You Know What I Don’t Get?  When Fanfic Authors Apologize For Long Chapters.  It’s Like?  You

never forget your roots

fanfiction.net before they removed the NC-17 stories

going to fanfiction.net at all

going to adultfanfiction.net in the fallout of the great “purge”

figuring out that ain’t nobody actually monitoring NC-17 stories there anyway so just rate it “M”

“please R&R! concrit appreciated!”

warning: lemon

though it may be more on the limey side of lemon

“summary sux just read it”

replying to reviews in the author’s notes

author’s notes in which the characters talk to each other and the author

Eight rules for writing fiction: 1) Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted. 2) Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for. 3) Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water. 4) Every sentence must do one of two things — reveal character or advance the action. 5) Start as close to the end as possible. 6) Be a sadist. Now matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them — in order that the reader may see what they are made of. 7) Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia. 8) Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.

– Kurt Vonnegut

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

Link to donate to KhalsaAid

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Words to use instead of “Very”!

👎🏼 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 

Emergency Commissions!

I am facing financial difficulties and opening commissions to help pay for my plethora of medicines, medical bills, and general bills along with trying to keep clothes on my ever-growing beanstalk of a child.

Here is my Google Doc to look at my pricing list and disclaimers.

Message me if you are interested!

Don't have room or want art but wish to help? You can send money to my Paypal. If not, just sharing this would do wonders.

Above characters used on this comm sheet is Sadira, who belongs to @sinedra. Vida, who belongs to me. Fluorite belongs to @fyurama.

Start Reviewing Stories

More general advice this time. Writers, don’t forget that when you read other people’s work on Tumblr or Archive of Our Own or Fanfiction.net that you aren’t just another reader. You can help other writers, give advice, or even just general encouragement.

Remember that you want people to comment on your own work as well, this means you have to practice what you preach. I get so frustrated when I read comments on Fanfiction.net or Archive of Our Own (not for my own work, but yeah that gets frustrating as well) and there are just favorites or “Nice work” “I loved it” “Please continue”. This is like giving a quarter to a homeless person or a charity.

You might be giving, and over time it all will accumulate, but it doesn’t do much for the writer. Spend time on your replies and quit simply adding a story to your watches or favorites. Tell the author what you like, tell them what they did wrong (politely of course), tell you found that scene hilarious and it was a nice comedy break in the story, but say something!

If you don’t start doing it then no one else will either. As a community of writers, we can help each other stay optimistic and help each other grow. But we have to stop being passive observers and readers.

Um…

DONT SCROLL THIS IS IMPORTANT!

im begging anyone who sees this post to prevent rapesexual, im begging you. no one will see this but if you do reblog to get the message out that these fuckers exist and dont deserve to exist heres the flag so you can know who to fucking block, report and tell to fuck off

i dont want this to ruin the pride and help with self esteem of being lgbtq+ so a signal boost from larger accounts might be nice

I couldn't agree more.

PSA

// You’re allowed to change your OC’s.

Seriously, they’re YOUR OC’s. It doesn’t matter if you made them 3 weeks ago or 3 YEARS ago. You’re allowed to change them however you like. If you feel a certain headcanon suits them better, even if it’s been 5 years down the track from when you started writing them, then change them! 

Your OC’s belong to you and no one else. You’re allowed to change them as many times as you like–both physically and mentally. 

Characters grow over time, just like people. Certain parts of their story might not come to light until months after writing them. And just when you think you know who your OC is, something else springs up and might explain why they are a certain way. Embrace that change and growth. Understand and accept who your OCs are, even if they are a villain muse. Let yourself know that they’re allowed to grow as we, the writers, do. They will shape and form with us.

You’re allowed to change your OC’s, and no one has the right to tell you that you can’t. <3