I'll keep this short and sweet. I see a lot of posts on here asking "is it okay to write about _______" or "I'm *insert characteristic* is it okay if I write about ______?" The answer is always going to be yes.
You can write about racial issues. You can write POC characters as a white person. You can write female characters as a male. You can write about genocide, violence, sex, nudity, whatever you want to. You aren't restricted or not restricted from writing specific topics, ever. That's it. That's all I got to say.
None of these will make you better writer, but they’ll help you write more freely. They also might help you avoid getting annihilated in the other sub when you post here. Here are 5 things to stop doing:
Stop fetishizing ideas. Your idea is nothing without execution. A cool concept is fun to talk about for 5 minutes, but it isn’t a story. If you are not writing, the idea is useless. And when you are writing, the overall idea is still only 1/3 as important, max, as the writing itself. You gotta stop patting yourself on the back because you thought of something you think is cool. It’s a first step of 10,000 steps, not an achievement. Understanding this should make you more excited to explore what the idea contains, through writing, rather than playing tourist in your own creative genius (which is tempting, but will stop you from ever actually doing anything).
Stop thinking about theme. Themes arise organically through story. They cannot be forced through some kind of pre-planned intellectual overlay. It’s too obvious and makes bad writing. Trust your brain to subconsciously put themes underneath your story. Take away the distraction of trying to make your story mean something. It already does. When you’re about 50-70% through writing it, you will know what its themes are, because they showed up by themselves. Then you go back and strengthen them and tie everything together. Having a theme is just another way of saying that the story understands itself. Trying to force it to mean something from the outside will come off pretentious or amateurish. Knowing this will allow you to write freely, trusting that themes will naturally float to the surface (they really will).
Stop obsessing over tropes/originality. This goes with tip number one. The idea really doesn’t need to be all that special. All that matters is the story that’s begging you to release it from its useless idea-kernel so it can fill real pages. If the scenes and characters captivate you, then all this nonsense about tropes is just noise. And in the end, if you’ve really brought nothing new to the table, at least you finished something. Going hand in hand with this: read as much as you can so you organically build a world of reference. If you’ve only read 10 books total but are trying to write one, what do you expect? But writing is not the time to be paranoid about what’s already out there.
Stop building worlds. Your fictional world, absent a story, is little more than the ravings of a madman scribbling nonsense into an atlas. From here on in, if you are writing, you should understand wordbuilding only as the act of showing the world via the story. It should feel accidental. Of course, this means understanding your world. But again, give your mind a chance to relax and surprise you. Stop trying to create your own silmarrilion. It’s not even remotely necessary to tell a great story in a complex world. In fact, it will only distract you from the real goal of writing a finished story in the first place. If you are only building worlds, and not worldbuilding through story, you are not writing. You’re daydreaming. Understanding this should motivate you to put your world to action through a concrete story.
Stop talking. This is a known tip for creative work in general, but I think it’s most potent for writers. Shut up about your stories until they’re done. Tell people you’re writing a book, sure, but do not give details beyond basic plot. Stop posting snippets or sentences or first drafts of the first chapter. Stop asking for feedback about a character arc nobody will have any clue about anyway since they haven’t read the book or been in your mind. The key to finishing things is to shut the fuck up about them. It’s weird, but it’s true. When you understand this, you will channel you’re excitement about the project back into the project, rather than letting it dissipate into shallow conversation or feedback. You will write more, and with more fire to finish and show the world what you’ve done.
Thank you for your time.
I'll keep this short. Every single post in this sub is concerning the most mundane, inconsequential aspects of writing that it blows my mind you manage to get anything written at all.
It's takes HALF A DAY at most to learn the basics of writing a legible story.
READ, for gods sake! How many people there are who just ask, "How do I write a tragedy?", "What do you do for a sex scene?", "What should my first paragraph be?" is baffling to me.
If you want to write, you have to read, dammit. Reading will answer all of your questions.
ESPECIALLY ignore the buffoons who throw out advice like it's gospel, they've found something that works for them (if it even does, people are famously poor judges of their own work) not for you.
The only advice you need is to f**king READ and WRITE.
(And stop trying to be so original when you start out. The classics work for a reason. Just trust in your own abilities. All your improvements come in the moment, not before!)
I've seen people sprout so much love for artists, streamers and etc they enjoy. They even tip them just for breathing. Meanwhile, writers don't get this much outcry except those are exceptionally known for obvious reasons. Why is this?
Is this because writing is a medium that takes more effort from readers to get into, compared to art and music where consumers can quickly determine if they like something or not?
I have a bit of a raw anxiety with vulnerability undertones as I'm typing this. I cannot believe my story, for all intents and purposes is done. I know I have a long way to go but I feel like I learned so much and I had this as a bucket list item since I was little.
Here's a few things that worked for me (Non-EN native speaker):
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I'm trained as a journalist and stopped enjoying writing when I had to. Turns out, I had to write every day. I'm a paid contributor on Medium and I write about 3-4 articles a year, if that. When writing a novel, I sat down every single day even though I dreaded it and it worked. I had days where I spent two hours on a paragraph because I was immersed in the scene and I needed to feel it, I had days in which I wrote 3,000+ words of dialogue only.
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I didn't have an outline. My story is a psychological drama/romance with plenty of sex. Everything came naturally. What started out as my MC turned out to be the least important character, I just kept going and the story itself made me write things I would've never thought of during an outline.
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My three major characters each have a journey (MC1, MC2 and supporting character. My 4th doesn't but that is OK) and my theme came along with their journey. All I knew from the beginning that I will have two couples, but I had no idea what their issues will be and how they'll be solved. I was actually surprised to see how their arc has a common theme and it was very interesting to explore the different manifestations of that. Everyone went full circle.
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My title then came naturally itself. When I found it, I also felt it. I had a working title, but the moment I found the title (halfway through 3rd draft) I felt like I found the missing piece.
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I'm very bad at beginnings. It's not catchy and I know from my school days I have a tendency to slowly open up the plot. I'm still working on it.
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I found out about chapter by POV mid-through and now I have to re-write the first part to ensure that. The process ahead is daunting, but I will do it.
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I tried the whole "don't talk about your story before it's finished" and I found out that doesn't work for me. Midway through my second draft, with a crappy, lazy ending, I started sharing it around. The feedback I got was what I was thinking - needs a rewrite, but having that conversion with people helped me. It helped to talk to someone about it.
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I will probably end up paying an editing service to sound more native-like because I did write in EN since it's the language I predominantly use.
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I have about three factual errors I'm not sure I'll change because I needed to bend things a bit. Since I'm not world building and I love realism, it's cringey for me to take too much creative license (think landmarks not being where they are).
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I wrote first for word count. I have 75k words now, and I'll probably add a few thousand more as I'm editing, which means I can get rid of the scenes I wrote when I was pushing to get more in.
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I'm very close to asking for external beta readers and I'm sure that's going to skyrocket this mix of adrenaline and anxiety I'm feeling.
I've found both to be equally as effective - typing is certainly faster, but a pen and a paper just feels so satisfying!
I hear that advice constantly. "To become a better writer, you must read and then read some more." Okay great. But what am I looking for? Whatever are YOU looking for? What do you do when you "find it". I don't understand this advice.
I love listening to Celine Dion. But no amount of listening to her is ever going to make me a songstress (I'm forcer tone deaf).
So how is reading another authors work different?
When looking for someone to publish your book do you submit it to several companies at once and pick the best deal you’re offered? Or is it a case of submitting it to your top one and if they reject it then you submit it to a second company and so on?
I’m writing a story where one of my main characters has an obvious “g-dropping” accent. I don’t know how to describe it without making it incredibly convoluted.. any ideas?
(I do use the apostrophe at the end of -ING.)
How do you stop yourself from being embarrassed and maybe cringing from your writing. I like the ideas I have and I really wanna create this story I have. I enjoy it. But sometimes I feel embarrassed writing and just avoid it all together for some reason. How do you write and stop feeling embarrassed over it and sharing your work?
I'm going to be taking a trip to a cabin for a personal writing retreat. Don't really have a specific project in mind. Does anyone have any tips to make my experience as fulfilling and enjoyable as possible?
So I want to write a scene where two people are kissing in a secluded place, but the examples I've seen so far always felt like they are written just to be written and out of place. What should I care about? What should I avoid? Is there any good example you can tell me?
I’m sure this advice has been given out multiple times, but last night it finally hit me. I was typing words into my story with feelings instead of with my thoughts. Once the flow got going I knew I had a story to tell. I only got maybe 3 or 4 pages done at 2 AM, but I finally wrote SOMETHING.
The thing that was keeping me back, which I’m sure most of us beginners in this sub struggle with, is thinking too much about what to write. I’ve had 3 ideas for books circulating in my head at once. “I want to imitate this concept from Perks of Being a Wallflower, but I don’t know if it fits.” “How do I mix poetry and prose?” “What should this character be?” “How do I start?” “Where should my inciting incident be?”
There’s so many questions that plagued my mind when the only thing I had typed on my paper was the title of the story. And then I just stopped thinking. I didn’t give up, but I was on the verge of deciding that writing wasn’t for me. And then I got flashbacks to playing with toys as a child. I’ve been telling stories for most of my life. I maybe have 100 books that have never been written. And all those stories were based off of my own observations of life. I never sat down as a kid and said “What would make this toy interesting?” I just did things with it and it naturally became fun.
So if you have a 9-5 job. A family. A husband/wife and kids. Don’t think about what you want to write. Just observe everything around you, and when it’s time to sit with your writing tools, you write about whatever your imagination tells you to write.
Thinking about writing is more wasteful than actually writing and scrapping what doesn’t work. Eventually when you get into the rhythm, it will work. And what’s even more ironic is that I read this from Steven King, but it didn’t hit me until I actually stopped thinking about writing.
Extra tip: Now that I know where my story is heading, I’m trying to not think about my story at all. If you have random ideas come to your head, jot them down, but don’t write till its time to write.
Not sure where can i ask this question here. But I've always been struggling with mental illness. I'd read a good book or do some exercise to distract myself. But sometimes its' just too much. I need to write. Otherwise I will throw myself into a downward spiral of wasting time without a goal and becomes way more miserable. But the pain is just too much sometimes. It distracts me so much I'm getting nothing done.
How'd you handle it? Have you had any experience like it before? I'd appreciate any experience being shared because I'm too afraid to speak to anyone I know. Also, any other examples of writers dealing with a painful life would also be welcomed.
Hey guys. I decided to share this because I’ve had crippling, debilitating anxiety ever since I sent my manuscript into an accredited editor. She works in silence, and it’s been days since i submitted it. I could message her but I’m too mortified to even consider it. I am terrified of what she has to say.
This fees all illogical and like an overreaction, but this anxiety is legitimate. I’ve never felt this ashamed/embarrassed of something I wrote before. It’s semi-cheesey young adult romance and I found a young adult editor so it shouldn’t be the worst* thing she’s read but I’m struggling to think logically here. I feel like this is the stupidest thing I’ve ever written and that her eyes are bleeding lol.
Is it normal to be this anxious about it? I posted this story even worse written than now online and it received a lot of good feedback, I’ve never been shy sharing it to friends, and all of sudden I am terrified, embarrassed, anxious, etc. I just wanted to know if anyone has any advice on how to alleviate the fear that comes with turning a hobby into something professional… and the fear of criticism and not being good enough / imposter syndrome.
Hi, I'm new to this sub and posting in general. I apologize for any formating issues. I was wondering what everyone's opinions are are short chapters in stories. I'm writing my first novel and the first chapter is very short, not even a full page on google docs. I was wanting to know if yall think I should try to expand more, or if short first chapters are okay. Please let me know what you think. Thanks!
Edit!! I exported it using a program and the chapter is about 1 1/2 pages in a book format. Just thought that might be relevent!
I wanted to write a Hanahaki piece of writing. I haven't got much good advice so far minus -avoid a yandere trope I need help lmao
So I finished my first draft and doing revisions now, but I'd like another eye on my work. I write sci-fi/fantasy btw.
Anyone willing to? I'll read your work as well; we can swap chapters or whatever.
I write as a hobby. I have a few short stories and poems that I've sent to friends, but I have never published anything. The idea of showing other people my writing is extremely alarming to me but I know that I should face this fear. However, I do not know the best way to get things "out there."
I have a personal blog about literature and book reviews that I've written for 3 years that gets a lot of pageviews, but I don't want the online persona I have in that regard to be blended with me as a writer for a few different reasons, so I don't really want to post anything on there. I thought also of making a substack, but I doubt anyone would subscribe to it. I also thought of submitting to competitions or magazines to get feedback, but I don't know where to start with that either.
What would you guys suggest?
Edit: I've created a Medium profile
When it comes to writing "in-scene", I have no problem conveying a mix of inner thoughts, dialogue, character reactions, and moving the story along in the short time frame the interaction exists.
Yet, some of the strongest writing I read typically features very little dialogue at all and focuses on describing the surroundings and actions of the characters from a distance. The author can usually cover days or weeks at a time in a few pages. I've heard this called narrative summary.
Any tips to get better at the latter? I study closely when I read it, but it never comes from my fingertips as I write. Instead, I unintentionally turn every interaction between two people into a full-fledged conversation meant to express some "meaning." It's almost like a bad habit I can't resist.
my character is currently at a place he really doesn't want to be right now and he is not allowed to leave.
how do i show he is frustrated and hates the place he's in through actions?
he's a lonely and inert type of character who's never really had any autonomy but at this point i think his portrayal of emotion can be on a range of subtle to explosive.
he can't show it through dialogue tho.
thanks :)))
I’ve tried looking online and couldn’t find anything. I also tried emailing them last week but I have yet to hear back. Anyone know?
For example does it sound more natural, rhythmic, and appealing to say:
"In a system there are 3 components" or "The system has 3 components"