Tag: writing advice

On By nightmares06In UncategorizedLeave a comment

@randompasserbyer This means the world to me to hear!

I definitely recommend following some writing blogs on tumblr. There’s a lot that have good grammar suggestions, word replacement guides, useful tools to use for when you’re writing. I use stuff as simple-sounding as the title capitalization website here, simply because a lot of the time I completely forget the rules! (Bad memory is one of my main features currently)

Another thing is, even when you start writing, don’t get discouraged. Trust me, no matter how far into writing, we always look back at stuff we wrote years ago and cringe. I can barely read some of my older works without wanting to attack them with corrections. You can see a line of improvement that runs through my stories, all the way back from the first g/t fic I posted (which is no longer online for reasons), through my first Supernatural g/t fic Reversal of Fate, going through An Ounce of Courage, and then the BA series. In my opinion, I hit my stride right around when I was writing Taken, and getting someone to help out and edit and beta, and someone to write with, was one of the best decisions I made for my writing.

If you do get help with your writing! Don’t forget there’s a difference between criticism and constructive criticism! Don’t get down because someone tells you your chapters are too long. Your chapters are too short. Stuff like that is purely subjective! Did you have a reason for those things? If you did, then remember certain types of ‘help’ aren’t the help you need! I did have to learn this one a few times.

Write, and write, and keep writing. Don’t push yourself if you’re having a hard time. Listen to songs that get you emotional. Write what makes you cry. Express yourself and don’t be afraid. It’s all in there just waiting to come out. ❤

On By nightmares06In UncategorizedLeave a comment

@nightmares06

This can be a tough one! For myself, a lot of my best parts depend on inspiration. I listen to music at work during the day, and there will be moments where I just see an entire scene in my head. I keep a notebook to the side and scribble down every bit I remember. A lot of times these drabbles turn into 2k word story parts, and that’s a lot of how I write. Completely unorganized, too. I’ll have an entire story out of order in bits and pieces at first.

The collabs I do with neon, we build off of each other’s ideas. What starts out simple will end much more complicated with fun storylines we never would have come up with on our own.

@neonthewrite

It’s true. With collaborations, stories come together a lot faster just because, when you might be having a block, your partner is there to help bring you out of it. Nightmares and I have hardly slowed down with the writing since we started working together, and it’s great!

For solo writing, I tend to do things a little differently. While I also keep a journal nearby all the time for shorter stories and scene inspirations, I usually end up writing my stories in order. I develop an outline of major points I’d like to see happen in my story, so that I don’t get into a corner that I can’t write myself out of. From there, it’s a matter of making sure everything the story needs is there. Some scenes that seem like they’ll be bigger end up shorter than 2k words (on the flipside, some small things end up at 10k words).

Word count, in my opinion, isn’t as important as content. For example, the conclusion to Hershey Kisses and Salt Lines is around 1.7k words, and yet it got the most explosive response out of any chapter in the whole story. It accomplished exactly the goal in less than two thousand words.

That said, here’s how you can expand word count: give the scene more details. And I don’t mean details that add nothing to the scene itself or take away from the flow of things. Details that put the reader right there can help with the experience while also fleshing out the scene in general. I personally specialize in sensory details and painting the picture of the world that the characters perceive. Nightmares is the queen of getting their thoughts and feelings on point. Both are valid and helpful for telling the story, and it’s ultimately up to you to decide which you’d like to focus on (or put both in there!). Once you start noticing the places where you could add to one or the other, it becomes easier and easier and before you know it you’re considering splitting one chapter into two. 😉