Some Advice As A Discovery Writer Is To Outline.

Hi I was wondering if you knew any fics about where Luffy successfully rescues ace from Impel Down.

Of course! I did my best to find fics where it was Luffy who saved Ace, but I've also included some where someone else helped!

Ace Rescued From Impel Down Fic Recs

This list will include all ratings and tags, so read at your own discretion! :) Enjoy!

A Fair Trade by Rijus_Hope - Not Rated

Luffy and his crew hear about Ace's execution before it reaches the papers, before they're split up at Sabaody Archipelago. His crew is ready for Luffy to boldly declare that they were going to break his brother out of prison, but Luffy is as unpredictable as ever, and presents an entirely different plan: To offer himself, the son of the Revolutionary Dragon, as a prisoner in Ace's place.

It was cold without you by my side by Dezace - Rated T

Sabo just got back from a mission. He overhears news concerning the Second Division Commander of the Whitebeard pirates and the supernova Strawhat Luffy. Strawhat was reported to be in Impel Down, trying to break out Fire Fist Ace. What the World Government didn't know was that this caused a domino effect of epic proportions. Sabo would rather kill himself than not do anything. His brothers were counting on him.

The will to live is harder to keep than a will to die by Dezace - Rated T

Ace was chained down in Impel Down, waiting for his execution and death, knowing that nothing can change that. When Ace hears the news that Luffy was here and there for him, Ace couldn't sit still. Not anymore. Or: Ace decided that being the damsel in distress sucks and that if you wanted something done right, do it yourself.

Of Seas and Freedom by OCEANSHELLS - Rated T

Law and Luffy break Ace out of Impel Down during a date and make out in the elevator, not exactly in that order.

Fair Enough by WolfyTheWolfz - Rated T

Luffy finds out about Ace's execution, and instead of rushing straight towards Impel Down, he enlists the help of Boa Hancock, to help trade himself for his brother but to also get a message out to his crew.

see you again by yeonjunenby - Rated T

While awaiting his execution, Ace silently wishes that he could have seen his brothers Luffy and Sabo one more time. His wish comes true, except for some reason this Sabo and Luffy appear to be from three years in the future, and they seem hellbent on breaking him out of prison.

Of course I'd come for you by Lerya - Rated T

Making a beeline to the end of the hallway, Luffy didn't care about anything else but getting to his big brother.

Garp taught Luffy how to be a marine and uses that knowledge to break into a government facility by Dezace - Rated T

Garp wanted Luffy and Ace to be Marines, so he taught them what a good marine should know and how to do it. While Ace and Luffy obviously didn't become marines, that knowledge was, literally, pounded into their heads. With Ace captured and set for execution, Luffy uses that knowledge to bust his brother out of prison. Or: Why Garp shouldn't have taught an upcoming rookie what Marine codes meant because all it led to was the chaos a pirate could use it for.

Not Once, But Twice In A Lifetime by BonneyJewelry - Rated G

On the way to Wano, Luffy is forced to rest by his frantic reindeer doctor. When he snaps his eyes open again, he is not where he expects to be. Is that Aces Vivre Card?

Never Let Go by Applepie - Rated G

Sabo never managed to escape from his father after he gave himself up for Ace and Luffy’s sake. But ten years pretending to be the Noble his father expects him to be is nothing when it lets him save his brother in the end. (In which Ace gets a visitor in Impel Down, and it’s the last person he expects.)

The Rescue Party by UntoldDepths - Rated M

In which the Straw Hat pirate crew finds out about Ace's execution earlier than canon and immediately launches a rescue mission.

Tips for writing dream sequences (from someone who has really vivid, weird dreams on a frequent basis)

My biggest pet peeve with fictional dream sequences is that they make too much sense!! They're too relevant! There's not enough random crazy stuff! That's not always unrealistic per se, but you are missing out on some of the fun ways you can reveal information about your character's mindset, fears, struggles, and future.

Most of my dreams have a goal or objective driving the plot, and it's usually urgent. Ex. "escape the huge storm on the horizon", "find a place to sleep for the night in an unfamiliar town", "find a bathroom". This is especially true of stress dreams.

Everything going on in the dream makes perfect sense to you during the dream. It doesn't feel like reality per se, but you think it is. You're living in a house full of vampires that could eat you at any moment? Seems legit.

Emotions and situations from the dreamer's life can/will find their way into dreams, with varying levels of subtlety. The dream could be about the stressful event itself, or it could be some sort of exaggerated metaphor. Ex. I was worried about whether I was a competent CS major while I was still trying to find a summer job/internship, and I was worried about what my professors must think of me. Such a good student on paper, still without summer plans. I dreamed that I ran into my professors all having lunch together at a restaurant (during a dream with a completely different storyline), and I was wearing my pajamas. They judged me.

Certain things are very hard to do in dreams. This could vary from person to person. For me, it's always driving (the brakes never work right), flying (I can't stay off the ground for very long), and running (it's like trying to run through waist-deep water).

People with PTSD may dream about the traumatic event happening differently than it actually happened. (Take this one with a grain of salt - I don't suffer from PTSD, I just research it sometimes so my blorbos can suffer accurately).

You can have a string of loosely connected or disconnected dream sequences back to back, each with an entirely different plot, setting, etc.

People can have reoccurring themes or plotlines in their dreams, which are often connected to their lives/psyche somehow. I frequently dream about running away from tornadoes and being in situations where there's some catastrophe coming but I'm the only one who understands that there's a problem and nobody will listen to me.

It's common for me to have a dream setting that I KNOW is someplace I'm familiar with, but it doesn't actually look like that place at all. Ex. "I dreamed that we were at my house, but it didn't look like my house..."

Dreams can end in cliffhangers. Sometimes I wake up right before I'm about to eat something delicious.

Sometimes people have dreams about doing things that they would never, ever do in real life, and they wake up feeling disgusted. This is Not a manifestation of their secret desires (*glares at Freud*).

Images are the most memorable parts of dreams. I forget the specific plot points, but I can still picture dozens of liminal spaces my brain has created, even years after I dreamed about it.

Dreams will fade from memory very quickly unless the dream had a strong impression on you, you write details about it down or you tell someone about it before you forget.

If you realize you're dreaming during your dream, sometimes you can control the dream going forward. This is called lucid dreaming. I've done it accidentally a couple times, and it's really hard to "hold on" to the dream and control it. I usually wake up soon after starting. With practice, you can get better at it.

Sometimes a normal/good dream can turn into a nightmare, and vice versa. Most of my dreams aren't really good or bad, they're something in between.

Your subconscious brain is CRAZY intuitive. We can argue over the existence of prophetic dreams (I've heard so many crazy stories), but at the end of the day, your subconscious brain knows things that you don't consciously know. If your character is in love with someone, their subconscious brain will know even if the character doesn't. Relationship problems? Deepest darkest fears and insecurities? Your brain knows. A dream predicted the downfall of my first relationship eight months before it happened, down to the reason why we failed. You can absolutely foreshadow this way. A character might subconsciously know what the consequences of their or other people's actions will be, understand things about the situation they're in, know things about the people they're interacting with, and more, despite their conscious realizations.

There are plenty of ways to make a dream sequence relevant to your story, but don't forget to add in some fun, random details. Character A is secretly in love with Character B? Have Character A dream about Character B confessing feelings to them while in a Vine Nostalgia themed restaurant over a plate of mac-n-cheese. The details are the fun part, and you can get as weird as you want. I once ran into my aunt in a dream, and she was wearing a backpack with a bunch of (fake?) hands sticking out of it, making a fan that rose above her back behind her head like some sort of peacock feather costume piece. I was so freaked out that I woke up. I dare you to get weirder than that.

Not everyone's brain works the same way. I have vivid, random, detailed, memorable dreams on a frequent basis. When I describe them to people they often ask "what were you on?". My roommate only remembers her dreams when they're nightmares. I have some friends who say they don't dream. Other friends have really boring, mundane dreams about their normal lives. Some people have weird dreams but only once in a blue moon. It's a good idea to decide off the bat what kinds of dreams your character has, and how often they remember them.

That's it for now, but I might make a part two if I think of more things to add. Feel free to reblog with your own personal dream expertise!

One of the best writing advice I have gotten in all the months I have been writing is "if you can't go anywhere from a sentence, the problem isn't in you, it's in the last sentence." and I'm mad because it works so well and barely anyone talks about it. If you're stuck at a line, go back. Backspace those last two lines and write it from another angle or take it to some other route. You're stuck because you thought up to that exact sentence and nothing after that. Well, delete that sentence, make your brain think because the dead end is gone. It has worked wonders for me for so long it's unreal

Learn the Differences Between Novelettes, Novellas, and Novels

Since I am currently in the process of writing a story, but I'm not sure what I want it to be... I'd figure I'd go ahead and share the differences!

So let's get to it!

Writing the first draft of a novel can be a daunting, arduous task. That’s why the novelette format can be so appealing. In many ways, a novelette is like a short novel. It allows writers to hone their craft by learning how to tell stories under a strict word count restriction.

What Is a Novelette?

The definition of “novelette” is any short, fictional work of prose narrative. Novelettes have a lower number of words than a novel or novella, but a higher word count than other forms of prose fiction like short stories or microfiction. Despite lacking the page count of a full-length novel, novelettes generally tell a complete story. Some people refer to novelettes as “long short stories” or “short novellas.”

How Long Is a Novelette?

Any work of fiction with a word count between 7,500 and 19,000 is generally considered a novelette. A novelette is longer than a short story, which usually has a word range of between 1,000 and 7,500 words, and flash fiction, which is usually under 1,000 words. Any piece of creative writing that is longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel is considered a novella.

Three Differences Between Novelettes and Novellas

A novella is a standalone piece of fiction that is shorter than a full-length novel but longer than a short story or novelette. Novellas incorporate many narrative and structural elements of novel-length stories—but like novelettes, they often focus on single points of view, focusing on a single central conflict, and rely on fast pacing. Here are the differences between novelettes and novellas:

Word count: The primary difference between a novelette and a novella, then, is word count (novelettes are shorter than novellas).

Subject matter: Traditionally, novelettes tended to focus on whimsical, sentimental themes. The modern-day novelette, though, is more like the novella in that it can encompass different genres like sci-fi, drama, or historical short fiction.

Complexity: In terms of storytelling ambition, novelettes tend to split the difference between novellas and shorter forms like short stories. Novelettes tend to have a greater focus on character development, worldbuilding, and plotting than short stories. However, the stories are generally more concise and focused than a novella-length work, as the word count is often too restrictive to tell a long story.

Three Differences Between Novellas and Novels

The most obvious difference between novels and novellas is page length and number of words. However, beyond this superficial difference, many structural and thematic hallmarks of novellas make them their own standalone genre of writing. Some of these include:

 A single central conflict: Most novellas explore a single, compelling central conflict. Because of their shorter length, novellas have less time to explore subplots and tend to focus on the main plot. Novellas generally have one main character and a handful of secondary characters. Because of length constraints, most of the character development will be focused on the protagonist.

 Fast pacing: Novellas usually move at a quick pace. Whereas novels can spend time diverging from the central conflict to delve into backstory and explore multiple points of view, novellas generally offer a quick compelling story with a singular point of view.

Unity of time and place: When writing novellas, writers should root the action in continuous time within a limited space, ideally one location.

Benefits of Writing a Novelette

For short story writers or people who generally write shorter works, novelettes can be an opportunity to tell a longer-form, standalone story. For writers who are used to writing, say, full-length science fiction or fantasy novels, the word count restriction of a novelette offers a chance to tell a good story with a simple cast of characters and few subplots.

Seven Examples of Novelettes

Novelette writers know how to tell a complete story in a relatively short amount of time. Here are some famous examples of novelettes, many of which were originally published in literary magazines:

The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe (1839)

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson (1886)

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka (1915)

The Call Of Cthulhu by H. P. Lovecraft (1928)

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1943)

Bloodchild by Octavia E. Butler (1995)

Hell Is the Absence of God by Ted Chiang (2001)

I hope this helps! Thank you for still being my followers and patiently waiting for a post!

I kind of suck at tagging, so I made this infographic to help make it easier.

Some advice as a discovery writer is to outline.

I update my outline after every scene because I make everything up as I go and change everything, but I need to know where I'm going in order to know how to start a scene.

Only do the major plot beats if you really can't outline, but try it. Some benefits may include:

Strong pacing

Confidence in scenes

Knowing your subplots

Foreshadowing

Less editing

Less writer's block/easier to overcome

It can also take a bit of practice and finding what works best for you, writing doesn't have rules.

Ways to un-stick a stuck story

Do an outline, whatever way works best. Get yourself out of the word soup and know where the story is headed.

Conflicts and obstacles. Hurt the protagonist, put things in their way, this keeps the story interesting. An easy journey makes the story boring and boring is hard to write.

Change the POV. Sometimes all it takes to untangle a knotted story is to look at it through different eyes, be it through the sidekick, the antagonist, a minor character, whatever.

Know the characters. You can’t write a story if the characters are strangers to you. Know their likes, dislikes, fears, and most importantly, their motivation. This makes the path clearer.

Fill in holes. Writing doesn’t have to be linear; you can always go back and fill in plotholes, and add content and context.

Have flashbacks, hallucinations, dream sequences or foreshadowing events. These stir the story up, deviations from the expected course add a feeling of urgency and uncertainty to the narrative.

Introduce a new mystery. If there’s something that just doesn’t add up, a big question mark, the story becomes more compelling. Beware: this can also cause you to sink further into the mire.

Take something from your protagonist. A weapon, asset, ally or loved one. Force him to operate without it, it can reinvigorate a stale story.

Twists and betrayal. Maybe someone isn’t who they say they are or the protagonist is betrayed by someone he thought he could trust. This can shake the story up and get it rolling again.

Secrets. If someone has a deep, dark secret that they’re forced to lie about, it’s a good way to stir up some fresh conflict. New lies to cover up the old ones, the secret being revealed, and all the resulting chaos.

Kill someone. Make a character death that is productive to the plot, but not “just because”. If done well, it affects all the characters, stirs up the story and gets it moving.

Ill-advised character actions. Tension is created when a character we love does something we hate. Identify the thing the readers don’t want to happen, then engineer it so it happens worse than they imagined.

Create cliff-hangers. Keep the readers’ attention by putting the characters into new problems and make them wait for you to write your way out of it. This challenge can really bring out your creativity.

Raise the stakes. Make the consequences of failure worse, make the journey harder. Suddenly the protagonist’s goal is more than he expected, or he has to make an important choice.

Make the hero active. You can’t always wait for external influences on the characters, sometimes you have to make the hero take actions himself. Not necessarily to be successful, but active and complicit in the narrative.

Different threat levels. Make the conflicts on a physical level (“I’m about to be killed by a demon”), an emotional level (“But that demon was my true love”) and a philosophical level (“If I’m forced to kill my true love before they kill me, how can love ever succeed in the face of evil?”).

Figure out an ending. If you know where the story is going to end, it helps get the ball rolling towards that end, even if it’s not the same ending that you actually end up writing.

What if? What if the hero kills the antagonist now, gets captured, or goes insane? When you write down different questions like these, the answer to how to continue the story will present itself.

Start fresh or skip ahead. Delete the last five thousand words and try again. It’s terrifying at first, but frees you up for a fresh start to find a proper path. Or you can skip the part that’s putting you on edge – forget about that fidgety crap, you can do it later – and write the next scene. Whatever was in-between will come with time.

Tips for ADHD Writers

(From an ADHD Writer & Spoonie)

As an ADHD author, and a spoonie (migraines) I know that a lot of typical writing "guidelines" can feel overwhelming and often don't work. I taught myself to write (results may vary) and after several decades of this; here's some of what I've learned to keep the dopamine and words going.

Throw out Genre Conventions & Boxes; Discover what stories you enjoy & write those.

There's nothing more restricting as an ADHD writer being told "this genre has to be this way." See those boxes. Break them. Find what type of stories and tropes and archetypes you enjoy writing in the types of worlds you find fun and exciting and write those. This should be fun. Writing may be hard, so give your brain the things it craves to snack on.

For example, I love writing romantic comedy with action. I love scifi and I love fantasy. I love shoving the two together. So, if I told you I feel my style is a blend of Jim Butcher action and Anne Bishop family dynamics, you might not get it. But if I said, I love the Mummy/Van Helsing, the Adam's Family, The Ocean's Series/St. Trinian's, and the Expendables, you might be getting closer. Oh, and Star Wars. Particularly the Wraith Squadron EU stuff of Star Wars. Han Solo and Bounty Hunter Wars.

2. Tackle Writing Craft Issues One Thing at a Time

All the writing guidelines and 'how to write' can be overwhelming. Turn off the noise, and choose one thing you want to work on in your story. Dialog. Description. Character Interactions. Conflict. Pacing. Whatever it is you want to work on, focus on it and only it. If you're working on dialog, then don't worry about description. If you're working on character interactions and group dynamics, don't worry about conflict.

The first "Craft" thing I remember trying to tackle was dialog. I wanted to write fun, snappy, dialog and not do question and answer responses like you see on sitcoms. It was the era of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and hopefully I made it my own later. Then I was like "I love characters, let's have fun characters." Plot and description came last for me. But I wouldn't be where I am today if I'd tried to do it all at once.

Go ahead and tackle this post bit by bit if you need to! I get it!

3. Write down all your Ideas into a paragraph synopsis outline.

Hyper fixation is great when you first get an idea. The juices are flowing, the dopamine is high and everything is all coming together. Or so you think. However, from painful experience, I know hyper fixation may not last between the 360K to 495K words of a trilogy, it might not even last past the first 80K. That's when having this synopsis paragraph outline filled with summaries and dialog snippets will be your savior. It will be able to rekindle your focus and make connections in your brain on what you were trying to do. And yes, it's okay if it's messy. You're the only one who is going to see it, and part of the dopamine thing can be making it less messy.

For example, I'm working on a vamp romcom trilogy right now. I got through the first two books and like the first 20K of the third book before my brain went "we need a break, write something else, PLEASE." then refused to focus on it for seven months. (I wrote a 'proto first draft for something else that I've been poking at for at least 10 years.) Sometimes, your brain won't want to focus on a story for years after you started it. Paragraph summary notes are your friend. And might be more important to do while you have this hyper fixation than the actual story itself. (Do what you can.)

4. Ditch word counts

There's nothing more depressing then trying to set a daily word count goal and not meeting it. Or seeing other people posting their daily word counts. Especially when you might write 50 words one day and 6000 another. Ditch this whole idea you have to write every day, because it's not feasible, and won't make your dopamine go up if you feel you 'failed' the goal or 'failed' in comparison to other people.

Writing is not about your word count all the time. It's about research. It's about idea gathering. It's about making that lore book. It's about getting all those pictures into a folder, and then sorting that folder. It's about day dreaming, and shower thoughts and the story you tell yourself before you go to bed. Or that music playlist you need to trigger your writing. Or buying the perfect candle. Making a map. It can even be scrolling tumblr b/c you might not be able to advance that story until you see something that triggers 'oh, that's what I want.' (I had this happen to a third book in a trilogy of a fairy tale sword and sorcery fantasy I was writing, it was a bit frustrating. But it's written and pubbed now.)

5. Copy and Paste what you might think is Half Assed Description

You've described something like a room or a person in your story, and you need to go back to that room (these are called key places) or person later or in the next book and you don't want to rewrite the description b/c that's not making you happy (unless description writing does that, then go you) go ahead and copy and paste it. It will save you time, and headaches trying to keep details straight.

Because as someone who doesn't see things when I close my eyes and I must define everything into words, people who can see things when they close their eyes probably think you have too much description. (Don't listen to them.) And it's okay to repeat yourself, because you are describing for you, and others like you, who need the description and reminder every once in a while what color hair and eyes and possibly skin, all these characters have and what the room looks like.

And don't be too hard on yourself. Go read Brian Jacques. If you can create a description even a third as well as Brian Jacques, you are winning. Okay, Brian Jacques wrote his books for blind children and thus described everything three times as he tried to include as many senses as possible. (Very important.) If you can hit one third of it, you are golden. (Also, he's fun. Long, as description eats up words, but fun. Err... formative years reading. Oops.)

6. Embrace writing the multiple stories/fanfics/short stories before figuring out what story you really want to tell.

Sometimes, it's not straight forward. Oh, how I wish it was. Sometimes, you end up writing what feels like thousands and thousands of words before you find in those stories kernels and ideas of the story you really want to write that you hope will make your brain shut up about that particular set of characters for a while. (Or not. Or not is okay too.) And this isn't wasted writing. There's no such thing as wasted writing. This can be part of the process.

So, the thing I wrote the proto first draft of, yeah, well, it's probably the third proto first draft and half a dozen other short stories where I figure things out. We are talking about 100s of thousands of words, at least two or three different change ups of where I want it to take place and genre types, but I would not get to the story I want to write without those other stories. And that is honestly, the most important bit, finding the story you want to tell in these bits of other stories you're writing, even if those stories never make it off your disk drive or no further than your closest beta reader.

The upside of this is, you get to know your setting and your characters really well. And so when you get to the story you want to tell, you can write that dynamic really well! On the other hand, you know them really well, and you might forget to show that dynamic in your story because you've forgotten other people haven't read the 300K words you've written over the years and don't know them very well. (This is when you need fresh eyes who have never read any of these other stories.)

7. Remember your readers are not in your head with you, and sometimes your future self isn't either.

It's okay to spell shit out. Especially if you're going for that YA audience or using a limited POV like first or 3rd limited. You can hit people over the head with the hammer. It's not 'show, don't tell,' it's show AND tell. You want to say the characters are good friends. Great! Now, go ahead and write out those fun character chewing the scenery scenes where they interact with each other and show me. If your character doesn't like interacting with other people, then you got to show me that. (Good read for this: Murderbot Diaries.) Tell emotions, write feelings. (How is their body reacting?)

This is good for you too, because you might not touch this story for months, have to go back and reread and are going "who are these people and why is the main character interacting with them?" And it might take a few paragraphs to go "Oh." So, go ahead and write it out for your future self too. (Been there. Done that. Expounded on it.)

I have had convos with my editor as I'm writing and giving her chapters, where she's like reacting emotionally and we're talking about this or that and some of it, I can't put in b/c it's limited third (and sometimes this happens with my 3rd omni stuff too,) but other stuff we end up saying, I go back to the scene and am like "okay, I should spell this out b/c obviously, I wasn't clear enough." And that's okay. I have a good relationship with my editor and really trust her, so this happens.

8. Don't worry about making it coherent for other people, unless you're going to publish (in any way shape or form.)

Look, if you are writing for yourself firstly, don't worry about structure, or pacing, or "Why do we care" stakes type of thing. Get the story out you want to tell and have fun with it.

However, if you want to publish, suddenly, all of this matters. Your story has to have some type of structure, some arc to it, a 'why do we care' type of stakes for the readers to latch onto very early on and it needs to be coherent for other readers who are again, not in your head with you. (This is why paragraph outlining can help. It can reveal the lack of this stuff before you get writing.) This is when I recommend strongly getting a development editor to help you find the beginning of your story and what the stakes/conflicts are for your characters and keep the story within your vision. (If they don't ask what your vision is, run.) And your structure just needs to exist, it doesn't have to be any 'defined' structure out of guidebooks.

9. When you get stuck have your handy 3 questions ready. What could reasonably happen next, aka what are the characters going to do? What could go wrong? And Does this Work for the Tone of my Story?

If you have trouble coming up with plots and you have no idea how to do conflicts, murphy's law is your friend. What can go wrong, will go wrong. You might come up with multiple ways things they can do and the ways they can go wrong and be like "but does this fit the outcome I want for my story, the ending I have in mind?" You might need to write them out. You might have to sit there and go "is this feasible or do I have to turn the story into pretzels to get it to work?"

Sincerely, watch the Emperor's New Groove. It didn't go through the Disney Process and every turn is "What can go wrong?" For both the protags, and the villains. At some point, generally in the third act, your characters will no longer feel as compelling if things keep going wrong for them. But in the first and second acts things can go wrong or appear to go wrong for the reader. (And then you get the dramatic reveal such as an Ocean's movie or Lucky Number Slevin.)

10. If you find it boring to write, your reader is probably going to find it boring to read. Summarize. Time Skip. It's okay!

This one is hard for me. Your story doesn't have to tell every minute of every day. Time skipping is your friend. Summarizing something that happens that isn't really plot important, they're doing this but you really don't need to show it, go ahead and summarize it. They were busy doing this, but we're at plot now!

Sometimes, that character interaction or fun going to a festival bit, or going on a date is the plot! This is called character development and your readers need to see it! Remember the type of story you're writing and figure out what the plot means for that type of story. (Hey, a romance without dates, is it really a romance?)

There's going to be times where you are going to be info dumping something you went and learned to write the book. And maybe on your third read through you realize, it's dull. And it's okay to summarize or take it out. Or sometimes, given you've read it six times, you might need to ask a beta reader "Was this boring, do I need to break this up?" Just to be sure. Because you know, yes, you will start to skim your own description and exposition. You are the one reading this book 10 times before publishing. Ack!

Or, maybe you've got the entire layout of the city/country in your head and why it is the way it is and all the politics, look, it might be relevant information, is it relevant right this second? No. Keep the story moving and put that information in context when it's important where it belongs! (See making plot paragraph summaries and writing lore books.)

Ten is a good number. In general, I also strongly recommend reading in your genres, and um, if you're writing a trilogy or a series, finish the trilogy, and write as many in the series as feasibly possible (more if they're say 50K words or so) before publishing them. This way if you find you've written yourself into a corner, or you need to make a call back but the call back you want isn't really there, you can go in and add those details or fix an ending without reader confusion issues. It can be something as simple as a plane going by overhead, or setting up foreshadowing for a later book. And you might not come up with that detail until 3 books in or know you need it and be like "crap" if you've already published. So, before you learn the hard way.

Most importantly, one spoonie to another. REST. If you need to rest, take it.

Bless and Happy writing ~ Ginny O.

Any tips you’d give to other pantsers/discovery writers?

hi anon!

so without much ornamentation, let me tell you this: being a pantser/discovery writer doesn't make you any less of a writer. it doesn't make you less passionate, serious, or committed to writing. you are a writer if you're writing; you are one even if you're only brainstorming or carrying a few characters in your head. you are a writer if somewhere in your heart you feel like you are one. don't let anyone tell you otherwise!

now for a few tips to help you feel less confused and alone in the process of writing your book –

it is okay to not know where you're going. the journey you're embarking on will be beautiful beyond your expectations, so try to loosen up a little and let go of your anxieties.

if you're still anxious, try to take it one step at a time. you don't have to constantly be thinking about the ending/destination. try to figure out what lies right in front of you. what's the next scene? what's a character relationship that you want to explore? what dialogue would you like to include? take small steps that will eventually lead you to the end and be mindful of them.

expect to be blank. sometimes, you can be completely out of tune with your book and it doesn't mean it's going to be like that forever. writing your book is important but it's equally important to take breaks, listen to music or watch shows that remind you of your book, stay hydrated, eat that meal, reward yourself for the things you've done, and do nothing.

when things aren't working out, let it rest for some time. a fresh brain is essential for a pantser because you need so much headspace (or bandwidth as i like to call it) to be able to daydream your own book into existence.

do not laze around too much. if you're a pantser, you might fall into the trap of just waiting for the muse to hit you, but the truth is, it won't. get started on the book, sit down to work on it, immerse yourself in the world as much as you can. make an effort to bring your story to life.

allow yourself the time it needs to write your book. it is okay if you can't write a book in thirty days. or months. or years. every story needs its space and every writer takes their time. don't rush it.

being a pantser means you're testing out the waters as you go, so here's a little pat on the back for being brave and strong and unapologetically you!

– ann.

The sun will shine on us again