thank you so much! that's a good question. here are a couple pointers i like to give out to people who are just beginning to write:

1. don't be intimidated by a blank page. all it is is a canvas for you to begin your craft. sometimes, we sit and stare at a blank page and wonder what the best way to start is and how to create the perfect hook, but just start writing. if you have an idea for dialogue but you don't have the beginning worked out yet, that's okay! start by writing down the dialogue. the point is to take whatever is in your mind and put it on paper.

2. what you make at first may not satisfy your expectations, but that's okay. as long as you can get the words out, then you did more than enough for the day. you can worry about sentence structure, grammar, and all the technicalities later, but for the beginning, just work on getting the words down. we can never truly recreate what we are thinking in our heads, but that's fine. that's the entire writing process for you -- we plan for one thing, but then another thing happens. let it guide you!

3. don't be afraid to delete entire paragraphs or whole scenes. if it needs to be reworked, then it needs to be reworked. i recommend taking scenes you don't particularly like and placing it in a new doc, and then deleting it from the original and starting it over. now, you have a whole page for outtakes that you can then pull from in the future for a new fic. think of it as a way to recycle your writing! but the scene you just deleted might have just made space for something even better. point is, it's okay to completely scrap something and redo it. it's all part of the creative process.

4. don't be too rigid. it's good to plan, it's even better to make an outline, but if something changes, allow it to. the story will tell you how it wants to be written if you listen to it. i can't tell you how many times i tried to sit down and plan for a fic and then end up going completely rogue. i'll listen to it for the beginning, but then as scenes progress, i end up taking it in a completely different direction. this is actually how my fraternity fic was born! be fluid with your words and allow it to tell you where it wants to go. if, for example, you're really feelin' one plot idea one day, and a completely different idea the next, then write 'em both out and go with what feels better to you. take the alternative scene and put it in your outtakes doc.

5. write for yourself. whatever it is your creating, be it fiction or nonfiction, you are your audience. don't worry about what other people will think or say because at the end of the day, what you wrote was for you. if people want to see something else, then they're more than welcome to write it themselves. the point of a portfolio like ao3 or nanowrimo is for you to track your own progress and see how far you've come as a writer.

6. literary devices are your best friends! if used properly, they can elevate your writing so beautifully. find a way to sneak in a simile, metaphor, alliteration, allegories, onomatopoeia, etc. i love writing a good soliloquy or monologue as well, especially when i'm writing something with character introspection. start small with similes and metaphors, and then you can work your way up using heavier hitters. remember: a literary device doesn't necessarily have to be a single line or one paragraph in a fic, the entire work can serve as a metaphor or an allegory.

most importantly, just have fun with it. writing like this is a hobby. now, if you're looking into getting more into technical academic writing, that's a whole other thing that i'm happy to help with as well and actually use my minor in professional writing lmao. but for now, let yourself be creative and have fun with the writing process. use things like music, movies and literature to help you get inspired. the sky is the limit!

awww thank you so much! you're too sweet. the first instance where i took pen to paper and wrote something creative (and not in school) was when i was about 8 or 9 years old. from there i slowly started letting myself be more and more creative and it was a matter of understanding just how words flow before i knew what they even meant. writing is an art and your vernacular is your medium, so you have to know what goes where according to your style or your writing preference. but it took a long time to figure that out for sure!

as for writers block, the only thing i can really offer is that you be gentle with yourself. i feel, and this may not be universal so take it with a grain of salt, that writers block just stems from resistance of what is. what i mean by that is that you sit there and you're like "god i just wanna write, i wanna write something good, i want it to be a masterpiece and i want it to be as good as im imagining it to be" but unfortunately, that's not realistic. our minds tend to run faster than what we're physically capable of doing so a scene will fly by in our heads and then we're like okay. how the hell do i write that? and then we get stuck in this loop of "i wanna write but im not good enough," but those restrictions were set by you. no one's telling you not to write poorly, because you can. how do we even determine what is poor writing? how do we decide what good writing is if there is no "bad" writing to contrast it?

take it slow. one at a time. you want to write, so the first step is to meet that craving and honor that desire. so get in front of your laptop or piece of paper and just write. it doesn't have to be good. try a power writing exercise -- set a timer for 30 seconds, give yourself a one-word prompt, and write as MUCH as you can, as quickly as you can.

when you get over the mental block that tells you that writing has to be good the first time you do it, you allow so much more creativity to flow through you. it's like magic, really haha. BUT like i said, be gentle with yourself. it's okay if it sucks at first. it's okay if you could only muster 20 words during that power writing exercise. everyone starts somewhere.

i like to say that whatever we create is an extension of ourselves. we can only meet others -- and we can only reach to create -- as far as we've met ourselves. so let the journey of writing also serve as a journey to self discovery. maybe a perspective like that is daunting, or maybe it's comforting!

but yeah haha best of luck to you and your writing journey! thank you so much for your love and support, i really appreciate you. <3