I was going to send my book to an agent this summer, but even after two years of editing, my book is absolute shit. I have a thousand other fucking projects I’m trying to get on with, but this was the project I felt most strongly toward and was most excited about but it’s dogcrap. I swear to fucking God.

I am having a fucking crisis. Should I just give up?

Apologies for profanity

148

183 comments

13

Posted by3 hours ago

Advice

How to stop overusing adverbs

Stephen King once said, "I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs."

Mark Twain once said, "If you see an adverb, kill it."

And I agree, and I'm trying to, but I'm having a lot of difficulty. I never realized just how many I use in my writing. I agree with the general advice of replacing it with stronger, more specific verbs, but somethings it's very difficult.

Ex. how do I fix "Mia just giggles and pokes his chest playfully."

"he trudged up the front steps and shakily unlocked the door."

"he could easily control their movement."

"see her open her eyes blearily."

These are just some examples. And don't even get me started on the amount of exactly's, immediately's, and finally's. Any advice?

13

16 comments

53

Posted by12 hours ago

Who else completely avoids naming a character the same name as someone you know/know of in real life?

I thought this was because of social anxiety but a lot of people do this. For me, it's definitely wanting to separate my stories from my real life because writing is like an escape. I'm writing a story right now and I've named a boy, now realising I know of someone irl with that name and now regret it, but too late I suppose because I've already posted half of the story online.

53

22 comments

10

Posted by4 hours ago

Advice

About to go on a pretend writer's retreat!

I'm moving to a new city for a job that starts August 1st. I'll have about a month alone in an apartment with nothing to do but unpack, so I'm treating it like a writing retreat.

What I'd really like to do is finish my final draft of a full-length novel, and I think if I used my time wisely, that is something I could do. At least, I could get really close to it.

What are some things I should do now to prepare myself, and my manuscript? Like, if you've ever done something like this what did you do to prepare for it? Any organization or note-taking advice? How should I use my time in the best posssible way to incorporate any rewrites, edits, any structural changes, etc that may come along? Do you like pen & paper editing or digital?

I guess just whatever you've got, let me know! I'm so excited and so scared and so ready for this.

10

2 comments

62

Posted by15 hours ago

Advice

Men constantly become violent/aggressive in my stories...how do I change that?

This sounds dumb, but is true: As a kid, I grew up with a lot of violence. Men, in my family, school, but also on the street, were either utterly angry or utterly indifferent at all time. I saw & been involved in fights with guys, a lot of the time. When asked why they started a fight, the answer was always simple: "She made me angry."

Due to this, I didn't really socialize with guys till I was an adult. And while I do know some "opposite examples" now, this shit is still bleeding in my writing. Like, I've been writing a script with around 5 main male characters. In general I treated them like every other character: Character, motivations etc. However, now a Beta-Reader informed me that they all sound needlessly aggressive. Like: Rude, cold and/or indifferent. Very strong in contrast to the female characters, who are very "normal", including empathy, kindness and "often sounding like the last wall between a full out massacre sometimes".

Now, obviously I don't want that. I live for four-dimensional characters. But looking through my other stories, I can def see a pattern: Men (if not the LI) are often villains. There are grumpy old men, shitty fathers, sociopathic Mafia bosses etc. "Positive" examples, are mostly just variations of 1.) My cousin (very nice, extroverted guy) and 2.) character-types I picked from other stories (e.g. "old man who is too invested in his grandson's love life")

Any advice? Cause at this rate, I'll paint a very, very bad picture and I hate it

62

111 comments