “most economic of written forms” and that (at least for me) has a lot of resonances with Lan Wangji’s speech patterns.

I think I would advise against dropping the subject in sentences if it makes him sound awkward; he does do that, but his grammar in Chinese is never anything less than impeccable, if a bit archaic at times. It feels truer to give him the same amount of grammatical proficiency in English than it would be to try and imitate  a kind of semantic exactness in Chinese.

And as for third person... this is hard, because it can be deployed with devastating effectiveness in moments that call for that kind of linguistic distancing. If it isn’t too forward, I’d actually recommend besanii’s shattered mirrors au as a great example of how to do self-referential third-person (and just, formality and etiquette in general) in English language fic. This is partially because part 17 just popped up on my dash and hits these notes perfectly.

Hope this helps!

[angst-in-space]

hi! do you mind briefly describing your writing process? i've been trying to get into it lately, but i've never written before and i'm curious about how you do it :D

hello anon! first of all, congrats on starting your writing journey - that's very exciting and i wish you the best!

obviously everyone's writing process is different, so what works for me may not work for every writer in the world. but below is an explanation of what my own process is (sorry it’s so long lol):

when i first get an idea, i start a document that has two sections: a brainstorming section and an outlining section.

the brainstorming section is the more "messy" section where i spill out ideas as they come to me with no particular order/structure (the general concept, the characters' roles in the story, random scenes i want to include, etc.)

then i start outlining. outlines vary widely from writer to writer; i know some writers who have very detailed scene-by-scene outlines, some who have very loose outlines, and some who don’t outline at all. personally, i tend to do a bulleted list of events in the story from start to finish. this can of course be flexible and subject to change when i actually begin writing––but before i start, i like to have a fairly detailed plan of everything that happens in the story.

while i’m not saying you have to do this, i’ll say that in my own experience it helps tremendously in the long-run. i find that if i have a full outline before i start writing, i have a much better sense of direction and purpose which prevents me from hitting a wall. it’s like having a little GPS with me, taking me from point to point - but as i actually make my way through, i might find some better/alternate routes along the way. ;)

once i have a full outline, i start writing. i always write things chronologically (from start to finish); i know a lot of authors prefer to write scenes out of order, so do whatever works for you! personally i’ve always written things in order just because i feel like it helps me kind of “live out” the story alongside the characters, gauge how the pacing feels along the way, etc.

i think writing that rough draft is probably the most challenging part and it’s a little tricky to advise how to go about doing it since everyone’s brains works differently. i think it’s important to remember through this process that your rough draft is not final, and that you can always go back and change things if it’s not working.

i also think it helps to set goals for yourself. these could be word goals (like “i’m gonna write 100 words a day”) or time goals (“i’m gonna write for 30 mins every day”). i have a lot of issues with concentration/motivation, so having little goals like that can be useful for me. note that, of course, if you can’t always meet your goals it’s okay––life happens, some days you’ll feel more motivated than others, and any progress at all is still progress! and progress can also include brainstorming, editing, etc.

if you’re like me and have trouble focusing, there’s a few helpful tools out there you might check out. i’m a big fan of write or die, a site where you can choose a time/word goal and try to reach the word goal before time runs out. despite its intense name, it has “reward”, “consequence”, and “stimulus” modes; i’m a bigger fan of the reward and stimulus modes which reward you with positive sounds/images as you write (whereas consequence mode makes annoying noises at you if you stop writing for too long lol). i also use cold turkey writer pretty religiously; it’s an app where you set a word or time goal and it blocks out everything else on your computer until you reach that goal.

once i have a complete rough draft, i generally will give myself at least a couple days to step back from it before i start editing. i find it’s helpful to have that brief mental break and to come back to the piece with fresh eyes.

i start with minor edits first (i.e. looking for typos and other small mistakes, taking out unnecessary words, etc.). As I do this, I flag any parts that feel awkward or not fleshed out enough; I don’t delve too deep into fixing those yet, just make a note to myself like “the end of this scene feels abrupt,” or “this dialogue doesn’t seem quite right and i don’t know why” and so forth (i use google docs so i just use the comments feature for this; i know microsoft word has something similar).

once i’ve done most of the minor edits, i go back and work on the bigger problems i.e. flow issues, reworking sentences/dialogue, etc. if i’m not sure how to fix something after trying it a couple ways, i just leave it and make a note to my betas that i need some advice on that part.

i hand off the fic/chapter to my betas once i’ve done at least one round of edits. i know some writers don’t use betas so it depends on what works for you, but typically i don’t post something without having at least 1-2 people look it over first. i usually leave a few notes for my betas letting them know if there are specific scenes i want some advice on, things i’m not sure about or worried about, etc.

once the piece has been beta’d, i do another round of edits where i make any final changes––mostly minor things, but there’s usually a couple of bigger things i want to fix (i.e. if there are scenes/sections my betas flagged because they thought it could be fleshed out some more).

then…..*drumroll*......i post the fic! (and then lather, rinse, repeat because i have like 5 wips at all times oops).

anyway this got incredibly long and i hope it’s not too overwhelming, but tl;dr my process is: brainstorm, outline, write the first draft, edits round #1, send to betas, edits round #2, post. i hope this helps and if you have any other questions i’m happy to help!