Discussion I started to write a novel but stopped...

there was this one time when i read a wuxia novel that was so bad i decided to write my own novel. I think it was pretty good if I do say so myself but I couldn't enjoy for long because no matter how many times i revise it i always end up thinking I've done something wrong with either pacing, character development or just the scene in itself is unnecessary and redundant

so far I've only written 10 chapter each being around 2500 words long it usualy takes me an entire day just to write and revise any serious flaws but i always end up spending more time to basically change the entire chapter to the point where i have to change other chapters for contuniuity sake and for the story to make sense and be logical

i have trouble making good distinct characters they always end up the same type with some minor differences and so i discovered writing is easy but writing well, is much more difficult and time consuming so do you think i should continue writing with a half-baked attitude and eventually get better or should i polish every single chapter to the point where I'm satisfied?

ps. no, I won't post or share anything yet because of i'ts somewhat embarrassing.
ps.no2, please enlighten this foolish one on the dao

 

It's better to post it after its finished, since there may be problems in the future or mistakes in the past that you can change.
And in the future, you can say something like "I can write this chapter in a better way" you can do it if you'll start posting your novel after its finished.

 

What are you writing for ? Is it for you, thus it would be better if perfect, or for the avid readers we all are here ?

 

For me, writing is just to have fun and don't care about how the readers feel when reading them. I enjoy writing because it gives my imagination into words let people have fun with me on my adventures with the stories i write. Its your decision if you want to take it seriously or not but don't forget to have fun writing since it was the reason why you enjoy reading in the first place.

 

Even if you find it somewhat embarrassing, do remember that you’re protected by online anonymity. It might also prove to be a great help to you, being able to get feedback from a group of people that spends a lot of time reading novels.
Just remember that it’s your choice in the end, and some people might not know quite how to wrap up criticism.

 

No first or even even early story from a writer is going to be polished or perfect, the best thing to do is finish this story, then keep writing more stories, and eventually they will get better.

 

thanks for the advice, ill probably do that then rewrite it if i want to post it

 

Well, I'm also writing a novel right now for fun.
Also currently writing my 30th chapter (my chapters each have 3k each)
I started publishing when I had 10-ish chapters and I'm slowly publishing.

Now, for the answer I'm going to give is that it's a lot easier to write when you have people reading your novel.
It was really fun for me when I saw the reader count growing up slowly but surely, that was one of my daily joys as I'm writing.
If you are motivated enough to write a whole novel without publishing, that's fine too, but if you want some response or just someone reading your novel, it's fine to publish a little at a time.

 

I would do both. Make an excerpt of the story to test the crowd and see if you'll get a lot of supporters. And while you're testing the waters, you'll be typing up the full thing.

 

https://www.scribendi.com/advice/creating_believable_characters.en.html
And if your character come from a world or a group, make characteristic(how they think: naruto child at war is ok) of that group or world that we will not see in our world.

 

Most people suggest forging ahead with the first draft and then editing later. It's hard to fight through the self-doubt, but you'll probably lose the motivation to write it at all if you don't. I usually promise myself I'll fix anything bothering me later to stop myself endlessly rewriting bits mid-story.

As for posting it as you write, whether it benefits you or not depends on your own style of motivation. Interacting with readers can push some people forwards, but criticism can also squash your enthusiasm for the story in its early stages. It really comes down to whether praise gives you enough of a boost to outweigh the vulnerability of publishing early drafts.

 

I'm personally planning to write a story. I started having IDEAS since around a year ago and when the ideas piled up to a good amount, I started filling in blanks, time-line, inconsistencies as well as identities for the main-cast. It took me a year to get an idea of what I want, and a couple weeks to get some details ironed out. Now, I'm at that stage where I want to start writing, but I'm scared of putting pen to paper.

What I'm personally planning is to first write around ten chapters and see if I'm happy with it. Then finish the first volume after which I'd start posting and slowly start releasing chapters and writing new ones, while incorporating feedback.

 

Well, I think there is no point in writing a next chapter if you're unsatisfied with a previous one. If it really makes you uneasy, it's better to wait a while, than go back with a fresh mind and make some corrections. I'm also an amateur writer and I've already finished writing one novel. From my point of view it's a necessity to make a quite detailed plan of events and descriptions of characters (not only their traits, but also their reactions in certain situations, how are they seen by others). It's good to think about a few different routes and how they're going to affect the plot. When I was writing my novel I made a seperate file for various ideas etc. and thanks to that I didn't have to make any serious changes in the main file with a story. I'm not sure if it's going to work for you, as there is no perfect solution for everyone. I hope that my random hints will be helpful.

 

If you are writing just to improve your skills, then I would recommend posting the story as is. Posting as is, will allow you to get a fresh perspective from readers about your grammar, plot, or other. As you go along you will undoubtedly get better at writing. However, If you decide to keep writing until you make it perfect, well let's just say that is impossible. You will always find something new that can be "improved" or changed.

 

I used to write, writing characters was also a bad part but after writing for so long I became better. I just suck at writing proper arcs.

Btw In 2/3 hours I can write 2k words

 

I can only tell you how i do it and why, and if that helps you, cool, and if not, my bad.

I personally, hate writing. It's a pointless chore that is at best slightly boring, and at worse, mind-numbingly tedious. Every second i spend trying to find a synonym for a word because i used the original too many times, is a wasted second. The time spent revising a sentence so it flows better, wasted. Checking grammar and spelling, time wasted.

What i enjoy, is making a story. Creating a world, characters, having them interact, that i like.

The actual, placing words onto a page? Hate it.

If i could somehow create the story in my mind, plug my head into the computer, and download my story, that would be fantastic. but, i obviously can't do that, so writing and typing it is, no matter how much i don't want to.

So the only part that i enjoy, is the creation of the story, the writing is an annoyance i need to deal with to create my story.

When i write, i do very little advanced planning, because i need to merge creating the story with writing. If i've got the entire story planned out in my head, i quickly lose motivation to write, the fun part to me is already over, and now i'm stuck with this crappy part. So i come up with some vague ideas, and then make the story mostly from scratch as i go.

When i finish a chapter, i go back and reread it once, that one readthrough is to look for errors, typos, misspellings, odd sentence structures, to make sure i didn't say the same thing two paragraphs in a row. If the readthrough takes 10 minutes, the editing that comes with it takes at most, another 5. In other words, it's short.

Maybe, once in a blue moon, i realize that the chapter i just produced is bad enough that i need to scrap it. That is usually because it leads somewhere that i didn't want it to, or because i notice major logical inconsistencies that cannot be explained away. In this case, i do scrap it, but it's not a rewrite, it's a completely new and different chapter.

I've got a novel on RRL, and i'm 25 chapters in, and only had to do this once. Early on, i finished a chapter where my mc got into a fight with her family, and afterwards, while i was happy with how the chapter felt, i realized that having the mc fight with her brother was taking the story in a direction i didn't like, so i scrapped it and wrote a new chapter from scratch.



Now, all that being said. From what i read in your post, it seems like you're revising too much due to a lack of confidence. You can rewrite until the heat death of the universe, you aren't going to get perfect chapters. Even if you avoid my extreme dislike of writing, revisions and rewrites aren't really fun, the more time you spend there, the more likely you'll sap your motivation and just give up.

Writing is like any other task, you need practice to get better, and different types of practice will generally see you get more improvements. Rewriting the same beginning chapters over and over, is not going to get you the improvement you want. Finish out the story, and see what that does. Even if it sucks, you'll learn more by going through all the stages of writing a story. Then write another story.

Or, if you can bring yourself to let the imperfect chapters stand, stop writing stories, and do some writing exercises. Write very short stores.

You'll get better.

 

U need to post for us to guide u on the dao of reading

I-it’s not like i just wanna see ur novel...

 

I had this idea of writing a sci-fi novel with zombies and I even wrote 20 pages. It was awesome, I was super inspired and eager to continue. But then life became complicated and my novel had to be put aside for over 3 months. But the thought of it kept bugging me inside, so I got back to it and after re-reading figured that many parts needed to be altered. I spent around a week trying to make the story both smooth and exciting and expanded it to 30 pages of text... but then I took a break again. Now I'm afraid that if I try to continue, I'll have to rewrite everything again since my perspective is likely to have shifted...

 

I know right? That's what happens I guess. I started writing a novel with parallel world&presence, had a large part planned out. Put pen to paper and you start thinking whether this part is good as it is or would be better that way.

I suppose you should be happy with what you wrote and don't touch it again? But then inconstistency in writing style may develop, which can break immersion and enjoyment... It's tough!

 

Perfection is overrated.
Failure is just the first step towards success.
Don't be afraid to fail.