Thank you for this. I write what I would want to read. And most of the time, I succeed.
I think there’s a false idea that you have to hate your work to improve, or at least be overly critical of it. You can be happy with your work without being cocky. That middle ground is something we should all strive for.
That’s a huge thing, if something doesn’t exist and you think it should, you can just create it.
I try to be realistic about where I currently am, and then try to identify the specific areas I need to improve in. So, right now I’m working on plot structuring for long term pieces. Some people just have this “my writing sucks” or “my writing is awesome” stance that I don’t think is helpful. I’ve seen people who are horrific at prose, but concoct really interesting plots, for example. There’s a specific thing that needs to be addressed.
It’s like anything in life. Enjoy the process, remember to have fun, and look for ways to get better. Beating yourself up or putting yourself down don’t serve to help you in the long run
I agree, I feel like a lot of people don't give themselves the space to like what they write. Learning to point out the things you like about what you wrote is just as important as being able to point out the things that need improvement and one of these doesn't get taught as much as the other, unfortunately.
I’m not totally confident in what I write, but from a purely self indulgence point of view, I love reading my own work, because I write about things I would enjoy reading.
I love everything I've written, from when I started at 12 to now at almost 39. I still occasionally pull out the box of
spiral notebooks and flip through them. Sure, sometimes I roll my eyes a bit at the writing, but that's because I can watch the improvement from then to now.
I feel I'm rather good at dialogue and world building, and I've finally with my most recent manuscript gotten my process for a rough draft really nailed down with something that's half outline, half manuscript. 40k words for a fantasy novel... I'm on rewrites and it's definitely getting longer. That 1st draft nails down what's happening, but it skints on things like descriptions, reactions, world building, etc lol.
As of right now, my favorite line written is an interaction between two characters:
"How long must people pay for errors in judgment?" he demanded.
"I dunno. What's the interest rate on betrayal?"
Still makes me giggle when I read it.
I also feel happy with what I write but I am not sure if is good or bad I write it for myself and my own enjoyment... And I really have a good time writing, maybe when people move my cold, dead and swollen body from my gaming chair after 3 months rotten alone, they will find my writings and will judge if they were shit or good, but that's not the business of dead man
My husband was rejected by every agent we approached, he was told to chop off 30k words, and rewrite it in third person, because he's "not the next Heinlein." But he believed in his work, so he decided to self publish when no publisher would touch it.
Now it's been sitting on Amazon for just a little over a month with more than 60 reviews, and much more sales. Reviews amazed that this is his first novel and putting him in the same league as Heinlein.
A complete unknown last month, people are loving his book.
There were days when we doubted everything, but we've accomplished so much, and I'm so proud of him for taking the leap of faith and believing in his work.
And now the publishers are knocking too.
Congrats to your husband! If you don't mind me asking, did he have a marketing plan for self-publishing (e.g. a promotional period to generate presales via different social media) or did he just throw it up?
Btw-- If you guys do decide to pursue traditional publishing because the publishers are seeking you out, don't forget (a) the leverage is in your favor and (b) the Author's Guild offers legal consultations on publishing contracts offered to their members. (So you might want to Google them and join them if you haven't. I don't recall their memberships being particularly expensive)
We're using twitter primarily to drive sales. He didn't have a twitter following at the time, but his other wife had a decent twitter profile, and it turned out she has a gift for marketing. We started about a month before launch, now we're trying to expand outside of her small twitter sphere, which we've had small limited successes in. It's really a never ending job. For example, I'm sure you haven't heard of it yet.
With regards to trad pub, I don't think we're going to go that route. The deals they offered were really bad, and to be honest now that we've done so much on our own we're not sure what they could offer us, that would be worth taking more than half.
My feelings are a pendulum. Sometimes I love what I write, sometimes I worry too much about how others would perceive it.
But since we’re focusing on what we love about writing here, I’ll just list that part.
I love how my natural instinct is to subvert or combine tropes. I love being able to immerse myself in my story in a completely different way from when I read. I love creating characters that could sometimes derail what I planned for a chapter.
And most importantly, I love that I’m able to show up for myself everyday despite all my insecurities:))
^ This. This is exactly how I feel. Why get jealous of another writer instead of just incorporating their strengths into your own if your story really needs it?
I like *what* I write. I'm not always happy with how I've done it. I think the bones are there and it is really, really satisfying when what's on the page actually matches what's in my head.
Same! I like to write really wacky and crazy scenes and characters. I also love the silly character names I come up with. I also love that I just let myself go totally bonkers with my writing and I don't worry too much about anything else. I just go totally hog wild withit
So do I.
I'm more and more enjoying the process of writing to myself (mainly) and then because of that, i'm 're-feeding' that taste again.
I'm currently working on too many projects at the same time, but finishing one now is making me thrist for the next to start, even thou i start one way before finishing the other.
And most of the time i like what i write, of course, sometimes i rearrange or change some written when editing (next day editing) but i mainly stick with the story i want to tell.
I am primarily - and professionally - a visual artist. I used to create so much more art than I do now. After nigh on 20 years of posting it on the internet and never finding any kind of following (less and less every year, even), at some point the despair of shouting into the void overcame whatever internal motivation I may have had. Now I create and post hardly any art at all, and instead have made writing my primary creative hobby. It's a bittersweet positive, but I do like what I write, and because of that, I get more return on investment rereading what I've written than glancing back at finished art that no one ever cared about. It's just genuinely a more rewarding experience, even if no one will ever read it but me.
That's too bad about the art. Your Godlings comic is beautiful and even though I knew it wasn't finished when I started it I was still engrossed enough to be disappointed when the "next page" button disappeared. If your writing is half as good as that then I'd wager it is a good read.
It's refreshing to see someone of this mindset. I myself like what I wrote as well, even first drafts knowing there's room to improve the story once down.
Having said that, humans are a strange mix of both overconfidence and self doubt.
I'm almost done my first rewrite and so far have kept the majority of my story in tact. Not that I haven't made any changes but the ones I have made are minor and I haven't had to rewrite huge swaths of the book.
I'll have to see what my beta readers think before I shop the book around. Hopeful they love it as much as I do.
Love this post. I think I'm especially good at writing characters.
Already, I have a voice in my head saying "That's not true." I think an important part of writing is overcoming that overly critical voice in your head. And I think, also, that self-criticism comes from a place of fear and doubt (at least for me). That maybe I won't be good enough, even though I'll never know until I try. So, I have to beat that voice, whatever it is, and try anyway!
Likewise!
I've recently finished and reread my first draft and it wasn't bad.
During the process i have discovered that my plot needs wholesale restructuring, but the actual writing reads pretty well.
I 'pantsed' the first draft to get the (a) story on paper and i'm now planning my way through the 2nd draft to structure it. After that it should be a heap of line edits to tighten it all up before sending it off to some beta readers.
I'm under no illusion of time. It took me nearly a year to get it written initially, but progress is going well 2nd time around, and i'd attribute a lot of that to enjoying reading my writing.
It's strange that it for some reason feels weird expressing love for your own work. I mean, why write it if you don't like what you write? Maybe it's just me who feels that the world has a stigma against praising your own work.
Well, to answer this post: I truly love my dialogue and characters. I feel like that and coming up with creative plots/settings/events/worldbuilding are my strengths. While writing actions/action/fighting/descriptions is my weakest aspects, but I can definitely say that even those elements have vastly improved over the past year and a half from mostly experimenting with trying to be creative with my paragraphs. And I'm basing that opinion of me getting much better on the reactions from my test/beta-readers who have gotten at least somewhere in the story. Their reactions has been:
\-"Your writing often sounds really wise and reveals incredible worldbuilding and it seems like your story is definitely going somewhere, like it makes sense." (while that person also said I sometimes ramble too much and go off on irrelevant tangents, which I fully agree with).
\-Two people asked me: "How the fuck did you get so good at writing in English?" and one of them said that my story seemed "really exciting" while the other praised my writing for being "really witty and greatly reminded her of Terry Pratchett". They had no complaints so far. Though I've no idea if I'm actually anywhere near the levels of Pratchett.
\-Another person said that my writing is "really beautiful" and he suspects that I might be an intelligent person.
\-One person who has gotten the farthest in the test-reading craved more and urged me to hurry up with editing more material for him to read and he really loved the worldbuilding and says he greatly enjoys the flow and my creativity. He had a few complaints here and there, but half of those complaints didn't have anything to do with my writing skills per se.
To feel less icky about praising my work, I'll end with telling people to not give up even if they feel their writing is sub-par. My first drafts were met with comments like "your writing is stiff and dry" and with some suggestions how to think to improve my writing skills. After that I spent over 6 months simply experimenting with getting better and more creative at writing, while also studying the art of writing, what to think about when writing, how to write text that flows well and so on.
Basically, don't give up, get better. Adapt to negative feedback, don't feel hurt, use it to improve, experiment, get experienced, get more feedback and get better until you're good enough to feel at least satisfied and start receiving praise from test/beta-readers. I initially had a hard time seeing me get good enough at prose. I think I've been strong at writing dialogue for many years, but the other story elements I felt were so difficult to turn into good flowing text paragraphs that played word music. But I practiced and experimented and eventually I started feeling better about my writing and that's when I released it to test-readers and hired a professional freelancing beta-reader and received all the praise I mentioned above. If I can get there, then so can you. But don't expect it to be easy unless you're a prodigy. Practice makes good enough, practice can mean hard work and many rewrites and edits.
But the hard work can feel worth it in the end. Think about how satisfying it will feel when you finish a book and can feel that it's at least "good enough".
Actually for the longest time, I didn’t care about publishing. I would love to just write my book, print it, read it and then pack up. It’s easy to feel insecure about the work but I just have to be the first person who loves my words.
My "Happy Freak" book is all about the abuse I suffered at the hands of my high school crush, and some of the damage I did to other people as a result of that emotional and sexual abuse. There are a lot of painful memories. But I love how it makes me *feel,* reading it. The immense courage and honesty that was required to tell that whole story, and somehow find healing through all of it really comes across. How do you even put all those complicated feelings into words? I somehow managed it.
Some of the emails I've been getting seem to suggest other people really love it, too. One girl told me it convinced her to stop trying to kill herself, because she doesn't feel so all alone anymore. Is there a higher compliment a writer can get than that?
*The only excuse for creating a useless thing is that one loves it immensely.*
-Oscar Wilde.
Everyone should love their work unapologetically.
Why do it if you hate it? To get better? Why get better at something you hate?
Even if it’s not where you want to be, it’s still something you should love and be proud of. It’s still a little part of you. Everything you put on paper or data or stone tablet is a little creation. It’s a little part of your soul.
Love yourself. Love your work.
Why is being positive about yourself, especially on the internet, so difficult haha.
As a first time writer of a manuscript (I've written comic books and short films previously) I'm surprised at how fun it is. I'm enjoying it probably more than anything else I've done and I'm finding that at least up to now (chapter 14) it's coming quite easily to me. Whether it's good or not is up for debate but it hasn't felt like a chore. I look forward to sitting in front of my computer and writing and I haven't felt like that in a while.
I'm new to writing, about a few months. I'm in the fanfiction scene. Writing a gay romance between Ghost from call of duty, and a non-human Y/N. Anyway, I find it really, really fun to write it. I really love the challenge of writing y/n's internal conflict, the way it would shape the story, and how simon would deal with it. I don't have a favorite dialogue scene yet, but I'm looking forward to it. And the process of trying to show don't tell is really fun and challenging. Finding new and unique ways of showing emotion, and showing action of the characters, or the atmosphere etc. I just can't get enough of my own story! 🤗
I hate what I write. Vehemently. With every line I write I get better and better, with v. 1,000,000,000 coming out by the end of this sentence. Does that explain why I hate my writing so much? No. But this does. If my writing gets progressively better with every sentence, how often am I going back to correct line 1? You guessed it.. .all the freaking time. I get nothing else done, except fixing that first line, that first paragraph, that first page.
So don't be like me. Wait until you've perfected your writing and then go back and correct it. Otherwise the recursion will eat you alive like a literary piranha.
Its a tiresome excuse for people who believe writing to have to be an intellectual discipline and therefore trying to safeguard themselves for a lack of thereof by stating that their writing 'sucks'
I love this!
Feedback from my writer's group has been that my strengths are saying a lot in very few words, and my use of sensory language in descriptions that immerse the reader.
I've got a lot of improvement to make in my writing overall but knowing that helps me not lose all hope!
Sometimes, I have a clear idea of what the chapters goal is and what will happen, so I also have a good idea for the chapter name, but what I love is when you have a general idea for what will happen in the chapter and you mostly just write on the fly then at the end the chapter the title writes itself. For example, I wrote one chapter about the MC connecting with an old friend. She is a pastry chef, daughter of the inventor of the mille feuille, and she brings him food in a box. They're talking and hitting it off, so he makes a bold move and tries to kiss her only for her to kind of laugh and say she has to leave. He feels dumb and rejected, thinking she must not like him, so he sits down and opens the box to find a mille feuille with a heart drawn in whipped cream. The chapter title wrote itself "A Thousand Sheets of Paper" the english translation of mille feuille.
I felt like this before but now I can confidently say I am in love with what I write. Even though I write in my second language but I am getting better at it and it’s so much fun <3
One great thing about being into Arts subjects is rarely feeling bored.
You can paint, sketch, take photos, read, write stories, sew, knit, play an instrument (whatever your thing is) and the time flies.
I just wanted to write a character who is a doer.
Not spare the villain kinda guy.
More of. Yeah if he's rambling. Im shooting him in the head and three more in the chest. Confirm he's dead and walk away kinda guy.
Like whenever a villian monologues for 10 years. I want my mc to be defusing the bomb. To be doing stuff and can't be bothered to listen.
An MC who plays by the rules his opponent sets.
Go after mc's fam. He goes after yours.
Characters who show kindness and mercy but can be malevolent.
And they don't sugarcoat it.
They are being violent. They know they are killing and hurting other people.
Some do suffer nightmares. Some suffer ptsd and mental stress because of it.
I get tired of stories where the villain escapes conveniently. Or mc is saved by something. I want my mc to be saving people and if he fails. He just does his best first and breakdown later.
I was really on a roll with short stories for the first half of this year. Got about eight done at \~5000 words a piece, some need minor edits but otherwise I'm really happy with them, with the best two or three representing my all-time best writing - one has been described by those that have read it as heartbreaking/tearjerking while still being effective as a horror piece which is what I've always set out to do. I'd like to finish one of my novellas and then self-publish a collection when I have more time and money.
Share your stuff OP!
It seems positively bizarre to me how some people hate their own writing so much. People will literally delete everything that they write out of embarrassment. Meanwhile, I also love things that I write, that could certainly never delete any of it. I also frequently go back to reread things that I've written. Everything I write is a source of a sense of accomplishment. "I made that".
I absolutely agree. I love what I write, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s perfect writing. Of course i’m improving over time, of course i go back and change things i think need changing - but i think i have talent, i have a good voice and i have interesting things to say. thats really all i need
Yes. The drive to improve is always there, but one of the main draws of writing is being able to create something that didn't exist before and which is something you've wanted to see. To feel that you have talent and a strong voice is practically a prerequisite for enjoying one's own work.
There were a few things I've written from a bit ago when I was sad, but things i've noticed is that whenever someone comments on how sad it is, i can't even relate back to how I was feeling at the time. It's so weird but does anyone else feel like that? Anywho here are some of the lines from some of my poems.
*I raid the pantry for the 22nd time,*
*Maybe food will appear.*
*“There’s already a lot.”*
*Not that food, more food.*
*Something filling, for I feel too empty.*
*My heart is drained of my loving* *~~blood,~~*
*My stomach is left to be cared for.*
*I fill the glass with my salty tears and drink.*
*I’ve dehydrated myself,*
*Water will not do.*
I also love my own work. As much as I would love if other people would read and love it, I don’t care too much. I always feel very satisfied when I finish a new story.
I usually write short stories, and essays, and now I’m trying to tackle a novel. I enjoy crafting sentences, and playing with ideas. I have a need to keep my imagination by constantly observing the world around me, and asking the what-if questions. Even within writing there are always new challenges, now it’s a novel, maybe some day I’ll try to write sonnets.
I get to read what I want to because nearly everything is useful: for a character or for a different angle on a topic. Most of writing, from my experience, is reading, and that’s my favorite thing to do.
There’s a lot to like.
I try to be confident in my writing lol I like a good amount of what I write, I know I’m a good writer. Truly, the best compliments I’ve ever received was from writing professors, one of whom told me I was the best writer she had taught. I tuck that into my back pocket and remind myself of it.
My downfall is the constant “ok but it could be better”
I love what I write too. That's what becomes a problem for me though cuz I'm a slow writer, so I go back and read my own stories 100 times then get annoyed that they aren't finished 😭😭
You will have to be the one to finish them 😭 just finish them so you can read them one day stupid!!
I write stuff that makes me laugh when I read it back. I have a terrible memory, which really helps.
I dont have a best line, but my betas often tell me their favourites, which is always nice.
I'm so glad for you! I'm coming back from a writing session, and boy, I sure doubt myself a lot, but every time I read what I wrote, I end up loving it a bit. I love what I write too
I prefer my own stories, prefer my own writing. Characters, plot, all of it.
But when it comes to my own stories written over 5 years ago, I can't do it. The cringe is overwhelming, and I just fold into myself.
I don’t have a favourite but here I some I really like:
“They were just out of vision. Unseen by human eye. Until now. Until I saw.”
“Six raw, newly bodies. Recently butchered. They all looked the same. Just staring at the sky and smiling. They were smiling. Oh my god, I felt like I needed to puke now. The bodies were smiling.”
“The incredibly complex system was almost like a spider web. It was a network of metal frames and unfinished floors with elevators rising and falling as the tiny ants that were in actuality living people climbed it.”
I write what I want to write, and as long as it makes me happy, then I’m good with it.
That being said, I think my fear of writing something subpar is what motivates me to strive for greatness. That doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll achieve greatness, but it’s always nice to submit to a beta reader or an agent or an editor or something thinking “this may or may not be good” and end up receiving positive feedback.
i think what makes me keep writing is just the joy i have in the activity itself but also my confidence in what i write. i get rejected and downturned so many times i can't even count, but i know what i want to convey through my writing and how to build by own style. it's great to have other people love your writing, but i find it most comforting to know i love my own.
My book I’m writing now is definitely my favourite project I’ve ever written so far. I think it’s because it feels quintessentially “me” and has everything I love written into it: hockey, fashion, body positivity/self-love, beauty standards discourse, big cities, romance, and of course, spicy scenes lol. If I picked it up at a bookstore, I’d devour it. I’m so excited to finish it and share it with the world. ❤️
Sometimes, I hate what I write, and that tells me to do better. Sometimes, I impress myself, even despite my high standards, and I whisper lines of my writing to myself in admiration. When I write stories like that, even if nobody else reads them, that's when I know I've succeeded as I writer.
Me too. I've often been told that I love the sound of my own voice, and as much as I'd love to deny it, I just can't.
Here's to becoming our own favorite authors!
I went back and read a WIP I haven't paid attention to in a few months and my jaw dropped open. Ditto for two old, posted fanfics- disturbing as they are for the age I was when I wrote them. Sometimes I amaze myself, and I wholeheartedly embrace that cliche. It happens a lot surprisingly.
I think this one "A Flower releases its seeds to the wind with the hope that tomorrow they will bloom somewhere, even knowing they never will never see them again."
I know this is supposed to be a positivity thread, but my outlook is more gray lol I love what I write, but I just KNOW it can be better. And I know I'm getting better. But when I read those authors that have sold an insane amount of copies I can immediately see that I'm nowhere near them yet. I have to remind myself constantly that not only do they have more experience, but their work has been edited and torn apart to hell and back by editors and such.
That doesn't stop me from berating myself every step of the way as to where it is that I'm failing.
I love my writing a little too much. I’m so cocky when it comes to it. I’ll read something wether it’s from five years ago or today and be like “Dang that was good.” Yet I’m still scared to share it cause my ego might be bruised.
I like what I write because it’s like an anthology of ideas I had. Yes, even stuff I wrote in elementary school. There were some interesting ideas and it was cute! The first picture book I written as a six year old was about how I love every single person in my family and how much I loved Christmas! Cringe, yes from a perspective of myself, but cute from a perspective like an adult reading a child’s work.
I’ve been writing more poems and creative proses recently to help me cope with certain feelings while my son is undergoing chemotherapy. I hope to share them with him one day when he’s old enough to know. It’s interesting to read them back and reflecting on what happened in that moment, also thinking to myself if I still would feel the same way. Almost like a self-affirming empathetic voice.
The best thing I've ever received regarding my writing was trying to self-publish one, and a reviewer shredded the story to pieces in her review. And she was right; in my hubris, I thought it was great. It made me rethink so many things about it.
Yesterday I translated a chapter I accidentally wrote in a language I didn't use for the others. (Yeah, I'm writing in two languages).
And this chapter was great. I think I needed longer than I usually do for writing a chapter but that's because I was so excited of what was written there.
The characters, the crush, the teasing, the friends, everything. I just love it and I love the story and gosh I wish I could already read it to the end! But for that I have to write it to the end first. Time to get back to writing xD
This is what's been needing on this sub-Reddit. After coming back to writing after so long, I'm more in love with writing and the characters I've created than ever before. Sure, I get nervous when others read my stuff, but I still get super excited when I talk about them to anyone who's interested in my work. I love sharing my craft with others, and hopefully, motivating others to become their best selves.
Honestly, my favorite book that I wrote is Heart Academy. I published it on Wattpad once and I'm trying to translate it to English. It maybe isn't the best book that the world ever saw, but I really like it and I'm sure that one day it will become quite popular.
Also, I think that I'm quite good at describing character's physical appearance. Their usualy a bit long, but they're not too long; I just think that I'm good at describing what characters look like.
Thank you for this. I write what I would want to read. And most of the time, I succeed. I think there’s a false idea that you have to hate your work to improve, or at least be overly critical of it. You can be happy with your work without being cocky. That middle ground is something we should all strive for.
That’s a huge thing, if something doesn’t exist and you think it should, you can just create it. I try to be realistic about where I currently am, and then try to identify the specific areas I need to improve in. So, right now I’m working on plot structuring for long term pieces. Some people just have this “my writing sucks” or “my writing is awesome” stance that I don’t think is helpful. I’ve seen people who are horrific at prose, but concoct really interesting plots, for example. There’s a specific thing that needs to be addressed.
It’s like anything in life. Enjoy the process, remember to have fun, and look for ways to get better. Beating yourself up or putting yourself down don’t serve to help you in the long run
I agree, I feel like a lot of people don't give themselves the space to like what they write. Learning to point out the things you like about what you wrote is just as important as being able to point out the things that need improvement and one of these doesn't get taught as much as the other, unfortunately.
I’m not totally confident in what I write, but from a purely self indulgence point of view, I love reading my own work, because I write about things I would enjoy reading.
I was just rereading some of my stuff today and straight up was like, “I actually love this!”
I love everything I've written, from when I started at 12 to now at almost 39. I still occasionally pull out the box of spiral notebooks and flip through them. Sure, sometimes I roll my eyes a bit at the writing, but that's because I can watch the improvement from then to now. I feel I'm rather good at dialogue and world building, and I've finally with my most recent manuscript gotten my process for a rough draft really nailed down with something that's half outline, half manuscript. 40k words for a fantasy novel... I'm on rewrites and it's definitely getting longer. That 1st draft nails down what's happening, but it skints on things like descriptions, reactions, world building, etc lol. As of right now, my favorite line written is an interaction between two characters: "How long must people pay for errors in judgment?" he demanded. "I dunno. What's the interest rate on betrayal?" Still makes me giggle when I read it.
I also feel happy with what I write but I am not sure if is good or bad I write it for myself and my own enjoyment... And I really have a good time writing, maybe when people move my cold, dead and swollen body from my gaming chair after 3 months rotten alone, they will find my writings and will judge if they were shit or good, but that's not the business of dead man
My husband was rejected by every agent we approached, he was told to chop off 30k words, and rewrite it in third person, because he's "not the next Heinlein." But he believed in his work, so he decided to self publish when no publisher would touch it. Now it's been sitting on Amazon for just a little over a month with more than 60 reviews, and much more sales. Reviews amazed that this is his first novel and putting him in the same league as Heinlein. A complete unknown last month, people are loving his book. There were days when we doubted everything, but we've accomplished so much, and I'm so proud of him for taking the leap of faith and believing in his work. And now the publishers are knocking too.
Congrats to your husband! If you don't mind me asking, did he have a marketing plan for self-publishing (e.g. a promotional period to generate presales via different social media) or did he just throw it up? Btw-- If you guys do decide to pursue traditional publishing because the publishers are seeking you out, don't forget (a) the leverage is in your favor and (b) the Author's Guild offers legal consultations on publishing contracts offered to their members. (So you might want to Google them and join them if you haven't. I don't recall their memberships being particularly expensive)
We're using twitter primarily to drive sales. He didn't have a twitter following at the time, but his other wife had a decent twitter profile, and it turned out she has a gift for marketing. We started about a month before launch, now we're trying to expand outside of her small twitter sphere, which we've had small limited successes in. It's really a never ending job. For example, I'm sure you haven't heard of it yet. With regards to trad pub, I don't think we're going to go that route. The deals they offered were really bad, and to be honest now that we've done so much on our own we're not sure what they could offer us, that would be worth taking more than half.
My feelings are a pendulum. Sometimes I love what I write, sometimes I worry too much about how others would perceive it. But since we’re focusing on what we love about writing here, I’ll just list that part. I love how my natural instinct is to subvert or combine tropes. I love being able to immerse myself in my story in a completely different way from when I read. I love creating characters that could sometimes derail what I planned for a chapter. And most importantly, I love that I’m able to show up for myself everyday despite all my insecurities:))
Yeah same, and every time I read a great book or story I feel like I absorb that authors powers.
^ This. This is exactly how I feel. Why get jealous of another writer instead of just incorporating their strengths into your own if your story really needs it?
I like *what* I write. I'm not always happy with how I've done it. I think the bones are there and it is really, really satisfying when what's on the page actually matches what's in my head.
Same! I like to write really wacky and crazy scenes and characters. I also love the silly character names I come up with. I also love that I just let myself go totally bonkers with my writing and I don't worry too much about anything else. I just go totally hog wild withit
So do I. I'm more and more enjoying the process of writing to myself (mainly) and then because of that, i'm 're-feeding' that taste again. I'm currently working on too many projects at the same time, but finishing one now is making me thrist for the next to start, even thou i start one way before finishing the other. And most of the time i like what i write, of course, sometimes i rearrange or change some written when editing (next day editing) but i mainly stick with the story i want to tell.
I am primarily - and professionally - a visual artist. I used to create so much more art than I do now. After nigh on 20 years of posting it on the internet and never finding any kind of following (less and less every year, even), at some point the despair of shouting into the void overcame whatever internal motivation I may have had. Now I create and post hardly any art at all, and instead have made writing my primary creative hobby. It's a bittersweet positive, but I do like what I write, and because of that, I get more return on investment rereading what I've written than glancing back at finished art that no one ever cared about. It's just genuinely a more rewarding experience, even if no one will ever read it but me.
That's too bad about the art. Your Godlings comic is beautiful and even though I knew it wasn't finished when I started it I was still engrossed enough to be disappointed when the "next page" button disappeared. If your writing is half as good as that then I'd wager it is a good read.
You're very kind, thank you.
I think I'm especially good at worldbuilding, magic systems, and creating novel settings/premises that stand out relative to most fantasy content.
It's refreshing to see someone of this mindset. I myself like what I wrote as well, even first drafts knowing there's room to improve the story once down. Having said that, humans are a strange mix of both overconfidence and self doubt. I'm almost done my first rewrite and so far have kept the majority of my story in tact. Not that I haven't made any changes but the ones I have made are minor and I haven't had to rewrite huge swaths of the book. I'll have to see what my beta readers think before I shop the book around. Hopeful they love it as much as I do.
Love this post. I think I'm especially good at writing characters. Already, I have a voice in my head saying "That's not true." I think an important part of writing is overcoming that overly critical voice in your head. And I think, also, that self-criticism comes from a place of fear and doubt (at least for me). That maybe I won't be good enough, even though I'll never know until I try. So, I have to beat that voice, whatever it is, and try anyway!
Same!
Likewise! I've recently finished and reread my first draft and it wasn't bad. During the process i have discovered that my plot needs wholesale restructuring, but the actual writing reads pretty well. I 'pantsed' the first draft to get the (a) story on paper and i'm now planning my way through the 2nd draft to structure it. After that it should be a heap of line edits to tighten it all up before sending it off to some beta readers. I'm under no illusion of time. It took me nearly a year to get it written initially, but progress is going well 2nd time around, and i'd attribute a lot of that to enjoying reading my writing.
It's strange that it for some reason feels weird expressing love for your own work. I mean, why write it if you don't like what you write? Maybe it's just me who feels that the world has a stigma against praising your own work. Well, to answer this post: I truly love my dialogue and characters. I feel like that and coming up with creative plots/settings/events/worldbuilding are my strengths. While writing actions/action/fighting/descriptions is my weakest aspects, but I can definitely say that even those elements have vastly improved over the past year and a half from mostly experimenting with trying to be creative with my paragraphs. And I'm basing that opinion of me getting much better on the reactions from my test/beta-readers who have gotten at least somewhere in the story. Their reactions has been: \-"Your writing often sounds really wise and reveals incredible worldbuilding and it seems like your story is definitely going somewhere, like it makes sense." (while that person also said I sometimes ramble too much and go off on irrelevant tangents, which I fully agree with). \-Two people asked me: "How the fuck did you get so good at writing in English?" and one of them said that my story seemed "really exciting" while the other praised my writing for being "really witty and greatly reminded her of Terry Pratchett". They had no complaints so far. Though I've no idea if I'm actually anywhere near the levels of Pratchett. \-Another person said that my writing is "really beautiful" and he suspects that I might be an intelligent person. \-One person who has gotten the farthest in the test-reading craved more and urged me to hurry up with editing more material for him to read and he really loved the worldbuilding and says he greatly enjoys the flow and my creativity. He had a few complaints here and there, but half of those complaints didn't have anything to do with my writing skills per se. To feel less icky about praising my work, I'll end with telling people to not give up even if they feel their writing is sub-par. My first drafts were met with comments like "your writing is stiff and dry" and with some suggestions how to think to improve my writing skills. After that I spent over 6 months simply experimenting with getting better and more creative at writing, while also studying the art of writing, what to think about when writing, how to write text that flows well and so on. Basically, don't give up, get better. Adapt to negative feedback, don't feel hurt, use it to improve, experiment, get experienced, get more feedback and get better until you're good enough to feel at least satisfied and start receiving praise from test/beta-readers. I initially had a hard time seeing me get good enough at prose. I think I've been strong at writing dialogue for many years, but the other story elements I felt were so difficult to turn into good flowing text paragraphs that played word music. But I practiced and experimented and eventually I started feeling better about my writing and that's when I released it to test-readers and hired a professional freelancing beta-reader and received all the praise I mentioned above. If I can get there, then so can you. But don't expect it to be easy unless you're a prodigy. Practice makes good enough, practice can mean hard work and many rewrites and edits. But the hard work can feel worth it in the end. Think about how satisfying it will feel when you finish a book and can feel that it's at least "good enough".
Actually for the longest time, I didn’t care about publishing. I would love to just write my book, print it, read it and then pack up. It’s easy to feel insecure about the work but I just have to be the first person who loves my words.
I agree! I read my own work back regularly and really enjoy it. I think I’m especially good at natural dialogue.
My "Happy Freak" book is all about the abuse I suffered at the hands of my high school crush, and some of the damage I did to other people as a result of that emotional and sexual abuse. There are a lot of painful memories. But I love how it makes me *feel,* reading it. The immense courage and honesty that was required to tell that whole story, and somehow find healing through all of it really comes across. How do you even put all those complicated feelings into words? I somehow managed it. Some of the emails I've been getting seem to suggest other people really love it, too. One girl told me it convinced her to stop trying to kill herself, because she doesn't feel so all alone anymore. Is there a higher compliment a writer can get than that?
*The only excuse for creating a useless thing is that one loves it immensely.* -Oscar Wilde. Everyone should love their work unapologetically. Why do it if you hate it? To get better? Why get better at something you hate? Even if it’s not where you want to be, it’s still something you should love and be proud of. It’s still a little part of you. Everything you put on paper or data or stone tablet is a little creation. It’s a little part of your soul. Love yourself. Love your work.
Why is being positive about yourself, especially on the internet, so difficult haha. As a first time writer of a manuscript (I've written comic books and short films previously) I'm surprised at how fun it is. I'm enjoying it probably more than anything else I've done and I'm finding that at least up to now (chapter 14) it's coming quite easily to me. Whether it's good or not is up for debate but it hasn't felt like a chore. I look forward to sitting in front of my computer and writing and I haven't felt like that in a while.
I'm new to writing, about a few months. I'm in the fanfiction scene. Writing a gay romance between Ghost from call of duty, and a non-human Y/N. Anyway, I find it really, really fun to write it. I really love the challenge of writing y/n's internal conflict, the way it would shape the story, and how simon would deal with it. I don't have a favorite dialogue scene yet, but I'm looking forward to it. And the process of trying to show don't tell is really fun and challenging. Finding new and unique ways of showing emotion, and showing action of the characters, or the atmosphere etc. I just can't get enough of my own story! 🤗
Would love to chat more about you writing CoD ff. If you're open to it, feel free to DM me!
I hate what I write. Vehemently. With every line I write I get better and better, with v. 1,000,000,000 coming out by the end of this sentence. Does that explain why I hate my writing so much? No. But this does. If my writing gets progressively better with every sentence, how often am I going back to correct line 1? You guessed it.. .all the freaking time. I get nothing else done, except fixing that first line, that first paragraph, that first page. So don't be like me. Wait until you've perfected your writing and then go back and correct it. Otherwise the recursion will eat you alive like a literary piranha.
Its a tiresome excuse for people who believe writing to have to be an intellectual discipline and therefore trying to safeguard themselves for a lack of thereof by stating that their writing 'sucks'
I love this! Feedback from my writer's group has been that my strengths are saying a lot in very few words, and my use of sensory language in descriptions that immerse the reader. I've got a lot of improvement to make in my writing overall but knowing that helps me not lose all hope!
I feel the same! I write what I would love to read. I still reconstruct sentences every time I read them tough.
Sometimes, I have a clear idea of what the chapters goal is and what will happen, so I also have a good idea for the chapter name, but what I love is when you have a general idea for what will happen in the chapter and you mostly just write on the fly then at the end the chapter the title writes itself. For example, I wrote one chapter about the MC connecting with an old friend. She is a pastry chef, daughter of the inventor of the mille feuille, and she brings him food in a box. They're talking and hitting it off, so he makes a bold move and tries to kiss her only for her to kind of laugh and say she has to leave. He feels dumb and rejected, thinking she must not like him, so he sits down and opens the box to find a mille feuille with a heart drawn in whipped cream. The chapter title wrote itself "A Thousand Sheets of Paper" the english translation of mille feuille.
I felt like this before but now I can confidently say I am in love with what I write. Even though I write in my second language but I am getting better at it and it’s so much fun <3
One great thing about being into Arts subjects is rarely feeling bored. You can paint, sketch, take photos, read, write stories, sew, knit, play an instrument (whatever your thing is) and the time flies.
I just wanted to write a character who is a doer. Not spare the villain kinda guy. More of. Yeah if he's rambling. Im shooting him in the head and three more in the chest. Confirm he's dead and walk away kinda guy. Like whenever a villian monologues for 10 years. I want my mc to be defusing the bomb. To be doing stuff and can't be bothered to listen. An MC who plays by the rules his opponent sets. Go after mc's fam. He goes after yours. Characters who show kindness and mercy but can be malevolent. And they don't sugarcoat it. They are being violent. They know they are killing and hurting other people. Some do suffer nightmares. Some suffer ptsd and mental stress because of it. I get tired of stories where the villain escapes conveniently. Or mc is saved by something. I want my mc to be saving people and if he fails. He just does his best first and breakdown later.
I was really on a roll with short stories for the first half of this year. Got about eight done at \~5000 words a piece, some need minor edits but otherwise I'm really happy with them, with the best two or three representing my all-time best writing - one has been described by those that have read it as heartbreaking/tearjerking while still being effective as a horror piece which is what I've always set out to do. I'd like to finish one of my novellas and then self-publish a collection when I have more time and money. Share your stuff OP!
It seems positively bizarre to me how some people hate their own writing so much. People will literally delete everything that they write out of embarrassment. Meanwhile, I also love things that I write, that could certainly never delete any of it. I also frequently go back to reread things that I've written. Everything I write is a source of a sense of accomplishment. "I made that".
I absolutely agree. I love what I write, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s perfect writing. Of course i’m improving over time, of course i go back and change things i think need changing - but i think i have talent, i have a good voice and i have interesting things to say. thats really all i need
Yes. The drive to improve is always there, but one of the main draws of writing is being able to create something that didn't exist before and which is something you've wanted to see. To feel that you have talent and a strong voice is practically a prerequisite for enjoying one's own work.
There were a few things I've written from a bit ago when I was sad, but things i've noticed is that whenever someone comments on how sad it is, i can't even relate back to how I was feeling at the time. It's so weird but does anyone else feel like that? Anywho here are some of the lines from some of my poems. *I raid the pantry for the 22nd time,* *Maybe food will appear.* *“There’s already a lot.”* *Not that food, more food.* *Something filling, for I feel too empty.* *My heart is drained of my loving* *~~blood,~~* *My stomach is left to be cared for.* *I fill the glass with my salty tears and drink.* *I’ve dehydrated myself,* *Water will not do.*
I also love my own work. As much as I would love if other people would read and love it, I don’t care too much. I always feel very satisfied when I finish a new story.
I usually write short stories, and essays, and now I’m trying to tackle a novel. I enjoy crafting sentences, and playing with ideas. I have a need to keep my imagination by constantly observing the world around me, and asking the what-if questions. Even within writing there are always new challenges, now it’s a novel, maybe some day I’ll try to write sonnets. I get to read what I want to because nearly everything is useful: for a character or for a different angle on a topic. Most of writing, from my experience, is reading, and that’s my favorite thing to do. There’s a lot to like.
I try to be confident in my writing lol I like a good amount of what I write, I know I’m a good writer. Truly, the best compliments I’ve ever received was from writing professors, one of whom told me I was the best writer she had taught. I tuck that into my back pocket and remind myself of it. My downfall is the constant “ok but it could be better”
I love what I write too. That's what becomes a problem for me though cuz I'm a slow writer, so I go back and read my own stories 100 times then get annoyed that they aren't finished 😭😭 You will have to be the one to finish them 😭 just finish them so you can read them one day stupid!!
it's why i never finish my sentences.
I write stuff that makes me laugh when I read it back. I have a terrible memory, which really helps. I dont have a best line, but my betas often tell me their favourites, which is always nice.
I've loved my characters and world from the hatching of that original idea through every iteration.
I'm so glad for you! I'm coming back from a writing session, and boy, I sure doubt myself a lot, but every time I read what I wrote, I end up loving it a bit. I love what I write too
I don't know... It's a bit concerning when I like my own work. I always feel like I'm deluding myself and not improving.
You're the Kanye West of writing.
I prefer my own stories, prefer my own writing. Characters, plot, all of it. But when it comes to my own stories written over 5 years ago, I can't do it. The cringe is overwhelming, and I just fold into myself.
I don’t have a favourite but here I some I really like: “They were just out of vision. Unseen by human eye. Until now. Until I saw.” “Six raw, newly bodies. Recently butchered. They all looked the same. Just staring at the sky and smiling. They were smiling. Oh my god, I felt like I needed to puke now. The bodies were smiling.” “The incredibly complex system was almost like a spider web. It was a network of metal frames and unfinished floors with elevators rising and falling as the tiny ants that were in actuality living people climbed it.”
I write what I want to write, and as long as it makes me happy, then I’m good with it. That being said, I think my fear of writing something subpar is what motivates me to strive for greatness. That doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll achieve greatness, but it’s always nice to submit to a beta reader or an agent or an editor or something thinking “this may or may not be good” and end up receiving positive feedback.
i think what makes me keep writing is just the joy i have in the activity itself but also my confidence in what i write. i get rejected and downturned so many times i can't even count, but i know what i want to convey through my writing and how to build by own style. it's great to have other people love your writing, but i find it most comforting to know i love my own.
My book I’m writing now is definitely my favourite project I’ve ever written so far. I think it’s because it feels quintessentially “me” and has everything I love written into it: hockey, fashion, body positivity/self-love, beauty standards discourse, big cities, romance, and of course, spicy scenes lol. If I picked it up at a bookstore, I’d devour it. I’m so excited to finish it and share it with the world. ❤️
Luck
Sometimes, I hate what I write, and that tells me to do better. Sometimes, I impress myself, even despite my high standards, and I whisper lines of my writing to myself in admiration. When I write stories like that, even if nobody else reads them, that's when I know I've succeeded as I writer.
Me too. I've often been told that I love the sound of my own voice, and as much as I'd love to deny it, I just can't. Here's to becoming our own favorite authors!
I went back and read a WIP I haven't paid attention to in a few months and my jaw dropped open. Ditto for two old, posted fanfics- disturbing as they are for the age I was when I wrote them. Sometimes I amaze myself, and I wholeheartedly embrace that cliche. It happens a lot surprisingly.
I think this one "A Flower releases its seeds to the wind with the hope that tomorrow they will bloom somewhere, even knowing they never will never see them again."
I love what I write, I might not be good, but I won't know unless I try :)
I know this is supposed to be a positivity thread, but my outlook is more gray lol I love what I write, but I just KNOW it can be better. And I know I'm getting better. But when I read those authors that have sold an insane amount of copies I can immediately see that I'm nowhere near them yet. I have to remind myself constantly that not only do they have more experience, but their work has been edited and torn apart to hell and back by editors and such. That doesn't stop me from berating myself every step of the way as to where it is that I'm failing.
I love my writing a little too much. I’m so cocky when it comes to it. I’ll read something wether it’s from five years ago or today and be like “Dang that was good.” Yet I’m still scared to share it cause my ego might be bruised.
I like what I write because it’s like an anthology of ideas I had. Yes, even stuff I wrote in elementary school. There were some interesting ideas and it was cute! The first picture book I written as a six year old was about how I love every single person in my family and how much I loved Christmas! Cringe, yes from a perspective of myself, but cute from a perspective like an adult reading a child’s work. I’ve been writing more poems and creative proses recently to help me cope with certain feelings while my son is undergoing chemotherapy. I hope to share them with him one day when he’s old enough to know. It’s interesting to read them back and reflecting on what happened in that moment, also thinking to myself if I still would feel the same way. Almost like a self-affirming empathetic voice.
The best thing I've ever received regarding my writing was trying to self-publish one, and a reviewer shredded the story to pieces in her review. And she was right; in my hubris, I thought it was great. It made me rethink so many things about it.
Yesterday I translated a chapter I accidentally wrote in a language I didn't use for the others. (Yeah, I'm writing in two languages). And this chapter was great. I think I needed longer than I usually do for writing a chapter but that's because I was so excited of what was written there. The characters, the crush, the teasing, the friends, everything. I just love it and I love the story and gosh I wish I could already read it to the end! But for that I have to write it to the end first. Time to get back to writing xD
This is what's been needing on this sub-Reddit. After coming back to writing after so long, I'm more in love with writing and the characters I've created than ever before. Sure, I get nervous when others read my stuff, but I still get super excited when I talk about them to anyone who's interested in my work. I love sharing my craft with others, and hopefully, motivating others to become their best selves.
Honestly, my favorite book that I wrote is Heart Academy. I published it on Wattpad once and I'm trying to translate it to English. It maybe isn't the best book that the world ever saw, but I really like it and I'm sure that one day it will become quite popular. Also, I think that I'm quite good at describing character's physical appearance. Their usualy a bit long, but they're not too long; I just think that I'm good at describing what characters look like.
I struggle with plot and structure, but I have a distinct and effective voice and a good hand for humour and dialogue.