DO NOT GO TO AO3 RIGHT NOW!!

https://www.tumblr.com/olderthannetfic/727841287119814656/ehh-generally-they-were-like-ask-specifics-about Can you expand on writer’s block not being real?

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Sure!

I think everyone who's ever made art has hit points where it's hard to go on making art or where a particular project isn't moving. So from that perspective, sure, a version of it is real...

But there's a particular version of it that's what a lot of people mean where you're A Writer™ and then the magic inspiration gnomes come and steal your inspiration juice. This is mostly nonsense, and quite a few author types who've actually finished long projects will tell you so.

When you sit down to a blank page and it stubbornly stays blank like your head, that's a symptom of something... and the something in question is often either depression and overwhelmed feelings that are taking over your whole life or an entirely correct instinct that your project is flawed and the next step is not writing that next scene.

Many people try to be pantsers instead of planners, get maybe a quarter into a project, and then choke. It's because they started with the kind of concept that requires planning, but they haven't planned. If your plot revolves around the characters eventually learning the meaning of life, you'd damn well better start with what you, the author, think that meaning is and work backwards. Same if your characters are solving a twisty mystery or complicated thriller conspiracy: you will not come up with a genius idea that ties everything together just by writing by the seat of your pants. If you don't go in with the ending in mind and some waypoints to write towards, you're going to choke. This is exceptionally common in grandiose fic concepts that are like "What if this true blue hero were a viiiiillain, oooooh!" where it's neat, but 99% of the point is showing us the work of getting from A to B. People write the prologue showing us the big concept and then flash back to how it all started... and then stop.

I see it a lot in projects that start with a character sheet for RP. Yeah, for RP itself, noodling along and figuring out what X would do in situation Y is great fun... but for many longfic/novel plot types, you will not arrive at a workable plot this way. You'll end up with a mess that can, at best, be used as brainstorming and completely rewritten from the ground up, using only key cool images or character observations. There are authors that start from individual characters and then see where they go. In my experience, they don't tend to be working in the genres that fic fandom types tend to want to work in. It's also something that often takes a lot more experience and skill than starting with a basic plot outline, and inexperienced writers often overreach.

It's not writer's block. It's a project that needs to be taken out back like Old Yeller.

Even the salvageable projects that are making you pause usually have some other issue like you not being clear on the central emotional themes even if you've outlined some factual plot. Or you've demanded that your characters do a particular thing for plot convenience, but you know deep down that it doesn't ring true. You can't write the next scene because there is no next scene. You need to rework the forced part till the rest can make sense.

And even more common than any of the above is people thinking that just because Danielle Steel sits down every morning and writes for eight hours, that means they can and should with no warm up or experience. Trying to force yourself to be a type of writer you're not—majorly overdoing it on any work, in fact—just leads to burnout and inability to function.

reblog if you’ve read fanfictions that are more professional, better written than some actual novels. I’m trying to see something

Vibrant Patterns Envelop Dozens of Mythical Animal Sculptures That Explore the Folk Art Traditions of Mexico

Dream in his fish bowl.

a night that is not a night

It's here!

WELCOME TO THE TUMBLR SEXYREMATCH

Hi, I'm sexymanotd. You may know me as the asshole from twitter who ran the original Tumblr Sexyman Tournament. I have tumblr polls now. Who's up for round two?

Here's the bracket—

Each round will last one day, and each matchup will get their own post. They'll all be tagged "#round one" etc on my blog, and I'll also update this masterpost with links to every poll.

Btw, my inbox is open for links to any fanart that might get made this time around.

As always, I hate some of these characters and I hope they get obliterated, and the winner will be taken to Baskin Robbins and given a small cone. My treat.

I just love pav. And hobie of course.

part of the thing that makes ats so fucking good is hobie and pav, obvs, but specifically the way they talk and the shit they say. "naan bread, which is the same as saying bread bread, which is the same as saying CHAI TEA!" "oh i love chai tea." "NO!!" like!!! its so good!!!!! "taking a crap on the establishment. i salute you." they sound so much like goofball teenagerssssss they talk like my friends would rrrrraaaaaaaaaaaa

GLADOS HAS BEEN CROWNED TUMBLR SEXYWOMAN 2023!

Thank you all for participating in the sequel bracket! I know it took a while, and some of the polls were bloody, but I really think we made the obvious right choice here.

The way Puss is followed by two dogs and one teaches him to accept death and the other teaches him to appreciate life

Em Niwa on Instagram

scene favs... so obsessed w the way the ink goes up his hand/arms