I joined Beehaw specifically hoping to get in on the ground floor of the growing writing community here, but I have to admit I haven’t had much to say.
So, for the other folks checking this community once a day or so to see what’s being posted, “Hi!”
I’m enthusiastically nearing the end of the first draft of my first novel, and pretty excited to jump into revisions once that’s done.
I aspire to be traditionally published, though I’ve heard how unlikely that is for a first novel over and over, so I’m (primarily) viewing this first novel as a learning experience, and it’s very much been one of those.
I’m interested to hear where others are at.
I have four out and one on the way, and they’re all learning experiences! I’m not as excited about revisions, fortunately I have a wife who’s a fantastic editor so I have a lot of good direction and encouragement when it comes time to go over it all again.
I have four out and one on the way, and they’re all learning experiences!
Nice! I’m glad to hear they each remain their own adventure - that should keep things interesting. Wow though - my entire notion of what it means to write a novel has been transformed by this first-first-draft experience. I literally had no idea what I was getting myself into. Every step along the way to reach even this not-quite-finished-draft point has been an acquisition of new skills on par with anything I’ve ever learned before. It’s been enjoyable, but really a much more serious endeavor than I think I imagined at first.
I’m not as excited about revisions, fortunately I have a wife who’s a fantastic editor
That is a lucky turn of events. :-) I’m looking forward to revising because when I peek at the early parts of the book I can tell how much this experience has changed my writing. I think it’s going to be fun to redo those parts with fresh eyes.
I’ve been trying to write a story for a game I am working on and I can’t get a good overall plot down. I am not typically a writer but what I do is writing adjacent so I thought it’d come more naturally. I’m a game engineer and working on my design skills. Mechanic design I am fairly good at but when it comes to narrative and setting, it becomes a bit more difficult for me. Any tips people can throw out are always welcome.
Any tips people can throw out are always welcome.
Whatever is going to work for you will probably be specific to you, but I think a good place to start is to read more stories. Try to nail down what it is you want to achieve with your story, and then find other stories that have succeeded at that, at least in your opinion. There are rules and tropes and formulas to storytelling that will make it easier to entertain readers, but at the end of the day, if you don’t like what you wrote, and you didn’t enjoy writing it, then I don’t think it’s worth it.
In my experience, once you start reading a lot, you start thinking more like a writer. You’ll be watching a movie or a show and be thinking “How would I write this scene, how would I describe this to someone who wasn’t watching it, and how would I do that in a way that they got the same feeling I got when I was watching it?” or “How would I improve this story, in what ways did it fail to give me the feeling I was seeking?” or “How could I incorporate some of these same narrative devices in my story, what is it that I like about this and how can I convince people that they like my story for the same reasons?”
You’ll especially start asking yourselves these questions when you know you have a good story, and you’re obsessed with getting your story on to paper. You’ll start filtering everything you experience through the lens of that obsession, and every piece of media you consume will become a piece of the collage you create.
At least that’s how it is for me, maybe you’re completely different.
I’ve been reading over this the last few days and thinking about what sort of materials I really want to dive into. What do I want to adopt and adapt from? What do I want to build off of? This advice has been great and gets me thinking about my creative process overall. I have a problem that I want to immediately start implementing the game mechanics before I even know what those game mechanics are going to truly represent. So I’ve been taking it slow, writing my design doc, writing my setting up, following that with the narrative or typical player path then writing up my mechanics with a specific section as to why and how they help deliver the experience the setting and narrative is trying to deliver.
Writing a game sounds like hard-mode to me, so I don’t think I can help, but hopefully someone else will have tips!
Hello there!
I’m at a place of “I want to write, but I can’t figure out what I want to write”. I recently came to the end of a project that I’d been working on for a number of years, and while I feel like I’m done with that story (after about 1.3 million words, not intended for publication), I just can’t figure out where to go next. I haven’t quite landed on an idea I can get excited about.
I’m pretty sure I don’t want to be published. Nothing kills the joy of writing for me more than “okay, but is it marketable enough to sell?” No shade on anyone who wants to be published! It’s just not for me.
(after about 1.3 million words, not intended for publication)
Sheesh. I’m at 106k words and that’s 10x more than any single thing I’ve ever written before. 1.3 million sounds impossible - what a journey writing that must have been!
Nothing kills the joy of writing for me more than “okay, but is it marketable enough to sell?” No shade on anyone who wants to be published! It’s just not for me.
I can get that. In my case, I am going to need a second career as I age, and personal circumstances limit the sorts of things I can consider. Fortunately, this is something I can consider, something I am really enjoying, and something I think I can learn to be good at.
If you are willing to share, what’s the scope and general description of your huge work?
The huge project was basically a big, sprawling sci-fi/fantasy adventure. Magic, aliens, transformation themes. I just started writing one day and kept going. The 1.3 million words was over five or six years, so it’s mostly just that I was sticking with one story rather than hopping between different projects. It was definitely a journey, and I really enjoyed working on it. There’s something really liberating about just writing whatever I want and not really worrying about writing for anybody but myself. But I just reached a point where I felt like I had nothing more to add to it.
That does sound pretty awesome. Writing a blended sci-fi/fantasy story is on my list of things I want to do, but I don’t think I’m ready for that yet.
The worldbuilding for something that size must have been immense, I feel like that must have been the most fun part in a way.
Working through the writing process currently on some nonfiction. Making a roadmap for the topics and text was deceptively “easy” and I’ve realized it’s because I will hem and haw over the order incessantly until it is out of my hands. Gathering and reading through primary sources fires up the ol’ imposter syndrome occasionally. That’s one of the biggest challenges, personally, and I’m not always great at shaking the feeling of “why write this” even if I do make it back to it eventually.
Luckily some of our friends have skills or connections they’ve offered when the time comes, like a retired copy editor and someone who works for a small publisher. One of our newer friends revealed that they’ve got a master’s related to the project and are figuratively dying for someone with whom to “talk shop”, which is exciting and daunting all at the same time.
That sounds challenging and enjoyable. I’ve never written nonfiction for more than the length of a college essay, but it seems inherently more difficult to me, but it’s good that you seem to have a supportive team already lined up to help you get over the finish line.
Good luck to you! (And what’s the topic, if you are comfortable sharing at this time?)
My contribution to beehaw so far is this comment. I have confidence issues, and have been essentially radio silent on social media for the past ten years, but I’m at a turning point in my life and writing is the only thing that makes sense I need to start now. I have a few sketches of ideas but none fully realized.
I’m primarily interested in short stories which I would like to potentially narrate in the future, but I’m slowly trying to get over the confidence problem at the moment.
My contribution to beehaw so far is this comment. I have confidence issues, and have been essentially radio silent on social media for the past ten years
Well, I feel honored that you are responding to my post! 🙂
but I’m at a turning point in my life and writing is the only thing that makes sense I need to start now
Turning points are precisely where you change direction in your life, so it sounds like you are doing the right thing! 👍
I’m primarily interested in short stories which I would like to potentially narrate in the future, but I’m slowly trying to get over the confidence problem at the moment.
While I can’t possibly know exactly how you feel or what factors may have led to this, I do somewhat understand. I had general anxiety issues and maybe a tinge of depression when I put my feet on this path. I barely touched the project for the first 6 months or more after I decided I was doing it.
My really very amateur advice is - take positivity from everything you can. For example, what helped me was a BUNCH of honestly sort of small sounding things that seemed to bear fruit over time. Two examples -
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I made a playlist called “Positive” and added any song to it that made me feel good. Even if it wasn’t explicitly a song about positivity - if it made me feel energized and happy to hear it, it went in. I would put that playlist on every time I sat down to write.
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When someone crossed my twitter feed who looked like they were spreading positive feelings to people, I followed them to ensure I’d get those positive messages in my feed.
I’d also suggest finding a writing podcast that you enjoy listening to. I’ve been listening to a few of them - at least one episode a day, and on one of them I’m about to start their back catalog for the third time. There are a lot of them out there, and they are all just a bit different from each other. One or more will click with you. It will not only educate and motivate you, but it will also help you feel more confident. Every one of these published writers that I have listened to has complained about the same feelings of doubt regarding their writing, the same difficulties with confidence and impostor syndrome, and really almost all the same problems that we beginners seem to have.
Although I don’t intend to plug a particular one, the Writing Excuses podcast often discusses short fiction, and gives specific advice for short story writers. At least one of the regular hosts has extensive experience with short fiction. Their show is also a little bit different every season - they change up the structure of the show and have guest hosts, and other things to add variety and to cover a lot of facets of writing.
I’m not qualified to give you any advice about how to write, but I will say this advice from B. Dave Walters is in my head all the time - I’m paraphrasing: The worst thing you write is better than the best thing you don’t write. (because it’s the only way to get better and that won’t happen if it stays in your head)
All the best to you!
