Dhiya🪄

At the same time, it’s important not to take negative comments too personally. Most of the time, readers are reacting to the story, not to you as a person. They don’t always know where the character arc is going, and strong emotional reactions, like frustration or anger is actually a sign that your writing has had an impact. If you’ve managed to evoke that level of emotion, that’s a powerful thing. However, if someone crosses the line and personally attacks you, don’t tolerate it. You have every right to delete their comment and do not engage with them. Since you’re just starting out with your first story, don’t worry too much about votes or engagement. Focus on finishing your story. Once you’ve published your second story, you’ll notice more acceptance in general.
          
          I hope this helps you in your process, looking forward to reading complete stories from you :) Always happy to discuss about IPKKND also! :D

I went through your story, so essentially, you’ve written different scenes that you didn’t like from the original show. That’s a great thought. For your next story, how about you try to expand each scene into a full story? Like what happened next from your perspective. For example, I really liked the chapter where you mentioned both Arnav and Khushi being injured after the kidnapping fiasco, and yet no one even called a doctor for them. You could definitely expand on it. What would have happened if a doctor had come? How would the family have reacted if they learned that Khushi saved Arnav’s life by putting hers at risk? Why didn’t anyone push for a proper investigation into Arnav’s kidnapping? You could even explore how Anjali’s perception might have shifted sooner if she had truly understood what her brother went through. 
          
          Another important part of publishing stories is reading the comments on your story regularly. I try to check them every day, or at least once a week. Readers here are usually very respectful and appreciative, and sometimes, you can even get great ideas from them. While I was publishing my second story, Accepting Reality, many readers suggested that it was too dark and that I could consider softening it. That feedback actually sparked a whole new idea, a toned-down version of the same storyline, starting from the same point. So, some readers input can be really valuable.

But of course, there are stories that naturally end up being much longer and sometimes, you just can’t help that. The key thing to keep in mind when writing longer stories is that the narrative needs to be engaging enough to hold the reader’s attention over that extended period. There should be something that keeps them curious, an event they’re waiting to see unfold, a secret yet to be revealed, a confrontation, a consequence, something that builds anticipation throughout. And ideally, you should drop subtle hints throughout the story leading up to that main event or turning point.
          
          Sometimes, two or three separate ideas can come together to form a longer story. For IPKKND stories, for example, let’s say you didn’t like how the marriage track played out, and you also weren’t happy with the Sheetal storyline. You can start by individually writing what you would have changed in each track and later, see how they can be merged into one plot. I personally like using situations from the show and just tweaking them a little to fit my narrative. Or you can even switch up character roles. For instance, what if Arnav were in Shyam’s place trying to scam an innocent Gupta family? It can be a totally new story.
          
          One thing I believe is really important in storytelling is incorporating grey characters. Sure, readers might want everything to go perfectly, Arnav getting punished, Khushi leaving him, everything wrapped up nicely. But honestly, that kind of story tends to feel too basic or predictable. If everything is good, the story becomes bland. At least one character needs to be flawed. They should be capable of making mistakes, but then grow from them. That’s what makes for a more realistic and satisfying character arc. Instant, perfect realizations don’t feel great to read. Showing gradual growth and redemption adds real depth to a story according to me.

Once the outline is ready, I begin expanding and editing what I’ve written. Throughout this process, I keep re-reading my work several times. Once the entire story is written, I read it in one go to ensure everything flows well and makes sense as a whole. This helps me catch any plot holes or inconsistencies. For example, if a character behaves a certain way early on but changes drastically later without explanation, I revise to maintain consistency. I usually aim to write one or two chapters a day.
          
          Once I’m fully satisfied with the story, I upload the chapters to Wattpad and schedule them for publishing. I do a final read-through before publishing, sometimes I do in on a daily basis, sometimes I do it once a week for all the chapters upcoming in the following week. 
          
          I’ve written a few stories so far, and the most challenging part for me has always been figuring out how to end them or rather, where exactly to stop the story. To help with that, I now try to structure my stories to fall within 35–50 chapters, with each chapter being around 1,800 to 2,000 words. That translates roughly to about 8–10 minutes of reading time per chapter. I only came to this realization through writing and reflecting on my work. I’ve noticed that this length tends to work well for me and also suits most readers. That said, some chapters naturally run longer, especially if I want to complete a particular scene within the same chapter. So yes, there are always exceptions.
          
          In fact, the first story I ever wrote (Unforseen Ties) was quite inconsistent. Some chapters were around 25 minutes long, while others were just 8. Over time, I’ve tried to improve that and aim for more consistency now. I also feel that very long chapters can lose the reader’s attention, unless the writing is exceptionally compelling throughout. But of course, this is just my opinion, because I kind of like structured stuff! :D

Every writer has their own approach, so it's best to find what works for you. In my case, I write and edit the entire story before I start publishing. I need to know how the story ends and be fully satisfied with it before sharing it with the world. And when I am publishing a story I am writing a future one as well. Sometimes I take a break from publishing and just focus on writing for a few months, like I did in the beginning of this year. Some writers prefer to write as they go, publishing chapter by chapter, but that method doesn’t work for me. My stories are written to the end, before hand.
          
          This is how I begin: I keep a separate document just for ideas. Whenever a new story idea comes to mind, I write it down immediately. Usually, when an idea strikes, you already have a vague idea of how you wish the story had played out on the show, or how it's unfolding in your imagination. I jot this down in simple words, this is my idea phase.
          
          If I start developing specific scenes or situations around that idea, I move it into a separate document dedicated to that particular story. I keep building on it as new details come to mind. Once I feel there’s enough substance to turn it into a full story, I begin writing a rough outline. This outline includes key scenes and situations from start to finish. This outline phase is the most important part of my writing process as I write most of the things here. Sometimes, I don’t have clarity on certain parts of the story, so I simply place a placeholder or a filler scene, which I come back to later. But by this stage, the main structure of the storyline is in place. These days, I also try to draft dialogues during the outlining process itself.

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