Hello! I love the way you write! Do you have any tips for someone who's just started writing?
Well, thank you so much forthe message (*screams and tries not to grow a massive ego but probably fails miserable*); Iāve let it stew in my inbox for a few days because I wanted to thinkabout it. To give some advice that is more practical than āwrite what you loveāor āenjoy yourselfā which, while great words of wisdom arenāt all thatā¦.helpfullol.Ā
-Firstly, instead of āwritewhat you loveā I would say write what you like to read. For me this involved readinga lot and then identifying what itis I like about the stories that Iāve enjoyed reading and identifying what I donātlike. I like clever stories, complicated and intricate stories, small detailsthat while not easily noticed the first time around would stick out like a sorethumb on the second read through. I like realistic stories, and, since this isin regards to fan fiction (I assume since that is all iāve ever posted :P), I prefer romances that arenāt āwe met and itāsa week later but love youā or āyou got the magic dick all my problems aresolvedā because, no offense to anyone else, I find such stories to beā¦naĆÆve ina way. And while I once enjoyed them, Iāve sort of moved on. That could be anage thing though, the first time I read twilight I thought it was pretty good,(this was pre-movie when I was like, 15 in 2005)
-Notes. Write notes. Especiallyif itās a long story. Write notes about what you put in the story that will berelevant to the story later on or are relevant to a character/location, writenotes about things you want to put in the story later. When I wrote my notes I colourcoordinated them (it made it easier to locate the information I wanted), I wrotequirks down for certain characters, and I added to those lists as I wrote the storyso I had something to reference before editing. (I legit had a list of justabout everything and everyone in my Steps Universe. I have a single section devotedto what Kylo Ren likes during sex and what Hux likes during sex. Ridiculous. Lol.I have at least 10k of notes for my stupid Steps Universe) lists man. Listseverywhere. Christ.āoh, I used to keep a postit note pad by my bed, and when I was trying to fall asleep I would write downideas and slap a post it note on the wall.
-Donāt overādescribe locations,or people. Especially in fandom. Unless itās an original character (OC) thenthe people reading your story know what they look like. And location or roomdescriptions areā¦boring, when they drag on too long (pretty sure Iāve brokenthis rule a million times myself, but i do try not to). That being said, basing your OC onreal people or drawing floor plans to keep for yourself to remind yourself whatthe character or room looks like is not a bad idea ā it will help you keep yourroom and character descriptions from contradicting themselves.It doesnāt matter howclearly you define a character or room I promise five different people can readthe same paragraph and come out with different interpretations.
- This is, to me, very importantfor fan fiction. Even if u think your story sucks, or is garbage, or yournervous because you wrote it in a language that isnāt your first language iwould suggest not mentioning that in the tags, summary, or notes at thebeginning of the chapter/story. It can be off putting and may change how thereader views your work, or may prevent them from reading it at all. If you tellsomeone something sucks they are more likely to go into reading your storyexpecting it to suck ā donāt preemptivelyĀ lower your readers expectations.āMy suggestion, ultimately,is to just not mention anything that may be negative about your own works. Andas for language, if u want people to know English isnāt your first language iwould think putting it in your profile should be good enough; if not maybe atthe end of your work. There are several different levels of āEnglish isnāt myfirst languageā and many times itās not noticeable. But Iāve been reading fan fictionfor long enough now that when I hear that itās a secondary or tertiary languageI become almost moreā¦critical. I pay more attention to mistakes than I do instories I donāt know arenāt the writerās first language. That could just be me;I might be a douche-canoe, if thatās the case, sorry. Ā
I could probably come up with more things, but ultimately it would become nit-picky. My first suggestions about reading and recognizing what you like and dislike about reading is probably what has helped me the most with improving my writing.Ā
And lastly - try as hard as you can not to get discouraged. Fandom and A03 and tumblr can make feeling recognized and appreciated a messy process. Popularity on tumblr will get you very, very far in kudos and hits on Ao3 but kudos and hits doesnāt mean youāll get very far on tumblr. A tough lesson to learn is that quantity does not equal quality, In the Kylux fandom Steps doesnāt sit very high at all. And iāve struggled with what that meant about my talent but ultimately the people that have liked my works have loved my work and even if i have works with only 30 kudos on some works i tell myself that that is 30 people that read my words and thoughtĀ āyes, this is good, i approveā and i have to tell myself that is better than nothing and that we all start somewhere.
Edit:Ā
ANOTHER TIP THAT FOUND VERY HELPFUL!!!@!12
If you are your own beta, or are simply re-reading your work, change the font size, or the window size!Ā As you write you will become accustomed to seeing certain words in certain places, till you stop noticing them. Changing the font size will make the page you are reading from look different and you will see more errors.
