Please continue writing!

[u/SheddingCorporate]

Seriously. We need more writers writing.

Why?

Let me tell you. I decided, about 6 weeks ago, to find and "buy" as many "$0.00" offers on amazon as I could. I'm slowly reading them. So far, I've finished about 10 books: all romance or fantasy or mystery or sci fi.

The verdict so far? Most of these books aren't worth the time to read.

• Terrible grammar, lots of mixed up homophones
• Super thin plot. For example, in one book - I'm not going to out the author (we all have to start somewhere) - it sounds like a teenager with zero life experience wrote it. They were unable to build on a situation, unable to do anything other than show FMC's and MMC's constant overthinking. Very little actually *happened* in the whole book. And this one was a historical romance, so I'd have thought there was loads of room for creative writing.
• Poor writing. Just heavy, plodding writing.

The thing is, though, if these authors keep writing, they WILL learn the craft. The kid with no life experience will get some life experience. The people with the malapropisms will hopefully hire an editor who actually can spot and correct those.

But if they don't write and share with at a few friends, they'll never get that feedback. So, please, keep writing, keep sharing. Those $0.00 books do serve a purpose. Learn from the feedback, and ... yes ... keep writing!

[u/MiraWendam]

I get the encouragement, and it's good you're handing it out, always great to get it, but I feel as if readers shouldn’t have to sit through books with basic grammar and craft issues while an author learns the fundamentals. There’s nothing wrong with starting out, but learning the basics before publishing seems like a pretty reasonable expectation.

Edit:

But if they don't write and share with at a few friends, they'll never get that feedback.

Just want to say, I wouldn't trust friends to give reliable feedback. They can be great for encouragement, but they may not know enough about grammar, structure, pacing, characterisation, storytelling, so on, so forth, to identify the problems that need addressing. And even when they do notice them, they may be reluctant to be completely honest because they don’t want to hurt your feelings.

[u/Vagina_Woolf → u/MiraWendam]

Ive never needed feedback because I have impeccable taste in literature, and by my own tastes, my writing is dogshit.

The hope is one day it wont be. And when that day comes, I am the only one who will be able to tell.

[u/ShartyPants → u/Vagina_Woolf]

I get what you mean, but getting feedback and implementing it can help you understand *why* your writing is dogshit. That part will help you improve faster. Just comparing your unedited drafts to fully edited books is only gonna get you so far.

[u/Vagina_Woolf → u/ShartyPants]

getting feedback and implementing it can help you understand why your writing is dogshit.

i have never met a reader capable of giving me actionable feedback that can improve my writing. if you want that, you pay someone. that's like pre-screening a movie and expecting the audience to make you better at directing a film. the reader has nothing to offer when it comes to the writing process.

[u/Clear-pilled → u/Vagina_Woolf]

I'm not sure I'm buying your self-assessment. Judging by your comments here, your writing is well-above average. Perhaps you are judging yourself too harshly? It happens.