Відео

I started wondering if I needed a three-year plan myself... or maybe a five or ten-year one :D

So the subject first then the action ?

I feel the same way about filler. I just want my story to flow naturally.

Publishing and writing can be incredibly frustrating x

❤ I truly feel like this some days. The impatience to publish. I'm working on multiple series under various pens & I gave myself this year to write again, and next year is publication of multiple projects, but I need the longer form ones to be the best they can be & I had to delay my own substack year long series to go back and write more scenes & I just want it out in the world to partly sooth the desire to be read. You are doing future you the biggest help by working with it & persisting. Cheering you on.

Subscribed ❤ Can't wait to catch up on your posts & read your story.

I understand the feeling of frustration and the frenzy and desire to write. And can't wait for everything to be ready. What I have learned, for example, from overland travelling across the world, is that the journey to the destination is more interesting than the destination itself. Or of course the destination is important and interesting and valuable, but it would not be as valuable and interesting without the journey there. The journey itself is already important and creates many important memories. Patience young padawan `:D (Something I can´t handle myself, altough I enjoy the journey itself :) Whether you decide to go through traditional publishing or self-publishing, the solution is sure to be right at that moment.

You could potentially supplement the space between series releases by releasing a collection of the entire series or different collector editions (hardbacks, special editions) after the final book has been out for some time. That will see you get the new release sales boosts and keep you in reader's minds with release news even if they're not buying the new editions. And of course writing one or two standalones to be released during that period could be an idea.

Thank you for sharing your journey with us!

It's a sound plan! A lot of moving parts, but I think it's pretty strong in getting out a full on set of series without too many interruptions. I'm definitely tuning into any of the vlog you release about the process. Godspeed V.A!

congratulations on taking a big step!! it's exciting isn't it chasing your dreams? I'm so proud of you!!

Well done for finishing your draft!

My situation is that the raw version is "ready". It has problems and it has some not-so-completely written chapters. It currently has over 57,000 words. (If you want to compare, about 26,000 words is approximately 200 book pages.) I've been trying to edit the first chapter and it's progressing slowly. I don't really know what I want to do with it. I edited the first chapter right away. The reason is that I am taking it to the Adult education institutes writing circle to be read and commented on. After that I will keep break and plan and write other story. The beginning of next year at the latest I continue with the freandship story.

I'm really trying to focus on threading my theme through my narrative at the moment. It's something I'm not usually as intentional about.

Hi! Just wanted to say I really enjoy your videos. Your voice and the way you explain things really helps me stay focused and understand what you're saying, which is not always easy when you have adhd. Thank you! ❤

poetry

I love your voice ❤

Much respect to your videos. I can't find the other video in which one Nigerian professor said the author of "Bleeding Stubs" is donating to schools in Africa and Asia to study Flora Nwapa's latest novel as a classroom text. How selfless this new African author, Besong, is in remaining a fan of Flora Nwapa. When I heard that, I immediately read "Bleeding Stubs," the best writing I have ever read from an African author. You guys are a blessing to humanity.

Good stuff. And you weren't annoying at all. (Unlike most UA-camrs)

Super Helpful! Something I've been struggling with!

I'm more of an excel type of woman. I've already created an Excel for the future reading project. That will happend after I have taken a break from the manuscript. Well actually not in the last scene, but in that one scene that I didn't write when it was next. There is an exchange of information, which should be made to look like something other than boring info dump. But the end of zero version is almost in my hands. I've joked that it's turning into a brick. And it doesn't say much about anything. In accordance with the truth, they just sometimes go to work, cook, eat it, watch a TV series, visiting, go to the library, a couple of parties and talk :' D I use a large piece of paper, pen, markers and sticky notes to plan the story. I already bought those. Another story is waiting as I take a break from the friendship story.

How do you decide what you'd want to change in a chapter? Is it just the flow of the prose? Something you've wanted to include in or remove? I feel like I'm editing before even finishing the chapter. ;-;

I'm a newbie writer who wants to publish a book one day, just found your video really helpful. Will be following from now ^^

Congratulations on finishing the draft! 💙💙💙💙

If you don't need to give a big dump of information, don't do it. If it's necessary to give a big dump, then do it. For some reason, creative writing is the one sphere of the arts where people with some level of success insist that there is only one way to do things. There is no right or wrong way to write a story or novel. If you worry too much about form you risk losing your voice in the process. I hope that wasn't too much of an info dump for anyone.

I just wanted to say in a very nice way that I disagree with your advice, but that's okay. You write your way and I'll write mine. I never write over the word limit in a given story style, or article. If anything, I will always err on the side of being under the word limit, but, then, I enjoy short fiction. Cut words by all means, but please don't lose your voice in the process. No words were cut in the writing of this comment, either for clarity or style.

Your voice is not clear

I have thought about the problem of the first chapter. They have to give all kinds of information about the story: what's coming, tell about the characters, maybe a little about things that help identify, show the style and a million other things and hook the reader... They automatically become turbocharged info dump. Or maybe not all of it counts as an info dumping, but there is still a lot of material to put in it. But it's the difficult combination of telling so little about the world that it's not an info dumping, but still enough that people think it's not one-dimensional.

Thanks for the video!

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Good advice, thank you very much!

Congrats on finishing your draft! New subscriber ❤

Thank you for this video! Love listening to you chat. I'm curious to know how it is suggested to deliver feedback to an author once you've beta read their book. Is it a good idea to write comments in their book? If so, is there a certain number of comments there needs to be? Should beta readers give authors a report of sorts where everything is written out? I'd love to know how you do this or how you've seen beta feedback given to authors. Thank you!

Happy to be your new subscriber 🤍🤍

Congratulations on finishing your draft!! 🎉🎉🎉

In finnish I checked the name for 4 books. It's called by "tetralogia" so in english it would be "tetralogy". Or more informally called a quadrilogy, for example, in the film industry. I have a little problem. There aren't many scenes missing from the first version. But another story has already started spinning in my head.

Ohhhh! What fantastic news! CONGRATULATIONS! What an accomplishment! So proud of you :D

Thanks for sharing your profound wisdom on the ominous art of reflective writing.😊❤

I thought she was playing piano but she was typing. just gave me an idea.

I, on the other hand, am ESPECIALLY looking forward to Neil Gaiman's book (at least of the ones listed here). If it has any of the intensity of Pan's Labyrinth, it will certainly delight me. There is a very precise and pretty good definition of magical realism as a video: ua-cam.com/video/scgn2BCcht4/v-deo.html

Thank you for yet another great video! 🙂

Beautiful, please carry on with these videos in future.

Oops, I didn't think I'd write a comment on almost every video you make. Description is my weak point. Definitely. You said a lot that made me think. I have so much to edit in the future. At this point I'm looking forward to it. Years ago, when I was writing really short stories (not the way you use in english a short story.. something like drabble?), editing and polishing were my favorites. (it is difficult to translate thoughts that "do not conform to the rules for me".... (if you manage to finish reading, it will become clear, I hope). Example (english= finnish): Novel= Romaani, Novella= Pienoisromaani, Short story = Novelli (direct translation, by word to word would be "lyhyt tarina", And if "lyhyt tarina" would be translated as a "short story", it would be longer than finnish short story... kind of...) and I don't know how short is drabble, is it too short or too long :D Sorry for getting off topic so I better focus about tomorrow and go to sleep.

Dialpgue punctuation marks are different in english than finnish (we also write the names of the languages ​​with a small initial letter). We would write it: "I'm hungry," Liv said: "Let's get something to eat." I have to struggle with how to cut off longer dialogue sections so that people have time to breathe. Also my speech simulation, ergo (? wierd word, does anyone even use it?) dialogue, might be too much like people's actually speak. But it's because when the characters don't want to talk about certain things, they try by all means to distract the other person without going into topics that are unpleasant to them. Well, this is something that needs to be edited and polished many times in my manuscript.

I just came back from the festival. Now, finally, I'm writing a comment on your video with the after energy from the festivals. ... And the long answer disappeared a moment ago almost completely into bit space... a bit frustrated... ... I once decided to write my current story first because I felt it was the "easiest" of the stories in my head. Anyway, my story is about two lonely outsiders who become friends. The second, bigger main character is quiet, shy and introverted. Another slightly smaller main character covers his insecurities by being wild and fierce, but he is cute. The story includes elements of fantasy. I have a lot of doubts about the story. Since the biggest main character is quiet and makes herself smaller in the company of others, is she an interesting enough character when the other one is so loud? At least in the beginning, she shrinks herself. But I need to find something that makes the character stand out more. In a way, I have found, but does it appear as strong to others? I also wonder if the plot is enough. Secondly, I don't want the side characters to "just wait in the closet" until they are needed to push the main characters forward, so they actually have their own hero journeys that are not followed closely. Therefore, these characters, through their "secret" agenda, come to disturb the characters and therefore the subtext becomes important. Some may think that these parts of the story are unnecessary, but I think the whole thing is thinned out if their journey is left out. It's also hard for me to explain and defend certain elements when the story isn't ready, so I can show the reasons why there is what's there. And I have a lot of doubts myself about the journeys and so on. I have also struggled after the darkest moment of the second main character. The first main characters darkest moment is also coming soon. I feel like I've lost the power to write. It has barely progressed at all for over two weeks. Anyway, I understand what you were talking about in the video. Time to go to bed now that I've typed this twice. I'll watch the other videos later.

Absolutely wonderful video. This is spot on for writing description. The goal is never to force YOUR vision of the world to the reader, but to allow them to build the world in THEIR image. Give them a few seeds, but only where necessary. And bonus points if you can do it in a way that makes the reader believe you DID write all the description they see in their head. Usually, my description involves things that will be relevant to plot, things that are foreign to the reader (such as a fantasy race or feature), and things that define the characters or tone in the setting. When readers put in the imaginative work with only a little nudge from the writer, they are far more likely to get completely immersed and have an emotional connection with the story. It then becomes THEIR story as well, and that is the ultimate compliment to a writer (in my opinion, of course). I've been practicing and studying the art and craft of writing daily for the past 38 years and this video is probably the best one I have seen on this topic. VERY well done! Your examples are lovely, and I will absolutely be looking for your book when it is out!

your voice is not very clear

such a great video!!! very glad i found this