YAHOO!!! congratulations, especially for over 300k words! most novels don't even breach 100k!
|
VMUWU /// NEW FR PLAYER FR TIME + 15 /// LONG LIVE THE ARCANIST! HEAR! THE SIREN SONG CALL OF DEATH!  
|
General Discussion
Discuss your favorites: TV shows, music, games and hobbies.
TOPIC | finished my novel, can i get a yeehaw?
YAHOO!!! congratulations, especially for over 300k words! most novels don't even breach 100k!
yeehaw! that is a massive achievement
yeehaw! that is a massive achievement
|
.......
|
T | It | ASD Maker of fine graves |
ooohh thanks y'all!! i've since started editing it too, got through the first (and worst) round of it and now i'm tryna find motivation for the rest :DD
@Bootless oh it's a combination of things! but mostly three factors: my job, my friends and my brain lmao.
1) i work 12hr nightshifts as a hotel receptionist, which comes with two benefits. since it's long shifts, i get more days off, half of the month basically, so, more free time. and half of those 12 hours are usually completely quiet with nothing to do, and my boss doesn't care what i do as long as my tasks are done. he actually knows i use my downtime to write and sometimes asks about my progress. i hacked the system and get paid to write without publishing lmao. whenever there's questions abt jobs recommended for aspiring writers, nightshift guarding positions are one of the most recommended options, and i am very much so living proof that it's true.
2) regarding friends, most of them are also writers. i run a small but active writing discord, we meet up weekly both online and irl, so at least once a week i am more or less forced to do something. we cheer on each other and read each other's stories, so i have guaranteed feedback that motivates me. i couldn't do this without them, my two other finished novels were monthly CYOA events in the discord server, they got to decide the course of the plot, and both months were a fever dream but also an experience i'll remember forever. their support keeps me going, whenever my motivation falters or i start to lose motivation/confidence, i can read back past interactions and convos about my stuff to hype myself back up.
3) and regarding brain... i'm bipolar, and very well medicated and regulated. i go thru slightly hypomanic phases where i write more, and toned down mellow depressive phases where i have lower energy that i use for daydreaming n thinking thru stuff to write. three weeks of each, give or take one depending on work, the weather and other factors, but still, steadily cycling, so much so that i can plan my writing around it. like "gosh i came up w this cool scene i really wanna write it but i have no energy augh" *checks discord activity of the past few weeks to figure out when i entered rotting phase* "oh i need another week before i pop off and do EVERYTHING imma just make barely comprehensible rushed notes for now" and such.
getting where i am now was part pure luck and part hard work. i'm 32, and i've been writing on and off since i was 15 or so, and figuring out the process that works for me took a long time and a lot of trial end error.
i had to unlearn some habits that weren't working for me:
1) waiting for inspiration to strike. i now attempt to push thru phases where my brain is like "augh idk what i'm doing all of this is bad i don't wanna do it" and try to write something anyway, and at least 50 percent of the time, i end up becoming productive, bc i just needed to get started and gain momentum. the other 50 i really truly can't do it and just let go of trying for a bit, but i always give it a shot.
2) depending so much on external feedback and comments i have learned to write for myself, i used to immediately publish a chapter once it was done, because i needed people to tell me they like it to continue. those days are gone, lol. rn i have two books, 124k and 62k long, that have gone unpublished for years, only my friend group has read them. half of this freshly finished one i celebrated with the post is completely unpublished, even my friends only got small snippets from them. and i do wanna put them all on ao3, and i will eventually, but i didn't need to do so to stay motivated.
3) constantly editing and rewriting. i used to get stuck in horrible editing spirals, where i kept rewriting and perfecting chapters before publishing them, and also deciding to edit what i have of a story halfway through, and expand, and re-publish, instead of continuing and making progress. and at one point i kinda realized that by round 3, i was not fixing anything, i was just changing it, from a version that was fine to another version that was also fine, but entirely unnecessary and a waste of time. now the only editing i do as i go, if i do any, is just a quick skim at the end of a chapter for typos and obvious mistakes, and i leave every other issue for when i'm finished with the whole thing."this is gonna be editing hiri's problem" is my motto. and editing hiri has a strict schedule and a limited amount of runs thru the book too once it's his time to shine, for fixing different types of problems. i do one for my dumb unescapable problem of overusing certain words and phrases. i do one for continuity errors and scenes to change/expand that i made notes on as i was writing. i do one for general text level stuff, word repetition, clumsy word orders, unnecessary dialog tags, whatnot. one for issues that don't have one-time fixes, more hints at a plot point, more mentions of a certain character trait, etc. and one general all-over. i fix typos as i find them thru all these rounds. but once those are done, i give it a quick last skim, mostly for fun lol, and then i am not allowing myself to touch it ever again, because it is, in fact, fine like that, and readers will not sit there and think "wow this scene is good, but it would have been 1% better if they used a different word here", they'll stop at "wow this scene is good."
4) rereading the chapter i'm writing while i'm writing it. there's only so many times you can reread something that at the moment is A Task before u get bored with it, and start thinking it's bad. i'ts not, ur brain is just tired of it. i only reread the last paragraph or so when i'm picking a wip chapter up to continue, and wait a good bit before touching it again once it's done, so that it's not fresh and still engraved in my brain. ur much less likely to hate it and get discouraged that way.
5) looking at word counts to see progress, and also looking at the story as a whole when i check progress. i use evernote to write, which doesn't have a word counter or even pages, just a neat and clean little block of text. i do check word counts periodically, but i'ts not constantly in my face to make me feel like i've barely written anything. and i break up all my stories into parts based on the arcs/chapters/scenes i go through, and whenever i look at where i am in the story, my priority is checking my progress with that particular smaller part instead of the entire huge book. one step at a time, basically, i'ts much less pressure if you ignore the stuff that's further away and focus on the thing ur actually actively working on.
oh wow this got very long. sry! clearly it's a habit of mine to write A Lot lmao. anyway that's all that comes to my mind rn! realizing and learning all of this took a long time, and i've made many a mistake along the way, so i guess the most important advice i have is: practice, and keep trying. u'l'l get there eventually, but only if you keep going. <3
@Bootless oh it's a combination of things! but mostly three factors: my job, my friends and my brain lmao.
1) i work 12hr nightshifts as a hotel receptionist, which comes with two benefits. since it's long shifts, i get more days off, half of the month basically, so, more free time. and half of those 12 hours are usually completely quiet with nothing to do, and my boss doesn't care what i do as long as my tasks are done. he actually knows i use my downtime to write and sometimes asks about my progress. i hacked the system and get paid to write without publishing lmao. whenever there's questions abt jobs recommended for aspiring writers, nightshift guarding positions are one of the most recommended options, and i am very much so living proof that it's true.
2) regarding friends, most of them are also writers. i run a small but active writing discord, we meet up weekly both online and irl, so at least once a week i am more or less forced to do something. we cheer on each other and read each other's stories, so i have guaranteed feedback that motivates me. i couldn't do this without them, my two other finished novels were monthly CYOA events in the discord server, they got to decide the course of the plot, and both months were a fever dream but also an experience i'll remember forever. their support keeps me going, whenever my motivation falters or i start to lose motivation/confidence, i can read back past interactions and convos about my stuff to hype myself back up.
3) and regarding brain... i'm bipolar, and very well medicated and regulated. i go thru slightly hypomanic phases where i write more, and toned down mellow depressive phases where i have lower energy that i use for daydreaming n thinking thru stuff to write. three weeks of each, give or take one depending on work, the weather and other factors, but still, steadily cycling, so much so that i can plan my writing around it. like "gosh i came up w this cool scene i really wanna write it but i have no energy augh" *checks discord activity of the past few weeks to figure out when i entered rotting phase* "oh i need another week before i pop off and do EVERYTHING imma just make barely comprehensible rushed notes for now" and such.
getting where i am now was part pure luck and part hard work. i'm 32, and i've been writing on and off since i was 15 or so, and figuring out the process that works for me took a long time and a lot of trial end error.
i had to unlearn some habits that weren't working for me:
1) waiting for inspiration to strike. i now attempt to push thru phases where my brain is like "augh idk what i'm doing all of this is bad i don't wanna do it" and try to write something anyway, and at least 50 percent of the time, i end up becoming productive, bc i just needed to get started and gain momentum. the other 50 i really truly can't do it and just let go of trying for a bit, but i always give it a shot.
2) depending so much on external feedback and comments i have learned to write for myself, i used to immediately publish a chapter once it was done, because i needed people to tell me they like it to continue. those days are gone, lol. rn i have two books, 124k and 62k long, that have gone unpublished for years, only my friend group has read them. half of this freshly finished one i celebrated with the post is completely unpublished, even my friends only got small snippets from them. and i do wanna put them all on ao3, and i will eventually, but i didn't need to do so to stay motivated.
3) constantly editing and rewriting. i used to get stuck in horrible editing spirals, where i kept rewriting and perfecting chapters before publishing them, and also deciding to edit what i have of a story halfway through, and expand, and re-publish, instead of continuing and making progress. and at one point i kinda realized that by round 3, i was not fixing anything, i was just changing it, from a version that was fine to another version that was also fine, but entirely unnecessary and a waste of time. now the only editing i do as i go, if i do any, is just a quick skim at the end of a chapter for typos and obvious mistakes, and i leave every other issue for when i'm finished with the whole thing."this is gonna be editing hiri's problem" is my motto. and editing hiri has a strict schedule and a limited amount of runs thru the book too once it's his time to shine, for fixing different types of problems. i do one for my dumb unescapable problem of overusing certain words and phrases. i do one for continuity errors and scenes to change/expand that i made notes on as i was writing. i do one for general text level stuff, word repetition, clumsy word orders, unnecessary dialog tags, whatnot. one for issues that don't have one-time fixes, more hints at a plot point, more mentions of a certain character trait, etc. and one general all-over. i fix typos as i find them thru all these rounds. but once those are done, i give it a quick last skim, mostly for fun lol, and then i am not allowing myself to touch it ever again, because it is, in fact, fine like that, and readers will not sit there and think "wow this scene is good, but it would have been 1% better if they used a different word here", they'll stop at "wow this scene is good."
4) rereading the chapter i'm writing while i'm writing it. there's only so many times you can reread something that at the moment is A Task before u get bored with it, and start thinking it's bad. i'ts not, ur brain is just tired of it. i only reread the last paragraph or so when i'm picking a wip chapter up to continue, and wait a good bit before touching it again once it's done, so that it's not fresh and still engraved in my brain. ur much less likely to hate it and get discouraged that way.
5) looking at word counts to see progress, and also looking at the story as a whole when i check progress. i use evernote to write, which doesn't have a word counter or even pages, just a neat and clean little block of text. i do check word counts periodically, but i'ts not constantly in my face to make me feel like i've barely written anything. and i break up all my stories into parts based on the arcs/chapters/scenes i go through, and whenever i look at where i am in the story, my priority is checking my progress with that particular smaller part instead of the entire huge book. one step at a time, basically, i'ts much less pressure if you ignore the stuff that's further away and focus on the thing ur actually actively working on.
oh wow this got very long. sry! clearly it's a habit of mine to write A Lot lmao. anyway that's all that comes to my mind rn! realizing and learning all of this took a long time, and i've made many a mistake along the way, so i guess the most important advice i have is: practice, and keep trying. u'l'l get there eventually, but only if you keep going. <3
ooohh thanks y'all!! i've since started editing it too, got through the first (and worst) round of it and now i'm tryna find motivation for the rest :DD
@Bootless oh it's a combination of things! but mostly three factors: my job, my friends and my brain lmao.
1) i work 12hr nightshifts as a hotel receptionist, which comes with two benefits. since it's long shifts, i get more days off, half of the month basically, so, more free time. and half of those 12 hours are usually completely quiet with nothing to do, and my boss doesn't care what i do as long as my tasks are done. he actually knows i use my downtime to write and sometimes asks about my progress. i hacked the system and get paid to write without publishing lmao. whenever there's questions abt jobs recommended for aspiring writers, nightshift guarding positions are one of the most recommended options, and i am very much so living proof that it's true.
2) regarding friends, most of them are also writers. i run a small but active writing discord, we meet up weekly both online and irl, so at least once a week i am more or less forced to do something. we cheer on each other and read each other's stories, so i have guaranteed feedback that motivates me. i couldn't do this without them, my two other finished novels were monthly CYOA events in the discord server, they got to decide the course of the plot, and both months were a fever dream but also an experience i'll remember forever. their support keeps me going, whenever my motivation falters or i start to lose motivation/confidence, i can read back past interactions and convos about my stuff to hype myself back up.
3) and regarding brain... i'm bipolar, and very well medicated and regulated. i go thru slightly hypomanic phases where i write more, and toned down mellow depressive phases where i have lower energy that i use for daydreaming n thinking thru stuff to write. three weeks of each, give or take one depending on work, the weather and other factors, but still, steadily cycling, so much so that i can plan my writing around it. like "gosh i came up w this cool scene i really wanna write it but i have no energy augh" *checks discord activity of the past few weeks to figure out when i entered rotting phase* "oh i need another week before i pop off and do EVERYTHING imma just make barely comprehensible rushed notes for now" and such.
getting where i am now was part pure luck and part hard work. i'm 32, and i've been writing on and off since i was 15 or so, and figuring out the process that works for me took a long time and a lot of trial end error.
i had to unlearn some habits that weren't working for me:
1) waiting for inspiration to strike. i now attempt to push thru phases where my brain is like "augh idk what i'm doing all of this is bad i don't wanna do it" and try to write something anyway, and at least 50 percent of the time, i end up becoming productive, bc i just needed to get started and gain momentum. the other 50 i really truly can't do it and just let go of trying for a bit, but i always give it a shot.
2) depending so much on external feedback and comments i have learned to write for myself, i used to immediately publish a chapter once it was done, because i needed people to tell me they like it to continue. those days are gone, lol. rn i have two books, 124k and 62k long, that have gone unpublished for years, only my friend group has read them. half of this freshly finished one i celebrated with the post is completely unpublished, even my friends only got small snippets from them. and i do wanna put them all on ao3, and i will eventually, but i didn't need to do so to stay motivated.
3) constantly editing and rewriting. i used to get stuck in horrible editing spirals, where i kept rewriting and perfecting chapters before publishing them, and also deciding to edit what i have of a story halfway through, and expand, and re-publish, instead of continuing and making progress. and at one point i kinda realized that by round 3, i was not fixing anything, i was just changing it, from a version that was fine to another version that was also fine, but entirely unnecessary and a waste of time. now the only editing i do as i go, if i do any, is just a quick skim at the end of a chapter for typos and obvious mistakes, and i leave every other issue for when i'm finished with the whole thing."this is gonna be editing hiri's problem" is my motto. and editing hiri has a strict schedule and a limited amount of runs thru the book too once it's his time to shine, for fixing different types of problems. i do one for my dumb unescapable problem of overusing certain words and phrases. i do one for continuity errors and scenes to change/expand that i made notes on as i was writing. i do one for general text level stuff, word repetition, clumsy word orders, unnecessary dialog tags, whatnot. one for issues that don't have one-time fixes, more hints at a plot point, more mentions of a certain character trait, etc. and one general all-over. i fix typos as i find them thru all these rounds. but once those are done, i give it a quick last skim, mostly for fun lol, and then i am not allowing myself to touch it ever again, because it is, in fact, fine like that, and readers will not sit there and think "wow this scene is good, but it would have been 1% better if they used a different word here", they'll stop at "wow this scene is good."
4) rereading the chapter i'm writing while i'm writing it. there's only so many times you can reread something that at the moment is A Task before u get bored with it, and start thinking it's bad. i'ts not, ur brain is just tired of it. i only reread the last paragraph or so when i'm picking a wip chapter up to continue, and wait a good bit before touching it again once it's done, so that it's not fresh and still engraved in my brain. ur much less likely to hate it and get discouraged that way.
5) looking at word counts to see progress, and also looking at the story as a whole when i check progress. i use evernote to write, which doesn't have a word counter or even pages, just a neat and clean little block of text. i do check word counts periodically, but i'ts not constantly in my face to make me feel like i've barely written anything. and i break up all my stories into parts based on the arcs/chapters/scenes i go through, and whenever i look at where i am in the story, my priority is checking my progress with that particular smaller part instead of the entire huge book. one step at a time, basically, i'ts much less pressure if you ignore the stuff that's further away and focus on the thing ur actually actively working on.
oh wow this got very long. sry! clearly it's a habit of mine to write A Lot lmao. anyway that's all that comes to my mind rn! realizing and learning all of this took a long time, and i've made many a mistake along the way, so i guess the most important advice i have is: practice, and keep trying. u'l'l get there eventually, but only if you keep going. <3
@Bootless oh it's a combination of things! but mostly three factors: my job, my friends and my brain lmao.
1) i work 12hr nightshifts as a hotel receptionist, which comes with two benefits. since it's long shifts, i get more days off, half of the month basically, so, more free time. and half of those 12 hours are usually completely quiet with nothing to do, and my boss doesn't care what i do as long as my tasks are done. he actually knows i use my downtime to write and sometimes asks about my progress. i hacked the system and get paid to write without publishing lmao. whenever there's questions abt jobs recommended for aspiring writers, nightshift guarding positions are one of the most recommended options, and i am very much so living proof that it's true.
2) regarding friends, most of them are also writers. i run a small but active writing discord, we meet up weekly both online and irl, so at least once a week i am more or less forced to do something. we cheer on each other and read each other's stories, so i have guaranteed feedback that motivates me. i couldn't do this without them, my two other finished novels were monthly CYOA events in the discord server, they got to decide the course of the plot, and both months were a fever dream but also an experience i'll remember forever. their support keeps me going, whenever my motivation falters or i start to lose motivation/confidence, i can read back past interactions and convos about my stuff to hype myself back up.
3) and regarding brain... i'm bipolar, and very well medicated and regulated. i go thru slightly hypomanic phases where i write more, and toned down mellow depressive phases where i have lower energy that i use for daydreaming n thinking thru stuff to write. three weeks of each, give or take one depending on work, the weather and other factors, but still, steadily cycling, so much so that i can plan my writing around it. like "gosh i came up w this cool scene i really wanna write it but i have no energy augh" *checks discord activity of the past few weeks to figure out when i entered rotting phase* "oh i need another week before i pop off and do EVERYTHING imma just make barely comprehensible rushed notes for now" and such.
getting where i am now was part pure luck and part hard work. i'm 32, and i've been writing on and off since i was 15 or so, and figuring out the process that works for me took a long time and a lot of trial end error.
i had to unlearn some habits that weren't working for me:
1) waiting for inspiration to strike. i now attempt to push thru phases where my brain is like "augh idk what i'm doing all of this is bad i don't wanna do it" and try to write something anyway, and at least 50 percent of the time, i end up becoming productive, bc i just needed to get started and gain momentum. the other 50 i really truly can't do it and just let go of trying for a bit, but i always give it a shot.
2) depending so much on external feedback and comments i have learned to write for myself, i used to immediately publish a chapter once it was done, because i needed people to tell me they like it to continue. those days are gone, lol. rn i have two books, 124k and 62k long, that have gone unpublished for years, only my friend group has read them. half of this freshly finished one i celebrated with the post is completely unpublished, even my friends only got small snippets from them. and i do wanna put them all on ao3, and i will eventually, but i didn't need to do so to stay motivated.
3) constantly editing and rewriting. i used to get stuck in horrible editing spirals, where i kept rewriting and perfecting chapters before publishing them, and also deciding to edit what i have of a story halfway through, and expand, and re-publish, instead of continuing and making progress. and at one point i kinda realized that by round 3, i was not fixing anything, i was just changing it, from a version that was fine to another version that was also fine, but entirely unnecessary and a waste of time. now the only editing i do as i go, if i do any, is just a quick skim at the end of a chapter for typos and obvious mistakes, and i leave every other issue for when i'm finished with the whole thing."this is gonna be editing hiri's problem" is my motto. and editing hiri has a strict schedule and a limited amount of runs thru the book too once it's his time to shine, for fixing different types of problems. i do one for my dumb unescapable problem of overusing certain words and phrases. i do one for continuity errors and scenes to change/expand that i made notes on as i was writing. i do one for general text level stuff, word repetition, clumsy word orders, unnecessary dialog tags, whatnot. one for issues that don't have one-time fixes, more hints at a plot point, more mentions of a certain character trait, etc. and one general all-over. i fix typos as i find them thru all these rounds. but once those are done, i give it a quick last skim, mostly for fun lol, and then i am not allowing myself to touch it ever again, because it is, in fact, fine like that, and readers will not sit there and think "wow this scene is good, but it would have been 1% better if they used a different word here", they'll stop at "wow this scene is good."
4) rereading the chapter i'm writing while i'm writing it. there's only so many times you can reread something that at the moment is A Task before u get bored with it, and start thinking it's bad. i'ts not, ur brain is just tired of it. i only reread the last paragraph or so when i'm picking a wip chapter up to continue, and wait a good bit before touching it again once it's done, so that it's not fresh and still engraved in my brain. ur much less likely to hate it and get discouraged that way.
5) looking at word counts to see progress, and also looking at the story as a whole when i check progress. i use evernote to write, which doesn't have a word counter or even pages, just a neat and clean little block of text. i do check word counts periodically, but i'ts not constantly in my face to make me feel like i've barely written anything. and i break up all my stories into parts based on the arcs/chapters/scenes i go through, and whenever i look at where i am in the story, my priority is checking my progress with that particular smaller part instead of the entire huge book. one step at a time, basically, i'ts much less pressure if you ignore the stuff that's further away and focus on the thing ur actually actively working on.
oh wow this got very long. sry! clearly it's a habit of mine to write A Lot lmao. anyway that's all that comes to my mind rn! realizing and learning all of this took a long time, and i've made many a mistake along the way, so i guess the most important advice i have is: practice, and keep trying. u'l'l get there eventually, but only if you keep going. <3
woah that's some pretty good advice, def using that for when i finally start my ideas
woah that's some pretty good advice, def using that for when i finally start my ideas
YEEEEEHAW! -tosses my hat into the air-
Congratulations, pardner! Do you have any tips for us struggling writers? What kept you going through all of those chapters?
Congratulations, pardner! Do you have any tips for us struggling writers? What kept you going through all of those chapters?
YEEEEEHAW! -tosses my hat into the air-
Congratulations, pardner! Do you have any tips for us struggling writers? What kept you going through all of those chapters?
Congratulations, pardner! Do you have any tips for us struggling writers? What kept you going through all of those chapters?
    
|
|
|