In this thread, Chryiss and I had a little exchange on having difficulty writing our books that we're serious about.

I feel really bad for my readers since they have me as an author :') Every other author's note you'll find me saying that I hate a chapter, and I usually take a long while to update since I keep on rewriting a chapter till it turns out 'decent'. I always feel like my chapters are super boring I cry.

Some may see it as some attempt at fishing for compliments or what, but I genuinely fear writing a weak chapter. I don't think this is an issue that can be fixed by reinforcement or praise or anything like that.

So my questions for yall are:

  1. Are you ever satisfied with your chapters once you post them, or is your mentality 'scr*w it, I'll fix it later.'
  2. mainly concerns writing or the events of a chapter
    2.a. How do you plan out your chapters? Do you structure your chapters around a certain event (like a character introduction, situation, etc.)
    2.b. Have you ever posted a filler/what do you think about filler chapters?

Auxiliary (not sure if this fits with the theme):
How do you determine whether or not you've improved your writing? ex. stats, praise, etc.

      chonnie i have the same problem. i don't know what to write since i don't plan anything. but i don't second guess myself that much. pretty lucky that english is not my 1st language that i believe as long as i can read what i wrote, then its good enough to publish it. sorry if i can't help you much

        chonnie

        I write slice of life. In a sense every chapter is a filler...

        As for your more important questions. I'm an author -- of course I'm never satisfied with a chapter.

        I do have arcs in the planning. Some long enough to contain arcs in themselves. Sometimes I plan out mini-arcs in advance. Mostly I just go with the flow and reality check whether I stuck within the boundaries set by the arcs. It happens that I break those conditions and replan the broken arcs, but that doesn't happen often.

        I've been writing, to one degree or another, since the late 1970s. I don't blush in embarassment reading what I wrote the last twenty years so I assume there was some kind of improvement.

          I've done a lot of writing elsewhere -- so my attitude here is to just have fun. I am writing something that I enjoy without worrying about making it have mass appeal or commercial potential. That said. I generally have the plot more-or-less worked out at least 3-4 chapters ahead and a vague idea of the shape of the first two volumes. I doubt the whole thing will go behind 3 volumes because by then I will be done with it and want to try something else.

            chonnie There are two main ways - the first approach to writing chapters is creative, by inspiration, by intuition ... the second according to the rules of literature - epigraph, beginning, middle part, end, genres, know the basics of composition, is uniaxial.

            The experience was the construction of the scheme, an attempt at a literary approach ... did not go ...

            As a familiar literary critic said, there are writers and there are novelists.

            Writers are those who masterly speak a word, can write any story on a given topic, for them the "form" is more important than the content. But all according to a given standard, format.

            There are novelists who write what he saw, felt, for both the beautiful "form" and the magnificent "content" are important.

            Writers can write 40 novels - of average quality, Novelists - can write 2-novels - at the level of a masterpiece.

            There is a third category is Authors. They can write a couple of good stories. They sometimes have no knowledge of literary techniques. but they have interesting plots, stories, not typical, new.

            Well, he told me so. True or not ... I do not know.

            I write by creative inspiration. There is an interesting story in my opinion, very interesting - this is the formation, development and attenuation of the Silk Road. Another thing is very difficult to translate historical facts into a literary text.

            I liked my the first chapters (the first 80,000 words). There is an idea, there are thoughts, the form is far from perfect, but the content is interesting. Even with this level of text, your reader will still be.

            The author can only improve the text.

            There are two more questions here, it is to be able to write 3,000 words a day, regardless of "roughness" and the second to write the text "reading, smoothing, grinding it."

            The first question is the ability to develop the habit of writing chapters of 3000 words per day. The second question - learn to read and revise the text again and again until it becomes smooth and pleasant in terms of beautiful shape.

            Probably there is a fourth category of those who write - these are techies, like me, who have interesting content in their opinion, but they do not know how to literally process it. But still they write to share their thoughts. Hoping that there will be someone who can write well and will be interested in ( which was raised by the fourth category of those who write) their topic. And then he can write his novel based on or on the topic they have raised.

            I think something like that.

              I just write. I consider my audience when I write, not in a profit sense, but more like I'd want my book to be a relatively good experience for readers. So, I keep this at the back of my head. I don't think I can say I've written a mediocre chapter. Or more to say, I'm usually comfortably ok with the chapters I post because I do take some extra consideration of impact.

              chonnie Ah Chonnie, I think all authors are worried about their writing. If I waited until I was satisfied with my chapters I would never release any chapters. I generally write a chapter, review it and make changes then upload. Then read through it again a couple of hours later and I will always find some mistakes I overlooked.

              I also go back and edit chapters - quite a few times. That is the beauty of WN - and also one of the reasons I won't go premium, even though I have been offered a contract. I don't think my writing is there yet to charge people to read.

              I have a basic outline of numerous plots, and I write what the characters in my head tell me to write. I think how someone writes it very personal and there is no set recipe to follow - you write the way that is most comfortable to you - you can't write the way someone else tells you too. It's your story and in the end, you must follow your own instincts.

              No, I don't think I think I have ever written a filler chapter, everything I write is leading up to something. Although, I am guilty of writing in too many details - I have had complaints regarding that, but in the end, it is my story, and I will write it the way I want too.

              In my opinion, you can't write for an audience, as you can not make everyone happy. Best to write what you want to write, as no matter what — some people will love it, while others will hate it - that's life and it's something you have to accept if you want to be an author.

              Regarding writing skills improving, I think if you are honest with yourself you will notice it, and also your readers will mention it. I remember going back to the first couple of chapters I wrote and I cringed reading through them again. I honestly can read how much my writing has improved over the past three months.

              As long as you try and give it your best - you are doing great. At least you are trying and at the end that is all that matters, a lot of people never have the courage to follow their dreams, take strength in that you at least stepped upon this path and had the courage to at least try.

              So in a nutshell, stop worrying about it and just have fun. If you are getting yourself in a tangle about these things then you are depriving yourself of the joy you should have in doing something that you love.

                  When I'm not happy enough with a chapter, I take a little more time to think of the actual situation of the story. Days, if I have to. Then I start to divagate the possible continuations to that moment and choose what I like more. I fear the day I don't like any way to continue it and get bored of it. Fortunately, I still get that spark I felt when I started writing it.

                  Almost always, I have in mind what is going to happen in the next few chapters, but not how I'm going to write it. So I imagine the next important step for the MC and what's the objective of it. Then, I divide it into a few critical points to give more depth and maintain interest or increment it. Shortly, I already have planned the main arcs of the story, what is going to happen, why and how. I just have to give a good story between it. That's what I like the most about writing.

                  And, because I love slice of life stuff, there are quite a few chapters that I could call fillers. What I like to do in them is give more description to the characters and their relationships. Sometimes I add hints or not so important stuff about the main story.

                  Sometimes, I read my first chapters and notice rightaway how bad my writing was, I mean, worse than now. I also see the numbers and get obsessed with "why my story doesn't have more views?" or everytime the collections get down affects me more than it should. But having the views I have is enough for me, starting to write with nothing of writing experience.

                  I know I'm not someone important who you can take an example from, but I had fun replying to this, it was like a little therapy. By the way, this is my story: Xenon

                  Writers will never be satisfied. You always see something wrong with your work but then you go with it or you'll never share it. My two cents. :)

                  I do write as a form of hobby and a way to improve my writing. I'm somewhat carefree in writing and the flow of the story sometimes rely on few plot devices and foreshadowing. Thus, I get an idea what to write. Most of the time, I develop arcs when I have the time to brainstorm a lot.
                  Fillers are in a way usable but it might still depend on what the genre of the novel. In my case, I consider every chapter as part of the plot line.
                  I usually like to humor myself with what I write so I'm not very strict to myself and I have the view of sharing my work to readers and sometimes wish for substantial and transparent critique to find my mistakes. But I ought to never disregard the quality of what I write.

                  But it's hard to find myself being satisfied with how I write. I am very weak to structuring my chapters and if I think or know that if I'm writing a chapter that is bad or in some ways honestly en route to garbage town, I will stop and divert myself or read other novels until I feel like I'm able to write again. Sometimes I just need inspiration to keep going.

                  chonnie this book you designed m cover for is my third attempt at writing, and let me share some of my experiences and realizations. The more we write the better we get, so if you love the concept of your story so much you never wrote for fear of ruining it, then it will sit in the back of your mind untill it fades away. Just take that leap and if you don't like what you wrote, you can try again and again untill you find it's the quality you want, but that will leave you with agonizing frustration. Just take a day to look at the possible flaws in your previous chapter and make the next one completely improved in that way. I've seen many webnovels start out with just honest to God trash writing evolve quickly into some of the top novels on here. It's about the process not the destination for me, I hope this helps.

                    Ah, I would never be satisfied on my own story. The worries will always be there because I know it is not enough and I did not deliver all the details I wanted to relay or tell my readers. I don't want to use it as a reason or excuse but truly I have struggles because English is only my third language. So I would never be satisfied every chapter because I know there are lots of mistakes and writing issues.. Hehe

                      Elise_Elleneth I commend you for being able to speak three languages. Really cool.

                      To be able to write in English is difficult enough for a native speaker, since the language is adaptive with new rules and words added every so often. Then there's the country dialects to deal with. 😖

                          Well i started writing in december as a gag I'd keep the chapters short and goofy and as a gag since I was writing a demonic story I'd keep the chapters word count at 666, honestly since I was having so much fun I never quite cared for content as long as it's readable and funny all's good! Was my motto, then it got alot more popular than I had originally planned and some readers even offered to be editors, something which still baffles me, and so I kept writing actually took the time to research a little and try to increase the word count the result= I got to write an epic battle between Satan and Lucifer while angel Gabriel gave them marriage counseling...

                          I had a blast! So be goofy! Heck add text chats and emails like I did, it's fun and you find yourself improving as the chapters run on, really I can't compare chapter 1 and 25 you'll go a long way and you'll see your progress and you'll find devoted readers who are really so much fun to talk to.

                          Fear is present yeah it always is, but as long as you have fun sharing your little world i think it's worth it.

                          And as for improvement neither English or Chinese are my first languages but I've become rather fluent in English since i began writing, and my assistants don't correct me as much now, plus readers ratings has improved and their reactions are what I was going for so yep I can note improvement

                          chonnie I have a lot of mixed feelings about it. My older work was written with an entirely different mindset, both politically and culturally.

                          But I'm not really sure whether it's yet time to completely rewrite them or not, or just leave them as it is.

                          At the time I was more Center-Left Libertine, and not ... quite ... the far leftist I am today. So my dystopian fiction had a drastically different kind of culture flavor.

                          ( For anyone curious, I'm a Green Transhumanist. )

                          Most of my concerns seem to be writing things out of order, as I tend to remember them in a Meta-Narrative kind of fashion. For the bits and pieces that are autobiographical. Although the purely fictionalized parts don't have this problem.

                          Generally I plan out my book by writing the ending first, and imagining the rest.

                          Not fillers yet, as far as I know.

                          Ex. Compare America centered dystopia, and Japanese-Anime centered dystopia where it's set in America but has an entirely different feel. A bit like how Count Cain is set in France, but it's not very French.

                              chonnie

                              1. No, I know it's shit but I write for fun to see how much I can improve before writing seriously. I'm honestly afraid to edit since I'd be distracted.

                              2. Honestly I have, but I have a bit of slightly straying away from the outline. As for fillers, I do have some which I didn't notice I was writing.

                              Auxiliary: Naturally, I'd feel happy with high collections, stats, and comments but that's not how I know if I had improved or not. If I reached the point that I don't get as bored as before reading my own story, the flow of sentence and paragraph is quite good, the sequence of sentences and descriptions became better, then I improved.

                              Edit: I'm more on tempering myself at the moment since I have two stand-alone novel and three series ideas (my current book is part of one of the series even if it's trash)

                                  Of course. I'm always editing and re-editing. Even then, sometimes I still think it's not as good as I want it to be. But when I re-read I noticed my writing improved compared to years ago when I first started so I can't complain too much. Just happy I saw improvements in myself. I prefer quality over quantity so I try not to write filler chapters. I tend to write character-driven stories so I don't structure it around an event??

                                    chonnie I am often in a situation where I am not satisfied with what I write. More often than not, I am very unhappy with what I write and I have often rewritten a lot.

                                    What I did was to read up on how to write. I have bought books on writing and read them, I have read a whole lot, and implemented it in my writing in an attempt at writing better.

                                    In the end, I am still incapable of reading my own stories without cringing and a constant urge to rewrite, but I hold back, also because I can see my constant evolving writing style.

                                    I plan out my chapters like this.
                                    - Before I begin writing a story I plan the entire plotline (very loosely, like, 10-20 sentences of what happens in each book)
                                    - then I make a short plan from arc to arc, about what I want to happen in the arcs
                                    - when I know what will happen in the current arc, I begin writing the chapters.

                                    Fillers aren't all bad, to be honest. I am not a big fan of them, but they are needed sometimes to transition from one arc to another or to lighten the mood. I don't mind them from time to time, if it is not something that takes up too much space in a story.

                                      chonnie

                                      First, I had absolutely NO confidence in my writing or story when I first started. Writing was something I did in private and the only person who read my writing, was, me. That was me growing up. So getting through the first hurdle of actually publishing a novel in Webnovel was beyond my comfort zone.

                                      Yes, I fear writing a weak chapter that makes the readers weep and drop the novel. However, what is "weak" really is based on your own perception, isn't it? If you place yourself too high and expect too much, you will always second guess yourself and never feel it's good enough.

                                      1. Are you ever satisfied with your chapters

                                      Yes. I write because I enjoy it. I write as to how I like the MC to be like. I write while putting myself in the shoes of the reader and ask myself, 'what do I want/enjoy?'.

                                      There are those who don't like my novel because MC is too OP - but there are those who like it because the MC is OP. In fact, what keeps me going is the readers and their reaction to my characters. Which, generally, has been extremely positive. They are my fuel. They feed me.

                                      I don't bother with the view ratio or whatnot (seriously, mine is SO bad it's laughable) yet, I have had a good, steady buildup of readers. Readers who have been me from the start and those who have joined. Active readers who comment and that, quite literally, gives me immense joy.

                                      So I focus on that. Even if it's just ONE reader who is a die-hard fan, it is enough. Luckily, I have quite a few and it's growing steadily. Out of 900+ who have my novel in their library, only about 15 comments, with 6 being regulars.

                                      I'm not happy with the first 30 chapters as I was SO green then. Not to say I'm an expert now but I have improved. Many things I regret not doing but will get to that much later. Earlier chapters are more like "will edit it after novel over, perhaps" and later chapters are like "I'm happy".

                                      2.a. How do you plan out your chapters? Do you structure your chapters around a certain event (like a character introduction, situation, etc.)

                                      I go with the flow. I have a general arc and each chapter will be as according to the flow of that arc. Sometimes it can be character intro, sometimes background, sometimes future plans. My writing has a lot of explanations and description of feelings, but I also try to add in humour, and 'fangirl' moments.

                                      Each chapter is about 1700 words, so I have a lot of leeway to do things as I like them.

                                      2.b. Have you ever posted a filler/what do you think about filler chapters?

                                      Yes, but I try not to have one entire chapter of it. "Filler" chapters, to me, are to try to explain the thought process of the MC or his background. I try not to do that in one chapter, but instead, break it up over several chapters. Mix up humour / events together with it. I don't view 'filler' chapters to be useless dumping of information.

                                      How do you determine whether or not you've improved your writing? ex. stats, praise, etc.

                                      Reaction of readers: when they react as according to how I hope they would. When they can hate the ones I write to be hated. When they cheer for the MC in defeating an opponent. When they curse someone hurting the MC's sister. Things like that.

                                      To be able to elicit such emotions for the characters you created gives me a sense of happiness and joy that cannot be described.

                                      So ... yeah. That's my WOT about my own experience.

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