I feel like I, as a writer, haven’t changed at all; then I’ll reread one of my old stories from 2011 and realize oh I have changed so so so much
I open up my WIP, I change one word to italicized, I do no additional writing, I close the WIP. all in a day's work!
What its like having too many AUs and they're all WIPs.
Everything is weird and nothing is ever finished.
I know I'm not a popular fic author and the characters and pairs I write fic for aren't popular, but I just want to make a statement of open permission:
If you like my stories and want to do fan art of them, make playlists, mood boards, translate them into other languages, or do dramatic readings, please feel free to -JUST PLEASE CREDIT ME AND LINK BACK TO MY FIC! And tell me, so I can also promote you on my Tumblr!
And I have the same message posted to my AO3-
Just give credit and link back to my original fic. (Linking back to my original fic is very important to me, especially for translations or mood boards, so people can understand the original context.)
And tell me you're doing it so I can advertise you on my Tumblr.
(this post inspired by the weird ranty post from another author who was pissed that someone had translated their fics into other languages and did credit them as the original author, but they were mad about it...?)
"I've written 5 words, haven't posted it, and told no one about the fic, WHY IS NO ONE COMMENTING!?"
Writing a chapter that focuses on characters you don't care about is like pulling teeth.
For someone who writes such trashy fan fic, I sure am picky about what I read.
I’m, working on the last chapter of my current fic and am suffering the worst case of writing constipation. It’s not writer’s block. I know exactly what I want to write and how I wanna write it. But then I’ll be starting at my word document like- “events transpired. THE END”
Ugh... I got an idea for another looo~oong fic. But when I started writing it, all I got is a prolog that works better as a one-shot without context or follow up.
Most of my writing has been like that recently. What is wrong with me?
Is it burn-out? It is 2020? Is it the vengeful spirits of all my previous WIPs come to kill me?
I need to come to terms with the fact that I am an angst peddler and I'm just incapable of writing humor
A couple seconds ago, I reblogged this post by @writing-with-olive for how to begin stories. It’s solid advice and I highly recommend it.
But it also prompted me to go back over my own stories and see how I started them, because -to be completely honest- I don’t actually know how I begin.
These are the beginnings from my most popular (most Bookmarked) and completed fics on AO3:
- “Happiness is a Warm Crossbow” (Sky High)
- “Under a Green Hood” (Zootopia)
- “Dog People” (Young Justice [cartoon])
- “The Way Things Are” (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power)
So, proven in practice. It works. You should totally follow it. Each one of these fics begins with a character doing something. It does not begin with “the”, or “it”. (”It” is another one I see a lot of people struggling with when they being stories. “It was a dark and stormy night...” “It was a warm spring day...”)
Begin with a character.
Settings and plot can come later. Make it about a person, because you are a person. Write what you know and the rest will fall into place.
Funny how I always say “my WIP” instead of “one of my many WIPs of which I work on, on and off without ever finishing any of them”.
Me: *ignores open word document on my computer for days*
Me: *sits down*
Me: *closes document*
Me: *opens document*
Me: *writes one sentence* “Whoo. I got so much work done on this WIP!”
Any time I get in a writing funk I remind myself that it took me three years to finish first fic I ever wrote. But it still got finished. I have to forcibly remind myself that it’s okay to take breaks because any time I do take a writing break, I feel so guilty that it actually makes my funk worse and the hiatus longer.
She thinks she’s the writer
Is this writers’ block, or deadline anxiety block?
Me: *updates fic*
Me: *waits*
Me: *waits*
Me: *continues to wait*
*someone posts a comment*
Me: *vibrates with excitement!*