It's good to remind yourself that you can always re-use an idea later, in another scene or book. I have a document all for "deleted scenes" and lines, many of which end up proving useful for other projects. If you watch movie commentaries, you quickly learn that filmmakers do this all the time. George Lucas wanted a Wookie battle in "Return of the Jedi;" didn't have the budget, so he did the Wookie battle later in "Revenge of the Sith." Rita Skeeter was first meant to appear at the Leaky Cauldron in the first "Harry Potter" book, but J.K. had to cut her for time constraints. The character made a great debut in Book 4, though. The first "Blade Runner" movie had an early draft that opened with a Replicant cooking at a pot in a house in the middle of nowhere, and the Blade Runner abruptly killing him; imagine my reaction at the opening scene of the sequel, "Blade Runner 2049." Basically, removing a character, line or idea from your story does *not* mean losing them forever; it just means they have to sit tight until you can find a story that they do work for.
My husband is actually brutally honest. I showed him a scene I had just written the other day and he told me, "wait, that makes no sense. Wouldn't (insert potential plot holes here)"
Jennifer Jump: why can't family members do that? There's nothing wrong with it. It's bad for them to say that it's perfect when it isn't but I can't see anyone talk about the plot holes and be considered bad for doing that. It's brutally honest if they say "this part sucks. You call yourself a writer?" But showing why things wouldn't work should be encouraged.
I started laughing maniacally at point #1 because I can't imagine how anyone could think their first draft is perfect. How??? What rock have they been living under?
I made this mistake. I did it because I didn't see my work as a first draft because I edited it constantly as I wrote. Every bit had been gone over, over and over again, so to me it was more like a twentieth draft. Then I went over it again a few times smoothing out issues and addressing things others had said before sending to agents. What I didn't realise was that structurally it was a first draft. When I found out, I had to cut lots of my lovely details in the restructuring. Never mind, live and learn; writers are supposed to suffer lol.
Well my sister wrote her first draft convinced it was perfect and sent it without looking at it a second time. It was published. She is the lucky few lol
I had met someone who was #3. I had a bad critique partner long ago (we'll call him Bob) that insisted my crappy 1st draft was PERFECT and was giving me hell for wanting to edit my work. Let's just say, he didn't last too long. Moral of the story: edit your story - it will only get better if you put the work into it.
When I meet people who think they're perfect/refuse to edit/listen, I don't sweat them too much because I know they won't last long! Like, I'm only trying to help--it's on the other person whether or not they want to help themselves :)
I learned from the great Hemmingway that the 1st draft is crap. I'm on the fourth draft now and I still see areas that need improvement. Editing may be dull, but it's great to see how far it has come.
I have the problem that when I've got an idea for a book I'm especially enthusiastic about the plot. But when I'm writing I'm just really impatient to write everything that needs to happen before I can write the plot.
The plot should be everything, though, not just the climax. Your problem seems to be conflict based, just add loads of conflict that makes sense to your story with lots of tension and appropriate dialogue, so then things will feel more interesting to write and you'll be more engaged, but it's already been like 6 months so im sure youre fine by now(((:
Why not just write the part you're excited about first so that you can make sure that it's written the best it can be? And then later you write the part that accompanies it and then redo the good part to remaster it. If you wait a while to write a scene in a story that you were initially excited for, it seems that you won't be as excited to get to it after a while and it might sound horrible compared to how you would've written it when you first thought of it.
@@shadowspector3611 But that can backfire. If he writes about the most exciting parts first, he'll blow away his balls with three potential pistols of failure. And those guns are: unenthusiasm to write the next scene, a writer's high that will destroy his pacing, and, or, a messy plot that will seem perfect because he written what he wanted to write -- thus making him satisfied in writing his overall piece, no longer challenging himself. He should NEVER write the most exciting parts first. In all honesty, EVERY SINGLE SENTENCE has to be exciting.
Daniel Smith: oh dang, you're right. Writing the part you're most excited for make it so you have nothing to look forward to. But what if you get the idea for the perfect way to express the exciting scene but you're writing a long piece and you're nowhere near getting to that portion? I've also had issues when I'm on one project and then I think of a separate project and I get really excited to write for it, but I stop myself since I want to finish my current project since I feel I won't finish it when I start the other project. Then it turns out that when I finish the first project and move onto the next one, the excitement of writing something new has subsided since my mind has "come down from the clouds" and then its not as fun to write anymore despite putting a tremendous amount of thought into the outline.
@@shadowspector3611What's up Shadow. I'll tackle your second situation first, and then I'll answer your first question regarding ways to maintain an idea despite not reaching that point in the story yet. Now, for your Cloud 9 dilemma, I used to have a small problem like that in the past. And, for me, I realized that the problem was inspiration itself. Now, inspiration isn't evil -- in fact, it's one of the greatest flames of motivation to fuel your creative drive to craft worlds to share with others in a grand scheme to make the world a better place for the sake of bringing humanity closer to who they once were -- HOWEVER, over time, the more I immersed myself in inspiration's fires, the blacker that tempestuous inferno for creative hunger became, thus becoming a poisonous fire. Eventually, it became so deadly that I grew addicted to it's high, and, soon, though my imagination ran rampant, my writing fervor was being brunt alive because it got to the point where I relied on the writer's high. Over time, I learned to conquer this. And eventually, I've reached a level where I can write for hours on end -- even if it's not "fun;" even if I don't feel like it. But how did I reach this? I simply focused on my desire to improve my skills and become a better writer for the sake of others and the grand scheme -- for the sake of telling stories that won't just matter to me, but for others who need to experience the story for the enrichment of their lives. And a big thing that helped me write without inspiration was enjoying the process of syntax structure and writing style. One I focused on being consistent in my craft, working on new ideas even if I''m not "high" on inspiration, I learned to simply appreciate every single word, and every single sentence that was being written on the page -- from how I wrote the words to how the sentences were structured and designed. Soon, after having a working knowledge of syntax structure, I learned to develop a certain writing style, and it became one of the things that made me write -- whether I wanted to or not. Once I improved, I developed a habit to work consistently on new and old ideas and stories because I fear that I'll lose my writing strength and style if I don't keep practicing and utilizing it. So what does writing have to do with storytelling consistency? What great role does it serve in forcing one to write even if one feels bored in writing it? The writing style. Once a writer wholeheartedly embraces metaphors, similes, hyperboles, personifications, alliteration, allegories, word-play, diction, and all other forms of writing techniques in tandem to how these writing techniques will correspond to the overall thematic structure, mood, tone, plot, worldbuilding, and all other structural elements of the story, then the chances of them working on and COMPLETING the new idea increases tenfold. Therefore, enjoy the mere process -- every step -- of giving birth to the story, intimately shaping it like Leonardo giving life to the face of Mona Lisa, and you'll find yourself working on your new stories more consistently -- despite finishing up your older story and feeling a little "uninspired." And before I move onto your last question, another thing to have in mind is the story's thematic, structural, and overall purpose. By asking yourself -- and knowing the answers to -- questions such as, "What is my story about," "How will it end," "What are the main themes of this piece," "Who are the characters," "What do they want or what what is their goal," "What is their motivation or why do they want to accomplish said goal and for what end," "What is the main conflict," "Is the main conflict man v man or man v nature and etc," and the like, then you are more than likely to work on and finish your new idea or story. Now, for your first question, if you fear that you'd lose a powerful idea for your story because you won't get to it in time or that it's too far away in the narrative because there's too much ground to cover, a big thing that helps is writing a short sentence of the idea down in your story outline. Basically, just make a note of it for later. Another thing that helps is the scene list. With the scene list, it'll help determine at what point your cool idea will arrive in the story, so that, even as write your piece, you won't forget where it is. An example of a scene list is this Act 2 Scene 34: McCury gets into a fight in the alleyway. Scene 35: McCury reflects on what happened. Before reaching his friend's house, he gets a phone call S36: McCury does this... S37:... S38:... S39:... S122:... S145:... S298: Final Scene. Books conclusion. McCurry gets shot to death. The scene list is TANTAMOUNT to keeping track of your story. It's one of the things that will save your ideas so that you won't forget about them in the future as your working on the story. Check out Randy Ingermanson and The Snowflake Method. That mess will save you TONS of time and help you with keeping track of your ideas.
I have the luck of having a langage pro at home... My mom. She had always helped me, and was kind enough not to lie to me if something was not good or boring. Whenever I needed advice, she would giving it to me, or explain how to make a scene better... I never hesitate to tell her that if she thinks it's not good, she *has* to tell me ! She's wonderful and helped me a lot during the past 10 years !
In regards to #5, it’s ironic that some of the greatest fantasy series went against this idea. Tolkien wrote all of LOTR in a decade, the Wheel of Time took six years to write and Harry Potter took Rowling around that long too. I mean, I’d imagine this is what the 99% comment is for, but it’s still funny to think about.
Love this. I took notes. But also, the whole time I was watching this, I kept thinking of the opening scene from Monsters Inc. “Leaving the door open is the worst mistake any employee can make be-caaaaause....” lol
I love your channel! I've been binge-watching a ton of your videos and it has really inspired me to get back into writing. Also, that is the fluffiest orange cat tail I have ever seen!
oh my dear alexa you do inspire so very much. thank you a million times over.. (shallow sidebar: your hair looks its best style-wise here although i really like when you have a deep auburn tone.)
#5 so much! I spent my entire time in college writing the same book because I loved it so much, but once I got a different idea, the first book just wasn't as sellable/publish-worthy/good-enough. For years, I still kept going back to the same book to re-write it and edit it more, even though I had written (and even published) other things. But just a couple of months ago, after one more major rewrite of that first book, I finally accepted the fact that that book is just never going to be good enough. Time is always better spent just writing a new book if you have another idea.
I needed to hear that 5th one. I recently decided to put my brain baby, that I've been trying to figure out for a couple years now, on the back burner in favor of something else recently and I keep going back and forth on it. Hopefully I can return to my brain baby in the future.
Such interesting points! But definitely, like, there's always, ALWASY room for improvement, no matter how big of a writer one might be, how could a first draft ever be somewhere near as perfect??
I am willing to open myself up to beta reader feedback, I just don't know how well I'd be on giving feedback myself. And actually something my sister told me helped me improve upon a first draft a great deal. I know I need others as well, but her comment on that draft was invaluable to fixing a lot of the problems it had.
It's always great when friends/family can actually be helpful! It does happen! And my advice for getting better at giving critique is to note down any questions you have while reading, and share those questions with the writer. Also note any places you grew bored/started skimming.
There's a scene I just wrote last night that I already know I'm going to have to cut. I love it but it doesn't do anything for the plot and sort of breaks the tone. BUT I LOVE IT! 😭But it has to go bye bye.
This is EXTREMELY EXTREMELY late but you know, for future reference? When you delete a scene that you value or a scene that you think has some great ideas, you should copy paste it somewhere else so you can draw inspiration from it later--or in the best case scenario, you can come back to it later with fresh eyes and find a way to make it fit better into your story that you originally intended for it to be in.
What if the first draft was about 10 years ago and you have been rewriting it ever since? I began of writing when I was about 12 something old and much of rewriting after rewriting has been done since. Now I am 20 something old and now I have a feeling the story that has been with me 10 + years is somewhere ready to be writing itself down at least. Lots of new ideas, lots of new inspiration from other books/comics... I am in the right track?
I'm SO glad you said it's okay to start something new if the project you're working on feels stagnant. I often do this, but try not to because I feel like I'm giving up.
The problem with showing other people my work is(aside from the anxiety) that i'm afraid that if i send this person a pdf with my book and ask them to read it they might take it and claim it as their own... idk but i'm usually protective over my work
I actually decided to write some of the story ideas from back when I was a kid. However, they never went past the idea phase, so there's a lot of room for me to fill in. The more established ones with more content, only one of them I plan to rework, but I'll probably discard the rest.
I really needed to hear #5, because I realized my taste in books had changed so much that I was more writing it because I thought I liked it instead of writing what I really liked. So that’s how I switched from writing a medieval fantasy (*shudder*) to writing a psychological horror/thriller.
Lol, nice! I've had that happen with one or two of the other ladies. I didn't realize that you had a youtube! I should have known though, since you seem pretty active with Instagram stories and now IGTV. And your new website going up (I'm working on one for myself too).
Sweet! According to this I am pretty high level 🤣 I'm in the query trenches atm being like "hurry up and reject me so I can get more submissions out!" Lol
I was happily listening through, like 'yeah yeah, I don't do any of these - go me!' and then I got to the last one.... O.O I'm pushing through it, but my fear of rejection causes me to hold back with my crit partners, abandon old projects for new ones, and miss all kinds of opportunities... but I'm working on it. This year, I swear, I'll be brave enough to let my crit partners read the whole novel. And next year, I swear, I'll be brave enough to start showing agents my work.
Love a good listicle. 👍 My favourite thing in this video “they lie to you” I don’t think you could have made yourself sound more sinister if you tried! 😂
Hi all 👋 For all the talk we listen to about what NOT to do when it comes to writing and what publishers WON'T accept, there are books out there, that have defied the rules and made MOUNDS of money, and yet, when you read them, you wonder HOW these books got green lit?!? * The Twilight Series. I tried listening to it and didn't make it passed the first chapter. It was boring! * Fifty Shades of Grey. Every cliche and personality tick or whatever else that we are told to AVOID is in this series in spades! HOW did these books get published? People like E.L. James, Stephanie Myers and Tommy Wiseau (The Room) to name a few, are taking the rulebook of writing, grinding it to dust and blowing that ground-up rule book in the face of every one who says "DON'T do THIS!" or "You HAVE to do THAT or your book won't see publication." All three of the people mentioned have had their unholy writing in movie form. Okay, Wiseau paid to have his own movie made. Whether you count it or not, you still have Stephanie Myers and E.L. James, whose magnum opus is the stuff of parody paradise. I'd pay SERIOUS money, if I had it, to find out WHO decided to publish that Smut fluff. The point is, it did get published. HOW and WHY? To slightly paraphrase a Mel Brooks song from The Producers, "Their BOOKS were Lousy and long. They did everything WRONG. Where did they go RIGHT?"
Well, honestly its soo different... My family is very honest with me. Gave me really hurtful constructive criticsm...Its other people my age that gave me whatever critique... Cause they expect you to pay I assume... Or maybe your language teacher will be helpful and honest as well...
@@Carolina013 What did I misunderstand? Because what I was saying was my mom does not sugarcoat her opinion of what I write, unlike what most peoples' family members are probably doing.
Title can certainly impact a book! If your publisher doesn't like your title, they'll have you submit new ones, and then their team will choose. Your agent will guide you through it.
yea the publisher/ editor always wants you to cut characters. But I had my most successful series from 2 char getting cut from a prior book. I literally cried like a child but I ended up giving them their own book
That is actually a myth. Not ALL publishers and editors with force you to completely change your book or cut out characters. If your editor or publisher is trying to make YOUR book into THEIR book, ditch em. Unless you're desperate for money--in any other circumstance, ditch them
I’m one of those who hasn’t let go of an idea from my youth. I do put down the idea to work on new things but I find myself going back to it and reworking it at least once a year. Thankfully it doesn’t even remotely resemble the first draft. The jump between the current and last draft has some big changes too but I need to find a stopping point and leave it for a while.
The key is to continue to level up with other projects and then come back! Amanda Foody and Claire Legrand just published books they came up with as teens--they just had to work on other books, and then come back to them later :)
I relate to this video a lot, specifically during the points where you talked about first drafts, and jumping right in to publishing your book without even considering whether or not it’s ready to. The fact that I did this about four years ago with my first book really bothers me, and I wonder if it’ll affect me in the long run of trying to get traditionally published/establish myself further as a writer. I have huge plans throughout this year to massively revise the book., and I hope that doing that is a step in the right direction. I don’t know if it is, though.
Each book is a debut... Not only that...your career as an author will require many debuts, summits and even a renaissance...why? To hold your readers attention and to gain new readers and to grow your readers and sales..and your readers also see how your grow as an author.
This is great, Alexa. I love that you’re advising to take your time and get it right. Thanks for making the video. Do you agree or disagree that the are some exceptions to using ideas you come up with as a kid/ teen? I’m talking about only using elements of it in the book, not keeping the original idea intact. An off topic, random question as well. Saw a local author selling his books at the Sunday markets. It got me thinking, if you traditionally publish, are you able to sell books like this? Or would contracts generally forbid you from doing this?
I agree that there are exceptions! Two I can think off off-hand are Amanda Foody and Claire Legrand, whose most recently published YA novels were both ideas they came up with as teens, but came back to in their mid-20s. If you're traditionally published, you could theoretically sell your books anywhere, but those sales won't "count" with your publisher the way they will through traditional distribution channels. ie: you can purchase copies if your own book at a discount (that's part of your author contract) and then sell them at full price wherever you like, but the numbers won't factor into your sales totals like they would if they were sold via a bookstore or online retailer. If the "official" numbers don't matter, you can totally sell them yourself if you want, AFAIK.
Thanks for relying! Interesting conundrum. I'm nowhere near publishing yet, but am definitely Ms. Random Thoughts, lol. There's plenty to think about there, considering I'm in Alice Springs, a small tourist town visited by people all over the world.
I hear you but I have a question. If your story idea has been simmering for years (4 right now) and does not leave you alone. You should still ignore it? I have this idea since my first nano. It's for a series and since is so big, and I'm not a publish author yet, is so intimidating that I keep putting it aside but my characters from it won't leave me well enough alone.
I'm not a published author but I have had the same "problem" with my fanfiction. My solution? I use OneNote and generally make a notebook per fic (or one for several short stories) and I use the sections and pages to outline and plot, but always include a "brainstorm" section where I'll just dump whatever thoughts came to me for that fic. Sometimes that means while working on the fic itself, other times I just dump thoughts of new/other fic ideas in their respective notebooks so I won't get sidetracked from my current fic or if I'm too busy to work on it. Usually writing the ideas out helps getting them out of my head for the time being and allows to me focus my energies elsewhere.
I have to cut my first scene , which I like very much. But it doesn’t move the plot forward. I saw a movie recently, where the first 30 minutes contributed nothing to the main story. I was just annoyed as a viewer and I am sure readers of my story would be, too.
What if you don't have another writer you trust? Some writers may persuade you to make the book worse. ... Btw, your lipstick is nice. What brand/color is it, please?
Always be very careful getting advice from other writers. People steal, even subconsciously. Free writer advice groups are predicated on writers borrowing ideas from each other, consensually or otherwise.
Any ideas for finding other reputable writers to compare/critique work? I haven't had much luck so far. I trade work with someone and I critique theirs mentioning plot holes, character development, passive voice and show vs. tell and they stare at me like a deer in headlights and critique my work with, "it was real good." This mediocre writer is struggling to find a good critique partner. :)
I have a video on finding critique partners, that includes resources. Novel Tea Show also has an episode on it, and a podcast coming out in a few weeks.
I agree very much with the first draft rule, but funnily enough, Louis Lamour, the well known Western fiction writer, claimed never to have rewritten a book, only ever writing the first draft, and he is the most popular Western writer to date. It's interesting to me how he could skip that when mostly every writer (myself included), rewrites a lot.
I heard that Walter Gibson (the main writer for The Shadow) never did second drafts either, and he was pushing out two novella-length pulps a month. Either they do a lot of mulling over the story before committing to paper, or they're just examples of exceptions to the rule.
@Salmo Ali That could be it--I do that all the time with my fanfiction and I rarely if ever do a second draft (only when it's been so long since I've written the first that it needs fixing). ...Although considering Walter Gibson definitely did his work on a typewriter, I imagine a lot of White-Out was used. Merry Christmas Eve! :D
I've shared and published stories on Wattpad so I might be biased or something, but I think it's a good idea! It can give you valuable feedback but it comes with limits. Most books that are posted onto Wattpad aren't really fit for publishing and being put in book stores, but Wattpad does offer deals to publish your books, make movies out of them, etc. So..I'd say go for it!
Please stop spreading the false information that family and friends can't help you because they love you. Pick the friends who read your genre, tell them to write notes in it and be patient with their time as they're doing You a favour. That means only checking in once a week and being sure you have enough money saved to treat them for dinner where you will then subsequently discuss said book and their notes
Thank you for this. I even work with my close friend in every stage of the book, while giving the later ones to another friend. I've made so bad experiences with beta readers formerly unknwon to me yet, that I doubt their use. So many who just startet the first paragraphs, then came back with "oh, I don't have the time, but would you bother with working trhough my book instead?" or puting comments in just out of envy, after I did edits which they didn't like on their work. If I find the right people, I guess that would be even better then the friends (who are naturally closer to my books, because they are close to my creative process), but it's really hard to find those people, I guess. And: I always give my books to my mother, because she normally don't read the genres I'm writing in. Why do I do this? Because she's more keen to see plot holes and logical mistakes gnere readers may look upon ^^
@@RocketJo86 I hope you treat your friends and family to lunch or dinner for their time. After all, they're doing you the favour when like all the unknown beta readers, they could be focusing elsewhere
my mum does not lie to me I showed her my first draft yesterday, and she only looked at the first chapter, and she added comments and highlighted things she didn't think was right and told me what to add in the comments XD
I understand this video is suppose help me have the best possible manuscript to submit, but holy shit does it scare the hell out of me. What are some tips for dealing with a soul crushing fear of rejection? Nothing kicks you below the belt harder than believing you're good at something only to find out you're really not.
Perhaps change your way of thinking? If you get a rejection it doesn't mean you're "really not" good; it simply means the agent/publisher doesn't feel it fits with the kind of books they sell and/or is not marketable at the moment.
I'm definitely killing my darlings. It made me cry, darn it! But I killed one of my fav characters. Permanently. Because I hate fake deaths. Also, how can people be so naieve? The first draft is faaar from perfect. It might be good, but it will have tons of mistakes in it. Gah!
Hello Iam thankful that I come across this video , hope u can reply : Iam 16yo and I write a lot of poetry’s , I always hide my poetry’s until my teacher discover one of my poetry’s and she told me to collect them and publish a book . But the problem is that I write sad poetry’s , I can’t write happy things . Iam afraid that peoples will judge me . And my poetry’s are mainly dedication for my family and my fav singers EXO . Iam a person that Hide my emotions and I cry a lot when iam alone . I have a lots of poetry’s and I want to publish a book titled “sun of midnight “ is this a good title , I want to publish this book cause my poetry’s are me , my emotion . The last problem is that iam afraid ....just afraid .
If you're thinking of self-publishing, this is actually a good avenue for poetry! It's very difficult to get poetry traditionally published. So it's not a bad idea! You could also submit your favorite poems to literary journals that take submissions. Or, if you just want to share your poems with fellow fans, you could also publish them on a blog. I say don't be afraid! Share your poetry if you want to--I'm sure your teacher is right and they are really good!
Do you Critique?..You would make a great C.P....Would you consider being my C.P...if not can you tell me specifically where to find a C.P...ASAP?..Thanks!!!!
rewrite it with different names and post it in a busy fandom as an AU... ask for betas in your ANs or ask the first reviewer with any semblance to constructive crit to do it? *answer is half joking... sorry, I don't know.
It's good to remind yourself that you can always re-use an idea later, in another scene or book. I have a document all for "deleted scenes" and lines, many of which end up proving useful for other projects.
If you watch movie commentaries, you quickly learn that filmmakers do this all the time. George Lucas wanted a Wookie battle in "Return of the Jedi;" didn't have the budget, so he did the Wookie battle later in "Revenge of the Sith."
Rita Skeeter was first meant to appear at the Leaky Cauldron in the first "Harry Potter" book, but J.K. had to cut her for time constraints. The character made a great debut in Book 4, though.
The first "Blade Runner" movie had an early draft that opened with a Replicant cooking at a pot in a house in the middle of nowhere, and the Blade Runner abruptly killing him; imagine my reaction at the opening scene of the sequel, "Blade Runner 2049."
Basically, removing a character, line or idea from your story does *not* mean losing them forever; it just means they have to sit tight until you can find a story that they do work for.
"Showing your writing to your family and friends doesn't count because they lie to you. They love you so they lie to you."
TRUTH
My husband is actually brutally honest. I showed him a scene I had just written the other day and he told me, "wait, that makes no sense. Wouldn't (insert potential plot holes here)"
Jennifer Jump: why can't family members do that? There's nothing wrong with it. It's bad for them to say that it's perfect when it isn't but I can't see anyone talk about the plot holes and be considered bad for doing that. It's brutally honest if they say "this part sucks. You call yourself a writer?" But showing why things wouldn't work should be encouraged.
Ha! Joke’s on you! My family hates me!
Nonameless my mum is super honest and expresses her opinion openly no matter what it is and never lies but just avoids instead
My older brother is one of my beta readers, and let me tell you, he has absolutely no issues telling me what he thinks doesn't work...
I started laughing maniacally at point #1 because I can't imagine how anyone could think their first draft is perfect. How??? What rock have they been living under?
I made this mistake. I did it because I didn't see my work as a first draft because I edited it constantly as I wrote. Every bit had been gone over, over and over again, so to me it was more like a twentieth draft. Then I went over it again a few times smoothing out issues and addressing things others had said before sending to agents. What I didn't realise was that structurally it was a first draft. When I found out, I had to cut lots of my lovely details in the restructuring. Never mind, live and learn; writers are supposed to suffer lol.
Well my sister wrote her first draft convinced it was perfect and sent it without looking at it a second time. It was published. She is the lucky few lol
I did. My first draft was the best thing I had ever read. That's because I didn't read anything else. Big mistake.
It wasn't publidhed, but first book had onr draft. No one told me otherwise when I was 14 😅
@@s.a.8548 Yep, there are those literary geniuses who have that word magic just like those brilliant musicians or athletes.
I had met someone who was #3. I had a bad critique partner long ago (we'll call him Bob) that insisted my crappy 1st draft was PERFECT and was giving me hell for wanting to edit my work. Let's just say, he didn't last too long. Moral of the story: edit your story - it will only get better if you put the work into it.
When I meet people who think they're perfect/refuse to edit/listen, I don't sweat them too much because I know they won't last long! Like, I'm only trying to help--it's on the other person whether or not they want to help themselves :)
Wow... glad you got rid of Bob. And that you had the self-awareness to know that "change nothing!" was too good to be true.
I learned from the great Hemmingway that the 1st draft is crap. I'm on the fourth draft now and I still see areas that need improvement. Editing may be dull, but it's great to see how far it has come.
I have the problem that when I've got an idea for a book I'm especially enthusiastic about the plot. But when I'm writing I'm just really impatient to write everything that needs to happen before I can write the plot.
The plot should be everything, though, not just the climax. Your problem seems to be conflict based, just add loads of conflict that makes sense to your story with lots of tension and appropriate dialogue, so then things will feel more interesting to write and you'll be more engaged, but it's already been like 6 months so im sure youre fine by now(((:
Why not just write the part you're excited about first so that you can make sure that it's written the best it can be? And then later you write the part that accompanies it and then redo the good part to remaster it. If you wait a while to write a scene in a story that you were initially excited for, it seems that you won't be as excited to get to it after a while and it might sound horrible compared to how you would've written it when you first thought of it.
@@shadowspector3611 But that can backfire. If he writes about the most exciting parts first, he'll blow away his balls with three potential pistols of failure. And those guns are: unenthusiasm to write the next scene, a writer's high that will destroy his pacing, and, or, a messy plot that will seem perfect because he written what he wanted to write -- thus making him satisfied in writing his overall piece, no longer challenging himself. He should NEVER write the most exciting parts first. In all honesty, EVERY SINGLE SENTENCE has to be exciting.
Daniel Smith: oh dang, you're right. Writing the part you're most excited for make it so you have nothing to look forward to. But what if you get the idea for the perfect way to express the exciting scene but you're writing a long piece and you're nowhere near getting to that portion? I've also had issues when I'm on one project and then I think of a separate project and I get really excited to write for it, but I stop myself since I want to finish my current project since I feel I won't finish it when I start the other project. Then it turns out that when I finish the first project and move onto the next one, the excitement of writing something new has subsided since my mind has "come down from the clouds" and then its not as fun to write anymore despite putting a tremendous amount of thought into the outline.
@@shadowspector3611What's up Shadow. I'll tackle your second situation first, and then I'll answer your first question regarding ways to maintain an idea despite not reaching that point in the story yet.
Now, for your Cloud 9 dilemma, I used to have a small problem like that in the past. And, for me, I realized that the problem was inspiration itself. Now, inspiration isn't evil -- in fact, it's one of the greatest flames of motivation to fuel your creative drive to craft worlds to share with others in a grand scheme to make the world a better place for the sake of bringing humanity closer to who they once were -- HOWEVER, over time, the more I immersed myself in inspiration's fires, the blacker that tempestuous inferno for creative hunger became, thus becoming a poisonous fire. Eventually, it became so deadly that I grew addicted to it's high, and, soon, though my imagination ran rampant, my writing fervor was being brunt alive because it got to the point where I relied on the writer's high.
Over time, I learned to conquer this. And eventually, I've reached a level where I can write for hours on end -- even if it's not "fun;" even if I don't feel like it.
But how did I reach this? I simply focused on my desire to improve my skills and become a better writer for the sake of others and the grand scheme -- for the sake of telling stories that won't just matter to me, but for others who need to experience the story for the enrichment of their lives. And a big thing that helped me write without inspiration was enjoying the process of syntax structure and writing style. One I focused on being consistent in my craft, working on new ideas even if I''m not "high" on inspiration, I learned to simply appreciate every single word, and every single sentence that was being written on the page -- from how I wrote the words to how the sentences were structured and designed. Soon, after having a working knowledge of syntax structure, I learned to develop a certain writing style, and it became one of the things that made me write -- whether I wanted to or not. Once I improved, I developed a habit to work consistently on new and old ideas and stories because I fear that I'll lose my writing strength and style if I don't keep practicing and utilizing it.
So what does writing have to do with storytelling consistency? What great role does it serve in forcing one to write even if one feels bored in writing it? The writing style. Once a writer wholeheartedly embraces metaphors, similes, hyperboles, personifications, alliteration, allegories, word-play, diction, and all other forms of writing techniques in tandem to how these writing techniques will correspond to the overall thematic structure, mood, tone, plot, worldbuilding, and all other structural elements of the story, then the chances of them working on and COMPLETING the new idea increases tenfold.
Therefore, enjoy the mere process -- every step -- of giving birth to the story, intimately shaping it like Leonardo giving life to the face of Mona Lisa, and you'll find yourself working on your new stories more consistently -- despite finishing up your older story and feeling a little "uninspired."
And before I move onto your last question, another thing to have in mind is the story's thematic, structural, and overall purpose. By asking yourself -- and knowing the answers to -- questions such as, "What is my story about," "How will it end," "What are the main themes of this piece," "Who are the characters," "What do they want or what what is their goal," "What is their motivation or why do they want to accomplish said goal and for what end," "What is the main conflict," "Is the main conflict man v man or man v nature and etc," and the like, then you are more than likely to work on and finish your new idea or story.
Now, for your first question, if you fear that you'd lose a powerful idea for your story because you won't get to it in time or that it's too far away in the narrative because there's too much ground to cover, a big thing that helps is writing a short sentence of the idea down in your story outline. Basically, just make a note of it for later.
Another thing that helps is the scene list. With the scene list, it'll help determine at what point your cool idea will arrive in the story, so that, even as write your piece, you won't forget where it is.
An example of a scene list is this
Act 2
Scene 34: McCury gets into a fight in the alleyway.
Scene 35: McCury reflects on what happened. Before reaching his friend's house, he gets a phone call
S36: McCury does this...
S37:...
S38:...
S39:...
S122:...
S145:...
S298: Final Scene. Books conclusion. McCurry gets shot to death.
The scene list is TANTAMOUNT to keeping track of your story. It's one of the things that will save your ideas so that you won't forget about them in the future as your working on the story.
Check out Randy Ingermanson and The Snowflake Method. That mess will save you TONS of time and help you with keeping track of your ideas.
I have the luck of having a langage pro at home... My mom. She had always helped me, and was kind enough not to lie to me if something was not good or boring. Whenever I needed advice, she would giving it to me, or explain how to make a scene better... I never hesitate to tell her that if she thinks it's not good, she *has* to tell me ! She's wonderful and helped me a lot during the past 10 years !
Not really related to anything but your makeup looks really nice!
Thank you!
I was just thinking the same thing. (I was literally thinking, "your makeup is really on point today!")
oh god, I can't imagine querying a first draft
In regards to #5, it’s ironic that some of the greatest fantasy series went against this idea. Tolkien wrote all of LOTR in a decade, the Wheel of Time took six years to write and Harry Potter took Rowling around that long too.
I mean, I’d imagine this is what the 99% comment is for, but it’s still funny to think about.
T C Is it the thing about statring as a teen? I'm not sure is any of them was, especially Tolkien
Love this. I took notes. But also, the whole time I was watching this, I kept thinking of the opening scene from Monsters Inc. “Leaving the door open is the worst mistake any employee can make be-caaaaause....” lol
I love your channel! I've been binge-watching a ton of your videos and it has really inspired me to get back into writing. Also, that is the fluffiest orange cat tail I have ever seen!
oh my dear alexa you do inspire so very much. thank you a million times over.. (shallow sidebar: your hair looks its best style-wise here although i really like when you have a deep auburn tone.)
#5 so much! I spent my entire time in college writing the same book because I loved it so much, but once I got a different idea, the first book just wasn't as sellable/publish-worthy/good-enough. For years, I still kept going back to the same book to re-write it and edit it more, even though I had written (and even published) other things. But just a couple of months ago, after one more major rewrite of that first book, I finally accepted the fact that that book is just never going to be good enough. Time is always better spent just writing a new book if you have another idea.
I needed to hear that 5th one. I recently decided to put my brain baby, that I've been trying to figure out for a couple years now, on the back burner in favor of something else recently and I keep going back and forth on it.
Hopefully I can return to my brain baby in the future.
I love these videos omfg lmaooo dragging my thirteen year old self to hell and back
Long time subscriber, and just wanted to chime in say I love the ashy cool-tone blonde!! You pull it off so well
Such interesting points! But definitely, like, there's always, ALWASY room for improvement, no matter how big of a writer one might be, how could a first draft ever be somewhere near as perfect??
What about writing multiple books at a time? (Maybe I haven’t seen enough of your vids and you’ve covered that)
Let go of the old idea that's close to your heart and try something new - SO me!!!
And now I have to do it, somehow 😭
I am willing to open myself up to beta reader feedback, I just don't know how well I'd be on giving feedback myself. And actually something my sister told me helped me improve upon a first draft a great deal. I know I need others as well, but her comment on that draft was invaluable to fixing a lot of the problems it had.
It's always great when friends/family can actually be helpful! It does happen!
And my advice for getting better at giving critique is to note down any questions you have while reading, and share those questions with the writer. Also note any places you grew bored/started skimming.
Can we please behold how her cat merges with her moves at 12:13??
I loved this brutally honest video! And laughed when you said “listical” type videos at the end 😂
There's a scene I just wrote last night that I already know I'm going to have to cut. I love it but it doesn't do anything for the plot and sort of breaks the tone. BUT I LOVE IT! 😭But it has to go bye bye.
This is EXTREMELY EXTREMELY late but you know, for future reference?
When you delete a scene that you value or a scene that you think has some great ideas, you should copy paste it somewhere else so you can draw inspiration from it later--or in the best case scenario, you can come back to it later with fresh eyes and find a way to make it fit better into your story that you originally intended for it to be in.
@@iferawhite7661 I do that I have a document for deleted scenes, some I don’t ever use again buts just nice to go back and read them
What if the first draft was about 10 years ago and you have been rewriting it ever since? I began of writing when I was about 12 something old and much of rewriting after rewriting has been done since. Now I am 20 something old and now I have a feeling the story that has been with me 10 + years is somewhere ready to be writing itself down at least. Lots of new ideas, lots of new inspiration from other books/comics... I am in the right track?
I'm SO glad you said it's okay to start something new if the project you're working on feels stagnant. I often do this, but try not to because I feel like I'm giving up.
Thanks for the advice. Just wanted to let you know I picked up your book from my local library. Can't wait to read it.
I hope you enjoy it!
The problem with showing other people my work is(aside from the anxiety) that i'm afraid that if i send this person a pdf with my book and ask them to read it they might take it and claim it as their own... idk but i'm usually protective over my work
Bruh, can relate, i really want someone to critique my writing so that i can fix it.. but don't want them to use my idea as their own's..
Girl....your hair is so on point here.
Editing is my favorite part lol I'd love to know how to find critic partners
I actually decided to write some of the story ideas from back when I was a kid. However, they never went past the idea phase, so there's a lot of room for me to fill in. The more established ones with more content, only one of them I plan to rework, but I'll probably discard the rest.
I really needed to hear #5, because I realized my taste in books had changed so much that I was more writing it because I thought I liked it instead of writing what I really liked. So that’s how I switched from writing a medieval fantasy (*shudder*) to writing a psychological horror/thriller.
Thank you for all the info. i love watching your channel. I have learned so much from you.
This is amazing! I took notes, haha. Great video.
You are so smart. Thank you for more knowledge.
Just found your channel after finding your video with the Writing Rituals Tag :-) Guess I might have another authortuber to binge watch now Lol.
Hi Sadie! I found you on the internet randomly, how funny. See you at the next Kaila word sprint!
Lol, nice! I've had that happen with one or two of the other ladies. I didn't realize that you had a youtube! I should have known though, since you seem pretty active with Instagram stories and now IGTV. And your new website going up (I'm working on one for myself too).
Sweet! According to this I am pretty high level 🤣 I'm in the query trenches atm being like "hurry up and reject me so I can get more submissions out!" Lol
I was happily listening through, like 'yeah yeah, I don't do any of these - go me!' and then I got to the last one.... O.O I'm pushing through it, but my fear of rejection causes me to hold back with my crit partners, abandon old projects for new ones, and miss all kinds of opportunities... but I'm working on it. This year, I swear, I'll be brave enough to let my crit partners read the whole novel. And next year, I swear, I'll be brave enough to start showing agents my work.
In my head canon, you're my loving older sister.
"You need to let other people read your work and give feedback" - why would I do that when my mother thinks it's perfect
Love a good listicle. 👍 My favourite thing in this video “they lie to you” I don’t think you could have made yourself sound more sinister if you tried! 😂
Hi all 👋
For all the talk we listen to about what NOT to do when it comes to writing and what publishers WON'T accept, there are books out there, that have defied the rules and made MOUNDS of money, and yet, when you read them, you wonder HOW these books got green lit?!?
* The Twilight Series. I tried listening to it and didn't make it passed the first chapter. It was boring!
* Fifty Shades of Grey. Every cliche and personality tick or whatever else that we are told to AVOID is in this series in spades! HOW did these books get published?
People like E.L. James, Stephanie Myers and Tommy Wiseau (The Room) to name a few, are taking the rulebook of writing, grinding it to dust and blowing that ground-up rule book in the face of every one who says "DON'T do THIS!" or "You HAVE to do THAT or your book won't see publication."
All three of the people mentioned have had their unholy writing in movie form. Okay, Wiseau paid to have his own movie made. Whether you count it or not, you still have Stephanie Myers and E.L. James, whose magnum opus is the stuff of parody paradise. I'd pay SERIOUS money, if I had it, to find out WHO decided to publish that Smut fluff.
The point is, it did get published. HOW and WHY?
To slightly paraphrase a Mel Brooks song from The Producers, "Their BOOKS were Lousy and long. They did everything WRONG. Where did they go RIGHT?"
Well, honestly its soo different... My family is very honest with me. Gave me really hurtful constructive criticsm...Its other people my age that gave me whatever critique... Cause they expect you to pay I assume... Or maybe your language teacher will be helpful and honest as well...
"They lie to you, they love you."
Then I guess my mom doesn't love me.
You really don't have listening comprehension.
Mine didn't. You'll live.
@@Carolina013 What did I misunderstand? Because what I was saying was my mom does not sugarcoat her opinion of what I write, unlike what most peoples' family members are probably doing.
You are awesome... and I appreciate your personality and advice.
Does a good title affect the success of a book?? I mean is it very necessary to have a creative and uncommon title??
Title can certainly impact a book! If your publisher doesn't like your title, they'll have you submit new ones, and then their team will choose. Your agent will guide you through it.
Alexa Donne Good to know, cause mine doesn't have a name and I still refer it by the main character's name.
I love your hair like this. You look gorgeous. Thanks for the video
yea the publisher/ editor always wants you to cut characters. But I had my most successful series from 2 char getting cut from a prior book. I literally cried like a child but I ended up giving them their own book
That is actually a myth. Not ALL publishers and editors with force you to completely change your book or cut out characters. If your editor or publisher is trying to make YOUR book into THEIR book, ditch em. Unless you're desperate for money--in any other circumstance, ditch them
I must admit, I have been working on a project for 4 decades. Of course, it now bears virtually no resemblance to what I had envisioned 4 decades ago.
Thank you this really helped!
#5 Oh my gosh I feel called out
Okay no srsly I think you jus opened my eyes on the realest level....
I’m one of those who hasn’t let go of an idea from my youth. I do put down the idea to work on new things but I find myself going back to it and reworking it at least once a year. Thankfully it doesn’t even remotely resemble the first draft. The jump between the current and last draft has some big changes too but I need to find a stopping point and leave it for a while.
The key is to continue to level up with other projects and then come back! Amanda Foody and Claire Legrand just published books they came up with as teens--they just had to work on other books, and then come back to them later :)
I relate to this video a lot, specifically during the points where you talked about first drafts, and jumping right in to publishing your book without even considering whether or not it’s ready to. The fact that I did this about four years ago with my first book really bothers me, and I wonder if it’ll affect me in the long run of trying to get traditionally published/establish myself further as a writer. I have huge plans throughout this year to massively revise the book., and I hope that doing that is a step in the right direction. I don’t know if it is, though.
Each book is a debut... Not only that...your career as an author will require many debuts, summits and even a renaissance...why? To hold your readers attention and to gain new readers and to grow your readers and sales..and your readers also see how your grow as an author.
So do you write the whole book out as a draft then re-write it and fix things. Is that what you mean?
You are really inspirational.
I love your hair like this. ❤️
This is great, Alexa. I love that you’re advising to take your time and get it right. Thanks for making the video.
Do you agree or disagree that the are some exceptions to using ideas you come up with as a kid/ teen? I’m talking about only using elements of it in the book, not keeping the original idea intact.
An off topic, random question as well. Saw a local author selling his books at the Sunday markets. It got me thinking, if you traditionally publish, are you able to sell books like this? Or would contracts generally forbid you from doing this?
I agree that there are exceptions! Two I can think off off-hand are Amanda Foody and Claire Legrand, whose most recently published YA novels were both ideas they came up with as teens, but came back to in their mid-20s.
If you're traditionally published, you could theoretically sell your books anywhere, but those sales won't "count" with your publisher the way they will through traditional distribution channels. ie: you can purchase copies if your own book at a discount (that's part of your author contract) and then sell them at full price wherever you like, but the numbers won't factor into your sales totals like they would if they were sold via a bookstore or online retailer. If the "official" numbers don't matter, you can totally sell them yourself if you want, AFAIK.
Thanks for relying! Interesting conundrum. I'm nowhere near publishing yet, but am definitely Ms. Random Thoughts, lol. There's plenty to think about there, considering I'm in Alice Springs, a small tourist town visited by people all over the world.
Great advice. As someone loomj g to write and eventually publish their first novel this was really helpful. I love your channel!!:):)
I hear you but I have a question.
If your story idea has been simmering for years (4 right now) and does not leave you alone. You should still ignore it?
I have this idea since my first nano. It's for a series and since is so big, and I'm not a publish author yet, is so intimidating that I keep putting it aside but my characters from it won't leave me well enough alone.
I'm not a published author but I have had the same "problem" with my fanfiction. My solution? I use OneNote and generally make a notebook per fic (or one for several short stories) and I use the sections and pages to outline and plot, but always include a "brainstorm" section where I'll just dump whatever thoughts came to me for that fic. Sometimes that means while working on the fic itself, other times I just dump thoughts of new/other fic ideas in their respective notebooks so I won't get sidetracked from my current fic or if I'm too busy to work on it. Usually writing the ideas out helps getting them out of my head for the time being and allows to me focus my energies elsewhere.
I’m a freelance media critic so I’m the harshest critic of myself it might be a detriment
I have to cut my first scene , which I like very much.
But it doesn’t move the plot forward.
I saw a movie recently, where the first 30 minutes contributed nothing to the main story. I was just annoyed as a viewer and I am sure readers of my story would be, too.
What if you don't have another writer you trust? Some writers may persuade you to make the book worse. ... Btw, your lipstick is nice. What brand/color is it, please?
Always be very careful getting advice from other writers. People steal, even subconsciously. Free writer advice groups are predicated on writers borrowing ideas from each other, consensually or otherwise.
Which is why you don't show all your cards.
Daniel Smith IV
Yeah, you show it to other writers to get feedback on your writing style in the first place
Any ideas for finding other reputable writers to compare/critique work? I haven't had much luck so far. I trade work with someone and I critique theirs mentioning plot holes, character development, passive voice and show vs. tell and they stare at me like a deer in headlights and critique my work with, "it was real good." This mediocre writer is struggling to find a good critique partner. :)
I don’t understand how anyone could look at their first draft and think they don’t have to edit it. I look at my first draft and I’m like oh. 😳
Where can you find other writers to read your book?
The closest writers group is vary far from where I am any other ideas?
I have a video on finding critique partners, that includes resources. Novel Tea Show also has an episode on it, and a podcast coming out in a few weeks.
Alexa Donne thank you! I was trying to literally watch all your videos but haven’t gotten to that one yet.
I agree very much with the first draft rule, but funnily enough, Louis Lamour, the well known Western fiction writer, claimed never to have rewritten a book, only ever writing the first draft, and he is the most popular Western writer to date. It's interesting to me how he could skip that when mostly every writer (myself included), rewrites a lot.
I heard that Walter Gibson (the main writer for The Shadow) never did second drafts either, and he was pushing out two novella-length pulps a month. Either they do a lot of mulling over the story before committing to paper, or they're just examples of exceptions to the rule.
@@dr.kineilwicks7002 Maybe they look over while they're writing. My sister does that and she's never done a second draft.
@Salmo Ali That could be it--I do that all the time with my fanfiction and I rarely if ever do a second draft (only when it's been so long since I've written the first that it needs fixing).
...Although considering Walter Gibson definitely did his work on a typewriter, I imagine a lot of White-Out was used.
Merry Christmas Eve! :D
Hello, what do you think of sharing of sharing stories on wattpad? I've been thinking of doing this for some time, but I'm not sure.
I've shared and published stories on Wattpad so I might be biased or something, but I think it's a good idea! It can give you valuable feedback but it comes with limits. Most books that are posted onto Wattpad aren't really fit for publishing and being put in book stores, but Wattpad does offer deals to publish your books, make movies out of them, etc.
So..I'd say go for it!
They say Lee Child doesn't edit his book, his first draft is his final draft. :)
Whenever I show my mom my writing she asks what shit this is supposed to be
How to improve your grammar while wetting a story. I had bad grammar. I am writting a story I just to make my work look. I am not very in English.
Please stop spreading the false information that family and friends can't help you because they love you. Pick the friends who read your genre, tell them to write notes in it and be patient with their time as they're doing You a favour. That means only checking in once a week and being sure you have enough money saved to treat them for dinner where you will then subsequently discuss said book and their notes
Thank you for this. I even work with my close friend in every stage of the book, while giving the later ones to another friend. I've made so bad experiences with beta readers formerly unknwon to me yet, that I doubt their use. So many who just startet the first paragraphs, then came back with "oh, I don't have the time, but would you bother with working trhough my book instead?" or puting comments in just out of envy, after I did edits which they didn't like on their work. If I find the right people, I guess that would be even better then the friends (who are naturally closer to my books, because they are close to my creative process), but it's really hard to find those people, I guess.
And: I always give my books to my mother, because she normally don't read the genres I'm writing in. Why do I do this? Because she's more keen to see plot holes and logical mistakes gnere readers may look upon ^^
@@RocketJo86 I hope you treat your friends and family to lunch or dinner for their time. After all, they're doing you the favour when like all the unknown beta readers, they could be focusing elsewhere
@@ziloe Well of course I do ^^
Would never let them do the work for nothing.
My geekness is a-quivering
my mum does not lie to me I showed her my first draft yesterday, and she only looked at the first chapter, and she added comments and highlighted things she didn't think was right and told me what to add in the comments XD
That's so cool! :)
I would be embarrassed to publish my first draft 😂
I understand this video is suppose help me have the best possible manuscript to submit, but holy shit does it scare the hell out of me. What are some tips for dealing with a soul crushing fear of rejection? Nothing kicks you below the belt harder than believing you're good at something only to find out you're really not.
All great writers have been rejected. Failure is the most important step in the path to success in anything.
Perhaps change your way of thinking? If you get a rejection it doesn't mean you're "really not" good; it simply means the agent/publisher doesn't feel it fits with the kind of books they sell and/or is not marketable at the moment.
I'm definitely killing my darlings. It made me cry, darn it! But I killed one of my fav characters. Permanently. Because I hate fake deaths. Also, how can people be so naieve? The first draft is faaar from perfect. It might be good, but it will have tons of mistakes in it. Gah!
Hello
Iam thankful that I come across this video , hope u can reply :
Iam 16yo and I write a lot of poetry’s , I always hide my poetry’s until my teacher discover one of my poetry’s and she told me to collect them and publish a book . But the problem is that I write sad poetry’s , I can’t write happy things . Iam afraid that peoples will judge me . And my poetry’s are mainly dedication for my family and my fav singers EXO . Iam a person that Hide my emotions and I cry a lot when iam alone . I have a lots of poetry’s and I want to publish a book titled “sun of midnight “ is this a good title , I want to publish this book cause my poetry’s are me , my emotion . The last problem is that iam afraid ....just afraid .
If you're thinking of self-publishing, this is actually a good avenue for poetry! It's very difficult to get poetry traditionally published. So it's not a bad idea! You could also submit your favorite poems to literary journals that take submissions. Or, if you just want to share your poems with fellow fans, you could also publish them on a blog.
I say don't be afraid! Share your poetry if you want to--I'm sure your teacher is right and they are really good!
I would say I’m actually a pretty mature writer for my age. I may be young, but I do think my writing through.
Do you Critique?..You would make a great C.P....Would you consider being my C.P...if not can you tell me specifically where to find a C.P...ASAP?..Thanks!!!!
Unfortunately I don't have time to take on additional CPs. I have a video on how and where to find CPs that has current links in the description box!
How do you find beta readers?
rewrite it with different names and post it in a busy fandom as an AU... ask for betas in your ANs or ask the first reviewer with any semblance to constructive crit to do it? *answer is half joking... sorry, I don't know.
This video's tone was very condescending.
How so? I didn't get that sense at all.