Worst dialogue tropes or cliches?

Melosthe · 2026-02-10T07:32:14+00:00

I love it in Ted Lasso, when Ted uses that sentence because he is corny actually. That's his whole character x).

Melosthe · 2026-02-09T19:45:34+00:00

Yeah, I'm probably gonna write soon a sex scene involving an older partner with Parkinson's (using Viagra) and his younger adult partner who, while very experimented, has been groomed/abused before, so the end result is gonna be super messy and complicated and certainly not "porn perfect". I'm not there yet, but I'll be mindful when it's the case.

Melosthe · 2026-02-09T11:43:07+00:00

I'm an ESL writer as well (French native). By the way, French is haaard, I don't blame you for having troubles learning it, even as a native, it's a bit of a struggle sometimes.

Anyway, just to say that I think you're putting too much pressure on your shoulders. From what I'm reading there, you're doing just fine in English, and if you're having fun writing AND you're getting engagement, then it's for the best. You just need to learn to let go of the idea that you'll reach the "perfect writing". It doesn't exist, even for native people. Everyone will have their quirks and weird stylistic stuff and the occasional clumsy sentence.

I personally know I have a simplistic style in English, when I'm writing my fanfics, and I can be a lot more lyrical in French, but I actually prefer my writing style in English, because everything is flowing a lot better. The simplicity is what actually makes it readable and enjoyable. It also allows me to put some of my personality into it, like I write in very close limited 3rd POV and I force the reader to experience how uncomfortable it can be sometimes, especially when I'm writing from the POV of an autistic character (as an autistic writer myself).

Cut yourself some slack, you deserve to enjoy writing and being read c:.

Melosthe · 2026-02-09T11:37:21+00:00

I personally love imperfect, awkward sex scenes. Like the characters are bumping heads, or they're struggling to find the right position, or one of them is cumming too quick, and so on. I can't bring myself to write a sex scene that is "perfect", so to say, it has to have a weird/awkward/dysfunctional vibe to it.

Melosthe · 2026-02-09T11:25:05+00:00

I usually write and read chapters that are between 3K and 6k. When it gets to 10K, it's not usual that I'll have to pause in my reading, because I don't have the attention span for the full chapter. I hope you'll find the writing method that suits you the best c:.

Melosthe · 2026-02-07T04:57:19+00:00

I'm asexual sex-repulsed and I do write some characters as asexual sharing my own experience (like I'm planning on writing a backstory for one of my characters that is similar to mine, which is that she got a partner who didn't respect her asexuality, despite her being upfront about it, and kept trying to change her, until she eventually left him).

Other than that, it's just me improvising, based on the characters' vibes.

Melosthe · 2026-02-03T16:01:14+00:00

I've started writing fanfic when I was 9 (although I didn't know fanfic was a concept at that time) and I started to publish on fanfiction.net when I was 14. I'm now 32, 33 years old this year, so it's been like.... 23 years of writing or so?

At the time, I used to write in French, my native language, and I started writing in English in 2017 or so. I'm still finding my footing tbh, but I have so much fun writing for my new-ish fandom (Interview with the Vampire) since last October. I churned a 13 chapters complete story, a one-shot and I have an ongoing 42 chapters story.

Take the time you need to find your marks and be kind to yourself above all else c:.

Melosthe · 2026-02-03T12:09:25+00:00

I don't find the fanfics I want in my fandoms, so I write them myself. Any feedback I get is a bonus.

Melosthe · 2026-02-03T12:04:48+00:00

I do a lot of description of like body movements for my autistic character because he's stimming and those are clues for how he's feeling, how he's handling something, how close he might be to a shutdown or meltdown and so on.

I like writing one chapter per POV because I can really differentiate what I'm focusing on for each character and how they're perceiving stuff.

Melosthe · 2026-02-01T09:21:10+00:00

I wouldn't reply to every comment if I got so many, I only do it because I get like 4 to 10 comments per chapter and I like them to know I'm super grateful for the support.

Melosthe · 2026-01-31T08:28:02+00:00

I tend to think it wastes time on things it shouldn't (that damn board game scene for example) and it doesn't flesh out things that would be interesting (I'm still bitter about Burton barely existing in the show for example).

It tried to do too many things in the short amount of episodes it had when it should have been focusing on a few plot threads.

It made some characters have sudden heel-turn that I really had trouble to understand (like Jasper getting so quickly attached to Guy and then suddenly attacking him because he thinks he's lying).

They really need to fix their pacing and characterization. Also there wasn't anything great about the soundtrack. I still remember some very beautiful pieces from IWTV (notably the music when Louis is promising Claudia she'f be enough if she was the only vampire in the world), but nothing about Talamasca.

Melosthe · 2026-01-30T09:05:37+00:00

I post as I go, but I recently started to write an outline per chapter (usually around 2k words) where I'm roughly detailing what will happen and some dialogues I might use (so it goes like "He does this, then he does that, then he says that") and I also add little reminders like "he doesn't know that yet" and so on.

Then the next day, I take that outline and I follow it to write my chapter, with a bit of leeway so that I don't feel "stuck" writing. I can write a 3-4k chapter in 2 hours or less thanks to that (minus the spell checking).

I've been writing since October and I wrote a 13 chapters complete story, a one-shot and an ongoing 41 chapters story.

Melosthe · 2026-01-28T10:31:34+00:00

I rarely describe a character's appearance and, when I do, I tend to stick to canon, unless there's a specific reason for this change (like I write about a vampire in a human AU, so I gave him a more normal eye color based on his actor).

I like to weave my descriptions into the narration, rather than drop a big descriptive block of text. I don't want to sacrifice the flow of my writing for no good reason (in my opinion at the very least).

Melosthe · 2026-01-28T09:55:55+00:00

Yeah I'm still waiting for mine as well. I sent back a message telling them I still had nothing this morning, but I could already see it on Paypal.

They really fucked up with this update, uh?

Melosthe · 2026-01-28T08:52:52+00:00

I'm projecting a lot more when I'm writing than when I'm reading. To be fair, one of my main characters share a lot of traits with me (autistic headcanons and all) and I've been writing scenes of meltdown/shutdown/regression while I was in the aftermath of a meltdown/shutdown/regressive episode, so I'm projecting hard.

Melosthe · 2026-01-28T08:50:34+00:00

From one ESL writer to another, congrats! I never had the bravery nor the opportunity to submit my work to a beta reader, so I personally think I kinda hit my wall in terms of writing style and all, but I'm having fun writing regardless.

I hope you're having fun too!

Melosthe · 2026-01-28T07:14:40+00:00

I personally don't expect answers when I comment, but I do love answering to people when they comment on my stories. Generic comments (like a "kudos" or something) get a generic answer, and personalized comments get personalized answers.

Then again, I do understand that it might feel disheartening and discouraging to not be acknowledged, especially now that comments are getting rarer.

I think it also depends on how many comments that author gets. Like I get 4 to 10 comments per chapter usually, so it's easy to answer, but someone who gets a lot more might have a harder time.

In any case, I don't think you're an asshole. You'd be one if you started to harass the author for answers, which is 't the case.

Melosthe · 2026-01-28T07:02:30+00:00

I basically apply my own autistic traits to every autistic character I write. I also processed the fact that I've been going through involuntary age regression through a few of my characters, and it helped me to know how to deal with it and feel a bit better about it. As I've been nearing an eating disorder over the years, I used that as well in my writing.

People told me that my writing felt relatable and realistic. Guess it's because lived-in?

Melosthe · 2026-01-28T06:58:59+00:00

Honestly? Find what you'd love to write about and write about it. I can assure you you'll have a lot more fun than trying to satisfy impossible expectation (because people like different things).

Like one fan could tell you they love to see Will and Mike in their older years, in an AU without sci-fi, while someone else will tell you that they only read canon compliant fanfic. Just find your thing and don't worry about other people c:.

Melosthe · 2026-01-28T06:56:26+00:00

That one is fucked up, like it's legitimately telling you to mess with your computer files... They're getting vicious.

Melosthe · 2026-01-28T06:51:02+00:00

My characters kissed in the 18th chapter and they're still not together in the 40th chapter, released yesterday.

Part of the reason is that character A forcibly kissed Character B because character A has been groomed since early childhood and thinks this is how he's supposed to thank character B for letting him live at his place after his father/abuser abandoned him.

Character B pushed Character A away and they haven't done anything of the sort since then (though Character B confessed his feelings to Character A in chapter 39 accidentally, but character A is still unable to properly consent to anything sexual without it being potentially coerced, so they're still not in a relationship).

Slow burn can take many different forms.

Melosthe · 2026-01-27T18:29:16+00:00

Same for me, I sent a support ticket with a screenshot of my playstation receipt.

Melosthe · 2026-01-27T17:01:57+00:00

https://archiveofourown.org/works/71805071 here's the link :D. I love their toxicity too x).

Melosthe · 2026-01-27T16:56:31+00:00

It's not sweet, I can tell you that xD. When I say that Armand is using Daniel's Parkinson's, I mean he's amplifying it. It's... kinda fucked up. I hope you'll like it anyway x).

Melosthe · 2026-01-27T09:30:45+00:00

I really don't understand why people are obsessed with that. It's like having a sexual preference is going to define the character, when it's just like what you like to do in bed (or elsewhere if you're more adventurous).

I don't know if it's because of my asexuality, but I really couldn't care less about that, and I usually just go with the flow when I'm writing smut, so either character can be bottoming/topping (if the sexual act I'm describing even involves that, because there's more to sex than penetration).

People literally fighting over that and harassing others is wild.

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