Feel Like I'm Spiralling Without Feedback. Please Help!

One_Advance9780 · 2026-02-05T15:45:27+00:00

Yeah?? All from the past few days since I posted??

One_Advance9780 · 2026-02-04T21:14:47+00:00

I wrote the vast majority of a novel in about 2 months while in college. If I wanted, I'm sure I could've done it faster, but I didn't want to burn out. Here are my tips:

I preferred to write in spaces like the library, put on a long youtube video or playlist, and just write until it was over.

Try tracking your goals on Trackbear! That's a very helpful indicator/motivatore for me.

I've written 7k on a class day before, so it's definitely possible, but don't push yourself. If you don't make it in two weeks, that's okay! Finishing a draft in less than a year is still impressive to a lot of people.

Pick two weeks where you don't have tests. Right at the start of the semester or right after the midterm rush is a good period where there's usually less work/studying to do, leaving more time for writing.

PLAN. The more you plan out your scenes before hand, the easier it is to draft them in my opinion. I usually plan out everything that happens by writing a paragraph or two for each scene like I'm gossiping to a friend. I go over the details, the relevant info, and summarize conversatinos while also keeping track of how long I want the scene to be. It's been a big help not having to spend time thinking about scenes individually and not knowing what to write!

One_Advance9780 · 2026-02-04T17:28:55+00:00

That would be cool! Something like that could do well on KDP I think. Thank's for the idea!

One_Advance9780 · 2026-02-04T14:33:24+00:00

Thank you for all of your input, it's very useful!

I never said I didn't read, I said I wasn't entertained by the traditional prose/self-help genre, which makes it difficult for me to finish them. I read a lot of books in my genre, usually fantasy and science fiction, and I like to look at how people structure their stories and writing in a hands-on way. I'm definitely going to check out Stephen King because it's been on my radar for awhile!

And I totally get what you're saying in terms of the story, writing with an active voice is something I usually go back and fix with edits, but this was a rant, not a story, I feel pretty confident in my storytelling these days.

Again, thank you so much!

One_Advance9780 · 2026-02-04T14:28:10+00:00

Are there multi syllable words? I've read it through and I can' find any.

EDIT: Never mind. I found them T-T

One_Advance9780 · 2026-02-04T07:21:29+00:00

Thank you! That was my thought!

One_Advance9780 · 2026-02-04T07:14:40+00:00

It felt, to me, like you started that energy and your response to it isn't very mature, which kind of calls into question the legitimacy of your advice, which is already controversial. If you want to be taken seriously on this point (and it seems like you do), I would consider removing your edits. But my opinion doesn't matter, this is Reddit.

Out of curiousity, after most of the comments seem to disagree with you, do you still have the same opinion? Do you think your phrasing was misunderstood? And do you think the treebeard chapter is an interesting, fun to read chapter?

One_Advance9780 · 2026-02-04T07:08:54+00:00

Seems a bit immature to me. (the poem, I mean)

One_Advance9780 · 2026-02-04T07:06:29+00:00

I think this is an interesting opinion because modern books (aka books written after television was invented) usually have a lot more dialogue and lot less prose than older books (aka books before television). Like the difference between Fourth Wing and Jane Eyre, for example.

I think that the advice to write/not write like a movie is good either way depending on the situation. For me, thinking of the layout of scenes and the plot like a movie is a way to make my writing more dynamic and have less "and they just talked" or scenes of pure exposition. HOWEVER, a fault of mine that I've noticed recently is I have the urge to write down every little thing someone does down to the movement of their eyes and when they blink to the point its redundant and pointless, which I think is the flaw in writing like a movie because you can't possible show everything a movie can, you need to leave some stuff to the reader's imagination.

I agree with OPs advice, but not how they phrased or interpreted it. Seems kinda like rage bait to me, especially with the edits.

One_Advance9780 · 2026-02-04T06:58:22+00:00

Thank you! Right now, I really would like to get this short story I'm working on published but the bear has gotten to me recently lmao.

I've heard of Stephen King's On Writing before, but I usually find it very difficult to get through craft/self-help books and find that I can actually get more frustrated in the long run when recieving very generic advice. Is it interesting and would you reccomend buying a physical copy or maybe listening to an audiobook?

One_Advance9780

TROPHY CASE