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I'm sure this is going to be just a bunch of cliches but...(also Strunk and White and King's On Writing are must haves)

-The first rule is always that there are no rules. You should, however, learn the rules first so that you can communicate properly. You need to know the difference between ee cummings and an ignoramus.

-Honestly, I think the biggest rule of writing is to decide on your style of narration and stick with it. What type of narrator are you? Are you the eye in the sky explaining everything? Are you describing every detail? Are you sparse with description? Pick a style and stick to it. There single most jarring thing in a story is to have a writer start writing like Steinbeck and suddenly go off on a Tolstoyian tangent because they can't figure out how to explain backstory.

-Avoid passive verbs, especially "be", etc. -Use strong verbs and nouns, not adjectives and adverbs. -My favorite rule to steal from Latin is that however and therefore should be treated as postpositives (they don't go first). "However, the cat did not like mice." vs "The cat, however, did not like mice." I think the second one sounds much better.

My issue is more that I feel like I've written too much. I tend to get off on a ramble if I'm not careful. The same side of that: I tend to over-explain. I read "On Writing" by Stephen King and I believe in there he talked about a time he spent three pages describing the color of something...that's ridiculous but I regulary feel myself getting too wordy nevertheless.

A script is infinitely easier. I could possibly be your co-writer, but I wouldn't commit until I was sure there was some synergy, which is hard to come by. I'd have to read something first. I'm much better at screenwriting than a novel. Give me a link or upload something to

http://www.filedropper.com/

I am a 17 year old male who has the desire to become a famous author one day and i am very keen to get feedback on my book. It is roughly 40% completed right now and receives regular updates :')

The book can be found here: http://www.wattpad.com/story/24049085-the-subtlety-of-the-obsession

Hi,

Also a new writer. I published a book this week and am seeing early success on giving it away for free on Amazon. It's currently listed as the #1 free book in one of the categories (Motherhood) and top 5 in parenting.

https://www.amazon.com/Parenting-During-Pandemic-Short-Affirmations-ebook/dp/B08LCG3WP8

To date, I've largely pushed it out through my own personal and work networks. The content itself is timely and resonates with a wide audience, so in that sense, I think I'm a bit lucky.

Last year I became dissatisfied with the progress I'd been making in my fiction, and I conducted a survey online, asking over 1,000 writers how they improve their writing (you guys were kind enough to share your thoughts J). I then started reading about "expertise science" in a variety of books, studying how talented people got that way. Next I surveyed big time bestsellers like Andy Weir, Jodi Picoult, and Gregg Olsen about their writing processes. And finally, I put it all my findings into FREE ebook on Amazon called <em>How to Improve Your Writing</em>.

The book centers on the seven main ways to improve your writing, as suggested by writers in the survey. I call them the “7 Drills”, and I explain them in the context of deliberate practice (the secret sauce to maximizing the efficiency of your writing time), and I give examples of each drill from my own practicing. I explain how I “read like a writer” with Ender’s game, how I “studied the craft” through Brandon Sanderson’s YouTube series, and so on, giving a step-by-step guide for how to convert your knowledge into effective habits. You *can* be a great writer. All you need is the right practice regimen.

With your answers in the survey, you gave me this system for free. Now, I’m giving it freely back. I hope it helps.

One helpful resource is &quot;On Writing&quot; by Stephen King. The first half is a memoir, and the second half deals with the craft of writing.

Unfortunately I do not have time to read your entire post, but I wanted to recommend what worked for me. I too started a novel and burned out around 15,000 words. It's because I didn't have the experience. I've been writing short stories, flash fiction, and poetry since, and it has helped my writing exponentially. Give yourself some time to get practice with the craft. Write down your ideas of the novel and shelve what you have. Start fresh and come up with new ideas. It doesn't matter how bad they are, just keep practicing.

No one can bench press/squat 300 pounds after going to the gym for a week.

Instead, pick up the book "On Writing" by Stephen King. There's a prompt in there that made my writings change drastically, and I've written around 14 short stories since reading it last fall. They're nowhere near completion or even publication, but I now am able to write tangible stories. It's amazing.

Keep going, work on the craft. Pick up "The Elements of Style" by Strunk and White as well. Read both. Absorb them and ponder them for days. Sit down to write and let it flow. Writing is all about the fundamentals, at least to me. In order to write a good story, you need practice and to learn what works and what doesn't.

Start slow and build your way up.

Last thing. Read your writing out loud. If it sounds bad to you, it will to the reader.

Don't give up, Skeleton!

Thanks for the advice! This isn't the first novel I've tried but it's the first I've actually done a decent job of sticking with. I wanted to try a novel because I've written a couple short stories and a butt-load of poetry, but novels are what I love reading, so I wanted to write one too. I do write pretty regularly, but I think what I find hard is structuring something so huge, knowing where to take it etc. I'll try those books though, I've always meant to read "On Writing" - King's "It" was the first adult fiction I ever read and I'm a huge fan of his! Not heard of the Elements of Style but I'll also check them out!

Thanks again!

Thank you. Yeah I'm an avid SK fan but never read On Writing. I know he's referenced it in some of his anthology introductions.

I've found that prompts, especially photo prompts, were what inspired me the most. Like I said, I was a very visual writer, would see what I wanted to write almost like a movie and try to translate it into words. Finding Reddit has definitely helped, so many great resources here

Are there any subreddits just for discussing and brainstorming ideas with others? Bouncing concepts and potential plot ideas around in a group when I took creative writing back in high school was great

And what reddit would I post a story that I want to get impressions of? I wrote years ago and I wanted to get some feedback on how to improve it and just general thoughts. I think I'll probably start with that: revamping my older stories.

I'm the same as you. I was praised for my writing from a young age, but at one point I just stopped. It was not cool to pick up writing again. I could tell that stuff I had written when I was 16 was better than the crap I produced when I first started to get back into writing. Fortunately, it did not take me too long to get my groove back.

I would suggest that you read Stephen King's On Writing if you haven't already. For me that book served as a nice kick in the ass as well as providing me with fresh motivation and inspiration. King suggest you write everyday, at least 1000 words. I started doing so. It was hard at first, but when I got used to it I could sometimes reach my goal within an hour of waking up, and continue writing throughout the day.

More writing produces more ideas and more inspiration, which leads to even more writing. At least that's how it works for me. I now have several projects going on at the same time, and I write every day. For me, the trick was simply to write, and push through even though what I wrote was shit. Once you get past that bump, it's all good (or as good as this frustrating craft can be, anyway).

I'm more into writing than ever now. Being able to reignite that old flame did good for me in the end, I think. Best of luck to you with getting back into it!

I will not answer your question as such, but I will introduce you to two points about writing, as a rule. None of these apply to hobby writing in your own spare time, which I encourage everybody to do.

Writing is work, and ideas are cheap.

A lot of people fancies themselves as "idea guys". It doesn't work in any profession. There is no profession in which an amazing imagination is all you need. If you find people willing to prose out your totally awesome ideas, more power to you, but I don't think it will happen.

This doesn't mean you'll need classes (although they often help). It doesn't mean that you need to read On Writing. It doesn't mean you need a writing group, or any other box checked off on the list of "things writers do". But many people swear by those things because they find it makes the work easier.

The first page of every story is magical. I tend to find the 60th page a complete slog. Even though I try to make every scene interesting (no seriously, do this), I still spend a lot of the time waiting until I get to the totally cool act finales I have planned. Some people write one word a day (me occasionally included). Note that writing only one-page stories isn't a very good alternative, because then you'll just hate the revision process.

I recommend you write for yourself and maybe ease yourself into the work part. See how it goes.

Over there ---> is a list of helpful books. "On Writing" by Stephen King talks about this very topic iirc. He tells about a terrible time he used three pages describing the color of something...He might know a thing or two about writing descriptively.