Love When Stories Inflict Unspeakable Horrors Onto A Person For No Real Reason. Its Not Karma. Its Not

If you’re shrouded in writers block and desperately want to shoo it away to keep going with your WIP, it sometimes helps to delete the last few sentences/paragraph/scene and rewrite it. Sometimes you accidentally build dams in your creative stream and the only way around is to go back and break it down

I want to be reading fanfic, not writing it. Unfortunately, I want to be reading very specific fanfic which I will in fact first have to write.

It’s the best! I do it with poetry all the time, I need stronger prose

officially made a reader cry...am i a real writer now?

I should be able to both read for 8hrs a night and sleep for 8hrs a night. That I cannot is very rude and, frankly, poor design.

With the impending implementation of Project 2025, I suspect that AO3 will come under fire as well. And given that it’s a US based organisation, and the US has wedged itself somehow into every possible thing, I would also suspect that this will have global impacts. I cannot be certain of it - I’m certainly not an expert on political things and Trump remains, frankly, unpredictable - but I have personally found it’s more helpful to prepare beforehand than to scramble to keep myself afloat in the midst of a crisis. Knowing how important our favourite stories are to so many of us, here’s what I suggest:

Readers, I recommend you find your favourite stories again. Go all the way back in your bookmarks. Tell the authors you appreciate them, and you love their work. I think we could all use some nice words right now. If you want to keep the story, I recommend downloading it: here’s a guide on how to do so from the AO3 FAQ. I personally have wanted to take up bookbinding for a hot second; I might print off my favourite fics for myself and figure out how to bind them. The OTW also recommends downloading your favourites - see link below.

Authors, I recommend you keep your manuscripts. Download them onto an external flash drive and save them for a rainy day four or so years from now. Even the ones you don’t like are worth keeping - I guarantee you somebody else likes them even if you don’t. (I’m speaking to myself here, too.) Project 2025 has blatantly laid out a ban of pornography, and they will take that to mean whatever they want it to; I suggest you don’t even keep your fics on a Google drive if possible it’s definitely easier to keep them all online, trust me, I know, but so does the government. Corporations do not care about you: they will sell you out to whoever is willing to pay. Remember also to turn off AI scraping wherever possible, or better yet use sites that don’t engage in that behaviour.

For further reading from people more qualified than I, here’s the OTW’s statement on what their plans are so far.

I hope I’m wrong. I honestly would love nothing more. But more importantly, we will get through this. Humanity has told stories and put blorbos in situations for literal millennia. We’ll see the other side of this.

love me some world building like yeah these words are made up but damn are they cool

I hate that people are using ai to write. If you don’t wanna write, then don’t. Like it’s not even just a money thing because there are ai generated fanfics now. I hate it so much.

I live this craft with my whole heart, even when it’s hard. I value my words and the work of every other writer out there. I don’t understand why people think using ai is okay. You’re stealing other people’s work and devaluing the craft. Plus, it’s bad for the environment to use ai.

it may take me a month to put out a chapter but at least im not using ai to write it.

it may take me a month to put out a chapter but at least im not using ai to write it.

it may take me a month to put out a chapter but at least im not using ai to write it.

it may take me a month to put out a chapter but at least im not using ai to write it.

it may take me a month to put out a chapter but at least im not using ai to write it.

IT MAY TAKE ME A MONTH TO PUT OUT A CHAPTER BUT AT LEAST IM NOT USING AI TO WRITE IT

Character Tips: Pre-existing Relationships

When I read, I personally favor relationships that have pre-existing history to them and background. I love the drama so here are some times on writing established relationships (platonic, enemies, rivals, and romantic):

6 Tips on Writing Pre-Existing Relationships:

1. Background

You should know how these characters met and how they interacted. Based on how they interacted and how their relationship has developed you need to know that. Not necessarily the reader but you should know as the writer.

2. Length of History

How long have they had this relationship? If the characters have known each other since they were little kids and they’re best friends, they should know a lot about each other. That could be a conflict when one of them holds a big secret. If they’ve known each other for a week, then they shouldn’t know much about each other.

3. What perceptions do they have of each other?

What do they think of the other person? We all have separate ideas of how a person acts so your character should too. Are they friends but the one feels like the other is annoying. That defines a part of the characters relationship. Show this to create more complexity in the relationship

4. Show how they act physically around each other

How do they act around each other. Is character a very unaffectionate to most but only affectionate to character b? By showing how they express themselves and if it’s any different from how they normally do you can highlight the relationship better.

5. What do they like and dislike about each other?

What things does the other person do that irritates them. What do they do that they like? Are their problems that they have on the small to more complex level? How does it make each person feel. How do their personalities clash and work with each other. What do they admire and hate about each other?

6. Think about what needs work?

Think about if you want the relationship to develop and how it develops throughout the plot. If the characters are going through a tough time or if they’ve spent time apart and are reuniting, they’re going to have different interactions. This can help drive the characters to develop different perceptions about the other character involved.

These are just some tips to help get started or to think about. These tips are also broad and for most relationships. If people want more specific types of relationships written please tell me 🙏

me rereading a scene: omg why is she acting like that who wrote this? i wrote this.

bitch this is all you’re gonna get. this life, this face, this body. you better not ‘maybe in another universe’ your way out of everything. sit your ass down and face this. go make tea and have a picnic and read a goddamn book. kiss your loved ones, send that damn text, and hug your siblings. this is all you’re gonna get.