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Comparing your work to other authors- HELP!
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That feeling is totally natural. It's good that you want your writing to be up to the high standards you recognize in others too. It can be hard trying to balance "finding your own personal writing style" with "comparing it to others". I am not a fan of Fantasy-Romance (just my personal preference and not a judgement), but I'd be happy to take a look and help you identify any common issues you might be having from a narrative, structural, or grammatical POV.
Good luck and remember the advice someone told me: writing is like a muscle; the only way to get stronger is to keep exercising it!
Smart answer, Noel. It helps to have beta readers. Or join a writing group. Meetup.com offers writing groups in my city, maybe in yours? If no writing group near you, you can start one. Good luck!
Noel wrote: "That feeling is totally natural. It's good that you want your writing to be up to the high standards you recognize in others too. It can be hard trying to balance "finding your own personal writing..."Now that is some great advice.
Thank you so much!
I'll message you the chapters for feedback. :)
Sheila wrote: "Smart answer, Noel. It helps to have beta readers. Or join a writing group. Meetup.com offers writing groups in my city, maybe in yours? If no writing group near you, you can start one. Good luck!"Writing groups sound interesting. I'll look if there are any in my city. Yess, beta readers definitely help. Thank you :)
There are also a lot of excellent books on writing fiction, though if you are not of a mind to buy any, there are also plenty of good blogs and articles on the web that offer excellent advice as well as examples of what to do or not do when writing. Another tip would be to take some sentences from your favorite authors and completely deconstruct them, like literally label each word as noun, verb, adjective, etc. and then do the same to one of your own sentences that you feel is particularly strong. You should find that better sentence construction contains very few adjectives and even fewer adverbs.
G.R. wrote: "There are also a lot of excellent books on writing fiction, though if you are not of a mind to buy any, there are also plenty of good blogs and articles on the web that offer excellent advice as we..."Wow! That's interesting.
I'm currently reading - Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass. Any other book in particular that you'd like to recommend?
Stephen King's book "On Writing" offers a lot of insight, though for someone looking to 'break out' into the market, the big reveal was a bit disappointing and very much glossed over by the book. Essentially, when he wrote his breakout novel, "Carrie," he sent it 'to an agent he had developed a relationship with over the years.' That was a bit frustrating to me, but there are still useful examples throughout the book. Another I've read is the one from the Gotham Writers' Workshop. It also uses good examples.I haven't read it, but I've also heard good things about "Save the Cat!" Plus, you can find constructive books that help specifically with dialogue, character development, plot structure, setting, world-building, you name it. But the best way to get better is to write and write more, and then be able to look at your writing critically to apply those techniques.
GR has some great advice. Made me think that there are a bunch of really good TED Talks about the foundations of storytelling across all mediums (print, digital, film, etc.). "The Mystery Box" by JJ Abrams and "The Heroes Journey" are essential watches.
Gurpreet wrote: "I've recently been trying my hand at writing a Fantasy-Romance novel and I can't stop comparing my work to other authors. It's like I feel like I'm doing good and am writing pretty well (it's still..."Hi: I'm not a grammar ace but I'm happy to read it. Van
G.R. wrote: "Stephen King's book "On Writing" offers a lot of insight, though for someone looking to 'break out' into the market, the big reveal was a bit disappointing and very much glossed over by the book. E..."Thank you!
I'll check it out :)
Noel wrote: "GR has some great advice. Made me think that there are a bunch of really good TED Talks about the foundations of storytelling across all mediums (print, digital, film, etc.). "The Mystery Box" by J..."Thanks for the recommendation. I'll check them out.
Joseph wrote: "Perhaps these will be helpful. - https://josephcarrabis.com/category/s..."The articles on the blog look insightful. I'll check them out.
Van wrote: "Gurpreet wrote: "I've recently been trying my hand at writing a Fantasy-Romance novel and I can't stop comparing my work to other authors. It's like I feel like I'm doing good and am writing pretty..."Thank you!
Just sent you a message.
If any of you went through something similar or have any tips about what I can do about it, I'd truly appreciate the help.
Also I'm looking for some honest feedback on this Fantasy Romance novel that I'm working on(there are only nine chapters for now and it wouldn't take more than an hour to read)
So if anyone would be able to take their time out and provide some feedback, I'd be grateful. Simply message me or comment below if interested.
Thank you :)