#royallygray

I really admire your work and I'm currently attempting to write my own fic, and I'd love to have some advice on writing stuff.

1) Do you have any tips for writing the beginning of a fic? I cannot figure out how to start writing with a decent sentence. It all falls apart when my fingers go on the keyboard.

2) Do you have any tips for pacing/plot/outlining? I still have barely figured out what pacing is, because I cannot tell when authors are like "oh I don't like this because I rushed the pacing". I literally can't tell most of the time, unless there is not any space to breathe between things that happen.

3) Do you have tips for writing surroundings and the parts of the paragraph that aren't dialogue? Like. How do I naturally fit the description of the area into the fic? And how do I naturally fit extra commentary into a paragraph that has dialogue in it, especially when it isn't the pov character's dialogue?

Again, adore your writing. I feel kind of awkward since I've never done an ask before; idk if there's some kind of etiquette.

Hope you're doing well!

-Royal :)

hi sorry it's taken me a bit to answer this one! I'm more than happy to give some advice!

okay so first off, writing the first line of a fic is borderline torture sometimes. it's so fucking hard. to me though it's kind of like jumping into a cold pool. you can stare at the water thinking about how cold it's going to be and how unsure you are, but then at some point you have to bend your legs and jump before you can overthink it or else you'll never do it. you have to just put something down for the first line.

one method I like employing when I'm really struggling is starting with a line of dialogue. it instantly throws the reader into the scene as they have to try and find out who is talking, what they are talking about, and where everyone is. an example where I used this is in the stars and their children, which opens with a line from tommy "Hey Wil, can you hand me the epli?" this tells us multiple things right off the bat. it establishes a character present in the scene (Wil) and that there's something different about this world from ours (epli—it makes the reader want to know what it is and why it's being handed to the character speaking)

other times I try to either start with a line that describes the setting ("The streets were crowded at this time of day." - everything else has gone wrong), or start with a line that describes the emotions of the pov character ("Lessons were the most unbearable in the afternoon." - under the hanging rose). basically, you're trying to find a way to throw the reader into the scene in one line. it's difficult, but try any of those angles and hopefully you'll think of something that fits. but again, it's jumping into a cold pool. you just have to put something down so you can start. you can always go back and change it later

okay putting the other two under a read more bc it got long

I have yet to leave a coherent comment on their new fic ("when I die today" - what I believe is their first life series one!) but at the very least the kudos were received :)

Underrated author and an all round really sweet, humorous person. It's a delight seeing them in my notifications

GIMME GIMME GIMME

(a man after midnight--)

You are in for the ramble of all rambles >:D

Okay I am smiling from ear to ear right now prepare for me to talk (type?) your ears off

it’s. yeah it's Ethubs. (ding ding! you got it *finger guns*)

I'm writing a fic based on the DBHC au (Detroit Become Hermitcraft au) story/comics by Shepscapades here on Tumblr! If you're not familiar with it, I highly recommend you check it out! I have SUCH brainrot and the storyline and art are so compelling.

Here's the masterpost if you wanna check it out once I'm done rambling!

I also want to stress this isn't my au - only the explanation and snippets of my little story is my own work. :) All credit goes to Shepscapades for all that and the brainrot

- DBHC spans Hermitcraft (seasons 8 and onwards) and the Life Series (note that all androids were absent from Third Life due to not being created yet)

- It makes use of the android mechanics from the video game Detroit Become Human <- don't worry about that part just yet though :)

- Most major post-Season 7 events seem to still be canon here, and there's a lot of other things going on in each of the androids' - and hermits' - lives (and trauma. </3. yeah. Etho and so many others are Going Through It), often as a consequence of those events.

Anyone new to the au should probably have a look at this illustrated guide post You don't have to read all of it, but I strongly suggest at least checking out the "Guide to Androids", "Deviancy" and even the "Interfacing" sections for proper context!

rambles under the cut >:) I promise I'm keeping it to a minimum. and then some snippets!!

(edit: the cut isn’t cutting, I think)

BASICALLY At some point around Season 8, Xisuma designs androids (like Mumbo, Etho, Impulse and Doc) to assign to some of the hermits (Grian, Bdubs, Pearl and Ren to name a few) for help with everything from building to terraforming. Everything goes relatively smoothly, up until... the androids begin to deviate. <- hence why I linked this post earlier!

This isn't entirely necessary for anything other than understanding the characters and the overarching narrative a bit more, but if you do want further context + cool art + a small break from my rambles, here (1), here (2) and here (3) are really good comics that sorta explain how DBHC Ethubs' relationship starts, and here (4) is the first part of Etho's first deviancy! uh. So like things happened here. Don’t worry about that being labelled first. Or it not being at all normal for an android to deviate twice. Or what situation caused it. Uh. Yeah. :’)

Otherwise you're welcome to just read on!

I'm writing an incredibly fluffy (and there's angst now too hehe) oneshot on the two of them.

They've been planting saplings for Bdubs’ Season 10 forest (Etho was originally designed to help with terraforming and that, after all) and it's late afternoon, so, Bdubs being Bdubs, he's tired.

And tired people are clingy, they let their guard down a bit, they start giving in slightly to things they don't have enough energy to fight.

Like the urge to reach out and go hey, come back, I actually want you to play with my hair, I want you to lie with me in the sunshine, I want to listen to the sound of your android heart (thirium pump) because it's a reassurance that even though my eyes are closed you're still nearby, I want you here, and I'm going to hang on to you because I don't ever want you to leave again.

I half-wrote that little summary of my fic a little while back as a proof of concept but. Yeah.

This is Bdubs talking, if it isn’t clear:

>:) Not sure if you're familiar with how Bdubs' Last Life ended, and how it could have been avoided. Or how much I'm allowed to say on what happened afterwards until we cross over into spoilers territory. But uh. Yeah. Normal and fine and not at all insane over this. <- that's a blatant lie

Don't worry though!! I said fluff for a reason; I don't think this quite crosses over into "crack treated seriously" territory (only saying that because I'm sorta working on something Ethubs-related that 100% DOES hehe) but the second half is panning out to be incredibly silly. I just think they deserve it after everything they've been through (this post makes me all levels of insane.)

I have an OC called Skyler Crownes (CROWN-NEZ), and just. goddamn I like making her suffer apparently. I mean that's what OCs are for but like

Her parents were murdered two hours after she was born. This means that she doesn't actually know them, and therefore doesn't really know what she's missing.

She has an older sister (Sarah, 18 years older than her) and an older brother (Scott, 9 years older than her). And they've taken care of her. So she doesn't know what she's missing.

Her parents were great people, and the only signs of her loss are her siblings' loss and sharing their experiences with Skyler.

And throughout her childhood, they gave her the option of "you don't have to consider them your parents. You didn't know them." And then she chose not to.

So technically Davis and Sasha aren't her parents, because she hasn't ever known them.

She doesn't miss them, because she's never fucking met them.

But this also means that their death wasn't really a loss for her. This was always the case. She never knew them, and so how could she really miss them?

Every loss in namely Scott's life dulled when he compared it to his parents'. It's the worst loss he ever experienced, and ever would experience.

But Skyler? She doesn't have that comparison. As a kid, losing her favorite blanket was the end of the world. Her Greek tragedy. It was the worst loss that ever happened to her.

And she grew up more, experiencing more and more things in life.

And then her best friend of seven years, Helena, died when she was twelve.

And then she understood her siblings' loss. And then everything else dulled in comparison.

For one of my mutuals @royallygray you are amazing and im unwell about your soul horizon au and I just might explode, thank you for your awesome au and for all the love on my own au!

clusterhug - idkhow

"only if you'd like me to / I could fall in love with you / only if you'd like me to / fall in love"

(yes this is the chorus but it goes hard and I once used it as a fic title ages ago on my old ao3 so I have nostalgia for it)

-