tinywizardlizard120

[tinywizardlizard120]

Do you have any tips when it comes to writing a dual timeline?

For example: It's the apocalypse. The first chapter starts in the present. Apocalypse in full swing (like day 238 or smth) and then the next chapter jumps to Day 1 to slowly give a gimplse at what happened. Nad somewhere in the middle the timelines "meet" and its just one timeline

How to write dual timelines

Writing a story with dual timelines means that the story is being told from two different perspectives, each happening at another time. The POV can still come from the same person, but often the timelines are being told from the POV of someone else that has a connection to the other timeline and protagonist. The timelines can be only hours apart (often in crime stories) or hundreds of years apart.

When using your example of a few days apart, I would focus on the commonalities and also the differences that can be seen in just the span of a few weeks. How much has changed and what little things have stayed the same and why?

Both timelines need a reason for being used in the story. This structure needs to add depth to the plot and it can be used to reveal plot twists and overall enhance the narrative.

When talking about structure, the stories with dual timelines are often structured in a way that they jump back and forth between the timelines. You can start off by getting the readers invested in one timeline and then start switching it with the other timeline.

The problem with dual timelines can be that readers are more interested in one timeline then the other. So be careful to give both of them a good enough storyline and purpose for the whole story to be interesting and relevant for the reader.

So, the most important thing to remember is to find a good balance and to connect the timelines well enough that the flow seems seamless and it shows why both of the timelines are needed for the whole story to unfold.

Pro tip: Use some aspects (conflict, interests, worries, places, etc.) that are going on in both stories and when switching to the other timeline, carry whatever the first protagonist was doing or thinking over to the second protagonist.

- Jana

[tinywizardlizard120]

First Kisses

The first kiss between two characters.

an accidental kiss

kissing as a dare

finally kissing, after a long time of pining

a surprise kiss, catching one of them off guard

learning how to kiss together

desperately kissing, being in danger

kissing as part of a game

movie kiss/kissing while acting

kissing in the heat of the moment

a soft and unsure kiss

kissing to prove a point

at first a gentle kiss, getting deeper and deeper

winning and a kiss as a reward

kissing to try it out

laughing while kissing

a breathless kiss

kissing as a distraction

a kiss on the corner of the mouth

smiling while softly kissing, finally showing their love

First Kiss Prompts | Kisses Masterpost

[tinywizardlizard120]

What is... Plot Bunny?

There are two different things that are called plot bunnies.

Plot bunnies can be story ideas that don't leave an writer's brain (gnawing at it like rabbits do) until they get written down.

It also refers to writers having multiple ideas at once that basically multiply like rabbits.

[tinywizardlizard120]

Let that WIP in your folder become a short story. Don't feel pressured to create three part novels out of every idea you have. Let the story tell you how much space it needs to play out.

[tinywizardlizard120]

One thing I’ve learned since I’ve started writing fanfiction is that it’s a bad idea to give readers an update schedule, unless you’ve prewritten the entire thing. It will be much harder to deal with burnout, as you’ll be three times as guilty.

[tinywizardlizard120]

love 2 see discourse about fic authors writing anal sex "wrong" and coming in with first hand (or second hand or ??? accounts) about how it ACTUALLY works as if there is not natural variation in how people practice and enjoy sex.

"they always leave out the cleaning!" RIP, but some people go nasty and like it. yes this includes rimming.

"no one actually does fingering first!" sorry, honey, YOU have never fucked someone who fingered you first

alternately, "with no prep??" mhm yeah some people are just living like that

"no lube??"/"spit as lube??" literally more prevalent than the magical lube stashed in every nearby drawer/glove compartment/pocket

"there's WAY too much emphasis on anal sex in slash fics, people don't actually do it that much, it's too much work" please refer to the guys fucking nasty with no prep in a bathroom stall for more information. they've done zero work.

"actually you need condoms even if you're clean & monogamous to prevent UTIs/mess" please explain to me the HERCULEAN efforts it took to get people to use condoms during the AIDS crisis if they were already using them anyway

"women writing fic don't know how to write anal" I should not have to explain that the vagina is in addition to, not instead of, the asshole

anyway, let's just agree that fic is not sex ed and there are plenty of people out there fucking in ways that you would personally hate

[tinywizardlizard120]

Daydreaming is an important part of writing. Even without words pouring out onto paper, you're still the author of stories.

[tinywizardlizard120]

What is... Deus Ex Machina?

Deus ex machina refers to a scenario that seems impossible for the character to believably get themself out of. It's an unsolvable problem that suddenly gets solved by external forces that often don't seem very plausible.

This could be a situation where the author wrote themself into a corner and created a scenario that the character is not logically getting out of.

It can be a simple but implausible solution like a bomb is about to go off and a background character trips over a cable that diffuses the bomb. Or in its literal translation ("god out of the machine") it's a god-like intervention that suddenly fixes everything. Often used to save characters from their otherwise inevitable death.

[tinywizardlizard120]

when fanfic authors say that they don’t decide what happens in the story that the characters make the decisions i imagine it like this:

writer: *sitting down* type type type type *squinting at the screen* type type type

writer: *gasp* WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT…… type type type

[tinywizardlizard120]

Sometimes, fanfiction is carefully plotted out stories, with plot points and call backs and themes that all tie it up in a meaningful and exciting way.

And sometimes fanfiction is, ‘Watch me do a fucking KICK FLIP off this cool sentence!! Also here's some sex'

Both are beautiful forms of writing.

[tinywizardlizard120]

Fandom misogyny is an issue, and I do think that should be acknowledged. It’s definitely gotten better over the years for sure, but it’s still an issue.

But it’s also worth noting that so many female characters who were done dirty by the narrative get to shine in fanfiction. That there are so many authors who take female characters and give them the story they deserve. They allow them to get development, allow them to have complexity, allow them to be more than just a love interest. And I wish more people talked about this.

[tinywizardlizard120]

You know what... I need to start downloading fics from Ao3 when I want to read them. 

[tinywizardlizard120]

[tinywizardlizard120]

Aaaaand AO3 is down once more.

Damn it, how on earth am I supposed to procrastinate doing homework for my master’s program???

[tinywizardlizard120]

I’m glad to see someone properly defining dead dove. A lot of authors take it to mean that it’s content with anything slightly dark.

What is... dead dove?

Dead dove, do not eat - this is often found in the tags or the notes of a fanfiction. It is basically a warning sign.

What the author means with this is that the reader should take a closer look at the title, the summary and the other tags, because what they can see there is exactly what's going to happen in the story. These stories mostly contain themes that are sensitive or can be disturbing for a reader.

It's an author's way of saying: "I tagged what's going to happen in the story, so don't be surprised if those things happen."

[tinywizardlizard120]

As a fellow writer, I must ask, how do you cope with low motivation and burnout? Maybe you don't deal with it as often as others, so perhaps you're not the person to ask, but I dunno. Personally, I have ADD, and burnout is quite frequent and difficult to manage.

This post might help with some of what you’re looking for; I don’t have ADHD myself so I have tossed a similar question to my friend dove in the past.

For me it’s about learning to be okay with “fallow periods.” If I’m burning out, it’s probably because I’ve put out so much content that I’m scraping the bottom of the barrel. Or it might be that other aspects of my life are exhausting me in other ways.

Either way, the best approach I’ve found is finding new media to consume and get engrossed in; I’ll naturally start wanting to create for different things and then I usually also am able to return to old projects as well with renewed energy. Creating is my core; I think a lot of us are scared to take breaks because if we stop creating, aren’t we losing that element to our identities? But I don’t think that’s the case. It’s who I am, so even if there’s a low tide to my creativity, it’ll come back.

In the meanwhile I try not to stress about it too much because resting while worrying about resting makes shitty rest indeed.

[tinywizardlizard120]

You Won’t BELIEVE How Many Em-Dashes Local Writer Can Squeeze Into One 5K Word Fic