williamwonderland - Tumblr blog

[williamwonderland]

Ref Recs for Whump Writers

Violence: A Writer’s Guide:  This is not about writing technique. It is an introduction to the world of violence. To the parts that people don’t understand. The parts that books and movies get wrong. Not just the mechanics, but how people who live in a violent world think and feel about what they do and what they see done.

Hurting Your Characters: HURTING YOUR CHARACTERS discusses the immediate effect of trauma on the body, its physiologic response, including the types of nerve fibers and the sensations they convey, and how injuries feel to the character. This book also presents a simplified overview of the expected recovery times for the injuries discussed in young, otherwise healthy individuals.

Body Trauma: A writer’s guide to wounds and injuries. Body Trauma explains what happens to body organs and bones maimed by accident or intent and the small window of opportunity for emergency treatment. Research what happens in a hospital operating room and the personnel who initiate treatment. Use these facts to bring added realism to your stories and novels.

10 B.S. Medical Tropes that Need to Die TODAY…and What to Do Instead: Written by a paramedic and writer with a decade of experience, 10 BS Medical Tropes covers exactly that: clichéd and inaccurate tropes that not only ruin books, they have the potential to hurt real people in the real world. 

Maim Your Characters: How Injuries Work in Fiction: Increase Realism. Raise the Stakes. Tell Better Stories. Maim Your Characters is the definitive guide to using wounds and injuries to their greatest effect in your story. Learn not only the six critical parts of an injury plot, but more importantly, how to make sure that the injury you’re inflicting matters. 

Blood on the Page: This handy resource is a must-have guide for writers whose characters live on the edge of danger. If you like easy-to-follow tools, expert opinions from someone with firsthand knowledge, and you don’t mind a bit of fictional bodily harm, then you’ll love Samantha Keel’s invaluable handbook

[williamwonderland]

How I learned to write smarter, not harder

(aka, how to write when you're hella ADHD lol)

A reader commented on my current long fic asking how I write so well. I replied with an essay of my honestly pretty non-standard writing advice (that they probably didn't actually want lol) Now I'm gonna share it with you guys and hopefully there's a few of you out there who will benefit from my past mistakes and find some useful advice in here. XD Since I started doing this stuff, which are all pretty easy changes to absorb into your process if you want to try them, I now almost never get writer's block.

The text of the original reply is indented, and I've added some additional commentary to expand upon and clarify some of the concepts.

As for writing well, I usually attribute it to the fact that I spent roughly four years in my late teens/early 20s writing text roleplay with a friend for hours every single day. Aside from the constant practice that provided, having a live audience immediately reacting to everything I wrote made me think a lot about how to make as many sentences as possible have maximum impact so that I could get that kind of fun reaction. (Which is another reason why comments like yours are so valuable to fanfic writers! <3) The other factors that have improved my writing are thus: 1. Writing nonlinearly. I used to write a whole story in order, from the first sentence onward. If there was a part I was excited to write, I slogged through everything to get there, thinking that it would be my reward once I finished everything that led up to that. It never worked. XD It was miserable. By the time I got to the part I wanted to write, I had beaten the scene to death in my head imagining all the ways I could write it, and it a) no longer interested me and b) could not live up to my expectations because I couldn't remember all my ideas I'd had for writing it. The scene came out mediocre and so did everything leading up to it. Since then, I learned through working on VN writing (I co-own a game studio and we have some visual novels that I write for) that I don't have to write linearly. If I'm inspired to write a scene, I just write it immediately. It usually comes out pretty good even in a first draft! But then I also have it for if I get more ideas for that scene later, and I can just edit them in. The scenes come out MUCH stronger because of this. And you know what else I discovered? Those scenes I slogged through before weren't scenes I had no inspiration for, I just didn't have any inspiration for them in that moment! I can't tell you how many times there was a scene I had no interest in writing, and then a week later I'd get struck by the perfect inspiration for it! Those are scenes I would have done a very mediocre job on, and now they can be some of the most powerful scenes because I gave them time to marinate. Inspiration isn't always linear, so writing doesn't have to be either!

Some people are the type that joyfully write linearly. I have a friend like this--she picks up the characters and just continues playing out the next scene. Her story progresses through the entire day-by-day lives of the characters; it never timeskips more than a few hours. She started writing and posting just eight months ago, she's about an eighth of the way through her planned fic timeline, and the content she has so far posted to AO3 for it is already 450,000 words long. But most of us are normal humans. We're not, for the most part, wired to create linearly. We consume linearly, we experience linearly, so we assume we must also create linearly. But actually, a lot of us really suffer from trying to force ourselves to create this way, and we might not even realize it. If you're the kind of person who thinks you need to carrot-on-a-stick yourself into writing by saving the fun part for when you finally write everything that happens before it: Stop. You're probably not a linear writer. You're making yourself suffer for no reason and your writing is probably suffering for it. At least give nonlinear writing a try before you assume you can't write if you're not baiting or forcing yourself into it!! Remember: Writing is fun. You do this because it's fun, because it's your hobby. If you're miserable 80% of the time you're doing it, you're probably doing it wrong!

2. Rereading my own work. I used to hate reading my own work. I wouldn't even edit it usually. I would write it and slap it online and try not to look at it again. XD Writing nonlinearly forced me to start rereading because I needed to make sure scenes connected together naturally and it also made it easier to get into the headspace of the story to keep writing and fill in the blanks and get new inspiration. Doing this built the editing process into my writing process--I would read a scene to get back in the headspace, dislike what I had written, and just clean it up on the fly. I still never ever sit down to 'edit' my work. I just reread it to prep for writing and it ends up editing itself. Many many scenes in this fic I have read probably a dozen times or more! (And now, I can actually reread my own work for enjoyment!) Another thing I found from doing this that it became easy to see patterns and themes in my work and strengthen them. Foreshadowing became easy. Setting up for jokes or plot points became easy. I didn't have to plan out my story in advance or write an outline, because the scenes themselves because a sort of living outline on their own. (Yes, despite all the foreshadowing and recurring thematic elements and secret hidden meanings sprinkled throughout this story, it actually never had an outline or a plan for any of that. It's all a natural byproduct of writing nonlinearly and rereading.)

Unpopular writing opinion time: You don't need to make a detailed outline.

Some people thrive on having an outline and planning out every detail before they sit down to write. But I know for a lot of us, we don't know how to write an outline or how to use it once we've written it. The idea of making one is daunting, and the advice that it's the only way to write or beat writer's block is demoralizing. So let me explain how I approach "outlining" which isn't really outlining at all.

I write in a Notion table, where every scene is a separate table entry and the scene is written in the page inside that entry. I do this because it makes writing nonlinearly VASTLY more intuitive and straightforward than writing in a single document. (If you're familiar with Notion, this probably makes perfect sense to you. If you're not, imagine something a little like a more contained Google Sheets, but every row has a title cell that opens into a unique Google Doc when you click on it. And it's not as slow and clunky as the Google suite lol) (Edit from the future: I answered an ask with more explanation on how I use Notion for non-linear writing here.) When I sit down to begin a new fic idea, I make a quick entry in the table for every scene I already know I'll want or need, with the entries titled with a couple words or a sentence that describes what will be in that scene so I'll remember it later. Basically, it's the most absolute bare-bones skeleton of what I vaguely know will probably happen in the story.

Then I start writing, wherever I want in the list. As I write, ideas for new scenes and new connections and themes will emerge over time, and I'll just slot them in between the original entries wherever they naturally fit, rearranging as necessary, so that I won't forget about them later when I'm ready to write them. As an example, my current long fic started with a list of roughly 35 scenes that I knew I wanted or needed, for a fic that will probably be around 100k words (which I didn't know at the time haha). As of this writing, it has expanded to 129 scenes. And since I write them directly in the page entries for the table, the fic is actually its own outline, without any additional effort on my part. As I said in the comment reply--a living outline!

This also made it easier to let go of the notion that I had to write something exactly right the first time. (People always say you should do this, but how many of us do? It's harder than it sounds! I didn't want to commit to editing later! I didn't want to reread my work! XD) I know I'm going to edit it naturally anyway, so I can feel okay giving myself permission to just write it approximately right and I can fix it later. And what I found from that was that sometimes what I believed was kind of meh when I wrote it was actually totally fine when I read it later! Sometimes the internal critic is actually wrong. 3. Marinating in the headspace of the story. For the first two months I worked on [fic], I did not consume any media other than [fandom the fic is in]. I didn't watch, read, or play anything else. Not even mobile games. (And there wasn't really much fan content for [fandom] to consume either. Still isn't, really. XD) This basically forced me to treat writing my story as my only source of entertainment, and kept me from getting distracted or inspired to write other ideas and abandon this one.

As an aside, I don't think this is a necessary step for writing, but if you really want to be productive in a short burst, I do highly recommend going on a media consumption hiatus. Not forever, obviously! Consuming media is a valuable tool for new inspiration, and reading other's work (both good and bad, as long as you think critically to identify the differences!) is an invaluable resource for improving your writing.

When I write, I usually lay down, close my eyes, and play the scene I'm interested in writing in my head. I even take a ten-minute nap now and then during this process. (I find being in a state of partial drowsiness, but not outright sleepiness, makes writing easier and better. Sleep helps the brain process and make connections!) Then I roll over to the laptop next to me and type up whatever I felt like worked for the scene. This may mean I write half a sentence at a time between intervals of closed-eye-time XD

People always say if you're stuck, you need to outline.

What they actually mean by that (whether they realize it or not) is that if you're stuck, you need to brainstorm. You need to marinate. You don't need to plan what you're doing, you just need to give yourself time to think about it!

What's another framing for brainstorming for your fic? Fantasizing about it! Planning is work, but fantasizing isn't.

You're already fantasizing about it, right? That's why you're writing it. Just direct that effort toward the scenes you're trying to write next! Close your eyes, lay back, and fantasize what the characters do and how they react.

And then quickly note down your inspirations so you don't forget, haha.

And if a scene is so boring to you that even fantasizing about it sucks--it's probably a bad scene.

If it's boring to write, it's going to be boring to read. Ask yourself why you wanted that scene. Is it even necessary? Can you cut it? Can you replace it with a different scene that serves the same purpose but approaches the problem from a different angle? If you can't remove the troublesome scene, what can you change about it that would make it interesting or exciting for you to write?

And I can't write sitting up to save my damn life. It's like my brain just stops working if I have to sit in a chair and stare at a computer screen. I need to be able to lie down, even if I don't use it! Talking walks and swinging in a hammock are also fantastic places to get scene ideas worked out, because the rhythmic motion also helps our brain process. It's just a little harder to work on a laptop in those scenarios. XD

In conclusion: Writing nonlinearly is an amazing tool for kicking writer's block to the curb. There's almost always some scene you'll want to write. If there isn't, you need to re-read or marinate.

Or you need to use the bathroom, eat something, or sleep. XD Seriously, if you're that stuck, assess your current physical condition. You might just be unable to focus because you're uncomfortable and you haven't realized it yet.

Anyway! I hope that was helpful, or at least interesting! XD Sorry again for the text wall. (I think this is the longest comment reply I've ever written!)

And same to you guys on tumblr--I hope this was helpful or at least interesting. XD Reblogs appreciated if so! (Maybe it'll help someone else!)

[williamwonderland]

Sometimes a creative outlet is a fun little hobby and sometimes it's a lifelong affliction. Like I crochet because making little woven animals sparks joy and I'm a writer whether I like it or not because I'm tormented by visions

[williamwonderland]

I AM MOVING!!!!!!!!!

hiiihihihi everyone! so something CRAZY happened and i suddenly got the oppurtunity to move to a major city! theres gonna be a lot more oppurtunities for both me n my fiance up there AND wages will be higher AND my rent will be cheaper, which meansssss i'll have funds to make more merch for my store

HOWEVER!

this is going to be Very Expensive and like- we r gonna have to downsize a LOT in a VERY short amount of time (my lease is up early july) so that'll net us some money, but its still a lot of cash in very little time SO my fiance set up a kofi goal 4 some help if any of u could spare a couple bucks i would really appreciate it!!

if u want something in return i DO have 3 commission slots open (for 3 cents a word) and u can dm me if u want a lil microfic or smth. we can work smth out!!!

[williamwonderland]

girl help i’m having creation ideas above my skill level

[williamwonderland]

To be honest, it rather disliked how it was referred to by the humans who raised it. It was such an objectifying term. It implied that it was worth less than the humans that spoke of it. It hurt its feelings, not that it was supposed to have them.

[williamwonderland]

His muscles screamed at the strain of dragging himself this way, and his back screamed harder tenfold. Every twist in direction, every tug as his limp legs slid uselessly across the carpet, it all sent that searing pain all up and down his spine. He wanted to cry, but clenched his jaw tighter. He couldn't give Shizu-chan any clues to where he was or what condition he was in.

*This fic was posted via my IzamationBroker pseud. Check out my Durarara!! side blog @izamationbroker!

[williamwonderland]

I have truly so much fic to post, man...

[williamwonderland]

About time I reblogged this again but with the updated information since Tumblr's Javascript ban has broken my original commissions page. Fun!

Check out my most up-to-date writing commission details here!

Flash fiction pieces are 300-500 word works set at a flat rate regardless of length. If the finished piece ends up over the agreed upon word count, you won’t be charged extra! Whatever the word count ends up being, you’ll only pay the sale price of $10!

Flash fiction is SFW only. Links to a list of fandoms I write for, a topics blacklist, and my means of contact if you’re interested will be down below!

SFW pieces are up to 5000 words, and start at a rate of $15 per 1000 words. Once you hit 3000 words, the price after that goes up. Pieces beyond 3000 words are $15 per 1000 words for the first 3000 words, and then an extra $5 for every 1000 words after that.

So, for example, a 5000 word piece will be $45 for the first 3000 and then $40 dollars for the other 2000, making the total $85.

As with Flash Fiction, if the finished piece ends up over the agreed upon word count, you won’t be charged extra! Links to a list of fandoms I write for, a topics blacklist, and my means of contact if you’re interested will be down below!

If you’re interested, you can message me here on Tumblr, or find me on Twitter or Instagram! I also have an Etsy shop, with dedicated listings for writing commissions if you’d rather go through there. You can also use Ko-fi to commission me, or simply to donate if you’d like! Be sure to check out my fandoms list and my topics blacklist before you message me!

If I can figure it out, I'd love to set up a Patreon sort of thing one day for the work I do on my own time, too! Thanks for tuning in!

[williamwonderland]

Reblog if you’re over 20 and still read/write fan fiction.

I’m curious!

[williamwonderland]

@Fanfic writers:

My friend send me this link, is a series on a profile on Ao3 (tumblr) that has different tutorials to insert things to fanfics via html code, I thought I would share bc it’s really cool

Lists of tutorials:

How to make images fit in mobile browsers

This is a tutorial/live example on how to make large images fit on mobile browsers but remain normal size on desktop browsers.

How to mimic letters, fliers, and stationery without using images

This is a tutorial/live example on how to mimic the look of letters, fliers, and stationery (as well as other forms of written media) without using images. For all your epistolary fic needs.

How to make a “choose your own adventure” Fic

This is a tutorial/live example on how to create a "Choose Your Own Adventure" fic. While this has been explained before (see here), this particular tutorial shows you how to use a work skin to hide the next parts from the reader until they click through to get to them.

How to make linked footnotes on Ao3

This is a live example of how an author can create linked footnotes in their work with only a little bit of HTML and no workskins required. This is best viewed by clicking "Entire Work". While I've included the actual coding in bold and italic once you click "Hide Creator's Style", there's a more detailed explanation here.

How to change text on Ao3 when the cursor is hovering over it (or clicked on mobile)

This a tutorial/live example on how to have text change or appear once a cursor is hovering over it. Helpful for pop-up spoilers, language translations, quick author's notes, etc.

How to mimic author’s notes and Kudos/Comment buttons

Anonymous on tumblr: do you have a skin that would mimic the author’s notes and review/kudos buttons section from the end of a fic? the desired effect being that the fic could go on after the “end” of the fic, so after the author’s notes and review/kudos buttons

Here's a tutorial/live example to do just that, with some of the buttons actually functioning. I'll explain more inside!

How to wrap text around images

This is a tutorial/live example on how to align images to the left or right of the screen and have text wrap around them.

How to mimic email windows

This is a tutorial/live example on how to mimic email windows on AO3 without the need to use images.

How to make ios text messages on Ao3

This is a tutorial/live example on how to mimic iOS text messages on AO3 without the need to use images. There's also a chapter on how to have emojis displayed on AO3 as well.

How to make Customized page deviders

Bored with the default page dividers? This is a tutorial/live example on how customize your page dividers with no images needed (though I do show you how you could use images if you wanted to do such a thing).

How to make invisible text (That can be highlighted)

This is a live example how to make invisible text that can only be seen by highlighting the text. Tutorial is included in text, and you can always leave comments about questions you may have.

MOBILE USERS: Sadly, this probably won't work for you, since highlighting in a mobile browser is different than web. I've tried correcting this, but have yet to find a solution.

How to make a rounded playlist

Original coding and design is from layouttest. I make no claims for it, just tweaked it so it will work on AO3.

How to create notebook lined paper on Ao3

This is a live example of my AO3 skin that allows the author to recreate the look of lined notebook paper in their work. To learn more about it, you can find the tutorial here.

Sticky notes on Ao3 without using images

This is a live example of my AO3 skin that allows the author to recreate the look of sticky notes (aka Post-Its) in their fic. To learn more about it, you can find the tutorial here.

How to make deadpool’s thinking thinking boxes on Ao3

This is a live example of my AO3 skin that allows the author to recreate the look of Deadpool's thinking boxes in their fic. To learn more about it, you can find the tutorial here.

How to make newspaper articles on Ao3

This is a live example of my AO3 skin that allows the author to recreate the look of a newspaper article in their work. To learn more about it, you can find the tutorial here.

[williamwonderland]

Nope what is this

Dunno what you expected from a months-dead blog

[williamwonderland]

hades explaining that he’s the god of the dead, not the god of death

[williamwonderland]

Resident Minor, How do you Plead

"Do not forget." The booming voice pierced Red in his core and reverberated through his skull. "It is a mercy that we are conducting this in private." 

If Red were to be honest with himself, he almost preferred a crowd. The rows and rows of empty stands seemed to glower down at him with a ferocity only found in Red's own mind, a ferocity so vile and hate-filled that it was too much for any living creature to outwardly display.

But— it was just him and the Control Brains; larger than Red could've ever imagined them to be, their many eyes looking, looking right at Red, right into his bright red eyes, almost as bright as the Brains' illuminated ones. 

"I won't forget, Sirs." 

"Good. Now, the trial may begin." 

Red stood spear-still, looking straight at the Brains— they didn't scare him. If there was one thing he'd learned from the wannabe invader Zim, it was that anyone could believe anything, if only you said it enough times. 

"Irken Red," the left Brain spoke, "Do you know why you are here?"

"I shouldn't exist." Red said, plainly. And why should he get emotional? It was a simple fact of life. The sky is starry. Irk is mighty. Red shouldn't exist.

"Do not say it like that," the right Brain interjected. "You, as you are. I have no problem with you. The problem lies within you."

"My eyes." Red snipped back, as if he'd been talking to a fellow cadet who'd been a little too stare-y, or who had spat at him. 

"Yes," the Brains confirmed. "Your eyes." 

"What about my eyes? So they're red, so what?" 

"They are an imperfection."

Red puffed his chest out a little. "Well, Purple thinks they look nice." 

"The look of them is not the issue," the Left brain said. "It is what they imply."

"What do they imply?! What's wrong with me! Why aren't you telling me anything? What, do you expect me to just stand here and take it? How am I supposed to defend myself?" Red felt as if he were a smeet again; a tiny, insignificant thing on a far-off planet, galaxies away from the glowing lights of Irk, and directly under the bright lights of Medics upon Medics, feeling the prick of sharps on his skin and the prick of his Educator's claws digging into his sides as she picked him up and carted him off to the next doctor, treating him as little more than a small sac of blood to be punctuated and stolen from— his time, his life, his sanity. 

"Are you aware of the Irken smeet facilities?" 

"Yes. I— I am." 

Irk, and all its glorious residential outposts, had one. A fully-automated underground facility, making more and more little futures of the Empire; hundreds per second. With that kind of competition, you were lucky to make it to adulthood. 

"We work very hard to eradicate all genetic imperfections," the left Brain said, "for the future of the empire. However, there are some so rare that we have not been able to eradicate them." 

"Like yours," the right Brain clarified. 

"Mine? I— I'm not imperfect, I— I just have red eyes! It's just red eyes! Honest! N— nothing's wrong with me! I'm perfectly fine!"

"You stutter." 

"So what! So I stutter! I can shoot a gun just fine, a— and that's what I want to do! I want to be an Elite, so wh— why won't you just let me?!" 

"Even the slightest imperfections," the Left brain said, "are impermissible."

"Oh, yeah? Don't think I didn't notice, y— you said 'I' instead of 'we' that one time!" 

"That is different," the left Brain interjected, at what Red swore was a quicker tempo than it was supposed to. "We have gone through your PAK memories. As a smeet, you stuttered so horribly you could not talk at all."

"Y— yeah?" Red's entire form was shaking, his brain screaming at him to quit, quit while you're ahead, what are you doing, how could you possibly think this was a good idea? Nevertheless, Red would die— but he would not die without a fight. "Well, I learned to talk by w— watching Trial recordings. A— and you two do that, a lot. I— it's not just one time." 

The Control Brains, in their infinite wisdom, had gone silent. 

"I get it. Y— you think that just because my eyes are red and I stutter, th— that I'm defective, or something."

"You are insolent," the Left brain said. 

"A— and you're a hypocrite. You're gonna kill me anyway, f— for tainting your precious gene pool, so I'm gonna call you what you are. Hypocrites. D— defective hypocrites. No one's around to hear me, r— right?" 

Silence, once more. The Control Brains stared down at Red with infinite eyes, and even the stars themselves seemed to stare down at him, twinkling like the barrel of a gun pointed right in his face. 

[williamwonderland]

Hey everyone! So a lot has happened, 

@cozymochi and I are planning on moving out together, both for my grad school and to get a better life!

Cozy has hit some hard times and is struggling. You all know her as a talented and knowledgeable artist, I know her as my best friend! 

I’ve seen the hurdles she’s jumped over all by herself to get to where she is today, but she still needs more helping hands to post more art and reach a point where she can be safe and happy! 

Unfortunately I can’t go too deep into personal matters and she’s too shy to do this herself, but she’s an artist who has made some really awesome animatics on top of other fan arts (and some original stuff in development between us! oooo!) 

If you can, please donate to https://ko-fi.com/cozymochi 

Everything counts, so please help an artist in need! 

[williamwonderland]

My only real and valid writing tip is that you google every word you make up for your fantasy stories. That's It

[williamwonderland]

Oh my gosh. I just found this website that walks you though creating a believable society. It breaks each facet down into individual questions and makes it so simple! It seems really helpful for worldbuilding!