Wot I learned about writing, by lavvyan, wannabe-author

[lavvyan]

I made a careless offer and neevebrody took me up on it. Before I start in on my long, long, tl;dr ramblings, let me say that the following list is a) incomplete and b) what I learned about writing. I'm obviously writing my own style, so some of my dos may be your don'ts. Some of my dos may be don'ts I just haven't figured out yet. I only started writing fan

Comments

[anatsuno]

this will seem persnickety but, but, your last point is about adverbs, not adjectives.

nice piece! I think it's a very good overview of things. There are several points in there I should learn to pay attention to. :)

[lavvyan]

Ahaha, of course it's about adverbs. *facepalm*

Every time I try to pay more attention to specific things, I end up ruining the whole story. And I hate editing, so the learning process is a painful one for me. :D

[seekergeek]

Very useful. I think I've made every one of these mistakes too. *facepalm* Eh, live and learn, huh? And I'm still really bad about pushing John to the utter limits of emo goth boyness.

BTW, do you know what happened to smuffster? Her journal seems to have disappeared. *is concerned*

[lavvyan]

I'm so incredibly embarrassed when I read my first stories now, it's positively painful. *clears throat*

Um, yeah. That living and learning stuff. Let's to that.

I think it's a private thing. I'm sure she'll be back once RL calms down.

[seekergeek]

Yeah, I share your pain. *winces*

Thanks for the update. I just wanted to make sure that nothing horrible had happened. She's not on my flist, but I'm used to seeing her around, and well, you know,*shrugs* I kind of missed seeing her lately.

[thisissirius]

I can't read this for the minute but I promise to come back and give it the once over :D

[lavvyan]

Oooh, the infamous once-over. *nudge nudge wink wink*

[thisissirius]

ahahaha. oh, you think you're so humorous :D

also: i like this. it gives me insight into HOW YOU THINK OMG which gives me a little bit of insight into your CRAZEH MIND. On a more serious note; i found myself saying a whole load of things outloud when i was reading this so i may have to just write it down and be a COPYCAT because it's so interesting to outline this.

[lavvyan]

:P

Any time you want me to tell you how I came up with a story, just ask. I'll try to show you the workings of my crazy. *g*

Also! You can copy me whenever you want! BECAUSE COPYING IS LOVE!

[lenyia]

Very useful. And as a reader I totally agree with the point about epithets.

[lavvyan]

Thank you. :)

Epithets can be useful, I think. But rarely.

[debris_k]

What you said a thousand times over. I wish I could make every starting-out fanfic writer read this. Heck, some of the so-called "old pros" could use to read this, as well. (Me, I've read this, I know all this, but getting my brain to implement it, not so with the easy.)

Great job compiling this, and LOL at some of your examples (though John breaking down in tears, that's from "But Never the Night", right? Because if not, I wanna read it. ^.^ )

[lavvyan]

It's hard to consciously pay attention to what you're doing when writing, at least for me.

And yeah, that was But Never The Nights. My epic fail. *g*

[debris_k]

But - but - but! I think I love your *makes finger-quotes* fails *g* the best! *smooches*