THERE MUST BE A PARAGRAPH BREAK EVERY TIME A NEW CHARACTER SPEAKS
THIS IS NOT OPTIONAL
NO ONE WANTS TO READ ONE BIG BLOCK OF TEXT JESUS CHRIST
REMEMBER TIP TOP OK:
Make a paragraph every time that any of these things change!
Ti me
P lace
To pic
P erson
If she starts cleaning up imaginary lint from the sofa, one sort of person is suggested. If she spills her scotch and lets it sink into her skirt without seeming to care, that suggests another. Something prosaic like sitting down and reading the newspaper does not tell the readers much. But if she turns at once to the medical column, that might tell us something. The actions you give your characters should be densely informative.
Jerome Stern, Making Shapely Fiction (via the-right-writing)
DO YOU KNOW THAT KIND OF WRITER’S BLOCK WHERE YOU ALREADY HAVE A PLOT, YOU KNOW WHAT TO WRITE BUT YOU DON’T KNOW HOW TO WRITE IT AND YOU JUST STARE AT THE COMPUTER SCREEN FOR HOURS UNTIL YOU FINALLY CLOSE THE DOCUMENT AND CURSE YOUR ENTIRE EXISTENCE
CAUSE I DO
The best thing to do when that happens (trust me I know) is to use a program like yWriter that separates everything into chapters and chapters into scenes, and just start making a summary of every scene.
Just basic stuff like “Okay, here’s where they find the book and this guy freaks out“ or ”Oh here’s the big reveal part. Things I want: This kid to cry when he says he lost the key, the other guy to say he knew the whole time, and maybe they talk about that thing from ch1?? I’ll decide later.“
One of my favorite parts about yWriter specifically is the time, locations, POV, and characters function. Like you can just look at a scene and see that it’s from Sally’s perspective, it takes place in the garden at midnight, and Joey and Bob are there with her.
When I have that kind of writer’s block, I just go through and create the scenes I want to happen so when I actually have the mindset to write, I already know what I want tin it, I just need to make it nice and pretty.
Not sure this would work with the way I write, but it sounds very useful! And yWriter is free too.
DO YOU KNOW THAT KIND OF WRITER’S BLOCK WHERE YOU ALREADY HAVE A PLOT, YOU KNOW WHAT TO WRITE BUT YOU DON’T KNOW HOW TO WRITE IT AND YOU JUST STARE AT THE COMPUTER SCREEN FOR HOURS UNTIL YOU FINALLY CLOSE THE DOCUMENT AND CURSE YOUR ENTIRE EXISTENCE
CAUSE I DO
Don’t do this.
Don’t ever do this. If you like something, fucking say it. Don’t swear at a writer, and tell them you hate them.
Someone had to talk me out of deleting my entire fucking ao3 account because of this shit. I haven’t written anything new in months because of people thinking it…
Listen to me right fucking now.
I am done with this type of behavior.
People who are on tumblr (which this is a tumblr specific type of hate(but really love) thing… KNOCK THIS THE FUCK OFF.
Stop reading what we write.
Seventeen. They could be thirty as well, as one was that flamed me over almost two years ago which brought me to a halt for a while. Point is age does not matter.
THIS IS FUCKING BULLYING.
THIS IS FUCKING MANIPULATION.
THIS IS FUCKING ABUSE.
This is not appropriate.
This is not funny.
We are people. HUMAN FUCKING BEINGS. We live and bleed and hurt and love so fucking passionately we feel the ever-loving fucking necessity to bleed words to paper, siphon our souls out in text, cry and rant through this medium.
If you do this, stop following me. If I see you do this I will not only report you to AO3, I will put your name on a black list and spread it through the fandom. I am really sick and tired of people not being held accountable for this blatant asshattery.
FANDOM IS A SAFE FUCKING SPACE. THIS IS NOT CUTE. IT IS NOT OK. IT IS NEVER OK. EVER.
YOU garrulous twats are DRIVING people away from creating anything further for the fandom.
STOP.
(I love you tiger. You are one of the people that held my hand during that time whether you know it or not. You do not deserve this. ~Diann)
I agree with your righteous bullying rant, but fandom is questionable as hell as a safe space. People don’t risk followers or likes for the hard stuff.BUT we should. I have fic I am in the middle of writing that is hard. I have written MCD, Rape, Abduction, Non-Con Prostitution. Do I all the time? No. It’s not because of who-reads-what-with-me. It’s what I feel needs to be published at that time. Does it ever feel safe? No.
BUT
It is a safe space. The reason it is is because we claim it as one.
If someone worries about losing followers or kudos, that is completely normal. Sometimes my stomach can’t take it, but I do it anyway. Other writers within the fandom do it anyway.
Artists too.
If you have something you want written that is hard or difficult subject matter, approach me. I’ll throw it in the queue to-be-written. I have friends that throw me stuff because they know I will handle it with sensitivity and I do not judge.
If you feel you need to write the harder stuff. DO SO. POST IT. Then ORPHAN the STORY. That is what that function is there for.
I have been through my history multiple times over the last week and I realised that there were over 40 bookmarks JUST GONE.
40. GONE.
ACCOUNTS DELETED.
GOOD WORKS.
Hard stuff, light stuff, the silliest crack.
It makes my heart break.
If you ever feel like deleting your account on AO3, please, please consider orphaning it instead. (Yes you can do that!) It goes into a slush ‘orphan-account’ area and works are still posted just in a completely orphaned capacity.
I will risk it.
Even if I am left writing the words down only for myself.
I wish others would be more vocal about the abuse that is becoming rampant in the fandom. I am only one voice. And a small one, I do realise.
But I will still take a stand every time.
Because no abuse is ever okay.
Even if Fandom is not the safe space I state that it is, that still does not make it ok to say things in this manner. It is not ok ever.
There comes a time where you chose a line to walk. I chose mine when I began writing again.
I will, if I can help it nurture and encourage always.
I HATE having to be this pissed, but this unacceptable.
I will take what bit of the fandom I can and wrap it in angel feathers and fucking candy floss if I have to and then blacklist, contact AO3, go to Tumblr, make noise over it through the fandom because this callousness has taken root.
And again, it is unacceptable.
This is fucking ridiculous. I’ve been lucky, I guess, I haven’t got many bad comments. The only semi-bad one I did get though nearly made me not write a particular pairing ever again.
Also there are tags. Read them. I have not read this particular fic and won’t, not because it isn’t wonderful (I’m sure it is, I love all of Tiger’s fics), but because I know I can’t handle major character death. Or super angst.
But that doesn’t mean folks shouldn’t write it.
I hate it when I realize a beloved fic is gone. Then I kick myself for not downloading them. Artists need love and care and nurture. Comment, kudos, reblog, drop an ask. We all need that validation. Art isn’t made in a vacuum.
I strive very very had to avoid the fandom drama. I’m only human though. That said, if anyone needs a safe place, my ask is always open and i’m pretty well always on Skype.
“Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.”
Or, if you prefer Vonnegut:
“There’s only one rule that I know of, babies-"God damn it, you’ve got to be kind.”
Writing sappy fluffy fanfic with Barrowman’s “a thousand years” stuck in your head is mildly dangerous.
(Yes it’s the mystrade. I just wrote a very fluffy date day)
So I may have acquired a copy of “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” and will be attempting some recipes, all because I headcanon that Lestrade is a very good cook and learned from his French grandmother…
