#writing and editing

[bl-mitchum]

Against my will, I unfortunately fell asleep at 7pm last night. On the bright side, it’s 8am on a Saturday, I have no plans, and I have a lot of writing and reading I’d like to do.

[lady-lazarus-13]

I was supposed to be working on my nasty deserted planet no soap Garashir fic, but nooo. Now I've got a 1000 words of this Distant Voices fic. The song from the Challengers soundtrack "I Know" is blasting on repeat. And why oh why is there some dream elder sex abuse happening?

[itsforexposure]

"we are already undervaluing you, why don't you just give out your creative work for free from now on?"

[prisilasweetheart]

reaching that point in my fictional universe where my characters are getting older and things are starting to change within their dynamic/lives <<<<

they’re becoming *gasps loudly* adults with responsibilities😭😭😭

i’ve reached what i’m calling ‘the beginning of the end’ of this specific group dynamic in my universe aka the halfway point of my journey to writing book six and i’m kind of losing my mind??? i did not anticipate it being this hard???😭

[brandykoot]

To my 17 year old self

The letter I wrote to myself the day before I turned 18 years old, an adult.. (for astro babies reading...clearly my pisces placements showed up here, I'm so dramatic lol)

15/02/____

Dear minor self....I hope u enjoyed these years where you were seen as a child....who was innocent and had to be protected from reality. Today sam, is the last day you are a minor.

The last day you will be called a small child. The last day you can enjoy not knowing much. The last day you will have your mistakes totally credited to your personality and not to your parents.

You won't be able to ask your parents anything anymore because you have got to do everything on your own... because you are an "Adult". What does being an adult even mean?

It's just a tag we put on ourselves to feel more grown up and responsible in life. Being an adult means being a new addition to the million puppets in society. I do not want to be a puppet. I want to be a child.

A child who embraces her spirit than to suppress it in the name of growing up. I still want to watch shows and movies that children and adults are allowed to watch.

Even after turning 18, going for adult movies would seem very weird for me... because I still feel like a child who, even though am growing when it comes to age, am still very much raw and fragile inside.

The world is a place for those who have money....not love...not good intentions....just MONEY. Money is needed to survive in this world sam, but do not let money consume your spirits. Don't let the greed make you walk on the wrong path.

I pray you always follow the path of spiritual guidance and are always happy with the amount of money you have. I hope you walk on the path of humility and unconditional love. I know becoming an adult has more cons than pros but you can make your own pros from now on...always walk a different path, even if it's only you walking alone, because most of the time the masses you follow are only asses.

Love is your path sam...it will always be your path. Your vulnerability is not your weakness, it is your strength. It's okay to be alone...even if you really want someone to talk with...sometimes strangers on your mobile screen can make you feel better than the people you know.

Sam...you have gone through a lot in just these 17 years...and you survived. Even if you really did not want to. These years have maybe damaged you very deeply but no matter how long damages take to recover, they recover in the end, either by growing back or from dying and being reborn.

Today sam, is the day you bid your minor self goodbye and hope for the best...pray for the strength to endure and overcome any obstacle, no matter how big. Today sam, is the day you truly embrace your inner child and assure her that you will protect her from the harsh conditions of the world.

Today is the day you realise how many precious days you wasted on anything that just did not matter. Today is the day you fall asleep knowing this day is never ever going to come back again, all these years you were allowed to be stupid and naive will never come back again.

All the stories you've been told will never be told again because you will witness them for yourself. Today sam, is the day you either wish you had died already or know that the future will give back what your past stole from you. Being 17, I never thought about it this much until right now, tonight. A day before I turn 18.

When I was a tiny kid I always wanted to become 18 but now that I'm going to become 18 tomorrow...I'm so scared..I'm not ready. No one is, I feel, because everything is suddenly thrown at us after we become adults. Without warning.

I am too irresponsible, naive, stupid, dumb, lazy, shameless, harmless, vulnerable, wreckless, childish, delusional, lost and aimless to become an adult.

This world scares me so so much and now I'm freaking out. 18 is just a goddamn number...but here I am... overthinking every little detail of my life forward. I know for a fact, no one in this world is going to tolerate seeing me behave like a wreckless child and that is exactly who I am.

A wreckless child who loves laughing and feeling alive. So I guess being myself is really going to lead me to being alone in my life.Today is goodbye dear little me. You did good. You tried at least. You have gone more than a Several days, months and weeks being a small sized child who made a thousand mistakes and went through it all crying, hugging your teddy bear and talking to trees, the wind, the rain, and all things belonging to nature.

Dear sam, dear little me...you have always been my guide in life, I won't replace you with any other one. I want you to be my guide. Let your heart be your guide little me...

[arcanemoody]

WIP Weekend

Rules: Send me an emoji in an ask, and I'll write 3-5 sentences and/or paragraphs from that WIP. No limits to the amount of emojis you can request, please feel free to send multiple! So last week was fun! Let's see how this goes.

📰🚘 Woodstein | Richmond (ATPM, Historical RPF): July 1972, two articles into the Watergate story, Bob’s POV, trapped at his family vacation on Lake Michigan when Carl calls him to yell at him and Bob drives back to get him. This is the one that demanded I finish it first – possibly because there’s smut. I’m on my third draft, fixing some gaps and loose ends. 📰☕ Woodstein | 5 times/Caregiving (ATPM, Historical RPF): Carl’s POV, opens with a dark internal rant about unmedicated executive dysfunction, complex trauma from othering, and gets fluffier from there. Includes an OFC and discussion of queer issues in the period. Long time gestating with this one. 🧹❔ Spellbound (Gotham, I Married a Witch AU, Alternate Season 3) 11/24 chapters are finished and posted. The next chapter is from Oswald’s POV the night of the mayoral election. More Witchy Ed flirting while Oswald is confused (and intrigued). ☂️🛼 Untitled College AU chapter (Gotham, College AU), Year 1 living in the dorms, Oswald is referred to Harley by University Counseling Services after an accident on "queer prom" night. 📰🤐 Woodstein | Secrets (ATPM, Historical RPF), Carl POV, post-Haldenman fallout, discussions about secrets and the people who have them.

Tagging anyone who wants to and (because I'm curious), no-pressure tagging @esperata @augustjustice @arokel @inkfowl

[amaliazeichnerin]

Bad Writing Advice from Stephen King's ON WRITING: A MEMOIR OF THE CRAFT

Whenever newbies ask authors about good writing advice books, sooner or later someone mentions Stephen King's "ON WRITING: A MEMOIR OF THE CRAFT" However, as this youtuber points out, some of the writing advice in this book is rather vague and not helpful. (In case you wonder, this is not about bashing Stephen King, the Youtuber also explains that he likes King's novels).

He also explains that at the point when King published his writing advice book, he had been writing for ca. 40 years and seemed to had gone out of touch what writing problems new aspiring writers have.

Practical writing advice books that I can recommend for writing newbies:

"Shut Up and Write the Book: A Step-by-Step Guide to Crafting Your Novel From Plan to Print" by Jenna Moreci (from 2023)

"Structuring Your Novel (Revised & Expanded 2nd Edition): Essential Keys for Writing an Outstanding Story" by K. M. Weiland (2024)

"Outlining Your Novel: Map Your Way to Success", also by K. M. Weiland (2013)

[cashmereink]

“Just write” is the worst advice. It’s constantly thrown around without any regard as to what actually keeps people from writing.

Of course they want to “just write”. But it’s not that easy.

We’re taught to never put anything out into the world unless it’s acceptable or pretty. That’s why most people spend their time deleting sentences and staring at a blank page.

The best advice is:

Write Steaming Swill

The best thing our English teachers could have done for us is required a nasty-ass draft be turned in along with our pretty final projects.

You will get nowhere with your project until you dump it out as a pile of hot garbage first.

For the love of sweet, sweet, peanut-buttery Christ, stop hesitating and deleting in the name of your finished story that doesn’t exist yet.

Write hot garbage and then clean it up.

[lauronk]

17 🥺🫶🏻

17. talk about your writing and editing process

tbh it feels like it changes with every wip. some of my fics start with a random idea that i'll make the vaguest outline for, either as a run-on paragraph or (if i'm channeling my inner march) a bunch of bullet points. and then i sit and sort of...start typing away. depending on my mood i'll either just try to blurt all the words out before i lose what's in my head (this usually involves lots of [name] and [something] and [building] that i have to go back in and fill lol), or i'll go a little slower and try to find the right words and take 20 minutes on a single sentence. once i've written it i try to leave it alone until i move on to editing, otherwise i'm liable to get stuck somewhere and never progress.

when it's time to edit i'll start back up at the beginning of the fic and just start reading it. change words as i go, rewrite sentences or whole paragraphs (to do that i'll usually create a buffer space between the new and the old and then start rewriting. and once i'm satisfied i'll delete the old paragraph and move on). i go through and find any brackets i left, give characters names, find the words that were escaping me at the time. i usually end up adding like another 500-1000 words when i edit.

and then when i'm done, i start from the top again and reread with more of a focus on cohesiveness and plot holes and the like.

and i think that's it? probably way more info than you asked for lol

the asks

[theriu]

Editing question: in a fantasy book, what ratio should "describing the world" to "main story line" be? Or, at least, what do you recommend?

Thanks for your question! I think a lot of this depends on your writing style; some authors are going to focus primarily on the main storyline and keep it fast-paced, but others (like Mr. Tolkein) are going to weave in a ton of worldbuilding. Both of these can be done very successfully!

From a purely editing standpoint, I typically look at how the placement of the worldbuilding is affecting the story's flow. Am I getting bored or forgetting what the characters were doing because there is such a large amount of exposition in the middle or beginning of a scene? Could some of the information be condensed to be more easily digestible? Conversely, is the story barely mentioning some piece of worldbuilding that I think would be FASCINATING to learn more about, and would appreciate the author dwelling on for a moment? I think there's a good balance to be found there, and if I'm doing more thorough editing (copyediting or developmental), I'll probably leave a comment on the document mentioning what I think could help the scene flow a little better. Overall, I wouldn't worry about it too much in your first draft; trimming stuff down or fleshing things out is something you can typically do on the second draft after you get the overall story nailed down. =)*

(*I say this, but I myself definitely tend to fiddle with scenes and add/subtract stuff in the middle of my first draft ALL THE TIME XD This isn't a hard and fast rule, just a suggestion that sometimes helps people finish.)

One helpful tip that I have run into myself (in my own fantasy setting) and had pointed out to me by other readers: Try not to throw in too many new, fictional words and names right off the bat. It can be a little difficult for readers to get a grip on the story if they're dealing with a ton of new vocabulary, and a lot of worldbuilding can be woven in more gently throughout the story as bits become relevant. You can always dedicate a few pages to describing the more intricate nuances of your magic system after we're already invested in the hero's trip to the citadel to avenge his grandparents' burned unicorn farm, or what have you.

[bl-mitchum]

I used to try and resist what comes naturally to my writing, fearing judgement. I have learned that, through writing what I am passionate, I get stuff done. This is your sign to add that thing to your WIP. You know what that thing is to you.

[lady-lazarus-13]

This fic is already eight pages long and I'm not even half way yet. And now Garak is doing some naughty, weird shit. I want to go to bed, but damn it I also want to finish this first draft.

[itsforexposure]

[papasbaseball]

A study in fiction writing and how to improve your fanfiction

Part of me feels not qualified to make this analysis, because I am still learning. Most writers are still learning, but I feel like maybe breaking down a poorly constructed first paragraph of a former fanfic (50SoG) might be useful to some. Analysis under the cut.

One of the things that immediately stands out is the lack of sentence structure variety. Several sentences that start with "I" could be replaced with descriptive sentences that make it seem less repetitive and boring.

The first sentence has no hook or flavor. A first sentence is like a first impression and should be geared toward making the reader want to know what happens next. Scowling in frustration at yourself in the mirror is just not it. This is incredibly mundane and brings up two separate problems

Cut the mundanity. Do not include everyday activities in a book or fic (unless they will be directly involved in action that hooks the reader (e.g. do not write about a character driving from point A to point B unless that car will be in an accident)). The reader picks up a book or logs into AO3 to experience something they would not in everyday life. Brushing your hair and having a bad hair day is boring and trivial. It is an immediate tension killer, and tension is what keeps a reader reading.

Mirror descriptions are exceptionally lazy. There are many ways to describe a character that doesn't involve them looking in a mirror, even if you are writing in the grammatical 1st person. Having descriptions that feel like a laundry list, whether physical or clothing, is another tension killer and breaks the reader out of the immersion of the story as they try to play paper dolls with the character. If you really wanted to get across that the character has brown hair in this scene (the scene really should be cut altogether) make a show of maybe her brushing her hair too hard. "The tell-tale tiny snaps of hairs have me grimacing. Looking down, I see a brown spider-like knot freshly torn from my hair. Great."

As mentioned before, the entire scene should be cut. This starts too far away from the conflict, and conflict is what you need to keep a reader interested and a story moving. She is to be interviewing him. Her hair troubles and sick roommate are nowhere near close enough to the inciting incident. The book/fic should start mid-interview or at least in the office.

I hope this was helpful. If you want to request another excerpt of a book that didn't work for you, or something that you really loved and would like to see positively highlighted, I might do some more analyses in the future and would be open to inbox prompts.

[kinardsevan]

I had a whole ass scene written for the next chapter of the devil doesn't bargain that now has to be tabled because this chapter is not going the direction I expected it to.

Oops? Now the entire second half of the chapter has to change.