Tips For Writing Dream Sequences (from Someone Who Has Really Vivid, Weird Dreams On A Frequent Basis)

I have been seeing a lot of discourse on certain tags lately about fanfiction and writing fics that are “out of character”. And I don’t like conflict, so I was keeping my nose out. But now I’ve seen some things that I just can’t let go, and as the self-proclaimed fandom mom, I feel like I need to step in and state this loud and clear—

Fandom is for you.

The whole point of fanfic and fanart and cosplay and anything fan related is for you, the fan, to take a work that has already been created and have fun with it. Make it your own. Dive in and explore and do what you will. Fandom is meant to be a creative outlet where you can share ideas and art with other people who have the same interests as you.

THAT BEING SAID: it is never. And I repeat, NEVER okay to gatekeep fandom. And yeah, I fucking hate the word gatekeep. But it’s the only way to describe what I’m seeing happening. And so I’m going to use it again—

It is never okay to gatekeep fandom. It is never okay to gatekeep characters. And to throw negativity at anyone’s work, let alone come straight out and tell them that they’re wrong for shaping a character a certain way— I’m sorry, but where do you get off? I am completely understanding of wanting characters to stay true to the source material. I am completely understanding of having your own opinions about/expectations for a character and wanting them to behave a certain way. But YOU, my dear friend (or rather, we), are not the creator of those characters. Which means that we have no right to tell someone else what they can or cannot do with them.

The whole point of fandom is to let your imagination run wild. And if that means that a typically good character leans more evil in a fic, fine. If they make decisions you don’t agree with, great. If they do things that directly contradict what would have happened in the source material, even better!!

LET. PEOPLE. CREATE.

Let them throw characters into crazy situations and analyze how they react. Let them stretch them out like putty and poke at all of the soft bits inside. Let them shape them into something completely other just to see what happens. Let them be curious. Let them explore. Let them have fun.

Fandom should be fun.

And the second one person starts dictating what is right or wrong for a character or a ship, that’s the second it stops being fun. And that’s when fandoms die.

Don’t gatekeep something that doesn’t belong to you. Because again— It doesn’t belong to you.

You are allowed to have your own opinions. You are allowed to have your own expectations for characters. But who do you think you are, to flat out tell someone (or a group of people) that the way they write someone is wrong? That the way they have imagined something is wrong? That their creativity, their expression, their joy, is wrong? Or, as I’ve seen more recently, when someone gets dejected by the posts you’ve made telling them they’re creating wrong, you have the audacity to tell them “that’s okay, now that you know you did something I don’t like, you can reevaluate your work and try to improve!”

How dare you.

Because once again, I hate to break it to you, but you’re not the creator of these characters. And I’m going to go out on a limb and say that the actual creator is probably just so happy to see the diversity of idea that has sprung from their creation. So who do you think you are, to dictate an entire fandom?

If you don’t like it, move along. Click out of the fic, find something else to read. I understand having frustrations when things don’t go as you’d hoped, when a piece of work that you were excited about crosses those outer lines of your expectations and you feel disappointed. Again. But you know what? That’s your expectation. What about the person halfway across the world who reads the same fic and finds themselves in it? Finds a small piece of comfort that encourages them to hold on for just one more day. What happens when your words completely discourage the creators of your fandom, have them second guessing themselves? What happens when they lose confidence and stop creating completely? What happens when the fandom dies, and suddenly there’s nothing new to explore— to your standards or not?

You are allowed to have your opinions. Of course you are. You are allowed to express them. But you are never. EVER. allowed to tell people that they are wrong for making art that you don’t agree with. For using their imagination in a way that doesn’t fit into your small box of approval.

Let creators find happiness.

Let creators create.

Writers

10 Magazines That Pay for Fiction

Start Building Your Portfolio

My goal for this year is to take everything I've learned over the last 15 years, put it together, and start working towards publication. With that in mind, I've been doing some research into magazines that pay for fiction.

I figured it might be of interest to others, too, so I wrote a short article with links to the relevant magazines submission guidelines to streamline the process.

Basic Writing Terms: Types of Characters

There are a lot of different words to describe the roles that characters play within the narrative, some characters can occupy multiple roles at once, but these terms are not always synonymous. Confusion can occur when one assumes that one term encompasses another with which it is often paired.

These are some terms and a brief overview of how they will be used on this blog.

Protagonist: The leading character. Not necessarily of any particular moral persuasion, can be a goodie, a baddie, or an in-betweenie, depending on the story being told. Can be a group of people either working together, or who inhabit the same narrative.

Antagonist: A person or the person who opposes the protagonist, there can be multiple antagonists for any given protagonist. Does not indicate any particular moral code except that they are in conflict with the protagonist.

Main Character: The leading character. Often in an ensemble cast there is one character who is more central to the story. (Most generic term)

Focalising Character: Characters through which we see the story, their perceptions and knowledge will colour the narrative and influence the reader’s opinions. A story can have one or many focalising characters, but only one can be used at a time (a ‘switching POV’ is a shift from one focalising character to another).

Hero/ heroine: Often a protagonist. Is a character who is explicitly siding with the moral good.

Anti-hero: Often a protagonist. Is a character who is the centre of a heroic narrative while not having ‘conventional’ heroic traits.

Villain: Often an antagonist. Is a character who is explicitly siding with the moral evil.

Anti-villain: Often an antagonist. Is a character who may be explicitly siding with moral evil, but likely has non-villainous motivations or attributes.

Foil: A particular type of antagonist or villain who’s personal qualities compliment or contrast in such a way that they illuminate thematic elements of the protagonist or hero’s character.

Secondary Character: A character who is not in the central protagonist/ focalising character role. Can have significant role/ impact on the narrative, but is not the focus of the narrative.

Minor Character: A smaller role than the secondary characters, may appear only for a few lines, attention to detail on minor characters can help make world building feel more ‘real’.

Narrator: The character who is ‘voicing’ the story. May or may not be a character that is personally a part of the story. (Not all stories have explicit narrators, but all stories have narrative voice!)

Learn the Differences Between Novelettes, Novellas, and Novels

Since I am currently in the process of writing a story, but I'm not sure what I want it to be... I'd figure I'd go ahead and share the differences!

So let's get to it!

Writing the first draft of a novel can be a daunting, arduous task. That’s why the novelette format can be so appealing. In many ways, a novelette is like a short novel. It allows writers to hone their craft by learning how to tell stories under a strict word count restriction.

What Is a Novelette?

The definition of “novelette” is any short, fictional work of prose narrative. Novelettes have a lower number of words than a novel or novella, but a higher word count than other forms of prose fiction like short stories or microfiction. Despite lacking the page count of a full-length novel, novelettes generally tell a complete story. Some people refer to novelettes as “long short stories” or “short novellas.”

How Long Is a Novelette?

Any work of fiction with a word count between 7,500 and 19,000 is generally considered a novelette. A novelette is longer than a short story, which usually has a word range of between 1,000 and 7,500 words, and flash fiction, which is usually under 1,000 words. Any piece of creative writing that is longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel is considered a novella.

Three Differences Between Novelettes and Novellas

A novella is a standalone piece of fiction that is shorter than a full-length novel but longer than a short story or novelette. Novellas incorporate many narrative and structural elements of novel-length stories—but like novelettes, they often focus on single points of view, focusing on a single central conflict, and rely on fast pacing. Here are the differences between novelettes and novellas:

Word count: The primary difference between a novelette and a novella, then, is word count (novelettes are shorter than novellas).

Subject matter: Traditionally, novelettes tended to focus on whimsical, sentimental themes. The modern-day novelette, though, is more like the novella in that it can encompass different genres like sci-fi, drama, or historical short fiction.

Complexity: In terms of storytelling ambition, novelettes tend to split the difference between novellas and shorter forms like short stories. Novelettes tend to have a greater focus on character development, worldbuilding, and plotting than short stories. However, the stories are generally more concise and focused than a novella-length work, as the word count is often too restrictive to tell a long story.

Three Differences Between Novellas and Novels

The most obvious difference between novels and novellas is page length and number of words. However, beyond this superficial difference, many structural and thematic hallmarks of novellas make them their own standalone genre of writing. Some of these include:

 A single central conflict: Most novellas explore a single, compelling central conflict. Because of their shorter length, novellas have less time to explore subplots and tend to focus on the main plot. Novellas generally have one main character and a handful of secondary characters. Because of length constraints, most of the character development will be focused on the protagonist.

 Fast pacing: Novellas usually move at a quick pace. Whereas novels can spend time diverging from the central conflict to delve into backstory and explore multiple points of view, novellas generally offer a quick compelling story with a singular point of view.

Unity of time and place: When writing novellas, writers should root the action in continuous time within a limited space, ideally one location.

Benefits of Writing a Novelette

For short story writers or people who generally write shorter works, novelettes can be an opportunity to tell a longer-form, standalone story. For writers who are used to writing, say, full-length science fiction or fantasy novels, the word count restriction of a novelette offers a chance to tell a good story with a simple cast of characters and few subplots.

Seven Examples of Novelettes

Novelette writers know how to tell a complete story in a relatively short amount of time. Here are some famous examples of novelettes, many of which were originally published in literary magazines:

The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe (1839)

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson (1886)

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka (1915)

The Call Of Cthulhu by H. P. Lovecraft (1928)

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1943)

Bloodchild by Octavia E. Butler (1995)

Hell Is the Absence of God by Ted Chiang (2001)

I hope this helps! Thank you for still being my followers and patiently waiting for a post!

✨ Writing Fanfics for all Fandoms: Fanfic Writing Tips 🖋️

Hey friends! I hope you all are having a wonderful day so far. Fanfiction isn’t just storytelling; it’s love for the characters, worlds, and fandoms we all hold dear. Whether you’re writing your first one-shot or working on a multi-chapter epic, here are some tips to make your fanfic even better <3

. • ☆ . ° .• °:. *₊ ° . ☆ . • ☆ . ° .• °:. *₊ ° . ☆. • ☆ . ° .• °:. *₊ ° . .　 . •

💡 1. Stay True to the Characters

Their canon gives you the blueprint, but your job is to bring the characters to life in new situations. Ask yourself:

How would they react to this scenario?

What’s going on emotionally that wasn’t explored in canon? You can add depth or explore alternate versions of them, but keeping their core personality intact makes your story feel authentic and lifelike.

✍️ 2. Play With Tropes

Fanfic is a space to have fun, so lean into the tropes we all love! From slow burn to enemies-to-lovers, from hurt/comfort to time travel AUs—write the kind of story you want to read.

🖤 3. Balance Canon and Creativity

Canon is the foundation, but fanfic shines when you expand on it. Fill in the gaps, write missing scenes, or twist the story into an alternate universe. The best fanfics respect the source material while boldly reimagining it.

📖 4. Use the Fandom’s Language

Fan communities thrive on shared knowledge. Using terms, references, or memes specific to the fandom can help readers connect with your story. Just make sure it enhances the story and doesn’t feel random.

💡 5. Use Tags Like a Pro

Good tags help readers find your work. Include:

Pairings or relationships (e.g., #Destiel, #Reylo)

Tropes (#SlowBurn, #EnemiesToLovers)

Genres (#Angst, #Fluff, #AU) And don’t forget to add warnings if needed (e.g., #MajorCharacterDeath).

AU where Ace can take over Sabo’s body after he ate the Mera Mera no Mi

I wanted to write today… but my brain said, “Nope.” Not sure if it’s a motivation issue or just good old-fashioned writer’s block, but either way—progress needed to happen.

So, I cheated (but like, in a totally productive way). I followed my plot outline and wrote just the dialogue. No fancy descriptions, no deep internal monologues—just vibes and conversation. And you know what? It worked.

I once said that the only job of the first draft is to exist. A skeletal scene with dialogue and the barest hint of description? Totally fine. That’s what the second draft is for. Future Me can deal with the details—Current Me just needs to keep the story moving.

Tips for ADHD Writers

(From an ADHD Writer & Spoonie)

As an ADHD author, and a spoonie (migraines) I know that a lot of typical writing "guidelines" can feel overwhelming and often don't work. I taught myself to write (results may vary) and after several decades of this; here's some of what I've learned to keep the dopamine and words going.

Throw out Genre Conventions & Boxes; Discover what stories you enjoy & write those.

There's nothing more restricting as an ADHD writer being told "this genre has to be this way." See those boxes. Break them. Find what type of stories and tropes and archetypes you enjoy writing in the types of worlds you find fun and exciting and write those. This should be fun. Writing may be hard, so give your brain the things it craves to snack on.

For example, I love writing romantic comedy with action. I love scifi and I love fantasy. I love shoving the two together. So, if I told you I feel my style is a blend of Jim Butcher action and Anne Bishop family dynamics, you might not get it. But if I said, I love the Mummy/Van Helsing, the Adam's Family, The Ocean's Series/St. Trinian's, and the Expendables, you might be getting closer. Oh, and Star Wars. Particularly the Wraith Squadron EU stuff of Star Wars. Han Solo and Bounty Hunter Wars.

2. Tackle Writing Craft Issues One Thing at a Time

All the writing guidelines and 'how to write' can be overwhelming. Turn off the noise, and choose one thing you want to work on in your story. Dialog. Description. Character Interactions. Conflict. Pacing. Whatever it is you want to work on, focus on it and only it. If you're working on dialog, then don't worry about description. If you're working on character interactions and group dynamics, don't worry about conflict.

The first "Craft" thing I remember trying to tackle was dialog. I wanted to write fun, snappy, dialog and not do question and answer responses like you see on sitcoms. It was the era of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and hopefully I made it my own later. Then I was like "I love characters, let's have fun characters." Plot and description came last for me. But I wouldn't be where I am today if I'd tried to do it all at once.

Go ahead and tackle this post bit by bit if you need to! I get it!

3. Write down all your Ideas into a paragraph synopsis outline.

Hyper fixation is great when you first get an idea. The juices are flowing, the dopamine is high and everything is all coming together. Or so you think. However, from painful experience, I know hyper fixation may not last between the 360K to 495K words of a trilogy, it might not even last past the first 80K. That's when having this synopsis paragraph outline filled with summaries and dialog snippets will be your savior. It will be able to rekindle your focus and make connections in your brain on what you were trying to do. And yes, it's okay if it's messy. You're the only one who is going to see it, and part of the dopamine thing can be making it less messy.

For example, I'm working on a vamp romcom trilogy right now. I got through the first two books and like the first 20K of the third book before my brain went "we need a break, write something else, PLEASE." then refused to focus on it for seven months. (I wrote a 'proto first draft for something else that I've been poking at for at least 10 years.) Sometimes, your brain won't want to focus on a story for years after you started it. Paragraph summary notes are your friend. And might be more important to do while you have this hyper fixation than the actual story itself. (Do what you can.)

4. Ditch word counts

There's nothing more depressing then trying to set a daily word count goal and not meeting it. Or seeing other people posting their daily word counts. Especially when you might write 50 words one day and 6000 another. Ditch this whole idea you have to write every day, because it's not feasible, and won't make your dopamine go up if you feel you 'failed' the goal or 'failed' in comparison to other people.

Writing is not about your word count all the time. It's about research. It's about idea gathering. It's about making that lore book. It's about getting all those pictures into a folder, and then sorting that folder. It's about day dreaming, and shower thoughts and the story you tell yourself before you go to bed. Or that music playlist you need to trigger your writing. Or buying the perfect candle. Making a map. It can even be scrolling tumblr b/c you might not be able to advance that story until you see something that triggers 'oh, that's what I want.' (I had this happen to a third book in a trilogy of a fairy tale sword and sorcery fantasy I was writing, it was a bit frustrating. But it's written and pubbed now.)

5. Copy and Paste what you might think is Half Assed Description

You've described something like a room or a person in your story, and you need to go back to that room (these are called key places) or person later or in the next book and you don't want to rewrite the description b/c that's not making you happy (unless description writing does that, then go you) go ahead and copy and paste it. It will save you time, and headaches trying to keep details straight.

Because as someone who doesn't see things when I close my eyes and I must define everything into words, people who can see things when they close their eyes probably think you have too much description. (Don't listen to them.) And it's okay to repeat yourself, because you are describing for you, and others like you, who need the description and reminder every once in a while what color hair and eyes and possibly skin, all these characters have and what the room looks like.

And don't be too hard on yourself. Go read Brian Jacques. If you can create a description even a third as well as Brian Jacques, you are winning. Okay, Brian Jacques wrote his books for blind children and thus described everything three times as he tried to include as many senses as possible. (Very important.) If you can hit one third of it, you are golden. (Also, he's fun. Long, as description eats up words, but fun. Err... formative years reading. Oops.)

6. Embrace writing the multiple stories/fanfics/short stories before figuring out what story you really want to tell.

Sometimes, it's not straight forward. Oh, how I wish it was. Sometimes, you end up writing what feels like thousands and thousands of words before you find in those stories kernels and ideas of the story you really want to write that you hope will make your brain shut up about that particular set of characters for a while. (Or not. Or not is okay too.) And this isn't wasted writing. There's no such thing as wasted writing. This can be part of the process.

So, the thing I wrote the proto first draft of, yeah, well, it's probably the third proto first draft and half a dozen other short stories where I figure things out. We are talking about 100s of thousands of words, at least two or three different change ups of where I want it to take place and genre types, but I would not get to the story I want to write without those other stories. And that is honestly, the most important bit, finding the story you want to tell in these bits of other stories you're writing, even if those stories never make it off your disk drive or no further than your closest beta reader.

The upside of this is, you get to know your setting and your characters really well. And so when you get to the story you want to tell, you can write that dynamic really well! On the other hand, you know them really well, and you might forget to show that dynamic in your story because you've forgotten other people haven't read the 300K words you've written over the years and don't know them very well. (This is when you need fresh eyes who have never read any of these other stories.)

7. Remember your readers are not in your head with you, and sometimes your future self isn't either.

It's okay to spell shit out. Especially if you're going for that YA audience or using a limited POV like first or 3rd limited. You can hit people over the head with the hammer. It's not 'show, don't tell,' it's show AND tell. You want to say the characters are good friends. Great! Now, go ahead and write out those fun character chewing the scenery scenes where they interact with each other and show me. If your character doesn't like interacting with other people, then you got to show me that. (Good read for this: Murderbot Diaries.) Tell emotions, write feelings. (How is their body reacting?)

This is good for you too, because you might not touch this story for months, have to go back and reread and are going "who are these people and why is the main character interacting with them?" And it might take a few paragraphs to go "Oh." So, go ahead and write it out for your future self too. (Been there. Done that. Expounded on it.)

I have had convos with my editor as I'm writing and giving her chapters, where she's like reacting emotionally and we're talking about this or that and some of it, I can't put in b/c it's limited third (and sometimes this happens with my 3rd omni stuff too,) but other stuff we end up saying, I go back to the scene and am like "okay, I should spell this out b/c obviously, I wasn't clear enough." And that's okay. I have a good relationship with my editor and really trust her, so this happens.

8. Don't worry about making it coherent for other people, unless you're going to publish (in any way shape or form.)

Look, if you are writing for yourself firstly, don't worry about structure, or pacing, or "Why do we care" stakes type of thing. Get the story out you want to tell and have fun with it.

However, if you want to publish, suddenly, all of this matters. Your story has to have some type of structure, some arc to it, a 'why do we care' type of stakes for the readers to latch onto very early on and it needs to be coherent for other readers who are again, not in your head with you. (This is why paragraph outlining can help. It can reveal the lack of this stuff before you get writing.) This is when I recommend strongly getting a development editor to help you find the beginning of your story and what the stakes/conflicts are for your characters and keep the story within your vision. (If they don't ask what your vision is, run.) And your structure just needs to exist, it doesn't have to be any 'defined' structure out of guidebooks.

9. When you get stuck have your handy 3 questions ready. What could reasonably happen next, aka what are the characters going to do? What could go wrong? And Does this Work for the Tone of my Story?

If you have trouble coming up with plots and you have no idea how to do conflicts, murphy's law is your friend. What can go wrong, will go wrong. You might come up with multiple ways things they can do and the ways they can go wrong and be like "but does this fit the outcome I want for my story, the ending I have in mind?" You might need to write them out. You might have to sit there and go "is this feasible or do I have to turn the story into pretzels to get it to work?"

Sincerely, watch the Emperor's New Groove. It didn't go through the Disney Process and every turn is "What can go wrong?" For both the protags, and the villains. At some point, generally in the third act, your characters will no longer feel as compelling if things keep going wrong for them. But in the first and second acts things can go wrong or appear to go wrong for the reader. (And then you get the dramatic reveal such as an Ocean's movie or Lucky Number Slevin.)

10. If you find it boring to write, your reader is probably going to find it boring to read. Summarize. Time Skip. It's okay!

This one is hard for me. Your story doesn't have to tell every minute of every day. Time skipping is your friend. Summarizing something that happens that isn't really plot important, they're doing this but you really don't need to show it, go ahead and summarize it. They were busy doing this, but we're at plot now!

Sometimes, that character interaction or fun going to a festival bit, or going on a date is the plot! This is called character development and your readers need to see it! Remember the type of story you're writing and figure out what the plot means for that type of story. (Hey, a romance without dates, is it really a romance?)

There's going to be times where you are going to be info dumping something you went and learned to write the book. And maybe on your third read through you realize, it's dull. And it's okay to summarize or take it out. Or sometimes, given you've read it six times, you might need to ask a beta reader "Was this boring, do I need to break this up?" Just to be sure. Because you know, yes, you will start to skim your own description and exposition. You are the one reading this book 10 times before publishing. Ack!

Or, maybe you've got the entire layout of the city/country in your head and why it is the way it is and all the politics, look, it might be relevant information, is it relevant right this second? No. Keep the story moving and put that information in context when it's important where it belongs! (See making plot paragraph summaries and writing lore books.)

Ten is a good number. In general, I also strongly recommend reading in your genres, and um, if you're writing a trilogy or a series, finish the trilogy, and write as many in the series as feasibly possible (more if they're say 50K words or so) before publishing them. This way if you find you've written yourself into a corner, or you need to make a call back but the call back you want isn't really there, you can go in and add those details or fix an ending without reader confusion issues. It can be something as simple as a plane going by overhead, or setting up foreshadowing for a later book. And you might not come up with that detail until 3 books in or know you need it and be like "crap" if you've already published. So, before you learn the hard way.

Most importantly, one spoonie to another. REST. If you need to rest, take it.

Bless and Happy writing ~ Ginny O.

How can I become a writer?

Write.

But I don't know where to start.

Write.

But I'm worried.

WRITE.

What if nobody likes it?

W R I T E

What if it's not very good?

Write. Write. WRITE. WRITE.

W

R

I

T

E

Write

Write. Write. Write. Write. Write. Write.

Write.

Write

Write

Write

Write

Write

Write

Write

Write

W R I T E

Write write write

Write

Write

YOU!! YES, YOU!! GO WRITE THAT FANFIC YOU THINK NOBODY BUT YOU WILL READ!!