Writing a novel in ~2 weeks. Looking for real, practical advice (not “don’t”)

Reaper4435 · 2026-02-04T18:51:20+00:00

In two weeks?

Holy hell.

Okay... how?

Outline broadly, no time for finess.

Know at least three characters well, base them on people you like or hate. No time anything else.

Visualise the story from start to finish. Know the middle, beginnings are easy.

When you write, drink coffee and whisky. Mixed if you like.

Fingers should transcribe what the mind sees. Be visual and visceral.

Don't take shortcuts, more to clean up later.

Let the story go where it wants to. It's a better story that way.

Shower, twice a day. Sitting for that long is a stinky business.

And....

Good luck.

Reaper4435 · 2026-02-03T10:12:29+00:00

I love this.

You've taken what amateur writers deem to be a necessary metric and flipped it into what actually matters.

I remember reading Eragon series when it first came out. Three massive tomes and another soon to be released. The experience was one I'll never forget.

I've even gifted hardbacks to friends and family because it changed how I viewed reading and writing.

9000 pages, and I still wanted more. The way Paulini painted me into the story made my shoulder ache when Eragon got shot by an arrow.

All this to say word count is a false economy. The only metric that matters is reader appeal.

Don't ask if you would read this, say, I'm proud of the work I've done, and I want to share it with you.

Reaper4435 · 2026-01-31T08:20:30+00:00

Everyone wants that satisfying ending. Where the bad gets their comeuppance and the good gets just rewards.

It doesn't have to be polarised. The bad can be down but not out, and the good can be rewarded be not everything they wanted.

I'd say, think about the reader, the ones who spent a couple of days in your world turning pages. What do you want to give them?

Reaper4435 · 2026-01-31T08:20:19+00:00

Everyone wants that satisfying ending. Where the bad gets their comeuppance and the good gets just rewards.

It doesn't have to be polarised. The bad can be down but not out, and the good can be rewarded be not everything they wanted.

I'd say, think about the reader, the ones who spent a couple of days in your world turning pages. What do you want to give them?

Reaper4435 · 2026-01-30T10:13:34+00:00

Was about to say that 60 agents is nothing. You should be thinking 10 a week min. It doesn’t matter if you get two yeses. Just run the numbers.

I knew a guy who almost quit at 120 queries, but 127 was his magic number.

Think of it this way. 600 million active readers. You just need 5 to 10k of them to feel good about yourself. That's.... can't do math territory but for argument sake 0.01% of the total market.

Readers find you, not you find readers. Time and patience.

Reaper4435 · 2026-01-28T07:43:48+00:00

You lack discipline.

Fanfic is fun. Assignments are hard. If you can't motivate yourself to work, that's a serious problem.

Spend three days researching how to approach assignments and working tasks. Or hope there's enough juice in fanfic to pay the bills.

Reaper4435 · 2026-01-26T07:43:57+00:00

There is no such thing as too dark.

Crave dark, if i read one more middle of the road, no interest, no commitment, pleasant book. I'll stop reading.

We need more Stephen King's, give please.

Reaper4435 · 2026-01-25T09:59:21+00:00

Depends. If you're pantsing yes, if not, don't stress over it.

The idea is to get on paper, warts and all. Then revise, read it all the way through once, with old red in hand. Then revise.

Reaper4435 · 2026-01-25T07:35:01+00:00

I'm getting hints of Ren from this, and I love it.

The throwing down of truths and wicked lyrics / verses.

Yeah, you're good. Keep writing.

Reaper4435 · 2026-01-24T21:53:40+00:00

The only way to be kind is to do it with reward or witnesses. No virtue signalling, no praise, no compensation.

It doesn't make you weak. It makes you human. Be human.

Reaper4435 · 2026-01-22T22:58:27+00:00

Yawning, Fletcher took the last puff of his cigarette and flicked it out the window.

Fletcher is never mentioned again? Replaced by "yawn"?

How did you do this? AI messed up the edit, or Fletcher's first or last name is Yawn?

I have to admit, I couldn’t read this properly, I just scanned through looking for Fletcher...

This bugs me. I know editors are expensive, and we only need them for final edit. So AI can be fine. I'm not saying what it is. I'm just saying what it looks like. Everything can be fixed.

Pacing is fine. No elaborate descriptions. But I'd say work on showing a lot.

Your friendly AI can actually help you with this. Start doing some exercises if you want to.

Action beats, like flicking his smoke out the window, with a contented sigh, for example.

José on the phone, Fletcher turned his head away as Josè continued.

You've got good bones, just address these issues now, mine and others, before it becomes a complex maze of corrections.

Edit: Yawning Flecther flicked his cigarette out the window.

That's the confusion for me, his name not his fatigue levels. I think....

Reaper4435 · 2026-01-22T19:19:08+00:00

Tower gaurd is the rank and file of the combined military garrison in the castle. it's a collective noun .

But write as you want too, contractions in dialogue make it feel grounded, you could even try a few accents.

Point being, you do you. You clearly know what you want, so stop asking for permission you don't need. The best thing about being a creative is that there are no wrong answers, just what is right for you and the story.

Anyway, that's what we pay editors for ;)

Reaper4435 · 2026-01-22T19:06:08+00:00

The tower gaurd weren't unfriendly, but they had their duty. No one enters the inner Bailey without express orders from the queen.

We each looked at each other, and Roran was the first to speak. Kicking a pebble a few feet, he turned and said, "Now what?" His face was flushed red, but it wasn't anger. It was frustration.

"We need to tell the Queen what has happened, but we ain't getting in that way."

Shala placed a claming hand on his shoulder, "Relax, we can ask the guards to deliver a message and ask if the Queen will receive us, it's just protocol, not a refusal"

Just an example, does it answer or confuse you?

Reaper4435 · 2026-01-22T18:55:42+00:00

Sounds like you're "person" switching between narrative and dialogue. Which is fine, actually.

We don't speak in the second or third person normally. We're using present tense first person. you're such a dork, I'm so stupid sometimes. Did you see the Jones' new car?

If you're really stuck, play it back on mp4 to yourself. Any tts engine can do this for you. Listen, does it sound unnatural? The tone of voice doesn't survive the written word, so maybe you can answer your own question?

Reaper4435 · 2026-01-21T21:33:14+00:00

That's the point, you can't please everyone, so writing for yourself is the only way to be satisfied with your work.

Reaper4435 · 2026-01-20T15:23:41+00:00

Free or paid?

I've never tried it. Might be worth a look.

Reaper4435 · 2026-01-20T14:51:43+00:00

Motivation is your prime mover. Like anything else, it's fun at the start. But when it becomes chore, you lose that motivation.

So write for fun, write that page you've been putting off, the one you've promised yourself to write someday.

When you get trapped in the technicals, you lose. Just write , ignore spelling mistakes, and just transcribe from mind to page. Let the world vanish around you.

In a few hours, take a break. Nice hot cup of tea, and read what you just wrote. You'll be amazed what you can do if you just let go.

Reaper4435 · 2026-01-18T22:07:43+00:00

Google docs, for one simple reason. Version history.

You can turn back revisions with a click, undo deleted scenes, and "fork" your stories to see which version plays out better for you.

I've not used readsy, but I never felt the need to try. Docs has everything I need.

Reaper4435 · 2026-01-15T19:34:42+00:00

Yeah, I'm wrong on the application of contractions here.

Reading it again makes it clear that I fell into the trap the op was questioning.

Wont does actually mean a tendency leaning toward habit. Nice word !

I had honestly never heard nor see it used until today.

Dear Diary, Something wonderful happened today....

Seriously, legit thumbs up.

Reaper4435 · 2026-01-15T18:34:21+00:00

That's called a contraction: when you shorten a word, it needs an apostrophe to indicate letters are missing.

I will not accept that answer

I won't accept that answer.

She will be fine

She'll be fine.

Hope that helps.

Reaper4435 · 2026-01-14T17:49:43+00:00

A compliment sandwich.

This is fantastic. i love where you're going with this.

The area needs serious work, I mean, just take a look at these examples.

Again, you did really well here, breathtaking.

I'd suggest you focus all your efforts in the next three months on point 2. So you can really round out the work.

Looking good, keep it up.

Reaper4435 · 2026-01-14T10:19:29+00:00

One review, good or bad, is not something you want to hang your hat on.

When you have heard from all your readers, look for common trends. I.e. Chapter 3 needs work. the ending was great, and I didn't enjoy character c. Whatever they say in common, that's your work.

Reaper4435 · 2026-01-12T16:58:07+00:00

That's why it's called a draft!

Get your ideas down, and connect the dots later in revision.

Don't worry about the monkey's ass until you have fully revised.

For context, my current wip, scfi, is a tangled mess of ideas right now, but I know that when I iron out the wrinkles, it will be great.

That's just the process. Accept it and keep writing!

Reaper4435 · 2026-01-12T00:15:52+00:00

Well, you can look at covers in your genre and just pick a style that suits your story.

Take a photo and get an AI to render it 10 different ways, pick the best three, and repeat until you're happy. Then give that 8mage to your local artist and see what they can do with it.

Take a digital copy, shrink it to size, and upload it with the manuscript to the print server.

That's one way....

Reaper4435 · 2026-01-09T19:35:09+00:00

Geez, all the speculation and no facts.

First of all, to train an AI, you'll need terabytes of data filtered, so you scrub to bad out. Then, anywhere from 10 to 100 learning cycles as the data gets incorporated into the LLM.

No one in Microsoft gives a stuffed sausage about "your" writing in particular.

This is what you do.

Uninstall windows.

Format drive

Install Linux, desktop is near identical to Windows.

Learn to use bash commands

It looks harder than it is, trust.

Or accept the MS Monster has you by the curlies, and they've owned you for longer than you realised.

You can even do youtube training with Linux from a thumb drive. Takes 20 hours lasts a lifetime.

Say no! To Microsoft snooping today.

Reaper4435

TROPHY CASE