FanficTalk

...and now you've finished it,

...and you feel this gaping hole in your chest and the life suddenly lacks colours.

No wrong answers here, feel free to share the ao3 comment you loved most or what kinds of comments you like getting most, and things like that! just have fun : )

Hi All

I got a bit of a fright today as I realised Tumblr is possibly being used to train AI.

I’m a writer, and even though this is not my main blog, if I ever become a published author, I am not going to be discouraging fanfiction.

FANFICTION STARTED MY INTEREST IN WRITING.

FANFICTION AUTHORS SPEND A LOT OF TIME POURING THEIR BLOOD, SWEAT, AND TEARS INTO THE FANFIC. THEY DON’T RECEIVE ENOUGH RECOGNITION!!

1.) Don't actually delete content from your WIP unless it is minor editing - instead cut it and put it in a secondary document. If you're omitting paragraphs of content, dialog, a whole scene you might find a better place for it later and having it readily available can really save time. Sometimes your idea was fantastic, but it just wasn't in the right spot.

2.) Stuck with wording the action? Just write the dialog then revisit it later.

3.) Stuck on the whole scene? Skip it and write the next one.

4.) Write on literally any other color than a white background. It just works. (I use black)

5.) If you have a beta, while they are beta-ing have them read your fic out loud. Yes, I know a lot of betas/writers do not have the luxury of face-timing or have the opportunity to do this due to time constraints etc but reading your fic out loud can catch some very awkward phrasing that otherwise might be missed. If you don't have a beta, you read it out loud to yourself. Throw some passion into your dialog, you might find a better way to word it if it sounds stuffy or weird.

6.) The moment you have an idea, write it down. If you don't have paper or a pen, EMAIL it to yourself or put it in a draft etc etc. I have sent myself dozens of ideas while laying down before sleep that I 10/10 forgot the next morning but had emailed them to myself and got to implement them.

7.) Remember - hits/likes/kudos/comments are not reflective of the quality of your fic or your ability to write. Most people just don't comment - even if they say they do, they don't, even if they preach all day about commenting, they don't, even if they are a very popular blog that passionately reminds people to comment - they don't comment (I know this personally). Even if your fic brought tears to their eyes and it haunted them for weeks and they printed it out and sent it to their friends they just don't comment. You just have to accept it. That being said - comment on the fic you're reading now, just do it, if you're 'shy' and that's why you don't comment the more you comment the better you'll get at it. Just do it.

8.) Remove unrealistic daily word count goals from your routine. I've seen people stress 1500 - 2000 words a day and if they don't reach that they feel like a failure and they get discouraged. This is ridiculous. Write when you can, but remove absurd goals. My average is 500 words a day in combination with a 40 hour a week job and I have written over 200k words from 2022-2023.

9.) There are dozens of ways to do an outline from precise analytical deconstruction that goes scene by scene to the minimalist bullet point list - it doesn't matter which one you use just have some sort of direction. A partial outline is better than no outline.

Show your character's struggles with holding in emotions. Just because your character won't let themself go in public, doesn't mean they don't struggle holding everything in.

Find a motive. Pride and/or consideration for those around them can make emotionally reserved people hold back more than would be considered good for them. There are other reasons too, perhaps the initial cause and the reason now are different, but try to give them a reason.

Show side-effects. Everything you bottled up shows itself in another way, whether it's physical or mental. This can be long- and short-term, depending on the severity of the emotions.

Give them coping mechanisms. Everyone who wishes not to show certain emotions has a trick or two to keep themselves in check. Taking a sip of water, not looking people in the eyes, clenching their fists, breathing just a bit too deeply.

academy

adventurer's guild

alchemist

apiary

apothecary

aquarium

armory

art gallery

bakery

bank

barber

barracks

bathhouse

blacksmith

boathouse

book store

bookbinder

botanical garden

brothel

butcher

carpenter

cartographer

casino

castle

cobbler

coffee shop

council chamber

court house

crypt for the noble family

I've had this little idea in my head for a while now, so I decided to sit down and plot it out.

Disclaimer: This isn't meant to be some sort of One-Worksheet-Fits-All situation. This is meant to be a visual representation of some type of story planning you could be doing in order to develop a plot!

Lay down groundwork! (Backstory integral to the beginning of your story.) Build hinges. (Events that hinge on other events and fall down like dominoes) Suspend structures. (Withhold just enough information to make the reader curious, and keep them guessing.)

choose a new genre to write in

or a new audience to write for! write something ya, or adult, or a children's fantasy series

transcript a movie

write 10k words in your secondary language (french conjugaison be damned)

write a story inspired by an album

write a story starting from the end

pantsers become planners and planners become pantsers!

write a spin-off / au for your main wip

ask your friends to create characters and weave them into a narrative

write a short story every day

find another writer to write a story with

rewrite the first wip you can remember working on

write a shakespearean retelling

rewrite a novel but change its genre

not to mention how they’re the lifelines for other people who enjoy these ships but didn’t have any fics to consume until these tireless writers spent hours or days or weeks or months or years writing about these characters and their relationships, and just shared the worlds they created with their audiences for free.

or how they singlehandedly introduced the ships to new people who would’ve otherwise never thought about these ships before.

how they could just make people fall in love with the dynamics between characters who have little to no canon screentime together.

how they could just make people fall in love with the dynamics between characters who aren’t lovers in canon, characters who don’t indicate any clear hint of romance in canon.

how they see what most fans don’t and how they create such beautiful worlds for these characters are simply insane.

fanfic writers who write for rare pair ships are treasures.

FanficTalk Cafe NaNo thread is open for business!

Stop by to officially sign up, share your goals and project ideas in a novel nest, and interact with other writers!

There's also our classic "Race to the Death," game to see which NaNo supply survives until the very end. Also you will need to answer one very important question if you choose to partake in this game...are you team coffee or tea? Which will go first? 😉

We host member led Rat Races, so if you need some additional motivation from a writing buddy while you work, this is the place for you! (We'll try to post when people are starting these, so check our social pages for periodic updates).

And quite possibly the funniest thing about Cafe NaNo, is our game of tag! Leave some questions in another members novel nest, give them a nice review on chapters they're posting/snippets their sharing, make them some lovely fanart or a playlist, and you'll be the next in line to receive a sweet gift related to your Nano project! Who doesn't love a little project love & recognition?

Still not sure about joining us this month? That's ok! We're here all year long with many discussion threads (some non-writing related too) and other fun activities! Check out the other spaces on FFT and see if we're that writing community you've always been looking for!

Too many beds

Accidentally kidnapping a mafia boss

Really nice guy who hates only you

Academic rivals except it’s two teachers who compete to have the best class

Divorce of convenience

Too much communication

True hate’s kiss (only kissing your enemy can break a curse)

Dating your enemy’s sibling

Lovers to enemies

Hate at first sight

Love triangle where the two love interests get together instead

Fake amnesia

Soulmates who are fated to kill each other

Strangers to enemies

Instead of fake dating, everyone is convinced that you aren’t actually dating

Too hot to cuddle

Love interest CEO is a himbo/bimbo who runs their company into the ground

Them: You're reading a fic. It's marked as 'finished'. Slow burn. Enemies to friends to lovers. It has 50 warnings and it is rated. The writing style is astonishing, the plot is incredible, the characters are painfully human. You reach last chapter. There's a major plot twist. Turns out that it's orphaned work.