#bunspiration

Yes! So - when I have an idea for a story I like to make a document on my phone and keep all my ideas/snippets/head-canons in there. It can take a while for a plot to form. That’s fine. Just keep adding inspiration to it. For example, this is what Phantomhive Baby looks like right now:

Doesn’t have to make sense or be in order. Just ideas for now. I will keep adding to this document until I have a few thousand words. A plot will start to show itself in time and that’s when I start to make a skeleton. 

When I have a skeleton I start to copy/paste these head-canons into a chronological order and make rough parts between them where a chapter break should be. Arcs, if you will. I continue to add ideas to this skeleton over time until it gets chunky. Eventually it is full enough to start writing a very basic skeleton per chapter.

For example, this is what the next chapter of Kiss & Cry looks like right now:

As you can see, it is very rough. Basically a script? Dialogue and essential information. Once I have this mapped out it is very easy for me to go in and add ‘meat’ to the skeleton. Then I have a chapter!

So in conclusion, you should have a rough idea of where you want your story to go before you even upload/write the first chapter. If you know how your story is going to end you can go through and put in “plot points” very early on. Even though Kiss & Cry is a baby there are already details in the first 3 chapters that elude to bigger things that will happen later on. This way when my “plot twists” come along - they are exciting for the reader but not unrealistic.

I also found this is the most effective way to have a nicely rounded, 3D story - adding ideas to the document for weeks and weeks. If I were to have an idea and write it immediately? The story would be lacking. A great example of this is Adrian!! He was not in the original LPM and he only eventuated in later chapters. Obviously I have gone back and written him into scenes he wasn’t previously in, to make LPM seamless, but I wish I had spent more time in planning LPM. I am constantly having to go back and change details just to match my new ideas!! It must be confusing for my long-time readers ahah.

You can write.

Pick up your fingers. Smash them against the keys. Physically type. Type nonsense. Type the same word over and over. Force yourself to describe the room before you, in agonising detail. You. Can. Write. Nothing physical is stopping you so write. Just your brain. And guess what dude… YOU control the brain.

Will it be good writing? Probably not. Inspired? Doubtful. Will you look at it in disgust and delete it all?? Definitely. But nothing is stopping you from writing. I promise. You have hands.

Just write.

Write about what you did today. Don’t try to make it good. Just type. I woke up. I felt sad. I had a shower and left the lid off my shower scrub the night before so the scrub was crusted over. When I dipped my fingers into it I sighed at the texture. It smelt good. I went to work. I was sweaty when I arrived. I smelt like five different perfumes AND my own sweat. I had a coffee. I stared at my screen.

See? Just type dude. You’ll be fine. And I know right now you feel numb and dead, but one day you can use this pain and turn it into inspiration! That heartache? Gonna be the best material you ever had. Dude. Do you know how bland my writing would be if I hadn’t lived all the little miseries in my life? Catalogue it. Remember it.

Ahh. This was me. Remember the days when it took me several months to update??

Get in the habit of writing everyday. At first it will be hard but really force yourself to write one or two sentences. Even if they SUCK. You can come back and fix them later.

Eventually you will be so used to writing everyday that you will itch to write! You will be unable NOT to write! It happened to me. I really got into a habit and now, even on my darkest days, I can write for an hour easily.

Yes, I’ve got 2 tips that really help me out!

1. Start in the middle of something. I’m pretty sure Kiss & Cry starts with no introduction. So like, LPM was easy to set up because it starts in Paris so all I did was describe the city. But for a more modern/slice of life AU I think starting in the middle of a scene is captivating and easy.

Your readers already know who these characters are. Take the opportunity to introduce the scenery. Their clothes. But you don’t have to over-do it - readers minds will fill in the blanks themselves. You don’t have to tell us Ciel was waiting anxiously by the counter, when instead you could start with how the plastic of the chewed pen in Ciel’s mouth tasted.

2. Start with a scene that introduces what type of person your main character is. It’s a really important tool and I didn’t do this properly in LPM.

Start with a scene that sums them up. They do this in movies all the time. Think of the first time we see uhhh Hiro in Big Hero 6. He’s at a robo-fight. He fumbles with his money. He loses the first match. He has LOTS of money. He wins. By seeing this scene we already know exactly who Hiro is - he’s naive, insanely intelligent, cocky and cheeky. No one had to tell us this. We know it because of what we saw.

So what will your reader see in the first scene of your 50s AU? Kiss & Cry, for another example, in the first scene we can sum up that Ciel is talented, and nervous of the hockey team, and annoyed/marginally turned on by Sebastian’s staring.