Hello, my lovely Faithful Shifters! How are all of you doing?? I'm doing great thanks for asking lol.
So I have been getting a lot of messages from upcoming writers asking me if I have any advice for them. I have been able to answer some but not all, I really want to answer all of them but sometimes it gets very hard for me to do that. So I thought I would come on here and just kind of answer everyone lol.
A couple of things.
1. When writing, make sure you put in details. You can't have it where one chapter is something and then all of a sudden the next chapter is something completely different. You have to make it flow into the next chapter.
2. Add humor. If you can make your readers laugh, there is a very good chance that they will come back. I'm not trying to be mean, but if it's boring, they will probably be like 'eh' and go onto another book.
3. Pre-write chapters. Trust me. This will help tremendously. When I first started writing, I wouldn't pre-write any chapters and it took me months to update because my personal life always got in the way. Yes, it will be a little bit longer until you first upload, but once you have a good amount of chapters already written, you can have a set uploading schedule. I really wish I did this at the very beginning. And it's nice because you can always re-read the chapter right before you upload it and change anything you want.
4. If you are having an off day and you feel like you don't want to write, don't write. I get you might have an uploading schedule, but it will be okay to miss a day. You can always upload another day. This is another time where pre-writing chapters will come in handy. There was a time where I had an off day but it was the day that I had to upload. So guess what I did. I wrote a chapter and uploaded it. It didn't fit with the storyline, the grammar wasn't the best, it was rushed, and to be honest, it was an awful chapter. And guess what? I hated it and I wanted to take it down. But too many people already read it and I didn't have time to write a new chapter so I kept it up. I really wish I just didn't upload that day because it's not the end of the world if you miss a day. Seriously. It will be okay and don't feel like you HAVE to upload on that day. You can upload on the next day or two days from them. Upload chapters that you are proud of.
5. A while ago I was reading an interview that someone did with an Inkitt writer. And they had a quote that really stuck with me and I use it every time I write. They said "a problem that a character can walk away from is a book that a reader can walk away from. That quote helps me write better books. When I come up with something and I write it down in my story, I always sit back and think about it. What will the outcomes be? Can the character fix this in a couple of chapters? Can they walk away from it in the next chapter? If it's a yes, then I will either fix it up a bit or just take it out completely and write something else. You have to keep the readers' attention because without them, then you don't have an audience to read your book.
6. Write about what you want to write. Yes, you want to write things that people will enjoy but if you don't like what you are writing, you have every right to stop and delete it. You have to enjoy writing and have fun. That is honestly the most important advice I could give you. Is to have fun. Writing shouldn't be stressful. It should be fun and something you can use as an escape from the harsh world.
7. Writing is going to be very hard your first time, but don't give up. I'm not saying that it is going to be easy later on, because trust me, I still struggle lol. But it definitely has gotten easier now that I have gotten the hang of it. Keep trying and trying. It might be a little bit before the book starts to come along, but it'll be worth the wait. You got this!
8. For the love of God, and I cannot stress this enough, COME UP WITH YOUR OWN IDEAS!!!!! Seriously. Plagiarism is not a funny thing and it will never be funny or okay to do. People work very hard to come up with their ideas and it's totally not okay for someone else to take that and put it in their own book. Now; if you see something in a book and you think it's funny and you want to use it in your book, ASK THE AUTHOR. And if they say yes, GIVE THEM CREDIT. I'm going to get a little harsh right here, but if they say no, guess what? Don't put it in your book. Don't rewrite the scene and make it a little different. That is their idea and they have the right to say no. Don't get all butthurt and make a big deal out of it.
9. People are going to hate your books. And guess what? It's okay. I know it's a book that you are proud of and a book that you have worked so hard on, but the best thing you can do is just ignore it. There will be haters and they will make rude comments and be like "you should have done this" or "this is stupid". There is a difference between constructive criticism and people just being plain rude. Constructive criticism is okay to hear and it's a great way to grow and learn.
I really hoped that this advice has helped some of you. I want you all to succeed because writing SGGK was one of the best things that has ever happened to me. It has opened so many doors and I'm glad that I went through with it. At one point, I was actually going to delete it. But now look at it. It became a best seller on Amazon and got over 50 million reads on Wattpad. So before you delete your book, think about it.
#writeon
I love you all so much and I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you guys!
-MommaShifter
