I see a lot of posts asking "mistakes to avoid with first book" and etc. What was a book that was an authors first book that was really good and should be learned from in your opinion? (Sorry this is worded weird)

1. You don't have competition. You don't. If someone else's book is more popular than yours, oh well, life goes on. They're not your enemy. Popularity is brief. There's still plenty of time for your book.
2. Your real enemies are self-pity, doubt, anxiety, procrastination, speeding through writing and editing, and if you did get a contract or agree to an anthology, deadlines. Deadlines are your worst nightmare.
3. It's never too late to market an old book. The book you write today may not have an audience for a few years. That's common. Stephen King is still hawking books he wrote in the 1980s. You can too.
4. Be cautious with ARC releases and free copies. People try to publish them on their own.
5. If a book was written fast or slow, it's never an indicator of quality.

I know the age old advice that says to write better read as much as you can, but I feel as if I read a lot of books without getting much but entertainment from them. How can I read more purposefully so that the books I’m consuming actually transfers to what I’m writing?

We’ve all heard of good stories told badly (the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy is one of the most famous examples). But I rarely hear the inverse talked about: a bad story told well.

There are lots of ways of defining this, but my personal definition is a story that ultimately has hollow themes and characters that completely fall apart under scrutiny, yet through some gift of prose or other forms of presentation still manages to sucker you in, at least for a time.

I try to omit stories that skate by on the strengths of their visuals (mostly movies and video games that serve as tech demos for new forms of special effects).

My golden example of a bad story told well is Bioshock Infinite. It has the most fleshed out protagonists in the whole series, with stellar voice acting and a clear intention to make you, the player, care about these characters. There are plenty of scenes that put the plot on hold and only serve to get you invested in the protagonists and their struggles.

The setting as well is visually beautiful, and made the most of the technology available at the time. The deliberateness of the pacing in narrative and exploration has often been compared to a well-designed amusement park.

Yet despite all of these strengths, Bioshock Infinite is a disaster in its core themes, plot coherence, and political messaging. The overall story is a mess that would need heavy rewrites to be satisfying. As is, it’s barely coasting by on the strength of its voice acting and a flimsy multiverse excuse to cover for its plot holes.

Sorry for the long rant. I’m curious to hear examples from the community!

My unfinished pieces greatly exceed my finished ones. Even stories that I'm initially very enthusiastic about and excited by, for reasons I don't quite understand, I more often than not lose interest and decide they're not worth continuing.

I occasionally revisit these pieces and add to them or even complete them, but it's rare. Anybody have insight as to what my issue is?

Guess what happened in the story I was reading today...

Well in short, author spent the entire story building up the main character, his family, alliances, etc. Then in literally less than 2% of that time, took that all away in the most nonsensical way I have seen in a long time and reset the character so hard that he even had to give up his name and pretend to be dead. And reading ahead quite a bit, this seems to be a permanent state of affairs. Makes me so irrationally angry.

Happened in several stories I read in the past too, and that was always basically where I put that down and deleted it from my lists.

I'm about a hundred pages into a novel I'm writing, and I've reread it and it is really bad. I want to edit it, because it's mostly inconsistencies but it's a LOT and I'm afraid of getting stuck in an editing loop. What should I do?

We’ve all read, heard and given the same advice here, time and time again: “Read more!” And honestly, it’s perfect advice for most of the questions posted here. But I want to take that idea a step further.

If you were to recommend specific books that writers should study to understand their genre, what would they be? Or what books inspire you to write/edit your own project? Which books have taught you the most about your structure, or style?

I’m referring to actual fiction or non-fiction works—not craft books like On Writing or Save the Cat.

Some general Examples :

Mistborn Era 1 : To study the modern Sanderson^TM style of fantasy and his approach to plotting in book 1, which currently seems to be the default style in the wider-fantasy genre.

Percy Jackson/Harry Potter : YA/Magic school aspects, prophecies, chosen ones. I think both books serve the template for these kinds of stories. Also, good example for quirks of urban fantasy.

A Song of Ice and Fire (GoT) : this is specially for my own project - it fits my own style of prose, I have re-read some of the relevant scenes or chapters to learn how to incorporate history and wider world-building into narrative.

Feel free to share recommendations here in different genres or styles so that it can help everyone, and it's not just general advice.

Basically what the title says: What makes you interested in a main character and enjoy reading from their point of view?

I am currently developing my own characters and it got me thinking about what makes people want to know more about them and wanting to travel/grow with them.

Edit: to answer my own question, I think it has a lot to do with voice and how they interact with the world. Of course, sarcasm/wittiness is definitely a bonus bit of entertainment, but also so that they feel real (have flaws, have histories, have conversations that don’t necessarily drive the story but reveal developments in who they are). I mentioned Percy Jackson and Tessa Gray as some favorite characters from when I was younger (and still love them now). Fourth Wing is also one I enjoy, with the change of voice and cadence between Violet and Xaden’s chapters. I hope the discussion continues, but thanks for all the answers so far!

Looking for a word describing someone who's charming but rude.

I'm trying to figure out a way to word this but basically characters tht have more chemistry than the main couple or the character has more chemistry with one they were not paired with. Especially when that wasn't the intention.

It has happened twice with two different wips I have, where im able to go till the part where ive thought/planned before but when i reach this gap between scenes i just- cant find a way to transiton from one to another without it feeling rushed

Idk what im doing wrong, it might be writters block, it could also not be since i sometimes get struck with motivation and im able to type out an entire page of someething that was supossed to be a single idea

I have this writing project that I’m really passionate about, a project I’ve been working on for quite some time now. And I love it with all my heart. However recently I feel…kinda burnt out from it. Like I don’t know what to write, how to write the plots, etc. I obviously don’t want to abandon this project, but I really don’t feel like doing it right now and I’ve been having a lot of doubts.

Additionally, I really want to work on another project. Is it okay to abandon my current one for some time and work on other projects? Will it mess up my ideas, or idk make me never come back to my old project? Because I really don’t want to abandon it, I think it has potential. I just don’t know what to do about it right now.

Advice would be appreciated, thanks!

I highly recommend reading this book for more insight into publishing and little off hand tidbits of information.

I was shocked when it got to the section with the editor and her manuscript had so many problems. I posted on a publishing subreddit to ask if that is typical and they said yes, it’s the editors job to help with those! If you are like me this is mind blowing.

The problems were IMO early draft problems. Characters in flashbacks before being introduced, characters with same or similar names, and some other high level stuff. I think some of us may be overthinking our manuscripts!

What are some of your favourite opening lines in a story?

So, I'm working on creating an outline for a story for a game and I'm wondering... I have a couple of plot points that have to lead into and some of them come later in the story, and I mean very late in the story... This requires me to stop at say chapter 5 and then write the story's chapters in reverse order Chapter 13, then 12 then 11, etc... to lead back to where I left off.

How often does this happen for most writers? Is it beneficial or not?

I’ve been mentally developing a story for a few years now and would like to start the process of organizing and writing the details and eventually beginning to write the actual story itself.

I want this process to be streamlined as much as possible in order to fit it easily and efficiently into the way i live life.

What apps and devices would be best and most practical in order to start?

I need an in depth and intuitive brainstorming/branch-based application to keep my information tight as well as accessible and readjustable.

I will also need a device that is best suited to handle the brainstorming app, as well as writing/formatting.

Which writing apps are most accessible and intuitive in writing in book formats?

Are there any resources you might personally recommend to obtain, and alternatively stay away from, in your full experience?

Any other information or tips are welcome

Thank you!

So I'm writing a book. I'm excited about writing my first book and all, but I'm starting to not like it. I feel like it's kind of rushed. I made promises to people early on and even recruited beta readers- way too early! Now I feel lots of pressure and I'm on a time crunch to get it done. One of my beta readers found out they were pregnant about 2 months ago and I want her to be able to read it before she's postpartum because being postpartum is... a lot. Never had a baby myself but helped a family member with her newborn recently so I know what it looks like.

THAT BEING SAID... I'm trying to make a good book. In the end, I hope to create something I love, when I'm finished making the final edits and everything is done.

The specific plot and setting if my book makes it somewhat challenging to write as well. I feel I may have been too ambitious in trying to make a unique story. But nonetheless, I hope my end product is something I love and if I have to make 2 or 3 more drafts after readers have looked at it in order to achieve this, I will. But I'm learning lots of hard lessons. The next novel that I write, I won't tell anyone about until I'm at LEAST done with the first or second draft.

Hi all!!

I'm getting into writing a new novel idea and wanted to see where everyone stands with drafting. For my first book I wrote almost entirely by the seat of my pants but it took 4 years before I finishes that book and that doesn't even including the editing stages.

I'm thinking of trying trying draft a bit more this time around to save my brain from falling into circles trying to chase my plot. I feel like there's a line with having too much detail for your 1st draft and absolutely too little detail.

How much do you draft before your first draft, or do you skip it entirely? Just getting a feel for how others do their processes!

give me any ideas for a short story of about 3-4 pages, no prompt :))

I'm currently in the process of writing my first book, but I am planning to do a second, and possibly a third. I have no clue what the second book will be, I just have so many ideas and details about the first book that I feel should spill over into another novel.

When writing, do you plan out a trilogy and write with your other books in mind, or should I focus on my first book and deal with the others once this one is done?

One of the best tips for writers is to read. And that's a general advice, if you wanna do X, nothing's better than seeing X being done. But I wonder, is reading for leisure enough? Or do you actually stop and try to understand what makes the author's writing work that you could implement on your own?

I most often read for leisure. Sometimes I do get struck with "oh this is cool" in terms of writing and take a mental note out of it, but I never stop reading just to scrutinize a paragraph or two.

Sometimes I also get the opposite, "I don't really like this." Not that I deem it bad writing. I'm in no place to judge other writers, but they just fall opposite to what I feel is better or my style of doing it, for what it's worth.

I'm so close to having my forst book ready. It's a true story based on my life, but the names are changed. I was told that I should have at least another book at the ready once my forst one comes out. The problem is that I don't have a lot of inspiration to write in this genre again. This book was a way for me to get my personal issues out of the way so I can focus on other works. I have some ideas for horror and romance, but I don't know if I should pursue them if I have one book already out. Readers might be expecting another book by me in that same genre, but it would never come. What should I do? I'm passionate about all of them.

I found out about subvocalization an hour ago, and I’ve been in a deep rabbit hole since. I just need some help understanding this concept. When I read a sentence, my brain automatically plays the sound of each word as a part of the information process. Based on the comments I read, it seems like many, if not most, of you don’t do this. Do you jump straight from seeing the words to processing their meaning? If that’s the case, y’all are way smarter than I am—goodness gracious. I can’t fathom how that’s even possible.

That also got me thinking: is poetry enjoyable for those of you who don’t subvocalize? When I read a pretty or quirky word/sentence, I get a little sprinkle of joy from hearing the sounds and cadences play out in my head. The thought of missing out on that sounds like reading would be devoid of pleasure, but evidently that isn’t the case for many of you.

My mind is blown after learning about this. I guess this is how I’ll be spending my day off!

I'm creating single-page comic strips in which I use quotes from authors. For example, I take Ray Bradbury's quote, "We have everything we need to be happy, but we aren't happy," divide the sentence into 8 panels, and illustrate a sequence of scenes where a squirrel picks nuts from the garden, carries them to the nest, sees tons of nuts in the nest but is still not happy, and watches the fallen leaves sadly. I use the quote in each panel, word by word. And I titled the page “Ray Bradbury said;”. Illustrations are going to be a wholesome, complimentary or funny and not going to criticise or offend the meaning of quotes.

This is going to be a Turkish book, so I am translating the sentences by myself (not using the translated versions), and I am only using short sentences. Is this considered fair use?