Discussion To anyone who has written a novel

Discussion in 'Novel General' started by mja, Sep 21, 2017.

?

Do you enjoy reading your own story

  1. YES

    19 vote(s)
    37.3%
  2. yes

    18 vote(s)
    35.3%
  3. no

    6 vote(s)
    11.8%
  4. NO

    4 vote(s)
    7.8%
  5. I'm blind so i can't read my own novels

    18 vote(s)
    35.3%
Multiple votes are allowed.
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  1. Rurin

    Rurin Well-Known Member

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    Do I read it? Yes. Do I enjoy it? Not really. I just read it to make sure everything is flowing nicely. I feel this need of rereading what I wrote many times (even stuff that's already edited) . I don't feel like doing that is a chore, it's quite nice to see my own ideas and characters on paper. That sounds like I enjoy my novel, but it's diferent, I can't enjoy the story itself, just feel satisfaccion from trying to make it good and from job well done.
    Not sure if this makes sense, but reading my own words feels colorless. :blobwoah:
    So basically, writing the story (editing and double-checking included) is were I find the enjoyment.
     
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  2. batotit

    batotit Well-Known Member

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    You have to enjoy your own work! Sometimes, this is the only thing that will keep you going in the lonely nights after reading all those comments from the haters (*Sniff*) :(
     
  3. AliceShiki

    AliceShiki 『Ms. Tree』『Magical Girl of Love and Justice』

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    I agree I think, writing is pretty fun, but reading it again is just... Well, it's not that interesting since you already know everything on it.

    One of the reasons why I hate proofreading... >.>
     
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  4. Rurin

    Rurin Well-Known Member

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    Yep. And I may actually like reorganizing text (as in change the order sentenses appear in), but I hate proofreading so much!! Anything that needs me to pick up a dictionary should go to hell! >o<
     
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  5. AliceShiki

    AliceShiki 『Ms. Tree』『Magical Girl of Love and Justice』

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    You're better than me then!!! >.<

    I don't like rereading my text at all! I want it to be released as soon as I finish writing and I don't want to look at it again unless I need to remember something!
     
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  6. ludagad

    ludagad Addicted to escapist novels

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    I enjoy the ideas and the characters, I hate the writing style xD;;. I'd be happier if someone else wrote down the stories in my head v_v.
     
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  7. AliceShiki

    AliceShiki 『Ms. Tree』『Magical Girl of Love and Justice』

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    *hugs* Nobody is able to capture the essence of your characters as well as you! Ganbatte! You just need to keep experimenting with other writing styles, you'll definitely find something that suits you sooner or later!!!
     
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  8. scribbledoutname

    scribbledoutname Well-Known Member

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    I always write stuff I wish I could read, so hell yeah. Atm I'm working on an isekai-type story with an OP MC that has an actual plot. I'm trying to merge xuanhuan with the isekai MC-with-cheat thing.
     
  9. AliceShiki

    AliceShiki 『Ms. Tree』『Magical Girl of Love and Justice』

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    Teehee, I do the same! I don't write things I don't think I would like to read! I can't bring myself to do that! \(^^)/

    Dunno though, I can't really get very interested in reading something I know what happens...
     
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  10. CaptainBonez

    CaptainBonez Member

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    I like reading what I write. Sometimes.
    If I haven't reread my story for months and I go back to take it apart, I would be in equal parts nostalgic, amused, and frustrated. Nostalgic because of the memories of how excited I was in putting my ideas down, frustrated in the fact that several scenes weren't written to my ideal image yet amused because, well...did I really write that?!

    And during the times I do read it, if I see any grammar mistake I missed during the proofreading phase I just make a quick edit and continue.
     
  11. lnv

    lnv ✪ Well-Known Hypocrite

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    I prefer to write spontaneously as I know that is the best way to get a good story going, if I stop then it is hard to get back in it. But then I go back and do things like rewriting, rephrasing, consistency checking and the like. That is a PAIN.

    I am right now sitting on a chapter that is a few days overdue because I'm trying to reorganize a info dump to be more readable. I keep rewriting and rewriting but I can't be satisfied... It is so tempting to just do straight out summary info dumps since those are easy, but it takes away the personalization of the characters.
     
  12. Spiritsong

    Spiritsong Well-Known Member

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    You will have to enjoy the story. If you don't enjoy the story, then it points to three things.

    1) you don't enjoy the flow (as in the process, the direction) of the story.
    2) the story has a fault, but something you are not at comfort to change. For whatever reason(s)
    3) the story, or parts of it, is in want of an overhaul. Perhaps an incident in the story. Or the character, or just the entire thing.

    If you don't enjoy reading the story you tell, then its a lie altogether. As in the story that's written. Its a lie. Its no longer a fantasy, no longer a canon. But a huge lie.
     
  13. Yukkuri Oniisan

    Yukkuri Oniisan 『Procrastinator Archwizard Translator and Writer』

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    Of course, I enjoying it.
    That's the only reason why I write them in the first place. I only write what I find interesting, and I even reread my own story at times to enjoy the story.
     
  14. Myriadfold

    Myriadfold 『Silkmaid』『Ishhara's Devotee』『Daoist』『WW Vet.』

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    well, there's no real method that can be called "the best way to get a good story going". It always depends on the author and the type of person they are. I am sort of a perfectionist so I want to plan out the important things and all the major steps in a story before writing the actual content. At the same time I am fully capable of writing an idea that suddenly enters my head spontaneously and then sharing it after lots of edits to freshen up the text. My ultimate enemy is dialogue, the thing most likely to trip me up in story-writing is trying to create believable, fitting conversations out of thin air. Half convinced to end up writing stuff that contains little to no active dialogue for the length of the novel xD
     
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  15. lnv

    lnv ✪ Well-Known Hypocrite

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    No what I meant is it is best to just write because if you get stumped on one part you pretty much wasting hours if not days. It is better to casually write over a part then come back later than to sit there twiddling your thumbs. Unless that part is major.

    And yes you seem to do exactly what I do. I plan all the major plot points in the story, then free write as I get subtle ideas. Then edit the text later on via rewrites before publishing it.

    I also have problem with dialogs. The issues I have with dialogs are:
    1) Prevent people from turning into NPCs and infodumping (very tempting to do cause you want to give info your character wants but at same time that makes the character seem wrong.) But you also want the dialog to be fresh... aka in real life person can do repetitive question of "And what's that?" over and over like a child. But in a novel that gets annoying.
    2) When there are more than 2 people in the room, things get really complicated. It is very tempting to just have a conversation between the two characters you want. But that is impossible! You either come up with a reason they remained silent, make them leave the room or they have to participate in the conversation. Especially when they can knock your conversation off course as well.
    3) Dealing with characters you want MC to minimize conversation with while said character wants to converse with MC is also a huge pain.

    I never realized how hard dialog was in my first 2 volumes since most of it was simple 2 on 2 conversation or the MC wasn't given the time of day to speak with them properly. But in my volume 3 it is loaded with dialog and its giving me a headache!
     
  16. Myriadfold

    Myriadfold 『Silkmaid』『Ishhara's Devotee』『Daoist』『WW Vet.』

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    well, my spontaneous and planned writing are usually separate. while I do keep my personal freedom for the planned stories, I like things to have a meaning right down to the final details hence why they never get shared. my spontaneous stories tend to be rather amusing to date and I hold less personal investment in. A good example being the most recent spontaneous piece of mine "Spirited Away" on my site, that is currently undergoing a round of edits to iron out old flaws before getting an expansion to see the plot continue into part2 of a potential trilogy.

    usually everything I write has to be triggered by a sort of inspiration, if it isn't then I don't hold a personal investment in the plot so I never feel like writing it. SA is a good story in this regard as it was almost entirely originated from inspiration and was done in response to a writer's challenge testing writers to explore the 2nd Person PoV.
     
  17. Ars Nova

    Ars Nova Well-Known Member

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    I've yet to write a novel, but sometimes when i read my old homework that involves creating a story or such - it's not really an enjoyable moment. I often thought things like, How in the world did i wrote this in the past, and not cringing about it ? The grammar is all messed up, the plotholes are massive, and the context looks like it was written by a Chuuni teenager.

    Although i do sometimes find myself laughing over my mistakes in the past. And perfecting an old work should definitely give you that sense of accomplishment. So yes, it might not be that enjoyable for someone, but there's nothing to lose i guess
     
  18. Emy.

    Emy. Well-Known Member

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    It's my own story... I made it and i know how shitty it really is..... Why would i wanna give myself even more aids?
     
  19. Myriadfold

    Myriadfold 『Silkmaid』『Ishhara's Devotee』『Daoist』『WW Vet.』

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    only twice did I have to write creatively for school. once in primary school where I had to just write anything and yet I was already a little perfectionist who wanted to get it right the first time round. I started writing with ninja's as a theme but didn't get far before running out of time ahaha. the 2nd time was for high school and I didn't want to do the work for horror theme so I found an extremely obscure site, copied the entirety of a short story from it and adjusted the beginning a little, handing it in as my own. no worries about plagiarism because it was just a homework and it was only meant to check we knew how to use adverbs and adjectives etc etc, which I did just by picking a piece full of them xD I saved all my writing for random scribbles and later on during my final high school years and throughout 6th form and uni.
     
  20. AliceShiki

    AliceShiki 『Ms. Tree』『Magical Girl of Love and Justice』

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    Because writing is fun?

    Well, at least it is for me, I wouldn't write otherwise... It's nice to just start creating without a care in the world! \(^^)/
     
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