Opened Tumblr for the first time today and my heart skipped so many beats 🥹... I posted a fanfic last night and I was expecting it to get the usual 30-40 likes and interactions omggggggg

Never thought I'd see the day where a post of mine has the same amount of notifs as my communities 😭

A couple of months ago, I posted the first page of a story I'd been tossing around in my head for quite a while on a writing feedback sub. It got 10 whole upvotes! That was enough for me to keep going. I've never finished something this long, and I'm super proud of it, even if I know it sucks. I really enjoyed the journey of learning, creating, and falling in love with my characters. I have this planned as a trilogy, so before I try my hand at editing, I'm going to take the sub's advice and walk away from it for a bit before revisiting. I'm not trying to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, I'm just some dude having fun rediscovering a hobby I'd lost along the way. Never forget why you started in the first place, and just keep writing!

I've always been a highly visual person, and I've watched movies and tv pretty much every day of my life, so I'm guessing those two things factor into this. I write chapters as if they are scenes. Like each chapter is kind of a clear-cut scene. I don't know why I do this, but I want to know if anyone else does this? I feel like it's a detriment to my writing to look at it this way.

Here are some of my art drawings. I am willing to draw characters for free!

I did it, guys! I published my first short story. I'm so proud of myself for writing and editing this story, as well as designing the cover. It's a wholesome romance, so it is definitely up my alley.

Also, yes, I used a different pen name for this because I want a different identity for my romance stories. Gotta put on different hats for different occasions hehe

I’ve read a few books in my time, but not a lot I’ve hated. Some less interesting Star Wars stuff — but what has truly made you viscerally angry, sick, or something else?

I recently just finished my first rough draft of my book. Yay me! But as I'm starting the 2nd rough draft does anyone have any advice or recommendations? Specifically, when it comes to editing or focus. I'm a completely novice writer and this is my first time doing a project this big. Any help is much appreciated.

I've read Dostoevsky and Leo Tolstoy, and honestly, I was blown away. Their characters feel so incredibly real, almost like they're actual people who just happened to have their lives written down.

But with some other writers, it feels like their characters are just there to serve a specific purpose. Some exist purely to move the plot forward, while others feel like puppets whose every move has been planned out in advance by the author.

And I'm not saying those writers are bad! Take 1984 and The Three-Body Problem, for example. In 1984, the bigger message clearly matters more than having a wide range of complex characters. And in The Three-Body Problem, the sci-fi concepts and world-building are obviously much more important than the character development.

Then there are all those light novels and web novels out there. I feel like a lot of their writers are working from the same handful of character templates. The characters all seem pretty much the same, and honestly, a lot of them feel incredibly clichéd!

But I want to create characters who have minds of their own, who have their own thoughts, feelings, and genuine emotions. Characters who don't just feel like mouthpieces for the author, but like actual people with their own inner lives.

I'm curious how other writers think about this. What do you think makes a character feel like a genuinely independent human being, rather than just someone who exists to serve the plot or express the author's ideas?🤔

No matter if you're a newbie or a pro, there's gotta be something you (still) find tricky or hard to do. I began writing seriously nearly ten years ago, yet I still struggle to grasp a story's theme, particularly in relation to the character's development. I'm a plotter, and it still fails to surface when I outline. I learned to wait until the first draft is done before looking for it.

What kind of problems do you run into when writing, and how do you usually deal with them?

Title says it all! I've been working on a novel for two years now and still can't figure out what to call it. I'm looking for inspiration 😅

Here is a poem from my new book I have been working on for some time now, please enjoy and give me any feedback.

Hey, fellow writers!

I'm looking for a few critique partners or beta readers, and I'm more than happy to return the favor.

I've finished my first novel, Our Lives Between Worlds. It's about 84K words, an adult psychological relationship drama with sci-fi and explicit erotic elements. It's character-driven, a slow burn, and definitely not your typical space adventure.

Here's the thing. I'm not asking anybody to commit to reading an entire novel. Hell, let's start with 10,000 words.

If you like it and want to keep going, awesome! If you don't, that's perfectly fine too. Just tell me what didn't work for you. Was it the pacing? The characters? The writing? Did it just not grab you? That's all useful feedback, and I'd much rather hear the truth than have somebody feel obligated to keep reading.

And the same goes both ways. I'm happy to read your work, give you my genuine reactions, and let you know what's working for me and what isn't. If we're both enjoying the exchange, we can keep going. If not, no hard feelings.

I enjoy psychological drama, mysteries, thrillers, sci-fi, horror, and character-driven fiction in general. I'm also perfectly comfortable with explicit adult material. High spice doesn't scare me. LOL.

I'm not looking for somebody to tell me my book is amazing. I'm looking for honest readers who can tell me where it works, where it doesn't, and whether they'd actually want to turn the next page.

If that sounds like your kind of exchange, leave a comment. I'd love to connect!

HOLD UP! Let me explain!

If I took a personality quiz that asked: "Are you a Planner or a Pantser" with multiple choice bubbles 1-5, 1 being a planner, 5 being a pantser, I'm a 4. I only outline with scaffolding. I usually know a few major plot points, basics about world building, and who my main characters are. That's it. Then I start writing, I just let the words flow.

I love editing. I love reading what my tiny brain has spewed and making it make sense. When I edit, I usually find a thread (or two or three) in the story that could be extended throughout the whole thing, like a metaphor I forgot about and abandoned that would actually make for a beautiful theme if it was brought to life. Or a trait that could make a 2-D character feel real.

But growing up, and even now, I thought to be "good" to be "genius" to be a "real author" every thread had to be planned, added with intention and have the story be built around the threads. But I do that in reverse. I write a flat story and make it multi-dimensional with editing, and it feels like cheating. It feels wrong. It feels like if I don't know what every twist is going to be or that one character was pulling the strings all along, from the beginning, that I'm cheating at writing a good story.

I think this is the first time I like the end result, but something feels like it's missing and I need a second opinion.

This is the first chapter of a horror story collection called "Watcher's Tales". It's about an urban explorer wandering into an hotel that was shut down due to a fungus infection, but it turns out to be something else. If this interests you, reach out to me and I will send you the first draft.

(CW: Suicide)

Hello friends,

I have the main idea for my novel series down, and a decent roadmap for how the story will progress, yet I remain absent to two things; a map (which I posted about in a separate community) and the more in-depth worldbuilding and history.

This is things like the mythology, the religion, slang, more detailed political system, gender roles, and all of that other fun stuff. I have the outline of a language, but I'm not a big fan of it personally. I genuinely enjoy this part of worldbuilding, but always mentally overwhelm myself before I can even begin. So I'm looking mostly for tips on how to do all of that?

Note: high/epic fantasy series with zero human characters

Impressum. Du musst in deinem buch und online ein impressum angeben. Aber wie soll ich das machen wenn ich a) ohne verlag veröffentlichen will und b) nicht meinen echten namen online sagen will?!

I’ve been in a corporate job for years and I’m pretty senior level. But I’ve always loved writing and wished that I had the financial security to make it a full time career. I would always try to start side writing projects and fail because I was just too tired from work and kids and life to stick with it. I don’t like my job but it pays good money and offers a lot of flexibility.

Several weeks ago, I went on short term disability due to a surgery. While I was recovering, I had a lot more free time and mental space and I FINALLY finished the manuscript I started a year ago (woo hoo!!). It’s an 84k word fiction novel and I probably wrote 80% of it over the past several weeks. I was determined to finish my first draft before I went back to work. I just got into this flow state where the words started to come out easily.

I returned to work on Monday and it hasn’t been crazy busy but I can feel myself slipping back into my corporate brain: excel spreadsheets, alignment with stakeholders, budgets, etc. I took a break before I started editing my first draft but when I go back now to work on it, I feel like all my creativity has been zapped. I still feel motivated but when I start editing, my mind goes to thinking about deadlines at work. And it’s not just editing - this book I was engrossed with over the past few weeks, I am still getting distracted with thoughts of work while reading.

Work gives me a lot of anxiety in general because there is a lot of manufactured urgency so I am trying to manage my relationship with it. Just curious if others who work full time experience the same thing.

A perfect way to not give a shit about your first draft.

(This is the whole of Chapter 1)

Also, I'm looking for beta readers to send the full manuscript to from mid-November. It's near-future fiction.

Let me know if you'd like to read it!

Thanks so much x

Not the typical 'diary' or 'letters' like truly unconventional.

hi! ♡ does anyone here write on substack? i just joined yesterday and would love to find fellow writers to be mutuals with, and support one another’s work. let me know if you’re interested, i’d love to connect! c:

For those of you who need to write pen to paper, like I do, what is your process? I used to use a journal that would go off into a few pages of the text when I was inspired. I would then start a new notebook with just that story. I now find it ineffective, as I would have 10 notebooks on the go. I have tried using my laptop, but I still cannot type as fast as the words were coming out.

I would love to hear from those of you who still spill ink.

Cheers

I just noticed I did it in both books, my MCs have a horrible nightmare in the beginning, and then later on at least one element from that nightmare comes true, (Like a character death)