How can I learn to recognize why my writing is boring or bad?

[Rookieqw]

Sorry to bother you, everyone, but I need advice. Admission: I am a rather dumb person with no talent and am not seeking to make money from my novels.

I've been trying to write something good and was doing the regular stuff (reading, writing a set amount of words, reading material on writing, planning the story ahead, writing what I am interested in, and doing the editing). But several years have passed and there is still no improvement. It is obvious that the problem lies with me, but maybe because I am an idiot or because I have too high an opinion of myself, I somehow like my writing after I have done the editing part.

This is rather bad, as I can't improve that way and there is no negative feedback to improve from. I think it is because my skills as a writer are at the 'boring a reader to tears' level. How can I learn to understand what is bad writing and not good for a reader?

 

[HungrySheep]

Send your novel.

 

[Rookieqw]

Send your novel.

This is it: https://www.scribblehub.com/series/1042505/hordedoom/

 

[HungrySheep]

This is it: https://www.scribblehub.com/series/1042505/hordedoom/

Alright, so I just finished reading the first three chapters and honestly, it's not even bad. It's actually quite well-written aside from a few strange formatting quirks which I simply assumed were stylistic choices. However, the density and format of the paragraphs are particularly chunky and one absolute CHONKER that stood out to me was this one:

“Cease your panic, fool.” A man in a brown buttoned business suit approached, flanked by six orange fiends. She had never seen him before. His gray hair was slicked back, the fiery crimson irises of his eyes scrutinized the vat born with passing interest, and he used a long cane to help himself around. “Eugenia is a minor. Worst-case scenario: she’ll be in a juvenile hall until the age of eighteen. Be silent.” The man raised his cane. “She won’t stay there. Let the lawyers grease some hands, and the girl will be home by Sunday. I promise you this. We are not without friends. It should be easy to arrange for a cargo ship to fall on the medical center holding our escaped animals. As for the UPDC’s reaction… Who cares? The company had announced our relocation to the Red Planet four years ago. We were never here.” He lightly patted the nervous whitecoat on his chin. “See? Everything’s fine; everything’s solvable if you breathe and think. Our problems are little more than a setback. Such things happen in research. Once the soldiers are ready, the UPDC will forget the incident and concentrate on rearmament.”

This is a MASSIVE paragraph. A goliagraph, even. It also contains several sections of speech (grammatically, it's fine since it's the same person speaking) which would read much smoother if separated. It's important to keep in mind that most readers are either reading in class/at work/while shitting on their phones, so separating your paragraphs will help immensely.

This is something I've seen throughout the chapters I've read. Here's another example from the very start of chapter 4:

“I would’ve given my own life to save yours had you accepted me as family. And if not, I would’ve left you in peace had you let me leave,” the vat born said honestly. “Alas, that was not the case. You wanted a monster, and a monster caught you.” Her gaze shifted to the slabs where her vat-born siblings lay. Dismantled. Thrown away like garbage. The rage boiled anew. “I am sorry. I am so, so sorry. Had I been braver, had I transformed sooner, I could’ve saved you.” She kneeled, not caring about the poison or the commotion in the facility. No matter how far they run, they’ll all die soon. “Join me. The people here have treated us worse than tools. Let us bring retribution together. I’ll carry your souls out of this tomb. Let the light outside bring you to the next lives.”

Usually, you don't want to start off with a massive block of text.

Outside of this, I can't really find much fault with the writing itself. It's certainly not a grammatical mess, and I don't see any weird shit that might turn readers off (though, one of the most popular books on this site has a pretty damn weird first chapter in my opinion). The dialogue isn't terrible, and there's really nothing wrong with the writing itself.

As for why I didn't keep reading? I felt I'd read enough to see that it wasn't your writing that was the problem. Other than that, I'm clearly not the target audience of this novel, so any story-centric criticisms from me wouldn't be useful or helpful to you at all. That said, the plot progression seems slightly slower than most readers would like (since they're used to fast-paced power progression novels), but that's the tradeoff for the lengthy descriptions you've got in each chapter.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

I believe I told you this advice in one of your previous threads, and I still stand by it. Take a small break with your main novel, and write something that will be a surefire hit. I mean, write popular genres; fanfics, fantasy, litrpg, gl, romcom harem, etc. Pick something and write 10-20 chapters. That way you will understand if your writing is boring or your genres and tags choice.

As for how bad it is, I think you will benefit from the same thing. If you keep writing the same thing without pausing, it's hard to notice what and where is wrong. Same way how you miss typos. You did reread your chapter multiple times, but your eyes still glaze over some mistakes. This happens with novels but on a larger scale. You need to pause for a month ot two, and write something different. That's what I do, and that's what I think helps.

 

[Nolff]

Sorry to bother you, everyone, but I need advice. Admission: I am a rather dumb person with no talent and am not seeking to make money from my novels.

I've been trying to write something good and was doing the regular stuff (reading, writing a set amount of words, reading material on writing, planning the story ahead, writing what I am interested in, and doing the editing). But several years have passed and there is still no improvement. It is obvious that the problem lies with me, but maybe because I am an idiot or because I have too high an opinion of myself, I somehow like my writing after I have done the editing part.

This is rather bad, as I can't improve that way and there is no negative feedback to improve from. I think it is because my skills as a writer are at the 'boring a reader to tears' level. How can I learn to understand what is bad writing and not good for a reader?

HungrySheep's advice is a great one.

You don't want to start with that blocky paragraph when you read, don't you?

I'm a fanfic writer, but I like to keep my work tidy now. A year ago, all my formatting styles sucks, and now I prefer a cleaner format. Here's an example:

The bright moon shines its light through the window, casting down toward the boy sitting in front of his holographic laptop.


Typing in words, he looks at the comments in a thread of a site.
Someone would be curious about what site this kid uses. It might be irrelevant, but not for this site.

A hundred years ago, this site was known for its bizarre events made possible by willpower, sheer numbers, and autism.
The four leaves of the green clover stand as a mascot of the site.
Its presence is like a horror entity, as it could track down anything unpredictable.


In the past, its methods of tracking were quite traditional and easy to avoid. Now, however, it's more terrifying.
If in the past, they were able to locate a terrorist base, they’re now able to define the location of wilder things with only the geometrical appearance of things.

The name of it puts even more terror towards crime organizations. Say its name in a shady ball and guests be looking at whoever spoke it.



The legendary site, left uncensored and unfiltered, 4Chan.

Read your story like you were one of your readers with the same preferences as you.

Perceive the story as a reader, not an author.

I, myself, have been criticizing my damn work for over a year now because most of them suck ass, ngl.

And if you want to take a harsher approach, read thoroughly and find any mistakes like you were a twitter user looking for any past troubles someone has to cancel culture them.

That's all from me, atm.

 

[Rookieqw]

I believe I told you this advice in one of your previous threads, and I still stand by it. Take a small break with your main novel, and write something that will be a surefire hit. I mean, write popular genres; fanfics, fantasy, litrpg, gl, romcom harem, etc. Pick something and write 10-20 chapters.

Thank you for the advice. But it won't be a surefire hit. Litrpg requires the creation of a system, as I learned from the review swaps. I tried to follow your advice on this and spent two days trying to craft something, but all my systems ended up being an unbalanced mess and over-explained stuff. No one will read it if even I am not interested in the result. I am already writing fantasy. Girl love and harems I have no experience with, so I can hardly write anything good here either.

Alright, so I just finished reading the first three chapters and honestly, it's not even bad. It's actually quite well-written aside from a few strange formatting quirks which I simply assumed were stylistic choices. However, the density and format of the paragraphs are particularly chunky and one absolute CHONKER that stood out to me was this one:



This is a MASSIVE paragraph. A goliagraph, even. It also contains several sections of speech (grammatically, it's fine since it's the same person speaking) which would read much smoother if separated. It's important to keep in mind that most readers are either reading in class/at work/while shitting on their phones, so separating your paragraphs will help immensely.

This is something I've seen throughout the chapters I've read. Here's another example from the very start of chapter 4:

Usually, you don't want to start off with a massive block of text.

Outside of this, I can't really find much fault with the writing itself. It's certainly not a grammatical mess, and I don't see any weird shit that might turn readers off (though, one of the most popular books on this site has a pretty damn weird first chapter in my opinion). The dialogue isn't terrible, and there's really nothing wrong with the writing itself.

As for why I didn't keep reading? I felt I'd read enough to see that it wasn't your writing that was the problem. Other than that, I'm clearly not the target audience of this novel, so any story-centric criticisms from me wouldn't be useful or helpful to you at all. That said, the plot progression seems slightly slower than most readers would like (since they're used to fast-paced power progression novels), but that's the tradeoff for the lengthy descriptions you've got in each chapter.

HungrySheep's advice is a great one.

You don't want to start with that blocky paragraph when you read, don't you?

I'm a fanfic writer, but I like to keep my work tidy now. A year ago, all my formatting styles sucks, and now I prefer a cleaner format. Here's an example:




Read your story like you were one of your readers with the same preferences as you.

Perceive the story as a reader, not an author.

I, myself, have been criticizing my damn work for over a year now because most of them suck ass, ngl.

And if you want to take a harsher approach, read thoroughly and find any mistakes like you were a twitter user looking for any past troubles someone has to cancel culture them.

That's all from me, atm.

Thank you for the advice. And sorry for the language hiccups, English is not my native language. I sort of learned it from reading novels and playing games.

 

[HungrySheep]

Litrpg requires the creation of a system

Bob smirked as he rose from the bed, steam rising from his loins after his latest conquest.

Ding!

A translucent screen popped up in front of him, casting a soft blue glow on the voluptuous buttocks of the red-haired woman panting beneath him.

[Congratulations! You have leveled up!]

[Reward: 3 Skill Points]

Bob leaned back, satisfied at last. He'd spent the last three hours grinding his way to level 2, no thanks to the System he'd acquired: [Harem Protag Sex System]. Although he'd been gifted the cheat skill [Women Instantly Fall in Love With Me For No Reason], he had one major issue with accumulating experience so far.

Stamina.

But that problem's about to solve itself. Here I go!

Bob jammed his finger against the "+" button next to the [Stamina] stat rapidly, his fingertip oscillating with the speed of a fully laden swallow thanks to the [Fingering] skill he'd leveled earlier. With that taken care of, he dismissed the screen and rose from the bed.

It was time for another conquest.

---

It's not that hard, I promise you.

 

[Nolff]

Bob smirked as he rose from the bed, steam rising from his loins after his latest conquest.

Ding!

A translucent screen popped up in front of him, casting a soft blue glow on the voluptuous buttocks of the red-haired woman panting beneath him.

[Congratulations! You have leveled up!]

[Reward: 3 Skill Points]

Bob leaned back, satisfied at last. He'd spent the last three hours grinding his way to level 2, no thanks to the System he'd acquired: [Harem Protag Sex System]. Although he'd been gifted the cheat skill [Women Instantly Fall in Love With Me For No Reason], he had one major issue with accumulating experience so far.

Stamina.

But that problem's about to solve itself. Here I go!

Bob jammed his finger against the "+" button next to the [Stamina] stat rapidly, his fingertip oscillating with the speed of a fully laden swallow thanks to the [Fingering] skill he'd leveled earlier. With that taken care of, he dismissed the screen and rose from the bed.

It was time for another conquest.

---

It's not that hard, I promise you.

Speaking of experience, I see.

 

[HungrySheep]

Speaking of experience, I see.

Sometimes I consider whether or not I should become a full-time smut writer on AO3. It's pretty brainless.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Thank you for the advice. But it won't be a surefire hit. Litrpg requires the creation of a system, as I learned from the review swaps. I tried to follow your advice on this and spent two days trying to craft something, but all my systems ended up being an unbalanced mess and over-explained stuff. No one will read it if even I am not interested in the result. I am already writing fantasy. Girl love and harems I have no experience with, so I can hardly write anything good here either.

Okay, LitRPG is not for everyone, I understand. But that's all the more reasons to write fantasy isekai GL, fantasy isekai romcom harem, of fanfic. Step out of your comfort zone. That's really the whole point. You write, "I have no eperience and can't write anything good." How can you judge what is good and what is not, if you ask, "How can I learn to recognize why my writing is boring or bad?"

As for surefire hit, I meant that if you write certain combination of genres it gets increasingly harder to fail. By fail, I mean get a low number of views and readers. Usually, if you write, for example, Naruto fanfic, the only way you can fail if you are boring, bad, or both. Do you get what I mean here?

 

[Nolff]

Thank you for the advice. But it won't be a surefire hit. Litrpg requires the creation of a system, as I learned from the review swaps. I tried to follow your advice on this and spent two days trying to craft something, but all my systems ended up being an unbalanced mess and over-explained stuff. No one will read it if even I am not interested in the result. I am already writing fantasy. Girl love and harems I have no experience with, so I can hardly write anything good here either.

Care to elaborate?

We can discuss how to make a system in Personal Message top-right beside the bell, the mail icon.

And be modest with your expectations; Expect them to surpass the standard story of Scribble Hub and expect them to be just another good story.

Or do it my expectations; Hit for space and if that didn't succeed, just land on the sky. If you hit the sky and fall, you'll hit the ground for sure.

Thank you for the advice. And sorry for the language hiccups, English is not my native language. I sort of learned it from reading novels and playing games.

No worries.

If you're proficient enough with how you use your mother language, you can use that in English with barely any words.

For example: Me. I have less vocab than a regular American. Lots of words I didn't understand, but hey, I managed to get people to understand what I meant.
Start by making your audience understand what you write and/or what you say. Then, you improve your wording little by little. That's how you grow your fluency.

 

[Rookieqw]

Care to elaborate?

The way I understand it (and keep in mind, it mostly stems from doing reviews on RR), there are two types of the System. Individual (when the MC gets access to it) and Communal (where everyone gets access to it). So upon receiving SailusGebel's advice, I have decided 'Communal is too hard and complicated! I never was in a role of DM; what can I do here?' and went with Individual.

I admit, I got lost in the numbers in chapter 15 and understood that I wasn't really enjoying justifying to myself why the MC simply can't gring himself to being OP. Facing this problem, I decided to try a different approach. Instead of numbers for stats, I tried to use 'traits'. Sort of run of creativity rather soon here.

Failing in this task, I decided 'screw it' and turned to the Communal type of system. But a character can be only as smart as a writer. In developing my first System, the profession of my MC (smithing) ended up being obviously OP, and I failed to answer the simple question to myself: if I, as a writer and a reader, can clearly see it as being superior, why won't characters in the story won't see the same? I made two more attempts, got boggled with details, and understood that I was falling short behind my schedule for my main story.

In fanfics, I faced another problem. There is nothing worse than to write to a sixth chapter of a One Piece fanfic and then hit myself after I remembered that Devil Fruits' users can't actually swim.

 

[Assurbanipal_II]

Sorry to bother you, everyone, but I need advice. Admission: I am a rather dumb person with no talent and am not seeking to make money from my novels.

I've been trying to write something good and was doing the regular stuff (reading, writing a set amount of words, reading material on writing, planning the story ahead, writing what I am interested in, and doing the editing). But several years have passed and there is still no improvement. It is obvious that the problem lies with me, but maybe because I am an idiot or because I have too high an opinion of myself, I somehow like my writing after I have done the editing part.

This is rather bad, as I can't improve that way and there is no negative feedback to improve from. I think it is because my skills as a writer are at the 'boring a reader to tears' level. How can I learn to understand what is bad writing and not good for a reader?

I think you are a 100% case of being cursed by your genre. The same story with different tags and taste could easily reach the 1k. Slap the right themes on it, and you will rise like a rocket.

 

[Nolff]

The way I understand it (and keep in mind, it mostly stems from doing reviews on RR), there are two types of the System. Individual (when the MC gets access to it) and Communal (where everyone gets access to it). So upon receiving SailusGebel' advice, I have decided 'Communal is too hard and complicated! I never was in a role of DM; what can I do here?' and went with Individual.

I admit, I got lost in the numbers in chapter 15 and understood that I wasn't really enjoying justifying to myself why the MC simply can't gring himself to being OP. Facing this problem, I decided to try a different approach. Instead of numbers for stats, I tried to use 'traits'. Sort of run of creativity rather soon here.

Failing in this task, I decided 'screw it' and turned to the Communal type of system. But a character can be only as smart as a writer. In developing my first System, the profession of my MC (smithing) ended up being obviously OP, and I failed to answer the simple question to myself: if I, as a writer and a reader, can clearly see it as being superior, why won't characters in the story won't see the same? I made two more attempts, got boggled with details, and understood that I was falling short behind my schedule for my main story.

In fanfics, I faced another problem. There is nothing worse than to write to a sixth chapter of a One Piece fanfic and then hit myself after I remembered that Devil Fruits' users can't actually swim.

Let's re-start it from zero then.

What do you want to add as a basic system? Would the system be communal nor individual?

 

[Rookieqw]

Let's re-start it from zero then.

What do you want to add as a basic system? Would the system be communal nor individual?

None, to be honest. I often enjoy reading a litrpg, but making one myself is just too complicated for me.

The most complicated stuff so far I can comfortably handle is from my own story (where a species can become stronger from defeating a stronger opponent, but it works once per person, does not give an increase in strength from the weaker foes, and each member of said species has an individual 'growth ceiling'). This is easy for me; there are no numbers involved, but rather a physical change that is exciting for me to imagine and put into words.

But for a semi-good Litrpg such a method is way too basic and lacks explanation.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

understood that I was falling short behind my schedule for my main story.

First, as I said, you should take a full break from writing main story. I think it helps.

The way I understand it (and keep in mind, it mostly stems from doing reviews on RR), there are two types of the System. Individual (when the MC gets access to it) and Communal (where everyone gets access to it). So upon receiving SailusGebel's advice, I have decided 'Communal is too hard and complicated! I never was in a role of DM; what can I do here?' and went with Individual.

I admit, I got lost in the numbers in chapter 15 and understood that I wasn't really enjoying justifying to myself why the MC simply can't gring himself to being OP. Facing this problem, I decided to try a different approach. Instead of numbers for stats, I tried to use 'traits'. Sort of run of creativity rather soon here.

Failing in this task, I decided 'screw it' and turned to the Communal type of system. But a character can be only as smart as a writer. In developing my first System, the profession of my MC (smithing) ended up being obviously OP, and I failed to answer the simple question to myself: if I, as a writer and a reader, can clearly see it as being superior, why won't characters in the story won't see the same? I made two more attempts, got boggled with details, and understood that I was falling short behind my schedule for my main story.

Second, if LitRPG doesn't work out, screw it. You are not writing a serious story. You are doing an experiment.

In fanfics, I faced another problem. There is nothing worse than to write to a sixth chapter of a One Piece fanfic and then hit myself after I remembered that Devil Fruits' users can't actually swim.

Third, same for fanfic. If you are not certain in your knowledge of popular fandoms, screw fanfics.

Fourth, you are doing an experiment. You are trying to broaden your horizon. You should change your mentality. You should simply write. Open a google doc, and write whatever isekai fantasy GL story you come up with. Forget planning and so on. Just try to write something different. You are taking this practice project way too seriously. It bogs you down, and when you take into consideration that you keep writing your old story, you are constricted.

If you really have no idea what to write, I will be shamelees and post a thread of my own here.

A community project. Story for our beloved vampire lover.

Envy was lamenting the fact there are no GL stories with edgy, villainess vampire FMC. I ended up cooking a short story for her. The thing is, apart from being very lazy, I don't like GL. I don't want to write more than that. So what can I do? I can ask you all, to contribute! Since I'm lazy...

forum.scribblehub.com

This project is abandoned, but you can use it for inspiration. And if you don't have any idea on what to write, you can take it for yourself. You can read chapters, or you can simply read the thread itself.

Just in case I will repeat it here. Write a GL story, with female vampire MC. The task is to write MC as villainous and edgy. In other words, you can have as much fun as you want and just write whatever. No need to get tied with serious backstories, thinking of worldbuilding, thinking how to properly portray GL. Simply have fun, write 10-20 chapters, post them on SH. If it attracts a lot of attention, it means your main story is simply not what readers here want. If you fail, well, then it means you MIGHT be boring.

 

[Kalliel]

I believe I used to briefly critique your story a year ago. Well, that was when I just started out as a writer and was not actually skilled enough for that. I still believe I am not, but here's what I think about the LitRPG part.

The system is the bane of all existence. Some people hate it to death, and I've come to hate it, too. There are too many things to keep track of. I've written 160 chapters of a novel in which a system is present, anyway.

From my experience writing one and reading many, you don't need an absolutely balanced and elaborate system; you just need it to be somewhat convincing. The system can be fickle; it can be rough, unfinished, or unfair. You can make those quirks of the system. As long as you don't stack ridiculous progressions on top of one another, it'll be fine.

Also, don't try big numbers with a system. It's quite hard to manage.

 

[Corrigible-steel]

Sorry to bother you, everyone, but I need advice. Admission: I am a rather dumb person with no talent and am not seeking to make money from my novels.

I've been trying to write something good and was doing the regular stuff (reading, writing a set amount of words, reading material on writing, planning the story ahead, writing what I am interested in, and doing the editing). But several years have passed and there is still no improvement. It is obvious that the problem lies with me, but maybe because I am an idiot or because I have too high an opinion of myself, I somehow like my writing after I have done the editing part.

This is rather bad, as I can't improve that way and there is no negative feedback to improve from. I think it is because my skills as a writer are at the 'boring a reader to tears' level. How can I learn to understand what is bad writing and not good for a reader?

I am new on the forum, and while I don’t have a lot to add, I’ll share my own experience.

First of all english isn't my primary language so it was damn hard for me to write.

I had randomly started writing a fanfic six months ago, without any thought or real plans for progressing past a single damn chapter. It was based on an anime I have a love-hate relationship with (Akame ga Kill, because, well, 90% of the characters die).

I knew it was my first piece of work so the views will be veerrry low, but somehow it worked out for me (you can check out my novel on Scribble Hub [51k views] and Webnovel [800k views]).

I think I’ve built a decent reader base, and their support really motivates me to keep writing. In fact, I took a two-month break, but readers still came back and encouraged me to continue, telling me to take my time and focus on writing better chapters.

So, my advice would be to start with fanfics. Why you ask? Cuz they already have an established fanbase. just select a good cover, good/short description and a decent title. If people like your work, you’ll have a solid reader base to support your future novels.

Also, I see that you’re putting in a lot of effort with editing, so I won’t comment on that. Just stay confident in what you write, view things from the reader’s perspective, and try to engage with them.

Keep polishing your writing and editing skills, and you can even check out YouTube for tips to improve areas you might not notice. (tried myself)

Most importantly, don’t lose hope.

By the way, my exams are still going on (I’m a third-year college student), so I don’t have much time. But if I ever get a chance, I’ll definitely check out your novels!

 

[Nolff]

None, to be honest. I often enjoy reading a litrpg, but making one myself is just too complicated for me.

The most complicated stuff so far I can comfortably handle is from my own story (where a species can become stronger from defeating a stronger opponent, but it works once per person, does not give an increase in strength from the weaker foes, and each member of said species has an individual 'growth ceiling'). This is easy for me; there are no numbers involved, but rather a physical change that is exciting for me to imagine and put into words.

But for a semi-good Litrpg such a method is way too basic and lacks explanation.

Sailus gave you a task, better work on that one.

Remember, you're not experimenting, you're writing.

Also, for the system stuff, just have a skim knowledge about it and learn later.

Now the main question is...


Are you exhausted? Are you having burnout?

I am new on the forum, and while I don’t have a lot to add, I’ll share my own experience.

First of all english isn't my primary language so it was damn hard for me to write.

I had randomly started writing a fanfic six months ago, without any thought or real plans for progressing past a single damn chapter. It was based on an anime I have a love-hate relationship with (Akame ga Kill, because, well, 90% of the characters die).

I knew it was my first piece of work so the views will be veerrry low, but somehow it worked out for me (you can check out my novel on Scribble Hub [51k views] and Webnovel [800k views]).

I think I’ve built a decent reader base, and their support really motivates me to keep writing. In fact, I took a two-month break, but readers still came back and encouraged me to continue, telling me to take my time and focus on writing better chapters.

So, my advice would be to start with fanfics. Why you ask? Cuz they already have an established fanbase. just select a good cover, good/short description and a decent title. If people like your work, you’ll have a solid reader base to support your future novels.

Also, I see that you’re putting in a lot of effort with editing, so I won’t comment on that. Just stay confident in what you write, view things from the reader’s perspective, and try to engage with them.

Keep polishing your writing and editing skills, and you can even check out YouTube for tips to improve areas you might not notice. (tried myself)

Most importantly, don’t lose hope.

By the way, my exams are still going on (I’m a third-year college student), so I don’t have much time. But if I ever get a chance, I’ll definitely check out your novels!

You f*cking cheeky bastard.

Guess I'll put Webnovel on my chap-publisher-site lists.