Author Worry

[TheOneWho]

I'm worried that my writing has gotten worst/boring. I myself don't feel that my writing hasn't worsened, in fact, I think I improved. But the fact that I was hit by a sudden mass drop, with a lot of people dropping my story all of a sudden. I feel that I messed up, but I'm not sure how.

Any help/advice is appreciated.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Don't add unannounced NTR.

 

[Representing_Tromba]

Don't add unannounced NTR.

Is that what he did?

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Is that what he did?

I don't know.

 

[Representing_Tromba]

I don't know.

The how would that help?

 

[EternalSunset0]

I'm worried that my writing has gotten worst/boring. I myself don't feel that my writing hasn't worsened, in fact, I think I improved. But the fact that I was hit by a sudden mass drop, with a lot of people dropping my story all of a sudden. I feel that I messed up, but I'm not sure how.

Any help/advice is appreciated.

Writing quality is not always equivalent to enjoyment or reader satisfaction. Sure, you need a semblance of coherence and good enough grammar, but it's a mass drop, it's not necessarily your writing itself that has gotten bad.

It could be just story direction/decisions that people didn't like. Or maybe someone just put it on drop casually. The latter can happen, no matter how rarely.

 

[Representing_Tromba]

I'm worried that my writing has gotten worst/boring. I myself don't feel that my writing hasn't worsened, in fact, I think I improved. But the fact that I was hit by a sudden mass drop, with a lot of people dropping my story all of a sudden. I feel that I messed up, but I'm not sure how.

Any help/advice is appreciated.

Ask someone to read it and tell you what they think is wrong with it. Once you figure that out then you can go from there.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

The how would that help?

Because it's a great tip. OP said, "Any help/advice is appreciated."

Anyway, there is plenty of authors here who can give tips. There's no need for me to do it.

 

[J_Chemist]

With birth rates being so low, there are plenty of tips to go around.

In all seriousness - I would try to ask people to review your story or maybe put out a request from your readers to see what they didn't like, why they dropped the story, etc. Obviously your readers interaction may be low but one or two might bite.

You could also take a break, then come back later. Or say fuck it and keep going, leaving it for a later date to be reviewed when you feel you're a better author for it.

I've had a lot of problems with the initial chapters of my story. They were consistently getting the lowest chapter ratings compared to my later work. In the moment, I had no idea why. Well, I had an idea but I didn't know how to properly see the problem nor the competency to fix it. I kept writing, kept developing my writing and my Author's Eye until I was comfortable enough to go back and properly fix the chapters.

 

[Shard]

Looking at your profile, I don't see that you've had a massive number drop it, only a handful. I wouldn't worry too much unless it continues to increase rapidly for several chapters. Keep in mind some people will just not be interested in the particular story you are telling, but read a ways in just to make sure before dropping it.

 

[TheTrinary]

Your big problem here is equating popuarlity with the quality of yourself or your own work. You can't write to be popular and you can't even write a masterpiece and expect it to be popular.

Write what you want, how you want first and foremost.

Once you've done that, you can focus on the quality of that writing. Characters, conflicts, structure, pacing. All the good stuff.

Pointing at one part of your story and saying "Did I do something wrong here" due to popuarlity is iffy, and you're not going to get any good responses in this context because we haven't read the story. And even if you pulled out specific elements, we would lack the context to appraise them. Ask your readers what's changed if you have to, or find someone to do a critique swap with.

 

[LostLibrarian]

I mean if you had a mass drop, just go look into the chapter that caused that. But here are some general points:
- You add a characteristic to the MC that wasn't forshadowed/annoys the readers
- You add a character that annoys people/doesn't fit the atmosphere of the story
- You end a boring Arc with a climax that was just as boring
- You don't have clear Arcs and your story doesn't move
- For FF: You changed the canon and people didn't like the changes


If you look even more global, it more or less comes down to two problems:
- You didn't plan out your story moments and the story doesn't flow well (or you can't write it without planning).
- Your story doesn't has a clear theme/atmosphere and you introduce things people dislike without forshadowing
Though if you have a big drop-off at one point, it's most likely that people felt betrayed by a new information/development that pushed them away. So the best thing would be to look into that chapter and see what happened and what might not fit the previous chapters or the overall theme. And if you find that, you can either make it look better or check your story presentation to see whether you attract the right audience...


Also one more thing: 5 drops or so after a chapter isn't a mass drop. Mass drops are 50 or 100 or even more readers.
I don't know your numbers before the drop but it feels like you saw 5 or 10 users drop a story and somehow you link that to your quality.
On RR I more or less lost 3-5 readers every chapter while gaining a few more. It's normal. It can really hurt in that moment, but it's important to learn that readers will drop your story all the time, often for no visible reasion.
Some people see the story at the top of their reading list and are reminded to delete it after they never touched it. In fact, a big portion of your "readers" never read your story anyway. Try to use the energy you waste with such thoughts to better your story. And if you really want to monitor such stuff (which can be really helpful), you should look at entire arcs over a ton of chapters and not a single event in a single chapter.


If you really think there is something wrong with your story: go back to the drawing board/editing room and look at your story structure. Key events, pacing, stakes, complications, etc. Or look at your synopsis and story atmosphere and ask yourself whether the reader that should like your story would pick it up based on that...

 

[CupcakeNinja]

Any help/advice is appreciated.

just stop giving a fuck. Sometimes what you write wont sit well with people. Either cry about it or say fuck it.

 

[NitroxDarks]

So many people around here just wanna have their every single novel have thousands of view first week or something, then I look back to my list of 'to read' and see so many dropped, even as they had a something interesting me. Write for yourself first, your first novel shouldn't be your best effort in your life.

 

[Agentt]

One tip i found helped me immensely is

Stop writing unnecessary stuff.
Like, a bunch of stuff we often write is just filler.
It doesn't even result in character development. It is just lines of dialogue or any events that just happens that doesn't contribute to the plot or character development whatsoever.

 

[minionlover]

One tip i found helped me immensely is

Stop writing unnecessary stuff.
Like, a bunch of stuff we often write is just filler.
It doesn't even result in character development. It is just lines of dialogue or any events that just happens that doesn't contribute to the plot or character development whatsoever.

Question, what do you mean by unnecessary? Could you give a few examples?

 

[Shard]

So many people around here just wanna have their every single novel have thousands of view first week or something, then I look back to my list of 'to read' and see so many dropped, even as they had a something interesting me. Write for yourself first, your first novel shouldn't be your best effort in your life.

100% this. I've dropped a bunch of very well written stories because of multiple reasons including just deciding I had too much backlog in it. Don't worry too much about views or anything unless your entire purpose in writing is to try to make money off it. If it is for any other purpose, then what you should care about is if you enjoy your story and/or the process of creating it. Likewise, you will improve over time, and it may go in different directions than you think -- everyone has their own style of writing, after all. It might also be worth going back over your original chapters, comparing how you would write the same thing now, and possibly update them.

 

[RepresentingCaution]

As long as you are happy with it, that's what matters. I've run into a few vicious commenters out for blood, but not here on Scribble Hub.

It might be a matter of sharks circling the waters. The smell of blood attracts others, and they get into a feeding frenzy.

 

[Agentt]

Question, what do you mean by unnecessary? Could you give a few examples?

Mmm.

Does it ever happen to you that your character just keeps fixated on something?
Like you want to write that a character likes to paint.

You can do it,
"I like to paint."
Or
"I like to paint. It helps me express myself. Express emotions I can't with words."

But anything more than that kind of dwells in the unnecessary part.
Like, you want to show that your character is really obsessed with painting, you can write, "and then she continued to ramble about the colour theory, and great artists like Van Gough."

But don't actually start writing long paragraphs describing colour theory or other paintings(unless they are related to plot) as that would just exhaust the readers.

Same if you want to write an MC who is easily distracted. Kind of like ADHD situation.
And currently he is preparing for his exams.
You can write,
"I couldn't focus on the words, my mind drifted elsewhere. It was more focused on the squirrels outside, sometimes the tiles on the floor."

But don't write something like,
"My eyes wandered to a squirrel on the oak tree in front of my house. It had a brown bushy tail. It ran as soon it noticed my glanced and my eyes followed it. Now they were looking at cars. I never noticed how much smoke a car releases. I wonder if it is running on petrol or diesel. Legally cars aren't allowed to run on diesel in this area but i wouldn't be surprised if someone just broke that law. It also could be that his engine or exhaust pipe is blocked. Just besides the running car were houses, they were of a nice colour. A nice shade of Yellow. Though some were old enough to have their paint fall off. I took a look at my room to compare and the contrast sure was visible. My room looks very nice as well, the blue walls have a good synergy with white tiles."

So, while the second paragraph may look attractive, because you may think it is more descriptive and allows the readers to form a better image, it is just so tiresome for both you and your audience.
Like, if your story doesn't need traffic facts, nor does MC's knowledge of what colours look nice ever comes useful: then just don't write this unnecessary stuff.

 

[Erysion]

Or:
"I love to paint." (But the t is silent)
Use stronger adjectives to describe the MC's fixation on painting.