papermachedragons | Archive of Our Own

We’ve got two merlin fics (50k and 13k) and a voltron fic (10k), and while I’m really involved in either fandom so much right now, they do look pretty good :D

So this project that will be dominating my blog for a bit…. what is it?

Until about mid-may, I’m going to be working on writing a short book for new and soon-to-be new writers to give them the starting place and orientation I wished I’d had when I was starting to write more seriously. It’s going to cover topics such as how to get into a project and keep going with it, how to become part of a writing community, and what to look for in writing advice at the earliest stages of the journey.

Once it’s completed, the final PDF will be available online for free.

Tag:

Currently the tag I am using is #new writer guide. You’ll see this on all sign-up opportunities to help, status updates on where I’m at, and on projects that I’m boosting as a thank you to participants.

How to help:

When they are open, I will have links next to the sign up for both the peer edit phase and the beta read phase below. Additionally, even if you’re not interested in being a part of the edit phases, please do not underestimate the value in sharing those sign ups - either by reblogging or crossposting.

Peer edit [NOT YET OPEN] (where fellow writers get to read the book or parts of it and let me know what I may be missing, spending too much time on, or maybe didn’t get quite right - as well as letting me know what’s working and doesn’t need to be changed)

Beta read [NOT YET OPEN] (where new or soon-to-be-new writers get to read the book or parts of it and let me know what’s confusing or needs to be expanded upon - as well as letting me know which parts are all set)

Boosting WIPs:

As a thank you to everyone who participates in either of the editing passes (as well as the now-closed “what advice would you give your past self” survey), there is an option to drop links to WIPs they’d like to have boosted.

Thank you everyone!

Responses for the “advice you’d give your past self” forms are now closed. To everyone who responded, thank you so much for your help it really makes such a difference :D

If you didn’t get a chance to respond and/or did but want to help more, be on the lookout soon for the peer-editor call and beta-read call, as that will be a chance to offer feedback on the drafts of the guide (and get a chance to read it before it’s officially out!)

ALRIGHT! MY DUDES! I NEED HELP ON A PROJECT!

Okay so basically the idea of it is that I’m writing a short book/guide/thing for my school library about how to get started writing novels or other long-form fiction, right. Topics like how to make the process less daunting, how to find a place in the writing community where you can talk to other writers, where to find good writing advice/what to listen to and what not to listen to/when certain writing advice is useful, that kind of thing.

What I wished I knew when I was a baby writer tm and didn’t yet have connections to other writers, or even a great sense of what questions to ask.

When it is completed, a free PDF will be available for general readership

So what kind of help is most needed?

PLEASE REBLOG THIS AND SPREAD THIS AROUND

But mainly, I wanna hear what pieces of advice you would give your past self when you were first getting started? What pieces of knowledge could have made a noticeable difference in how you approached the journey? If you started writing already surrounded by writer friends, what were some things they told you that you think were instrumental in how you’re doing now? If you didn’t start in a writing community but feel pretty connected now, how did you get there? What was your path?

Below is a handy-dandy google form below to write in responses (including an opportunity to boost your current wips!)

Advice to Ye Olde Writerly Past Self (help me with a super cool project!)

Get Comfy

Amira doesn’t like curtains or enclosed spaces.

Words: 438
Genre: I dunno
Rating: teen/mature?
Warnings: broken bones, claustrophobia, panic attack

It wasn’t the small space Amira minded, it was the damned curtains everywhere.

“They’re for privacy” the workers had explained when she first arrived, clutching her shattered arm to her chest. But didn’t everyone already know that privacy was a lost cause here? The smells of shit and vomit didn’t care about a few strips of fabric, and nor did the screams of the soon-to-be-dead.

And those workers, had placed her in the middle of the compound - no sightlines, no exits. The cot was too low to stand on and try to see over the curtains.

“It’s safe here.” the workers had explained. But she had seen the tension between the less-broken patients. The way they held the tension in their bodies, had tracked each others movements - hers too - and how they angled themselves into easy reaching distance of heavier objects.

Amira knew full well that anyone could barrel through the curtains separating off her “room” at any time. From any direction. And while there was a little she could do with the woven food tray, she’d still be fucked.

She’d walk out if it wasn’t against direct orders and doing so would involve her not unlikely aggressive arrest. On the bright side, it meant that no one was going to attack her. Probably a lie.

She’d named all of the round objects in the space, then the white ones, then the ones that had come from natural means. She’d counted backward from 200 by sevens. She’d completed forty rounds of her inhale-pause-exhale-pause pattern.

She was out of ways to ignore the tension growing in her arms and legs, the pain in her chest, the way her breath was coming in shallower.

The doors somewhere at the front of the compound swung open loudly - Amira started.

Pain screeched up her arm, and she hissed.

It wouldn’t be a problem if she could just see the damned exits for fuck’s sake. But no. This is how it was going to be.

She let out a short, cynical laugh - the kind of angry amusement that only rose up when things were screwed and utterly out of her control.

Amira was like this a lot she realized. Not that it made a kind of difference. If it could keep her alive, she’d take it.

Now she just had to wait it out, the pain in her arm, the racing heart, the brain the kept fucking her over and keeping her not dead yet in that vicious cycle.

Amira shook her head. This wasn’t going to go away for at least the next few hours, so she might as well get comfy.

Something I definitely want to see more of are queer characters who are vocal about their queerness, but are also super supportive of other people’s experiences. Like I feel like there’s so much of a divide between groups and between the queer and non-queer community that just…. doesn’t always need to be there? People can be proud of themself without tearing others down.

Like it would be cool to see more aro characters who have no interest in a relationship for themself, but are super happy for their friends who had a really successful first date.

Nonbinary characters who really don’t feel a strong connection to either binary gender, but will absolutely help a trans friend figure out what outfits and hairstyles best help them pass.

Ace characters playing wingman for their allo friends cause they think it’s fun, and cause they’re not gonna rope themselves into anything they don’t wanna do.

Just because a character doesn’t feel attracted to certain genders (or anyone) doesn’t mean they have to go around talking about how Horrible it must be to be attracted to those people. Just because a character falls under the trans umbrella doesn’t mean they have to go around talking about how Awful it is that someone’s “trapped” as the same gender they were assigned at birth. Characters can have understanding.

When you spend a semi-absurd amount of time coming up with a name for your evil empire and end up with a really good one that matches the other names in the story in terms of vibes, and looks Suitably Evil on the page, and excitedly share it with a non-writer-but-they-know-a-lot-of-starwars-friend…..

and they point out that it’s phonetically very similar to a pretty well-known planet.

which means you have to start over because you don’t want to look like you’re trying to copy starwars.