#over dinner

This is an ask coming from someone very deeply impressed with rumour has it, and very much looking up to your writing. I too would like to get better at writing, but I just don’t know where to begin. Any suggestions? 😊

Hi! Thank you for this ask AKA an excuse for me to shout into the void about one of my favourite things: storytelling! For me personally, I look up to people whose writing makes me have The Feeling. The Feeling is hard to describe and impossible to quantify but roughly: any work that makes me feel something real is writing I look up to. For you The Feeling could be writing with beautiful descriptions or writing that makes you feel a sense of justice, but once you ID what your “The Feeling” is, its a matter of reading those books/fics critically (as in, analysing them) for what it was specifically about that writing that made you feel The Feeling.

For example, there is a book called Tender Morsels by a seriously under appreciated author called Margo Lanagan. It’s in my top three favourite books, but more than that, she has a storytelling style that appeals to me so strongly that I spent most of the book with my jaw on the floor. It took another few reads before I could break it down and understand what I liked so much about it: her unflinching commitment to character driven plot (no matter how much it hurt), her use of metaphorical language to make the reader feel, conveying very complex ideas by giving the reader simple contrasting or complimentary images, flawed and hateable characters that you cant help but feel empathy for... and a whole lot more!

If you like Rumour Has It (and I am so grateful you read it and stoked you liked it!!) then you might be able to see the influences of this one author in my own writing! I love playing with metaphors and descriptive language, I try to always let the characters lead the story (rather than what I want to happen), trusting the reader to grasp complex ideas by presenting them simply without needing to painstakingly and explicitly over-describe them etc.

I can only share this, my own experience, as how I’ve “worked on my writing.” There are limits to this, obviously, as there are to everything but I’ve found it an amazing way to give something as complex as creative writing a little structure! This isn’t about copying someone else’s style-- its about learning what your own style is by beginning to recognise when you resonate with another’s stories!

BUT NOT THAT KINDA FEAR.

The entities are all of very primal base fears. The fear of fire, of death, of strangers or of bugs and sickness.

Oooh, I think I’ve found some good stories for upcoming tip shows...

In related news, I have an amazing amount of respect for fanfic authors who:

1. Manage to keep the characters in ...er... character (you know what I mean),

2. Get down to the bangin’ pretty damn quick,

3. Keep the entire story under 4,000 words.