For new authors

[Worthy39]

Then how do you think I should go with it? I can't really post a rough draft cause honestly it's horrendous.

Write. I started out as an absolutely horrendous author. I wrote a hundred short chapters, and eventually got to at least a passable level of skill. All it took was 63K words.

 

[DireBadger]

Umm, take the time to polish the rough draft yourself? Like people have been doing for all of recorded history?

 

[Worthy39]

Umm, take the time to polish the rough draft yourself? Like people have been doing for all of recorded history?

Yes, but he said he's a terrible writer. You can take all the time you want to polish a chapter, but if you don't have the skill to do it, you won't really polish it as well as you'd probably want.

 

[Our_Lady_in_Twilight]

Yeah dump the info dump, so to speak. Keep it on the side and slip the lore into the story in easily digestible snippets. It's great that you can see where you're going wrong, just keep that critical eye on yourself and don't let yourself slip into anything you think is 'off'.

I think sometimes it's hard knowing where to start your story, after you've done all the planning. My suggestion would be to figure out the first interesting thing that happens to your protag - do they get isakeied? do they get attacked by muggers and realise they have super powers? Your first opportunity to really hook your readers into wanting to know what happens next. Then once you've jumped into it, it should be easier to build out from there, introducing new characters, lore and plot development in a way that feels most natural. Best of luck :)

 

[Juia_Darkcrest]

Then how do you think I should go with it? I can't really post a rough draft cause honestly it's horrendous.

We all have different levels of skill, to improve you don't need AI, you need to read and write.

Here is a exercise you could do;

Look at some of the stories you enjoyed reading before and see how those authours wrote it, not the story but the lay out, the delivery, and note it down. What did they do to make their story appeal to you? How did they word their sentences? Build their paragraphs? Manage dialogue? Basically how did they present the reader all the exposition that you say is in your rough draft that isnt presentable as is.

Take that info down, and then look at whatever you wrote.

Can you see how your information could fit into a similar format? Or can you manipulate what you wrote to be like that.

Try it, make your work look (physically, not content) like something you enjoyed reading.

In the end, you will only improve with practice. Write some short stories, write some background information on your characters, always trying to improve how you present that information. In the end, you could have a mediocre work, but if it is presented well, you will probably get good reviews, while a great story presented as a brick of text will probably get dropped.

My opinion anyways, take it with a grain of salt. I am just loafing around the forums instead of writing my next chapter like I should.

 

[ArborealWood]

Alright guys thanks for the reply I'll try first if it turns out horrendous then horrendous it is after all I'm still new.

 

[ZannaYO]

Then how do you think I should go with it? I can't really post a rough draft cause honestly it's horrendous.

This is probably not the advice you want, but if you want to improve your writing the most important thing is to read a lot. Try to pay attention to the authors who's style you really like—their vocab, characters, sentence patterns, plot beats, and how they lead up to and hint at tension. Then imitate it (not copy, but imitate) as best you can. See what feels most natural to you, learn from practice exercises. Then it will naturally lead to improvements in your own writing.
There are also some really good books on novel-writing that could help you understand the basics. Ursula Le Guin has a great one. Brandon Sanderson does heaps of workshops and advice.

 

[Juia_Darkcrest]

Brandon Sanderson does heaps of workshops and advice.

probably the guy anyone with aspirations of becoming a mainstream fantasy writer would want to listen to.

 

[ArborealWood]

This is probably not the advice you want, but if you want to improve your writing the most important thing is to read a lot. Try to pay attention to the authors who's style you really like—their vocab, characters, sentence patterns, plot beats, and how they lead up to and hint at tension. Then imitate it (not copy, but imitate) as best you can. See what feels most natural to you, learn from practice exercises. Then it will naturally lead to improvements in your own writing.
There are also some really good books on novel-writing that could help you understand the basics. Ursula Le Guin has a great one. Brandon Sanderson does heaps of workshops and advice.

I mean I have read tons of novel...like a lot perhaps more than a thousand at this point? Of course I only finished a few but I still couldn't catch or even imitate their writings I wonder why is it because each authors have their own differing writing style and that I'll have to find my own instead?

 

[ZannaYO]

I mean I have read tons of novel...like a lot perhaps more than a thousand at this point? Of course I only finished a few but I still couldn't catch or even imitate their writings I wonder why is it because each authors have their own differing writing style and that I'll have to find my own instead?

I was an art student, so I approach it the way an artist learns. Imitate the greats, build up the foundational skills, and then once you've amassed a solid base and have practice, it is easier to improvise and strike out on your own.

If you’re unsure how to imitate, try to pay attention to the sentences that you particularly like. What are they doing? Do they have very poetic descriptions? Are they short and clipped? Are the characters described briefly, or in long paragraphs? What vocab keeps popping up again and again—writers all have favourite words and/or metaphors they like to reuse. That is what you try to imitate.

But if that feels too difficult right now, maybe start by taking a creative writing class or watching a youtube video about writing. Go from there.
Remember, you can only learn by trying. Everyone sucked at first. You'll get there.

 

[Abnormals]

I'm pretty new to writing, and I wanted to make a thread for new authors to come and share their work with other new authors so we can all try to improve and help each other gain more popularity!

If you have a story and want some feedback, just post it on here, and (assuming this thread gains any traction at all) someone will read it!

My writing sound like AI and the answer how to improve is also given by AI so does that make me an AI writer?

 

[Worthy39]

My writing sound like AI and the answer how to improve is also given by AI so does that make me an AI writer?

Scribblehub is a bit less open-minded to AI writers, so if you're looking for a more accepting site, RR kinda has a mixed reaction to it, but there are people who basically turn the act of writing into a literal engineering project with how in depth they go with using the AI.

Now, if you're saying you don't want to be an AI writer, than all I can really say is practice writing, and read other books. Originally, I wrote my story with an AI to edit a little bit here and there, but even though I only started writing a few months ago, the act of writing helped me improve significantly, and now I'm going back through and doing a full rewrite without AI assistance.

 

[Macha]

Scribblehub is a bit less open-minded to AI writers, so if you're looking for a more accepting site, RR kinda has a mixed reaction to it, but there are people who basically turn the act of writing into a literal engineering project with how in depth they go with using the AI.

The content guidelines prohibits stories mostly generated by AI. RR has the AI-Generated and AI-Assisted tag. In SH, only AI-Assisted is allowed. And Tapas is even less open-minded to AI (even AI-generated covers are not allowed) so I recommend RR for AI writers.

 

[PhoonEz]

I'm pretty new to writing, and I wanted to make a thread for new authors to come and share their work with other new authors so we can all try to improve and help each other gain more popularity!

If you have a story and want some feedback, just post it on here, and (assuming this thread gains any traction at all) someone will read it!

hello i'm a new author, i was wondering if i could get some opinion about my novel,and i would appreciate it if you can give me some small tips to improve my novel,thank you.

This Fantasy World Is Way Too Much for a Mob Like Me — Please, Give Me a Break!

A man wakes up in a world that feels painted — skies brushed in color, memories out of order, and a book that talks back. He doesn’t know where he is, or who he was. All he knows is that something — or someone — is telling his story. The book insists...

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