by Taggiecb
art by @ghostiemedicine
Louis is an angel, and one day he does something that causes him to fall from heaven, and into the arms of Harry Styles, forestry officer, who cares for him until Louis can get back on his feet again.
for @1dreversebang
Hi.
I know time are tough, and it’s Christmas, and money is a precious commodity. But one of our own, a creator in this fandom, my friend and someone I love dearly, lost her husband to Covid this morning. Jacky, @ comebackassholes is a bright light and she needs our help, so please, if you have even a dollar to spare, please consider giving to her and helping her through this. And if you don’t, I completely understand, but then please share so others can see.
I want to help my friend. Thank you. I love you all. So very much.
Louis knows that letting go of Harry was the right thing for both of them. And he shouldn't still be so upset after all these months. How could he be sad about losing something that caused him so much pain? But now he finds out that Harry is in rehab and Louis can't help but feel responsible. Will revisiting his past be a mistake?
Proudly part of @1dbreakupfest
found here on ao3
This Friday, @allwaswell16 has decided to write a piece on exposition! If you don’t know them then you’re probably sleeping under a rock, because this person’s writing is /phenomenal/ and I hope that one day I’ll be as good of a writer as they are.
Writing advice: Balance in exposition
When Caelen asked me to write a piece of writing advice, I knew pretty quickly what I thought might be useful. The topic of exposition is one that the One Direction Fic Club discord that I mod recently discussed, and it’s something that I’ve talked with my beta about quite a bit over the years we’ve worked together.
The main thing to keep in mind is that exposition’s purpose is to give the reader the necessary information in order to understand your story’s premise, the characters, and the setting. The key word there is necessary.
If you give too little, of course, you run the risk of the reader lacking the necessary information to follow your story, but it’s important to remember that too much exposition can also be a problem. Exposition is an explanation. If you’re explaining in your story, you have just stopped the narrative in its tracks. Exposition by its very nature has no action and doesn’t push the story forward. So if you’re going to put in exposition, it should be only necessary information that the reader needs.
Something my beta has brought up when we have discussed this topic, is that as a writer you need to trust your reader to make inferences. We’ve probably all heard to show and not tell, and that’s definitely a part of finding a balance in exposition in our writing. But the reasoning behind that advice is because when you have too much exposition, you’re denying the reader the chance to be a more active participant in your story.
There are a few things I think we should keep in mind when we’re writing when it comes to exposition. A character’s backstory is important, but mostly for the writer, not the reader. It’s of course very important especially in a longer work that the writer knows a lot about their characters, but it’s a lot less important for the reader to know explicitly detailed, extended backstories for these characters. If there’s something about the character that you want the reader to know, ask yourself if you can reveal whatever that is in a line of dialogue or in a gesture/action part of a scene that way you’re not stopping the flow of your fic.
Another thing to keep in mind is to not explain things that don’t need to be explained. This goes back to trusting your reader and especially your audience as a writer of fan fiction. These characters are ones that your reader most likely already knows. Of course, they don’t know your specific characters’ quirks yet, but they know some things. There’s no need to write, Louis is shorter than Harry by a few inches. We all know that already. But if you want to emphasize that height difference in some way or you want to write Louis as taller than Harry, it’s not that many more words to write, Louis walked quickly to keep up with Harry’s long strides to imply Louis has shorter legs than Harry or if you wanted to write Harry as shorter, Harry climbed up one stair higher than Louis until they saw eye to eye.
Resist the urge to tell your reader all the details about your character at the beginning of your story. Remember that especially in the beginning, you’re trying to draw the reader into your story, and that’s difficult to do if you’re including a lot of exposition.
Exposition works best when kept to a minimum and worked into the narrative of your story. Present it in a way that’s entertaining and doesn’t interfere with the momentum of your story.
I have a younger brother, who is a bit of an introvert, very shy and having a really, really, really difficult time with isolation right now. My mom sent me a message and is worried because he’s in a super low place and doesn’t really know how to get out of it.
He and I are in really different places in our lives, but I know how awful it is to feel alone and like you can’t get out of your own way. My first thought was that when I’m feeling especially overwhelmed or in a bad space, going to my group chat or working on creating something to get myself out of my own head really helps.
He enjoys creative writing, drawing, Magic the Gathering (he says it’s really competitive online but would love to meet people and play more casually) he also loves Marvel, among many other things.
Basically, I’m just looking for a place to start, ANY suggestions...any groups: Facebook, Tumblr, etc. that he might be able to join as a creative outlet as well as some much needed positive social interactions.
I’d really appreciate if people would signal boost this for me in the hopes of getting some recommendations and suggestions ❤️
Any advice in outlining? Because I want to start a longer piece of fiction with multiple parts and I know the best way to do that is by outlining. However with every bit of my writing is usually improv, with very little detailed planning. So how do I actually do it?
Longer fiction benefits greatly from planning, but not every writer works best (or prefers) to form a detailed outline ahead of time. Here’s a few tips, tricks, and things to remember when you want an outline without bogging down your natural mode of writing.
1. Know everyone’s goals.
The foundation of every good story is a character with a goal. Make a list of:
These should be personal. Most characters will objected to the universe ending: it’s your job to figure out why this particular character does so.
2. Know all available (worthwhile) directions the story can take.
Make more lists!
3. Have some semblance of a climax.
Based on the worst foreseeable directions the story might go, what might the end result of the conflict look like? Is there a Highest Level of Conflict the story will eventually approach if everything bad that can happen to the protagonist, does? Who or what causes that conflict, and how will your protagonist need to approach it if they want a chance at success?
4. Make it awesome.
Don’t forget to jot down any really cool ideas you have for scenes, dialogue, settings, actions, characters, etc, (so long as they work within the foundation you’ve formed for this story.)
You never have to use them, but they’ll be there for you it you hit a roadblock or your memory fails you.
At this point, you can pick which of your options you really like, and start creating individual plot points and arcs made of the steps your protagonist is taking to get through the bad things that are happening to them, and into the climax, and from there work through the nitty gritty of the individual scenes.
Or you can end the initial outlining process here, dive in, and let the story naturally choose which of the directions you’ve brainstormed it wants to take you!
5. Pro-tip: Fill in any holes in your outline as you go.
If you don’t have a chapter-by-chapter outline when you start your rough draft, jot one down as you write. This will help immensely when it comes time to revise, rewrite, and smooth out all the lumps in the plot.
Remember to include in this outline any important plot points, changes in relationships, reveals of information, and character developments.
Note: This post is in no way meant to imply that pansters need to develop an outline in order to write good books, nor that this is the only way to do it. This is simply a nice method to begin an outline with, which will give a solid foundation even if you chose not to make any commitments.
I was wondering if you knew any basic guides to outlining a novel for the first time?
Outlining a story is very, very important. Without an outline and thorough planning, your story will veer off in wildly different directions and will cost you a ton of time editing later, like my book did.
Characters are like the chess pieces of the story. Their moves and strengths/weaknesses will decide what is going to happen and how it will happen. Sure, you can have a nice plot and setting, but without the characters, the story is meaningless.
Here is the character chart that I usually use:
Just bulleting the events does not give the plot the dimension that it deserves and does not really accommodate side plots.
I personally use the zigzag method that I discovered from this post. I branch off of the zigzags for my side plots so it looks kind of like a graph.
You can also use the subway method, which I found on the nanowrimo website.
There are a whole other host of outlines to choose from if you search them up!
An outline is just that: an outline. It’s not the final decision for the plot, it’s the first draft for the plot. If you’re writing and one of the points just isn’t working anymore, you don’t have to keep it because it was a part of your outline.
Write what feels right.
Happy outlining, and good luck with your story!
by @allwaswell16 // art by @missytearex
Rural Eagle County, Colorado wasn’t the type of place to find a famous musician or actor. At least not until songwriter Louis Tomlinson showed up with pop star Niall Horan to visit his uncle’s horse ranch, and they just happened to find themselves next door to a reclusive former movie star.
explicit // 38k // enemies to lovers au
Written for @onedirectionbigbang
Length: 25k
Louis Tomlinson, famous romance novelist, has just had the rug pulled out from under his feet when his boyfriend leaves him without notice. What’s the most appropriate response to this? Move a thousand miles away and seclude himself in a tiny lake town, of course. But nothing is as he expects it to be in the very best way, especially not the handsome mayor of McCall, Idaho.
Ao3, One Shot
by Taggiecb
25k, e
Louis Tomlinson, famous romance novelist, has just had the rug pulled out from under his feet when his boyfriend leaves him without notice. What's the most appropriate response to this? Move a thousand miles away and seclude himself in a tiny lake town, of course. But nothing is as he expects it to be in the very best way, especially not the handsome mayor of McAll, Idaho.
written for @onedirectionbigbang
artwork by @hereforlou
find more wonderful fics from this collection here
Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson | 47k | 3/3 Chapters
“Alright, I’m just going to get right down to it,” Jess said. “We were contacted yesterday by Harry Styles’ team with some information regarding his own schedule and promotion that is going to have some bearing on Louis.”
“Me specifically or all former members of the band?” Louis asked, confused.
“You specifically,” Jess said, looking at Louis with a heavy gaze. “Harry’s going to start his own promo for his second album in the coming months, which is going to include a coming out.”
“That’s great,” he said, nodding. “Is that it? Or is there more?”
Mark shifted in his seat and Louis watched his expression change. “We’ve discussed it and we think it would be best if you came out as well and had a promotional relationship with Harry for the album drop through both of your tours next year.”
Louis started laughing in surprise, but no one else joined in. Shit, they were serious.
Or the would-have-been canon compliant, fake relationship, friends with benefits, friends to lovers fic where Louis wonders if this thing going on with Harry is going to break him or change everything for the better.
Now Posted with art by @harrygotthebee as part of @onedirectionbigbang
Moodboard also by the incredible @harrygotthebee
hello everyone please take my quiz, “which gay-coded (but not canonically gay) harry potter character are you?”
the one experience that unites all 90s and early 2000s kids is experiencing at least one work of fiction with a deceptively adorable illustration of cute animals on the cover who live in societies with an established political system, hierarchy of leadership and culture and are driven from their homes by human activity and/or engage in violent conflicts with other animals in similar communities that lead to many of the characters’ brutal deaths, which are described in graphic detail and which left you briefly emotionally traumatized by being confronted with the concept of your own fragile mortality before you were 10
the 4 horsemen
it has been brought to my attention that this was an ENTIRE GENRE of children’s fiction for some reason
‘Tis I, a writer, togetherslapper of words.
if you go out to investigate and get got then that is on you, ignore it and go back to sleep like a rational person
My momma once told me not to be scared of the noises in the woods because if something was going to kill me, I wouldn’t hear it coming. I’m fine now but my brother doesn’t leave the house
I can confirm. There are tons of coyotes where I live and they sound like a pack of hellhounds sommoning Satan when they really get going, but you don’t see me going outside at 2am to check.
I don’t even register certain sounds until i have a city person over. at night they go stiff and ask “what was that?” at a brief, raspy scream not far from our porch.
“Oh,” i say, “it’s just a fox.” But as they mellow out, i do not let them know I’m waiting to hear it again bc, well, for about ten years we kept mistaking a similar screech for foxes when it was actually the local mountain lion. that was uh discomforting to learn so late. especially after something big with glowing eyes stalked my mom in the dark that one time.
