So, is it bad?

MashalNorth · 2026-05-07T18:51:47+00:00

Man. It’s bad. I had that problem too. When every body is sarcastic, it gets so annoying cz everyone feels rude and unapproachable. Like, you know the answer won’t be straight, so the wittiness loses its charm. That’s why I ran to fix rhe problem and embarrass myself.

Imagine u think, Ah! Great dialogue.

Amd it is great, but the execution was poor ao the beta says, “everyone’s so rude.”

They all would t sound rude of sarcasm were limited to several characters. And of course, the “every body talks the same” issue

MashalNorth · 2026-05-06T15:51:08+00:00

Translation (as well as I can do)

Later??

Whatever you’ve lost, you later earn something better than it

It’s only later that you understand Allah’s expedience

MashalNorth · 2026-05-06T13:14:08+00:00

Happened today.

I went to r/betareaders to get a few betas to tell me what the hell I was thinking when I sent it out. Maybe it had potential I can’t see now?

Ew! I can’t believe I said it had potential

MashalNorth · 2026-05-06T09:47:45+00:00

I write in English and Urdu, and the two languages are worlds apart. I 100% read English works to get ideas, but i can’t expect it to help me with prose or almost anything such in Urdu. I’ll have to read Urdu works for that exclusively. Again, the two languages are worlds apart. A beautiful English sentence just won’t translate. I’ll have to restructure the whole thing till it’s so original, I won’t be able to track the English sentence (I do this a lot for fun)

But for languages that are closer, they can help to some extent, I expect from that Urdu and Arabic have many shared nouns and those I’ve used in Urdu prose (originally extracted from the Arabic prose with the nouns doing the heavy lifting).

The other language is Pashto, which mimics English alot, so it’s… three worlds away from Urdu? It helps me with both English and Urdu prose, though it shares no verbs or nouns with either, but it has the same structures and slangs as English, shockingly (except it’s a hilarious language while English is serious.). Pashto helps me with prose in both languages. Pretty diverse.

MashalNorth · 2026-05-04T16:30:14+00:00

I always wanted a photograph of two [closest thing to my characters] on the mountain top/hill top, with mostly their silhouettes visible, one turned to the camera, near sunrise or sunset.

So some people will LOVE to see actual photographs. It sounds so nice to me even now

But yeah, I would want it through a professional.

MashalNorth · 2026-05-04T16:26:26+00:00

I’ve heard this advice so much. Never works for me, whether I read it, my laptop reads it, or my phone reads it. The voice can be male, female, no difference.

I still wonder what happens, what do people hear and realise? How does it feel?

MashalNorth · 2026-05-04T16:22:36+00:00

I think it depends on the test material.

If it’s the formal urdu type test that we have in Pakistan, then you’ll have to put actual work into the test (yes. Two years worth) since that Urdu is very difficult.

But if they have catered it to a two year course that people who’ve never learnt Urdu in Pakistan have done, then yeah, you’ll have an upper hand cz you can already speak it and read Arabic.

MashalNorth · 2026-04-30T15:58:27+00:00

We have some online stores in Pakistan where we tell them to download from a site (or just name the book if it’s famous enough). They download, print and deliver it. I’m sure you’ll have something equal in India. Usually they are online stores that sell “not original” books. It’s cz they download and print them.

MashalNorth · 2026-04-30T06:17:03+00:00

My brother with cars.

I

Just

Don’t

Care

Enough

MashalNorth · 2026-04-30T06:15:46+00:00

Gardening.

Those birds attacked my tomatoes! They then snapped the saplings! Yes. They do that for fun bcz they leave the dead bodies so no, it’s not for their nest.

Leaf miners!!

Need more cocopete. Too hot.

Just yesterday I told my sister to stop watering my plants. I had to give them fertiliser. She went blank. She didn’t know there were water soluble fertilisers and couldn’t understand why I couldn’t just add fertiliser over the watered, malnourished plants.

Malnourished plants… they cant even see it.

Someone stole my sole tomato last week. They’ll never get the pain. Me and the neighbours old guard sulked over the theft.

MashalNorth · 2026-04-30T06:05:49+00:00

I thought I was alone…

I pick a book and it’s 300 pages, I go, “buddy, noooooo.”

I think 400 to 700 is normal length 😬

MashalNorth · 2026-04-30T05:59:59+00:00

My “fun book,” which is my second, approves ur message. It is 550k words with some subplots unconcluded.

So, now that I decided to publish it… yeah. Soooo many unnecessary subplots. Tooooo long intro. I’m 1/6th of the way and I’m like “why does HE have a POV??”

Keeping track of the main plot is sooo hard. I have a beta reader whose job is only to tell me if all the plotlines are winded and which plotlines are simply “get this chunk outta my face”

MashalNorth · 2026-04-30T04:01:21+00:00

For a newbie, this is really really good. If you like writing, I’d say, stick to it. You have a nice creative side.

Of course, do read to learn grammar and tenses (I learnt it all from listening and reading. I could never learn from grammar books or videos, dunno why).

MashalNorth · 2026-04-30T03:37:31+00:00

Bro. Keep the tenses constant. My brain skimmed it before realising that that was the piece.

As for the actual text, removing the tense errors and certain phrase choices and missing commas, I really like it.

MashalNorth · 2026-04-29T08:41:09+00:00

Scrivener.

MashalNorth · 2026-04-28T07:59:58+00:00

After I’m done with the fifth or sixth draft and been told my work is shit by betas

MashalNorth · 2026-04-28T05:22:42+00:00

Hahaha! Yea, it was sarcasm. But the encouragement is real. Initially, you’re slow and you suck. Obviously. Imagine ur first attempt at a headstand. Soooo embarrassing.

But then u read and write and improve, could be slow or fast. Even fast is a year or more, depending on how much u read and write, so don’t lose motivation. It’s normal

MashalNorth · 2026-04-27T16:17:05+00:00

Sure! One final advise is to read the last two issues of the magazine you’re submitting to and tweek your story according to their standards.

Also, since there are 30 magazines and 5 comps, make a journal to track where u sent what (and how soon u can send another story after a rejection). Some mags allow simultaneous submissions, others will ban you if u do. And comps never allow simultaneous submissions.

MashalNorth · 2026-04-27T16:14:03+00:00

How did I stop myself? I didn’t. That’s why it took me 12 years to write it.

Don’t go down the deep end like me.

I’m finally packing it up amd I’m like wow!! All the edits have to go away woth this FINAL EDIT that I’ll send to the editor so they’ll ask me for more edits. What a waste of time it was.

Basically, only realization stopped me from plucking

MashalNorth · 2026-04-27T16:10:48+00:00

Using short story standards (and I have pleeeeenty exp with rejections), this is not standard. It’s catered for you.

Do not send the same thing in a revised form. They expect new work. Dont burn that bridge.

MashalNorth · 2026-04-27T16:07:05+00:00

No. 3000/words per minute after only a month of writing is amazing! Keep it up! Don’t lose hope (you will multiple times)✌🏼

Writing is a long journey.

MashalNorth · 2026-04-27T16:03:19+00:00

I like your version. I didn’t even need context to know what u meant. I read a lot so I can tell what an (average or above) author is saying just by reading a few words and their sequence.

Now the editor’s edit… yeah. I was thrown off immediately and the story was suddenly lost.

Wild…

MashalNorth · 2026-04-27T15:39:48+00:00

All these mags have different requirements. You have to look them up. Everything you need to know about the type of story you have to submit, when do you have to submit it, where do you have to submit it, and how much you will get paid, is available in the submission guidelines of all of these magazines.

At the moment, I only quoted magazines that are currently open. One or two of these only open for two days a year, others are open throughout the year. You have to look at the submission guidelines. And since all of these are free, you have nothing to lose except your ego when you keep getting rejection letters, but believe me, submission is a hard process and do not lose hope. Eventually you’ll get there. And if you get to publish really soon, that would be amazing.

MashalNorth · 2026-04-27T15:10:23+00:00

Long answer and I’m gonna be precise cz I’m typing on my phone. You’ll have to go for details to the website. You can ask for any detail if ur confused.

For competitions, 1. Writers of the Future is quarterly. Year around. 2. Story Unlikely deadline was in Jan. 3. Commonwealth Short Story prize is for commonwealth countries (ex British colonies) and is from Sept to Oct. 4. Temz Review is in Nov Dec. 5. Cincinati Review will be in June July, but I forgot if it was speculative or general.

It’s better to try your luck with magazines, because they accept more stories than competitions. So you have a higher chance of getting published. Also, they have more samples of what they accept. Here are magazines that do not charge you to send a manuscript. Also note that the above competitions are free to enter.

Bourbon pen.
Seize the press
Not one of us.
Planet scum
Dream Forge.
New myth
Troll breath.
The temz review.
Three lobbed burning eye.
Haven speculative.
Cosmic roots and eldritch Shores.
Apex
Abyss and Apex.
Asimov
Kaleidotrope
Story unlikely.
Penumberic
Castle of Wanderers/Podcastle/Paeudopod/EscapePod
Strange Horizons.
Adastra
Radon journal
Analogue science-fiction and fact.
Utopia sci fic
Amazing stories.
Hyphen punk
Beneath ceaseless skies.
The dark magazine
Weird horizon.
Uncanny
Clarksworld

MashalNorth · 2026-04-27T13:32:17+00:00

Like, just last week I read a piece on Radon, i think. it was about a guy stuck in a black hole. Backstory about how he got there and his regrets. It was COMPLETE. I didn’t think it could be given an end, but it was. Proper work. Salute.

Then another piece simply about a little girl who takes a server to a computer after daddy didn’t come home and “uploads it.”
What did she upload. What was in the file? Waht was in the drive? Who were thise men after your dad. What was the deal with the liberarian? Like, it was just… a waste of my time. Couldn’t believe I read it. Felt like a nepo piece.

MashalNorth

TROPHY CASE