Tag: writing and whatnot

Under the Surface Self-Promotion (part 1)

Some Things You May Not Know About the AU, Pirates, and The Author (who is a huge nerd)

Under the Surface

  • Castiel’s ship is called The Prince James. The name is both a reference to Bartholomew Robert’s ship The Royal James and Jimmy Novak. Prior to naming the ship, Castiel was going to be named James but took the name Castiel (a protective spirit of wanderers in his culture) after splitting with his family. Early ideas would have had Jimmy as Castiel’s brother, and Jimmy’s death being a driving force for Castiel to leave home but that idea was quickly scrapped.
  • Castiel, Balthazar, and Marv are all monotheists while Dean, Sam, and their lot are polytheists. Dean’s people are more apt towards land-based practices, like hunting, farming, and forestry. Castiel’s people are more seafaring, as Angles is cold and kinda small.
  • Balthazar was originally supposed to die, but I didn’t have the heart to do that. Additionally, Dean was supposed to lose a hand in battle and Castiel was going to lose an eye. I settled, instead, for giving Dean a nasty slice out of his right arm and Castiel got shot and lost a few feet of intestines.
  • In real life, those injuries probably would have killed both Castiel and Dean but screw reality.
  • The inspiration for King Michael’s castle was Neuschwanstein. Michael and the nobles are addressed in a way typical of British royalty, however.
  • Dean turns 21 during the events of the fic. Castiel, on the other hand is approaching 29 by the time the fic closes. Sam turns 18 shortly before the close of the fic.
  • The whole thing takes place over the course of about five months.
  • I made Dean the cabin boy for two reasons 1) cockles jokes 2) cabin boys were typically younger and assisted the captain and other crew members by doing things only small boys could (like getting into small spaces and untying tight knots with the skinny little fingers). Dean’s the youngest on the ship and is also the most slender at the start of the fic.
  • The contract Castiel makes Dean agree to was actually something that happened on a lot of pirate ships. Captains had rules about gambling, fighting, and curfew, though they did vary ship to ship.
  • The entire kingdom of Alexandria was a last minute addition. I had always planned for Sam to have gone through some shit after Dean was nearly killed and for Samuel to basically torture him. Sam was also supposed to show up on the ship on his own, stowing away to find a way to save Dean. BUT the whole addition of Mick, Ketch, and Alexandria was totally last minute and a case of canon providing me with something I could use in a sequel. (Yes, I do plan on writing a sequel.) It all came about when I remembered that “to dance with Jack Ketch” was a figure of speech meaning that a person was to be hanged. I had already written Dean’s near execution and wanted to kick myself, but I was able to recover a bit and plant a few seeds for the sequel, which would deal with Sam’s life as heir to the throne and King of Winchester and how he’s going to deal with the alliances Samuel made.
  • The kingdoms are pretty much named after their rules, save for Gehenna, Lusus Naturae, Angles, and Alexandria. Gehenna is Hell (almost literally), Lusus Naturae is Purgatory (it means “monstrous nature” or something) and Alexandria is named for the Library of Alexandria and is the BMoL’s kingdom. Angles is both me being incredibly lazy and trying to make a point about Cas’s kingdom being similar to England during the Golden Age of Piracy.
  • Additionally, if we’re gonna talk Golden Age of Piracy, Gehenna operates similarly to the way that Madagascar did for a brief period in the 19th century when it was a pirate anarchy state.

What got you into writing? What keeps you inspired/motivated to continue?

Honestly, I’ve just always been a writer. When I was very little, I used to get frustrated because I couldn’t write the way I wanted to. I’m talkin’ like, 5 years old, little. I couldn’t write letters properly or spell many words so I wound up drawing until I figured out how to write words. Then I had a lot of issues spelling and I had to figure out different ways of writing things down so that I could express what I wanted to. (Like, if I couldn’t spell “jagged” I would say that a monster had “teeth like a broken fence” or something.) Writing has been a part of my life since before I could actually do it. I’ve always had stories in my head.

In terms of inspiration, it’s literally anything and everything. Music inspires me. Television inspires me. My own daydreams inspire me. I’ve described it before like this: I have stories in my head constantly and if I don’t write them down and share them, what’s the point of them existing? Anything and everything makes me want to tell a story. 

Motivation is tricky because sometimes I lack it. I lack a lot of it, actually. I struggle with depressive episodes a lot and they tend to suck the joy right out of everything. Sometimes I literally cannot write, but that’s okay because I know it will pass. But sometimes I struggle with doing it even when I’m feeling okay. What really keeps me going are a) deadlines and b) the joy of sharing. I want to share my worlds with people. I need to, really. The fact that there are people out there who are just as interested in my worlds as I am keeps me going. I’d probably still do it if no one cared (I did for years when I was trying to get published) but knowing people like what I’m writing helps tremendously. 

poetsandwriters:

“Writing doesn’t happen just when you place your fingers on the keyboard or pick up your pen. An essential and too often overlooked part of the process occurs in the not-writing time, the time when it looks as though nothing’s happening, but you’re actually making sense of your life.”

—Joyce Maynard, in “Patience and Memoir: The Time It Takes to Tell Your Story” in the September/October issue of Poets & Writers Magazine (2017)

A Different Kind of Self Promotion

So, I’ve been thinking (dangerous, I know) but in the spirit of reader engagement, I’d like to try something a little different with my self-promotion this go round. 

Instead of just giving details about the fic and maybe a graphic, I’m going to give a little extra. I’m going to be doing the usual, but I’m also going to create posts in which I reveal some of my thought processes behind certain aspects of different fics, some of my favorite lines and jokes, scenes I cut, that kind of thing. 

If you’ve read my stuff and are curious about any of these things (or other things, I’m open to “why the hell did you do that?” questions) feel free to ask. I won’t answer the ask, but I will include it in the post when I promote the fic. And you can get personal if you want! I’ve said before that a lot of what I write is reflective, in some way, of who I am so if you want to know how a fic is self-reflective, go ahead and ask. You could ask about why I chose certain ships, why I put certain characters in the roles I did, what I wished I did differently, basically anything. You could also ask for my notes because I do keep those around, too. Also, if you’re interested about a WIP, you can ask about those, too. 

Also, if you’re a writer and you want to take this opportunity to do the same thing, go for it! (Also, tag me.) I just want to take the opportunity to share some of the writing process. Artists can show their work in livestreams or time lapses, but writing is a lot harder to do those things with. But that doesn’t mean that what writing isn’t a very involved process, and I would like to share that process

I haven’t read nearly as much of your stuff as I should have so… Which fic are you most proud of? And just for fun if you want, I’ll be curious, why? I’ll start my reasing there. :) (If it’s a non-au Destiel though, I’m really, really, /really/sorry, but do you have a second?)

You know, I don’t think I actually write much that isn’t an AU… my rare pairs tend to be more canon!verse I think. Regardless – 

The fic I’m most proud of is Some Things Last. It’s deanjimstiel, and was my entry for the DCJ bang this last year. Of all the fics I’ve written, it’s the most personal to me even though there isn’t a whole lot in it that’s based off my own life experience (some but not a lot). I will say that I project pretty hard onto Jimmy and there’s a lot more of me in him than there is of me in other characters. It’s the longest thing I’ve ever written at just over 60k. I really do think it’s my best fic, too. I have a few things I wish I did differently, but it’s what it is and I’m really damn happy with it. It’s angsty, funny, sweet, and parts of it make my heart ache. I don’t wanna ramble and say talk about what I think makes it really good because I don’t wanna sound like I have a big head or anything, but I do think one of the strengths with it is that there is a lot of varied emotion in it and everyone has their own issues they’re dealing with. I think I did a damn good job, if I do say so myself. 

If that’s not really your speed, there are two other fics I’m also pretty proud of. They’re much shorter and very pwp but I liked them a lot. (I have a hard time finishing long fics, aparently.) 

Four Can Play at That Game is winjimstiel and it’s so ridiculous. Like, it’s competitive sexting, so it can’t really get more silly than that imo. But I had a blast with it. 

Bliss is also one I’m very happy with it. Early season wincest, no angst, just pwp and bottom!Dean. It was a surprise to me ‘cause I wrote it on a whim and it flowed really easily. 

Hey friends and followers! It’s August and apparently that means it’s fanfic month or something (and if it’s not it should be)! So! I’m going to be reblogging some of the fic I wrote and I’m probably gonna be obnoxious about it.

But! I also really believe that fanfic is cooperative because without you lovely people I really wouldn’t be doing it. So I want to hear from y’all too! Ask me questions about the stuff I’ve written, share your input, just come talk to me. I love hearing from you and I can guarantee I have all kinds of bonus, behind the scenes stuff to share.

August 21st: Fanfiction Writers Appreciation Day

miraculousturtle:

acebarduil:

It is not surprising news that fanfiction writers are highly underappreciated.

There’s something wrong with the numbers: let’s take a popular fic with almost 4k hits. For let’s say 700 readers, it will get about 50 comments and 300 Kudos (those numbers are just an example, sometimes it’s worse than that). Maybe I’m being too kind, maybe not, but things stay the same; there’s something wrong here. Can you see it?

It takes us days, weeks, sometimes months to write a story for you. We write for ourselves yes, but we also write to share. We write to offer you content about your favourite characters. We write to bring our and your ships to life. It takes you a fraction of second to leave a Kudos, ten seconds to one, two or a few minutes to leave a comment.

And here lies our problem: there’s no proper sharing if there’s no proper feedback. An author not getting comments is generally a sad author. If I didn’t get feedback I’d wonder what’s the point in keeping on writing. A comment makes a writer’s day, most of the time even motivates them to write more.

Another important thing thrandythefabulous and I noticed: why on Earth do so many readers don’t comment (even kudos) if the fic has been up for a little more than a week or two? Why? Your feedback is still welcomed and much appreciated.

We write for ourselves, but also we write for you. And sadly, many readers are being quite… ungrateful, when giving feedback is the least they can do to thank the people offering them stories for free.

So, before we get started on our little day, let’s talk about comments:

It doesn’t matter if other readers already said what you wanted to say, we’ll still love reading it again in your words.

It doesn’t matter the fic has been up for weeks or months or years; comments on those ones are unexpected and so, it makes them ever better.

It doesn’t matter if you don’t have much to say, we’ll be glad anyway.

Most authors leave the comment section open to people who don’t have an Archive of Our Own (AO3) account, which means you can still… comment! How amazing is that.

That brings us to our little Fanfiction Writers Appreciation Day.

The point of this day is simple; on August 21st, writers and readers alike would go on AO3 (or any fanfiction website really), on Tumblr, and leave a comment on their favourite fics (even the fics they enjoyed!) and/or send their authors a message about their works.

It doesn’t matter if you’ve already or never commented. It doesn’t matter if the author doesn’t know about this post. It doesn’t matter if the author already knows how much you love their work.

Just let writers know you love the fics they write for you, simple as that!

And well, don’t forget to keep leaving a Kudos and a comment in the future, and make writers happy!

ONE OF MY FAVORITE DAYS IS UPON US. I’M SO EXCITED. TELL TO MAKE THOSE REC LISTS!

hazeldomain:

rosemoonweaver:

Some things.

Those of you who write A/B/O, do you have a specific set of rules you build the world off of? Like can a omega male impregnate someone? Can female alphas get pregnant? Where do betas fit in? Are there any different social conventions? (Like how rude is it to sniff strangers?) Do you switch it up for different aus? How do you handle metaphor?

I switch it up, personally. 

Would you like a shitpile of data on this subject? 

http://abostudies.tumblr.com/

Fuck yeah, I want a shitpile of data!

Some things.

Those of you who write A/B/O, do you have a specific set of rules you build the world off of? Like can a omega male impregnate someone? Can female alphas get pregnant? Where do betas fit in? Are there any different social conventions? (Like how rude is it to sniff strangers?) Do you switch it up for different aus? How do you handle metaphor?