things I wish I’d known when I started writing fic on ao3 use & for friendships, colleagues, familial relationships and use / for romantic or sexual relationships (or encounters) not everyone reads fic. Lots of people use screen readers, and screen readers can’t see what’s on images. use descriptive text to help them out. lots of people download fic to read on other devices, not all downloads capture images too. there’s a big difference between No Archive Warnings Apply (NAWA) and Author Chose Not to Use Archive Warnings (CNTW) . NAWA means that there’s nothing in the fic that needs to be warned for using the official Archive Warning system. CNTW means there might be something that requires a warning and the author is either avoiding giving out spoilers or they are unsure how to interpret their plot point with respect to the official Warnings. (in both cases, additional tags are where it’s at - you can explain yourself there) the reason why the number of bookmarks in the fic is different from the number of bookmarks on your stats page is because your stats page number includes bookmarks that are hidden there’s a preference setting where you can receive emails with your own comments/replies. there’s a site skin that hides stats so you don’t have to see them writing in rich text format makes my life easier knowing html allows me to do fun things in the comments section like comment/reply with reaction gifs knowing html also allows me to do interesting formatting in my fics that I can’t do with rich text alone those little blue bubbles with the question marks in them will answer my questions a lot of the time - and also teach me something new the FAQ is linked under the word About in the header if you write your fic in the draft window, you might end up losing it so make sure you copy the text before you hit Post, just in case they aren’t kidding when they say drafts are deleted after 30 days The Anonymous collection will allow you to post anything you want and retain ownership over it. Your identifying information will not be anywhere within the fic to any other reader. Though you will see it from your end when looking at it as a logged in user. When you reply to a comment, it will anonymize you, so feel free to respond to your commenters! You can take your fic off Anonymous at any time When you are signed into AO3, you can easily access your Anonymous fics by looking at the “Works In Collections” tab on your page. Nobody else will see these Anonymous works on this page. Works can be added to the Anonymous collection at any time Just because a fic is Anonymous does not mean it is Abandoned or Orphaned. Speaking of Orphaned fics:
If you have posted a story and for whatever reason you no longer want it on your account or associated with you, you can Orphan the fic. Orphaning fics will remove all of your control and ownership of the story. Orphaning fics is not a reversible process. Once a fic has been Orphaned it cannot be taken back. You cannot delete it. You can’t check stats and it does not show up on your Works page anymore. Orphaning and the Anonymous collection are great options for when you no longer want a fic associated with you, but you don’t want to delete it either.
This is just an FYI - I love to reblog additions to my posts but if your addition has an image that isn't described, I probably won't reblog it. If you have some thoughts that you hope can help others, I strongly encourage you to make them accessible. Use the alt-text feature on images to provide a description of the image contents or write out a description below. A lot of tumblr users rely on those descriptions in order to be able to use the site. ❤️
I guess I'm probably misusing "ask box" but I saw the long fic and long comment posts and they both made my heart so warm! I wanted to reblog and add to the post about long comments, but it felt sufficiently off topic, so here I am in your ask box.
Some time ago, I had wrote this thing on "how I write comments" cause I realized, like writing stories, it is *also* a writing skill, and I had gotten better at it! So I rambled about what I learned. It's here!
https://www.tumblr.com/shavynel/728025966499315712/writing-comments-for-fanfic
Your blog brings me so much fandom joy ^^
thank you for the time, effort, and detail you put into your post!
Is there a way to ask the tag wranglers if they could change the way a tag is wrangled? There’s a few tags I feel don’t need to be synonymous with each other because they don’t really mean the same thing
Tag Wranglers don't have their own inbox, but you can write in to Support and they'll pass the message along.
You can find the Support email form at the bottom of every page of AO3. Go down to the footer (the red block) and select Technical Support & Feedback from the list of links.
Whether that actually ends up changing how a tag is wrangled I can't really say, but the only way to find out is to ask!
Anonymous asked:
Do you have any advice and how to write a long fic?
I'll encourage long fic writers to add on in the notes, but as someone who tends to prefer short and medium-length fic, I'll tell you how I go about it.
Get a premise that you just absolutely love . You're going to be writing this thing for months, if not longer, so you want it to be something you're willing to spend a lot of time thinking about. Embrace subplots. You'll have your main plotline that you want to see through from beginning to end, but you can also weave in some subplots here or there. The way I do this so that I don't get lost down a rabbit hole is that I always make sure that every chapter has at least 1 thing that moves the main plot forward and then if I want to spend 1-2K with some side characters doing something fun I can do that as well. Subplots can extend for the length of the full narrative, but they can also just last a chapter or three. If you're used to writing short fic, these might give you that familiar feeling of "completion" A chapter is only as long as it needs to be. Don't get hung up on having a consistent chapter length. Don't get hung up on hitting some arbitrary number every time. Instead, figure out what the next part of your story needs to include and write however many words it takes to get that chunk across. Varying your chapter lengths is a normal thing to do and not something to stress about. The next thing that I find important personally may or may not be relevant to you, but I find that I can't plot anything in much detail. If I get too into the nitty gritty with my plotting, it just feels like I've already written it. I need to keep it at the level of "And then A and B meet C and hijinks ensue." I can figure out the particular hijinks later. It's the characters meeting up that's the next important thing for me to figure out. Getting too far ahead of myself is a death knell for me in writing long fics, but there are other writers who swear by it. Test out different ways of approaching it and see what works for you. As someone who tends to write more briefly, another feature that's common to longer fics is more extensive descriptions. People spend time painting visual pictures of the setting or the characters or the actions that are happening. Write the more bare-bones style that focuses more on dialogue (if you're like me) and then go back and read through what you've just written and see if there are opportunities to add in more detail. This can lead to some really interesting characterization choices and also help you out with worldbuilding. When it comes to worldbuilding, you don't have to get it all on the page. You just need to share what's relevant for the reader in that moment and what is useful to lay out now so that it's already there in a future chapter. You can have an encyclopedic knowledge of how your world works in your head, but it's not actually necessary. No one is going to be quizzing you later - and if they do, you can always figure it out at that point. Most important for me when I'm trying to get myself to the end of a longer fic, have a friend or a group of friends who are also into what you're writing - or at least willing to hear you get excited about it. Being able to get excited about your work is so important. It's like a bottle of water being handed to you on mile 10 of a marathon.
I'm still fairly new to fic writing as a whole (I only started about two years ago) and I've written a handful of short fics, but the first fic I started, published, and am still currently working on, is a long fic that snowballed out of control. Multi chapter, over 400k words. It's been a wild ride. Needless to say, I've learned a lot. So, I'll share some general pointers that have helped me.
Think about what kind of story you want to tell
Genres, plot, themes, narrator, perspective, characters, setting, writing style, tone etc. They're basic details, but they're important to know and they'll give you a lot of direction when you're first molding your story. Take some time to brainstorm and jot it down to reference later. These things don't have to be super detailed either, bullet points are fine, but I think it's important to figure out what you personally want out of your story. You're the one writing it after all! So think of this stage like a moodboard and your source of inspiration.
I know some writers struggle to come up with "interesting" plots, but here's the thing, they're actually the simplest part of any story. Doesn't matter how long or short your story is, or what kind of story, all plots can be summarized in a single sentence. (Protagonist saves the day, protagonist falls in love, protagonist solves the mystery...) It's the details around the plot that make a story compelling and also yours! So take the time to think about them.
Your mileage may vary on this depending on how you operate and how you prefer to work, but having a road map will prevent you from getting lost when you're in the middle of writing. Some people prefer to navigate without a lot of direction, others need to keep track of every single turn. But when you don't know what to write, if you do get lost, if you have an outline, you have something to fall back on.
I think a lot of people assume that outlines have to be mega detailed, but they just need to be detailed enough for you to work with. I treat my outline like a skeleton, it's the framework of my story but it's not really fleshed out. I have all my major plot beats outlined by chapter, but really all that means is I have a list of things that need to happen in that particular chapter to progress the story. All the other details usually get added as I'm writing.
That being said, if you are meticulously organized you can cram all the notes in.
Also, recognize you're not going to have everything figured out prior to starting your fic. And that's okay! That's normal. It's actually great. It offers you opportunities to add things or make changes as you need them. A good outline will help guide you without being restrictive.
Chapters are as short or as long as they need to be
Word count can be a useful metric, but is ultimately arbitrary. Your story will tell you what it needs and where to go.
Lean into the things you love
If you're writing a long fic, you're in it for the long haul. Write about the things that interest you, that are important to you, that you identify with, that you love. Be it characters, tropes, whatever. You'll have a much easier time staying engaged when you write stuff you're passionate about.
You're running a marathon, not a sprint. Pace yourself and give yourself the time you need to tell the story. Life has a bad habit of getting in the way of writing sometimes, which can be disappointing and frustrating, but give yourself grace when you need. If you miss a deadline, if you don't write as much as you wanted, when you're struggling to get the words on the page. Take a break and come back when you're ready. Your writing will be waiting for you.
Create habits and practices that are sustainable for you
There's tons of great references and resources for writing out there, tons of advice. Some of it you'll find useful, some of it not. Take the things that work for you and run with it. Maybe writing everyday isn't feasible with your schedule, maybe you don't like to write in order, maybe you write slow, maybe you need snacks and five beverages before you start writing. Whatever the case, find ways to work with your work style rather than trying to force yourself into doing something you can't sustain.
(putting this here instead of in the replies bcs it's too long)
I hate outlining fics and i write long ones (100k+) bcs it fits most naturally w how my brain works, so what i do is find an idea im really excited about, introduce a decent amount of stuff in chapter 1 and then continue doing the pose qs-answer qs in every chapter (or, otherwise, do an introspective chapter if its necessary, which doesn't progress the plot but can be still useful).
You can write without a real plan, but u have to 1) like problem solving (aka using the snippets of info you've introduced in previous chapters for plot progression, answering the Big questions that u posed etc), 2) like thinking about the fic outside of writing it so that you come up with fun answers to questions and more ideas and 3) be ready to work with messy notes comprised of ideas and possible solutions and things that came to your head randomly (and, if ur memory is as bad as mine is, reread chapters occasionally).
Writing like this does mean that you'll at times forget some pieces of info you introduced, you just want to make sure that they aren't major things (like for example i said a char of mine wore an odd necklace around their neck in chapter 1 and fully forgot abt it, but it was just an avenue of exploration i could've chosen and it was minor enough that it isnt likely to haunt readers or me, AND it isnt contradictory to anything else i introduced as part of the world later).
My main point is that you absolutely can write without a plan and yes it will be a tad messier than if you wrote with a plan, but planning can be tedious and make you lose interest in your project, and at the end of the day the point of fic writing isn't producing the best possible product, it's having fun and engaging with your readers and fandom (this also goes for your other projects- one of the writing skills is being able to balance the tedious and fun parts of writing in a way that works for YOU (another is ignoring people who try to tell you that there's only one way to write and that any other way is Wrong and Won't Work- you do you!))
Anonymous asked:
How do you leave a good comment on a work when you notice a large error? Or a small error,m I get so nervous to leave a comment nowadays because not many people have clear statements regarding criticism. So, I'm hesitant to point out anything out/ leave a comment that's anything but positive.
I remember a few months ago, on a BNHA work, I corrected the timeline of canon events that author got wrong (because the WIP seemed to be going down that route of "canon adjacent" work that spawn from a canonical event). The author had a message beneath the chapters that "all comments were welcomed," so I thought it was okay to leave the type of comment I did. But I dealt with several aggressive messages from the author and the author's friends about needless critique and how rude I came off as afterwards (I apologized,but I still got messages for a while).
The whole thing freaked me out a bit because I hate any semblance of confrontation ,so now I'm nervous about commenting any work- even those with explicit statements on criticism (welcome ,not welcomed,etc). I leave kudos and such ,but sometimes I debate over whether or not the author needs my comment about their typos. I try to sandwich a critique between two compliments like everyone says,but then I end up with a paragraph-length comment, and I worry about coming off too strongly.
Is there a guide to good comments for criticism in fanworks? Besides not giving criticism when criticism would not be welcomed??
First of all, I'm sorry that you had such a bad experience. I'm sure that was awful for you, and I totally understand why it would freak you out.
When it comes to correcting things in fanfic, there are a lot of things to take into account.
Why does correcting the error matter to you? How well do you know the author? How long would it take to make the correction? There are others, but these are the bigger "buckets" I see most of them fitting into.
If the error matters to you because you get annoyed when you see typos, for example, then that's more of a "you" problem. You can download the fic and edit out the typos and then when you reread it, you won't have to worry about them.
If the error matters to you because you'd be embarrassed if you had posted a fic and there were typos in it, that's also kind of a "you" problem. If the author feels the same way, they'll likely have an author's note indicating that they want to be notified. Otherwise, they're likely resigned to the idea that typos will happen, and if they reread their work themselves, they'll edit them out if and when they catch them.
If the error matters to you because it's non-canonical, this one is more of a wait and see. Maybe the author made the error by accident, but it very well could be on purpose. Perhaps that small change is relevant to the overall plot they're developing. Maybe it's just a thing that they personally hate in canon and have decided that they don't want to include for that reason. Maybe it's a genuine error that they'd be horrified to notice later. There's no way to know.
And that last one is where we come to the second item above. If you know the author well, you can message them and have a chat and bring it up there. I'd recommend just starting out by talking about the story as a whole and what their plan is for it. As I said, maybe what you see as an error is actually a conscious choice that they've made for the story that they want to tell. During that conversation, you'll be able to figure out whether it's actually an error and whether they'd want it pointed out or not.
If you don't know the author well, you could point an error like that out in a comment but then you need to think about the third factor.
Typos take seconds to change. Plot points take hours, days, weeks, or longer. Asking someone to put in a lot of time to make a change to something they've already been working hard on can be really demotivating - even crushing.
For a lot of authors (possibly even most?) they put a lot of work into their fics before they ever get to the point of posting them. They've read, revised, planned, and plotted. They might even have additional chapters already written that are in the revision process and just haven't been posted yet.
Especially in long works, authors look to the comments as a cheering section to urge them on towards completion, so posting corrections or pointing out errors can feel like someone standing up and booing. I think that's what happened in that BNHA situation you referenced in your ask.
That's why the general suggestion when it comes to commenting with corrections is just to not do so. If you want, you can comment about all of the things you like in the fic and then ask if the author wants a beta. That would allow you to have those conversations about their vision for the fic, and it would also allow you to offer feedback before the work is posted and while it's still being edited and worked on.
Otherwise, if it really does bother you, I'm afraid you might just need to dip out and find a different fic.
Anonymous asked:
How the heck do people write short fics??? Any time I try to plan something that I WANT to be small and simple, wHOOPS suddenly there's 50 characters navigating a lengthy plot with many shenanigans in order to save the world and people are dying probably. Not - everything - has - to - be - like - thiiiiiiis ugh. Short fic writers, please share your secrets!
There are a few things I do when I’m writing one shots and short fics:
have a simple, direct plot that doesn’t take a lot of twists and turns just write one or two scenes with no particular ‘plot’ but an emotional goal skip the details and descriptions for the most part spend more time on dialogue and/or moving the plot forward than on giving a full picture of the scenes Extras / OCs that only serve one purpose don’t get full backstories and descriptions. They don’t need them. They’re lucky if they get more than a name. When I’m writing short fic (which is most of the time), it’s more of a sketch than a painting. I’m getting the ideas across but I’m not filling in all the bits and pieces that I could.
Short fic authors: what advice do you have for anon? How do you manage to NOT write 300K?
another big tip that I can’t believe I didn’t add to this list:
Let the tags and the summary do the heavy lifting for you. You don’t need to explain how the couple got together if you tag it with established relationship . You don’t have to explain how your heroes ended up in an alternate universe simulation of the real world if you tag it with Matrix AU .
You can set up so much of the background information with the metadata on your fic! Then you can skip past all of that and just get to the portion of the story that won’t stop bouncing around in your brain.
If you want to go back later and add on more then sure, but when you’re trying to get an entire idea out in 500 words? This is how you do it.
i find exercises in restricted word counts are v helpful in honing the skill of “writing lean.” i always LOVE writing challenges with limited word counts. write a drabble with 137 words only. yes please and thank.
because…and this is the crux. oftentimes, you can convey what you want in half (a fourth!!!) the words.
for example, writing microfic - a true 50 word microfic - is a brilliant practice to lean your writing. take a prompt and write A Scene. you’ll go over the 50 words easily at the first pass. then edit edit EDIT. i can’t stress this enough.
you’ll find that often that adverb is unnecessary when replaced with a proper verb. or not needed at all. like do you really need two/three adjectives? (no). dialogue tags are (oftentimes) superfluous. spot redundancies. be vicious in edits. kill your darlings.
then repeat. practice. then go back and sprinkle in style choices and adornments. (but i REALLY want that adverb!!! i want it. my darling. so delete that adjective over there. restructure that sentence to remove one word to stay within your strict word count). honestly, i think that’s the most fun. this, to me, is writing.
also. give your readers credit. they don’t need to be spoon fed every. single. detail. do we need to know Tommy crossed the room, over the knotted floor with that red paint stain, past the old chair that belonged to his gran and was upholstered in the ugly fabric? no. just. no. (unless of course the chair goes on to save the day…which. is a whole other ballgame).
also also. backstory…it’s. hmmm. ok, listen…it’s important. i often have PAGES of backstory. but those are details i need that readers will never see because it’s important for my character only. it drives his/her/their choices in the scene/scenario/situation in which they currently find themselves. this is what i think is what is meant by “show, don’t tell.” reveal the character’s…character…by actions, clothing choices, mannerisms…at relevant points in the action.
ok, i’m rambling now. *steps off soapbox* but truly. i am a short form writer. my most “popular” fic (eyeroll at the metric but whatever) is 3.8k. my longest…10k. and i had sleepless nights about it because i thought maybe it was too long. hahahahsigh.
anyway. go forth. write. do what you want as long as you have fun. and if that means writing 50k about Tommy crossing the room…so be it. i will applaud you from the short table!!
The big trick I’ve found for writing short fics is this: they’re not a full-blown story - they’re a snapshot. They’re a picture - give yourself a 1000 word upper limit. Short fiction is about the moment, the instant, the snapshot.
The other big trick I’ve found for writing short fic is in editing. So, write your 1000 word picture. Now edit it down to 750 words, 500 words. How far can you edit it down before you start losing important parts of things? That’s how far to scrape it back to. Your cast is the list of people who are actively participating - the ones with the speaking roles. The events are the ones which move the plot along (and the necessary details are the ones which move the plot along as well - if you have a bit you absolutely want to keep, put it in a file of what I call “marble chips”[1]).
Drabbles, in particular, with the 100 word limit, are about the moment, the instant, the condensation of story down to the barest minimum. I like the challenge of writing drabbles, seeing if I can manage to compress the story I want to tell into just 100 words.
Double-drabbles, meanwhile, I find useful when I’m writing longer works, as a way of capturing moments that have shown up in my head and which I might want to use later. 200 words is enough to catch enough of the “before” and “after” contextualisation to allow me to thread them into the larger work.
[1] I use the analogy of the writing process as being like sculpture. Your first draft is writing up the block of marble you’re going to carve your finished story out of. So I call the bits of story I’ve removed from the finished product “marble chips”.
ao3commentofthedayReblogged fandom-discussionsfrownyalfredFollow“this is a compilation of all of my fics from different fandoms—”Make them separate fics. I’m begging you. I can’t keep scrolling past that one fic with 115 fandoms and 75 chapters of one-sentence drabbles. I can’t. ao3commentofthedayIf you never want to see a particular author again on your AO3 search results or in someone's bookmarks, or in comments sections, you can mute them now. If you just want to remove that one particular work so you never see it again (but you can otherwise see the author just fine), you can add a small bit of code to a site skin. For detailed instructions, you can go to this work I posted on AO3, but if you just need the code it's.work-000 {
display: none !important;
}The 000 there is a placeholder that you can edit by changing it to the number after the word works/ in an AO3 work's URL. For example, the work I linked above is https://archiveofourown.org/works/39038346 . To block that work, the code would look like.work-39038346 {
display: none !important;
}You can block as many works as you like, too. Just separate them with a comma..work-000, .work-001, .work-002 {
display: none!important;
}#how to ao3
ao3commentofthedayAnonymous asked:Do you know where the “character’s terrible no good very bad day” naming convention comes from? I do! It's from a children's book that was very, very popular back in the 70s and 80s. I have no idea whether it's popular now. ALT#asks and answers
ao3commentofthedayhow to reorder works in a seriesStep one: go to the series itself. You can do this by clicking on your fic's title and then clicking on the series title, or you can do it directly from your series page. ALTStep two: At the top of the page, click on the Reorder Series buttonALTStep three: This will depend on what device you're using to do the reordering. For me, on my phone, I need to enter the numbers for my preferred order for the series (which fic is number 1, number 2, etc). On other devices, you can just drag and drop them into your preferred order. After you've finished that, click on the Update Positions button, and you're done. ALT#how to ao3
ao3commentofthedayRebloggedao3commentofthedayFollowAnonymous asked:Quick question about the last post: Is there like a specific amount of words for fics to be considered a long fic? Like how drabbles have 100 words, or is it just like ... a longer fic? If that makes senseao3commentoftheday answered:There's no specific definition for longfic that I'm aware of. My own personal approximate guide is:shortfic = under 10K words. This includes things like drabbles and ficlets. mediumfic or midfic = 10K-50K longfic = 50K to 100K epicfic = 100K+I drew my own definitions from the publishing world where shortfic is like a short story, midfic would be a novella, longfic would be a novel, and epicfic would be... well, an epic.A lot of people use the term longfic to indicate both long and epic length stories. It's rare that I hear the terms mediumfic or midfic at all, and it's usually a kind of tongue-in-cheek tone when I do. All of these definitions will vary from person to person and really drabble is the only one I hear consistent arguments about. Feel free to share your own thoughts on longfic (and other types of fic) lengths in the notes!cosmic-starfallmy partner thinks it's criminal that I sort my ao3 results to not have any fics longer than 50k. Some of the fics they read are in the millions range of words. So yeah I think what you personally consider to be a longfic can vary wildly. I have a series I made of a specific relationship tag where I grouped all my fics about it that were under 10k words because I consider that to be short. On the writing side of fic, 10k feels like a lot. I rarely write more than 10k words, even for multichapter fics. On the reading side, 10k feels quick to read. Most of the fics I read are in the 10k-50k range. If you ever feel down that you can never seem to write more than 10k words or even 5k words, jsut know there are readers out there like me who purposefully seek out shorter fics. You're doing amazing, keep it up. Ok long ramble over lol.
ao3commentofthedayReblogged itistimeforusalltodecidewhoweareao3commentofthedayFollowfanfic speedrun: write the scene you want to write and skip the rest of the fic(same goes on the reader side of things)ao3commentofthedayI'm seeing people on this post who think that what I'm saying is, "Write out of order, starting with the things you enjoy most." And while that's fine advice, it's not actually what I said. What I said was, "Only write the thing that's fun, and don't write the rest."Write one shots. Write drabbles. Write ficlets. If you have 5 interesting scenes but you can't figure out how to tie them together into a fic, then write 5 separate ficlets, post them in a series, and when you get another idea for that series just plop it right in there and rearrange the works into the right order. You don't have to write longfic to write fanfic. pretentioussongtitleI love one shots. One shots are awesome. One shots don't fuck around. One shots are a hit of pure, distilled fandom straight into the veins. They know what they're here to accomplish and by God they accomplish it with as little extraneous bullshit as possible. Sometimes you don't want a 30 chapter slow-burn epic five course meal; it too much. Sometimes you just want to down a double-expresso one shot of your favorite character and ride that high for the rest of the afternoon. wild-aspen90% of what I write is a one-shot. A single sex scene, a single concept. Bam slam thank you ma'am, there's the story. Beginning, middle, end, in 2,000 words or less on average. I don't want to write all the food you need for a year; I don't want to write an intricately coordinated 12 course meal where every dish compliments those around them.I write junk food. And I like that. Sometimes, you just want a fuckin' twinkie, and that's what my fic gives you.
ao3commentofthedayRebloggedao3commentofthedayFollowAnonymous asked:Do you have any advice and how to write a long fic?ao3commentoftheday answered:I'll encourage long fic writers to add on in the notes, but as someone who tends to prefer short and medium-length fic, I'll tell you how I go about it. Get a premise that you just absolutely love. You're going to be writing this thing for months, if not longer, so you want it to be something you're willing to spend a lot of time thinking about. Embrace subplots. You'll have your main plotline that you want to see through from beginning to end, but you can also weave in some subplots here or there. The way I do this so that I don't get lost down a rabbit hole is that I always make sure that every chapter has at least 1 thing that moves the main plot forward and then if I want to spend 1-2K with some side characters doing something fun I can do that as well. Subplots can extend for the length of the full narrative, but they can also just last a chapter or three. If you're used to writing short fic, these might give you that familiar feeling of "completion"A chapter is only as long as it needs to be. Don't get hung up on having a consistent chapter length. Don't get hung up on hitting some arbitrary number every time. Instead, figure out what the next part of your story needs to include and write however many words it takes to get that chunk across. Varying your chapter lengths is a normal thing to do and not something to stress about. The next thing that I find important personally may or may not be relevant to you, but I find that I can't plot anything in much detail. If I get too into the nitty gritty with my plotting, it just feels like I've already written it. I need to keep it at the level of "And then A and B meet C and hijinks ensue." I can figure out the particular hijinks later. It's the characters meeting up that's the next important thing for me to figure out. Getting too far ahead of myself is a death knell for me in writing long fics, but there are other writers who swear by it. Test out different ways of approaching it and see what works for you.As someone who tends to write more briefly, another feature that's common to longer fics is more extensive descriptions. People spend time painting visual pictures of the setting or the characters or the actions that are happening. Write the more bare-bones style that focuses more on dialogue (if you're like me) and then go back and read through what you've just written and see if there are opportunities to add in more detail. This can lead to some really interesting characterization choices and also help you out with worldbuilding. When it comes to worldbuilding, you don't have to get it all on the page. You just need to share what's relevant for the reader in that moment and what is useful to lay out now so that it's already there in a future chapter. You can have an encyclopedic knowledge of how your world works in your head, but it's not actually necessary. No one is going to be quizzing you later - and if they do, you can always figure it out at that point. Most important for me when I'm trying to get myself to the end of a longer fic, have a friend or a group of friends who are also into what you're writing - or at least willing to hear you get excited about it. Being able to get excited about your work is so important. It's like a bottle of water being handed to you on mile 10 of a marathon. chocolatepotI'm the opposite for point 4. I used to plot out longer stories/fics and outline with things like "chapter 5: they get more comfortable together" and then go ????? when I got to it.Now I might put that in initially when planning out the basic structure of a fic, to figure out the pacing, but once I get to chapter 5 I stop and write a new outline just for that chapter. Something like:Mary is sewing while Olive is working on a spell across the roomThinks about mother and what she's cooking upTired, puts down needle - Olive noticesShe asks Olive to show her what she's doingOlive sits down by her (cute moment, Mary gets flustered by proximity)Teaches her about spell, Mary thinks she's being very niceOlive unbends and shows a little more affectionIf I come to a note that just indicates mood or a general goal of the scene, it's too vague. I feel overwhelmed and like I can't write something this big. But an outline like this is a ladder that will help me climb the wall instead of staring at the top of it.nire-the-mithridatistMy success rate isn't great with writing longer fics but I always want to/have one in my WIPs somehow, lmao. I find that it also helps to not write it alone. Writing in isolation is so very exhausting. Get yourself a friend who likes your writing and you can show snippets of your WIP to them. You can brainstorm plot points with them. Bonus points if you're their hype person in return, and you can organize writing sessions together. I'd never have finished any of the multi-chapters I finished if I didn't have friends to hold my hand through it. Anyway. Hope that helps!sdwolfpupI agree with a lot of the above (and especially nire's and chocolatepot's points), but one of the first things I always think when I see someone asking how to write long fics like this is: why do you want to write a long fic? If it's because you have an idea that needs the space and time to develop, then cool. If it's because you want to challenge yourself and try out a longform format, awesome. But if it's just because you feel like you should, that somehow a long fic is more valid, then my advice boils down to: a story should be as long as it needs to be. If you can tell the story you want coherently in short form, with the emotional impact that you're aiming for, then do that and try to ignore the misplaced shoulds. A story is not better or more valuable just because it's long. (A sentiment I stand behind completely as someone who too often finds herself writing 100k+ fics.) My advice for actually writing long fic is to remember and refine your overarching emotional arc(s) at all times and to resist the urge to throw in subplots just because you like them if they're going to mess up the pacing of your story. Pacing a long fic is critically important and intensely difficult, especially in the middle. Ask yourself what purpose each scene serves as you write it. If you discover that you're duplicating something you've already done, figure out whether it can shed new light on the characters or plot or if you might have to let it go. (Also at some point in every long fic, I want to throw it away. Every single time. A few times I nearly have. Don't give in, that's just the monsters speaking. You can do this, just take a breath and take a break and come back to it later.)4,998 notes
ao3commentofthedayRebloggedao3commentofthedayFollowAnonymous asked:Your discussion about how long a longfic is has me wondering: what about comments? How long does a comment need to be to be considered long? ao3commentoftheday answered:hmm you know, I've never really thought about that 🤔 I'd say probably once you get into paragraph territory, a comment is pretty lengthy. I think a large percentage of comments are 2 sentences or less (and many aren't in sentence form at all), for reference. At least in my experience. I know authors can often refer to "long comments" as something they cherish most of all, and personally I think it's less about the word count and more about the fact that those comments refer to specific things in the story or their writing. Those comments also tend to be easier to respond to in a more conversational way. There's more to say than just "I'm glad you liked it!"What do you all think? Is there a specific word count you have in mind before you say a comment is long?phantomatoI really enjoy writing conversational comment responses, so anything with at least one specific detail that I can pull out into some behind-the-scenes commentary gives me that “great comment” high. #mood.249 notes
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ao3commentofthedayRebloggedao3commentofthedayFollowAnonymous asked:Do you have any advice and how to write a long fic?ao3commentoftheday answered:I'll encourage long fic writers to add on in the notes, but as someone who tends to prefer short and medium-length fic, I'll tell you how I go about it. Get a premise that you just absolutely love. You're going to be writing this thing for months, if not longer, so you want it to be something you're willing to spend a lot of time thinking about. Embrace subplots. You'll have your main plotline that you want to see through from beginning to end, but you can also weave in some subplots here or there. The way I do this so that I don't get lost down a rabbit hole is that I always make sure that every chapter has at least 1 thing that moves the main plot forward and then if I want to spend 1-2K with some side characters doing something fun I can do that as well. Subplots can extend for the length of the full narrative, but they can also just last a chapter or three. If you're used to writing short fic, these might give you that familiar feeling of "completion"A chapter is only as long as it needs to be. Don't get hung up on having a consistent chapter length. Don't get hung up on hitting some arbitrary number every time. Instead, figure out what the next part of your story needs to include and write however many words it takes to get that chunk across. Varying your chapter lengths is a normal thing to do and not something to stress about. The next thing that I find important personally may or may not be relevant to you, but I find that I can't plot anything in much detail. If I get too into the nitty gritty with my plotting, it just feels like I've already written it. I need to keep it at the level of "And then A and B meet C and hijinks ensue." I can figure out the particular hijinks later. It's the characters meeting up that's the next important thing for me to figure out. Getting too far ahead of myself is a death knell for me in writing long fics, but there are other writers who swear by it. Test out different ways of approaching it and see what works for you.As someone who tends to write more briefly, another feature that's common to longer fics is more extensive descriptions. People spend time painting visual pictures of the setting or the characters or the actions that are happening. Write the more bare-bones style that focuses more on dialogue (if you're like me) and then go back and read through what you've just written and see if there are opportunities to add in more detail. This can lead to some really interesting characterization choices and also help you out with worldbuilding. When it comes to worldbuilding, you don't have to get it all on the page. You just need to share what's relevant for the reader in that moment and what is useful to lay out now so that it's already there in a future chapter. You can have an encyclopedic knowledge of how your world works in your head, but it's not actually necessary. No one is going to be quizzing you later - and if they do, you can always figure it out at that point. Most important for me when I'm trying to get myself to the end of a longer fic, have a friend or a group of friends who are also into what you're writing - or at least willing to hear you get excited about it. Being able to get excited about your work is so important. It's like a bottle of water being handed to you on mile 10 of a marathon. ghostoffuturespastI'm still fairly new to fic writing as a whole (I only started about two years ago) and I've written a handful of short fics, but the first fic I started, published, and am still currently working on, is a long fic that snowballed out of control. Multi chapter, over 400k words. It's been a wild ride. Needless to say, I've learned a lot. So, I'll share some general pointers that have helped me.Think about what kind of story you want to tell Genres, plot, themes, narrator, perspective, characters, setting, writing style, tone etc. They're basic details, but they're important to know and they'll give you a lot of direction when you're first molding your story. Take some time to brainstorm and jot it down to reference later. These things don't have to be super detailed either, bullet points are fine, but I think it's important to figure out what you personally want out of your story. You're the one writing it after all! So think of this stage like a moodboard and your source of inspiration.I know some writers struggle to come up with "interesting" plots, but here's the thing, they're actually the simplest part of any story. Doesn't matter how long or short your story is, or what kind of story, all plots can be summarized in a single sentence. (Protagonist saves the day, protagonist falls in love, protagonist solves the mystery...) It's the details around the plot that make a story compelling and also yours! So take the time to think about them.Plan/Outline Your mileage may vary on this depending on how you operate and how you prefer to work, but having a road map will prevent you from getting lost when you're in the middle of writing. Some people prefer to navigate without a lot of direction, others need to keep track of every single turn. But when you don't know what to write, if you do get lost, if you have an outline, you have something to fall back on. I think a lot of people assume that outlines have to be mega detailed, but they just need to be detailed enough for you to work with. I treat my outline like a skeleton, it's the framework of my story but it's not really fleshed out. I have all my major plot beats outlined by chapter, but really all that means is I have a list of things that need to happen in that particular chapter to progress the story. All the other details usually get added as I'm writing.That being said, if you are meticulously organized you can cram all the notes in.Also, recognize you're not going to have everything figured out prior to starting your fic. And that's okay! That's normal. It's actually great. It offers you opportunities to add things or make changes as you need them. A good outline will help guide you without being restrictive.Chapters are as short or as long as they need to beWord count can be a useful metric, but is ultimately arbitrary. Your story will tell you what it needs and where to go.Lean into the things you loveIf you're writing a long fic, you're in it for the long haul. Write about the things that interest you, that are important to you, that you identify with, that you love. Be it characters, tropes, whatever. You'll have a much easier time staying engaged when you write stuff you're passionate about.Pace Yourself You're running a marathon, not a sprint. Pace yourself and give yourself the time you need to tell the story. Life has a bad habit of getting in the way of writing sometimes, which can be disappointing and frustrating, but give yourself grace when you need. If you miss a deadline, if you don't write as much as you wanted, when you're struggling to get the words on the page. Take a break and come back when you're ready. Your writing will be waiting for you. Create habits and practices that are sustainable for youThere's tons of great references and resources for writing out there, tons of advice. Some of it you'll find useful, some of it not. Take the things that work for you and run with it. Maybe writing everyday isn't feasible with your schedule, maybe you don't like to write in order, maybe you write slow, maybe you need snacks and five beverages before you start writing. Whatever the case, find ways to work with your work style rather than trying to force yourself into doing something you can't sustain.
ao3commentofthedayRebloggedao3commentofthedayFollowAnonymous asked:How the heck do people write short fics??? Any time I try to plan something that I WANT to be small and simple, wHOOPS suddenly there's 50 characters navigating a lengthy plot with many shenanigans in order to save the world and people are dying probably. Not - everything - has - to - be - like - thiiiiiiis ugh. Short fic writers, please share your secrets!ao3commentoftheday answered:There are a few things I do when I’m writing one shots and short fics:have a simple, direct plot that doesn’t take a lot of twists and turnsjust write one or two scenes with no particular ‘plot’ but an emotional goalskip the details and descriptions for the most partspend more time on dialogue and/or moving the plot forward than on giving a full picture of the scenesExtras / OCs that only serve one purpose don’t get full backstories and descriptions. They don’t need them. They’re lucky if they get more than a name.When I’m writing short fic (which is most of the time), it’s more of a sketch than a painting. I’m getting the ideas across but I’m not filling in all the bits and pieces that I could. Short fic authors: what advice do you have for anon? How do you manage to NOT write 300K? ao3commentofthedayanother big tip that I can’t believe I didn’t add to this list:Let the tags and the summary do the heavy lifting for you. You don’t need to explain how the couple got together if you tag it with established relationship. You don’t have to explain how your heroes ended up in an alternate universe simulation of the real world if you tag it with Matrix AU. You can set up so much of the background information with the metadata on your fic! Then you can skip past all of that and just get to the portion of the story that won’t stop bouncing around in your brain. If you want to go back later and add on more then sure, but when you’re trying to get an entire idea out in 500 words? This is how you do it.peachpetyi find exercises in restricted word counts are v helpful in honing the skill of “writing lean.” i always LOVE writing challenges with limited word counts. write a drabble with 137 words only. yes please and thank. because…and this is the crux. oftentimes, you can convey what you want in half (a fourth!!!) the words. for example, writing microfic - a true 50 word microfic - is a brilliant practice to lean your writing. take a prompt and write A Scene. you’ll go over the 50 words easily at the first pass. then edit edit EDIT. i can’t stress this enough. you’ll find that often that adverb is unnecessary when replaced with a proper verb. or not needed at all. like do you really need two/three adjectives? (no). dialogue tags are (oftentimes) superfluous. spot redundancies. be vicious in edits. kill your darlings.then repeat. practice. then go back and sprinkle in style choices and adornments. (but i REALLY want that adverb!!! i want it. my darling. so delete that adjective over there. restructure that sentence to remove one word to stay within your strict word count). honestly, i think that’s the most fun. this, to me, is writing.also. give your readers credit. they don’t need to be spoon fed every. single. detail. do we need to know Tommy crossed the room, over the knotted floor with that red paint stain, past the old chair that belonged to his gran and was upholstered in the ugly fabric? no. just. no. (unless of course the chair goes on to save the day…which. is a whole other ballgame).also also. backstory…it’s. hmmm. ok, listen…it’s important. i often have PAGES of backstory. but those are details i need that readers will never see because it’s important for my character only. it drives his/her/their choices in the scene/scenario/situation in which they currently find themselves. this is what i think is what is meant by “show, don’t tell.” reveal the character’s…character…by actions, clothing choices, mannerisms…at relevant points in the action. ok, i’m rambling now. *steps off soapbox* but truly. i am a short form writer. my most “popular” fic (eyeroll at the metric but whatever) is 3.8k. my longest…10k. and i had sleepless nights about it because i thought maybe it was too long. hahahahsigh. anyway. go forth. write. do what you want as long as you have fun. and if that means writing 50k about Tommy crossing the room…so be it. i will applaud you from the short table!! xoxo
ao3commentofthedayRebloggedao3commentofthedayFollowAnonymous asked:Do you have any advice and how to write a long fic?ao3commentoftheday answered:I'll encourage long fic writers to add on in the notes, but as someone who tends to prefer short and medium-length fic, I'll tell you how I go about it. Get a premise that you just absolutely love. You're going to be writing this thing for months, if not longer, so you want it to be something you're willing to spend a lot of time thinking about. Embrace subplots. You'll have your main plotline that you want to see through from beginning to end, but you can also weave in some subplots here or there. The way I do this so that I don't get lost down a rabbit hole is that I always make sure that every chapter has at least 1 thing that moves the main plot forward and then if I want to spend 1-2K with some side characters doing something fun I can do that as well. Subplots can extend for the length of the full narrative, but they can also just last a chapter or three. If you're used to writing short fic, these might give you that familiar feeling of "completion"A chapter is only as long as it needs to be. Don't get hung up on having a consistent chapter length. Don't get hung up on hitting some arbitrary number every time. Instead, figure out what the next part of your story needs to include and write however many words it takes to get that chunk across. Varying your chapter lengths is a normal thing to do and not something to stress about. The next thing that I find important personally may or may not be relevant to you, but I find that I can't plot anything in much detail. If I get too into the nitty gritty with my plotting, it just feels like I've already written it. I need to keep it at the level of "And then A and B meet C and hijinks ensue." I can figure out the particular hijinks later. It's the characters meeting up that's the next important thing for me to figure out. Getting too far ahead of myself is a death knell for me in writing long fics, but there are other writers who swear by it. Test out different ways of approaching it and see what works for you.As someone who tends to write more briefly, another feature that's common to longer fics is more extensive descriptions. People spend time painting visual pictures of the setting or the characters or the actions that are happening. Write the more bare-bones style that focuses more on dialogue (if you're like me) and then go back and read through what you've just written and see if there are opportunities to add in more detail. This can lead to some really interesting characterization choices and also help you out with worldbuilding. When it comes to worldbuilding, you don't have to get it all on the page. You just need to share what's relevant for the reader in that moment and what is useful to lay out now so that it's already there in a future chapter. You can have an encyclopedic knowledge of how your world works in your head, but it's not actually necessary. No one is going to be quizzing you later - and if they do, you can always figure it out at that point. Most important for me when I'm trying to get myself to the end of a longer fic, have a friend or a group of friends who are also into what you're writing - or at least willing to hear you get excited about it. Being able to get excited about your work is so important. It's like a bottle of water being handed to you on mile 10 of a marathon. itsalimereI’ve been thinking about this a lot lately bc I’m coming up on the end of my longfic that I started back in February (doing my very best to try to finish it for nano………) I think I’m sort of an unusual case because this longfic (“tapestry”, currently ~81k and 5/7 chapters, likely to be 110ish in the end?) was also my first ever fanfic after existing on the edges of fandom for my whole life, and I think the same things that let me write a fic *at all* are what have kept me going writing for a long time/lot of words.1) I started writing this because I NEEDED to read it. Guessing that this is not why a lot of people write fic, but I discovered that it’s pretty much the only thing that motivates me! I stalled out on tapestry at chapter 4 in May-ish, but got back to it because I really wanted to be able to experience and know about the full story myself. That pushed me through ch5 in September and is the primary thing motivating me now. No one I know well has read this fic (this is freeing, in a way) and the only one who is die-hard invested is me, but it’s enough to give me point (7) here. I want so bad to be able to read the whole thing and feel that it’s a satisfying emotional narrative for myself. I want a clear, relivable, in-depth daydream of the exact things I want to happen with all these characters. So I gotta finish writing it!2) The above thoughts from op are all great and super helpful for me to think about too!!3) This one is kind of related to my first point as as well as op’s (1) and (4) (about loving the idea and not worrying about planning too much). I have reread what exists of tapestry as a reader a few times (because I’m so invested in the idea), but it also helps me see threads I’ve put in by accident, motifs and emotional moments and stuff. That inspires me to follow up on them and can even point the way to where I want the details of the story to go. When I was really stuck on how I wanted ch5/6/7 to go, I reread what I’d written and realized there could be a nice circular structure where the concluding chapters would sort of mirror and wrap up some character points from chapters 3/2/1 respectively, so at the end I have (hopefully) a bit of a full-circle moment. This is something specific to my example, but rereading and analyzing as inspiration helps me in general!4) Speaking of inspiration - if I’m stuck on a longer fic I’ll sometimes return to some old favorites by other authors with the same ships/characters, or find some new fics to read of them. This helps me feel excited about my own story again by letting me compare/contrast what I’m doing with what others have done. I love these characters and other stories are so great but they’re not exactly what I imagine, so I want to write my thing too! “This emotional note in x fic is so great, I realize the character might feel a similar way in a situation I’ve put them in, and now I have more direction!” Or “I love how this character acts in y fic, but it’s not how things play out for them in my fic, and I want there to make a satisfying written reality out of what happens in my imagination, just like the author of y fic did!”Unorganized thoughts but I just wanted to write em down before I forgot/procrastinated too long!quiddity25Agreed on basically all of this. It MUST be a subject you're really enthusiastic about because it's not just months you're going to be working on it, but all those hours that go into a complete short fic is just a chapter, or a chunk of a chapter in a longer fic. Some things I would add that work for me personally (Note: I have written multiple long/multichapter fics and I make really, really detailed outlines):1 - you don't have to know every detail or even what happens in every chapter or even how many chapters there are going to be. But it's really important to know how the story ends. Bonus points if you can name your goals or themes exactly. Something like "I want to tell a story about..." "I want this to happen..." Going in with some kind of goal keeps you on task and consistent. It sucks to hit the 40k mark and realize you've lost your train of thought. 2 - Notes, notes, notes! Keep notes to yourself as much as you can. You WILL NOT remember every little detail, especially if you're working over a long period of time. I would argue that, while you don't really have to have a huge detailed outline before you go in, it's super important to at least keep relevant details in an easy to read format. Things like where people are, what happened where, and critically Who Knows What! If you leave a character or a subplot for several chapters, write yourself a reminder! It's surprisingly easy to have a character walk into a room at a critical moment, only to have a reader ask 'Wasn't this guy in a coma the last time we saw him six chapters ago?' It happens. 3 - Worldbuilding: A mix of the first two. If you're going to build an AU, especially one in a genre like fantasy or scifi, it's sort of important to know how your own AU works. It really is easier to just close the plot holes created by not knowing what rules you want to work with before you even start. Besides, rules are often the starting points for conflict/plot! Also, if you're not really sure how to find a starting point, or continue on, or really you just need direction. Ask yourself questions! Ones that work for me best are "What if...?" and "If... then..." Go as shallow or deep as you want. The same question can have multiple answers. Same question can spawn four more questions. Sometimes making yourself answer one question is enough to send you on a 50k adventure!3b - Your answers to your questions don't have to be completely serious. I frequently toss in joke answers or challenge myself to make a scenario as ridiculous as possible. It doesn't have to be *funny*, but you know. It's all mental dollhouses here and I believe it's possible to make jumping the shark look really cool if you're creative enough. IMO one of the most detrimental things you can do in this hobby is take yourself *too* seriously. Don't worry about schedule, or losing readers if you take too long to update. There's no shame in abandoning a work even if you're 80k and 25 chapters into it. These are stories written for fun, for free, for internet strangers. Just enjoy yourself.
ao3commentofthedayRebloggedao3commentofthedayFollowAnonymous asked:Do you have any advice and how to write a long fic?ao3commentoftheday answered:I'll encourage long fic writers to add on in the notes, but as someone who tends to prefer short and medium-length fic, I'll tell you how I go about it. Get a premise that you just absolutely love. You're going to be writing this thing for months, if not longer, so you want it to be something you're willing to spend a lot of time thinking about. Embrace subplots. You'll have your main plotline that you want to see through from beginning to end, but you can also weave in some subplots here or there. The way I do this so that I don't get lost down a rabbit hole is that I always make sure that every chapter has at least 1 thing that moves the main plot forward and then if I want to spend 1-2K with some side characters doing something fun I can do that as well. Subplots can extend for the length of the full narrative, but they can also just last a chapter or three. If you're used to writing short fic, these might give you that familiar feeling of "completion"A chapter is only as long as it needs to be. Don't get hung up on having a consistent chapter length. Don't get hung up on hitting some arbitrary number every time. Instead, figure out what the next part of your story needs to include and write however many words it takes to get that chunk across. Varying your chapter lengths is a normal thing to do and not something to stress about. The next thing that I find important personally may or may not be relevant to you, but I find that I can't plot anything in much detail. If I get too into the nitty gritty with my plotting, it just feels like I've already written it. I need to keep it at the level of "And then A and B meet C and hijinks ensue." I can figure out the particular hijinks later. It's the characters meeting up that's the next important thing for me to figure out. Getting too far ahead of myself is a death knell for me in writing long fics, but there are other writers who swear by it. Test out different ways of approaching it and see what works for you.As someone who tends to write more briefly, another feature that's common to longer fics is more extensive descriptions. People spend time painting visual pictures of the setting or the characters or the actions that are happening. Write the more bare-bones style that focuses more on dialogue (if you're like me) and then go back and read through what you've just written and see if there are opportunities to add in more detail. This can lead to some really interesting characterization choices and also help you out with worldbuilding. When it comes to worldbuilding, you don't have to get it all on the page. You just need to share what's relevant for the reader in that moment and what is useful to lay out now so that it's already there in a future chapter. You can have an encyclopedic knowledge of how your world works in your head, but it's not actually necessary. No one is going to be quizzing you later - and if they do, you can always figure it out at that point. Most important for me when I'm trying to get myself to the end of a longer fic, have a friend or a group of friends who are also into what you're writing - or at least willing to hear you get excited about it. Being able to get excited about your work is so important. It's like a bottle of water being handed to you on mile 10 of a marathon. potahunas a fic writer who automatically ends up writing multi-chaptered plot fics 90% of the time, i love these and would add a few different elements that work for me:plotting can start in many ways. sometimes, it's just a visual, a single line or an image, and a character, that you want to build around. sometimes it's a theme. personally, I find it okay not to worry too much about the methodology, as long as you have an element you really like, whether it be an image or a concrete plotline, just keep asking questions around it that you need to answer: how do they come to this, what are they trying to do? who is involved, and why? where are they? etc. before long, you'll have a plot formedif you have a plot fic, motivations are important and answering questions about motivations of characters can provide a lot of the meat for subplots! they can also tie multiple aspects of the plot togetherthinking about themes and motifs help. sometimes these will come out automatically as you plot, sometimes, thinking about an overarching theme or themes is the action that can unblock you in your fic writing when you get stuck!fully agree with the point above that adding descriptions can come in at the editing stage :> sometimes, dialogue in itself can carry a huge amount of information and plot forward. not to say that prose cannot be dynamic too, of course, but if you are a writer who has facility with dialogues over prose, dropping plot points in dialogue is also a nice way of keeping it dynamic. it really depends on your writing stylepicking the starting point can be hard! some like to start slow, some like to start in medias res... i personally find it helpful to have the whole plot noted down and pick a way to start after a significant chunk of the plot has been jotted down. it gives me more control about what plot points to reveal at any given timeand of course, it's okay to give up a plot if it doesn't work :) have fun with it! long fics can give a special kind of satisfaction when completed, when you tie all the loose ends together and feel like you told a complete story! so good luck with long fics writing and have fun!babycharmanderI agree with a lot of the stuff here. Another thing I think can be good is to leave room for "seeds" in the fic--random details that can come back later. A random background character, the name of a place, a specific item somewhere, etc. It doesn't mean that they WILL come back--just that they CAN. They're fun for your readers and will make them excited because they might remember it in an earlier chapter and be excited that they noticed it, and they're great for you because then if you're stuck, you can go back and read those earlier chapters and you might find a seed in there that will help you figure out whatever's gotten you stuck.There's been many times when I've gotten stuck, gone back to read my earlier chapters, and noticed a specific detail I've added that made me go "AHA!"
ao3commentofthedayRebloggedao3commentofthedayFollow50 tips for (fanfic) writinghave funwrite whatever is interesting to you, even if it won’t be interesting to anyone elseappreciate kudos when they come, but don’t expect themappreciate comments when they come, but don’t expect themif you wish you could just write that one scene you have in your head, do that. you don’t need to create a 30K backstory for it first.embrace one shotsembrace drabblesembrace writing your story out of orderrough drafts are meant to be rough. if you can’t think of a word, put in a placeholder for it and keep going. try not to get stuck on the little thingsit’s okay if your readers can’t see the picture inside of your headsome people work well when they have a posting schedule. some people work well when they don’t. it’s okay if you don’t know which kind of person you are, and it’s okay if the type of person you are changes over time.if a rule you created for yourself isn’t working for you, get rid of that rule.make fandom friends. even if they don’t read your fic, they’ll cheer you on while you write it.cheer on other writers you know. you’ll be cheering yourself at the same time.no trope or genre is better or worse than another one. they all just appeal to different audiences.quality and popularity are not the same thing, although they do sometimes overlapnumbers and statistics will never tell you whether or not you’re a good writer. they will never tell you how valuable you are as a person. you belong in fandom if you want to be thereyou’re a writer as soon as you start writing thingswriting and posting are two different things. your story is still worth writing, even if you never plan to share ityou don’t need to apologize for what you write or what you post. don’t worry about taking up too much space. the internet doesn’t have a maximum size. keep your readers in mind when you’re tagging your content. how could they search for your fic? if you use a tag, will be a reader who loves that tag be satisfied with how much it appears in your story?if you have a relationship in your fic that plays a minor role, tag it in the Additional Tags section instead of the Relationship section so that people who love that ship don’t get their hopes upbe cautious when looking at bookmarks on your fic. they aren’t “extra comments.” that’s a space where readers make notes for themselves and each other, not for authors. you don’t need to know everything about canon before you start writing ficyou don’t need to read fic in the same fandoms you write foryou don’t need to read fic at all in order to write itlove your work because sometimes you’re the only one who will - and that’s okayif your hobby starts feeling like a job, you might need to take a break before you get burnt outif you get stuck on a story, you can always start a new oneif you fall out of love with a story, you can always stop writing it. if you’re worried about your readers, you can always give them a bullet point summary of where you were planning to go with thing. for a lot of people, that’s satisfying and provides closureif you get hate, report ituse the tools at your disposal to block hate before it can come in (limiting or turning off comments, limiting or turning off asks, blocking users, etc)try replying to comments sometimes. it can be a lovely way to make fandom friendsdon’t be afraid to reblog your own writing posts.if you get stuck on your summary, just write 1) who the story is about 2) what they are doing and 3) what problem gets in their waynotice when your writing makes you smile. that moment is a gift. enjoy it.notice when your writing makes you cry. that moment is a gift, too.even if you’re disappointed in how your story turned out, there’s something in there that’s fantastic. find that thing and focus on it and feel proud.some ideas are ones you want to write. some are ones you want to read. if you ever have too many ideas to deal with at once, give some of the latter ones away to someone else. sometimes the things you write will be really personal. be careful about putting them where other people can comment. they won’t know how personal it is for you, and you need to remember that comments aren’t about you, they’re about the story.remember that you can write series as well as stories. if the story is done but you still have passion or ideas, start a new one in the same universe.enjoy the satisfaction of finishing a story. savour it. bask in it a little while.don’t feel guilty about abandoning a story. not every story gets finished, and that’s okayyou can have separate accounts for different fandoms. you can have one account with a million fandoms in it. do whatever works for you.sometimes writing is more important than sleep - but only sometimesit doesn’t matter if that story has been written before by someone else. it doesn’t matter if it was written by you. write it again.only follow the advice that makes sense to you. the rest isn’t important.
ao3commentofthedayRebloggedao3commentofthedayFollowAnonymous asked:Do you have any advice and how to write a long fic?ao3commentoftheday answered:I'll encourage long fic writers to add on in the notes, but as someone who tends to prefer short and medium-length fic, I'll tell you how I go about it. Get a premise that you just absolutely love. You're going to be writing this thing for months, if not longer, so you want it to be something you're willing to spend a lot of time thinking about. Embrace subplots. You'll have your main plotline that you want to see through from beginning to end, but you can also weave in some subplots here or there. The way I do this so that I don't get lost down a rabbit hole is that I always make sure that every chapter has at least 1 thing that moves the main plot forward and then if I want to spend 1-2K with some side characters doing something fun I can do that as well. Subplots can extend for the length of the full narrative, but they can also just last a chapter or three. If you're used to writing short fic, these might give you that familiar feeling of "completion"A chapter is only as long as it needs to be. Don't get hung up on having a consistent chapter length. Don't get hung up on hitting some arbitrary number every time. Instead, figure out what the next part of your story needs to include and write however many words it takes to get that chunk across. Varying your chapter lengths is a normal thing to do and not something to stress about. The next thing that I find important personally may or may not be relevant to you, but I find that I can't plot anything in much detail. If I get too into the nitty gritty with my plotting, it just feels like I've already written it. I need to keep it at the level of "And then A and B meet C and hijinks ensue." I can figure out the particular hijinks later. It's the characters meeting up that's the next important thing for me to figure out. Getting too far ahead of myself is a death knell for me in writing long fics, but there are other writers who swear by it. Test out different ways of approaching it and see what works for you.As someone who tends to write more briefly, another feature that's common to longer fics is more extensive descriptions. People spend time painting visual pictures of the setting or the characters or the actions that are happening. Write the more bare-bones style that focuses more on dialogue (if you're like me) and then go back and read through what you've just written and see if there are opportunities to add in more detail. This can lead to some really interesting characterization choices and also help you out with worldbuilding. When it comes to worldbuilding, you don't have to get it all on the page. You just need to share what's relevant for the reader in that moment and what is useful to lay out now so that it's already there in a future chapter. You can have an encyclopedic knowledge of how your world works in your head, but it's not actually necessary. No one is going to be quizzing you later - and if they do, you can always figure it out at that point. Most important for me when I'm trying to get myself to the end of a longer fic, have a friend or a group of friends who are also into what you're writing - or at least willing to hear you get excited about it. Being able to get excited about your work is so important. It's like a bottle of water being handed to you on mile 10 of a marathon. sooperwritingIn my experience, it's helpful to break a longfic down into smaller, more manageable parts. When I'm outlining, I tend to think about the fic as a whole and the larger story arcs running through it, but when I'm writing the fic, I try not to look at the whole outline if I can help it. If I need to remind myself where Character A needs to end up at the end of this chapter so that the story can go on, I'll double-check my notes, but otherwise, the outline is closed and hidden away where I can't see how much farther I have to go to get to the end. Finishing a longfic can seem like an unattainable goal. Getting to That One Part you've been looking forward to can seem like an unattainable goal. But finishing one scene or one chapter is usually manageable (even if it sometimes takes a few weeks), so I focus on what's in front of me, allow myself some space to celebrate finishing part of the story, then focus on the next scene or the next chapter. Rinse and repeat enough times, and you'll eventually get to The Big Scene or the culmination of a story arc or the end of the entire fic.Oh, and try not to feel too bad if you plan out your fic from start to finish only to get halfway through and realize that your plan doesn't fit anymore. That happens, and it'll probably take some time to sort out, but your story will probably be better in the end if you allow the plan to stretch and move along with you.tanuki1029Probably what's most helped me is knowing where I need to go, but not how to get there. I have exciting story beats that I'm looking forward to, but I can't write them until I write what leads up to them. On top of that, if I want the beat to land with the weight I have in mind, I have to make sure the lead up makes the pay off worth it. You may also want to do some testing by throwing these goofballs into a oneshot first. Having something complete under your belt will feel rewarding and also give you time to get used to these characters. You won't know how you write them interacting until you write them interacting. Also, follow the wind. While you're writing, there's gonna be some moments and threads that diverge from what you plan. If you go for them, you'll have to change everything. So, change everything. If you're imagining these branching paths like this, chances are, you're kinda bored with what you already planned. When something fun, or heartwrenching, or terrifying catches your eye, it's a great exercise in writing all over again. You have to adapt the story, recontextualize what you've already set up with a completely new pay off. It puts your own story into a completely new light. If you wanna write a long fic, you're gonna need to look at it differently than you did when you started. Don't take a story where you want it to go; take the story where it needs to go.
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ao3commentofthedaywasted-and-ready asked:Just wanted to say that I'm glad to see you posting again! [No pressure to continue if you have other things going on. Real life is more important than the internet and interests grow and change over time.] BUT, while you are here, I'm glad for it!I've followed you for years (new blog, but I was following you on my previous one as well). You have always been such a great source of knowledge and perspective. And you'd helped me to come to appreciate fanfic as a community-centered art form. Yes, even the cringey and NSFW stuff... maybe ESPECIALLY that stuff!
Anyway, thanks!I'm so glad I could bring you into a community mindset! Ever since I realized that was the key, it's made a real difference. Life is indeed life-ing real hard right now, but I find myself coming to this blog the way I used to go to the comments sections on my fic, to find some much-needed levity and yes, community. I won't make any promises about my ability to be around this much all the time, but I'm enjoying being back and I'll take that as a win ❤️Here's to the cringe and the nsfw and all of the other things that make fandom the place we call home 🥂#asks and answers
ao3commentofthedayRebloggedao3commentofthedayFollowAnonymous asked:Do you have any advice and how to write a long fic?ao3commentoftheday answered:I'll encourage long fic writers to add on in the notes, but as someone who tends to prefer short and medium-length fic, I'll tell you how I go about it. Get a premise that you just absolutely love. You're going to be writing this thing for months, if not longer, so you want it to be something you're willing to spend a lot of time thinking about. Embrace subplots. You'll have your main plotline that you want to see through from beginning to end, but you can also weave in some subplots here or there. The way I do this so that I don't get lost down a rabbit hole is that I always make sure that every chapter has at least 1 thing that moves the main plot forward and then if I want to spend 1-2K with some side characters doing something fun I can do that as well. Subplots can extend for the length of the full narrative, but they can also just last a chapter or three. If you're used to writing short fic, these might give you that familiar feeling of "completion"A chapter is only as long as it needs to be. Don't get hung up on having a consistent chapter length. Don't get hung up on hitting some arbitrary number every time. Instead, figure out what the next part of your story needs to include and write however many words it takes to get that chunk across. Varying your chapter lengths is a normal thing to do and not something to stress about. The next thing that I find important personally may or may not be relevant to you, but I find that I can't plot anything in much detail. If I get too into the nitty gritty with my plotting, it just feels like I've already written it. I need to keep it at the level of "And then A and B meet C and hijinks ensue." I can figure out the particular hijinks later. It's the characters meeting up that's the next important thing for me to figure out. Getting too far ahead of myself is a death knell for me in writing long fics, but there are other writers who swear by it. Test out different ways of approaching it and see what works for you.As someone who tends to write more briefly, another feature that's common to longer fics is more extensive descriptions. People spend time painting visual pictures of the setting or the characters or the actions that are happening. Write the more bare-bones style that focuses more on dialogue (if you're like me) and then go back and read through what you've just written and see if there are opportunities to add in more detail. This can lead to some really interesting characterization choices and also help you out with worldbuilding. When it comes to worldbuilding, you don't have to get it all on the page. You just need to share what's relevant for the reader in that moment and what is useful to lay out now so that it's already there in a future chapter. You can have an encyclopedic knowledge of how your world works in your head, but it's not actually necessary. No one is going to be quizzing you later - and if they do, you can always figure it out at that point. Most important for me when I'm trying to get myself to the end of a longer fic, have a friend or a group of friends who are also into what you're writing - or at least willing to hear you get excited about it. Being able to get excited about your work is so important. It's like a bottle of water being handed to you on mile 10 of a marathon. chocolatepotI'm the opposite for point 4. I used to plot out longer stories/fics and outline with things like "chapter 5: they get more comfortable together" and then go ????? when I got to it.Now I might put that in initially when planning out the basic structure of a fic, to figure out the pacing, but once I get to chapter 5 I stop and write a new outline just for that chapter. Something like:Mary is sewing while Olive is working on a spell across the roomThinks about mother and what she's cooking upTired, puts down needle - Olive noticesShe asks Olive to show her what she's doingOlive sits down by her (cute moment, Mary gets flustered by proximity)Teaches her about spell, Mary thinks she's being very niceOlive unbends and shows a little more affectionIf I come to a note that just indicates mood or a general goal of the scene, it's too vague. I feel overwhelmed and like I can't write something this big. But an outline like this is a ladder that will help me climb the wall instead of staring at the top of it.
ao3commentofthedayAnonymous asked:I know you are one person and are not officially affiliated with AO3. But I want you to know you are so incredibly wonderful. You're advice is real. Coming from a real person with their own strengths and weaknesses rather than canned advice you get from a lot of writing vloggers. We may not be in the same fandoms, and we may never read each others work, but you always brighten my day. Thank you.Aww thank you for your kind words 💓 Every ask blog has their own way of going about things, and this is the way that works best for me. I have no desire to be the final authority on anything when there is no one right way to do it, and I love to learn how other people do the same thing I do but differently. Like you say, we may not be in the same fandoms or read each others' work, but we're in this big community called Fandom together and sometimes that's enough 🥰#asks and answers
ao3commentofthedayRebloggedao3commentofthedayFollowAnonymous asked:Do you have any advice and how to write a long fic?ao3commentoftheday answered:I'll encourage long fic writers to add on in the notes, but as someone who tends to prefer short and medium-length fic, I'll tell you how I go about it. Get a premise that you just absolutely love. You're going to be writing this thing for months, if not longer, so you want it to be something you're willing to spend a lot of time thinking about. Embrace subplots. You'll have your main plotline that you want to see through from beginning to end, but you can also weave in some subplots here or there. The way I do this so that I don't get lost down a rabbit hole is that I always make sure that every chapter has at least 1 thing that moves the main plot forward and then if I want to spend 1-2K with some side characters doing something fun I can do that as well. Subplots can extend for the length of the full narrative, but they can also just last a chapter or three. If you're used to writing short fic, these might give you that familiar feeling of "completion"A chapter is only as long as it needs to be. Don't get hung up on having a consistent chapter length. Don't get hung up on hitting some arbitrary number every time. Instead, figure out what the next part of your story needs to include and write however many words it takes to get that chunk across. Varying your chapter lengths is a normal thing to do and not something to stress about. The next thing that I find important personally may or may not be relevant to you, but I find that I can't plot anything in much detail. If I get too into the nitty gritty with my plotting, it just feels like I've already written it. I need to keep it at the level of "And then A and B meet C and hijinks ensue." I can figure out the particular hijinks later. It's the characters meeting up that's the next important thing for me to figure out. Getting too far ahead of myself is a death knell for me in writing long fics, but there are other writers who swear by it. Test out different ways of approaching it and see what works for you.As someone who tends to write more briefly, another feature that's common to longer fics is more extensive descriptions. People spend time painting visual pictures of the setting or the characters or the actions that are happening. Write the more bare-bones style that focuses more on dialogue (if you're like me) and then go back and read through what you've just written and see if there are opportunities to add in more detail. This can lead to some really interesting characterization choices and also help you out with worldbuilding. When it comes to worldbuilding, you don't have to get it all on the page. You just need to share what's relevant for the reader in that moment and what is useful to lay out now so that it's already there in a future chapter. You can have an encyclopedic knowledge of how your world works in your head, but it's not actually necessary. No one is going to be quizzing you later - and if they do, you can always figure it out at that point. Most important for me when I'm trying to get myself to the end of a longer fic, have a friend or a group of friends who are also into what you're writing - or at least willing to hear you get excited about it. Being able to get excited about your work is so important. It's like a bottle of water being handed to you on mile 10 of a marathon. mikkenekoOP did suggest that longfic writers put their own two cents in on the thread, so here's mine.When I was writing my dissertation in college, staring down the requirement to write 100 pages in despair, my thesis advisor gave me the best writing advice I'd ever received: "Don't think of it as writing one 100 page paper. Think of it as writing four or five 20-page papers on related themes, and how to link them together." And suddenly, it seemed much more doable! I already knew how to write 20-page papers!If you've previously written shorter fics and now are looking at doing a longfic for the first time: Give yourself a structure that would link four or five shorter stories together. One way to do this is to write about a set of things: seasons, tarot cards, fairy tales, etc. Each subset will give you cues about how to approach that section, but since they're all on related themes, they will link together in the end. Aiming to finish out each section in turn can give you specific, more easily reachable goals that can keep your momentum going. It can also keep you from getting lost and foundering over the weight of what you've already written, if you have clear signposts you can refer back to and forwards to to re-orient yourself.For illustrative purposes: one of my early longfics The Missing Worlds had four subsections of three chapters each, each of which concentrated on one character, one fairy tale, and one element. Similarly, One Elegant Solution was partitioned into four Acts, each of which focused on a different element of the overall Problem Thesis. Not all of my longfics had that kind of strict structure, but having it as a scaffolding to build on made it much easier to stick to my premise and have each section build on the last, until they all came together in the finale.
ao3commentofthedayRebloggedao3commentofthedayFollowevery once in a while I post a fic, and instead of hoping for comments and kudos, I just get insanely curious about what the tag wrangler who finds it will think of what I've doneao3commentofthedayALTTag Wranglers are an integral part of what makes AO3 awesome, and I'm always happy to shout them out! They're volunteers (about 400 of them, the last time I saw a number) who take the time to read the tags that we add to fics and connect those tags to each other and to the database. It's because of Tag Wranglers that AO3 is as searchable as it is!And you are correct that very often when I chuckle to myself about what a tag wrangler will think, it's with a gleam in my eye and wickedness in my heart - although I never want to disgruntle them. More often, I want to amuse them. Like that time I wrote my tags to the tune of Summer Lovin' from Grease. This time, I'm just curious what they'll think of the fact that someone wrote a fic for the textbook University Physics with Modern Physics, about cousin Throckmorton of tumblr fame.If you want to know more about wrangling (or see some answers specific to AO3 tagging), I've had a couple of wranglers guest mod the blog before. You can find those questions and answers by reading my ask a wrangler tag.Editing this post to correct the number of wranglers. I originally said 1000, but that's the total number of AO3 volunteers (more or less). Oops!marithlizardThat is downright inspiring and I salute you. ao3commentofthedayThe image is the tags on the first of the two fics I linked above. The funny thing is, I didn't go into that fic intending to tag that way. I started off intending to tag "summer love" and when Summer Lovin' came up I just... went with it 🤣
first and only time I've had people comment on the tags more than the fic (for chapter 1 at least)
ao3commentofthedayRebloggedao3commentofthedayFollowAnonymous asked:Do you have any advice and how to write a long fic?ao3commentoftheday answered:I'll encourage long fic writers to add on in the notes, but as someone who tends to prefer short and medium-length fic, I'll tell you how I go about it. Get a premise that you just absolutely love. You're going to be writing this thing for months, if not longer, so you want it to be something you're willing to spend a lot of time thinking about. Embrace subplots. You'll have your main plotline that you want to see through from beginning to end, but you can also weave in some subplots here or there. The way I do this so that I don't get lost down a rabbit hole is that I always make sure that every chapter has at least 1 thing that moves the main plot forward and then if I want to spend 1-2K with some side characters doing something fun I can do that as well. Subplots can extend for the length of the full narrative, but they can also just last a chapter or three. If you're used to writing short fic, these might give you that familiar feeling of "completion"A chapter is only as long as it needs to be. Don't get hung up on having a consistent chapter length. Don't get hung up on hitting some arbitrary number every time. Instead, figure out what the next part of your story needs to include and write however many words it takes to get that chunk across. Varying your chapter lengths is a normal thing to do and not something to stress about. The next thing that I find important personally may or may not be relevant to you, but I find that I can't plot anything in much detail. If I get too into the nitty gritty with my plotting, it just feels like I've already written it. I need to keep it at the level of "And then A and B meet C and hijinks ensue." I can figure out the particular hijinks later. It's the characters meeting up that's the next important thing for me to figure out. Getting too far ahead of myself is a death knell for me in writing long fics, but there are other writers who swear by it. Test out different ways of approaching it and see what works for you.As someone who tends to write more briefly, another feature that's common to longer fics is more extensive descriptions. People spend time painting visual pictures of the setting or the characters or the actions that are happening. Write the more bare-bones style that focuses more on dialogue (if you're like me) and then go back and read through what you've just written and see if there are opportunities to add in more detail. This can lead to some really interesting characterization choices and also help you out with worldbuilding. When it comes to worldbuilding, you don't have to get it all on the page. You just need to share what's relevant for the reader in that moment and what is useful to lay out now so that it's already there in a future chapter. You can have an encyclopedic knowledge of how your world works in your head, but it's not actually necessary. No one is going to be quizzing you later - and if they do, you can always figure it out at that point. Most important for me when I'm trying to get myself to the end of a longer fic, have a friend or a group of friends who are also into what you're writing - or at least willing to hear you get excited about it. Being able to get excited about your work is so important. It's like a bottle of water being handed to you on mile 10 of a marathon. potahunas a fic writer who automatically ends up writing multi-chaptered plot fics 90% of the time, i love these and would add a few different elements that work for me:plotting can start in many ways. sometimes, it's just a visual, a single line or an image, and a character, that you want to build around. sometimes it's a theme. personally, I find it okay not to worry too much about the methodology, as long as you have an element you really like, whether it be an image or a concrete plotline, just keep asking questions around it that you need to answer: how do they come to this, what are they trying to do? who is involved, and why? where are they? etc. before long, you'll have a plot formedif you have a plot fic, motivations are important and answering questions about motivations of characters can provide a lot of the meat for subplots! they can also tie multiple aspects of the plot togetherthinking about themes and motifs help. sometimes these will come out automatically as you plot, sometimes, thinking about an overarching theme or themes is the action that can unblock you in your fic writing when you get stuck!fully agree with the point above that adding descriptions can come in at the editing stage :> sometimes, dialogue in itself can carry a huge amount of information and plot forward. not to say that prose cannot be dynamic too, of course, but if you are a writer who has facility with dialogues over prose, dropping plot points in dialogue is also a nice way of keeping it dynamic. it really depends on your writing stylepicking the starting point can be hard! some like to start slow, some like to start in medias res... i personally find it helpful to have the whole plot noted down and pick a way to start after a significant chunk of the plot has been jotted down. it gives me more control about what plot points to reveal at any given timeand of course, it's okay to give up a plot if it doesn't work :) have fun with it! long fics can give a special kind of satisfaction when completed, when you tie all the loose ends together and feel like you told a complete story! so good luck with long fics writing and have fun!
ao3commentofthedaydisregardandfelicity asked:hi! Did you ever post the update to how many followers this blog has, post-poll? I missed it if so. I totally forgot. I took a screenshot at the time that I created the poll so I'd get an accurate number from that point in time. ALTI've got 58,531 now - probably because I've been posting more. Also, someone rec'd this blog a few weeks back and I think that probably sent some folks over here.#asks and answers#I should go edit to put the answer there#for anyone who wanted to know#whether they were right
ao3commentofthedayAnonymous asked:Hi. First of all I would like to thank you for answering all kinds of asks. Reading what you have to say is very informative. I’ve been writing fanfic and have been posting it on AO3 for quite some years now and usually I know how to tag my relationships but I’m not so sure about one I recently started. My main stories are generally Fictional Male Character / Original Female Character and in a way this new story is just that, but they don’t end up together. They are in love and my OC has talked about her feelings and the guy she’s into has only thought about them but won't tell anyone and has also thought about one day hopefully asking her out and having a future together but because of the life they’re living, they know they can’t pursue a relationship at the moment, so they plan on waiting (they’re not aware the other likes them in return or at least she isn’t, they just know they can’t bring their feelings up just yet). Unfortunately one of them dies tragically before they get the chance to and the other lives on. So here I’m not sure whether I should use the & or the /. I originally thought of using the & but I’m not sure how to make clear that they are into each other in the tags. Should I even? I could add something in the Additional Tags like ‘Requited Love’ but I’m not entirely sure. Hope this makes sense. Thanks a bunch in advance and hope you have a good day ahead of you.In a case like this, I think it's a good idea to zoom out. What is the overall vibe of the fic? Is it romantic? Even if it doesn't have a happy ending, if the characters themselves are mostly thinking about their relationship in those terms and the story is largely about their relationship with each other, then I'd say the / is merited. If the characters are mostly considering each other friends and just have a little crush or a daydream now and again but the plot is about something other than their relationship, the & might work out to be a better idea. Another way to think of it is: would someone who doesn't ship it still want to read this fic? If the answer is no, then you should use the / so when they filter out the / tag, they filter out your fic. Additional tags really will be your friends here. There's actually an Requited Unrequited Love tag that might be what you're looking for? Or perhaps Not Actually Unrequited Love. Or maybe Possibly Unrequited Love. You can also use ones like unhappy ending, idiots in love, fluff/angst etc (whichever fits the mood) and the archive warning for MCD or Author Chose not to Warn. You can also create your own tag if you're not sure what canonical one might be right. Unspoken Love Confession, for example. What do the rest of you think? Any advice for anon?#asks and answers#you're very welcome btw#it feels nice to answer asks again#for the first time in an EON
ao3commentofthedayRebloggedao3commentofthedayFollowAnonymous asked:Do you have any advice and how to write a long fic?ao3commentoftheday answered:I'll encourage long fic writers to add on in the notes, but as someone who tends to prefer short and medium-length fic, I'll tell you how I go about it. Get a premise that you just absolutely love. You're going to be writing this thing for months, if not longer, so you want it to be something you're willing to spend a lot of time thinking about. Embrace subplots. You'll have your main plotline that you want to see through from beginning to end, but you can also weave in some subplots here or there. The way I do this so that I don't get lost down a rabbit hole is that I always make sure that every chapter has at least 1 thing that moves the main plot forward and then if I want to spend 1-2K with some side characters doing something fun I can do that as well. Subplots can extend for the length of the full narrative, but they can also just last a chapter or three. If you're used to writing short fic, these might give you that familiar feeling of "completion"A chapter is only as long as it needs to be. Don't get hung up on having a consistent chapter length. Don't get hung up on hitting some arbitrary number every time. Instead, figure out what the next part of your story needs to include and write however many words it takes to get that chunk across. Varying your chapter lengths is a normal thing to do and not something to stress about. The next thing that I find important personally may or may not be relevant to you, but I find that I can't plot anything in much detail. If I get too into the nitty gritty with my plotting, it just feels like I've already written it. I need to keep it at the level of "And then A and B meet C and hijinks ensue." I can figure out the particular hijinks later. It's the characters meeting up that's the next important thing for me to figure out. Getting too far ahead of myself is a death knell for me in writing long fics, but there are other writers who swear by it. Test out different ways of approaching it and see what works for you.As someone who tends to write more briefly, another feature that's common to longer fics is more extensive descriptions. People spend time painting visual pictures of the setting or the characters or the actions that are happening. Write the more bare-bones style that focuses more on dialogue (if you're like me) and then go back and read through what you've just written and see if there are opportunities to add in more detail. This can lead to some really interesting characterization choices and also help you out with worldbuilding. When it comes to worldbuilding, you don't have to get it all on the page. You just need to share what's relevant for the reader in that moment and what is useful to lay out now so that it's already there in a future chapter. You can have an encyclopedic knowledge of how your world works in your head, but it's not actually necessary. No one is going to be quizzing you later - and if they do, you can always figure it out at that point. Most important for me when I'm trying to get myself to the end of a longer fic, have a friend or a group of friends who are also into what you're writing - or at least willing to hear you get excited about it. Being able to get excited about your work is so important. It's like a bottle of water being handed to you on mile 10 of a marathon. sooperwritingIn my experience, it's helpful to break a longfic down into smaller, more manageable parts. When I'm outlining, I tend to think about the fic as a whole and the larger story arcs running through it, but when I'm writing the fic, I try not to look at the whole outline if I can help it. If I need to remind myself where Character A needs to end up at the end of this chapter so that the story can go on, I'll double-check my notes, but otherwise, the outline is closed and hidden away where I can't see how much farther I have to go to get to the end. Finishing a longfic can seem like an unattainable goal. Getting to That One Part you've been looking forward to can seem like an unattainable goal. But finishing one scene or one chapter is usually manageable (even if it sometimes takes a few weeks), so I focus on what's in front of me, allow myself some space to celebrate finishing part of the story, then focus on the next scene or the next chapter. Rinse and repeat enough times, and you'll eventually get to The Big Scene or the culmination of a story arc or the end of the entire fic.Oh, and try not to feel too bad if you plan out your fic from start to finish only to get halfway through and realize that your plan doesn't fit anymore. That happens, and it'll probably take some time to sort out, but your story will probably be better in the end if you allow the plan to stretch and move along with you.
ao3commentofthedayAnonymous asked:Your discussion about how long a longfic is has me wondering: what about comments? How long does a comment need to be to be considered long? hmm you know, I've never really thought about that 🤔 I'd say probably once you get into paragraph territory, a comment is pretty lengthy. I think a large percentage of comments are 2 sentences or less (and many aren't in sentence form at all), for reference. At least in my experience. I know authors can often refer to "long comments" as something they cherish most of all, and personally I think it's less about the word count and more about the fact that those comments refer to specific things in the story or their writing. Those comments also tend to be easier to respond to in a more conversational way. There's more to say than just "I'm glad you liked it!"What do you all think? Is there a specific word count you have in mind before you say a comment is long?#asks and answers
ao3commentofthedayRebloggedao3commentofthedayFollowAnonymous asked:Do you have any advice and how to write a long fic?ao3commentoftheday answered:I'll encourage long fic writers to add on in the notes, but as someone who tends to prefer short and medium-length fic, I'll tell you how I go about it. Get a premise that you just absolutely love. You're going to be writing this thing for months, if not longer, so you want it to be something you're willing to spend a lot of time thinking about. Embrace subplots. You'll have your main plotline that you want to see through from beginning to end, but you can also weave in some subplots here or there. The way I do this so that I don't get lost down a rabbit hole is that I always make sure that every chapter has at least 1 thing that moves the main plot forward and then if I want to spend 1-2K with some side characters doing something fun I can do that as well. Subplots can extend for the length of the full narrative, but they can also just last a chapter or three. If you're used to writing short fic, these might give you that familiar feeling of "completion"A chapter is only as long as it needs to be. Don't get hung up on having a consistent chapter length. Don't get hung up on hitting some arbitrary number every time. Instead, figure out what the next part of your story needs to include and write however many words it takes to get that chunk across. Varying your chapter lengths is a normal thing to do and not something to stress about. The next thing that I find important personally may or may not be relevant to you, but I find that I can't plot anything in much detail. If I get too into the nitty gritty with my plotting, it just feels like I've already written it. I need to keep it at the level of "And then A and B meet C and hijinks ensue." I can figure out the particular hijinks later. It's the characters meeting up that's the next important thing for me to figure out. Getting too far ahead of myself is a death knell for me in writing long fics, but there are other writers who swear by it. Test out different ways of approaching it and see what works for you.As someone who tends to write more briefly, another feature that's common to longer fics is more extensive descriptions. People spend time painting visual pictures of the setting or the characters or the actions that are happening. Write the more bare-bones style that focuses more on dialogue (if you're like me) and then go back and read through what you've just written and see if there are opportunities to add in more detail. This can lead to some really interesting characterization choices and also help you out with worldbuilding. When it comes to worldbuilding, you don't have to get it all on the page. You just need to share what's relevant for the reader in that moment and what is useful to lay out now so that it's already there in a future chapter. You can have an encyclopedic knowledge of how your world works in your head, but it's not actually necessary. No one is going to be quizzing you later - and if they do, you can always figure it out at that point. Most important for me when I'm trying to get myself to the end of a longer fic, have a friend or a group of friends who are also into what you're writing - or at least willing to hear you get excited about it. Being able to get excited about your work is so important. It's like a bottle of water being handed to you on mile 10 of a marathon. itsalimereI’ve been thinking about this a lot lately bc I’m coming up on the end of my longfic that I started back in February (doing my very best to try to finish it for nano………) I think I’m sort of an unusual case because this longfic (“tapestry”, currently ~81k and 5/7 chapters, likely to be 110ish in the end?) was also my first ever fanfic after existing on the edges of fandom for my whole life, and I think the same things that let me write a fic *at all* are what have kept me going writing for a long time/lot of words.1) I started writing this because I NEEDED to read it. Guessing that this is not why a lot of people write fic, but I discovered that it’s pretty much the only thing that motivates me! I stalled out on tapestry at chapter 4 in May-ish, but got back to it because I really wanted to be able to experience and know about the full story myself. That pushed me through ch5 in September and is the primary thing motivating me now. No one I know well has read this fic (this is freeing, in a way) and the only one who is die-hard invested is me, but it’s enough to give me point (7) here. I want so bad to be able to read the whole thing and feel that it’s a satisfying emotional narrative for myself. I want a clear, relivable, in-depth daydream of the exact things I want to happen with all these characters. So I gotta finish writing it!2) The above thoughts from op are all great and super helpful for me to think about too!!3) This one is kind of related to my first point as as well as op’s (1) and (4) (about loving the idea and not worrying about planning too much). I have reread what exists of tapestry as a reader a few times (because I’m so invested in the idea), but it also helps me see threads I’ve put in by accident, motifs and emotional moments and stuff. That inspires me to follow up on them and can even point the way to where I want the details of the story to go. When I was really stuck on how I wanted ch5/6/7 to go, I reread what I’d written and realized there could be a nice circular structure where the concluding chapters would sort of mirror and wrap up some character points from chapters 3/2/1 respectively, so at the end I have (hopefully) a bit of a full-circle moment. This is something specific to my example, but rereading and analyzing as inspiration helps me in general!4) Speaking of inspiration - if I’m stuck on a longer fic I’ll sometimes return to some old favorites by other authors with the same ships/characters, or find some new fics to read of them. This helps me feel excited about my own story again by letting me compare/contrast what I’m doing with what others have done. I love these characters and other stories are so great but they’re not exactly what I imagine, so I want to write my thing too! “This emotional note in x fic is so great, I realize the character might feel a similar way in a situation I’ve put them in, and now I have more direction!” Or “I love how this character acts in y fic, but it’s not how things play out for them in my fic, and I want there to make a satisfying written reality out of what happens in my imagination, just like the author of y fic did!”Unorganized thoughts but I just wanted to write em down before I forgot/procrastinated too long!
ao3commentofthedaybtw, I'm pretty sure I got an ask about long fic because I recently reblogged an old ask about how to write short fic - so if you're someone who doesn't know how to do that, here you go
ao3commentofthedayAnonymous asked:That “how to write long fic” ask is cracking me up. I am a habitual king fic writer and at no point have I ever set out to write a long fic. I just start writing and the fic is like “hey boss I got this subplot for you.”Like, thanks fic, I did not ask for thisAnd the fic will reply, “orrly? But I made another.”HOW AN I GONNA CLOSE ALL THESE TANGENTS!? “Donno boss, but here’s two more subplots and an alternate ending.”AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!Yeah, I don't set out to write longfics either. I usually have a concept that I figure will be like 7 or 8 chapters (and my chapters average maybe 1200 words) and next thing you know, I'm 30K deep 😆But as for the tangents? I'm a big fan of spinning them out into oneshots of their own if they don't really fit in with the main story I'm writing. Love me a series as a way of writing all of the little plot bunnies but not trying to wedge them in where they don't really work.#asks and answers
ao3commentofthedayAnonymous asked:Quick question about the last post: Is there like a specific amount of words for fics to be considered a long fic? Like how drabbles have 100 words, or is it just like ... a longer fic? If that makes senseThere's no specific definition for longfic that I'm aware of. My own personal approximate guide is:shortfic = under 10K words. This includes things like drabbles and ficlets. mediumfic or midfic = 10K-50K longfic = 50K to 100K epicfic = 100K+I drew my own definitions from the publishing world where shortfic is like a short story, midfic would be a novella, longfic would be a novel, and epicfic would be... well, an epic.A lot of people use the term longfic to indicate both long and epic length stories. It's rare that I hear the terms mediumfic or midfic at all, and it's usually a kind of tongue-in-cheek tone when I do. All of these definitions will vary from person to person and really drabble is the only one I hear consistent arguments about. Feel free to share your own thoughts on longfic (and other types of fic) lengths in the notes!#asks and answers
