I let myself feel elated for 20 minutes

And now it's back to work-play. The editing phase begins.

Sorry, my baby. I'm going to have to cut off some giant pieces

The whole point has been lost to me so I wrote the ending/climax first just so I can get that spark back.

My entire awesome idea has backfired and I’m exhausted but I’m so close to the end!….

….then on to book three

For me, it’s info-dumping, character head hopping (in 3rd person omniscient pov), and dialogue tags with adverbs (“she said, timidly”).

I usually avoid the big mistakes that craft books are always warning against. Yet I see these same mistakes in published novels everywhere.

A craft question for anyone writing more than one book in the same world or universe.

In my fourth novel, set in 1986, my main protagonist is a teenage photographer. His darkroom walls are covered with time-accurate posters and various photos, including two characters from my first novel, set in the same town and school year.

They're never named as cameos or crossovers, and don't affect the plot. Readers who know the first novel catch it—those who don't do not notice.

Have you done this? In your opinion, where's the line between a quiet Easter egg and something that pulls a new reader out of the story? Have readers ever found one you forgot you planted?

After three months, I had a first draft down. I thought it was perfect. I shared it with betas and got mixed feedback, that was a reality check that I definitely needed. But the foundation was there. I did a huge first edit pass and put it back out there. After sifting through the scammers and bots, I finally found a handful of trustable beta readers. And the feedback I got this time was overwhelmingly positive.

I found a few more people that I knew to love reading and read several books a month and even got a creative writing instructor to read it. The instructor found issues, as I expected. But they weren't insurmountable. I found fixes and discussed them with her until I was confident in them. Then the real test in my opinion, swaying the two people who read more than anyone else I know and doing so when my book is not their preferred genre.

Both of them loved it. Both of them want a second book. They had their feedback and what they wished would be different and what they'd like to see change. I expected it, but I didn't expect them to like it so much. I already have plans to fix what they pointed out and I went over these ideas with them and they agreed, these would help fix the issues.

But these are readers and teachers. Their feedback is invaluable to me, but they aren't inside the industry. So now nearly a year after I started this project, I'm taking a chance and taking this book seriously. So I finally hired an editor and I cannot wait to hear what they have to say. I cannot wait to hear their insight as to what my book might be missing, or what it probably doesn't need.

I just wanted to share this milestone with you all as I work on my next pass so the book is where I think it needs to be before the editor gets his hands on it. Especially since I never imagined I'd get this far with this pet project.

There’s an old (apocryphal) story about a newly published science fiction author who was attending an NESFA convention and was asked to help assemble some fanzines. The guy indignantly refused, saying something along the lines of,

“I’m a published author now. I don’t need to waste my time on little things like that anymore.”

Right after he said this, Isaac Asimov poked his head out of the back room door and asked if anyone had more copies of page 54.

Turns out Asimov, one of the most successful and prolific science fiction authors of all time, was back there happily helping staple the fanzines together.

Yesterday I thought I was the second coming of Hemingway and today I feel no better than r/im14andthisisdeep

by cartoonist Tom Gauld

I came to a realization not too long ago; there's no way my writing could impact anyone. From that I realized, that there is a gap between me and the greats. A WIDE gap, that is. There stories impacted people positively, and therefore, are above all of us aspiring writers, obviously. It's easy to say "Eh, I'll just write for myself." But what makes stories beautiful in my eyes is that, you connect with the author's soul through reading it, through understanding it. It helps us make sense of the world.

It's not a saddening realization to me, but it feels weird to know that it's highly unlikely an amateur author's story will end up impacting anyone.

So then I'm asking, even if no one cared about your story, even if it's nowhere near as good as the story that inspired or impacted you, would you still write it?

I tried with all my respect and kindness to be a better friend a best friend to all my friends I was the family member you can always keep in touch with I was always seeing the best in people around me and pointing out all their pretty things and loving all the hate they keep towards them selves I didn’t hang up the phone I was immediately replying to any messages I was the friend who wait with you when you tight your shoes at the sidewalk while others keep walking excuse my language is not perfect but what did i do to be left lonely after all without friends without mercy

I spent all my life wanting flowers and bff but left alone with none

Maybe it’s time for me to expect that and be happy for people and cheering strangers and mutual friends about their happy friendship and life and knowing that this is not for me

I've been writing for 14 years. I've published seven books.

Lately, I've spent more time figuring out TikTok Ads, Google Analytics, conversion rates, landing pages, and advertising algorithms than actually writing.

And today it hit me.

I became a writer because I wanted to tell stories. Not because I wanted to become a digital marketing specialist.

I understand that indie authors need to promote their work. Nobody is going to magically discover our books.

But where do we draw the line?

I could spend the next six months mastering advertising and still sell almost nothing. Meanwhile, that's six months I could have spent writing another book.

I'm starting to think I've got my priorities backwards.

Marketing is necessary. But it should support the writing, not consume the writer.

How much of your time do you spend actually writing, compared to trying to sell what you've already written?

Hey guys, I’m a fairly new writer and I’m about 50k words into my first real project. It’s a dark fantasy story and I have overall had a lot of fun writing it. I feel like I have learned so much about writing and good execution during this process, but feel like I am losing steam and not making as much progress as I was when I first started. Do you guys have any tips on how to regain some traction? Sometimes I feel like I should apply what I’ve learned so far to a new project, but then feel like I would not be doing myself justice by just abandoning something that I have worked really hard on.

Hi, I dont really interact much on reddit so I dont know what the response to this will be, if there will even be any at all. I grew up writing little snippets of stories, and comics on blank white sheets of paper. I'd do these every once in a while, but it never went farther than just a quick "doodle" to pass the time.

However, I ended up deciding to try and actually take it farther when I was going through high school. I wrote the first couple of chapters and ended up asking a teacher I had a really special bond with if they wanted to check it out. Little did I know, they would end up checking it out, enjoy it, and that would become a big part of the driving force that led me to write a first entry, a sequel, and start the third. (Crazy fact: when I was halfway through the book, I had the entire plot and ending of the third in my head already)

The issue is that when I was about halfway through the third and supposedly final entry in the trilogy, I went through something very hard and I lost the pleasure in almost every hobby I had.

I barely wrote throughout this very hard time in my life, producing less and less chapters. I even had to scrap some chapters because it felt like they were just conversations between characters.

2 years later, I have no motivation to write at all. I'm still able to get ideas for the trilogy and even a Google doc full of completely different story ideas. I can get really excited talking to peers about these ideas I get, but sitting down with the computer feels like I'm looking at a stranger (if that makes sense)

Do you guys always write your stories in order? Or do you ever try writing areas you know you want to get to first, then work on the rest? Or does that even work?

I pretty much can write dialogue, emotions, scenes pretty well. I've already been writing many things and practicing and improving it on a daily basis. But I struggle so much with setting description, or a battle scene/action event. And this isn't even limited to writing, even when I am reading a novel, I tend to zone out during heavy setting descriptions or action scenes​​.

But as a writer, I desperately want to be able to write setting/action/environment scenes pretty easily. I can write them now but I need a lot of resources like I need to research war, action words to be able to write a simple fight. I've read this book already called Characterization and sensory detail (writing active setting, #1) but it didn't help much in improving my vocabulary or flow of writing settings, descriptions though it did make me aware of some other imp aspects like how to make the setting a part of the story and the character's story/background.

Any books, videos, guides or resources that would help me improve is appreciated! Thank you ❤!​

Basically just what the title says but for the sake of adding context: I've been posting short stories I write onto Patreon for a little while now. Only just started getting consistent with it, and naturally I want to draw more people over there.

I've been doing a weekly series of Short Stories I call "B&B" for about 2 months now, and decided I should probably start doing freebies if I really want to build an audience for this. So I also decided to release the first "B&B" of each month for free. The stories are written to be 99% standalone so there was nothing stopping me.

I've had some minor success on tiktok so far, nothing crazy but my posts receive a fair number of likes for my view count. Which is where the problem comes in, when I mention my Patreon account in a post it tanks. Even when it's offering people the free stuff. I'm not surprised of course, no one wants a stranger to ask them for money and Patreon always carries that connotation. But now I'm thinking I should start posting the freebies in as many other places as possible in hopes of having an easier time finding people willing to pay for my work. Which brought me here, seeking wisdom from all of you.

So, I want to categorize superpowers in my world but I don't know how to group them. I went on research and found all psychic powers (Telekinesis, mind control) would go under the "Psionic powers" and super strength, body enhancement etc. would go under "Physical & Bodily enhancement" and the larger catergory for these two types would be Categories by Function.

For context, the definition of having superpowers in my world is "something you are born with" via inherited or mutation in the womb but strictly, it is being born with since the beginning. Those who implement the "power" to themselves via technology, machinery, human-made tech doesn't count as superpower havers. Artifact users also don't count for having superpowers since their ability comes from the object they use. They are still human, just with a connection to the artifacts.

So, to ask again: what are the names of the categories that superpowers could be grouped into?

hi! i'm your local semi-beginner fanfic writer.

not sure if this is a common phenomenon. recently my writing quality would suddenly drop while i'm writing, even though i'm perfectly motivated and not too tired.

like i would sit down at my desk ready to continue a draft from the day before or so, that has well-articulated sentences and generally good descriptions (in my standards), then proceed to write some shit like "soon no longer after they had seen me," and i wouldn't be able to write as well as i had for some reason.

it even happens between breaks. like i would go outside for air, and when i come back i'd write an emotional scene like "she found me crying. i crew too. we both crode." and, sometimes it doesn't even need a break to happen! just-- "poof your ability to write's gone randomly while you're writing a complex scene good luck LOL," the heck!

usually it doesn't go on for long but still, it does happen and it does irritate me. does anyone else also have this happen to them?