hi thank you sm for the ask! to be honest i don't really think i'm super great writer, but as far as my history with it goes... well, i'm getting a fine arts degree with an emphasis on writing, but i'm only a freshman in college, so i guess that doesn't really count. otherwise i don't have any special education in writing aside from a single creative writing class i took in high school and the fact that i skipped a grade in english. i do really love to read, though.

you know what they say about artists? how in order to get really good at drawing you just need to pick a fictional character to obsessively draw over and over and over? writing is kind of similar in my opinion. (or like, analysis for writing is.) i read the pjo/hoo series over and over and over and got so obsessed with analyzing nico di angelo that any time we get a single new scrap of information about him i can write a thread about what this means for his character or his backstory or whatever. he and project sekai have really changed how i view media, especially characters.

the book bird by bird by anne lamott (that's an amazon link) also really changed how i view writing. i recommend it to anyone that asks me for tips. i have to add the disclaimer that it was published in 1995 and some of the language is problematic and/or outdated, but the writing advice is incredible. (i'll be summing up some of the advice from it later in this answer when i give you some tips, because i don't want you to feel pressured into spending money unless you want some more information. i'd link a pdf of the book if i could find one).

writing is a hobby for me but i also have to do it. there's something in me that has always itched to tell stories, whether it be through playing pretend on the playground, doing theatre in high school, or putting a fic out there on ao3 during the height of quarantine because i just... had to.

you also learn through trial and error - my sister (my beta reader) and i have an inside joke about how once i wrote about tanjirou from demon slayer doing his taxes for about a thousand words. once they made me rewrite almost an entire chapter of windows because of how terrible it was. (it was chapter 7. chapter 7 is now one of my favorite chapters in the fic so far). so while i feel strongly about 'don't give criticism unless it's asked for' as a general rule, also... don't be afraid to ask for criticism. it's just that random people on ao3 aren't the best place to look for it. if you have any trusted friends that write, ask them. make friends with other people who write or who's character-related takes you agree with and bounce ideas off of them.

but even more importantly: do not be afraid of writing things that are bad. don't speak about writing as if it's a chore or a pain. as someone who likes to write, you know firsthand that language matters. don't be too hard on yourself. in order for others to love your writing, you have to love writing. this goes hand in hand with some other stuff i've heard over the years, like, 'if something is boring to write, it's boring to read'. readers can tell when you care about what you're writing about.

while i'm kind of focusing on fanfic writing here i want to stress that fanfic writing is writing. i do quite a lot of my own original writing on the side and my approach to it hardly changes. respecting your own fanfic writing as writing in its own right will do a lot for you.

here are some tips i've collected from doing peer reviews, reading work on ao3, and being a writer myself:

1. your first draft is going to be bad. do not, under any circumstances, expect your first draft to be good. if you're one of those people that writes something and then publishes it without rereading it at least once... just stop. i actually can link an excerpt from bird by bird here, which i think is required reading for anyone that writes. if you haven't read it, read it.
   now, i bring up this 'write a first draft and then immediately publish it' habit because of other reasons. i used to obsess over every sentence as i was writing and it would kill my creativity. don't do that to yourself! just write what you can -- get that story out on the page -- and then edit it later into the best it can be. no one writes perfect first drafts. as a writer i spend almost more time editing than i do actually writing. the editing phase is important. i've done about six rounds of editing on the first scene of windows 11 alone and when i'm done answering this i'll be on to my seventh.
   that being said, i'm the opposite way -- i write extremely simple first drafts and then add to them as i edit. my first drafts look like scripts. this is because writing emotion often doesn't come naturally to me. whatever you find most natural to you, go with it!

2. however... like i said earlier, language is important. don't just throw words on the page because they sound cool (while you're editing, i mean). is it in character? does it make sense? would it be right for that character in react in that way? to reply in that way? this seems obvious, but it's not. make sure your characters are cohesive. feel free to play with your writing to fit your characters, too: do their emotions affect their worldview? how do you show that through your syntax? a reminder here that when you're writing in third person the narrator becomes a separate character, tasked with writing down the thoughts of the protagonist.

3. i tweeted about this earlier, but -- your characters are human beings. even if they're the most traumatized people on earth, they're human beings. i see this happen with fic quite often and i need it to stop. give your characters some humanity! readers need an entry point. we need to see a daily life -- some essence of normalcy -- before we can watch a character go off the deep end. i always ask myself what my characters like to do in their free time, free of any sort of expectation, stress, or trauma. even if i never mention it in my writing.

4. some writers really love to choose a trope and then fit characters into those roles like a game of mix and match. that's not a good way to do it. i don't even think about tropes when i'm writing... it's really really easy way to limit yourself and also to mischaracterize your characters. to put it simply you cannot write an akito/touya enemies to lovers fic without greatly mischaracterizing both of them; it just doesn't work. you can't force your characters into acting a certain way they're not meant to act. this is an issue i have with a lot of prsk fic honestly -- stop seeing fic writing as 'playing with tropes'. it's a cheap way of looking at character, narrative, and writing itself.

5. speaking of character. when i say they're people, i mean it. often times the process of coming up with a character is like getting to know someone. you learn how they act and then you learn why they act that way. this is admittedly a hard thing to explain, and is more important in original work than fic writing, but... as a writer, you are not 'god'. you cannot see your characters as pawns. you are simply a fly on the wall writing down what's happening. this is part of why it doesn't work to force characters into a plot or a trope -- it's ingenuine. let your characters bump around each other and a plot will come to you naturally.

6. descriptive language isn't everything. do not force yourself to use figurative language in every sentence, that's not how it works. sometimes the air is just cold. sometimes the sky is just blue. sometimes people just say things. overused figurative language is tiring to read and takes away from the few instances of it that are beautiful. there is not a single person on earth who comes up with a simile or metaphor for every single thing and i guarantee you your protagonist is not that way either. i've read a lot of fic that tries to be 'beautiful' in its language and just comes off as melodramatic and cringey. it's okay to be simple. sometimes simplicity is even more beautiful than metaphor.

7. i don't really have a preference between writing from a pre-existing plot vs writing something as it comes to you, i've sort of done both, where i have a very basic framework for a plot and then add details as i continue writing chapters. both kinds of writing are okay. i think for chapter-by-chapter writing, like multi-chapter fic writing, having a basic plot in mind is good because you have to work in chunks, and once something is published, it's published. you can't really go back.

that's about all i really have at the moment. if you have any other questions for me i'd be happy to answer them. i've really just been writing for a long time and improved that way. i hope this was somewhat helpful. good luck on your future writing endeavors! i know it can seem taxing but it really is worth it! :D

hi! thank you so much omg! this made me super happy, i'll do my best to give you some touya tips!

to be honest, since windows was started so early, windows touya is fundamentally different from canon touya. windows touya is a derivative of pre-canon touya, before we even had the main story, and more of his characterization comes from me than anywhere else. they're such different characters in my head to the point where if i was to write something from canon touya's POV i would probably take a different approach.

but since you're asking, i'll try to take kind of a middle road here, somewhere between touya in contrary and touya in windows.

it definitely helped last time when i identified a key trait and then went from there -- for touya, i think it's probably how observant he is of people. i tend to like to write touya as a perpetual outsider-looking-in, so to speak. he watches how other people interact with things and with each other, and then makes calculated judgements about himself based on that. these judgements aren't always correct, but they reflect how he feels about himself.

for example, in vbs's main story, touya watches how dedicated akito is, decides he'll never be as dedicated himself, and quits. even though akito knows how much touya truly loves music and never told touya anything to make him think otherwise. similarly, in walk on and on, touya decides to start learning how to compose after seeing an and akito talk about writing music. in the main story, it's because of his underlying feelings of inadequacy, and in walk, it's because he doesn't want to feel useless.

this brings me to my next point: touya's strength. i feel like a lot of people write touya to be somewhat wishy-washy or weak and that's not true at all. he doesn't like having to rely on akito for things; he's surprisingly decisive, as seen in his relationship with his father (more on this later) and in sdsc. when he sets his mind on something he's unlikely to let it go. this can be good, but it can also be not good when he makes judgements about how other people see him or about himself compared to other people (see above two paragraphs). this is honestly one of the main things about touya that i like to keep in mind when i write him, and one of the main things that defines his character for me.

now... touya and his father. i think it's important to remember what exactly harumichi controlled in touya's life: his means of self-expression. touya was taught from a young age that his emotions didn't matter - they were secondary to the composer's. this is half a metaphor and half not a metaphor. he doesn't necessarily minimize them, nor is he an 'emotionless' character by any means. he just doesn't think of his feelings as important compared to anyone else's. obviously, he can't last like that forever: for example, he decides he hates music, he rebels against his father, etc, etc. it's for this reason that when i write from touya's POV i keep him separate from his emotions to a certain extent and only have him really feel the emotions that turn his world upside down.

i firmly believe touya's struggle to express emotion on his face is just touya being touya. maybe it goes hand in hand with his idea that his emotions aren't as important as other peoples', but i also just think it's a touya thing. it's more or less because of how akito seems to act about it: it's just touya being touya. in fact, when touya does make these independent decisions, you often times can see it on his face. this is all to say i feel strongly about touya's autism-coding. (this also has to do with his habit of watching people, how gullible he is, his monotone voice, the fact that he seems 'cold' to others, the fact that he finds the noise of the arcade 'soothing', etc, etc.)

otherwise, about his father... everyone says this, but touya doesn't hate harumichi. touya has decided to live his life the way he wants to, to put himself and what he wants before what harumichi wants, and that's obviously the beginning of him learning to value his own emotions as being as important as everyone else's. but he also wants harumichi to respect him for doing such. multiple times he tries to extend a hand to harumichi to talk about music (i think the most recent is during way out, when he tries to talk to him about composing). every single time, harumichi refuses. there's nothing touya can do at this point, the ball is in harumichi's court, so to speak.

it's hard to define their relationship outside of a narrative, in case you're trying to write an au or something, but basically, harumichi controls touya's relationship with art. he decides how touya should interact with and learn music, how touya should always put the composer's intentions before his own, how he should play with an empty mind and focus only on the black and white of the sheet music in front of him.

no matter what, though, touya loves music. he never hated it in the first place. whenever i write him i make a conscious effort to never write anything that could suggest otherwise. his fes card is the best place to look for more on this.

i've gone far enough without mentioning akito besides in passing, haven't i? more or less the elephant in the room. it's pretty obvious that touya is extremely grateful for akito, and as much as he wants akito to learn to rely on others more, touya wants to be more reliable. if i'm honest there's not much else i can say about the two of them without going into akito analysis as well, but i think it's important to know both akito and touya admire the other greatly. i guess i'll leave it here that in windows what touya admires in akito as 'passion' (or love), akito forsakes as anger and spite. that drives a lot of how i characterize their relationship. do with it what you will. (if i tried to explain this i'd risk a) spoiling everything and b) going off on a wild tangent).

that's about it. some little details: he is a bookworm!!! i think this tends to go unnoticed by the fandom which sucks. he has a quote somewhere where he says he won't start a new book by his favorite author too late at night because he knows he'll be up all night reading it. he likes mystery novels the best. he does not question the rules: such as when he thinks akito had actually been drinking underage and attempts to hold him accountable. nocturnes are important to his character somewhat - aside from 'period of nocturne', he's also playing the first few notes of a nocturne on the piano in a flashback during walk. he has two older brothers who don't live at home anymore and, from the way touya talks about them, more likely to be on harumichi's side than touya's.

just a final note because i wanted to mention this and forgot: when something catches his interest, he gets very excited, such as puyopuyo, or when he watches tsukasa's plays, etc. (speaking of tsukasa, i could probably write even more about that relationship, but i'll save it). bottom line, touya does not think anything is weird -- he has a genuine interest in everything he's not already familiar with, because he loves to learn new things about the world.

that should be it... apologies for how long this got again. like usual if there's anything you'd like me to expand on or clarify i'd be happy to do so. thanks for your patience on this and have a wonderful day!

HELLO YES! you came to the right place! i'll focus on them more separately than together and i'll try not to diverge into analysis as best i can. let me know if there's any clarification you need.

first of all, this is challenging, but throw out literally every single preconceived notion you've ever had about both of them. their fanon personalities really aren't good foundations if you're trying to learn how to write them in character. if you think of minori as a honoka or chika (love live protagonist) type character you've already lost. absolutely no hate to either of them of course (honoka is my muse oshi and chika is my third favorite member of aqours). the comparison just makes no sense.

for minori: positivity is key. ignore the idol fan thing, or the 'girlfail' thing, and get to know that first of all. positivity despite everything is minori's key trait. she's able to spin anything into a good thing - in past self, a bird poops on her bag, and she thinks maybe it's a sign that something good is going to happen. minori uses this positive attitude to combat her inner feelings of inferiority, too - it's not something that comes naturally to her. she's very very strong in that way.

otherwise, relying too much on minori's habit of being clumsy or misspeaking will make your characterization seem cheap and surface level (to big minori oshis like myself, at least). same goes for her being an idol fan. of course, these are still prominent parts of her personality, but using her constantly as comic relief is not quite right (shizuku is usually the comic relief in more more jump's group dynamic, anyway). minori admires haruka very much, and haruka is the reason why she was able to adopt her positive outlook, but if you'll believe me, entire more more jump event stories pass without a 'minori being gay' moment, especially with their current characters (in jp). this doesn't only screw up minori, but haruka too.

minori is determined and positive as a show of strength. she went through a lot to prove herself of being capable of being a member of more more jump. in more more jump's dynamic minori represents fans - not just because she's a fangirl, but because she's the backbone of the group. as what past self seems to say, the relationship between a fan and an idol is two sided. the fans are the reason the idols are able to stay on stage. as minori says herself, "an idol is not just someone who delivers hope to everyone. they also receive hope from everyone." she is hardworking and endlessly grateful.

a few other little quirks of hers: she likes to talk to herself and pretend she's on an idol show. she is better at speaking on impulse rather than planning speeches (according to airi). her parents are realists but supportive of her, telling her "millions of people just like you want to be idols, but if you've decided on it, there's nothing we can do but support you." she likes to write in a diary. she has a habit of over-explaining and rambling a little. she's prone to doing slightly dumb things (mindlessly opening the stage door in front of the entire audience at the end of past self). she bites her tongue a lot. her unique talent in more more jump is a fan's eye - she knows how to maximize exactly what a fan wants to see.

(connected to her habit of rambling - she's used to people finding her overly excited about things. it's how she expresses her love for things; she rattles off everything she can without thinking.)

that said - she's also really, really gay. i don't want to downplay that. she can't look at haruka in the eye for a second without losing her mind. she thinks of haruka as her 'lifelong goal'. but it's because haruka saved her from a pretty dark place and gave her this dream that she feels so strongly about. as gay as she is for laughs, haruka does mean a lot to her, genuinely. but like, especially now, the two of them are completely capable of talking without minori overheating or blushing or whatever. all in moderation.

that brings me to haruka. haruka is more of a 'reactionary' character - she reacts to what happens to her rather than causing things to happen. but like positivity is the key to minori, when writing haruka, thinking is key. overthinking, even. i'll get more into this with some examples in a second, but i want to put that out there first and foremost.

quiet, careful, and professional, haruka is an idol through and through. unlike airi, for example, who has different attitudes on and off stage (not that she's two faced or anything - airi's character arc specifically addresses how her onstage and offstage selves are both her) haruka is a 'perfect idol' because she really just... acts like that. she's charming and kind and formal all the time. like with minori, leaning too much into that isn't exactly accurate, but it's still true.

i'm going to assume you've at least read more more jump's main story - haruka's trauma still very much affects her. she can stand on stage now, and all that, but she's extremely afraid of her words being used against her (more on this in a second). she's quiet and professional because she feels as though being an idol and giving hope is her duty. they're feelings she can't give up no matter what happens to her. this is what painful hope is about - she couldn't quit being an idol in the end because her feelings were so strong. haruka has 'giving hope' on the mind every day, all day.

quick side note: haruka is not great with feelings. like her name suggests, she's a little distant. in HLE, when she notices airi may be having a problem, she asks shizuku to ask airi about it instead of asking airi herself. this goes hand in hand with how haruka didn't smile as a child until she was introduced to idols. haruka shows she cares by putting in work: whether it be to fix someone's problem, or to thank her fans for their support.

now for haruka's love of overthinking: it's a sort of safety net for her. in beyond the dream she's glad she overthinks because she could move forward without any worries instead of being unsure. in beyond the dream, her issue is the media: she's worried about more more jump's message being misrepresented through editing. that's because of what happened in the main story: she's extremely afraid of hurting people again.

otherwise, haruka is very thankful for minori and loves more more jump more than anything else. out of any of the members she probably feels the strongest about giving people hope (in beyond the dream, 'giving people hope' is likened to giving people a reason to live, by the way. that's a lot for a sixteen year old to shoulder.)

a few extra things about haruka: she wakes up extremely early and is very self disciplined. she has the habit of taking things literally sometimes (seeming to think airi would actually 'attack enemy idols' on her show). she has a competitive streak, best showcased in her relationship with an. like the rest of her members, she's very analytical. she can be mischievous sometimes - this especially comes out in some of her habit of slightly passive aggressively teasing airi. she doesn't mind working hard (after all, she loves being an idol. why should she take a break from doing something that she loves?) she is extremely proud of minori and views her as an equal. haruka is quietly extremely gay - it's all about the warm smiles at minori's back and the unfinished sentences with her.

this has gotten extremely long, and i'm sorry. i hope it helps! like i said if there's anything else you want more information on i would be happy to clarify for you (i have more detailed notes but they aren't with me right now). if you want me to review certain scenes for you from whatever you're writing i would be happy to do so as well. i'm really happy that you're at least trying to write them well, a lot of people just give up or don't care. have a wonderful day!

hi! sorry for the super late response, but better late than never, right? (also this is EMBARRASSINGLY long. bear with me)

i have a few tricks up my sleeve for writing, although they're really what works for me, so i can't guarantee they'll work for you. writing is a form of art, and just like painting or music, everyone's approach to creation will be different.

one of the most important things to my writing is music! a lot of my fic concepts start out as a single scene inspired by a song: the easiest i example i can think of is windows being inspired by yoru ni kakeru by yoasobi, although the scene i'm referring to probably won't even be published for at least another ten chapters. i have a historical magic/vampire au i hope to publish soon that came to me while i was listening to the main theme for castle in the sky, my favorite studio ghibli movie. i'll turn off all the lights, lay down, and listen to music until i get into the right mood. often times lyrics have nothing to do with either. it's just vibe.

i like to take walks when it's dark out. i listen to my music, find a bench, and think. sometimes i'll pause the music for a bit and just listen to the quiet. in my experience it's good to get out to a 'neutral' place such as a park, a field, or even a library when you're doing any kind of creative work instead of places you're used to, like an at-home desk, a bed, or a kitchen table. it eliminates a lot of distractions and helps me focus, personally. a lot of my windows chapter 10 motivation came to me while i was sitting in a field and staring at the moon in silence. it sounds very, very silly, but it's true.

i also write based off my own mental state, which can be problematic, so it's not really a recommendation, but it's true for me. sometimes i have trouble writing touya's POV because he's very much influenced by a bout of depression and loneliness i experienced during quarantine. sometimes i feel like in order to write him genuinely i have to get into that headspace again which has the undeniable potential to be harmful for my mental health, but i've gotten better at separating my own mental state from his.

i bring this up because i do think a lot of my best writing is done when i'm feeling the same emotions my characters are. that's how i know my 'heart is in it', because it literally feels like it is. like i said, writing is an art, and that's the nature of a lot of art. it is absolutely possible to use your own emotions as a way to fuel your own motivation to write without relying too much on it. these emotions don't have to be negative, either!

final long paragraph-y thing is: seek out new experiences that relate to whatever it is you're writing. i'm working on an original historical fiction piece right now, and i get a lot of motivation whenever i'm able to go somewhere relating to the period it's set in, read literature from the time, et cetera. when i write fanfiction i like to consume content of the characters i haven't yet, including fan content! scrolling pinterest is also 100% recommended but beware of distraction lol

sorry if this is all a little convoluted. if you've read stuff i've written you'd know that it's near impossible for me to write things that aren't character studies or emotionally charged in one way or another. (contrary is the closest i've gotten, and i struggled with that a LOT.) if you're trying to find motivation to write fluff i am unfortunately not the author to ask. everything for me is somewhat of a personal emotional undertaking. writing doesn't have to be like that for you, and it doesn't make your writing less genuine or anything if you're more laid back about it! all writing is artistic expression no matter what!

here are a few much more simple tips:
- i almost always like to have some kind of hot drink while i write. coffee usually (especially if i'm writing windows), tea, or hot cocoa are my go tos.
- i am autistic and adhd and sometimes i need to stim while i write, otherwise i end up chewing my fingernails or just completely losing interest while i'm trying to think over a sentence. if you tend to feel restless while you write, try finding something to fidget with!
- if you make a playlist specifically for writing, do not listen to it in any other circumstance. make your brain associate that specific playlist with writing. otherwise your writing playlist will do absolutely nothing for you. (i've learned this the hard way.)
- see if there's a time of day you tend to want to write, and then try to organize your schedule around that. if you're like me, and you always want to write exactly when you can't, like at work, keep a pen and a few post-its notes around to jot down phrases or small ideas for later.
- do not tear yourself up over bad writing, especially in your first draft. your first draft is supposed to be bad. save editing for later, first drafts are for getting the story down on the page. some of my first drafts look like scripts: almost entirely dialogue with only basic actions noted. worry about beautiful descriptions and language later -- just get that story out of your head. (if there's a certain piece of description you want to write but don't have the energy for right now, leave a note or a comment about it on the document/page. no one's going to see your first draft but you.)

that's about all i can think of at the moment! sorry this is so long and so late but i wanted to help as best i could! let me know if there's anything else you want to know or if anything here helps you out!