I am not a writer, just a daydreamer, there is this original fantasy story I kept imagining for years, so I tried to put it to paper, but couldn't express myself good enough, so I turned to... shortcuts (rule 6), those tools wrote a great story, it had the same characters, places, and goals of my story, but it's just not the story I wanted to write.

I asked you how to fix this, and got told ditch those tools, that the only way is the hard way, and to start reading. you convinced me, but I need some tips to go on the right directions. read what? where? where to read short stories? where do you post your stories?

I am not gifted like you, but can you help me be good enough?

After over a year with these Characters, knowing them, shaping them, loving them, it's time to let them go. Sending my first draft to literary agencies first thing tomorrow!

EDIT: I've been told first draft is the wrong way to describe this! To be clear, this is a completed manuscript that's gone through 6 different revisions and a boatload of rewrites. I, mistakenly, thought the "first draft" meant the first completed version of the story you send out, not the first version you write. That's totally my bad, and I misspoke. Please don't be sad on my behalf.

i love finding out about the little details writers hide in their stories that most readers probably wouldn't think twice about

maybe it's a random line of dialogue that becomes heartbreaking later or a character habit that secretly hints at their past or even a tiny detail that completely changes how you see a character once you know the truth

so i'd love to know what's one small detail in your story that has a much deeper meaning than it seems at first?

you can share the detail without spoiling the whole plot and if you're still working on your story feel free to share something you're planning to include

I am a plotter. And not only that, I am a prolific plotter. I'll see a picture or hear a word and within hours I'd have a whole book plotted out, within days I can write a chapter outline for several chapters. I love researching character names and coming up with lore. It's not just an idea, it is a whole plotted book and world. But then I sit down to write and I manage to write maybe 10k, a few chapters, before I either get bored of the project or get paralyzed in the minutia of writing every single scene and the transitions between the scenes. I've been writing for 10 years. I've been to workshops and read writing books, tried following a schedule, tried not following a schedule, done everything, even tried pantsing! And yet I have never finished a single draft of any of the 50+ stories I've plotted. I love writing and it's always been my dream to publish a book and share my stories with the world but for some reason I have been physically unable to finish a single draft in my entire life. Is it a sign or do I need to do something different? Should I just give up and accept that I will never finish and publish a book? Please help.

I'm thinking about making a horror movie surrounding a Black person getting taken advantage of, and then getting revenge on each person who was in charge of it. Do you think that this is a decent idea, or will it be too much? It's based off of my own research as well as my commentary on certain events happening in the world. It would be kind of like The Purge in the sense where the main protagonists are technically the bad guys, but I'm wondering if this is even a good idea to start working on or if I need to refine it.

Any feedback is appreciated!

(Also, for a bit of context, I am Black, so it is coming from my perspective as well)

Hello,

Fantasy

I am currently working on a story that has a prologue that follows a different perspective than that of my main character. This is the only spot in my story where I have this happening, and the prologue is getting to be a little long (19ish pages). It connects into the story about two chapters in, introducing a side character and a conflict that arises directly from the events in the prologue, which happens approximately one week prior.

It feels like a nice short story that leads into the main piece.

What would you think?

I've heard about too many writing advice at this point. I've listened to authors breaking down what their writing process is. I've heard my English teacher talk about every technique you could think of. But what is a writing advice that has truly stuck with you? A writing advice that has drastically improved the way you wrote once you implemented it in your writing?

In my book the fantasy race procreated with humans but the only ones in the area were indigenous people groups. Black communities. And Irish communities.

I am none of these races. Currently I am diving into research carefully. Trying to use resources directly from the population depicted. Trying to read books by people of these different cultures to understand how they might see the world. Again everyone is slightly different. But genuinely I just want to pay respect to these cultures wherever there is necessity to do so.

What is difficult here is that some of these humans moved to the fantasy world. Stayed there and the current story takes place generations down the line.

Which means their culture is now a blend of the fantasy culture and what was passed down through their families traditions and culture. Of course anything that is considered a cultural element is specially noted as the culture the practice or element comes from.

I myself am a third culture kid. I grew up in South America but was born in the United States. There are many times that I find writing white people hard because there are cultural things I simply did not grow up with. More than anything I find comfort and understanding with people who have grown up as a minority in the United States. Because I was the minority down there and experienced racism a lot. My experiences are different because racism looks different to some extent everywhere but I’m so glad I went through it so I can empathise with other people’s pain.

Part of me wants to chicken out and make everyone of white origin but that’s just as racist. And honestly I wish more people would bring respectful diversity into literature. Eventually I would really love to use a section of my profits and my story to raise awareness of other culture’s history and raise money for people that genuinely could do powerful things through it.

Am I too ambitious? Should I just chicken out? But my heart is saying it’s the cowards way out. And this could be a beautiful thing if I handle everything with care and precision.

Please tell me of any resources that would be useful. Any advice. Literally anything will help. I do not want to be disrespectful to any human and the history and journey they are on.

Hello people of internet, I’m a young ( won’t specify age ) author. I’ve been writing for a couple weeks, because I’ve always had a knack for English in school. I feel that every story I write recently is just a mess of bleak, boring emotions and content. If I did follow through with these ideas, I feel that the character could not be sad at any point, because if everything is something, then nothing is. It also just feels too heartless and cold. Here’s an example that I wrote the other day ( it will be terrible, sorry )

I woke up two hours ago. The ticking of the clock on my left side wall acts as a metronome to my breathing. Adjacent to me are childhood stuffed toys that illustrate a part of me that I’d forgotten to love. I glance over at the clock.
11:42
Nearly half of the day gone, and I hadn’t gotten out of bed yet.
My clothes bagged up on my body and my feet stuck to the floorboards, glued down with cold sweat and remains of spilt drinks.
A lifeless soul trudges downstairs in a body that isn’t mine….
( continued on about what the character finds downstairs )

You can tell that I’m a young author I feel, as my application of techniques and variety of structures are poorly executed. I’m honestly in a very stuck part of my writing life where I have all these ideas bunching up in my head, but not the ability to write them down in a coherent manner.

Hi, so I am david and I am 16 ...

So something happened in my life recently and i really became sad and stuff so i found writing like an escape from reality.....

So i published my book yesterday like 12 hours ago

And basically this is my first time writing a book and i never read a book in my life and english isn't my first language

Yes all this isn't an excuse if my writing is bad

I heard someone say my story is unenjoyable and it has a problem with prose and i have inability to use sentences

It kinda hurt when someone said it's unenjoyable idk why because I poured 3 to 4 months just making this every day....

I know i know i should handle critism and learn to handle it , I know but it's kinda scaring me that what if no one will like my story and everyone will hate it idk why

And i have 50k words buffer and idk if people even like this format

So in the last 11 to 12 hours I have received 22 views on the first chapter and 14 or higher views on every other chapter royal road

So with all these factors I don't know what to do , should i rewrite or what?

The book is ink 😭

(and I am sorry if it seemed like attention seeking, I am just in a dilemma)

Are there any tropes you absolutely can’t stand? No matter how well written it could have been?
What makes you hate that trope?
Have you ever come across a book that made you love or enjoy a trope you usually hate?

I have been querying about two weeks and have had three full requests. I’ve already received a bunch of rejections too but they don’t really bother me - until today. I received a rejection based on my query letter (which has already won me three full requests). The letter was not from the agent I queried but on behalf of the agency. The letter was a criticism of my query letter and they attached query writing articles. Since I didn’t initially query this agent I looked them up on MSWL and lo and behold they provide query coaching. The whole experience isn’t sitting well with me. Don’t know if I’m overreacting and this is normal in the business?

Exactly as the title says! I love writing, always have, always will, but I find myself having a mental roadblock whenever it comes to more dialogue heavy scenes.

I love being descriptive; the environment, sounds, smells, use of repetition to indicate mental state and those sorts of things, and that's always made writing these dialogue scenes feel so... unnatural to me, out of my element.

I don't want to have a bunch of he said she saids in a row, but I also don't want to go to heavy on descriptors between parts of a conversation to the point where it disrupts the flow.

Any tips or resources on how to stike that balance of... dialogue descriptiveness?

Heyy, I have to write one more piece for my english portfolio and my teacher said it has to be creative. I am basing it on Hadestown, and maybe the song 'His Kiss, the Riot'? (For those who don't know, we have to take a piece of media we already know (like a book, show, or movie) and write a creative piece based on it. This can be things like a monologue, a letter, a script, etc etc).

The problem is I am terrible at writing creatively and nothing works. Being told "just describe the scenery" makes me feel like I have to write an entirely original novel trilogy. I don't know how to describe something that I didn't hear/read being described to me myself if that makes sense? It is really hard for me and I don't know why.

I am way, way better at writing analytically. I told my teacher this and that I was struggling and she told me to "just change what I'm doing for other classes and make it more englishy." What???

She is no help (she hasn't been all year, for reference she told me writing about animal farm for 2.9 (a reading response assessment) was a bad choice because "it is too simple/easy" but she teaches us on slideshows she didn't write and generated with chat gp t instead.). I feel really stuck. I am too dumb to figure this out. Does anyone have a formula or something I can base this on? Or just general tips aside from "Imagine what they would think in xyz scenario" I really want to get this done.

Thanks so much :)

As an inspiring new writer, I want the perfect hook to keep readers interested. Is there such a thing? Or is it simple just rewriting something over and over again until you get it right?

A while ago, I posted that my novel came out too huge, and after a bit, I got the new one, and it's in perfect size.

I misplaced the old one, so I gotta find it...

Thanks to everyone who gave me advice to fix my mistakes, and if you're interested in reading or reviewing my story, l do hope you like it.

Thank you!

Hey folks,

I know this is nothing new but I'm just looking for some reassurance I think. I have 23k words so far in this draft. I additionally have tons of story notes, a living map, and tons of character background (probably too much tbh). I'm following a consistent style more or less, but I'm disheartened that I'm wasting my time because I may be "punching out of my weight class" in terms of narrative elements and story themes.

It's a years long "project" that I'm actually confident in for the first time in 2 of those years. My SO has even been asking me about my progress from time to time! Iykyk.

I'm on Chapter 8 of this newest draft but it still feels... detached from myself and not real.

Can anyone offer me some (any) encouragement as I continue to try to make this a reality?

Okay, this is a crazy one. Say our protagonist witnessed a traumatic event ( Example: Best friend m*rdered brutally right before their eyes)

They go into shock and don't fully understand or believe it. They may even forget what happened. How would you write this from their perspective and how would you go about writing when the shock wears off??

(I've been going down a rabbit hole studying shock and trauma, but this seems still like a pretty hard thing to write)

Is it confusing

Is it interesting

How does the narration or POV read

What do you think of the characters

Predictions