CAT by  By 九米 / Zhaobangni (1631123)

And when I say I lost my shit–and by all lost gods did I– I mean it.

unmute unmute unmute

for the love of EVERYTHING holy u GOTTA unmute

This was funny silent, but HILARIOUS with sound.

Audio: The Can Can, synced to the movements of the cats.

by chance are any of my followers homestuck fans?

or homestuck readers

because i may have

an old ao3 account that was mostly homestuck

and i may have

rewritten one of my old stories

and am dragged back into the fandom

alright then im seeing some interest

guess im dropping the rewrite and a link to my old homestuck account here in tumblr after all

Can't emphasize enough how important reading is. The more you read, the more ideas you get. And those ideas can be anything from a trope, to a phrasing, to even just the cadence of text. I've also given the advice of taking something you like and breaking it down as an exercise. Play around with it, change words or cadence or whatever, and see how it effects it.

Alternately, do it with something you think is THE WORST. If nothing else, spite is a wonderful motivator to dig your heels in and go "well damn, I can't possibly do it worse than THEM."

And also, don't be afraid to like…be bad? Or even just meh? Writing, like anything else, is a skill you have to learn and hone through use. Everything you make (ESPECIALLY early on!!) really helps you get your footing. Those shaky steps might seem terrible compared to the authors you really admire, but you gotta remember that they, too, started somewhere.

an extremely helpful addition from cocomere!

thank you for the addition, i might do both breaking down something or just, making something extremely bad just for the sake of it. if anything just to make everyone reading it cringe lol

also an emphasis on the last part; writing is something you learn and hone over time. arguably this could also be used with practically everything else! art, singing, etc.

everyone started somewhere, and over time, by doing it over and over again and learning through each attempt, you get better.

trust me there's some old fics i will never name or link that have me shuddering as i remember just how bad i was, and now here i am. several steps ahead from when i started :D

People have written a lot of touchy-feely pieces on this subject but I thought I’d get right to the heart of the matter

[The artist, putting a simple cake next to a much fancier one: “Aw man, that guy’s cake is way better than mine.” The Audience, gleefully holding up a knife and fork “HOLY SHIT! TWO CAKES!”]

additions from the og artist (credit)

“Holy shit two cakes,” I mutter to myself as I do fucking anything these days, this post was a godsend

Writing tips for long fics that helped me that no one asked for.

1.) Don't actually delete content from your WIP unless it is minor editing - instead cut it and put it in a secondary document. If you're omitting paragraphs of content, dialog, a whole scene you might find a better place for it later and having it readily available can really save time. Sometimes your idea was fantastic, but it just wasn't in the right spot.

2.) Stuck with wording the action? Just write the dialog then revisit it later.

3.) Stuck on the whole scene? Skip it and write the next one.

4.) Write on literally any other color than a white background. It just works. (I use black)

5.) If you have a beta, while they are beta-ing have them read your fic out loud. Yes, I know a lot of betas/writers do not have the luxury of face-timing or have the opportunity to do this due to time constraints etc but reading your fic out loud can catch some very awkward phrasing that otherwise might be missed. If you don't have a beta, you read it out loud to yourself. Throw some passion into your dialog, you might find a better way to word it if it sounds stuffy or weird.

6.) The moment you have an idea, write it down. If you don't have paper or a pen, EMAIL it to yourself or put it in a draft etc etc. I have sent myself dozens of ideas while laying down before sleep that I 10/10 forgot the next morning but had emailed them to myself and got to implement them.

7.) Remember - hits/likes/kudos/comments are not reflective of the quality of your fic or your ability to write. Most people just don't comment - even if they say they do, they don't, even if they preach all day about commenting, they don't, even if they are a very popular blog that passionately reminds people to comment - they don't comment (I know this personally). Even if your fic brought tears to their eyes and it haunted them for weeks and they printed it out and sent it to their friends they just don't comment. You just have to accept it. That being said - comment on the fic you're reading now, just do it, if you're 'shy' and that's why you don't comment the more you comment the better you'll get at it. Just do it.

8.) Remove unrealistic daily word count goals from your routine. I've seen people stress 1500 - 2000 words a day and if they don't reach that they feel like a failure and they get discouraged. This is ridiculous. Write when you can, but remove absurd goals. My average is 500 words a day in combination with a 40 hour a week job and I have written over 200k words from 2022-2023.

9.) There are dozens of ways to do an outline from precise analytical deconstruction that goes scene by scene to the minimalist bullet point list - it doesn't matter which one you use just have some sort of direction. A partial outline is better than no outline.

10.) Write for yourself, not for others. Write the fic you know no one is going to read. Write the fic that sounds ridiculous. You will be so happy you put it out in the world and there will be people who will be glad it exists.