How does your Writing Grow

My first story was a science fiction set amongst aliens yet no aliens appeared in the story. My main characters spent half the story hardy able to speak to each other, yet romance is (to quote Josh Lanyon) a series of dialogues between your main characters. My main character was a double amputee with a drinking problem, post traumatic stress disorder and facial scarring. One early beta reader begged me to make him more attractive.

Then my next full length novel is written in dual first...