✨You are not a failure for having writers block.

✨You haven’t “let your audience down” for not updating in a while.

✨You aren’t a bad person for writing about problematic content.

✨You can always take a break from your writing, even if it’s for a significant amount of time.

✨You can always leave a project, work on something else, and come back to it later.

✨You aren’t a “bad writer” for only having a few projects.

✨You aren’t a “bad writer” for only having a lot of projects.

✨You aren’t a “bad writer” if you decide to only write about things that are important to you.

✨You don’t owe anyone continuous updates for a project.

✨You are a writer, and that’s enough.

artist/writer cycle

[Image ID: Tweet from Ellen, PhD, ADHD (@/ ellenwalex) on 03 Feb 22 reading: The worst symptom of burnout is the guilt for feeling like you haven't done enough to deserve to be burned out. /End ID]

ao3 is not instagram, and it’s not embarrassing to comment on a story that’s old. we understand that you just happened to come across it now; writing is magical in that you often come across the right story at just the time you need to read it.

also, authors will literally cry over their keyboard if you comment on the stuff they write.

Hey friends. Do this:

This probably took this person 3 seconds to do but it immediately told me that they liked my story enough to come back and read it again and they liked it again the second time.

Your favorite writers Do Not Know that you think about their stories after you read them. I generally assume that my stories make people happy for the few minutes they’re reading and then they never think about it again. To know that that’s not the case and that someone has returned just makes my little heart swell with joy.

I needed this today. If you’re the person who left this comment (or if you’ve ever commented on any of my writing) I love you.

Dear Writers Everywhere:

1. It’s okay if you lose interest in your story. It doesn’t mean you wasted your time; it means you’re growing in your hobby.

2. It’s okay not to want to publish your work; that doesn’t mean your writing isn’t worth reading. It means you have different goals than some other writers.

3. It’s okay if you need a break sometimes. It’s frankly unrealistic to think you never will.

4. It’s okay to write fanfiction; that doesn’t make you any less of a writer but makes you that much more of a fan.

5. It’s okay to sometimes have self-doubt. After all, you are human and sometimes as humans it’s easy to fall into that trap. Sometimes the feeling doesn’t even have anything to do with the writing but has everything to do with being overwhelmed, mentally exhausted and ready to give up. Don’t give up.

6. It’s okay to feel relief and happy upon reading this. Give a like if you did and spread it to your writer followers and maybe make their day a little.

🤍 H

“middle aged women shouldn’t participate in fandom” and you think it’s teenagers that are writing those brilliant, incisive 100k fics of your favourite characters

“Transformative work is about repairing the deficiencies of canon” no, transformative works is about using canon as raw material. Sometimes that means fixing the canon. Sometimes it means making the canon worse. Sometimes it means slapping a pair of Groucho glasses and a silly hat on the canon and hoping nobody notices what’s really going on.

tumblr allowing titties again is cool and all but are they gonna do anything to un-blur all the accounts that have been blurred for things like titties.

Tumblr isn't doing it themselves, but I was able to get this blog unflagged manually! I went through the process at the end of this page, and in the comment field for the form just put "blog now conforms to new Community Standards," and in about two hours I was unflagged!

shoutout to the slow artists. the artists with hardly any time for art. the artists who reach the end of the day with no energy for art. you got this i believe in you and you are no less valued than anyone else

to be clear. when i say artist i mean every kind of art. drawing writng music sculpting embroidery idc this post was for you and i am sending my love your way

Gentle writing advice indeed.

New writing rule: Checkov’s friend

If you introduce a named character with a relationship to a protagonist, their character arc must be resolved in a way that feels reasonable and satisfying

Which is to say: they can’t just dissappear when they’re no longer a convenient plot device

Thor’s Mum rule – If you’re going to kill a character who’s carried any part of the plot, take a bit to reimagine the plot as if she were the main character, and the story ends when she dies.  If it’s unsatisfying, rewrite either her plot points, or her death, to make both more meaningful.

Which is to say – don’t treat side characters as ammo with which to hurt your main guy.  ESPECIALLY if they’re women.

I’m reblogging because this second part is the best explanation of how I distinguish between fridged characters and other characters who just die.

And yes, it is intrinsically a bit subjective and that’s okay.