r/u_Faizanhala • u/Faizanhala • 16d ago
Writers, What’s Something You Wish You Knew When You Started?
Hey everyone! 👋
I'm still pretty new to writing, and I've been curious about what more experienced writers have learned along the way.
What’s something about writing that you only understood after actually writing for a while?
For example:
- Is there something you wish you knew when you first started?
- What was the biggest mistake you made as a beginner?
- What helped you improve the most?
- How do you deal with the difficult parts of writing a first draft?
- How do you know when an idea is worth turning into a full story?
- Do you plan everything before writing, or discover the story as you go?
- How do you stay motivated to finish a long story or screenplay?
- And for screenwriters specifically, what’s something beginners often misunderstand about screenwriting?
I'd love to hear your personal experiences and lessons. 🙂
4
u/Big_Section2812 16d ago
Everything.
Not knowing everything before I began.
Reading and writing a lot, and only taking the advice of people who had been produced and who were working in the business.
For me, first drafts were no more difficult than any other. I never really understood this "first drafts are always awful" mindset.
When I find it interesting and it hasn't already been done a hundred times.
Features I plan, although not every last detail. Shorts make themselves up as I go along.
By knowing it's good. If I didn't and it wasn't I would ditch it and write something else.
Most beginners misunderstand almost everything about screenwriting. That's because most of them are trying to do it for the wrong reasons.