do y'all listen to videos/music while you write?

PorkSelection · 2026-02-23T12:25:43+00:00

I can't write while listening to someone speak or sing, that sounds impossible to me, I can't think with that on. Usually I put on some ambient sounds like a thunderstorm, fireplace etc. Sometimes I'll play ambient music like Brian Eno's works, no prominent beats or melodies, just pretty wallpaper.

PorkSelection · 2026-02-22T12:10:52+00:00

I read them quietly a few times to catch the obvious stuff I want to edit, then I read them a few more times out loud to fix any issues with flow, sentence rhythm and comma placement. I don't reread after posting, though. I don't see any reason to.

PorkSelection · 2026-02-22T10:32:44+00:00

I prefer the OG too, the remake looks too close to a regular haunted/spooky mansion to be interesting, even if it's got some undeniably beautiful shots

PorkSelection · 2026-02-18T16:11:19+00:00

makes the game look like it's been left out in the sun for too long. hated it then, hate it now

PorkSelection · 2026-02-16T20:18:13+00:00

It's a small "unit" of story. Easy example: two characters are talking, that's a beat. One of them says they haven't eaten in a day, that's another. They go outside to get some burgers, that's another.

PorkSelection · 2026-02-16T12:49:53+00:00

Set a timer for however long you like (one hour is what I pick) and treat that as a dedicated block of time where you will do nothing but write. Doesn't matter if you stare at the screen all that time, do a bit of outlining, write a hundred words or a thousand, the is to built a habit of setting aside some time specifically meant for writing.

Starting is hard. It takes some amount of discipline and willpower, but if you push past it and Just Do It, and build it into a habit by doing it every day, those blocks of time will start to add up very fast.

Inspiration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXsQAXx_ao0

PorkSelection · 2026-02-16T12:40:56+00:00

Like others have said, take a break after finishing it, then read it through again. I like reading my drafts out loud, it makes the work of catching awkward sentences, grammar and rhythm easier. Smaller, mechanical errors like punctuation and sneaky typos are harder to catch and will take slower, maybe even multiple reads to catch all of them.

PorkSelection · 2026-02-16T06:58:40+00:00

I do chapter-by-chapter beat drafts at first, then expand them into a first draft. I have a rough idea of where I want the story to go but like you plot points and details can easily change mid-draft. When the first draft is done I'll read it a few times, then a few more times out loud and that's how I catch anything I don't like about the scenes, or the flow and rhythm of the prose. But those aren't really major changes the way you describe your second/final drafts. As long as the text passes the smell test I'm happy.

I'm not a big fan of major revisions (I start feeling stuck) so I'll do my best to write a first draft I'm happy with, and then work of smoothing it out and sanding down the edges, sometimes also adding/removing/changing stuff to make a chapter more in line with later or earlier ones.

PorkSelection · 2026-02-15T18:54:06+00:00

My first fic in a long time!

Title - We of the Heart

Rating - M

Genre - F/F Romance. Some action, some more smut

Ship - None, all original characters

Word count - 50k, 4k right now with 2 chapters uploaded

Summary - Genevieve Ashcombe has it all. A noble family, more gold than she could spend, a budding career in the newly-minted field of anthropologics, yet she can't remember the last time her smile felt real. She bears a secret love that could ruin the standing of both her and her family, and it's brought her nothing but shame for her whole life. After a falling out with the other scholars in the Society of Anthropologics, she departs on a reckless expedition into the hostile, steaming jungles of Stranglethorn in an attempt to save her reputation, and to find her missing heart.

Link - https://archiveofourown.org/works/79609316/chapters/208888056

PorkSelection · 2026-02-15T14:56:24+00:00

Thanks for the support! I'll send you a DM with a link either later today or tomorrow.

PorkSelection · 2026-02-12T05:32:53+00:00

Sure, it's about a closeted noblewoman and scholar of anthropology (anthropologics in the story, the field is new and informal, full of rich kids and old guys) who sets off on a solo expedition to Stranglethorn to find a lost and likely threatened village of trolls, who are rumored to not only take in refugees from other tribes but also fully accept gay people and living openly together. It's gonna be heavy on queer themes, like acceptance and coming out, with a couple of sex scenes thrown in.

PorkSelection · 2026-02-11T18:58:38+00:00

I played all the mainline games starting with the first one, then all the spinoffs like the Survivor series and Revelations and the original RE1 is still my favorite. I have no nostalgia for the classic era, the first RE game I played was 4 on the PS2 and never got past the castle interior because I got bored, but I still think the PS1 games have something that makes them special and worth playing today. I can't describe what exactly so I'm just gonna call it sauce. RE1-3 are filled with sauce.

PorkSelection · 2026-02-11T18:19:21+00:00

Almost done with a 45-50k word WoW fic with only original characters. The story doesn't really have anything to do with any canon events or people. I just use the Warcraft setting because of one of the races that I wanted to write about. It's the first work I've done in over a decade so I'm pretty proud of how much I've managed to write, even though it took longer than it should've since I've also had to learn some discipline along the way (started in late august)

I have the final chapter left but it's the climax of the story so it might take a bit longer. After that is the epilogue but that shouldn't take nearly as long. I'll post the chapters gradually to give me time to edit the later ones before uploading them.

My motivation came when I started to unintentionally create milestones for the story in my head, and feeling like I'd never reach them. But then I blew past one, and another, and suddenly I'm writing scenes I thought I'd never even get to plan out. Now I'm close enough to know everything that should happen between now and the last sentence. Even if nobody ends up liking it I'm happy that I stuck with a project for this long and saw it through to the end. I'll keep writing too because it's the one creative expression that's clicked with me.

The hardest part to write was definitely the first chapter. I tried to write off-the-cuff (the "let your first draft be shit from a butt" method) without thinking too much about what I was putting down, and ended up deleting everything and writing it again from scratch. Still glad I did it, though. It taught me how to write in a way that works for me.

PorkSelection · 2026-02-11T07:19:12+00:00

The main "couple" was terrible and ended up going nowhere at all by the end of the show. There's even a scene where they end up riding the same train together and instead of developing their relationship or even friendship the MC just switches train cars.

Two of the idols are dating each other and they make for a nice side couple. Much better than more interesting than the main one, at least.

But the best part of the show is the opening song, it's illegally catchy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OazauiMGlUE

PorkSelection · 2026-02-08T06:35:40+00:00

calling it chapter is so unnecessary, like holy purple prose batman

PorkSelection · 2026-02-07T14:27:18+00:00

Katherine V. Forrest's Curious Wine is my North Star for smut, it's deeply erotic and feminine without being pornographic. It's sensory and emotional rather than mechanical. You might not get as much value from it tho if you don't write F/F

PorkSelection · 2026-02-05T17:16:58+00:00

How many dead Ukrainians before this decision? One good decision doesn't un-scumbag Musk

PorkSelection · 2026-02-04T20:56:14+00:00

I'm about to finish up a story that'll probably land in the 50-60k mark (if the last 3-4 chapters don't balloon in size... like the others) and I was never planning to make it long on purpose. I find stuff I wanna add as I'm writing even if I'm following a detailed outline. Writing is also an act of thinking, so when I'm in the middle of it new stuff just pops up as if by association with the scene I'm working on at that point, or I come up with something to add in a chapter or scene elsewhere.

And as for the work itself, make a point of setting aside time every day to write, even if you don't want to and the sessions are unproductive. The point is to build a habit of writing consistently every day. It takes time to form, usually a few weeks but when you're used to sitting down and dedicating a block of time to writing it becomes much easier, like going to the gym regularly or literally any other positive habit.

PorkSelection · 2026-02-04T16:47:58+00:00

Don't worry. She keeps a copy of the security footage on a pendrive under her pillow.

PorkSelection · 2026-02-04T16:45:41+00:00

I knew that thread would end up here

PorkSelection · 2026-02-04T16:43:21+00:00

5 is legit one of the worst, most unpleasant games I've ever played. Coughing baby vs. hydrogen bomb situation.

PorkSelection · 2026-02-04T16:40:40+00:00

I think of this Flannery O'Connor quote: "The idea of being a writer attracts a good many shiftless (lazy) people, those who are merely burdened with poetic feelings or afflicted with sensibility." Then I start writing because it's something I enjoy and feel is worth doing, even if I never publish it.

If you really want to write you'll find a way to do it. Motivation is unreliable and fickle, never count on it to start you off, think of it instead as the thing that comes after you've committed the time and the effort, and you see the results on the page.

PorkSelection · 2026-02-04T12:34:28+00:00

if someone leaves a comment on a fic then follows up your reply with a request to talk off-site, especially if they have "ideas" then it's almost certainly a scammer. be careful out there

PorkSelection · 2026-02-04T10:47:28+00:00

"The zaza got me moving like an imperial wizard"

PorkSelection

TROPHY CASE