Reblog If You’re Okay With People Writing Fanfics Of Your Fanfics And/or Fanfics Inspired By Your Fanfics

I've already said that my number one piece of writing advice is to read.

But my number two piece of advice is this: be deliberate.

Honestly this would fix so many pieces of bad writing advice. Don't forbid people from doing something, tell them to be conscious and deliberate about it. This could help stop people from falling into common mistakes without limiting their creativity. Black and white imperatives may stop a few annoying beginner habits, but ultimately they will restrict artistic expression.

Instead of "don't use epithets": "Know the effect epithets have and be deliberate about using them." Because yes, beginners often misuse them, but they can be useful when a character's name isn't known or when you want to reduce them to a particular trait they have.

Instead of "don't use 'said'" or "just use 'said'": "Be deliberate about your use of dialogue tags." Because sometimes you'll want "said" which fades into the background nicely, but sometimes you will need a more descriptive alternative to convey what a character is doing.

Instead of "don't use passive voice": "Be deliberate about when you use passive voice." Because using it when it's not needed can detract from your writing, but sometimes it can be useful to change the emphasis of a sentence or to portray a particular state of mind.

Instead of blindly following or ignorantly neglecting the rules of writing, familiarize yourself with them and their consequences so you can choose when and if breaking them would serve what you're trying to get across.

Your writing is yours. Take control of it.

It probably sounds like I'm preaching to the choir here because most of my mutuals are already great writers. But I'm hoping this will make it to the right people.

Obsessed with AO3 writers, who are a particularly fascinating subspecies of homo sapien.

collection of posts for a very specific dynamic

pt2 of this

girl's night!!

+ bonus

(here's a follow-up post^^ thanks for all the notes everyone!!!)

*places an orange just outside a fairy ring to see what comes out* science is more of an art than a science

Finished

goth agent stone is something i've been spinning in my head for the past couple weeks... i've been into goth for, oh my god around a decade now (albeit on and off) so i hope you don't mind if i ramble some thoughts at you as a jumping off point? it's a bit of a niche headcanon so i'm delighted to share it with someone ;; this is a bit of a long one sorry so feel free to ignore it lol i won't be offended

i can imagine stone as having quite a corp goth lean: pinstripe pencil skirts, black trench coat over a suit, cat eye sunglasses, eyeliner!! that sort of thing. not all that different to what he usually wears, just... spookier! i can imagine him in a lot of black leather too, given the whole motorcyclist thing. robotnik might be similar but with more DRAMA. he's a supervillain he's got style he's got flair he's got ribcage patterns sewn into his jacket.

and since stone's someone who sews (and is clearly quite good at it) he'd have so much freedom!! can't find the perfect ruffly blouse? make one! in the '80s especially goth fashion was about hand me downs and DIY he'd be so at home

as for music!! that's the real heart of it. i can imagine them both enjoying the classic, 80s goth roots type of music but i've always pictured robotnik as having an industrial/metal/rock lean. stone feels like he'd be happy listening to whatever robotnik wants to listen to, honestly, as well as some of the dreamier stuff like cocteau twins. music to sway and yearn to.

but uhh anyway if you want a peek into goth culture i'd recommend watching or reading interviews with bands like specimen and fans at the bat cave or just on the street, there were a lot of news outlets that interviewed goths back when it was this really crazy new thing. i'm especially fascinated by the ones from the '80s but there's some excellent modern bands too :-3 and for a look into '90s and 2000s goth there's of herbs and altars' storytimes, please mind the content warnings on them because they're quite heavy but i credit dorian with getting me back into goth after i'd basically abandoned it in my teens.

i did a little happy dance when i saw you were thinking of looking into this stuff, i'm very passionate and this is really just scratching the surface. i could go on and on as all my friends are very aware ;; but i'll stop now. thank you so much if you read all this

Rambling is a love language and I would never ignore someone rambling at me. Feel free to ramble more, even! My DMs are open if you'd prefer!

This goes to everyone, actually. I am very very shy and socially awkward, but I ADORE IT when people talk to me about stuff they love. Everyone is welcome to! I love listening, as my girlfriend would tell you, and I love learning. No excuse needed, you can pop up like "hey I feel like talking about polar bears" and I'll pay attention.

That being said ohoho, this is great! Taking notes, taking notes, thank you so much! I can tell you've put a lot of thought into it. I do agree Robotnik would be far more dramatic with his clothes kinda like that scene in Megaming where he gets his evil outfit ready and I wouldn't be surprised if Stone is the one designing his outfits!

I can also picture this:

If you outline your fics, how do you go about it? Or do you just write it out without a specific plan?

God I wish I could just START writing my fics, but no I am nothing if not a well planned bitch

First, I write stuff out on paper. This makes it’s easier to go back and look at my own writing, but also paper has? Less high stakes for me? If I type something it feels like I HAVE to go in that direction, but when I write on paper I can just scribble it out or turn to the next page. This step is where I’ll write whatever comes to mind that I might want to add, usually out of order. I guess you could call this brainstorming? But I don’t usually cause to me brainstorming is JUST in my head, and this is on paper. That’s another thing, GET THE IDEA OUT ON PAPER because youll be super excited about a certain dialogue line or plot line, and if you don’t write it out you will forget. So step one is filling pages and pages of my favorite, designated ‘Brain Dump’ notebook (mine has mushrooms on it :) )

Then, actual outline. This is also on paper for me, where I’ll write out any big plot lines or bits I’ve come up with in the first step, and try to fit them in an order that makes sense. This is simultaneously the easiest part and the hardest, because I’m someone who wants smoothness in my writing in terms of how stuff flows together, so I’m ver particular about what stuff goes where. If I’m doing an outline for a WHOLE fic, each little line is most likely a chapter, or important chapter moments however, and this is important, I make up an outline for every chapter I write. That way I can go into detail with what dialogue goes where, the blocking of how the characters are, etc

Then it’s first draft time!! This parts fun. This is where I write BADLY. I basically just throw everything at my poor google docs until it sticks, and I try not to stop, so there’s no going back and spell checking, or finding a better word. If I write “says” or “he shivered” eight times in the same paragraph it DOES NOT MATTER. I’ll be back later. This draft is the shittiest possible version of what I want to write.

Step two of first draft is when I’m DONE, I have the bare bones of my draft, and this is where I go back and ask myself if I really deserve to know how to type. I’ll sew up any glaring plot holes, spell checking, rewrite verbs and whatnot to not repeat, stuff like that. If I read the whole thing and decide I don’t like this particular part, I’ll delete it and rewrite it.

Then it’s onto my favorite part, draft two. This is REWRITE TIME. not edit, rewrite. Thats the best writing advice I’ve ever gotten and I can ever give. I pull up two screens, slap my draft 1 on the the first screen and open a new doc, and rewrite the entire thing. Why? Because as im retyping this is when I add prose, and fix the flow, and add more angst in or better word choice or whatever. This is where the LENGTH of whatever I’m writing comes in, I’ll usually double whatever I have for the first draft, on sheer added prose and grace notes alone. This part is immensely satisfying, and it takes the longest by far. I do this for every single chapter of things I post on Ao3

Draft three is usually my final draft. I copy and paste draft 2 in another document, and I’ll read through again for any typos and mistakes and fix those. This is PROOFREADING, plain and simple, and it’s so important. I usually don’t fix much in this stage, but I do read it outloud (quietly to myself or maybe my dog) to see if it sounds right.

And thats it! Usually, at least with Abandon My Eulogy each chapter takes about two weeks, and by two week I mean I spend a week thinking about it not actually writing and then outline, first draft and correct that in three days. Draft two takes. So long, but it’s worth it

‘Sorry I went off on a ramble there

timestuck au warm ups