re: writing process
Jan. 10th, 2025 03:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ponyohoonhi !!! i've gotten a few questions about my writing process on neospring in the last few days and it does seem to be something y'all are generally interested in so i thought i'd blab a little bit about it here, on this journal which i may use once in a blue moon for wips or for talking about my fics, so i can refer to it if anyone else asks in the future :3 i can promise that none of this will be helpful or enlightening in the slightest but if you're at all curious about what goes on in my brain... here it is...
at the very least, i always know what ship i want to write, whose pov i want it to be in, and what situation i want to put them in, but as far as actual planning goes, my "planners" are nothing more than a bunch of typo ridden dialogue snippets i think of while clocked in at work and write down in a rush so i don't forget them. if i plan a fic too much from the very beginning, or at all really, my stupid monkey brain thinks that i've already written the fic and therefore when i try to, i get bored very quickly. so i don't really make a planner in any sort of in-depth sense, i really just write down random thoughts and usually make a sort of a timeline of events for myself, because otherwise i truly will completely lose track of what year i'm even writing in somehow.
but usually, my planners, timelines, etc all exist just to make me feel like i'm not going to forget anything important, and that's enough to allow me to just focus on writing! i think getting caught up on planning every little detail is almost always to my personal detriment, and i've always found the best way to start writing something is to just. start writing it. if you're stuck, set a timer on your phone for fifteen minutes and just try to write down everything you want to be made clear by the opening scene of the fic. most of it probably won't actually be usable, but i guarantee there will be at least one sentence that stands out to you and kind of shapes the story for you.
and when all else fails, i rock back and forth in a dark room with my headphones on listening to a song that i've vaguely related to the theme at hand and trying to connect it to being about Heeseung And Jake From Enhypen. or whoever that's just an example. you know? it's a very vibes based process.
i guess my advice for this is really the same as what i said in the last paragraph and what i say every time someone asks me for writing advice: just write it! write and don't take the time to think about things like plotholes or pacing or the laws of physics or even typos! i've found that most of the things i'm most proud of having written came entirely from me just sitting down and spewing out everything monkey with typewriter style, and then just. really taking my time when i'm editing it. actually paying attention to the words i wrote and not skimming them while half-watching an episode of supernatural. i think that's not only a lot more of an efficient way to write - not that efficiency should ever really be your goal when writing - but also, i have a lot more fun doing it that way! the second i start to waste my energy ripping my hair out and trying to make what i'm writing perfectly phrased is the moment i start wanting to abandon the fic forever and that's. not fun! feels bad!
and besides, when someone is reading something you've written, i don't think what they're going to remember is the scene where the character wakes up and takes a shower. they're going to remember the absolute banger of a scene that followed it with all that movie-like imagery you dreamed up, you legend... but also, having said that, you can take a boring, hard to write small transitional scene and turn it into a banger with this simple trick (doctors hate her!): just get introspective with it. i lean on this crutch every single time and it hasn't failed me yet. just monologue your way through it. use them as a way to check in with your characters emotionally. make them reflect on their childhood or something. the world is your oyster and if you decide that there is no such thing as a boring transitional scene then there's no such thing as a transitional scene and it definitely will not be boring.
and look i know that goes against everything i just said about not thinking too much while you're writing it but that's why it was in the section for the middle and not the end. look at me in the eyes. listen to me. this is very different. go back and re-read the fic no matter how long it is. you'll find a lead you buried for yourself somewhere in there and it'll show you the way i promise. if anything, it'll remind you of that hopeful, innocent, wide eyed little baby you were when you started it and how excited you were for it and how badly you want to goddamn finish it already. just trust me here. it works every time.
(it works for me, at least. all of this of course is contingent on whether or not you want to take the advice of someone who is basically flying by the seat of my pants every time i sit down in front of my computer. i'm not a writer i'm just an earth sign)
and that's all i have to say for now! if there are any more specific things you want to know about how i plan and write my fics please feel free to ask in my neospring and i may even answer in a less unhinged way than creating an entire blog for it. who knows...
STARTING A FIC
when it comes to starting a fic, i almost always just throw shit at the wall and see what sticks. i close my eyes and just start punching the keyboard until i accidentally make a sentence. i'm the last real true monkey with a typewriter and i absolutely hate writing the first paragraph of a fic. truly seriously loathe it.at the very least, i always know what ship i want to write, whose pov i want it to be in, and what situation i want to put them in, but as far as actual planning goes, my "planners" are nothing more than a bunch of typo ridden dialogue snippets i think of while clocked in at work and write down in a rush so i don't forget them. if i plan a fic too much from the very beginning, or at all really, my stupid monkey brain thinks that i've already written the fic and therefore when i try to, i get bored very quickly. so i don't really make a planner in any sort of in-depth sense, i really just write down random thoughts and usually make a sort of a timeline of events for myself, because otherwise i truly will completely lose track of what year i'm even writing in somehow.
but usually, my planners, timelines, etc all exist just to make me feel like i'm not going to forget anything important, and that's enough to allow me to just focus on writing! i think getting caught up on planning every little detail is almost always to my personal detriment, and i've always found the best way to start writing something is to just. start writing it. if you're stuck, set a timer on your phone for fifteen minutes and just try to write down everything you want to be made clear by the opening scene of the fic. most of it probably won't actually be usable, but i guarantee there will be at least one sentence that stands out to you and kind of shapes the story for you.
and when all else fails, i rock back and forth in a dark room with my headphones on listening to a song that i've vaguely related to the theme at hand and trying to connect it to being about Heeseung And Jake From Enhypen. or whoever that's just an example. you know? it's a very vibes based process.
OK NOW WHAT
i was asked specifically about how to connect the Big Scenes (aka the scenes you've already visualized in your head like a movie) and string them together with smaller, more functional or transitional scenes and honestly. i really wish i knew. if i did i would probably put out twice the number of fics as i do now. the number of wips i've abandoned because i got stuck on a simple scene of two characters moving from one setting to another...... it's bad. it's so bad. that's why, without fail, when i have writer's block the thing that gets me out of it is sitting down and writing a vignette style fic where i just jump around to all the interesting fun stuff and i'm not burdened by the plight of trying to connect them. that is bad advice though i'm definitely not telling you to do that if your goal is to improve so don't listen to me on this one at all. seriously.i guess my advice for this is really the same as what i said in the last paragraph and what i say every time someone asks me for writing advice: just write it! write and don't take the time to think about things like plotholes or pacing or the laws of physics or even typos! i've found that most of the things i'm most proud of having written came entirely from me just sitting down and spewing out everything monkey with typewriter style, and then just. really taking my time when i'm editing it. actually paying attention to the words i wrote and not skimming them while half-watching an episode of supernatural. i think that's not only a lot more of an efficient way to write - not that efficiency should ever really be your goal when writing - but also, i have a lot more fun doing it that way! the second i start to waste my energy ripping my hair out and trying to make what i'm writing perfectly phrased is the moment i start wanting to abandon the fic forever and that's. not fun! feels bad!
and besides, when someone is reading something you've written, i don't think what they're going to remember is the scene where the character wakes up and takes a shower. they're going to remember the absolute banger of a scene that followed it with all that movie-like imagery you dreamed up, you legend... but also, having said that, you can take a boring, hard to write small transitional scene and turn it into a banger with this simple trick (doctors hate her!): just get introspective with it. i lean on this crutch every single time and it hasn't failed me yet. just monologue your way through it. use them as a way to check in with your characters emotionally. make them reflect on their childhood or something. the world is your oyster and if you decide that there is no such thing as a boring transitional scene then there's no such thing as a transitional scene and it definitely will not be boring.
ENDING A FIC
so i wasn't specifically asked about this but it's the part of writing that i personally have the most trouble with, so i thought i'd talk about what i do to get through that Last-Quarter-Dread as i've decided to call it. literally the second i feel plotlines starting to resolve when i'm writing something i'm gripped by panic and suddenly i forget everything i've written up to that point and where i was going with it all and i can't string a single sentence together. cus like. that's the part that matters, the part where it's all supposed to come together! i just got nervous thinking about it! there are a few occasions where i have known exactly where i want a fic to go from the beginning and that's always pleasant and nice but most of the time i'm in a place of absolutely scrambling to tie together all the loose ends and keep everyone in character while also making them feel like they've developed and changed over the duration of the story. and when i start feeling the Last-Quarter-Dread sink in the only thing that helps me is. well. i go back to the very beginning of the fic and i read it again.and look i know that goes against everything i just said about not thinking too much while you're writing it but that's why it was in the section for the middle and not the end. look at me in the eyes. listen to me. this is very different. go back and re-read the fic no matter how long it is. you'll find a lead you buried for yourself somewhere in there and it'll show you the way i promise. if anything, it'll remind you of that hopeful, innocent, wide eyed little baby you were when you started it and how excited you were for it and how badly you want to goddamn finish it already. just trust me here. it works every time.
(it works for me, at least. all of this of course is contingent on whether or not you want to take the advice of someone who is basically flying by the seat of my pants every time i sit down in front of my computer. i'm not a writer i'm just an earth sign)
and that's all i have to say for now! if there are any more specific things you want to know about how i plan and write my fics please feel free to ask in my neospring and i may even answer in a less unhinged way than creating an entire blog for it. who knows...
