Just A Doodle

little does bill know, mr. tummy has a twin brother named mr. yummy

Writing Advice For Fanfics or Novels

Hello, my dears! As requested by @ilay-snt I thought I’d share my writing process with you all! I’m going to split this post into two sections of general advice and then how I personally construct a story.

Disclaimer: I’m no professional by any means. I’m basing this solely off two creative writing classes I took in college and what I find to be personally helpful so if it doesn’t work for you, that’s totally fine! Everyone writes differently!

General Advice:

1. First and most importantly: You Have to Write for Yourself.

Write the story that you want to read. Not only will it keep you motivated to keep going but it frees you to try whatever you want without being worried how it will be received by others. As long as you’re happy with your work, that’s all that matters. Your audience will find you.

(Hello audience! *waves excitedly*)

2. Write Everday

This one might sound a little daunting, but it doesn’t need to be a lot or necessarily “everyday”. It’s just a way to consistently practice, to help you find your author voice, and create a habit.

Writing everyday could be a poem or a paragraph or a whole chapter! It’s whatever you choose to make it just as long as you get something down. It doesn’t necessarily even need to be good. You can always go back and edit, but if you only write when inspiration strikes, you might never sit down to do it in the first place. Practice finding your way through the words to get at what you want, rather than waiting for the words to come to you.

If you’re REALLY really stuck. Then might I suggest you-.

3. Get Feedback

As a chronic second-guesser, I can’t tell you how helpful it is to have someone read your story and help structure the plot. I’ve had a lot of instances where something I’d been struggling with for days was resolved by getting coffee with a friend and having them look at it with new eyes.

Get yourself a beta reader or just someone who has good taste whose opinion you trust to help you work out problems. Two heads are often better than one!

4. Analyze media you admire

A lot of people like to limit it to reading authors you love and looking at the way they create stories, which is very helpful, but don’t neglect other forms of storytelling like movies and TV shows or even videogames! Think about what you like from your favorite things and why you like them.

As an example, one of my favorite pieces of media is the Mass Effect Trilogy. Mostly because it subverts the narrative of the Lone Hero archetype present in other franchises like Halo and Assassins Creed. The protagonist Shepard relies on their teammates abilities and support throughout the game to complete missions and eventually save the universe. Similarly, I like stories where there’s a cast of interesting and diverse characters surrounding the main protagonist who are essential to the plot.

Go dig through your own favorites and figure out what kind of characters you like, tropes you enjoy, and overarching themes that speak to you. From these, you can draw inspiration for your own stories and figure out what you want to write.

4. Take Breaks and Be Present

Writing doesn’t happen in a vacuum! If you feel like your inspiration is running dry or you’re in the middle of a block, go out and do things you enjoy or, better yet, try new things!

Be fully present in the moment and look at the world around you as if for the first time, talk to people you run into, or draw from your friends/family for inspiration. There’s a whole world of possibility out there just waiting to be written down or reinterpreted. Don’t be afraid to take breaks and have fun! Writing should never become a chore!

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s dig into my own personal process:

My Writing Process

1. Everything Begins with the Outline

When I have an idea for a story, I try to do a rough outline first of the big plot points: the beginning, the middle, and the end, then fill in as much as I can in between.

My chapter outlines are never very well defined up until I reach the point where I sit down to write. It’s only then I begin to flesh out what I want to do. I take everything from the previous chapter and what I know is coming up to shape what needs to happen in the moment. I work better with flexibility so I can wander off the path a little rather than rushing from point A to point B.

2. After the Outline, The Character Sheets

Character sheets are probably the most important part of my writing. I like to give my characters as much agency as possible and allow them to steer the story rather than the story steering them. Unfortunately, the only way to accomplish this is to know them inside and out.

Most of my character sheets start with the basics: what does this character want more than anything, what do they actually need, and what do they fear. From there, I can identify their goals for the story and for each chapter, their personality traits, their likes and dislikes, how they respond to conflict, etc.

When I’m writing, the character sheets are my own personal holy book. If I can’t make them move around the scene anymore, a quick look at that will normally get me back on track.

3. Structuring Each Chapter

Normally, I have a goal in mind (or several) I want to reach. Whether it’s progressing the plot or just one character’s arc, I allow those goals to drive the action, then set the characters loose like rats in a maze.

Often, I try to think “what can go wrong here?” and then how that character would react to the set backs or interact with each other based on that.

In a few cases, the characters just do what they want and then entirely new scenes develop I didn’t plot out beforehand from following after that instinct.

On the whole, I allow the characters A LOT of free will to shape the story while holding up the basic structure for them to work within and I’ve found it really makes the story come to life.

4. The Point of It All

Generally, everyone I’ve met who’s a writer has something to say and the story is the medium for that. The most important thing when I’m writing and I’m buried neck deep in the twists and turns of the plot is to not forget why exactly I’m writing it in the first place. So I have a little manifesto of sorts at the top of my outline, only a couple sentences at most, that strips the entire story down to the one central idea I’m trying to convey or an overarching theme.

For example, if I had to sum up the central idea of House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune (Great book by the way, can’t recommend it enough) it’s that true family accepts you for who you are and can come from unexpected places. Also, it’s essential to stand up to unjust systems in defense of others.

I try to find my own my own theme like this to keep in sight for my story. So I don’t veer too far from the purpose of it.

Anyway, that’s my advice for any other writers who are starting out, hope this was helpful in some way! All of you have a good day! 💖💖

My nonexistent kingdom for some DYNAMICS VARIETY (aka me finally drawing something else for Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week)

Satsuten Fanbook Case 1

Case 1

A story of a simple homicidal maniac – the murderer who succumbed to his urges

This is a short story from the Satsuriku no Tenshi Fanbook.

Written by Makoto Sanada, translated by me.

Keep reading

Help why did I immediately think Ray when I saw this-

(The full cover slapped tho)

VOLUME 1: CHAPTER 1

((Part 2 here since tumblr only allows 30 images per post!!)

Part 1: Making a Gravestone

As I mentioned earlier, there will be spoilers! You can skip this if want to experience the game for yourself. Also, feel free to correct me for any mistakes.

Part 2 ┃ Part 3 ┃ Part 4 ┃ Part 5 ┃ Part 6┃ Part 7 ┃ Part 8 Part 9 ┃Part 10┃ Part 11/Finale

The game starts off with Eddie and his brothers playing hide and seek in the cemetery. The brothers ask him why he doesn’t play hide and seek with them and he simply responds because he has the graves to take care of (what a hard worker he is!). One of the brothers tells him that maintenance is already over and Eddie is having none of it. To him graves come first.

After playful teasing and Eddie asking his brother who’s in the grave, the game takes us to our first save. For some reason it wouldn’t let me save the game, until I read the instructions that is (you have to copy the folder from the disc onto your desktop). The game at this point takes a more sinister/dark tone, the music is a bit creepy here with bird chirping in the background. Little brother tells Eddie that the girl in the grave is a child and that she’s very cute, about the same age as brother George (how many brothers does Eddie have?).

Then we are presented with choices (first decision making, folks). How do you want the grave to be? I chose small and wonderful since the girl is…well a child. Eddie seems to agree with my choice and is happy then proceeds to ask his brother why did the child die. Little brother tells him that she was found dead in the woods and probably fell off a cliff after chasing something, a cute animal maybe? She did love cute things after all according to him anyway. 

Eddie and his family seem to be animal lovers and we are then presented with the second choice. He seems to want to decorate the gravestone in the shape of an animal. It gives you three options: Bear, Unicorn, and Wolf. I chose unicorn (don’t fight me on this, guys, it’s a little girl! xD) 

They proceed to talk about what she was wearing. A dress with a heart decoration on it perhaps? But when her corpse was found, her whole body was covered in blood. Eddie says the burial dress is plain and he does not like her like that (Eddie why?!) 

He wants to keep adding more to the grave. I think this is an option for the burial dress pattern. For this one I chose a flower. Eddie asks if that is too common/plain and little bro replies that it should be different (I went with the wrong answer.) The correct answer is the first option (a shooting star?) correct me if I’m wrong as I am a bit confused with this one. 

And with that our unicorn gravestone is complete and little brother seems impressed and happy with it! Eddie replies that it is perfect for the little girl and hopes she will rest well in her new grave. I will end part 1 now. Eddie’s father will make an appearance in part 2.

Satsuten Light Novels

Volume 1 (finished)

Prologue

B7

B6

B5

B4 (Part 1 / Part 2)

B3 (Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4)

Zack’s Memory

Also available on Bakatsuki, on Google Drive, and as a PDF.

Volume 2 (in progress)

Prologue

Chapter 1 - Sweet Guilt

Chapter 2 - Tragedy in Her Daydream

Chapter 3 - Zack’s Knife

Chapter 4 - The Witch Trial

Eddie’s Memory

Her Memory of Cathy

If I met anybody remotely similar to Zack in real life, I’d probably never want to interact with them again. Like seriously- when you really think about it he’s incredibly annoying-

Stupidly stubborn, dumb to the point it’d be an pain to explain anything generally abstract or complex, (even if he found the patience to sit through something you’re trying to explain you can just tell he only caught like 20% of it) and refuses to take care of himself to the point it’s annoying for other people- like he must smell absolutely horrendous.

But we all love the man anyways

Satsuriku no Tenshi Clear Files - Circus Troupe Version

Scanned by me