I want to improve, just don't know how or where

[chestnutriceeee]

Hello there!

I recently had the opportunity to see a lot of novels and comics from the community and all of that has made me feel I can improve in many places. I checked some previous threads and also visited a few websites but can’t see what I should do to make my work better.

If you guys could share some tricks or tips for better pacing. Tone-setting, consistency, or pretty much anything. I would be very grateful.

Here is my Novel’s link. If anyone thinks they can go through it and give me some feedback or criticism of any kind, then I would once again be forever grateful.

Trial Run | Tapas

Thanks a lot.

[onyisart]

Read books (published books but sometimes fanfic/online books is good too).
Read books about writing like
Story by Robert McKee
12 Principles of Storytelling

For comics learn about comics. Read Making Comics by Scott McCloud. Read Understanding Comics by him as well.
Learn story boarding (What I'm doing to help with paneling and framing).
Learn to write for visual medium aka scripts (If you're not an artist and want to work with one).

These are a few things I am currently doing to learn and practice!

[LadyOttoline]

Have you read any books about writing? I like Wrede on Writing by Patricia C. Wrede. She also maintenance a blog about writing. There are lots of good books about writing out there that would provide you with a good starting point.

But the best thing is finding people to give you honest, insightful feedback. You don't need someone to tell you you're great- you need someone to point out where you are weak and give you pointers on how to fix it. If you don't have anyone in your life to do that look on fivver for beta readers and seek out the ones with reviews that complain that they are "too harsh". It will cost money but it will give your far more insight than asking your mom to read it and tell you your the best writer ever.

[therosesword]

Practice, practice practice. I don't think there are any real "tricks."

although it's not on here anymore my serial Bright Morn of Issareth now has three Volumes (working on the 4th) and as I was writing the third I realized that my writing was getting better, which makes me want to go back into 1 and 2, lol.

but really, practice. And read, both good and bad novels. Good so you learn what's good and bad so you learn what to avoid.

If you like reading books about writing I like J. Michael Straczinsky's work. (Babylon 5) There are masterclasses online that are relatively inexpensive learning from everyone from Neil Gaiman to Margaret Atwood (Handmaid's Tale).

But, in my opinion, the thing that works the best is: practice. There are no tricks, just write honestly, truthfully, and write real characters. Doesn't matter if the character is a worm being from the planet XX2X, make it real, make it someone your reader can identify with.

[yumeryuu]

Reading books on writing...
Reading others people's work...
Practice practice practice...

These are all generic. They are the three major hints that we give one another to 'improve' our work when perhaps there are a few things that help to bring our work beyond this.

I am sure you have heard these tips before. Im pretty sure Stephen King lists them in his ON WRITING book, a novel that, if you have no already read it, you REALLY need to as there are a few tid bits of info that he gives that truly helped me as a writer.

A few tricks I use that have drastically helped my work is:
1. I basically dropped all ADVERBS from my work. I will still use them occasionally, but almost never.

SOLUTIONS TO THESE PROBLEMS:
2. PACING - Usually the problem is going too fast and so much seems to be choppy and missing. My solution is I will take the paragraph, break it up, remove redundancy, and begin adding in THREE sentences to give more detail. Three sentences in 1 paragraph is enough to add detail.
3. TOO SLOW - OMG its just drrrrrrraaaggging. Here I remove most descriptive sentences that banter. And will simply focus on ACTION to move everything along. Once the action seen is complete I will focus on a few descriptive sentencing to bring it around.
4. Dialogue I try to keep short and sweet. Especially the antagonist. No one likes a monologue.

I will reread my work hundreds of times before I feel its ready. I always tell people that editing is the biggest part of my work and its like combing out tangly hair until its all smooth and straight.

[chestnutriceeee]

Thank you very much for your advice! I have read a few of Robert McKee's books before but not the one you mentioned. I will go over it as soon as I get the chance to. Thanks for the suggestions of comic making as well, it is very helpful.

[chestnutriceeee]

Thank you very much for the recommendation! I have read many of Patricia Wrede's novels but never knew that she had made books on writing and has a blog as well. I have checked the blog, and it is very helpful. Thank you very much.

I also agree on how important it is to have someone giving you their honest opinion on your work. I will look into getting assistance from critics on Fiverr when it is viable for me. Thank you very much for your input!

[chestnutriceeee]

Thank you very much for replying! I can totally understand how practice keeps making you better! I myself feel my writing getting better with each chapter and will try to integrate more of it into my daily routine. I have had the chance to read many works on this platform and have been reading all kinds of novels for quite a while, and have learned a lot from them.

Thank you for the recommendation. I will look into Michael Straczinsky's works. I have also done a few courses but will also try to complete masterclasses. Thank you very much for the advice!

[chestnutriceeee]

Thank you very much for replying! These pointers are exactly what I was looking for!

I went over my work once again and have surely found a few places where I can reduce the number of adverbs I am using. Your pacing tricks are very helpful too! I actually do the same whenever I think my pacing is too slow.

Adding 3 lines in a paragraph for when it’s too fast seems like an excellent rule to follow. I was most worried about this since I have already finished 3 minor/1 major arcs and have only written about 50,000 thousand words.

Thanks for the tip on dialogues as well. I write my novel in first-person, so avoiding monologues is tough. I think I make them work somehow though, haha!

Thank you very much for the advice. I really appreciate it!