Of Course My Insomnia Struck Full Force Right When Ao3 Is Scheduled To Go Down For Maintenance :(

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.

if you're trying to get into the head of your story's antagonist, try writing an "Am I the Asshole" reddit post from their perspective, explaining their problems and their plans for solving them. Let the voice and logic come through.

shipping isn’t about what the writers or actors say is or isn’t romantic. shipping isn’t even about romance a good percentage of the time. shipping is about seeing The Dynamic and going absolutely hog wild in your mind and your friends dms about it.

I've got a lot of respect for smut writers. you write something incredibly sexual, it's probably somewhat of a look into your own soul, and then bitches are too scared to leave kudos of comments half the time, so it looks as though everyone hates your work. And yet yall still do it, and I love that

Me when I cannot physically write: *intense daydreaming, the perfect scene plays out, the heavens open, angelic song fills the imaginative space, the plot holes fill in; never has there been a better scene concocted in all of written art*

Me when I write: *head empty, no thoughts* She... smiled... earnestly?? And cool shit happened??? And... uh... this happened... but like in a neat way - right?

I decided to finally get into Toni Morrison. I’m in love and I’ve only read part of the forward

my beloved writers,

you need to seriously challenge your mindset of writing for likes and such. You already know you should write for yourself, so do it.

It does not matter. They are numbers.

If your productivity and motivation are tied to how much positive feedback you get, you are killing the artist inside of you. To be an artist means to not be chained down by anything - not opinions, not feedback, not an audience.

It is no complex, hard task to stop caring. Just stop. Stop caring for it. I promise, it will be the most freeing thing you can do for your mind.

Sincerely,

a long recovered Wattpad-Reads-Obsessor.

Small fantasy worldbuilding elements you might want to think about:

A currency that isn’t gold-standard/having gold be as valuable as tin

A currency that runs entirely on a perishable resource, like cocoa beans

A clock that isn’t 24-hours

More or less than four seasons/seasons other than the ones we know

Fantastical weather patterns like irregular cloud formations, iridescent rain

Multiple moons/no moon

Planetary rings

A northern lights effect, but near the equator

Roads that aren’t brown or grey/black, like San Juan’s blue bricks

Jewelry beyond precious gems and metals

Marriage signifiers other than wedding bands

The husband taking the wife's name / newlyweds inventing a new surname upon marriage

No concept of virginity or bastardry

More than 2 genders/no concept of gender

Monotheism, but not creationism

Gods that don’t look like people

Domesticated pets that aren’t re-skinned dogs and cats

Some normalized supernatural element that has nothing to do with the plot

Magical communication that isn’t Fantasy Zoom

“Books” that aren’t bound or scrolls

A nonverbal means of communicating, like sign language

A race of people who are obligate carnivores/ vegetarians/ vegans/ pescatarians (not religious, biological imperative)

I’ve done about half of these myself in one WIP or another and a little detail here or there goes a long way in reminding the audience that this isn’t Kansas anymore.

Nothing like a halfway decent incomplete fanfic to crawl into my brain and lay eggs. At some point between now and when I die, I will be writing some sort of paranormal situation, forever peeved that I didn’t come up with this world building first and can’t just rip it off because morals.

Me right now

currently powering through the absolute worst, terribly written, cringe ass fanfic ive ever read in my entire life simply because the concept is too good