Reddit mentions: The best publishing reference book

I too would like to be a published writer at some point, so I completely identify with your questions. I am 27 and sometimes wonder if it's too late for me as well but I have to keep telling myself that it is never too late. It's possible that your writing could only get better with age, as you are able to draw from more of your life experiences.

Here are some tips and recommendations that I have found to be useful:

• Read a lot and write a lot. Reading a lot will help you get an understanding of what works and what doesn't, what to do and what not to. You will be able to see good writing from bad writing and it will help you increase your vocabulary and get an understanding of formatting techniques although don't worry too much about that until the end. You have to be willing to write a lot as well. It will give you practice and teach you the best ways to get your ideas onto paper. Don't worry if it makes sense or not or whether or not it is part of the story you want to create, just get as much of it as you can out.
  
  
• You will have to put the time in to get the results. Writing is an extremely time consuming task and it can be difficult to find motivation especially if this is something you are doing on the side while still working a full time job. This is one of the things I struggle with, trying to find the time or energy to do the writing. Writing is a very energy-consuming activity for me and it requires my complete attention. Finding that can be difficult.
  
  
• Writing is rewriting. Don't be afraid to go back and rework everything once you get it out. Revisions will only make your work stronger.
  
  
• Don't use long or big words just to sound "smart" or "eloquent" or to make your work longer. More often than not, the first words that come to mind will be sufficient. Usually the most direct way to say something is the best.
  
  
• Don't show what can be said, don't say what can be shown. Try to find a good balance of not over describing the setting or provide too much description or narration. You can learn a lot just from what a character says and how they say it. Do not over-describe your setting, allow the reader to imagine things on their own, using their own experiences to create the world. Dialogue is probably the most difficult thing for me. Just be sure that your character's voices are unique and remain constant to who they are, even if the character's point of view is different than yours or what you believe in. Make sure what your characters are saying is truthful and believable to themselves. If the characters happen to be less than intelligent, show that in the way they talk.
  
  Some books I have found to be very helpful:
  
  
• Get yourself a good grammar book. I would recommend The Elements of Style. This one is quite good, comes highly recommended and has been around for 50 years.
  
  
• I am particularly a fan of Stephen King and his books. He wrote a book that was published in 2000 called On Writing. I have found it immensely helpful, a great book about the craft. I believe there is a 10th anniversary edition coming out this summer, probably with additions and updates. Half of the book, Stephen talks about how he got started, selling his first book "Carrie", stories from his life that influenced his work. The second half is his "Toolbox" section where he talks about tools and components to writing, vocabulary, grammar, dialogue, character description and development, narration, etc. It's all very frank and he tells you just exactly what you need to hear. Extremely useful.
  
  
• If you are creating an entire story (and not something short or small like poetry), you will need to have a good understanding of how the pieces are constructed, how to set up a beginning, a middle and an end successfully. I have this but have not read it yet, a book called Elements of Writing Fiction - Beginnings, Middles & Ends. So far it seems quite good and useful. When I was in college I took several screenwriting courses so this is something I already have a fairly good grasp on but it's still good to have something like this on hand to refer back to. I am more interested in writing fiction right now, as opposed to screenwriting so it is a bit challenging to change techniques. The two are very different.
  
  
• If you get to the point where you have completed a few pieces of writing and are hoping to get something published, you should probably start by picking up one of the Writer's Market books. I am interested in novel writing so that's the one that I linked to but there are different variations depending on what type of writing you are trying to get published. Just do a search on Writer's Market. The book contains complete, up-to-date contact information for book publishers, magazines and journals, literary agents, contests and conferences. There is a lot of very useful information in this book for when you get to that stage.
  
  I am certainly no expert but hopefully this is useful advice and helps motivate you to get to it!
  
  *EDIT: Added another recommended book.

I've certainly found myself surprised to realize how many erotica and even romance writers are guys hiding behind a female pen name. No need to feel left out.

I know there are plenty of guys that read romances, but at the end of the day, the majority of romances -- and erotic romances -- are consumed by women. So you'll likely be best served to write to that expectation, even if you write from the narrative perspective of the male main character. Take that for what it is worth. There is no single true female perspective but something like this will not fly with a predominately female romance reader. Plenty of men have managed to pull off female characters to not have to beat a dead horse about the topic, but here is a good discussion thread, if you are so inclined to read it. (Side note, you might enjoy watching the Vaginal Fantasy screencast; it's a few semi-celebrity women discussing a book-of-the-month erotic romance and their discussions might be relevant to your interests, plus very entertaining to watch.)

You are probably best served by checking out a few of the "top" erotic romances that are in your erotic romance niche (there are plenty of niches, similar to erotica) and dissect them like you have to write a book report on how they work. How does the author build tension between the characters? How does the relationship grow and change over the course of the book? What are the re-occurring similarities between these top selling books that your readers are expecting from your book?

There are a few books and websites that describe in detail how to write romances.

Try some of these resources:

• r/romanceauthors
  
• How do you write romances? on r/romanceauthors
  
• Romancing The Beat
  
• Complete Idiot's Guide to Writing Erotic Romances
  
• Passionate Ink
  
• 12 Steps of Intimacy
  
• Story Grid Podcast - Part 1 - Writing the Romance Genre and Part 2 - How to Write a Great Love Story
  
• Hey, romance writers! writing resources
  

Some of the best I've used:

Story by Robert McKee -- As its title indicates, this book takes a look at story construction from a more theoretical perspective. McKee works mostly in the realm of screenplays but the ideas he puts forth are universally applicable and have already helped my writing immensely -- story itself was one of the big areas where I was struggling, and after reading through this book I'm able to much better conceptualize and plan out thoughtful stories.

Stein on Writing by Sol Stein -- if McKee's book is written from a theoretical perspective, Stein's takes a practical look at how to improve writing and editing skills. The mechanics of my writing have improved after reading this book; his examples are numerous and accessible. His tone may come off as a bit elitist but that doesn't mean he doesn't have things to teach us!

On Writing by Stephen King -- A perennial favorite and one I'm sure you've already received numerous suggestions for. Kind of a mix of McKee and Stein in terms of approach, and a great place to start when studying the craft itself.

Elements of Style by Strunk & White -- King swears by this book, and although I've bought it, the spine still looks brand new. I would recommend getting this in paperback format, though, as it's truly meant to be used as a reference.

Writing Excuses Podcast -- HIGHLY recommended place to start. Led by Brandon Sanderson, Howard Tayler, Dan Wells and Mary Robinette Kowal, this is one of the places I really started to dig into craft. They're at Season 13.5 now but new listeners can jump in on Season 10, where they focus on a specific writing process in each episode (everything from coming up with ideas to characterization and world building and more). Each episode is only 15(ish) minutes long. Listening to the whole series (or even the condensed version) is like going through a master class in genre fiction.

Brandon Sanderson 318R Playlist -- Professional recordings of Brandon Sanderson's BU writing class. Great stuff in here -- some crossover topics with Writing Excuses, but he is a wealth of information on genre fiction and great writing in general. Covers some of the business of writing too, but mostly focuses on craft.

Love this idea - hopefully I've sent a couple you haven't received yet!

Bookshelf time! Books are expensive, but the holidays are coming up, and that's a decent excuse to buy a present for a writer on your list or yourself.

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If you want to get pumped about writing a novel, get Write Your Novel from the Middle by James Scott Bell. It's a short, easy read, ~100 pages, and the ebook is $4; put that on your phone and you can read it in a couple afternoons. Bell's premise is there's a place in the middle of most great books where the main character has to take a hard look in the mirror. Nail this scene in your head and the rest of the plot forwards and backwards falls into place.

If it turns out you like James Scott Bell, his Plot and Structure is a great lesson on how a story is constructed. We all have these pieces of stories in our heads, and it's sometimes hard to know where they would fit in a story, how they come together to make a story. Understanding how a story is put together is critical.

How to Write a Damn Good Novel by James Frey is another good book to get you pumped. It is a modern classic. If you have one book on your writing bookshelf, this is probably the one I would recommend.


Writing Active Hooks by Mary Buckham seems a bit esoteric here, but I've personally found this essential. I wrote for years as an amateur and even took classes in writing, and no one told me about active hooks or about how important they are. I had to stumble upon the concept by accident. Basically, a hook is a convention or tool you use to grab and then hold your reader's attention. It's how some authors keep you awake and reading at 1 a.m. You want this in your toolbox.

All the previous books here are applicable to all genre fiction, but Randy Ellefson's excellent worldbuilding duo Creating Places and Creating Life are relevant to speculative fiction in particular. Creating Places covers creating planets, geology and mapmaking, systems of government, systems of travel and backstory. Creating Life takes you through creating species, famous persons, monsters and biology.

I'm also going to include Evan Marshall's The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing. Every successful writer has to figure out their own method or procedure for creating finished stories, and ultimately you have to put the pieces together yourself; no one can do it for you. And personally, I find Marshall's plan to be too restrictive. But if you've been trying for years to put it all together and can't, Marshall might be able to help. He is very strict about what you can and can't do, but if you follow his instructions step by step, you'll end up writing a novel. One thing I find interesting is the projected length of your novel determines how many POV characters you're going to use, and he has formulas for how many chapters to allocate to each POV character. If you write with multiple POVs, it's worth your while to have a look.

• "On Writing," by Stephen King (http://amzn.com/B000FC0SIM) - The first half is a good biography, and the second half is great insight into how Stephen King comes up with his stories. Not just the genesis of the story, but that actual "I sit down and do this, with this, in this type of environment." And then what to do when you finish your first draft. He is very critical of plotting, though. If you disagree with him about that, it's still good for everything else.
  
  
• "The Elements of Style" by Strunk and White (http://amzn.com/020530902X) - This is a handy little book for proper grammatical and prose rules. How to write proper dialogue, where to put punctuation, and how to structure sentences to flow in an aesthetically pleasing manner.
  
  
• "Stein On Writing" by Sol Stein (http://amzn.com/B00HFUJP5Y) - I just picked this book up, so I haven't finished it--but it seems to be a little more in depth than Stephen King's On Writing. For instance, it looks more at not just what makes a good story, but what makes a good story appealing to readers. So whereas Stephen King preaches a more organic growth and editing process to write a story, this one seems to be more focused on how to take your idea and make it a good story based on proven structure.
  
  Honorable mention:
  
  
• "The Emotion Thesaurus" by Angela Ackerman (http://amzn.com/B00822WM2M) - This is incredibly useful when you're "showing" character emotions instead of "telling" the reader what those emotions are. For example, "He was curious," is telling the reader the character is curious. "He leaned forward, sliding his chair closer," is showing the reader that he is curious.
  
  
• I think it's easy for writers (myself included) to get too wrapped up in studying writing, or reading about writing. The best way to improve your is to write more, whether it's fiction or non-fiction, articles or short stories, novels or book reviews. The same principle applies to most skills, art especially. While reading about the activity certainly helps and is probably necessary at some point, you're going to just have to perform the activity in order to improve. Imagine reading about running more than actually running to practice for a marathon. Or reading about flying instead of getting hours in. Or reading about piano theory instead of actually playing piano. But if you're coming from nothing, it would probably help to read those three books before starting in order to start practicing with a good background right away, instead of starting with nothing and winging it on your own.

Consider participating in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), the free, annual event designed to motivate writers to write a first draft of their novel (50,000+ words) in thirty days in November. There are many online forums on the site, often local events to help out and a social element that makes it fun.

Some people advise not using your grand idea for your first novel since it is often the case that your first novel that you write is the worst one you'll write (because you do not yet know the ins and outs of the craft). There is also the pressure to make the grand idea into the perfect novel, which can in cases prevent you from just writing and getting your idea down. What I did back in 2003 when I first heard about NaNoWriMo was put my grand idea aside and come up with a fun, throwaway idea to drive my first novel. Ironically, this turned out to be one of my favorite novels I've written over the years, so your mileage may vary ;-).

In terms of the craft, you might consider reading books like Techniques of the Selling Writer by Dwight V. Swain -- a must-read book on the mechanics of writing scenes and structuring your book to hook the reader; and Writing for Emotional Impact, by Karl Iglesias, which tells you how to manipulate the emotions of your reader to great effect.

It is also helpful, of course, to read good books and learn from masters; and I would also encourage you to join a writing group or community. You can also learn a lot and benefit from giving and receiving critiques, e.g., at critters or critiquecircle.

I also agree with CogitoNM and Boxhead--you should just start to write. Try to write on a regular schedule. It is only by writing that you will gain the experience to hone your skills.

There are some preparatory workshop presentations that we've built over the years in the Illinois::Naperville region that might be of interest to you.

Good luck!

Romance doesn't say it can't be explicit. Romance can run the gamut from explicit sex scenes all the way to implied sex scenes behind closed doors after the couple is married.

Romance has to have a happy ending, either happily for now or happily ever after. It has to have the relationship as the main plot (although you can have character driven stories in romance, the readers might think they are odd, but they won't ding you for it - in fact, if you do it well, they might even like you more for it). There needs to be a dark night of the soul - this is usually a break up, but it could just be considering that the they are going to give up the relationship and not actually follow through with it. Romance needs a grand gesture. This is the extraordinary act where the heroine (usually) is finally convinced that the hero is all in.

The explicitness of the sex scenes should never be a consideration of whether or not it's romance. If it hits all the Romance beats, then it's Romance.

If you don't know what you're writing, chances are you don't understand Romance. I strongly suggest Romancing the Beat. It will be the best $4 you ever spend.

Well... it's hard because I have two different approaches to novels. The one I have for my non-romance plot stuff and the new one I'm developing for romance. All that terminology "pinch points" "inciting incidents" makes me want to puke. I don't bother with that. I'm sure when people told stories hundreds of years ago around the campfire they didn't worry about pinch points.

I keep a few things in mind (and this will be different for romance sort of)

1. What does my character want most?
   
2. What does she need to do to get it?
   
3. What is the worst thing (or things) that can stop them from getting it?
   
   If you can make a good story... you don't need to worry about those 'pinch points' it will just sort of happen. If that makes sense. I guess what I'm saying is when people tell stories they didn't sit down and think "hmm what is my pinch point?" Instead, they came up with their characters, and a story. Be a storyteller. Not a story analyzer (is that a thing?) Don't let yourself get wrapped in analyzing or terminology that your reader doesn't know or care about anyway. Tell a story with good characters and you'll win.
   
   Now with romance, I'm still learning... it's a harder beast imo to plot/plan. (If you have KU these might be of some help.) I've read this:
   http://www.amazon.com/Busy-Writers-Tips-Writing-Romance-ebook/dp/B009HUQ8KK/ref=sr_1_25?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1449616072&sr=1-25&keywords=writing+romance
   
   And
   http://www.amazon.com/KEEP-YOUR-PANTS-OUTLINE-INTUITIVE-ebook/dp/B018688KPY/ref=sr_1_56?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1449616122&sr=1-56&keywords=writing+romance
   
   And there is some helpful info in there... might need to dig a little but it helped me figure out my 'plan' for plotting romances without worrying about what pinch point really means.
   
   To sum up, don't get bogged down, just tell a story about the characters. Get them together, love love love, kiss kiss kiss, pull them apart and make them find their way together again. Swoon. After all, romance is more about the characters than anything else anyway.
   
   This is what works for me but some people may disagree. I'll let you know how it works for me when I'm taking a bath in all my money. :)

There's no magic formula that can get you writing, but you can develop techniques and habits that maximize your chances of being productive when you sit down to write.

2k to 10k: Writing Faster, Writing Better, and Writing More of What You Love is a great ebook, for a dollar, that walks you through how to prepare for writing, and talks about why each step helps. It has some great advice that will help you be confident by the time you sit down to write.

If $0.99 is too rich for you (or you're skeptical), you can read the author's blog post, which was later adapted into the above ebook. It's shorter and doesn't go into as much detail but still gives the core advice from the book.

In the end, you have to remember that the perfect is the enemy of the good. An outline will help you know which direction to head once you start a first draft. You have to finish that first draft and see the story laid out before you. Only then can you go in and start sculpting the finer curves and details and crafting and polishing the best prose.

NaNoWriMo isn't for any of that crafting or polishing. Just write, write, right. Check out the linked tips, and do some practice exercises before November. Figure out what you want to write. You'll be all set by the time it starts.

Hey there...welcome to the world of writing. Hang on, it's going to be a bumpy ride.

So, let me start out with some basics...as I don't want to assume how much you do or do not know.

• First, it's a very rare case...very, very, rare where a first novel will be good enough to publish. You may be the rare exception, but I just want to warn you that one is not enough. For instance, Brandon Sanderson was working on his 13th novel when his 6th novel was picked up. Likewise, it was my 14th novel that I wrote that became my publishing debut. So I just want to set that expectation at the get go. Stephen King said you should treat your first 1,000,000 words as practice and Malcolm Gladwell says it takes 10,000 hours working on something to become proficient at anything. I think those are pretty spot on. So keep that in mind.
  
  
• A few red flags went up for me regarding your description because you seemed very focused on the "setting" (world, maps, etc), and while fantasy has more world building than most books it's still just the stage and as such not nearly as important as the characters and their struggles and the story. So, I just caution you that an "interesting world" is just a "teeny-tiny" fraction of the writing process and it's the characters that people are going to get invested in...so you need to have a clear idea on that part.
  
  
• I'm sure you didn't mean it this way, but you used the word so I want to head off disasster...churning out books is probably not a good approach. Yes, you have to publish, rinse, and repeat, but if your mindset is to "churn out multiple books" I worry that you won't be focusing on the quality of the work produced. This is a profession that lives and dies by "word-of-mouth" and "repeat buyers" and to get those two things your books have to be (a) adhere to a high level of quality and (b) be polished to perfection.
  
  Okay, with all that out of the way...there are two basic approaches once you have a finished manuscript:
  
  
• traditional publishing - which requires an agent, and is obtained by writing a query letter. You can learn more about that process here
  
  
• The other is self-publishing (not vanity publishing - don't confuse the two), where you take care of all the work that the publisher does - writing, editing, cover design, layout, formatting, distribution, and on and on and on. To do this right takes a LONG time to learn...but the good news is there are plenty of people who have gone that way before you and you can learn from their experiences. A good place to start might be this book: APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur—How to Publish a Book. There is much more you'll have to learn but that is a good place to start.
  
  And yes, you can be published by a US or UK author even if you are from another country. You, of course, must be fluent in English, and again either route (self or traditional) is possible.

I've used a couple of different methods, including the one Rachel Aaron describes in 2K to 10K, but I've found the most success using the Snowflake Method.(Here's the Amazon link if you decide to purchase the book.)

To me, this is a very organic and easy-to-follow method. With each step (e.g., Step 5, which requires you to delve into a character's backstory and role), I find myself filling previously missed plot holes or discovering the real reason for a character's actions. For example while working on Step 8 the other night (creating a scene list), I suddenly found myself adding six new chapters (about 18 proactive and reactive scenes) that completely solved a gap in my antagonist's timeline. When I realized that something didn't quite work, it was much easier to delete one weak sentence than throw away a 1,500-word scene that didn't add anything.

The best way I can think of to summarize this method is that you will start with a very basic idea and then extrapolate it in multiple steps. As you progress, ideas will ebb and flow. Small changes during this process save so much time. You'll find that after you finish the steps, the writing is easy. I know that when I'm done with the steps and finally begin to write, the skeleton and muscle are already there; all I have left to add is the skin and maybe one or two tattoos.

In any case, I would certainly recommend taking a look. One of the women in my writing group just switched to the Snowflake Method after becoming stuck in the middle of her third novel (part of a fantasy series that has had good sales on Amazon). She sent me an e-mail the other night telling me that she was now a believer, having finally resolved the issues that had resulted in a stagnant project.

Hope it helps!

I'm surprised people haven't said much about the actual writing itself. Tone is an issue, but the actual structure of your writing needs work. I'll pull a few examples that way you can see what I mean.

"Unless you’re a member of an isolated ancient tribe living under one of the six remaining trees in what used to be the Amazon rainforest, you have almost certainly heard the term “Machine Learning” floating past within the last few years."

Your first sentence is almost a paragraph. This is a problem. Writing should be succinct and to the point. Clarity and strength of word usage will make what you say much more meaningful.

"In fact, personally, I’m convinced that if humanity doesn’t eradicate itself prematurely, there won’t be anything left humans can do that can’t be done much better, faster and cheaper by a suitably designed and programmed computer (or a network of them)."

This is a sentence in your third paragraph, which is again almost an entire paragraph by itself. You also severely diminish the strength of your sentence when you use things like 'In fact', 'personally', 'I'm convinced'. Your readers know that you are convinced because you are the one writing it. You need to convince them.

"Even though a computer can do just about anything, making it do what you want it to do can be very hard indeed."

Adverbs are not your friend. - Stephen King

Strength of sentence structure is impacted when you use adverbs like 'very'. And throwing on an 'indeed' doesn't do you any favors either. Make a point to think about what you are adding to your sentences with these words. Is the answer "I am adding nothing with these words."? Then those words should not be there.


I'm going to leave you a list of books where you can learn from writers that will help you with these things. Try not to get discouraged. We all have a lot to learn, so just think of it as part of the process. I would HIGHLY suggest you at least look into Elements of Style.

Sol Stein's On Writing

Stephen King's On Writing

Elements of Style

"I guess I need to figure out just how seksi-time I'm going to make my romance novels. Are erotic romances where it's at? Or should I aim for straight up romance (i.e. less graphic seksi times, less seksi times in general)?"

Romance is wide-open (er, so to speak) in terms of how sexy you make it, but there's something that many erotic authors discover when they start writing romance: romance readers have their own expectations, and it's important to meet those expectations when you write romance. Pick up a copy of -- at least -- Romancing the Beat by Gwen Hayes. (And there are a lot of resources about romance floating around the Net.) Romance readers are more interested in the developing relationship between well-written characters -- the chase -- than the capture: "seksi times". Doesn't mean that erotic is right out the door: you just have to make it part of the story rather than the whole story.

I don't know how much advice I can offer, as I write coming-of-age pieces that aren't necessarily vast or world-building. I may misjudge your audience.

However from a personal level, I can tell you that I come to a story for a character and the plot he/she goes through. I know that in scifi world-building is a huge element, but books involve stories, and stories involve characters, and the character should be mentioned as early as possible. Not just the fact that he's a sweaty pilot--say something painterly about him, humanize him.

As a reader, I don't mind being confused about the plot if I like something about the character. If he's 19 and scared out of his mind and there's someone waiting at home for him. Throw the readers a little treat, and they'll be patient on their leash.

Then, once you've roped them, you can find ways to sneak information. Use dialogue during this mission to explain to the readers important details in a natural way.

And don't forget that you may want to reveal some details to the readers in later chapters instead of earlier on. The right amount of confusion is a plot device that keeps people reading the next chapter.

Game of Thrones has what people jokingly call "sexposition," which (as you may have guessed) when exposition is revealed through the dialogue of people having sex. I'm not suggesting you use sex scenes as liberally as GoT, but keep in mind that it's easier to read important details while characters are doing things or talking than it is to read great big chunks of information--especially if we don't care about the characters yet, or know what they're going to do.

Again, I don't know if this is at all helpful--if it's relevant to your audience--but I think it applies to general readership.

Also, I highly recommend 2 excellent books, "Stein on Writing" and "How to Grow a Novel," both by Sol Stein. He's an old editor with plenty of brilliantly sharp writing and editing advice. He has a lot of "rules", but it's really fantastic advice if you take it with a grain of salt.

https://www.amazon.com/Stein-Writing-Successful-Techniques-Strategies/dp/0312254210

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0312267495/ref=pd_aw_sim_14_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=09Q68W3D49Q8ZQ5PJTTR

Again, the niche thing is relatively easy. You should spend some time browsing a book store's fantasy section and look at what is being sold. Or look on amazon to see what's selling best. You don't exactly have to worry about this until you get an agent, but then its your job to figure it out. It also doesn't hurt to have it in mind. Fantasy is a bit weird because everyone can like it, young people, old people etc. But there's a difference between someone like Neil Gaiman and R.A. Salvatore. You have to figure out where you fit in to the picture.

Look through this and narrow your search.

Here's a few quick tips on submitting query letters: make it as straightforward as possible. Condense it to one page. Focus on two major things; what your book is about and who you are. It helps if you've been published somewhere, or have some kind of blog (i.e. built in audience). When describing your story or series, don't beat around the bush; tell the agent what it's about and what sets it apart or makes it original enough to consider.

Try to keep your query interesting without seeming crazy. Don't use wacky fonts, lots of exclamations etc. The more desperate you seem the less they'll want to take you on. You have to come across as being confident and excited about your work. It's a difficult process, but you need to put work into it if you want to be successful.

As far as what valasjak says, he's mostly right. I would argue against getting self published if you're ever going to be serious about getting an agent (90% of agents don't want to have anything to do with self published authors UNLESS their books are enormously successful, which happens roughly 1% of the time). The online stuff might work. Don't really know. Good luck.

I'm a big fan of Romancing the Beat and for more than just outlining. I like Jami Gold's beat sheet too, but sounds like you've already read that.

The story you described sounds interesting, but there's actually not much in it that makes it sound like a romance novel til the very end. Romance novels have certain beats that readers expect or they get very disappointed and leave negative reviews.

Most of what you described is way more like the suspense/thriller/mystery genre. Also, I would not generally recommend writing a book from solely their male MC's point of view, just FYI.

I would highly recommend reading RTB and thinking about how it would apply to your story, adjusting from there. Good luck!

I read a lot - books, short stories, graphic novels, screenplays, plays. Not only do you learn from studying how other writers construct their work, but by studying different mediums you tend to strengthen specific writing muscles. For example, when studying screenplays you learn how to craft better dialogue. When studying graphic novels you become better aware of how to utilize your setting.

A trick I stole from college is mimicking the style of a writer, or book, you admire (I actually do this after every good book I read). You'll inevitably pick up at least one cool thing you can use in your own writing, and it's a great way to hone your own style.

I recently bought this book on Amazon, which gives tips on how to write faster. It's only .99 and, personally, I think it's aimed towards amateur writers but the one thing I got out of it was planning before you write. It sounds like a no-brainer but I used to hate outlining. But the way she describes it, it's more thorough than traditional outlining and I've been able to write 10,000 words in one sitting without becoming frustrated.

I'd recommend buying a book on writing.

I would suggest these as good places to start. If you wanted to pick just one on this list, I'd say go with James Scott Bell's Plot & Structure.

• Novelist's Essential Guide to Creating Plot by J. Madison Davis
  
  
• Novelist's Essential Guide to Crafting Scenes by Raymond Obstfeld
  
  
• Write Great Fiction - Dialogue by Gloria Kempton
  
  
• Write Great Fiction - Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell
  
  
• Write Great Fiction - Characters, Emotion & Viewpoint by Nancy Kress
  
  
• Write Great Fiction - Revision & Self-Editing by James Scott Bell
  
  
• Write Great Fiction - Description & Setting by Ron Rozelle
  
  
• The Rhetoric of Fiction by Wayne C. Booth
  

>I learned a lot reading this book, so before anything thank you to James N. Frey. By far the best non-fiction on writing I've ever read. Please consider purchasing the book itself (here, as no amount of notes will ever be satisfactory substitutes for reading the actual book. And quite honestly the man deserves the sales).
>
>Second, apologies for taking so long. A close friend of mine was having some health issues that I had to help her with, and on top of that my internship has been kicking my ass lately. So anyways here are the notes. I assumed .pdf was universal enough, but if someone needs a different format let me know and I'll oblige.
>
>I left out the chapters on revising/editing and "the zen of being a novelist," because I myself didn't read them. I wrote a small little checklist at the bottom of the document to ensure you hit all the marks for a 'damn good novel.'
>
>https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B29ZBVzB0Z-TWTVkeUtzZE1zQkE
>
>
>
>edit: I tried to make my notes as readable as possible (you should've seen them before I went through and edited them..). So I'm sorry if you can't read them, or if some parts are incomprehensible, but I did my best! I also included some screenshots of the examples the author used for parts that, I thought, demanded such.
>
>
>
>edit: Wow. Thank you to the kind stranger that gilded me. What do I do with my hands? I've never been gilded before..
>
>
>

>I learned a lot reading this book, so before anything thank you to James N. Frey. By far the best non-fiction on writing I've ever read. Please consider purchasing the book itself (here, as no amount of notes will ever be satisfactory substitutes for reading the actual book. And quite honestly the man deserves the sales).
>
>Second, apologies for taking so long. A close friend of mine was having some health issues that I had to help her with, and on top of that my internship has been kicking my ass lately. So anyways here are the notes. I assumed .pdf was universal enough, but if someone needs a different format let me know and I'll oblige.
>
>I left out the chapters on revising/editing and "the zen of being a novelist," because I myself didn't read them. I wrote a small little checklist at the bottom of the document to ensure you hit all the marks for a 'damn good novel.'
>
>https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B29ZBVzB0Z-TWTVkeUtzZE1zQkE
>
>
>
>edit: I tried to make my notes as readable as possible (you should've seen them before I went through and edited them..). So I'm sorry if you can't read them, or if some parts are incomprehensible, but I did my best! I also included some screenshots of the examples the author used for parts that, I thought, demanded such.
>
>
>
>edit: Wow. Thank you to the kind stranger that gilded me. What do I do with my hands? I've never been gilded before..
>
>
>

>I learned a lot reading this book, so before anything thank you to James N. Frey. By far the best non-fiction on writing I've ever read. Please consider purchasing the book itself (here, as no amount of notes will ever be satisfactory substitutes for reading the actual book. And quite honestly the man deserves the sales).
>
>Second, apologies for taking so long. A close friend of mine was having some health issues that I had to help her with, and on top of that my internship has been kicking my ass lately. So anyways here are the notes. I assumed .pdf was universal enough, but if someone needs a different format let me know and I'll oblige.
>
>I left out the chapters on revising/editing and "the zen of being a novelist," because I myself didn't read them. I wrote a small little checklist at the bottom of the document to ensure you hit all the marks for a 'damn good novel.'
>
>https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B29ZBVzB0Z-TWTVkeUtzZE1zQkE
>
>
>
>edit: I tried to make my notes as readable as possible (you should've seen them before I went through and edited them..). So I'm sorry if you can't read them, or if some parts are incomprehensible, but I did my best! I also included some screenshots of the examples the author used for parts that, I thought, demanded such.
>
>
>
>edit: Wow. Thank you to the kind stranger that gilded me. What do I do with my hands? I've never been gilded before..
>
>
>

Yeah this is way too mysterious... to the point of I don't know what's going on.

Most romance blurbs are like:

Paragraph 1: Main Character #1--who they are, what's their external struggle, what's their problem why they can't find/want love, their role in the plot, etc.

Paragraph 2: Repeat for other main character.

Paragraph 3: Why they are coming together/forced to spend time together/inciting incident. Why they are resisting each other.

Read any romance blurb. They're pretty much all like this.

Also read Romancing the Beat for a quick, easy way to understand the romantic character arc that your book needs in order for you to correctly label it a "Romance."

If your story is just a cast of characters running around fucking and giving into/resisting temptation--even if there is love and emotion--it's not a romance and you'll get run out of town on a rail.

Google "Education Consultants Shanghai" or whatever city you're in: "Education Consultants Chengdu." You might get lucky to find a company looking and willing to train you. If you have the time and a bit of money saved up, get an IEC certification. It's an "Independent Education Consultant Certificate," and you can do them online or in-person. It's just a step in the direction. I'll admit that many people in the field have master's degrees.

A quick google showed me [some] (http://www.smartshanghai.com/jobs/education/13265) different companies in China, for example. I have no idea about those companies, so please don't consider this an endorsement of them. Go and find them on linked in. It's always better to apply to a company than a job board.

Check out some of the professional groups like HECA and IACAC. Join facebook groups and look around at job sites. Read a few books like "Harvard Schmarvard" and "College Match."

Looking for the job is great, but you should also know what you're expected to do when you get the job.

Buy the FISKE guide and familiarize yourself with colleges and universities in the US. If I asked you name 3 great engineering schools and 3 mid-tier engineering schools, could you do it? What are the top 3 schools for music performance, top 3 for music engineering, etc...

Also, check out /r/ApplyingToCollege and /r/ApplyingToCollegeINTL

That's pretty good. I like Write Your Novel from the Middle by James Scott Bell. It's short, $4; you can download it onto your phone and read it in an afternoon. There's a certain point in the middle of a book where the hero takes a good, hard look at himself, then decides what he needs to do. Figure out that point, and the rest of the book falls in place.

I also like How to Write a Damn Good Novel by James Frey.

I don't plan scenes or chapters.

I post this all the time but I love Butcher's advice on scenes: http://jimbutcher.livejournal.com/2880.html

I break for chapters when I can feel that something is resolved, while at the same time there's still a question at hand. I use smallish chapters because I think it makes a book feel faster paced.

I think readers like the breaks, but I also want to make sure they make the leap to the next chapter.

FWIW /u/jeikaraerobot, I think, is referring to Dwight Swain and "Techniques of the Selling Writer" https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0806111917/rsingeshomepage/

I recommend Write Your Novel from the Middle by James Scott Bell. The ebook is $3, and it's short; put it on your phone and you can read it in an afternoon. Bell is a good writer, and presents a surprising idea about how to structure your story.

If you like that and want a more in-depth lesson, try his Plot and Structure.

How to Write a Damn Good Novel by James Frey. Frey comes at it from a different angle than Bell, but I've also found his advice to be useful.

Writing Active Hooks by Mary Buckham. 2 book series. It's the science of how to keep a reader's interest. You need to hook the reader on the very first page, or else he might set the book back on the shelf. Then before that hook falls out, you set another one. Then another. In this way, the reader is pulled forward and can't stop reading. He has to find out what's going to happen next.

I own each one of those books and I would only cosign on the Amy Cooper and the Emily Baker. I also got a lot of helpful info from Unsilenced's first book.

For Erotica in general - I would also skip the Susie Bright. Instead I would go with Stacia Kane Be A Sex Writing Strumpet. Also this website also helped me helped me think stories through.

I would suggest you start learning story structure and outlining early. Dan Wells is an awesome free source - through his youtube videos, and Dwight V Swain Techniques of the Selling Writer. Also Gwen Hayes Romancing the Beat.

As a writer I would keep reading additional sources, once you find a story structure that you like - as in 3 part or 4 part, then find an ultimate resource for this.

When I first started I didn't really understand pinch points so I read a book on screenwriting that helped.

This is the first book I've read by Rachel Aaron, but as it happens I have read her writing help book (2k to 10k: Writing Faster, Writing Better, and Writing More of What You Love - also available on Kindle Unlimited) and quite liked her style. In fact I wonder now why I didn't pick up any of her other books at the time ...

Anyway! This book is a solid urban fantasy story, low on the romance and high on the morbid humor. Although it is the first in a series, it does not end on a cliffhanger.

What made you go directly for a smaller author-services company?

According to industry though-leader Guy Kawasaki, Amazon has a majority of the market share (over 70%) and he subsequently recommends publishing first with CreateSpace should you choose to use author-services.

I worked for an up-and-coming author services company & was not impressed with their ability to help their customers sell books.

If you are feeling overwhelmed, Guy's book APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur (link below) is an amazing resource for the first-time self-publisher.

Hope that helps!

http://www.amazon.com/APE-Publisher-Entrepreneur-How-Publish-ebook/dp/B00AGFU5VS

I don't bother much with KDP select anymore, as the changes in Amazon's affiliate program has made free giveaways less appealing to book bloggers; their affiliate codes don't bring in the cash anymore.

Unfortunately even if you're not in it for the money a steady production schedule is the only way to keep visible. Amazon heavily weights its search results towards new releases. If it takes you a year to publish another book, well, by the time that year has past your first book has been hidden in search obscurity for 10 months.

There are only really two things I can suggest.

1. Be prolific. I strongly suggest the book 2k to 10k; it's about doubled my productivity and even if you can't do everything the author suggests, it might have a tip or two that helps you.
   
   
2. Write quality content. Someone once said that every writer has a million words of trash to put out before they can write a single word of gold, so keep writing. Write every day, even if it's just a thousand words. Practice makes perfect, right?
   
   Anyway, good luck.

>Can anyone point me to some resources

Sure! Here's 8 blog posts and articles which might help:

What Makes a Character Likable? — Jennifer Ellis - Writing


4 Ways to Write a Likable Protagonist at the Start of His Character Arc

The First Rule of Creating Fictional Characters | Novel Writing Help

Writing4Success - Make Your Main Character Likeable

Jessica Brody | How to Make Unlikable Characters Likable


When Flaws Go Too Far: Avoiding Unlikeable Characters



Fiction University: Five Ways to Create Likable Characters

Six Ways to Make Your Villain Likable – Mythcreants

If you just absolutely hate blogs for some reason, here's a few posts on the topic on reddit:

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

There's even a few books, if you like to do things old school:

Write Great Fiction Characters and Viewpoint

Elements of Fiction Writing - Characters and Viewpoint

Writing the Intimate Character: Create Unique, Compelling Characters Through Mastery of Point of View

Creating Characters: The Complete Guide to Populating Your Fiction

and

[Writers Guide to Character Traits](https://www.amazon.com/Writers-Guide-Character-Traits-Edelstein/dp/1582973903]

Hope that helps! :)

If you want more than two books:

Stein on Writing is fantastic for learning an editor's perspective

Invisible Ink (not sure what happened to the Kindle edition) is more about storytelling in general but it's fantastic at breaking down what makes good movies good

How Not to Write a Novel will crack you up

Hi u/Calicox,


Brandon Sanderson has a series of lectures he did at Brigham Young University when teaching a creative writing class there. Here's his lecture on character, but the others I've seen are also worth your time.

You may find the following books helpful:

This
This
This
This
This
This
This


Best,

DR-M

I don't want to sound like a jerk but maybe take a creative writing class or something?? Writing good isn't easy, and I feel like there's too much to go over to put in a reddit post.

edit:
or read this https://www.amazon.co.uk/Writing-Memoir-Craft-Stephen-King/dp/1444723251

or this https://www.amazon.com/Stein-Writing-Successful-Techniques-Strategies/dp/0312254210

very helpful books.

I (typically) write in sessions ranging from 45 minutes to 1.5 hours. In that window, I put down between 800 and 2400 words. The initial 500 or so are always slower than the rest.

At that pace, and using your six sessions per week, it would take between 7 and 21 weeks to write a 100,000 word novel. That seems like a perfectly reasonable pace to me.

Perhaps the issue is one of organization, rather than time?

• Rachel Aaron has some pretty solid tips on writing faster and smarter.
  
• She's also organized a number of her writing posts, as well as supplemental information, into a very inexpensive eBook.

Writing Down the Bones is pretty good, as is Stein on Writing Actually, anything by Sol Stein is good for a aspiring writer, if for no other reason than it'll be an outstanding example of good writing.

You might be better off posting it in a writing forum rather than on Reddit.

https://absolutewrite.com/forums/forum.php Is a good one. There a subforum (hidden to non-members) that you can post your work in to get feedback. You have to have 50 posts before you can start your own thread in that subforum though--this encourages you to critique others' work and be active on the forum instead of just asking for help and then leaving.

When I was active on Absolute Write, I only critiqued pieces that that caught my interest within a paragraph or two (they started in the middle of action, had a gripping first sentence, had a distinct voice, vivid description, or an interesting/sympathetic character). I didn't critique anything that was horribly cliche, bland, slow, no voice, cardboard characters, etc. The former I was able to give a few specific suggestions to, while the latter was hard to force myself to read through when I knew I'd have to spend a lot of time giving advice on how to fix *everything*.

If you're not getting replies while other people are, it's possible that your story just isn't good enough to grab anyone's attention. How much writing have you done? How many books on writing have you read? If this is your first writing project and you haven't "studied" the craft at all, it's likely not going to be very good. Writing is a skill that requires a lot of practice and learning.

The "Write Great Fiction" series offers good advice on five main elements of writing stories: https://www.amazon.com/Write-Great-Fiction-Description-Setting-ebook/dp/B003YJEYCY/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1537898259&sr=8-3&keywords=write++great+fiction&dpID=51Ac%252BAJ-EPL&preST=_SY445_QL70_&dpSrc=srch Not sure how old you are, but I read it in high school so it's good for young people starting out too.

Absolutely.

The main book I would say has helped me instrumentally is this one. It was suggested to me when I had the privilege of speaking to a New York Times bestselling author. He recommended it highly, along with this book that I have not had a chance to get into yet.

The first one is a major chore to read. It is not bad or hard to comprehend in any way, just very conceptually thick. I have read books twice as thick that communicate half as much.

The second one is great too, but I realized I needed the first one more earlier on.

Anyway, I hope those help!

This is Shawn Coyne's Story Grid system, which he actually uses to edit stories. I highly recommend the book, which taught me a lot about writing and editing in general (and I'm pretty well learned in this area, having a degree in screenwriting). There's also a story grid podcast that's pretty interesting.

Link to the book: https://smile.amazon.com/Story-Grid-What-Good-Editors/dp/1936891352/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1536954605&sr=8-1&keywords=story+grid

I followed some of the suggestions in Rachel Aaron's 2k to 10k, to boost my output.

In the very beginning of a story, I use very rough outlines, kinda similar to the method discussed in James Lofquist's Tell, Don't Show!

Basically, I just throw it all on the page (I mean even the shittiest idea) and come back to edit it later. Saw a thing somewhere on reddit yesterday that said "You can edit a bad page; you can't edit a blank page", and that's pretty much been my philosophy since the start.

I have never taken a class, save for the basics that are required for any degree in college. I find workshops (in my area, anyway) to be full of people who just want to critique the shit out of your stuff, but who aren't actually pulling in any money from their writing. I read a lot, though, and I think that's pretty key to being able to internalize (and then naturally emulate) style, plot patterns, etc.

As for the distractions, I will usually put on a headset and crank up some kind of white noise (I have a whole host of websites that I visit, but a favorite is rainymood.com). My boyfriend knows that this is a source of income for us, and gives me the free time that I require -- if you are not in a similar situation, you may have to be firm about setting your boundaries, or just lock yourself away for a bit each day.

If I'm really not into it that day, I'll read instead. Sometimes I just need a break from the story.

If all you are interested in are the mechanics of the self-pubishing process, Amazon has an excellent book that is free here:
Publish on Amazon Kindle
That book focuses exclusively on publishing on the Amazon Kindle Direct platform.
For publishing on other platforms (B&N, Smashwords, AllRomanceEbooks, Apple, etc) take a look at:
Self-Publishing Step by Step

> Fucking parasites.

It's not entirely their fault, tho they deserve a lot of blame. The one good reason to go traditional publishing is to get into physical bookstores. The problem with that is that unless you are jK rowling or stephen King, you'll only be there for a few weeks before being replaced with whatever is next in the publishing assembly line. I'm sure you've noticed that there are fewer B&N stores, and inside each one, the shelf space for books keeps shrinking in favor of toys and coffee bars. Bookstores have one insurmountable problem they cannot solve: finite shelf space. On Amazon or Smashwords, shelf space for ebooks is effectively infinite.

Here's two books on how to self-publish. The first, by Amazon itself, is free:

1. Publish on Amazon Kindle with Kindle Direct Publishing
   
2. Self-Publishing: A Step-by-Step How-To Guide
   
   
   

Check out Gwen Hayes's book on romance beats. Worth every penny. Not much out there on romance writing beats.

https://www.amazon.com/Romancing-Beat-Structure-Romance-Kissing-ebook/dp/B01DSJSURY?ie=UTF8&keywords=gwen%20hayes&qid=1464139967&ref_=sr_1_1&s=digital-text&sr=1-1


Also, for good feedback, check out Michael Anderle's Facebook Group at

https://www.facebook.com/groups/781495321956934/834263983346734/?notif_t=group_activity&notif_id=1464062128021251

and his forum at http://20booksto50k.com/forum/

Update (for my own satisfaction):

Hit 3.4K on the first few scenes of a possible romance novel. I also completed a first draft of an outline using Romancing the Beat by Gwen Hayes, which I am sure I saw recommended somwhere here on EA and it was a massive help.

Oh man, that's tough. I was lucky during my first book. I've always been in writing (as a journalist) and have thought about writing a novel for a very long time. That meant I had a lot of ideas stored up, and writing this first book was like opening the floodgates. Admittedly, I took it very slow, writing it out over a year or so.

During that time, I read From 2k to 10k a Day by Rachel Aaron. She has a great system for writing faster. She makes a strong case for plotting, and has totally converted me. I think that's what has kept me from suffering from writers' block. If ever I doubt where I'm going, I just go back to the outline and reassess what I'm doing. The added benefit to that is, I always know where I'm going, giving me time to focus more on prose, which has helped my writing tremendously.

That obviously depends on the day. If I have nothing else to do I would expect 5K at least. If I'm busy I might not get anything done.

Anybody interested in writing faster might benefit from reading Rachel Aaron's 2K to 10K at $1 for the Kindle edition.

Main lessons from that: Take a couple of minutes before starting to write a short outline, be really excited and interested in the scene you want to write (if something bores you, it will bore readers as well), keep records of your progress.

Story by Robert McKee. This will show you The Matrix.

Story Grid by Shawn Coyne. This book will take your novel from vague concept to power-outline.

Also excellent is /r/Mistborn's lecture series, available for free on the Youtubes. It's aimed at fantasy and sci-fi writing but has plenty of relevance for any other genre.

I've had two successful self-pubbed novels with a third one coming soon and these are the resources that took me from scrub to author.

I'm not sure about what questions you could ask a coach, but any information i'd ever want to learn about writing can be found in the following books:

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1444723251

Stein on Writing
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0312254210

Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, Second Edition: How to Edit Yourself Into Print by Renni Browne
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0060545690

Maybe some questions you can answer for us? Why have you sought out a writing coach? What kind of writing do you do? How long have you been writing and at what level?

You may get some better responses after these questions. :)

I can give you three books that I recommend without reservation. The first is the easiest to read and a solid introduction to fiction editing. The second goes into more depth, with an excellent workflow for the revising process in the latter chapters. The third is the most dense, like a college class in fiction editing with a focus on how the 19th and 20th century masters actually revised their works, but it is also the most thorough.

Self-editing for Fiction Writers (written by two editors)

Stein on Writing (written by an accomplished editor)

Revising Fiction (written by an college professor, writer and editor)

Check out Wired for Story and Techniques of the Selling Writer. The latter is dated - as in the guy wrote it from a white, male perspective in the 60s - but the advice on craft is solid. Good luck.

ETA: This is a decent podcast series so far.

I go to the coffeeshop and write 2000 words every day in the morning, that's my minimum. I've broken 10k in a day before, but it's usually hard for me to get through the 5k mark. Hopefully when I drop my full time job (later this year) I'll be able to work my way up.

When I first started writing, I could only do like 200-300 words an hour. Now I'm up to more like 1000-1500. Practice, practice, practice.

Also, the 2k to 10k thing helped me, like, a LOT: http://www.amazon.com/2k-10k-Writing-Faster-Better-ebook/dp/B009NKXAWS

>Has anyone used this method before?

Kinda sorta, I write dialogue-heavy on the first pass with very minimal descriptions, then ink that shit in on the second pass. It can help knowing what the scene looks like for dialogue (pro tips can be found in Aaron's 2K to 10K book) and related actions, but a dialogue-rich approach helps your characters step from the page.

Also, you avoid painful exposition :)

If you can track down a copy, Enough Is Too Much Already is a book written entirely in dialogue, and it's superb. I lent my copy out, never to be seen again, so don't make that mistake.

I find general writing books are pretty good. My favorite is Techniques of the Selling Writer mainly because it teaches how to write smoothly. But, the biggest is just to keep reading erotica and find what works for you.

Have not read Chris Fox but I did read Rachel Aaron's e-book and I thought it was good.

https://www.amazon.com/2k-10k-Writing-Faster-Better-ebook/dp/B009NKXAWS

For 99 cents it's certainly not going to bankrupt you. However if you're really cheap you should know it's basically an expanded version of the article she wrote here:

http://thisblogisaploy.blogspot.com/2011/06/how-i-went-from-writing-2000-words-day.html

Niche is very useful for reading the comments and getting a general feel for places - just don't rely on the grades that students give to their own school, and don't take the Niche rankings as gospel. The data is self selected, easy to manipulate, and not reliable. For example, the people who filled out the survey for Bob Jones University students gave their school an "A" for academics. They may believe that, but they are hardly objective. And one disgruntled student can fill out the survey over and over to bring down the ranking for their school (or even for a rival school).

Order the Fiske Guide from Amazon - you can get it delivered in a couple of days for 15-20 bucks. Well worth it.

https://www.amazon.com/Fiske-Guide-Colleges-2019-Edward/dp/1492662097

I think there may be an online version too.

Sol Stein is a masterful editor; below is a good book to read.

https://www.amazon.com/Stein-Writing-Successful-Techniques-Strategies/dp/0312254210

Watch your comma usage. Too many commas slow down and break up the flow of the sentence.

Am not trying to be hyper-critical, just calling it like I see it and want to help.

Settle down there Squidly, this old fart of a Marine will help you.

First of all, please subscribe to /r/ApplyingToCollege great crowd in there.

Second, how were your High School grades?
Were you average, below or above average as a high school student?

What do you want to study?
Do you have a family to support?
Do you want to stay in San Diego? (You don't have to - your GI Bill is valid anywhere in the US - in-state / out-of-state doesn't apply to you).

Visit your local library or Book Store and flip through this book:

https://www.amazon.com/Fiske-Guide-Colleges-2019-Edward/dp/1492662097

It's not expensive, but it's also not a book you'll really use more than 3 or 4 times.

Read what they have to say about the colleges you think you want to attend.
Snap a picture of those dozen or so write-ups.

Look into the snowflake method or variations of that.

For me, I start with a beginning and an end.

1. Boy wants to be a great warrior.
   
2. Boy realizes that he never will be a great warrior.
   
   Then, add in points that would be the climaxes or high points of the story.
   
   
3. Boy wants to be a great warriors
   
4. Boy gets his chance, runs away in terror.
   
5. Boy has a fight with evil boy and does the right thing.
   
6. Boy realizes that he never will be a great warrior.
   
   By now, I got two characters to work with. I expand that out int the highlights of the story.
   
   
7. Boy wants to be a great warriors
   
8. Boy gets his chance, runs away in terror.
   
9. Boy realizes his mistake and goes back
   
10. Boy drags Boy2 across the desert to safety.
    
11. Boy has to watch Girl become the warrior he wanted to be.
    
12. Boy is almost killed by evil woman.
    
13. Evil woman doesn't kill boy.
    
14. Boy has a fight with evil boy and does the right thing.
    
15. Boy realizes that he never will be a great warrior.
    
    Once you have the highlights, treat them as a work breakdown structure (WBS). And figure out how you are going to show it.
    
    
16. Boy wants to be a great warriors
    
    1. Needs to fail at some task
       
    2. Contrast with Girl who succeeded
       
    3. His own grandmother beats him up for being pathetic
       
    4. Man tries to comfort him, Boy promises he'll be the greatest warrior
       
    5. Boy's brother shows up, he's awesome
       
    6. Boy3 and Boy4 beat on Boy, Brother has to save him
       
       And so on. Once you get the various ideas, you start to group them together in logical units (we like to call these things "chapters") and an in an order that makes sense.
       
       Once you have your logical units broken up, start expanding each one into the salient points.
       
       
17. Boy wants to be a great warriors
    
    1. Needs to fail at some task
       
       1. Trying to sneak into the shrine.
          
       2. Not very good at it.
          
       3. Gets caught and lectured
          
       4. Has to make a choice of who is going to punish him
          
       5. Chooses grandmother
          
          Basically, this is how I write things top-down. Yeah, there is a bit of refactoring (a lot), but it seems to work.
          
          I also recommend Techniques of a Selling Writer since it has a good discussion of the types of chapters/scenes (character development, plot development, action, etc).

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Write-Great-Fiction-Gloria-Kempton-ebook/dp/B005E8AEJ0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1419339821&sr=8-1&keywords=dialogue

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Writing-Dialogue-Scripts-Effective-Handbooks/dp/1408101343/ref=wl_mb_wl_huc_clickstream_1_dp

the first is a great resource that I use for all of my dialogue. The second is more for screenwriting. They are both great, but if you only need one I would recommend the first.

Stein on Writing is pretty great.

http://www.amazon.com/Stein-Writing-Successful-Techniques-Strategies/dp/0312254210

Buy Rachel Aaron's book of writing advice. It is actually very helpful.

Also check out the snowflake method.

See what other famous, prolific writers do. Try a bit. See what you do best with.

If something gives you a headache, either it's not for you, or you're doing it wrong.

Up to you to figure that one out.

Rinse, repeat. :)

You'll laugh even more once you read this book. It's full of jokes, just like your ideology.

Write Your Novel from the Middle by James Scott Bell. An unusual perspective that involves finding the defining moment for your main character. Once you have that, the rest of the book practically falls into pladce. $4 and only 100 pages. Put it on your phone and you can read it in an afternoon or two. Also, his Plot and Structure.

How to Write a Damn Good Novel by James Frey.

Dramatica: A New Theory of Story by Melanie Anne Phillips.

Writing Active Hooks by Mary Buckham. Also, her Writing Active Setting.

Million Dollar Outlines by David Farland.

This might help you out. If you have Kindle Unlimited it is included in your subscription. There are also some related books by the same author I haven't gotten to yet called Conflict & Suspense and Characters, Emotion & Viewpoint that I have checked out.

While you are planning, you could try filling out little things like this form I created in Scrivener. I find that it helps me solidify what my idea for a scene is and know when another scene is needed as well when before I would sit there and say, "I have no idea what to put here."

Edit: Of course there's a typo in the image I made for the sole purpose of sharing with writers. Why not! lol.

I recommend reading Rachel Aaron's book, 2000 TO 10000. It's basically a instruction manual for how she become more disciplined in writing. I've gotten some great ideas from it.

http://thisblogisaploy.blogspot.com/2011/06/how-i-went-from-writing-2000-words-day.html

And the buy link--it's $1 right now:

http://www.amazon.com/2k-10k-Writing-Faster-ebook/dp/B009NKXAWS/ref=la_B004FRLQXE_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1349882755&sr=1-9

I've been reading up on Scene - Sequel and MRUs this week, so I figured I'd throw in some useful links to jump start you!

A general overview of the Scene Sequel concept: http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/articles/writing-the-perfect-scene/

Then some examples:

http://storysensei.blogspot.com/2005/08/scene-and-sequel-scene.html

http://storysensei.blogspot.com/2005/08/scene-and-sequel-sequel.html

This next one is my favorite MRU post. It covers another version of the MRU called Stimulus, Internalization, Response (SRI) and has the best break down of the MRU/SRI method I've seen yet. (https://www.writingforums.com/threads/130361-Master-Class-The-MRU)

All of these methods come from a book by Dwight V. Swain. I haven't read it yet, but if you want to know more that'd be the source.

https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0806111917/camysloft-20/

I completely agree. Have read it three times, and even made a page by page checklist as well as an act by act, and global checklist for my stories. It's kind of a Story Grid-esque thing but with more detail.

I'm writing screenplays so it's a plus for me :D. Have not heard of Swain's Techniques of the Selling Writer. I got John Gardener's The Art of Fiction but haven't gotten to it yet. Is it filled with a lot of practical information like McKee's book? Or does it talk more in a kind of abstract interpretive/theoretical style (as I know some books do)? I much more prefer practical terms/examples.

For those intending to write a romance, bestselling author Nina Harrington has a book Keep Your Pants On that discusses how outlining helps even "intuitive writers" (i.e. pantsers)

They also sell the literal manifesto which is all sorts of ironies.

Also it's promoted as free on Kindle every few months for the past 4 years

Richest/biggest company in the world is legit sponsoring the 'anti-corporate revolution.' That makes all kinds of sense fersure.

This book is invaluable for me. If you read it, you'll notice that a lot of what I said is a summary of this, because it's just so damn on point. She goes into all the parts a bit more in-depth. That should definitely help!

Plot and Structure By James Scott Bell: Far and away one of the best book I've ever read on writing.
http://www.amazon.com/Plot-Structure-Techniques-Exercises-Crafting/dp/158297294X

I actually just started Techniques of the Selling Writer by Swain, which I have heard great things about but I haven't read far enough to give my own opinion.
http://www.amazon.com/Techniques-Selling-Writer-Dwight-Swain/dp/0806111917

Take Off Your Pants is an excellent book on plotting from character motives. Changed the way I go about outlining, and demonttrated that pantsing and outlining can work together and are not the antithesis of each other.

Example of a novel using this: Game of Thrones, and The Windup Girl. In both of these (2 of my favorites) it is the hugely conflicting character motives which create the plot.

I generally write, then map, then write, then re-map, repeat. (I also have a giant file of ideas and snippets.)

If you're interested in different types of plotting/mapping, check out Dan Wells' YouTube videos on the 7 point plot structure, Rachel Aaron's book 2k to 10k, and everything the Writing Excuses podcast has under their plot tag.

Edit: added links.

If you're looking to spend a few bucks check out this book. I've been writing double-time since implementing her suggestions.

It's not exactly revolutionary, nor do I think it needs to be, but it provides a good template for character arcs while leaving a lot of room to pants it in between.

My favourites are these exact two books, as well.
I like this one too.

How To Write A Damn Good Novel

Libbie Hawker's TAKE OFF YOUR PANTS is a great book on outlining, and short enough that you can get through it in one evening, so you won't get bogged down and flustered. Here's a link to the ebook on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Take-Off-Your-Pants-Outline/dp/1518637825/

Feedback is great, but the foremost person to satisfy is yourself. If this story entices you, keep writing, as keepfuckingwriting will no doubt mention.

Hemingway has this great line: "The most essential gift for a good writer is a built-in, shock-proof, shit detector."

In my view the detector isn't built-in. It evolves--by reading fiction and by studying the craft of writing. Read even more in your genre and branch out of it. Find mentors in writing books; some of mine are John Gardner, Chuck Wendig, and Dwight Swain.

Save The Cat by Blake Snyder (Technically for movie writing, but a ton of tricks and tips that would help any writer.)

Take Off Your Pants by Libbie Hawker

Stephen King: On Writing By Stephen King

Sol Stein recommends the opposite as well: examine crap to identify what doesn't work. Since that sentiment is mirrored in our sister profession, I'd call that a good tip.

A couple of good books in the Robert McKee Universe are:

Dialogue which gets more into the micro level of storytelling, and Story Grid which is more macro. Shawn Coyne, the author of Storygrid and editor of Dialogue also has a podcast.

Just buy APE. It has pretty much everything you'll need to get your book up.

Thanks to this nifty book I've been doing a daily writing log where I chart my word count, time spent writing, words per hour, etc. It's helped me tremendously in making me more productive and keeping me on track. I find that I'm most productive either early in the morning or really late at night.

I'm not sure. I feel so lost. Here is a good resource that may give you some guidance.

http://www.amazon.com/Manifesto-Communist-Party-Karl-Marx/dp/1934451630

> Am I just missing something? Where should I go to learn what I want to learn?

https://www.amazon.com/Techniques-Selling-Writer-Dwight-Swain/dp/0806111917

Read this. It's an in-depth answer to the questions you have about turning an outline into a first draft.

As far as "Write more". I like to write my first draft long hand. Then I re-write my second draft long-hand using my first draft as a reference.

Then I type my third draft into my computer using my second draft as a reference.

Then I print out my third draft and type my fourth draft using my third draft as a reference.

For the fifth draft I cut 10%. For the sixth draft I cut another 10%. Then I polish it.

I think that's what most people here mean. Writing is re-writing.

This is the method that many fiction writers use to keep themselves going. See a nifty little book called 2K to 10K.

Pretty sure she not only tracked how many words per date, but also did an hourly breakdown, and discovered that she wrote as much in her two or three most productive hours as she did in the other five or six. Cut her workday in half when she figured that out.

Here's your pacing: each action a main character takes should be in pursuit of something, and they should be faced with progressively more serious challenges. Keep ratcheting up the stakes and tension.

That's not absolute, of course. Let's say you've got three big hurdles for the protagonist to face, with the third being the climax of the story. The second should be more serious than the first, and less serious than the third. Within the lead up to each of those challenges, the things that get in the way for the character obviously won't be as big as the challenges themselves – but there should still be rising difficulty within each phase.

As long as your character is pushing forward and isn't faced with the same kind or level of challenge as they've already faced, your pacing will be fine. Though of course between each individual conflict you can give the reader a rest.

I would really recommend Techniques of the Selling Writer. The vast majority of it isn't about selling at all – it's about exactly the sort of concerns you're bringing up.

What's concerning to me in what you've told us so far is this:

> My first act is roughly fifteen scenes. I can do all of that in the first scene.

What are the other fourteen scenes for? Showing off the pretty world you designed? Backstory? Not that everything has to be packed into the first scene, but if you really could introduce the protagonist and the issue in a single scene, then there you go – your act 1 is finished and you can get on with throwing more trouble at the character.

Buy this book.

Game related :

https://www.amazon.de/Slay-Dragon-Writing-Great-Stories/dp/1615932291

Stories in General:

https://www.amazon.de/Stein-Writing-Successful-Techniques-Strategies/dp/0312254210

http://www.amazon.com/2k-10k-Writing-Faster-Better-ebook/dp/B009NKXAWS

Stein on writing, by Sol Stein?

This one is considered one of the standards. https://www.amazon.com/Techniques-Selling-Writer-Dwight-Swain/dp/0806111917

I've never read it, but it's this one: https://www.amazon.com/2k-10k-Writing-Faster-Better-ebook/dp/B009NKXAWS

To anyone checking this out in the future, or right now. I'm compiling a list of good translations.

Communist manifesto, look for Samuel Moore. http://www.amazon.com/Manifesto-Communist-Party-Karl-Marx/dp/1934451630/

War and Peace, look for Ann Dunnigan. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0451523261

On the search for mein kampf, I have probably been added to every government watch list there is... anyways, after reading through... unsavory white power and neo nazi forums, 1/3 recommend Murphy, 1/3 recommend Ford, 1/3 Say "Learn german dumbass"

Rachel Aaron/Rachel Bach. She writes [several thousand words] (https://www.amazon.com/2k-10k-Writing-Faster-Better-ebook/dp/B009NKXAWS) per day and, since 2010, has written thirteen novels and other various works.

Have you read Guy Kawasaki's book? Any opinions on his advice?

"Is there a particular scene or moment in the story that is giving you trouble?"

This. Nine times out of ten this is my problem. There's not enough conflict or I'm trying to force a character deviation or my idea for the scene doesn't fit the trope or something. (And when it happens, 90% of those instances can be attributed to not enough conflict. My own personal cross to bear, maybe.) I doubt it's a personal failing on your part, OP. You already knocked out 50K... that's no small amount of work.

Rachel Aaron Bach's 2K to 10K helped me learn to step back and look at a scene if I was having a hard time. You already got suggestions for Cold Turkey Writer and I saw StayFocusd mentionded at some point -- both of those work for me as well.

Good luck with the book!.

• The Magazine Article: How to Think It, Plan It, Write It by Peter Jacobi.
  
  
• On Writing Well by William Zinsser.
  
  
• How to Write a Damn Good Novel: A Step-by-Step No Nonsense Guide to Dramatic Storytelling by James Frey.
  

Pick up a book on structure, for example Save the Cat!

You should be aiming towards highs and low points, with a slow progression between each where the character struggles and fails towards transformative crescendos. Failure is how your character changes, not successes - so keep legit stamping on your protag's face.

Act 1 - 25% of the book - Establish the world, the rules, the principle character and its relationship to them. Halfway through this act you should throw them into the adventure then spend the rest of the act getting them to accept their role in it. This is setting up the story you want to tell.

Act 2 - 50% of the book - Do the fun and interesting stuff that makes up the body of the book. If its a detective story, this is where the crime scene inspections happen and the witnesses are met a few times. If its a cliche fantasy series this is the "journey" to the evil castle. Halfway through the act you should have a false high (everything looks great but isn't) or a false low (everything is hopeless but isn't). This is where you develop a love interest and character interactions. Act 3 is when the point of no return is passed and you enter the endgame.

Act 3 - 25% - the Endgame. The character recovers from a crippling loss and "transforms" spiritually. This is the scenes at and inside the evil castle where the changed protagonist uses what he learned from act 2 to beat the villian. This is where the twists go since you are breaking rules you have solidly established and where you have the mature protagonist to properly digest those twists.

In terms of how to connect scenes and order them, alternate the scenes where your character is trying to accomplish a goal and then recovering from the failure to achieve it. ABABAB. As in another thread I'd recommend Tecniques of a selling writer for this. However you can find a synopsis by more modern writers if you just search with "scene and sequel", which are the terms he coins in the book.

Here's a list of some of my favorite books on writing:

• The Art of Fiction
  
• Techniques of the Selling Writer
  
• Sin and Syntax
  
• The First Five Pages
  
• The War of Art

One useful tool was described by Dwight Swain in his book. I've written a post on it some time ago, and I guess I'll just copy it whole here for convenience instead of linking to it. The question it answers is very similar to yours.

***

Dwight Swain in his "Techniques of the Selling Writer" proposes a method that alternates between what he calls "scenes" and "sequels" (to those scenes). You can read the book for in-depth discussion, but long story short here's how it works:

A scene** is a sequence of the following material:

• (A) Goal: The character's short-term goal for the scene.
  
• (B) Conflict: Why the character can't just attain the goal and have a smoke.
  
• (C) Disaster: How the character fails to just do away with opposition in a jiffy.
  
  At this point the scene technically ends and what Swain calls the sequel launches, consisting of, in order:
  
• (a) Reaction: The character's initial psychological reaction to Disaster.
  
• (b) Dilemma: The price the character would or wouldn't have / decide to pay to reach the Goal.
  
• (c) Decision: The character purposefully sets a new Goal, which naturally launches the next scene.
  
  Now, back to your question. While Swain considers his "scenes" physical and, so to say, "real time", the "sequels" are psychological and, therefore, detached from time and space. In a Swainian scene the character deals with something specific and likely physical. In the "sequel" the character thinks, mulls over, fears, hopes, considers, reconsiders and makes a decision. As Swain puts it, "Where time unifies the scene, topic unifies the sequel." Such "sequel" sections can do away with the concept of time, taking form of collages that span months or years if you so wish, in as much or little text as you want.
  
  So, there's one technique to manage the passage of time without resorting to metatextual clues like chapter breaks or time passage disclaimers (all of which are perfectly valid techniques too, of course). Besides, the Swainian trick is useful for managing pacing: "If an air of improbability pervades your masterpiece, lengthen your sequels. Follow your character step by stop, in detail, as he moves logically from disaster to decision." E.g., some Golden Age comic books lack "sequel" type material almost entirely, which might make them feel caricaturic and improbable to some readers.