Project “Love Up Fic Writers” is go.
In light of the recent spike in negativity directed towards fandom writers I’m issuing a personal challenge to myself (and anyone else who wants to join) to perform at least one (1) act of kindness and/or encouragement towards fanfic writers a day for the month of May, particularly towards authors who are often overlooked or are not as well publicized.
Acts of encouragement include leaving comments, writing notes of appreciation, assembling rec lists, and creating fic illustrations, music, graphics, gifsets, etc, as well as other shows of appreciation not listed. It can be as casual or labor intensive as your personal comfort level allows (I’m sure a lot of you guys do these things already lol) as long as the act shows your personal appreciation towards the writers in your life.
Note: Please don’t use this as an opportunity to lash out at popular fandom writers or perceived BNF’s – this is a challenge to uplift the fanfiction writing community as a whole and particularly those who aren’t told often enough how much we appreciate their efforts.
Too, many, commas,,,
Is this ooc??
I used that word already
Do people even blush this much??
*squints* Is that canon?
Tropes
*cries while writing death scene*
Wait what happened last chapter?
I wrote like a thousan- 354 words!?
*googles the lifespan of a tropical fish*
have I spelt his name wrong all this time?
Would they say that tho?
Changes plot 539932 times
Looses inspiration, goes back to tumblr
I try not to post commissions on my main, because I know they aren't writing related, but look at the art my friend did!!
I'm so in love with how it turned out and so excited to run her in this campaign. My poor little, spicy firebender and cute little spark, Aki.
Thank you so, so much. This is my background and it's not changing anytime soon.
Please commission my friend! She's amazing and kind and awesome!
Got the honor of doing this little spicy fireflake for a DnD, ATLA themed. I present, Kyoko and her little fren Aki, from the Fire Nation! Thank you noodle, for supporting me. She was fun and I learned some things.
I still have commission openings if anyone is interested!
Kyoko and Aki belong to @sinedra
I agree with the above. My writing professors always said 'there are rules, break them as long as you understand how and why'. The rules are important, but you're allowed to play with them. Bend them. Writing is an art form, we push the boundaries and limits set to us and that's what makes it interesting to read. Makes each author sound unique. Just be sure it's all moving the plot in some way or revealing character. It has to have a purpose.
Otherwise, write what you want to write. J. K. Rowling was denied again and again till someone saw the magic - pun fully intended - in her work. Stephen King was told his stories were too depressing, that no one would want to buy science fiction with negative utopias. That his novels would never sell. In the end they got picked up by agencies. Keep your heads up, there is hope.
A good thing to remember when writing: the first letter of the first word of a sentence is always capitalized. Always. Secondly, “said” is almost never capitalized. This:
“Hey.” Said the guy.
should nEVER EVER HAPPEN. “Said” pretty much never ever starts a sentence and certainly never with quotes or dialogue.
USING SAID: “Hey,” said the guy.
Any time you would put a period at the end of the quote, but it is followed by a dialogue tag, replace the period with a comma.
If the quote ends with a question mark or exclamation mark, the capitalization remains the same: “Hey!” said the guy.
ONLY, ONLY EVER, USE A PERIOD IF THE DIALOGUE TAG (THAT’S WHAT SAID AND ALL THOSE OTHER WORDS ARE) COMES BEFORE THE QUOTE: The guy said, “Hey.”
THIS HAS BEEN A PSA
👎🏼 Very simple 👍🏼 Basic 👎🏼 Very shy 👍🏼 Timid 👎🏼 Very short 👍🏼 Brief 👎🏼 Very shiny 👍🏼 Gleaming 👎🏼 Very sharp 👍🏼 Keen 👎🏼 Very serious 👍🏼 Grave 👎🏼 Very scary 👍🏼 Chilling 👎🏼 Very scared 👍🏼 Petrified 👎🏼 Very sad 👍🏼 Sorrowful 👎🏼 Very rich 👍🏼 Wealthy 👎🏼 Very rainy 👍🏼 Pouring 👎🏼 Very quiet 👍🏼 Hushed 👎🏼 Very quick 👍🏼 Rapid 👎🏼 Very pretty 👍🏼 Beautiful 👎🏼 Very powerful 👍🏼 Compelling 👎🏼 Very poor 👍🏼 Destitute 👎🏼 Very perfect 👍🏼 Flawless 👎🏼 Very pale 👍🏼 Ashen 👎🏼 Very painful 👍🏼 Excruciating 👎🏼 Very open 👍🏼 Transparent 👎🏼 Very old-fashioned 👍🏼 Archaic 👎🏼 Very old 👍🏼 Ancient 👎🏼 Very often 👍🏼 Frequently 👎🏼 Very noisy 👍🏼Deafening
art block, writer’s block, “art funk”, “burnout”, yada yada… it’s all the same thing, being a creator and wanting to create but having some kind of a wall preventing you from doing this.
this wall can take a lot of different forms, and i’m going to approach this post from the perspective of a visual artist, but no matter the medium, we all have a skill we’ve trained ourselves in and what I’m talking about will apply regardless.
Anyway as I said there’s a few different forms this wall can take. Here’s a few of them that I can think of:
Disillusionment with your current skill level
A loss of direction
Fatigue
Lack of drive
It’s really important to identify exactly what your wall is if you want to be able to dismantle it. This isn’t every way it can manifest either, just the most common ways that I see it manifesting, and you might have multiple at once!
Take some time to really self reflect on what the problem is if none of these are resonating after you’ve read the post, whatever it is you can find a way to manage it.
The most common advice I see for “defeating [creator’s] block” is committing to spending like five minutes a day working on something, anything at all. And that’s good advice! but not really for creator’s block, I think.
It’s GREAT advice if you’re lacking in discipline though, like I can easily get distracted and not work on things for months. So committing to work on comic related things for at least 30 minutes a day (and having this commitment be to other people that I’m checking in with each day, i think thats an important part) has worked really well for me, personally.
But I wasn’t dealing with any kind of a block, I just lacked discipline. I don’t think it’s very useful if for example, you hate how your art looks so you don’t want to draw anything anymore lmao
With that in mind, lets go through that list and I’ll try give you some advice from my experiences, and hopefully it’ll help give you the means to identify the problems you’re struggling with and find solutions to them if my advice isn’t quite what you need.
—
1. Disillusionment with your current skill level
So! it’s time to pull out everyone’s favourite graphic! this version was created by shattered-earth on deviantart, though the original is by Marc Dalessio
obviously this says art, but again this is applicable to all mediums. It’s an important concept to understand, the idea of a creator’s high vs a creator’s low depending on how developed your critical eye has become compared to your skill level.
If you’re not aware of it and don’t understand what’s happening, it’s REALLY easy to lose all motivation to create anything. Because why bother, if everything sucks? Definitely one of the most dangerous blocks you can run into, I think.
The solution, as with all of these walls, is to be kind to yourself.
Your critical eye improving is emotionally taxing, but it’s also an opportunity for great growth! It’s not easy, though. To get through it, you have to really confront what you don’t like about your work and target your weaknesses, and then you have to put in the time to try and improve them. That’s tough.
But self study doesn’t have to be a solo activity. Talk with your friends, seek out communities of creators, and follow resource blogs, channels, etc. I really think the best thing you can do is surround yourself with other creators, I’m in a few discords and hang out in the creative section of various forums etc
But this is really important: The act of targetting your weaknesses in order to improve them is going to make it REALLY easy for you to lose track of what you like about your work, and can in fact compound the issue and make you only focus on your flaws.
So, be kind to yourself. If you’re not happy with what you create, take the time to critically analyse your work. What don’t you like? What do you like? Don’t lose track of what you like while you study the things you’re less confident about, and with some patience and work your skill will catch up with your eye again.
I really can’t emphasise enough how important it is to not lose track of what it is you like about your work. The biggest motivation killer is always going to be falling out of love with your work, so do everything you can to prevent yourself losing the joy of creating.
Like, sure, a work might be technically perfect, but did you enjoy yourself while creating it? If you always ensure the answer to that is yes, the mismatch between your critical eye and your skills will be easier to handle because at least you’re still enjoying yourself, you know?
Keep reading
Try actually writing on paper before you type it. Your hands have a harder time of getting ahead and nothing is more fulfilling than using an entire notebook for your stories.
Thank you again! I'm so in love with this piece!
"We stick together and no matter what, have each other's backs. Through sickness and in health." They may have not been married, but he did take the vows and he would keep them.
"Careful Opries, you're starting to sound like a responsible and sound adult. Almost wise. How normal." His fingers were warm on her chin and his blue eyes were captivating. Her features softened, "I'm glad we have each other."
Commission from the wonderful and incredible @ib-gomes. They were so kind and patient and look! It's so beautiful, truly a million times better than I pictured! Thank you again so much!
Try stepping away from your work for a bit. If you come back to it in a week or two, you'll be distanced enough to notice mistakes or discrepancies in the piece. It can also help with writer's block; stressing over ideas is actually counterproductive.
write that sentence, that dialogue, that scene that terrifies you
don’t delete stuff, just move it to another document
have a “bits and pieces” document for all the odds and ends you can’t fit anywhere else
think of the color of a person’s eyes, imagine something reflected in them, now write that scene
fiction doesn’t have to be 100% accurate, don’t research yourself to boredom
i’m being serious there’s a thing called suspension of disbelief and it’s magical (yes that’s me making a joke)
write something that makes you cry
write something that makes you laugh
write something you can’t explain to other people
write something you won’t remember until you read it the next day
don’t read about the publishing industry until you really, really need to. all it will do is make you unbelievably tired
listen to music from open world RPG video games, you’re welcome
always take a small journal or some paper and a pen with you
write by hand in a journal every once in a while
put the ending of your story in the beginning and see what happens
listen to input from other people. yes you’re the writer, but they’re the reader and they want to help you make something spectacular
said is not dead dude like wtf
the thesaurus is shiny and lovely and a great resource but don’t let words get in the way of your story telling, you don’t need to write prose as poetry for it to be beautiful
just finish the draft first, worry about perfection after
yes, you do have talent
yes, you can do this. you already are
A simple blog dealing with writing, books, and authors. Writing blog is Sinedras-Snippets. Icon and header by miel1411
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