I’ve started my novel some three weeks ago, but I’m already feeling like it’s not good enough. That I maybe should wait another few years before starting to write again. I browsed around Webnovel to look at other new books and they were all usually doing better than me on the rankings.

When you press the explore and then go down to the new section I felt that most people had an almost instant success. I was wondering if I should maybe wait a few years when I feel more confident in my writing and start again. Or should I continue on and maybe hope for the best?

    GreenFoxx211 I think you owe your followers to finish or continue your story regardless if your story only have 1 or 2 followers (or collection).

    I also have less number of views. But when I saw the number of collection (trust me, I also have less figures also) I guess I just have to finish or continue writing. At least someone trust my story.

      GreenFoxx211 I think you should continue as still, there are few people who are expecting that u will update and continue the story...

      As far as the success, everyone started here with 0 views or collections... They have worked hard to achieve it, and only they know about their struggles and hardships... Don't get disappointed, just continue what your heart suggests you to do...

        What would be sort of like the average amount of collections or views someone who’s just starting should be able to get?

          GreenFoxx211

          "I started 3 weeks ago, and other people are having more success than me. Should I stop doing this for a couple years?"

          No. You shouldnt. It took me 10+ YEARS to see any success with my writing. The same is true for many, probably most successful writers. Writing is a skill that takes a long time to develop, and you will probably not see a huge amount of returns for your time and effort for a while. That is part of the process.

          The question I would ask is, why are you writing? Are you writing because it's fun and makes you happy, or because you want the approval and praise of others? If you're doing it for fun, and you should be, then if people dont shower you with glory it wont matter. If you're doing it solely for attention, you will never be able to write as well as you want, and will be miserable the whole time you do it.

          Keep writing. As you build your skill and your presence as a name on this platform, attention will come naturally. Hell, I'm a professional, and it still took me 6 months+ of daily posting and grinding to get even a shred of attention or credibility on here. So dont lose hope! I believe in you!

              Clowniac Thanks for the encouragement and I don’t really have a specific purpose for writing as of now. I like writing and I just have some time on my hands so it’s kind of more like a sort of hobby. Thanks again!

                  GreenFoxx211
                  I'm in the same boat as you. I started about 2 months ago and I've been just writing a story for fun. It's best not to worry about such things as popularity cause it will just ruin what you want to do with it. The storys that seem to get instant success are likely not the first story done by that author.
                  One thing to note though, I had very few collections in the first month. I stayed active in the forums and did some review swaps and once I hit 10 reviews, the collection amount started to pick up.

                      I would also suggest that you don't stop writing. Since there are people who are attached to the world you created through your words. I've seen many who start then quit then start a new one then quit that as well. just stick to one, may not get instant success but slowly you'll gain more readers also it will help you improve.
                      I'm also looking for improvement as I've been writing only for 2 months,

                        Also if you really want to quit, give your book a proper closer atleast

                          GreenFoxx211 If you write another one, how would you start?

                          If that doesn't blow up as well, will you abandon that too?

                          Those who blow up in their first story usually do some cliche story. Simple kill or be killed stories, senseless revenge and stuff like that. Minimal thought is done when writing those, I don't want to be known for making that kind of content. Simply trash novels for trash people. No offense to those authors but they know it's true anyway.

                          Right now you are probably writing to get attention, or most likely, money. But if you yourself don't love what you write then it really won't get rolling.

                          Stick with the story, write as much as you can. When you can see the scenes you write clearly in your mind, when you can feel the same as what your characters are experiencing, then you'll be able to say that you're actually writing a good story.

                          I actually cried while reading mine. That's when I knew I would be finishing the novel. Not only because I want to earn money, but because I want to read this novel's ending for myself. Hopefully you find that kind of story when you write too.

                              GreenFoxx211 Hey! I just started reading your novel and couldn't help but want to share my thoughts with you. Take this with a grain of salt, but I just want to help you expand your writing style.

                              First of all, it feels so... fast! The first chapter had so many things happening all at once. It was so fast that there was no weight to much of them at all.

                              Spread those out.

                              I feel like you crammed a whole arc in one chapter, a flow chart instead of an actual chapter.

                              Secondly, be more intimate with your reader. Introduce your characters and give me a reason to give a damn.

                              A simple thought or action of your character will go a long way to making people care. You didn't give any.

                              Lastly, writing system novels are hard. I'm also writing one right now, and having to constantly check and change those details are hard as fuck. I suggest making it simpler, more concise and efficient. It is only when you give simple conditions and limitations that it gets easier to get creative with it. Try not to make it too complicated.

                              P.S. Change the numbered stats into letters. I'm telling you that those numbers will make you regret writing them like that when you're having to deal with them a few tens of chapters later. I wish I learned this earlier, would have saved me the trouble.

                              Good luck man. I hope I see you a few months from now. By then you'd either be long gone or an accomplished author with a following, one that I know you can be. Believe in your novel, no one else will do that for you.

                                  GreenFoxx211
                                  Last advice:
                                  I'll just repost what I said in another thread. Collections are what matters, because those people are the interested readers. If you want to know about getting collections, here's a few things I learned.

                                  1) Mass Release - Most of the large jumps in collections that I have are from them. Give them a schedule that you can do easily then stockpile chapters. If you're feeling happy, publish a few and readers would love that.

                                  2) Give them cliffhangers. I swear those help a lot. Just make sure it's not just cutting scenes, though. Make them want more without short changing them.

                                  3) Make it tense. If you want to write action, make it have stakes or give them context on why sh*t is about to go down. Hype the readers. If you write drama, make them care. If the characters are unlikable or unrelatable, they make the scene boring.

                                  4) Consistent updates - I got most of my collections from my first month. Currently about two months in, with about three weeks of break included in that time. They look at that weekly chapter update rate and if it's too low, most won't add it to their library.

                                  5) Good cover and synopsis. Visuals matter when you want to get people's attention. Covers get them to click on your novel. Synopsis makes them try reading it.

                                  (I'm currently at 1700+ in collections.)
                                  Hope to see you still posting a few months after this post. Most don't last long because, you know, life. Don't worry about making mistakes. Your novel is your baby, don't let other people's judgement make you abandon your baby.

                                  Eventually you'll want to edit your work, do it after finishing the volume first. That way it would serve as an outline. Use the comments as points to work on, but don't take everything in stride. Good luck!

                                    ChuYang I have a whole stats thing already written out. I made a new chapter that I named info which I don’t publish with all the information that I might need. It’s over 10k words long and I made it before I started this novel so I think I should be okay with it, at least for now.

                                      I feel like most writers/artists have this same issue.

                                      Comparison will kill you.

                                      We can't judge ourselves based on others success. There's no one here to regulate whether you quit or not. It's the internet after all. It's ultimately up to you to decide what you want to make on here but stopping your online story by a few years won't do anything but stagnate yourself.

                                      GreenFoxx211

                                      I'm somewhat new but I just want to say keep trying and see through till the end. Those at the highest rankings at one point started from the bottom and climbed their way up so you can to... not that I'm saying you're in the bottom... more or less, just keep trying and you will attract readers to your story and even if you think your work is not being rewarded if there's a single reader that still read your story then try and give them a sense of closure. Not everyone starts at the top :)

                                          GreenFoxx211 Quitting is never a question to be asked. Quit if you feel like it and move on— easy.

                                          Buuut before that, ask yourself: what do you have in mind when you started writing? What’s your aim? What motivated and inspired you? Is quitting the only way?

                                          Yes, there are thousands of novels out there—better ones at that. But, why quit? Why compare? Don’t get me wrong, sometimes comparing is also good as a fuel. But, those people worked really hard and they never quit. Hence, if their work are being recognized, then the credits goes to their hard work.

                                          You see, you don’t owe anyone for dropping a novel— not your few readers and not WN or whatever platform you used to publish your story. That’s correct in a way because they can move on and forget about it.

                                          But, don’t you think you owe something to yourself? You started something, you must finish it no matter how long it will take. Whether it gets recognized or not, the most important thing is experience.

                                          You’re grammar, flow, plot and all might be considered suuuuper bad now. You’d receive harsh criticisms every now and then but, don’t take that in a negative way. Instead, use it as your fuel, your drive to improve as a writer and give justice to the story you created and believed in.

                                          If you think your novel is not good enough or doesn't have potential then don't expect others to have a different view from yours.

                                          exits

                                            Ah, three weeks is too short to decide anything, I believe but I don't think you should quit and return after years. What's the most that can happen? Your story would have less views and readers? That's about it. Think about how much you would improve by writing this tale. We improve as we write so you must keep writing.

                                            One should not compare. One might get upset when his/her book isn't doing as good as expected looking at the books that got an instant success but there is nothing really instant in the world of writing. Some books might have got an instant success but the author might have struggled for years, wrote a bunch of books before this book. You never know what amount of struggle, time and efforts that must have gone in it. There are a bunch of possibilities.

                                            Do your work. Write. Sooner or later, readers would find it.

                                            Best wishes.

                                              GreenFoxx211 In the first place, how do you define success?

                                              To me, success is completing my novel, writing it all the way until the ending. Hopefully the people who read it enjoy and like it. If the readers hate my story, then I judge it a failure, but I'll strive to complete it anyway, because...well, you know what they say. If you're going to start on something, see things through until the very end.

                                              On the other hand, there's also something about first drafts. Nobody writes perfect the first time. If you're not satisfied with what you write, and you think you can do better, don't be afraid to rewrite the whole thing and improve it. But you should not wait a few years. Writing is a craft. In other words, it's something you can only get better at by practicing. If you stop, only to pick it up a few years later, you will not improve. You will only get better if you continually and consistently write, practice, and write some more. So don't stop writing and wait another few years. Keep writing. And write some more.

                                              You should also not believe about instant success BS. Most people fail. I know. I am a failure - you can ask the majority of my readers, or other writers, and they will be more than happy to tell you what a failure I am. Do I care? No. I write becaue I enjoy writing, and I continue to practice writing because I am determined to write better. Even if my current story or draft is awful, even if the whole world hates my story, I'll just write. Okay, I'll delete my story, I'll remove it from the site, I'll rewrite it from scratch if I have to, but I will never stop writing. This is not about confidence, but about perseverance and determination. I know I suck, I know I'm horrible at writing, but I'm not going to give up. The only way to get better is to keep writing, so against the mounting criticism, against the hellish flames and howls of hatred, I'll endure and write. Maybe someday I'll finally get better, but for now I'll just write. Additionally, what I said above about first drafts is relevant here. Most people appear to be successful, but I'm pretty sure a lot of them had written stories over and over and over again before they finally got to where they were. You don't succeed if you give up the first time. You only succeed if you keep at it until you finally reach your destination.

                                              Continue and hope for the best. Don't wait. You're not going to get better if you wait. If you want to get better, you must practice more. You must continue writing, no matter what. Having experienced it firsthand, I can assure you that it will be tough. It will be mentally gruelling. It will be stressful, distressing, and utterly frustrating. There are many times where you wonder if you should just kill yourself if your writing is so bad that your readers actually send you death threats or harass you. But if you can endure all that and emerge a stronger person, your writing will naturally improve as well (theoretically, anyway...). The most important thing is to never stop, to never give up. No matter what.

                                                Well ill just share this, i create a story. A fantasy-romance genre i wrote it when i was in age of 12 and i finished it in age of 16 cause of school it took long to finished it. I write on my first recycled notebook ,then my cousin who didn't like to read novels try to read it and the first time i saw her smiling naturally. She likes it and patiently waiting for the next chapter, i was happy in that time even theres no reader than her.. I was inspired to be a writer. Its hard from the start but after few months i was used to it. Then when i was out of notes since i don't have money to buy a new and no un-used notes, she gave me a tons of notebook that she didnt need it anymore. There was a time that i want to give up in writing a novel but i saw the image of her and my imaginary characters in my story im thinking that time ' ah, i should not be like this! I have to write this novel in the end or theres no conclusion or ending in my characters and for to my only one reader, my cousin. ' i want to see her expression while reading each chapter of it.( well im always doing that) it makes me so light heartened. Even tho im a begginer she's the first ever fan of my novel.

                                                It continue until it finished (only season 1) she read it until the end , and blurted out 'you're a cliffhanger! I want to read the season 2!' But its shame that we moved out where we used to live and we're far away to each other.

                                                Then my story was stock up in 2 years after that, I wad lazy to type so i didnt publish it online. But my classmate reccomend this app to me and told me to publish it here. I give it a try. Although i was translating it on english since its not my first language 😅 but still i have to finished it again for the readers, to myself , my lovely characters and to my cousin.

                                                I know its weird that i love my fantasy characters but i still really love them. Even my reader is few I'll continue to update and end the novel that i wrote. / i hope that you wouldnt give up on it.

                                                  4 years later

                                                  Clowniac wow this comment is so true and hits the heart like cupids arrow. I started recently, even though I've been wanting to be an author since I was 6. When I finally started only a week ago, I didn't really get as popular as dreams had promised me. Although I knew it was just the start, I wondered how many people who were destined for success, lost their way because of the numbers. This is when I realized, I too was not writing for views merely, although they are important too, but because I wanted to see the story that I had been wanting to see but no one else wrote. I became an author to become my own eyes. In a way, to remain and flourish as an author, one needs to remember, that your first fan is you yourself. Not in a narcissistic way, but in a self confident way. Keep pushing... keep pushing.. harder... harder, until the audience finally come.

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