Hi.
I have a question for all of you. How do you do it to write a chapter per day? Because I can easily write +1500 words. But ensuring that everything is well written and that it is the best output is definitely a no-no.
I even find myself coming back to previously written chapters and redoing them. Either to improve the readability or just because I dropped a big dump somewhere in the middle.
I feel like if I want to propose a novel I need to have more than 75% written AND be confident about it to even try.
Thanks for your comments.

    Well, I am not one to talk, but might as well say my piece here.

    By planning out your story and thinking about the whole thing before beginning to write. Having notes, bits and pieces, characters, lore, plot, beginning, end ...etc.

    This indeed doesn't guarantee that your work will be flawless; on the one hand, humans are inherently flawed; on the other hand, some details will need to be finalized during the writing itself, which might introduce errors.

    Basically, it's the same logic of why children study hard now to get a good job and an easy career later on. You plan hard now and you'll get an easier time later on.

    Having said that, I personally prefer the old style of writing the whole thing before publishing it.

      SlaveOfTheLord Thanks for your advice. I see how it can help in the long run to keep up.

      But even then... I'm sure that our opinions and ideas are never the same. I've been through situations where I leave a chapter for a few days thinking I nailed it and then come back a week later full of shame. Things like that must be happening to more people than just me. Right?
      I wonder how can people deal with any of that. The constant doubts and morphing of ideas. Because planning for so long will definitely end up in you disliking part of your previous work.

        Ferrarius

        This happens to me a lot. It’s like after a week my previous writing expires. The advice I got was to do everything from start to finish in phases.

        If you plan the whole story, then write a rough draft without ever going back and editing, and end with editing the whole thing at once, your story should be finished faster. This will also allow you to to know when whole story before you begin editing things, so your book is more cohesive. That helps it be less likely that you hate a part of it later on too.

        Of course, this means that you can’t publish a chapter until the whole book is written. Around here the approach seems to be to just publish a rough draft, delete any bad reviews, and never fix anything. It’s all up to you as the author.

        Ferrarius
        Why do you take that to be a bad thing? If you're dissatisfied with what you were satisfied before, it means that you're improving! Think about how to edit the previous part, take as a motivation to improve more, you could also take ShadowDrake's suggestion. Which is why I said, I prefer writing it all at once.
        Also, at one point, you have to realise that the way you look at the novel as an author differs from the way a reader looks at it. To you, someone who seeks perfection, you'll never be satisfied with your ability, but to a reader, it only needs to pass a certain threshold, once you realise this, you won't be so hung up on improving yourself... which, in hindsight, is not good, lol.

          Ferrarius My brilliant solution to the problem is to not write a chapter every day. That's the Chinese sweatshop ideology everyone on webnovel is obsessed with, but not I. I don't chant the mantra of "A chapter a day keeps the gulag away." since I'm a lazy shit that lives in America. If I'm lucky, I put out a chapter every other day, and sometimes even later.

          I write for fun, and if someone comes along and likes what I'm writing, that's great. If you look at the whole thing with this frame of mind, the stress will start to melt away.

            I write whenever I can (when I am not dancing or doing research), but I never share my unfinished manuscripts with the public. As a rule, I start posting chapters once the whole story is finished (not necessarily super-polished). My current novel was complete and edited before I found Webnovel and joined the company. However, I still decided to update the novel no more than twice-three times per week.

            I admire those, who can not just churn out chapters, but also edit them daily. That is a most impressive feat. I don't know how they do it. And I don't think they have time to explain. I myself don't believe that I could deliver quality content daily.

            My advice would be to plan everything as far ahead as you can if you really want to hit it hard. Your chapters may not be polished, but they should make sense. And don't bother if daily updates are not something you cannot sustain.

              ShoeInk That seems like the best answer.

              TeodoraK I also want to know. I believe that to work that much you must make writing novels your main and only job.

              Thank you all for your advice. I'm taking notes in order to improve myself for the sake of my crappy work.

                Writing is a PROCESS. That means that unless you're writing flash fiction, you can't do everything at once or you'll either put out garbage work or get frustrated and stop writing.

                In short here are the steps

                1. Prewriting. This includes world-building, character development, and planning out your story. Now if you tend to just start writing then you need items 1 and 2 done.
                2. Drafting. This is where you abuse your keyboard and begin the writing of your story.
                3. Revising. This is where most writers fail. Here is where you fix all your errors.

                Repeat steps 2 and 3 multiple times until your story is polished. I would also highly recommend having another writer critique your work.

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