Asking for guidance

[expentio]

I don't know if this is the right place to post this.

I am now for quite some time reader on this site.
And maybe inspired by this I made a story.

Now I've read here quite some posts about that the first story is supposed to be bad, it should be short and after that you start something real or best treat it like a first sin.
Yet now I am already close to 400 pages, with a word count of over 170000 words and don't think it's terribly bad (might be just my self-delusion).

The thing is, I am a very insecure person and if someone tells me now that I better hide this and never take it out again, I might do it.
Even this post is taking its toll.

For the story:
It is a fantasy/monster story (transformation)
1st-person (two POVs)
later parts are more about adventuring

My problems would be now:
1. That I have no idea how to post anything in the first place.
2. That I don't want to spoil the transformation in the synopsis (chapter 6-15, but those are just five which are doubled because I described both perspectives).
3. That I don't know which safety tags are necessary (sexual content tag because of being naked under problematic circumstances?)
4. That I am no native speaker and logically did all the editing by myself (over the course of one year).
5. That I have huge problems regarding paragraphs (tried sometimes but most is one block).
6. That I have no end in mind yet, but want to continue.

At the moment it is like I said, one huge text-file (word).

Here would be then the first first quarter (had a good point to cut there)
(sorry, couldn't figure out how to get a microsoft word data (docx) in there)

 

[skillet]

Now I've read here quite some posts about that the first story is supposed to be bad, it should be short and after that you start something real or best treat it like a first sin.

Honestly, writing is not supposed to be anything. It just is, once you write it. The advice you saw, in my humble opinion, is good advice because it (1) makes you feel less pressured that what you write has to be perfect and beautiful just the way you saw it. It isn't a rule that you shouldn't write unless it's bad; it's because (2) many writers try to put everything they ever wanted to write about into the first book/story and that's why your first story "should" be short.
But all this doesn't mean that you shouldn't write your story. I haven't the time to read your story (sorryy D:), and I'll leave the reviews to others, but just wanted to put this out here: write whatever you have and enjoy every single moment of it.

And if it turns out to be sorta bad, three years later? So what? There's nothing stopping you from going back and editing it all from the beginning again. It'll be waay easier too, since you've already written everything down and fleshed it out, more than when it had been ideas in your head. You're the owner of your story, so you have that power. And that will be proof that you have grown as a writer from when you'd first written it, and then you can improve the original and earn that satisfaction back little by little. We're all growing on different levels at different rates here. All that matters right now is that you're writing at all.

Hope that sorta helps.

tl;dr: be confident! You're the only one capable of stopping yourself. :D

 

[Zaezalus]

the first story is supposed to be bad, it should be short and after that you start something real or best treat it like a first sin.

Same as what skillet said above.

I am already close to 400 pages, with a word count of over 170000 words

The fact that you are already close to 400 pages and crossed the 170000 words mark (it is a very great mark) already puts you a few tiers above everyone else who never tried to ink their stories, or dropped them after a few thousand words. You, sir/ma'am, have my respect.

don't think it's terribly bad (might be just my self-delusion).

It's not a self-delusion, I can assure you. I read the first few pages and found it to be good. Although the first few pages is my limit currently as it is 5 am and I really need sleep now. I will definitely read further after waking up and let you know how it goes.

That I have no idea how to post anything in the first place.

Do you not know how to publish a book and its chapters on ScribbleHub?

That I don't want to spoil the transformation in the synopsis (chapter 6-15, but those are just five which are doubled because I described both perspectives).

I am absolute garbage at creating synopsis for books, so I will be looking forward to someone experienced answering this one so both of us can benefit.

That I don't know which safety tags are necessary (sexual content tag because of being naked under problematic circumstances?)

If it is just nudity here and there and no "action," I presume that the "Nudity" tag would suffice and there's no need for the Sexual Content tag.

That I am no native speaker and logically did all the editing by myself (over the course of one year).

You have done it once, and you are definitely better now then the you in the past. Editing is a slow and long process. You edit, and you improve, and then you edit again, and then you improve again. There might even be someone willing to help you edit once your book reaches to a wider audience.

That I have no end in mind yet, but want to continue.

That's nothing major. Even if you don't have an end in mind yet, don't fret. You might just wake up tomorrow with the best ending you would have ever thought off. All you have to do is continue until that ending strikes your mind. The moment that you say, "This is it! This is how I want my book to end!" You will get there, I am sure of that.

All-in-all, keep writing, and congratulations ???? on crossing 170000 words for your book!

PS: I am but a noob myself.

 

[Jemini]

I can just tell you the thing I tell everybody. Seriously, I DO tell this to just about everybody, because it's the one thing that actually helped me more than any other piece of advice I'd ever received, and so I like to pass it along.

If you're feeling insecure about what you've got written there (I have not read it yet BTW) then you can just re-write it from the beginning. Edits and re-writes and 2nd, 3rd, and 4th drafts are exactly what makes you improve as a writer. A good writer does not just sit down and write a perfect piece of litrature. An excelent manuscript is the product of the writer editing a crappy piece of writing over and over again and polishing it up and perfecting it.

I, myself, was a horrible writer before I started following this advice. My road from being a crappy writer to being an excellent writer is exactly the thing that made me believe there is no such thing as talent, at least not in writing. There is only passion, the passion necessary to stick with it and keep writing and continue to improve. It took me around 8 years of polishing up my skills to become a good writer, and I think anyone else can become every bit as good as me if they dedicate a similar amount of time. It may even be the case that my learning process was very slow because I suck, and someone else can get up to speed in a far shorter amount of time.

Anyway, I would suggest taking what you have in your word document there, write up your 2nd draft of your story, and then submit your 2nd draft to this site rather than whatever you've got there. Again, I haven't read it, but due to the insecurity you're expressing here I am going to assume it needs this approach. From there, it will probably still not be very good. But, you will have it out in public view and open to critique. From those critiques, you can further improve your writing from there.

 

[AliceShiki]

See this for help in how to publish your story in ScribbleHub: https://forum.scribblehub.com/threads/writing-guide-part-i-how-to-publish-your-own-story.1014/

 

[Daitengu]

You want a beginning to start from and an end to write to before you actually start writing. Then you come up with a general outline to tie the two ends together. And once you get to actual writing don't force a plot of a character would act differently. Be willing to go with the flow of the characters. Do limit cycles. Often web stories devolve to, go somewhere, get stronger, beat bad guy, repeat 20 times. Soooo boring.

 

[expentio]

Same as what skillet said above.



The fact that you are already close to 400 pages and crossed the 170000 words mark (it is a very great mark) already puts you a few tiers above everyone else who never tried to ink their stories, or dropped them after a few thousand words. You, sir/ma'am, have my respect.



It's not a self-delusion, I can assure you. I read the first few pages and found it to be good. Although the first few pages is my limit currently as it is 5 am and I really need sleep now. I will definitely read further after waking up and let you know how it goes.



Do you not know how to publish a book and its chapters on ScribbleHub?



I am absolute garbage at creating synopsis for books, so I will be looking forward to someone experienced answering this one so both of us can benefit.



If it is just nudity here and there and no "action," I presume that the "Nudity" tag would suffice and there's no need for the Sexual Content tag.



You have done it once, and you are definitely better now then the you in the past. Editing is a slow and long process. You edit, and you improve, and then you edit again, and then you improve again. There might even be someone willing to help you edit once your book reaches to a wider audience.



That's nothing major. Even if you don't have an end in mind yet, don't fret. You might just wake up tomorrow with the best ending you would have ever thought off. All you have to do is continue until that ending strikes your mind. The moment that you say, "This is it! This is how I want my book to end!" You will get there, I am sure of that.

All-in-all, keep writing, and congratulations ???? on crossing 170000 words for your book!

PS: I am but a noob myself.

Thank you for the nice words.

It already helps if you say the first pages are fine, because the chapters 1 annd 2 are just character introduction and like this the weakest (in my opinion).

For the nudity scene: It's more a creepy Frankenstein situation, caused by the monster (who is maybe a llittle in love), but you never know what people find problematic even if it's not intended like this (there are the weirdest fetishes out there).

Like I said, I started around last March with this and since then continously reread and changed things (a complete rewrite doesn't appear possible to me like one suggested).

My weakest are still paragraphs. I think in chapter 5 (or 6, the tavern scene) I tried. I would be thankful for an evaluation.

Like I said, this is my first writing (simultaneously there are some more, but this is my main) and like this I don't know how to post.
I've read this guide, but it looks quite complicated and transferring the chapters properly might become heavily difficult.
Is there anything I have to watch out for when I at the moment just have my word documents in mind for getting them somewhere else?

At last I am not even sure if I want an end, since I like the characters and at the moment wouldn't want them to... well, end.

 

[Jemini]

Like I said, I started around last March with this and since then continously reread and changed things (a complete rewrite doesn't appear possible to me like one suggested).

You and I have been working on our respective series for exactly as long as one another if that's your time-line. I've got over 400,000 words in that time, giving a series nearly double the size of yours and still going. It's not even to what I would consider the half-way point for the story I'm telling either. I am also still actively posting.

All that being the case, I actually AM planning a complete re-write of the series and the only reason I haven't started on it yet is because I am also still pumping out new chapters.

Trust me, I told you to re-start from the beginning fully meaning it. This is something that actually will help you a great deal, and you REALLY do want to start on that now while you are just posting your series, not later when you feel the pressure of putting out new chapters. I have a huge series, I fully intend to re-write it from the beginning, it's going to take a lot of effort on my part to get that going while still pushing new chapters at the same time. You do not want to get into my situation. Now is the time for you, it will be a lot easier now than later.