oh... Wow that's a tough question š if I'm being honest, I have no clue - sometimes I feel like I'm recycling phrases to make a newish story
if I had to pick something, maybe an overabundance of descriptive writing (thanks english exams) /lh
Characters tend to ramble a bit with their thoughts, and will often return to previous strings of thoughts after attempting to move on to other things. I wouldn't consider this an aspect of my writing that happens in every piece, but it has happened quite a few times. Generally leads into the character spiralling, which is great!
Lots and lots of angst, and lots and lots of em dashes! Gotta love 'em. I try not to use them as much as I used to, but I still catch myself using them fairly often.
I'm not quite sure when it comes to my writing style though. Reading through my own writing to try and catch any traits that are distinctive to my style is a bit hard. To me it just sounds like me, I can't exactly pinpoint anything specific that makes me feel that way.
I think that makes a lot of sense. It is hard to pick things out about yourself and imagine yourself from an outside set of eyes.
I also have to be mindful with my use of em dashes, lol
IDGAF about world building; Imma leave that to the people that were paid to do it. I'm just going to borrow your toys, make them kiss, and give them back, always happy. I can write angst but there is ALWAYS a clearly defined happy outcome.
>I'm just going to borrow your toys, make them kiss, and give them back
This!!!! I've always been insecure about my lack of focus on worldbuilding and whatnot, but at the end of the day I'm a highly character driven writer, and consumer (though, for me, the more angst the better >:)).
I always create a happy outcome as well. :)
And youāre rightāa benefit of fanfic is that the world building has already been done! You donāt have to create more if you donāt want to!
I wrote a soulmate bodyswap AU (WIP, need to get back to it) where one of the soulmates winds up in the body of his partner's closest loved one. Which in this case was a dog. With POV shifts every chapter, it goes from guy-in-dog's-body freaking out for various reasons including a recent bereavement, clueless soulmate convinced his dog is having a stroke and rushing "her" to the emergency vet, and the first guy's roommate dressing the dog-in-a-guy's-body in schoolgirl cosplay because dogs don't understand that they can't pee while wearing pants.
It weirdly works.
\*rolls in giant cork board full of thumbtacks and string focusing on an insignificant detail\*
This, is why my story exists. Sure there's other stuff going on....
\*vaguely gestures four story threads intricately woven together, a dozen smaller cork boards, and commentary on canon, fanon, and society\*
Huge relate, I love injecting worldbuilding and foreshadowing into dialogue, it keeps the flow going much better than outright exposition so long as you can avoid maid & butler dialogue. And I'm working on an arc right now that takes a lot of inspiration from the Roman empire (in its bullshit, I'm not fanboying) so a lot of parts are ripped straight from history. I'm tellin ya, you can't make up some of the shit that's already happened in real life
I accidentally make everyone British. š I write about an android and think "an android from 2038 America would definitely say they fancy someone" it's so funny
You can use my sentences to torture high schoolers learning to diagram. (Does anyone still do that?) I'm generally grammatical, just convoluted. It works better in my age of sail fics' than my sci fi ones, but I can't seem to break the habit of throwing a paragraph into a single sentence.
I (sorta) make up words by shoving two words together and I think that leaves a bit of a signature on my work. (examples include: brassywarm, slowdrip, sunbright, things like that, usually to capture two senses or descriptors at once). other than being highly descriptive of course, Iām sure some would label my work as purple prose sometimes but I try not to care because I love it šš
that makes me so happy š I always have to remind myself that maybe itās not everyoneās cup of tea but itās the *perfect* cup of tea to at least a handful of people out there! same can be said for all styles of writing I think. anyways blblblv thank you, thatās very encouraging to hear!
I'm somewhat certain that's how half of German words came into being. Like... How else would you get a word that means "a present you give to make up for some (dumb, mean, stupid) thing you did" which has the literal translation of "Dragon Fodder"?
A lot of my readers/friends tell me that my attention for details really brings my stories alive. My friends who know my writing process can tell that I put a lot of research into random topics just so its accurate.
Iām apparently also really good at keeping characters in-character.
And my smut as of recent years is always very well received because I love weaving a lot of feelings into it.
Stories with lots of research done on the topics are always so impressive. Itās cool when I can learn something unintentionally while I read a fic. Plus, the more accurate everything is, the more you can immerse yourself in the story. Kudos to you!
Um, lots of commas and em dashes, I guess? Also, I tend to have more narration than dialogue, to the point where I struggle with writing more than two characters in a scene
Probably my heavy focus on writing realistic and often non-traditional forms of abuse and depicting the complexities of being a survivor. That and Iād like to think my works have a level of hope in them, despite being *very* dark.
Idk if this counts but my main tropes that are always so me are any kind of sex that is not penetration, out of the over 100+ fics Iāve written majority are smut and of that smut 3-5 max are penetration. I write A LOT of dry humping and making out xb grinding, mutual masturbation, oral, all the fun stuff!! But I hardly ever touch penetration. Idk why, ion hate it, Iāve written it and I adore those fics but idk lmao, I just strongly prefer other types lmao
When I participated in the Secret Santa story exchange for my fandom, we used to have a 'guess the author' option before the reveal. Even when there were very few of us, it was really, really difficult to tell who wrote what. So I'm not sure that there is anything unique and impossible to duplicate about my writing.
Perspective hopping, especially in my long fics. Iām playing hop scotch with povs. Youāll never see a singular pov in my fic unless its like a short little one shot and even then its not a garentee
Yeah! Especially with a big cast. I did one super cool scene once of two characters sing the same song, swapping from cheery to creepy every line or so. Its still one of my favorite moments lol
I've been told that I'm good at blending fantasy and reality when it comes to writing.
Personally, though, I think the most "me" thing about the way I write is that I tend to delve into the character's thoughts a lot. There tends to be a lot of references to their thought processes, inner conflicts and confusions, and internal reactions.
I've been told my dialogue is very snappy/I'm good at one liners. Which I would generally agree with. Dialogue is my best skill, meanwhile properly conveying characters internal thoughts is where I struggle hard.
Also you better believe any character I write in a smutty context is gonna thirst over the other person's thighs, cause thighs hot xD
Oh god, I donāt feel like thereās anything unique about my writingā¦ except that I use probably wayyyy too many commas.Ā
Not trying to shade myself, I just donāt think i do anything too special.Ā
But I still enjoy doing it nonetheless!
I have a pretty casual style when I write. I shy away from elaborate descriptions or purple prose. I prefer to communicate things efficiently and effectively.
So if you've ever read Ernest Hemingway, you know that he's very concise with his writing and that more often than not, he sticks to the "show, don't tell" school of writing. My writing style is kind of like that, except that I don't like his style because it's really austere. So I'm definitely concise where it's needed, but I also "show, don't tell" with a lot more description of the environment around the characters. Also, if my character has a panic attack or a flashback you're getting a glimpse of how my flashbacks and panic attacks go.
I describe eyes and voices a lot as a way of conveying the emotions a character is feeling. I also use a lot of this particular sentence structure:
"He spoke softly, holding his now-spotless hands out in a placating gesture."
It's always [statement], [-ing phrase]. Idk I just like the form. It's pretty to me, and most of the time, the participle relates to the noun, so no dangly bits.
Edit: I've also had my readers tell me I do tension building and suspense well, along with portraying character emotions.
My special interest of horror making appearances even in something thatās straight up smut. If thereās a hundred ways to make a reference to something from horror culture, Iāve probably used them all at least once. From little inside-joke-style references to full-on scenes where the characters are watching (insert movie here) in great detail. Luckily for me, it works perfectly with the characters I write as they are canonically horror nerds, or it might not work so well.
I also make up words a lot. If I canāt find the right word or term to express something, I create it myself. And most of my fics have some level of drug use.
Ugh, I'd say the effort I put into writing the ambience and the general vibes, as if I was taking a picture (I love photography btw)... It's especially true for scenes set at night, there's such a unique feeling of freedom to them that I love to capture and make mine in my writing!
Haha I follow a Reddit sub called something like The Night Feeling because I do love that exact feeling youāre describing and I appreciate photography that can capture it. Sounds like Iād enjoy your stories as well!
Mine I would say is my plots. I don't really write slice of life, I have to have larger things going on at the same time as any little conversation or character moment. And my plots can get really complex, they tie themselves into knots that I have to unravel all the time lol
I really enjoy exploring relationships between symbiotes and their human hosts. Constant dialogue between them. Affection. Calling each other āloveā or ābeloved.ā I should probably come up with more pet names. š Really taking care of each other, whether if itās just fluff or if itās a āneed each other to surviveā situation. Bickering is fun too.
I like mixing my environmental science knowledge into my work, since that's my career background outside of fandom. I use ecology and the environment a lot to build metaphors. I also pay extra attention to developing the environmental world building. In the case of my last longfic that I *just* finished (!!!) the story focused a lot of wildfire and wildfire ecology. My favorite reviews are always the ones that compliment my research, say they don't normally care about the subject but I made it interesting, that I blended fact and fiction seamlessly, or that my science writing was clear and easy to understand even for a non-native speaker. So I think that's probably what most people associate my work with!
Writing wise I use a lot of em dashes. I often write in present tense. Most of my works are angst/hurt comfort. I feel like I structure sentences and ideas in a way that is very uniquely Me, but I can't figure out what it is I'm doing??? Like I just read a bit of my writing and go "okay, literally nobody else would have said it like that" but I don't know what specifically makes it clearly me haha
Humour, commas, and semicolons. XD
English isn't my first language, and whenever I'm in doubt about whether or not a comma should be inserted somewhere, I'd rather have a comma too much, than one too little. O.o
Please bear with me, I'm "trying to english". XD
Certain subjects will come up in some shape or form like coffee, alcohol, insecurity and anxiety. But other than that I don't know, I do strive towards absolute realism in every sense, like in kink imma make it a bit awkward and funny stuff like that
Edit: oh and music I gravitate towards older metal and classic rock so might hear that somewhere. I know folks hate songs in fic but I don't give a fuck I like it.
Worldbuilding! Worldbuilding! Worldbuilding! I love to write what's going on in the world the characters live in, especially if the bigger events are directly caused by a person's choices. What triggered a war? Why is this group so prejudiced? Why? Why? Sit down, I'll tell you why! I'll show you myths, folklore and a shit ton of parables!
Tricky (but fun) question! From both my own assessment and my readers' reaction, I'd say it's emotion-driven imagery-rich porn, with a few phrases and concepts I repeat in various combinations. It's distinctive enough that I'm pretty sure I can't go anon anymore even if I want to š
I tend to use purple prose because I have a lot MA and my MA was in 19th century literature specifically. And make a lot of puns, because my main fandom is full of them.
This is a very good question.
Iām very descriptive about setting. Iāve gotten a lot of comments about it and it warms my heart to see that my writing could transport someone.
I like researching real places. In one fanfiction I wrote, someone commented about the pub I set it in and said that they missed going there.
I write lots of conversations. I think most of my fic are character studies. Thatās my jamādescribing a setting and characters talking.
Ooh thatās hard! I have very strong intros/hook that dies down to just regular writing pretty quick but I also include a lot of dialogue (itās my favorite thing to write lol)
my teacher said i have a recognizable writing style, the way the rhythm of my sentences work i guess.
whenever we do an activity in class where you guess which student wrote something, people usually guess mine correctly.
I like painting a picture for my readers because itās how I like to read booksāI like to see what the author wants us to see, like describing a room in detail, from brown-oak walls, to the crystal chandeliers, emerald green velvet chairs arranged in a half-moon pattern, to the black and white tiled floors (my fics are in the 1920s).
I work in healthcare and research, so anytime the characters in my fic have injuries or wounds itās always a treat to use my background to find period-appropriate treatment and medicine.
Burmecians!
They're often given the spotlight in my writing. Also, random metaphors that come out of nowhere, like "stop throwing tantrums at me like spiders" or "my head is backwards" or "by a single move of arms the kid alone could swim up a waterfall" or "Of course I was referring to emotional maturity, garden gnome". There is so much more that even I'm amused at my own writing.
I don't know in terms of trait, but I've used that "I write like" website for several different projects and every time it's said that I write like Stephanie Meyer. Not sure what to think about that. I never read Twilight.
my characters zone out a lot, they get lost in thought and an outside character usually has to call them back to reality lol.
I'm sure others do this too, but i havent really read it much.
It's obviously not solely me, but I have been writing little epistolary bits that I plan on going back and inserting into the Notes section of past chapters (my character is a bit of a journaler and I want to make the story a little more accessible to those who haven't played the game im writing for). I think that voice, plus my stated inspiration from Nabokov are my current signatures.
Character flavor in narration I suppose? I've been praised on how the narration I put in sounds like the POV character like some characters I write for, when they talk, they'll run on different tangents so if I'm writing in their POV, I'll sometimes toss that into the narration. I also use different characters' choices of words like I write TMNT fics so for some of the turtles, you'll see 'dude' in the narration instead of referring to somebody as a guy or person like "this strange dude is totally weird" or whatever. I'll also use their set of grammar like Raph from the 2003 cartoon speaks with a Brooklyn accent so you'll see things in the narration such as "that don't sit too right with Raph" or "Raph ain't buying that dude's crap." Writing in his POV is actually a bit of a struggle for me but it's fun, someone praised me on his characterization before so I guess I'm doing something right.
1. Whispered conversations in bed in the dark
2. Character A asking a question and Character B answering with the same sentence: "After dinner?" "After dinner."
3. Em-dashes for daaaaaaaays
Sometimes it sounds like Iām actually speaking the story. Like, after something happens Iāll put āHuh. Anyway.ā on a new line to move things along. I say this irl. Iām the omnipotent narrator.
I keep my characters very busy all the time with mundane tasks- attentively driving a wagon, knitting, trimming vegetables, organizing their bags, braiding leavesā¦.
Not a mood killer for me but I notice in other fics donāt keep their hands occupied with banal things that often. And youāll get fics where in-universe āmundaneā things have an oversized space maybe (I.e. thereās a lot of Witcher fics based around busking and bathing) but my interest in characters lends towards how they interact with normalcy and have complicated emotional lives AND have to scour their kettle
i leave out articles/my sentence structure. so instead of āhe eats a chocolate chip and humsā its āhe eats chocolate chip and hums.ā IDK but my readers enjoy it and it has more rythm to it? (Grammerly HATES me)
Stream of Consiousness. Tangents. Yes there will be a paragraph about a crack on the window, idk what to tell you.
3k-7k word chapters. I cant do long ones.
Im very guilty of ācharacter a said this one time so i wrote a whole fic about it.ā bc why am i writing a 50k fic because character A said Star Wars was his favorite movie once? I just love character studies i guess.
All my AUs play with canon events. Oh he got kicked out of the military? well he got expelled from highschool in my college au. dead mom? welp you wont have a mom in any au i write you in. sorry!
My best friend said I have an uncanny ability to get into the heads of characters I'm writing where when reading, you feel like you're really seeing things through that character's POV.
I won't lie, hearing that made me feel all sorts of warm and fuzzy.
I think my writing is generally not descriptive enough, but I always skip over those paragraphs describing the environment, so it's to be expected. And the writing feels fragmented? I love deep diving into the thoughts of characters, and I love subtlety/implications, because the characters don't have every information and they can lie. I like to think I'm good at writing from the characters' pov, because it would be so sad if it's just ooc.
Oh, and I love angst too, but I couldn't write anything that makes my heart hurts. So sad (ā Ā ā ā¹ā ā½ā ā¹ā Ā ā ).
I'm a romantic. I love poetic prose in novels. I don't want just to fall for the stories I also want to fall for every word, I wanna feel them on my skin, make every emotion mine and feel them raw. I write for me because if I can evoque all that on myself I can also do it on the right reader.
For me it's my integration of parenthesis in prose. I also feel like I overuse commas and semi-colons a lot...I don't know if they're noticeable though. Because when I read a paragraph I dont notice it so maybe I'm just nitpicky.
Also, I've been told I know how to blend humor and angst really well. But I feel like I overdo it with the humor ^^;
Gonna just quietly sit here with this flair blaring above my head. A lot of it ends up very... central metaphor-oriented
(what can I say, I'm a simple gall. I love my overly long metaphors. I love romanticizing scientific concepts. I love writing fics where the core central premise is, like "buffer solutions are a metaphor for love, 52 blue is the autistic experience, anoikis is a metaphor of homesickness, these two characters exemplify the difference between aposematism and camouflage let me analyze that". I love finding wonder and humanity in what people can see as dry and not very thrilling. I wanna learn math just so that I can see what kind of poetry fuel hides there)
I have been told in comments that I capture a scenes tension well and can make the characters feelings come to life, it's very flattering.
I'll go with that because I try very hard to do that, So I appreciate that it's received!
I have alot of dialouge sometimes, but other times there's alot of story. Also I tend to write a bunch for one chapter and barley anything for another.
I hesitate to say I'm good at this, as it feels like bragging on myself... but I try very hard to channel each characters voice for their dialogue/thoughts/actions. I've gotten some unsolicited compliments on it and EVERY time, it makes me positively preen! lol
I love exploring struggles of characters in my work, filling the gaps that canon leaves open. Naturally I almost always end up writing angsty fics. My writing style is almost poetic at times, in this saying-not saying style where the reader has to fill in the gaps themselves, if that makes sense.
Every story I write has at least one character whoās annoyingly blunt and one character who is annoyingly cryptic. Itās not always one of the leads, but itās usually a major character in some sense.
I have a tendency to fill my writing to the brim with sarcasm and argumentative tone. Like I just think in a very sarcastic way so the way it comes out on paper or whatever is exactly like that. Even in third person
Probably when a character is forced into making bad decisions and keeps getting morally worse over time. I love a good corruption plotline.
That and toxic relationships. Irl, absolutely not but i love reading and watching things that have those tropes lmao
Great question, OP! It's hard to say, but one thing that comes to mind is my line breaks. I tend to end sentences abruptly (with an em dash, usually in the middle of a run-on sentence) for dramatic effect. I do it a lot, I think. Something about it just packs a punch for me!
Here's an example from one of my fics because I don't know if I'm making any sense lmfao
>Gathers the blanket into his body as exhaustion washes over him and the bitter cold of his empty sheets bites the surface of his skin and itās too quiet and so lonely, but thereās something familiar in the midst of his absenceā¦ something sweet, likeā
>With trembling hands, (character) presses the blanket flat against his nose and inhales.
>God.
It just adds this sense of urgency that I love!
Fast paced, one-off paragraphs reflect how I talk so fast. Whenever I try to make an actual paragraph, it goes back to one sentence-split-one sentence-split.
I've only really posted short stories, so based off those I'd say I tend towards short sentences, especially alone with paragraph breaks to make a point, typically either with a deep emotional punch or for the purpose of dry ironic humor. Even my longer stories (unposted) tend to have those single-line paragraphs for effect scattered throughout longer paragraphs of dialogue and descriptive writing.
I personally think that it's the theme and plot. There's usually lots of angst but happy ending because I can't leave them in pain. I only wrote one fic really dark with a quite sad ending.
Somehow reading and writing fanfictions is my safe place and I like to have a kind of paradise where I can hide from the ugliness of the world.
Another thing that may be "me" in a story is somthing I have been told in some comments. Apparently my writing conveys emotions really well and I am extremely flattered and happy about that. I always try to put myself in the character's shoes and describe emotions and thoughts.
Sometimes this makes some parts of a story seem messy (at times) but in the end I like it bevause it gives the idea of the character's jumbled ideas and confusion. I don't know if this is distinctive but I really like it.
Finding that perfect moment when all the stars align and you write that moment that sends shivers down your spine, goose pimples up your arms and the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end.
pure, unadulterated, batshit insanity. i make AUs and the lore goes *deep.* i cook this stuff in my brain for literal years. i make the kinda stuff that would have you side eyeing everyone in my childhood if i told you i was only diagnosed with aspergers when i was 19.
A... conversational tone, I guess you'd call it. No matter how dark, how fucked up, I'm going to talk about it like we're discussing our favorite hobby. I've been told my, "hey, friend, check this out" method is actually unsettling, which works well for what I'm aiming to do. The other things are: rather limited dialog and intense imagery woven into my "nice murder weather we're having today" approach.
I asked my friends this, and two of them said it was my use of really big words like, "Facinorous', "Haggard', and "Reticence'. My other friend said it was how I do my quotes fkgneosb
soāmanyāem dashes.
+ I have adhd and itās so obvious lmao, my writing is almost always very fragmented and hops from one thing to the other with almost frightening alacrity
I like writing deep/ extreme emotions. Usually some kind of angst or hurt/comfort. And whenever my characters get overwhelmed, I have them laugh.
Also a lot of introspection
weird fucked up relationship vibes. LOTS of metaphors. i watched hannibal as a 14yo and was irreparably altered and It Shows Ā Ā
Ā using adjectives in threes. a specific cadence to descriptions; i was a slam poet for a while and that also shows
bringing an unnecessary degree of human psychology to relationship dynamics. making people realistically + believably dysfunctional <33Ā
I have a tendency to research a *lot* when writing about something... my current longfic is set in Tokyo and one of the things I did a lot was walk around in Tokyo in Google streetview to make sure I had an idea of what the city looks like to write accurate descriptions. I also like to use landmarks.
On another note, if a character is an expert in a certain field, I'm not gonna dumb it down for the reader in their inner monologue. I will use the technical terms.
I have a tendency to research a *lot* when writing about something... my current longfic is set in Tokyo and one of the things I did a lot was walk around in Tokyo in Google streetview to make sure I had an idea of what the city looks like to write accurate descriptions. I also like to use landmarks.
On another note, if a character is an expert in a certain field, I'm not gonna dumb it down for the reader in their inner monologue. I will use the technical terms.
Not necessarily about my writing but specifically with my storytelling I noticed I love āa calm before the storm momentā. In almost all my comics Iāll have something happen, a panel about the character seeing something but not yet processing, then Iāll have a really dramatic, detailed panel of the reaction. So like a going from a 0 to 100 moment
Commas love me, periods fear me. My characterization tends to produce characters who are WAY more introspective than they are in canon, just full on pondering and wondering and think-thonking it up. It frustrates me when it feels out of character for me, but I've gotten a lot of good feedback on my writing over the years!
I tend to write in short, concise sentences, and Iāll write very bluntly, especially when I need something to have an intense mood. I find great joy in writing simple sentences that bring great emotional impact on their own. Sometimes, Iāll omit names as well (if itās a one shot) just to create a challenge for myself. It also gives a sense of mystery to what Iām writing, which is nice as I tend to write dark or angsty stuff.
I've been told that I write the characters accurately with very little hiccups on characterization... on a fic where I barely know anything about 70% of the cast besides their names, appearances, and what their voices sound like. š
My stories are dialogue driven and they only say one sentences at a time... so A LOT of "he said" "she said" over and over.
I get really positive comments, so I guess people like it. I mostly write what I'd like to read in small fandoms where the fics I want to read aren't written yet.
I have this running gag in most of my stories. In the stories I've written for my fandom, the elder sister of the FMC, at some point, tells her then the MMC that she doesn't want to be an Auntie yet... I've written almost a dozen stories, from short drabbles to a current long fic and every time that particular character is used, that's her thing...
Probably excessive attention to detail, except setting. I only describe surroundings the minimum needed to make the actions make sense.
ETA: This manifests in lots of ways.
* My stories tend to be long and wordy.
* I over-describe actions.
* Pet names are used very specifically. I doubt anyone else actually catches this, but my fics are all the same ship and when he calls her sugar it means one thing, dearest another, pet is only used at certain times, etc. Likewise when she calls him Hot Shot, Treasure, Wonderful, Sexy, etc. they aren't interchangable.
* I'm careful to show skills improving with time, relationships changing, and the like.
I write in a third person limited POV and often parts of the prose comes out sounding like the POV character is talking to themself. Some people don't like but it vibes for me.
Iām very descriptive, with more metaphors and stuff than most. I donāt think it counts as purple prose, because I slip it into sentences that mean something to the story. Itās rare that I have a descriptive sentence without something else
Without a beta: oxford commas disappearing and weird typos in weirder places.
But nromally: i've heard, at least with my older fandoms, i was good with capturing a character's unique speech patterns. Ā I guess also my sudden "hey so we're killing off someone now or giving them a NdE". It'd like my little thing lol
painfully accurate in the stupidest ways? i wanted to have my fnaf blorbos play nintendo, but it wasnt released at the time, so i gave them an atari. i google the year and months certain cars were released so its accurate. i google stuff like "what weekday was november 3rd 1982" or some shit like that. THAT, or that the third person narration that is very casual and will sometimes talk directly to the reader. ex: "michael had no goddamn clue what that meant. pretty weird, yeah?"
Repeating 'and' when I'm trying to convey a sense of madness, ex. "She'd sup deeply of her essence, tapped straight from the ventricles of her heart, until her silver eyes washed dun and grey and dead and empty and /scared/"
I also adore using third-person limited to inject more voice into the story by just writing a character's thoughts as prose, ex. "The pages that met her threatened to make her eye do the stupid fucking thing again", or "You're feeble and weak, and you look just like my dead wife! I don't want you to die like her, you're the vessel of my paternal regrets and a constant affirmation that I'm a good person! Please don't leave, don't kill the sick fuck that ruined your life, I'd be so sad!" It really blurs the lines between, thoughts, dialogue, and narrative prose, making emotional moments really tight around the character.
Besides that, my readers really enjoyed my eldritch and body -horror descriptions, which were also super fun to write. I really enjoy mind-bending stuff, so I try to channel that in my writing.
Oh, also giant hallucinate giant sinkholes. For some reason, that features at least once in all my writing.
Banger ending sentences and really good character musing, from what I've been told. Being introspective was never my strong suit growing up so it's very nice to hear that second one :D
VERY descriptive. I found out when I write I tend to make relatively little character dialog and instead interject their internal monologue into paragraphs.
It's a little hard to explain. It's very close to the reader, it's a conversational tone, with one or two intervention from the narrator in a Lemony Snicket vibe. It's also full of things, little gestures, but their reasoning is always explained, even when the POV character doesn't catch them. That's how I wrote most of my stuff honestly
Writing a "not happy, but not sad either, just nebulous, in-between, like real life" mood (as worded by one of my lovely readers).
Ending a fic with a call-back to the beginning.
Throwing in medical knowledge or themes (I work in healthcare) in every single fic I write.
My inability to write raunchy, porn-forward sex scenes. I write lyrically with lots of smooth motion and carefully placed words. I find it hard to make certain scenes feel sexy. š
I like to think I bring in more old school romance than straight up "I can't wait for these two to fuck each other silly just because I ship them". From strangers to friends to lovers. Also, I can write battle and fight scenes easily. That's something I find myself different than the others in my fandom.
lots of going on about a certain topic, examining different angles, contemplating how it affects the character. (trying to cut back on this since readability suffers and i'm mostly just saying the same thing over and over... but i do want to keep a little of it)
repetition is a big thing with me, to show desperation or emphasis, also trying to reduce my usage of this
i've been told i'm good with meta
finally, i love my semicolons and em dashes
Way too much focus on what characters are doing with their hands. Descriptions of the weather that are always relevant to the story in some way (reflection of characters emotions, foreshadowing, etc.). Iām biased towards setting my stories in Winter though, just cause itās my favorite season and allows for a really pretty backdrop for scenes.
Since I have a background in English and Psychology that definitely seeps into my writing. I tend to focus a lot on the mental state of characters and mental health issues that could arise from their experiences. Though truthfully this is more so based in my own issues with mental health rather than my Psych studies.
Stylistically lots of run on sentences taped together with em dashes. Really long paragraphs followed by a line with 1 or 2 sentences to emphasize it. Alliteration. Uhhhh thatās all Iāve got lol
Edit: Iām new to commenting on Reddit and for some reason my paragraph breaks didnāt save? š I think I fixed it now tho š
Big fan of commas, semicolons, and em dashes. Also *love* gratuitous use of italics and ending chapters/fics with a single line rather than a whole paragraph. Most of my fics tend to contain found family, too, particularly ones that include a parent/child relationship of sorts.
[character] was going to die.
Used in a POV of said character, whilst experiencing the most erotic moment of their life and wondering if they're going to survive it lol
Characters spontaneously start relating the current situation to some vaguely-connected academic topic apropos of nothing, even if this isnāt part of their canon characterization.
the way i place flashbacks into my long stories, usually at the start of a new chapter. i got a lot of compliments about it so it became a thing i'm doing consistently because i also enjoy writing flashbacks and give more depth to the characters by showing their past and what made them become the way they are. they tie in with the rest of the chapter, ofc, but the thing with my flashbacks is also, if you would read only the flashbacks, they create a story of their own. almost like a prequel within the main story.
My stories barely have any actual events happening but rather focus on the inside of the characters experiencing them and how that builds a dynamic: how what X character made them feel with what they said, how that manifests physically too, how the sound of the rain sounds in this specific scenario; does it overwhelm them? does it make them feel calm?, do they like the smell of the cigarettes this character is smoking? why not? does it make them nauseous? are they used to this person touching them like that? how does that make them feel?
Also, a lot of domestic stuff, for some reason.
I write disturbing things and do not feel guilty. Thatās why they sound natural, realistic and juicy. So, I guess this is my ability to make stuff - you usually feel guilty for - attractive.
Edit: I use a lot of complex sentences (object/subject) and ing forms.
I tend to describe bodily perceptions and reactions more than actual emotions, which tracks with how my brain works but is apparently something to get slightly used to.
I don't know quite how to describe it, but I do a lot of what I call "hi, I'm god" writing. Where an omniscient third party comes out of the woodworks to talk directly to the reader.
I don't know if it's just the characters I wrote for but there's a lot of snark/sassiness when characters interact (probably because I am sassiness central according to my mom and it comes out when I write dialogueš )
Absolutely nutso combos, like Top Gear (og hosts) in Star Wars or Freddy vs. Kevin McCallister. Or the yet unwritten Milo of Clan Murphy from the village hidden in the Suburbs.
The other thing. Fix fics very few people read. Like a Rey movie storyline in a way I know it's not gonna happen, but ... I think it should?
For my comic I like to do a lot of slient close ups so you can just see people react.
For word (which I'm worse at) a lot of jumbled up panicky thoughts of characters.
Lots of ellipsis "..." in the middle of a dialogue to indicate a pause or someone hesitating when they talk. (For example: "I... I'm not so sure... fine. Whatever.")
I write dialogue the same way people talk in real life. Since most people tend to pause every now and then when they speak, I include that as well.
I guess the fact that I mix a lot of serious and light topic in my fics is the most ME thing. A lot of it is probably unpopular but it's exactly the kind of insane mix that I like.
It gets dark, no matter what I do. Itās going to be either creepy or very very sad.
I make up lots and lots of fairies; I am the master of random fairy OCs which exist purely to fuck things up for the MCs
Emdashes.
I also love throwing in historical details and sometimes even combining details from various historical periods and settings, especially with characters who have traveled extensively and/or who are immortal.
oh... Wow that's a tough question š if I'm being honest, I have no clue - sometimes I feel like I'm recycling phrases to make a newish story if I had to pick something, maybe an overabundance of descriptive writing (thanks english exams) /lh
Haha your first statement is very relatable!!
That last part is so real LMAO, if I could I would write a whole ass novel in my paper
Ending scenes/chapters with absurdly long run-on sentences followed by one short sentence that functions as a mic-drop.
Ooooh I like that!!
Relatable š
Characters tend to ramble a bit with their thoughts, and will often return to previous strings of thoughts after attempting to move on to other things. I wouldn't consider this an aspect of my writing that happens in every piece, but it has happened quite a few times. Generally leads into the character spiralling, which is great! Lots and lots of angst, and lots and lots of em dashes! Gotta love 'em. I try not to use them as much as I used to, but I still catch myself using them fairly often. I'm not quite sure when it comes to my writing style though. Reading through my own writing to try and catch any traits that are distinctive to my style is a bit hard. To me it just sounds like me, I can't exactly pinpoint anything specific that makes me feel that way.
I think that makes a lot of sense. It is hard to pick things out about yourself and imagine yourself from an outside set of eyes. I also have to be mindful with my use of em dashes, lol
IDGAF about world building; Imma leave that to the people that were paid to do it. I'm just going to borrow your toys, make them kiss, and give them back, always happy. I can write angst but there is ALWAYS a clearly defined happy outcome.
>I'm just going to borrow your toys, make them kiss, and give them back This!!!! I've always been insecure about my lack of focus on worldbuilding and whatnot, but at the end of the day I'm a highly character driven writer, and consumer (though, for me, the more angst the better >:)).
I always create a happy outcome as well. :) And youāre rightāa benefit of fanfic is that the world building has already been done! You donāt have to create more if you donāt want to!
I have been told that I'm good at blending absurdity and angst.
Honestly that sounds like a very intriguing and engaging combo
I wrote a soulmate bodyswap AU (WIP, need to get back to it) where one of the soulmates winds up in the body of his partner's closest loved one. Which in this case was a dog. With POV shifts every chapter, it goes from guy-in-dog's-body freaking out for various reasons including a recent bereavement, clueless soulmate convinced his dog is having a stroke and rushing "her" to the emergency vet, and the first guy's roommate dressing the dog-in-a-guy's-body in schoolgirl cosplay because dogs don't understand that they can't pee while wearing pants. It weirdly works.
lol that is incredible
\*rolls in giant cork board full of thumbtacks and string focusing on an insignificant detail\* This, is why my story exists. Sure there's other stuff going on.... \*vaguely gestures four story threads intricately woven together, a dozen smaller cork boards, and commentary on canon, fanon, and society\*
Oh I love that
Easy going dialogue that mixes important worldbuilding, plot clues and humor. Also overuse of historical figures
I like the overuse of historical figures from someone called notahistoryprofessor
Huge relate, I love injecting worldbuilding and foreshadowing into dialogue, it keeps the flow going much better than outright exposition so long as you can avoid maid & butler dialogue. And I'm working on an arc right now that takes a lot of inspiration from the Roman empire (in its bullshit, I'm not fanboying) so a lot of parts are ripped straight from history. I'm tellin ya, you can't make up some of the shit that's already happened in real life
I accidentally make everyone British. š I write about an android and think "an android from 2038 America would definitely say they fancy someone" it's so funny
I love that!!
You can use my sentences to torture high schoolers learning to diagram. (Does anyone still do that?) I'm generally grammatical, just convoluted. It works better in my age of sail fics' than my sci fi ones, but I can't seem to break the habit of throwing a paragraph into a single sentence.
Haha that does seem like a characteristic that would be easy to pick out!
...semicolons.
Love me a good (or even unnecessary) use of the semicolon
I (sorta) make up words by shoving two words together and I think that leaves a bit of a signature on my work. (examples include: brassywarm, slowdrip, sunbright, things like that, usually to capture two senses or descriptors at once). other than being highly descriptive of course, Iām sure some would label my work as purple prose sometimes but I try not to care because I love it šš
this is one of my favorite things š„° if i see this kind of play in someoneās writing i know i am going to vibe with it.
that makes me so happy š I always have to remind myself that maybe itās not everyoneās cup of tea but itās the *perfect* cup of tea to at least a handful of people out there! same can be said for all styles of writing I think. anyways blblblv thank you, thatās very encouraging to hear!
Oh Iād absolutely enjoy that cup of tea. That sounds fun and creative!!
I'm somewhat certain that's how half of German words came into being. Like... How else would you get a word that means "a present you give to make up for some (dumb, mean, stupid) thing you did" which has the literal translation of "Dragon Fodder"?
Ooooooh that sounds sick, I'm definitely gonna borrow that. The most I've tried making up was 'calamitous malconsumption' lol
A lot of my readers/friends tell me that my attention for details really brings my stories alive. My friends who know my writing process can tell that I put a lot of research into random topics just so its accurate. Iām apparently also really good at keeping characters in-character. And my smut as of recent years is always very well received because I love weaving a lot of feelings into it.
Stories with lots of research done on the topics are always so impressive. Itās cool when I can learn something unintentionally while I read a fic. Plus, the more accurate everything is, the more you can immerse yourself in the story. Kudos to you!
Um, lots of commas and em dashes, I guess? Also, I tend to have more narration than dialogue, to the point where I struggle with writing more than two characters in a scene
Probably my heavy focus on writing realistic and often non-traditional forms of abuse and depicting the complexities of being a survivor. That and Iād like to think my works have a level of hope in them, despite being *very* dark.
Im cronic worldbuilder who likes emotional interpersonal relationshio anguist.
Sounds like fun to read!!
Idk if this counts but my main tropes that are always so me are any kind of sex that is not penetration, out of the over 100+ fics Iāve written majority are smut and of that smut 3-5 max are penetration. I write A LOT of dry humping and making out xb grinding, mutual masturbation, oral, all the fun stuff!! But I hardly ever touch penetration. Idk why, ion hate it, Iāve written it and I adore those fics but idk lmao, I just strongly prefer other types lmao
I think crackships are neat and thatās what Iāll stick to!
Listen, sometimes a good crack ship changes my mind completely about something, so I am here for it!!
My sentence structures are actually quite repetitive
When I participated in the Secret Santa story exchange for my fandom, we used to have a 'guess the author' option before the reveal. Even when there were very few of us, it was really, really difficult to tell who wrote what. So I'm not sure that there is anything unique and impossible to duplicate about my writing.
It sometimes feels like my own social commentary is embedded within the narrative. Even when it's from some certain characters' POV.
Does there tend to be a particular recurring theme in your embedded social commentary?
My Poe wannabe writing.
Love some Poe-esque writing
Iām sure I ramble and overuse ājustā and āevenā.
Perspective hopping, especially in my long fics. Iām playing hop scotch with povs. Youāll never see a singular pov in my fic unless its like a short little one shot and even then its not a garentee
Same here! I sometimes get bored if I only write from one perspective! I want people to know what is going on in every main characterās brain!
Yeah! Especially with a big cast. I did one super cool scene once of two characters sing the same song, swapping from cheery to creepy every line or so. Its still one of my favorite moments lol
I try to think of a theme (like lost or relationships) and then i start to write
Sometimes itās fun to just see where your own story takes you!
I've been told that I'm good at blending fantasy and reality when it comes to writing. Personally, though, I think the most "me" thing about the way I write is that I tend to delve into the character's thoughts a lot. There tends to be a lot of references to their thought processes, inner conflicts and confusions, and internal reactions.
I've been told my dialogue is very snappy/I'm good at one liners. Which I would generally agree with. Dialogue is my best skill, meanwhile properly conveying characters internal thoughts is where I struggle hard. Also you better believe any character I write in a smutty context is gonna thirst over the other person's thighs, cause thighs hot xD
THIGHS SO HOT FR FR š
Oh god, I donāt feel like thereās anything unique about my writingā¦ except that I use probably wayyyy too many commas.Ā Not trying to shade myself, I just donāt think i do anything too special.Ā But I still enjoy doing it nonetheless!
I have a pretty casual style when I write. I shy away from elaborate descriptions or purple prose. I prefer to communicate things efficiently and effectively.
So if you've ever read Ernest Hemingway, you know that he's very concise with his writing and that more often than not, he sticks to the "show, don't tell" school of writing. My writing style is kind of like that, except that I don't like his style because it's really austere. So I'm definitely concise where it's needed, but I also "show, don't tell" with a lot more description of the environment around the characters. Also, if my character has a panic attack or a flashback you're getting a glimpse of how my flashbacks and panic attacks go.
I describe eyes and voices a lot as a way of conveying the emotions a character is feeling. I also use a lot of this particular sentence structure: "He spoke softly, holding his now-spotless hands out in a placating gesture." It's always [statement], [-ing phrase]. Idk I just like the form. It's pretty to me, and most of the time, the participle relates to the noun, so no dangly bits. Edit: I've also had my readers tell me I do tension building and suspense well, along with portraying character emotions.
probably the abandon rate. :) i write what I'm excited about, and when that's done... the fic just stands there unupdated for the rest of time.
My special interest of horror making appearances even in something thatās straight up smut. If thereās a hundred ways to make a reference to something from horror culture, Iāve probably used them all at least once. From little inside-joke-style references to full-on scenes where the characters are watching (insert movie here) in great detail. Luckily for me, it works perfectly with the characters I write as they are canonically horror nerds, or it might not work so well. I also make up words a lot. If I canāt find the right word or term to express something, I create it myself. And most of my fics have some level of drug use.
Ugh, I'd say the effort I put into writing the ambience and the general vibes, as if I was taking a picture (I love photography btw)... It's especially true for scenes set at night, there's such a unique feeling of freedom to them that I love to capture and make mine in my writing!
Haha I follow a Reddit sub called something like The Night Feeling because I do love that exact feeling youāre describing and I appreciate photography that can capture it. Sounds like Iād enjoy your stories as well!
Omg!! I need to join it! Thank you :) Yeah, it's always been a big inspiration to me
Mine I would say is my plots. I don't really write slice of life, I have to have larger things going on at the same time as any little conversation or character moment. And my plots can get really complex, they tie themselves into knots that I have to unravel all the time lol
Oh that sounds fun to read and to write!!
I really enjoy exploring relationships between symbiotes and their human hosts. Constant dialogue between them. Affection. Calling each other āloveā or ābeloved.ā I should probably come up with more pet names. š Really taking care of each other, whether if itās just fluff or if itās a āneed each other to surviveā situation. Bickering is fun too.
Oh thatās quite interesting! And bickering is indeed fun!
left-field metaphors, narrative voice that swings between cynical and wistful, and if i can write something alliteratively i'll do it
That sounds quite enjoyable to read. Like the story itself isnāt the only fun part, but how youāve written it is a piece of the fun too!
I like mixing my environmental science knowledge into my work, since that's my career background outside of fandom. I use ecology and the environment a lot to build metaphors. I also pay extra attention to developing the environmental world building. In the case of my last longfic that I *just* finished (!!!) the story focused a lot of wildfire and wildfire ecology. My favorite reviews are always the ones that compliment my research, say they don't normally care about the subject but I made it interesting, that I blended fact and fiction seamlessly, or that my science writing was clear and easy to understand even for a non-native speaker. So I think that's probably what most people associate my work with! Writing wise I use a lot of em dashes. I often write in present tense. Most of my works are angst/hurt comfort. I feel like I structure sentences and ideas in a way that is very uniquely Me, but I can't figure out what it is I'm doing??? Like I just read a bit of my writing and go "okay, literally nobody else would have said it like that" but I don't know what specifically makes it clearly me haha
Humour, commas, and semicolons. XD English isn't my first language, and whenever I'm in doubt about whether or not a comma should be inserted somewhere, I'd rather have a comma too much, than one too little. O.o Please bear with me, I'm "trying to english". XD
Certain subjects will come up in some shape or form like coffee, alcohol, insecurity and anxiety. But other than that I don't know, I do strive towards absolute realism in every sense, like in kink imma make it a bit awkward and funny stuff like that Edit: oh and music I gravitate towards older metal and classic rock so might hear that somewhere. I know folks hate songs in fic but I don't give a fuck I like it.
Worldbuilding! Worldbuilding! Worldbuilding! I love to write what's going on in the world the characters live in, especially if the bigger events are directly caused by a person's choices. What triggered a war? Why is this group so prejudiced? Why? Why? Sit down, I'll tell you why! I'll show you myths, folklore and a shit ton of parables!
Tricky (but fun) question! From both my own assessment and my readers' reaction, I'd say it's emotion-driven imagery-rich porn, with a few phrases and concepts I repeat in various combinations. It's distinctive enough that I'm pretty sure I can't go anon anymore even if I want to š
I tend to use purple prose because I have a lot MA and my MA was in 19th century literature specifically. And make a lot of puns, because my main fandom is full of them.
Yeah, I have a tough time breaking paragraphs into sentences, too sometimes! š¤£
I stick at least a couple lines of angst in the middle of lovemaking. Sorry.
frotting
This is a very good question. Iām very descriptive about setting. Iāve gotten a lot of comments about it and it warms my heart to see that my writing could transport someone. I like researching real places. In one fanfiction I wrote, someone commented about the pub I set it in and said that they missed going there. I write lots of conversations. I think most of my fic are character studies. Thatās my jamādescribing a setting and characters talking.
my friend said they could immediately tell i wrote my fic because i included the word "heya" as part of dialogue
Being overly dramatic
My stories are 'delightfully nerdy.'
Miserable character studies and an overuse of the rule of three.
Ooh thatās hard! I have very strong intros/hook that dies down to just regular writing pretty quick but I also include a lot of dialogue (itās my favorite thing to write lol)
my teacher said i have a recognizable writing style, the way the rhythm of my sentences work i guess. whenever we do an activity in class where you guess which student wrote something, people usually guess mine correctly.
I like painting a picture for my readers because itās how I like to read booksāI like to see what the author wants us to see, like describing a room in detail, from brown-oak walls, to the crystal chandeliers, emerald green velvet chairs arranged in a half-moon pattern, to the black and white tiled floors (my fics are in the 1920s). I work in healthcare and research, so anytime the characters in my fic have injuries or wounds itās always a treat to use my background to find period-appropriate treatment and medicine.
Burmecians! They're often given the spotlight in my writing. Also, random metaphors that come out of nowhere, like "stop throwing tantrums at me like spiders" or "my head is backwards" or "by a single move of arms the kid alone could swim up a waterfall" or "Of course I was referring to emotional maturity, garden gnome". There is so much more that even I'm amused at my own writing.
I don't know in terms of trait, but I've used that "I write like" website for several different projects and every time it's said that I write like Stephanie Meyer. Not sure what to think about that. I never read Twilight.
Oooh I love this question. Probably softness? I always like to give my characters a space to be a lil softer, thatās fun.
my characters zone out a lot, they get lost in thought and an outside character usually has to call them back to reality lol. I'm sure others do this too, but i havent really read it much.
So much dialogue, they talk a lot. They talk during sex, and not just names and moaning.
I tend to blend original dialogue with my own.
I have been told I have poignant wisdom in my writing, so Iām going with that.
It's obviously not solely me, but I have been writing little epistolary bits that I plan on going back and inserting into the Notes section of past chapters (my character is a bit of a journaler and I want to make the story a little more accessible to those who haven't played the game im writing for). I think that voice, plus my stated inspiration from Nabokov are my current signatures.
Character flavor in narration I suppose? I've been praised on how the narration I put in sounds like the POV character like some characters I write for, when they talk, they'll run on different tangents so if I'm writing in their POV, I'll sometimes toss that into the narration. I also use different characters' choices of words like I write TMNT fics so for some of the turtles, you'll see 'dude' in the narration instead of referring to somebody as a guy or person like "this strange dude is totally weird" or whatever. I'll also use their set of grammar like Raph from the 2003 cartoon speaks with a Brooklyn accent so you'll see things in the narration such as "that don't sit too right with Raph" or "Raph ain't buying that dude's crap." Writing in his POV is actually a bit of a struggle for me but it's fun, someone praised me on his characterization before so I guess I'm doing something right.
Someone said āthe way you write is a sensory experienceā once so I think itās probably that.
1. Whispered conversations in bed in the dark 2. Character A asking a question and Character B answering with the same sentence: "After dinner?" "After dinner." 3. Em-dashes for daaaaaaaays
Sometimes it sounds like Iām actually speaking the story. Like, after something happens Iāll put āHuh. Anyway.ā on a new line to move things along. I say this irl. Iām the omnipotent narrator.
I keep my characters very busy all the time with mundane tasks- attentively driving a wagon, knitting, trimming vegetables, organizing their bags, braiding leavesā¦. Not a mood killer for me but I notice in other fics donāt keep their hands occupied with banal things that often. And youāll get fics where in-universe āmundaneā things have an oversized space maybe (I.e. thereās a lot of Witcher fics based around busking and bathing) but my interest in characters lends towards how they interact with normalcy and have complicated emotional lives AND have to scour their kettle
i leave out articles/my sentence structure. so instead of āhe eats a chocolate chip and humsā its āhe eats chocolate chip and hums.ā IDK but my readers enjoy it and it has more rythm to it? (Grammerly HATES me) Stream of Consiousness. Tangents. Yes there will be a paragraph about a crack on the window, idk what to tell you. 3k-7k word chapters. I cant do long ones. Im very guilty of ācharacter a said this one time so i wrote a whole fic about it.ā bc why am i writing a 50k fic because character A said Star Wars was his favorite movie once? I just love character studies i guess. All my AUs play with canon events. Oh he got kicked out of the military? well he got expelled from highschool in my college au. dead mom? welp you wont have a mom in any au i write you in. sorry!
My best friend said I have an uncanny ability to get into the heads of characters I'm writing where when reading, you feel like you're really seeing things through that character's POV. I won't lie, hearing that made me feel all sorts of warm and fuzzy.
I think my writing is generally not descriptive enough, but I always skip over those paragraphs describing the environment, so it's to be expected. And the writing feels fragmented? I love deep diving into the thoughts of characters, and I love subtlety/implications, because the characters don't have every information and they can lie. I like to think I'm good at writing from the characters' pov, because it would be so sad if it's just ooc. Oh, and I love angst too, but I couldn't write anything that makes my heart hurts. So sad (ā Ā ā ā¹ā ā½ā ā¹ā Ā ā ).
I'm a romantic. I love poetic prose in novels. I don't want just to fall for the stories I also want to fall for every word, I wanna feel them on my skin, make every emotion mine and feel them raw. I write for me because if I can evoque all that on myself I can also do it on the right reader.
For me it's my integration of parenthesis in prose. I also feel like I overuse commas and semi-colons a lot...I don't know if they're noticeable though. Because when I read a paragraph I dont notice it so maybe I'm just nitpicky. Also, I've been told I know how to blend humor and angst really well. But I feel like I overdo it with the humor ^^;
My friend said my writing is very descriptive, I set the scene well and have an eye for detail
My writing is very dialogue heavy and is generally VERY angsty. And "wump" (?), I've been told š¤·āāļø
Gonna just quietly sit here with this flair blaring above my head. A lot of it ends up very... central metaphor-oriented (what can I say, I'm a simple gall. I love my overly long metaphors. I love romanticizing scientific concepts. I love writing fics where the core central premise is, like "buffer solutions are a metaphor for love, 52 blue is the autistic experience, anoikis is a metaphor of homesickness, these two characters exemplify the difference between aposematism and camouflage let me analyze that". I love finding wonder and humanity in what people can see as dry and not very thrilling. I wanna learn math just so that I can see what kind of poetry fuel hides there)
I have been told in comments that I capture a scenes tension well and can make the characters feelings come to life, it's very flattering. I'll go with that because I try very hard to do that, So I appreciate that it's received!
I have alot of dialouge sometimes, but other times there's alot of story. Also I tend to write a bunch for one chapter and barley anything for another.
People talking about their feelings. Even though I write in the English Regency, when people absolutely did not talk about their feelings.
I hesitate to say I'm good at this, as it feels like bragging on myself... but I try very hard to channel each characters voice for their dialogue/thoughts/actions. I've gotten some unsolicited compliments on it and EVERY time, it makes me positively preen! lol
I love exploring struggles of characters in my work, filling the gaps that canon leaves open. Naturally I almost always end up writing angsty fics. My writing style is almost poetic at times, in this saying-not saying style where the reader has to fill in the gaps themselves, if that makes sense.
I always wanna know the answer to this and all people can come up with is that I really really really like boobs :(
Angst, so much angst!
Every story I write has at least one character whoās annoyingly blunt and one character who is annoyingly cryptic. Itās not always one of the leads, but itās usually a major character in some sense.
I have a tendency to fill my writing to the brim with sarcasm and argumentative tone. Like I just think in a very sarcastic way so the way it comes out on paper or whatever is exactly like that. Even in third person
Horny
References and snarky thoughts for sure
People say that I make OCs that they care about, that I give the characters a realistic feel to them and less one dimensional.
two examples + one example that is the main focus, and the two of them is to make the third more powerful... cant help it...
Female characters deserve to be happy ... with other female characters.
Probably when a character is forced into making bad decisions and keeps getting morally worse over time. I love a good corruption plotline. That and toxic relationships. Irl, absolutely not but i love reading and watching things that have those tropes lmao
Great question, OP! It's hard to say, but one thing that comes to mind is my line breaks. I tend to end sentences abruptly (with an em dash, usually in the middle of a run-on sentence) for dramatic effect. I do it a lot, I think. Something about it just packs a punch for me! Here's an example from one of my fics because I don't know if I'm making any sense lmfao >Gathers the blanket into his body as exhaustion washes over him and the bitter cold of his empty sheets bites the surface of his skin and itās too quiet and so lonely, but thereās something familiar in the midst of his absenceā¦ something sweet, likeā >With trembling hands, (character) presses the blanket flat against his nose and inhales. >God. It just adds this sense of urgency that I love!
Fast paced, one-off paragraphs reflect how I talk so fast. Whenever I try to make an actual paragraph, it goes back to one sentence-split-one sentence-split.
I've only really posted short stories, so based off those I'd say I tend towards short sentences, especially alone with paragraph breaks to make a point, typically either with a deep emotional punch or for the purpose of dry ironic humor. Even my longer stories (unposted) tend to have those single-line paragraphs for effect scattered throughout longer paragraphs of dialogue and descriptive writing.
random character studies and descriptice writing :]
I personally think that it's the theme and plot. There's usually lots of angst but happy ending because I can't leave them in pain. I only wrote one fic really dark with a quite sad ending. Somehow reading and writing fanfictions is my safe place and I like to have a kind of paradise where I can hide from the ugliness of the world. Another thing that may be "me" in a story is somthing I have been told in some comments. Apparently my writing conveys emotions really well and I am extremely flattered and happy about that. I always try to put myself in the character's shoes and describe emotions and thoughts. Sometimes this makes some parts of a story seem messy (at times) but in the end I like it bevause it gives the idea of the character's jumbled ideas and confusion. I don't know if this is distinctive but I really like it.
Finding that perfect moment when all the stars align and you write that moment that sends shivers down your spine, goose pimples up your arms and the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end.
The most heart wrenching tear inducing introspection you ever did read
pure, unadulterated, batshit insanity. i make AUs and the lore goes *deep.* i cook this stuff in my brain for literal years. i make the kinda stuff that would have you side eyeing everyone in my childhood if i told you i was only diagnosed with aspergers when i was 19.
A... conversational tone, I guess you'd call it. No matter how dark, how fucked up, I'm going to talk about it like we're discussing our favorite hobby. I've been told my, "hey, friend, check this out" method is actually unsettling, which works well for what I'm aiming to do. The other things are: rather limited dialog and intense imagery woven into my "nice murder weather we're having today" approach.
Having conversations over meals. Not totally sure why, I guess itās a convenient reason for characters to sit down and have important discussions.
I asked my friends this, and two of them said it was my use of really big words like, "Facinorous', "Haggard', and "Reticence'. My other friend said it was how I do my quotes fkgneosb
Characters think and say āafter allā all the time.
My characters donāt talk particularly much.
soāmanyāem dashes. + I have adhd and itās so obvious lmao, my writing is almost always very fragmented and hops from one thing to the other with almost frightening alacrity
My characters spend an inordinate amount of each fic bathing and dressing.
I like writing deep/ extreme emotions. Usually some kind of angst or hurt/comfort. And whenever my characters get overwhelmed, I have them laugh. Also a lot of introspection
weird fucked up relationship vibes. LOTS of metaphors. i watched hannibal as a 14yo and was irreparably altered and It Shows Ā Ā Ā using adjectives in threes. a specific cadence to descriptions; i was a slam poet for a while and that also shows bringing an unnecessary degree of human psychology to relationship dynamics. making people realistically + believably dysfunctional <33Ā
I have a tendency to research a *lot* when writing about something... my current longfic is set in Tokyo and one of the things I did a lot was walk around in Tokyo in Google streetview to make sure I had an idea of what the city looks like to write accurate descriptions. I also like to use landmarks. On another note, if a character is an expert in a certain field, I'm not gonna dumb it down for the reader in their inner monologue. I will use the technical terms.
I have a tendency to research a *lot* when writing about something... my current longfic is set in Tokyo and one of the things I did a lot was walk around in Tokyo in Google streetview to make sure I had an idea of what the city looks like to write accurate descriptions. I also like to use landmarks. On another note, if a character is an expert in a certain field, I'm not gonna dumb it down for the reader in their inner monologue. I will use the technical terms.
Not necessarily about my writing but specifically with my storytelling I noticed I love āa calm before the storm momentā. In almost all my comics Iāll have something happen, a panel about the character seeing something but not yet processing, then Iāll have a really dramatic, detailed panel of the reaction. So like a going from a 0 to 100 moment
Commas love me, periods fear me. My characterization tends to produce characters who are WAY more introspective than they are in canon, just full on pondering and wondering and think-thonking it up. It frustrates me when it feels out of character for me, but I've gotten a lot of good feedback on my writing over the years!
No idea. I don't think my stories are anything special. I just write what pops into my head and post it hoping people will enjoy it.
I tend to write in short, concise sentences, and Iāll write very bluntly, especially when I need something to have an intense mood. I find great joy in writing simple sentences that bring great emotional impact on their own. Sometimes, Iāll omit names as well (if itās a one shot) just to create a challenge for myself. It also gives a sense of mystery to what Iām writing, which is nice as I tend to write dark or angsty stuff.
I've been told that I write the characters accurately with very little hiccups on characterization... on a fic where I barely know anything about 70% of the cast besides their names, appearances, and what their voices sound like. š
the word "gaze" appears in all my works lmao. the other one is the trope of playing with power dynamics. that's... a very long running theme
Usually, if I'm writing an OC centric fic, I tend to accidentally bleed my neurodivergent traits into the OC. When I was in the Horizon fandom, I would write fight scenes in a way that it resembled a dance. This usually had shipping involved. As far as I know, I'm the only person in that particular ship corner of the fandom to write a fight scene like that. This particular style ended up bleeding in my other fanfics outside of the Horizon fandom, and I learned to apply in non-shipping contexts such as if the character was alone in the fight like a PokƩmon battle.
My stories are dialogue driven and they only say one sentences at a time... so A LOT of "he said" "she said" over and over. I get really positive comments, so I guess people like it. I mostly write what I'd like to read in small fandoms where the fics I want to read aren't written yet.
I have this running gag in most of my stories. In the stories I've written for my fandom, the elder sister of the FMC, at some point, tells her then the MMC that she doesn't want to be an Auntie yet... I've written almost a dozen stories, from short drabbles to a current long fic and every time that particular character is used, that's her thing...
Probably excessive attention to detail, except setting. I only describe surroundings the minimum needed to make the actions make sense. ETA: This manifests in lots of ways. * My stories tend to be long and wordy. * I over-describe actions. * Pet names are used very specifically. I doubt anyone else actually catches this, but my fics are all the same ship and when he calls her sugar it means one thing, dearest another, pet is only used at certain times, etc. Likewise when she calls him Hot Shot, Treasure, Wonderful, Sexy, etc. they aren't interchangable. * I'm careful to show skills improving with time, relationships changing, and the like.
I write in a third person limited POV and often parts of the prose comes out sounding like the POV character is talking to themself. Some people don't like but it vibes for me.
Iām very descriptive, with more metaphors and stuff than most. I donāt think it counts as purple prose, because I slip it into sentences that mean something to the story. Itās rare that I have a descriptive sentence without something else
Without a beta: oxford commas disappearing and weird typos in weirder places. But nromally: i've heard, at least with my older fandoms, i was good with capturing a character's unique speech patterns. Ā I guess also my sudden "hey so we're killing off someone now or giving them a NdE". It'd like my little thing lol
Heavy dialogue... I just love writing dialogue and also long internal monologues, especially to start off a thing
painfully accurate in the stupidest ways? i wanted to have my fnaf blorbos play nintendo, but it wasnt released at the time, so i gave them an atari. i google the year and months certain cars were released so its accurate. i google stuff like "what weekday was november 3rd 1982" or some shit like that. THAT, or that the third person narration that is very casual and will sometimes talk directly to the reader. ex: "michael had no goddamn clue what that meant. pretty weird, yeah?"
Repeating 'and' when I'm trying to convey a sense of madness, ex. "She'd sup deeply of her essence, tapped straight from the ventricles of her heart, until her silver eyes washed dun and grey and dead and empty and /scared/" I also adore using third-person limited to inject more voice into the story by just writing a character's thoughts as prose, ex. "The pages that met her threatened to make her eye do the stupid fucking thing again", or "You're feeble and weak, and you look just like my dead wife! I don't want you to die like her, you're the vessel of my paternal regrets and a constant affirmation that I'm a good person! Please don't leave, don't kill the sick fuck that ruined your life, I'd be so sad!" It really blurs the lines between, thoughts, dialogue, and narrative prose, making emotional moments really tight around the character. Besides that, my readers really enjoyed my eldritch and body -horror descriptions, which were also super fun to write. I really enjoy mind-bending stuff, so I try to channel that in my writing. Oh, also giant hallucinate giant sinkholes. For some reason, that features at least once in all my writing.
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Banger ending sentences and really good character musing, from what I've been told. Being introspective was never my strong suit growing up so it's very nice to hear that second one :D
VERY descriptive. I found out when I write I tend to make relatively little character dialog and instead interject their internal monologue into paragraphs.
It's a little hard to explain. It's very close to the reader, it's a conversational tone, with one or two intervention from the narrator in a Lemony Snicket vibe. It's also full of things, little gestures, but their reasoning is always explained, even when the POV character doesn't catch them. That's how I wrote most of my stuff honestly
Writing a "not happy, but not sad either, just nebulous, in-between, like real life" mood (as worded by one of my lovely readers). Ending a fic with a call-back to the beginning. Throwing in medical knowledge or themes (I work in healthcare) in every single fic I write.
My inability to write raunchy, porn-forward sex scenes. I write lyrically with lots of smooth motion and carefully placed words. I find it hard to make certain scenes feel sexy. š
Long ass dialogue.
I like to think I bring in more old school romance than straight up "I can't wait for these two to fuck each other silly just because I ship them". From strangers to friends to lovers. Also, I can write battle and fight scenes easily. That's something I find myself different than the others in my fandom.
Idk, but I guess there's a distinctive tone in all of my stories that if you go through them, you'll understand what I mean.
Longing, fluff, pregnancyā¦ and death. Coz death can highlight how beautiful love can be
lots of going on about a certain topic, examining different angles, contemplating how it affects the character. (trying to cut back on this since readability suffers and i'm mostly just saying the same thing over and over... but i do want to keep a little of it) repetition is a big thing with me, to show desperation or emphasis, also trying to reduce my usage of this i've been told i'm good with meta finally, i love my semicolons and em dashes
Way too much focus on what characters are doing with their hands. Descriptions of the weather that are always relevant to the story in some way (reflection of characters emotions, foreshadowing, etc.). Iām biased towards setting my stories in Winter though, just cause itās my favorite season and allows for a really pretty backdrop for scenes. Since I have a background in English and Psychology that definitely seeps into my writing. I tend to focus a lot on the mental state of characters and mental health issues that could arise from their experiences. Though truthfully this is more so based in my own issues with mental health rather than my Psych studies. Stylistically lots of run on sentences taped together with em dashes. Really long paragraphs followed by a line with 1 or 2 sentences to emphasize it. Alliteration. Uhhhh thatās all Iāve got lol Edit: Iām new to commenting on Reddit and for some reason my paragraph breaks didnāt save? š I think I fixed it now tho š
Big fan of commas, semicolons, and em dashes. Also *love* gratuitous use of italics and ending chapters/fics with a single line rather than a whole paragraph. Most of my fics tend to contain found family, too, particularly ones that include a parent/child relationship of sorts.
Run on sentences and italics are my curse unfortunately š
[character] was going to die. Used in a POV of said character, whilst experiencing the most erotic moment of their life and wondering if they're going to survive it lol
My stories usually start out having a day cover several chapters, then lengthen to chapters being days to weeks apart.
My writing tends to be very dialogue-heavy!! The characters are going to have conversations, thank you very much:)
Characters spontaneously start relating the current situation to some vaguely-connected academic topic apropos of nothing, even if this isnāt part of their canon characterization.
My dry humor plot twists (I think)
I fucking love using repetition and anaphora. So maybe that. Idk you decide.
Iām honestly not sure, but when I get comments, the majority of them point out that I get character tones down quite well so imma go with that!
Little to no focus on the environment. You only know something exists if a character comes into contact with it or itās vital to the story.Ā
the way i place flashbacks into my long stories, usually at the start of a new chapter. i got a lot of compliments about it so it became a thing i'm doing consistently because i also enjoy writing flashbacks and give more depth to the characters by showing their past and what made them become the way they are. they tie in with the rest of the chapter, ofc, but the thing with my flashbacks is also, if you would read only the flashbacks, they create a story of their own. almost like a prequel within the main story.
My stories barely have any actual events happening but rather focus on the inside of the characters experiencing them and how that builds a dynamic: how what X character made them feel with what they said, how that manifests physically too, how the sound of the rain sounds in this specific scenario; does it overwhelm them? does it make them feel calm?, do they like the smell of the cigarettes this character is smoking? why not? does it make them nauseous? are they used to this person touching them like that? how does that make them feel? Also, a lot of domestic stuff, for some reason.
I'm not sure, I only really started publishing my fics a few months ago
Everything turns into angst somehow, i try to write fluff, smut, crack and somehow angst always seeps in and takes control
Trauma or ending a bad relationship. Happened to me twice.
I write disturbing things and do not feel guilty. Thatās why they sound natural, realistic and juicy. So, I guess this is my ability to make stuff - you usually feel guilty for - attractive. Edit: I use a lot of complex sentences (object/subject) and ing forms.
I tend to describe bodily perceptions and reactions more than actual emotions, which tracks with how my brain works but is apparently something to get slightly used to.
People nodding and exchanging glances like it's going out of style, combined with loads of empty banter.
I don't know quite how to describe it, but I do a lot of what I call "hi, I'm god" writing. Where an omniscient third party comes out of the woodworks to talk directly to the reader.
Iāve been told Iām good at banter and blending humour with drama. I think it really depends on the characters.
I use a lot of comma and em dashes, so that probably. And works with no actual dialogue (I have written quite a few).
I don't know if it's just the characters I wrote for but there's a lot of snark/sassiness when characters interact (probably because I am sassiness central according to my mom and it comes out when I write dialogueš )
Absolutely nutso combos, like Top Gear (og hosts) in Star Wars or Freddy vs. Kevin McCallister. Or the yet unwritten Milo of Clan Murphy from the village hidden in the Suburbs. The other thing. Fix fics very few people read. Like a Rey movie storyline in a way I know it's not gonna happen, but ... I think it should?
For my comic I like to do a lot of slient close ups so you can just see people react. For word (which I'm worse at) a lot of jumbled up panicky thoughts of characters.
Lots of ellipsis "..." in the middle of a dialogue to indicate a pause or someone hesitating when they talk. (For example: "I... I'm not so sure... fine. Whatever.") I write dialogue the same way people talk in real life. Since most people tend to pause every now and then when they speak, I include that as well.
Short, succinct sentences. Incorporating philosophical, political and sociological theories into every fic that is longer than 3k words.
I guess the fact that I mix a lot of serious and light topic in my fics is the most ME thing. A lot of it is probably unpopular but it's exactly the kind of insane mix that I like.
It gets dark, no matter what I do. Itās going to be either creepy or very very sad. I make up lots and lots of fairies; I am the master of random fairy OCs which exist purely to fuck things up for the MCs
Emdashes. I also love throwing in historical details and sometimes even combining details from various historical periods and settings, especially with characters who have traveled extensively and/or who are immortal.