No.256
>>255I would love to read it nona! I have mixed feelings with Saya no Uta tbh so I'm very curious for a BL fic
No.257
>>255I would also love to read this, pls give happy ending and buttseck 4 Fuminori <3
No.258
>>255>It's at 6k words, but every time I go back to look at it I feel like my writing skills aren't good enough to convey the story I want to tell.I know how that feels. Let it motivate you to continue and to edit and to make this the best story you can. Don't let it make you delete your work or throw it in the writer's graveyard, though- that's always the trouble with this feel.
I hope you share with us when you finish it!
No.260
>>254I've been working on a Griffguts fic for almost two months now. Not because it's especially ambitious or anything, it's just a smutfic, but it's been taking me forever to even get to the smut, let alone finish it. I've been somewhat discontent with my writing to the point I scrapped like 2.6k words of my initial attempt on it. I don't dislike what I have this time as much as I disliked the previous iteration, but I'm still fairly slow and inconsistent with working on it. I just want to finish it so I can finally get to proofreading and see if I can make myself actually come to like it through editing. Hate that it's taking me so long.
>>255The struggle is real, anon. I wish you luck!
No.261
>>260ohh I like that ship. Would you be comfortable sharing a paragraph or two?
No.264
>>263I really like your characterization of Griffith. And yo, I love those /ex/ subjects. I always forget that it's not the norm because I hang with too many oddball fujos hah.
Anyway, thanks for sharing, really hope you post it on ao3 some day (or wherever else you like to post your works).
No.266
>>265Aha, I bet you're from the band thread. Do tell about what you've got planned and all, what are the chapters and the overall summary about?
No.267
>>263>non-con somnophilia.Neat, I'm writing a fic like that too but for Silent Hill 4.
No.268
>>266Lol yeah that's me! I just found this place last night so I ended up posting all over the place kek. A little embarrassing but I'm working thru it lol cringe is dead right?
So before the story stuff a little backstory on the Beatles: 1964 was a big year for them, they had their first number one in America and performed on the Ed Sullivan Show in Feb '64 which primed the British Invasion in general. They had their official tour in the US later that year in Aug-Sept and if you're a tinhatter it's rife with McLennon sexual tension. There's footage of John openly checking out Paul's ass during a press conference, they got stuck in Key West, FL due to a hurricane and said they loved each other, there's tons of eye fucking, etc. Picrel is right after Key West and as you can see Paul doesn't give a fuck about John's personal space. Lots of fun stuff to play around with if you're so inclined, they were very close and very intense about each other.
The story: At one of their concerts right before they leave for the US, there is a power outage that causes Paul McCartney to collapse and have a seizure. In the chaos, he is separated from the group and has to fight his way back to them over the course of three days. Once he comes back, he and John make love for the first time and the Beatles leave for the US two weeks later. (Reasoning being that they need to get out of the UK.) As the US tour wears on, Paul begins getting sick: nausea and vomiting, sudden aversions to foods he used to enjoy, exhaustion etc… It doesn't go away as time passes and Paul discovers that he is pregnant and the baby is John's. How on earth did this happen?…
It's not an a/b/o story, nothing against them I just don't read them and they're not very interesting to me. For me mpreg is a lot more fun when you have to figure out a new solution for the pregnancy. I've had a lot of fun with this story.
No.269
>>268I like the idea of it. How are you going to deal with mpreg? Because that's always a mystery to me. Even with ABO I barely understand because the birth scenes are kinda glossed over.
Also these images are cute and I like their expressions! Seems like you've really go in depth with what you want to write. Now to get you to write it lol.
No.270
>>258>I know how that feels. Let it motivate you to continue and to edit and to make this the best story you can. Don't let it make you delete your work or throw it in the writer's graveyard, though- that's always the trouble with this feel. >I hope you share with us when you finish it!I'll try to, this thread has gave me the motivation to pick it back up again tonight. I really struggle with writing dialogue so when I go back through my works I always second guess how naturally my story and characterization flow. I feel my characters end up drier than I would like. Part of it is probably due to Asperger's, but also just inexperience. I've published 12 oneshots, but most of my longer works collect dust on my laptop since I feel like I end up seconding guessing myself during the process and need to shelve it until I've "gained more experience." This is undoubtedly detrimental.
I'm the most passionate about this Saya no Uta one, it's the oldest and have spent the longest time story crafting it, so I really do want to finish it. Especially since I have all the story beats planned.
I'll keep the thread posted as I work on it. I will not let this rarepair go unwritten!
>>263Seconding that Griffith is good here, I don't mind a bit of slow-burn characterization before the smut in stories so that's a plus for me.
No.276
>>270You don't need experience to write nonna. Hell, I've got 40-something fics and a lot of the old ones suck but, you just grow and grow and it builds confidence to get things out there.
>I'm the most passionate about this Saya no Uta one, it's the oldest and have spent the longest time story crafting it, so I really do want to finish it.Then you gotta. Adding a random Ed and Al piece of art I like. I'm glad this thread makes you feel encouraged.
I mostly made it because I'm so lazy with my own stuff, it helps to see what other people are up to and talking to other writers who are excited about what they do is motivating I think.
No.278
>>269ah i'm glad you like it…I do have a plan for the mpreg that I think is pretty soud but beatles fandom is pretty small so I worry about someone realizing this is me and lifting my idea so I'm wary of sharing too much. I have decided though that since this is a more grounded story that understanding why the pregnancy is happening should be the a plot and I plan for a pretty intense birth lol.
they are both very hot and cute together, its good fodder for anyone who likes yaoi kekeke
I actually feel motivated to write now…thanks thread!
No.288
Yuletide is coming up very soon! Did any nonas nominate their rare fandoms this year? Do any of you plan on signing up? If so, what are you requesting?
This'll be my third year doing Yuletide, and as usual I've got a full slate of videogame-related M/M to request!
No.289
>>288dumb question but what is yuletide?
No.292
>>289Basically rarepair/rare fandom gift exchanges. You make request and then are given a request to fulfill.
No.293
>>292Sounds interesting, it's an Ao3 thing, right?
No.300
>>297Looks like the nominations are closed for the year
I guess I'll participate next one
No.307
>>263I was able to finish this! I linked it in the Ao3/Fic thread, if you'd like to read it. Thanks for all the motivation.
>>267Same hat, lol. Good luck!
No.313
>>300Totally understandable
For anyone else, the tagset is available now if you want to look through it to see if you can cobble something together for when signups open on the 14th
https://archiveofourown.org/tag_sets/12720 No.404
I'm working on something that's supposed to just be a one-shot but man, it's a struggle. I had the idea for one specific scene I really wanted to do, and I've got that done and am pretty happy with it, but I'm just having an awful time getting the rest of the fic (the parts leading up to the scene) finished. It's honestly driving me nuts.
No.405
>>404What's it about? If you're still around, lemme know, would love to beta
No.409
>>405Oh! I actually ended up finishing it. It was a Berserk fic, I wanted to do a little something with Griffith feeling a tiny bit remorseful after finally having Falconia. Just super light pining for Guts/guilt for the Eclipse + Slan coming around to prey on those feelings and push his buttons and make him angry at himself for still feeling anything at all.
Thank you for the beta offer, though! Whenever I start working on something else I'll def post it here to get looked over.
No.448
I've been on a strong wave of nostalgia lately and i'm drafting a short D.gray-man pwp with Lavi and Kanda. I'm not into the source material anymore but the ships mean so much to me still, and I feel like the tags are lacking in quality. Mostly I wanted to challenge myself and see if I could write a decent pwp without resorting to cliché dialogue and as IC as possible. Got very motivated to give it a try after reading nonnies on the AO3 thread talking about overused dialogue in pwps.
Hopefully I can make it work, i'll do my best.
No.449
>>448Good luck dude! I hope it comes out just how you want it. I never got into D gray man but the main character always struck me as cute. Maybe I should try again.
No.450
>>449Thank you!!!
Yeah the d.gure manga is definitely no masterpiece, the plot gets progressively convoluted, but it has very charming characters, especially the main cast. It's an entertaining read despite its flaws.
No.452
>>288Would February be an appropriate time to overhaul your entire Yuletide fic with a new title and 2k more words without anyone getting suspicious? I already got a warning for the original author's note and I'm definitely not participating again so I suppose it wouldn't matter if they banned me for it. I think I need some weight off my mind before I can face editing and finishing the parts that weren't ready at the deadline.
No.454
>>452If you're fine with being banned, go for it whenever. A bunch of recipients feel entitled to their fics, but ultimately a fic belongs to her author. As such, she has the right to do whatever she wants with it. I hope you have fun with editing if you decide to you through with it, nona! <3
No.456
>>455>sharing snippets of fics anonymously for future sharing purposesPastebin is perfect for this. You can post your shit unlisted or password-protected. Can set your posts to "expire" directly after they're read or after a certain amount of time, too. It is a very powerful tool.
I respect you for writing the ultra-specific content you want to see for a dead fandom. Godspeed, nona, may your boy continue to get pummeled. o7
No.457
>>455I remember feeling so frustated when the 1st season of the anime came out and fanart didn't increase as much as I expected. Anyways, good luck with that fic.
No.458
>>456ᕦ(ò_óˇ) Thanks noni. i tested Pastebin and it's gr8, justpasteit seems to be a neat option too, i think i'll use both.
>>457Yeah. After the end of the prologue i got so fucking hungry for yaoi of this shit and, my god the pixiv and ao3 tags are disappointing (for any character or ship that doesn't involve Canute at least). I want to write some Askeladd/Thorfinn too if my brain cooperates enough, i wasn't expecting to love their unique relationship so much.
I'm not sure if I'll finish this btw but i felt like sharing a couple paragraphs for a short while.
Context is set during Farm arc but with the concept of Thorfinn never meeting Einar, thus never getting out of his depression hole. It is a mob fic so there's dubcon and porn ahead.
https://pastebin.com/L5frazpJ No.459
>>458It's a very short snippet so I can't really say much, but I do like what I saw. The dialogue in that second paragraph especially… duhehuhuhehgehe ψ(｀∇´)ψ
Keep writing, anon!
No.461
So what exciting writing related things did people get up to in the downtime?
I wrote a LoZ fanfic and started working/brainstorming a Pinocchio-themed BL story.
No.462
>>461Just started the rough draft of a father/son incest fic I'm working on. Since I'm still in the brainstorming phase, it's been slow going.
>Pinocchio-themed BL storyThat sounds really cute, nonnie.
No.463
>>461I just started drafting out a cringe arranged marriage/medieval au
No.465
>>461i started like, a million persona-related drafts, finished almost none of them, rewatched the sw prequels and started brainstorming overly-ambitious obikin wips, annnd i thought about writing for a few survival horror fandoms again. so, in conclusion, i finished nothing.
your projects sound really fun, nonna. i like the sound of a bl take on pinnochio.
>>462>father/son incestooh, what’s the pairing? i’m always a slut for a good father/son ship.
No.466
>>461newfag here apologies for anything newfaggy
i've been writing some baki bl and x reader cause the fandom is dry, napoleonic bl and a jotakak fanfic with a wong kar-wai aesthetic. all of em are drafts
i need to write more fanfics in french cause i need to practice frogspeak more
No.467
>>466Baki as in Baki the Grappler or a different series? Interesting fandom list nonna, I appreciate people who produce content for smaller series.
Out of curiosity do you post all your fics regardless of language on Ao3, or is there a French fanfic site you use?
No.468
>>467yep baki the grappler.
>I appreciate people who produce content for smaller series. thank you nona
i post all my fics on ao3. the french language drought in ao3 is tolerable at best. when i feel like a fic of mines is relativey tame, i post it on wattpad 'cause i love the attention.
No.469
>>461I was working on a fic set in the Victorian era
(kuroshitsuji) but my ESL ass just can't into 19th century prose. I guess the prose doesn't have to be written like it was actually written a hundred years ago, but I at least want the dialogue to sound accurate to that time period.
So I've been reading 19th century literature to try and get a feel for their style of writing and I think I'm starting to understand, kind of. The downside is I've lost interest in the fic I was originally writing and now I want to write fanfic for the books I've read kek
No.470
>>469which 19th century literature have you been reading, nonna? i’m kind of a lit nerd (who’s also guilty of writing fanfic for it kek) so i’m kinda curious.
No.472
>>470I've mostly been reading English translations of Dostoevski novels. Brothers Karamazov, Notes from the Underground, and the Idiot are the ones I've read so far. I wasn't expecting
this but everything Dostoevski writes is so painfully homoerotic kek. The male characters keep professing their undying love and loyalty to eachother. Dostoevski can keep sprinkling in as many tsundere female love interests as he wants but nothing will ever convince me that two men kissing eachother on the mouth is 'platonic' and 'brotherly' kek. I wanted to see if I'm the only one with fujo brainrot or if there are other Dostoevski fujos out there, so I checked ao3 but most of the fics were either gen or m/f. The few m/m fics were either in Russian or Chinese.
I've also just started reading A Study in Scarlet. Looking forward to getting to the authentic Victorian homo experience kek
No.473
>>465>what’s the pairing?Mashio Gaku and Mashio Harumi from Nine Peaks. It's a manga about a high school delinquent who, after attending the wake of his father, slips back in time and meets up with his 16 year old dad. It's not a typical father/son ship considering the time travel shenanigans but it's a fun little ship.
No.474
>>461a month ago I started writing a tf2 demoman/engineer slowburn fic. i was on a roll, but since then I've kinda slowed down a bit. Been doing research on certain aspects of their backgrounds. Writing fanfic off the top of your head is fun, but for me personally I like to do research on the stuff I want to write about.
No.475
>>474Great underrated TF2 ship nonna!
Top of your head is fine for a fic under 5k, but once you start writing a multi-chaptered story the reader will reslly notice the time-qnd-effort the research yielded.
No.476
>>472ahh you’ve picked good books, nonna! you should def get around to crime and punishment too if you feel like it later (assuming you haven’t already, since you didn’t mention it). raskolnikov and razumikhin provide some prime fujo fodder, even by dostoevksy standards.
i can also appreciate your choice of a study in scarlet. bbc sherlock is for plebs; real fujos go right to the source kek. it’ll also probably be a really good reference for the sort of language you’re looking for.
godspeed on your victorian fic writing journey, nonna!
No.477
>>476Thanks nonna!
And I'm definitely planning on reading Crime and Punishment once I get my hands on a copy. I'm more motivated than ever to read it now that I know it has more overt fujo fodder kek
No.478
>>461I never finished the birthday fic I was posting about here. I tried writing some other things and ended up with a paragraph at most. I did however make up some stupid elaborate AUs and at least told some small portion of them to people in a chat group, but it's been over a month since I updated them and it's gone so far from where I got to I've lost the order of events already. I wish I could write down plans of things when I make them instead of just storing it in my head and inevitably losing the finer details. I think I'm just hopeless at productivity.
No.479
So I've been writing a BL fanfic for a semi-popular fandom, and I wanna post it, but I'm so nervous. I actually used to post fanfics all the time a decade ago (I'm old, kek), and I used to have no trouble at all posting them. I would just throw the fic out there to the world and be cool with it. But I haven't posted anything in forever, and even though I wanna post on AO3, I'm super nervous. I guess it's because I'm worried at how people will react to my fic, and that I have too high expectations of myself. I don't even want my fic to get popular or anything, I just wrote it because I love the fandom, but I'm still psyching myself out soo bad. Can anyone relate to this? I know I'm being ridiculous, but if anyone has any tips or ideas I'd be grateful.
No.480
>>479You aren't alone!
>I'm worried at how people will react to my ficUnderstandable. More than anything, just try and remember your mindset back when you could post without a care. As uh, interesting fandoms can be today a lot of people on AO3 really do just wanna read what interests them and avoid what they don't. Your story will more than likely find its niche. You also said you love the fandom so I think that also proves that at some level you wouldn't mind sharing content and therefore engaging with others, you're just spooked of possible outliers. Just trust they'll be chill, and appreciate the power of comment modding/deletion if you get a sperg or two.
>I have too high expectations of myselfThis is the biggest hurdle, I think. I've had my writing/will to try and post something slow to a crawl because I'll suddenly get struck with the thought of "damn wtf this is trash". This is… harder to escape, admittedly, but know that from what I've seen, veeeerrrry few people will be more critical of your work than you are, at least in the sense of leaving critiques/complaints. People are willing to overlook a lot if the baseline story is solid/interesting to them, and this is assuming they find any issues in the first place. Just know there's nothing stopping you from improving on whatever you post from here on. And, although hard to escape your own mind at times, it does show you care about what you're writing and that really goes a long way. Compared to being fine posting a story that's totally a [Media] fic, just different in every conceivable way, lmao.
I hope this helps a little. Good luck!
No.481
>>479There are ways to mitigate interaction (posting anonymously, logged-in comments only, archive locking) if you are really worried, but this just seems like jitters. I'd post it and then go do some chores or errands. Hope this doesn't torture you for too long!
No.482
>>479I relate to this to some extent, I also used to write a lot when I was far younger and with tons of free time on myself, and I used to have a lot of fun and far lower standards. I'm talking about more than a decade ago btw.
Life got in the way and I cut out a lot of fandom engagement and writing, but always loved BL and shipping from my little niche corner. Now that my life is a little less chaotic, i've given myself some time to write again on and off and, oh boy, it is fucking hard. My personal standards are off the fucking roof, i'm quite self-conscious and it's as if my brain got a lot smaller with age and I have to squeeze the right words out. I have posted a couple of things that I personally consider crappy and which took me an embarrassing amount of time to finish, but despite all that I've noticed that posting raises my self-awareness a lot. It's like opening your third eye and suddenly you're hyper aware of all the little things you can polish. It gives me hope to keep improving, slowly but organically, so lately I don't let myself be too discouraged and just keep writing slightly better things one after another. There's also the fact that you're always your worst critic, and I've received nice comments on things I personally don't like. People aren't bullshitting when they say that there will always be someone out there who loves your stuff. Good luck on your writing endeavors, nona. Just keep writing.
No.483
I've discovered an effective way of bringing back my motivation and confidence in writing. Open and read someone else's fic. It's simply a statistical likelihood that the first few fics under tags you open will be jarring. Even when it's something you've seen getting amazing fanart and recommendations in a fandom, there's a chance you'll open chapter one and find a complete mess of English grammar with frightfully casual language. Even if I write at a snail's pace, get stuck trying to explain what happens next, feel like I'm repeating sentence structures, feel like I've lost track of what was meant to happen, cocked up the pacing, all of that - at least I am producing entire paragraphs and staying aware of what characters are doing and where. At least sometimes I come out with a good line of imagery. At least I can consider myself an intermediate skill level that can be appreciated for what it is.
And think: if people forgive the fic where someone is simultaneously going upstairs but also in the hotel lobby what the fuck even is this action sequence, then they'll forgive you. As long as you have a story to tell someone will dig out its value.
No.484
>>480>>481>>482>>483Thank you for all the advice, guys. I think I'm gonna do a bit more editing on my fic, but I'm definitely gonna post it. I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one who has anxiety about posting.
No.487
I'm writing a new fanfic now, and normally I try to plan the ending before I even write most of it, or I have the tendency to never finish the fic. The problem is, I have two different ideas for the fic ending that I both really like. IDK how much detail I want to go in but basically I'm either thinking about ending the fic in a melancholic way, with one of the main characters who pines after the other main character never being able to be together with him… OR, I was thinking about a poly relationship/ almost crack fic ending. I would still write the "poly" ending seriously, I just call it a crack fic because I honestly don't think these characters would ever end up in a poly relationship. They are way too jealous, and in reality they would kill each other before sharing the main characters love. But I've been writing a lot of tragic fics lately, and even I'm getting tired of writing sad scenes, kek. Well, I do enjoy 'hurt no comfort' style of fics myself, but I don't know how many other people enjoy that kind.
No.489
>>487Personally, I'd take the melancholy unrequited pining ending over the poly ending any day of the week. Poly fics are usually cringe and ooc and I only ever read them if I'm feeling desperate kek. But that's just my taste. You could write one ending and add the other alternate ending as a bonus chapter if you really can't decide.
No.506
>>288Three days left to nominate for this year's Yuletide! Mods have now stopped checking ff.net for rarity so a lot of old anime and manga fandoms are eligible for the first time in years.
No.533
Been working on my first fic with multiple chapters and posting them to ao3 after a friend suggested I do so. Things were going great until I hit a wall with writer's block. Readers have been asking where I've been and it only ups my anxiety and avoidance. Not really sure how to fix this yet and I keep bothering people I know about it by venting, need to stop. I just want to fucking write but instead I do everything else under the sun. It's not a lack of ideas but a lack of uh… confidence and peace while writing? Was easier when I wrote for myself.
Rn I'm thinking of expanding the plotline as I thought up an interesting subplot that's still part of the main, basically just introducing another character and shifting locations for a while. However this'll increase the length and with my current writing output, probably a bad idea. At least I'm still thinking about my story.
I'm actually so anxious about keeping my readers waiting after the comments I've received. A lot of it's written but I don't feel right about it and keep closing the document rather than fix it.
Just needed to get that out
>>483I'm always worried how plot holes or "this should've been obvious, author-san wtf r u doing" type errors would go over, even though I've found none yet. If anything having a better quality of writing feels like it'd be even worse to make mistakes
No.534
>>533>I'm always worried how plot holes or "this should've been obvious, author-san wtf r u doing" type errors would go over, even though I've found none yet. If anything having a better quality of writing feels like it'd be even worse to make mistakesget yourself a beta reader anon, it helps a ton with this particular insecurity. Even if it's someone who isn't invested in the fandom. Having someone else read your writing with a completely fresh mind and having them giving you their feedback is the best way to find any writing hiccups on a more technical level.
No.535
I'm currently having a bit of fun getting my groove back after not writing for years, and is rewarding to see the pay off in my prose after practicing for months, but god am I embarrassed now seeing the shit i posted when i was beginning to pick it up again. It hasn't even been a year and I'm here totally ashamed as if i wrote them while blindfolded. It's probably just my unhealthy perfectionism going nuts, but i do have regrets.
No.536
>>533seconding getting a beta, nonna. but i’d also recommend ignoring your readers for a bit. it might sound crazy, but it could help to shut them out entirely. a sort of return to the “writing for yourself” mindset. there are ao3 skins that hide stats as well if you think that that might help.
also, how structured are your story plans? i like having a chapter-by-chapter outline in addition to a general outline for the story. doesn’t have to be anything detailed; usually mine are a sparse as “chapter 17, x and y talk, chapter 18, fight scene with z,” and so on and so forth. you don’t have to strictly adhere do this, but it helps to keep things organized and keep the writing in manageable blocks, sort of like when you break a large task down into tiny steps.
no specific advice on plot holes, though; not aside from general outlining. depending on the genre you’re writing, maybe have a document just for keeping track of lore/character motivations/anything else? for me, coherency was something i just got better at the longer i wrote. although when i first started i straight up abandoned a multichapter halfway through posting because i accidentally tangled the lore up so bad. never again.
my last suggestion is to write the subplot even if you don’t publish it. it sounds like it actually interests you, so maybe writing it out could get you back into the groove of things? i almost always end up writing a few oneshots over the course of a longer work. stops things from stagnating or feeling bland.
i wish you the best of luck in your writerly ventures, nonna.
No.538
>writing fic where the characters go horse race betting>don't know the littlest thing about gambling >spend hours painstakingly reading wikipedia articles, scouring betting websites, watching youtube videos of sweaty nerds gambling their life-savings away>tempted to try it out for myself to get the full experienceThe things I do for yaoi…
No.539
>>538hah, I do similar things for research for fics. I tried coke not long ago so I could better write about it in M/M.
Go to those horse races!
No.540
>>539>I tried coke not long ago so I could better write about it in M/M.I can't tell if you're memeing or not but kek.
No.541
>>539Kek anon I fear and respect you. I'm afraid I don't have the type of dedication you do though. I'm just going to hope my readers don't know shit about horse betting and won't catch on to any inconsistencies in my fic. Fingers crossed.
No.542
>>540I'm totally serious, it was pretty stupid but I lived and now I can write it accurately. So eh.
>>541They probably won't know shit about betting. You're safe nonna.
No.543
>>538I did something similar but for a gangster setting and I ended up developing a genuine interest in noir cinema and crime flicks, also the sopranos is very good.
No.558
>>549I'm not because I'm sure I'll never make it. I'm way too slow of a typer. Have you done it before Nonna, how was the pace?
No.559
>>549I didn't even know this existed until you mentioned it anon. I might give it a go since it seems like an interesting challenge.
I've been binge reading old novels from my dad's bookshelf this past couple of months. I just finished reading Crime and Punishment, and I think I'm ready for some media deprivation. So basically no reading books, watching anime/TV shows/movies, playing video games, listening to podcasts, and obviously no social media for one week. It sounds like hell but I'm so looking forward to it. I've tried it once in the past and it did wonders for my productivity. When you stop constantly feeding your brain creative input it has no choice but to produce creative output. I'm hoping a week away from all that noise will help me get back on track and start writing again. Wish me luck nonnas.
No.561
Anyone else participating in nanowrimo, or a similar writing challenge this month? I've already written a lot, which makes me pround.
No.574
Writer anons who've written longfic before, any tips for someone who's only ever written oneshots? I'd like to try my hand at writing a longfic and I have a rough idea of what i want to write about as well, but I've only ever written extremely short oneshots. The longest fic I've ever written barely reaches 2k words and even then I felt like I was writing too much. Is there any way to combat this feeling? How do you stretch out a story across multiple chapters without feeling like you're dragging things out?
No.575
>>574I'm also mainly a oneshot writer and I managed to complete a longer fic recently. I don't know how you work best but my tips would be
-Never post it wip as you go. NEVER. I've only managed to complete longer fic by writing my entire draft beforehand. However, I did manage to get by with editing my wip chapters on a schedule before posting. I couldn't always stick to my schedule and had month long gaps inbetween some though, so if you have issues with sticking to a schedule, play it safe.
-Outline what happens in each chapter but don't plan in extreme detail because it can kill your motivation.
-Don't be afraid to cut plot points that don't work when you're planning your story. If something is blocking your way of working the plot out then it might be best to find out another route.
-Don't blab to anybody about the plot of your fic too much or you'll kill your motivation.
No.576
>>574I tend to write longfics. Honestly, I don't know if this counts as advice, but basically what I do is get an idea in my head that I really want to expand upon. Accept the fact that you are probably going to have to diverge from canon at this point, and then just go for it. For example, I like to imagine how character A would react if character B died. What would happen? How would he cope? What would the others around him do? Writing alternate endings also leads to longer fics.
But with all that being said, I wouldn't force a fic to be longer just for the sake of being longer. If you don't have anything else to add, then that's fine. Sometimes I feel like people add too much filler (I'm people, I add too much filler).
No.577
>>575Seconding never posting a WIP or anything like that. For me forcing myself to finish the fic before posting is a huge motivating factor
I disagree with blabbing about the plot though, I find having someone to chat with about the story and test screen scenes is great for helping my confidence about how stuff panning out tone/plot wise, especially since I'm going to post it all at once.
My tips would be: Why are you writing a longfic? It's probably because you have a multichaptered plot in your head. So start at the endpoint and map out the steps you NEED to do to get to that ending, then write the scenes that you WANT to include. As someone who started mostly with 3k oneshots I find it best to think of longfics as a series of connected stories. Segmenting them and breaking them into smaller bits can really make it more manageable. Also don't be afraid to cut stuff! There is no reason to leave in part that aren't working. Flow > wordcount.
No.583
>>582i’m the opposite, kek. i’m so picky that half the time when i’m reading, it just makes me want to write my own fic because the other authors aren’t doing it right. although, i have been in phases before where i tried to keep my ideas “untainted” from the rest of canon. but the end result was still caving in, going to that ship’s ao3 tag, and then immediately retreating fo write my own fic because none of them were writing the pair the way i wanted to see them written.
that’s just me, though. and congrats on charting new territory with the newly-written ship, nonna! ♥
No.584
>>582I love kinda being the sole person writing fics for a ship because that way I'm in full control of it and those who end up liking it, end up liking it because of ME.
Although at the same time, the opposite may happen.
This is a bit in general, but I do feel a bit afraid if someone writes something that I was planning on writing but does it with a pair I hate. Like, "I thought about this before them but now everyone will think I copied them" feel.
No.585
>>582As a writer, I'm always scared of writing the same thing as someone else, but as a reader I actually like to read the same idea written by different people. It's actually pretty interesting how differently two people might write the same concept.
No.586
how do you guys avoid the pitfall of endless editing? it’s the main thing that holds me back from posting. i’ll just keep editing and rewriting and refining and it takes ages for me to finally just think “fuck it” and throw it out to the world.
No.587
>>586Honestly by just accepting I'm going to miss something and uploading it anyway. I never post the night I finish a work. I wait a day, re-read and proofread, and then post.
I've re-read years old works and cringed at some obvious errors, but it's not a published work and I'm writing for fun at the end of the day.
No.588
>>587frightened when I saw that I wrote this because I couldn't remember writing it. Ack that bug sure does spook ya
No.589
>>588I've never had that happen to me though I've seen others talk about it. Wonder if there are some people within the same IP range? Fujo meet-up when? jk.
>>583I've got to respect the attitude of someone who doesn't just complain, but gets in there and writes the ship content they want to see. You go nonna!
No.590
>>589damn imagine we're all in the same neighborhood. Your neighbor is into shota and [ex]
No.591
>>587thanks for the advice. i might just have to make a rule with myself that when a fic’s done, it’s done, and any desire to heavily rewrite it should be channeled into a new fic altogether. it’s not easy, because i just wish every project could be the best it could be. but i’ll try to emulate your very admirable attitude, nonna.
>>590if i found out my neighbor was that based, i would drop down on one knee and propose to her on the spot.
No.592
>>589For me it always happens to posts immediately after my own and the subsequent posts by the same nona that night.
>>587I have a habit of uploading and then going to sleep on it so I can't run in and delete/edit it any more.
No.593
>>592I always need a good hour or more to double check anything I've posted to make sure there's no last minute errors I didn't catch, so I can never do it right before sleeping. There's almost always something 99% of the time and the few times I haven't followed this rule, I regretted it hard.
No.594
>>592i’ve posted right before sleeping a few times. on one hand, it makes it harder to sleep as i get antsy and want to check my stats/proofread again throughout the whole gd night. but on the other hand, i get to wake up to kudos (hopefully) and comments (rarely, but a girl can dream).
>>593>the few times I haven't followed this rule, I regretted it hard.this is what i fear even when posting during daylight hours.
No.640
>>629https://justpaste.it/atoqq (6k)
Well, it's not January, but it's done, kek. I've looked it over so I'll probably dump it on Ao3 sometime tomorrow after one last check, but if anyone wants to be another pair of eyes, here it is!
It's been a while since I've consumed any Jojo so I hope everything's alright. I'm not even sure how to tl;dr it, honestly. Dio pretends to be nice but also keeps kissing Jonathan unprompted. Jonathan gets frustrated/embarrassed and avoids him, but ends up feeling bad bc he starts believing he was just being sweet/familial. Ends with Dio jumping his bones. Nothing outright explicit, though.
No.641
>>640Looks like the story is private? I'd love to read it if I can figure out how. Good job on getting your January story done, mine is just sitting unfinished still lol.
No.642
>>641Incredible, I really used the incorrect link. Sorry!
https://justpaste.it/ls/atoqq/o5mfjx2z65yxnqvy
>Mine is just sitting unfinishedGood luck, dude. I have an earlier Jan fic that I sidelined for this one, so it's not all great on my end lmao.
No.683
>>536Thanks so much nonna. Apologies for my delayed response.
Basically I haven't worked on the fic at all since then because I developed a severe anxious reaction to even thinking about it. It's genuinely mental illness. It fucks me up when I remember it's still up there and I accidentally glimpsed a comment asking how I am in my ao3 emails. I get panic attacks over this shit, wtf is wrong with me. I still want to finish it and I still feel an obligation to it/my readers but I'm at a total standstill and shut it out from my mind. I'm in a really bad place
No.709
>>708Speaking as someone who occasionally looks up nostalgic fics I remember reading ages ago, I think it'd be a nice surprise!
This is exactly why I personally refuse to chapter my reases though, it's either all being posted at once or it's sitting in my folder. I don't trust myself to not finish it and I need the motivation to assure I'm completing it.
No.710
>>708Do it
If someone new to the fandom reads it they won't care about the 10 years hiatus and if someone who used to read you will they might get even happier just to see an update of something they used to or also still like
No.716
Do you guys have a tense preference? I'm messing around with the idea of a sequel to a fic and the og is in present tense, so I figured I'd do the sequel in present as well. I wrote up a little bit but looking over it, I dunno. I think I'm going to use past, instead. I've only used present for like, two fics, I believe, and everything after them has been past. Weird noticing it, now.
No.717
>>716I write almost everything in past tense automatically since that's what I was used to back in college, but it's something I need to be more aware of since I think it makes my fiction sound too formal.
Which veiwpoint do you write from nonna? I think present tense sounds most natural in a first person story.
No.718
>>716Present tense is "Ao3 house style" to me, for better or worse.
No.719
>>717I write from third person limited! Or at least try and keep it from entering omniscient. Totally agree with present working well with first person, rare as it seems to be on Ao3.
No.721
>>720I'm feeling this hard at the moment, nona. Although I get less disappointed when rarepair fic doesn't do well because my expectations were lower, but when something in a more popular fandom flops, my motivation will take a hit for ages.
No.722
>>719NTA. I also tend to use third person limited, although I can do third person omnipotent from time to time if I'm doing something with a lot of characters.
>>720Also, I can understand being sad that your most popular stories aren't the ones you care about the most. This also happens with fanart I spend a lot of time on not doing so well. However, I also am the one who's written the most fanfictions for one specific pairing on A03, and I think I just reached a point where I had to acknowledge that no one was as obsessed with the pairing as I was. And then I also found some comfort in it as well. Like, the it's kind of cozy knowing that there's only a few of the same people who like my super autistic pairing, lol.
Pinc unrel.
No.723
>>721>something in a more popular fandom flops, my motivation will take a hit for ages.Mean girl post incoming: my extremely petty copium for this is that in popular fandoms the most viewed/kudos works in a tag are usually tropey AU shipping fics that were posted in the fandom's boom. Way back when I was dumb and would sort by kudos I got tricked into reading half of a 100k work (and skimming the last 50k wondering when it would actually get good enough to warrant the TEN THOUSAND kudos) because I hadn't really internalized the "ship+trope+timing" math that leads to these mid fics getting so many kudos.
No.738
Sometimes I look back at something I wrote and cringe at obvious errors. I wish I wasn't so shy that I could find a beta reader.
No.743
>>738Late as fuck reply, but I can relate to this a lot. I also have dyslexia (not self diagnosed if it matters), and long story short, I make so many mistakes it sometimes is embarrassing. I've gotten a lot better at it in the age of better spell checking services, and I spend a lot of time rereading my works slowly but some stuff still slips through the cracks. With that being said, I also try to be more understanding of other spelling and grammar issues in other people's work as long as the story's interesting.
No.744
>>743Yeah I try to be forgiving of minor errors too. Some things I can't get over like all lowercase or frequent spelling errors, but if it's infrequent or minor grammatical errors I can overlook it if the story is interesting/in character. After all, most fanfiction is the work of love from a single person and its to be expected.
Granted I'm way harsher on myself than other people, what do you use to double check your work nonna? I use Word and it's good at catching spelling errors but not much else.
No.745
>>744I've used both word and Google docs to catch grammar mistakes. Something else I do is sometimes I change my font or the word coloring so that the text looks different and then reread my fanfic. Changing the font to something different looking is supposed to have a psychological effect where your eyes have to adjust again, so it's like you're looking at the text for the first time and not just glossing over potential mistakes… I guess it's kinda like mirroring your art when you are drawing and realizing things look weird, kek.
Other than that, I used to use a website called editminion for editing, but the website has gone down since then to my knowledge. Which is a shame because I used to love strunk the edit minion.
No.791
>>790I think there has to be a point where you stop deliberating for 20mins over a sentence as you're writing it. Like a tolerance for whatever quality you've made just to get on with the belief you can fix it later. I always have that problem that I don't reach the scenes I want to write because I got hung up on getting there, and as much as I know to do either end and bridge the gap later my perceived inadequacies make it hard to press on.
I know of a fanfic author who writes literally 30k a week easy, completes whole fics before even uploading chapter 1. They're like a cryptid to me, but I know they've been at this for a decade straight as a Writing Person who is constantly writing. They believe in what they're doing and they trust that nothing bad comes from putting it out there.
No.792
>>790I'm the same way, so it feels stupid to even give advice (takes me months to write even one fic; been working on the same 3k for around 3 months; some take even longer because I need time away to let the words ~marinate~ lmao I hate myself).
But
>>791 is right, the best thing you can do is just write it. Set a timer, write with no distractions for 20-30 minutes. Don't think too much about the flow, the style, or the words at all. Just get it out, then revise later. If you use discord, I really like the sprinto bot for this.
No.848
>>847I'd honestly find it quite endearing and not pretentious at all anona, I'm sure your readers would love to find out more about your writing process and ideas
No.849
>>847No, seeing the authors thought process behind their work is always fun for me. Helps me better understand their point of view. Maybe delusionfags will be pissed off but they're always retarded anyway.
No.850
>>847These are fun to read, either as notes at the bottom or an additional chapter in the fic. People who aren't interested can just skip them easy enough.
No.851
>>847My friend used to do this as separate blog posts. I agree that they're very fun to read. If someone likes the series/ship/characters, etc in your fic enough to read it, then they should want to read discussion on those topics too. If you do, try to include any alternate paths you thought of taking while writing them too.
No.852
>>851>>850>>849>>848Thank you! I enjoy reading them too but was concerned I was just a weirdo. Out of curiosity
>>851 did your friend post their fanfics on their blog too, or did they write on Ao3/FF and then link to the blog?
No.853
>>852Her fics are definitely on AO3/FFN. She linked to them on tumblr but mostly posted askbox drabbles there. I think she deleted her Livejornal and locked her Dreamwidth plus Wayback is down so I can't be 100% sure but she said they were crossposted there. I checked one of her old fics too and it doesn't directly link to it but it mentions that she was planning to do a write up with some notes and cut scenes on DW which I (vaguely) remember reading at the time.
No.859
I’m writing a fic right now and I’m reading over what I’ve written so far and it’s god awful. I’m praying it can be saved with some serious tlc. Just gotta be extra vigilant while editing and it might come out okay. I just wanna make some content for this rare pair I’ve found myself interested in. And I’m even worse at drawing, but it won’t stop me from creating at least something for them, even if it is subpar quality.
No.860
>>859Even if you think it's rubbish after editing just make piece with it and use what you've learned when writing the next one. I'm still not proud of my own writing, but I can see a big difference in my works from two years ago to now. Hopefully you'll be able to eventually crank ones out that you're proud of.