#wow how

3. Describe the creative process of writing a chapter/fic

For poems:

I think about new and exciting metaphors to describe Akutagawa’s tortured existence in a very exaggerated way 

[skippable if we’re on a roll] I write a very rough draft of the plot I want to convey in fake verse and no rhyme just to get the ball rolling and document my jumbled thought process so in case later on I can scavenge for scraps and find a shiny new sentence amidst the graveyard of funny ideas

I start with one very inspired line and pray that the last word is easily rhymable and in case if it’s hell to rhyme I cry about having to scrap it because it was just too good

I search for words that rhyme with the previous one and can possibly be transformed into a coherent sentence and then think about how we can get there

I write something very stupid that actually rhymes but sounds out of a 9-grader’s secret diary so I scrap it and loop back to point 3.

eureka, it actually sounds decent! now rinse and repeat until it sounds finished too

For prose:

get ideas from????? the lord’s holy gospel? I guess

bullet points galore - dialogue, narration, me talking to myself like a crazed man, explaining what’s happening to very comedically 

[skippable if i know what i’m doing actually] write more bullet points of character analysis and backstory if relevant to plot and actually hard to follow so we make sure to stay consistent with the lore

uh oh! the bullet points started to sound suspiciously like stuff suitable for a final draft. convert to the flow state of ditching the “plotting and outlining” and straight up writing out the real thing

cry about having to add dialogue tags to the dialogue that came to me in a dream and I wrote in one go as if it was a stage play because people can’t read your mind and can’t imagine the scene in 4K detail as you do

painstakingly beta read for yourself, realize some scenes don’t flow together well and add 300 more words of funky narration

post and immediately spot 6 more mistakes that you rush to fix before anyone else has clicked on the fic because they WILL make fun of you that you don’t know how human language operates

profit?? [and refresh the page every 10 seconds for the next 2-3 hours]

perform cartwheels across your room when you get a commint

11. Link your three favorite fics right now

Ok Sol listen this is gonna be very funny now. Below you’re gonna see an amalgamation of all 4 times I sat down to answer this one question and failed miserably. It’s been. 9 months now. My bones are ready. In the [] brackets is what I wrote 5 months ago. In normal text is what I wrote 9 months ago. In {} brackets is what I’m writing on this fine and sunny day. Except that I’m also writing today in normal text too so it’s extra confusing because of course.

[Sol my darling do you perchance happen to know that I was stuck on this ask for god knows how many weeks now because of this question alone? Asking me to choose between all my lovely adopted children, blasphemous, I am but a simple mother]

lo and behold! the question that took me 4 {update: 9 apparently} months to answer actually. the rest was all done the minute i got this ask. but this? this sent me into an existential crisis. so yk what? i am gonna set it on the table right here and now. i won't try to be witty, i won't try to be original, i won't try to leave the splendid reviews i dreamt of as to do the authors justice (even tho most if not all of them already know of my feelings)

,ahem *clears throat*

1. the -fucking- path to paradise. this entity exists in the limbo of my sanity. it is not just back then, and it is not just now – it breaches the very concept of the passage of time. it is eternal in the purest sense of the word. it is beyond logistical thinking. just me and the fic that changed my life (I love you doctorweebmd-sama, never change)

{Ok now that we have established I am clinically insane about tptp, it’s WHA time. because! of course it is now. I’m very careful with not posting manga spoilers on my main blog but ummmm ye that’s impossible here, so ahem WITCH HAT ATELIER MAJOR MANGA SPOILERS AHEAD}

2. Erasing us by TheDreamTailor

Please do not click on this link if you haven’t read the manga because the summary is spoiler, but what I need to say here is that the more and more I read of this fic, a singular thought started to form, pulling at my ear with the whispered words of “this is the tptp of wha” and I haven’t recovered since. Obviously they have nothing in common but it’s very hard to argue with my heart as I like to say. I'm gonna share a singular quote in here so you get an idea of why exactly, in the vaguest way possible, I am slightly not quite normal about it:

Maybe then they could go back to how they were. Broken, but not shattered.

:')

And because god decided I wasn’t insane enough about the parallels I oh so self-indulgently drew for myself,,,, there’s a sequel fic of it by the title of “Prometheus”,,,, and on the very first chapter,, in the very beginning,,, the quote:

A mighty flame followeth a tiny spark – Dante Alighieri

so yea um, I’m fine. I’m so so fine. Incredible work through and through.

3. Silver Children by TheGoliathBeetle

Also major manga spoilers ofc. I believe I’ve written enough (im lying, it’s never enough) praise to the author of this one, so imma be brief here. Babyfrey is everything to me. Kamome Shirahama-quality storytelling and worldbuilding. I need this on my bookshelf right next to Volume 16 for whenever I manage to obtain it. I never cease to be impressed by this thing, every single chapter.

13. What’s a common writing tip that you almost always follow?

A classic is show don’t tell, never fails me. I love being crazy subtle and describing emotions with metaphors or body language or some very obscure detail that maybe 3 people are gonna get. It’s a lot more fun than to just straight out reveal all the juice. Everything in moderation, of course.

23. Best writing advice for other writers?

First for baby inspiring writers – Don’t you ever tell yourself you don’t have it in you to write. If you get even the smidge of an impulse to write, write. Give it a shot, you never know where it's gonna take you. Talent is an illusion, time is a concept, don't let those mortal constructs deceive and restrict you.

And later on – just write straight from the heart and maybe also do a lil mental roleplay with the characters you’re writing so you feel as if you’re in their place and then you can almost flawlessly judge how they’d react to things. You know that thing artists do when they subconsciously scrunch up their face in a grimace to match the thing they’re drawing? - ye, it’s pretty much the same for writing to those of us crazy ones. Just immerse yourself emotionally as much as you can into your craft and you’ll be golden. Get that theater kid spirit out in the world, it begs to be seen and cherished.

27. What is your most and least favorite part of writing?

Most – planning! Ohhh my beloved crazy disorganized bullet points I love you so muchhhhh. It’s so much fun talking to myself in my drafts like a madman. Or teaching myself the story while figuring it out bit by bit. I love that moment where you just randomly have the greatest idea or a solution to a problem you deemed too hard to solve. And for the poems: when I read back a few finished verses one after another and they actually sound fluid and melodic together?? The most satisfying feeling possible.

Least – the FuCKING DIaAlOGUE TAgS. A shame because dialogue is my favourite/easiest and most natural thing to write. It's just?? So hard not to overdo it but also so hard not to underdo it? I try to omit them as much as possible because they often seem to break the flow or sound forced to me, so I usually sneak in some metaphorical action or a character thinking too hard about the meaning of the universe but then THAT breaks the flow and it's a cycle idk how to get out of lol. Ummm, practice I guess! I often go read other fanfics I look up to for inspiration for this when I proofread, and I try to figure out how their structure works so I can implement something similar and maybe finally learn how it sounds best. The “melody” of the text is very important to me.

42. What’s the last fic you read? Do you recommend it?

[this section was written 4 months ago but i deem it suitable to remain here because the actual last fic i read was a ffxv poem and also because i have not read a single bsd fic ever since->] Imao at the time of me starting to write the answer to this ask a week(?) ago [lol sure honey]: no one but you by okitasougo and OH BOY DO I RECOMMEND IT!!! No questions asked, go read immediately if not already, I am a melted pudddleeeee of loveeeeee.

{no ok this section was written 9 months ago, the actual real fic that I last read was an Orufrey modern au long distance relationship discord porn and I swear to god it is the best fic to exist on ao3.org and YES I recommend it wholeheartedly, I am not even joking, And it doesn’t even have spoilers! No but like fr, it’s really good, warmed my heart, I hope this mysterious Anon author somehow may know how much I love this thing and more}

54. What’s your favorite part about the fanfiction writing process?