Hi Kai! Since you are like a veteran I would like to ask some opinions (if you are comfortable sharing of course!) I am interested in starting writing some fanfics (mainly because I want more content for my otp lol) Do you have any tips? Like do you plan everything first, and do you do anything specific to try and get better at writing? ——— Omg hello!! I'm glad that i can be classified as a veteran now 🤣 id love to share some things!! So happy you're getting into the world of fanfic!! 🩷 To try and get better at writing, i would say do your best to not repeat words in quick succession. Like, having a paragraph consistently start with "the" or "she", or you keep using a specific adjective. Of course, no one is COMPLETELY free of this, i definitely still do it a lot 🤣 but it's good to be aware and use other adjective. My second thing is not to stress too much. You're learning! Have fun!! Try different tropes!! Different styles! Figure out what POV works for you!! 1st or 3rd person?? Or maybe the rare 2nd person! I dunno!! It's just exciting that you're writing! In terms of planning, i dont typically plan for smaller stories unless it's for a zine. And even then, i still don't plan that extensively. I feel it is good to let the writing spirit take over, and write whatever the hell comes out. Its not like you dont get to edit it later. Planning is much better suited for longform stories, like longfics or books, or even novellas. And on the term of editing, edit if you want to. When you're just starting out, editing can hit you at a road block of feeling like your writing isn't "adequate enough", and you start comparing yourself to other writers. If you do, and it makes you feel bad, just remember that if you like my fics, i never edit them. It's good for my self concious, because if people like my unedited works, i KNOW my edited ones will be even better. Don't feel pressured to post your fics anywhere, too. It can just be for you, or you and a couple of others. Its good to get feedback, but some writing communities don't understand that you're still learning to write. It's like my first point: don't stress too much. It's your story, damn it, and you'll write it as you see fit. For learning emotions, the BEST thing you can do is people watch. When you're in a line somewhere, watch how someone grips their cart in annoyance with how its taking too long, or how someone keeps shifting because they dont like being in close proximity to the old man not aware that him and his cart are too close as he's squinting at a newspaper. You can learn a lot from people and how their thoughts are just by looking at how they move. Body language is important!! And it's cool how people move!! It can be more telling when you describe how a person moves rather than stating their thoughts aloud. And also, just keep writing. You're gonna hate your writing first starting out. Or you're gonna hate a specific piece. That's fine. But keep those pieces, even if you never go back to them. They're a good indication of how far you've come :) I'm super happy that you're starting to write!!!!!! It's FUN, and it HELPS SO MUCH in getting your emotions out! Write consistently, write what you're interested in, and write for your own damn self!! 🩷🩷🩷🩷 Oh, and for learning tropes, Overly Sarcastic Productions on youtube has a playlist on JUST tropes called Trope Talk, and it's an AMAZING breakdown on tropes and really gets the brain thinking about stories you would write with them 🤭 Hope this helps at all!! Dunno if it does, but im excited you're writing all the same 🩷🩷🩷