@universalfanfic / universalfanfic.tumblr.com
Stutton/AUs - Mermaid, Regency, Soulmate Emotion, Bodyguard: Problems, Close Call, My Turn; Sandwich, Check ‘m Out
Peyton/Lex AUs - Fae: 1, 2; Dragon: 1, 2; Home Invasion, Confrontation, Kryptonian
Mary/Owen - Burnt Food, Game Night, Wedding Dance, Love Square
When the self-indulgent fanfiction becomes even more self-indulgent than you intended when starting it:
when you've meticulously envisioned the story in your head scene by scene but it's time to actually write it
If you want to write a dumb little story with a dumb little plot and ridiculously silly characters. No one's stopping you. Genuinely, no one should be allowed to stop you. Write that dumb story with your whole heart and don't hold back.
ok the dumb little story turned into a lot of work why does this always happen
the absolute struggle of knowing the exact plot of your fic, what the characters facial expressions will look like, what sounds will happen, the emotions, the lighting, everything….
except it’s all playing as a movie in your head and you can’t articulate any of it.
get up and go write.
write for the people who will one day pore over the words you've chosen.
write for the people who think you could never have gotten so far.
write so you can bring words to life.
write so one day you can look back and see how far you've come.
write to inspire people who are too afraid, or who cannot, put words to paper.
write, because if you don't create this, who will?
and if anything, get up and go write for yourself. there's still so far to go. take a break, breathe, but go back. there's still so many things to share.
tfw you finally start the next chapter of your fic but spend almost 300 words talking about cake
babe are you okay? you’ve barely touched your word count
CREATE AMBITIOUS PIECES OF ART EVEN IF YOU DO NOT THINK YOU HAVE THE APPROPRIATE LEVEL OF ARTISTIC SKILL IT IS THE ONLY WAY YOU WILL IMPROVE IT IS THE ONLY WAY YOU WILL ACHIEVE THAT LEVEL
Well, thanks to a conversation with @inkoutsidethelines, here's a snippet of another AU.
Sutton accidentally let's slip the name of some superheroe's LI before they got together and suddenly she's considered a matchmaker. It only gets more stressful when people in Hell's Kitchen start to hear about it.
Heather belongs to @ink and she deserves more screen time in any future parts
My chronic canon x oc shipping really is going to be the death of me
@universalfanfic I told myself this was going to be a short Mary/Owen moment. It is not. But I wanted to write about them planning their future so...it's what happened.
(Owen belongs to universalfanfic)
One of the hard parts about being a writer with a vivid imagination is that there are So Many Ideas, and they fall into so many categories, such as
And, of course
My brain:
i would kill for the confidence of novelists who write genius-poet characters and then actually write samples of the “genius” poetry in the book. if i were a novelist writing a genius-poet i’d just be like “trust me, the poetry’s real good.”
I want more fantasy books that are just thinly veiled horse girl stories.
I want to see an injured dragon rider defying all expectations to fly again.
I want to see the city lady forced into the country, where she befriends a wild griffin.
I want to see a local villager going Home Alone on unicorn hunters.
I want the historical tavern to be saved by one wench's unlikely friendship with a pegasus.
So my problem with most ‘get to know your character’ questioneers is that they’re full of questions that just aren’t that important (what color eyes do they have) too hard to answer right away (what is their greatest fear) or are just impossible to answer (what is their favorite movie.) Like no one has one single favorite movie. And even if they do the answer changes.
If I’m doing this exercise, I want 7-10 questions to get the character feeling real in my head. So I thought I’d share the ones that get me (and my students) good results:
