What's The Best Advice You Could Give Other Writers?

Mine: Keep going! Even if your first draft sucks- keep going! It’ll take you ten times longer to do it if you write like 4 chapters then say, “these suck!” and start over! Keep going, you can always change it later!
Also… if you’re really unmotivated to write… don’t write (unless the writing is your career/you have deadlines to meet). When I’m unmotivated I tend to write bad stuff. I do think that we should all learn to write when we aren’t inspired because inspiration won’t always come to us but if you’re really, super unmotivated then it might be time for a break.

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My number one advice is to spend a lot of time on the preparations as in character and world building, really know who your characters are and in whatever surroundings they live. Often people rush this and right away want to get writing, but doing this makes the writing so much easier and helps me to get inspired when I lose motivation. Like then I remember a certain personality trait and that gives me inspiration for new scenes for example. As you said it’s also important to not give up, I can promise you that everyone goes through moments where they are tired of their own story and the motivation is gone, don’t worry about that and allow that to happen, there’s nothing wrong with that and don’t force yourself to continue if you are stuck.

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Build dynamic and realistic characters. Don’t make all of your characters relatable, but make them lively. Give them faults, give them talents. Know your characters inside and out.

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Take personality tests as if you were your character. Answer questionnaires. Don’t have all your characters share your values, think like you, or react as you would. Make some of them introverts, others extroverts, and some ambiverts. There’s nothing wrong with having a character based on yourself, but balance it out by having ones that are the total opposite of you, or somewhere in between.

Give your characters likes and dislikes. Favorite song? What food would they die for? How do they like spending their weekends? Who is their absolute favorite person on Earth? Do they like animals or kids? On Sundays, do they stay in their pajamas all day watching Netflix, or do they go to church?

Don’t just jump in and start writing your story.

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Planning helps a lot, you will be able to foreshadow events and you will be less likely to get writers block. Also the story you spend your most time on might not be the one you publish and that’s okay. Just don’t give up and you’ll get there.

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Yes!!! I 100% agree on this.

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I love the advice on this thread and I will give some of my own. :relaxed:

Writing takes time, don’t give up!

When going in to writing be prepared that it will take a lot of. It’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon. You will encounter points where you lose enthusiasm and want to give up, but knowing that will prepare you. You maybe even got a plan for how to deal with it when that point comes. Perhaps you will take a break, do some writing exercises, write one sentence every day or read a book etc.

Read a lot, it will help you with your writing.

By reading all different kinds of books you will see how different they are written and maybe take a liking to one style. You can draw inspiration from the writing and events in the story. You might also learn what you don’t think work as good and avoid that. I personally think that reading helps my own imagination and discovering new ideas.

Don’t be afraid of critique, it will make your story better.

Getting an outsider’s point of view will help tremendously with improving your story. You’re writing because it’s fun and you like your story but it’s of course fun if others can understand it too. Some things that are obvious to you might not be to others.

Never delete all your work if you decide to drop it! It might be useful in the future.

Sometimes I can’t stand my writing but don’t delete everything!

It’s okay to take breaks.

It’s okay to take breaks, it’s maybe even better than forcing yourself to sit down and write when you really don’t feel like it. Work on something else in the meanwhile. You’re probably going to be around for a while so a break can last years. Don’t stress about it!


The advice got worse and worse haha. I’ll go back and edit this one day!

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Your points are amazing! I think that not giving up is the most important one.

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Hahaha thanks :joy: I got tired of explaining them though

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Thanks for the advice

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Haha no worries :dizzy: didn’t know it was helpful hehe

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But it was helpful :smirk:

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Never give up!

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Never gonna give you up…

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Bump

Don’t be scared to write because you’re afraid of being judged for your work. Just go for it.

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I’ll be quoting Sapkowski here, but: ‘You need to know what you’re writing’ :blush:

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Don’t get discouraged.

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Tbh I might be contradicting myself but you don’t need to write everyday (Unless it’s your job or something). I tried to do that once and I just got burnt out. Write when you want to.

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Don’t stress too much. Writing takes time when you want to have a properly written story.
If Ideas come to you while you’re doing something or about to sleep, just quickly jot them down in a book so you an remember.

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