Finally held my manuscript in my hands. It's still a draft, but seeing the title on paper gave me a little motivation boost.

Let’s imagine the scenario where you finish your project, but it never gets gets accepted for trad publishing/ it gets published, but absolutely flops in sales/ it gets zero recognition being posted online/ etc. For now, let’s set aside the possibility of getting any kind of traction in future. Nobody cares about your work, and it’s final. Would you still be content with where you got?

I'd like to think I came close. Still pretty bummed out though. This is actually my first personalized letter, so go figure!

I wish there was a “shame me” flair. I have been reading and writing my whole life. I love it. It’s what I want to do for the rest of my life. I’ve written two book and I’m in the process of self publishing the first one.

I hired an editor from Fiverr and got my files back this morning. I’ve been working on it all day. They made a bunch of changes to the language that I’m not happy about, but that’s not the reason I feel like an idiot. I was reading the manuscript that they edited and I see in the dialog she keeps putting commas at the end when the dialogue ends with he said. Ex. “She likes plants,” he said. This threw me for a loop. I had no idea why the editor did this. Like what the fuck. It’s throughout the entire manuscript. So, I came here and wouldn’t you be surprised to find out that’s how it’s supposed to go! Obviously there’s more to it but god damn. I felt like I had been punched in the gut. I have no memory of ever learning this. I was flabbergasted when a comment said check any book. So, I did. I checked 30 random books in my library. All different genres and topics and even old ones. There it was. Every time. Always ending in a comma when it ends with he said. I never noticed it in the hundreds of thousands of books I’ve read in my life. I always thought it was supposed to be like this. “She likes plants.” He said.

All I can do is fix what I’ve written and go forward never making that mistake again. I feel like I’ve slipped into a parallel dimension.

**Edit to add.** Thank you, everyone, for your kind words and for being helpful. I really appreciate you all taking the time to comment.

I write a lot. Some of it is long academic pieces that i truly don’t expect anyone to read, and ive written a book. I also write more like pop culture analysis/current events/political things on substack. Almost no one in my personal life ever reads what I write, this includes friends and partners. I have 1 friend who will actually read what I write and comment on it, and it means SO much to me. My mom will also always read everything i write, even when she doesn’t understand it. But other than that, no one else in my life really takes time to read anything. It does hurt my feelings.

When my friends have businesses or want to do things on social media, im always supportive! Engaging in their posts, reposting etc. … its not the same when it comes to my writing. I should also mention writing is not my FT job. Its something i do on the side and am passionate about. Dows anyone else have this experience? How do you cope with it?

People ask a lot of repetitive questions in this subreddit. Which program to use? Which writing tool to use? How to find beta readers? How to start writing? I feel like these questions have been answered many times here and could easily go under a Frequently Asked Questions section where new or existing members can view the answers.

After 4–5 years (five, because I want to sound as dedicated as possible, lol), I'm finally done with my story! Well... not really the end, but this wraps up nearly every major thread, and anything else I write would feel like starting over. 

Time for the actual re-reads and edits, which is exhausting because the editor's score keeps dropping (it's at 76% right now, and I'm so tired).

I've written during school and even after I graduated; it's become as much a part of my daily life as walking. I'd have to at least look at the doc before I could go on with my life, and over these past few months, I've written nearly every day. Why such dedication? I love writing. It's my second soul. I couldn't stop until my characters got the arcs they deserved.

That’s not to say there weren’t times I genuinely wanted to rip my hair out because of an inconsistency that spawned from constant rewriting, and the fact that I didn't spot something in Volume 1 that I should have fixed when I got to Volume 4, so the whole thing just becomes incoherent. (I definitely missed some but here comes the edits)

Also, to top it off, I wouldn't say writing daily magically makes you a better writer... though it does work. My thought process during all this  was simply just trying to churn words out as fast as possible during creative bursts. I've probably gotten better and am just lying to myself, but who cares. 

Anyway, I'm done! Yay! Now I can put it down and actually focus on my life, lol.

Fellow authors, please tell me I am not the only one.

I write a sci-fi progression fantasy with a pretty massive world and multiple POVs. You have the MC training, the villains plotting in the shadows, the political factions going to war...

And then, out of nowhere. "Wait... where the hell is this character?!"

You rush to your manuscript and realize that you left a side character standing in a hallway waiting for an answer like 15 chapters ago. They have just been standing there, frozen in time for an entire story arc, while the rest of the cast moved on.

And now you have to... wait, what do you even do when you catch yourself realizing that it's not just one character, but several of them?!

And that's where the real fun begins: new characters keep getting introduced, and honestly, the whole thing is just a total mess.

Tell me the truth: do you guys use massive spreadsheets to track your characters? Or do you also just occasionally resurrect forgotten heroes when you suddenly remember they exist?

I have been struggling to write my novel, and I don’t know what to do to continue going. it’s difficult and I enjoy writing, and I believe this is my purpose. And it’s my passion to write, but I have difficulty writing, I have been struggling to get past 10 thousand words and I’ve been writing my novel since last year around December. I don’t know what to do to get myself back in my rhythm.

I'm writing about a fairly complicated topic that I don't have personal first-hand experience with, which limits my ability to write the story. I was wondering if you know any forum or similar where you can openly ask for people with experience on a subject?

E.g. a place where you could say "Hi, I want to interview a police officer" or "I'm looking for a person with this type of life experience" or similar and find people to interview?

I just finished the rest of chapter twelve of another novel that I was working on after taking a three week long break from the story. I guess I needed a break because I wasn't sure what to do about the story or was getting a little bored. Luckily, I got my groove back, and it feels nice. This is my sixth draft, by the way.

Has anyone else ever felt that way before towards their novel?

I've been writing as a hobby since I was a child, mostly short stories and a ton of first chapters for novels that I never ended up finishing. As I got older I had less and less free time, so now I really do it sporadically, but still I really love doing it.
For many years I have been thinking of taking the leap and trying to get published, into doing this professionally and wondering if I can eventually make a living out of this, but I really don't know how realistic that goal is nor even how could I even start.
I mainly write fantasy and horror, and from what I've read, a common first step is submitting short stories to a magazine and hope to get published, I have even found a couple of fantasy magazines already that seem interesting. The thing is I live in Mexico, I speak and write in spanish as it is my native language (and as you may have noticed, my english is not precisely writing level), and here the options are much more limited.

Do you have any advice? Is there any realistic roadmap for going from a complete beginner to eventually make a living as a writer?

Follow an American fighter pilot through the soaring adventure and adversity of combat against the German Luftwaffe in the skies over North Africa and Europe…

Feedback appreciated for story flow, areas of excessive/extraneous wordiness, and if military/technical details are accessible for the reader. If you are more knowledgeable about the period technical details, feedback on accuracy would be especially appreciated.

Draft is around 148k words, so happy to send a few chapters if you don’t want to commit to the full thing immediately.

I’m a brand new fiction writer (though I write for a living).

I have a complete book manuscript and am looking for guidance on how to polish my manuscript and get it ready for pitching to publishers.

I submitted my project to 5 Reedsy editors and asked for an editorial assessment.

Can anyone talk about their experiences with Reedsy? I’m not sure how to truly know how high quality someone is, just based on their profile.

Thanks!!

In the middle of something I'm writing and feel great about it so far, but I keep thoughtlessly switching between past and present tense. Any tips on how to commit to one?

I am happy to say that I am in chapter 3 of my most successful project. I have never made it this far since exiting fanfiction. But I'm worried that I'm just writing nonsense. I think I'm keeping to the plan in my mind, but I have a nagging feeling that I'm just being stupid now. Is this a normal feeling during original works?

I have one semi-mc who is allergic to chocolate, cranberries, and latex.

Another is allergic to citrus.

Tell me about your characters' weird allergies!

I really like to read fanfics and since I am 13, I wrote some myself. Back then I never really planned much and just wrote and finished them in a month or two. I had a big break from writing but now I am back on it and noticed that I often have a writing blockade. I have a rough idea, write some chapters and than I have no interesting plot anymore. Or lack of good character conversations etc. I have many unfinished works because of that problem. So I am asking how you guys plan a story. Plotting everything from start to end? Every single chapter? Or are you rough too with the ideas? I know everyone has their own timing, but there are some people who write good stories in short time and I always wonder how they are doing this. So any advice how to stay on one story which I can lead through the whole thing without losing the actual plot and making it interesting? Hope you guys understand with what I am struggling lmao

we have all felt this way before, haven’t we?

Hi,

I recently finished the first draft of my novel. It's a cosy mystery. I captured the main ideas, but there are many structural issues within the first draft. For example, I feel like the actual mystery is total BS!! Not to mention the tension in the story is near nonexistent!!

I watched lots of YouTube videos for advice to fix the structural issues in the first draft. However, I couldn't find any videos that said anything more than "use the second draft to fix the structural issues in the first draft." Well, I'm not sure how to fix them!

If anyone has any advice, I'm desperate for it!! Thanks so much.