This goes for all genres and I think it goes without saying. Allow your characters to be emotionally ugly.

I'm not just going to let this end here so let me elaborate. Humans feel shame, guilt and anger all the time. It would only make sense if your main character also felt shame, guilt and anger. Otherwise it would just be a two-dimensional shell of a human-being. This didn't really fully click with me until I read Karl Ove Knausgaard's My Struggle. In his book, he constantly circles guilt and shame in a way that also makes you hate him as a character in his own books. This also gives your characters agency. Not everyone should like your main character, if they do the story stops to matter.

Allow them to be petty, a bit pretentious and feel all the complicated emotions--even better if you're circling this around something mundane which triggers a certain memory, the way it often happens to real life people or the shame of having been beaten at their own game in at least one point.

Here is an example excerpt from one story I am currently working on. It's a bit pretentious and all over the place, but here it is, a moment where I allow my character to be ugly and have ugly thoughts.

“It can happen at any moment. A car drives by and doesn’t look or stop at the right moment. Aneurysm. The heart simply gives up. Cancer. Cancer can happen to one at any stage of life–nobody is safe from it. Isn’t that odd?”  
George looked around at everyone at the table.  
“I used to believe God was good and kind. There was a moment in my life where I didn’t stop and think obsessively over death. I never wrote my testament. I wrote the testament of my wife and my daughter, multiple times. I’ve written them letters that start with, ‘If I’m reading this, you’re probably dead.’ I thought about the possibility of neither of them waking up after they’ve gone to bed.”

I burned the midnight oil, got a publisher and made my childhood dream come true. No friend or family cared half as much as me, and it’ll be the same for you.

You know what they did care about? When my partner and newborn were sleeping, I wrote. When I should have been bringing money home or catching up on housework, I wrote.

I fell apart, mentally and physically. I was grumpy and unpleasant to be around. And F-me, my back and neck!

Handful of friends and family bought the book, true, but it was silence after that. Yours will be the same. They won’t look at your work and see an author, they’ll see YOU. And they’ve seen you with a runny nose and hangover.

You become a barrier between them and the book, a filter that spoils and asserts itself like a bad smell at every level. That’s just how it is.

Do I regret it with a proof copy of the book in my hand? Hell no.

But the second time around—already underway—I won’t stare at screen until 2 AM. It makes for subpar prose anyway. Also, perfection kills speed and creativity. Embrace the vomit draft. I’ll make sure I keep up kettlebells twice a week cause, so what, it makes me feel baddass. Oh, and not leaving the gremlin version of myself for my parter to deal with.

Other recs: parents, play with your kids and keep up with your day job. Don’t let your partner bear the burden. Plan your book, don’t pants it like you’re Gorge R. R. fricking Martin. Because you’re not, your structure will go on the wonk, and you will write however you feel. That’s how my straight horror turned into a novel about a sanity-hanging-by-thread matriarch who, etc, etc, (hope this is vague enough to respect rule 1). As you do.

And lastly I really want to hammer this home because of my bad habits. Your partner will never understand your writing and may never care, and if all they see is how exhausted and frustrated it makes you… they will only ever see how much it hurts you and them. Not how it helps.

For me, that I won a publisher over vindicates all the years spent. I don’t feel the need to impress family either. I’m free to actually enjoy the process next time around. Hope that spares you some pain

Edit/update:

Yes, I’m fine.
I have a healthy writing routine now.
My life wasn’t only a slog and neglecting everything and everyone else while writing. This post mostly concerns the most difficult couple of months where I was juggling and overcame a lot. There were struggles, but nothing broke, all is good.
My family supports me. Many bought my book with their own money when they could have got free author copies.
Yes, I know everyone is different (I didn’t want to write more of an essay than I already did by going into every situation and splitting hairs, sorry).
But your hobby will always be more important to you than it will be to anyone else, and you shouldn’t force it on them. Doesn’t matter if it’s writing, painting or skiing. That’s just life.
“they don’t care” in the title of this post wasn’t a reference to my family. I intended to talk to the writer in general and say “they don’t care as much as you”. I can only apologise for confusing people or if it rubbed you the wrong way

I was sitting here with no idea what to write so decided I’d do some character development and ended up giving my character a scar. Now I have a story of how she got it, a fear she got with it and a way for her to start to work through that fear towards the beginning of the book. Wasn’t even planning to come up with any plot and now I have this. Plus it will make an interesting enough conversation to slot in somewhere

Do any of you try to write while walking outside? How has this worked out for you? My dog requires me to walk him 2 hours a day and this is kind of dead time to me.

Is there any kind of dictation app you use you. I would prefer not to pay a monthly subscription.but if that is the only thing decent available then I can do that. Thank you for your help

What author you have read multiple works for that made you realised how much their style did change through the years ?

After finishing the white nights for dostoevsky and reading about 150 pages of crime and punishment I couldn't stop of thinking about how much his writing did change, I know their genre is quite different and there's 15 years between them yet its still fascinating to me how much the style did change

I have two questions for experienced fiction writers.

1) I have realized that if I don’t get a story out in a short amount of time, I kind of lose interest in it. I haven’t been able to reach the end of a first draft yet because I usually lose interest because in my head, I already know the most important story beats and it begins to feel less “fresh”. Is there any way to combat this, ideally even into the editing process so that editing can also be fun?

2) How can I enjoy the editing process? Full disclosure, I have never reach that point except for one short story, and ngl, I never went through with it because it felt to me like I was grading a paper, circling grammar mistakes with red pen kind of thing and that wasn’t very fun to me. I’ve heard that the issue might be that I’m coming at this the wrong way and that I should worry about grammar editing maybe as one of the last things, first focusing on things like structure editing, taking out scenes that don’t work, etc, but I know very very very little about the editing process so idk how it CAN look for people. Idk what my options are or what I can do to make editing more fun for me, so if anyone could help me out with some pointers, I would greatly appreciate it.

That is all. Thank you in advance! <3

Imagine if an aspiring movie director were to say, "Visual storytelling isn't that important to the movie, the plot and characters are more important." What? Aren't the visuals the very basic foundation to the story in a movie (a primarily VISUAL medium)? Isn't that what sets film apart from most other modes of storytelling?

It's the same way when writing a book, which is primarily made up of words and sentences. It's called PROSE fiction because prose is the raw material which you have to work with when showing off your "amazing groundbreaking" plot and characters to the audience. How much sense does it make to try and separate your plot from the basic building blocks of storytelling in your medium?

This doesn't mean that your story must have "flowery" prose, or that anything written in a "simple" style is bad prose. It's true that Hemingway deliberately wrote using everyday language and uncomplicated sentence structure, but he also knew how to choose those words with intentionality. He knew how to write something akin to poetry, making music on the page, using that simple vocabulary. Many people I hear saying "you should write simply, like Hemingway," don't seem to care for poetry at all. They miss the opportunity to learn how to tell their story in the best way possible, because they think of the very basic building blocks of their chosen medium as something to work with as little as possible.

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I'm working on my first historical fiction novel - in the planning/research stage - and making it authentic enough keeps intimidating me.

What are your tips for tackling the period dialogue and all the little period details? The setting is late 18th century Ireland and I'm worried I'll accidentally be anachronistic with details or the dialogue will come across as too modern sounding? Tysm!

i was looking at an old post about second drafts wondering if that meant entirely rewriting your story (I came to the conclusion what I already do with my one shots is a version of doing a second draft, which is reading through with fresh eyes and rewriting and adding and cutting) but I saw a lot of people talking about a thing called a “vomit draft” lol. Is that writing while skipping outlining? I saw a lot of people talking about how a second draft is fixing plot holes and story edits, which I’m sure there will still be stuff to fix like that in my second draft, but isn’t that also what outlining is for? Like planning out the story and making sure the plot works correctly and planning out your story beats? I saw someone say their vomit draft is to get their ideas on paper. Does a “vomit draft” and an outline function the same? I’m not expecting my first draft to be perfect ofc, but I don’t want to go in without a solid plan.

For clarity how I’ve gone about writing a book so far is I wrote a few paragraphs about the characters lives motivations and what I want to happen broadly to just have something down, then bulleted list writing down how I want the story to play out. Sometimes I get more details in places where I have a clearer picture, sometimes I’m more broad and leaving it up to how I write it in the moment with the rest of the details filled in. I’m mostly curious if they function similarly or if it’s just a weird way to say first draft and now I’m getting all up in my head about it haha

I’m curious how everyone arrives at a central theme(s) to explore. Do you find that they come to you as you’re writing, only become clear in hindsight or do you start your writing process with a theme?

Examples of themes: good vs. evil, moral ambiguity, power and corruption, identity and self-discovery, coming of age, love and sacrifice, survival and resilience, death and mortality, technology and ethics etc.

To me, I keep circling around shame, fear, guilt, letting go/hanging on and isolation. Repetition/rythm is also a big part of it, but these themes always sort of make their way into my writing one way or another. I think I just really like the way you can explore these from different angles with different characters.

The problem being devoting that much time and creativity to something that next to no one is going to read. I have done it in the past, and I very much understand the appeal of wanting to tell a big story, where the world and characters one creates really get to breathe and develop. It can become much like spending time with dear friends.

The simple fact is, sequels inevitably get less attention than a first entry; that's their nature. And when one is an unknown, and a first entry doesn't get many readers to begin with.... well...

It's now been over a year since I completed my latest full-length manuscript. I send out the occasional query letter to agents, sort of like buying the odd lottery ticket. Other than that, I've just been writing shorter works for the sake of a creative outlet. I'm sometimes tempted to write a sequel, because I originally considered my story to be the start of a trilogy, or to start some other, series-length story. But at this point in my life, after basically giving up on marketing, it feels like time poorly spent, when I could be moving from one fresh idea to the other.

Does any of this sound familiar? How have you dealt with it?

Hi,

I am getting back into writing for the first time in years. I have decided to try and write a contemporary fiction/romance book to dip my toes in. I have, as a result, been trying to read more books in these genres (ETA for clarity: I am not new to reading, but I am relatively new to reading these genres).

The issue is that some of the best selling and most heard-of authors do not write well. I'm currently roughly 100 pages into a book of one such author and it's going in the DNF pile. I can forgive the odd inconsistency or minor potholes, but this is so bad. Scenes that push part of the storyline but that fundamentally don't make sense. Specifically making a show of one part of the MFC's background, just to drop one of the key parts of that for no reason. A total lack of character building. One small similar example would be referencing her "Nanna" consistently for 70 odd pages, and then suddenly using "Grandma" for a few pages instead.

I have spent a lot of time already making sure my plot makes sense, there are no holes and I'm trying really hard to keep my characters consistent. So now I'm wondering if I'm prioritising something that the audience doesn't actually care about? Is it a genre/writing style mismatch? Should I be prioritising punchy nonsense over an ironclad plot? Character development? Something else? Am I overthinking it completely?

What do you prioritise when you write? It would be helpful if you're able to include the genre you write for too but I'm mostly just curious about priorities!

Welcome to our daily discussion thread!

This is the place to discuss anything writing related! Got silly questions? Brainstorming ideas? Need help with research? As long as rules 1, 3, and 5 are followed, this thread is your oyster!

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I just really like this quote and it's so true.

"I was actually writing another novel, but I feel like this thing happens with ideas where working on a project is like being in a relationship. And in the beginning, it’s the honeymoon phase, and it’s amazing, and it’s sexy, and it’s hot, and it’s the greatest thing. And then it becomes work. And when it becomes work, all your other little ideas start looking real hot. And you’re going, Well, what if I dated them? Can I just take them out on one date real quick? "

- From the New York Times Modern Love Podcast

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/04/podcasts/the-real-story-behind-jennette-mccurdys-novel-half-his-age.html

So I developed a plot, and I like it a lot. However, according to what I've already developed the next major plot point appears to involve the main pairing breaking up due to incompatibility. I've been having trouble continuing the plot because all roads seem to lead to it, which will then inevitably lead to even more terrible shit, but I really, really, really, really, really don't want this to happen.

What would you do in this situation? Do you try to work around it? Do you just suck it up and write it? How do you deal with it?

This will probably get removed for low quality (and I honesly get it if it does), but I get it now, and that's what this post is about.

Writing non-sober is fun. Things just come easier. Who cares if it sucks? At least it's down.

The parts of my book I'm writing now are boring and I've frankly been avoiding them because of it. Thanks to my friend Crown Royal, words are pouring out of me. All my worries are gone.

Is the dialog going to feel forced? Is the solution too easy? Is my character a Mary-Sue? WAS MY 18TH CENTURY ENGLISH LIT PROFESSOR RIGHT (told me I can't write a decent English sentence. Screw him and scew Dickens.)?

Doesn't matter. That's why editing is a thing. I'm probably going to read all of this in a few days and wonder what the hell I was thinking, but again, it's down and it means I can move forward.

I've been considering going back to non-linear writing for weeks, but I know it will lead to having to go back and change things five thousand times and that sucks just as much as heavy editing, so I don't see the advantage. Ping pong editing is for the birds.

Obvious disclaimer: I do not condone doing this consistently. It can lead to a slippery slope no one wants to slide down. But once and a while? Can't hurt; won't hurt. Writing is about exploring the parts of ourselves that we wouldn't always bring to light, and sometimes being sober means talking ourselves out of taking risks and being our True Selves. I'm not a drinker, and so why shouldn't I have some fun every now and then?

Anyways. Cheers, friends, and have a wonderful weekend. <3

Welcome to our daily discussion thread!

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Just kind of a fun discussion! I want to hear people's own experiences.

I'm rewriting someone else's professionally published book that I think is just horrible but has seeds of good ideas. It's just for me / for fun / for practice, and i have no intention of even posting it.

Have you ever done something similar? What kind of changes did you make? What was your process like? What did you learn? What was your planning process? Etc etc etc I'm just so curious how other people experienced the same thing !

Right now I'm in the middle of fixing the worldbuilding, which has been really fun. Starting with the seed of something from someone else and expanding upon what was lacking to make it make more sense and actually fit the themes of the story is really scratching an itch. It kind of feels like a puzzle. How do I take these small pieces the author left and turn them into a full picture? It's great

Feel free to say what book you rewrote BUT keep it civil if you do lol

Edit: guys i know what fanfic is 😭 please stop saying "you mean fanfic?" I've been reading and writing fanfiction for 20 years

I have an odd question for y'all!

I'm presenting to some college students soon about submitting short stories for publication, and I'll be talking about what I've termed the Chúbee bottleneck. The Chúbee bottleneck is an endless source of anguish for writers: it's the fact that there are billions of readers and hundreds of millions of writers on Earth, but because the average person only reads a few books a year, if any (and even the more voracious readers rarely read more than 50 a year, unless they're a middle schooler discovering Warriors for the first time), but the same book can be read by billions of people and social media is making the media landscape more winner-takes-all, only a tiny percentage of written works squeeze through the "bottleneck" and get into the hands of those billions of readers.

Because my background is in short stories, I'm confident about teaching the students strategies for the Chúbee bottleneck when writing short stories. However, a number of the students write novels, and I want to have a slide for them too. Since I know publishing questions aren't allowed on this sub, I'm more curious about your opinions from a writing-content perspective (ie, for the work that you do while writing the story, not when it's a finished project and you're trying to market it). What strategies do you use to write stories with the best shot of breaking through that bottleneck?

This is going to seem like an overwriter trying to cope with being an overwriter (mind your business!) but mostly this is from the much-given advice that a story can “always” be cut no matter what.

At risk of sounding inflammatory, I can’t imagine a world in which this is true. I can’t imagine every publishable story needing to absolutely be under 110k, keeping in mind genre conventions such as the fast paced nature of psych thrillers.

I’ve seen the defense of publishers not wanting to take on extra production costs (fair) but to me that doesn’t mean every story can or should be whittled down to make it fit. There seems to be an assumption that with stories 110k+ that there is ALWAYS bloat or you can ALWAYS condense two scenes into one or there must be some other itch that can be scratched but I can’t help wondering when that becomes a disservice. I am admittedly partial to longer books because it gives more room to deepen a world/setting and would be so sad if some of my favorites had been half their length.

Obviously there are newbies that are deadset on keeping their 2 page description of a lake, but I mean 130k after seven solid revisions. This brings me to my question of what allows a story to deserve to be longer? Does it just come down to excellent writing and ability to keep hold on attention and never let go?

Welcome to our daily discussion thread!

This is the place to discuss anything writing related! Got silly questions? Brainstorming ideas? Need help with research? As long as rules 1, 3, and 5 are followed, this thread is your oyster!

Please refer to the monthly threads for sharing your work and for self-promotion.

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Wiki Index -- Ever-evolving and woefully under-curated, but we'll fix that some day

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