The whole point has been lost to me so I wrote the ending/climax first just so I can get that spark back.

My entire awesome idea has backfired and I’m exhausted but I’m so close to the end!….

….then on to book three

Writing anything set in the near future(like within the next 100 or so years) is feeling like a race against time.

Not to discredit the works of old masters, but mfs in the 20th century had it much easier. "Machine Intelligence is secretly sentient and evil", "Robots will kill us all", "People will live in extreme poverty while humanity is technically the most technologically advance it's ever been in recorded history" was such a novel idea back in the 80s.

Nowadays it seems like every other week we hear of some futuristic bullshit, like mfs trying to monopolize fucking sunlight like it's the Second Renaissance.

You can digitize a brain and have it exist inside a machine/code? Omg, so futuristic! When will that ever be even remotely a possibility? Apparently right now, if you're a fruit fly.

Brain organoids being experimentally attached to robots. Robots serving as incubators for premature born babies. We will be able to have sex with robots? When? In a weeks time, according to China.

Drones. So many fkn drones, and robot dogs, and shit.

Machine consciousness, etc. Sure. Still concepts and ideas, nothing more. For now.

Like, throw a mf a bone here, god damn it. I'm tryina write about humanity in 2090s, not humanity tomorrow or next month.

Do you guys always write your stories in order? Or do you ever try writing areas you know you want to get to first, then work on the rest? Or does that even work?

I think writers put too much pressure on themselves to share their work as soon as they've written something they're excited about. There's nothing wrong with getting feedback early, but sometimes you need to spend time with your own writing before other people get involved.

A first draft can have an interesting idea, a beautiful line, or a scene that means a lot to you, but that doesn't automatically mean it's ready for readers. Sometimes you need to revise it, figure out what you're actually trying to say, and let the story become something more than the first version you imagined.

And honestly, taking a break from writing doesn't mean you've stopped being a writer. Life gets busy, motivation disappears, and sometimes finishing a single paragraph is all you can manage that day.

I'd rather read something imperfect that the writer genuinely cared enough to finish than something rushed out just to prove they're productive.

Writing should be about making something worth saying, not constantly proving that you're writing.

I remember fondly my days as a wee lad when I wrote the first chapter of my upcoming novel.

Those were innocent times. The year of our Lord SFM, 2023. The emotions of happiness and accomplishment overwhelmed me. I was complete. It was but to be a moment before the world would view this masterpiece!

Three years later, all the blood, sweat, and tears have ripped that hope from my youthful heart.

I was but in my early 50s. A mere toddler in writer years. And yet, somehow, I believed that completing the "manuscript" was a moment of genuine achievement. Dreams realized. Wishes coming true. Like Hillary and Tenzing taking those last steps to the summit of Everest.

I have arrived. The day of reckoning has arrived. I am complete. I am man!

Oh, how innocent I was.

Here I am, six months after finishing that "manuscript", editing version 13, and I know I'm only halfway to v14.

And there will be a v15. And a v16. I have no doubt about that.

I may have more doubts about when this son of Satan will finally see the light of day, but I will wrestle this bastard through the depths of hell, drag it kicking and screaming to v17 if necessary, and it WILL be judged.

But I also know now that my days of feeling any sense of achievement from finishing something have abandoned me.

Like a lover who whispered sweet promises in my ear, only to laugh behind my back.

Anyway, back to editing.

I think there is a comma on page 147 that needs to die. That and every em dash that was born from these evil hands of mine.

Hi! At first I have to tell that English isn't my native lagnguage and I speak it poorly, so ignore grammar mistakes, they will not be there when I'll write in my native laguage. So, I have two main problems in my writing. As followed:

1. I struggle so much to finish anything I ever started, to the point that from over 50 pieces I wrote I didn't finish a single one. I tried both - a discovery writing and writing with a plan and both ways seem not fitting to my style. When I try to discovery write, it ends up with me abandoning the piece for a month or two after every chapter as I rarely come up with new ideas when not knowing the whole plot in advance. This causes me to write one, short piece for many years and quitting it at some point out of being tired of it. But when I write using a plan, I just can't follow it. When I note "this will happen in the chapter 3 and this in the chapter 4", I come with 10 more ideas in between those scenes and I either have to add 5 more chapters between chapter 3 and 4 or make both of them 100-pages-long only to get from scene A to scene B and follow a plan. This makes my pieces baloon in size and me abandoning them at one point when I lost the track of what I want the final result to be. Is there any way to solve that issue or am I just a bad writer?

2. I am unable to fully rewrite anything that I created earlier than 10 years ago. When I read it I just feel it is good enough, even if I had the 7-years-long break and didn't touch the text druring that time. I am able to rewrite what I wrote in 2011 but I already struggle to rewrite texts from 2013. I cannot go further than correcting grammar mistakes and plot inconsistencies and it really stresses me out when people talk about drafting and that if you like your first draft you must have been a bad writer. Am I one? I only write when I am sure I know what I want it to be, well enough I will not want to remove a sentence. Maybe that is a problem? Any advice?

I honestly think one of the worst things writers can do is continue a story just because people liked the first part. Getting readers invested is great, but that doesn't automatically mean the story needs a sequel.

Some stories work because they end at the right moment. Adding another part without a meaningful reason can weaken the original ending, introduce unnecessary conflicts, or turn characters into versions of themselves that exist only to keep the plot going.

The same goes for sharing your work. Not every idea needs to be posted online, and not every unfinished draft needs feedback from strangers. Sometimes you need to write something privately, experiment with a different style, or abandon an idea without feeling like you've wasted your time.

Writing is already difficult enough without turning every story into a commitment you have to fulfill for an audience.

I'd rather read one complete, satisfying story than five unnecessary sequels written because the author felt obligated to continue.

If a genuine continuation makes the story better, absolutely write it. But if the story has already said what it needed to say, let it end.

The protagonist of the fanfic I’m planning is extremely introverted and never speaks (due to a traumatic past), and I’m struggling with how to depict the early parts of the story. I’m worried that if I only show him shrinking away from those around him—or if I narrate the story entirely from his perspective—it might end up feeling too stifling or frustrating for the reader. He does eventually open up and start speaking, but that’s something that happens much later on, isn’t it?

If anyone here has ever written a story featuring a character like this, how would you suggest handling a situation like this?

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.

A piece of dialogue from my story:

“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 average about 3000 per day. Wondering if this is in the high range of things?

When it comes to being an author, does it mean you have to know how to think like all the characters in your story? Fanfics included like Marvel and DC.

I don’t use a typewriter writer but I heard some writers prefer to use them over digital. Because it helps forces you to focus just only the writing, no Emails/messages or any distractions on something like a PC or tablet. Plus less time on screens that hurts your eyes. You can’t take a spelling mistake back, you only just write what you put down. You can fix grammar on the next draft. Or it makes you think on the word you’re using and how to write it, there’s no autocorrect so you have to think on how a word is spelled. There’s the satisfying of the clicks and dings, and also repositioning the thing back into place. I would to use one, but I know it’s not a miracle that fixes everything, we all prefer our own way to write. And for a lot of people it’s a good old typewriter.

I just want to know if I’m the only writer with this issue. Anytime I mention anything relating to my book to my family or really anyone, it either goes silent or I just get a few “oh okays.” No one in my family (except for like one person) asks about my book, the writing process, or asks any follow up questions when I bring it up. I’ve been writing my book for 5 years! Now I’m not expecting anyone to start jumping for joy because I told them I’m writing a book or play 21 questions with me, I just expected them to show at least a little interest, especially my family. This is a career, but for me personally, it seems like everyone else’s career in my family is way more interesting than mine lol.

Am I the only one this is happening too? 😅

I have been writing for a few years now. Any feedback would be welcome

Global Story

Gen Zee
To say Zoomers are unhappy
Understatement of the century
At the ready
Movements replace apathy
Seeing no integrity in democracy
Ignored by old men ruling
Failing
There is no fooling
Can’t turn down the volume
Remove from the page
Rising like minarets into the sky
Incandescent with rageYouth in the room demand a say
Fairness
Opportunity
Harnesses ripped away
Cockroaches converge
Tens of millions it seems
With hope inside
Infused with injustice and dreams
Spreading like wildfire
Watch this space
Commitment to fight this mire

I managed to publish my book in time for the Halloween Book Fair. And it went live fairly quickly this time. I received tremendous amount of support from this group. Made a few updates to my work. Thought I will share the revised first few pages.

Thank you again for all the support.

After feedback from Facebook writer groups I re-adjusted parts of the story, like character age and etc.

I am not changing the name mercer, I like it, it has a purpose.

One final check. Before I conclude. Any thoughts about the prose, writing style, formatting etc.

Edit: Thank you for the wonderful feedback. The book is live in kindle - 13 FORTS: The House That Takes Children by Sid Kestrel

Hello! I've been thinking about ways to make more money and I love writing, so ghostwriting has definitely interested me for a while now. But I don't know much about it, so for anyone out there who's actually a ghostwriter, how did you get started? And are there any websites or resources you'd recommend I check out to help me get started? Thanks so much! :)

As a piece of backstory to compel their present actions, and/or present situations that influence them for the rest of their lives.

I’m editing my manuscript right now and I have moments where I will literally pause and be like “what the hell am I doing?”

I think my fear is being judged by people that know me personally.

So, I've always been told that you should wait until you complete a manuscript before sending out queries, but this is my first time writing a non-fiction book, and I'm learning that this typically involves sending out a book proposal before finishing the actual book.

It's part memoir and part essay. Is this something I should query a book proposal for before finishing? I've never published anything before.

Work on Book 2 begins today.