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5 Mistakes I Made While Writing My First Novel
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- Опубликовано: 1 авг 2024
- Writing your first novel? Don't do what I did.
Get Brandon's horror/thriller novel BAD PARTS:
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Get Brandon's supernatural thriller novel ENTRY WOUNDS:
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0:00 Intro
1:16 Too Many Characters
1:59 Avoiding Full Rewrite
3:03 Wrong Genre Label
4:18 Lengthy Opening Chapter
5:39 Cramming Ideas Into One Book
6:51 Outro
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Credit to SkyDilen for my video intro.
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I know it's really silly, but I'm worried I'll "waste" a good idea and "ruin" the story since I'll make first timer mistakes. I'm sure I'll have better ideas in the future, but it's a feeling that's hard to shake sometimes.
I felt the same way with Bad Parts and with one of the failed novels I had before BP. Try to have faith in your abilities and remember that better idea can always arise in the future
Dhips, I feel you! I have the same feeling sometimes! :)
It's really hard telling what may go to waste and what may not, it's true. But, even if you make mistakes, if the core tenet of the story is still there, and fresh in your mind, you can make the idea work and not go to waste.
I haven't even started writing the story I want to write--I've done a few smaller stories on the side, I'm not just putting it off--and it has evolved and been re-worked countless times in my head alone. The same core story is still there, though, and I feel it will become better *because* I gave it time to sit and stew.
That gives me enough hope to know that it can only get better even if it needs to be rewritten a couple times.
I know this is more than a year late, but it helps to remember that you can always use that story idea again. If you've written it poorly, write it 5 years later when you're confident in your skills or 15 years later when you're a pro. There's no reason you can't. The other benefit to this mentality is that you will rarely want to remake that story in the future. You'll have more ideas and better stories to write once you've experienced another 5 or 15 years of life.
Yesterday I was watching an art tutorial about almost the same thing: "I just bought a sketchbook and I don't want to mess it up with a bad drawing on page one". The advice was to find somewhere in the middle to get the flow started with a few doodles. You don't have to write the story in order so write a scene from the middle first.
Just want to say I love the way you explain things so concisely. You don't clickbait, you don't have an annoying intro, and you get right down to it and don't waste time. Huge props, man, good channel.
The single biggest challenge I've had with my current WIP was that once I realized I simply had too much story for one book, I followed the common writing advice of dividing it into a two-part duology without realizing the reality of what that entailed.
Aside from the structural changes needed to divide one story into two, I discovered that in the traditional publishing world, you have to make the first book of a series fully stand on its own. Tossing in a cliffhanger to bridge them just wasn't going to fly (outside of self-publishing, wherein you can do whatever you want.)
Traditional publishers don't buy a series (or a trilogy or a duology) all at once (with very rare exceptions). The first book has to demonstrate there will be an audience for future installments, so the story has to have a conclusion of some type. Figuring out how to have book 1 end in a satisfying way while still leaving hooks for book 2 that didn't feel as forced as Doc Brown running up and yelling, "But Marty, you're KIDS!" was a major progress-stopper. I think I've cracked that nut, but it's turning into pretty much a full re-write. Nearly there.
Yeah duologies are a tough sell. I can’t even think of a popular one off the top of my head (that isn’t indie pubbed)
#1 issue writing first novel: making the ending not just a boring action sequence.
The main thing that went wrong with my first novel was, I was fourteen, it was a Zelda fanfiction, and it sucked. The problem with the first novel I wrote that wasn't a fanfiction, an attempt at epic fantasy, was that I was sixteen, and it sucked. I wrote two sequels in the span of a couple years and then spent the next ten years trying to edit the first one into something presentable. By 2016 I somehow had a draft of an "epic fantasy" novel that was only thirty thousand words long...and completely sucked. An editor absolutely destroyed it and told me I should just choke on my poo and die because I was totally useless. Actually, she didn't say that, but she did essentially say the book sucked, and at that point I realized that I'm just not and probably never will be an epic fantasy guy. So I tried something smaller in scope, hit a dead end at about fifteen thousand words, said "I'll come back to that later", tried something else, hit another dead end, and so on three or four times...and finally decided, hey, maybe short stories are my jam. And that's turning out to be true, 'cause I've finished plenty of short stories and folks say they're pretty good. When I do finally finish a novel, my first one will almost certainly be the young adult one about an autistic girl trying to find her way in middle school while dealing with bullies and a monster from another world, because heck, that's pretty much just autobiographical, so I don't know how I can screw it up.
No way...the first story I ever wrote was a Zelda fanfiction when I was 14. It was basically Link running through a throne room to attack Ganondorf. That was the whole plot hahah
Have you had any luck getting your short stories published? Check out the Submission Grinder if you haven't already. It's a free database of short story markets
Mine was some huge, bloated thing and I have no idea what the plot was...I called it a "novel", but no idea if it was actual novel length or not. I feel it may have at least been close. And yeah, I have a rejections folder in my email currently 100 items long...and growing. The acceptances folder is comparatively quite small.
@@LlamaWifeJunior Same here. I feel like I have a 1-to-100 acceptance-to-rejection ratio with short stories
My First Novel was a Dragon Ball and FF6 Crossover Fanfic.
Man, I thought my childhood was tough, dealing with bullies etc. but a monster from another world?! I hope you get it published because I wanna know how that experience went down.
Bro just found your channel absolutely loving it. You explain things really well. Have been applying all I've learned to my first novel :D :D
Awesome! Best of luck with the book
Try to enter your novel into Pitch Wars and RevPit if you can. They're both free, and they helped me immensely
My biggest mistake when writing my first novel was believing that some good soul of an editor will simply pick it, help me promote it and offer a decent sales deal.
It never happened. I had to self-publish everything, pay for all issues and promote everything myself in hopes someone would buy it.
Despite having very positive reviews it never got any notoriety because I simply didn't have enough money for promotion and printing more issues. I tried many different publishers but nobody wants to publish a debut. You have to be already famous to get a decent deal.
And so most writers probably will fade into obscurity. It won't matter if their works are good or bad.
That 5th one is so relatable. When I was much younger a few years back I only had one movie story concept and so I fit as many cool ideas I could into it. Now I happily accept my ideas thanks to the different and diverse story concepts I carry
Found your channel a few weeks ago ish and it's awesome! My biggest struggle has been more so my own self esteem. I've had this idea for well over a decade and completely changed almost every aspect of the story save for the core themes and magic system. The thing that has kept me going is how much I love where the story is at. I have supportive friends who have helped push me as well.
What's the biggest thing you struggled with while writing your first novel? Let us know!
Currently, Atmosphere. Trying to mesh in a very atmospheric world/surroundings with a pretty indepth Fantasy story.
Its hard for me to try and balance Atmosphere and Story beats, dialog, etc. I find myself going full on in 1 direction but losing out on some other parts.
Another struggle I'm having is trying to describe Creatures, animals, Races, and other fantasy creations i have made. I know fully describing something is usually bad and can slow the pace down, or sometimes not matter because the reader and writer will always vision something different from the text (unless some form of art is on the page) but its something I've been struggle to write
Any help for these 2 topics would be great 😃
@@PuppetMaster-Blade Next week I will have a video on atmosphere that will hopefully help.
I recently did a video on describing main characters (and characters in general). Not sure if you saw it, but it might help with your second request: ruclips.net/video/gveLd0xtACs/видео.html
Well, it was probably finding historical information since my book's genre is historical fiction. It just kinda sucks diving into long, boring historical books that teach you about a specific time period; from how the people dressed to what did they fear, but i had to (and still have to) read to understand it for the better.
Also translating is a part I struggle for real! My native language is not English so it genuinely can be a person's pet peeve to try to translate a done chapter into English, especially when the grammar between English and your native language is nothing similar to one other :(
@@trikebeatstrexnodiff You may want to try listening to historical audiobooks instead of reading the text. Almost all the nonfiction I read is in audiobook form... It's easier for me to take in while I'm going for a walk or driving
Give me another 12 years and I’ll tell you. 😢 But seriously, I have 17 stories progress. It’s a turtle race. I keep adding more turtles and moving the finish line.
I've done a full rewrite with two stories, and a half rewrite of my main story, Monster.
I’m 11,000 words into my first novel. Thanks for the tips!
Awesome, keep it up!
I'm impressed with how concise you always are!
working on my first novel and this channel has helped me a lot
Awesome, anything in particular giving you trouble?
Great essay Brandon and sound advice, thank you for taking the time to post this.
I've just recently finished my first novel. It's being formatted with an independent publisher but I feel like it may have been helpful to find your channel before I gave them my final draft. I really like what I've done but I'm sure there's tons to improve on. I plan to keep watching your videos and hopefully will get better. Ideally I hope to make enough money to finance more writing.
The biggest problem of my forst is the fact i spent too much time planning ideas instead of making it.
I'm convinced that over-planning (or procrastination) kills 99% of novels that we never get to read.
@@WriterBrandonMcNulty definately
I think my biggest problem is shoehorning, the last thing you spoke on where you are forcing things in that don’t fit. I’ve learned that even as you work, it’s better to be open about what you write as it helps develop the story better and opens new doors for new subplots, characters, story arcs, etc.
Your channel continues to be so helpful!
Thanks for continually watching!
This is the most helpful advice I've ever gotten. Too many characters, trying to make all my ideas fit in one story, and I will rethink my first chapter.
I’m 30k words into my first real attempt at a novel and I’ll probably have the same issue you did of picking a genre. I’m honestly afraid there’s probably not really much of a demand for the type of book that I’m writing anymore, as it might be kind of a dead genre. I don’t really know anything about the publishing industry and I don’t read much contemporary literature as I should, so I don’t know what’s ‘popular’ nowadays. I’m also afraid that I will run out of steam in the middle and not finish it, or that it will be too short when I get to the end. I’m writing it because it’s always been a lifetime goal of mine to be a novelist but for some reason I never have actually sat down and done it. I feel like I need to get this particular story out of my head and onto paper before I can move on with a better idea.
Your book sounds like the kind of story that’s right up my alley. I love supernatural stories and it’s mostly what I like to write as well. I’ll definitely have to check it out. :)
One of my biggest issues is deciding how much conflict I need in a scene. I seem to gravitate toward making at least some scenes that are great character development/reveal but don't center that heavily around any big decision needing to be made
Not the writer manages his or her characters, but characters manage the writer. I know it's gonna sound crazy, yet personally, I agree with this statement.
I’ve written a lot of stories in the past (both short stories and WIP’s of novel-length stories), but I’ve recently started writing my first fill-blown “novel”. It’s an atmospheric Sci-Fi thriller with medium-level world building (which is a challenge because I’m not at all that familiar with sci-fi, I’ve always been a fantasy nerd). One of the many mistakes I’ve made when attempting to write my WIP novels in the past is blowing through the first few chapters, only to get burnt out and quitting on the story due to writer’s block. Now I’ve taken more time with writing out the chapters while also writing down more ideas for the upcoming chapters. Your tips have been incredibly helpful with improving my writing skills and I’ve really started getting back into it
Ive just finished my first novel and this video has made me look at it again. Sooo...first and foremost rewrite!
Congrats on finishing, and YES, don't be afraid to rewrite. Believe it or not, it will actually save time in the grand scheme
3:13 i hadn't really thought of genre for my vampire story. it's shaping to be The Count of Monte Cristo with vampires
Your book sounds amazing!
Thanks--it was a blast (and a pain) to write!
I’ve added too many ideas in the first chapter and just had to rewrite it, make it shorter and easier to understand. I think bc I have adhd, my mind naturally jumps around but on the printed page that’s hard to follow.
Thanks for your video’s, they are very helpful 😊
I'm not published (yet), but one thing I may have to go back and fix about my (favorite) writing project was that up until about chapter 3 or 4, I couldn't decide whether I was writing a parody/comedy or a more-serious fiction story. Eventually I went with more serious and chose to keep one or two elements of the parody as a nod toward what I had wanted to parodize (is that a word? Lol). I may need to look at the opening chapters again with these tips in mind and see what I should change.
Writing my first story/novel. Biggest challenge? I would be considered not well-read as I've only read a handful of books. So I'm trying to learn the mechanics of writing. I can't even type properly I hunt and peck and I'm nearly 40,000 words into my first draft. Enjoy the laugh guys. Though it's just for me and my friends/family. I have no expectations of being published.
Everybody starts there. Nothing to be ashamed of
Im trying to write a novel and i barely read any books… i think I’m doomed
Unpublished author here, though I've written a few books and am close to self publishing. That is a tough place. I will admit, I think the less you read, the harder time you'll have in structure, pacing, exposition and a lot of things for your story because you're simply not as familiar with the mechanics FOR BOOKS (emphasis there, as you still may have an excellent story). Movies and TV can be excellent inspiration but don't teach how to write a book. My advice would be try to read at least some, and find an author you actually like. That author will teach you a lot about how to write the way you want to, because you will pick up their mechanical tricks. But also, of course practice is where it all comes in. You will get better, guaranteed.
My worst mistake on my first novel was dialogue.
Reading it again after 5 years since I finished it, everything else was quite good. Description, solid structure, good an memorable characters with a solid plot, but the dialogue was worthy of a Cringe Award.
I'd have characters speaking way too cartoonish for a realistic novel. Some said very "flowery" lines that at the time I thought made them sound cool and mysterious but they came off as an Otaku who was way too deep into anime and wanted to talk like a heartless villain.
I tried doing emotional scenes, but then the pacing was a bit off because I wanted to get to the climax as soon as possible and, as a result, it left no time for the reader to process the emotions I wanted to invoke, and then the character would say some dumb sad stuff that was too forced to push another future plot line.
I still have trouble with dialogue, but at least now I am able to detect it almost as soon as I start writing it.
My biggest issue I had with my first novel is that I needed my protagonist to be a psychopath (so they could use the magic system). But that meant their POV was downplaying dangerous situations, which meant it was ruining the tension in scene. After a lengthy struggle with myself, I managed to fix it by giving the MC an emoting foil character in every scene (toreact on their behalf), and by working on the POV to focus it on thoughts rather than the bodily type of emotion.
I'm watching these videos, and there's some really good advice. However (and maybe you speak to this on one or more of these), there's this central issue...
1. Good books follow the rules. (Rules can be debated, but as in any craft, general rules like the ones in this video get established and most people heed them to some degree.)
2. Great books break the rules. "Sure, that's a long intro (or this or that), but it's Stephen King!" (Dude spent some 35 pages in Pet Sematary just breaking into a graveyard.)
A few days ago, a revolutionary idea popped into my head. It's not that wonderous of an idea, honestly, but to me it was. I just understood that a novel is not written in just one pass, and I need to write something, just to rewrite it from the beginning. Sure, many authors say that a manuscript is just that, a first draft, but I didn't really get it. Until recently, that is.
Moreover, I disagree with your last mistake. I am a wannabe author, and I've been seriously writing for just under 6 months, so my opinion can change as I grow, but as of right now, what clicks for me is brainstorming ideas into the first draft.
This allows me to think of things like placing a foreshadowing line at the beginning, explain something better, etc. Obviously, any idea I may come up with must be from the genre I am trying to write in. I cannot just place a Sci-Fi element into a pure Fantasy world. I am not comfortable with that.
And my biggest mistake I did, or so I believe, is that I plotted way, way to much. I basically scripted my hero's journey, and it was so obvious to me that I could not write even a single word, even knowing what my MC has to do and where he must go. I feel that plotting this much robs the story of its natural feel, and my hero becomes a robot that follows whatever I decide the character to do.
As a wannabe writer, I want to be drawn into the story as well, to immerse myself in my world, just like a reader would.
Well, this comment certainly turned out to be a rant. That just about wraps it up. Also, love your vids.
Thanks! And as for my last mistake, I included so many ideas in the original drafts of BP that the story lost focus. What you're doing with brainstorming ideas early on--that's great. Come up with as many ideas as you can. Just be aware that at some point, you'll need to decide which ideas are strongest and/or fit the story best.
My number one issue with my first novel (first, only, hopefully last) was a lack of planning. I am very much a discovery writer, I like to get an idea for a scene and just see where it goes. I did have a rough outline, but it wasn't specific enough. What I should have done is make a wiki of everything in my story as I was writing it, and then make sure to cross check with the wiki whenever I referenced that thing in the future. I didn't do this and I've had to do months of work to not only do this after the fact, but to find ways to rectify inconsistent things. The biggest challenge was my map. I had characters driving all over the place and I realized that sometimes it would take days to get from point A to point B, and other times it would take only a few hours. This can present a huge issue when there is supposed to be time pressure to do several things and the time of day is important (so travel times are important and there isn't time to sit around until the sun is in a favorable position)
im most fond of writing about mystery and coming of age, most of my antagonist are inspired by my late grandmother, and i dont know why, but i always write a group of people and i always make the dashing young man the protagonist
I've discussed the horror issue with a few editors. While I know they don't sell well, and I have come to accept it, I still can't for the life of me figure out why.
My biggest issues of those 5 were #1 and #5.
1) I got this good advice previously, to keep character count down, and when I incorporated it--using the same characters where possible--it made those characters and the book much more dynamic.
5) When I first started writing my book, it was lacking direction and clarity, and I just shoved TONS of ideas in there, thinking what a genius I was and how everyone had to know my thoughts on politics etc. In my (many) edits, I've done a decent job of A) recognizing which ideas are relevant to the story and themes, and B) executing them from the characters' POV rather than my own.
I REFUSE TO DO A FULL REWRITE, but I feel like I've basically done that. My vision changed a ton since my first draft, so I would go chapter by chapter, often starting from scratch, but often copying and pasting the sections that still worked with my updated vision. I think I recognized that I didn't want to keep stuff in there just because I'd taken the time to write it--instead, that writing informed my vision, and then I had to keep only what served the story.
I'm not sure which genre my book fits into. It's a fantasy romance sword and sorcery novel with heavy elements of espionage as well as gore at times because of the magic system in play. Fantasy romances are about the slow burn, but the espionage is going to fall into thriller territory. Then there's a small category of people literally self-harming in order to cast spells. I don't think its going to appeal to many people but I want to tell the story all the same. Is fantasy romance thriller a thing?
Thanks for sharing your mistakes, Brandon! That's very helpful. :-)
Thanks for suggesting this video! It ended up being my most popular one in the past two months
@@WriterBrandonMcNulty Hooray! That's great!
@@barbaravenkataraman5017 Haha thanks again!
I kept coming up with interesting and cool character intros/reveals to the point where i kept writing new characters to fit that scene, but learned to combine the intros/reveals into a 1 character. Instantly realizing after that it has a much more powerful connection when those intros are for already developed characters. So yes less is more when it comes to making characters or having a ton of characters
I started out, in my head, having 50 plus characters to now only having about 15. And im still seeing if i they're crucial for the story or not, as of right now i think they're important but maybe down the line with matured eyes i might see that they're actually dragging to story or even speeding the story up too fast, or just completely irrelevant.
Ps going back and rewatching all your vids while im at work, get the brain refreshed again 😁
Awesome, good to have you back!
I struggle with sticking to one concept. I have matured my idea and the iterations on it seem good and I tend not to regret the changes I make, but it definitely makes me wish I had 40 hours a week to spend just doing this full time instead of as an after work pursuit
New writer, Hit the mark. I have to many ideas and not enough development. Thanks
No problem. Best of luck with your writing!
The third one sounds less like a personal issue and more like just bad luck. I'm a horror specialist who aspires to start a cinema career with storywriting but I'm not gonna ditch my primary go-to story genre which I love to death just cause it doesn't sell well. It's just sad circumstances. Plus that's more of a financial mistake rather than a mistake of the actual book
Awesome and helpful video here, thanks Brandon!
For Bad Parts, how long did the entire process take you from when you wrote your very first word to when the book was published? How long did just writing the first draft take, and about how long did the rewrite take you?
I know everyone is different but I just want to get into... my goal is to complete my first draft this year and have my novel published some time next year or sooner if possible
First word was summer 2016, publication was summer 2020.
First draft took a little over 2 months. The full rewrite in 2018 took somewhere around 5 months.
My advice on the first draft is to write it fast and not worry about getting things perfect. Just let it rip.
@@WriterBrandonMcNulty Thanks so much for the wisdom, advice and sharing your experience. It helps me a lot !
@@Jazzadrin No problem!
@@WriterBrandonMcNulty Thanks for this. I think many of us try to write too good first drafts.
@@anttisaksi5735 Yeah no need to be a hero. Just get the draft done and work from there
Expressing the number one issue I've had with writing my novel is a charitable question, because it assumes that my problems have been reasonable enough to be quantified or compared.
1. I wrote in a narrative voice that I've never used before, in a style I've never written in before, thereby retarding the entire process.
2. I didn't study characterization enough prior to writing so I'm basically learning a very simple part of writing while trying to make a whole novel.
3. I did months of world-building that resulted in tons of stuff that I'd never use.
4. Not wanting to waste any of this world-building, I began creating more story to make use of it all, which stretched my story from what would have likely been something like 75,000 words to now well over 200,000 words. (Projected, I've only written around 40,000 hitherto.)
5. To create the story, instead of asking what I wanted my characters' motivations to be and what the main conflict was, I just kept adding new plot points, new bad guys, new problems that weren't necessarily related to the primary story. Only I didn't have a "primary story," so that would have been impossible anyway.
I'm sure there are more that I've likely suppressed to retain my sanity.
My biggest mistake was writing a detailed outline of the whole novel and thinking I'd never have to seriously deviate from it and I'd always have a good idea how long each part would be. My second biggest mistake was thinking I could write the parts in any order and put them together later because I had that outline.
Neither of those novels I worked on for years were ever completed so technically I still don't know how to write a novel but I have learned how *not* to write a novel.
And remember all the cool ideas and character you cut or prune from the first story just wait to appear in the second and third ones:-)
Getting a computer. All my ideas are presently split between sheets of printer paper and my overloaded phone that is growing ever slower.
Saving up though.
Best of luck getting organized!
I find mine is too dense in many places, I need to weed out a lot of explaining and over complicating, break it down and let it flow
Finding the ending. I haven’t been able to mail it down. I know what I want to happen but I have no ideas on how to get there. Help?
on #5...thats totally what i did, and it's ok, but it's so much and makes my first draft so long that i'm afraid it's gonna be like the "wheel of time" books, and frankly speaking there are fewer and fewer readers for such tomes.
Could you explain more developing for within vs add more
I have a story in my head that Ive been really wanting to write, but the idea that "first novels are bad" has me worried that I wont be able to do it properly. Should I practice writing other stories then come back to it when I have more skill or should I just write write it now and accept its probably not that great anyway?
Brandon, I just found you and your atmosphere vid was great and helped me A LOT. I ended up on this mistake vid as I am writing my first novel Right off the top, I am a Christian. The theme of my WIP is basically salvation. My protag encounters Satan and his minions by way of a hurricane (that actually happened) in the NW USA in Oct 2016. My story takes place on West Hwy 101 when a demon steps in front of his car which causes him to wreck his car. Question? I want to show how corrupt and viscous Satan is, but do not want to use profanity. Please tell me there's a way around my dilemma. Can I interject the italicized word "expletive", or will it destroy the power of Satan's remarks for the reader. My story is a "contained thriller." Or do I use mostly atmosphere to project his thoughts and words. HELP!
Oftentimes the most corrupt people are polite and well-spoken. Perhaps the Satan in your story doesn't curse for some reason (get creative with it!)
Alternatively, maybe you can invent curse words that he can use?
I know it's been a year since you asked, but - out of curiosity - what was your decision?
My 50c on the topic though.
The solution imo is what you put into 'corrupt', including who *your* Satan is, what he wants. Some examples:
- Fallen angel. May speak archaic, sound tired of evil but think it as unavoidable. Mortals are created to perish in misery, it's their natural way.
- Devil from DnD. Chaos and destruction just for the sake of chaos and destruction. Mortals are meatbags and bloodpools. Speaks... shouldn't really speak to the main character.
- Demon from DnD. Evil order is the only purpose. Mortals are valuable assets to be tricked into something that will corrupt them. Can be very customer-centric.
- Hag from DnD. Loves mortals suffer, simple as that. Thus usually pretend to be an helpless old lady and talk very sweet while offering deal or trade, but turn aggressive and promise physically vicious things.
- Voland of Bulgakov. He can differentiate good from bad; just is sure good is something exceptional that does not change anything fundamentally, and mediocre majority is too easily becoming bad that it's just enough for him to not intervene and watch while his servants do the job of confusing and corrupting.
PS I'd say for unprepared human it would be a really special occasion just to *survive* dialog with Satan and keep sane mind in any of the above scenarios. Otherwise as Brandon mentioned already you don't need to show the corruption via special way of speaking. Young blue-eyed girl in white starched dress drinking tea from toy cap in the eye of the hurricane that tears a town apart can be cliché enough 😈
@@WriterBrandonMcNulty haha such a good reply
so suppose there's a man trying to acquire some sort of knowledge about someone, and he has a bunch of people injured which he fought them off before asking but the start ought to be the question "where do I find bob" for instance so how do i start the first chapter and i want to know whose perspective will it be better a unknown narrator or the character itself?
Can’t watch this one yet! It’ll booger up my reading experience haha
You're reading Bad Parts? Awesome!
@@WriterBrandonMcNulty ya buddy! I’m only a little way in and it’s so intense, I nearly have whiplash 😂 this is great stuff
@@Whyiadda Sweet! When you finish, please consider leaving a review on Amazon. Reviews are immensely helpful!
@@WriterBrandonMcNulty you bet!
Is one main character and five supporting characters too many?
I will be extremely disappointed if Bad Parts won't be adapted to screen. The story is great and we definitely need such original and interesting ideas in media
Number one issue I have? Getting anyone to read it.
6:56 I can't answer that because I didn't write my first novel yet.
My biggest issue with writing my first novel is... I'm still writing it! I'm not going to say how many years I've been working on it, because that's too embarassing, but I (somehow) still have enough faith in it to know I need to finish it, no matter what. I procrastinate way too much, that's my biggest problem. I took a break from it during COVID, because a lot of the circumstances of the main characters too closely mirrored what was going on in the real world, and so it just got too depressing to write - even now, it still feels a bit like I'm writing America's near future, the way things are going politically! But mostly, I feel like this is the novel that's teaching me how to write a novel; it's the first I've ever written that even got to completed first draft stage, and I learned so much from doing just that. Much of the work I'm doing now is redrafting - shaping and honing the story and characters into something more like a proper, cohesive story. I'm not worried by how long it's taking me precisely because I regard it as my apprenticeship, and everything I'll have learned from this process - from initial conception right up to finally getting it submission-ready - will be knowledge and experience I can take towards writing the next one, and the next...
a problem i'm having is i'm afraid i have too few characters in the second half of the story
Is 13 chapters long enough for a novel?
I've struggled with focusing on an age demographic, with more mature intellectual and phosophical ideas conflicting in tone with young adult life lessons.
That IS tricky. I don't write YA, but for what it's worth, when I was a teenager, I liked stories that were "brainy" and made me think.
But, yeah, I imagine it's harder to score points with a mass audience in your situation.
I think you missed the main reason why you generally don't label your book the wrong genre is that it emplaces that book the expectations of that genre, and if they aren't met because the book isnt that genre, the book is perceived as worse off.
I'm your case, Bad Parts is more of a thriller with body horror elements rather than a full blown horror book since the focus was not the horror itself
#1 issue: Rewriting....
Oh dear, I thought this was 5 TIPS. I better start again...
Haha no no no DON'T DO THESE THINGS!!!
@@WriterBrandonMcNulty by far though, the thing I struggled with most was first vs third person.
@@TrevorDuran3390 I used to write stories in 1st, then convert them to 3rd during the editing phase. If you're struggling, try that
@@WriterBrandonMcNulty yeah, I sort of did that. I realized I was more descriptive in first person, but I write way too formal for first person.
@@TrevorDuran3390 The formal part is surprising. Usually it's the other way around, with 3rd being too formal and 1st being charismatic and fun
How the hell did you acquire an agent or publishing deal if your first draft was as bad as your editor said?
My first chapter is 16 pages... 8642 words 😅
Uh oh. Might want to add in some scene breaks
Your editor showed u to rewrite.
Yep, very lucky she convinced me to rewrite the whole thing--book turned out 1000x better
As a software developer, I find this happens a lot writing code too.
My biggest issue was: when I was young I had a will and energy to write but didn't have knowledge or any fokin clue what is happening in this world at all, and now I have knowledge and don't have the desire to do all of the work.