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Writer Woes - Blog Posts
why is it that I have a document for random scenes that appear at some point, and the first one is a character having a crisis over a dead person? to be fair, they watched the person die, and then have to tell that person’s family about their death, but why is that the first scene in the document?
Shit I’ve looked up for writing purposes
-Coronations and how they work
-How much do famous actors make?
-What an adversary is
-What regalia are
-Meteor hammers
-Armor for meteor hammers
-Chromium, and can it be used for armor
-The International Phonetic Alphabet
-Where is chromium found?
-Two-handed swords
-Different types of daggers
-Plants with symbolism
-How to write emotional turmoil
-How to write mental breakdowns
-Survivor’s guilt
-The definition of emotional manipulation
-The definition of gaslighting
-The concept of wuxing and the character traits associated with each element
-Character traits associated with each zodiac in Asian mythology
-Monkey’s paw
-Real-life locations
-Money conversions
-Possible ways for people to act when drunk
-Blade lengths for different weapons
-How to make ship names
I can’t be the only one who does this
okay, so. I have my main wip, but it’s barely my main any more because of an AU I created of my own work.
I also make headcannons of the characters, forgetting I’m the creator.
Having multiple wips be like:
Morning: Oh, that’s a good idea for wip 1!
midday: wait, I should work on wip 2’s plot, I have ideas
afternoon: *thinking about random scenarios for wip 3*
evening: What wip is this for again? Meh, I’ll figure it out
That feeling when you research/write a lot about something that’s only going to be mentioned for a sentence for so
When in doubt, stay away from the main story and think about what those other random OCs of yours can do, accidentally make an entire story for them, want to write it into its own book/series, and finally realize there’s no plot. The only reason you haven’t done anything else with them is because you don’t want to get rid of them. Writer issues.
When I say I’m writing what I really mean is I’m thinking about the prologue and second half of the plot in extreme detail before considering the idea of what happens in the beginning, coincidentally making it so I get nothing done.
When the normal brain says sleep but the neurodivergent brain says “okay, but…” and proceeds to give a fuck ton of ideas to fill in p(l)otholes in the book
they work half the time. It would also be useful if I could remember them. And which story they belong to out of the three I haven’t abandoned yet
Person I’m talking about my writing to: That’s so cool! Can I see it?
Me: the thing is…. It’s spread over ten documents that I haven’t touched in like, six months and I’ve been super focused on making the magic system work so some characters aren’t complete gods because of lucky family lineage.
Person: …
Me: And I haven’t actually started writing the plot.
Why…
I can imagine what I want to write and how I want it to go, but words simply cannot be manifested onto the page.
so I’m left with the dreaded blinking cursor. A line that stares at me without mercy, mocking me, taunting me, temping me to write when it knows I can’t.
“Start writing”
Hah, no.
“Why not?”
I will, absolutely will against my will, revise and edit as I write, so I write the total of multiple chapters but it ends up being only one and half chapters. I fucking hate it
Writing
Is really difficult. Give yourself a break every once in a while. I’ve been on break from starting writing my main wip for over a year, and I still procrastinate the hell out of it. Writing takes time. Let it happen on its own
An Average Night
Me, casually trying to sleep:
My brain: Heyyyyyyyyy
Me: Shut. The fuck. Up
Brain: Is the way [character] acts after [relevant plot point] considered [mental disorder/trauma response]?
Me: *Grabbing phone off desk to Google it* I hate you
Me: *Furiously Googling about who knows what*
Also me: You write fantasy, you know that, right?
Me:
Me talking to myself
yes, I talk to myself in the second person. I will also use the fourth person collective on occasion.
“Why can’t I write what I want to today?”
maybe because what you want to write is a cohesive story and you would mostly be staring at that damn taunting, blinking line of a cursor on the Google Doc
“I want to write chronologically!” too bad, you’re thinking of a random scene that’s over halfway through the story. I don’t make the rules
“Why can’t I write the main plot?”
because I said so. Now go back to writing about what happened hundreds of years before the main plot to explain the tension between the two sides
“What’s this character’s name again?”
Think of a new one. You know what it is, and it causes the Tiffany Problem. Think of a new one, you fucking idiot
do you ever think of something when you’re trying to sleep and tell yourself “I can write it down in the morning”?
I have, and every time I do im just lying to myself again
I’m not crying, there’s onions
I am crying
no, i just hate writing sometimes
You can and should write fanfiction that isn't perfect. You can and should write whatever fanfiction you want. You can and should write fanfiction that brings you joy even if it's silly or goofy or weird.
Except for me. My fanfic has to be perfect and read like a novel and ruin at least one person's sleep schedule.
writing fanfiction is just fingers clenching over a keyboard as you ferally mutter i just want this little guy to be held, damn it and proceeding to hurt said little guy (gn) for about 10k words before you actually give them their hug
Stop judging fic writers for not having perfect spelling and grammar
We write fic for fun, it's for us, we do it as a hobby in our free time.
We're not obligated to edit to an extreme and perfect our spelling and grammar
For some fic writers, English isn't our first language or we're not fluent in it (oh and there are of course the fic writers who don't write in English at all)
We may not have time to edit a fic, especially if we're pressured to it posted by a certain time
If we're posting a short drabble that doesn't even reach 1-2k, hell even if it does reach 1-2k, we may not see a reason to edit it
But people writing longer fics and even multiple chapters aren't obligated to perfect their grammar and spelling either. Most likely we'll revise once, we're not going to through like 5-6 different revisions for a fanfic that we're just having fun with
Fun fact: editing is a bit of a nightmare, especially if English isn't your first language (do not get me started on fic writers who translate their fics from their mother language into English). Rigorously editing can make fic writing less fun if we feel like we have to perfectly edit it each and every time, and writing is for fun, we're supposed to enjoy it (to fellow fic writers: if editing drains you or you feel the need for your grammar to be perfect, it doesn't have to be. Focus more on the writing (the fun part) than you do the editing)
Fic writers aren't bad writers if their spelling and grammar isn't perfect
this isnt exactly a rant but something i've noticed:
in fandoms where the majority of fans are made up of younger people (like the grishaverse), i am finding that way fewer people are commenting on fics.
now i'm not complaining about younger fans! i am only 17 myself! but please, please comment on people's fics. it doesnt have to be an essay - it can literally just be a keysmash, a smiley face, a few words, anything really!
but comments are so, so important to fic writers. i genuinely cannot describe how happy a comment makes me when i get one - it's a nice little serotonin boost and it makes me want to write more things! so please, if you want to support fic writers, please consider commenting on our work :D
sad news: staring pitifully at the blank document doesn't make your cool ass story you concocted in your mind appear on it by the power of osmosis.
Becoming a writer is great because now you have a hobby that haunts you whenever you don’t have time to do it
writing fanfiction is just fingers clenching over a keyboard as you ferally mutter i just want this little guy to be held, damn it and proceeding to hurt said little guy (gn) for about 10k words before you actually give them their hug