I think that first point is crucial for new writers: you will be a better writer soon after finishing the book. Just completing the novel makes you a much much better writer than you were when you started your first book. And you'll be significantly better a year later. Write another book in the meantime, then give your first book a serious revision. Cutting the parts that may not be working is the hardest for me. Especially as, while a particular scene may not be great, it has crucial developments for the rest of the story, which will collapse without it.
Supporting your algorithm with a comment about your recent handiwork to solidify and square your shelves. Thanks for the literary content and the free-range desk cat.
When I wrote my mystery novel, I had been reading the same genre for about twenty years. I knew the basics of the genre, and I stuck to them. But I didn't know anything about POV character, voice, head hopping, or the rules for a limited third-person narrator. Now, I'm having a hard time trying to fix those problems.
Have you already finished other works (either short stories or novels)? Looking back at the first draft I ever wrote, I had all of these issues as well. I only got better once I started noticing these flaws and trying to actively avoid them. So, I think that the fact that you're seeing them means that you're on a good track! If you haven't written that much, you might need to get more mileage first before you can figure out how to fix things. If you're more experienced, it might help to review other people's work and try to give advice on how to fix their work (especially begginer's work). I've started doing that very recently and I'm learning a lot so far. You can also try taking courses or reading books about writing. However, I think that Carl's advice here can really help with these issues as well. Anyways, good luck with your novel!
@TheSnakeInk Yes, I've kept writing less ambitious projects than a novel, and I've kept getting better. But I still want to fix the problems in my novel. Have you been able to fix yours in the early drafts you wrote? Or should I give up on that and just focus on new projects?
@@Eduarodi I tried to fix the draft I mentioned but I eventually just set it aside for a while. I decided to do other work first instead before going back to rewrite it again. It just had too many issues for me to fix (on top of developmental issues). I've ultimately decided to set that project aside for now, though. Taking some time away and starting from scratch did make the rewrite much better, however. Maybe that could work for you as well?
00:30 Very funny. Worked just fine yesterday. Can you do a video on middles targeted to people who have only ever written short stories? It has become painfully obvious to me that wordcount is not the only difference between a novel and a short story, there seems to be some insidious difference deep within the structure itself.
Your cat is so cute! Anyways, great advice as always. I totally agree with you about the plot structures. It's good to be aware of them, but following them so closely can be detrimental. Happy New Year, btw!
Waiting- yet another thing writing You Tube doesn't talk about. Good advice on other points for same reason. I lobe the g" go back" ( to original vision) idea. Great work Carl...Poor patients 😅
Awesome advice, as always. I'm revising a novel I wrote back in 2011-2013 and the first three points are exactly what I am doing/experiencing. 1) Ten years on, I'm a better writer. I'm certainly a better story teller. 2) I've heard people's views on certain issues of that novel, and enough time has past for me to hear them objectively. 3) I've torn out so much of what I was just emotionally attached to, and I've learnt one thing; you can always write better stuff if you keep the story as the priority and not your own ego.
Carl, I really enjoy your videos. You give really insightful, nuanced advice, and I appreciate your matter of fact tone and no nonsense set-up. One thing I wish you did, however, is put a 5-10 second buffer of music at the end. Sometimes I'm still thinking about the advice you just gave, but YT cuts to a new video and I get distracted. I think some standard/whatever-kind-of-music-you-would-want-to-include ending music would help me better internalize what you're saying. Thanks (obviously you don't have to do this, it would just help me personally)!
Don't use AI writing software anything you feed into a build is owned by the developer. Think of Monsanto suing the farmers over their seeds they claimed as IP. Every word you write after a single AI prompt is the crop grown with your creative seed they have patented.
Good advice, thanx! As Mark Twain said, "Writing is easy. All you do is cross out all the wrong words." BTW, did you straighten your shelves or tilt the walls?
My book 1 was published a little over a year ago. I'm down to my last half dozen chapters of the follow on book. Book 2 is so much better. I now see book 1, the character arc is non existent and in book 2 my character's voices are so much better. Would you recommend rewrite book 1? Then republic book 1 & 2 @ the same time?
That’s exactly what I’m doing now. I self-published the first of what I’d planned to be a four-book series. By the time I’d finished the second book and started the third, I realized all the shortcomings of the first and pulled it from publication. Now I’m finishing the last two, but I will put them together as one book, cutting out the sections that made the first book drag and tightening up the whole story. I just wish I could find the seven people who bought the first book and send them a copy of the new and improved for free as an apology.
If you get a second opinion, it can’t be from someone who’s afraid to be brutally honest. They also need to be somewhat competent to explain why your writing might be weak.
I agree you need someone who will be honest, but I'm not sure they need to be "brutal" about it. It's possible to be honest, but also kind. That's the type of constructive criticism I prefer. (Then again, maybe I'm just too sensitive.)
@@libbiesquirrelchaser I see what you mean and agree with you! You can be totally honest without being cruel. Besides, a writer is much less likely to take advice that is just unnecessarily mean anyways.
I think that first point is crucial for new writers: you will be a better writer soon after finishing the book. Just completing the novel makes you a much much better writer than you were when you started your first book.
And you'll be significantly better a year later.
Write another book in the meantime, then give your first book a serious revision.
Cutting the parts that may not be working is the hardest for me. Especially as, while a particular scene may not be great, it has crucial developments for the rest of the story, which will collapse without it.
Supporting your algorithm with a comment about your recent handiwork to solidify and square your shelves. Thanks for the literary content and the free-range desk cat.
Free range desk cats are pretty nice.
When I wrote my mystery novel, I had been reading the same genre for about twenty years. I knew the basics of the genre, and I stuck to them. But I didn't know anything about POV character, voice, head hopping, or the rules for a limited third-person narrator. Now, I'm having a hard time trying to fix those problems.
Ikr
Have you already finished other works (either short stories or novels)?
Looking back at the first draft I ever wrote, I had all of these issues as well. I only got better once I started noticing these flaws and trying to actively avoid them. So, I think that the fact that you're seeing them means that you're on a good track!
If you haven't written that much, you might need to get more mileage first before you can figure out how to fix things. If you're more experienced, it might help to review other people's work and try to give advice on how to fix their work (especially begginer's work). I've started doing that very recently and I'm learning a lot so far.
You can also try taking courses or reading books about writing. However, I think that Carl's advice here can really help with these issues as well.
Anyways, good luck with your novel!
@TheSnakeInk Yes, I've kept writing less ambitious projects than a novel, and I've kept getting better. But I still want to fix the problems in my novel. Have you been able to fix yours in the early drafts you wrote? Or should I give up on that and just focus on new projects?
@@Eduarodi I tried to fix the draft I mentioned but I eventually just set it aside for a while. I decided to do other work first instead before going back to rewrite it again. It just had too many issues for me to fix (on top of developmental issues). I've ultimately decided to set that project aside for now, though. Taking some time away and starting from scratch did make the rewrite much better, however. Maybe that could work for you as well?
00:30 Very funny. Worked just fine yesterday. Can you do a video on middles targeted to people who have only ever written short stories? It has become painfully obvious to me that wordcount is not the only difference between a novel and a short story, there seems to be some insidious difference deep within the structure itself.
Your cat is so cute! Anyways, great advice as always. I totally agree with you about the plot structures. It's good to be aware of them, but following them so closely can be detrimental.
Happy New Year, btw!
Waiting- yet another thing writing You Tube doesn't talk about. Good advice on other points for same reason. I lobe the g" go back" ( to original vision) idea. Great work Carl...Poor patients 😅
The pickles seem to be missing and we have more books on the shelf. I see your shelf brace! Bravo! That cat did NOT get enough Christmas treats.
Awesome advice, as always.
I'm revising a novel I wrote back in 2011-2013 and the first three points are exactly what I am doing/experiencing.
1) Ten years on, I'm a better writer. I'm certainly a better story teller.
2) I've heard people's views on certain issues of that novel, and enough time has past for me to hear them objectively.
3) I've torn out so much of what I was just emotionally attached to, and I've learnt one thing; you can always write better stuff if you keep the story as the priority and not your own ego.
Carl, I really enjoy your videos. You give really insightful, nuanced advice, and I appreciate your matter of fact tone and no nonsense set-up. One thing I wish you did, however, is put a 5-10 second buffer of music at the end. Sometimes I'm still thinking about the advice you just gave, but YT cuts to a new video and I get distracted. I think some standard/whatever-kind-of-music-you-would-want-to-include ending music would help me better internalize what you're saying. Thanks (obviously you don't have to do this, it would just help me personally)!
Approach to editing - picture yourself pruning rose bushes... with a lawn mower.
I need my eyes checked. For a second, I thought that was a giant ice cream sandwich on the table next to you.
In your defense my streaming quality was low and I saw the exact same thing.
Button fixed.
This is so true
Fantastic advice.
Don't use AI writing software anything you feed into a build is owned by the developer.
Think of Monsanto suing the farmers over their seeds they claimed as IP.
Every word you write after a single AI prompt is the crop grown with your creative seed they have patented.
Good advice, thanx! As Mark Twain said, "Writing is easy. All you do is cross out all the wrong words."
BTW, did you straighten your shelves or tilt the walls?
Cat fixed it.
My book 1 was published a little over a year ago. I'm down to my last half dozen chapters of the follow on book. Book 2 is so much better. I now see book 1, the character arc is non existent and in book 2 my character's voices are so much better. Would you recommend rewrite book 1? Then republic book 1 & 2 @ the same time?
That’s exactly what I’m doing now. I self-published the first of what I’d planned to be a four-book series. By the time I’d finished the second book and started the third, I realized all the shortcomings of the first and pulled it from publication. Now I’m finishing the last two, but I will put them together as one book, cutting out the sections that made the first book drag and tightening up the whole story. I just wish I could find the seven people who bought the first book and send them a copy of the new and improved for free as an apology.
@@dorysmith2776 Thanks for the feedback. I've been lucky I've sold about 3k.
Wait! ...Is step one to fix a manuscript.
If you get a second opinion, it can’t be from someone who’s afraid to be brutally honest. They also need to be somewhat competent to explain why your writing might be weak.
I agree you need someone who will be honest, but I'm not sure they need to be "brutal" about it. It's possible to be honest, but also kind. That's the type of constructive criticism I prefer. (Then again, maybe I'm just too sensitive.)
@@libbiesquirrelchaser I see what you mean and agree with you! You can be totally honest without being cruel. Besides, a writer is much less likely to take advice that is just unnecessarily mean anyways.
Did you turn into a cat? 😂