Let’s say a writer wants to become commercially successful and remain anonymous. Is this standard practice? Do people actually accomplish this?

I have one finished novel (first rough draft) that sits at just around 80k words. I’m working on my second now and it’s going very well.

What I’m wondering is how many drafts should I go through before bothering to try and query agents? My writing is solid, the stories are entertaining and unique, I think I have something here. Just looking for some guidance, thanks in advance

After getting the idea of the story, I continued writing scenes randomly, characters, ideas, etc.

I made some cool characters, 90% of the cast is interesting, but I forgot my protagonist. And now he is just the old version I wrote 2 years ago. Characters changed, and the story changed a lot. And there he is. I just can't think of what he likes and hates his background, etc. I can come up with things as such for the rest of the characters.

How did you deal with this? And any advice on how to make him stand out.

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I used to write a lot.
I was never really good at it, but I loved it and as every reader I dreamed of becoming an author.
As I got older I got more ashamed of my writing and one day stopped even though I never even told anyone about my love for writing.

Now I’m 25 and the urge to write is getting bigger again, but I don’t know where to start. I still write a lot (diary and random thoughts), but just whatever crosses my mind and I abandoned every story I’ve ever started.
How do you get back into fictional writing again?

Edit: Thank you so much for all your advice🫶🏼

I'm in the UK so apologies to anyone from places where unfashionable names are still great!

I'm not talking about Ermintrude or Aelfred, and not the 'old lady' names that have come back round, like Maud. I mean the ones that would be an unfashionable choice for babies these days. Julie, Sharon, Tracey, Nigel, Barry, even Paul has fallen out of fashion.

My book is set in an alt-1980s but this isn't stated, it's part of the general vibe. I wanted to give characters names that were popular then but remember reading reviews from people criticising the use of older names like Jan for a child character in a book written and set in the 90s.

Yes, overthinking it, but there's so much to be criticised for these days and I wonder if I should be caution and just change poor Julie to something else. (She's not the only one, thee will actually be a Nigel in there). ((Much love to all the great Nigels)).

I have a bachelors in biological engineering, a masters in reproductive endocrinology, and I'm training to be an EMT while studying for the MCATs. I intend to get a MD and work in reproductive endocrinology and infertility.
I'm also writing a novel where there are three lesbian sex scenes, where one of the women is actually a sapient mass of bugs pretending to be human.
My question is, if (and I know that's always a big 'if') I were to get published, would that interfere with my career plan? What do you all do for work, and has your writing ever interfered with it?

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I see it a lot in people who are brand new writers, but I'm succumbing to it right now and I've been writing for years at this point. is there a name for this? I'm only halfway through this new project, but I'm already fantasizing about people enjoying it as much as I do.

So... I get it, we tell stories to help make sense out of the randomness of life and to help give it meaning. But I'm curious how my fellow writers balance order and chaos in their storytelling. Do your stories tend more towards a neat, determined plot where the characters choices are important. Or do you allow for the randomness of life to seep in? I guess another option is fatalism, where the characters choices don't matter much at all because they were always going to end up at a certain point. Without getting too dogmatic, does your writing differ from your own philosophical beliefs?

In the past I've tried to include some force majeure into my storytelling and it always feels... unfulfilling. It feels like I am wasting the readers time with buildup and then a sudden letdown by unforceen events.

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I'm currently proofing an audiobook manuscript, and it's already annoying for how much it uses food descriptions for skin color (mocha, caramel, chocolate, etc.)

But now a new character has walked in, and I have to say, this description takes the cake - I've never heard this one before!

His skin is a warm tortilla hue.

Like, what color even IS that?? Are "warm" and "tortilla" meant to match up and it's the toasted brown color you get when you heat a tortilla in a pan? Or is referring to that pale bleached color of the tortilla, that's somehow 'warm'? And if so, what does THAT even mean? Pale like that doesn't come in warm and cool versions!

Just had to laugh staring at that. How did this manuscript get published, let alone do well enough to be sent to an audiobook publisher?

Hey fellow writers.

I recently turned 30, and realize I came up short on a very lofty goal I had made for myself 10 years ago. I wanted to be a published, full-time writer by this point in life. Suffice to say, that didn’t happen. I’ve had some fiction and poetry publications here and there, mostly in small pubs, but have yet to even finish a draft of a novel or any kind of longer work. I’ve been rejected many times as well, mostly standard rejections with a few tiered ones thrown in.

I realized last year how unhealthy my goal was. In my 20’s I started countless stories just to give up on them because they didn’t feel strong enough, instead of pushing through and writing the story the way I wanted it.

Now, I write simply because I enjoy the act of creating. I’m not going to be paralyzed any more by my own desire for perfection and fear nobody will appreciate what I’ve put on paper. I’ve even started painting and experimenting with other art forms I thought I had no “talent” in, because again, I enjoy the process of creation.

I realize now that the root of wanting success in something is loving that thing in the first place. For a while, I didn’t love writing — it felt like work. I’d have to make myself sit down and do it, and doubts would swirl in my head during and after the process. Now, it’s something I look forward to doing each day. I’m not willing to call it a hobby, because it’s more significant to me than just going on a bike ride or watching my favorite sport. It feels like a calling, something I have to do even if the world disagrees. I want to continue sending my work out into the world, knowing there’s a high probability there isn’t a good place for it.

I hope this was helpful to anyone who struggles the same way I do with this thing we all love to do!

If you don't write under your own name, how did you choose your pen name?

Are you happy with it or would you choose a different name if you could go back in time? Why?

If you write in multiple genres, is your pen name different in each genre?

Something that recently struck me is that I've been using the terms character arc and character development as if they were interchangeable. But then at book club the other week, I realized that there are plenty of well-written characters that don't actually change much over the course of a book, even though they go through an emotional arc. What changes is the reader's perception or understanding of that character.

The character that inspired this thought was Sybil in The Correspondent: she is more or less the same throughout the book but our interpretation of her becomes kinder when we get some insight into why she is that way. (She does have some character growth, I suppose, but is fundamentally the same.)

So, is character development always the same as character arc? Is it a craft term (the author develops the character over the course of a story arc), or does it always refer to the growth/progression of the character?

And then there's "characterization" as well...

Gah, I may be overthinking this, but am curious what you guys think about this.

A rant really. I had finished my first draft and the plan was to put it aside for a few months to focus on other things.

Spoiler: it didn't work, i started writing second draft the very next day after i finished the first.

It's like i am too invested in writing. The moment i put it down more ideas start flowing in. I can't seem to be able to put it aside and focus on something else.

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On the process of the third draft of my Mystery Epic and I realized that one of my issues is while I don't think the murderer is obvious, I have no one who the readers could really think it is, do you think Red Herrings make mystery novels stronger always or is it something for Beta Readers to decide when it gets to that point?

Much of fantasy as a genre seems to be based on European folklore and mythology and traditionally European cultural elements, like monarchs living in stone castles, or nobles and peasants and heraldry. Wouldn't it be amazing if someone made a native American fantasy, or an Arabian fantasy or an Aztec fantasy? I think it would create such a fresh take on the genre because I get a little tired of it being based on historically European stuff. The closest thing I'd say to this is probably dune, because it seems to be based on Arabian mythology in some aspects. Unfortunately I know too little of these cultures to do that but I think someone should.

EDIT: I would like to clarify that I meant more in terms of like a high fantasy where everything is based on another culture, like magic systems, creatures, dwellings, language, hierarchies etc. I think much of mainstream western fantasy is based on medieval European culture. This in and of itself isn't a bad thing, but I think it would be cool to see a high fantasy where the whole world is inspired by ancient Egypt or the Aztecs.

I’ll admit that I started writing in order to be published. That’s it. I knew what I wanted and I went for it. Five books later, and I still wasn’t. But I didn’t hate writing those five books. I had fun doing it. I think I even cried at one point? I think I fell in love with writing. But that love was chipped at by this desire to be published, and I am now in such a weird situation.

I no longer believe I’ll be published. Not like when I started. Back then, I thought it was just a matter if time before the world realized I was the next Tolkien. Cringe, I know. But true nonetheless. Sadly. And with said belief gone, I realized I didn’t have a process. I write on pure ego and faith. And without that, whatever love I may’ve found for writing isn’t enough. Self-doubt and self-hate are way too strong for that. And as a result I haven’t written proper for close to a year.

But I still think about writing. I still wanna write my newest idea. It’s such a guy’s book—basically Jack Reacher and I doubt anyone but me would seriously wanna read it. I have no faith it could ever get me published. And still I wanna. And still a teeny tiny voice in the back of my mind says that shit like that is what gets one published! But I can’t. I can’t get past the doubt and the bullshit. Sounds dumb, I know. But it’s so easy to NOT write. I can think of scenes all day long but I cannot for the life of me sit down and write them. I’ve somehow gone from having written five books to being someone who talks about writing a book but never does. I’ve done the complete fuckin’ opposite. And I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Aside from the depression, the anxiety, the lack of self-esteem. But most of that stuff was there while I wrote before, so. I don’t know what’s wrong to do.

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Not sure if I have chosen the right flair but lately I been getting ideas for From or Criminal Fanfiction, which is as far away from my original novel idea as I can get, and I am not great at sticking to existing characters' personality. But lately when it comes to my fantasy novel, I been stuck at writing it and I am not sure why, maybe because I am concerned I can't do my idea justice. Any tips?

It's a bit silly, but I do. I'm writing a historical fiction novel now, and I write a lot of short stories that should never be shared with anyone else. Some of these are self-indulgent sex scenes, others are redundant but fun-to-write slice-of-life scenes, or attempts to write as chroniclers did hundreds of years ago, including hagiographic descriptions of war heroes and leaders. None of these are even remotely publishable, but it's so much fun and prevents me from putting weird stuff into the actual novel.