#rip tip

Aw thank you!!

And, well, hm. That’s such an interesting question–I guess I actually do tend to base y/n on myself (in part because a lot of my stories are based off of personal experiences)… but with plenty of flexibility. Before each fic, I kind of have a general idea of what I want the plot to be, and how certain characters will act… and then when it comes to oc’s, I usually mold them into the types of people I need them to be.

Also, with my oc’s… I try not to develop their individual personalities too much (unless it’s for comedic effect) just because I want to leave the empty gaps up to the reader’s imagination.

As for tae’s girlfriend… well, I originally had the idea of making a seperate spin off for the two of them (which I did, by writing a short drabble), so I also didn’t really give her personality that much depth (or name her, for that matter). But since I also knew that I wanted her to lend a hand, I decided to portray her as this caring, dedicated person, with the hopes she would contribute rather than detract from the plot.

No, that’s definitely not wrong–I’ve felt that way before, especially with some of the writings I worked uber hard on. For the most part, I would eventually be like “to hell with it” and just publish the thing… or I would just let it sit and sit and sit in my drafts.

But!! Besides having someone else have (or adopt, if they wish to continue it) your fic, there are two alternatives I can think of right now:

If you don’t feel like or plan to continue/add onto the fic, you can ask them to help beta it. This will not only improve your writing skills but will probably also help you forge friendships and stuff amongst your fellow writers.

If you want to or could see yourself continuing/adding onto the fic, you can propose a collaboration; this not only allows you to improve and add on to the fic by doubling the creativity (or whatever) but also appeals to two different audiences/followings. Plus, it would probably give you more recognition so you can have the confidence to post more of your own works in the future !

!! I would loVE to read and beta one of your fics! But, I will warn you right now that I tend to be a bit nitpicky at times ^^; if you don’t mind me blabbing everywhere, then go ahead and share it with me !! I promise I’ll leave as much constructive feedback as I can :)

O___O I’m glad to have been an inspiration for you! But anyways, down to business:

First of all, I apologize if I misunderstood your question/did not answer it fully, but from what I’m getting, you’re asking me on how I, essentially, develop characters while also keeping in mind their relations with each other?

As someone who really appreciates well-developed characters that have their own flaws and imperfections (such as anxiety, for example), I like to incorporate those traits into the storyline as a whole. For instance, one character’s flaw is the underlying driving factor behind the plot, or causes a series of situations to spiral out of control.

In the meantime, I usually just throw in the member/character into the plot as I see fit; usually, they serve as a mediator, or someone to offset the chaos or at least curb the destruction. It can be anything from being a listening ear or an antagonist/anti-hero of sorts.

TL;DR: I first form a mindset of the main character: what their flaws are, their goals, how they drive the plot. Then, I add in secondary characters, and mold them into the storyline in order to highlight the main character’s traits and give more depth to the story as a whole. 

(__ __) well, i got sick, and then got better, and then got sick again, and got mostly better, except i can’t stop coughing and my nose keeps on bleeding when i’m in the shower (which is the worst, because it seems like i’m bleeding 50x as much bc the water, ugh).

but woah woah waaaaait. chocolate…. should not be consumed… whilst sick? whaaat.

[quickly hides all of my candy wrappers that have piled up on my desk]

Hello! Sorry this is so late, but I really wanted to take the time to answer this to the best of my ability ^^;

DISCLAIMER: I am in no way any sort of professional (and am quite the amateur writer myself); I do, however, believe I have some advice to offer to any new writers that may be useful and may help them improve themselves! 

I’ll also be using my own old writing as examples of things NOT to do; looking back, reflecting, and critiquing your own work is also one method of self-improvement. 

WARNING: My old writing is really bad and cringey and there are multiple errors that are present in it; for the sake of relevance and brevity, I’m only going to be focusing on certain issues.

That being said, here are the tips!

1. Do check your grammar! I cannot stress how important it is to do this. It’s even better if you can find someone to help proofread (also known as a “Beta”).

Continuing from that point, have consistent tense. 

EX.:

One of the more recurring and bothering grammar issues in my early writing is definitely my tense changes. For example, in my (first-ever) fic “Sketch,” I begin the story in the past tense:

“It was summer break. Which meant summer homework. Which meant going out and doing things. You stared at the summer assignment sheet and groaned in frustration, already beginning to calculate how much of it you could leave until the last week of break.”

But then not even halfway, I randomly switch to the present tense:

“So here you are, sitting in one of the many dark blue sofa chairs, absentmindedly sketching one of the tall, wooden bookshelves in front of you. Even though it’s the weekend, there aren’t a lot of people in the library. There never are a lot of people in the library, you retort.”

Of course, that’s not to say that you got to pick one tense and stick to it 100% throughout the entirety of the fic; if you’re telling something that’s happened in the past (or will happen in the future–can’t forget the future tense) then of course you can switch tenses in order to maintain correct grammar! The issue in “Sketch” is that none of that happened; I just randomly went from past to present.

2. Avoid inconsistencies! In other words, make sure you review your plot lines thoroughly. Going off of that, do conduct at least some research about whatever you’re writing if you aren’t sure about it.

EX.:

This may be just me being too nitpicky with my own writing, but I feel as if there is some sort of inconsistency in my fic, “Pressure.“If you’ve read it this will probably make some more sense (though I wouldn’t really recommend reading it if you’re looking for my better writing):

My issue is mainly how I made the guys leave Jimin alone, when it would have made more sense to have them in the cafe (maybe in some far corner) in order to see if he followed up with his dare. As it is, Jimin very well could have chickened out and not done the dare, and could’ve just lied and told the others that he did the dare.

Again, you don’t have to adhere to this strictly, of course. It’s important to remember that at the end of the day, it’s all fiction! Furthermore, if you’re setting the story in some sort of AU that you’ve created yourself, that gives you even more leeway. If you want to create a world with cars but no cellphones and is partially underwater, go ahead and do it! Just make sure the story makes sense in the context that it’s in.

3. Do split up your writing into multiple paragraphs! Also, vary sentence length and structure. 

I unfortunately do not have many good examples to give, but those are super important. As a reader, sometimes huge long paragraphs can be intimidating, and various (unnecessarily) short sentences can make the writing seem too clipped and choppy (whereas many long sentences make it too winded and easy for the reader to get lost in). Also remember there is a difference between being poetic and completely obfuscating your writing in flowery prose and vague sentences.

One solution to this would be following up long sentences with a short sentence. Do everything in moderation, of course; you don’t want an entire paragraph of continuous long-short sentence couples. Unless you’re trying to create that "go-stop, go-stop” effect, of course.

4. This is somewhat similar to earlier tips, but do make sure you’re using a word correctly! I know sometimes it may sound cool and it may be such a hassle to check the meaning, but personally, I find it irksome when I see a word being used incorrectly.

Obviously, that doesn’t automatically discredit the writer’s ability nor does it make the work completely ruined; I just find that correct word usage (particularly of “big” words) really gives the writer that sort of…air of confidence (?–a/n: lmao the irony) and let’s the reader know they know what they’re talking about.

(I’ve personally made this mistake many times and have had my own share of embarrassments and laments).

I still have a lot more to say, but I think I’ll just leave it at that since I’ve written a lot. I really hope that you found this useful, and if anyone has any other good tips please go ahead and add them. qq