Writing a Novel—Help?

[Tiel]

I decided to write a novel. I've seen dozens of quotes from great authors saying that the rough draft will be terrible, and that's okay because you can edit everything later, but with every word I type, I realize more and more how awful of a writer I am. I've been told this is normal, but as I keep going, my writing seems to be getting worse and worse, and I'm not sure it can possibly recover no matter how much I'll edit. Now I'm not sure it can be saved at all. How come my roleplay writing seems to be better than this? What can I do?

I'm not experiencing writer's block, just the epiphany that my writing is not as good as I thought. Please tell me it gets better and I can still save it so I should just push through.

Any advice, awesome community of fellow writers?

[Deleted]

This depends on how much you are devoting to this novel. I don't write novels, heck, I barely write anything other than roleplay stuff. When I write a fan character x (insert some kind of series), I devote a lot of time into thinking of the setting. But if it's the way you type, then that's how it is. It will turn out wonderful. When I was writing in school I always thought it was terrible, then I read over it and I change my mind.

[Fierfly]

Tiel, I totally understand what you mean. I been there, done that and bought the T-shirt a couple of different times when i start writing something and suddenly realize it looks like dirt. All them quotes you've been finding are right, this is a completely normal realization, the severity of how bad you perceive it might still be a shocker, but trust me, it's normal and I still feel that way about a lot of my work that really isn't all that old, but I feel compelled to go back and freshen it up anyway.

Writing and learning to write is a constant process and so we're constantly evolving, with your rp writing and posts 1.) you practice those more frequently and have an active community to blend into, all the plots do not hang by your call and so there's some flexibility and variety in the stories being fleshed out so you feel like it's richer and "better" than your novel writing. 2.) I too have attempted (several times) to write a novel. A couple of long "short stories" have actually survived and I'm in the process of publishing them online (not getting paid, but whatever) and the longest I was able to crank out was a 50-70 page novella which I printed (did not publish or distribute, but printed) and old man alive, I'm still finding typos and weak sentences in the freakin' thing! However, comparing my first draft to what I printed, I see that a lot of the story didn't quite work. Don't be surprised or overwhelmed if a huge chunk of your story doesn't sit well and you have to cut it because that happens...a lot. In our efforts to spit out the full, final project all at once, we write a lot that really doesn't need to be said, it gets bulky, looks bad and we feel confused and give up. Don't do that.

When writing a longer story, I find it helpful to start with an outline. Sorry to bring 2nd grade Composition class back from the grave, but bear with me:
-Start with an outline, all the major scenes, plot points, climax, twists, etc. that will be in the story.
-Fill it in a bit, tweak the flow as needed, put in the transitions, all that fun stuff.
-Don't touch that outline for a couple of days, get your mind off of it.
-Return and write down what you want your story to accomplish, the character arcs, the emotions you want to get your reader to feel, the severity of each life-and-death situation, all of it. Then go back and read your outline and see how well it matched your criteria, tweak as necessary, then screw it all and start writing.

What I'll do too is even if it's not the next scene chronologically, or heck if I'm not sure it's even going to be in the story, I write it down once I've got it all worked out in my brain because I don't want to lose it, and it saves time. Another suggestion is to get a friend, choose one of the characters you're having trouble writing for (if that is an issue) and roleplay a scene with that character reacting to something (Shiv's writing classroom has a lot of good ideas). As you're more confident in your rp writing, it's a good way for you to really watch the character as you play and articulate them, you get to catch all the little nuances, the flaws and the points of pride with that character which I've found helps immensely.

Sorry about this big long ramble, y'all know how I am about stories. Any other questions, I'll happily put my 200 cents on it.

[Tiel]

Thanks guys, that really helps a lot. That's one of the reasons I love wwm. You're all such a great community I can count on.

Astral, you might be right. I'm probably overreacting about how awful I am, and after editing, I'm sure it can be saved. I appreciate your help, you having gone through a similar situation.

Fier, that was encouraging, and I'll try some of the exercises you suggested. You're awesome, and your ramble is appreciated. It's good to hear from someone who has been there before.

As difficult as this process is going to be, I'm kind of excited for it now. Writing is hard, but it's what I love, so I'll say it's worth it.

[Meds]

As someone who's own novel is currently sitting happily at 115,000 words and 300+ pages, I can say that it will even get better as the story gets longer. I wrote my initial story when I was 12-16. I thought that was the hard part.
I've been heavily editing for about five years.

This is probably a bit of a long-estimate, because I am both a profectionist and only had summers to edit until recently—but what I said doesn't change. Just get your STORY down, I can't stress enough how important that is.

Something huge for me was that BECAUSE I wrote it initially at such a young age and edited it when I was older, I believe that my novel now spands both children's literature and the young adult genre.

Just write! Write, write, write! Get it out, and honestly, when I wrote mine, I didn't even go back and edit anything very much. I just got the STORY out, and that was helpful too, because then I knew what needed editing. Like "oh, later on in the book this character says they did this. I better make sure they actually did" et cetera.

Just write!!

^^ ^^ ^^

[Deleted]

I'm on page 29 of my novel which I have been working on for two years now. 😁 It takes insanely long. It's fun though.

[Tiel]

Tear, oh gosh I'm only on page two. But yes, this should be fun.

Meds, well that's kind of unnerving but kind of exciting, too! I'd love to check out your novel sometime.

[Deleted]

What's the novel about?

[Tiel]

It's fantasy genre, but I'm very strict on spoilers so that's all I'm gonna say for now, until of course, I might get stuck on something or need more help.

[Deleted]

Kay, I have a good channel that tells you NOT what to do. Or cliches. It's called Terrible Writing Advice, it's on YouTube and it is ridiculous. I've gotten a couple decent ideas from it. www.youtube.com/channel/UC3ogrx6d9oohf6D42G44j1A

[Tiel]

Tear those videos are both funny and informative! I like!

[Deleted]

Thought you would.