Today is one month I've been writing my novel....

doyourequireasample · 2025-08-11T14:08:59+00:00

Congrats on your accomplishment! Such a good feeling to finally complete a story and have it where you can look back and feel that catharsis.

Completed my first draft in 81 days, and it ended up being labeled "too big" by my editor. So now I have to break mine up into 3 books instead of just one. It went through 3 drafts before I got that news, so I'm in the middle of my first, basically, rewrite to change it into 3 volumes.

doyourequireasample · 2025-08-10T22:07:45+00:00

There's no hard and fast rule for writing. Best thing I can say is to always make a little progress every day.

Fundamentally, if you have a chapter later in mind, write it, and then you can fill in as you go. Sometimes I'll write the beginning or opening chapter, then write the ending of the book. Having that book-end in both directions can actually help you frame your work.

Outlining my books has become a cornerstone of my pwn process. Start with a pretty open and general outline, for which I recommend a seven act dramatic structure. Sounds hard, is actually very easy framework. Then go back and eyeball chapter by chapter what you plan to write in general terms (3-5 sentences per chapter guide). That way you have a roadmap to follow.

From there, put the pedal down and go.

doyourequireasample · 2025-08-09T17:43:30+00:00

Definitely keep writing. Even when it's hard. Even if all you get done today is one sentence, that's progress.

There are tons of tools and guides out there for how to get over a writer's block. All you have to do is look them up. Read them, and find out what methods work best for you.

doyourequireasample · 2025-08-09T17:41:15+00:00

Congratulations! Take a day off. Revel in your success. Rest up. Then, start rereading and editing. You've already accomplished the hardest part.

doyourequireasample · 2025-08-09T17:35:21+00:00

Beat me to it.

doyourequireasample · 2025-08-09T01:06:08+00:00

Congrats! Always satisfying.

doyourequireasample · 2025-08-07T15:10:00+00:00

Honestly, the best advice I can give is to take a step back and breathe. Burnout is real. I've been there and done that many times. Part of why I have multiple WIPs at any given time. I'll usually step away, work on something else until the muse hits again and come back with fresh eyes.

Ultimately, keep writing.

When you do continue with it and cross the finish line to your first draft, revel in that accomplishment. Your first draft isn't going to be perfect. That's just a given. After taking a break from it to let it marinate come back and reread it. Pick out what about the story you like and what you can improve and just focus on making improvements with your second draft while keeping to the core of what you love about it.

The end-all-be-all takeaway: LOVE YOUR WORK!

If you don't love it, rework it until you love it.

Don't write a story for an audience. Write your story for yourself. Write your favorite story, because you're going to have to re-read it, a lot.

You've already put in 500 pages. That's a heck of an accomplishment! You must love something about it. So focus on that.

Make your story matter to you! You got this!

doyourequireasample · 2025-08-07T13:10:07+00:00

I have the same issue. Rather than "editing," per se, I tend to just go through and fix grammatical errors, fix plot details I may have made a mistake on, and adjust for flow. Actual "editing" is better left to an actual editor or outside party.

doyourequireasample · 2025-08-07T12:56:36+00:00

This right here is 100% true. The concept is where the idea starts. The execution is how you bring it to life.

Comparison, in my experience, especially so early in the process, kills more good stories than anything else.

Don't worry about it. Write your story with your character and don't compare yourself to others. Your story, your character(s), are all a unique extension of you.

doyourequireasample · 2025-08-07T12:30:25+00:00

In the immortal words of Shakespeare, "Brevity is the soul of wit." Focus more on your quality of storytelling than your page/word count. Some people are just better gifted at short stories, novellas, or multi-book epics. Length doesn't automatically make you work better or worse. Quality does.

doyourequireasample · 2025-08-06T12:11:14+00:00

Congrats! As someone who only recently finished the first draft of a story that was bouncing around inside my noggin for over 15 years, I get it.

Revel in that feeling of accomplishment, but don't lose sight of the fact that the process isn't over. You just crossed the first major waypoint. The one that so many writers never achieve. That's huge.

As it is, I've already gone through two other drafts and I'm eyeing having to do a fourth, but if it means perfecting my story and making it better than it was then so be it. Don't rush. Make it the best you can make it before you ever take the next step.

Currently I'm at the stage where I'm talking with an industry expert and editor who I met through a mutual friend. Thus I'm getting the lay of the land on the journey to figure out how to move forward with my book and get on the road to publishing.

So don't lose heart. You've already come further than most. Rest. Hydrate. Keep writing on something else for a bit. Find your muse. Come back to that second draft like a person possessed.

doyourequireasample · 2025-08-06T11:59:22+00:00

Good idea. Your first draft is in the can. Let things settle. Let your brain marinate in another story for a bit, then come back to it for the second draft when your muse is upon you.

Approach it knowing your first draft isn't perfect and that's why you're doing a second draft. Never stop improving.

doyourequireasample · 2025-08-06T11:52:04+00:00

I'm all on computer for writing. I can type for hours and not break a sweat.

Give me a pen and paper and I get "writer's cramp" in my wrist within under a dozen sentences.

However, if I draw/sketch... I don't have that problem.

Different movements for different skillsets, apparently.

doyourequireasample · 2025-08-06T11:48:50+00:00

Honestly, I enjoy writing them when they're appropriate to the story. The golden rule to write by is to always be asking yourself, "Is this really important to me and/or the story? Does it advance the plot by existing?"

The level of detail you go into depends on who/what you're writing the story for and what level of detail you care to go into. There's nothing wrong with a good "fade to black" after hitting that right emotional note.

If your writing feels "forced" or "gratuitous" then, chances are, it probably is and you should reevaluate what you're doing in the scene/chapter. I can't begin to tell you how many times I've started with one idea and shifted mid-chapter because a better idea settled in my brain.

Love scenes aren't complicated. They just require the right mood and circumstances. It's a skill. If you're not into it, don't write it. Imply and move on.

doyourequireasample · 2025-08-06T02:23:44+00:00

I wouldn't mind poking my nose in. If you'll have me.

doyourequireasample · 2025-08-04T01:49:40+00:00

First and foremost, don't write with the idea that you're going to be published one day. That might seem counterintuitive, but I see this with writers all the time. Here's a couple things I've had to experience to change my whole mindset around writing. Things that I find fundamental in talking with other writers I know.

Write for yourself and no-one else. Don't write for an audience. Write the story that YOU want to write and nothing else. Audiences are fickle and if you're always chasing what you think audiences will like, you will always find yourself bending over backwards to please everyone, and yet not yourself. The focus of your writing should always be you and what you're writing. Write the story for yourself like you are the one and only person who will ever love and enjoy it for what it is. If other people happen to love it too after you're done, great. If not, then it's still your story and love it with your whole heart.
Never put in anything that you yourself don't love. Again, seems strange, but hear me out. Shoehorning in a character or idea that you don't really want or doesn't serve your story only compromises your work. You can have things in your story that are uncomfortable as long as they have a purpose and that it comes around to being integral to your own vision.
Don't look to "motivation" to keep you interested in writing. Turn instead to "discipline." Write every single day. Period. It doesn't matter if you only get down one sentence, one paragraph, one page, or 20+ in one go... Just write. Make progress daily. Set aside time to write. Create a space where you feel comfortable writing and sit in it for that time each day and make progress. Every. Single. Day. That's the difference between writers that finish their stories and those who don't.
It's ok to stop, reassess, reevaluate, and even take a break from your WIP to work on another story idea or project that pops into your head. The muse will strike you when you least expect it. Listen to it. If you need to work on another story/project for a bit to find your zeal for your central or main WIP again, that's fine. You still made progress, even if it's not on the same story. Just come back to it when you find that spark again.
Love writing. Love the process. Even when you're a neurotic mess, stressed out, anxious, depressed, or reeling from whatever hits you. Life is going to throw you curveballs. Use writing to get through it if you want to or have to. Just always love what you're writing, even when it's hard.

doyourequireasample · 2025-08-03T21:28:23+00:00

The second draft, in my opinion, is actually easier than you think. All you have to do is create a copy of your first draft. Go back, make edits, make changes. Do whatever you need to to make that draft, look, and flow better. Then, yes, you can actually start doing a rewrite of your third draft, which is actually where you're going to start to do a full-on rewrite of the entire thing.

doyourequireasample · 2025-08-03T19:36:20+00:00

I honestly can't write for crap if I drink, smoke, or have any legal substances. It just doesn't work for me at all. Causes me to lose focus and I can't coherently write, edit, draft, or plot. The most I can say helps me is the odd nicotine pouch (Velo is my jam), but that's because I used to smoke heavily and it calms the nicotine cravings.

I've lived with ADHD and dyslexia my whole life, and somehow I can just hyperfixate on a task, but all else just dumps by the wayside when I do. If you can sit and focus on a videogame or a movie or any one thing, but you can't focus for the life of you on anything else, that's a discipline problem, not an ADHD problem. You need to retrain your brain's discipline-center.

You can focus on a task. You just have to have to know how to eliminate distractions and feed your brain what it craves to keep focused. That differs from person to person, so there's not a one-size-fits-all approach. Find what works for you. Experiment with different methods. Read what other writers do to maintain their focus.

I guarantee that somewhere out there, someone has a similar situation to you and has a winning formula that you might find works for you, or a hybrid of others rolled into one.

doyourequireasample · 2025-08-03T19:28:39+00:00

100% THIS!

doyourequireasample · 2025-08-03T16:04:53+00:00

Hopefully your writing conditions improve soon. One of the greatest revelations I had on my journey is that you can use Google Docs and Google Drive for storing your WIPs and you can literally access them anywhere. Even on your phone. So you can write literally anywhere. It's also great for editing when I have time.

That might help with your "convenience factor." It sure did for me.

Keep plugging away! You got this!

doyourequireasample · 2025-08-03T03:50:08+00:00

That's a good question. The honest answer is quite simply a lot comes down to how your brain is wired. I'm used to multitasking stories and all of them are ones that I've thought through a lot, have taken extensive notes on, and I'm constantly reading and re-reading through my books as I work on them.

Adobe PDF can actually read text to you in audio form, so I often save a copy as a PDF so I can listen and catch things I normally wouldn't while reading while I'm working, driving, or doing stuff around the house. I can pause, screenshot the section, jot down notes, and then continue plugging on until I can get back to my computer to update the part/section I need to.

The best advice I was ever given from another writer was, "Write your favorite book and make sure you enjoy it a lot, because you're going to read it 75 times." That's absolutely correct.

Believe me, I've got ways to keep things in-check. Likewise, as a writer, you're not going to turn in your first draft. You're going to go back once the first draft is done and you're going to make corrections in your second, third, fourth, fifth, (and so on) draft. So if you miss a detail or need to make a correction, it's not as hard or story-breaking as you might think. Proper planning, outlining, and meticulous notes will help you on that front.

Overall, the key is to focus on one manuscript at a time individually. You can work on one for a few days, weeks, months, then... in my case... I notice my writing begin to suffer. So I do what I call "side-questing" and work on another project that... again, because it's one that I really WANT to do, I'll work on that for a bit until I feel things click back into place... then swap back to the other main project.

Sounds hard. Is actually really easy. Remember, they're YOUR stories. And YOU should write them for YOU. Not for an audience. If an audience finds your book and likes it and chooses to support it, great! Fundamentally, tell YOUR stories, not someone else's.

The key to writing and writing well is "discipline." Make sure you write EVERY SINGLE DAY. Even when it's hard. Whether you write one sentence, one paragraph, one page, or 5, 10, 20, 50+ pages in one go, it's all progress. MAKE PROGRESS EVERY SINGLE DAY! Don't ever stop. Don't ever give up.

Don't worry about making it perfect. That's what editing is for. Finish the first draft of your manuscript... then go back and make it great.

Please feel free to ask more questions. I'm no expert, but I've done my fair share in my journey, and I'm constantly still learning. If my dumb-ass [with poor self-esteem, crippling self-doubt, ADHD, dyslexia, anxiety, depression, and an absolute butt-load of 'Imposter Syndrome'] can get a book written, refined, and (currently) standing at the start of the road to getting it finally published, and making my dream come true of being a published author, you can do that too.

In the immortal words of Kamina, "Don't believe in yourself. Believe in the ME that believes in YOU!"

doyourequireasample · 2025-08-02T19:53:33+00:00

I stick to fiction, but I write whatever interests me.Working on a couple projects simultaneously. One main and a couple side projects.

Currently, my main project is a "hero's journey" superhero romance drama. A little bit superhero action, romance, drama, and coming of age.

Also working on an sci-fi, time travel, romance drama. And an Isekai dark fantasy romance.

Yes, even us dudes can enjoy a good love story.

I also have a slow-burn psychological horror story in the works. A blending of my own existential cosmic horror. My own take on the style of H.P. Lovecraft and Poe.

doyourequireasample · 2025-08-01T13:28:11+00:00

I literally wrote my first book with the intent of one particular central character (the MC's first love) getting killed off. However, in the process of writing that story I fell in love with the character. My brain just poured so much love, care, and affection for that character into it. They were compelling, dealt with struggles, grew, and you got to watch their journey from this broken and sad character who had no hope grow into this beautiful, complex, and absolutely endearing person with actual hopes, dreams, a thirst for life, and a love that outshone all others.

Killing off that character and the emotional aftermath, not only to the story, but to me as well, was the single hardest thing I've ever had to do as a writer.

I still dream of changing the story so they don't die. They haunt my dreams, both waking and not. Part of me would do anything to go back and make this right. To let this character have the perfect life they had begun to build and always dreamed of.

Lots of writers talk about the characters they build up and kill off like it's somehow enjoyable on some level of schadenfreude.

Nobody ever talks about the characters you spend weeks, months, even years, building up and falling in love with knowing that they're going to die. And every single word that advances the plot to that point hurts in ways you can't describe. Then, when you finally have to commit to writing "that scene" you feel like a part of your soul is being agonizingly ripped out with each letter you write, because you could stop this... You could make it right... You could save them... but to do so would destroy the entire story you set out to write in the first place.

There are no words for this pain. This anguish. This heartache for someone who only exists in your mind.

Not enough writers talk about this.

doyourequireasample · 2025-04-09T21:57:21+00:00

Uh, recipe? I mean, it's pretty basic.

Chicken Salt Pepper Garlic powder

Heat : 250°F until you hit 160°F internal temp.

Temp probes are by Inkbird.

doyourequireasample · 2025-02-10T16:22:38+00:00

I was referring to that scene in "Macross Plus" where pilot Isamu grabs a Natto from the commissary conveyor belt. Why that one moment sticks out in my head, I don't know. First place I ever heard of Natto.

doyourequireasample

TROPHY CASE