fukn psycho
According to the actual rules of Jenga, this is not a legal move and is equivalent to causing a collapse.
Anonymous asked:
I really want to start writing fanfiction but... the knowledge that my writing is going to suck and will be cringeworthy scares me so much that I just can't start. I have so many ideas for so many fandoms and have so many notes on them, but *actually* writing? sharing it with people? scares the crap out of me and paralyses me. Especially when I see how new writers get nearly no feedback at all and kind of have to guess what's wrong with their writing. Any tips?
heywriters answered:
When Writing
- Don’t post it until you’re satisfied.
- Write the story you want to read and polish it until it’s just right.
- Get your formatting, grammar, tenses, and punctuation to a clean standard. Online readers uniformally sigh with relief when a fic is tidy, even those that can enjoy any hot mess.
- Always take your time! Fanfic’s for the writer first and foremost!
Before Posting
- On whatever site you intend on posting on, read/review/follow like a normal user and establish a little presence there.
- Post a couple practice one-shots, small things you don’t care too much about, just to test the waters as well as give readers an idea of the fandoms you’re into and the kind of stories you like to tell.
- Don’t post if you think it’s scary. It’s not, I promise, but don’t stress out!
After Posting
- Never assume there’s something wrong with the writing because if there is readers will tell you.
- Low readership early on is normal.
- Usually though, readership will stay low because there’s something lacking in your blurb, tags, or other searchable/promotional aspects that should draw people to it in the first place.
General Posting Tips for Fanfic
- If it’s a small fandom, you may never get much traffic.
- If it’s a currently happening fandom, time your updates to big events within fandom (when possible). Ex: if I post a Marvel one-shot about a movie that just came out, readership will go through the roof for that fic because it’s the first one out there.
- Try doing that once ^ just to get readers and feedback. It’s a great way to get attention fast.
- Rare but beloved ships can also get surprise reads from people desperate for that ship.
Enjoy yourself. Don’t be scared. Take your time.
I always write fanfiction with a “first draft final draft” mentality. Like it may not be my best most revised work, but I had fun writing it and that’s what mattered most.
Touchy da kitty. (sound on to hear sweet mews)
If that’s not the universal feline way of saying “Yes? What?” Then I don’t know what is.
Right now, I’m sifting through 50+ applications for a new entry-level position. Here’s some advice from the person who will actually be looking at your CV/resume and cover letter:
- ‘You must include a cover letter’ does not mean ‘write a single line about why you want this position’. If you can’t be bothered to write at least one actual paragraphs about why you want this job, I can’t be bothered to read your CV.
- Don’t bother including a list of your interests if all you can think of is ‘socialising with friends’ and ‘listening to music’. Everyone likes those things. Unless you can explain why the stuff you do enriches you as a person and a candidate (e.g. playing an instrument or a sport shows dedication and discipline) then I honestly don’t care how you spend your time. I won’t be looking at your CV thinking ‘huh, they haven’t included their interests, they must have none’, I’m just looking for what you have included.
- Even if you apply online, I can see the filename you used for your CV. Filenames that don’t include YOUR name are annoying. Filenames like ‘CV - media’ tell me that you’ve got several CVs you send off depending on the kind of job advertised and that you probably didn’t tailor it for this position. ‘[Full name] CV’ is best.
- USE. A. PDF. All the meta information, including how long you worked on it, when you created it, times, etc, is right there in a Word doc. PDFs are far more professional looking and clean and mean that I can’t make any (unconscious or not) decisions about you based on information about the file.
- I don’t care what the duties in your previous unrelated jobs were unless you can tell me why they’re useful to this job. If you worked in a shop, and you’re applying for an office job which involves talking to lots of people, don’t give me a list of stuff you did, write a sentence about how much you enjoyed working in a team to help everyone you interacted with and did your best to make them leave the shop with a smile. I want to know what makes you happy in a job, because I want you to be happy within the job I’m advertising.
- Does the application pack say who you’ll be reporting to? Can you find their name on the company website? Address your application to them. It’s super easy and shows that you give enough of a shit to google something. 95% of people don’t do this.
- Tell me who you are. Tell me what makes you want to get up in the morning and go to work and feel fulfilled. Tell me what you’re looking for, not just what you think I’m looking for.
- I will skim your CV. If you have a bunch of bullet points, make every one of them count. Make the first one the best one. If it’s not interesting to you, it’s probably not interesting to me. I’m overworked and tired. Make my job easy.
- “I work well in a team or individually” okay cool, you and everyone else. If the job means you’ll be part of a big team, talk about how much you love teamwork and how collaborating with people is the best way to solve problems. If the job requires lots of independence, talk about how you are great at taking direction and running with it, and how you have the confidence to follow your own ideas and seek out the insight of others when necessary. I am profoundly uninterested in cookie-cutter statements. I want to know how you actually work, not how a teacher once told you you should work.
- For an entry-level role, tell me how you’re looking forward to growing and developing and learning as much as you can. I will hire genuine enthusiasm and drive over cherry-picked skills any day. You can teach someone to use Excel, but you can’t teach someone to give a shit. It makes a real difference.
This is my advice for small, independent orgs like charities, etc. We usually don’t go through agencies, and the person reading through the applications is usually the person who will manage you, so it helps if you can give them a real sense of who you are and how you’ll grab hold of that entry level position and give it all you’ve got. This stuff might not apply to big companies with actual HR departments - it’s up to you to figure out the culture and what they’re looking for and mirror it. Do they use buzzwords? Use the same buzzwords! Do they write in a friendly, informal way? Do the same! And remember, 95% of job hunting (beyond who you know and flat-out nepotism, ugh) is luck. If you keep getting rejected, it’s not because you suck. You might just need a different approach, or it might just take the right pair of eyes landing on your CV.
And if you get rejected, it’s worthwhile asking why. You’ve already been rejected, the worst has already happened, there’s really nothing bad that can come out of you asking them for some constructive feedback (politely, informally, “if it isn’t too much trouble”). Pretty much all of us have been hopeless jobseekers at one point or another. We know it’s shitty and hard and soul-crushing. Friendliness goes a long way. Even if it’s just one line like “your cover letter wasn’t inspiring" at least you know where to start.
And seriously, if you have any friends that do any kind of hiring or have any involvement with that side of things, ask them to look at your CV with a big red pen and brutal honesty. I do this all the time, and the most important thing I do is making it so their CV doesn’t read exactly like that of every other person who took the same ‘how-to-get-a-job’ class in school. If your CV has a paragraph that starts with something like ‘I am a highly motivated and punctual individual who–’ then oh my god I AM ALREADY ASLEEP.
Very good post thanks for this.
Excellent advice for building and submitting job application documents.
This is the first good resume advice post I’ve seen on this site. Much better advice than the “lists of active verbs to use” and “here are resume templates”. Follow this advice.
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