hello! (i hope you don’t mind if i make this public) first of all it’s very very kind of you to say those things about my writing i’m REALLY FLATTERED? idk man messages like this are the kind i dream about getting. DREAM.

(but cut bc this is loooong)

ahem, okay, as for my own process - it’s definitely the most unorganized thing and if you’re looking for a coherent guide i’m not your girl, but basically it’s something like this:

• get an idea for a scene/line of dialogue/dynamic/etc
• make a notes document where i copy down stray bits of dialogue, scenes that i want to do, things i want to incorporate, quotes that remind me of it. basically everything i think of or see that has to do with the story - in practice or in theory - goes in here. and it’s def not a thing that gets made before i start writing - i’m not much for planning ahead - but rather grows as the story grows. i don’t really write ahead as a general rule (except in the case of going back to add in a scene) so i just make sure i remember everything i think of to do with the story, whether it makes it into the final draft or not
• i write 1k a day until i’m finished, give or take a little bit. so if the fic is 6k i’d write it for 6 days (or 7 if i skip one) but i’m usually pretty even in my output. it’s a rare day that i’ll go above in beyond, bc i find it tires me out a lot to write up to 2 or 3k in one day. 1 is my happy medium
• once i finish a first draft, i take a couple of editing days where i go back and read it over, rewriting lines and switching around things that need to be switched and cutting out extraneous things (well, i try to anyway)
• ideally then, i take a while and work on another project, then come back and do another edit to make sure everything flows well. if i’m on a time limit, i don’t always have time to edit as much as i want, unfortunately, but when i do i think it really helps

i hope some of that helps? i really really can’t stress the importance of editing enough, or how much you’re going to hate your first drafts and how that’s okay. just work on it until you’re satisfied or just damn tired of it, i guess? idk, i want to say ‘make it the best you can!’ but i don’t follow my own advice most of the time bc i’m lazy

as for the second part of your question? uh? structural elements. i suppose i’m just very insistent about good writing. like, it’s a rare fic or even novel that i’ll read if the prose is anything less than quite good (the exceptions being porn, things with very good dialogue, and stuff for parings or characters that i’m SO INTO atm that i don’t even care that much). i really like interesting sentences, like, ones that aren’t regurgitated constantly in every work of fiction everywhere. i like when people say what they mean, and i do like flowery poeticism, but not just for poeticism’s sake, you know? i like it to communicate something, to make sense, to read a metaphor or a bit of descriptive language and think “oh man, that’s exactly what it’s like” because otherwise it just feels needless.

i have to admit i’m a bit of a hypocrite bc i suffer from a bit too much poeticism in my writing, and i think that comes from the fear of being dull and having my prose be indistinguishable from other people’s, so i sort of overcompensate and become too stylized. i’m working on it tho. everything is a work in progress.

i try (and arguably fail?) to really cut down on the amount of words in my writing when i’m editing. like, less is more, that’s the idea. if the sentence doesn’t do anything there take it out. my problem is i’m self-congratulatory and i’m like “man but it’s pretty i waaaaant it” and that’s why i write 10k+ chapters for my wip and therefore should be shot.

idk man the best thing anybody can do is write and write a lot. quantity over quality is my motto, bc you can always go back and fix the quality. the hardest part is just getting it down, i think?