LETS TALK ABOUT SPARRING

fuck it. be creative even if you never really *make* anything. write out plot synopses of stories and then move on. design OCs you'll never use. make mood boards and concept art and don't do anything with them. life's too short to forget everything that inspired you and creation doesn't have to be "complete" to be worth the time you put into it.

Overcoming Imposter Syndrome

Intro

I thought this would be an appropriate post to make, because lately I've been having feelings of inadequacy in both myself and my writing. At first I thought it was just my inner critic, but after a while I realized that the problem wasn’t just feeling inadequate; I felt that I wasn’t the writer I thought I was. I would think back to some of the praise I received from other people and wonder if I was actually worthy of it. Did I actually deserve that positive feedback? Or were they just being nice?

I’ve tried to stop overthinking in that vein, but it can be hard to train yourself out of that habit. I’m making this post to help myself unlearn that pattern of thinking, and I hope it helps you too!

It’s completely normal

One of the most important things to keep in mind if you’re suffering from imposter syndrome is that you are not alone. Every single writer suffers from imposter syndrome at some point during their career--yes, every single writer. Even if you’re super confident in yourself and your writing, there will be times when you don’t feel that way. And that’s okay! Imposter syndrome does not make you any less of a writer. You are valid and you deserve to be appreciated!

Talk to someone

It’s great to have a support group that you can turn to whenever you need assistance or just some kind words. Talking about these feelings is vital to overcoming them. Together, you can brainstorm ways to boost your confidence and self-worth as a writer.

Many writers will internalize their struggle with imposter syndrome because they may be afraid that if they talk about it, someone will confirm that they are a fraud. But getting things off your chest, especially to someone who likely knows exactly what you’re talking about, is a great step towards regaining your confidence!

Remind yourself of your hard work

This especially applies to those who have had success with their writing, but are now doubting the validity of their achievements and questioning whether they really deserve them. Sound familiar?

If you start to feel like your writing success is due to luck, chance or accident...let me stop you right there. Take a moment to remind yourself of all the hard work that went into getting you where you are today. Remember the countless hours you’ve poured into your WIP(s)? Remember the passion, dedication and effort you’ve put into your darlings?

Determination and hard work got you to where you are, not a clever ruse or a lucky break. You’ve earned every bit of success you’ve achieved. So instead of second-guessing your achievements, reward and congratulate yourself on them. You deserve it!

Remember positive feedback

If you find your mind being overtaken by negative thoughts, take some time to remember the positive feedback you’ve been given on your work. This could be feedback on a submission or competition entry, comments from reviewers or beta readers, or even just a positive word or two from someone you know.

Writers suffering from imposter syndrome inherently believe that they’re not actually good at writing at all, even when there’s evidence that says otherwise. To overcome this, you need to accept what others are saying about you; you need to believe the positive comments as much as they do.

First, try to get out of the habit of automatically dismissing positive feedback. Many writers will find themselves reacting negatively to praise–denying or brushing off compliments instead of listening to and thanking people for them. This needs to change if you’re going to overcome impostor syndrome. This doesn’t mean that you can’t still be modest about praise, but it does mean that you can’t be self-deprecating. Establish what your strengths and talents are and accept them. Let yourself believe that you are a real writer, and a good one at that!

Keep writing

It can be hard--sometimes it feels impossible. But as a writer, the best way to defy feelings of fraudulence and self-doubt is to keep writing, no matter what.  Rediscovering the passion and dedication that drew you towards writing in the first place is vital to your self-esteem! The most important thing you can do is keep going.

People suffering from impostor syndrome believe that they aren’t "real” writers. The only definition for a "real" writer is "someone who writes things". So, if you stop writing, you’re only giving more weight to your own fears. Keep writing, whatever it takes. Consistently writing will also ensure you’re consistently improving, which in turn will boost your confidence. And sometimes just that confidence boost, or that renewed sense of passion and purpose in your writing, will be all it takes to help you overcome impostor syndrome!

Writers have a built-in anti-boredom feature.

It's called our imagination :)

How Not to Fantasy Worldbuild

Intro

Yes, you read that title right. Today I’m going to be giving advice on how you should not fantasy worldbuild. I’ll be exploring the mistakes people frequently make when worldbuilding foreign fantasy peoples, countries, and cultures, and how to avoid those mistakes. Please note that this advice doesn't apply to books where foreign countries do not play a significant role. However, if you have a book like Six of Crows or Blood Heir where foreign countries are significant, then this post may be more immediately useful to you.

Disclaimer: Remember that these are my opinions, and you are fully entitled to your own!

Put the same level of effort in for all worldbuilding

As an example: don’t come up with an entire history, economy, government, culture, etc. for one country, and then completely neglect another country because its inspirations lie in a country you aren’t familiar with.

@joonmono​ puts this best in their Tumblr post: “i will never not be angry at white fantasy authors being like ‘this is fake russia and this is fake germany and this is fake scandinavia and this is fake netherlands and this is fake amsterdam' then turn around and be like ‘oh but there's only one fake collective african country and one fake collective asian country.’”

Many fantasy authors, not just white authors, make this mistake too, because it saves time and effort. However, this is lazy and shallow worldbuilding at best. It shows you don’t care enough to research other countries/cultures and honor them. Yet taking the time to research for your worldbuilding both improves the depth of your worldbuilding and opens up your own worldview. When you enrich your worldbuilding, you also enrich yourself. That should be incentive enough to not half-ass the worldbuilding. So just don’t do it. Trust me, your readers will notice and appreciate it.

Don’t mix and match cultures

Mixing and matching cultures is a surefire way to make them inaccurate. For example, don’t group a bunch of East Asian cultures together into Fantasy China or a bunch of South Asian cultures into Fantasy India. It’s lazy, inaccurate, and quite frankly, offensive. And unfortunately, it’s very common in modern fantasy books.

Even among common aspects of culture, there are huge differences as well.  For example, there’s no such thing as one Indian people: there are thousands of ethnic groups in India, however. So, to avoid mixing and matching ethnic groups, focus on one specific group for inspiration.

Whatever you do, don’t consolidate an entire country, with various different languages, cultures, and traditions into a single monolith. That’s ignorant and harmful to the people who are part of those cultures.

Avoid stereotypes and generalizations

I really, really dislike it when writers fill their only foreign cultures and countries with rife stereotypes and outdated misconceptions. As a result, the fictional country/culture/people becomes a caricature of whatever reality the writer is attempting to imitate. It has potential, but it remains undeveloped in favor of stacking stereotypes and/or generalizations on top of each other.

This all ties into the first point I made: readers can tell when you don’t put effort into building foreign countries and cultures. Stereotypes and generalizations is where perhaps the largest harm takes root. This may not seem important--isn’t it all just fiction? But fantasy frequently draws from reality, and that reality may be that of a narrow, ignorant lens.

Be careful and mindful about how you draw inspiration from foreign cultures and countries, because the people who belong to them can very much be affected today.

I’m a knitter. I sometimes knit socks.

I have recently got back into doing some writing. This writing has been multi-chaptered.

So, here is a trick I am going to share that I learned from knitting socks. There is a thing called “second sock syndrome” which is when you finish one sock but can’t seem to get around to starting the second. So, when I finish a sock I IMMEDIATELY cast on the second sock and just knit a few rows.

So, when you finish that chapter, IMMEDIATELY just write one sentence of the next chapter. Trust me.

i want you carnally *shoves a knife into your abdomen*

Fluffy Winter OTP Prompts

1. Character A explains one of their winter holiday traditions to Character B

2. A sees snow for the first time

3. A and B have a snowball fight (bonus if A flirts with B to distract B)

4. A teaches B how to ice skate

5. A and B go sledding

6. The power unexpectedly goes out during a blizzard and A and B make a blanket fort

7. A and B give each other gifts in a gift exchange

8. A didn’t put on enough layers when they went outside, so B lends them their coat

9. A and B go caroling, but only one of them is actually good at singing

10. A wants to hibernate. B won’t let them

11. A and B bake/cook together

12. A and B make snow angels

13. A forgot their mittens/gloves outside, so B warms up their hands

14. A is looking for a last minute gift and enlists the shop owner, B, for help, but quickly ends up getting distracted by them

15. A is torn between making fun of B’s ugly Christmas sweater and admiring how good they look in it

16. A buys/makes B’s favorite warm drink

17. A introduces B to their family

18. A’s car breaks down and B pulls over to help them

19. A knits a sweater for B

20. A and B have a holiday movie marathon

21. A writes a message in the snow that B can see from their bedroom window

22. A and B watch the winter constellations appear in the night sky

23. A loves the cold. B...not so much

24. A and B share a bed to “conserve body heat”

25. A and B write letters to each other

26. A didn’t like the holiday season, until they met B

27. A and B make paper snowflakes together

28. A and B argue over the appropriate times to put up and take down holiday decorations

29. A and B cuddle by the fireplace

30. A thinks their new haul of scented candles is amazing. B thinks it’s a fire hazard

31. A and B get stuck on a ski lift together

I love the autumn--that melancholy season that suits memories so well. When the trees have lost their leaves, when the sky at sunset still preserves the russet hue that fills with gold the withered grass, it is sweet to watch the final fading of the fires that until recently burnt within you.

-Gustave Flaubert, Memoirs of a Madman and November

Writing advice you're not going to like.

People sometimes send me Asks wanting writing advice.  I suck at it.  I don’t really know how I do the writing, or how one should do the writing, or what one should do to get better at the writing.  All I can ever think to say is “write a lot of stuff and you will get better at the writing.”  Which is true, but hardly a bolt from the sky.

Well, as it turns out, I do have one piece of Legit Writing Advice, and I am going to share it with you, right now.  If you were in any of my writing workshop groups at a con, you’ve heard this advice already.

Warning: you’re going to fucking hate it.  But if you do it, you will thank me.

If you have a piece of fiction you’re serious about, something you might want to actually shop around, or just something you really are into and want to make it as good as you can…do NOT edit it.

Repeat.  DO NOT EDIT.

REWRITE.

As in, print out the whole fucking thing and re-enter it, every word (or use two screens).  Retype the whole thing.  Recreate it from the ground up using your first draft as a template.  Start with a blank page and re-enter every. single. word.

I hear you screaming.  OH MY GOD THAT’S INSANE.

Yes.  Yes, it is.

It is also the most powerful thing you will ever do for a piece of fiction that you are serious about.

Now, let’s get real.  I don’t do this for most things.  I don’t do it for my fanfiction.  But if it’s something original, something I might like to get to a professional level - I do it.  You absolutely COULD do it for fanfiction.  It’s just up to you and how much time you want to sink into a piece.

You can edit, sure.  But you WILL NOT get down to the level of change that needs to happen in a second draft.  You will let things slide.  Your eyes will miss things.  You will say “eh, good enough.”

The first time I did this, on someone else’s advice, I was dubious.  Within two pages, I was saying WHY HAVE I NOT BEEN DOING THIS ALL THE TIME.  I was amazed at how much change was happening.  By the time I got to the end, I had an entirely different novel than the one I’d started with.  When you’re already re-entering every single word, it’s easy to make deep changes.  You’ll reformat sentences, you’ll switch phrases around, you’ll massage your word choice.  You’ll discover whole paragraphs that don’t need to be there at all because they became redundant.  You’ll find dialogue exchanges that need reimagining.  Whole plot points will suddenly be different, whole story arcs will reveal their flaws and get re-drawn.

You cannot get down to the fundamental level of change that’s required just by editing an existing document.  You have to rebuild it if you really want your story to evolve.  You will be AMAZED at the difference it will make.

It will take time.  It will seem like a huge, Herculean task.  I’m not saying it’s easy.  It isn’t.  But it is absolutely revolutionary.

Try it.  I promise, you will see what I mean.

*PSA: Tipsy!Lori wrote this post.  In case you couldn’t tell.

Bitches rant over cliffhangers in the books they read, and then turn around and cackle with Evil Writer Glee ™ every single time they put one in their own WIP

It's me, I'm bitches