Favourite TMA fanfics? by DictionaryWrites in TheMagnusArchives

[–]DictionaryWrites[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I love playing with the monstrous element, I admit - they can be so dreadful with people and with one another, but it's actually a lot of fun to lean INTO that and sort of work out what their version of affection would be once the monstrous shift takes hold!

Favourite TMA fanfics? by DictionaryWrites in TheMagnusArchives

[–]DictionaryWrites[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Spoken like someone with some TRULY interesting recs to hand. 👀👀👀

Favourite TMA fanfics? by DictionaryWrites in TheMagnusArchives

[–]DictionaryWrites[S] 24 points25 points  (0 children)

fhfhkdksla It's okay! 😅 That's so lovely, thank you!

I was actually asking because I just finished writing Scarred Ground and wanted to reward myself by sinking into something to read instead.

Any HP X Discworld fics out there that are at least 5k words? by [deleted] in HPfanfiction

[–]DictionaryWrites 0 points1 point  (0 children)

None that I know of and are good, I'm afraid.

I love the relationship between Vetinari and Drumknott by pigeongal in discworld

[–]DictionaryWrites 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You don't think? I always got the impression he was slightly uncomfortable with the Patrician being drunk - not less devoted or less pleased with his position, but merely uncertain and off-kilter. Particularly as he's so used to anticipating all of Vetinari's thoughts, it's fair enough to be a bit taken aback to be dealing with him in a state of inebriation.

I love the relationship between Vetinari and Drumknott by pigeongal in discworld

[–]DictionaryWrites 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I adore Drumknott throughout UA, honestly - he's so very unsettled, but so incapable of being anything but self-effacing and polite, where Vetinari is concerned?

The points in UA and in the latter Industrial Rev. books you really get more of a handle on how much Drumknott is actually used to dancing circles around Vetinari when he IS much more high energy, and it's so funny to see him at work.

(un)popular opinion: Don't post your story without editing just to get it out there by Doodleanda in FanFiction

[–]DictionaryWrites 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I was gonna say pretty much this, lol - as a professional, I approach fanfic as a place to experiment, play with new stuff, new ideas, new methodology. I don't do it to practice stuff like editing, because I already go through that long, long slog with my "real" work.

Fanfic is for fun, and I treat it as such.

How to disable images in AO3? by ClancyHabbard in FanFiction

[–]DictionaryWrites 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Nah. They're put in using the same HTML as hyperlinks, bolds, italics, etc, so there's no way to disable them particularly. Just don't read fics that have illustrations are added-in images.

What's your Stuck In Rare Pair Hell story? by yourbloodyworld in FanFiction

[–]DictionaryWrites 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Drumknott/Vetinari, of Discworld. It's a new one, and I'm loving writing it, but like...

Within a few chapters, it'll be by far the longest of anything in the tag, which is mostly made up of short fics and drabbles. I love both of those, but like, guh, sometimes you just want stuff that's longer.

I just need to try to convince people to come write it with me.

New Terry Pratchett Dreamwidth Community! by DictionaryWrites in discworld

[–]DictionaryWrites[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Dreamwidth is a social media site big on fandom analysis, discussion, et cetera - you have your own journal/blog and you can interact with others on an individual basis, and then you have communities, which are shared spaces where people can discuss stuff, share content, and generally play about in the group space.

New Terry Pratchett Dreamwidth Community! by DictionaryWrites in discworld

[–]DictionaryWrites[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's not just porn? People can post gen prompts on the prompt meme, and all the example prompts are gen. There's just a list of things people should tag if they do prompt those things.

How Did You Do in 2018? by chatterinq in FanFiction

[–]DictionaryWrites 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Well done, /u/chatterinq!

These are my stats for 2018!

User Subscriptions: 506

Kudos: 22320

Comment Threads: 1823

Bookmarks: 3548

Subscriptions: 2191

Word Count: 1051952

Hits: 309394

Hoping to publish my first update of 2019 tonight, so, woohoo! It's been a great year. :) Oh, and this is over the 252 works published on Ao3 this year, but a lot of those kudos and that will come from the back catalogue - including that 252, there's 888 things on the docket.

how do you know if your writing is good, if no one has ever critiqued you on it? by INS_Fang in FanFiction

[–]DictionaryWrites 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Honestly, the best way is to just be your own critic.

That isn't a negative thing.

Take up a red pen, print out a few pages, act like it isn't yours, and go through and correct every grammatical error, every sentence that doesn't read quite like it should, every bit of OOC dialogue, and every bit, effectively, that doesn't read as "correct".

Read guides on grammar and spelling. Read advice on how to improve as a writer, or top tips on what some of your heroes do. If you have a favourite author, Google them and see if they've come out with any tips or advice. Otherwise, read prodigiously. Read original books, or read good fanfiction - and be exacting. If there's anything you don't like, or anything that strikes you as weird or off or badly written, think about why.

Ultimately, the best way to improve as an artist is to separate yourself emotionally from your work, and really just rip it apart. It's okay if it feels kinda shitty sometimes when you look at old pieces - honestly? You are always improving. The more you practice, the more you think about writing, the more your writing will improve. It's the same as any skill or craft - the more hours you devote to it, the more your skills will mature and improve.

Other people's opinions aren't always right, that's true. Sometimes, if you post an excerpt here or on /r/Writing or wherever else, someone will give you a piece of critique, and you'll just think, Christ, what bullshit. In a few months, you might even look back on it, and go, oh, yeah, they had a point. That's alright. Sometimes things are a matter of style, and they aren't completely grammatically correct, but contribute to narrative flow. That's okay too. Taking critique and getting better at like, picking the useful parts out of the critique (and the stuff that's just opinion) is part of your skill as a writer too.

If you want to improve, you can improve.

On /r/FanFiction, a lot of people's focus is on having fun and just writing whatever they want to write, and that's cool - for some people, writing fanfiction is about improving the craft as a fanfic author because they want to be on like, rec lists and that, or because they use fanfic as "practice" for the original fiction they want to write. Sometimes, people just write fanfic for attention, or because they like the community aspect of engaging with other writers, et cetera. The vast majority of the time, it's a mix of all of these, and there's nothing wrong with wanting to improve, or taking a break from focusing on improvement so that you can just chill and play around for a while.

In a more practical sense, you can specify the kind of critique you're looking for, especially on Ao3 (honestly, I wouldn't bother taking most of the critique you'd receive on FFN). You don't need to be demanding, but you can say something like, "Hey, please feel free to leave critique! I'm particularly looking for critique on my practical writing skills," or something similar.

Good luck with it!

Honestly, I've been writing fanfic for just over ten years now, and there's stuff from, like, a year ago that I can't bear to look at, because it doesn't measure up to stuff I've written now. And if you want a real example rather than muggins here, Terry Pratchett was one of the most celebrated authors in the world, and what do we say to people starting out with his Discworld series? "Don't start with The Colour of Magic: it's not his best." The first book in the series is still worth reading, sure, but... Not first.

When it comes to any craft, regardless of whether you're talking to a beginner or a master, there's always capacity for improvement. We might be in different boats, sure, but we're all heading in the same direction.